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russellsppttemplates · 10 months

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From the start, it was you (George Russell)

The heart doesn't seem to choose by team colours

Note: english is not my first language. This is the first driver!reader I've ever written, so I hope I've done a good job. Also, I did not plan to post this piece specifically now, but seems fitting with the whole shitshow that has been going on the past couple of days. Also, this is a plot I've seen written a lot, so I know there are many other pieces that are way better, and hopefully my take on it isn't too bad!

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: race collision, medical exams, curse words, gender inequality comments

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

Your purple race suit made you stand out amongst all of the other kids as you walked back from the podium, proudly smiling at your trophy, "Y/N! We're here!", you heard your father as he waved so you'd know where they stood, "congratulations, darling! That was an impressive overtake you did there in the last lap!", he praised, scratching your head before placing a kiss there, "I was trying to get first, but I couldn't get it", you admitted it, looking sideways at the boy who you couldn't take the first place from.

George Russell was a tall boy, same age as you, so you often raced against eachother. While you had become friends with some of the other kids, Russell wasn't one of them. It began when you tried to congratulate him for his P3 a few years ago, stretching your hand out politely, a smile on your face as he turned his back to you, mumbling something as he walked towards his parents. So, you weren't the best of friends if anyone asked.

"Y/N, darling, go stand next to the boys so I can take a picture of you! It will be such a good memory for when you're older!", your mother said excitedly, making you, George and the boy that finished his race behind you on each of your sides, smiling at the camera and hoping it would be as quick as possible, not wanting to stand next to him for a second longer than you should.

"I have your media day schedules here", Mary said as she handed you and Oscar your respective schedules, "Y/N, you're going to get interviewed with Charles, Yuki, George and Fernando", she stated as she then moved on to Oscar, explaing a few things to him since he was going first.

"And Y/N, while you're in there, try not to kill George, even with your eyes, okay?", she advised, tapping your shoulder softly as you looked at her sideways, "last time you were both in the same panel, you managed to be out of qualifying", she nodded, "only because our car wasn't that reliable, and we all know how theirs is", you pointed out, smiling sweetly and hoping to get on her side, "you're lucky you don't annoy me too much, Y/N", she smiled back.

The team had made many improvements to the car, granting you and Oscar the possibility to aim for higher places on the grid, and since you were a nerd about all things engineering, too, you loved when you were asked about the topic. But lately, the questions about the car seemed to get asked to your teammate Oscar, leaving the excuse that "the journalists already have the information they need", and because they didn't want to be accused of not asking you questions like it had happened before, it seemed to divert to other topics.

"Y/N, here", one of the journalists waved, grabbing your attention, "With the recent events and new propositions from the F1 Academy, do you think the sport is going to suffer from having a bigger opportunity that's being given to women in motorsport?", your heard him say, making your blood boil.

Despite the constant raised awareness for gender discrimination and discrimination in motorsport, especially in the last couple of years, some people still had it pretty engraved in their system, and while sometimes it came out looking a little bit more subtle, this one didn't even bother to soften the edges.

You'd be lying if you said this was the first time you heard these comments directed at you, or that you thought it would be the last, no matter how much you wished some sort of disciplinary measure was taken, "I woul-", you began before you heard a loud clash on the floor and felt water on your legs. The trousers you were wearing were soaked around your thighs and knees as George got up to grab the bottle that belonged to him, "I'm so sorry, Y/N", he apoligised as he put the lid back on, "I think it's best if we call it a day, hm? The next group needs to have this cleaned before they come in here", the Mercedes driver said as everyone seemed to agree and get up, bidding goodbye as Charles and George stayed until the end.

"Careful, don't slip", the monegasque driver said, making sure you wouldn't fall and walking out of the room with you, "figures the guy wouldn't even be here to check if everything's fine", you muttered as Charles chuckled, "you two really are like the cat and the mouse".

"He's not even here! He just flew off to his fancy room to delight in the joy of making fun of me", you grumbled, bidding goodbye to Charles as you found yourself by the entrance of Ferrari.

Walking the distance to meet your team, Mary was the first to get you, "I'm sorry they asked that", she said, "it's a good thing Russell spilled his drink", she teased, knowing you wouldn't want to dwell on the comments for long. It hardly solved the problem and you'd look into it in the team meeting when the time called for it, "promise you won't take him out in the race?".

Laughingly at her assumption and the fact that she had managed to pull you out of your misery as you walked to you driver's room, "don't worry, and tell the guys downstairs to now worry either, they're not going to have to build me a new car either", you flashed a smile before closing the door, changing into another pair of trousers you had brought with you.

"You're starting P4, Y/N", your race engineer said over the radio, "we are going to give it our all to support you and help you".

"And I'm going to drive the beat I can for you guys. Today, we get orange flying around and its going to be because of the Papaya team", you smiled under your helmet, "Oscar is P6, so I think we can even aim for a Podium, depends on how things go", you said.

As soon as the lights went out, you reacted quickly and passed the car that had been sitting next to yours, your race engineer confirming your third place and giving you a run down of all the grid changes.

"Do us proud, you're doing well, good pace", you heard on your speakers. You were enjoying the drive, analysing the data without team and looking for the right opportunity to overtake Charles, "go after the next turn, Y/N. Charles' tyres are not looking so good, so we think you have the upper hand there. George's car seems to be having some issues, too, he won't go after you", the pit wall channeled in your radio.

You looked in your mirrors as you were about to make the overtake, having patiently waited to reach the specific turn and going with it, confident that you would be able to overtake the red car.

A fraction of a second, you would always say, was game changing in Formula One. A decision to overtake or stay back, to accept the call to the pits or a new strategy, sometimes all it took was less than a second. And it also took less than a second for your car to start spinning, making you remove your hands from your steering wheel and brace yourself for the collision that would soon enough happen.

The impact wasn't as hard as you had expected, having felt most of it in your hips and shoulders. Groaning, you opened your eyes to see the damage, hearing "Y/N, can you tell us if you are okay?" over the radio.

Pressing the button, you heard the equipment's buzz, "I'm okay. I'm sorry about the car, guys", you gulped, adjusting yourself, "another car tapped me, right? Are they okay?", you asked, "George's fine from what we've heard".

After the marshalls confirmed you were free to go with the medical car to get checked over, you were back in the hospitality as the race continued, "doctor said I'll have some bruises, nothing too bad though", you gave them the report as you apoligised and thanked everyone on your side of the garage.

"Turns out they'll have to build you a new car after all", Mary offered as she hugged you, "if Russell had been more careful, this could've ended differently", you groaned.

"From what I've heard, he was trying a risky move and the car had an issue and locked up. He lost control of it and his front wing tapped your rear wheels just about enough to cause the crash", she explained, "it's not like he purposefully wanted to take you out", she reasoned.

"I know, it's just not ideal", you sighed, "we could both be in there". On the screen, Oscar was sitting P2, having successfully overtaken Charles a few laps in after the race resumed.

Even though George was far from your friend, you still wanted to check if he was okay, specially after seeing the impact the crash had on his car, too.

Walking to the Mercedes hospitality, a few people stopped you on your tracks briefly to express their relief on seeing you up and about and wishing you well before you found yourself by the glass doors.

"Is George here? I'd like to see if he's doing alright, but only if that's okay, I'm sure you're busy", you asked one of the media girls, Holly, recognising her from previous encounters.

"He's in his driver's room, yes, let me walk you there", she smiled, walking with you and knocking on the door, "George, may I come in?", she asked before he gave a positive answer, "Y/N is here, she wanted to talk to you", she stated, backing up so you could be seen, "yes, that's alright", the tall man said as Holly held out her arm, gesturing you to walk inside the room as she closed the door behind her, most likely going back to work on the race content.

