#i also forgot to post about yesterday but like whatever tbh

[iliterallydecepticanteven]

Can’t believe I’ve been shipping my beloved goth robot girlfriends Blackarachnia and Slipstream together for so long and only now got around to writing smut for them during Kinktober

[taiigaatea]

heyyy guysssss you wont mind if i just post some sketches right???? ok good im NOT sitting through the 5-10 hours of makin a finished art piece (also yesterday was my moms birthday i love you mom)

wait i vhave a lot of things to post um lets start with most recent first

i went on vacation AGAIN to ocean city how wonderful... tbh i did this partly because me et a friend (hi lunar even though we dont follow eachother #LOL!) were talking aboutone of their recent sketches involving bathtub and i was like HEY I WANNA DO THAT TOO!!!! pool is not bathtub though dont listen to me. i looove that official art posted like 3 weeks ago with edgar in his cute little transparent cape thing soi i was like FINE ill steal it because i have no #originality !!!!!!!! love it

that was way too long for one section my bad

wouldve added these to the end but i think it makes more sense to put them here just because these were also done over vacation (same with the next sketch as well) DONT ASK ABOUT THE "IAN IS NOT SKIBIDI" its literally just me and ian being stupid and annoying in the restaurant as All siblings do,, these suck tbh but whatever its dull crayon drawings it doesnt really matter... (i love dumsers though)

WHY DOES DISCORD SUCK I JUST WANT TO DOWNLOAD MY IMAGES

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ok ugly ass sketch number 3 we are really winning with these. edgars too cute though i cant be mad ANYWAYS. modern au!!! except i have no designs for either of them i just put them in the clothes i used for them in the sims 4 BECAUSE!!! i forgot i deleted their cc in a fit of rage however many years ago (edgar kinning #lol) and didnt want to quit the game to find more since the game takes FOREVER to load... its that 13gb of cc isnt it :onesecondkite:

lunar helped me with this sketch too (especially on the canvs/easel) can we all say thank you to lunar

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last one yaheehy! ignore how blurry it is/it being unfinished i did it on the train and some guy sat next to me... IT IS FINISHED but fuck you im not getting another picture i do what i want!!!!!!!! theyre in skirts/dresses because i drew them in the two outfits i packed for that trip (baby cousins first birthday !! yayyy) honestly i dont care about anything other than putting my favorites in cute outfits especially if i own them myself

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can i post the edluca diaries here... is this a safe space (it should be since aa isnt here)

dont take this seriously at all the only reason the stupid fucking book exists is because of the no more yaoi letter. im not a writer probably wont ever be (LILYZARI DOES NOT COUNT) the "fic" i wrote is completely satire to spite aa because we are the bestest of friends (he bought me minecraft!!! now i get to be The edlucayaoi on minecraft!!!!!!!)

oh shit i just realized i left a mention of lucas name in there UM sorry aa i cant fix it now books signed

[chibishortdeath]

I did a little bit of background practice yesterday. I usually forget that I could be drawing scenery and stuff so I’m kinda rough at it. It took like three tries to get the results of that first picture (second picture was one of those tries, and I’m not even showing the other one it was really bad 💀💀💀)

Also just throwing in some other doodles cause yeah :3. Simon. Some of these are from the same page and some of these are ones I think I forgot to post a bit ago so if there’s repeats then eh whatever lol. Explanations under a cut :)

This is pretty much just a study of a photo of a graveyard I ran into on Pinterest. Liminal spaces are very nice for finding background references because you can be sure no one is gonna be in them and they have the weird vibe that The Guy™️ should be in. But holy HELL trees are HARD. Like obviously I know what a tree looks like but the second I have to draw branches trees suddenly do not make sense anymore 💀

Another liminal space, this one was a path with the sky completely blacked out. I tried putting Simon into it but he kinda ended up a little muddled and too small augh. I’m also not very great at combining people and backgrounds so uh yeah. This one was also a much faster doodle just trying to warm up for the first one. But eh it’s cool idk. I need to put him in more liminal spaces or like try to draw the Simon’s Quest areas in 3D eventually.

Small practice comic! There’s no words, Simon just kinda walks a bit and passes out. I was gonna have more things happen but I didn’t have the room for it and decided to just leave it as a little practical piece. He’s probably gonna get up in a little bit and freak out about how much time he wasted.

