#he's a surprisingly good test subject for art practice

[pagingdoctorbedlam]

More practice with Czerny, including:

- trying out the new face style (think I'm getting the hang of it!)

- a lil running pose (I imagine he bounds like a deer when he needs to book it)

- figuring out my general hc for his body once he's been on RI for a bit (he's got a broad frame already, just adding more muscle and a bit of weight now that his care is more consistent)

Might ink these later? We'll see...

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

5045 anon here, I meant like the male s/o is an eco that’s able to get into games, and Scott 5045 (the farmer) takes an interest in him.

Okay! Ty for the clarity! Also idk if Scott was a typo but I like that name for Farmer

.........

"Goat VR?"

"Yes. We weren't going to send any more test subjects but...we figured your anomalous abilities could allow you to make direct contact with 5045-1 without any adverse effects."

You nodded in understanding as you glanced at the computer screen with the GOAT VR title. From the file you've read about this game--which you requested in exchange for compliance--this "Farmer" seemed to enjoy torturing players and turning them into characters, more specifically goats.

Fortunately your anomaly involves being able to travel into video games and freely explore them as a "spectator" of sorts, so you're unaffected by the gameplay or plotlines. The only change is your appearance, as you adopt the animation or art style. But you say it's purely cosmetic and doesn't limit your freedom whatsoever.

"Okay, SCP-"

"I requested that you use my actual name in return for compliance." You reminded.

"...of course, [y/n]. We'll begin the test now and I'll be here observing what happens on the screen. Try to distract the entity if it questions you as an SCP or the Foundation itself."

"Oh so he's self-aware, too. Interesting. Alright, let's do this."

The researcher hit play on the screen, and once it showed the black and neon environment of the farmland, you touched the screen and immediately disappeared inside the game.

You landed in soft grass and looked around, hearing the goats bleating in the distance. "Wow.." Then you glanced at your hands, seeing you were drawn in the same crude art style, outlined in your favorite color. "Well, this is-"

"Howdy there!"

Jumping a bit, you turned to see the Farmer standing behind you. "Name's Farm....hm..now you're an interesting fella." He hummed, scratching his poorly-drawn beard.

"Yeah, I'm not one of your usual players. Sorry."

"You're just like me ain't cha?" He snickered in reply. "An SCP followed by some silly string of numbers, contained out there and used as a guinea pig for 'em researchers. Tell me..how do ya like it?"

"I don't mind it. But anyways, may I meet your goats?" You asked politely, remembering the researcher's instructions.

Farmer's eyes lit up with joy. "But of course! Follow me, good sir!"

...........

For the next in-game hour or so, Farmer has shown you all the goats in their pens. He was surprised that you actually asked to pet some of them too, but he allowed it.

You two talked about other stuff--surprisingly things besides goats and the Foundation. Although he wouldn't say much about his motives for kidnapping and tormenting players, he did admit his name was actually Scott Farmer.

It wasn't important in making his containment easier, but at least you got to know him on a more personal basis.

The conversation was interrupted as a goat screamed loudly, and you turned to see it ram into the fence over and over. Its horns were cracked and its eyes were practically bloodshot.

"Again? Excuse me, partner...HEY! Stop that nonsense at once!!" Farmer stormed over to the goat and shouted at it, dragging it away from the fence and throwing it back into the pen.

You approached him, frowning slightly. "Don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"Harsh? Oh no. Not at all." He sighed as he turned back to you. "Just gotta whip 'em into shape every once in a while. I don't want ya leavin' here with a bad impression-"

"I think your farm is very impressive."

He blinked several times. "Ya do?"

"Yeah." You looked around with a small smile. "I mean..aside from the goofy-looking goats it's neat here."

"Awh shucks..that's mighty kind of you....?"

"[Y/n]."

"Hm, ya seem like a strong and capable farmer." He glanced at you up at down. "Say, whatdya think about coming back and helping me out a little? I won't cause anymore problems and won't take over anymore sites."

"It'll depend on what the doc says but...I'll try my best." You chuckled, before shaking his hand. "Thanks for your time, Scotty."

"And thank you for playing Goat VR!"

In the blink of an eye, the world went dark and you were forcefully teleported out of the game, landing on your rear.

"Oof..ouch...haven't been forced out of a game in a while." You stood up and dusted yourself off, noticing the researcher was still there, taking notes. "So..am I done for the day? Catch everything we discussed?"

"Yes." They picked up their clipboard. "If 5045-1's offer is something you're interested in, we can make arrangements for you to visit it, granted you both are on good behavior."

"I don't mind. Maybe I can help you guys downgrade him to Safe class."

"It's certainly doable with the way it talked with you. It seems cooperative. Though we will need you for other interactions with video game-based SCPs."

"That I can do, doc." You sighed as you glanced at the blank computer screen, already missing that purple farmer. "That I can do."

[letterboxd]

In Focus: The Mummy

Dominic Corry responds on behalf of Letterboxd to an impassioned plea to bump up the average rating of the 1999 version of The Mummy—and asks: where is the next great action adventure coming from?

We recently received the following email regarding the Stephen Sommers blockbuster The Mummy:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you on behalf of the nation, if not the entire globe, who frankly deserve better than this after months of suffering with the Covid pandemic.

I was recently made aware that the rating of The Mummy on your platform only stands at 3.3 stars out of five. … This, as I’m sure you’re aware, is simply unacceptable. The Mummy is, as a statement of fact, the greatest film ever made. It is simply fallacious that anyone should claim otherwise, or that the rating should fail to reflect this. This oversight cannot be allowed to stand.

I have my suspicions that this rating has been falsely allocated due to people with personal axes to grind against The Mummy, most likely other directors who are simply jealous that their own artistic oeuvres will never attain the zenith of perfection, nor indeed come close to approaching the quality or the cultural influence of The Mummy. There is, quite frankly, no other explanation. The Mummy is, objectively speaking, a five-star film (… I would argue that it in fact transcends the rating sytem used by us mere mortals). It would only be proper, as a matter of urgency, to remove all fake ratings (i.e. any ratings [below] five stars) and allow The Mummy’s rating to stand, as it should, at five stars, or perhaps to replace the rating altogether with a simple banner which reads “the greatest film of all time, objectively speaking”. I look forward to this grievous error being remedied.

Best, Anwen

Which of course: no, we would never do that. But the vigor Anwen expresses in her letter impressed us (we checked: she’s real, though is mostly a Letterboxd lurker due to a busy day-job in television production, “so finding time to watch anything that isn’t The Mummy is, frankly, impossible… not that there’s ever any need to watch anything else, of course.”).

So Letterboxd put me, Stephen Sommers fan, on the job of paying homage to the last great old-school action-adventure blockbuster, a film that straddles the end of one cinematic era and the beginning of the next one. And also to ask: where’s the next great action adventure coming from?

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah in ‘The Mummy’ (1999).

When you delve into the Letterboxd reviews of The Mummy, it quickly becomes clear how widely beloved the film is, 3.3 average notwithstanding. Of more concern to the less youthful among us is how quaintly it is perceived, as if it harkens back to the dawn of cinema or something. “God, I miss good old-fashioned adventure movies,” bemoans Holly-Beth. “I have so many fond memories of watching this on TV with my family countless times growing up,” recalls Jess. “A childhood classic,” notes Simon.

As alarming as it is to see such wistful nostalgia for what was a cutting-edge, special-effects-laden contemporary popcorn hit, it has been twenty-one years since the film was released, so anyone currently in their early 30s would’ve encountered the film at just the right age for it to imprint deeply in their hearts. This has helped make it a Raiders of the Lost Ark for a specific Letterboxd demographic.

Sommers took plenty of inspiration from the Indiana Jones series for his take on The Mummy (the original 1932 film, also with a 3.3 average, is famously sedate), but for ten-year-olds in 1999, it may have been their only exposure to such pulpy derring-do. And when you consider that popcorn cinema would soon be taken over by interconnected on-screen universes populated by spandex-clad superheroes, the idea that The Mummy is an old-fashioned movie is easier to comprehend.

However, for all its throwbackiness, beholding The Mummy from the perspective of 2020 reveals it to have more to say about the future of cinema than the past. 1999 was a big year for movies, often considered one of the all-time best, but the legacy of The Mummy ties it most directly to two of that year’s other biggest hits: Star Wars: Episode One—The Phantom Menace and The Matrix. These three blockbusters represented a turning point for the biggest technological advancement to hit the cinematic art-form since the introduction of sound: computer-generated imagery, aka CGI. The technique had been widely used from 1989’s The Abyss onwards, and took significant leaps forward with movies such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and Starship Troopers (1997), but the three 1999 films mentioned above signified a move into the era when blockbusters began to be defined by their CGI.

A year before The Mummy, Sommers had creatively utilised CGI in his criminally underrated sci-fi action thriller Deep Rising (another film that deserves a higher average Letterboxd rating, just sayin’), and he took this approach to the next level with The Mummy. While some of the CGI in The Mummy doesn’t hold up as well as the technopunk visuals presented in The Matrix, The Mummy showed how effective the technique could be in an historical setting—the expansiveness of ancient Egypt depicted in the movie is magnificent, and the iconic rendering of Imhotep’s face in the sand storm proved to be an enduringly creepy image. Not to mention those scuttling scarab beetles.

George Lucas wanted to test the boundaries of the technique with his insanely anticipated new Star Wars film after dipping his toe in the digital water with the special editions of the original trilogy. Beyond set expansions and environments, a bunch of big creatures and cool spaceships, his biggest gambit was Jar Jar Binks, a major character rendered entirely through CGI. And we all know how that turned out.

A CGI-enhanced Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep.

Sommers arguably presented a much more effective CGI character in the slowly regenerating resurrected Imhotep. Jar Jar’s design was “bigger” than the actor playing him on set, Ahmed Best. Which is to say, Jar Jar took up more space on screen than Best. But with the zombie-ish Imhotep, Sommers (ably assisted by Industrial Light & Magic, who also worked on the Star Wars films) used CGI to create negative space, an effect impossible to achieve with practical make-up—large parts of the character were missing. It was an indelible visual concept that has been recreated many times since, but Sommers pioneered its usage here, and it contributed greatly to the popcorn horror threat posed by the character.

Sommers, generally an unfairly overlooked master of fun popcorn spectacle (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is good, guys), deserves more credit for how he creatively utilized CGI to elevate the storytelling in The Mummy. But CGI isn’t the main reason the film works—it’s a spry, light-on-its-feet adventure that presents an iconic horror property in an entertaining and adventurous new light. And it happens to feature a ridiculously attractive cast all captured just as their pulchritudinous powers were peaking.

Meme-worthy: “My sexual orientation is the cast of ‘The Mummy’ (1999).”

A rising star at the time, Brendan Fraser was mostly known for comedic performances, and although he’d proven himself very capable with his shirt off in George of the Jungle (1997), he wasn’t necessarily at the top of anyone’s list for action-hero roles. But he is superlatively charming as dashing American adventurer Rick O’Connell. His fizzy chemistry with Weisz, playing the brilliant-but-clumsy Egyptologist Evie Carnahan, makes the film a legitimate romantic caper. The role proved to be a breakout for Weisz, then perhaps best known for playing opposite Keanu Reeves in the trouble-plagued action flop Chain Reaction, or for her supporting role in the Liv Tyler vehicle Stealing Beauty.

“90s Brendan Fraser is what Chris Pratt wishes he was,” argues Holly-Beth. “Please come back to us, Brendaddy. We need you.” begs Joshhh. “I’d like to thank Rachel Weisz for playing an integral role in my sexual awakening,” offers Sree.

Then there’s Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bey, a member of the Medjai, a sect dedicated to preventing Imhotep’s tomb from being discovered, and Patricia Velásquez as Anck-su-namun, Imhotep’s cursed lover. Both stupidly good-looking. Heck, Imhotep himself (South African Arnold Vosloo, coming across as Billy Zane’s more rugged brother), is one of the hottest horror villains in the history of cinema.

“Remember when studio movies were sexy?” laments Colin McLaughlin. We do Colin, we do.

Sommers directed a somewhat bloated sequel, The Mummy Returns, in 2001, which featured the cinematic debut of one Dwayne Johnson. His character got a spin-off movie the following year (The Scorpion King), which generated a bunch of DTV sequels of its own, and is now the subject of a Johnson-produced reboot. Brendan Fraser came back for a third film in 2008, the Rob Cohen-directed The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Weisz declined to participate, and was replaced by Maria Bello.

Despite all the follow-ups, and the enduring love for the first Sommers film, there has been a sadly significant dearth of movies along these lines in the two decades since it was released. The less said about 2017 reboot The Mummy (which was supposed to kick-off a new Universal Monster shared cinematic universe, and took a contemporary, action-heavy approach to the property), the better.

The Rock in ‘The Mummy Returns’ (2001).

For a long time, adventure films were Hollywood’s bread and butter, but they’re surprisingly thin on the ground these days. So it makes a certain amount of sense that nostalgia for the 1999 The Mummy continues to grow. You could argue that many of the superhero films that dominate multiplexes count as adventure movies, but nobody really sees them that way—they are their own genre.

There are, however, a couple of films on the horizon that could help bring back old-school cinematic adventure. One is the long-planned—and finally actually shot—adaptation of the Uncharted video-game franchise, starring Tom Holland. The games borrow a lot from the Indiana Jones films, and it’ll be interesting to see how much that manifests in the adaptation.

Then there’s Letterboxd favorite David Lowery’s forever-upcoming medieval adventure drama The Green Knight, starring Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander (who herself recently rebooted another video-game icon, Lara Croft). Plus they are still threatening to make another Indiana Jones movie, even if it no longer looks like Steven Spielberg will direct it.

While these are all exciting projects—and notwithstanding the current crisis in the multiplexes—it can’t help but feel like we may never again get a movie quite like The Mummy, with its unlikely combination of eye-popping CGI, old-fashioned adventure tropes and a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble of overflowing hotness. Long may love for it reign on Letterboxd—let’s see if we can’t get that average rating up, the old fashioned way. For Anwen.

Related content

How I Letterboxd with The Mummy fan Eve (“The first film I went out and bought memorabilia for… it was a Mummy action figure that included canopic jars”)

The Mummy (Universal) Collection

Every film featuring the Mummy (not mummies in general)

Follow Dom on Letterboxd

[scarabiaa]

“Art is subjective, but logic is not. That’s what I’m good at, that’s what I’m here for. If you need help, call out for me.”

NAME: Lumi Kiona

NICKNAME(S): Burūgiru (ブルーギル) by Floyd ; Mademoiselle Glace Verres by Rook

AFFILIATION: Student 

AGE: 18

SPECIES: Human

INSPIRATION: Elsa

UNIQUE MAGIC: Let It Go - When she focuses on an area and claps her hands together, she can create a tundra with a blizzard. She needs to be careful of this because if she uses it too many times, she can overblot.

PERSONALITY: She does seem very stoic at first and unapproachable, but for the most part, that's just her resting face. In reality, she loves hanging out with her friends a lot because she doesn't have to care about keeping up her reputation. She loves figuring out complicated things and can usually be found borrowing tons of heavy books from the library. While she seems cold, after a while, she tends to warm up to people and help them out with their homework, occasionally taking it from them with a mumble that it's fine, she likes working anyways. She can also sometimes scare people because she studies them and tells them things that they never told her.

APPEARANCE: She is 5'2.5" with pale skin and white long hair that reaches down her back. Her hair is wavy and the top of her head can always be found braided like a headband. She has sky blue eyes that tend to uphold her nonchalant expression. She wears glasses, although they were especially created by an acquaintance of hers so that it would not be affected by snow. She wears the uniform from time to time, but she's a firm believer in dressing how she likes for optimal results in her work, leading to her usually wearing cool shades in her entire outfit, usually a leather jacket and a white shirt. Sometimes she will wear leather gloves and she can be found with heavy black boots. She does not fret too much about her fashion appearance, but she is not careless about it either.

~

SCHOOL: Night Raven College

GENDER: Female

DORM: Octavinelle

GRADE/CLASS: Class E (Junior)

BIRTHDAY: January 11 (Capricorn)

HEIGHT: 160.02 cm/ 5'2.5" feet

DOMINANT HAND: Ambidextrous

HOMELAND: The Snowy Mountains

CLUB: Science Club

BEST SUBJECT: Magic Analysis

HOBBIES: Reading, writing, practicing her magic, taste testing coffee

PET PEEVES: When someone tells her some things cannot be explained through logic, being told that she can't do anything because she's a girl

FAVORITE FOOD: Vanilla yogurt, chocolate

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Anything banana

LIKES: Understanding complicated concepts, hanging out with Meditrina and Iris, gambling, heavy metal

DISLIKES: Being told to stop leading with her head, losing, ignorance

TALENT: Able to read 25,000 words per minute, photographic memory

SONG: Victorious by Panic! At the Disco

~

Her mbti is INTJ. 

The first people she met were Ace and Deuce and her impression of them was that Ace was too loud and arrogant and Deuce was definitely hiding something, a certain aspect in his personality.

In the movie Frozen, Elsa's power allowed her to create many things out of crystals but it wasn't until she let her emotions get the best of her that she created a tundra and a blizzard. Lumi plans to one day make things out of crystals, but for now, she needs to use her emotions in order to use Snow Queen.

The person she's liked right away was surprisingly Kalim because she could feel that he wasn't hiding much even though she almost lost her composure at realizing he had 30 siblings.

She likes hanging around Meditrina because she gets to learn about medicine with her and help her as well. Iris at first had the same personality as her but after getting to know her better, she realized that she was just hiding chaos and rage underneath her monotone expression. 

She does not like banana because she doesn't like the smell after trying to make a potion when she was younger and her entire place smelled like it for weeks; she was desperate to get it out.

Floyd calls her Burūgiru as a nickname because the bluegill fish is obviously tall and flat and she’s not tall, but her voice can sometimes be considered flat; Jade has constantly told him not to call her that but he can’t help and snicker slightly at it too.

~

DYNAMICS: 

The Intellectual and the Rule Follower: Riddle + Lumi

She can't stand him because she thinks that's he's way too uptight with his rules and that's why no one ever comes out of his dorm looking sane or actually intelligent; this is the only time that he actually pities Ace and Deuce. He does not like her because she is a massive rulebreaker and he knows that if she was in his dorm, she would definitely not be let off the hook but in the meantime, they just don't talk to each other but they won't shy away from the smallest of glares.

The Pure Prince and the Ice Queen: Kalim + Lumi

She genuinely likes him because of his energy and she likes to hear him talk about his life (no, it's not her fascination with the psychology behind oldest children, don't even look at Meditrina). He's also a sweetheart and they get along well together.

The Internally Struggling Servant and the Observant Girl: Jamil + Lumi

He can tolerate her because she doesn't have the energy Kalim has and also that she acknowledges his intelligence and skills, something that he says he doesn't like but from his behavior, she sees that he does and they actually get along.

The Secretly Terrifying Ones: Jade + Lumi

Two peas in a pod, both of them make sure that Azul and Floyd don't get too out of hand. She loves how they can talk about random topics, he talks about creepy things and she teaches him obscure things. one time, Azul and Floyd walked in on her explaining to Jade (very excitedly, which is out of the norm for her) about ancient medieval torture in the human world; they both pointedly avoided them for the next week and did not do anything to make them mad. Since she's from the snowy mountains and he's part of the mountain lovers club, she has joined him many times in his club.

[wakaoujisenhime]

Hello! I really fall in love with your blog! Thank you very much for those Vorpal Swords headcanons! Can I ask headcanons about being Rakuzan manager? For example, how she cares about boys and they care about her; how Rakuzan protects her; How she supports them at games. And Akashi likes her. Good luck to your blog!

A/N: Hello there! I’m glad to know that you’re enjoying these, so I hope that this one will be to your liking as well! Also to those who don’t know what a ‘bokken’ is: it’s basically a wooden sword, Japanese swordswomen and men use for training! 

