#guy in your MFA

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Aber da sein Herz tot und ohne Liebe war, so geriet er in Abenteuer des Fleisches, stieg tief hinab in Wollust und heiße Schuld und litt unsäglich dabei. […] So kam es nur dahin, daß er, haltlos zwischen krassen Extremen, zwischen eisiger Geistigkeit und verzehrender Sinnenglut hin und her geworfen, unter Gewissensnöten ein erschöpfendes Leben führte, ein ausbündiges, ausschweifendes und außerordentliches Leben, das er, Tonio Kröger, im Grunde verabscheute.

I figured out who Tonio Kröger reminds me of

[bettsfic]

hi betts! sooooo it's been a minute; we used to be mutuals back in the 100 days, and I just wanted to drop by and say that your writing genuinely changed my life. Guy in Your MFA truly transcended fandom writing for me, showed me how much heart could be in a story, how much healing and trauma and growth could be in characters. I'd also really never read smut (was in my mid20s, just from a v conservative family) and you wrote in the most beautiful, clarifying way, that kickstarted a separate healing journey for me. I've pivoted fandoms, written a good deal more, and just wanted to say thank you. you are incredibly talented, incredibly inspirational, and you've always been a hero of mine, for that fic and the ones that came after. thank you!

oh my goodness, thank you. this made tear up. i'm so happy to hear how much you've written and that you're on a healing journey of your own, and i'm honored to know my fic could help with that.

thank you so much for sharing this with me!

[moregraceful]

my hot take as a person with an english degree and a library degree is that some of the dorkiest fiction and poetry ever committed to paper in the english language came out of the iowa writer's workshop so it is at best goofy and at worst completely futile to argue that your average amazon unlimited writer is having a more deleterious effect on literacy and literature.

[itsawritblr]

And you can continue your defensiveness toward someone who simply provided facts to a factually inaccurate post, which, as you're not one of the original posters, has little or nothing to do with you.

Which prompts curiousity why you're so defensive. Considering the theme is people who have contempt for authors who create original content, it's an easy conclusion.

Oh, and I know six of the authors in the poll. And another dedicated one of her books to a friend of mine. My badges are quite secure, thank you. I can go into Barnes & Noble and Waterstones and pet them any time I wish.

You can call me Big Bad if you want.

Authors Convinced Fanfic is Illegal/Requires Permission

Terry Goodkind: “Copyright law dictates that in order for me to protect my copyright, when I find such things, I must go out and hire lawyers to threaten these people to make them stop, and to sue them if they don’t.”

John Scalzi: “Let's remember one fundamental thing about fanfic: Almost all of it is entirely illegal to begin with. It's the wild and wanton misappropriation of copyrighted material”

Diana Gabaldon: “OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.”

Robin Hobb: “Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen.”

Anne Rice: “I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”

Anne McCaffrey: “there can be no adventure/stories set on Pern at all!!!!! That's infringing on my copyright and can bear heavy penalties…indiscriminate usage of our characters, worlds, and concepts on a 'public' media like electronic mail constitute copyright infringement AND, which many fans disregard, is ACTIONABLE!”

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: “No. Absolutely not. It is also against federal law.”

Lynn Flewelling: “Whether you are writing about Seregil or Fox Mulder or Sherlock Holmes, if you do not have legal permission from the author, their estate, or publisher, then you are violating US copyright law. It is creative piracy. Doesn't matter how many disclaimers you put on, or if you're being paid. It. Is. Illegal.”

Someone Else, elaborated in the notes

[christinesekim]

help deidre stay in school!!

hey guys, i'm doing emergency comms to help raise some money for @xinakwans, she needs money rn to get her student loans in order for this semester and it's urgent! heres a link to the tumblr post that talks more about it.

if you donate $20 or more to the gfm and send me a screenshot of proof, i'll be happy to do a quick sketch with color for you. my commissions are closed rn so this is your only chance to get art from me!

[simplybakugou]

Worth It | Mystic Academia: Kaminari Denki's Route

↝ The day of the MFA party had finally arrived and despite all of setbacks you and your members faced, it all led up to this day. 

© simplybakugou — all rights reserved. DO NOT REPOST/REUPLOAD, TRANSLATE, OR EDIT ANY OF MY CONTENT ON HERE OR ANY PLATFORM

⋆ PAIRING: gamer!kaminari x fem!reader ⋆ WARNINGS/TAGS: fluff :) ⋆ WORD COUNT: 2K

A/N: here's the written part for kaminari’s route! don't pay any mind to how dog shit the banner looks, tumblr hates me. hope you enjoy!! :) the kaminari cap is from @eraserhead-transparents

Mystic Academia: Kaminari Denki's Route

The stairs leading to the venue felt longer and more prolonged than you expected as you nervously climbed each step carefully. The day had finally come after much anticipation despite all of the traumatic events that had occurred to you and your friends. 

The MFA party was finally here and you were filled with both anxiety and utter excitement. You were finally going to meet your fellow MFA members whom you had been conversing with for over a week. To say you were excited was an understatement to say the least, especially to see a specific blonde gamer.

The anxiety you were facing slowly subsided as you began greeting the guests at the main doors, checking off people from your clipboard as they arrived. The security Bakugou hired had arrived and were stationed at every door and any possible entrance into the venue as he had instructed. Two burly men stood on either side of the doors, making you feel safe but also slightly scared at how intimidating their presences were. 

The first guest, a romance novel organization recommended by Mina, arrived, greeting you with a bright smile as they expressed how elated they were that the MFA parties were back. You smiled and thanked them for coming, continuing to do so as eventually a line formed as people waited to be checked in.

About half of the guests had arrived before you heard a shrill, high-pitched squeal, causing you to snap your head up to the source of the sound. A woman sprinted up the stairs, throwing her arms around you, nearly making the two of you topple to the floor. The two security guards to either side of you, knelt to your side, concerned that a random woman had essentially thrown herself at you but they eased up once they recognized the woman.

“Y/N?! I can’t believe it’s you!” The woman squealed, squeezing your shoulders in excitement. 

Thankfully since there was only one other woman in the organization, it was very easy to tell that this was Mina. You smiled. “You know you could’ve told me who you were before you jumped me, Mina.”

Mina laughed. “What can I say, I was too excited to see you.”

“Mina, I told you not to go too crazy,” a man scolded from behind Mina as he slowly climbed the stairs, clearly limping.

From his injury, you recognized him easily. “Hey, Kirishima.”

“Whoa you knew it was me?” Kirishima asked, slightly bewildered. “Was it the hair?”

You pointed to his leg and he laughed. “I guess that makes more sense.”