"Hey", you waved awkwardly, "I don't have any other way to contact you, and asking your team how you were didn't seem... right? So, yeah, I came here", you gulped, suddenly feeling a weird pressure to act properly, whatever that meant.

"I'm good, barely got a scratch since I was able to stop the car before it hit the barriers", George explained, "and you? It looked pretty bad", he checked.

"I have some bruises, I think the adrenaline is slowing down now, so it's a bit painful, but nothing major", you clarified.

"The car had some issue and there was not way to control it, I just let it go because there wasn't anything I could do. I'm very glad you're okay", he half smiled as he looked at you.

In all the years you've known him and interacted with him, there had never been a time where he was this relaxed and smiley around you, not even when he had overtaken you in the last lap of the race. And while it was new, it was also comfortable.

"Me too, it looked scarier than it felt, though", you offered as he grabbed his water bottle to take a sip from it, "Oh, close the lid properly on that one", you chuckled playfully, not imagining the backlash and reaction it would have.

The new and comfortable mood turned back to the old and expecting one.

"Do you really think I'm that clumsy to drop a bottle like that? I wanted to get us out of there, to get you out of there because they were asking sexist questions", he stated, "and I didn't do it because I thought you couldn't defend yourself, because you sure know how to stop your foot and put it down, but because they don't deserve your time like that. Hell, I wish you spent that little time with me instead!", George yelled out, not missing your shocked expression, "maybe there was a time that I didn't like how you just showed up and got things done, but in the end, it's not because it's you, or because you're a woman. I wanted to be the one to show up and get things done, because I admire you so much", he gulped.

"So you're saying it's my fault that I've been labelled a bad sport because we constantly fight out there? That's why you've hated me?", your defensive side turned up, not dwelling on his kind words.

"I'm not saying it is either of our fault! I'm just trying to explain to you that I don't hate you like you think I do", he put his hands on his hips, walking around his room, "you might hate me, and that's fine, you know? I'm not going to be the one to tell you how you should feel, that's not how it works, but I have never hate you.

"I might've said I hated you when we were little, but that's because you probably stole my place on the podium, and even that was probably well deserved. I never thought I'd feel like this about you", he concluded.

"And what is it that you feel about me? Because I would like a warning should you want to beat me up to deal with all it is that you're feeling...?", you gestured to his stance. Was he saying he didn't hate you? Did he have other feelings that were actually in the happiness section of the emotion wheel and not near the anger section?

Chuckling, he approached you, "I have had feelings for you since we started driving in F2. At first I thought it was just the thrill of the competition and of having someone to challenge me, and when you got the Mclaren seat, I was so happy that you'd be racing against me", he further offered, "I don't know when it came out that we hated eachother, and when you didn't seem to feel otherwise, I tried to hate you, or at least dislike you, and it wasn't working, so I just let it go however it went, and it's led me here. And I'm being honest with you, so laugh all you want, or deal with it however you want to", he raised his hands as he excused himself.

"George, I nerve said anything because I can't afford to say those things. How many rivalries have you seen in motorsport? So many, and many more that are not written in books and shown off in videos. And none of them have apoligies to offer, or rather, the very few that have done it, turned out okay. But if I was the one to talk about it? A female driver talking about how she cares that her colleagues and her have a good relation and that they don't hate eachother like the press wants people to believe?", you scoffed, "That's not on my books, that's not something I can consider.

"And I don't hate you, George. For Goodness' sake, I came here to see of you were alright. Any other person would've yelled that you ruined their race, but I understand that there are things we can't control and shit like this happens. It sucks, but that's how it is. Like Charles says all the time, 'sometimes it's like this'", you giggled, "I actually think you're a pretty decent guy", you blushed.

Over the years, the bickering had only spurred you on even more, and maybe it wasn't just the thrill of seeing him so on edge that made you continue to do so.

"So you're saying you've never hated me?",

George said as he offered you his chair to sit down as he prepared tea for both of you, "Maybe I didn't like you so much when we did karting, but that was just because you were really tall and actually gave me fair competition", you winked.

#george russell imagine #george russell x reader #george russell fluff #george russell fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic

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i9messi · 1 year

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Hello can i request with Mason?👀

Mase living his dream, with the reader ( she was his childhood crush, she’s a singer/actress) now they attend the same red carpet and he ask for her number and they get to know eachother

Celebrity crush — Mason Mount

Word count — 931

mason's masterlist

Mason had been invited to an award show, it wasn't the typical place he usually felt comfortable, but still liked to live a new experience. He had been standing in front of some of the cameras pointing in his direction when he heard the photographers shouting your well-known name. His eyes caught you in the crowd. It was you. His biggest crush. The same person who had captivated him since he had first seen you on TV.

Mason had seen you acting since he was a kid and you were the same age as him, and yet, despite being ten years old, he had fallen in love with you. As time went on, you stopped being a little girl, to become a teenager. And Mason was still in love with you. In the present, you were no longer a teenager, you were now a woman. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And you were standing just a few feet away, the closest you’d ever been.

The footballer could feel his heart rate begin to change when you walk through the red carpet, as if it belonged to you. Well, for Mason everyone and everything around him ceased to exist. You were his center of attention, the mirrorball that shone among all those people. And maybe it was the feeling of being seen so intensely, that made you turn to look at him.

You smiled at Mason. The moment seemed to last an eternity, in which the two looked at each other with curiosity.

"Are you okay, Mount?"

Mason finally came to his senses and looked at the man asking him that question. Some of the photographers had noticed the way the player had been standing there staring at you, even some of them had taken some pictures of his reaction. It wouldn’t take long to get those photos circulated around everywhere on social media.

"She looks so beautiful, doesn't she?" asked a member of the press and Mason didn’t even hide the way you made him feel.

"She is beautiful, mate."

However, once the gala started, he took a seat and his eyes found you again among all the lights. For the second time in the night, you also felt the weight of his gaze and decided to wink at him. The moment was interrupted when they announced the category in which you were nominated. Your face seemed to change suddenly, you were nervous about the result.

"And the award for best supporting actress goes to…"

Mason was hoping you’d get the award, wanted to see you smile and get on stage. His eyes closed for a moment waiting to hear your name come out of the presenter’s lips and when the man shouted your name, he saw you rise from your seat, unable to believe it.

He saw you again at the after party. The Brit was ordering a drink, when you suddenly appeared at his side.

"Hi, I’ve seen you before and haven’t had a chance to talk to you, Mason."

His name coming out of your lips nearly choked on the beer he was drinking. The man felt like he was a second away from verbally throwing up how much he admired you. Mason took a breath and calmed his heart,

"Congratulations on winning the award today, I knew you’d make it."

"Thank you, have you seen the movie or are you just being nice?"

Your question was genuine. Mason seemed like an interesting man to you and you hadn’t hesitated to approach him to have a conversation and see if you shared anything in common. During the awards ceremony you had been scared and nervous enough to be able to talk to someone, but now that all the emotional charge had left your body, you were eager to meet him. And to be honest, the looks the footballer had given you had been a little obvious. He caught your attention from the very first moment your eyes met.

"Well, to be honest, I’ve seen your movie more times than it’s normal to admit."

"Really? How many times?"

"I’m not going to say it, it’s embarrassing. You’ll think I’m a weird dude."

"Oh, come on. Tell me, I promise not to judge you."

Mason sighed and finally spoke, "Seven times."

"Wow, that’s a lot."

You let out a laugh. Mason ran his hand through his hair and looked at you. Were you always this pretty or were you even prettier today because of those lights and the happiness in the atmosphere?

"Well, now it is your turn to think I’m a weirdo. I'm a fan of yours."

"Stop, you’re lying."

Mason was internally screaming. His childhood crush, his celebrity crush, was saying that was his fan. It was something he was going to talk about for the rest of his days.