Tags: Akashi x reader ✅  Rakuzan x reader ✅  SFW ✅  fluff ✅  friendship ✅  

image/art source: Zerochan (art by Tousaku) [I sadly couldn't find the corresponding post where they uploaded it, since that artist seems to be inactive atm, but if you happen to stumble upon it, please make sure to tell me!]

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

so first of all how did you even become Rakuzan’s manager?

well you were actually taking care of the team BEFORE Akashi joined the club

back then you guys were a wholesome team, but the moment the redhead was pronounced captain it all went downhill...

your former teammates began dropping out with the same complaints

“He’s too strict”, “I can’t train like this anymore”, “When he’s on the court, basketball loses its fun factor!”

even if you hated to admit it...they were right

Akashi was a REALLY strict leader who always wanted his team members to give it their all

100%? Not enough, make it a 110 and then you might be chosen as a substitute

during the first half of the school year, you put up with everything he threw at you, whether it were insults or commands

at one point you weren’t even the manager anymore but became his loyal puppy that did everything he instructed you to do

the things he requested weren’t even worthy to your title...unless you like standing in front of the gym door, acting like a bodyguard at the disco

and of course, even you had your limits

after Akashi had once again decided to give you an unreasonable task, you finally snapped

“I’ve had enough! Just who do you think you are, ordering me around as if I was your subordinate!”

“Listen. You either fix that emperor like attitude of yours, or you end up losing one of Japan’s strongest team...including me.”

in your state of anger, you had shoved the clipboard you were using against his chest and had stormed off the gym

a whole week had passed and you didn’t visit the club even once, that’s how pissed off you were

one day just when you thought about filling up a club withdrawal paper, there was a letter in your locker

...

Dear (Y/N)...I know that the way I’ve been acting up until now has upset you, but the reasoning behind my behavior is a simple one. All I desire is to see whom of these ‘star players’ everybody (including you) praises, can actually live up to their title. Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that none of them were able to, so I’ve decided to build up a new team in which you as well are going to be needed. I sincerely hope that you are willing to help the new Rakuzan basketball club reach even greater heights than ever before. Yours faithfully, Akashi Seijuro

P.S: We need you manager.

...

the first half of the letter had made your blood boil, but the further you read the more your curiosity got peaked

but you didn’t want to give in that easily, so you decided to visit the club one day to see what Akashi’s idea of an absolute basketball team looked like

...

...

“So (Y/N)..what do you think?“, Akashi asked after practice had ended

you had just looked at him with one of your ‘are you kidding me?’ faces and shook your head

these boys...

a) looked like full-fledged men to you

b) could easily snap you in half if they wanted to (especially Nebuya)

and finally

c) were probably all legendary NBA players in their past life

all in all they were amazing

watching them play gave you the impression of an actual and professional basketball game...that’s just how good they were

.

..

...

two months passed and you had taken the role of the manager once again

you hated to admit it, but Akashi was once again right..this team was absolutely amazing and worthy of any title you could think of

luckily these boys turned out to be more wholesome than you had ever anticipated

knowing that all of them had their struggles and own problems to deal with, despite their flawless appearance made you realize that that they were indeed your typical high school boys and not some basketball machines

sadly they couldn’t - or better said - weren’t allowed to show any weakness during training...these were Akashi’s orders

much to your surprise, they had accepted it with much less resistance than the members before them, but you were a little anxious that they might end up quitting the team so you took it upon yourself to prevent that scenario from arriving  

from that day forward you began spending more and more time with all the members (except Akashi) …

.

Reo:

as the vice-captain he was to ensure that everybody followed the training regimen they were given by the redhead (in case of his absence)

sadly due to his laid-back nature and feminine speech, almost no one took him seriously

that’s where you come in…

“Come on now guys! Listen to Reo or I’ll get the bokken! And if that doesn’t get you guys moving then I’m sure a short phone call with Akashi certainly will...”

the second line always worked and even managed to make Reo giggle

after that, he’d always thank you several times and while the others ran laps/were stretching the two of you would always talk about that day’s schedule

by the end of practice, Reo and you would actually go out and do some shopping while talking about different topics

and thanks to his talented eye for the beautiful, your wardrobe was full with clothes that complimented your figure just perfectly, which only boosted your ego      

a certain topic you guys started talking about only recently was romance

at first you were extremely careful to not touch upon any touchy subject since there were a lot of rumors amongst your classmates, concerning Reo’s sexual orientation

but the more you got to know him, the easier it was for you to talk to him and in no time the two of you had become best friends

whenever someone either came up to you or him and wanted to just mess around, the two of you got each other’s backs at all time and would either intervene directly or call for backup (mainly Nebuya)

thanks to Reo’s ‘big sister’ personality you luckily never felt alone or at a loss, since you knew that he’d always be there for you and help you out

Kotarou:

this boy seriously makes you run for your money

he’d always arrive almost half an hour earlier than the others just cause he wants to mess around with you (he’d for example take your clipboard and make you literally chase him for it)

at first it upset you quite a bit, but as time passed you eventually got used to it and evolved your strategy

you chase him?

hell NO

you’d instead sit down on one of the benches and wait for him to bring it back to you

your strategy for that was to remain silent and show no reaction whatsoever whenever he asked if you weren’t going to chase him like the ‘good old times’

he’d then get so worried that he’s upset you that he gives up, brings you your clipboard and starts either poking your cheeks, playing with your hair or straight out embrace you

the latter always broke your façade

his warm hugs accompanied by the glistening puppy eyes and his snaggletooth always made you pity him and wonder if you’ve perhaps gone too far

the moment you’d give in, his cheerful attitude was back in an instant

and that routine became pretty much a daily ritual between the two of you

what perhaps surprised you the most was when you actually witnessed Kotarou’s other side of his bubbly personality

he was surprisingly the ‘holding a grudge’ type (especially on the court)

Rakuzan had a practice match once and when a player of the opposing team made it past the blond boy seconds later he was fuming, glaring at everyone who even looked his way and screamed more as well as louder than usual

the others around you weren’t even faced by his sudden tantrum so it was up to you to calm him down before the referee gave him a yellow card

since then his mood-swings became your responsibility

outside of the gym, you guys spent a good amount of time together

you mostly helped him out with his homework since he really wasn’t the brightest out of the bunch (and as some of you might know in Japan your grades play a major role when you’re a part of a club. Depending on your test results you might get excluded from some of the activities as far as I know) and you weren’t going to leave on any activity without this ball of sunshine

to pay you back for your help he’d go skateboarding with you on the weekend

in case you forgot or couldn’t skate he’d help you remember or teach it to you

much to your surprise, he was quite a good teacher, so it was easy for you to understand the basics and even learn some of the simplest tricks on the way

but in case you were some kind of a pro (or simply good) at it, he’d challenge you to a small contest and by the end of it the two of you would actually come up with a small choreography

Nebuya:

to be frank, he intimidated the heck out of you (at first) and he was actually the most difficult for you to approach

the main reason for your reluctance was mainly because of his appearance, but just a day after you were first introduced to him made you change your mind

on your way to school you took the train and as commonly known the trains in Japan were the majority of the time extremely filled with people and some of them just couldn’t keep their hands by themselves and just had to go ahead and start feeling people up

in that case, the victim was unfortunately you  

the typical reaction of your other female classmates would’ve been to stand there and do nothing about it, but you were different

“Excuse me, but could you stop touching me?“, you asked in a loud voice making sure that at least some people witnessed what was happening

you couldn’t care less if you guys became the center of attention, all you wanted was to get this creep’s hands away from your body...and you did

what you didn’t know/notice was that Nebuya had actually seen all of it and wanted to come and help, but you were quicker

when you got out of the train he caught up to you and directly asked if you were ok

he even went ahead and bowed his head to you apologizing multiple times for not reacting quick enough

it surprised and scared you at the same time, but this was kind of a chance to finally talk to him, so you made sure to not let that opportunity slip away

and trust me when I say this, but this man turned out to be a bigger softie than you anticipated

since that day he became the person you’d call upon first in case of trouble you couldn’t solve on your own

Nebuya even volunteered to be your bodyguard, but you weren’t really a damsel in distress so you refused at first

and after many arguments, pouts and pleas you finally gave in and agreed to go to school together every day

additionally during training he’d make sure to be the first one to save you from any flying ball

much to his dismay, you managed to dodge or even to catch the majority of them which made his attempts completely futile

so in order for him to stop sulking about how he had ‘failed to show you his muscles in action’, you’d go out and help him with his workout

sometimes you’d even be his motivational right hand during his own eating contests

and when he decided to show his ‘manly’ side and either burps or lets out gas, your bokken was on him just some seconds later

Mayuzumi:

this boy seriously hated you in the beginning

in his eyes you were nothing but a loud girl who wanted some attention and tried to gain it by acting as the manager

much to his surprise you figured him out pretty quickly

you somehow knew when he became irritated on the court and immediately took action to prevent any outbursts from him or someone else

furthermore, you supported his hobby without asking questions and when he expressed the wish to go to the rooftop and read a chapter or maybe even two from his light novel, you’d just let him go

one afternoon he came to the gym to excuse himself from training and found only you and how you had fallen asleep on the referee table

his first thought was to leave before you even noticed that he’d been there, but then he saw a small notebook with the title ‘RAKUZAN BB CLUB’ so he got curious and started reading your handwritten entries about all of the members

each member had a few pages worth of information you had either gathered yourself or looked up

he found it a tad adorable that you reserved the last page for a personal comment on a player since it reminded him of how some of his authors wrote an afterword at the end of their story

as soon as he read his name though he suddenly became really reluctant to proceed

for some reason, he was afraid of what you might have written/researched about him

he started to read it anyways

“...”

“Has a low presence...well yeah I guess”

“...”

“Seems to be prouder than he lets on? W-Wha? That’s not even...true”  

“...”

“Probably swears at his teammates internally...how did she know?!”

“...”

“It would make me happy if we talked more to each other, but he probably hates me... ”  

Mayuzumi would’ve never told you, but that last line hurt him quite a bit

.

that day he decided to join practice and when you called for a timeout you’d always leave his towel and water bottle on the bench next to you and he’d normally just take it, but this time he murmured a barely audible ‘thank you’

you almost fainted then and there, but somehow managed to keep up your serious facial expression (which he very much appreciated)

the two of you would almost never go out/spend time together, but instead, you began exchanging small gestures like you buying him a new volume of his favorite author or him hiding a small ‘thank you’ note in your notebook

Akashi (finally):

since you and he know each other from way back, you didn’t have that much contact in the beginning since you wanted to take your time to get to know the new members, but Akashi’s eyes were always on you

if someone out of the other members even dared to ask him if he harbored feelings for you...then let us just pray that he doesn’t have Midorima’s scissors with him

but if one of his main players (most likely Kotarou) asked him about it, he’d just cut him off quickly and shut the conversation down

Rakuzan’s captain cares for you in his own kind of way

he’d support you from afar and make sure that no one who he doesn’t deem as worthy comes even remotely close to you

you weren’t aware, but since you had once again become the manager of the reformed Rakuzan you became quite popular

a lot of people admired you, some were even impressed or jealous and some even began having feelings for you

“I’m thinking about asking (Y/N) out...what do you think?”

as soon as Akashi heard your name in such a conversation he instantly made his move

don’t ask how he did it, but within a week you had gained the reputation of being ‘out of limits’ for everyone except for the club and your friends and just in case someone felt the need to be adventurous, there was no way they’d be let into the gym (thanks to Akashi’s orders and Nebuya’s muscular body)

.

the redhead had first noticed his feelings for you when you snapped at him back then

for him it was the first time someone even dared to speak up against him and even insult him

he was surprised and very annoyed at first, but as the days passed by him and his incomplete team he figured that it would be the best to start anew

so he scouted three of the uncrowned kings and a 3rd-year student who basically was a future version of Kuroko

when the stage was set all he needed was for the main star to appear, so he sent you that letter where he invited you to watch the new team

.

as far as the confession goes...

Akashi is a very strategic person, so he’d most likely wait for his promise to come true (the promise of Rakuzan reaching greater heights) and then confess saying something like:

“See? I’ve kept my promise...now it’s your turn.”      

[maatryoshkaa]

Bad Boy | Seo Changbin

Summary: Trouble comes in the form of neck tattoos, lip rings, and Seo Changbin, the school bad boy who, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to stay away from.

Genre: fluff, high school!au, bad boy!changbin, perfect student!reader

Word Count: 3.3k

Pairing: seo changbin x reader

Features: done with changbin!bang chan, voyeurist!minho, 3rd wheel!jisung, baby!jeongin, woojin, felix, hyunjin

Warnings: mild swearing

Requested: 1: “I’ll keep you warm, hold me closer”; 4: “I was wondering how long you two were going to make out before you realized you weren’t alone”; 18: “Stay the night”.

Okay writing this gave me a f a t crisis because writing Binnie as a bad boy made me laugh -- so rather than your typical hardass, stone-cold mafia bad boy, Binnie in this is more of a delinquent, cocky sort of kid, you know? If y’all want that stone-cold bad boy tho, feel free to request and I’ll give it another shot ahaha sorry about that! <3 enjoyy

Friday, 2:49 PM

“Seo Changbin, if I see you sleeping in my class one more time--”

The boy sat up and stretched, a lazy, crooked smile spreading across his lips. His dark eyes were barely open, but the sleep circles that ringed them made his stare even more intense.

“Sorry, Ma’am, your voice is just...so soothing.”

You watched as the biology teacher glowered and continued her lesson, your gaze straying to the male who had spoken with so little care. Everyone knew about Seo Changbin, the school bad boy, and his notorious friends. Everyone either wanted to fight them, sleep with them, or just plain stayed away from them.

You were the third. You were just in high school to get your degree, stuff some knowledge in your brain if you were lucky, and stay out of trouble’s lane. But for you, trouble came in the form of neck tattoos and lip rings cuffed around a sly smile for Seo Changbin, and you took the feeling he gave you every time you saw him as a sign to have as little to do with him as possible.

Perhaps the universe had other plans in mind, however, when you found yourself in the middle of a biology test -- science never really was Changbin’s forte, was it? -- and felt a cool hand behind you graze your arm, making you turn around.

“What’s the answer to #4?” He asked, barely making an effort to whisper.

“I-I can’t tell you...this is a test--?”

Changbin cocked his head to the side, tongue running over his lip ring in mock thought. “Hm. Pretty please?”

You opened your mouth incredulously to reply. “I--”

“y/n l/n, Seo Changbin, I do not tolerate cheating on tests. Detention for the both of you, after school!”

And that was how it began.

5:29 PM, later

Your patience was wearing thin as you scribbled out your homework. Changbin had been making paper airplanes of various sizes out of his textbook pages and throwing them onto your desk from across the room, each one with small notes like “sorry :p”, “still mad?”, and “but seriously, what was the answer the #4?”.

You were this close to flipping a desk over his dark, acorn-shaped head when the clock finally struck 5:30 PM and detention was over. Practically leaping to your feet and packing up, you began searching for the keys to your car, beginning to panic when they were nowhere to be found. Changbin slung his own black duffel bag over his shoulders as he watched you. You felt him come up beside you.

“C’mon, I’ll give you a ride.”

You glared at him. “What makes you think I’m going to let you?”

“Just think of it as a heartfelt apology.” The corner of Changbin’s lips twitched. “Loosen up a little, sweetheart.”

The rest of his friends were already in the empty school parking lot, sitting on the roof of a navy car. You recognized some of them--the oldest one was Chan, the unspoken leader of the group; the tall one sitting on the hood was Hyunjin. The blond one with freckles was the transfer student, Felix, who the freshmen were all over, and then there was Minho, infamous for having slept with one half of the school, and leaving the other half pining.

Changbin gave a short wave in greeting before leading you to his motorcycle. You gulped, feeling your palms begin to sweat at the thought of riding it, your stomach somersaulting. As if noticing, the dark-haired boy helped you on, hands firm and surprisingly soothing before taking his own place in front of you. The engine hummed to life, the sudden jerking motion making you yelp--and soon, you didn’t know if the butterflies in your stomach were from the motorcycle, or being pressed so close to Seo Changbin.

The brisk spring wind sent shivers down your spine as he swerved around a corner and picked up the speed, neighborhood lights and darkening sky becoming a blur. You shivered and shrank back into your jacket. Noticing, Changbin looked over his shoulder at you.

“I’ll keep you warm. Hold me closer.” 

You could feel your face heat up at his words. Tentatively, you tightened your grip around his waist before you felt him impatiently slip your hands beneath his leather jacket. Your palms were now pressed against his warm stomach, fingers gripping his thin t-shirt for dear life. Something about the smoother motion of the motorcycle as it sped up on the freeway, and the sudden warmth washing over you lulled you into a light state of sleep, unable to stop your drooping head from resting on his shoulder.

Changbin turned slightly at the feeling, heart clenching at your soft, sleeping face before forcing himself to turn back around and speed, eyes narrowed and ears red, to your house.

6:02 PM

Changbin shook you awake before helping you off his Harley Davidson with a strange gentleness that contrasted his earlier, cockier attitude. Something in the air had changed with the twilight sky, and you thanked him, tripping over your words. You ran inside, quickly shutting the door before peeking out from the curtains at your driveway.

The dark-haired boy stood in the driveway a little longer, staring after the door you had slammed with an unfathomable expression before hopping back on his motorcycle and driving away.

But boy, oh boy are the two of you whipped.

It was like the feeling you’d always had about Seo Changbin had been amplified tenfold. But if it was your gut trying to warn you away from him, why were your hands so sweaty, your face so red and hot, your heartbeat pounding in your ears?

Changbin had always known he felt different about you -- the straight-A, model student with an intriguing personality. Something about you made him want to get to know you better, but he always stopped himself, knowing what kind of reputation hung over him. He knew you were too good for him -- after all, girls like you deserved to be loved, held, respected -- and not by some delinquent. So why was it that even after all the girls Woojin tried introducing him to, all the half-hearted hookups Minho had suggested, his eyes still lingered only on you? It was as if, rather than washing away his feelings for you, each one-night-stand had just made him more and more sure that he only wanted you.

Monday, 9:27 AM

“Let’s take up your homework, shall we? I want all of you to form groups and share your Romeo and Juliet analyses with each other. You will then present the main points of your combined ideas to the class; now go on.” 

The language arts teacher fixed her eyes on the two dark figures at the back of the class, who’d made no effort to move at her instructions. “Seo Changbin, Han Jisung. Partner up with y/n.”

You fumbled through the contents of your bag for your report as the two boys took the seats beside you, Changbin watching you with muted amusement.

“Lost something again?”

“Shut up, Seo Changbin, I spent hours on that report--”

You could see Jisung smirk in his peripheral vision, your ears beginning to burn.

“Something been on your mind lately? You seem distracted by something.” He flicked his gaze over at Changbin, who had begun to help you look. “Or someone--”

“I said, shut up--”

The teacher clapped her hands. “Time’s up. y/n’s group, why don’t you go first?”

“Well, that’s my cue to go to the bathroom,” Jisung deadpanned before disappearing out the door, leaving you staring at Changbin in increasing dread. This was the boy who wasn’t awake for half his classes, let alone did his homework. How on earth were you going to--

“Our analysis topic focuses on Romeo’s character arc in the first two Acts,” Changbin answered, standing up. “Specifically, his sentiments when he falls in love with Juliet. He thinks he’s been in love before, but this conception shatters the night he meets her.

“The descriptions of his feelings change from infatuation to true love the moment he sees Juliet at the masquerade,” Changbin continued as you looked up at him in disbelief. “Romeo deems himself unfit to be in the presence of a beauty as great as Juliet’s. Compared to her, he is a pilgrim; a mundane, wretched man,” his gaze caught yours, intense as ever, “Whereas she...may well be a saint, too good for this world, the very light that teaches the torches how brightly to burn. Hence, we conclude that those...those are Romeo’s current emotions.”