Just a Simon head :3. His hair is fun to draw! I usually end up simplifying things as like a little uh polygonal… I think that’s the word… When drawing skulls, I usually go for octagons instead of circles because that’s much easier, but that ends up bleeding into how I draw hair making it kinda spikey and pointy in some spots on the top. I feel like I draw pretty inconsistently, but he’s very pretty and fun to draw regardless of how he ends up :3

This is some weird ass fan art of two things that aren’t related at all lmao. Sometimes you gotta crossover things that don’t make sense for the fun of it. This is Simon drawn based on a scene from the Fear Garden music video! Fear Garden is a banger, shout out to Chaa fr, it’s a vocaloid song about a girl who has a weird obsession with hands (Kira joke lol) and kills people to plant their hands in her secret garden where she treats them like flowers. Yeah, again it makes no sense, but the pose with the two mirrored characters was really cool and idk the vibes were there—

Simon sitting in between two graves, both say “BELMONT” in big letters, but one is for Christopher and Cyncia and the other is for Soleil and whoever his significant other was, we don’t have a name so it’s cut off. This has me thinking about the time in between all these characters hmm. Doing the math, Soliel would’ve been in his 90s when Simon was born, so there’s actually a good chance he wasn’t Simon’s grandfather, rather his great grandfather :O. Which means that there’s two generations we know nothing about between these two. And also that Simon would’ve never met either Soleil or Christopher or Cyncia :(. Then that has me thinking about fan comic stuff and how I’m gonna depict Simon hmmmmmmm. I imagine Simon spent a lot of time in the family graveyard tbh.

Simon is totally me when I dramatically collapse on a large marble monument of some sort in the graveyard— There’s also a couple attempts at drawing his paldrons at different angles but aaaa I can’t visualize these things properly. They’re just like kinda flared half ovals, why are they so hard to draw at any angle but like head on and top view 💀💀💀??? I’m trying to get out of the habit of drawing them bent in angles that don’t make sense but argggggg it’s hard lol.

Yeah, recent doodles tho yippie d(^^ )!

[ibeblizzard10]

an update ig lmao

I’m so fucking tired I’ll try to sleep now in a sec even tho Ik I’ll fail but whatever. I hope I’ll be able to talk to you guys tmrw night again so be ready cuz I’ll be blowing ur notifications to catch up w the 2 weeks I was online >:3

btw my weight this morning was 87.6 lb(idk I just felt like telling u) I ended dressing up as an emo clown for Halloween just a predicted on my main a few posts back. I had to go to therapy yesterday(yeah on Halloween(it technically 12:15pm for rn so it was the day before but close enough!) and I literally saw one of the patients from the mental health hospital(or whatever their called) which was pretty uncomfortable cuz it wasn’t even one of the teens I made “friends” w. Tho I might be getting antidepressants soon!! I’m really hoping I get prescribed adderall cuz it doesn’t usually make u gain weight and sometimes makes u lose it and I’ve heard that you can get high off of wit ur prescribed 😆 also it’s soup season lmao. Also my “friends”(from church) know I sh… and that I’m sewercidal :P they claim to be sui and sh too but tbh I don’t really believe them cuz I’ve never seen their sh scars but as long as they don’t tell my parents I don’t give a damn fuck soooooo… I’m really hoping I’ll be able to relate to them more now. Last time I was at church they actually made an effort to talk/hang out w me so if that’s nice(I need the entertainment I’m desperate here guys) tho they made jokes about my sh in public so more people know now ☹️☹️☹️anyways I forgot the rest of the shit I was gonna say so I’ll tell u guys tmrw if I remember(and if I can even get away w stealing my mom’s phone again lol TvT)

at least this help a little bit cuz I was forming a panic attack due to reason that would be a big ass rant post plus I’ve told u guys it before lmao. I’m pretty depressed too but I’m finally starting to get back in my little Ana bubble so at least I have that comfort :)

ALSO CHAT! I MANAGED TO DOWNLOAD OMORI SO I CAN FINALLY PLAY IT NOW ITS LITERALLY ONE IF MY FAVORITE GAMES YIPPEE YIPPEEEE

[quinnslogan]

Why Quinn runs away theory time

DISCLAIMER: What I think is going to happen doesn’t mean it’s what me/most of the fandom necessarily want to happen. Unfortunately, we didn’t write the movie so we don’t really know what to expect. I do trust though we’ll be happy with it the amount of insta comments Erin and Matt liked/responded to basically saying we as fans will be happy with how Quogan goes in this movie ❤️

Tbh I don’t think why Quinn runs away from the wedding is going to be super complicated. I think she’s kinda tired of how different her and Logan’s life is than it used to be judging by her telling Zoey “it’ll be the reunion we all need”. And that’s fine IMO i’m sure Logan’s world of rich is different than what she’s used to and it’s scary.

