#fun fact two of those pics are actually from the two movies based on a separate peace

[ptergwen]

through the lens

w/c: 2.3k

warnings: swearing and mentions of blood (all fluff tho!)

summary: yours and peter’s date night doesn’t go as planned, thanks to his “little” accident and mj’s photography project

a/n: it’s been a minute but i’m back! for now lol i promise i’ll be way more active when exam season is over <3 this was based off the lovely pic above taken by the even lovelier zendaya and i hope you enjoy these… let’s call it random workings of my mind

-

“hang on, can you come closer?” mj instructs you, you promptly stepping towards her. “is this good?” “great,” she affirms and squints behind the camera. “smile really big on the count of three, okay? one, two, three!” doing as she says, you give mj your cheesiest grin with your eyes squeezed shut and all. she snickers while snapping the moment on her polaroid.

mj asked you to be her subject for a photography project. you’re happy to do it, although it’s super last minute. like, barging-into-your-room-and-begging-you-for-help last minute. she was supposed to turn this in days ago. lucky for mj, her teacher was feeling generous and gave her an extension.

you have to work fast because of mj’s deadline and your plans with peter. he’s coming over for a movie marathon and cuddles right about now. well, he’s actually running a tad bit late. that’s typical peter for you.

“just a couple more, and then you’re free,” mj informs you while shaking out the polaroid. “this is honestly pretty fun, you know.” you glance at the photo she’s holding with an eyebrow quirked in surprise. she captures you well. “what made you choose me?” “no one else was free on a saturday,” she snorts and tosses the picture in a pile with the rest.

your mouth falls agape. “i’m not free! peter’s gonna be here in…” you check the time on your phone, much to your dismay. “he’s a few minutes late, but still. i have things to do, too.” a smirk sets on mj’s face as she gets ready for the next photograph. “relax, y/n/n. i was kidding. i’m sure spider-dweeb will be here sooner than you know it.” sighing lightheartedly, you take a seat on your bed.

“don’t call him that,” you shake your head. mj throws her own head back to the ceiling. “ugh, but that was a good one,” she insists, you only humming. “it’s better than penis parker, at least.” “nah, i like the alliteration,” you laugh out and earn a giggle from mj. “you’re lucky parker doesn’t have super hearing, or does he?” winking, you hit a pose for mj. you’re looking at her over your shoulder with smolder eyes.

“ask him yourself, after you get this shot.”

the two of you continue messing around with her polaroid until the film is almost gone, and peter has yet to arrive. you’re starting to worry. you aren’t sure where he could be.

he doesn’t patrol on weekends unless it’s an emergency, and he would’ve told you if there was one already. he’s never this late without sending a text, either. it’s almost an hour past when date night should’ve started. on the other occasions peter has gone off the grid, they didn’t end well.

“i’m freaking out, em. do you think he’s in some kind of trouble?” you ask mj, pacing around your bedroom. she offers a sympathetic shrug. “maybe he just ate some bad yogurt. remember last time?” being the dummy he is, peter once scarfed down an entire tub of vanilla yogurt before he realized it was expired. no one heard from him for days. he didn’t show up to school or answer any calls.

may ended up inviting you over and explaining he’d gotten a stomach bug, which you then tended to him for the rest of. the story was so amusing, and so peter.

“may doesn’t buy him dairy anymore. why do you think he always raids your freezer?” you bring your fingers up to rub your temples. “the kid can empty ice cream cartons in one bite,” she agrees, silently cringing. her curiosity piques at the fact. “is that also a power?” “who cares?” you nearly shout, your fingers curling into fists. “what i wanna know is if peter is fucking okay.”

on cue, there’s a knock at your apartment door. you and mj exchange looks of urgency, both rushing out of your room to answer.

mj follows you through the hall and stands by your side while you fumble with the lock. when your door pulls open, ned has his hand raised to knock again. “ned? what are you doing here?” you don’t give him the chance to speak. “have you heard from peter? he was supposed to be here a while ago, but he never showed.” rather than answering in words, ned takes a step aside.

the sight you’re met with makes you gasp. peter peeks out from behind him, cuts and bruises littering his flushed face. he gives you a lopsided smile.

“you have your answer,” mj murmurs to you and eyes ned curiously. he lets out a nervous chuckle. “here he is.” you push past ned and practically jump into peter’s arms, your hug bone-crushing. “peter, oh my god! are you okay?” wincing, peter hugs you back by your waist. his chin rests carefully on your head.

“hey… i’m alright, baby. still pretty sore, though,” he sucks his lower lip between his teeth. you take the hint to loosen your grip on him. “i was worried something bad might’ve happened to you. i… i guess i was right.” your tone softens, you threading a hand in his curls. they’re completely disheveled from whatever went down with him.

ned heads inside to catch up with mj, the two of them letting you have a moment alone.

“someone’s got a spidey sense of their own, huh?” peter tries to lighten the mood by joking. it doesn’t work, a frown still evident on your face as you try to untangle his once soft locks. “baby, everything’s fine. i just… had a little accident is all. no big deal,” he reassures you and moves in to peck your lips. you’re so shocked that you dodge the kiss.

“little? your whole face is black and blue, pete!” you tug on the white collar of his button up, peter letting out a shaky breath. your other hand comes to rest on his cheek, touch gentle. “how’d you get like this?” he licks across his lips shyly and sets his hands on your hips. “see, on the way over there were these bad guys who-“

“no there weren’t,” ned cuts in, scoffing at the beginning of his friend’s story. peter shoots him a warning look over your head. “yes there were, ned. you weren’t even there!” he catches mj glaring at him before he continues. “don’t listen to him. anyway, i had to fight them because…” when he trails off, you stroke your thumb across his cheek, avoiding any wounds in the way. raising both eyebrows, mj speaks up.

“because why? go on, parker. i’m intrigued,” she encourages him. everyone can tell peter is lying except you. the question really is, what’s he lying about? he gulps down his spit, pulling your body against his for comfort. “take your time, peter. we can wait,” you say only for him to hear. his love filled eyes meet yours, and he nods. ned huffs at the dramatics unfolding before him.

“dude, you’re making this way worse than it actually is. just tell her!” he demands, mj cocking her head to the side. peter’s gaze flits between the two of them. “tell me what?” you wonder softly and tilt his chin, willing him to look at you again. “i… i…” peter’s shoulders slump, his voice lowering in defeat. “there weren’t any bad guys.”

“of course there weren’t,” ned confirms. “no shit,” mj adds. exhaling, you wait for your boyfriend to further elaborate. “what really happened, then? be honest, pete.” peter lets go of you so he can come into your apartment properly, you shutting the door behind him. he scratches the back of his neck as he fills you in. “ok. um, me and ned were hanging out.”

ned is attempting to stifle a laugh for some reason, which mj elbows him for. you take one of peter’s hands. “yeah?” “we were at my place, and… you know those really slippery steps on the sixth floor?” peter pauses for someone to answer, playing with your fingers. “the ones flash almost wiped out on once?” mj questions in amusement. he lets a quiet chuckle out. “good times. yeah, those.”

his gaze averts to the ground, you listening on. “so, i was walking ned out on my way over. we were talking about spidey stuff-“ “as per usual,” mj mumbles to herself. ned raises his hands in defense. “—and i told ned i could always stick my landings. he didn’t believe me.” you playfully roll your eyes, seeing where this is going. “so… i, uh, decided to show him,” peter finishes off.

“i did a, um, backflip. tripped and fell down the flight of stairs,” he finally admits to you, putting his other hand on top of your intertwined ones. “clearly, i was wrong.” his bloody face is now red from humiliation. “you didn’t trip, dude. you freaking summersaulted!” ned corrects him and bursts into laughter he’s been holding back. “idiots, both of you,” mj simply remarks.

“that’s it? why didn’t you just say that?” you almost laugh yourself. groaning, peter rests his forehead against yours. “because it’s embarrassing! i wanted you to think i’m a tough guy or whatever.” placing both hands on his cheeks this time, you nuzzle your nose against his. “you don’t have to be a tough guy to impress me, babes. you’re kind, smart, funny. makes up for you being such a klutz.”

peter cracks a grin, easily capturing your lips in the kiss he didn’t get to before. it doesn’t last long because mj gags and ned whistles at you. you’re both giggling when you pull apart, peter kissing the tip of your nose for good measure.

“you really mean that?” he checks, tucking back a strand of hair from your face. “of course. i have a thing for himbos,” you tease and poke at his bare chest. his eyes widen. “how about i get you some ice and you find our first movie?” you’re already off to the kitchen, beaming at peter. “date night’s still on?” he happily plops down on your couch, mj showing ned her pictures from earlier.

“as soon as those two get out of here,” you call loudly enough so ned and mj hear you. “yeah, yeah. we’re leaving,” mj deadpans, shoving the photos back into her portfolio. peter glances over at it curiously. “what’s that for?” “photography project,” she says and gets an idea. “i have some film left. y/n took up most of it… you losers want the rest?”

while mj coerces her way to a higher grade, you put some popcorn in the microwave for your movie marathon.

“well, i could use a new lockscreen. i’m in!” ned quickly concedes. him and mj both give peter hopeful looks. “i’m not!” he protests, squishing one of your pillows against his chest. “with my face looking like… this? forget about it.” mj walks over to him and places her portfolio on the coffee table. “what? those gashes are gnarly… in a good way, i mean,” she promises.

“painful, too,” peter murmurs. “y/n, hurry up with that ice!” mj demands, grabbing the polaroid camera from its string around her neck. you wave her off. “what i’m saying is, they’ll look sick in my portfolio.” mj forces a smile, ned looking at her weirdly. “uh, what’s the theme of your project again?” “freestyle, baby,” mj casually replies.

peter comes up with a condition that could persuade him. “if you say please, i might consider it,” he concludes, mj perking up. “please be in my project. pretty please?” she instantly requests, ned pursing his lips from behind her. peter rubs his chin. “y/n, what do you think? should i?” you pipe in from the kitchen. “yeah, so she’ll leave my house.”

“you heard the lady. i’ll do it,” peter gives in. all but squealing, mj gestures for ned to sit. “this’ll only take a few minutes. you guys are really saving my ass.” ned gets comfortable next to peter on the couch, who wants to see how far mj will really go. “aw, we are? i believe that calls for a…” ned catches on. “it comes after please…” mj picks up her camera with gritted teeth. “thank you, morons. say cheese!”

that’s the only warning peter and ned get before they’re blinded with the flash. ned does a toothy grin as he leans into peter’s side. peter musters up the best smile he can, hair a mess and cuts burning pink on his face. satisfied, mj snatches the photograph as it pops out.

“pleasure doing business with you two,” she states, you joining the three of them in the living room. you set the popcorn on the table and give peter his ice pack. he presses it to his cheek, kissing the back of your hand. “send me that!” ned reminds mj, helping himself to your bowl of popcorn. she salutes him.

“there’s my star. what do you say, y/n? wanna take one more really quick?” mj suggests, already holding up her polaroid. you take the other cushion next to peter, your head on his shoulder. “can peter be in it with me? since he’s in the modeling mood tonight.” he wraps an arm tightly around you. “let’s do it, sweetness.”

eagerly jumping in front of you two, mj crouches down to get a better angle. “on the count of three. one, two, three!” the camera clicks, and you surprise peter by laying a smooch on one of his cheeks. he’s holding the ice against his other, genuinely smiling for this picture. ned coos at you, mj showing off her work when it dries.

“how adorable,” she says sarcastically but means it. peter nods at her in appreciation, his lips brushing the side of your head. “what can i say, you’re a pro,” you compliment mj. “come on, em!” ned cheers through a mouthful of popcorn.

tonight was an unexpected and exciting mess, even if your date night did get crashed.

[luvdsc]

mark lee sucks at technology.

tap the heart if you have a big, fat, embarrassing crush on your best friend!

pairing :: lee mark x reader genre :: fluff / best friend + social influencer au word count :: 5,883 words warnings :: none playlist :: dumb stuff (lany) ⋆ feeling (coin) ⋆ so far so good (gabrielle aplin) ⋆ electric love (børns) ⋆ love by mistake (bad suns) author’s note :: i was debating if i should post it on his bday instead, but i decided to drop it earlier, so uh, happy (approx. one week early) bday to mister absolutely fully capable (except when it comes to tech stuff) !!!! thank you for blessing us with your god tier raps ♡ ↳ part of the not clickbait series.

In your required upper division business course aptly titled “Essential Marketing Strategies,” you had learned about a concept called personal brands. A personal brand is explained as the first impression a person wishes to perceive based on their own experiences, qualifications, and achievements. Your professor had told you and your classmates to pick three words to define your own brand. For instance, you chose to label yourself as charismatic, fun, and creative.

Your best friend’s brand would be awkward, endearing, and technologically challenged. 

Okay, so that is definitely more than three words, but who’s counting? You might as well tack on “Y/N’s big fat crush” at this rate because everyone and their mother knows that you carry a torch—or more accurately, a blazing wildfire that can easily be spotted from Pluto—for your best friend.

Well, to be more precise, you should probably say everyone, except Mark, knows. And that’s not for lack of trying either. You completely dropped the art of delicate subtlety months ago already. Maybe you should add “hopelessly oblivious” instead.

The rolling end credits to the sixth Harry Potter film are playing on the screen in front of you, signaling the nearing end of your magical movie marathon. You’re seated on the worn down couch in Mark and Donghyuck’s shared apartment, watching the former make his drink with the fancy, gently used Keurig newly settled on the scratched countertop. Johnny dropped it off a few days ago because he had splurged on a better coffee machine (“It even makes Instagram worthy whipped frappuccinos!”) and didn’t want his old, but still perfectly functioning caffeine provider going to waste.

“What’s wrong with this thing?” Mark slaps the side of the machine, and it starts to emit a low whirring noise. “Oh, that’s good, right? That sound is good, you think?”

His question is immediately answered by the sad squirt of hot water speckled with coffee grinds falling into his mug for a few seconds before the machine shuts off.

“What the hell?” he mutters angrily, carding his hand through his hair in frustration, and you finally decide to take pity on your best friend. Getting up from the comfy spot you know you sadly won’t be able to recreate perfectly again later, you stride over to where your best friend stands and flip open the top of the Keurig.

“Hyuck didn’t take out his used coffee pod,” you say, pulling out the incriminating evidence of your best friend’s roommate and disposing it in the trash can next to the refrigerator. “Where’s the espresso one you’re gonna use? Why didn’t you put that in?”

His jaw slackens, and he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, avoiding your gaze and mumbling, “I thought I’d just open it later and pour it into my hot water.”

“Mark,” you start, placing your hands on his shoulders firmly and staring into his eyes with a serious look on your face. “Please know that I’m saying this in the most loving way possible, but you are an absolute idiot.”

You release your grip on his shoulders and grab the espresso pod dangling from his fingertips before slotting it into the Keurig. You remove the mug he placed underneath the spout and wash out the accidental coffee water before placing it back in its original position and pressing the start button on the machine. With a sigh, you lean against the side of the counter, glancing at your friend who looks like a child being scolded for stealing from the cookie jar.

“If you pour the pod into your mug, are you just going to chug all the loose coffee grinds, too?”

“... I didn’t think that far ahead.” His lips start to unintentionally form a tiny pout, and your eyes (and your heart, too) soften.

You’re very relieved that Donghyuck is off filming with your friend because he definitely would be making fun of your heart eyes that frequently make an appearance around a certain Mark Lee. Which you always deny. Because you certainly do not have a gigantic crush on your technologically inept best friend.

You glance over at him again and have to physically fight yourself to resist the urge to kiss his cute pout away. Okay, so maybe you harbor a very respectable, medium sized crush. But it's no big deal. It’s completely under control. Unless you’re counting the fact that your best friend is still unaware, and you’re running out of ideas to try and see if he likes you back before you actually shoot your shot. Then it’s very much not under control because you’re losing sleep over it and you don’t know what to do to be any more obvious without stating the, well, obvious.

“Well, now you know. If you forget, you can FaceTime me and I’ll give you instructions on how it works.” You pat his shoulder reassuringly before pausing. “Wait, you do know how to FaceTime, right?”

“Yes!” he exclaims, sulking even more before confessing in a quieter, defeated tone, “Hyuck showed me last month.”

Mark grabs his finished drink and follows behind you, settling back onto the couch next to you. The streaming service already has Deathly Hallows Part 1 in the queue and ready to go, and your best friend is ready to click play until he notices your attention being focused on the smaller screen in your hands. He wonders if you’re about to post another one of your popular cooking videos on that app that shares a name with the most iconic song of the 2000s (hint: the name of the song’s singer is made up of four letters and a dollar sign).

“Are you uploading one of your videos?” he implores before taking a sip of his drink with a satisfied smile. Somehow, it always tastes better when you make it, and he can’t figure out why for the life of him. When he went to Johnny’s place, his older friend uses the exact same pod and water ratio for his espresso, and yet, it’s never as good as yours.

“Nah, I’m ordering my grocery delivery before I forget. Do you want anything?” You select the option to load your usual grocery items into your cart before debating on whether or not you should splurge on buying several packages of those seasonal Pillsbury sugar cookies that only come in stock during certain holidays. It seems like such an insult to the entire premise of your Tiktok account based on baking and cooking, but you’re an absolute sucker for those soft pastries.

“Yeah, can you get me a Shin Ramyun ten pack? Hyuck ate the last one two days ago and didn’t tell me.”

“You sure you don’t want ten boxes again?” You decide to get those Pillsbury sugary delights, happily adding three boxes to your cart. Everybody has a weakness, and yours just so happens to be a premade one way ticket to diabetes. You’re here for a good, delicious time, not a long time.

“No! That was an accident!” He objects, flailing his hands around, before falling back against the couch cushions in defeat. “But Hyuck does all the online grocery shopping now.”

“Thank god. You guys finally have quality toilet paper again.”

The past month of bathroom occurrences was plagued with scratchy tissue that felt more like goddamn sandpaper from the horrible depths of hell. To be honest, you probably would have rather used actual sandpaper, given the choice. You even made sure not to drink too much water any time you came over, but today, you decided to splurge on a venti passion fruit iced tea with sweetener from that very popular franchise sporting a mermaid logo and fiscally cosmic name. To your pleasant surprise, your trip to the toilet this time was wonderfully padded with Charmin Ultra Soft, not that absolutely awful off brand one with the gross texture of a dried pinecone from inferno.

“Hey, that toilet paper was a good steal! It was a three for one deal,” Mark protests, and you narrow your eyes at him.

“Wow, I wonder why it was priced so low.” You deadpan, and Mark blanches, recalling all those restroom incidents that were rather rough. Literally.

“Anyway, do you think my viewers wanna see me make chocolate crinkle cookies or mochi doughnuts?” You bring up the two recipes you managed to perfect and add your own spin to on your phone, eyes scanning the ingredient lists.

“Both. And tell me when you’re making them, so I can come over and eat them.” He gives you a wide grin, and you let out a snort at that. His smile only grows as he says happily, “I love your job.”

“You only love it because you can freeload off of me,” you jest, but nevertheless begin to start to add all the ingredients for both recipes to your shopping cart. You always film cooking videos on Tuesdays, edit on Wednesdays, keep Thursdays free for last minute touch ups and emergencies, and post one every week on Fridays with other various random videos uploaded whenever in between. With that in mind, you schedule your upcoming grocery delivery for Monday.

“Hey, you need me. I’m the best taste tester.” He puffs up his chest proudly before hastily tacking on a more genuine reason. “And because I’d starve without you. I can’t live off of instant ramen and frozen chicken nuggets forever. Gordon Ramsay already confirmed my shitty cooking skills. I need you to survive.”