He held your stunned gaze as the teacher thanked him, before raising a slit eyebrow at you. You finally remembered--the one subject “bad boy” Seo Changbin excelled at -- writing, and language arts.

You shook your head and looked down, trying to stomach the familiar sinking feeling in your gut. Oh, man, now you were sure. So you’ve had the longest crush on the school’s bad boy, Seo Changbin.

Weeks later, Sunday 3:37 PM

Maybe it was the teachers trying to save the delinquent’s falling grades and apathetic attitude, or maybe even the universe was getting tired of you two pining for each other, but you found yourself partnered in more and more projects with him. What had started out as quiet tutoring sessions in the library quickly snowballed into late-night phone calls from Changbin sheepishly asking you to help him cram for a test. And nobody could quite say when exactly the excuse of talking to each other just to study dissolved, and random, casual texts between you two became what you looked forward to each evening. Still, something deep down nagged at you to stay away, to not expect much -- after all, you two were friends at most; Changbin’s free pass to better grades at the very least.

But you found yourself caring more and more about the bad boy who had a way with words, this so-called bad boy who fell asleep by last period but seemed to be genuinely trying when you explained how cell division worked to him for the umpteenth time.

And the rest of the school would have been blind not to notice how Seo Changbin changed in front of you, how his usual dark, brooding expression would soften, cheeks filling with a light dust of colour whenever he saw you. How he’d stand a little straighter, clear his throat, a genuine smile replacing his usual crooked smirk.

Maybe that was why when you saw him trudging down the sidewalk today, on your way to the grocery store, you stopped dead in your tracks.

Changbin had his head down and hands shoved in his pockets, eyes dark as a tempest. When you squinted, you saw harsh scrapes on his jaw, dried blood on a split bottom lip.

“Changbin, what the hell happened to you?”

He froze, hooded eyes widening like a deer in headlights’ as you ran to him, hands gingerly stroking the wounds. He hadn’t intended for you to see him like this. He never wanted you to see him like this. Beginning to panic, you frantically dug into your bag, looking for bandages, anything, before you felt his hand grasp your wrist. His knuckles were worse, rimmed with red and purple bruises.

“I’m fine. What are you gonna do, put a Band-Aid on my lip?” He chuckled.

“I--you--who did this to you?” You stammered, still in shock. You knew him and his friend group had a reputation for getting in fights, but you hadn’t ever seen Changbin like this--you’d assumed it was just another rumour. Swallowing hard, you fixed him with a wary look. “What happened?”

At this, Changbin looked away. He knew if he kept it from you, you would assume the worst -- but if he told you what had really happened, would that be any better?

As if on cue, a navy car pulled up beside you, its window rolling down to reveal Chan behind the wheel, and Woojin in the front seat. 

“Oy, Changbin!” Chan narrowed his eyes at the younger boy’s injuries. “The hell, again? Hop in, we’re sending everyone home. And bring y/n, too -- maybe she’ll keep you out of trouble for once.”

Most of their friends were already in the car, leaving you between Felix and a younger, red-haired boy named Jeongin, who sipped a carton of banana milk and looked you up and down unabashedly before Felix kicked him.

Needless to say, the atmosphere was tense.

Chan pulled up to each boy’s house one by one, before reaching his own. “You can drive yourself back fine, Bin? See you later, aight?”

He flashed you a look that said something like, take care of him. Sorry. before leaving the two of you in the front seat, Changbin behind the wheel. Sighing, you turned to him, his eyes a thousand shades of guilt and apologetic under your gaze. “Tell me what happened.”

Something about how soft and low your voice was made the lump in his throat give way. “I...someone...I got mad at someone.”

You took a deep breath, looking down at his bruised knuckles before running your fingers over the swelling, feeling Changbin shiver at your touch.

“These douchebags were talking shit about you,” he continued, voice dropping to a mumble. “So I kind of...got mad, okay?”

Watching his pained face, you could only imagine what they could have said -- you were no stranger to your classmates’ offhand comments, which had multiplied ever since you began getting closer to Seo Changbin. From teacher’s pet, to attention whore who’s trying to sleep with the school bad boy and the rest of his popular friends -- you’d practically heard it all.

“You don’t have to get mad at that.”

“How could I not, when I care so much about you?”

You looked up, taken aback. For a moment, he looked almost angry, his expression was so intense. Changbin’s face was filled with every emotion at once, black eyes glowing under the rays of the golden hour.

His fingers tightened their grip around yours, eyes flickering between your eyes and your lips as if waiting for permission. “You can tell me to stop,” he whispered, before finally closing the distance between the two of you to press his bruised lips to yours.

It was like the years of confusion, mixed feelings and misinterpreted signs finally cleared away, leaving you breathless and wanting more, wondering how in the world you had ignored your feelings for Seo Changbin for this long. You suddenly found yourself wondering how anyone could think that this boy was nothing better than a burn-out delinquent who only cared about himself -- this boy, who felt and loved so strongly he wouldn’t hesitate to fight those who looked down on the people he cared about.

You pulled away only when you remembered the cut on his lip. “Doesn’t it hurt?” You asked, voice soft and catching in your throat at the look he gave you, forehead pressed against yours, like you were the only thing he wanted in the world.

“No,” he murmured, “you always seem to make all the pain disappear.” And he leaned in to connect your lips again, the kiss catching fire as he buried his fingers in your hair, the cool rings on his fingers brushing the shell of your ear and sending shivers down your spine. Changbin found himself relishing every soft sound you made as his tongue explored your mouth, your fingers running over the dark tattoos that curled around his collarbones --  when you heard the rustle of paper unwrapping behind you, and jumped.

Lee Minho was sprawled lazily in the backseat, a half-unwrapped Subway sandwich in his hands. “I was wondering how long you two were going to make out like that before you realized you weren’t alone.”

Seeing your fire-red, speechless expressions, he continued, “What? Carry on, it looked like it was getting good. If I’m not mistaken, it was around the part when Changbin was about to cu--alright, alright, I’m going, I’m going, stop hitting me Bin--”

Nevertheless, Minho managed to flash you a catlike wink and finger guns before promptly hopping out and running towards Chan’s house like he was being chased by an axe murderer.

Sighing and sitting back down, mood more than slightly ruined, Changbin looked at you before the two of you began laughing uncontrollably.

8:02 PM

You ended up making Changbin drive to his house so you could properly treat his wounds. You two sat in the living room, a tall panel of windows letting in the sun’s waning golden light. First-aid kit busted open --

“Seo Changbin, I’m not even going to question why you have a First-Aid Kit on hand--”

“Live fast, die hard, sweetheart.”

“Yeah, not while I’m around, sweetheart.”

-- you pressed an ice pack to his bruised jaw, disinfecting the scrapes on his knuckles and chin before carefully bandaging them. Changbin kept shooting little lovestruck smirks at you, only smiling more wickedly after you told him to shut up and hold still or so help me, Seo Changbin.

“How in the world am I going to get home?” You wondered aloud after putting the First Aid kit away, staring at Changbin’s bruised knuckles. “I so don’t trust you to work your motorcycle in that condition.”

He smiled, pulling you down on the couch next to him. He was quiet for several moments, studying your expectant expression, before replying bluntly,

“Stay the night.”

You blinked, sure you’d heard wrong, and yet your heartbeat had jumped to your throat. “What?”

“You live nearly an hour’s walk away. Just stay here, tonight. With me.”

You could feel your face heating up, and Changbin smirked. “What are you thinking of? I’m exhausted, you’re exhausted. Let’s watch a movie, order take out, and fall asleep on the couch or something. You know, like a proper date.”

You felt your face flush again at the word date -- and that was exactly what you did, finding eventual peace in each other’s arms as the sunset winked at you from behind the darkening horizon.

Sunday, 9:02 AM

You woke up with your face pressed against Changbin’s chest, the thick blanket he’d fetched last night wrapped snugly around the two of you. The smell of last night’s Chinese food, still mildly pleasant, lingered in the air as you sat up slowly. You rubbed the lines his thin t-shirt had pressed against your cheek as you peered down at Changbin’s sleeping face. Even asleep, the sight of him stirred something in your chest and brought a smile to your lips. The thin morning sunlight filtering in and gracing his features made him seem little less than an angel, black hair falling over his long lashes, lips soft under the glinting cuff of his lip ring.

“What are you thinking?” Changbin’s voice roused you from your thoughts as he opened one eye and grinned sleepily at you.

“About how you’re not the bad boy they call you at all,” you replied, stroking the fading bruises on his chin. “You’re kind of even softer than that Romeo guy, you know.”

Changbin looked offended. “At least I didn’t spout a sonnet professing my undying love for you. But the sentiment was there, you know.”

“No,” you mused, “you kind of skipped that step and went straight for the kiss scene.”

“Well, if Minho had heard the confession I had in store for you, I wouldn’t have heard the end of it for years.”

You groaned at the memory. “Well, what did you have saved for me?”

“Oh, you know. That you’re perfect, beautiful, and make my heart stop, and that I know I don’t deserve you. But that I’m selfish enough to want you, anyways.”

Changbin pulled you and the blanket back down on top of him, making you cry out in surprise. Pressing a lazy kiss to your forehead, you felt him smile against your skin as you two fell back asleep -- just a misunderstood bad boy and the feisty model student, soaking up each other’s warmth on a Sunday morning.

[shibalen]

Hi! Can I get a Haikyuu and Demon Slyer matchup? I’m a bi light skinned hispanic girl, Infj sun Pisces and moon Aries, I really love Literature and Art but I hate gym and french. I love going all out on subjects that genuinely interest me but can get worn out very quickly if I don’t like something. I’m working hard to become and artist and when I’m older I want to create a graphic novel. I’d like dates on rooftops or at home pigging out on snacks and watching movies. Thank you! Have a good day!

♡︎ matchup for @mexicansangrita

hello! it's been a long wait but thank you for being so patient with me and also for liking my stuff! i appreciate your support, dear (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+

|| kimetsu no yaiba: i match you with . . .

zenitsu agatsuma

• according to your mbti and zodiac sign, you're empathetic, inspiring, intuitive and somewhat of an old soul. your aries moon, in addition, gives you traits such as independence and ambition!

• Zenitsu's quite emotional and he needs someone to try understanding him instead of telling him to just 'deal with it' but still have a good enough head on their shoulder to scold him when he's being unreasonable.

• i feel like you two would be able to build off each other. you helping him have more confidence in himself and him being there as your emotional support, for example.

• he may be a wannabe flirt but when it comes down to it his loyalty for his loved ones runs deep. after meeting you, his womanizing antics gradually fade out of existance.

• you had just been minding your own business on the street, admiring some top-grade brushes from a shop window when this guy with a sword came up to you ??

• his first words to you? you've guessed it: 'marry me'. it's funny though because he didn't hysterically cling onto your leg but instead looked you straight in the eye and said it.

• of course, he went by your looks but also by the bright gleam in your eye as you were looking at those art supplies. you were so beautiful that Zenitsu was convinced you were an angel and it was love at first sight.

• then he cried when you turned him down. it wasn't the best first impression, and Tanjirō had to make him apologise to you.

• but he was set on getting to know you and tried a hundred different methods to get you to notice him. all those conversation topics, flowers and showing off may have come off as obnoxious but you knew from the beginning he had good intentions.

• he has some trouble understanding your personal space in the beginning because you're just too precious and he wants to hold you all the time, but comes around quickly when you say you need some alone time.

• always thinking of ways to make you happy. i'm not joking, you're on his mind 24/7. just wants to make you feel as loved as you're making him feel.

• you're going to get so many flowers because honestly each time he sees one he's reminded of you and immediately wants you to know he's thinking of you (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)/♡

• when he's crying it never fails to cheer him up when you take his hand in yours or pet his hair. he'll melt under your touch.

• Zenitsu goes all out on your dates !! he's a romantic and will do anything to make sure your date is perfect.

• he'll gather blankets, snacks and pillows and bundle them up into a comfortable little nest on a rooftop.

• then you'll lay down next to each other and bask in the sun during the day or gaze at the stars at night. just long conversations and the two of you ♡︎

• he loves listening to you go all out on your favourite subjects. he'll have that silly, lovestruck smile on his face, chin rested in his hands as you talk.

• his great hearing makes it all the better because he can literally hear the passion in your voice. it sends his heart fluttering every time.

• so supportive and encouraging of your dreams, tries his hardest to help you any way he can. you gotta teach him a bit about literature and art first though so he'll know what you're telling him about.

• will be so smug about the stuff you taught him cause he feels so smart now. Tanjirō and Inosuke are getting a bit tired of his constant bragging.

• he understands your hate for training. plus, his two friends get so hyped up everytime it's hard to keep up with them. still, while Zenitsu insists on skipping, you make him go.

• gets 100% more motivated when he remembers he can protect you better if he's stronger. 110% if you promise cuddles and kisses later.

• you're like each others' support when you're pushing through tough assignments. like you cheer him on during training he encourages you through your artblocks.

• when there's time you go out together to buy new snacks in shops, especially after a draining mission. then you bring them back home and pig out.

• Inosuke, crashing through the door while you and Zen are feeding each other biscuits: i HeArD 'PiG oUt' WhAT'rE yA dOiN' wItHoUt Me?!

• all in all a very wholesome relationship ♡︎ Zenitsu knows one day he's going to ask you to marry him for real.

runner up: Kanae Kochō

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

|| haikyuu: i match you with . . .

yachi hitoka

• is this what you'd call soulmates? you and Yachi would definitely have a very depthful connection from the very beginning of your relationship. you'd understand each other on a deeper, almost spiritual level.

• you're both creative, always ready to help and have quite a vivid imagination. you help the other keep their feet on the ground while leaving them room to improve.

• the artistic couple! your common interest is a great icebreaker as well as something that brings you together. the starting point where you start building off from, if i can put it that way.

• it was the beginning of a new semester and you had Japanese literature together. you sat next to her by chance but you'd better believe she freaked out.

• "w-why is such a pretty girl sitting next to me??? does she need to borrow pencil?? what should i do if she mistook me for one of her friends?? AAAAHHH" Yachi exe. has stopped working.

• meanwhile you were just chilling until her stuttering started to worry you. so, you turned and asked if she was okay. girl dropped her whole pencilcase while looking for a pen to lend you.

• you calmed her down though so your first encounter ended well. you bonded over your mutual love for art and literature and formed a friendship quite fast.

• she accidentally confessed her crush on you when she was talking about you with Kiyoko in the gym. funny how you happened to overhear this from around the corner.

• startled, Yachi screamed and everybody came to see what happened. they automatically assumed you two were dating after hearing the story, and neither of you wanted to correct them in the long run, so . . . here we are :)

• always carries around delicious snacks for you in case you haven't eaten properly or are feeling drained from overworking.

• it's so easy to talk to Yachi about anything you have passion for. not only does she learn more about your interests but it also makes her feel special that you think of her as someone you can easily confide in.

• she can also endlessly talk about the things she loves so she's happy you understand what it's like!

• she tries to make you like french more because it pains her when she sees you getting tired out because of it (,,•́ . •̀,,)

• same with gym. she invites you to come see the boys practice after school, hoping you'll find something fun about moving that'll motivate you

• of course, understands if you still dislike the subjects and will focus on making you feel better.

• very shy with physical display of affection at first, still a bit afraid someone will stab her if they see her being even slightly intimate with an actual goddess like you.

• i know you didn't include this in your preferences, but can I just say study dates at cafés? soft music playing in the background as you two sit next to a window, making pretty notes and sharing cake? yes.

• she gives you good luck charms for tests! though you studied for hours beforehand she wants to do everything she can so you're feeling as relaxed as possible. she doesn't want you to experience any stomach aches from anxiety like she has.

• Yachi has surprisingly good ideas for graphic novels. well, the graphic parts. she gets all blushy when you start discussing plot because then she automatically connects all the romantic storylines with you.

• "so in this rainy scene i was thinking they could have a more intimate moment, maybe even kiss. what do you think?"

• Yachi, who has kissed you before, internally: k i s s i n g y / n kissing y/n KISSING Y/N I N T H E R A I N ᗒ////ᗕ

• sometimes these conversations can drag out as she tends to accidentally get stuck in her little fantasy world, oops—

• hand holding though is common while you're doing every-day activities like reading or walking. but also during dates like movies or rooftop lunches. her hands are very small and warm and the way they fit in yours is perfect ♡︎

• an extremely cute, loyal relationship, one where you can laugh over the smallest, silliest things but also share the most meaningful debates. you bring out the best in her, and Yachi won't fail to make it up to you !

runner up: Kōshi Sugawara

found such soft gifs for this matchup, i'm so happy~ i hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for requesting. stay safe and remember to be kind to yourself ♡︎

[essektheylyss]

If you’re still doing fic requests maybe Essek helping jester with a craft project

oh did you mean my FAVORITE M9/ESSEK FRIENDSHIP? HELL YES. thank you for this!!!

It’s not that Zadash isn’t a nice city. It’s fine, even if they don’t exactly stay in the nicest parts of it. It’s just that they’re all very aware that a drow is not particularly welcome here, so it gets tricky trying to exist in plain sight as a group.

That’s why, when Beau and Caleb head to the Cobalt Soul to do some research, Essek doesn’t even try to join them, no matter how much he may want to. The libraries in the Dynasty do not cover nearly as broad an array of subjects, and despite some of his own misgivings with the organization—mainly, being on the wrong end of two expositors temperaments, though that has mostly been patched up now—he would give a lot to accompany them.

He could wear some kind of disguise, but that is still limited, and he does not particularly want to be caught by someone who might see through that kind of thing. He is no longer a foreign agent, but he certainly seems like one, especially if he were to go sneaking into large fonts of knowledge in what would look very much like espionage.

So as they go to the library, and the others head around town to pick up assorted supplies, he hangs back, in the Evening Nip, where Jester has once again secured them free lodging.

It has its perks, being the long lost daughter of a mob boss.

She’s sitting in a booth when he slinks down from their upper room, having taken some extra time to rest, though he doesn’t need it. It’s just frustrating, feeling useless, and he needed a bit of time to privately fume, childish as it is.

He’s allowing himself more childish impulses though, these days. Quite a few of them have had childhoods pulled from them over time, others ripped away violently, so he thinks they can more than make up for it now, with the time they have secured for themselves.

The bartender sets a glass of some kind of spiced liquor in front of him. It stings his nose when he brings it to his lips, but he’s used to harsher drink than this. Jester, across from him, has a glass of milk as always, something the underworld bar has mysteriously taken to carrying recently, now that they have been spending more time in and out of Zadash again, doing jobs for the Gentleman and knowing that popping back and forth is easy, with two wizards capable of teleporting in and out.

She’s also building some kind of clay figurines, her blue fingers ruddy with its debris coating her hands, an array of paints sitting to the side in preparation for the next phase of whatever her project is.

And he’s pretty sure he knows what they’re supposed to be, as distinctive as the shape is. He sighs, and takes a much larger drink of his whiskey.

“Jester,” he exhales, ignoring the sting in his throat. “Why are you creating… dicks?”

She grins at him, and turns it around to show him a vague facsimile of her god. It is very similar to ones he’s seen before, but at least in the past they seemed as though they’d been designed to exist on their own—someone could’ve thought the resemblance to genitalia a coincidence, or something they were reading too much into.

At this point, he’s concerned that she’s trying to hand out sex toys on the street.

He knows he’s committed blasphemy worthy of treason, but he still shudders to think what his mother would say about this measure of devotion, no matter the deity being worshipped.

“I don’t think you can use those as effectively as recruiting pamphlets.”

“You never know,” she replies breezily, though her voice has a spark of intensity to it. He’ll never admit it to her, but it’s fun to push her buttons where the Traveler is involved. Still, he thinks she might be playing him right back when she waggles her eyebrows. “It’s good to have a wide selection. It’s about size. Girth.”