"I’m not lying, it’s the truth. I still haven’t been able to go in person to see you play, but I always watch the matches on TV."

Mason had an amazing idea.

"I’ll invite you to the next match, give me your number and I’ll get you free tickets."

You smiled, you didn’t need free tickets, but you were never gonna refuse to have Mason Mount’s number in your contacts. So when you started typing your number on his cell phone and you looked at him again, everything changed.

"Would you like to hang out?" you asked, expectant of his answer.

Mason smiled.

"Are you free now? I’m a little bored of this party."

That night, you went home with a trophy and Mason Mount.

#mason mount x reader #mason mount drabble #mason mount fluff #mason mount imagine #mason mount #mason mount one shot #mason mount one shots #mason mount imagines

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onceuponaoneshotfanfic · 1 year

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At The Movies

Part of my 900 Followers Celebration! Request: Hi!!! This is so exciting, congratulations on 900 followers!! Can I request “everything will be alright if you keep me next to you” with Roy? I’m obsessed with the way you write him (and all the Taylor prompts - I’m in love

Roy Kent x Actress!Reader 0.8k words Warnings: Language, fluffy fluffy fluff

Author's Note: Premise inspired by gentle hands, ankle clasps by the super talented @benedictscanvas 💖

You gripped Roy’s hand tightly as the car turned the corner. He eyed you gently, amusement on his face.

“Alright there?”

All you could do was nod and give his hand another little squeeze. It wasn’t like this was your first ever film role or first premiere; this was, however, the biggest one you’d ever attended, not to mention your first starring role, and it was for the highly anticipated adaptation of a best-selling book series. Definitely a “make it or break it” moment for your career.

Roy leaned over and kissed your temple, careful not to muss your hair. “It’s going to be great,” he promised, using that reassuring voice you’d heard so much over the last three years, especially during those months you were away shooting the film and spent all your free time facetiming your footballer boyfriend.

“What if it flops?” You wondered if your pout was ruining the pretty pink lipstick your makeup artist had painstakingly applied. “What if they hate it?” Your voice was impossibly small. “What if they hate me?”

“Fucking impossible.” He brought your white-knuckled hand to his lips and kissed it. “No one could ever hate you.”

You felt convinced for all of two seconds, until the car pulled up to the red carpet. Your eyes were wide again as you turned to Roy, panic settling on your face.

Used to pressure and lots of eyes on him, Roy shook his head at you. “You’ve got this. I’m right here.” He pressed his forehead to yours. “Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you.”

That was your plan.

Roy stepped out of the car first, giving an awkward wave before turning to offer you his hand and helping you out of the car. The shouts and screams were deafening, and you swore you’d be seeing spots the rest of the night thanks to the flashing cameras. But Roy’s hand was firmly in yours, fingers intertwined, giving you the confidence you needed to put one foot in front of the other and not teeter in the horribly high heels your stylist insisted were perfect.

Your name was called from far too many directions, but you plastered on a smile and did your best to look happy instead of terrified, wondering if your grip on Roy’s hand was cutting off circulation.

If it was, he wasn’t saying a word. Instead, he brought his lips to your ear to hum, “You’re a fucking goddess.”

His words must have spurred something in your heart, because you turned and kissed him full on the mouth, ignoring the accelerating click click click of dozens of cameras and shouts of yours and Roy’s names. All you wanted was to disappear into Roy’s arms- but he wasn’t about to let you do that. Instead, he urged you to walk on, only letting go of your hand so you could pose on your own, murmuring, “They’re here for you, you gorgeous thing.”

Once you’d had enough time in the spotlight, you gripped Roy’s hand again, now more out of affection than fear. The two of you paused so you could chat with a couple of reporters, who, thankfully, were very kind to you- probably because they knew Roy Kent’s legendary disdain for the media.

One reporter- a lovely young lady- was bold enough to aim a question at your boyfriend. “How proud are you of this woman here?” she asked, observing the way Roy’s eyes never left your face.

“Very,” was his monosyllabic response. Realizing both you and the reporter were waiting for more, he went on. “She’s a fucking force to be reckoned with, this one. Worked her arse off for this film, and I’m beyond excited to finally see the finished product.” He pushed a stray hair out of your face. “My only complaint is that she’s going to be working more than ever and I’ll have to deal with her being away from me all the fucking time.”

“You’ll just have to come visit me on set,” you teased, straightening his tie, the one you’d insisted on tying yourself back at your hotel room.

His response was a small peck to your lips, before offering a small wave of thanks to the journalist and moving you along.

After that, you found yourself enjoying yourself. You felt charming as you chatted with journalists, you hugged costars tightly, and you held back tears as your director told you how proud she was of you. All the while, Roy never left your side, watching you with a mix of love and admiration.

When you finally found your way inside the theatre and settled in your seats, you turned to face him, your heart swelling when you saw him already watching you.

“Was that so bad?” His eyes sparkled playfully.

You shook your head. “Not with you by my side.” You kissed the tip of his nose.

He brought his hand up to hold your chin gently, offering you one of those rare full smiles, the kind he usually saved just for you. “Any fucking time.”

#900 followers celebration #he's here he's there he's every fucking where #roy kent #roy kent x reader #roy kent fanfic #roy kent fic #roy kent fanfiction #roy kent fluff #ted lasso #ted lasso fic #ted lasso fanfic #ted lasso fanfiction

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hum-suffer · 9 months

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I'm yours

Ishan is a hopeless romantic. In the sense that his romantic interests never let him hope.

The most recent person that he has been head over heels for is going to give a seminar in their college and he's Ishan's favourite.

Ishan is the head of the Cultural and Intellectual Committee and as such, he's in charge of almost all the extracurricular events that take place in the college. He's always had such bloody issues with 90% of the guests and speakers for being unprepared or late that these days he just assumes that the guests will be late, but hopefully not too late.

Which, brings him back to his current romantic interest— Shubhman Gill.

The man has been guest speaker in their college twice by now, third time monday, and he has never disappointed Ishan. He's always on time, he's always perfectly dressed, and he always emails Ishan his speech and let's Ishan point out details that he would humbly request to add or remove. Ishan could have kissed him for being a half decent human being the very first time he did that.

Plus, the college being the Techno faculty, the super famous technological prodigy of India coming as a guest speaker, Shubhman sometimes gets assaulted with too many questions and people and sometimes with no good interactive audience at all and yet, he smiles and talks to the teachers afterwards.

The first time Shubhman talked to him, Ishan had been putting away the gifts Shubhman received so that the man could take them on his bike without damaging the Tulsi plant.

(And that was another thing. A famous and important personality coming on his fucking bike? Ishan drooled a little bit when he heard Shubhman softly ask Ritika ma'am for a place to keep his helmet at.)

"Thank you for inviting me," Shubhman told him in a bashful way, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

Inexplicably, Ishan wanted to bite those cheeks. He held himself in chem and smiled back,"Thank you for coming, Mr. Gill. You've been a pleasure to work with."

"Please, it's Shubhman! And honestly, I had fun coming here as well. I hear you're the organiser of the event; it's amazingly done, I must say. Your management is impeccable."

So what if Ishan let the praise get to his head? So what if he stalked Shubhman on Instagram later? They had exchanged numbers—for future seminars, Shubhman had explained, much to Ishan's misfortune— and Ishan was entitled to be a little over his head for once!

The second time they talked, was when Ishan congratulated Shubhman on his award as the leading influencer of social media. The third time was when Shubhman wished Ishan on his birthday. The fourth was when Ishan had to invite Shubhman for ALASKA organisation's collab with their college and his presence as a guest judge.

Shubhman had sought him out again.

"I had a lot of fun," he said with that damnable smile of his,"thank you for inviting me again, Ishan."

Ishan shook his head,"Thank you for coming, man. Honestly, your way of interaction makes learning more interesting for the students. And, well, throws me some points to become the favourite teacher of the year."