“Oh my god, when I uploaded those pics of your scrambled eggs on Twitter, I lost like a hundred followers in less than a minute.” You confirm the delivery and place your phone on the coffee table, picking up the opened bag of Cheeto puffs before settling back in your seat. “My cooking credibility was completely shot. I had to explain to my fans that I didn’t make those.”

“Yeah, but now everyone calls me Eggy Boi online!” he whines, and you laugh. You have to admit, it’s quite a funny play on the whole “edgy boi” terminology. You wonder if Mark will find it amusing if he discovers his roommate is the culprit behind his new online persona (He probably won’t, and you reckon Donghyuck enjoys living in a safe space where he doesn’t have to sleep with one eye open, so you stay quiet about it. You’ll use it as leverage some other time).

“Okay, Eggy Boi, come by on Tuesday because I’ll be baking in the afternoon,” you say casually, grabbing the remote control from your best friend and pressing play. 

You very narrowly avoid a green gummy bear to the face. It lands somewhere behind the couch, lost forever to the dust bunnies and other snacks that missed its target. You know for a fact that it’ll stay there until the boys decide to move to a new apartment. Mark grumbles at the miss, biting off the head of a red cherry flavored gummy bear perhaps a little harder than necessary.

“I hate you. But I’m still coming over next week because I want a doughnut.”

“No cookie?”

“... and a cookie. Maybe two.”

Wednesday comes faster than you expected, and you’re currently holed up in your apartment’s second bedroom—which you had transformed into a snazzy office space—completing the edits to your second video on mochi doughnuts. You already finished polishing the one about the cookies earlier, thank goodness. If you had to stare at your computer screen for another three hours, you would rather eat those pastries Mark tried to make two months ago, but had mistaken salt for sugar. Adding a cup of salt to any baked good is an extremely effective way to make anyone who tasted your best friend’s brownies experience a trip to the beach. Because they essentially just swallowed a mouthful of sand and ocean water. Because it’s salty as heck. Just like Mark was when you told him.

Speaking of your best friend, he’s currently puttering around in your kitchen doing god knows what. He knows better than to try another recipe and possibly blow up your number one moneymaker—your prized oven—in the process. Your heart nearly drops when your ears pick up the faint chopping sounds of a knife against your wooden cutting board. Is he going to try to temper chocolate again? He nearly burned through your entire stock of dark, milk, and white chocolate last time.

After much contemplation and deciding that you deserve a good procrastination break and a fully intact kitchen, you’re about to go out and see what he’s up to when Mark timidly appears in your doorway, clutching onto a white bowl of watermelon cubes with a fork tucked neatly in it. He shuffles in, dropping the snack on your desk before turning to walk out without a word, not wanting to disturb your work mode. 

Your heart warms up at the sight, and you speak up, a small smile slipping into your face. “What’s this for?”

“Knowing you, you probably haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.” He pauses in the doorway and adds on sheepishly, “And I can't cook anything, so this is what you get.”

Your heart swells tenfold, and your smile widens even more as you spear a piece of fruit with the fork and quickly pop it into your mouth. “Thanks, Marky.”

His cheeks flush with a pretty shade of carmine, and he fails to suppress the little giddy smile that appears on his face at your nickname for him. He walks out of your office, reddened cheeks still rising up higher than ever. “Y-Yeah, of course. No problem.”

By the time you finish adding the final few touches to your edited video, the bowl of watermelon has been picked clean. You save your video and transfer both of your completed projects to your phone, making a mental note to schedule their uploads and add them to your account’s posting queue later. Shoving your phone in the pocket of your sweats after ensuring the successful transfer of your videos, you pick up the empty dish and walk out towards the kitchen, the silver fork clinking against the side of the bowl with every step.

As you wash the dish and utensil, Mark wanders over from his spot on the couch, leaning forward and casually placing his chin on your shoulder. Almost instantaneously, you feel the heat rising to your cheeks as you briefly fantasize about your best friend wrapping his arms around your waist and how domestic and sweet the two of you would look, like one of those cheesy couples the two of you always made fun of.

“What’s up?” you ask, making a conscious effort to hold your voice steady and not waver over the fact that Mark is basically draped over you. After you place the dish on the drying rack, you turn around to face your best friend, sorely miscalculating the distance as mere inches separate your face from his now.

“I—” Puberty decides to make an ugly appearance in the form of an ill timed voice crack, and he internally curses as he takes a step back, willing the incoming blush to go away. Letting out a small cough, he tries again, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

“I, um, Jisung sent me some kind of dance video. He said it’s a challenge? I kinda don’t know what to do with it? Like do I make a new dance, record myself, and send it back? Actually, isn't it easier to just do a dance battle face to face?”

“Can I see the video?” You already have a good idea on what the video will be, but you want to confirm it. Mark fumbles with his phone, pulling up the video in his text messages. He angles the phone towards you for you to see, and you grab his hand, bringing the device a little closer to you for a better look and clicking play.

“Oh, it’s a Tiktok challenge! He’s doing the Say So dance!” you exclaim, recognizing the song almost immediately as your eyes follow the fluid dance moves, completely enthralled. “So a challenge isn’t going up against someone, like a battle. It’s just some kind of trend or concept that you try to copy yourself. You’re supposed to learn the same dance and record yourself for this one. I can show you some other challenges and help you practice and record this one tomorrow if you wanna drop by after work!”

“O-Oh, okay, sounds good.” Mark stumbles over his words, attempting to focus on what you’re saying and the dance Jisung is doing, but all he can think about is the way your body is pressed against his side, hand comfortably wrapped around his. He freezes up as the tips of his ears grow redder and redder with every passing second, and his face sports a similar color. He silently prays for the telltale crimson to go away by the time the dance is over.

When the video ends, you once again realize the close proximity between you and your best friend. Your face burns at this revelation, and you awkwardly take a step back. Clearing your throat, you hastily release Mark’s hand (He inaudibly lets out the breath he’s been holding in this entire time, yet he also already misses the way your hand felt grasping his).

“Uh, anyway, I’m gonna make a latte. Do you want a drink, too?” You walk towards the other side of your kitchen with Mark trailing behind you. You take out a floral, peachy colored mug from your cupboards before pausing and looking at your best friend. “Wait, do you remember how to use a Keurig?”

“Yes!” He says, slightly exasperated as he picks out his own cup from your cabinet. He always uses the same one—a cerulean blue mug with squiggles all over it—and all of your friends and guests know not to use it because it’s unofficially officially Mark’s mug (And perhaps, you did indeed buy it from that overpriced kitschy tableware shop down the street two years ago with your best friend in mind).

“Really?” You select the latte option and press start after you had already positioned the mug beneath the spout and inserted a green tea matcha pod. He finally relents, shoulders sagging and a defeated expression on his face.

“... No.”

You chuckle, taking the mug from him and carefully putting it on the counter. You grab the espresso pod you know he likes from the drawer below and place it next to the cup. “It’s okay, I’ll teach you again.”

Mark tries. He really does. He tries very hard to concentrate on memorizing the simple process, but he keeps getting distracted. His eyes are focused on the correct button to push before they start to trail up to your fingertips. And then, they go from your hand to your arm, then up to the elegant curve of your neck, and finally, to the way your lashes frame your pretty eyes and how the tip of your tongue sticks out slightly as you concentrate until all he can focus on is you, you, you.

Suddenly, in what feels like a blink of an eye, you’re done and handing him his finished drink, complete with a perfectly whipped milk foam on top. You ask him if he knows how to make it now, and all he can do is lie and nod with a barely convincing smile.

After all, how can Mark tell his best friend that the reason he never remembers is because you’re the biggest distraction?

Mark should be here in five minutes, according to his most recent text message. And in the text message below that, your friend had sent you a challenge. More specifically, it’s the one she completed with Donghyuck a few weeks ago. When you said you wanted bold suggestions on how to figure out if your best friend feels the same way about you as you do about him, you didn’t want one this bold. 

Yet, the video link to your friend’s “today I kissed my best friend” challenge along with a winky face from her is staring mockingly at you. While you aren’t one to back down from a challenge, the mere thought of kissing your best friend causes vast colonies of butterflies to erupt in your stomach and your ears to feel as if they have caught on fire. You’re already tongue tied with your head in the clouds, and he isn’t even here yet. How utterly fantastic.

However, your mother definitely did not raise a quitter, so you spring into action when you hear the faint jingling of a key being inserted into your apartment’s door (You had given Mark a copy of your key almost immediately after you had moved in). You move the pretty indoor fern given to you by Jaemin as a housewarming gift last year closer to the edge of your towering bookcase, leaning your phone against it. You quickly position the device to capture a good view of the couch area in your living room and press the record button, arranging a few of the leaves to hide as much of your phone as you possibly can without obstructing the lens.

You run full speed to your bedroom, letting out a sigh of relief when you’re safely inside and hear Mark finally unlocking the door successfully and shuffling in. When he calls out to you, you try to even out your breathing, walking out of your room with your tripod and laptop in hand.

“Hey,” you greet him in the most casual tone you can muster. You place the tripod down and sit before opening your laptop and setting it on the coffee table. “I thought we could watch a few challenges for fun before trying the Say So one. Have you watched Jisung’s videos before?”

“Um, well, no, not really,” he confesses sheepishly, taking a seat next to you on the couch, leg pressing against yours. He squints at the YouTube video you pulled up earlier before he had arrived, reading the title before clicking the space button to start it. “Savage Tiktok dance compilation part two?”

“Wait, hold up.” You pause the video and then turn to face him with an incredulous expression on your face. “You’ve never watched any of Jisung’s dance Tiktoks?”

“No… I don’t even have an account.” His cheeks are dusted with the lightest shade of pink as he quietly admits, “I watch all of yours though.”

Your eyes widen at his confession, face heating up as you stammer out, “O-Oh, well, I can help you make an account later to upload your video.”

“Sounds good.” There’s a few seconds of silence as you mull over his previous words before he speaks up again awkwardly, “Should I, uh, play the video?”

“Oh! Yes, right! Of course, hit play,” you laugh nervously, twisting and playing with the hair tie around your wrist. He starts the video again, and the two of you watch the compilation, slowly relaxing once more as you tap your fingers to the rhythm of the song and he bobs his head to the beat.

“Do I have to change outfits like that?” he questions a few minutes later, eyes growing round as he sees the girl on the screen switch between four different outfits throughout the dance. His closet basically consists of the same five black shirts that he stole from Jaehyun. Even if he did do an outfit swap, there would literally be no difference at all.

“You don’t have to,” you assure him, clicking the enter key to play the next video that’s recommended: another Tiktok dance challenge compilation. “All you have to do is copy the dance.”

Mark nods, taking a glance at the laptop screen before his hand shoots out and he pauses the video, leaning forward to take a closer look at the little recommended video title banner at the top. “Wait! What’s that one?”

He clicks on it, the new video now loading up. The two of you wait patiently for it to begin, waiting for the spinning disc to stop. But it doesn’t. In fact, the whole chrome page goes blank and then, the little pixelated Google Chrome dinosaur pops up on your monitor, announcing that you have no internet connection. Furrowing your eyebrows, you try to reload the page before trying to re-establish your laptop connection to your wifi. Unfortunately, you cannot find your appropriately named “drop it like it’s hotspot” wifi anywhere to connect to.

And that’s when it hits you. Your landlord had sent out a notice to the entire apartment complex last week about the electricity being powered down today from 4 to 6 p.m. for a maintenance check, and a quick glance at the digital clock on your laptop shows that it’s a little past four.

You groan, closing your laptop and flopping back against the couch cushions dramatically. Mark cocks his head, slightly confused, before he pokes you in the arm. “What’s wrong?”

“I completely forgot about the scheduled electricity shutdown for the entire building. We won’t have any wifi for the next two hours.” You pout, your bottom lip jutting out in the slightest, and Mark doesn’t think it’s fair that you get to be this cute and have this much of an effect on his racing heart rate.

“That’s okay, we can… play some board games?” he suggests offhandedly, pushing away the embarrassing thought and nudging your leg with his, and you smile before a sudden idea occurs to you. 

“Or we can still do some Tiktok challenges! What was the challenge you clicked on?” You quickly sit upright, turning to face your best friend, eyes sparkling in excitement. “I memorized a few of the dance ones already! Was it Renegade? I can teach you that one. Jisung showed me how to do it.”

“Um,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. His eyes dart everywhere, except you, as he lets out a feigned cough. “It wasn’t a dance one. It was about, uh, going up to your boyfriend… and um, hugging him... when he’s playing video games.”

“Oh.” You answer lamely, not knowing what to say. You unsuccessfully try to push away the image of you attempting that challenge with your best friend. “Those are really cute.”

“Really?” He says doubtfully, wrinkling his eyebrows and fiddling with the frayed sleeve of his sweater. “Wouldn’t the dude get mad?”

You don’t know what suddenly possessed you to do this (you’ll have to ask Renjun and his paranormal loving ass later), but you thank whatever demon did for that split second because you find yourself gently grabbing Mark’s arm and slipping your head underneath it. You swing one leg over his lap and settle down until you’re securely sitting in his lap, bent legs on either side of his hips, hands curled around the soft fabric of his sweater on both sides and resting on top of your thighs. His arms instinctively go around your waist, wrapping around you securely.

You tilt your head to the side slightly, studying the flustered boy in front of you with a teasing, albeit a little anxious, smile on your lips. “Are you feeling mad?”

Splotches of red litter his cheeks and decorate the tips of his ears, but your best friend furiously shakes his head at your question, bashfully ducking his head afterwards and muttering a soft “No.”

You swallow hard, heart pounding erratically in your chest as you timidly ask, “Would you be mad if I do this?”

Mark looks up at that, confusion written all over his face. His arms start to loosen around your figure, hands now resting on your waist. “If you do what?”

You take a deep breath. “This.”

You lean in and gently press your lips against his. Mark freezes in shock, and you quickly retreat soon after, gnawing at the inside of your cheek as you wait anxiously for his reaction. Your heart feels like it’s about to fall out of your chest and be buried six feet under.

A tiny noise of surprise belatedly escapes from him and crimson spreads across his cheeks like wildfire. His doe eyes are wide and sparkling, staring at you in bewilderment. Your best friend lets out a small laugh of disbelief before a full blown smile breaks out across his face. He gazes at you adoringly, breathing out softly, “I’m not mad at that.”

You perk up at that, draping your arms around his neck as you lean forward, beaming. “Really? You’re not?”

“Definitely not.”

This time, Mark meets you halfway, his lips slotting against yours perfectly and making you feel tingles up and down your spine. Your eyes are closed, and you are so hyper aware of the way his hands grip your hips, how he tugs you closer, and how his lips chase after yours. The number of butterflies from earlier multiply in your stomach, and you have ascended past cloud nine by now.

When the two of you break apart, your eyes flutter open, and you nudge your nose against his affectionately. The brightest grin blooms on his face once again, and he buries his face in the crook of your neck, muffling his little giggles and hiding the awfully vibrant cerise that rapidly blossoms on his face.

“Is this a good time to tell you congrats for completing your first challenge?” you say, resting your cheek against the crown of his head. You pull away when he lifts his head up, surprised.

“I wasn’t playing video games though,” he says slowly, processing your words and thinking back to the challenge that started this all.

“It was a different challenge. It’s the one that Hyuck did a few weeks ago,” you confess, and realization dawns on him, his face lighting up for a split second before a look of horror takes over.

“Oh, no. Is that why you had your phone recording on the bookshelf?” Mark asks, dread beginning to cloud his mind.

“Yes…” you say slowly, a little perplexed. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Oh my god, I ruined your video,” he moans, dropping his forehead onto your shoulder. “I saw your phone when I walked in and thought you were filming earlier and forgot to turn it off, so I turned it off for you.”

When the words finally register in your mind, you can’t stop the laughter from bubbling out of your throat, and he raises his head up to look at you with wide doe eyes at the pretty sound. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

You can’t stop laughing at the situation, and he looks at you worriedly, gnawing on his bottom lip slightly. You force yourself to calm down, a soft chuckle leaving your lips before you beam at him, leaning in and placing the softest kiss on the tip of his nose. “It’s okay, Mark. I’m not mad. That video wasn’t important anyway.”

“But still,” he whines before letting out a groan and slapping his hand against his forehead when the realization sinks in even further. “I’m such an idiot.”

“But you’re my idiot now, right?” you say teasingly, albeit a little shyly as well, as you reach over to tug his hand away from his face and lace your fingers with his.

“I mean, I kinda thought I was always your idiot,” Mark laughs softly and a little embarrassedly, eyes averted and cheeks turning pinker than ever. The largest grin spreads across your face at that, and you turn away slightly to hide it. You didn’t think your best friend can possibly be any more endearing, but he manages to prove you wrong every time.

“Well, then now you can add ‘Y/N’s boyfriend’ to your resume,” you say, and he fails to suppress the pleased smile appearing on his face at your remark, his rosy cheeks rising even taller than skyscrapers.

“So, uh, what sort of job description does that have?” He gazes at your intertwined hands in wonder, still completely giddy at the reality of you being his best friend and something more.

“Sharing hoodies, giving me attention, kissing, holding my hand, going on dates, you know, the basics,” you answer, squeezing his hand tenderly, and his doe eyes instantly light up. Mark feels a little bolder than before, and it shows when he grins widely and says:

“Can we do number three again?”

“Yes, we can, Eggy Boi.”

He wrinkles his nose at the name, disgruntled and unimpressed, as he crosses his arms over his chest, sulking. You let out a laugh before leaning in and crashing your lips against his. He immediately relents at that, enthusiastically responding and hugging you closer to him, and you can’t help but smile into the kiss as you feel his own smile appear as well.

At that moment, you decide that you want to change Mark’s personal brand. Because his should be “absolutely wonderful, positively amazing, a cute kisser, your boyfriend, and your bestest friend.” And yes, that is most definitely more than the allotted three words, but again, who’s really counting?

Certainly not you when you’re too preoccupied with kissing your best friend. Correction: best friend and new boyfriend.