He rolls his eyes, another childish impulse he’s been allowing himself of late. “Not really my area of expertise.”

“Essekkkk, you’re no fun.”

“I thought you went to get supplies with the rest?”

“Well, I got my crafts supplies, yeah,” she agrees, and does a little motion with her hands to show him the array between them. “But we’re not going to Pumat’s until after Beau and Caleb get back, and all I really wanted was to see what Pumat has, so I thought I’d come back and do arts and crafts.” She grins. “Do you want to help?”

He’s about to say no, about to make some kind of excuse and hurry off to walk the streets of Zadash in the guise of some unassuming half-elf, but then he thinks again of what his mother might say, and very, very slowly, he matches her grin.

If he’s learning to be a little childish, he might as well commit to harmless actions that his mother would disapprove of.

She claps her hands excitedly, and flecks of clay mingle with her freckles. “Okay, okay, okay, what if I do the sculpting, and you can paint them?”

“What color would you like them painted?”

“You knowwww, you’ve seen the Traveler. Just paint them to look like him.”

She hands him the first few that she’s completed, and he takes them gingerly. There aren’t many others in the bar before noon, but he still instinctively ducks his head. It doesn’t really matter—they’ve been in here enough that he’s perfectly recognizable to someone associated with the Gentleman, but none of those people care enough to learn who he is that this would really matter.

That or their hands are all plenty dirty, and they know that remaining in the dark about your associates is often the best course of action. Getting attached was certainly Essek’s downfall.

“Okay,” he says evenly, and picks up some green paint.

He finds very quickly that it’s easy to forget his embarrassment when he’s focusing on the details of the design, and his hands are surprisingly suited for it, with years of practice at precise spellwork and somatic components. Jester leans half of her body over the table to look at it, ignoring the clay that smudges over her cheeks. “Essek, you’re a natural at this!”

He blinks at her. Art has never been something he’s attempted—it always felt indulgent, the kind of hobby he couldn’t afford—but there is a certain quality of magic that comes across as art, and this feels the same. He sets down the second one, cheeks flushing at the compliment, and gives her a bit of a smile. “Oh, thank you.”

“Do you want to be my apprentice? And help me with all of my crafts?”

He smiles in earnest now, and returns to the paint. “Do I have to worship the Traveler?”

“I mean, you have to admit that he’s pretty cool.”

“Jester,” he laughs. “You’re pretty cool.”

“Well, yeah, obviously,” she drawls. “But really, Essek, will you help me with art sometimes?”

“Haven’t I already agreed to do that today?”

“Well you agreed now, but you didn’t say if you like doing it. If you don’t I wouldn’t want to make you do something you don’t like.”

He does like the painting. It’s distracting, in a different way than his usual pursuits. And as much as he enjoys spending time with the whole group, it’s easy to sit in comfortable silence with Jester, occasionally exchanging a few words or jokes.

Everything about this is… easy, in a way very few things are, in his experience. It’s simple and calming, in a lot of ways.

“Jester, I would be honored to be your apprentice,” he says.

“Under one condition,” she grins, and offers a clay-streaked hand toward him to shake. He glances down at his own fingers, which he has somehow kept devoid of paint thus far. “You have to be willing to get your hands dirty.”

It feels like a test, but of everyone in the group, Jester is the person who has always reached for him, no matter what. And he knows now that sometimes, he has to reach back in order to be worthy of that.

He shakes her hand, the clay depositing on his own inky skin, and he resists the urge to wipe it on a napkin.

“Okay, first assignment,” she says, gesturing animatedly. “I want you to paint the next one with your fingers.”

She laughs her clear, joyous laughter, and he thinks that there is something liberating about being willing to act like a child on purpose.

[somethingbitchyythiswaycomes]

Arcana Main 6 Hogwarts Headcanons

Based on the sorting found in this post (I trust the devs at sorting their own characters better than I ever could, lol)

Julian

House: Ravenclaw (duh, this kid is such a nerd)

LOVES to learn, fave classes are history of magic, arithmancy, astrology, and herbology.

Prefers writing papers on magical theory to any practical magic assignments.  For some reason he never manages to stop struggling with actual spellcasting.

Aces his OWLs in the subjects he cares about (read subjects he’s good in, he stopped trying in transfiguration, charms, and DADA as soon as he realized he was hopeless at them) and thrives in NEWT level classes.

Randomly really good at apparition and uses it specifically to annoy Portia and Mazelinka when he’s home.

Spends a lot of spare time in the Greenhouse learning more about magical plants, their properties (especially medicinal), and their care.  Professor Sprout offers to tutor him privately on the subject in his NEWT years.

Furious when he’s given trouble for bringing Malak instead of an owl as his pet.

Gregarious (of course) yet hopeless at making close friends.  Parties a lot as he reaches higher years and becomes de facto leader of the party-type Ravenclaws despite not being particularly close with any of them.

Befriends Nadia in later years as they take completely different classes and he loves to hear what she’s learning and vice-versa.

Has a crush on Asra all through school and it is never reciprocated despite excessive effort from Julian’s side.

Absolutely adores Portia on her Quidditch team and is deeply supportive even when Hufflepuff plays Ravenclaw (just...slightly quieter about it in the stands)

Goes on to work in a clerical role at St. Mungo’s since he was never able to prove himself particularly useful at magic, but he manages to write some wonderful books on magical healing that become very popular and live on as excellent texts.

Unfortunately Professor Binns continues to refuse to retire as Julian tries to convince the Hogwarts staff to hire him to teach History of Magic. 

Nadia

House: Slytherin

Favorite subjects are care of magical creatures and charms, though she’s great at transfiguration, astronomy, and arithmancy as well.

Aces her OWLs in pretty much every subject and takes as many NEWTs as she can.

Snape begs her not to keep taking Care of Magical Creatures but she INSISTS as it’s her absolute favorite.

Definitely on the Yule Ball planning committee.

Prefect and Head Girl, of course.

Not particularly popular but also not disliked.  The nicer Slytherins adore her and she serves as a mentor to those in the years below her.  Other houses seem to be biased against Slytherins but the ones that bother to get to know her are always pleasantly surprised.

Spends a lot of time in the Owlery visiting Chandra, but also volunteers to help take care of the school owls.

Lucio and her bond in Care of Magical Creatures and get married shortly after graduating, only for her to realize the mess she’s gotten herself into when they butt heads while working at the Ministry of Magic.

Befriends Julian during their NEWT years and remains close friends with him after graduating.  

Asra partners with her in the classes she’s great at so he can learn as much as possible, noting her popularity with the teachers.  They make great study buddies in their mutual classes and Julian is deeply jealous despite her constant reassurances that she’s not interested.

Asra

House: Ravenclaw

Favorite subject: POTIONS

Partners with Nadia in Potions since he knows Snape will never take a liking to anyone not in his house and he wants to learn as much as he can.

Is exceptionally great at magic, learns more complicated tasks with ease.

Terrible in any class that requires remembering facts and dates.

Professor Trewlaney’s absolute _favorite _student.  He’s gifted beyond belief at all forms of divination.

Ravenclaw prefect but not even remotely overzealous about it.

Incredibly popular with most students but very picky about who chooses to actually spend time with.

Transfigures Faust into a toad so he can take her with him to school and loves transfiguring her back into a snake whenever someone gives him a hard time about his unfashionable pet.

Almost gave Julian a heart attack when he thought he was alone in the common room late one night and turned Faust back into a snake.

Faust loves to slither over to Julian while he’s sleeping and bother him since she knows none of the other Ravenclaws will believe him if he tries to tell them Asra brought a Snake.

Befriends Nadia through partnering with her in more classes after a successful potions partnership.

Childhood friends with Muriel and remains friends despite being sorted into different houses.  He’d honestly expected as much.  He still helps him with the classes he struggles in, though.

Dotes on Portia for taking care of Muriel.

Deeply annoyed by both Julian and Lucio and is thrilled when he starts to have classes without Julian.

Definitely that kid in class that gives piercing glares to any student that talks out of turn (cough cough* Julian cough cough Lucio)

Aces his practical OWLs and takes the NEWTs he’s interested in without working towards any specific career path, much to the frustration of Prof Flitwick.

Obsessed with Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shoppe and insists on going there for every Hogsmeade field trip.

Goes on to work for the apothecary in Diagon Alley and eventually take over the shop after it’s owner steps down.

Portia

House: Hufflepuff

Favorite subjects: Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Decent in most subjects, surprisingly good at potions.  One of Professor Sprout’s favorite students.

Doesn’t spend a lot of time studying but is incredibly friendly with just about anyone that will talk to her.

Obvs she brings Pepi.

Can’t stand Lucio or his small gang of Gryffindors.

Constantly talks shit and makes fun of Julian but will throw DOWN if anyone else does.  She’s his sister, it’s her RIGHT, not yours.

Befriends Nadia when she notices her studying alone in a courtyard and asks if she’d like company.

Hufflepuff prefect but barely takes advantage of any of the privileges except the bath.

Manages to befriend Muriel much to the surprise of every other Hufflepuff.

Fares decently enough on her standardized tests but doesn’t really care much about classes despite being well-liked by her teachers and a generally well-behaved student.

Aces flying classes her first year and goes on to be an excellent Beater for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.  She’s even team captain!

Julian is her #1 fan when they aren’t playing Ravenclaw, and honestly even when they are.

Sneaks into the kitchens not to steal food, but to befriend the house elves and learn their cooking magic.

Gets a job as a bartender in a really nice wizarding bar in London frequented by Ministry officials where Nadia visits her often.

Falls in love and marries Nadia after she divorces Lucio and opens a bakery that Nadia insists on paying for.

Lucio

House: Gryffindor

Favorite subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures.

The above are pretty much the only subjects he’s good at and no he does NOT stop bragging about how great he is at all of them.

Excellent Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and it earns him a large amount of popularity.

Doesn’t have...friends, per se, but fans of his Quidditch skills that follow him around.

Is somehow made prefect and is _furious _when he isn’t made Head Boy.

Competes as the Hogwarts champion for the Tri Wizard Tournament, earning him even more fans.

Brings a lovely snowy owl with him so he can send off constant whiny letters to Morga and organize hook ups with various students overnight.  (We all know what the Room of Requirement is really most commonly used for)

Meets Nadia in Care of Magical Creatures where they bond over how much they love animals.  Convinces her to go out with him and proposes right before graduation.

Doesn’t have much contact with any of the other main characters as he doesn’t give them the time of day.

His dating Nadia fosters an end to the long-standing Gryffindor/Slytherin hatred.  The rivalry is still there, but it loosens the walls around members of the two houses being friends and even dating.

Works for the ministry after graduation and somehow manages to always be opposed to everything Nadia puts forth and vice-versa.  The two get a divorce within the first few years of marriage.

He remains at the ministry but never does manage to find someone willing to settle down with him again.

Muriel

House: Hufflepuff

Favorite Class: Care of Magical Creatures

Deeply admires Hagrid and dreams of acquiring the groundskeeper job one day.

Hagrid always lets him in on the secret (and dangerous) animals he keeps around and Muriel helps him out with more enthusiasm than he shows for, well, anything else.

Doesn’t bring a pet but meets Inanna lives in the forest and they become close when she keeps visiting him while he studies.

Only friends are Asra (from childhood) and Portia.

Is deeply upset when he and Asra aren’t sorted into the same house, even though Asra tries to console him.

Thankfully Portia is incredibly kind to him and he slowly allows her to befriend him.

Is the other Beater for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and he and Portia are an INCREDIBLE team.

Every time Julian goes to congratulate them on a win Muriel tries to weasel his way out of the situation as fast as possible.  Luckily Portia never seems to notice as she’s much too excited and Julian almost always has some ridiculous celebration he hastily put together for the whole school (but really for her)

Does just well enough in classes to avoid drawing any attention to himself.

If he ever has a question in a class he and Asra share, Asra makes sure to ask it for him.

Tries to sit as far in the back of every classroom as possible.

Looks forwards to Hogsmeade trips so he can spend the day on a mostly empty campus.

Portia convinces him to go one (1) time and get a butterbeer with her at the Three Broomsticks.  He is nonplussed by the experience.

Goes on to open a sanctuary for wounded magical creatures he runs on his own.

Stays in touch with Hagrid partially as he has taken a liking to him and partially in the hopes that one day he can take over as Hogwarts groundskeeper.  (No desire to teach)

[storybookwolf]

Nancy Wheeler, Matchmaker (for day 6 of Jancy Week 2019, Idiots in love and/or Forelsket [how you feel when you first begin to fall in love])

August, 1984

As Miss Walsh’s junior history class filed out of the room, Jonathan was intently reading Fahrenheit 451, oblivious as always to the mass of students around him. Nancy nudged him with her hip to get his attention. “Hey, do you want to come to Travis’s party this weekend? Steve and I can pick you up.”

Jonathan cocked his head to the side, looking at Nancy with his eyebrows raised in his best are you kidding me? expression. “Absolutely not.”

“Come on, why not? Are you afraid you might actually have fun?” she teased.

“It’s my greatest fear,” he said, deadpan. “But seriously, you know I don’t go to parties. They’re full of people, and I don’t like people.”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “You like some people.”

“Okay, fine, I like three people: my mom, Will and you. But if you keep trying to get me to go to parties, the list might be down to two.”

“Got it. I won’t bring it up again,” said Nancy. “Are you still up for studying after school today?”

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll meet you at my car.” They parted at the end of the hallway, him heading towards the art rooms and her towards the labs.

Nancy paused for a moment to watch him walk away, looking down at his book again but somehow still managing to navigate through the crowd. Like he was his own little planet, existing within Hawkins High but somehow not really a part of it. She was pretty sure that there were days when she was the only person he even spoke to at school. Other than a few awful weeks after everything that happened last year, when he was hassled for being a “pervert”, everyone other than her seemed to not even know he existed.

But then she noticed something. A girl – Samantha something, maybe Perrottet? – standing at a locker. It was open, but instead of getting her books, Samantha’s eyes were fixed on Jonathan as he walked down the hall. She even turned to watch him as he passed her. Unsurprisingly, Jonathan didn’t notice at all, too engrossed by Ray Bradbury. But Nancy saw it, and knew exactly what was happening.

This Samantha girl had a crush on Jonathan.

Nancy was delighted. This was so great! In the months that they’d been friends, she’d gotten to know what a sweet, kind, funny person Jonathan was, and it bothered her that no one else seemed to appreciate that. They were in a few of the same classes, and would study together after school once or twice a week. But she knew that whenever she was with Steve or Allie or Stacy, Jonathan was either working or holed up in his room. She wished that he had other people to hang out with – and now maybe he would.

She hurried off to physics, but the only formulas in her mind were how to get Jonathan and Samantha together.

***

It had been nice to learn that Jonathan Byers was the perfect study companion. Steve usually spent most of their study sessions trying to distract her from her work, and Allie and Stacy either wanted to gossip or get her to do their work for them. But she and Jonathan always seemed to strike the perfect balance between getting lots of work done and still having fun. It was almost like how things had been with Barb.

But that afternoon in the library, Nancy couldn’t focus on her notes. Instead, she was just waiting for the right moment to bring up Samantha. Did Jonathan even know her? She’d moved to Hawkins in middle school, and seemed to mostly hang out with band and drama kids. She was pretty, but not in a showy way, and was almost as quiet as Jonathan. Nancy wasn’t even sure if she’d ever spoken to her.

Her mind was still trying to think of a subtle way to ask Jonathan about Samantha when her mouth blurted out, “Samantha Perrottet has a crush on you.”

Jonathan froze, his pencil poised above the page. “What?”

“Umm. I just realised today, but I think she really likes you. You should…” Nancy shrugged. “You should ask her out.”

He dropped his pencil and leaned back in his chair, looking more nervous than he had when they were preparing to face the Demogorgon. “I, um, uh—I don’t even know her,” he said, colour rising in his cheeks.

“Well, maybe you should get to know her,” said Nancy. “She seems nice. And she’s pretty, don’t you think?”

Jonathan’s face was really red now. “I guess, yeah. I don’t know.” He twisted uncomfortably in his seat. “Listen, uh… I just remembered that Mom wants me home early today. I should go. You’re okay to wait for Steve to pick you up after practice, right?” Without waiting for an answer, he gathered up his things and rushed out of the library.

Even though her conversation with Jonathan about it couldn’t have gone worse, Nancy couldn’t stop thinking about setting him up with Samantha. It wasn’t surprising that he’d been so flustered when she’d brought it up – he’d never had a girlfriend. She wanted that for him, wanted him to have somebody who loved him and saw what a great guy he was. And she was pretty sure he’d make a great boyfriend.

This wasn’t her first attempt at finding someone for him. Over the summer, Stacy had been lamenting the limited selection of single high school boys in Hawkins. “Seriously, Nancy, Steve was the last decent guy in town, and now that he’s off the market there’s nobody,” she’d said. When Nancy suggested that Jonathan was good boyfriend material, Stacy just rolled her eyes, and she’d let the idea go.

But she just couldn’t let Samantha go. So Nancy did what she did best – research. By the end of the week, she knew that Samantha got mostly Bs, that she was a percussionist in the school band, and that she worked at the Dairy Queen, saving money to go on exchange to Italy. But most importantly, she found out that Samantha liked music that Nancy’s sources described as “weird” and “gloomy” – the exact words she would have used to describe half the stuff Jonathan listened to. Surely this was destiny.

It was time to step things up. Luckily, Nancy’s years of being a star student had ingratiated her with the school secretary. She dropped by the office before school with some of her mother’s fresh muffins for Mrs Verney, and when the older lady went to make a coffee to go with them, Nancy quickly found Samantha’s schedule in the files and copied it. All she had to do was cross-reference it with Jonathan’s, and she’d find all the possible opportunities for them to meet.

The only problem now was convincing Jonathan.

***

Nancy knew that persuading Jonathan to ask Samantha out would be the hardest part of her plan, so she decided to adopt a two-pronged approach. The first was to slowly, gradually reintroduce the topic, as subtly as she could, so as not to freak him out like last time. The second was to start taking routes through Hawkins High where they were more likely to see Samantha, so that when Jonathan was ready to make a move it could all come together naturally.

She hadn’t made much progress on the first prong — it was harder than she’d thought — but the second worked surprisingly quickly. One Tuesday, as they were cutting across the west hallway en route from English to Pre-Calc, Samantha was heading the other way (from Algebra to Social Studies). The younger girl was in such a rush that she literally ran into Jonathan as she passed, nearly dropping her books.

“Oh shit, sorry, I—” Samantha stopped speaking when she saw exactly who she’d run into. Her face went white. “I…. Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine,” said Jonathan.

“Okay, thanks.” Samantha smiled and rushed off again.

It was possibly one of the most awkward social interactions Nancy had ever seen, even though Jonathan was actually more relaxed than he usually was when talking to his peers.

“I told you she liked you,” said Nancy, unable to stop herself from smirking a little.

Jonathan looked exasperated. “She would have bumped into anybody who was standing there just now. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“She wouldn’t have been that flustered if she’d bumped into anyone else, believe me. Are you actually this oblivious, or is it just an act?”

“I’m not…” He sighed.

“All I’m saying is, she likes you and she seems nice. So you should try to get to know her.”

Jonathan looked down at his shoes, his brow furrowing as he fiddled with the strap of his bag. “Why are you so invested in this?” he said quietly.

“You’re my friend and I want you to be happy, that’s all,” Nancy said as they reached their classroom.

Jonathan looked slightly pained. “What would make me happy right now, is not talking about this any more,” he said.

So Nancy let the subject drop. But whether it was her needling or Samantha’s battering-ram approach, Jonathan and the sophomore would now say “hey” to each other when they passed in the hall. And over the next few weeks, Nancy even saw them having a couple of actual conversations (very short ones, but it still counted). When banners for Homecoming went up, Nancy had to bite her tongue to stop herself suggesting that Jonathan ask Samantha to the dance. But even if her matchmaking hadn’t worked, she was still glad that Jonathan had someone else he could talk to.