Your eyes darted to the long line behind your two friends, snapping you back to reality and your hosting duties. “Sorry guys, I��d love to chat but we still have all of these guests to check in.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can do it for you,” Kirishima reassured, taking the clipboard from you and immediately getting to work, smiling brightly at the next guest.

Mina looped her arm into yours, keeping an eye on Kirishima since his reputation made him popular and there was still a threat out there potentially still coming for all of you. “So, are you excited?”

You nodded. “I was definitely nervous before but I feel better after being here.”

“Oh, I get it. You’re nervous to see your boyfriend.” Mina stretched out the last word, poking your shoulder teasingly, prompting you to roll your eyes. “Speaking of Kaminari, what was it like seeing him in person?”

You shrugged slightly. “I think I was more worried about whether or not he was okay more than anything.”

You were purposefully leaving out a major event that had occurred when you visited Kaminari since you knew how Mina would react if she found out. However, she was not going to let you off the hook that easily, suspecting that you were hiding something. 

Mina narrowed her eyes at you. “So something did happen, didn’t it?”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Y/N, this is our first time meeting in person and I can already tell you’re lying.” Mina grinned. “Oh my god, did you guys hug or did he cry when he saw you? Wait!” She paused to gasp loudly.

“Mina, please calm down,” you muttered, smiling apologetically at the guests as they entered the building, taking notice of your energetic and overly excited friend. 

“Don’t tell me! You kissed, didn’t you?!” Mina exclaimed.

Your left eye twitched, confirming her guess and she squealed even more. “Oh my god, you did! I’m so proud of you!”

She tackled you into a hug once more and before you could calm her down as your face was heating up from embarrassment, an angry voice broke you away from your thoughts.

“Who the fuck is screaming like a little girl?!” A man bellowed as he climbed up the stairs. If it weren’t for his fashionable suit and matching vest, his scowl on his face definitely confirmed your assumption. This was definitely Bakugou.

“Dude, you’re not helping much either by screaming, too,” another man said, shaking his head at Bakugou. His black hair was combed back and he wore a white, plain suit. His eyes met yours and he smiled. “Y/N!”

The two men climbed the stairs until they reached the top. Bakugou looked you up and down shamelessly. “I guess you clean up nice even if you’ve got shit taste in clothes, new girl.”

“What the hell is your problem? I’m sorry about him. By the way, this is Sero and Bakugou,” Mina gestured to the two. 

“It wasn’t hard to guess which one Bakugou was,” you mumbled, causing Sero and Mina to laugh and Bakugou to simply glare at you. 

Bakugou moved past you and into the venue. “Let’s see if this isn’t a shitshow.”

Sero sighed, giving you an apologetic look. “Sorry we had to meet again like this, Y/N. I’ll make sure he doesn’t harass the guests and the staff.” Sero went inside, following Bakugou.

“I guess we should head in there, too.” Mina moved to make her way inside as well, stopping once she realized you weren’t following. “You’re not coming?”

You turned to face the stairs, taking a look at the guests and seeing the number of people dwindle down. Glancing over at the clipboard in Kirishima’s hands, it looked as though most of the guests were here. Well… except for one.

“He’ll make it, don’t worry,” Mina said reassuringly, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder and smiling softly. “You know he wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

You reciprocated the smile, nodding your head as you headed inside with Mina. 

The guests filled the once empty venue with their presences, numerous voices conversing and filling the once quiet air. The guests looked satisfied and happy, holding champagne flutes and plates of hors d’oeuvres. You smiled and briefly greeted them as you passed them, Mina doing the same. From afar you could hear Bakugou scolding one of the kitchen staff followed by Sero scolding Bakugou and apologizing for his friend’s brash behavior. 

“Y/N!” Kirishima called out to you. He handed the clipboard to you as he gestured to his phone. “There’s three more guests we have to sign in. Could you check them in for me? I got a call from my agency and I’ve gotta answer it.”

“Of course.” Kirishima thanked you as he made his way to one of the back rooms to answer his call. 

You made it back to the entrance, apologizing briefly for keeping the remaining guests waiting, and quickly signing them in. You sighed as you crossed the last guest name off the list, turning to thank the security guards who were keeping watch and keeping you safe.

One of the guards’ attention flicked over to someone behind you. “There’s one more guest you have to check in, ma’am.”

“Another guest?” You looked down at your clipboard and flipped through your guest list. “But that was our last guest…”

“Aw, come on, you already forgot about me, beautiful?” A familiar voice teased from behind.

You whipped your head around to the sound of the voice you wanted to hear the most, your heart nearly skipping a beat as you laid your eyes on Kaminari. He had adorned himself in a black suit, his blonde hair combed back with his black streak still in view and he somehow looked even more handsome than you could’ve imagined as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. 

The guards recognized him as the last MFA member as they greeted him. “You guys can head inside. We’d like some alone time if that’s alright.” The security acknowledged Kaminari’s request, closing the main doors and deciding to guard them from the inside. 

The sound of the doors shutting snapped you out of your initial shock and you rushed down the stairs and threw your arms around his neck. Luckily he caught you, preventing the two of you from falling. He laughed. “Did you miss me that much? We saw each other yesterday.”

You pulled away from him, moving your hands up to cup his face in your hands as you scanned him for any sign of pain or further injury. “Are you okay? Did the doctor say anything else? Is your arm infected? Did–”

“Okay, let’s slow down now,” Kaminari said with a laugh, moving his hand to hold one of yours in his. “I’m okay. The doctor said everything looks good which was why I was discharged today. You know I would never miss this.”

You smiled shyly, nodding your head as you knew he wouldn’t. “I know. I was just… worried.”

“You’re really cute, you know that?” Kaminari whispered, moving his hand to caress your cheek.

You felt your face heat up furiously from his words and he chuckled, knowing he successfully made you flustered. “Shut up, Denki.”

“I like the way you say my name,” Kaminari uttered softly, the pad of his thumb grazing down to your chin, hovering over your bottom lip. 

“Denki?” You repeated, feigning innocence as your eyes met his and moved down to his lips. 

Kaminari didn’t say another word as he wrapped his arm around your waist, bringing your body even closer to his and ducked his head down to close his lips over yours. You couldn’t help but smile against his lips, maneuvering your arms to wrap around his neck, as if you couldn’t get enough of him. 

That moment was everything for you. Despite how terrifying things had been the past week, your worries dissipated in an instant as your lips moved in unison against his. That is until the sweet moment was cut short.

“Hey! Are you two fucking idiots gonna keep sucking face or are you gonna talk to our guests?!” Bakugou yelled down from the top of the stairs.

You and Kaminari pulled away from one another, looking up to the top to see Bakugou, Mina, Kirishima, and Sero all grinning down at the two of you.