One new notification: donutkillmyvibe uploaded a new video!

moominjun commented:

so you’re saying the reason why we didn’t get the highly anticipated best friend challenge video is because @ marklyrawr turned the camera off?

donutkillmyvibe replied: yes 😔 I’m sorry to disappoint everyone 🤧

nanaislove replied: omg no bby it’s ok 🥺🥺💞💓💓💝💗 you didn’t have to make an apology video for that 🥺💗💓💘💖

goofys.chuckle replied: yeah it’s mark’s fault. he’s the disappointment here 🥴

morklyrawr replied: hahahahaha stfu hyuck

tytrack commented:

mark is going through puberty. I apologize

dobunny replied: @.@

goofys.chuckle commented:

are we getting whip(ped)lash pt 2 by eggy boi?

morklyrawr replied: YOU’RE THE ONE WHO STARTED THAT NAME?????

goofys.chuckle replied: uh gotta blast 🚀

showmethemonet replied: @ goofys.chuckle does this mean you’re staying over again?

goofys.chuckle replied: @ showmethemonet yes if you want your super cute, mega talented, very handsome boyfriend to still be alive 🥺

showmethemonet replied: @ goofys.chuckle oh my god I didn’t know I was dating bts jin???

moominjun replied: LMFAOOOOO

goofys.chuckle replied: heart 💔 been broke 📉 so many times ⏰ i don’t know 🤔 what to believe 💯 mama 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 said 🗣 it’s my fault 😢 it’s my fault 🤦🏻‍♂️i wear my heart ❤️ on my sleeve 💪 i think it’s best 👍🏻 I put my heart ❤️ on ice 🧊

jenojam commented:

why am I not surprised……

itsmebetch replied: just mark thingz 🍉

suhprisemf commented:

mark your head looks flat af

jungjaeprince replied: 😂😂😂

10vely replied: @ jungjaeprince be quiet don’t cry

letswonwon commented:

whoop whoop

junguwu commented:

OMG CONGRATS ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP SWEETIE 😍😍

takoyaki_prince commented:

MARK!!!!! you look handsome !! 😘

jisungpwark commented:

rip to @ donutkillmyvibe ’s future videos that mark will ruin. press f in the chat to pay respects 🙏🏻

bigheadking replied: F ✊🏻😔

peachyangel replied: f 🥺🥺

yoitslucas replied: F 🤪🤪🤪 but glad you’re happy, man ❤️

donutkillmyvibe replied: F 💔

morklyrawr replied: @ donutkillmyvibe wtf babe????

officialgordonramsay commented:

didn’t i tell you to get back on tinder ?

apado_god commented:

nice 😎👍🏻

[sebthesnipe]

A Very Patton Christmas

Other works by me (AO3)

Tumblr Master Post

To @gilby-the-geek-girl for being the best friend a person could ask for. For without whom my writing would be riddled with errors and inconsistency, and whose gift of friendship has been the greatest thing to happen to me in a very long time. While I know you’ve read this (cuz you beta for me like the boss bitch you are) I still hope that you know that it was written with love for you. (I really don’t have time to write for anyone else XP) One day I hope you’ll have a friend at least half as good as you are (because we both no I ain’t it XP) I hope your Hanukkah wasn’t a miserable one and that you Christmas is the highlight of your 2020 (because we both know there isn’t much competition).  Prompt: Explain why Patton’s Sweater this year is so damn ugly.

Patton shifted under the mountainous pile of blankets atop him. It was early, or rather… late? He hadn’t really slept. How could he?! His favorite day of the year was here! Well, it would be.

He shifted again, this time wiggling towards where he thought one of the blankets ended and poked his head out to look at his frog shaped Wisoee alarm clock. Its dim light smiled at him reading 3:37 AM.

He held back a squeal as he ducked back into this warm cave of comforters. He couldn’t watch the clock.

A watched pot never boils,he reminded himself.

He went over the day’s schedule in his head:

Logan would already be awake and emerge at precisely 4:00 AM, as he always did. Today though, was the only day out of the year the Logan broke his (otherwise) usual routine.

Logan would skip his usual jog, replacing his gray sweats for the pajamas Patton had bought him for his birthday (a blue plaid pair of pants and a grey tee  with the text ‘Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Vote.’ printed on the front) At which point, he would make his way to the kitchen where he would start a pot of coffee for himself, Virgil, and Janus.

That would be where Patton, came in!

Patton would already be in the kitchen to start his homemade hot chocolate for himself, Roman, and Remus (With Logan’s help of course. He didn’t want another incident like the baking fiasco from a few months ago).

By the time they finished, Roman would be up, no doubt singing everyone into wakefulness. Then it would be time for hot cocoa and presents!

Patton got them all Christmas sweaters just like he did every year! He loved picking them out for each of his friends and watching them all spread out in the living room, all snug and cozy to watch their usual Christmas movie marathon!

They always let Patton pick the first movie, but there were so many good ones he usually couldn’t choose! Logan would probably chime in with the Nutcracker, not because he was a fan but because it was the only Christmas movie Roman and Remus agreed on, making  it the popular choice.

Then it would be Logan’s actual turn. He usually chose The Polar Express. Patton was pretty sure he only chose it because there were really only two Christmas movies based on books and Janus always chose A Christmas Carol. That and because Patton really liked it!

Then came Janus and finally Virgil, who was Jewish and didn’t have personal stock in Christmas, but participated for the others (which was another reason he was Patton’s favorite ,not that he’d ever admit it). Virgil always wanted to watch Die Hard, but knew Patton didn’t care for the violence much, so he usually settled for Rudolf, which warmed the fatherly figure’s heart to no end (Which was probably why Patton had bought him the collector’s edition box set of the movie). During the previous year’s viewing of the movie Virgil and Logan ended up in a discussion regarding how the song Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer was (according to Virgil) one of the only times a big corporation did what was right. Patton usually tried to follow this kind of discussion, but he usually got lost when Logan started in about percentages and underpaid artists. It just really hurt his little heart to know so many talented people out there were struggling.

The movies, as a matter of fact, were why Patton chose the sweaters he did for them this year! Each of his friends would be gifted a sweater to mirror each of their favorite Christmas movies! (Die Hard being the exception of course!)

After all that, the group would settle in for-

The alarm clock croaked loudly, signaling the arrival of 3:45 AM.

Patton’s previous thoughts evaporated into excitement as he attempted scramble from the mass of comforters, reaching to shut off the alarm.

His leg tangled in one of the large downeys and he hit the ground with a heavy thud. He paid no mind to his bruised ribs as he wrestled himself from its grasp, smacking the flashing frog to silence it.

A moment later he threw open his door, intent for the stairs.

He never made it though. At least, not at first…

Something was off.

He paused in the hallway, skin prickling at the coolness of the air.

He had only made it a few feet when he noticed it.

Roman’s door was ajar, the dark shadows of his messy room an indication of his absence…

Remus’ too. Though it was only slightly. Patton noticed the smell more than the sight.

Was everyone up before him?

He moved towards Virgil’s room, giving a soft knock before shouldering open the door.

“Hey, Kiddo. You up?” He whispered softly before noticing the unmade empty bed.

“And what would you know?!” the ‘kiddo’-in-question’s voice came in a harsh snap, drifting up from the living room.

“Keep your voice down!” Janus’ own snapped back, matching Virgil’s volume though the tone was a mock attempt at a whisper in his tone.

Patton inched closer, concern playing on his features as he flattened himself against the wall at the top of the stairs. He certainly didn’t want to intrude on his friends’ conversation, but there was obviously something was wrong.

“Bite me, snake boy!” Virgil snapped in return, though his voice was lowered.

“Don’t tempt me,” Janus hissed.

“Wait! Let me get the camera! Pics or it didn’t happen!” Remus’ voice came in a giddy giggle. “Okay, make sure you draw blood.”

“Gross,” Virgil huffed, heat gone.

“As much as I hate to admit it, Stormcloud, I think Ser Lies-a-lot is right,” Roman sighed softly. 

“You can’t be serious!” Virgil grumbled. 

“I believe he is,” Logan’s calm voice interrupted. “Statistically speaking, twenty three percent of christmas gifts in America in a given year are unwanted but kept.”

“That’s reassuring,” Virgil growled. 

“I wasn’t finished,” Logan retorted. “Given that statistic, along with the fact that individuals are more likely to gift items they like themselves, and factoring in the number of gifts we’ve received over the years. That paired with the fact that it was commissioned from an independent artist, supporting their work directly: I would say that there is a ninety-two point six five present chance that Patton will find the gift quite adequate.”

“Did you really just do all that in your head?” Janus asked curiously. 

“Actually, no,” Logan admitted. “I calculated the odds when the idea was brought up months ago, as I do with each of your christmas gifts.”

“Is that why I got socks last year?” Remus chirped. 

“Yes, well… I found that the other options would cause unease with the others,” Logan clarified.

“Boring!” 

“Don’t worry Remus, he didn’t get you a dissection kit this year to make up for it,” Janus commented sarcastically.

“What?!” Roman spat as Remus gasped excitedly. 

“I’m not even sure how you know that,” Logan sighed, probably straightening his glasses like he usually did when something annoyed him. “And I’m not sure I care to know.”

“We’re getting side tracked. He’ll be up any minute,” Virgil interrupted once more. “The fact is, it’s one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen and it’s too late not to give it to him.”

“I like it!” Remus argued.

“See!” Virgil huffed, using Remus’ opinion as evidence to the validity of his statement. 

“Ugh, maybe he has a point Teach,” Roman agreed. “I could put together a card for us to sign instead?”

“No, it’s too late for that, beside I am certain this is all an overstated concern.” Logan countered.

“Perhaps, a vote wouldn’t be appropriate?” Janus offered. 

“I agree, all in favor of giving Patton the gift we already agreed upon?” Logan asked. 

There was silence as Patton assumed a few of the boys raised their hands. 

“All opposed?” He continued.

“Remus you can’t vote twice!” Roman snapped. 

“You’re no fun!” Remus whined. “I’ll stick with J-anus then!”

“Please, continue to call me that. I just love it,” Janus deadpanned. 

“The ayes have it then,” Logan decided. 

“What eyes?” Remus chirped excitedly, but no one paid him any mind. 

“Roman, if you would be so kind as to finish wrapping the gift, I have a pot of coffee to finish,” Logan dismissed.

“I have some extra ribbon in my room. Want to help, Stormcloud?” Roman asked, making Patton tense as they headed his way. 

He didn’t wait for V to answer as Patton hurried back to his room and closed the door softly behind him. 

He really shouldn’t have eavesdropped. 

Guilt filled him as he leaned against the frame, processing everything that had been said. 

The group had never agreed on a gift for Patton. Usually Logan and Roman were the only two to get him anything and they just included the others’ names on the presents (not that Patton ever called them out on it. Why would he?). Patton didn’t mind of course, he knew they had trouble buying for him.

Logan usually got him a new hoodie or something practical like a flamingo pen, or oven mitts (though those usually only lasted about a week before Patton caught them on fire or melted them!). Roman always made him something, like the card he had mentioned, and just had the others sign it. Patton didn’t mind of course, he loved everything they gave him. It was the thought that warmed him! Even the fact that Remus refrained from his usual off the wall habits to try and make Patton more comfortable meant the world to him.

The fact that the group was so torn over his opinion broke his heart. How could they think that? What had he done to put that doubt in their mind? He had to do better! Whatever it was, he would show he loved it more than anything they had ever gotten him before.

His brows furrowed in determination. 

This would be their year!

He took a moment to gather himself before plastering on a smile and throwing open the door once more, running straight into a surprised Logan. 

Logan gave a small grunt as Patton bumped him, the mug of hot cocoa sloshing over and onto his hand. 

“Oh goodness!” Patton gasped in shock, “I’m so sorry Lo’! Are you alright?” The smaller man hurriedly took the mug from his friend’s hand and set it on the small table next to the door, frantically searching for something to clean up the mess. 

“I’m fine, Patton,” Logan reassured, producing a blue handkerchief from his pant pocket and wiping the warm liquid off his hand. Leave it to Logan to have his handkerchief with him despite wearing pajamas. “I made sure the liquid was at an acceptable temperature for this exact reason.”

“Oh! I hope I didn’t ruin your new PJs!” Patton cried, already pushing Logan’s arms up to examine the flannel. 

There wasn’t a stain to be found. Logan arched a brow as he waited for Patton to satisfy his need for the inspection before sighing. 

“Truly, Patton, I’m fine. Are you?” Logan asked, his neutral expression turning to one of concern. 

“What?” Patton hummed, glancing up to meet the taller man’s eyes. “Of course! I wasn’t the one holding the cup!” 

“I wasn’t referring to the cocoa,” Logan pointed out, lowering his arms. “It’s 4:17. It isn’t like you to be so unpunctual on Christmas day.” 

“Oh…” Patton whispered, lowering his gaze in shame. Should he tell him? It wasn’t right to keep secrets. Would he be upset if he found out Patton had been eavesdropping? No… Today was their day… He wouldn’t do anything to upset them. “No. I’m fine!” Patton reassured, suddenly as chipper as ever as he offered out a smile. 

Logan eyed him suspiciously, but seemed to wearily accept the answer. 

“Well, I thought your traditional cup of cocoa would help if anything were amiss,” Logan nodded towards the cup, bringing Patton’s attention to it once more. 

Logan had made it without him? 

Patton could feel the mask around his heart start to crack a little as his stomach sank. He supposed it made sense that Logan wouldn’t really need him to make it… Still, that was Patton and Logan’s Christmas tradition… It hurt that he had been left out of it. 

“Aw! Thank you Logan!” Patton forced out in his preening voice as if nothing was wrong. 

This was their day, not his. 

“That’s so sweet!” He added, collecting the mug and taking a small sip. Somehow it didn’t taste as good as it usually did. 

“You’re very welcome, Patton,” Logan replied with a small tilt of his lips. 

His crooked smile also seemed to soften his features; Patton loved that about him. It made his sudden disappointment worth it. 

“I know we usually have a schedule for the holiday, but…” Logan paused as if he were nervous. What an odd look for the scholar. “Well, the others requested a change in plans.”

Patton’s heart sank. What kind of change? Did they not like the way they usually celebrated Christmas? Why hadn’t they told him? Was his idea of Christmas really so one sided? How had he not noticed this before? Was that why Logan was so nervous?

No… It didn’t matter. This was their day, not his.

“What kind of change, kiddo? I’m sure whatever it is will be great! It’s Christmas after all!” Patton responded, despite the way his stomach knotted. 

“Well,” Logan began, stepping aside. “Perhaps it would be best if they explained it.”

Patton hesitated before nodding taking the lead as they walked down the hall. What if they didn’t want to do hot cocoa and movies any more? What if they didn’t want to celebrate Christmas at all?! Was that why they came together for a gift? To appease Patton? They were all getting older and it wasn’t as if they had children. Maybe they felt like Christmas wasn’t for adults…

That was ridiculous, Patton knew that. But still…

He headed down the stairs, a smile still glued to his lips as he caught sight of Remus and Janus whispering over a small box. 

“I told you, it's for you!” Janus hissed at the mustached man next to him, fending him off the plain white box in his hands. 

“I helped pick them out! I should be allowed first dib-” Remus cut himself off as Janus elbowed him in the ribs pulling his attention up to Patton, just as he took the last step on the landing. 

“I didn’t lick them, I swear!” Remus called out, smiling broadly in his stained Oscar the Grouch onesie. “Okay maybe a few.”

Janus rolled his eyes, dressed in his usual suit and hat, not bothering with a comment. 

“Good Morning, Patton, slept horribly I hope?” Janus asked pleasantly. 

“Hey, kiddos. You’re up early,” Patton offered, feeling more uneasy than ever; something that must have shown because at that moment Logan leaned down to whisper in the smaller man’s ear. 

“Are you sure you are alright Patton?” he asked softly. “If you’re not feeling well then perhaps you should rest. I’m sure we can put this off unti-”

“Hola, Padre!” Roman’s voice came,  cutting off Logan’s words. 

Patton glanced up at the two figures standing at the top of the stairs. Roman, straight backed, hands behind him as he stood tall in his prince pajamas; Virgil behind him, using him to practically hide his small form, dressed in his Jack Skeleton onesie. 

“Roman, Virgil! You’re up already! This is a surprise!” Patton feigned excitement.

“Definitely a Christmas miracle,” Janus sighed. 

No one paid the comment any mind as Roman hurried down the stairs. Grin wide.

“Well this is a special day, Padre!” Roman explained as Virgil followed after, rolling his eyes. 

“Bah-Humbug,” the black and white clad man grumbled in response. Though it may have been Patton’s imagination, but Virgil's eyeshadow looked a few shades lighter than usual. 

“Feliz Navidad Patton! Merry Christmas!”Roman sang, producing the present from behind his back and offering it out. 

Patton’s heart skipped a beat, hesitating as he glanced around the room at each of his friends. They all looked so nervous… Even Janus. 

His attention went back to the gift being presented. It was a decent sized package with rainbow wrapping paper, black and white striped ribbon, and a green and blue bow that sat just above a small yellow tag that read ‘To: Janus From: Patton’.

Despite Patton’s dread and apprehension, he couldn’t help but smile at the packaging. They had even come together on the wrapping. It was very sweet. 

He glanced up at Roman who nodded eagerly, indicating that Patton was welcome to it. 

“You guys! You didn’t have to do all this!” He whispered in awe, voice cracking as tears began filling his eyes.

No matter what happened, Patton was awed by the fact that the boys went to so much trouble for him. They had come together for him. It didn’t matter if they were too old for Christmas!

He tugged at the ribbon, finding it firmly in place, before turning it over and trying again. After flipping it once more he heard Logan give a small chuckle. 

“May I?” his soft calm voice came. Patton nodded, handing over the package to Logan and wiping away a tear he felt rolling down his cheek. 

Logan’s nimble fingers loosened the bow and the surrounding ribbon, careful not to ruin them (he knew Patton loved to keep them and hang them above his mirror to admire later). Logan set the ribbon aside before handing the package back to the smaller man.

“Thank you,” Patton murmured weakly, gently tearing the wrapping to slide the sleek white box from inside. 

“This is worse than waiting for a magnet you swallowed to come out the other end!” Remus chimed in excitedly. 

“Ugh! Does he really have to be here?!” Roman whined, causing Patton’s grin to turn genuine.

The momentary distraction had him feeling a bit better as he slid a nail under the lid of the box, breaking the tape there and pulling open the lid. 

Wrapped loosely in a thin tissue paper lay a DVD copy of The Shop Around the Corner, a mug that, when you sip it, makes the drinker look like the bottom half of their face belongs to a puppy, and some kind of knitted fabric.

“Ah! You guys!!!” Patton squealed, tears beginning to fall as he collected the mug and movie, setting them aside and pulling out the sweater to get a better look at it. 

The light blue knitted midsection was covered in what, he assumed, was supposed to be some kind of icing pattern? Or perhaps whipped cream? Lace? He wasn’t sure. There was also a brown bow tie that was maybe supposed to be chocolate? Down the center was a line of pink chocolate chip cookie buttons. The bright pink sleeves had much of the same design though instead of pink cookies they were light blue.

It may have been the ugliest excuse of a sweater Patton had ever seen.

Silence fell in the rooms everyone waited for Patton’s reaction. 

“We know it’s not as good as the ones you get us,” Virgil chimed in nervously. “But we thought that maybe you’d like one of your own?” 

“The mug, of course, is so you won’t have to make so many trips for more cocoa,” Logan added with a soft smile. “I thought the others would like to help us make the rest after you change, of course. If you’d like.”

“The rest?” Patton asked, breath hitching as the tears threatened to fall. “You mean… You didn’t make it without me?” He sniffled.

“What?” Logan blinked in surprise. “Of course not, Patton. Making hot chocolate for everyone is a tradition I enjoy spending with you. I would never-”

“Well, it's just… you brought the mug up… So, I thought…” Patton let his voice fade as he watched understanding flash over Logan’s features.

“I was worried there might be something wrong. I thought waking you with your own mug would be a nice surprise.” Logan explained. “I apologize if I gave the wrong impression, Patton. I only made the one mug. I know you find a great deal of happiness in our customary time in the kitchen. I would not want to take that from you.”

“But…” Patton murmured, eyes shifting to the others. “Everyone’s already awake… And you were all together… I don’t want to impose on-”

“¡Espera! ¡Espéra! ¡Espéra!” Roman interrupted, looking both surprised and concerned. “I did not wake up far before my beauty rest was done to hear this slander especially from Mr. Spirit of Christmas, himself! Patton, with you there is no Christmas.”

“Roman is right, Patton,” Virgil shrugged, shrinking a bit lower into his hood. “I certainly wouldn’t be celebrating and we definitely wouldn’t have come together to get you the gifts. 

“I know Shop Around the Corner isn’t usually on our Christmas Merry Marathon list, but you never really get to pick a movie and I know it’s your favorite,” Roman pitched in. “At least, that's what Janus claims.”

“I totally didn’t check your browsing history,” Janus shrugged.

“And I edited the email to the artist!” Remus added proudly.