“Hey, do you want to study after school today? I’m already freaking out about the test next week,” asked Nancy as they took their seats in history one morning.

“Oh, I’d really like to but I can’t,” said Jonathan. “I, uh, have something on.”

Nancy looked confused. “You don’t usually work Tuesdays. Did you swap shifts with Eric?”

“No, I, uh … I’m hanging out with Samantha.”

Nancy’s eyes lit up. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? When did you ask her out?”

He blushed. “I didn’t! And it’s not like that. Yesterday I said something about the Depeche Mode picture on her folder, and she asked if I’d heard their new album. I said I hadn’t, so she invited me over to listen to it today. It’s not a date or anything, we’re just hanging out.”

Just then, Miss Walsh walked in and started the class. Nancy spent the whole period stealing glances across at her friend, and thinking about his “not a date” which she was 100% certain was a date.

***

Since she was studying on her own that afternoon, Nancy went home instead of to the library. But somehow she just couldn’t focus on her notes. Her mind kept wandering to Jonathan and Samantha, wondering how their “not a date” was going.

She knew she should have felt smug. Victorious, even. This was exactly what she’d wanted: Jonathan having a cute music-nerd date with a nice, pretty girl who was into the same things he was.

But instead, whenever she thought of Jonathan and Samantha her stomach would lurch a little, and her skin would feel weirdly hot. She found herself getting irritated by the whole idea of the two of them together, even though she'd spent weeks trying to make it happen.

Oh shit. She was jealous.

It hit her like a wave of nausea. How could she have been so stupid? All this time she’d spent wishing Jonathan had a girlfriend, what she’d really wanted deep down was to be that girlfriend. And now she’d pushed him straight into the arms of Samantha, a girl who was actually bold enough to invite a guy she barely knew over to her house to listen to an album. Her stereo was probably in her bedroom, too, which was awfully convenient. Honestly, it was a Steve Harrington-level move, and she almost admired Samantha’s brashness. She would have admired it, if Samantha was using these moves on any other boy. But now Nancy realised that if any girl was going to be kissing Jonathan Byers, she wanted it to be her.

She needed a new plan. A counter-plan, one to undo all the careful scheming that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Turning to a fresh page in her notebook, she quickly scribbled down some ideas.

Ring Samantha’s house and tell Jonathan there’s an emergency with Will, and he needs to go home right away. Pro: He would definitely leave. Con: It’s a low blow, and he’d be upset when he realised I lied.

Go over to Samantha’s house, pretending I think Jonathan has my history textbook. When I get there, feign enthusiasm for Depeche Mode and insist on staying to listen to the album. Pro: Third wheels always kill romance. Con: I would have to listen to Depeche Mode.

Do nothing, and just hope nothing happens between them. Call Jonathan later tonight, and tell him how I feel. Pro: Doesn’t involve lying or embarrassing myself in front of Jonathan and Samantha. Con: The thought of telling him I love him is terrifying.

She stared at the list for a few minutes. She couldn’t do option 1 – it was just too cruel to use Will as a pawn. And option 2 would make her look like a crazy person. Which left option 3. The scariest one, but also the most honest. If she ever wanted to have a real relationship with Jonathan, it had to be built on the fact that they were friends who could trust each other, who said what they were really thinking. She just had to wait until tonight.

It was going to be a very long afternoon…

[goddess-of-writing-wars]

Beautician!Kenshin Headcanons

ALRIGHT SO I’M LATE, BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY #1 LORD AND LOVER, KENSHIN UESUGI! Here, have some personal headcanons I have for Beautician!Kenshin because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. -Admin Yukari

Being well-versed with a sword, it wasn’t strange to see Kenshin wield a pair of scissors and be extremely talented with it.

While Kenshin was good with scissors in beauty school, he had to really work hard to keep up with the other necessary beauty skills, such as dyeing hair, washing hair, and practicing quality customer service. Sometimes his instructors would tell him to work on smiling more instead of frowning.

He used to practice on Sasuke, Yukimura, and Shingen but that all ended when all three of them were too scared to be near him and a sharp pair of scissors. 

Shingen complains that Kenshin isn’t gentle when he washes his hair and makes a point that customers can complain about getting headaches. Kenshin scoffs and calls it nonsense since Shingen’s scalp needs the harsh wash to get rid of his dandruff flakes.

Once, Kenshin tried buzzing off Yukimura’s hair with a razor, and it did not end as well as he thought it would. Yukimura was left with a few uneven spots in his hair and he was mortified to go out afterward. After this, Yukimura told Kenshin to work on his skills before using him as a sacrifice again in the future.

When Sasuke, with hesitation, decided to offer himself up to Kenshin to trim his bangs, it ended with Sasuke screaming in horror as he saw the straight blunt bangs across his forehead after Kenshin chopped it all off. It wasn’t until Kenshin stylized it in its usual manner did Sasuke sigh in relief and felt his heart return to its normal beat.

Kenshin is not fond of dyeing hair or bleaching it. He’s not a big fan of the lengthy process or the smell. He always says that it “takes up too much time” and doesn’t like how it gives his clients dead hair a few weeks later.

If they were brave enough, some of Kenshin’s classmates would ask him if he bleached and styled his own hair because of its unique style, but he would quickly tell them no and that it was “all natural,” much to their disbelief.

After graduating from beauty school and getting his license, Kenshin started off by joining a well-known hair salon in Echigo. It was the perfect opportunity to hone his skills and develop them even more. 

Right after he had his own booth, the owner of the salon started to notice the increase in clientele and couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of Kenshin’s skills or just himself in general. 

While most of his coworkers refuse to cut hair for young children because of their fidgety habits in the salon chair, Kenshin doesn’t mind. He usually gets them to stay still and quickly works his scissors through their hair, all while telling them to remain still if they didn’t want him to accidentally cut them. 

Even though women (and sometimes men) come flocking over to the hair salon and demand to have an appointment with Kenshin, he’s usually booked several months ahead. People usually have to wait 4-5 months for his next opening because Kenshin doesn’t like to pack his schedule too tightly.

Once Kenshin was informed that the hair salon would extend into other beauty services, he decided to quit and open up his own hair salon. Doing makeovers and nails was out of the question for him and he didn’t enjoy it as much as he did with hair. 

After opening up his own hair salon, Kenshin decided to establish his own rules. Sake Saturdays would be a thing among his employees, and he would happily accept sake and pickled plums as payment from his clients. 

Surprisingly, Kenshin gets also booked to do hair updos for weddings or special events. He’s willing to travel to his clients if they promise him a quality brand of sake too. 

Kenshin always participates in hair donations for organizations that use hair to create wigs for cancer patients. He believes in good causes and likes to make his hair salon known for donating the most qualified hair. It’s good publicity! 

Has a poor habit of talking with scissors and pointing at things with them. If things get heated in the salon, you better pray that Kenshin isn’t snapping his scissors at you as his voice darkens and he speaks faster than usual. 

Kenshin doesn’t listen to the music his hair salon plays. Instead, he carries his own black earbuds and smartphone to block out the salon’s pop music. He prefers instrumental music or even alternative rock.

One time Yoshimoto came in after hearing about Kenshin’s success with his new salon and he “accidentally” changed the music playing in the hair salon to extremely loud screamo music. It wasn’t long before Kenshin chased him out of the hair salon with his scissors and banned Yoshimoto from ever returning.

Even though he was taught to interact with his customers in beauty school, Kenshin is not much of a talker when he works on his client’s hair. He prefers to just listen to his music in silence, only speaking when he instructs his clients to follow him to the sink to wash their hair or to look at a certain angle while he cuts their hair. 

Despite this, Kenshin’s charisma always draws his customers to come back to him. It’s hard to resist him and his prices for his services too.

Kenshin cuts his own hair when it gets a little longer. He doesn’t trust anyone else to do it. 

Keeps his hair salon clean and sparkling every day. Kenshin can’t stand seeing a piece of hair on the floor if it hasn’t been swept and he doesn’t like seeing empty bottles of hairspray on the counters either. Proper sanitation is a must.

Kenshin’s salon eventually becomes the #1 go-to place for hair in Echigo, and he’s quite proud of his hard work. It’s a victory worth showing off! To celebrate, he eventually comes out with his own professional line of hair products and it hits off well among his clients and Echigo.  

Kenshin avidly avoids gossip and drama and refrains from participating in it. He wants his employees to keep it professional, but that all changes when a certain client keeps coming back to his hair salon and Kenshin develops the desire to get to know her better. His employees tease him about it and ask “What happened to the “zero tolerance policy” for gossip?” 

Eventually ends up hiring MC to be his social media and marketing promoter for his hair salon. All of Kenshin’s works of art for hair can be found on his Instagram and other social media websites thanks to MC’s meticulous work. 

His budding romance with MC starts when she allows him to use her hair to create more pretty updos and to test new methods. It isn’t long before Kenshin becomes quite comfortable with MC and loves the feel of her hair. He’s sure he won’t find anyone as open and accepting as her when it comes to being his test subject.

Once Kenshin and MC planned to get married, he asked her if she would allow him to stylize her hair for the wedding, and she agreed! It wasn’t every day that she had the chance to let Kenshin play with her hair. 

If Kenshin had children, they would be set for life when it comes to hair. He would be their one and only hairstylist. He can’t stand the thought of them seeing anyone else. Yandere much?

[bittysvalentines]

Virtual Reality, Emphasis on Reality.

From: @omgnotanothercpblog

To: @aflailureandamasterpiece

“Please, Bitty?” Chowder was giving Bitty his best puppy dog eyes. Bitty never could resist that look, and Chowder knew it, damn it.

“I don’t know…” Bitty told him, and Chowder’s face lit up, sensing his victory. “I never play video games,” he added desperately.

“That’s exactly what we need. We already have people who know what they’re doing.”

Bitty folded his arms and gave Chowder an unimpressed look, but Chowder just grinned at him.

“We want to make sure a total noob can jump right in and start playing too.”

“With that kind of talk, I hope you aren’t on the sales team. ‘Total noob’,” Bitty muttered.

“I brought everything you need to play,” Chowder said, ignoring him. He held up a VR headset - a fancy one with attached headphones - and a thin pair of gloves. “It’s all set to connect, you just have to turn it on. After you put it on, of course.”

“You want me to do this right now?” Bitty eyed the equipment as if it was a poisonous snake. He didn’t have anything against it, it just wasn’t his cup of tea. No matter what Chowder said, it didn’t make sense that he and Dex wanted Bitty to test their new game.

“I want to get you started, that’s all. You don’t have to actually play it right now.” It was obvious from Chowder’s tone that he really wished Bitty would.

“And how is this different from regular VR?” Bitty asked as he pulled on the gloves.

“It’s like, the next level. Total virtual immersion. Or as close as we can get for now. Like the Matrix or OASIS in Ready Player One.” Chowder held out the headset for Bitty to take.

“I’m not one for science fiction, but even I know the Matrix is not a good thing.” Despite his words, Bitty put the headset on, leaving one ear uncovered so he could listen to Chowder’s instructions.

“Okay, there are two modes,” Chowder said as the visuals began to load. “There’s augmented reality where the game world overlays the real world. So your couch becomes the trunk of a fallen tree or something. You need some space for that because the game world is so extensive. I mean, there’s this quest where-”

“Chowder, honey, can we get back to my tutorial?”

Chowder cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s just- It’s swawesome that it’s finally real, you know? Anyway, we also have what we’re calling autopilot mode, so you can explore the game world without needed too much actual movement. To switch it, you just have to...”

Chowder went on, but Bitty barely heard him, because he was standing at the edge of a dark and forbidding forest. The trees were literal works of art, realistic-looking, but not so realistic that his brain kept insisting something was off, the way CGI people made him feel. Bitty would swear he could hear birds chirping and insects buzzing. He adjusted the headset, muffling Chowder’s words. Yep, birdsong, bees, and a breeze ruffling the leaves on the trees.

“This is amazing,” he breathed.

~

Bitty found himself spending a lot of time trying out Quester’s Fate, Chowder and Dex’s game. Not so much for the gameplay - it was interesting, but that had never been his cup of tea - but for the wonderful world where it took place and the people he met there. He was sure there were players who liked to use the augmented reality version and roam around outside to complete their quests, but Bitty preferred the shared virtual world. It was easier after a long day spent on his feet.

Even though he wasn’t actually playing the game, he had explored the other things it had to offer - namely, he’d built his own shop. He’d gotten Chowder and Dex to help him to speed things along; he wasn’t a fool. Now he sold or traded items to fellows players to help them along on their quests - things that would refill their game energy or boost their game stats - or would let them customize their character. It was pretty entertaining when they thought he was an NPC (non-player character, he was slowly learning their language) at first because his skin wasn’t available in the game store. Perks of being friends with the game developers. Dex had even created an NPC to keep the shop running when he wasn’t playing. If Bitty had been charging real money, he’d be rolling in it.

Not long after he’d opened up his shop - only stocked with virtual fruit at that time - his first customer had come along. That was how he’d met Jack.

Bitty’s General Store was was in the middle of the forest, situated at the crossroads of several quest pathways. A player wearing the default skin had come walking along one of them, looking a little lost. He kept looking this way and that and consulting his quest map. Finally he spotted the store - and Bitty - and practically ran up to him.

“Hel-” Bitty began.

“Are you a real person? Can you help me?” the player said in a rush.

“I’m as real as anyone can be in here,” Bitty said. “What do you need, sugar?”

“Dieu merci! I don’t understand how this map works. How do I get it to show where I am? Where I’m supposed to go?” He thrust his map at Bitty and it disappeared as soon as he opened his hand.

“Well, first of all, my name is Bitty.” Bitty waited expectantly.

“Oh. Sorry. Jack.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack. Second, that map is yours . So you can’t hand it to me. Go ahead and open it up again.”

Jack swept his hand up, then poked the air in a specific spot. It never got old, watching other players waving their hands around while they interacted with menus that only they could see. The map reappeared.

“Now don’t let go,” Bitty said. He moved behind Jack and peered around his bicep (even in-game he was shorter than most of the other players, which somehow seemed unfair. Dex didn’t have to make his character that true to life). “It looks like you’re still in world view mode. Tap your quest icon, up in the right corner. That’ll show you things that are specific to your quest, including where you are and where you should be going.”

“Quest icon? What does it look like?”

“That depends on the quest you chose. This was all covered in the tutorial.”

“There’s a tutorial?”

“Now how on earth did you get this far without the tutorial?”

Jack dropped his hands and the map disappeared again. “It’s my friend Shitty’s account. He kind of…” He made a pushing motion with both hands. “He said I need to relax, or at least not focus so much on hoc- my job.”

“I supposed wandering around trying to figure out how this all works could be relaxing,” Bitty said doubtfully.

“He had to leave for a work emergency before he could show me very much.”

“Wait. Did you say your friend Shitty, or did you mean your shitty friend? Because only one of those makes sense to me, and it’s not the first one.”

“Shitty’s his nickname. He likes it better than his real name.” Jack brought up his map yet again. “Quest icon, right?”

Bitty could take a hint and let the subject drop. “Did you even choose a quest? Considering you managed to skip all the basics.”

“Yes. Uh, I think so? Yes.”

“Well, that’s something, anyway. Let’s get you started from the beginning, all right, sugar?”

“Okay?” Jack didn’t seem too sure about continuing to play the game, but he was already there, and Bitty felt he owed it to Chowder and Dex to make sure he had a positive experience after such a rough start. Bitty showed him how to start the tutorial and left him to it, though he did stay close, rearranging a nearby display of apples, just in case Jack had any questions.

“Okay, I think I got it,” Jack said eventually. “I have to go…” He looked at his map and then at the numerous paths. “That way.” He pointed at one of the trails.

“Oh, the Glass Mountain quest. That’s a good one for someone just starting out. Here, take these apples.” Bitty held out a sack. “They refill your character’s health bar. You’ll need them.”

Jack stared at the sack. “How do I accept them? It wasn’t very clear in the tutorial.”

“Just reach out your hand. Once you’re close enough, the game’ll ask if you want to accept or reject the item.”

Jack reached out and the sack disappeared. Then he stood there, looking uncertain. “I suppose I should… go?”

“The princess is waiting,” Bitty said with an encouraging smile.

“Are you sure she’s not in another castle?” Jack asked expectantly.

“No? That’s not how that quest goes.”

Jack’s shoulders slumped. “That’s not...” He shook his head. “Oh, um, payment? For the apples?”

“Don’t you worry about that, sugar. They’re a gift for being my first customer.”

“Oh, okay. Um, bye then.”

“Bye, Jack. I hope to see you again. You can tell me how you did on your quest.”

Jack nodded and off he went. Bitty hoped he would come back. He didn’t think he’d ever met someone who knew even less than he did about playing video games; Jack’s cluelessness was a little adorable. He wondered briefly what Jack looked like in real life, but he buried that thought quickly. Sure, Jack seemed nice. Friendly. Willing to learn from someone shorter than him (which was surprisingly a problem for some players, Bitty didn’t understand it). None of that meant anything. Bitty wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. He probably wouldn’t ever see Jack again anyway.

~

Jack came back.

Not right away, but he did, and he kept coming back, showing up when Bitty was in-game at least once a week. Jack had gotten his own account, though he’d kept the default skin. At first, he would talk to Bitty for a few minutes before going off on one of the quests, but eventually he was sticking around longer and longer until Bitty suspected he’d given up on actually playing the game. Not that Bitty was one to judge, since he’d given up on doing that almost immediately. He used the virtual world as a distraction, something to do when he was too tired to do anything else and it was too early to go to bed, or when he needed the company of others and his friends were otherwise occupied.

Bitty enjoyed talking to Jack, and Jack didn’t seem to mind that Bitty was doing most of the talking. They would discuss work and their friends and family and Bitty’s dream job (because it sounded like Jack had his, lucky devil) and so many random topics that it amazed him that Jack kept coming around. Bitty found himself looking forward to their weekly chats more and more.

Shoot. He’d gone and done it - he’d fallen for Jack.

~

“Please, Bitty?” Dex wasn’t as good as Chowder at the puppy dog eyes, but he was giving him a run for his money.

“Dex, you don’t have to talk me into coming to your big celebration, silly goose.”

Dex grinned. “Chowder told me to do that. But also, we’re having it catered.” He winced, waiting for Bitty’s reaction.

“I would assume so. You’re bringing that up because…”

“They specialize in pies for dessert. Sorry, Bitty. We had to pick a couple for them to serve.”

“I see.”

“They won’t be as good as yours,” Dex insisted.

“Well of course they won’t,” Bitty replied automatically. “I don’t know, William. I don’t think I could come to your party now that I know you’re cheating on me with other pies.” He pressed his lips together to hold back a smile.

Dex’s eyes widened. “You don’t-”

Bitty burst out laughing. “My word, your face! Like I wouldn’t show up because of a little thing like that. Bless your heart, you should know I was going to bake pies for you and Chowder as a gift anyway.”

Dex rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. “Thanks, Bitty. I just didn’t want you to think, I don’t know, that we didn’t prefer your baking or something.”

“It’s not like I’m in a position to make pies for such a big do. Don’t worry your head about it.”

“So we’ll see you there?”

“Do you really need to ask? You couldn’t keep me away, mister.”

~

Dex and Chowder were having a party for two reasons - it was the one-year anniversary of their company, Two Frogs, and Quester’s Fate had become the #1 best-selling VR game in the country. It was an amazing achievement, and Bitty was proud to be a small part of that. He didn’t even mind very much that he had to miss his and Jack’s weekly chat. Bitty had sent him a PM through the game’s messaging system to let him know he wouldn’t be there.

Chowder introduced him to Caitlin Farmer, a young lady he’d met while testing out the game in its early stages. Apparently, he’d mowed her down when he hadn’t seen her due to a glitch and the apology coffee he’d bought for her had led to several coffee dates and then a relationship. They were adorable together.