Then Logan being Logan is full bridezilla. I think Quinn tries to get him to relax a little and remember to have fun but knowing Logan she fails. Plus I bet his family isn’t going to be easy either. Also if you look closely in this pic Quinn looks super annoyed with Logan lol

And then or before the above scene whatever tf Zoey’s going to say in her rehearsal speech is going to make her more nervous about how much her life is about to change. So Quinn gets more nervous. I’m sure some point throughout she talks to Zoey about how she’s worried and Zoey brushes her off because in her head Quinn’s life is perfect and hers is the one that needs to be dealt with and overall just isn’t the maid of honor Quinn wanted her to be and overall Quinn just doesn’t feel like she has anyone to talk to. Logan’s definitely not indenting to make her feel like this at all (he loves that girl he’s been with her for FIFTEEN years and looks just as in love as he was when they were 16) but he’s just become obsessed with the actual wedding event and kinda lost track of what the wedding means (aka him and Quinn choosing to spend the rest of their life together <3)

Then they get to the altar!! Idk what exactly happens here but some little thing probably happens at the altar where like Logan forgot to write his vows bc he was too obsessed with making sure everything went perfectly he forgot to? (idk anyways something Logan does that makes her not want to get married THIS WAY). I say this way because in the reproposal scene she’s still wearing her engagement ring so it’s not like she dumps him she just doesn’t want to get married like this.

I think Quinn’s going to blow up at Logan and Zoey. Logan for whatever he did at the actual wedding and for forgetting about her in their wedding and Zoey for not being a very good maid of honor (bad rehersal dinner speech + constantly leaving the wedding for work or something (she’s not there the morning of the wedding in the trailer scene they’re all in PJs + if you look at the trailer she’s literally on her phone DURING the ceremony).

Anyways, Logan and Zoey feel guilty. Zoey probably brings up PCA she’s obsessed with that place and Logan gets the idea to buy PCA (Jamie’s insta post yesterday showed a pic where PCA was on sale) and him and Zoey are going to throw the wedding there. They get everyone together and we get the new trailer scene of Zoey going “alright everybody let’s get to work” and from a BTS pic that tumblr is being annoying and won’t let me upload everyone except Quinn is there in that scene. Then, I think Zoey makes some excuse and gets Quinn to PCA (Quinn is wearing a PCA shirt under her jacket when Logan reproposes. AND LOGAN PROPOSES (i’m so excited for this scene you guys don’t understand) and if my theory of him forgetting to write his vows or something is true then it goes in line with him giving a heartfelt speech about why he loves her and realizes he’s needs to remember to live more in the moment (symbolized by his tie in his hand)!! Quinn says yes they get married and live happily ever after!!

Once again this isn’t necessarily what I WANT to happen it’s just what I think will happen. I really really really do not like the bride runs away at the altar I mean I could’ve dealt with her running away before the wedding but her deciding while up there to run away is so awkward i’m sorry. Also most of this theory goes in hand with Erin’s insta comment about how the movie shows women struggling to move to the next phase/with change because change is scary (like that’s not just Zoey’s plot in this movie it’s Quinn’s too). Plus I do empathize with her Logan is my fave character but he probably isn’t the easiest fiancé haha (I imagine this being a very mondler like wedding situation except I don’t think the fear is necessarily about commitment like it was for chandler but for quinn it’s about how absorbed Logan got in the wedding she feels like he forgot about her and she loves this man it’s why she’s upset he’s so wedding obsessed she misses him like emotionally and for Logan he loves her obviously it’s why he’s trying so hard for their wedding to be perfect!!!

In general if you managed to read to this point idrc what happens i’m just so excited we’re getting out endgame like childhood me who would watch zoey 101 reruns is screaming

[izzyspussy]

[image description: a cropped photo of a bullet journal page showing four flags with a different symbol on each. every other flag is filled in orange or outlined orange, with the filled flags' icons in green gel pen and the outlined flags' icons in the same orange. the icons are a play button, a scene board, an open book, and a writing quill. by each flag is written something corresponding to the icon in a matching color. /end ID]

Media I Loved Last Week + Writing Progress Report

I forgot to post this on Monday and also yesterday, even though I had it done already on Sunday... :(