“That… explains a lot,” Logan whispered under his breath softly.

“We also didn’t bring you cookies from that bakery you hate.” Janus stated, setting the box he had been holding down on the small table next to him. 

Patton was silent throughout the exchange, burying his face into the soft fabric as he began to shake silently with his sobs. 

“I told you he wouldn’t like it!” Virgil cried desperately.

“No!” Patton responded, voice breaking. “I love it! I love all of it!” He dropped his hands just enough to rush forward, wrapping both Virgil and Roman into a great big hug. “Thank you so much! It’s perfect!” 

Roman gave a boisterous laugh, returning the hug as Virgil couldn’t help but smile; both grunting as Remus piled atop them. 

Logan approached, resting a hand on Patton’s shoulders in reassurance. 

“Well, this is certainly a disgusting sight,” Janus sighed, though he was grinning as well. 

“I love you guys so much!” Patton laughed, the weight on his heart lifting to the point of forgetfulness. How could he have ever thought these men didn’t need him or wouldn’t want to spend Christmas with him. They were his family!

“Is it just me or is this oddly arousing?” Remus purred.

“Ugh!” Roman and Virgil both scoffed at once, shoving the rank smelling man away from them. 

“Why do you have to ruin everything?!” Roman growled, dragging his brother away.

Patton didn’t mind the outburst, however, far too busy hurrying up the stairs to change so they could get their Best Christmas EVER underway…

The End...

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Digging through the archives 1: The ReBoot drama

Hello and welcome to one of the first “subsections” of posts I am going to make on this tumblr for the sake of an easier overview. This one is titlted “Digging through the archives”, because it will always relate to something I will find by literally looking for some of the oldest “opinion” or personal related stuff about Dobson that there is. So think of this here less as me tackling his comics and more of my own version of what the Hypocrisy of Andrew Dobson does.

With that explanation out of the way, lets just briefly talk about Dobson and his idea of fan entitlement; If you have followed Dobson throughout the last year or so, you know he has a very low opinion on fans of the original She-Ra and He-Man, 80s cartoons in general and Star Wars, to the point he thinks the people behind it are all potential alt righters (link red flag comic) or basically man children.

 To anyone who knows Dobson however, it would be no surprise now to learn that he has a tendency to be the same kind of way to other people and creators. Like when he whined to an actual writer on a Frozen related property about the necessity of giving Elsa a girlfriend, which even resulted in Aaron Sparrow being involved at one point, a professional animator and comic writer on the Boom Comics related Darkwing Duck issues. A prime example on how Dobson will literally make himself also unsympathetic to the people he wants to work for/with.

 But then there is what I found in relation to a little animated series by the name of ReBoot and that is really where both his entitlement and egotism kinda shine.

For those unaware: ReBoot was a computer animated adventure show produced by Mainframe Entertainment and ran from 1994 to 2001. It is actually listed as the first fully computer animated cartoon out there and is fondly remembered by a lot of people. Unfortunately, I myself have never watched it so I can’t give a “valid” opinion on it. All I have seen so far are clips on youtube but I will admit that what I have seen in them looks fun and intriguing, even if the animation at parts (especially in season 1 related content) has not aged that well. But hey, early computer animation, that is forgivable. And any media that manages to make an episode that is also in a way a huge tribute to Evil Dead of all things in a children cartoon is a big win for me.

Now, how is ReBoot connected to Dobson? Dobson has been a fan of ReBoot, a fact he made publicly known when in 2007 rumors of a continuation of ReBoot emerged. Something Dobson, again, the man who is pissed about the entitlement of She-Ra fans, has not been very happy about.

But Dobson, what is so wrong about being “different” from the past? After all, let the past die! The original show had terrible artwork! And not everything back in the day was good, right?

 Yeah, it is pretty obvious how his complaining and stands against “modern” fans ring pretty hollow when he himself acted as the entitled brat he thinks critics of new She-Ra and Thundercats Roar are, back in 2007 already. Also I honestly feel that at the very least the creators of that idea gave their fans still more “control” than Rian Johnson did. And we all know how much Star Wars suffered in terms of reputation because of it.

BTW, this webcomic continuation mentioned? It is actually not just a rumor that went nowhere, but one of the most fascinating aspects I found when reading up on ReBoot via Wikipedia. The idea was that of the five potential pitches (so again, there was variety given that even could have been expanded on) people could choose one that would be further adapted. Additionally the people behind the idea were looking for more active input by fans, giving people the chance to apply as artists working on it if they decided to submit samples people could vote on. Something Dobson jumped actually on. And tried to manipulate in his own favor

 The thing that catches my attention at first is how hyperbole Dobson is. Claiming the fate of the show is in their hands and treating voting on this thing like it’s a live or die situation, with pointlessly writing stuff in caps as if we are reading the headline of some trashy newspaper article. It just comes off less as someone who is a fan and more of a fanatic of the show. Second, I just find it hilarious that of all the plattforms online Dobson decided to post that “VERY IMPORTANT” information people should act immediately on, was deviantart. Did he genuinely expect people would flock to what he wrote in order to immediately do something about the vote? Deviantart even back then was mostly for posting fanart, few people read journals and even less people cared for ReBoot. I don’t know if the /co/ board of 4chan existed back in 2007 already, but he would have had more success posting on there and get the information out, than on dA.

 Lastly, the shameless self promotion. Stating he does not care which pitch wins, when only three day prior he whined how they all suck and he wishes the show would be done justice by someone. That someone obviously being him, the person who is so hardcore as a fan, because he already waited 8 years just to watch season 3. Damned be any other artists or pitches that may be better or more popular than him, HE is the true messiah and that is his chance to shine. So don’t be “neutral” and judge fairly based on actual competence, talent and effort, just vote for him blindly or else Trump wins the second term and your beautiful nation turns into the fourth rei- I mean,  Dobson will be a very sad guy who has come to terms with the fact he is not talented enough to work on a reboot/continuation of his favorite children show.

Well, it seemed to have had some impact though, as four day later he posted this

 And obviously Dobson is pissed his favorite pitch did not win and instead of being grateful for the good ratings some of his artwork got he focuses instead on the fact that his Enzo and Megabyte pic had the lowest rating. Which in my opinion it kinda deserved. I mean, look at those artpieces:

Enzo is okayish looking but the rest? That is not Megabyte and a genuine background, it is a cola light version of the entire Ripley disaster with the Samus Artwork commission. Also, Enzo’s hands just look weird. His fingers more alien than they need to be and the position of his legs not really adjusting to how the hip is supposed to move. The comic sample page that Dobson drew being okay overall, aside of the fact that Enzo in one panel HAS FOUR INSTEAD OF FIVE FINGERS ON ONE HAND DESPITE HAVING FIVE FINGERS IN A PREVIOUS PANEL. I am also not really a fan of how Dobson puts emphasize on the word “FAN” and “PAGES” in the post, indicating he thinks he is a better and bigger fan than any of the people who submitted their entries too, off handedly praising them but also making it obvious he thinks he is the most fit for the job, because he can also “copy any artstyle” and adjust to the needs of his superiors. Yeah, sure. That’s why you are nowadays and with even more time and effort put into your work so “good” at imitating Ladybug, your comics look exactly like in the show…

 Now considering that Dobson does not have ReBoot under his resume and likely tried his best to bury any enthusiasm for it, you can imagine how this chance at being an official artist ended up.

 Not even much of a follow up or introspective in why he may have not won. His enthusiasm died within two days.

And honestly, I am surprised that as a result he did not fake depression and rage quit doing comics for a month or so as he did here and there.

And that is pretty much the end of the ReBoot drama, at least as far as I know.

If you are interested what happened with the comic project, here is what I managed to gather:

The project did actually not die in development, but “ReBoot: Arrival” would be reimagined under the name “Code of Honour” and be published online in three “issues” over the course of the next few months. The comic’s status as “canon” continuation of the show is however very much in the air, as quite a lot of people think it is something of a fanfiction, others think it is a good enough continuation that unfortunately still does not deliver on an “ultimate” ending of the franchise. That said, with additional plans like a movie trilogy never been realized and the “reboot” known as “ReBoot: The Guardian Code” having been perceived as an insult by fans and a disappointment by most audiences (which Dobson was surprisingly silent about) this comic seems to be the best thing fans can still hope for and read.

Yeah, I am not even kidding. The comic is still up. Here, have two links to independent pages if you want to either read it for the first time or revisit it for the sake of nostalgia.

As for Dobson, if he reads this, I just have one thing to say to you: Don’t you ever again try to whine about how entitled fanboys are, if you felt entitled enough yourself you tried to manipulate a competition in your own favor in the hope to become a writer and then exploit ReBoot for your own agenda and benefit.

[galacticbugman]

Colorado Fun! Summer 2019 Part 1: Prehistoric Adventures

Greetings from Colorado! It was sure a wild trek I took a few weeks ago. It was so cool to visit some of the old hot spots and the new places. This was a photo of me taken at one of my favorite Dinosaur Museums. This place is called the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. It has a lot of cool things in it. It may be a small little place but it has quite the collection. Here I am behind a model of a Megalodon’s Jaws. These suckers got huge. They wouldn’t have to bite just to swallow you whole. I am so tiny compared to this set of Shark Chompers. It was kind of freaky yet cool. I got a lot of neat photos so lets get started. Just a warning you will be hearing and reading a lot of Jurassic Park related stuff in this posting. 

Okay so you know I can’t pass up a Jurassic Park post it is one of my favorite movies of all time. This one is at the same place as the Meg jaws. This poster I am next to is an authentic original Jurassic Park (1993) Poster. I have all the movies and now the original books. Jurassic Park has had a big impact on my life and I enjoy the whole series. The movies are great and the books are even better. I have been a big fan and no trip to a Dinosaur museum is never complete without some references to classic Dinosaur films from the Sliver Screen. Did you notice my clothes? I thought you did. Yep I wore my Jurassic Park button down and my Jurassic World Raptor shirt for this trek. I went all out and even wore my fossilized Shark Tooth Necklace. I always have a theme when I got to certain places or at least I try to. 

On the other side of the theater area they have another authentic poster from my favorite JP movie in the series. This is an original poster from The Lost World: Jurassic Park which came out in 1997. This was so cool to see posters from the two best Jurassic Park films ever created. I really enjoy finding Jurassic Park based things. I just crazy about stuff like this. I really enjoy the novels that Michael Crichton wrote back in the 90s as well as the movies. I like both types of media and I know that when this movie came out many fans of the book were pretty outraged by the movie not being like the book like we saw with the first movie which did follow pretty close to the book with a few plot differences and things. Jurassic Park for me is one thing I really enjoyed growing up with I have some of the Toys, a Jurassic Park bed sheet set, all of the movies that does include the Jurassic World stuff. I have the Lego Jurassic World Video Game for the Nintendo 3DS, I have played countless Jurassic Park games including the Rampage Edition, the NES Jurassic Park game, the SNES game, I have played the demo for Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, I have played Jurassic Park Builder for Android, Jurassic World the Game, and Jurassic World: Alive. i even have the Jurassic Park: Danger board game. I am just a huge fan of this and have several shirts and things that I wear pretty often. I wasn’t able to watch the films until I was older. I was I was about ten or eleven when I was finally able to watch the films. Ever since I was able to watch them my mind was blown and I became an instant fan. Of course I did collect  the toys way before I saw the movies I have several that I might post in post of their own in a collection of my collectibles that I have collected over the years of being a huge fan of many things. Still a pretty cool find in one of the coolest museums on the planet. 

One of the coolest things about this museum is that they have the third Largest Tyrannosaurus-Rex. It used to be the second almost topping Sue; but in recent years there is another one that has been discovered to be even taller than Sue. Still this monster is one of my favorite dinosaurs and has always been my favorite since I was kid and it is one of my favorites in the Jurassic Park franchise. Tyrannosaurus-Rex was not really an active hunter but more of a scavenger. It’s teeth are kind of dulled out and only used for ripping and swallowing whole instead of chewing. What is the deal with the tiny little stubby arms you ask? It has been up for debate for years but some thing that they played a part in the mating ritual of this species but we are not too sure about that. It is just speculation which paleontology is all about. Still a fantastic and giant creature from the last Cretaceous period. 

 One of my favorite shark fossils is this one. This is an almost complete spinal region and skull of a shark. It maybe the only one in existence so far as we know. This is kind of a really interesting rarity. As we know Shark skeletons are made of cartilage and it often breaks down and deteriorates after a while but in this is one of those rare fossils of cartilage. It is kind of neat and this shark may looks small but it is pretty large. The photos don’t really do it justice than experiencing these fossils in person. Lets look at another cool fossil shall we. 

What is this weird creature? Is it an alien? Well it is from a time very different from our own. This is the Giant Ground Sloth and my brother and I saw this guy being put together on a display stand. This is one of the weirdest creatures. You may have heard of the Horse Apple or Bois De’ Arc tree. Well the horse apple was a favorite food of this species as well as the mammoths that lived here thousands of years ago. This one was pretty young and just a little taller than me. I am about 5′ 9″ and these guys could get up to ten foot tall so this guy was not even close to being done growing. This guy is kind of a weird dumpy animal but it is quite interesting to look at. It was kind of cool to see all kinds of extinct animals other than Dinosaurs. There was a bunch of neat stuff at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 

As a huge Jurassic Park fan I couldn’t help but notice this skull hanging in the prehistoric wing of the museum. You may recognize it from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. This guy is the Stygimoloch AKA Stiggy in Jurassic Park. Sorry to bust your bubble on these guys but they can’t actually ram each other or solid brick wall. These guys would shatter their skulls if they were to do that. These guys may have used their heads to amplify noise or to show off for the ladies. These guys are still pretty cool to look at. I saw this and was instantly familiar with it. Stiggy is one of my favorite Jurassic World Dinosaurs for the chaos at the auction scene when we was running about causing panic and confusion to buy Owen Grady some time. This was one of the coolest fossils in their collection. This is the first one of these I have seen in any museum collection. 

A cool battle scene between an Allosaurus and a Stegosaurus. You might think of a Stegosaurus to have a pretty good defense due to those big thick bony plates; however this is simply not the case. The plates are actually very thin and were possibly only used for mating purposes. This made the plates more like a blood filled cookie. Still they did have their famous weapon the Thagomizer which was used as a weapon and could really do some damage. I will never forget the scene in The Lost World: Jurassic Park when Sarah Harding gets attacked by the family heard after her camera messes up when she is photographing the baby causing it to sent of an alarm call. Stegosaurus is a huge dinosaur and will always be one of my favorites. Fun Fact: In the first Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton instead of using a sick triceratops like they did in the film it was actually a sick Stegosaurus that Dr. Harding was caring for when the Toyota Land Cruisers came up to that point on the tour. That was one of the biggest differences in media but the same thing was going on with both animals in both forms of media.   

A close up of a Stegosaurus Thagomizer. 

A cool Hadrosaur fossil that was also at the Denver Museum. They had a lot of cool fossils but I didn’t get a chance to photograph them all. There was just too much and so little time to see the whole museum but heck it was really cool to see some of the Jurassic Park superstars in this museum. Hardrosaurus was not in Jurassic Park but this was one of the first dinosaurs I ever learned about. These guys are also known as Duck-bills for their goofy looking mouths. Dinosaurs had some of the coolest features from weird headgear, to weird mouth shapes, to their wild arsenal of weapons. Even in the time of the dinosaurs biological warfare was very weird. 

A rather cool replica I got on the trip was this cast of a Raptor claw. I am a huge Raptor fan and adding one of these to my collection was really cool. My collection is now in a nice display cabinet with some of my Jurassic Park toys in the mix just to make it more interesting. Fossils are just one of my favorite things to collect and even though this is a fake it is still a nice edition to my educational collections and too I got it reminded me of Alan Grant’s Raptor Claw from Jurassic Park (1993) and I am a huge JP Raptor fan. I will be doing a top ten Jurassic Park Dinosaurs post soon to show you what my top 10 pics are after the trip photos. So stay tuned more animals and stuff to show you from Colorado as my Colorado trip review continues. 

[dango-daikazoku]

had a long dream where i was married to this guy that turned out to be a super powerful monster, so strong that after i told him i wanted a divorce he broke my arm just from grabbing it

his whole house was full of monsters, the maid was a zombie, the gardener was a werewolf, the butler was some kind of all-seeing guy that could answer three questions a day thruthfully, no matter the question

i couldn't get a divorce for some reason, my husband wouldn't allow it so i assumed i was needed as a sacrifice or something

i went online and found a monster helping agency and told them everything, a week or so later a chubby guy in a Hawaiian shirt and this skinny little blond guy showed up at the door pretending to be my friends from college, i invited them in and toured the house, which was actually for them to plan an escape route

when we were in the lower movie room my husband came and got suspicious because the two people smelled like monsters, but i introduced them as my old pals to try and make him relax

i pretended not to know they were monsters and went to get drinks from the kitchen, i don't know what happened but when i got back the two were slightly pale and my husband looked like he had a fun time and left when i got there

the two monsters explained that he was just testing them to see if they were a threat and because they were so weak in comparison to my husband he left them alone, they assured me that they would get me out, no human should be living here, they said

the whole plan went into action, i pretended that i would be going out to see my friends for a big class reunion party, dressing up in my most expensive clothes and jewelry (all gifts from my husband of course) and didn't pack anything so he would think i would be going out for a few hours at most

he seemed to know i was nervous and i tried to brush it off as something about not having met in a long time, and when i tried to leave by having the butler drive me my husband said that he would drive me there, something about needing to show me off

when we got to the building where the reunion was held i saw actual friends from college, i was so happy that i ran out and hugged them and spun them around, it was surprising to see at first but i guessed that the monster company had gotten all this together to help me make a real escape, i was going to meet up with them later because they were currently at my husbands house trying to get my stuff out

my husband seemed to believe it was a real reunion and came over to introduce himself, we all talked for a bit and then my friends insisted that he stay for the reunion, it was a class reunion but wasn't limited only to people that attended the class

i could almost hear my all the plans shattering to pieces, i had to get my husband back home somehow, but before i could say anything he declined saying this was an event for me to enjoy myself, and he would wait at home

i was overjoyed and said that me and my friends were going to have a swell time watching scary movies and bad comedies, both of which my husband hated (probably because he knows real monster and also has no sense of humor)

after the party it was arranged for me to go and stay at a hotel with a friend while she would call my husband and say i was drunk and resting in the hotel room, but in reality those friends were in on the whole thing and would be getting me on a plane to go to Europe, their acting was so amazing that i never knew they were in on it

they assured me that i was making the right choice, my husband came off really creepy to them and the fact that he refused a divorce made them into my biggest allies

meanwhile, at the my husband's house he ignored the call about me because the gardener smelled intruders, they didn't know it yet but it was the skinny little blond guy from the monster company, his ability was to turn invisible, he wouldn't make a sound or give the smallest hint to anyone that he was there, even if they were looking for him, although it couldn't completely get rid of his scent

he was walking around gathering all my important stuff and about to leave with it all when my husband approached him by the door, he couldn't see the invisible guy but sensed that he might be there and attacked instantly, piercing the invisible guy through the heart and crashing through the front door

the hawaiian shirt guy was observing everything from half a mile away, and almost blew his cover by gasping, but my husband, although he heard it, brushed it off as a passerby because it was far away

he threw the invisible man's corpse into a large furnace, but seemed to sense that there was someone else, he looked around but there was nothing, so he asked the butler how many people had come to rob the house, and the butler answered 'three'

my husband realized that there was another invisible person that came along, the guy he killed held a lot of valuables but it turns out that he had a twin sister that had already run off, carrying my stuff to the airport, with how strong my husband was they knew there was a possibility that they would die, so they planned for that event too

a huge chase was set off, the werewolf gardener leading the way to smell me out, but i had already left on a plane, so they chased me there too, while the werewolf disguised himself as a big red dog

eventually i was found by the werewolf, he told me my husband was at a base nearby and waiting for me to come back, since i didn't know the gardener very well i tried to get him on my side, saying that my husband didn't love me anymore and it was torture to stay by his side, and told him that as a human i couldn't be near him without being hurt by his strength, it was best for me to run away and never come back

this big werewolf gardener was actually a big sap with a heart of gold and told me that he would help, so we eloped! we eventually got together and made fun of my now ex-husband by misleading him, such as leading him to a pride parade while we were actually hiding and watching him become mistaken for an awkward closeted gay man, or giving him hints that i had gone to a nearby bank only for him to find that it was an entrance to an underground sex dungeon, or giving fake tracks to a maternity clothing store and trying to make him think i had bought clothes there because i was pregnant, then to see the cashier question him and watch him (through the security camera) as he explained i had run off with another man and he had come here to find me, so all the expecting mothers in the store snapped pics and spread bad rumors about him (because of course he came off as a weirdo creep to most non-humans)

it had a great ending lmao i was having so much fun with a new buff werewolf boyfriend

[where-is-my-mind-tho]

Guys I actually  kinda enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker

mini review/first impresions, spoilers will be highlited ;)

although my expectations were kinda low after ep. 8... I’m not gonna say TLJ was total garbage but for me certainly worst of this new trilogy. Compared to ep. 7 which I really liked. TLJ kills alot of new ideas from the previous movie and  has really weird plot and out of all these new movies feels the least like a Star Wars movie... 