You laughed, surprised that even Bakugou had a small smile on his face. “Get up here, you two!” Kirishima called out as Mina was clutching Sero’s side and squealing furiously. 

Kaminari sighed. “Those idiots always get in the way.” He turned to you, extending his hand out to you. “You coming, gorgeous?”

You smiled, accepting his hand as your fingers laced into his and the two of you made your way back up.

This past week was a difficult one. Your life and the lives of your friends were continuously tested and you couldn’t help but feel as if you had made a mistake in joining this random organization that you happened to stumble upon, or rather were led to. But the sight of your friends looking down at you with genuine joy and the presence of the man you knew you wanted to be with for a long time made it all worth it.

Yeah… it was all worth it.

A/N: AAAHHH SHE'S FINALLY DONE! only took me two months hehe. thank you for all of the love and support for this route. i really enjoyed writing and editing this all out and i can't believe it's all done! if you're done with this series and are not interested in reading the other routes, thank you so much for reading kaminari's route! sero's route will take some time so for those of you waiting, please be patient :)

[gizkasparadise]

the pure disgust on his face when ning plays the qin is A++

he's somehow simultaneously the Guy in your MFA, a power hungry high school theatre director, a vampire, and a machiavellian murder bastard i enjoy this so much

xie wei when his Machinations hit hiccups: okay whatever regroup

xie wei when ning can't play the equivalent of "twinkle twinkle little star" on an instrument: [audible rage breathing!!!]

[tomb-of-madeline]

Hiiii!! I really enjoyed the bird daughters comic. I think its very creative and very neat but i also feel like theres a depth to it that i cant quite reach. I hope i dont sound too cliche or too stupid, but i really do want to know. What was the meaning behind it? What is the purpose of the message? For what reason did u create it? Its just a very unique kind of story, i think, and id like to know what inspired u and what are the hidden themes and motifs of it. Thank u!!

Thank you for reading and thinking about my comic! I am sure you are capable of understanding Bird Daughters and I value your thoughts and interpretations.

I’ll talk a little bit about what I was thinking while making this comic. Sometimes, my process is imagining a horrible little guy and then thinking about how she lives and what she does. That is the inspiration for Tern, the conflict of her monstrosity and her desires. Her ability to imagine the life she wants and her passivity about actually changing. I imagine her father as isolated and paranoid and surrounded only by his daughters. Daughters who have only passing interest in understanding the realities of their father’s subjects. I am thinking about a very lonely woman who fantasizes about having a boyfriend. I also wanted to make something with sex and violence after working on kids books for 5 years... I also like to draw monster women tormenting men...

My inspiration comes for a lot of sources, but more specifically I was doing a reread of wolf hall that was started after a reread of a place of greater safety. Which began after reading Rose of Versailles for the first time. I was also reading through the book of the new sun, and how can you not read that and want to make up your own horrible little guy.

Anyway, thank you for reading my ramblings, I will go get my MFA and return in a few years and be better at talking about themes and stuff. I’ve been very pleased by the response to this comic on here. It’s heartening to know that after all the years there are still a lot of people on tumblr who read and enjoy comics.

[buttercupjosh]

Seasons of Love

(Gif credit to @youmustlovehim)

Word count: 2,772

Genres: strangers to lovers to exes, a little bittersweet

Warnings: none

A/N: I’ve had pieces of details of this fic in mind for a while and I started to slowly write it out over the past few months. This title comes from Seasons of Love from the musical RENT, although there’s nothing in the story connects to specific details from that. The story is not based off of anything specific, just a plot that had been simmering in me for some time. It’s not set at a specific moment in time (It’s taking place in a fictional future but you could also say that it’s set this season. However, the season is still ongoing at the moment and anything can happen or change). It’s written with a female reader in mind because I’m a female of color but the reader doesn’t specifically have to be a POC or a woman and there’s little dialogue. As always, I’m open to any and all feedback, comments or questions; just put them in my inbox or dm me. Thank you so much in advance for reading, I appreciate it😌

(P.S. I have other stories (linked here) that I have written for other players as well if you want to check it out)

““How do you measure a year in the life? How about love?” -Seasons of Love from the RENT musical soundtrack

Prologue

“Excuse me, is this a good book to read?” a deep accented voice asks you.

“Dune? For sure, it’s an epic story,” you reply.

“Do you think I could finish it in 4 days?” the voice asks.

“4 days? Unless you’re an Olympian at reading and processing complex storylines, I’d say it might take you close to 4 weeks or even 4 months to read it all,” you respond.

“Oh,” the voice says in defeat, “what do you recommend then?”

You list off some sci-fi recs for the towering cute man and he takes your suggestions into mind before deciding to get a copy of We, a novel written by his fellow countryman Yevgeny Zamyatin.

“I’ve never read that one,” you chimed.

“Should we start a book club then so you can read it?” the voice asks with a chuckle.

“Um, how can I start a book club with someone whose name I don’t even know?”

Slightly embarrassed, the voice introduces himself as Andrei and you introduce yourself to him as you shake hands. His hand in yours felt so comforting for someone you just met under an hour ago. Andrei was impressed that you knew so much about books. One of his New Year’s resolutions was to read more so that’s how he ended up at Barnes and Noble talking to you. You were at the store, just looking around for something new to read, and stumbled into the sci-fi section before checking out with your new copy of Happy Place by Emily Henry.

“So are we starting this book club then, Andrei?” you slyly ask.

Andrei wanted to have someone as a reading buddy to discuss reading with him (the other guys on the team weren’t as into reading as him) and it didn’t hurt that he had someone who knew a lot about literature right in front of him so he agreed to it.

“As long as you read “We” with me, please?” Andrei charmingly requested.

Although sci-fi wasn’t your thing at the moment, you couldn’t quite say no to the man with big brown doe eyes so you grabbed a copy off the shelf. Before going over the parameters of the newly formed book club, Andrei kindly paid for both of your books and you decided to discuss the rules in the cafe located inside of the store.

You and Andrei sat in a semi-secluded booth towards the back of the cafe and began sharing some of your backstories with each other over drinks and muffins. Andrei was again impressed by your educational background of holding an MFA in Creative Writing from NC State and your job as an adjunct English professor at Wake Tech Community College; it definitely explained your love of reading but your dream was to move to New York and become an author one day. You were working on a manuscript for a cute romance novel but still had a lot of things to do before it was ready to be presented to a publisher. The professor job was just a placeholder until you finished up your manuscript and saved up enough money to get a literary agent; you loved writing as much as you loved reading but getting your foot in the door in the writing industry was rough. You listened to Andrei as he told his story about his life and how he ended up in America through his hockey career. You and Andrei were both curious about each other and asked so many questions to each other for such a long time that you didn’t even notice that the store was going to close. Neither of you wanted your time together to end but you both had lives to get to outside of the store. You both laughed when you realized that you and Andrei spent so much time getting to know each other that not once throughout your conversation did you discuss the rules of the book club. Before leaving, you and Andrei exchanged numbers. You both agreed to read the first 50 pages and scheduled to meet up at a different cafe to discuss what you read so far in two weeks.