Shubhman laughed, a sound that Ishan wanted to get drunk on for the rest of his goddamn life. "You have those competitions?"

Ishan looked around dramatically and leaned towards Shubhman, as of telling a secret. Shubhman, that perfect man, leaned forward as well, looking completely serious about this so called secret.

Ishan reached on his tip toes to whisper,"The students do that in their classes on Teachers' day. If they do it publically, they have to give the best teacher paper crown to teachers senior than me. So, a private award for me to take."

Somewhere in the background, something huge fell and Ishan startled badly enough to almost stumble but Shubhman caught him by the arm and grinned,"Cheers to the best teacher, then. What's the other activities you planned amazingly?"

And that's how Shubhman had ended up getting VIP passes to see the Darshan Raval concert that had been arranged.

Virat bhaiya had raised an eyebrow at Ishan showing Shubhman around the campus while they prepared for the concert lightings and all, but hadn't said anything. Ishan was so thankful.

They haven't talked in the four months after Ishan wished Shubhman a happy birthday.

____________________________________________________

So, in short, Ishan is a hopeless romantic. He turns every little gesture into a gesture of love and he has many one sided love stories that live rent free in his head.

He would have romantisized this as well, to be honest, if he wasn't confused as fuck.

He's been home for all of five minutes after a damn long day— it's exam season— and all he wants to do is flop on his bed and sleep for the next four weeks. A text pops up on his phone, from an unknown number.

'Are you tired, love? Anything I can do to help?'

Ishan frowns. None of his friends changed their numbers recently and moreover, none of them use nicknames. Can't be a student, no student of his would dare disrespect him. He may be lenient most of the time, but he's tempered enough to break their audacity on the very first lecture.

'Who is this?'

The reply came instantly. 'Your admirer? Your worshipper? Your fan?' a second passed as Ishan gawked at the message. Another message dropped. 'Whatever I am, I'm yours.'

Well, damn. Someone's smooth.

'Thank you for your kind words, but I prefer not to own people. It's illegal yk?' Ishan feels like an idiot as soon as he sends the text but he can't do anything because it's seen immediately. The person on the other side must be bloody stuck to their chat.

They send a few laughing emojis. 'I could turn the world around for you to be mine, though.'

Goddamn.

Ishan leaves the message on seen as he types the unknown number on Truecaller, but there's no registered name under the number.

He's about to leave and go freshen up when another message pops up.

'Searching for me on Truecaller will result to nothing, love.'

Ishan leaves the message on delivered as he looks around himself, his big house feeling emptier by the second. He blocks the number, somehow feeling a weird mix of anticipation and trepidation. He takes a fortifying breath and nods to himself, throwing his phone on the dinning table on his way to his bed room.

He tries to get the message out of his head as he looks for another YouTube video to see while eating his dinner.

'Do you know that blocking someone in the middle of the conversation is rude, Ishan?' the pop up message reads.

'Fuck off.'

____________________________________________________

There's a swarm of notifications going off and that's how Ishan wakes up at the ungodly hour of 2:34 am.

He blindly reaches for his phone, the brightness will kill him he's sure, but somehow manages to read the notifications with squinted eyes.

It's an annual Spotify subscription? What the fuck?

He scrambles to sit up and turns on the lamp, trying to focus more. The bloody notifications are an absolute onslaught to his ears. He even has an email announcing his annual Spotify premium account but there's no SMS of deduction from his account. What even—

Before he can start to plan a schedule to go to the bank tomorrow and also somehow plan a call to the customer service of Spotify, another message from that unknown number pops up.

'Happy belated Birthday, Ishan. Sorry I couldn't get you any actual gifts this time, I'll do better next time.'

Next bloody time?

'There won't be a bloody next time. Don't interfere in my life again. And cancel this bloody premium, i don't need it.'

And he lies.

He does need the premium for when he pulls all nighters and for when he drives to and fro to college. He needs it because he needs someone to talk and listen when he wants to be awake and podcasts are the only way that happens lately when he's off work.

Yes, he has a horrid social life— as a professor often does. All his friends are his colleagues. His family usually knows that he pulls insane hours and they only call at weekends.

'Don't reject it, pls' the message comes, as Ishan ponders his lonely life. When was the last time he enjoyed his life thoroughly? Another message pops up. 'Look, I just want to do something nice for you, okay? Leave it be, it's not your money thats costing you and I've got plenty of money to spend on my dear ones, with god's grace.'

Ishan doesn't know what to reply and he is incensed at himself for it. What the fuck? Ishan has never been greedy or wanted what he couldn't have. This random person suddenly gifts him a Spotify premium, Ishan contemplates his life and he hesitates in doing the right thing?

'Pls Ishan?'

Oh god, he can hear the puppy eyes. He turns off his internet and throws the phone on the bed. Somehow, Ishan manages to sleep.

____________________________________________________

The next morning, it's thankfully Saturday. His Saturdays go great almost always.

His hand itches to listen to his Spotify playlist he's made specifically for travel, but he doesn't want to use a stranger's gift. The stranger might know him and do it out of good of his heart or whatever, but Ishan, in all good conscience cannot use someone for their money.

As he absentmindedly drinks his evening tea, Ishan contemplates any tasks he has for the next day— grocery shopping, getting a haircut, finding a plumber to fix that minor leakage in his kitchen tap. It's gonna be a long day.

"Ishan!" He blinks up like a deer in highlights as he's startled by Rohit bhaiya. "What are you thinking?"

"Kuch nahi, bhaiya," he says and grins when Rohit bhaiya puts his hand on his shoulder. Ishan has always been a fan of skinship, and while Virat bhaiya being touchy is normal and comforting, Rohit bhaiya being touchy is rewarding and privileged. "Aap batao, how was your day?"

He groans in reply,"Puchh mat, Bhai. These B.Com students look innocent but they're so not! Apparently some kids sold around a paper of Accounts saying it's a leaked paper but it wasn't and making it clear to the students as well the board members? Hell. Why did I even accept to be the Secretary there when I'm Dean here too?"

Ishan laughs,"Because you love Virat bhaiya and lost a bet?"

"Shh, don't speak about it where students can hear you!"

Ishan laughs again. Feeling happy is a natural state of his when he's around his colleagues, they're all so good to him. It's what makes him stay in the college despite him getting offers from a lot of colleges in bigger cities. He's never gonna get the same affection anywhere else and he's ready to face some separation with his family while he works here. He's already made it clear that they're gonna come love with after his father finally retires.

"Accha, tell me what is the status of overmorrow's seminar?"

The one where his celebrity crush is going to be the main speaker?

"Spectacular. I've done everything, bas I'll get the flowers and the gift watch and everything else is set. Bhaiya bas Monday ko maachis dhundhni na pade, haa?"

It happens almost every damn time. It'd be ten minutes from arrival time of the guest and Ishan would tell some student to get the matchsticks for the auspicious diya lighting and no one would find the matchsticks. With everyone else, it's fine, but Shubhman? He's a punctual man, running around like headless chicken in front of him is not how he wants to establish himself and his students.

Rohit bhaiya nods understandingly. "Pakka. Varna ye apna hai na vo, usse lighter le ke candle light karke de Dena."

Ishan shakes his head at the confusing slang Rohit bhaiya uses. Amar, one of his students, has a smoking habit and hence carries around a lighter. The idiot always saves himself by offering his lighter at times when lighting something was necessary.

"Thik. Anyways, I'm going home, bhaiya. Anything left for me to do?"

Rohit bhaiya shakes his head with a grin and lets him go.

Its almost reflex when Ishan puts his earphones in and starts Chhaiya Chhaiya.

The bloody quality makes him blink and straighten up. And oh. Yeah, he's using premium.