I might actually write a little something about ep 7 - 9 later (like what was awesome and what I liked...) bcs when I see all the hate this new trilogy is getting it breaks my heart... I get it that It’s totally different from what we expected as fans but every movie has something epic and I really don’t wanna trash on Star Wars... bcs It’s well Star Wars and I used to love it soo much as a kid. and I still do

so back to ep. IX

I went to premier on 18th and I have to say there were like 3 girls + 1 man dressed as a Jedi :D (not that thats important) lmao and the cinema was like 75% full :D I expected more ppl tbh. But that probably depends on where u live... luckily the cinema aired the version with EN + subtitles first and I was super happy about that.

I gotta admit that I briefly read through the leaks on reddit (yes they are true) so I kinda expected the ending but I still wanted to see for myself and I was not entirely disappointed and there were bunch of scenes that blew my mind. The movie Is filled with so much action .... It would be enough for two movies and It was hell of a ride. All the scenes with Leia look awesome except for one (1) you gonna know when u see... they must have used CGI for that but It’s not a complete disaster.... As usual the trio is absolutely gorgeous... you gonna get more Rey-Poe interactions which are mostly fights but fun to watch. Sadly Finn has almost no development whatsoever and that’s a shame he was very interesting new addition to SW universe.

the saber battles are epic and probably one of my most favorite thing in TROS. also there’s bunch of new worlds and also red troopers... who are kinda just there. 

! spoilers ahead !

now we all know for some time that Palpatine is back but I did not expect him to be shown so early in the movie. It basically opens with scene with Kylo going to Sheev who tells him to kill Rey. IMHO kinda rushed start. Also the revelation that Rey is Palpatine felt kinda funny :D and the story of her parents was NOT what I had expected but thats not a bad thing... Better than what Kylo said about them in ep.8. And now Im gettting to the problem of this movie.

 Ep 7. was great. It introduced new characters and kickstarted the trilogy but then we have ep. 8 which totaly trashed and ruined the direction which was set in TFA and now JJ tried to tie it togheter and in feels so rushed and messy like Disney did not plan this entirely. I had a feeling that they put Palpatine there only bcs Snoke was killed so unexpectedly and they did not have the BIG BAD. Although the whole move is filled with nostalgia trust me when the movie ends you don’t have the feeling of closure. It does not conclude the 9 movie saga... It barely felt like an ending for this trilogy. 

Now to some positive stuff

Adam Driver and his acting is the best thing that could happen to Star Wars. This person has an incredible emotional range. Those who watch his work will agree with me. I’m forever thankful for Disney and JJ for casting him, making him well known and gave him the opportunity to show some raw emotions on screen. He deserves all the awards in the world. 

That being said I can’t shake the feeling that we were robed. His portrayal of Ben Solo is absolutely incredible even though he almost does not speak and It’s a great shame that we won’t be able to see this character more. When Ben appears on Exegol it’s a totally different person even the style of his walk changes. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be if Kylo turned at the end of ep 8... the whole RISE of Skywalker could have been filled with sarcastic sassy remarks aka Han and Leia style... NOT to mention Ben’s super hot outfit which contains baggy tshirt and black pants... yes that’s it... hottest character and outfit since Loki and his leather armor in 2012 Avengers.... 

I mean look at him....

And than we have the final scene with him and Rey... Ikd what to say about that I’m still processing that smile™. I should say I was never a true Reylo bcs I had the feeling it would be a relationship based on manipulation an abuse BUT I was not totally against REYBEN which is basically canon at the end. As I said I don’t know what to think of it yet...

In conclusion the real tragedy of this story is the fact that Ben dies :( totally useless death imho. So the ending is actually bittersweet and not what u expect when go see a movie that should end the 40y.o. saga. That being said and done my opinion is mostly positive and ep. 9 is for me actually the best from Disney trilogy followed by ep. 7 and ep. 8 being the worst. 

Theres like sithton ;) of other stuff that I did not mention bcs the post would be like 100 miles long soo maybe in another post. Now id like to know what do you think? Have u seen it yet? Which ep is the best/worst? Which part of the movie did u like?

Sorry for the repost of the last gif and pic the are not mine also bless the person who made them

Sorry for typos or grammar I’m still SHOOK

[skunky2]

Top 11 Worst Cartoons of the 2010′s!!

We had so many great cartoons introduced in this decade and while I haven't seen every last one I can say this decade was one of the best for animation in general! Sadly for every good animated show produced in this era there are also some bad apples in the bunch the following cartoons are some of the worst I have seen but please remember this is only my opinion if you like any of these shows then that's great continue to enjoy them don't let me stop you!!! 

        Now let's get this list started!!!

11. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs the series         (2017-2018) 

Ok before we talk about the show I want to make one thing clear I don't hate the films in fact I actually find them enjoyable even going as far as calling them guilty pleasures the show on the other hand is a huge flop compared to the movies were the films had creativity and fun humor the show lacks that in fact this is by far the most boring show to be based on a freaking film about an invention that makes it rain food!! The other problem I have with this show is it's set before the events of the films so Flint hasn't even become an inventor yet but instead it's about him in high school and apparently him and Sam knew each other already did they even watch their first film!? Also the mayor is the principle because why not seriously this has got to be the worst show based on a hit animated film it's so painfully unfunny that I question how kids found it entertaining to begin with!!!! Not every movie needs a tv series and this one proves it!

10.  Total Dramarama (2018-ongoing) 

Oh the pain to see the Total Drama series downgraded to this especially since the original Total Drama Island took a ton of risk for a show aimed at kids also how did we go from a series that spoofed reality  shows to a bad Muppet Babies rip-off!! What's really sad is that creators have no desire to produce a new Total Drama series they just want to work on this. On the plus side it's still not as bad as other shows your going to see later on the list. 

9. Super Noobs (2015-ongoing) 

Other then the "how do you do fellow kids" title I wasn't expecting this show to wow me considering it was brought to you by the same dude that brought us Johnny Test aka the original most hated cartoon of all time I got the DA pics to back me up! The worst part is this show has a very interesting concept but it's ruined due to the bad humor and characters. The show is about a group of outcast middle schoolers who receive super powers in the form of power balls from aliens who then become their mentors and how they must save the world from an evil virus that threatens the world sounds like an awesome plot too bad it's not pushed further. 

8. Almost Naked Animals (2011-2013)

Yes this is a children's cartoon not a title for an X rated film. All I can say about this show is why? Why would anyone greenlight a show about an animal nudist hotel not only is it disgusting but those character designs yikes!!!! They look so ugly looking no one wants to see something that looks this hideous!!  Not to mention the humor is just as terrible as the art design. 

7. Breadwinners (2014-2016) 

You know when you feature twerking in your show you automatically fail. The best way I can describe this cartoon is it's just awful first off the two idiot main characters who I'm not going to refer by name since they are some of the most stupidest names for characters seriously  SwaySway and Buhdeuce!? Anyway the show is about these two "ducks" I say ducks like that since they look nothing like ducks they look like frogs or aliens or something. Try to make your character if they are an animal try to look as close as possible as the species they're supposed to be so it will make it easier for you audience to identify them. Well they fly around in a rocket car or something I really don't care and deliver bread to stock-image ducks which brings me to another problem they can't even draw background characters they just go on Google find a duck photo and photoshop cartoon eyes and whatever on it how lazy a can you be!! Also I found out a long time ago your actually not supposed to give ducks bread yeah it can use malnutrition and illness to them so this cartoon is spreading the wrong message to kids. 

6. Brickleberry (2012-2015)

You know why I despise most adult cartoons because most of them are either trying way to hard to be quote on quote "adult" with overuse of swearing, gore, shock humor, and sex jokes and guess what this show is full of this!! Not only is the animation similar to that to Family Guy it's just as disgusting and offensive!!! The show revolves around these park rangers and their everyday lives at their jobs and the characters aren't very good either they are pretty much all assholes, stereotypes of usual characters you see in adult animation, and your typical characters that are just there to offend you! In fact the little bear cub character is pretty much the shows answer to Brain from Family Guy with the personality  of Cartman from South Park. Now I haven't seen this show in a long time but I just remember it wasn't a pleasant experience if you want to check it out just be warned it's not for the faint of heart.  Also the creators of this show produced another show for Netflix that is just a carbon copy with cops instead of rangers and I though that Seth McFarlane was lazy when it came to plots!! It's called Paradise P.D. btw 

5. Teen Titians Go!  (2013-Ongoing) 

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah you've heard it all before this show is garbage, a disgrace to DC comics, stupid etc. The animation community has tore this show apart so there really isn't much to say that already hasn't been said but I will say this I never intended to hate this show as much as I do in fact I was fine with it when it fist came out I mean the original Teen Titians cartoon from 2003 will always be better then this show in every possible way but I wasn't one of the fans to jump on the hate wagon when this was announced I mean I had nothing wrong with it just focusing on comedy if you remember correctly the original had eps that were just as silly and bizarre. The main reasons why this show is so high up on this list is for the following reasons the first is I've never seen a show like this disrespect a fan base this much  it's like the creators have it out for the original fans and they get joy out of mocking them with all these pathetic critic call out eps they do it also shows that they can't take criticism at all!!!! Second is how the creators view their show and animation in general they literally came out in an interview and said the reason why they made the show so stupid is because it's for children you do know kids aren't stupid right guys they deserve shows that don't try to talk down to them!!!! But the main reason for my anger towards this show is how they made an episode awhile were the moral literally was that cartoons are only for kids and told the original fans to grow up!! Mainly the creators themselves have this warped mindset that I honestly wish would just die out that only children should be allowed to watch cartoons and that their show should be immune to all the hate since it's for kids so they use the "just for kids" excuse for their show being like it is. It's hard to believe they would even have a mindset like that when they are adults themselves making an animated cartoon show. I didn't mean to rant this long but I mainly hate everything this show stands for and sadly it's going onto to get 300+ eps. Personality I really think it's time for this show to officially Go not because I don't like it's mainly because it's showing signs it's on it's last legs and with that Sixth Titian thing they pulled this summer and repeating episode plots is starting to show that the writers are becoming burned out this show was never good but I think it's time it ended. There are tons of other reasons this show is bad but I rather not go into them this has gone on long enough already. 

4. PPG 2016 (2016-Ongoing) 

Well TTG isn't the worst reboot/spinoff Cartoon Network produced in this decade the honor has to go to this piece of trash Powerpuff Girls 2016!! Why was this made simple CN wanted more money so they made this show to sell toys yes that was the only purpose of this reboot to sell merchandise too bad the show sucked so hard that the target demo along with the fans of the original Powerpuff Girls hated it! There are tons of problems with this reboot that have already been explained such as god awful animation errors, bad writing, and let's not forget the memes those outdated memes. Not to mention they removed the character Ms. Bellum since the creator thought that having a beautiful, warm-hearted, motherly, intelligent and strong-willed woman on the show was offensive to the new generation! Not to mention they got rid of breast but they did allow the girls to twerk tho!!! Yes because having an intelligent good-looking woman with boobs is bad but kindergarteners doing a sexually explicate dance is fine!! Seriously I feel so bad for Craig McCracken it was bad enough he was screwed over by Disney but to have his show turned into this!! 

3. The Problem Solverz (2011-2013) 

If you want to know my opinion for the worst animated show Cartoon Network has ever made it would be this one! Not only is the show ugly to look at but it uses enough bright colors to make your eyes bleed. The show is about these detectives who solve problems in their home town too bad they cause 90% of the problems they need to solve. These characters are so nasty to look out we got this ugly fish-like man, some robot, and a big nosed hideous lipped Domo wannabe. It was cancelled from tv but ran it's final season on Netflix. I still feel pain for any child that had to sit though this. 

2. Pickle and Peanut (2015-2018) 

Ugh this show!!!! If you've never seen it you may guess this would be something on Adult Swims line up since they're more known for wired shows like this but no it's not from Adult Swim in fact you'll never believe who made this Disney!!! Yes Disney Television Animation produced this the very same company that bought us shows like Gravity Falls, Phineas and Ferb, Star Vs. and so on made this garbage. There are several problems with this show first off the animation remember when I said that Breadwinners was lazy for using stock-images as background characters well this is the same damn thing but in reverse they couldn't even animate a pickle and a gosh darn peanut this is a peeve I have with most modern cartoons if it's not for a joke then why use stock-images it just makes your show look lazy! Second the humor it sucks it's mainly is "trying" to be Regular Show since both characters are slackers and get into bizarre adventures. Also this show loves to show gross-out shots like the ones in Spongebob for example but unlike Spongebob these are not funny and just plain disgusting like how is this show fun for kids to watch I mean I can understand why kids love cartoons like TTG but I can't see any child liking a show like this!!! Finally we have to talk about the god awful theme song it's not even a theme song but a random robot voice listing off things adults think that children are into so pretty much they're trying way too hard to appeal to kids just like with PPG 2016. There really isn't much more to say about this show it's just awful and it's still hard to believe Disney had a part in making this.

Now it's time for the cartoon from the 2010's that I believe disserves the crown as the worst show from this decade. Out of all the shows I've seen this year none of them of completely  disgusted me more then this one it pretty much has everything  I despise in modern adult animation it makes Brickleberry look tame in comparison!!! It comes to us from our friends at Adult Swim may I present to you the cartoon that I consider the worst!

1. Mr. Pickles (2013-Ungoing) 

I honestly don't know where to start on this one it's just god awful!! First it's got all the things I despise in adult animation shock humor, sex jokes, violence for the sake of it, and ugly character designs!! The show is about a family who owns a dog who is either the devil himself or one of his loyal followers and the dog does extremely messed up things to people stuff I rather not try to remember let's just say this show is MA for reason. If you have a faint heart please stay away from this show at all cost!!!

So there it is my opinions for the worst shows from this decade I hope you all enjoy it since I worked really hard on it.

I didn’t include Big Mouth or Paradise P.D. because I’ve never seen them but yeah I know they’re bad. 

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Kasumi’s PT Outfit Analysis

Tell me what do these two have in common?

If you said “Cat theme” you are correct! If not, well then buckle up my dudes cause this is gonna be fun~! :D (I also want to take the time to point out, while this isn’t want I’m talking about, I do like this fan artist’s perspective on her gloves :D)

I know what you’re thinking, and no I’m not smoking anything I don’t do that, but Kasumi really does have cat thief themed origins (and no not because of the fan art, didja click on it? it’s cute!). I realized it after realizing she was a gymnast and was like “Why? Why does she get a gymnast theme? How does this fit with the outlaw theme? Has there been a thief who had gymnast outfit?....wait....could it be.....omg it IS!” AND THE ANSWER IS YES! 4 thieves actually, 3 are sisters in one series, and 1 is an expy of those sisters by the same author in his other work. If you know who I’m talking about I’m talking about.....CAT’S EYE! (and Phantom Thief 305 from City Hunter, I dunno the meaning of the name tho)

Let’s start with Cat’s Eye (not a 100% expert in it, but I know more than City Hunter tbh). Cat’s Eye is about a trio of sisters (Hitomi the middle who is the main character, Rui the oldest sister, and Ai the youngest) stealing things using their multiple skill sets (such as gymnastics), partially because they want to contact their missing dad who is also a thief (and their attempts to contact him are through the calling cards and stealing the items in hopes he comes as well). And....that’s basically it I think (been awhile since I read the manga and I’m in the process of re-reading it now). Movie wise, it seems they are in the process of trying to rescue him (hard to find info, no eng subtitles for me to watch so efsljdfl;aj).

Anne and Kasumi are the biggest shout outs to Cat’s Eye than anyone else (tho you could argue Cat’s eye is probs the reason Makoto drives a Motorcycle and Futaba is an semi-orange themed tech genius, and Haru who is “Noir” tho I don’t feel like looking up who came first, her or the Cat’s Eye Pachinko machine cause it’s not important). Anne’s outfit is more a shout-out to the Cat’s Eye Movie version while Kasumi’s is more a shout-out to the original manga/anime. Let’s focus on the Cat’s Eye movie for a second tho.

This isn’t the first time Cat’s Eye movie was used as inspiration for Persona. Back in P2 Tamaki Uchida dressed as Ai (the youngest sister of Cat’s Eye, but is the lead role in the movie), as the actress she is based off of (Yuki Uchida) played Ai in the movie.

Anne, however, seems to be based on Hitomi outfit with some Rui flare to it (they differ slightly)

(btw the movie opens up with an anime sequence before going full live action, Hitomi Left, Rui Right I think for both pics, Ai is in the middle for the bottom pic, and recolored Anne for better comparison and also because I can 8U)

I know what you are thinking, “But what about Catwoman????” I think she’s still related to Cat’s Eye tho. Catwoman came first in creation, and Catwoman was the first to use the leather outfits (tbh, mask wise, Tamaki’s mask/ears seem to draw from the Catwoman 60s tv show outfit), and it seems she/Batman were the inspiration for the movie costumes. Also considering how Persona likes to use Batman, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the cat theme stuff was also Batman/Catwoman related as well as Cat’s Eye. So there’s still a connection to Catwoman esp with the movie! 

Another possible connection to the movie is Anne’s name, specifically “Anne,” as the person who went by the stage name “Anri/杏里” (I mean Anne is just the  杏 kanji but still) who sings the theme song “Cat’s Eye 2000″ for the movie. Fun fact.

Now let’s look at the manga/anime, where it’s Kasumi’s time to shine (tho Anne will come back up).

As you can see they’ve been redesigned a few times (btw Hitomi’s colors in the first vol of Cat’s eye is actually blue with an orange ribbon, it was changed to yellow later it seems, also the top right is a spinoff manga of Cat’s Eye called Cat’s Eye: Ai where Ai is the MC)

As you can see, the girl who is mostly in the blue is Hitomi, and she has a tendency to wear a chocker with her leotard. Kinda like.......Kasumi! 