————————————————————

Winter

Within a year, the book club didn’t last long but it did lead to you and Andrei being in constant contact with each other. Due to both of your schedules, neither of you really had the time to sit down and have deep intellectual discussions about what you read; you both did end up finishing reading We but you finished it at different paces. Being the book lover you are, you completed the book first but Andrei finished reading the book while on the road and he wanted to discuss the ending with you so bad that he surprisingly FaceTime called you. That one FaceTime call with Andrei turned into a long series of texts, phone calls, and more FaceTime calls and eventually spending time together offline. You and Andrei considered each other to be just friends but that friendship eventually turned into you falling for each other.

Andrei was a hot commodity around Raleigh and in Russia with his DMs bursting at the seams but he only had eyes for you. He had never fallen in love with someone the way that he did for you; being with you was different than what he was used to but it worked in the best way. You knew the risks and chaos of being with a busy, famous athlete but Andrei was worth all of it. You blended and adjusted well into the hockey romantic partner lifestyle and Andrei even taught you how to ice skate. Despite the busyness of your lives, you and Andrei still showed up for and made time for each other, even if it was something as small as meeting up at your place for a post-afternoon game milkshake from The Shiny Diner or as big as taking Andrei as your date to your work holiday party. Whenever you had the time, you and Andrei created fun, everlasting memories together. A somewhat sweet memory that Andrei would always remember was when on one cold evening, you wanted to surprise your Russian boyfriend by attempting to make him borscht, a traditional Eastern European soup that was his favorite comfort food. The soup did not come well at all so you and Andrei ended up ordering Panera Bread to warm your bones. Although the soup you made tasted unpleasant, Andrei appreciated the fact that you took the time and effort to learn something from his culture and did that from your heart. The poetic thing about your relationship was that you patiently understood each other, despite the language and culture barrier; your relationship just worked like two puzzle pieces clicking together into place.

————————————————————

Spring

As the flowers bloomed around Raleigh, the school year for you ended on a good note and unsurprisingly, the Canes made playoffs. Deep into your manuscript writing, Andrei surprised you with a trip to New York after the Canes were eliminated from playoffs. You and Andrei were already spending the entire off-season together so this trip wasn’t a necessity but it was a nice thing to do.

Your time in New York was amazing and full of love, fun, and plenty of delicious food. While you were in the City, you took the opportunity to meet with some potential literary agents and publishers; although your manuscript was about 90 percent done, it didn’t hurt to check those things out. Andrei was supportive of you and your dreams but he selfishly wished that those dreams didn’t include moving to New York and that you would stay in Raleigh and have a life with him there. He had already known his future was tightly connected to the City of Oaks but you had a desire to create a future somewhere else. You knew these dreams of yours could possibly involve leaving the love of your life; neither of you tried not to dwell too hard on the stress and pressure that those dreams added to your relationship. You also knew the publishing industry was cutthroat and competitive and that there was no guarantee that your book would be picked up by a top publisher but those realities didn’t stop you from at least trying to take the steps towards that dream.

Outside of this pressure, you and Andrei still made the best of your time in NYC. You also loved musical theater so of course, you had to catch a Broadway show. Andrei, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, actually secured tickets for the two of you to see Hamilton at the Richard Rogers Theater. You had watched the live stage production on Disney+ and knew the entire soundtrack; Andrei went into the show blindly, only remembering bits and pieces from the songs that you played around him. Seeing Hamilton live on Broadway was a great experience that you both enjoyed. You and Andrei got to see New York City in a different light; you got to explore more of the city that you longed to call home and Andrei got to see more of the city as a true tourist. This entire trip was something that you both would forever cherish.

————————————————————

Summer

Not long after you left New York, you went to Russia for the first time to meet and spend time with his family and friends and to see the place that made Andrei into the man that you love. You learned more about Russian culture, Andrei’s childhood, and even was a guest at his cousin’s wedding. Andrei’s friends and family approved of you as a person and they liked you with him; they could all tell how truly in love you were with each other. You also spent some time together in Turkey and around Europe for some much-needed relaxation; you got to see the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Greece, eat authentic handmade pasta in Italy, and kiss your lover in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Traveling around with Andrei made you feel like you were the protagonist of a great summer read. Speaking of reading, Andrei still maintained his goal of reading more books, reading just about anything and everything, and even started to recommend things for you to read. Before you would fall asleep at night, you would share with each other a fact or synopsis of something that you read that day.

While Andrei was occupied with his off-season training during the day, you applied for publishing jobs, presented your finally completed manuscript to several literary agents, and ended up securing one. It was relieving to officially have a literary agent to represent you but the next biggest hurdle was the painstaking editing process and waiting for your work to be picked up by the right publisher.

————————————————————

Fall

After the bliss of the off-season ended, it was time for the hustle and bustle of your teaching job and hockey season to return. About 2 weeks before preseason started, you and Andrei moved in together. It was exciting to get to live with your lover and spend even more time (whenever you could) with him. It was also nice that you got to add your style to the place and make it your own; having a home also meant that you could host your friends, Andrei’s teammates, and sometimes family for holidays and events and create more cherished memories together. Being a hopeless romantic who loved romance novels, you had always wondered who would be the man to sweep you off your feet but you sort of already knew that man was Andrei.

A fun memory that you made together was the Sunday before the season opener, you and Andrei took a trip to a local corn maze with a pumpkin patch to take cute couple photos together and to also check it out. These photos would be added into some of the new picture frames and a scrapbook of memories in your shared home. The photographer did an excellent job, capturing the love that flowed between you in still moments. For the rest of your time, you wandered around the corn maze, hand-in-hand, with your lovely boyfriend. The infamous oak trees in Raleigh began to shed their leaves and the year began inching closer and closer towards the end.

————————————————————

Winter part 2

One snowy morning, you got an email from McGraw Hill, offering you a job as an educational copy editor in their NYC office. You couldn’t believe it, you were on the path of working at a publisher and hopefully, one day getting your book published; all that you had been working so hard for was starting to pay off in tremendous ways. The only issue that was concerning you was breaking the news to Andrei. You knew he would be happy for you but you also knew what the next steps were. You tried to hold in your tears but after practice, Andrei came home to you crying. He immediately dropped his stuff and concerningly asked you what was wrong. You explained to Andrei that you were crying joyfully over the news you received. Words couldn’t describe how proud Andrei was for you so he picked you up and spun you around in happiness.