Even as he feels a little guilty, his head bops to the beat as he drives back home.

____________________________________________________

When Ishan comes back home again, his garden looks different.

He's convinced that it's because he's not inspecting it properly so he crouches down and cranes his neck to look at the grass and some flower plants he has. He can't put his finger on it, but it's different.

He glances around the rest of his garden and that's when it catches his eye— the mower. And the pile of grass beside.

Someone fucking mowed his garden? And somehow, to the exact way he likes it.

And then, he hears the start of a two-wheeler, and before he's even out of the gate, the person has turned the corner and all Ishan can see is the shade of their taillight on the trees.

Ishan hightails it inside his house and checks it all over.

No lock broken, no thing stolen and no money moved. Everything is as it was when he left in the morning.

His phone pings with another message.

'Sorry to leave like that, ik it was obnoxious'

'how'd you like your garden tho? Did I do well?'

And. Ishan is a weak man, okay?

He knows this is wrong, he knows he has a stalker probably, and someone with probably deep issues, but. He bloody can't accept such big help without saying anything in gratitude, okay? He's weak.

'Its fine, tho I'd like to meet you someday' what the fuck is he saying. He wants to meet a probable sociopath?

'And thanks for the garden. You've done it perfectly and it's a great help. Thank you' there. He's been polite.

Another message comes. 'I think you'll enjoy our meeting a lot, love. And your welcome'

No other messages pop up throughout the evening.

Ishan denies to even himself that he checks his phone every five minutes for the stranger.

He's intrigued, he says to himself when he goes to sleep.

____________________________________________________

Tagging: @mayakimayahai @onthecloudseven @ek-ladki-bheegi-bhagi-si @kyayaarkiraa @fortunatelycrazyyouth @khwxbeeda @ispeakmorelanguagesthanyou @ishkrisq

#desiblr #suffer ye suhana nahi #desi tumblr #ishman #shubhish #ishan kishan #shubhman gill

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selfshipping-central · 4 months

Text

Matchup for 🕷 anon!!

Fandom: Obey Me

Satan!! (Romantic)

I’ve decided to pair you with Satan!! Everyone’s favourite cat lover <3

I do wanna talk a little about his reaction to coming out first, if you two are already in a romantic relationship by this point oh my god he is so supportive and so patient.

Want’s to learn everything so he’ll ask you so many questions!!

“So… did you figure it out? How did you figure it out??”

He might forget that a few of them are seen as offensive so you might need to remind him ≡(▔﹏▔)≡

“Oh sorry- I didn’t mean to offend you darling.”

Bless him he just wants to learn more about you <3

Oh my god he’ll take you binder shopping with Asmo. While Asmo is buying all the cute pretty ones you and Satan are looking at Miku binder and giggling.

“We should get this one.”

The only other person I see being almost as hype as Satan when you come out is Asmo.

You and Satan defiantly have some sort of ‘piggybank’ for your surgeries.

Stays by your side the minute you’re out, fretting over you.

This piggybank is heavily protected. Mammon has been banned form dipping his grubby lil fingers into the account lest Lucifer hang him from the ceiling again.

“Wait I didn’t mean to Satan I didn’t know!! Please don’t get Lucifer.”

He doesn’t mind how silly you are online, he’s not a big social media user but he’ll post pictures of you both on Devilgram.

“Asmo said to post pictures of us on our dates. So smile for the camera darling.”

Loves how shy you are.

It reminds him of a cat.

Unironically calls you ‘kitten’.

“Kitten come here.” *The horrid sound of Mammon’s laughter as he falls to the floor gasping for air.*

You two can be overachievers together. The only thing scarier than Lucifer is you and Satan during exam prep.

“Now listen here darling. I’m not letting you beat me on this exam just you wait.”

Can I hear it for academic rivals to lovers?!

You two are always comparing marks and either congratulating each other, or cursing the heavens.

Somewhere, far away. Simeon sneezes.

You need that academic praise? He’s got you.

“Wait you got full marks on that one? I was sure you would lose a few… wow darling. You must be better at Devildom history than me… that’s impressive for a human. Good job.”

Is so confused if you start crying because of the praise.

“Did I do something wrong?? All I did was attempt to praise you-”

Adores quality time. You might be sitting next to him while you crochet while he studies or watches cat videos or something and he’s having the time of his life.

Doesn’t get overly jealous of other demons, but he will get really pissed off if he catches anyone near you that are clearly pushing your boundaries.

Teach him how to play some basketball.

Once he get’s the hand of it he might slam you at it.

All friendly obviously.

Set bets for each other, the kind if you lose you gotta do yadda yadda for Satan and vice versa.

Gives you both that extra push to go all out.

Think’s your makeup is pretty cool and would let you try putting some on him. But only after Asmo is done having his half hour makeup session with you.

He honestly doesn’t really care about the way you look, dress, etc. If you are getting dysphoria or are feeling particularly insecure, he will do his best to make you feel as comfortable as possible.

Simply stands off in the corner while Asmo helps you with fashion.

Oh could you please show him how to wear a jacker properly its really fucking annoying <33

Takes you to cat cafes.

Late night karaoke?

Late night karaoke.

#matchups #not selfship #ask #friends selfship <3 #ari matches˚༘⋆ ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖

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midnightactual · 4 months

Note

Thanks for responding to my question so promptly. Yeah, I completely agree with your comment. When we look at the material, they're not friends. They're loosely aligned individuals forced to remain in each other's orbit by factors outside their control (High school, Aizen and Urahara's 5D chess match, etc etc), and would've gone their separate ways come graduation.

I mean, high school friendships can grow into life-long relations, but in my lived experience, those tend to be the exception, not the rule.

ESPECIALLY Ichigo. I'm not saying Ichigo should've drop everything and moved to the Soul Society (despite everything in the narrative telling us his presence alone would literally break reality if he returned to the human world post-royal guard training), but after all the shit he's been through, with all the lies he's been fed his entire life and everything in the narrative pointed to Karakura being symbolic of his complete misery, compounded by all the horrible traumatic memories he has there - I'd sooner believe he'd get the hell out of dodge and never speak to these people again.

Sure, he might send a genetic FaceBook message once-a-blue-moon to congratulate a particular life milestone, but by and large, that's basically how I expected them all to go. They keep each other on their Social media friends list because they sorta-kinda knew each other once upon a time but without crazy circumstances forcing them together, they just... drift apart, go about their lives in separate parts of the world.

(And I won't even get started on Rukia's side of the story)

If Kubo wanted me to believe these people grew into such legit great friends, he did a damn poor job of it.

[ re: this ask ]

Many other people (strongly) disagree with me about it, and it is open to interpretation, and in transformative work people can do whatever they want, but in canon I am personally absolutely convinced both Chad and Uryū are permanently done with Ichigo's ass.

We know from the map of Karakura that Ryūken's hospital is maybe at most a 3-5 minute walk from the Kurosaki household, so if Uryū had the time to go on an "extended lunch break" (per the nurses) up on the roof to watch Chad's match, then he had the time to walk to the party. He didn't need the whole day off and that's nonsense. Now maybe he's not at Ryūken's hospital! But that would mean he moved away and left Karakura behind, and that seems unlikely given he's in Karakura to support Keigo opening a ramen shop, which is frankly far less important than Chad's boxing match. (I think this goes without saying. Uryū is not close to Keigo, and only Ichigo and Mizuiro are there, not everyone.)

The fact he doesn't interact at the ramen shop, is only identified by Kubo pointing out it's him in Klub Outside, and takes no part in dealing with the Hell Hollow situation (despite Szayelaporro showing up!) tells me that the 686 color spread of him facing the other way means he's over it and has come to agree with his dad. Accordingly, I choose to believe he deliberately didn't go to the party in 686, because he absolutely could've if he was still in Karakura, which he seems to be.