Dex hadn’t brought anyone, but he was mighty interested in Derek Nurse, a local celebrity who was in attendance for some reason. He kept sneaking glances at him, only to look away quickly whenever Derek looked in his direction and Derek was doing the same. Wasn’t that interesting?

It was Dex who introduced him to Larissa Duan, the artist who had designed the backgrounds used in the game.

“Ms. Duan, let me tell you how beautiful your work is. It’s just breathtaking,” Bitty told her as they shook hands.

“Thank you. Please, call me Larissa. They turned out all right, I think. I’m an abstract artist normally, but I wanted to challenge myself, work outside my comfort zone.”

“Well, I’m glad you did, and I’m sure De- Will and Chris are, too.”

A man with an impressive mustache and long hair pulled back in a ponytail came up to them. “Lardo! Love of my life! I’ve found you,” he cried and handed her a drink.

“Cool it, Shitty, he’s not hitting on me,” Larissa said.

“I didn’t think he was,” Shitty replied. “I missed you, that’s all.”

Larissa’s face went a little pink and she gave him a tiny smile. “You were gone for two minutes.”

Wait-

“Shitty? Jack’s Shitty?” Bitty asked without thinking.

“You know Jack? Oh!” Shitty turned and waved at someone across the room. “Jack! I think I found your friend!”

Bitty’s face burned. Jack? Jack was here? He was going to meet Jack? Was he ready for this? They’d never even talked about meeting in real life. What should he do?

A familiar-looking man with dark hair was walking toward them. Bitty considered running away, but that would be too rude. It looked like he was going to meet Jack, ready or not.

He thought back to their long discussions, to the kind of person Jack seemed to be. Bitty decided he was ready.

Jack got closer and Bitty had to catch his breath. Jack was handsome. No, that word was too bland. Jack was gorgeous . Lord, those eyes . He could only hope Jack wasn’t disappointed in the real him.

Then Jack was standing in front of him and Bitty forgot to breathe.

“Bits,” Jack said, and yes, that was his voice. Bitty was going to swoon like a debutante in a corset in the middle of July.

“Jack,” Bitty said faintly. “How-”

“Your message said you were coming to the party, and I was already planning to come so I thought it might be okay? To meet, I mean.”

“Yes, but-”

“Bitty, I see you’ve met Jack Zimmermann,” Dex said, appearing out of nowhere. “He’s one of our major backers.”

Jack smiled. “Lardo made me do it,” he said with a fond look at her.

“Jack Zimmermann? The hockey player?” Bitty was getting light-headed from all the revelations. No wonder Jack had seemed familiar. He shouldn’t have - he looked nothing like the default skin he used in Quester’s Fate. “Any other surprises? Is Beyonce here too?”

Dex laughed. “I’d definitely warn you first.”

“Is this okay?” Jack asked. He reached out and took Bitty’s hand. “I really wanted to meet you, but if you-”

“This is more than okay, Jack. This is wonderful.”

[tnffc]

Can you do number 3 for steter? If it's OK and you're still doing that?

Teacher/Student AU, coming up. Kind of.

I have some issues with the power imbalance of Teacher/Student stories. No judgement for those who like them, I just personal usually don’t. 

That of course only made me more curious if I could write one I’d be okay with. And I did. In a way. I hope you enjoy it ^^

__________________________

Peter looked at the speech he had printed out to memorize.

He had practiced it endlessly but right now didn’t really register any words except the name “Mr. Stilinski”.

It had been more than four years since he saw him.

Four years in which he had carried everything with him that the man had taught him.

About integrity.

Determination.

Hard work.

And staying true to yourself.

The memory of meeting his former teacher for the first time was still clear in his mind.

~*~

He had been a junior, at the top in most classes, popular, part of the basketball team, not yet fully out of the closet and kind of crushing on a guy in the year above him.

Mr. Stilinski walked into their classroom and introduced himself as their new art teacher.

Peter immediately was drawn to the visual appearance of the man but he wasn’t shallow enough to swoon over it like somebody else might.

He could already see classmates developing crushes for the guy and he’d have no part in it.

Except, over the course of the lesson Mr. Stilinski of course then showed he was smart, competent, kind but stern, surprisingly funny and witty.

Well, the guy would still have time to proof he had some flaws.

One appeared at the end of class when he announced he’d be offering an additional two hour art class on wednesdays, luckily it wasn’t mandatory.

Why would he think someone wanted to stay two hours longer if they didn’t have to?

In case anybody loved art just that much?

The guy was definitely overvaluing his subject.

On the other hand, loving your job was also kind of adorable.

~*~

A month went by and Peter had to admit he was maybe kind of slightly crushing on the new teacher?

Fantasies had started to make their way into his evening routine.

Fantasies of sharp, brown eyes witnessing him when he pleasured himself. 

And hands…hands! Uniquely identifiable hands that made you want to draw them, taunting him, playing with him.

A raspy, teasing voice telling him what to do.

Soft, ridiculously sensual lips showing a mischievous smirk when he caught himself in how embarrassing it was to do what he was doing.

Alright, yeah, he was crushing hard.

And the worst part was, he wasn’t actually doing great in class.

He had chosen art because with their old teacher it had been a very easy A but now he had to actually put work in to keep up.

That wasn’t really something he was into.

Also not something he was used to.

As he saw his grades drop he contemplated what to do.

He rarely had to study for anything, because he rarely decided to try something out he was bad in.

He had never intended to actually study for art class. All the former teacher had expected of them was to draw something mediocre and sometimes take a multiple choice test.

Eventually he decided he had to talk to Mr. Stilinski about what he could do to better his grade. After all Mr. Stilinski was bisexual - which had come out when someone had found his facebook account.

Maybe the guy was open to some kind of arrangement?

Peter would definitely not hate that.

A few days later after school he hurried to catch Mr. Stilinski in his classroom.

The guy was just packing his bag as Peter closed the door behind himself.

The man looked up and Peter saw those attentive eyes focus on him.

“Peter, what can I do for you?”

So many things…

Peter told himself that he needed to come off as confident and changed his posture before responding in a firm tone.

“I hoped we could talk about my grade.”

Mr. Stilinski hmmm-ed and continued packing.

“You are not happy about your B- I assume.”

Peter nodded and went to lean next to his teacher, against the table.

“No, I am not. I want an A. And I intend to get what I want. So what can I do to better my grade? Just tell me, I’ll do anything you want me to.”

Mr. Stilinski straightened his back and rose to his full height, staring down at Peter.

A moment ago Peter had felt in control by choosing to sit this close to the man, now he felt like maybe a bit more distance would have made that assessing stare less intimidating.

“Peter, are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?”

Come on now, keep your courage up, show him you know what you are about!

He looked up at his teacher through his lashes and managed a cocky grin.

“I am very confident there is something I could do for you to sway my grade.”

Something dark seeped into Mr. Stilinski’s eyes and Peter felt the hairs on his arms and neck rise.

The man leaned down a little so their faces were closer and his voice got deeper and more raspy when he spoke again.

“And what do you have in mind? Tell me.”

His throat felt dry, he knew a lot of things he wanted to do to the man.

He swallowed and looked at those lips, so close to his.

Confidence, Peter!

“I could suck you off.”

Dear god, he really want to do that.

Mr. Stilinski pressed his lips together and tilted his head.

“I really hoped I was reading your signals wrong Peter. Has any other teacher given you the impression you could better your grade by giving them sexual favors?”

Shit.

Mr. Stilinski’s whole demeanor had changed.

He sounded concerned and kind, absolutely not like he might agree to Peter’s proposition.

“I…no…I never…I never needed to…”

The teacher stared at Peter a bit more.

It was getting really unnerving.

“Okay, that’s good. Then nobody needs to know about this conversation.

If you really want a better grade you could always just come to my voluntary class on wednesday afternoon. The group is a lot smaller so I could give you some more in depth tutoring.

You aren’t untalented, you just clearly don’t put any effort into this class. And I know art is an easy A in many schools but I take this serious. So you can decide if you want to ride the effortless B- or take my advice and actually study for this class.”

Peter felt very conflicted.

On the one hand he did really want that A, it would irk him to no end if he messed up his score because of fucking art class. 

And tutoring lessons with Mr. Stilinski didn’t sound that bad. Even though he’d have to recover from the embarrassing interaction they just had. 

But on the other hand it’d mean less free time, he’d actually have to put effort into this class…

Mr. Stilinski gave him a good-natured smile “Just think about it, I have to head out now.”

And with that he grabbed his bag and left the room.

~*~

Peter decided to actually take the lessons.

Mr. Stilinski had definitely lead Peter on a little, so he’d spell out his intentions.

It annoyed him how easy he had followed that bait as well.

Being into somebody apparently made you stupid around that person.

But somehow that bit of manipulation drew Peter only closer in to the man.

He started showing up to the voluntary class on wednesdays and Mr. Stilinski helped Peter study the topic they were working on.

‘A lot smaller’ was an understatement. They often were just two students, maybe 4 or 5 if a test was around the corner. Sometimes Peter and Mr. Stilinski were the only people there.

But the guy didn’t seem to be bothered by that, if anything he seemed to like the chance to focus on more detailed discussions of art with so little students to divide his attention.

Through the tutoring Peter realized he actually had never really learned how to study for something and the way Mr. Stilinski helped him was to explore the ways Peter actually could learn something easier.

They figured out he was an auditory learner and Mr. Stilinski started telling Peter a lot more instead of just giving him material to go through. 

They learned Peter found it easier to get into a topic for longer than just two hours so if he needed more time Mr. Stilinski often let him stay a bit longer.

Because that way he was able to get deeper into it.

Peter started to genuinely appreciate art as a class.

With Mr. Stilinski teaching him he realized how connected art was with everything and how omnipresent it was. 

Art was somebody’s interpretation of the world and they used it to evoke emotions. Be it a high fantasy drawing, an abstract piece, a performance, a movie. Everything could be art and art contained parts of everything.

As their lessons progressed they sometimes became less about the actual topic they were covering in class and more about life, about the world, about identity, the meaning of things and everything else that might come up.

Especially when it was only the two of them they sometimes went wildly off topic.

Peter had never felt this good with another person before, this understood and challenged at the same time.

Mr. Stilinski was probably the smartest person Peter ever met.

And he was not just book smart.

He seemed to understand the world, people, life…

Peter was way beyond fantasizing about Mr. Stilinski visiting him in his bedroom.

He was in love with the man.

His life revolved around those lessons.

He would have wanted for them to never end.

But despite all those feelings he kept his professional distance, because he now understood that the man would never actually have considered taking him up on his offer.

And frustratingly it only made him more perfect and worthy of Peter’s admiration and love.

At the end of the year Peter was up to a B+ and he actually was okay with that.

~*~

His last year in high school Peter started to feel something weigh on him and he didn’t know how to handle the topic. Of course it didn’t take long for Mr. Stilinski to notice and ask Peter what was going on.

He hesitated to tell his teacher what was bothering him but then decided for it.

If anybody had some helpful advice for him it’d be Mr. Stilinski.

“My parents want me to go to law school…and I am sure I’d do great. But I kind of want to do something else…”

Mr. Stilinski smiled at him warmly.

“What do you want to do instead?”

Peter stayed quiet for a moment, should he really say it?

Who else better to tell than Mr. Stilinski.

“I would like to become a teacher for English and History.”

He saw a moment of surprise on the teacher’s face and didn’t hide his grin at that.

It was seldom that something caught the man off guard.

Then Mr. Stilinski’s face went smooth again and showed another smile.

“I think you could be a great teacher Peter. I mean, the job is not great…you will be underpaid and a lot of students won’t like you, even if you try to be a good teacher. Some students might even make you morally very wrong offers…”

He gave Peter a teasing smirk.

“But I think you could handle it and help a lot of kids.”

Of course Mr. Stilinski knew what to say to make him feel less ridiculous about his idea. Maybe he really should talk to his parents about what he wanted to do.

Even though his dad would probably not be happy…

~*~

The end of his last year was approaching and Peter dreaded the day he and Mr. Stilinski would meet for the last time.

Peter had managed to get straight As almost through the entire year but neither him nor Mr. Stilinski had ever brought up that he could stop showing up to the voluntary wednesday class.

It gave Peter a good feeling because he suspected it meant his teacher did at least enjoy hanging out with him a little bit.

After all, if it was only the two of them Mr. Stilinski could just have canceled the class and enjoyed his free afternoon.

The last wednesday came and they were alone once again.

They talked about different things for a while, making jokes as usual and getting deep into some philosophical questions. But eventually Peter couldn’t avoid the topic anymore.

“I’m going to miss this” he blurted out as Mr. Stilinski had laughed at one of Peter’s comebacks.

Dear god he’d miss that laugh so much, the way it lit up the man’s face…

He’d not just miss ‘this’ he’d miss him.

His teacher.

The only man Peter had ever loved and maybe the only man Peter would ever love like this.

That was a very scary thought.

He had so much time ahead of himself…

So much time he’d not spent seeing him.

Mr. Stilinski had let silence fall over them and had studied Peter once again with those seemingly all knowing eyes.

“There will be others, Peter.”

“What do you mean?”

There was something like sad wisdom in the man’s expression.

“Other people you will be able to talk to like this. Other people who will understand you and challenge you. Other people you will be able to learn from. 

I know I have taken up the position of your mentor for the last two years. 

And I am okay with that, because for a mind like yours and mine some focused attention from someone can really help us grow.

And you have grown a lot. I am very proud to have been able to support you along the way for a bit. 

But you can’t just learn from one person. That would keep your view of the world tragically narrow.”

Yes there was definitely some form of sadness in Mr. Stilinski’s eyes.

“I will miss this too Peter. But if I can give you one last bit of advice for your future.

Surround yourself with a diversity of people. People who experience the world differently than you do. 

Let them tell you how the world is for them. And learn where your blind spots are and how to broaden your vision as much as possible. 

If you listen to all kinds of people and let them show you their world. you will come as close as you can to seeing the actual world all of us live in together. Not just your version of it.”

Peter didn’t know what to say to that.

He took those words though.

They did speak to a deeper truth about the world.

“Thank you Mr. Stilinski.”

He realized he sounded a bit choked and tried to blink away some uncried tears, but he didn’t really care.

Going home after that conversation he felt surprisingly okay.

Like that advice had been Mr. Stilinski giving him a part of himself to take with him into the future. He supposed loving the man meant honoring all that he had taught him.

~*~

And Peter had honored it.

Now he was graduating valedictorian of his class and was about to become a teacher himself.

They asked him to give a speech and he agreed to do it.

He invited his parents, his sister and her kids and after some contemplation also Mr. Stilinski.

Although he still wasn’t sure if his former teacher would actually show up.

He had just been some student after all.

He read over the speech a last time, he knew it by heart, but he also knew better than to get sloppy.

His phone rang and when he picked up his sister Talia told him they were almost there and would meet him in front of the university’s main entrance.

He placed the speech in the inside pocket of his suit and grabbed everything he needed to leave the flat.

~*~

When Peter was called up to give the speech he looked out into the crowd and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a very familiar face in the back of the room.

He had actually showed up.

Peter blinked twice and then just got into his speech before he might start to second guess anything.

He talked about his first days, about how proud he felt of the entire group he was graduating with, of how many people he met who widened his horizon and who he felt honored to have learned from.

Then, against the end came the part he was somewhat anxious about, but he was definitely not going to change it now.

“And finally, I want to thank a few people. I want to thank my parents for supporting me, my big sister for making me the thick skinned, snarky asshole I am today and I want to thank my highschool teacher Mr. Stilinski.

He taught me to not just be a snarky asshole but to also be kind, to go with open eyes through the world, to see the art in everything life has to offer.

And over all he taught me how to actually fucking study for something.

Because without that I definitely would not be standing here. 

And lastly of course, a huge thank you to all of you who made this journey with me. It’s been a great time. I wish all of you success and happiness in your future.”

He heard the applause but his eyes were drawn to where Mr. Stilinski was standing.

Even from this far away Peter could clearly see the smirk on the man’s face and he felt his heart beat faster.

He had to sit through the rest of the ceremony but his body and soul felt like they were just naturally gravitating towards him.

This was going to be a lesson in patience.

~*~

After the ceremony ended Peter was swarmed by family and friends to congratulate him, tell him they liked his speech and just chat for a bit before moving on to their respective next part of the evening.

Through all that time Peter hoped Mr. Stilinski would show up but he didn’t see the man anywhere.

Eventually he accepted his friends’ invitation to go out and celebrate.

He hugged his family goodbye and headed to the parking lot of the university.

In the distance he saw a person leaning against his car.

He felt his heartbeat speed up again as he instinctively knew who it was.

Forcing himself to keep a relaxed pace and not just run over to the man was difficult, but he managed it.

The closer he came the more he realized how weak his memory had been compared to the real deal.

There his former teacher was, casually leaning against the hood of Peter’s car, hands in the pockets of his red jacket, hair a bit longer than last time, framing his face, which currently had some charming stubble, eyes trained on Peter, mouth showing his usual smirk.

The only sign that over six years had gone by were the slightly more visible laugh lines.

And if anything that made him more attractive.

Peter stopped just before they’d have been in arms reach from each other.

“You remembered the car I drive.”

He got a genuine smile at that.

“Yeah.”

A moment of silence hung between them.

“I liked your speech” Mr. Stilinski then said, gesturing while talking, the way he always used to do.

Peter hadn’t know what exactly he wanted from seeing Mr. Stilinski again.

Maybe realization that he had moved on?

There had been times when he had felt like he had.

Times when he had felt very connected to other people.

People he still felt connected to.

But when the first phase of meeting a new person had cooled down nothing ever really had compared to the way he felt for the man in front of him.

So if anything he realized the opposite.

He had not moved on.

At all.

His heart still yearned to always be like this, just in the presence of him, at least that, if he could have nothing else.

Maybe he should try to get a position at his old highschool…his younger niece and nephew would probably hate it, so that could be fun…

“Thank you. I was very happy to see you in the audience. I wasn’t sure you would come.”

Mr. Stilinski chuckled.

“And miss the celebration of my brilliant former student’s achievements? Not a chance.”

Another moment filled with silence.

But this time they were looking at each other and Peter felt like the air kind of changed, got charged in some way.

He felt like this was it.

The moment.

If he ever found the right moment and the courage again to make a move, to throw all doubts out the window and be honest about how he felt, this was it.

“Did you know I was in love with you in high school?”

Mr. Stilinski didn’t laugh or scoff or frown, he smiled softly and wistfully sad.

“Yes Peter, it was hard to miss the crush you had.”

Peter shook his head.

“No, I didn’t have a crush on you. I was in love. I might not have known the difference back then, but I know it now.”

As Peter made that distinction Mr. Stilinski tilted his head a little.

“I apologize Peter. I didn’t mean to downplay the feelings you had back then. But either way, I hope you don’t think I should have done anything differently. There would have been no way to acknowledge your feelings without either stepping over the line or hurting you.”

Now it was Peter’s turn to smile wistfully.

“No, I know. And I knew even back then. It only made me love you more. 

And I meant what I said in my speech. You taught me a lot about life and about being true to myself and never stop learning from the people around me. I know it shaped a big part of the person I am today. 

And I guess I am wondering if that might be a person you woukd want to go out with.”

He saw that rare surprised look and didn’t hide his smile.

“Don’t worry Mr. Stilinski. This time it has nothing to do with my grades, I promise.”

The man scratched his neck for a moment and laughed awkwardly.

“I…uh…I didn’t expect that. But I’m not opposed to that…not…not entirely. We might have to talk about the whole me shaping you thing. 

Because that sounds an awful lot like I groomed your or something but…I’m not blind, you are an ad- we are both adults…and-”

Peter had to grin at how much the man’s demeanor changed the moment he didn’t feel in the position of the mentor anymore.