“I’m so proud of you, my love,” Andrei repeated as he peppered kisses around your face.

He was truly proud of you but the ecstasy of the good news came with the most painful come down. Andrei didn’t want you to move to New York but he had already known for a while that you wanted to leave. He did try to convince you to stay and he hoped for months that you would change your mind but you didn’t so he helped you pack some of your things. Andrei couldn’t help you move up there so he entrusted Nykki, Martin Necas’ girlfriend, to help you settle into your new home and life, more than 500 miles away from the address you once shared.

You and Andrei did try dating long distance but your relationship unfortunately didn’t last very long. Between the responsibilities of your new job, revising over your manuscript, trying to get your book published somewhere, and Andrei’s hectic hockey schedule, you began to drift apart from each other and the physical distance between you didn’t help either. You enjoyed living in New York and you did miss each other from time to time but Andrei knew it would be unfair to ask you to give up on your dreams to come back to Raleigh and be with him. Despite not dating anymore, you and Andrei talked occasionally but not as frequently as it was when you first met and still remained friends. It was okay that the relationship had run its course because it taught you both a lot about love. Andrei came into your life for a season and those seasons you shared together were full of so much undeniable light and love. The love that you shared was different from the romance novels you read but your relationship wrote its own beautiful story.

————————————————————

Epilogue

Before catching his flight to Miami for the NHL All-Star break, Andrei went into the bookstore at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to look for a book to read on his flight. In the book section, he spotted Seasons of Love, written by you with a New York Times Bestseller sticker on the cover. Over the years, Andrei had heard some things about your novel in passing but he purposely avoided reading the book because the breakup was a bit painful for him. After you achieved getting your book published, you wanted to send Andrei a signed copy but decided against it because you weren’t sure if he would actually read the story and didn’t want to come across as pretentious either. He debated back and forth about getting the book before finally asking a store employee about their opinion about it.

“I read that one. It’s a fictional story but I heard it’s loosely based on a true story about the author’s relationship with some cool guy. It’s a super good read if you like romance," said the store employee.

Hearing what the store employee said about your book made Andrei’s heart warm a little and he purchased it as his read for his trip. After returning back to Raleigh, conveniently, there was a book signing by a familiar author at a local Barnes and Noble that Andrei decided to attend. Although Andrei didn’t get his happy ending with you in real life, you sure gave him one with the words that you wrote on the page.

[weaselandfriends]

Have you thought about opening a Patreon? I would pay a lot of money if it meant getting your stories more regularly...

My prose sucks, yours is spectacular. How do I get better at it? I try reading a lot, but I'm starting to conclude there's only so much you can pick up via absorption without some kind of formal instruction.

1. I'm not especially interested in opening a Patreon, and here's why. First, I work a reliable full time job that isn't too demanding on me, so I'm already financially stable. My following right now likely isn't large enough to sustain me full time, so I wouldn't be able to use Patreon as a primary income source anyway. Even if my following was larger, though, it would be a gamble to quit my job and sustain myself solely on fan donations. Ultimately, it would probably be more stressful for me than my current situation, and I could see my writing quality suffer under the pressure of needing to constantly output material on a monthly basis. On top of that, I'm not sure if sustaining myself on Patreon would actually increase the regularity of my stories. Unlike seemingly most authors (go look at Alexander Wales' Tumblr for an example), I'm not an "ideas guy." I don't get a lot of story ideas. The ideas I do get I nurture for years, slowly adding details to them until they're ready to write. Cockatiel x Chameleon was an idea I got in 2015 (published 2022). Modern Cannibals was an idea I got in 2012 (published 2017). When I am actually writing a story, I'm usually able to consistently output content, even with my job. The limiting factor for me isn't my available time in the day, but my brain. I appreciate the sentiment, though! One of my favorite comments, which I received on Cockatiel x Chameleon, went something like "You should be on humanity's payroll."

2. My prose sucked too. When I was a teen, I would write stories and my classmates would laugh at how badly written they were. In college, I couldn't even get my friends or family to read my stories. (I once described one of my stories to my grandmother and she said, "Well that doesn't sound any good at all.") At age 18, I decided to start reading classic literature. Only classic literature, at a rate of 50 pages a day, every day. I read all kinds, from all sorts of time periods and countries. I read everything from Homer to David Foster Wallace. And while I read, I wrote. I wrote badly. In college I wrote novels that pretty shamelessly imitated the prose styles of Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy. By the time I started writing Fargo (which is a story where I think my prose was still improving), I had written nine complete novels and had read somewhere between 200 and 300 works of classic literature. I didn't have any formal training, at least in terms of writing fiction. I was an English/Geography dual major, and from my English classes I learned how to close read a text, and in general I learned how to write an academic essay. In my final year of college I took an MFA-styled creative writing workshop, but by then I was pretty much beyond what it could teach me and I don't feel like I learned much of anything from it.

Other than reading and writing, I started editing. One of my later pre-Bavitz novels I finished, then went back and edited assiduously. I took a 100,000 word rough draft and over 14 editing passes pared it down to 70,000 words. That was massive for improving my prose, as it forced me to engage with my story on a word-by-word level. Every single word fell under my scrutiny and thus I had to grapple with how valuable, how good that word was. What I learned from that experience was massive for improving my prose going forward.

I think it's entirely possible for someone to improve their prose just through the basics of reading, writing, and editing. Julirites, the author of Fargo fanfic London, has massively improved her prose over the course of the story. It didn't even take her nine failed novels to do it, either. Be willing to experiment. Be willing to fail. Don't be afraid of someone laughing at you for writing purple prose. Imitate authors you like, that's the first step toward developing your own unique style.

[katie0510klance]

Guys I just got a new kudos on this fic <3

So I want to promote it since I don't really do it often

Summary

This is an AU where Lance didn't fucking end up as a farmer and ended up as a shooter/mfa pilot , he moved from his childhood house but decided to still live in cuba and lives like two street from there , Keith decided to live a simple life with Lance. This would be like two years after Allura died, they've been together for a year. This is a little drabble where Lance do skincare on Keith

Tags

Fluff Tooth-Rotting Fluff ,Implied Sexual Content, Gay, Marriage Proposal , Gay Keith (Voltron)Galra Keith (Voltron) , Nicknames, Pet Names, Bisexual Lance (Voltron) , Pining Lance (Voltron), Denial of Feelings , klance ,Allura dead ,Alternate Universe ,Post-Canons ,slightly non canon

+ : I read it again and it's a bit badly made but SHUT UP AND TAKE WHAT I WROTE

[ginnymoonbeam]

I loved today's episode of Be My Favorite, and here's something I never expected to say: I want to talk about Not. Specifically, I want to talk about the scene where Kwan asks Not to sign the book, because it's the crux of the episode and also gets at something I'm passionate about.