Likewise, we know that Chad is doing the WBO Heavyweight Title Match, as sponsored by Y. Hans Enterprises. Riruka makes a big point about how all the Fullbringers owe Ichigo:

It's not like Yukio wouldn't know this. And Yukio's whole thing is making himself feel useful to others no matter how much he acts otherwise, as he more or less directly tells Jackie (though it's obvious with him financing Xcution's various headquarters amenities):

So, what, Yukio couldn't have flown Ichigo and everyone else out to see Chad's match, if that's what Chad had wanted? Come on. It'd have been nothing to him, because his entire character is that money is meaningless to him. What does that tell you?

It tells you that Chad didn't want that.

Now add that on top of Chad not telling Ichigo about Xcution in the first place, not using the coin Ichigo saved as his Fullbring, and questioning Ichigo's resolve in TYBW. What does that constellation say? He's over dealing with Ichigo and has known they aren't really friends for the last two arcs.

So, as far as I'm concerned, Kubo did write that they all went "their separate ways come graduation". That's what these things tell me, anyway. I believe it is actually canon that they are not really friends as of the epilogue.

(And I carry this onward to other characters as well. I do not see Yoruichi and Kisuke playing some shared Mr. Miyagi role toward Ichigo, because they didn't do that even when he was obliged to interact with them. Why would they keep it up when it was no longer necessary? They wouldn't. It's simply not the vibe of canon thematically, nor of them as characters.)

[EDIT] Also, this phenomena gets directly called out right before the earlier panel of Yukio. Jackie admits she has realized Xcution weren't friends, just associates by circumstance. Yukio absorbs that, and moves on from it by choosing to make their connection real in its own right. Ichigo and company never had this talk and settled for believing in an illusion, even when they knew it was a mirage. This is literally Chad's entire character arc from Xcution Arc, through TYBW: just like Jackie, he knows it's fake, he just never says it.

#Out Of Character #Bleach #Asks #Meta #anonymous

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parkminijiminie · 11 months

Note

I want to ask your honest feeling about JK not posting anything for Jimin. He has a Tiktok Account. He could post a smfp2 or LC dance challenge. He could post a Letter photo on Weverse or write a small post on Weverse.

but he did nothing

A lot of big accounts told us to wait and see. I waited. I saw nothing.

You are the only one seeing things clearly. I really want your take on Jimin's birthday.Jimin showed us the pouch from Jin. He showed us the pancakes from Suga. He showed us the edit from Tae. RM JHope and Tae all posted for Jimin on Instagram. RM came and said Happy Birthday in person.

What happened?

I was one of those people who said, "Let's wait and see how things will play out" when that video first came out. Now, all I have to say can be summarized as "If he wanted to, he fucking would".

Let me elaborate on my thought process:

So far, the rumors about the video died down completely. Most likely, the company took care of the issues, and legal procedures are on their way. No confirmation of the identity of the person. JK said he doesn't have a girlfriend, and he wanted to focus on work for a couple of years. And that's it. Many of us waited for something big to happen in Jikook's land in light of everything, but we basically got nothing. JK is focused on his promotions, JM is doing his things. They see each other, they are on good terms but we haven't seen anything more than that. If they really were together, considering all the noise around the video, one would expect that they, especially JK, would make sure to do something to subtly show where his affections are and Jimin's birthday was the perfect opportunity for it, but alas, nothing again.

This isn't to say JK didn't congratulate him in private. In fact, he for sure did. JM himself said all the members did, but JK didn't post anything. We know JK isn't very consistent with congratulating the members on their birthdays. He had missed many such occasions before, and it isn't a big deal. Not everything should be on social media. Still, for years, he always made an exception for Jimin, and this year, he didn't. Why?

One could also argue that JK probably did something special for JM in private, besides a quick text, but we don't actually know that. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. From Jimin's words in his wlive, I am more inclined to think there were no special plans between the two of them. I'd wager and say each was busy through the day with his own thing, and they didn't even meet, but I could still be wrong. And yes, JK is very busy, but that doesn't really matter. When a person cares, they will find a way, especially for their partner and especially when they live in the same city. Jin did, and he is in the military ffs. And let's not forget, JM once traveled halfway through the world just to spend a few hours with JK on his birthday.

Even if I am wrong and JK actually did something for JM in private, so did all the other members, yet they still congratulated him on social media too, because they know the fans look out for it and expect it. And in the case they still hadn't done it, like with Suga, JM made sure to show what each of them did, so we would know, yet he didn't mention JK at all, other than to say he worries about him. I believe that if they really were together, no matter what, they would have done something on this day together, and we would somehow know of it, just like before in the past. All of that makes me believe there was nothing to tell or show.

All the speculations about private plans and meetings aside, I still I circle back to this question: "If JM was Jungkook's long-term partner, as people claim, would JK really not post anything, when it takes so little time, when he knows people, especially those who believe in them, are waiting for it, especially given the recent rumors about the video?". It would have been the perfect opportunity to showcase his affections for JM to the world. Given everything that recently happened, it's kind of shitty not to take this chance. Would JK be that type of boyfriend? I doubt it.

My conclusion hurts me, but it is the one that makes the most sense to me: Nothing special happened between Jikook on this day, because there is nothing more special between them. Right now, they seem to be just friends, and that's it. They love each other, they care for each other, and they have each other in their thoughts, but they are not together.

I would be more than happy to be wrong and will be the first one to admit it if new information comes up, but I won't be holding my breath.

#jikook #kookmin #jungkook #jimin

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waru-chan8 · 2 years

Note

Just wanted to say thank you for posting the things said in cuatro tiempos. I’m not sure how many episodes there will be, but I’m relishing every moment you post (or Jorge posts on Instagram and I half understand)

Also quick question, was the (in)famous handshake in 2008?? It’s said the worst of their rivalry was in 2008 so what are some things that happened??

Lol I'm glad you like my post. I felt like I'm screaming to the void only the bits I find curios or I like. I was lucky that this episode was mostly about Dani and Jorge relationship and rivalries so it was a gold mine. Cuatro Tiempos is just 4 episodes, so we are half way done, but probably I'll rewatch some times and bring other bits if I feel like, or if someone ask for something from it.

If you want more bits of footatge, Izaskun Ruiz post in her insta stories the content DAZN post, plus she post interviews and photos of the team on track and they are funny to watch.

2008-2009 it's Dani's and Jorge's pick of rivalry basically because they have been forced to fight against each other since 2002 when Jorge debut on the championship. Basically all around them made them "enemies" plus their riding style and actituts. Dani was Honda's golden boy, he had the seal of approval from DORNA plus the support Jorge lacked (and a Cola Cao ad). Dani was the angel and Jorge the bad boy.

When they where both fighting in 250cc (year 2005), there was lots of contacts on track plus a lot of accusations flighting between Jorge, Puig and Amatriain. According to Jorge and Puig it was a way to destabilize the other rider on track and a means to and end. Back then, Jorge was very aggressive, he saw a gap and he throw himself there, which caused him a race ban. Spanish media was all over them back then.

Then Dani went to MotoGP as 3 times consecutively World Champion (125 in 2003 and 250 in 2004 and 2005). There was 2 years without their fights on track as Jorge was fighting for his 2 tittles in 250.

So in 2008 they both found themself in the same track with more or less equal machines fighting. Media was all over them to reignite the 250cc fight and because it was the first time that Spaniards had 2 very competitive riders on track fighting and having options to win in the big category. So again it was more about people around them than them.

But then again Dani has said, he did not like when Jorge won him, and by the type of character he his, it led to this:

So basically Jorge had been recriminating Dani to not congratulate him on the podium in Qatar. Then in Jerez, Jorge went to congratulate Dani for his pole, with a handshake, but Dani ignored him and Jorge and the other rider in there where kind of shocked.