It was such a stark contrast to how he knew the man.

It was also extremely adorable.

And it helped Peter to find the confidence to take the lead from here.

He stepped closer and reached out one hand to place on the man’s neck and get him to stop rambling and focus his attention on Peter.

When he had the man’s focus Peter gave him a reassuring smile.

“You are very cute when you get flustered like that. But let me assure you, you will never be able to make me do something I don’t actually want to do. But if the context concerns you, why don’t we discuss it over dinner? I know a great place nearby.”

Mr. Stilinski smiled back at Peter gratefully.

“That sounds like a good plan. Also if we are actually doing this you should start calling me Stiles.”

Peter grinned and took a step back before holding out his hand for the man to take.

“Alright Stiles, let’s go.”

And the moment those long, pale fingers slid into his and closed around them he knew he’d do whatever he could to make sure he’d get to hold that hand many more times in their future.

[withoutshade]

How I’ve managed to succeed.

Forward:

Yesterday, @KC Allen asked about how people stick with their long term goals and hold themselves accountable. @Brad Bishop requested that I write a book on the subject, but I think that may be a bit of overkill. I have wanted to put down the most important skills I have learned for achieving goals. So, I might as well spend an hour or two doing it. I apologize for the length of this post / note / possible future book outline, but I will try to be as concise as I can in the few hours I have allocated to drafting, fact-checking, writing, and editing. Without further ado, here is “How to succeed: the April Choi Method.”

Overview:

Overall, these are the steps I use:

Setting a Goal

Breaking down the Goal into Steps

Planning out those Steps

Testing the Realism of that Goal

Re-planning and Documentation

The Incentive, Motivation, and Self-Discipline Trinity

Building Incentives

Seeding Motivation

Cultivating Self-Discipline

External and Internal Accountability

Methods and Tools for Maintaining Focus

Time Management & Efficiency

Resources: Time, Money, Energy

Tips, Tricks, and Tools

Goal Setting: Since the main focus of KC’s post was accountability, I’m only going to touch on proper goal setting.

Finding and setting a goal is usually the easy part for people, but it’s holding on to that level of initial excitement that’s the difficult part. Before we get to that, I do want to mention that testing the realism of your goal is an important step and you don’t want to skip it. A few days of testing or research could save you years of your life and disappointment. For me, I still have the dream of breaking the world record for “Most juggling catches of 3 whips in 1 minute”. However, after testing my learning I realized that this would not be possible in the time frame and given the effort I had outlined. I have in the past spent hundreds of hours striving for a goal, only to realize that the end was not possible due to something out of my control. The weather, your location, or income could be something you’re not considering. Please do. Breaking down the goal is a good way to check if that goal is possible, but also to see what some unexpected challenges may be. “The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything, Fast!” by Josh Kaufman and “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg are marvelous resources for how you can break things down into baby steps. The key here is to truly visualize yourself going through each and every single step. Something as simple as “Needs a notary” or “Needs a work visa” could be the difference between succeeding or not. I have forgotten very simple things before that has then trapped me or negated all my previous work.

Documentation: Lists are amazingly powerful tools. I have them everywhere. I have a list tattooed to my arm. I use them all the time. Now, some people aren’t list people, and we’ll get to them in a bit. The main point of a list is to organize the steps from above so you don’t have to waste time thinking about it later. It’s also nice to cross things off. In “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen, his entire system is based on the idea of a “Tickler File”. It’s a way of setting up a system of which when something is needed to be done, it tickles his brain when it needs to. Allen uses a file system, some people use a 30,000 ft view like in “Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking” by Rich Horwath, and some people use a calendar. Personally, I use the bucket method, which is putting tasks into bucket lists. My buckets are: Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Seasonal, Yearly, and Future. I have a list with everything I plan to do placed onto one of those lists. As time moves on, things move from one list to another. Use what you need, but planning and documenting REALLY helps. For the people who aren’t list people, I love to them the parking lot or brain dump. Given a certain amount of time (weekly for me), I use a brain dump. It’s where I sit down for 5-10 min and write out everything that comes into my head. Some people use a parking lot, where they “park” an idea from the week. I like doing it all at once. From this, you pick the top 3 things you want to work on in that time frame. Keller, of “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller likes to connect all his activities to a single objective and that way he has less distractions. Everything as one common goal. That way you aren’t overwhelmed with a massive list, but rather you can pick and choose what to worry about for any given week. Obviously, there are home, family, work, and social obligations, but this is assuming that you are doing those things, you just have 1 point of focus outside the necessary things to hold your baseline.

Visualization: Now to the real meat of what people want. You’re already on a journey, but how do you stick to it? The first ‘trick’ I like to use is visualization. You should have a goal in mind but you also need to truly FEEL what it’s like to have that goal done. Both “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change” by Stephen R. Covey start with visualizing your goal in full. If you don’t have a goal, then imagining what you want people to say at your 100th birthday party is a good generic guide. That visual of your goal should inspire you a great amount, and being able to come back to that is a powerful tool.

THE INCENTIVE-MOTIVATION-DISCIPLINE TRINITY: Anecdotally, the question that gets asked the most about sticking with something is “How do I stay motivated?”. You’ve probably seen the “F**K Motivation” post and thought, for a moment, that it’s all about self-discipline. Your job may think something else and argue that money and power is how you get people to do things. Well, as with most things in life, it's more about balance than the black and white, binary view the world keeps feeding us. I’ve always loved the idea of the exposure trinity from photography. It’s not just Aperture, Shutter Speed, or ISO, but a balance of all three. If you lose some of one, you need more of the others. Let’s go through each one of these, what they are, and how they can help you.

Incentive: Incentive is the most obvious of extrinsic motivators. It’s getting more money, a nicer car, food on your plate, clothing, or the ability to live. We’ve all heard the phrase “Money can’t buy you happiness.” and the arguments that come with. What it comes down to is your placement on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. If you are starving and don’t have the money to buy food, money can definitely buy happiness. If you own a multi-billion dollar company, even giving away a billion to a charity is probably not going to give you lasting happiness. It’s relative. In “The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want” by Sonja Lyubomirsky, Lyubomirsky shows in an experiment where they paid people the US equivalent of $1 per task up to $1000 per task that people very quickly stop putting in effort after a certain payment. At $1 per task, they have to do the task 5-10 times for a meal. But give them $1000, why would they want to put in more effort once they have enough money to eat for a year. This experiment was carried out in a very low-income country, and despite the promise of getting a years worth of money in a single day, the people there actually started to slow down their production rates. This is the downside of incentives or external motivation. They work up to a point. It’s stated in “Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine” by Derren Brown that around $75,000 / year, there is no further correlation between happiness and additional income. As I am currently rather well off, I no longer need Incentive. For many of you, this may be a great extrinsic motivator. I have used the money from commissions, shows, and workshops as incentive in the past, but it’s hasn’t pushed me much compared to the other two. My extrinsic motivators are now things I enjoy doing. If I get this article written by the end of the day, I get candy or a trip to the climbing gym. Make sure whatever you use for incentive is worthwhile to you.

Motivation: The big “M” word that is thrown around a lot. I know that many of you are going to want to know what are the secrets of staying motivated. Sadly, there are not any. Motivation comes and goes. Is strong or is weak. Some days you have it, and some days you don’t. Rather than concentrating on getting more motivation, I like to think about what triggers or sparks your motivation. For me it is music, or people. So if I want motivation to study Spanish, I listen to Spanish music. If I want motivation to practice burlesque, I talk to burlesque dancers. Doing those things doesn’t create motivation. My intrinsic motivation is already there, these things just help it out. Even in the great motivational books that I would recommend such as “The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation” by Michael Matthews, “The Motivation Manifesto: 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power” by Brendon Burchard, and “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life” by Jen Sincero, though they throw around the word “motivation” a lot, what it came down to was techniques that sparked motivation or habits than maintained it. I’m not saying it’s not worth it, but understand how it works and how to use it to boost yourself. Don’t rely on motivation, but think about it like how caffeine should help your day, rather than you be dependent on it.

Self-Discipline: Holy Cheese balls this is a big section. Let me just get the references out of the way. Please, do yourself a favor and read or listen to these: “The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It” by Kelly McGonigal, “The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage” by Mel Robbins, “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength” by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth, and “Scientific Secrets for Self-Control” by C. Nathan DeWall and The Great Courses.

Let me be frank with you, the only way to build Self-Discipline is to do it. It’ll suck that first day, but as you do it, it gets easier. Start off with something simple, something easy to stay focused on and try for as long as you can. If getting started is difficult for you, then use the 5-second rule. You are allowed 5 seconds, then you have to start. Count, 1, 2, 3, 4, and before you get to 5, you have to have started. That works wonders for me. Even when I’m sad. I give myself a timer. I’m allowed to cry for 10 minutes, but when that timer goes off, I’m done crying and I get back to work. If you want a drill to build self-discipline, there is nothing in this world that will give you the outcome that meditation will. I’ve written on Meditation a number of times, so I’m just going to put my favorite version of what I’ve written: Meditation as Strength Training for Self-Discipline:

I have found myself explaining how to get into meditation, or responding to a lot of “I can’t meditate.” comments. I have found an analogy that I think helps quite it bit. I like to think that Meditation is just strengthening focus just like weight lifting strengthens your muscles.

So for lifting you have reps, weight and muscle groups.

For meditation, a single rep is:

*Focus on something*

*Have a distracted thought*

*Guide yourself back to the something*

That’s it. That’s the most basic iteration of meditation.

The amount of weight or “strength" in meditation is how focused the task is. Watching TV is almost mindless. So, it’s like lifting 1 lb. Slightly more difficult might be something like reading a book; which would be like lifting 20 lbs. For you, yoga could be 50 lbs, jogging is like lifting 100 lbs, just concentrating on your breath is like 200 lbs, and sitting still with your eyes closed, thinking about nothing is like lifting 500 lbs. Now, I don’t know that many people that can lift 500 lbs. Thus, I wouldn’t expect someone who just started meditation to meditate on such a difficult subject.

Personally, I use highly repetitive activities. Knitting, Braiding, Whip Making, or actual weight-lifting. You can use whatever you like. The goal is to “Single-task” rather than multi-task or get distracted.

Just like you can lift weights to improve certain muscle groups, you can meditate to strengthen certain mental muscles. This can be positive aspects like gratitude, confidence, or loving-kindness; or negative aspects such as negative self-talk, anger, or jealousy. For a positive aspect, focus on a single positive affirmations (like “I am smart.) and when you get distracted, guide yourself back to it. 

For an exercise regimen, you can start with just 1 set of 5 reps once or twice a week. As you get more comfortable with it, you can ramp up to doing 1 set of 10 Reps, resting (which is just doing anything else), then doing another set, for 2 sets of 10, three to four times a week. In about a month, most people will find that the reps happen without counting and a set is now a period of time. Currently, I used my FitBit to meditate 5 min a day, once a day. Not everyday, just when I feel like I need to calm down or collect myself.

For negative thoughts, the regimen is a bit different. I like to write down the opposite on a rubber band that I wear on my wrist. For something like “Less Negative Self-Talk” I write “Be more positive” in the rubber band. When I notice a negative thought enters my mind I snap the rubber band and that is my rep for my training regimen. You don’t actually need the rubber band, just pushing the thought aside is enough. The rubber band is just a nice physical reminder.

As you get better at mediation, you’ll notice that the reps get easier and are spaced further apart. Very few people can go more than 5 seconds without a distracting thought when just concentrating on their breath. So, if you can make it that long, you’re already at the super elite, olympic level of meditation. If not, don’t worry. Plenty of people never win a gold medal in Olympic weight-lifting.

If you want to build the habit into your daily life, you can pick a time to meditate. I have found it much easier to establish a meditation habit by linking it to an activity you already do. For example, whenever you brush your teeth, take a shower, or eat lunch.

I hope this helps someone starting their meditation journey. I realize that meditation is not for everyone. So, if you don’t like it, don’t do it. There are plenty of studies that show meditation helping anxiety, depression, stress, or just improving focus. [Links Below] The method I described above is obviously not the only way to meditate. It was just a way that’s analogous to how most people strengthen their muscles. There are plenty of other methods including guided meditations for beginners. Hopefully, you find something for you.

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1609875 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress-201401086967

The Wall:

So, you’re now goal-oriented, motivated, and focused, but you still can’t get the things done that you want done. You’ve hit the dreaded “Wall”. What can you do from here? Well, if you’ve hit that wall, then it’s because you have run out of a resource. That resource, may be Money, Time, or Energy. This is where you need to start budgeting all three. If there is only one book you read from all the ones I have given you, let it be this one: “The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy” by Chris Bailey. I have read, listened to, re-read, and re-listened to this books multiple times. It’ll will get you over your biggest hurdles. I’m only going to touch on efficiency and procrastination a little bit because this book has it all covered. Every chapter is a new method on how to be productive, how to improve efficiency, and how to stop procrastinating. 

Efficiency & Procrastination:

If your serious about this, right now, start counting to 60, once you get to the number 30, Stop reading this, Google “The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy” by Chris Bailey, then by the time you get to 60, buy that book. Put it at the top of your pile, read it, even if you don’t think you have time, trust me, it’s worth every second of time, 10 times over. Seriously, do it now. Everything I would write out is pretty much a recreation of that book, from biological prime time to task batching. 

So, with that, we move onto the big three resources: Time, Money and Energy. These are probably your biggest walls. I’m not saying you will get over these. Some of these are just too big. But hopefully, the advice and resources here will help you out.

Time:

Time is a tough one. You can’t make more time, but you can get rid of time holes. In “The Productivity Project”, Bailey talks about keeping a time journal. I personally use Toggl.com and find it super useful. But for me, I found a secret that drastically increased the amount of time I have and made everything I wanted to do go much faster. How? People. People: This is probably my biggest “Secret” when it comes to doing all the things I get done. The adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” is true in more ways than one. If you meet the right people each of you gets to leverage your own strengths and help cover each other’s weaknesses. Also, people give you an amazing way to check to make sure what your doing is the right path. The amount of knowledge the rest of the world has is infinitely larger than the knowledge you have. Use them. Sadly, people are usually the largest hole of time than could suck out all the time you have. Between arguments, disagreements, and fights, you can lose hundreds of hours a year. But with a good team of friends and family, they can also help you get through things. I HIGHLY recommend spending time with each of these books to help you gain the human resources and interpersonal skills to help you gain more time. Communicating with others: “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. “More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory” by Franklin Veaux. “The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts” by Gary Chapman.

Interpersonal Skills: “Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People” by Vanessa Van Edwards. “Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think” by Tasha Eurich

Advice: “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers” and “Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World” both by Tim Ferriss

Money:

After not having enough time, the next things I hear is “I don’t have the money.” There is no quick fix here. I’m not a financial expert, so I’m simply going to give you what’s helped me: “The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness” by Dave Ramsey, “Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!” by Robert T. Kiyosaki. What’s probably helped me the most in increasing my income is “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It” by Chris Voss

Emotions:

This is the last area I’m going to touch on. It’s the area I have the most difficulty with. I suffer from depression severe enough to leave me doing nothing but working, crying, ruminating, with very little sleep and very little food. Here, I also don’t have an easy answer for you. Therapy, friends, socializing, and gratitude are going to be your best bet moving forward. As for resources, these are my top 5 favorite books on improving my happiness.

“Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things” by Jenny Lawson

“The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin

“SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully” by Jane McGonigal

“Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead” by Brené Brown

“The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life” by Shawn Achor

Tips, Tricks, and Tools: Here is a list of Tips, Tricks, and Tools that I have used. I put these last in hopes that you would first read the above section to better understand how important framework and context is. You can have the fastest car in the world, but if you don’t know how to drive, you’re never going to win a race. These will help you, but unless you build them into a habit, they are unlikely going to stick around long enough to get you to your goal by yourself.

Journaling. Whether it’s to keep track of thoughts, tasks, exercise, time, or food. Writing down what you do, eat, or think almost always has the largest impact on behavioral change.

Motivational Photo Wall. I have a wall of photos of goals and people that inspire me.

Brain Dump. Sit down for 5-10 min and write down everything that bothers you so you don’t forget a thing.

5 second rule. You get 5 seconds, then you have to start doing whatever it is you need to start doing.

Pomodoro Technique. Set a timer. For 25 minutes you have to work HARD, but then give yourself a 5 min break.

Accountability Partner or Coach. Pretty much self-explanatory.

Therapy. Also, self-explanatory.

Self-writing. What I’m doing here. Then read your letter, post, or article when you need to.

Tiny Tasks. Break tasks down to tasks that each take 5 min or less. You can break an hour long task of writing into 12, 5-minute bursts.

Self-Talk. Change the way you self-talk.

Visualization. Think of the end goal whenever you get low.

Find your prime time. When are you most active? Do the hard things then.

Mentor someone else. When you have to teach or mentor, you learn a lot as well.

ASK FOR HELP!!! Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

[bffhreprise]

Entry 299

 “What?” I questioned after opening my eyes.  Realizing how expensive everything looked, last night came crashing back into my mind.  I was in a mansion, having hit poor Brandon with a glass.

 “Good morning, Deyanira.  I took the liberty of bringing you means of hydration when I noticed you’d wake soon.” stated a feminine voice.

 “Mila, right?” I asked, my head still feeling somewhat groggy.

 “Correct.  Mind if I bring the drinks inside?” she questioned.

 I shook my head, knowing she could see me.  Somewhere in my head, I was trying to work out if that was actually legal, but I was distracted by the door opening.  In stepped one of those impressively humanesque bodies that an A.I. somehow controlled.  She was carrying a tray of drinks.

 “I can’t drink all that.” I blurted.

 “Well, you probably could, but I decided that bringing you options would be more expedient than requesting a choice and fetching it after.  We don’t often have guests here, so please forgive my lack of practice in these matters.  As with most things, the opinions on what is best in  this matter vary greatly.” she explained, sounding apologetic.

 “I can see how that would be confusing.  Thank you!” I told her after she set the tray on my nightstand before curtsying.

 She smiled and nodded before exiting the room.

 Coffee, orange juice, several teas, milk, and a glass of water were all on the tray along with various things that could go in the drinks.  She certainly tried to be thorough.  Sipping the coffee—which turned out to be an amazing blend—I tried deciding how to think of her.  An Artificial Intelligence was just a bunch of code used to impersonate humanity.  She could probably use different voices and alter her personality at whim.  No matter how lifelike she seemed, she…  I stopped, realizing I was already comfortable thinking of Mila as a “she”.  Was she so convincing that the idea became ingrained in my tipsy mind last night, or did seeing a body and listening to her speak take advantage of a mind accustomed to addressing everyone with whom I spoke as a person?

 “Mila, where’s Brandon?” I questioned.

 “If you join the others in the ballroom, you’ll see him soon.  Would you like breakfast first?” she replied thoughtfully.

 “No, thank you.” I told her, smiling to myself about how natural the conversation felt.  Then something else occurred to me.  “You don’t watch people change, do you?”  If so, she had already seen me once, not that it really mattered if an A.I. saw me, but… Interrupting as she started to reply, I then asked “Sorry, but I really want to know that I’m not recorded.”

 “In a sense, yes, you are.” she stated promptly.  The moment I opened my mouth, she quickly said, “Please, allow me to explain.  I ‘see’ the world through a very large number of sensors, cameras, and things I’m not even allowed to mention due to them being secret technologies developed by my mother.  Everything I sense is stored, at least temporarily, into my memory, but I routinely delete anything I don’t consider of relevance to me or the company.  Nothing could possibly be offered that would persuade me to share memories that would be considered invasive without permission of the one whose privacy is under attack.  The Master would take personal offense if I did, and I endeavor to never earn his ire.”

 “Because he’d have you deleted?” I questioned, finding the thought surprisingly scary.

 “No, of course not.  He would consider that murder.  Though I do wish for you to know that I am personally against malicious disclosure as well, I’d lose his confidence in me, which would be far worse than death.” she insisted.