Not is an asshole; this has been well established. And my tiny flicker of worry that I'd be lured into some writerly fellow-feeling was quickly squashed when he said the most obnoxious "guy in your MFA" thing to Pear while handing her his book. He sucks and by all accounts his book sucks. He doesn't deserve encouragement.

But Kwan, seeing him in a moment of dejection, asks him to sign her copy of the book. She's not lying or trying to flatter him; she was telling him his book sucked before anyone else. And she tells him exactly why: because everyone needs encouragement, and it costs very little to give it. What I love about this is that the show isn't trying to argue that Not deserves encouragement. It's just saying, hey, he's human, he has feelings, and it doesn't hurt to be kind.

Max makes the same decision with Pisaeng at the coffee shop. He clearly sees exactly what's going on, and he's probably seen this plenty of times before. Fledgling gays can do a lot of damage as they flail their way toward self-understanding, and every older queer person I know has had to draw lines at some point around how much of that damage they'll absorb in the process of helping out the younger ones. We see Max first decide Pisaeng isn't his problem - then we see him reconsider. He can afford to offer a little kindness and patience.

The kindness Kwan and Max both offer ripples out, and ends with Kawi and Pisaeng both being able to be kind and brave with each other on the rooftop. I don't know where we go from here, but this felt like a watershed moment for the story, and it hinged on very small choices, to be kind and patient even when there was no obligation to.

This is a time travel story, so it's about small changes having big effects. And it's a story connecting university years, when people are still shaping themselves, to a decade later when patterns have been more strongly established. Even someone like Not is malleable right now - he responds to Kwan's kindness with a similarly low-cost gesture that means a huge amount to Kawi. I don't know that Not is ever going to become a great person, but maybe he moves away from whatever dire future has been hinted at. Or maybe he just behaves a little better sometimes, and gives our focal characters the space to grow instead of crushing them back as we saw him do with Kawi in the flashback.

In the beginning of the show, almost all the characters were unhappy or unlikeable or both. Now we're seeing how things can change as they keep reaching out to each other with honesty, with courage, and with kindness.

[crimeronan]

trying so hard not to lose my temper over various viral posts i make but sometimes..... puts my head in my hands.

Sometimes. People Test Me .

someone just left these tags on my tongue-in-cheek guy in your MFA screenshot about how some authors are afraid to write women with flaws:

and i jsut.

THE FUCKINTG.

THE FUCKING AUDACITY????

[waateeystein]

Analyzing Nick Dear's Frankenstein (and why we should move on to better play adaptations)

Alrighty y'all, its the long-awaited Nick Dear Frankenstein analysis post! This post is focusing specifically on Dear's characterization of the Creature, and why it negatively affects the play overall (plus some adaption theory added in for funsies). For additional context, I am an MFA candidate studying theatre, and I did this research and the accompanying slides for a project in my graduate-level theatrical criticism class. Basically this post is the text version of that presentation, with some of the slides included, and the fluff trimmed. There is a fair bit of academic jargon in here, but I tried to make it as accessible as possible!

And with all of that out of the way, the Nick Dear Frankenstein deep dive is under the cut! (And citations at the end.)

CW: Discussions of violence and SA.

Before I get into the script itself (which if you are interested in reading it, a PDF version is easily found on google), I want to introduce a fun adaptation theory which is specific to studying Frankenstein, called "Frankenstein Complex Theory." This theory comes from Dennis R. Cutchins and Dennis R. Perry in the introduction section to "Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster's Eternal Lives in Popular Culture." (A fantastic read that I recommend to anyone if your school or local library has it in circulation.) This introduction introduces the "complex" theory, as well as some really awesome ideas that get used and referenced by all of the authors included in the book.

Basically Cutchins and Perry assert that traditional adaptation theory is simple not enough to properly study Frankenstein and it's innumerable adaptations. One might also assert that Frankenstein itself is an adaptation, Mary Shelley published multiple editions of her story, and one could argue that the original story is an adaptation of other stories like "Paradise Lost." Linda Hutcheon, another academic in the field of adaptation studies who also wrote a fantastic book (cited at the end), talks about this idea of "palimpsestuous Intertextuality." I want to first argue here that the original text of Frankenstein and its adaptations (the "myth" of Frankenstein) are palimpsestuous.

And when I say the "myth" of Frankenstein is "palimpsestuous," its basically just saying that the "myth" (tall green guy with bolts in his neck who is mostly non-verbal, going around killing people mostly without rhyme or reason) is the predominate cultural narrative of Frankenstein's monster, rather than how he actually is in the book. All of the cultural ideas of what Frankenstein's monster is are this giant network which interweaves with itself, references and builds off itself, and constantly creates new things from these connections. The book and it's adaptations are not in hierarchy, one is not implicitly better or more important than another, they all work together to create our cultural narrative of Frankenstein's monster. Thus, palimpsestuous Intertextuality.

But what is this "Complex" theory I mentioned earlier, and what does it have to do with Nick Dear? Well, here is a helpful diagram!

Essentially, every piece of Frankenstein media every created, including Mary Shelley's original novel, are all part of the "Frankenstein Network." The complex, however, is personal, it includes anything from that network that you have personally consumed. Some people have a wider complex than others, but nonetheless, most of us have some kind of Frankenstein Complex (if you're this far in the post I'm assuming you have one lol.) I think Cutchins and Perry really popped off when they created this theory, its a fantastic way of studying/teaching adaptation.

But onto Nick Dear. Why did I just spend so much time covering adaptation theory and teaching you all a bunch of academic jargon? Well firstly, I spent a lot of time on that research for class and I wanted to share. But secondly and more importantly, my thesis for this entire post is that Nick Dear, whose goal with his play was to create an adaptation which humanized the Creature and sticks very close to the novel, created something that was unintentionally more a product of his personal complex and the palimpsestuous "myth" of Frankenstein's monster. He wrote a play that deeply mischaracterizes the Creature, and in turn uses violence and SA for shock value rather than substance.

And maybe this is a bold claim, but I think comparing the plot of the novel (from the creature's point of view) and the plot of Dear's play is a good place to start. And for your visual reference, I created a plot diagram for both so that we can compare the two side-by-side. (Thanks Freytag lol.)

The first thing we can notice about comparing the overall plot structure is that they are indeed, very similar. And this tends to be most people's reactions to seeing this play. That compared to most other Frankenstein media, it is super faithful to the book in terms of setting and characters and hitting important plot points. And I too want to praise Dear for that. I think he was extremely smart about what characters he chose to cut or combine, and the plot points he chose to include. I also personally love that despite the cutting of Walton's character, Victor and the Creature still visit the arctic at the end of the play. Dear made so many great choices with his play, but ends up squandering it his mischaracterization of the Creature.