The next day, Dani won the race and Jorge finished in 3rd place, so they had to share a podium. The King of Spain, Juan Carlos I (the older guy) was and is a fan of the races and was in charge of giving the trophies so he went to the cold-down room/the back of the podium and forced the hand shake. During the podium they did not look at each other.

This is according to the media, their worst/lowest point in their relationship, but Dani said pre-2010, so I'm guessing 2009 was like that too.

In 2012, it's when media and everyone knew that the hatched was buried and they where friends, when this happened in Qatar

And if there was doubts, Jorge asked Dani to marry him on a press conference that same year

I hope this is enough to answer the question

#Ask #Victoria's tag #MotoGP #250cc #125cc #DAZN Spain #Cuatro Tiempos #Dani Pedrosa #Jorge Lorenzo #Alberto Puig #Dani Amatriain #Pedrenzo #Rey Juan Carlos I #Juan Carlos I

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sjerzgirl · 2 years

Text

There's a lot of news going on about the "black hole girl" right now, and how she's being given too much credit for her role in the historic first image of a black hole. Because this is too important, I want to set the record straight.Remember the kmi

Once Katie Bouman became the "face" of the black hole photo, and articles began to call her "the woman behind the black hole photo", an assortment of people that I'm strongly inclined to call incels but won't decided to figure out just how much of a role she had in it. Why? You'd have to ask them. Something about her attractiveness, youthfulness, and femaleness disturbed them to the point where they had to go digging.

And after digging, they found Andrew Chael, who wrote an algorithm, and put his algorithm online. Andrew Chael worked on the black hole photo as well. And because people kept saying that Katie Bouman wrote "the algorithm", these people decided that "the algorithm" in question must be Chael's.

So they looked at Chael's GitHub repository and checked the history. The history showed that Andrew Chael's commits totaled more than 850,000 lines, while Katie Bouman contributed only 2,400.

"Oh my god!" they all said. "He did almost all of the work on the algorithm and yet she's the one getting all of the credit!"

They dug a little deeper - but not much - and discovered that the algorithm that "ultimately" generated the world-famous photo was created a different man, named Mareki Honma.

"She's taken the credit from two men!" they gasped. "Feminism and the PC media is destroying everything!"

There were, of course, those who tried to be kind. "She's always said that this was a team effort," they said. "We don't blame her, we blame the media. She didn't ask to become the poster girl of a team project she barely contributed to."

Meanwhile, Andrew Chael - a gay man - tweeted in defense of her. He thanked people for congratulating him on the work he'd spent years on but clarified that if they were doing so as a part of a sexist attack on Katie Bouman, they should go away and reconsider their lives. He said that his work couldn't have happened without Katie.

And it turns out that he was the one who took the viral photo of Bouman, specifically because he didn't want her contributions to be lost to history

So I decided to find out for myself what Katie Bouman's actual contributions were. As a programmer, I'm well aware that the number of GitHub commits means nothing without context. And Chael himself clarified that the lines being counted in the commits were from automatic commits of large data files. The actual software was made up of 68,000 lines, and though he didn't count how many he did personally (having said he doesn't actually care how much of it he personally authored), someone else assessed that he wrote about 24,000 of those.

Whether 68,000 or 24,000-- it's more than 2,400 right? Why call it "her" algorithm, then?

Because there's more than one algorithm being referenced here. These people just don't realize it.

I'll work my way backward because it's easier to explain that way.

The photo that everyone is looking at, the world famous black hole photo? It's actually a composite photo. It was generated by an algorithm credited to Mareki Honma. Honma's algorithm, based on MRI technology, is used to "stitch together" photos and fill in the missing pixels by analyzing the surrounding pixels.

But where did the photos come from that are composited into this photo?

The photos making up the composite were generated by 4 separate teams, led by Katie Bouman and Andrew Chael, Kazu Akiyama and Sara Issaoun, Shoko Koyama, Jose L. Gomez, and Michael Johnson. Each team was given a copy of the black hole data and isolated from each other. Between the four of them, they used two techniques - an older, traditional one called CLEAN, and a newer one called RML - to generate an image.

The purpose of this division and isolation of teams was deliberately done to test the accuracy of the black hole data they were all using. If four isolated teams using different algorithms all got similar results, that would indicate that the data itself was accurate.

And lo, that's exactly what happened. The data wasn't just good, it's the most accurate of its kind. 5 petabytes (millions of billions of bytes) worth of accurate black hole data.

But where did the data come from?

Eight radio telescopes around the world trained their attention on the night sky in the direction of this black hole. The black hole is some ungodly distance away, a relative speck amidst billions of celestial bodies. And what the telescopes caught was not only the data of the black hole but the data of everything else as well.

Data that would need to be sorted.

Clearly, it's not the sort of thing you can sort by hand. To separate the wheat (one specific black hole's data) from the chaff (literally everything else around and between here and there) required an algorithm that could identify and single it out, calculations that were crunched across 800 CPUs on a 40Gbit/s network. And given that the resulting black hole-specific data was 5 petabytes (hundreds of pounds worth of hard drives!) you can imagine that the original data set was many times larger.

The algorithm that accomplished this feat was called CHIRP, short for "Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors".

CHIRP was created by Katie Bouman.

At the age of 23, she knew nothing about black holes. Her field is computer science and artificial intelligence, topics she'd been involved in since high school. She had a theory about the shadows of black holes, and her algorithm was designed to find those shadows. Katie Bouman used a variety of what MIT called "clever algebraic solutions" to overcome the obstacles involved in creating the CHIRP algorithm. And though she had a team working to help her, her name comes first on the peer-reviewed documentation.

It's called the CHIRP algorithm because that's what she named it. It's the only reason these images could be created, and it's responsible for creating some of the images that were incorporated into the final image. It's the algorithm that made the effort of collecting all that data worth it. Any data analyst can tell you that you can't analyze or visualize data until it's been prepared first. Cleaned up. Narrowed down to the important information.

That's what Katie Bouman did, and after working as a data analyst for two years with a focus on this exact thing - data transformation - I can tell you it's not easy. It's not easy on the small data sets I worked with, where I could wind up spending a week looking for the patterns in a 68K Excel spreadsheet containing only one month's worth of programming for a single TV station!

Katie Bouman's 2,400 line contribution to Andrew Chael's work is on top of all of her other work. She spent five years developing and refining the CHIRP algorithm before leading four teams in testing the data created. The data collection phase of this took 10 days in April 2017, when the eight telescopes simultaneously trained their gazes towards the black hole.

This photo was ultimately created as a way to test Katie Bouman's algorithm for accuracy. MIT says that it's frequently more accurate than similar predecessors. And it is the algorithm that gave us our first direct image of a black hole.

Around the internet, there are people who have the misperception that Katie Bouman is just the pretty face, a minor contributor to a project where men like Andrew Chael and Mareki Honma deserve the credit. There are people pushing memes and narratives that she's only being given such acclaim because of feminism. And because Katie Bouman refuses to say that this was anything other than a team effort, even the most flattering comments about her still place her contributions to the photo at less-than-equal contribution to others.

But I'm writing to set the story straight:

When it is written that Katie Bouman is the woman "behind the black hole photo", it is objectively true. She wasn't the only woman, but her work was crucial to making all of this happen.

When Andrew Chael says that his software could not have worked without her, he isn't just being a stand-up guy, he's being literal. And there are those who could just as easily say the same about his contribution, or the contributions of many others.

And while it's true that every one of the 200+ people involved played an important role, Katie Bouman deserves every ounce of superstardom she receives.

If there must be a face to this project - and there usually is - then why shouldn't it be her, her fingers twined across her lips, her gleeful eyes luminous and wide with awe and joy?