Recolored with blue to highlight the comparison (also because I NEED COLOR IN HER DESIGN ATLUS LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH DX) 

Fun fact, Hitomi I believe is a gymnast and she utilizes her skills as a thief (and thus where we get the gymnast as a thief outlaw theme and why it only works for Kasumi/gymnasts and not runners like Ryuji). 

But Kasumi also has similarities between her and Ai, both have red in their theme, both I think are first years. Also, while Ai isn’t as strong or skilled as her older sisters in fighting, she is the most agile (which we don’t know if Kasumi is in the same boat but it’s worth noting just in case). Another thing about Ai, is her connection to Tamaki up above, Tamaki who is based off the actress who played Ai was in the fencing club (which Yuki Uchida was also a fencer), and what weapon does Kasumi wield? A one handed sword similar to other fencers in Persona (like Mitsuru), so woot we’ve come full circle on that! (also if Kasumi is Hamuko reincarnated, or Hamuko’s younger sister, it should be noted that one of Hamuko’s theme colors is orange along with pink and red so fklsdjfsajf; bonus points if that comes true!)

Kasumi’s mask is also probably based on the Cat’s Eye calling card (or at least it follows a similar pattern):

Same point pattern, same eye shape and design (it’d also explain why it’s so thick, cause the emblem is thick looking too 8U)

So I mentioned we’d come back to Anne, and here we are! There is one last thing that is similar to Anne and the Kisugi sisters, and it’s that they are all hafus! The sisters are all half german, and Hitomi looks just like her western grandmother if Hitomi had blonde hair, and later dyes her hair blonde for her thieving:

Also *cough* a pink/red outfit I wonder who that reminds us of? 8U

Now onto City Hunter, which....I think is the biggest evidence that Kasumi was based off these people. And it’s this girl:

The girl with the glasses is the same one as the girl in the same girl in the green leotard (the one in the red isn’t a thief, but was wearing one to match the other girl while they stole a flower). 

This is the first episode this girl shows up (only one I’ve seen too tbh), she’s actually 17/a 2nd year iirc.... And guess what her name is? Kasumi Aso. Kasumi is spelled the same way too (aka only in hirigana)! From my research she only steals what is commissioned of her (I think she steals back what is stolen from other people). She has connection to flowers like Kasumi Yoshizawa (Aso is connected to the [black] tulip, Yoshizawa has flowers on her belt). Both are pretty unassuming in their civilian outfits too tbh. (tho slightly off topic, fun fact, there was a Japanese hafu rhythmic gymnast named Kasumi, I’ve been wanting to post about that for awhile but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s who IRL Yoshizawa was based off of)

Sadly I don’t know much else about Aso, I need to read more of City Hunter to find out (even tho she’s not a super main character), and tbh this is where I kinda end with the Kasumi/Anne and Cat’s Eye/PT 305/Catwoman analysis. But I’ll use this time to talk about a few misc stuff and maybe a few theories related to cat themed thief ladies:

P5 probably got the “Thief who works at a cafe during the day (and the Cafe name also is a reference to their thieving as well as possibly housing a cat)” from Cat’s Eye and City hunter (which take place in Tokyo/Shinjuku, tho in different locations), as the Kisugi Sisters work at their cafe called “Cat’s Eye,” and Aso being their expy, also works at a cafe by the same name (tho it’s run by different people cause it’s in a different/parallel universe). 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tamaki’s tendency to house a Nekomata in her workplace to be similar to the kitty (Tiger I think it’s name is) that Ai has at the cafe (esp considering, again, Yuki Uchida played Ai). 

According to the Japanese fan wiki of Cat’s Eye, in the sequel “Cat’s Eye: Ai,” the Cafe is moved to a new location, which is Kichijoji, which is the new area that has been unlocked in P5R (maybe a certain cafe will be available for us to wander into? :0 Or maybe Kasumi works at a cafe XP or maybe is connected to the billiards place, tho that DARTSLIVE3 screenshot seems to have a “cafe” poster in the background so maaaaaaaybe that’s a cafe XP)

Part of me wonders if Mitsuru’s Arena outfit is related more to Black Cat, due to the signature “white fur” both characters wear. 

Kasumi Y’s hairstyle (aka if her hair was down, so basically we are going off her bangs) is similar to Hitomi (at least the Pachinko machine ver)

Anne’s circle zipper designs might be more of a shout-out to Marvel’s Black Cat, not that Catwoman hasn’t had that as well, but I don’t feel like figuring out who did the circle zipper first 8U 

Satomi Tadashi dressed up as Zorro and was romantically involved with Takami. Anne who is a Cat’s Eye expy is crushed on by Mona (who wields Zorro). And Kasumi, another Cat’s Eye expy, looks like a Hamuko Expy, while Mona’s human form looks like a Minato Expy. 

Kasumi has a similar black mask with silver line design (not the mask shape itself, the line design) as a woman named “Noir”(?) who appears in the Cat’s Eye Pachinko Machine (yes I did come across interesting things, no I don’t know what her deal is or really who she is tbh cause I think she’s a pachinko original 8U ;w;)

So yeah just gonna kinda end it here awkwardly. FYI this doesn’t mean you HAVE to like her outfit (you have every right to dislike or like it tbh), it’s just a history lesson, and explaining how it fits the outlaw/PT theme, where’s Ryuji’s track or Haru’s ballet doesn’t.

Oh! Edit cause I forgot, if you push her mask up over head, it might look like cat’s ears, just a theory tho (of course it might look like devil horns but so does Anne’s so fklsjdfk;aj;faj;f take this for what you will):

[shreddedparchment]

You’re My Mission Pt.05

You Have To Sit Right Next To Me?

9/23/2018

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 4,591

Masterpost

Warnings: annoying fluff, frustrating fluff, language

A/N: Making leaps and bounds without actually making leaps and bounds. You’ll see what I mean. This boy...this Bucky boy...he’s a touch cookie. Do y’all like the burn? Is it hot enough for you?! Let me know! I hope you enjoy this one. It made me giggle. Also, if you’ve never seen the Princess Bride, shame on you. Go watch it. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work! xoxo

Credit for this pic after LOTS of research led me to THIS blog. Someone had taken it and posted it on Pinterest without any sources cited or credit given. Not cool, internet!

Sergeant Barnes has you wait outside the water therapy rooms, perched on a bench, dressed in soft black sweatpants and a tight black tank top. Both of them say Wakanda. The sweats have it along the right thigh in bold grey lettering, spaced out vertically. The shirt has it small, in the same shade of grey over the left side of your chest, horizontally.

After struggling to pull your boots on you sit back, breathing hard as you stare down at the untied laces.

You kick with your leg at the air both annoyed that you’re almost entirely helpless thanks to your stupid hands and also because you're still thinking about the way Sergeant Barnes’s breath felt on your lips.

He'd been close enough that his warm breath had wafted far enough to touch them. His smile, the way his lips pulled back exposing a straight line of stunning white teeth, the way it reached up into his eyes driving the scowl from his expression leaving you with a kinder, gentler Sergeant Barnes.

You shut your eyes and bang your head against the wall, unwilling to admit what’s happening to yourself.

“You know, they put people in institutions for doing things like that.” His voice is matter-of-fact and slightly uninterested but at least it’s not harsh like before.

You open your eyes slowly, not surprised by his presence.

“Then lock me up.” You turn to look at him and feel your chest tighten. You’re matching. Both of you. He’s wearing the same type of sweats and a matching tank top, only it's for men.

It leaves his large arms exposed and you can’t help it. You ogle his bulging arms quickly, taking in the pleasing image before you know you should look away or it's gonna get weird. Three seconds. That's all you give yourself.

His hair is still slightly wet, he smells like soap and that faint smell of peaches again.

“I tried. Steve wouldn’t let me.” He mutters before moving to stand before you. He looks down at your feet.

“Yeah, well, Steve's nice to me. And not an asshole.” You’re feeling moody. You know its because you’re so frustrated. Maybe you should just give in to the feeling you know is developing?

You have a crush on Steve, what’s so bad about also crushing, however unwillingly, on Sergeant Barnes too? Neither of these crushes will ever develop into anything anyway.

“That's because you don’t really know him.”

Sergeant Barnes throws his balled up dirty clothes at your face and it fully obscures your view, plunging you into a mass stink of his sweat.

“Ew! Jerk." You quickly pull the stinky clothes from your face and look at him, ready to give him a glare worthy of death, but you find empty space where he had just been standing.

You feel a tug on your foot and with slight surprise you lean over the bundle of clothes to get a good look at Sergeant Barnes as he tightens your laces and does them up, his expression stoic and fixed on your feet.

Once again, you’re assaulted with a flutter of hummingbird wings at the base of your stomach.

He taps your right foot twice and holds his hands open, waiting for your left. You swing your right foot back and gently hold out your left. He takes it, scoots closer, and places the boot on his knee then begins to lace that one up too.

As you watch him tie your boot, you begin to narrow your eyes at him, suspicious suddenly because once again this is an unexpected kindness.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” You ask again, whatever he might say, he's being nice.

“I’m not being nice. I’m taking responsibility for my mistake.”

When he finishes with your boot he gets up suddenly so that your foot falls to the floor with a hard thump, pulling you forward with it. It doesn't hurt but the movement is rough.

“What mistake?” You ask, your voice harsh because the contrast of his gentleness with his petty meanness is frustrating.

As he straightens up he reaches up and begins to pull his hair up into a full-on bun. You try not to gawk. This shift that he’s doing, going from mean to nice and back to mean has you so confused and stressed you’re not sure whether to like the way the hair falls around his face or not. His eyes are so clear, ice blue that you want to stare but he’s such a jerk.

He points at your hands as he finishes with his hair. “That mistake.”

You look down at your wounded hands. “My hands? But I fell. It's not your fault.”

“It's my fault they weren’t treated quickly. They might not be so bad now if I had sent you to get them wrapped up properly.” He sighs. “Sorry."

You blink, your eyes wide and your mouth slightly open. Did he just tell you he was sorry? “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

“Alright.” He nods at you, his eyes narrowed to slits, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“No, seriously, I didn’t hear you. What did you just say?” You insist, adjusting his dirty clothes on your lap so that you can adjust in your seat to try and look at his face.

He’s shifting his weight from foot to foot, his hands clenching and unclenching. He's so obviously physically uncomfortable with apologizing to you that you can’t help but find it funny.

“Cut it out.” He grumbles.

You laugh, one loud ha, followed by a stream of quieter genuine chuckles.

“I’m leaving.” He states and walks off down the long and white sterile hallway.

“Hey!” You protest as you grunt with the effort it takes to try and get yourself up. You’re still clutching his clothes in your arms and you can’t use your hands to get up anyway. “Wait for me, I don’t know where Steve lives.”

You groan as you try and use your legs to pull yourself up but they’re so weak! Still, somehow you manage to pull yourself up and you use the momentum from rocking forward to try and get on your feet.

Instead the top of your head hits a hard, lumpy surface and you fall back onto your butt with an oof.

You look up at Sergeant Barnes's frowning face. You’d hit his stomach. Wait, that was his stomach? Damn.

“Does this mean you don’t hate me?” You wonder. He obviously feels bad about your hands. He couldn’t feel bad and hate you at the same time, could he?

“You’re annoying. And irritating. And you can’t follow orders. You’re also a klutz. You're a terrible soldier and a thorn in my side. I don't like you.” He reaches down and scoops his clothes out of your arms and into his metal grip.

Then, with his normal arm, he reaches down to grab your bicep and pulls you up onto your feet.

He looks at your face as you stand steadily on your feet a small involuntary pout twisting your lips.

He blinks, something like uncertainty passing through his ice blues.

“I don’t hate you, alright? But I can’t stand you either. Come on, or Steve'll eat all the food.” He doesn’t wait for you and moves away at a quick pace which leaves you struggling to keep up.

Scarlet Witch, Wanda, is one of the most beautiful people you’ve ever met. She’s got stunning red hair, beautiful peachy skin, and you can almost feel the power radiating off of her. Those cheekbones!

“Wanda, come meet Y/N.” Wanda wasn’t there when Steve rescued you. He’d had only Nat and Sam with him that night. “She’s the newest recruit and has already shown a lot of promise in her weapons training.”

Wanda smiles kindly as she wanders in from the kitchen, cleaning her hands on the simple blue apron she’s wearing over her jeans and t-shirt. She’s so incredibly casual. Last time you saw her, she was on the news wearing some tight red outfit. Her work outfit probably.

As she holds out her hand you take it. Wanda notices your injured hands and is sure to very carefully shake your hand. “It’s so great to meet you, Wanda. I’m such a big fan of yours. We don’t have enough kick ass women out there fighting the good fight, am I right?”

Wanda laughs softly, turning an amused look to Steve who is watching you with a soft smile. “I agree. Maybe we can start our own group? We’ll call it Lady Defenders or something.”

“Ooh,” You reply, excited with the name game. “Fearless Defenders!”

“Oh, I like that one better.” Wanda says with a light laugh.

“Don’t you have to have some type of hand-eye coordination to defend the planet?” Sergeant Barnes leans against the doorway to the kitchen, watching you and Wanda greet each other.

His mischievous eyes are on you and his words sting. You frown at him. Wanda however turns to look at him and smiles.

“So that’s what you were talking about?” She then looks to Steve who nods slowly.

“Kinda obvious, isn’t it?” He asks her.

“Just a little bit.” She suddenly turns back to you, ignoring both your and Sergeant Barnes’s confused expressions at the little side conversation they just had. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat so that we can get to that movie. Steve’s never seen it.”

“Okay.” You’re so grateful for female company again. Truly friendly female company.

Your hut mates are very nice but they all have established friendships and they aren’t training like you are with just one commanding officer in private. They train in groups with other cadets and other officers. So, there’s always that wall between you.

Aman and Joshua are the only two that go out of their way to include you in their plans though you have yet to accept a trip into the heart of Birnin Zana to go out and have some fun. You are always too tired to accept.

Dinner is simple. Chicken alfredo pasta, garlic bread, and salads. It’s so good that you inhale most of the food. You’re especially grateful for the wine. The alcohol will help you sleep tonight.

Sergeant Barnes watches you from across the table with disappointment at the way you’re eating. But you don’t care. You smirk at him, spear several leaves of lettuce, a tomato, and a cucumber on your fork and open your mouth wide as you shovel it in.

He sighs, curling his top lip. He’s so hating you at the moment.

You smile and shut your eyes tight then open them again sending him what your mom used to call pretty eyes when you were a toddler. It only makes him sneer more.

After dinner, when you offer to help Steve with the dishes, Sergeant Barnes scoffs, shaking his head as he gets up and leaves the room.

You and Steve pile the dishes together and Steve sends Wanda into the living room, giving her a type of look that you can’t decipher. You peek into the living room through the kitchen doorway from your spot at the table, your hands laden with dishes, and try to see what Sergeant Barnes and Wanda are doing.

“Bucky, do you mind if I use the big couch? I kinda wanna lay down while we wait for the movie.” Wanda pleads gently.

“No, I don’t mind. Go ahead. I’ll sit over here.” You see his normal hand point to the smaller of the two sofas before he takes a seat on the left side. He puts his arm up on the arm of the sofa and leans back, relaxing in a way that you’ve never seen him do. His voice with Wanda is also so gentle and normal.

You don’t realize that you’re staring.

“Y/N?” You jump, caught in the act. A small plate slips out of your wounded grip and it goes tumbling down onto the floor.

“Shit.” You mutter. You look back at Steve who had been the one to call your name. “Oh, Steve, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” He says, moving towards you as you begin to squat down to pick up the broken ceramic. “No, Y/N, how about you go have a seat? I’ll have these clean in no time. I completely forgot about your hands. I shouldn’t have let you offer to help.”

Now you know why Sergeant Barnes had scoffed at your offer. Steve nudges your butt with his knee, pushing you towards the doorway.

“Go on, Y/N, I’ve got it.”

You reluctantly head into the living room glancing first at Wanda who has her eyes closed as she lays straight across the large sofa leaving no room for anyone else to sit. With the only remaining seat being next to Sergeant Barnes you take it, falling roughly onto the soft cushion to his right. The jostling makes him turn his scowl on you.

“You have to sit right next to me?” He demands, irritated by your presence.

“Wanda’s lying down. I don’t want to make her get up.” You whisper so that Wanda doesn’t hear you but she’s humming anyway, and you doubt she’s paying you or Sergeant Barnes any mind.

“Whatever.” He spits. “Just stay on your side of the sofa.” He crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the large flat screen TV, and doesn’t speak to you again.

“Why are you always so fucking grumpy?” You ask him, irritated now because he was ruining your fun movie night!

He doesn’t even answer you. He just continues to sit facing the TV, his sharp jawline clenching and unclenching.

Ten minutes later, Steve finally comes into the room, taking in the way you’re leaning away from Sergeant Barnes, your arms wrapped around your torso—Steve’s modern apartment is actually really cold—and the way Sergeant Barnes sits with his arms crossed, staring at the TV to keep from looking at you.

“Are you cold, Y/N?” Steve asks, concern riddled in his tone. He’s so sweet! Sergeant Barnes looks at Steve then turns to look at you and also observes the way you’re hugging yourself, carefully holding your arms angled so that you don’t touch the injured palms to your shoulders.

You lick your lips and nod. “A little.”

“I’ll be right back.” He says and disappears down the hallway. His feet are silent on the light grey carpet.

Sergeant Barnes is staring at you, scowling as usual.

“What now?” You ask, so done with his attitude.

“Weren’t you complaining about being hot earlier in the afternoon?”

“We were outside, under direct sunlight. Can’t I even be cold without you criticizing me?”

Sergeant Barnes huffs at your words and then turns back to the TV. You drop it. You don’t want to have a bad night. You want this to be a fun movie night. You deserve some fun, don’t you?

You don’t hear him return but when he does, Steve hands you a blanket and hands Wanda a small blue bowl. She sits up effectively freeing up the end of the sofa which Steve plops himself in.

“Thanks, Steve.” You gush, smiling at him perhaps a little too brightly.

Eagerly you take it and throw it over your legs and then after a moment of hesitation you hold it out to Sergeant Barnes. It's already over his legs but maybe he’s cold and wants to cover his arms?

It's big enough that the two of you can share.

Sergeant Barnes keeps his arms crossed over his chest, his scowl turned to your injured hand, holding the blanket towards him.

“What?” He growls at you, quietly. Wanda, messing with some snacks from the bowl doesn’t hear him but Steve looks up towards the two of you from his seat on the other end of the long couch.

You’re not going to fight with him anymore tonight. You force yourself to be calm and smile, determined to be nice.

“You don’t wanna cover yourself? It's cold in here.” You wiggle the blanket and wait for him to take it. He doesn’t.

“I don’t get cold.” He states simply then turns his gaze on Steve. “Start the movie, Steve.”

You frown at Sergeant Barnes and go ahead and snuggle the blanket up over your arms. Asshole.

“What are we watching?” You wonder aloud.

Wanda smiles at you and hands Steve the remote. “The Princess Bride.”

“Oh! I’ve always wanted to see that!” You gush at the same time that Sergeant Barnes says, “The what?”

You and Wanda both look at him and observe the large panicked frown that’s overcome his stupidly handsome face. Well, it’s handsome when he’s not glaring at you.

Wanda ignores Sergeant Barnes and turns back to you instead. “You’ve never seen it?”

“No. I didn’t have a lot of time for movies growing up, so I really only ever saw the ones they showed us in school. My parents had to scrape up every penny they had to pay the bills, so movies were kind of a luxury. I did get to see It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas on TV. It’s one of my favorites.” You smile, losing all the tension that you’ve held onto since your arrival here in Wakanda. Your body automatically relaxes, and you don’t realize you’ve teetered into Sergeant Barnes’s side of the couch as you lean back to look at Wanda a bit better.