But how is he mischaracterizing the Creature? Well first, lets look at how Shelley characterizes him in the book, specifically in terms of violence. I argue, that anytime the Creature kills someone in the book, it is a mostly equal/proportionate reaction to the violence done against him. His first murder his killing William, and the subsequent execution of Justine after he frames her for William's murder. All of this comes after Victor's initial rejection of the Creature, and rejection by multiple villages, the DeLacey's and the young drowning girl and her father. Killing William and Justine was his first retribution after all of the rejection and violence against him, which was initiated by Victor creating him and rejecting him in the first place. And this is his only planned revenge at that point, his next move was demanding that Victor create a female creature for him, with the plan to flee and live a peaceful life in South America (whether he actually meant what he said is up to interpretation.) His next murders only come after Victor destroys the unfished female creature. This is when the Creature kills Henry and then Elizabeth. Elizabeth (and arguably Henry) are Victor's partners, and the people he most personally loves. Killing them is direct retribution for Victor destroying the female Creature, who was supposed to be (at least from the Creature's perspective) the Creature's romantic partner. All of the Creature's direct murders are direct mirrors to Victor's transgressions against the Creature. William is killed for the initial rejection and subsequent exiling from society, Henry and Elizabeth are killed for the destruction of his future romantic partner.

Dear takes a different approach in adapting these murders. In his play, the Creature's first murder is not William, but is actually the DeLacey's. After being personally tutored by Father DeLacey for a significant amount of time, the eventual and fated meeting with Felix and Agatha arrives and the creature is rejected by them. Instead of going straight to Geneva, as he does in the novel, he first sets fire to the DeLacey's cabin, killing the entire family inside. To me, this feels like the first instance of spectacle and shock over actual substance. In both Shelley's novel and Dear's play, as the creature learns about humanity and war, he clearly has a distaste for violence and killing. And because of this, I don't understand why the Creature has such an extreme reaction to the DeLacey's, especially in this version where Father DeLacey shows him so much direct kindness, and it is Felix and Agatha specifically who reject him. Why would the Creature decide to kill them all? If Dear wanted to add additional deaths, why not just kill Felix and Agatha and spare Father DeLacey because of his previous kindness? This violence, to me, feels undeserved and does not mirror the violence done against him by this family. From a staging perspective, the visual of the house burning is actually a very impressive collaboration between the set and lighting designers on the giant stage of the National Theatre. But I question why this moment needs to be here, when the rest of the play and it's staging in the premier production already has so much beauty and shock and spectacle. This is also the first moment where I find the Creature unsympathetic, because this action seems overly extreme as a response.

After this moment, the murder of William is different but not too dissimilar in tone to the novel. At it's heart, it is still the Creature's first direct revenge against Victor. After this, our next big departure from the novel is when the female creature is fully brought to life, different to the novel where she is never fully given life. Victor killing her after she has been able to briefly live is a more extreme measure on Victor's part too, which by my own argument, may warrant a more extreme reaction from the Creature. And to be absolutely clear, Victor simply kills/dismantles her, and nothing more. As for the creature's reaction, Henry is a cut character in this adaptation, so we obviously don't see his death. Instead, the Creature kills Elizabeth, but in this version, not only does the creature kill her, he also r*pes her. This is my biggest point of contention with the play. To me, the subtext in Dear's version is that the Creature views both Elizabeth and the Female Creature as some kind of property, and when his property (the female Creature) is taken away by Victor, he takes Victor's property (Elizabeth) away too. Right before her death in the play, the Creature and Elizabeth actually have a really touching conversation, and they seem to genuinely bond. And so when the Creature eventually kills her afterwards, him r*ping her comes completely out of left field. The only explanation to me, is that despite empathizing with her, the Creature ultimately still views her as Victor's property, and needed to take her away from Victor in a way that was more than just taking her life from him. And honestly, it's a really gross interpretation of these characters. And I want to be very clear that I know depiction is not endorsement, and that I also believe there is a time and a place for depicting SA on stage, but this play was not the time nor the place. The creature simply killing Elizabeth is enough to get the point across, the SA seems to have been added for pure shock value, and again, spectacle. One could argue that this action done by the creature is part of his sexual awakening, just as he learns about other aspects of humanity. But again I believe this is not justified by the text of the play, and is written for pure shock value at the expense of another character, specifically a woman. I would call this misogynistic.

And these extreme reactions from the Creature in Dear's play seem to create this hyper-masculinized version of the character and the story. And I think that is a shame considering the original story was written by a woman, and Mary Shelley did a fantastic job of writing a story where the men can exist across a spectrum of masculinity, without needing to be this stereotyped version of hypermasculinity with a desire for sexual vengeance. I mean, Victor creating the Creature is a pretty clear metaphor for motherhood/parenthood, especially considering Shelley's experience with motherhood and the loss of her children and her own mother. And not to say that a cis man isn't capable of writing an authentic adaptation of a woman's story, but here, I think Nick Dear missed the mark, especially in regards to Elizabeth's death and his depiction of Creature/masculinity.

And I don't want to boil this down to, "Nick Dear is a man and therefore his adaption is automatically bad." Because I don't think that's the case, and I think that's an unfair assumption to make. What I do think, is that despite trying to make an adaptation that strove to humanize the Creature better than most other adaptations, Dear instead created an adaptation that fell into the overly-violent monster tropes of the greater Frankenstein Network of adaptations. In essence, Dear may have unintentionally become a product of his own "complex." And unfortunately, that subconscious influence may be partially why we get this interpretation of the Creature, and the unnecessary shock factors added into the story.

So where do we go from here? Chances are, if you see a theatre company putting on a production of Frankenstein, it's probably the Nick Dear version. This was the case for me last October when I accidentally attended a production of this script at a professional theatre company back home in Florida. My hope is that one day we can move on from this script, and find a Frankenstein play adaptation that humanizes the Creature in a way that most audiences (who probably have not read the book) are unfamiliar with, while also not resorting to shock value that dehumanizes the women in the story. My homework for myself beyond this research project, is to read more Frankenstein play adaptations, and specifically ones that are not written by cis men. I think the experiences of women, trans people and disabled people (or obviously any intersection of these communities and identities) could really lend themselves to new and exciting interpretations of the script that bring broader perspectives into context. If you have any suggestions of Frankenstein plays or playwrights who have written Frankenstein plays, I would love to check them out! I also suggest giving the National Theatre world premier pro-shot of Nick Dear's Frankenstein a watch, purely just for the design of the show. Costumes, set, sound and lighting are all really spectacular, and I would love to do an analysis of that aspect of the show one day.