My favorite thing I listened to last week was Call It Like It Is by Bailen. Basically this folk-grass band made whatever the hell their version of disco is? And it slaps. 10/10

My favorite thing I watched last week is Game Changer on Dropout. Last week's episode was a surprise escape room featuring my beloved Brennan Lee Mulligan. 10/10

My favorite thing I read last week is Cavernous by @kjscottwrites! I'm super far behind re: beta'ing this because I'm super far behind on everything this month lmao. But so far I'm really liking it! The "establishing normal" stage has gone very well, with plenty of info but no dumping, some nice tongue-in-cheek foreshadowing, and intrigue enough to keep a (normal aksfjks) reader going. Docked a point - for now! - for some sentences I found strangely arranged (noted), but of course that's what beta'ing is for! 9/10

I wrote 3k last week, according to my last marked word count on my tracker. All of that went to Curse The Messenger, and it feels great to finally be working on it again after so long. My heckin' self-imposed deadline for this draft is July which is like... not not soon. I got about a week ahead on my current comish week before last, so I didn't worry about it last week. Needlessly stressing about both tbh, but overall satisfied with this progress.

[andstilliam]

today's lunch :) brioche with sundried tomatoes and lactose free mozzarella, it was actually amazing.

as per post exam tradition, i treated myself to a gingerbread cookie from the health food store. i stopped by the health food store to get ginger and cinnamon spice and more crystallized ginger candy. i forgot to buy matcha but i’ll do that later this week. and i got more kimchi as well from the local asian market. i was trying to decide what i wanted to treat myself to. it was between sicilian pizza, a kids serving of pasta or a slice of raspberry cheesecake. ultimately i decided to stick to something small. i had a big pizza slice when i first arrived on campus from this place actually right across the street from the sicilian pizza shop. it was pretty bad, i couldn’t taste a thing. looking online, the sicilian pizza did not look very sicilian and i didn't want to go into the shop to take a look. i already planned my intake for the day so i didn’t want to kind of disrupt that by getting pasta. i have no idea the amount in a kids serving. the raspberry cheesecake seemed a bit too risky because after my chem exam, i ate a giant peanut butter cookie and my stomach hurt :( so i wanted to play it safe.

it could be the nerves and not having given myself enough time to settle them before eating a treat. i feel like being at home is a better environment for treating myself because i am less stressed especially now that i am actually taking classes this semester and able to participate in them. last year was different. i had the leeway to fast and eat whatever i wanted with little stress. i just wish i wasn’t so sensitive and my stomach didn’t overreact. i just don’t want to be uncomfortable anymore. it’s difficult to measure when it’s spontaneous but i’m trying my best. i don’t want to deviate from what i know works at the moment. 

there is a german bakery that sells mini gingerbread cookies and it reminds me of the portuguese bakery my mom and i used to go to all the time as a kid. i figured they might be sold out though and i didn’t really want to risk not getting a gingerbread cookie at all lol. also, i just didn’t want to run around looking for food when i have an abundance of food in my dorm and s exam and do other work till having had to write my exam etc so i just settled for the gingerbread cookie from the health food store as a treat :) 

yesterday was a pretty chill day, i burned under 300 cal. when i have chill days like that, i can always expect the caloric burn to rise the following day, nearly doubling it. before noon, my caloric burn already reached nearly 600 calories and that’s from a 2km run and walking to campus and the health food store, so today will obviously be quite the high calorie burn kind of day. 

yesterday i went slightly over my allotted calories but not by much, at least around 100 cal. keep in mind, i have yet to restock on candy, so that aspect of my intake is missing. i guess not anymore now that i've restocked on crystallized ginger. yesterday i was so hungry…. so i ate a little something, i mean it really doesn’t make a difference. but i woke up a little sweaty, so it’s also not surprising i’m burning more calories today if the sweat corresponds to a rise in metabolism. also, i am in my luteal phase about to get my period soon and that’s known to raise metabolism. 