Edited:

Thinking on it a little further, I felt I should clarify that I'm not actually trying to downplay Andrew Chael. His imaging algorithm is actually the result of years of effort, a labor of love. Each image that could be composited into the final photo brought with it a unique take on the data, without which the final photo wouldn't have been complete.

So let's take a moment to celebrate the fact that two of the most integral contributors to the first direct photo of a black hole

were a woman

and a gay man.

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2nd Update (LONG!)

I went to bed at 19 shares on a post I wrote to vent to my FB friends, and now it's over 2K. I guess it's gone viral. That means I have some work to do.

I'm going to provide a list of the various articles I read to piece this together. When I wrote this, I wasn't trying to write an essay so I didn't put sources in and I didn't ensure that every detail is 100% accurate. So I'm doing that now.

Any edits I make are mentioned below (apart from spelling/grammar fixes). The resources that led me to write this are listed below. And because I value accuracy, I welcome people to point out mistakes of any kind. I'll make corrections and credit them here.

Edit: I incorrectly wrote that Bouman worked on the algorithm for 6 years and spent 2 years refining it. This was an accidental mush of facts: She's been working on this project for a total of 6 years (ages 23 to 29). She spent 3 years building CHIRP and 2 years refining it. I've corrected that and included that she led the four teams, as two separate articles mention it.

Edit: One of the leads for the 4 team project was a man named Jose L Gomez. I added that to the above, after being sent a twitter thread from Xu S. Han. Thank you! Twitter thread here:

https://twitter.com/saraissaoun/status/1116304522660519936?s=21

Edit: Thanks to Zoë Barraclough and someone who would prefer not to be named, for messaging me with another couple of edits. As confirmed on Kazu Akiyama's twitter, there were more than four leaders for the four imaging teams. As I find out the names of these co-leaders, I'll incorporate them into the post.

NEWEST LINK:

A very astute commenter left a note that included this link:

Caltech colloquium, Friday, April, 12th — “Imaging a Black Hole [Shadow] with the Event Horizon Telescope”: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UGL_OL3OrCE

This hour-long presentation is of Katie Bouman describing in more detail. If you have some time, watch it! It does get technical but she keeps it engaging.

SOURCES:

http://news.mit.edu/2016/method-image-black-holes-0606

This is a 2016 MIT article announcing CHIRP. It gives a pretty excellent idea about the magnitude of Bouman's contribution.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/229675-mit-researcher-develops-new-algorithm-for-imaging-black-holes

This goes into detail about Katie Bouman's algorithm. It describes how her algorithm differs from normal/traditional interferometric algorithms. This article explains the difficulty she faced in how trying to capture a black hole is like trying to photograph "a grapefruit on the moon." This also explains how Bouman's algorithm made all of this work-- it combines all of the data from the participating telescopes into, in essence, one massive telescope.

https://youtu.be/BIvezCVcsYs

This is a 2016 TEDx talk from Bouman where she describes her work. Note: though I am intentionally focusing on her contributions specifically to defend the attention she's getting, she makes it clear that this was a team effort. She always gives credit to her teammates who work with her. She is full of humility and wonder.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/klbouman/pw/papers_and_presentations/cvpr2016_bouman.pdf

This is the paper based on Bouman's work, where she's listed as first author. The position of her name is important. While the meaning of being first author can differ in certain fields, I'm basing the 'primary contributor' interpretation on the fact that multiple other articles say she was lead, MIT refers to the algorithm as hers, as well as the fact that she named CHIRP.

https://github.com/achael/eht-imaging

This is Andrew Chael's imaging library available on GitHub. It's where our original "sleuths" discovered that Bouman had contributed very little and assumed that she was stealing the glory from others. NOTE: Andrew Chael didn't make these claims or ask for this sort of attention!

https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.06156

This is a paper describing Chael's work, which is impressive. Bouman is in the position of last author. Again, the relevance of the author order can differ, but the common significance of 'last author' is either the supervisor or the relative least contribution. In Bouman's paper, the position of last author seemed to indicate supervisor(s) based on the organization hierarchy on the EHT website. In this instance, I interpret Bouman's name being last as her being a minor contributor to Chael's specific work.

https://eventhorizontelescope.org/

This is the official EHT telescope website. I can't remember what I looked at here, it's in my history. I think I was trying to find out who Bouman's project lead was.

https://twitter.com/thisgreyspirit/status/1116518544961830918

This is the twitter thread where Chael defends Katie. He explains that he didn't write 850K lines, defends Katie and says that his algorithm couldn't have worked without her, mentions his LGBTQ status, and more. He seems like a great guy.

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.1.20190411a/full/

This article speaks to some of the other people involved, including the project leader Sheperd Doeleman. This describes the process they went through in creating the black hole image and is where I got the information about how they split the teams into 4, and how the final image is a composite.

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-scientist-superstar-katie-bouman-algorithm.html

This is the article that talks about CHIRP sorting through a "true mountain" of data, and how that data was passed out to four teams to check for accuracy.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/10/black-hole-picture-captured-for-first-time-in-space-breakthrough

This article talks about Bouman coming up with a new algorithm to "stitch data across the EHT network" of telescopes, and how she led an elaborate series of tests (splitting the data up across four teams, etc) to verify that the output wasn't the result of a glitch or fluke.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904110037.html

This article explains Honma's significant role. It describes what Honma's algorithm does and how it was used in this project.

https://www.nao.ac.jp/en/news/science/2019/20190410-eht.html

Here is another article that goes into more detail about Honma and team. He does a great job of explaining how all of the algorithms in question were, in fact, capable of producing accurate images of the black hole, and a part of the task of his algorithm was to verify the accuracy of those generated photos.

The final link is the document by all 200+ participants. This document is important because it gives such a clear idea of the work that went into this, the fabric of which Bouman is an integral part. While I'm intentionally highlighting her contributions in defense of her, it should be understood that, like with most scientific breakthroughs, there were many unsung heroes:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0ec7

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Final Update:

As the furor begins to die down, I'm glad to see that more and more information is coming out about the people involved in this. I'm going to stop editing this post now, as it's been an exhilerating and exhausting process. But on a final note, I want to answer a few common questions.

FAQ:

Q: Why did you write this?

A: To counter the viral narrative that Katie Bouman contributed nothing to this years-long endeavor.

Q: Why didn't you call her Dr. Bouman? She has a title.

A: Without being certain of everyone's title, I decided to leave all titles off. This was an intentional decision to avoid the appearance of slighting other contributors.

Q: Are you trying to give her full credit for the project?

A: No. I don't believe that highlighting one person's contributions to something is the same as giving them full credit. When someone does a 'profile in courage' of a war veteran, they're not saying that one person won the entire war on their own, just that they played a vital part.

Q: What is your background? Are you a scientist?

A: I'm not a scientist and I don't have a college degree. I attended college briefly, first as a vocal major and later as a web development major. My knowledge of programming and data is self-taught and developed through work environments. My work experiences began with an internship for Independence Blue Cross and turned into a number of opportunities in multimedia, graphic and web design, programming, and most recently data analysis and data transformation with TiVo. Data remains my current field. Astrophysics is just a passion I've had since childhood.

Q: What do you think of the Occupy Democrats meme that she did everything 'single-handedly'?

A: I feel that's categorically false and I wish they hadn't done that. While I think that there' a legitimate purpose to celebrating women's roles in STEM, it's important at all times to be objective and accurate in all accounts.

Q: Do you think everyone who questioned her contributions are incels?

A: No. I'm one of those people who ultimately questioned her contributions as well, and I'm not an incel. Wanting to know the truth is legitimate. What isn't legitimate are the sexist and misogynist attacks she endured.

That's all, folks. Love and light to you all.There's a lot of news going on about the "black hole girl" right now, and how she's being given too much credit for her role in the historic first image of a black hole. Because this is too important, I want to set the record straight.