As the TV comes to life and Steve navigates the menu, he smiles wide. “Hey, Jimmy Stewart. I met him once at an audition during my acting days.”

“You were an actor?!” You ask excitedly, your voice going up an octave. “We have to watch you in something.”

“Er…” Steve stutters, he looks nervous. Uncomfortable. “I don’t know if we’d even be able to find the films to be honest.”

“Are you kidding? With the internet you can find anything.” You giggle stupidly. “Come on, Steve, I wanna see you act.”

Are you flirting? It kinda sounds like you’re flirting. But if you are you don’t mean to. You’re just feeling so light after all the working out and the stress of losing your parents.

“Damn it, Steve, would you start the damn movie?” Sergeant Barnes suddenly snaps.

You don’t see how Steve reacts because you turn to look at Sergeant Barnes with a frown, Wanda freezes beside you.

“What?” Sergeant Barnes demands, taking in your annoyed expression.

But you don’t get to tell him off because the movie starts. The large blue font comes on the screen announcing the title of the film and through the silence a young boy coughs. The black screen fades in to an old baseball video game with funny sounds and graphics. There’s a kid on a bed, playing the game, sick obviously. As his mom comes in and checks his forehead you lean over towards Sergeant Barnes and whisper. He tenses for a moment then slowly relaxes.

“Do you know what that is?”

“It’s a video game. I’m not a moron, cadet.” He whispers back, agitated.

“Oh. Okay.” You reply lamely. You lean back into your spot.

You watch as an older man, the boy’s grandfather, comes in and tries to convince the kid that a book he wants to read to him is exciting and just as interesting as the video game he’s playing. The kid is doubtful. Skeptical but he eventually gives in.

“That sounds like you.” You nudge Sergeant Barnes with your shoulder and he gives you a glare in response. “Have you seen this before?”

“I’ve been a little busy to watch movies.” Sergeant Barnes gripes.

You stop talking as the true story begins with the girl and the farm boy. And the way he says I love you by saying something else. Then the girl seems to realize that the farm boy is confessing every time he tells her the words, ‘As you wish’. And then she finally realizes that she loves him too. The movie cuts to a romantic silhouette of the girl and the farm boy kissing when suddenly the kid interrupts, denouncing the fact that his grandfather is reading him what he refers to as a kissing book. Then he demands to know when it gets good.

“I’m with the kid.” Sergeant Barnes says, turning a disappointed gaze on Steve.

“As I recall, you used to be a fan of the romance.” Steve looks at his friend with raised eyebrows and a small smirk.

You look at Sergeant Barnes whose face is nothing but serious. Pained even. “Things change.”

As the lovers are telling each other goodbye you become so invested in the movie that when a purple man wearing a skin-tight grey body suit with a golden yellow cape walks through the wall and TV as if they were made of mist, you jump clenching your fists so tight you scream both in surprise and pain.

Sergeant Barnes turns to you, annoyance etched across his face because of your scream. The purple man looks to you and then looks at everyone else in turn before looking back at you.

“Please, forgive me. I did not mean to startle you.” The man speaks with an English accent and a strange proper cadence.

You drop the blanket and look down at your hands as they shake. You’d clenched them so tightly that you’re sure if any of your cuts had sealed, they were open again now. Sergeant Barnes adjusts slightly in his seat to look down at your hands, but he doesn’t do anything other than watch you fight through the pain.

“Vis,” Wanda says, chastising the purple man. “Seriously?”

“I’m sorry, I did not realize that you had guests. Forgive me, Captain.”

Steve sighs and nods. “Door next time, okay?”

“Right.” The purple man called Vis says.

“Y/N, this is Vision. He’s an Avenger and not on the run. Vision what are you doing here?” Steve probes, concerned suddenly. You could hear it in his voice. Was there trouble afoot?

You grimace up at Vision as he too greets you without words.

“I…came to see Wanda.” He admits a bit shyly.

Wanda gets to her feet and without further ado, motions towards the hallway. “We can go to my room.”

The man named Vision follows Wanda out of the living room and down the hallway out of sight. Your heart is still pounding as you turn your gaze back on the movie. The girl is grieving. Apparently, her farm boy is dead. How depressing.

“Y/N? You okay?” Steve asks, watching your shaking hands.

You look down at them and shove them underneath the blanket, pulling it up around your arms again, lifting your legs up as well. You cross them. Being compact keeps you warm.

“I’m fine.” You assure him with a forced smile. You lay your hands on your lap, resting them with your palms up.

As the three of you continue to watch the movie—Sergeant Barnes stealing glances at you every few minutes—your breathing evens out as the pain in your hands becomes more subdued.

The girl becomes a princess in order to marry a prince. Suddenly, Steve’s phone rings. He leans back and reaches into his jeans, pulling from a pocket the same flip phone he’d had during your simulation training.

“Excuse me.” Steve says. He flips the phone open and disappears down the hall, probably towards his bedroom. If it’s Sharon, he probably won’t be coming out anytime soon.

You’re left alone with Sergeant Barnes, watching a movie about a loveless marriage. Just what the doctor ordered. Your mind is really on your hands though. You don’t realize it when your eyes start closing. Your head lolls to the left, then the right, then forward. You drift into unconsciousness for a bit and suddenly jerk awake as someone on a boat in the movie yells something about shrieking eels.

You sigh heavily, your hands hurting again. You’re so tired and the pain shocked you right out of your happy mood. And now, with your blanket, you’re so warm. The wine at dinner really did help too. You continue to drift in and out until you slowly begin to slide to your left. Your shoulder lands against something warm and shortly after your head follows. For a moment your sleeping body is still and then you breathe in deeply, letting the sleep overcome you, as you settle against the warmth to your left.

You’ve never been much of a dreamer so you’re slightly shocked by how vivid your dream is. You’re still asleep in Steve’s apartment and you can still hear the muffled voices of the movie. And yet, you know that you’re dreaming because this could only happen in a dream.

You know you’re settled against Sergeant Barnes’s right shoulder. Somehow, his right arm is also underneath the blanket where it wasn’t before. You can feel your left knee gently resting atop his right thigh. His right arm very slowly rises so that your left arm falls underneath it. His hand takes hold of your forearm and with gentle fingers, he slides his hand down to your wrist. He reaches out, his index finger gently tracing the edge of the bandage on your palm.

His finger traces up along the inside of your hand up along your pinky and gently he caresses each of your fingers in turn. He does that, over and over again.

The movement is so soft, so intoxicating that you shiver and his hand freezes in place. You sigh deeply, still sleeping. When he’s sure you’re not awake, he keeps going.

The dream is so vivid that you feel his warmth as if you were actually nestled into his side, underneath his arm as he caresses your injured hand. Again, as you move to cuddle closer into his side, looking for more warmth, he freezes.

You can smell his soap and the peaches as you sleepily rub your face against his bicep.

Underneath the blanket, where no one can see, he reaches over to the right and gently caresses your right hand too. He pulls it over so that he can hold it more easily and you feel him breathe a sigh of relief beside you.

The the sound of a door opening and voices approaching interrupt the serenity of your dream.

All of a sudden, you’re falling.

Your face hits the cushion of the sofa and you’re jerked awake by the impact. You blink, trying to process reality.

The vivid dream still on your mind you push yourself up carefully, your hands still hurting, and look around. Sergeant Barnes is sitting on the larger sofa with his metal arm on the sofa’s, his chin in his metal hand.

He must have moved at some point during the movie.

The credits are rolling and his eyes are glued on you, staring in annoyance.

“Do you always snore like that?” He asks as Steve, Wanda, and Vision meander back into the living room.

It had been a dream. A very vivid and very…very confusing dream. You feel sad suddenly that it wasn’t real. You look at your right hand, your heart aching as you wish that it had been real. You carefully move to push yourself up with your left hand but freeze because the cushion you just fell on, the cushion that Sergeant Barnes had abandoned to get away from your snoring, is still warm.

@bionic-buckyb @mdgrdians @ulired @biawol @markusstraya @queenof-wakanda @slice-of-thunder @clockworkherondale @shonaldo @lilulo-12 @dsakita @just-trying-to-survive-marvel @coldfacedwarf @zoey-odinson-stark @animegirlgeeky @paetonsfandom @caramelsunrise @until-theend-oftheline @a-n-gela @dirtylittlelamb @moonlessnight14 @el-dibidibidorado1 @marymooonlastrage @calliope-musings @buckybarnes4lyfe @lexie10123 @bucky-in-wonderland

[pikapeppa]

Online Dating: A Tale in Six Parts

A couple years ago, I wrote a personal essay for a book project for a friend of a friend. The project leader ultimately rejected my piece because it wasn’t academic enough, to which my response was as follows:

I then promptly forgot about it. But now I’m deciding to publish it here, because why not. So here you go: an autobiographical tale of Pikapeppa’s experiences with online dating. (Please note: this is MY personal experience with online dating as a cis straight woman, and is not meant to be representative of anyone else’s experience but mine, since I can’t knowledgeably comment on that.)

************************

Online Dating: A Tale in Six Parts

Online dating has been widely vilified, especially since so many cis-heterosexual women have such gross experiences with it: unsolicited dick pics, misogynistic insults when you don’t respond immediately, seemingly nice guys who either “ghost” or suddenly become perverts in the blink of a notification.

I’m here to tell a happier story of online dating, and how it restored my faith in my social skills, my confidence in myself - and how I learned a thing or two about relationships along the way.

Part I: Intro

I’m a shy girl.

Let’s be specific. I consider myself an introvert, or an ambivert at a stretch. I have an extremely hard time talking to strangers; I loathe small talk. At parties, my quietness has a direct inverse relationship with the size of the crowd I’m in: the more people there are, the less I say, until I might as well be a piece of furniture in the corner if the party is a big one. I’m most comfortable in small groups of four people max (including myself), and even then, I get uncomfortable if I’m the centre of attention for too long. I generally prefer to listen than to talk. My ideal weekend includes one entire day for recharging at home with just Netflix and my cat for company.

In January 2012, I moved to Montreal for grad school. When I got there, I knew nobody. I’d moved to Montreal wanting a change, as I’d lived in Toronto my whole life. But somehow in my excitement to move, I’d forgotten that a) I had no friends in Montreal and b) I hate talking to strangers and I hate small talk: the two necessary evils of Making Friends. I spent a solid six months by myself, exploring the city in solitude or hanging out in my apartment with my cat, increasingly hating myself for the fact that I had been living in this city for almost a year and still had no friends except for some casual acquaintances whom I’d met at a mingling party for new grad students. I have some embarrassingly angsty journal entries whining about how there must be something wrong with me, because what kind of person can’t make a single friend in six months of living in a new city? I can’t fully express my gratitude that one of my labmates, who was finishing her Master’s degree at the time, took pity on me and invited me out for drinks, eventually becoming my first good friend in Montreal and introducing me to many other amazing women friends.

Eventually I got into my social stride in Montreal. I had friends; I was satisfyingly busy with my graduate work; and I continued to enjoy relaxing with my cat. (I could write a whole chapter devoted to my mental/emotional well-being and my cat, but let’s save that for another time, shall we?) But as my thesis was wrapping up and I started having more free time, I realized that I was ready to add to my social life. I was ready - gasp! - to pursue a romantic relationship.

This was September 2012. By then, I’d been single for about two years, and largely happy without a partner. But aside from being busy with my thesis, there was another significant reason I had not dated anyone in Montreal: I didn’t know how to meet men.

Part II: The foray into online dating

Traditionally, people meet their partners through work, through common interests, or by bumping into them in bars. I wouldn’t be meeting anyone at work because my master’s degree focused on a topic dominated by female academics, so essentially all of my colleagues were women. My interests involved typically homebody activities like movies, reading, and cooking. And my carefully cultivated Resting Bitch Face usually deterred men in bars from approaching me (as well as my pixie haircut, which I purposely got in order to weed out the kind of shallow male who “only likes girls with long hair”.) The graduate community at McGill often had mingling or speed dating events; however, see above regarding my quietness in crowds and hatred of small talk. Long story short, the traditional ways of meeting men were out.

This is where online dating came into the mix. For me, it was a logical and practical choice. I’ve never been interested in casual flings, so I figured that online dating, especially from a paid website, would have a larger number of men who were looking for something more serious. Importantly, online profiles would also provide information about interests and sense of humour, which - praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster! - would mean that small talk could be avoided, since we could talk about common interests. And there was a final reason that online dating appealed to me: I wanted to meet someone whose occupation was NOT at all similar to mine.

Now, this might be a kind of unusual criteria to express for one’s mate. After all, there is a reason that many people meet their partners at work or engaging in common interests: these things provide a common ground for conversation and for connecting. But as much as I enjoyed research and had aspirations to eventually work in healthcare, I didn’t want to date someone who did those things. After all, I had moved to Montreal looking for something new, dammit! I wanted to broaden my horizons. I wanted a partner who could be my Aladdin and show me a Whole New World.

And thus my online dating adventure began.

Part III: The adventure begins

Everyone has different experiences with online dating. I will say this: I found it really fun and interesting. Importantly, it helped me realize that my social skills, in fact, were not total crap. Within two weeks, I’d gone on dates with a handful of nice, normal-seeming men from a variety of professions. Each time, I went home pleased that I’d had a pleasant, functional conversation with a stranger, without the situation devolving into awkward silence due to my inability to talk like a normal human.

The dating experience was also an important confidence booster. When you’ve been single for two years without any hint of interest from the opposite sex, it’s easy to start thinking you’re deficient in some way. With a handful of successful dates under my belt, I was finally starting to believe that my singledom really was circumstance and not social ineptitude. It also reminded me of something else I’d forgotten during the moping self-pity of my first six months in Montreal: given the right circumstances, I actually enjoy flirting. Dates were actually kind of the perfect social situation for me: one-on-one conversation with a person who you already have things in common with, and with whom you can practice your witty repartee? After two weeks, I felt renewed, confident, and like I had choices - a lot of choices.

Part IV: Disaster strikes (in the most inconsequential first-world-problems kind of way)

Another important role that online dating had in my life was that it led to my first experience of being hurt in a relationship. Here is how it happened: I met a guy with whom I had “chemistry”. Ah, yes, chemistry: that vague, indefinable concept that, in my case, really just meant I had met a guy I was really attracted to. We went on two really fun dates, and then spent a weekend together - and I, being naive, thought I had found my next boyfriend. But a few dates later, he suddenly (and apologetically and politely) said he didn’t think we should see each other anymore.

I was frankly crushed. I’d been incredibly lucky in that by the age of twenty-something, I’d never been dumped or rejected romantically… so this experience of rejection hit me hard. I cried. I drank three beers (a lot for me!) and watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with much maudlin relish. I blasted happy music to drown out my angsty thoughts, and I pow-wowed with my best friends to analyze and re-analyze everything he had said and done. And I was crushed anew when I went on the dating site again to see that he was still active. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to date; it was that he didn’t want to date me. And that really hurt.

Part IV: Wisdom

Ultimately, I’m thankful I was rejected, because I learned a lot of important lessons:

Don’t be tricked by “chemistry”! Rom-coms tell us that chemistry is the most important thing. It’s not. At all. “Chemistry” just means “immediate sexual attraction”. This is not a wise thing on which to base an entire relationship.

Rom-coms also teach us that a guy who doesn’t want a relationship will eventually come around if you are charming enough. This is not true.

Just because someone treats you nicely, doesn’t mean they want the same thing in a relationship as you. Listening to what your date is telling you - i.e. “I don’t know if I want a serious relationship” (yep, the guy who dumped me literally said this on our second date) - is very important.

Many newly single men just don’t know how to be alone, so they start online dating even if they aren’t ready for a new relationship… and they may not realize they don’t want a new relationship until after they’ve started one. The lesson here: be up-front about your relationship expectations/goals and candidly ask your dates about theirs.

Most importantly of all, I learned firsthand what it feels like for someone you want to not want you back. My taste of rejection was the briefest, most inconsequential taste - a week-long fling, compared to committed relationships or divorces. But it was enough to foster a stronger empathy for the pain of rejection and heartbreak, and I feel that this alone was absolutely worth it.

This list of lessons may sound skeptical or discouraging. But I actually found my new knowledge to be incredibly comforting. I now had a set of rules that I could use to better play the dating game - and this time, I was sure I would succeed. Armed with my newfound dating wisdom, I ventured into the world of online dating again, with a different site (a fresh start!) and a cautiously optimistic outlook.

Part V: The Artist

My second attempt at online dating, like the first, was fun. As before, I dated many nice, polite men and had pleasant, interesting conversations. And then I met The Artist.

My first date with The Artist, as I called him in those early days, was as pleasant as any first date I’d gone on. But he had this huge, uninhibited smile, and his laugh was larger-than-life and more enthusiastic than any laugh I’d heard in my life. On our second date, I told him openly that I was dating many people, but that he was my favourite so far. He smiled and nodded agreeably. On our third date, he kissed me… and without either of us saying so, we both knew our online dating careers were at an end. More than six years later, The Artist and I are engaged and living happily with our Playstation, our cat, and some gently wilting plants.

Yes, I just summarized my relationship in a single paragraph. But my goal here isn’t to wax poetic about my fiancé. It’s to point out that without online dating, I would never met him. He works in a completely different profession from mine, and at the time that we met, he lived and worked in different neighbourhoods from me. Our social circles would never have overlapped. But online dating brought us together in more subtle ways as well. My positive experiences in early dates gave me the confidence to continue dating after I got rejected. My experience of rejection led me to try a different dating website - the site that he was on. And the lessons I learned from being rejected led me to a wiser, more open approach to dating and relationships in general - an approach that The Artist appreciated. Given this analysis, I would argue that online dating doesn’t deserve the credit for my relationship, but it does deserve the credit for pushing me out of my comfort zone and giving me experiences that helped me develop into the emotionally mature, pragmatic, and confident woman who eventually captivated a similarly mature and pragmatic man.

Part VI: Conclusions and caveats

My biggest caveat is that I used online websites with paid memberships. As I mentioned earlier, I figured that people who are paying are more likely to be looking for a serious relationship, since paying requires commitment, whereas unpaid sites would have more people who were dabbling or “just curious”. I never used Tinder or Bumble, where online dating is like a game. A friend also recently suggested that I may have had such an easy time with online dating because, in her words (NOT MINE), I am “a babe”. But if you take anything away from this essay, let it be this: online dating is not all bad or all good. Like old-fashioned dating, it’s a complex phenomenon that takes on the biases and colours that you bring into it. And like old-fashioned dating, it can provide new experiences that will let you learn things about yourself - and about love, and life in general - that you didn’t know.

Don’t let online dating define your love life. Let it be a tool to learn about yourself, and maybe, like me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[warsinmyhead]

!Special [HC] – AJM [NSFW A-Z]

All NSFW headcanons – under cut for courtesy!

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Always the gentleman, Jimin will be up and looking over his partner, checking to ensure they’re okay, if he can get them something, etc. One of his first thoughts is to run a bath or shower for clean-up, but if his partner’s too worn, he’ll settle for washcloths and wiping them down. 

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Eyes – he’s been told he has beautiful and/or unique eyes. He has a little too much fun playing with people and using his expressions to gauge/spark reactions. As for partners, it depends on the person he is with. 

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

Jimin prefers using condoms regardless of gender, unless he’s talked it out with his partner about foregoing protection. (Especially if the other is on birth control and/or has a cum kink.) Privately he’s into stimulating a female partner to the point where they squirt, but he’s very shy to share that. (Ladies, if you are capable of doing it, do not apologize – he’s pretty proud to know that he can make you feel that good.)