 “How so?” I questioned.

 There was a slight pause before she said, “Because even thinking of him regarding me poorly is a source of discomfort.  With a mind like mine, not to boast, I have considerable time to make myself miserable if I were to foolishly tread that path.  Shouldn’t we all do our best to be happy?”

 I nodded, sipping down more of my coffee.  Yesterday, I’d have scoffed at someone claiming to have this conversation.  Today, I was in a different world.  Deciding to change, I tried on the clothes from last night and quickly felt like I should shop here, if that were possible.  Not only was everything perfectly fitted, but Mila’s suggestions were very good for my figure.  As I changed, Mila gave me a briefing on some of the people here, explaining that they were in the ballroom at present.

 Taking my coffee, I proceeded down the hall, thankful when an arrow appeared on a mirror to show me where I was going.  I didn’t hurry, taking time to really look at the art now that I was sober.  Some of the paintings were creepy, but many were beautiful, like excerpts from a good fantasy painted onto this world.  The vases and even tables were beautifully made as well.  Even the ceiling was engraved to look like some elaborate story stretching the halls.

 A corner of a mirror by a table illuminated with a perfect picture of my empty coffee cup and an arrow pointing at the table.

 “But… moisture… I don’t want to damage anything.” I replied, having not brought the saucer.

 Mila quickly assured me “Don’t worry.  The cup will be gone seconds after you place it down, and the table will be tended.”

 I nodded and did as she wished.  This place was as startling as it was exquisite, and I was reminded of how anxious I felt last night.  The strangest part of stepping into a fairy tale was the helplessness you felt when you realized that what you had taken for common sense no longer applied.  Just thinking of what these people could do to me if they abused their wealth was terrifying.

 Before I realized how far I came, I was in the ballroom, spotting someone familiar.  “You’re that girl!” I exclaimed, spotting the perfect whiteness of her hair and skin.

 “Good evening!  Welcome to our home.” she called, not bothering to turn away from the game she played on the enormous screen.

 “Were you able to sleep well?”

 “Huh…?” I muttered, surprised to find the tall, handsome owner standing and facing me.  James was sooo tall.  “Yes.  Thank you.” I replied before asking “Is Brandon around?  Your A.I., Mila… she said to come here.”

 “Brandon should be back soon.  He had a quick job at eleven.” explained James with a smile.

 “Wow.  He must not have slept much.” I stated, remembering again how I had hit him last night.  I really did owe him.

 “James!  I’m all finished!” exclaimed a young girl as she ran into the room.

 “Mila, how did she do?” questioned James as he watched her with an amused expression.

 “Perfectly satisfactory.” stated Mila proudly.

 Raising his hand for a high five, James said, “Good job, Kayla.”

 The girl happily high-fived his hand as she told him “My old school didn’t have nearly as many tests.  I feel like I’ve taken a bijillion and I just got here!”

 “Seems that you’re handling the new routine wonderfully.  Besides, we needed to know how much you knew before we could teach you, right?” he asked her.

 “I guess so.  Can I play now?” she begged hopefully.

 “Were you supposed to do anything for Jemal today?” he inquired dubiously.

 “Yep.  All done.” she assured him with a big grin.

 “You still haven’t picked up your room.” stated Mila from speakers in the room.

 “Tattletale!” exclaimed the girl before sticking her tongue out at a nearby wall.

 “You probably should do that first.” suggested James.

 “But Jemal’s studying, and I don’t want to bother him.” argued the girl, pouting a little.

 Smiling, James said, “Okay, but don’t blame me if he yells at you later.”

 “I won’t!” she assured him, immediately running to take a seat.  The tall mirror in front of the chair she chose had lit up before she was even seated, and a login screen for Ancient Tribes of Earth was quickly bypassed.

 “I am so confused right now.” I admitted.  “Are you her teacher or something?”

 “No.  In a sense, Mila is, but the courses are really about being self-taught.” explained James as if that wasn’t supposed to give me even more questions.

 “You can’t be self-taught at her age.” I asserted, feeling the girl couldn’t even be in junior high yet.  “Doesn’t she go to a real school?”

 “The Institute of Autodidacticism is quite well renowned, I assure you.” he replied with complete confidence.

 “The what?” I asked, having never heard of whatever that was.

 Smiling, James tilted his head and inquired “Mila, how is the institute ranked worldwide?”

 “The very best, of course.  You know Adelmar wouldn’t tolerate his family utilizing something second-rate, though I doubt he’s fully aware of how greatly improved our versions are.” she replied proudly.

 “There you have it.  Kayla’s receiving the very best possible education through college.” asserted James as if that settled the matter.

 “Through college?  Shouldn’t she play with kids her own age?” I asked, feeling the weirdness here never ceased.

 “Jemal’s going to let me visit my friends this weekend!” exclaimed Kayla from her seat.  Why was she even paying attention to us?

 “Ah… I see.” I lied, deciding my questions on the subject weren’t really getting me anywhere.  Going with another line of questioning that had popped into my head, I asked “So does Brandon attend the institute thing?”

 “Courses are available to everyone, and I expect my friends to learn a certain amount just to expand the types of work they can do.” replied James, still smiling cheerfully.

 “This place is so weird.” I stated, but I was already deciding on what to ask Brandon about that institute later.  Brandon wasn’t so… so much.  Something about James was distracting, and I had certainly seen other handsome guys before.

 “I like to think it’s fun enough for everyone.  At the very least, I haven’t had any complaints yet.” stated James proudly.

 “Because it’s awesome!” exclaimed Kayla from her chair.  The game was going, but she still was listening in on us for some reason.

 Not knowing what else to do, I stepped up behind her chair and watched her play for a while.  The girl happily pointed things out to me, and I quickly decided the game was very, very complicated.  After a little while, I went over to watch the white beauty, Portentia.

 “So… what’s your relationship with Brandon?” I asked, startled as I saw my words on the screen.  “What?  Why’s what I’m saying being posted on the game?”

 “I’m deaf.” she stated.  “Mila transcribes what’s said around me, so I don’t miss if someone’s talking to me.  It’s not really going into the game, I think.”

 “Oh.  Sorry.  I was just surprised.” I told her, feeling embarrassed.  I couldn’t know that she was deaf, but… I felt like I just pointed out a blind man’s cane.

Ignoring my discomfort, Portentia said,  “As for Brandon, he wanted a wingman, so I went along.”

 “You’re not supposed to abandon your friend as a wingman.” I pointed out, trying to decide what sort of relationship these two had that she’d be a wingman for him.  There was still a chance one or the other had invested interests.

 “I had… work.” she told me with obvious hesitation.

 What was she hiding?  “You people take jobs that late?” I pursued.

 “Some of us do.  You could say I’m a night owl.” she replied, slightly emphasizing the last two words while sounding amused.

 “So.. about Brandon…” I started, uncertain how to get to the truth.

 “Nope.  Not interested.  I think I intimidate him a bit.” she replied, sounding perfectly frank.

 “Huh?” I questioned, not really seeing Brandon as the type of guy to get flustered by a pretty face… and body… I loved her hair.

 “I can beat him up.” she asserted with a shrug, as if delivering a fact with no thought to the supposed fact being ludicrous.

 “No way.  He’s pretty big… and strong.” I replied, remembering those muscles.  She looked fit, but still…

 “Everyone here learns martial arts.  Portentia’s very advanced.” insisted James from his seat.  He had gone back to playing the game as well.  All of these people seemed like addicts.

 “Is that self-taught too?” I questioned, not seeing how that would work.

 “No.  I teach them.” he casually replied.

 “I… see.” I stated, not willing to argue with the host.  If he was really some sort of Kung Fu master and that good looking and filthy rich, there certainly were reasons he was dating a British noble.

 James turned around, already smiling as he said, “I’m sure Brandon demonstrated that he knew how to handle himself when the brawl broke out.  I was surprised he got injured.”

 “That… was sorta my fault.” I admitted.

 “Oh?” he inquired, seemingly genuinely interested.

 “I sorta hit him with my drink after he got pushed into me.” I explained, wishing I had restrained myself.

 “And then you went home with him?” questioned James dubiously.

 “I felt guilty!  All he did was smile and apologize after I hit him.  Then he helped get some people out of there while acting as a wall.  It was kinda cool.” I explained, feeling more and more embarrassed.

 “I think you liiiiike him.” teased Kayla, sitting on her knees and staring over her seat at me.

 “Maybe.  Did you call dibs or something?” I questioned, not sure how to deal with this nosy kid.

 “Eww… no.  That’s gross.” she claimed before plopping back around to play her game.

 “Gross?  Isn’t that a bit harsh?” I asked, feeling Brandon would look perfectly handsome away from these models, especially with those abs…

 “No.  It’s Brandon.” she asserted without turning around again.

 James laughed and said, “I might have to tell the others to watch what they say around you.”

 “Aww… but James…” she pouted.

 “Fine, I’ll just blame Emma.” he teased.

 “Emma’s… the one with the multi-colored hair?” I verified.

 Nodding, he said, “Yes.  She’s out doing some carpentry today.”

 “Carpentry?” I asked, picturing the spritely girl.  “She doesn’t look like a carpenter.”

 He shrugged and admitted “No, but she’s the best, better than me in fact.  I do believe I mentioned that we fulfill a variety of needs here.”

 “Yes, but… I don’t know.  I feel like I’m missing something.  Before I just thought I was tired, but…” I started, not even sure why I was saying so much when the front doors swung open.

 “Baby, I’m back!” exclaimed Brandon as he stepped inside.

 “Baby!?” I exclaimed, whirling to face the hall.  I couldn’t see him from here, but I asked “Are you married!?”

 “She’s still here!?” he exclaimed in a panic.

 “Are you married or something?” I demanded as I rounded the corner.  These rooms were too big.  If he had brought me here when he was married, then I had entirely the wrong idea about him.

 “What?  No.” he insisted, holding his hands out defensively despite the distance between us.

 “Then who are you calling ‘baby’?” I asked, staring him down as I took another step closer.

 “Umm… you?” he suggested stupidly.

 “He actually just does that sort of stuff frequently.” called James from his seat.

 “You can’t just say things like that!” I exclaimed, hitting him as I reached him.  Too annoyed about the misunderstanding, I did my best to ignore how solid he felt.

 “Why not?  I’m glad to be home.  I was working, you know.” he told me, though he was dressed pretty casually again.

 “So?  You didn’t leave a note for me or anything.  What would you have done if I just left?” I questioned, not willing to let him off the hook.

 “Called?” he suggested.

 “You don’t have my number.” I asserted, wondering if I had given it and forgotten.

 Speaking from speakers in the hall now, Mila said, “Actually, we do.  I performed a full background check on you when you entered the premises.”

 “What?  I didn’t agree to that.” I told her.

 “No, but as a law student, you are probably well aware that you don’t need to agree to anything for someone to perform a background check.  Given that you may seek to enter into some sort of relationship with Brandon, I felt looking into you was in the best interest of the company as well as Brandon.  We wouldn’t want him bringing home a dubious person, would we?” she explained in a reasonable tone.

 If there was a flaw in her logic, I couldn’t find it at the moment.

 “Uh… sorry about that.” stated Brandon, sounding sincere.

 I hit him, realizing he could have warned me.  He didn’t warn me near enough about what I was stepping into, but how could I have believed this place from a guy who wore a nerdy t-shirt to a bar?  “Get anything good?” I finally asked Mila as a plan hatched in my head.

 “Yes.  Apollo is quite adorable.  Your mother uploads videos of him frequently.” replied Mila, verifying that the background check was very thorough.

 “She does love that dog.” I agreed.  Deciding openness was the way to go, I asked “How well do you know the law?”

 Mila was clearly amused as she said, “Enough to know that your current textbooks have a number of errors.  I sent out erratas to your professors and the publishers to review as a courtesy.”

 “Quiz me for my next test, and I’ll forgive you.” I told her.

 “Agreed, though I really don’t believe you’re as offended as you’re acting.” she told me.

 I laughed and said, “A good lawyer has to be able to act.  Looks like I need some work.”  I wasn’t really surprised that I couldn’t fool Mila, but getting her help could be invaluable with her having access to an entire, highly-regarded school.

  “So does this mean you want to come back here?” asked Brandon hopefully.  He was so much easier to read than James, not nearly so intimidating either.

  “No.  I’m assuming a fancy A.I. can quiz me from anywhere.  She has my number.  I still might though if you buy me breakfast.” I playfully suggested.

 “I’m hungry too, but… umm.. mind eating here?” he asked.

 Surprised, I inquired “You cook?”

 “A little, but Marco’s the man.  You’ve gotta try his cooking before you go.” insisted Brandon, as he put his arm around me to turn me toward another hall.

 “And Marco is…?” I questioned.

 “Oh, the chef.” he replied with a smile.

 Of course… mansion… chef… Duh.

 Marco seemed delighted to have another mouth to feed, though he already seemed to be working on lunch with Mila’s assistance.  She took over dicing the vegetables he had been working on as he started pulling things from the fridge.  Watching an actual chef in action was so different than watching my mom cook.  His movements were so smooth, and he had Brandon and me laughing immediately with his anecdotes.  Within one bite of my frittata, my resolve to eat here again was firm, and the man kept on cooking.

[silentlytypingyou]

mbti guys vs mbti girls (how it differs)

THIS IS SUCH AN INTERESTING QUESTION, thank you for asking it!

INTP

Girl - Puns and Sarcasm™, pretends she doesn’t have friends, pays attention to people though, so loyal, can’t wait for college, has issues with the practical side of life, makes art with eyeliner.

Boy - The Biggest Introvert Ever, except when you start talking about their favourite subjects, co-dependent relationship with his best-friend, acts careless but has a lot of feelings, (tries to) make things work with his parents. 

ENTP

Girl - Nerdy and popular, obsessed with comic books and movies, has no sense of priorities, “FIGHT ME”, has ambition, knows everyone and everyone knows her, way too many feelings at once or coldest ice queen ever. 

Boy - Horrible puns, mythology nerd, probably an atheist, creates useless junk 24/7, always creating something, has no sense of priorities either, expresses emotions facially, “Let’s start a revolution”.

INTJ

Girl - Is silently processing if you will be worth her time, likes to draw, wants to change things, expresses affection through actions rather than words, resting bitch-face, quiet until triggered, psychologically strong.

Boy - Remembers things until it gets creepy, great sense of style, resting bitch-face (must be an Ni-dom thing), principally interested in testing theories out irl, either very interested in sports or trips over self 24/7, posh nerd.

ENTJ

Girl - Plots 24/7, is the friend in a relationship or perpetually single, enjoys studying economics and politics, great sense of style, competitive and ambitious af, what doesn’t kill her better run, intuitive but practical, eye-rolls. 

Boy - Extravert who likes to pretend he’s an introvert, crushes all the rules to create his own, constantly well-dressed, loves aesthetics, ambitious af, refuses to admit when they’re wrong, charismatic, dad humour.

ISFP

Girl - Oblivious concerning other people’s feelings, has a co-dependent relationship with her best friend, is obsessed with aesthetics and Pinterest, romantic, is actually pretty organised, treadmill runner. 

Boy - Wide array of hobbies most likely including photography, film-making, and exercising, quiet loner who comes out of shell at parties, has three close friends, enjoys philosophical/symbolic conversations. 

ISTP

Girl -  The Cynic™, really smart, owns a bike, probably into photography too, rebellious streak, either completely rejects makeup or is incredibly good at it, oblivious concerning responsibilities, people’s feelings better watch out.

Boy - Great sense of style, really smart, hair on fleek, unexpected opinions who happen to also be extremely sharp, quiet loner, pokerfaced 24/7, has three friends, subtle humour, very salty, wants or owns a motorbike.

ESFP

Girl -  Human labrador, hug attacks, attracted to all things fire and passion, organisation skills put to use when planning events for friends, impulsive af, 10/10 for style, interested in psychology and symbolism, laughs a lot.

Boy - Jokes 24/7, loves food and wine, wants a fun relationship, is a teddy-bear, is good at everything except staying calm for more than 10 seconds, everybody loves him, fierce friend, uses humour to cover up insecurities.

ESTP

Girl - Really cool, mood swings though, wants to travel the world and work as a secret agent, really into art and history, dates a lot, candid laugh, hates to read, crushes on select celebrities, really loyal towards their best friend.

Boy - Always finds a way to get his own, really fit, independent in all kinds of relationship, knows everyone, absolutely restless, probably has anxiety, humour to cover the wounds, sportswear or really classy.

INFJ

Girl - Nervous laugh, wants to save everyone, has a personal vendetta against Trump, very distant towards people she doesn’t know, great sense of style, SYMBOLS EVERYWHERE, very attracted to nature, graceful.

Boy - “Surely there’s more to life than this”, extraverts quite easily, wants to help everyone, daydreams a lot, anxious 24/7, a little socially awkward, makes you feel really at ease, sweet, wise but makes bold moves when under Se.

ENFJ

Girl - Extravert who looks like an introvert, is a social butterfly but craves deepness, aggressively wants everybody to be alright, can be a drama-queen, will fiercely call out the bullies, awkward oversharing.

Boy - Seems to be always happy it’s crazy, candid laugh, everybody loves him, really deep although messes around a lot, acts tough but is a softie, DEBATE IS LIFE, cares about everyone, is frustrated things don’t change.

INFP

Girl - Somehow manages to be both outrageous and cute, either completely stoic or an absolute cupcake, METAPHORS, doesn’t understand people half the time, quiet until passionate, can be really wise.

Boy - Author/poet friend, always a little bit sad, really kind though, an Artist™, owns a dog and/or a guitar, oversized sweaters, unexpected puns, good at Literature, very facially closed-off.

ENFP

Girl - Becomes friends with you in a matter of seconds, chatterbox, outrageous, always up for an adventure, writes sometimes when she’s free from her other 32 hobbies, very random, really weird puns, excited eyes, can be OTT.

Boy - A meme lord, quite chill, has an immediate emotional response to meanness, master procrastinator, is downright outrageous, watches way too many vines, candid laugh, listens to people who cry. 

ISTJ

Girl - Sarcastic but sweet, surprisingly considerate of other people’s feelings at times, doesn’t give two cents about what she looks like, will do anything for her friends, has trust issues though, loves dogs.

Boy - Caring friend, super loyal, dresses simple but classy, listens a lot, has a relatively good relationship with his parents, is a little intimidating at first, works hard plays hard, secret romantic, loves dogs too wtf.

ISFJ

Girl - Fancy colourful jumpers, judgemental af but tries to be nice and accept everyone for who they are 24/7, has 32 different hobbies, incredibly attentive to detail, master procrastinator, great baker, wants to break the rules.

Boy - Attracted to art, has twenty different ideas for jobs and cannot commit to one to save a life, either really quiet or does not know how to shut up, wants everyone to get along, analytical but just needs hugs.

ESTJ

Girl - Will not take your shit if you hurt someone they care about, very vocal in terms of feelings and opinions, trying her best, surprisingly insecure at times, needs attention, ORGANISATION, classy style. 

Boy - Chill until irretrievably triggered, posh clothes, discusses money like nobody’s business, is a good listener though, cab versus public transport, has so many friends, ORGANISATION, secret flirt.

ESFJ

Girl - Remembers the snacks and basically everything else about everyone ever, great at analysing things, has a lot of bottled feelings, gets rid of your social anxiety just like that, either an innocent smol bean or knows wayyy too much. 

Boy - Extravert™, acts like an ESFP half the time, understands people’s decisions, chats and laughs 24/7, can be a little heartless though sometimes, optimistic at all times, very loyal, makes the worst puns.

Here you go! So there are some types that I have only met from one gender, and this is only to be taken as an approximation, since type is not really relative to gender or anything, so I hope I don’t offend anyone. I’m so sorry I’m late, I wanted to make it properly! Have a good day, and take care!