Obviously there was a lot about this show I didn't cover (Cumberbatch, I know), I just wanted to cover the characterization of the Creature at a textual level, because to me that is the most glaring issue with this play. Please let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading if you got this far!

Citations (I didn't do a great job of referencing these in-text, but all of these sources are great and I highly recommend checking them out!)

Cutchins, Dennis R, and Dennis R Perry. “Introduction- The Frankenstein Complex: When the text is more than a text.” Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster’s Eternal Lives in Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2018, pp. 1–19.

Dear, Nick, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Frankenstein: Based on the Novel by Mary Shelley. Faber and Faber, 2011.

Hutcheon, Linda. “Beginning to Theorize Adaptation: What? Who? Why? How? Where? When?” A Theory of Adaptation, Routledge, New York, New York, 2006, pp. 1–32.

Jones, Kelly. “Adaptations of ‘liveness’ in theatrical representations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster’s Eternal Lives in Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2018, pp. 316–334.

Pfeiffer, Lee. “Frankenstein: Film by Whale [1931].” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 24 Nov. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1831.

[simplybakugou]

Story Mode 2 | Mystic Academia: Kaminari Denki's Route

⋆ PAIRING: gamer/streamer!kaminari x fem!reader ⋆ WARNINGS/TAGS: mentions of hospital and stab wound ⋆ WORD COUNT: 845

A/N: second story mode yup yup yup. might've turned a little different from what you guys expected hehe. and yes this is the third update in a day and the second in a single night i'm genuinely on a roll

NOTE: credits to @eraserhead-transparents for the kaminari cap

Mystic Academia: Kaminari Denki's Route Masterlist

Kaminari felt like he was about to lose his mind. He felt restless, both physically and mentally, as he laid in his hospital bed waiting for the doctor’s examination results. His stab wound had been treated and had been bandaged with gauze inside neatly by the medical professionals. He didn’t recall most of this process as he had nearly passed out from the amount of blood he lost from the car ride to the hospital. All he could remember was Sero’s frantic bursts as his friend was terrified of what had happened to Kaminari.

The curtain dividing his bed from others in the room was pulled back as a doctor with a surgical mask and glasses entered his space. Despite the mask covering the doctor’s face, Kaminari recognized the crinkles by their eyes as a smile.

“I’ve got good news for you, Mr. Kaminari.” The doctor paused to look down at their clipboard in their hands as they examined Kaminari’s test results. “Surgery isn’t needed for your wound, fortunately. The knife avoided any arteries and nerves and it wasn’t dug deep enough for surgery. The stitches I administered when you came will be enough.”

The doctor further explained instructions on how to take care of the wound, offering to provide print out instructions after seeing Kaminari’s dazed expression.

“Also, a visitor is here for you,” the doctor stated, bowing as they exited Kaminari’s space.

“Sero, dude, you don’t have to keep apologizing. Everything’s fine,” Kaminari reassured with a sigh, leaning back in his bed as he was convinced his friend was behind the curtain.

“Actually, I wanted to apologize this time.” Kaminari’s eyes widened at the sight of Deku entering his hospital room, an apologetic smile on his face.

“Deku?!” Kaminari exclaimed. “Dude, what’re you doing here? Sero said you were in another country.”

“I was but I got back earlier today.” Deku sat himself down on the stool by Kaminari’s bed. “Sero called me when he was driving you to the hospital and he was panicking. He told me how you didn’t want the others to find out about what happened at the base and he didn’t know what to do or who to call so he called me.”

“That idiot,” Kaminari said with a sigh, shaking his head. “Well as you can see I’m fine so…”

Deku sighed this time. “I didn’t just come here to see if you were okay. I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize? But you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I did. I should’ve taken the security situation Y/N went through at the office more seriously. I know she technically has my job but it’s my responsibility if something happens to her or the rest of you. And to hear that Kirishima was being stalked and you got hurt… I can’t help but feel guilty.” He looked down, shaking his head at himself. 

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Kaminari smiled. “We know you’re busy now and you wanted someone else to take over MFA for a while which is why you asked Y/N to, right? We can take care of ourselves.”

Deku returned the smile, nodding once in affirmation. “I’m glad. You’ve grown a lot since the day we met.”

“Oh, come on! I was eighteen when we met! Of course I’ve grown since then.” Kaminari paused for a moment. “But how have you been? We’ve been complaining how hard it is to get a hold of you.”

“I’m doing alright. I’ve just been going through some things with the photography business which is why I’ve been traveling a lot. I actually have to catch a flight tonight.”

“Tonight? So you’re not going to make it to the party tomorrow?” Kaminari questioned, a hint of disappointment laced in his tone.

“Unfortunately, no.” Deku paused. “But I’m sure Y/N will do an amazing job. And… “ He stood to his feet, getting ready to leave before finishing his sentence. “I hope your relationship with her goes well.”

“Wait, how did you… So you do read the chats!”

Deku laughed. “I pop in to see what I’ve missed from time to time. I can’t be left behind too much now.”

The two laughed and Kaminari felt at ease. Lingering worries about his previous event coordinator finally subsided with Deku’s visit and he was happy Deku had visited, despite the unfortunate circumstances. 

Deku said his goodbyes before eventually having to leave to catch his flight. 

Kaminari leaned back in his bed, resting his eyes for a moment. He felt a twinge of guilt for keeping what had happened at the secret base from you and the rest of MFA and for making Sero keep the secret as well. But he didn’t want to worry his friends.

Kaminari pulled the thin hospital bed sheet up to his chest as he tried to get some sleep. He wasn’t to be discharged from the hospital until tomorrow. He decided he’d tell the rest of the organization what had actually happened tomorrow once he got home. After all, there’s no way anyone found out… right?

JOIN THE TAGLIST

[icaruskey]

Hey guys.

I hate doing this and this is definitely not the right time for the most eyeballs to see it so I'm going to have to reblog it but

Y'all know I'm working on my MFA. And y'all also know that because my spouse left, I've had to declare bankruptcy, destroying my credit and my ability to get a Grad PLUS loan.

Everything was going fine. I was going to be able to get by on the skin of my teeth if I worked my ass off this summer.

My school just raised tuition by $4000.

I now, if I am able to save the $3000 I planned this summer, I'm going to still be $3000-$4000 short.

What I haven't said is I have applied to a couple outside scholarships. So far, I've been rejected. There aren't many for grad students out there. I've got two more to apply to, but my hopes aren't high.

Is there any way y'all might be able to help? Even a couple bucks would be good. What can I do that would bring worth to your lives? Because I don't expect this just for free ofc.

I really hate doing this. I'm in control of the spiral for now, but I'm scared guys. I'm really scared.