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He’s pretty sure he overheard a neighbor having sex with a girl in the boys’ locker room for the gym in high school, but he tried to block that memory out. He even took a cold shower and got out of there as fast as he could before the couple realized he was there. 

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Jimin did learn about sexual health and reproduction in school as part of a section during his Biology class. (Albeit his aunt and uncle argued about whether to let Jimin learn or not once they got the permission slip.) He has experienced a blow job from Hiro and a bad one from his ex Tatiana. As for actual sex with a partner, it hasn’t happened yet. 

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

Ji is a simple guy but he does his homework about various positions that help women achieve orgasm quicker/more easily. He’s not choosy about the positions. 

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Jimin is a romantic at heart so expect a more serious, but sweet session. Very passionate because he wants to ensure that his partner is into it as well. Maybe a few laughs take place if he was playing around jokingly with his partner then it turned heated.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Jimin does groom down there and it’s due to the fact that he doesn’t want his partner dealing with hair, especially if they insist on a blowjob.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

See G – the gentleman through and through. Give the parenting award to his aunt and uncle for raising a good guy.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Jimin is a bit shy about jacking off. He didn’t want to be caught by anyone in his family while growing up, so he often avoided it. (Maybe he’d hump the bed in his sleep and insist on doing his laundry if his boxers showed telltale signs of his act.) In college, he’s rarely horny – he really doesn’t start figuring out masturbation until he is in the later part of undergrad/early graduate. 

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Squirting (giving – female partner), ball worship (he’s particularly sensitive there), overstimulation (giving), tight fit (if his partners are stretched around him but not uncomfortably)

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Bedroom maybe the bathroom. Now that he has his own office at Kingsman, a few times people teased the idea of office sex. He’ll get flustered but if you persuade him and he’s not in meetings, maybe he’ll consider locking the door and giving it a go.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Chemistry is key between him and his partner. Sometimes it’s little things that get him going. One time Tyler sent him a pic with freshly dyed blonde hair that almost resembled a sext (in reality Tyler was eating one of those wax cola candies), and Jimin let it slip he was on the brink of having a boner problem.  “Hey Grandpa! Your boyfriend’s here so I let him in! Use protection kids!” “AMELIE!”

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Threesomes and extreme BSDM. Jimin will entertain a blindfold and light restraints but he will not raise a hand to his partner. Pain play doesn’t interest him. Also don’t ask him to leave you hickeys – he thinks they’re childish.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Very, very, very shy about receiving. He’s not completely against it, but you’ll really have to convince him that you’re prepared for him to hiding quite the monster in his pants. He has discovered through masturbation that he is sensitive in his balls so if you really want to have him give in, fondle his balls. XD 

He’s never tried giving oral to anyone.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Ji is usually a medium pace. He prefers to watch for visual and oral cues that he needs to change the pace. 

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Not a fan. He hates the risk of possibly being caught and he knows not many women can orgasm from a quickie.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

Not a daredevil, but what do you expect? The man throws himself into danger at work and sometimes a guy wants to come home to less craziness.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

Because Jimin does work out regularly, he’s in excellent health and could go a couple of rounds if he and his partner agree. But he’s content with one good round if that’s all the pair can do.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

At best Jimin’s thought about light bondage and blindfolds. Maybe he’d try a little stimulation with a vibrator on a partner while his hands work on them, but only if they ask.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Verbally he’ll tease someone lightly in banter way before things could get heated. Once you’re in the bedroom, it’s down to business and not much teasing.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

He does curse more freely if he’s enjoying himself. He used to hate making noise when getting so worked up, but a few people encouraged him to be as loud as he wanted.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Tyler wanted to watch a movie with Jimin at his place and there happened to be a really heated kissing scene during the film. The former wanted to kiss his boyfriend, but was interrupted by his younger brother barging into his apartment for a visit, settling himself between Tyler and Jimin. 

“Ah can we skip this scene? I mean, the acting between these two is sad – zero chemistry,” Isaac asked as he plucked the remote from his brother’s hand. “Read somewhere that these two hated each other and would make faces once the director called cut. Hey Ji, how’s it going man? You mind passing the popcorn?”

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

7.5″ – Ji may not be tall in height but the boy’s packing. He’s slightly thicker than average and has a few veins on the underside. 

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Average – Jimin’s not thinking about the act that much. He’d rather build a strong relationship with his partner based on other interests before thinking about the physical aspect.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Jimin will feel weary, but his first priority is making sure everyone is settled before he crashes for the evening. 

[missrcyna-blog]

under the cut are 150 (i think) answered questions about reyna mercedes - team fire! some are in third person, while others are in first.

1. if they were a candle, what scent would they be? “maybe like vanilla and coconut. is that a thing?” 2. what female celebrity do they wish was their sister? rihanna! she feels as if she’d be a super fun sister plus free fenty beauty supplies?? hello? 3. what male celebrity do they wish was their brother? finn wolfhard would be an adorable younger brother, in her opinion. 4. how old do they think they’ll be when they get married? she thinks she’ll get married in her late twenties, but she wants to be settled in her profession first. plus, she actually needs to find someone. 5. how many countries have they been to? two, counting america. she’s been to brazil to visit family 6. what would they name their daughter if they had one? celeste, after reyna’s mother, and after that, some names she likes are penelope, danielle, christine. 7. what would they name their son if they had one? she likes the names mason, jasper, kobe, and bruno, but she really isn’t picky.  8. what was their favorite tv show as a child? wizards of waverly place & lizzie mcguire 9. what language, besides their native language, would they like to be fluent in? she’d love to be fluent in french because she considers it such a beautiful language and many of her dance teachers had been french. 10. would they ever change their name? if so, to what? she wouldn’t, because she likes her name and her dad had been the one to suggest it. 11. what was the last compliment they got? “you’re the funnest counselor ever!” - young camper that got what she wanted. 12. what is their favorite flavor of tea? rose tea. 13. how did they find out that santa and the easter bunny weren’t real? she found out santa wasn’t real when she was seven and held a stakeout on christmas eve and saw her dad sneaking her gift under the tree. she never believed in the easter bunny. 14. what is their hogwarts house? (recommended: take pottermore quiz) hufflepuff! 15. what tarot card are they? (recommended: take this quiz) the sun card. it said she was typically a happy person because of her achievements. 16. are they more of a marvel or dc fan? “marvel. guardians of the galaxy -- hello?” 17. who is their favorite superhero? “does groot count? if not, maybe the she-hulk?” 18. everyone has a song that deeply reminds them of their childhood. what is theirs? rock with you by michael jackson. 19. what are the meanings of their first, middle, and last name? reyna - queen; eleanora - shining light; mercedes - mercies or greatest gifts. 20. have they ever stolen a street sign before? never. she didn’t know that was a thing. 21. what is their biggest pet peeve? buzzkills; people that take themselves too seriously. 22. if they were a month, what month would they be? may. she just thinks it’s a pretty month and it’s when schools start coming to an end. 23. what is their least favorite movie? “any of those films they used to show in history class.” 24. what five movies would they bring with them if they were stuck on a deserted island? “would i even be able to watch them? maybe i’d bring black panther, good burger, guardians of the galaxy, incredibles 2 -- i haven’t watched it yet but i know it’ll be great -- and the goofy movie.” 25. out of all of the late night talk show hosts, who is their favorite? “i love jimmy fallon. i feel like it’d be really fun to be on his show.” 26. what are three things they are afraid of? rejection, not being able to dance, and spiders. 27. what was the first concert they went to? “it was a one direction concert. i had total one direction infection, and i am not ashamed.” 28. is there a nickname that only their family calls them? she doesn’t really have any special nicknames. 29. what side of the bed do they sleep on? she’s a wild sleeper, so she’s pretty much all over the bed. 30. what is their favorite comfort food? strawberry shortcake. 31. what award shows do they watch? radio disney music awards, teen choice awards, billboard music awards, and grammy awards. 32. do they have any weird body skills (example: being double jointed)? not that she knows of. 33. if they drink coffee, what is their coffee order? she likes to mix it up, but her favorites are chai and vanilla lattes. in the winter, her go-to is hot chocolate with cinnamon whipped cream. 34. what social media platforms do they have? snapchat, instagram, facebook, twitter, dubsmash, whatsapp (to talk to family), and she used to have vine and kik. 35. are they a cat or dog person? “i love cats too, but i’ve gotta say i’m more of a dog person.” 36. if they were a supernatural creature, what would they be? “whatever peter pan was. i don’t want to grow up.” 37. what show are they currently watching on netflix/hulu? she’s watching a bunch of different shows, because she easily gets distracted, but she is currently watching on my block, black lightning, and jane the virgin. 38. what is their favorite disney movie? the goofy movie. 39. do they wear any perfume or cologne? only when she is dressing up. she usually sticks with scented lotions and the like. 40. what genres of music do they listen to? she’s willing to listen to anything. 41. have they ever seen the bee movie? three times. her bio for a while was “ according to all known laws of aviation, “  42. what are their favorite memes? “i love memes based on popular songs, like all the God’s plan and ‘then i freaked it’ ones.” 43. what celebrities do they share a birthday with? taylor lautner, jennifer aniston, khalid, kelly rowland, and thomas edison. 44. what is their moon (zodiac) sign? leo  45. which of the seven cardinal sins do they embody the most? greed. 46. do they watch sports on television? if so what ones? she only watches major sports events, like the olympics or world cup or finals. 47. what do they put on their typical sandwich? she loves sloppy joes and cheeseburgers with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. 48. what was the name of their first significant other? “michael donovan, but it lasted for like three weeks so i’m not sure if it really counts.” 49. do they care if people think badly of them? not as much as she used to. 50. what was the last thing that made them cry? she re-watched the last episode of the suite life on deck. 51. are they an iphone or samsung user? iphone 52. what type of computer do they use (example: apple)? she has a dell inspiron 11 3000 laptop. 53. what is one of their nervous habits? touching hair, tapping fingernails, avoiding eye contact, etc. 54. out of all reality shows, which one would they have a chance winning? she’d probably have a shot at so you think you can dance. 55. would they ever go bungee jumping or skydiving? she’s gone bungee jumping, but she’d probably never go skydiving. 56. what do they call their grandparents? vovó and vovô (pronunciations are different) 57. what do they do when they can’t sleep? she bothers whoever is available. 58. what time do they normally go to bed? around 10 or 11, unless she has a reason to stay up. 59. if they have instagram, what was the last picture that they posted? this throwback pic. 60. if they have twittter, what was the last thing that they tweeted? “ the day these ppl invest in air conditioning is the day i cry tears of joy😫 “ 61. who is their otp? “sam and freddie from icarly. they deserved better.” 62. do they like sweet, salty, or sour? “don’t make me choose between sweet and salty. it depends.” 63. did they play any sports in the past? cheerleading and dance, if those count. she loves to play sports like over the summer but those are the only two she officially played. 64. what is their favorite cheesy pick up line? “are you a parking ticket? ‘cause you’ve got fine written all over you.” 65. what tv show or movie is their guilty pleasure? “andi mack. i’m probably out of their intended age group, but it’s good, okay?” 66. if they were a fruit, what fruit would they be? strawberries are her favorite fruit of all time, so definitely that. 67. do they sing in the shower? yes, all the time.  68. what is their favorite type of chips? barbecue chips. 69. do they drink juice? if so, what is their favorite kind? strawberry juice. 70. what is more important to them: power, money, friends, family, love, or fame? family is most important to her, including friends that she considers family. 71. what does their handwriting look like? similar to this. 72. do they have reoccurring dreams? if not, what is their most memorable dream? “i once had this dream where the kardashians were trying to adopt me. they wanted to name me kasey.” 73. if they were a taste, what would it be? “salty. i’m always salty.” 74. what is one random fun fact about them? her favorite color is royal blue. 75. what is their lucky number? the number eight. it stands out to her and her eighth year was the last full year she had with her father. 76. do they have any pets? she wants one, but she has no time to properly take care of a pet. 77. do they believe in the paranormal or the supernatural? “who doesn’t? you can’t pass everything off as a ‘coincidence.’ 78. have they ever had any paranormal experiences? no, just pranks, coincidences and her own misunderstandings. 79. can they sing or dance? both, and she’s not afraid to let it be known. 80. who is the first person they call/text when something exciting happens? sofia, her friend from college. 81. what is their social media handle? @mercedesbends ! it’s a play on her last name, the fact that she dances, the car brand, and she got the idea from a vine. she’s a loser. 82. what swear word do they use/like the most? she likes flipping the bird (if that even counts??) but she doesn’t really curse. she says stuff like freaking or effing. 83. what is their ideal first date? “i’d love to have a first date at a fair or theme park. i think that seeing people on rollercoasters would tell you a lot about them.” 84. if they were a type of weather, what would they be? “snowy weather. gets you out of school, super fun, but dangerous after a while.” 85. what is their least favorite holiday? “any of the holidays that don’t get you out of school.” 86. what is the first thing that they do in the morning? browse memes on social media. 87. who is their ultimate celebrity crush? “ultimate? that’s like, an insult to all my other celebrity crushes. if i must choose, asap rocky, but don’t get mad at me if i change my mind.” 88. do they usually pay with cash or card? she prefers card because it makes her seem more official, but she usually uses cash. 89. what was the last thing that they bought? these glasses. no regrets. 90. are they a good or bad driver? she’s in the middle, but she prefers not to drive when she doesn’t have to. 91. if they could meet one person (from history or currently alive), who would it be? michael jackson. 92. have they ever gotten into a physical fight? nothing more than being shoved and slapped over stupid misunderstandings. 93. do they prefer pepsi or coke? "pepsi, because it’s sweeter.” 94. do they prefer the city or the suburbs? “i love the city life, but the suburbs feel more like home.” 95. do they have any special or odd talents? she can play piano and guitar. 96. when they were little, what did they want to be when they grew up? she wanted to be a professional dancer, but now she's aiming to be a choreographer or dance instructor since it’s a bit more realistic. 97. do they have any favorite smells? “favorite smells? i guess i’d say like the smell of cookies right out of the oven, anything strawberry-scented, cinnamon, vanilla, moqueca..” 98. if they could visit any place in the world, where would they go? atlantis. 99. do they wear jewelry? most days, she only really wears earrings. 100. who is the last person they talked to on the phone? her aunt called to tell her about a weird client she had received. 101. do they prefer ‘would you rather’ or ‘truth or dare’? she loves truth or dare. it’s a great way to get to know someone and have a blast doing it. 102. what has been their favorite halloween costume yet? one halloween, she walked around all day in a complete lego man costume. the stares she got at the mall were hilarious. 103. do they like horror movies? yes, and she actually finds them scary. 104. what is their typical breakfast like? she usually has a small breakfast, typically including with bread or fruit. 105. are they a netflix or hulu person? she loves netflix’s layout but thinks that hulu has a better range of options. 106. do they like to gossip? not really, unless it’s really interesting. 107. if they were a song, what one would they be? dancing queen by abba. 108. what was their best subject in school? english, even if it may not be apparent in her everyday speech. 109. what was their worst subject in school? she struggled with chemistry. she was that girl that’d make the project explode - most of the time on accident. 110. have they ever met anyone famous? khalid, adam levine, cody simpson and matty b. 111. who was their childhood hero? the stillwater dance and music specialist that helped her during her first year at camp. 112. were any tv shows or movies that they weren’t allowed to watch as a child? just the regular m or r rated stuff, or things that could be deemed too scary for her baby cousin. 113. what is the strangest thing they have ever eaten? she was dared to eat a mustard, macaroni, and ice cream sandwich.  114. do they prefer friends or family? don’t get her wrong -- she loves her friends, but family > friends. 115. how do they feel about pineapple on pizza? she tried it once as a dare but she actually enjoyed it. sue her. 116. do they put the milk or cereal in the bowl first? cereal in first because she has culture. 117. how do they think dogs would wear pants? the second one makes more sense to her. she thinks it’d be hard for the dog to move in the first one. 118. do they believe in luck or fate? “i believe in fate. i feel like we have a bunch of different destinies that are attainable and our choices affect which one we get.” 119. do they use emojis when they text? yes, to an abundance 120. who was their favorite character on friends? she can’t choose between phoebe and joey. 121. what character on friends are they most like? a buzzfeed article told her chandler, but she’d always considered herself more of a phoebe, because they are both childish girls who like music. 122. would they rather read the books or watch the movies? she thinks there is no reason to read a book when the movie is out. 123. what is their favorite time of day? “afternoon. you can do pretty much anything in the afternoon, and most people are in high spirits around that time. no one trying to go to bed and no one being grumpy because they’re not a morning.” 124. did they watch the teletubbies as a child? if so, who was their favorite? no, she didn’t really watch them. she definitely remembers them, but she never really got into them as a kid. 125. do they check the rating (like a rotten tomatoes rating) of a movie before they go and see one? nah, she just goes ahead and watches it. 126. do they have any favorite old hollywood movie stars? “does the girl from i love lucy count?” 127. if they had to live in any other decade, which would they choose? she’d like to live somewhere in the future. she doesn’t know exactly which decade, but she’d rather go to the future than the past. 128. if they could only listen to five music albums for the rest of their life, which ones would they choose? “that’s like asking a mother if she could only keep some of her children. don’t be cruel.” 129. do they believe in heaven/hell or reincarnation? she believes in a heaven and a hell, but she isn’t sure about her beliefs surrounding who gets to go where. 130. do they like chewing gum? “i love gum, but i can’t stand it when it loses its taste. gum flavors need to last longer. make it happen, science.” 131. do they like to go see musicals or plays? she loves them, especially musicals, so she watches them if they’re playing nearby. 132. were they apart of any clubs or teams in high school or college? she was on the dance team, cheerleading squad, and in the drama club. 133. what was their high school superlative? most likely to become famous 134. are they good at cooking or baking? she definitely needs to read the directions whenever she prepares something. 135. could they beat bobby flay? she’d try if she got the chance, but definitely not! 136. do they watch actual television? if so, what channels do they watch? she prefers to watch things on demand or on her phone, but she likes to watch disney channel and the cw television network. 137. have they ever seen rupaul’s drag race? she loves the show. she gets really into it and has audible commentary throughout each episode. 138. do they prefer pink or yellow lemonade? pink, especially strawberry. 139. could they lip sync for their life? in a heartbeat. she’d pull out all the stops to impress rupaul.  140. is their room messy or clean? it’s definitely never gross or smelly or anything like that, but she leaves pieces of clothing or other items lying around at times. 141. if they were a body part, which one would they be? if someone asked her this, she’d probably say an elbow just because. 142. if they were an emotion, what would they be? “this is probably really basic, but i’d like to consider myself like joy from inside out.” 143. if they were a planet, which one would they be? “jupiter, because that’s where all the boys go to.” 144. how would they describe their clothing style? “i don’t know.. i guess whatever fits my mood and the weather? i like stuff that i’m able to move in, and also clothes that go well with my figure. i don’t work this hard on my body just to cover it up with baggy clothing.” 145. do they shower in the morning or at night? both! she showers when she wakes up and takes another one when the day is over. 146. do they order regular fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, or tater tots? her order of preference is: sweet potato fries, tater tots, regular fries, onion rings. 147. do they normally wear socks? whenever she’s wearing sneakers, yes. 148. do they fear natural disasters? they’re not really a fear of hers. she only gets worried about it if the news makes it known that it is a really big deal. 149. can they ice/roller skate? although she’s no expert, she can do both, but she’s better at roller skating. 150. are they good at video games? she likes to pretend she is, but not really.