i can tell that my body is changing because i am more cold now. it is cold in the house tbh but still, i spend a lot of time under this electric heating blanket i bought. i can probably expect further weight loss to come soon. the thing is, i feel pretty good on this amount of calories. i am still having regular enough bowel movements. they are hard and pellet like, but it’s not painful nor uncomfortable. it’s a lot cleaner than miralax….way less fluid retention and excess gas. i think in general anything stool related is just so massively uncomfortable for me from a sensory standpoint. it’s very hard for me to talk about this without getting frustrated because of my problems, like, i just don’t know what normal is and idk how that’s ever going to happen. at this point, i just have to go by how i feel and i’m feeling like eating this amount is manageable for my GI system at the moment and that means that i am less stressed and also able to eat and enjoy food, so i obviously don’t want to give that up. although i give a huge thanks to Ensure for carrying me through this year. i still believe that i absorb liquids better than solids and i’d say the more drastic change in weight also indicates that. i am able to release gas very easily and without gasx especially as i switched back to lactose free yogurt. i was having lower left abdominal gas pains with dairy yogurt that was not really going away and i needed to take gasx daily to help alleviate and even somedays it was really bad that i needed tylenol. so now i am not needing to take gasx and i relieve gas easily. so unfortunately i don’t think dairy yogurt is right for me anymore. thankfully there are a ton of lactose free options that taste good and i honestly can’t tell the difference anyway. 

i am running out of pantoprazole…….i have maybe 3 left idk. i’d go to the doctor for a refill but i am just not willing to go to student health right now. i feel like i need more time. i just don’t want to go. it’s very hard for me to adapt to all these providers that i don’t know. i feel it has been a lot and it makes me very sad because i want my doctor. i really loved her. i’m so embarrassed lol but you know, for someone like me and anyone, really, with a chronic condition(s), it’s so vital to have that kind of relationship in your life with a provider that you trust. it’s very hard for me that i don’t have that security anymore and for me, like, it’s so much more because i chose her and that was symbolic for me as well from the lens of like taking control of my health and making that conscious decision. i don’t want to see doctors that i have not chosen myself, i think that’s understandable. it just makes me sad and then i can’t help but think that this is like an order of operations just going down the line of providers and i’m disgusted and far removed. i just can’t do this. i feel nauseous at the thought. i feel like i’m in a horror film. and going to the doctor honestly is scary enough, always, all the time, and now it’s like……this is just surreal. i feel sick to my stomach about this.

[causenessus]

HI LOVELY!! good morning afternoon or evening to you! how’s your day been!! i hope you’ve eaten AND REMEMBER TO EAT DURING UR LONG SHIFTS OR I WILL APPEAR ON UR SCREEN !!! (lovingly) the way i gasped when i read your response because i was just like… YOU DIDNT EAT? :( i was so distraught but i hope whatever u had for dinner was good, but still !! always remember to eat and take care of yourself or the ghost of me will scold u (lovingly again) (nothing but love for you always)

today i had banh xeo for breakfast (tbh at this point i feel like you can guess what nationality i am LMAO) but OMG YOU LIKE VIET FOOD?? WE ARE SO SOULMATES !! TWIN FLAME !! AND OMG THATS SO CUTE I HAVE A VOICE IM HHHH that’s so cute i feel so very honoured but omg yesterday while i was like doing whatever right i had a realization that im literally like mystic messenger right now with the “make sure you eat!!” “how are you!!” like IM LITERALLY A CHARACTER IN MYSTIC MESSENGER RIGHT NOW THATS CRAZY (id be so embarrassed if you didn’t know what mystic messenger is but also would not blame you) ALSO YES WE CAN YAP TOGETHER I LOVE YAPPING BUT IM DEFINITELY YAPPING TOO MUCH LIKE I WANNA REPLY TO EVERYTHING YOU SAID SO IM LIKE HHH YAP YAP YAP me and ness are literally yapper and yapper like im trying to hold back but im here like omg among us??? omg whack dreams??? i wanna know what dreams??? omg school?? i’m school soon too!!

but but one more thing omg i’m so sorry LOL BUT I FEEL LIKE WE’RE IN THE SAME TIMEZONE?? BECAUSE EVERYTIME YOU MENTION THE TIME IN YOUR POSTS i check my time and im like huh.. silly… coincidence, but it’s 4pm for me rn !!maybe im crazy maybe im not but omg when it gets to school you can 100% rant about it because i will 100% do it too HAHA school has me like like genuinely tweaking like one small thing and im like OH MY GOD YOU WILL NOTTTT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY

omg sorry i need to wrap this up but yes try again is amazing don’t doubt yourself and u can always yap to me whenever whenever like i’ll literally make a burner account and dm you instead so we can yap without having to flood your blog or if you don’t mind i don’t mind but mango anon loves you very much and mango anon would want ness to take care of herself forever and always and HAVE A GOOD DAY !!! xoxoxo

AAAAA OMG I AM HERE LIKE 11 HOURS LATER <33 DO NOT WORRY I AM EATING AS WE SPEAK BEFORE MY LONG SHIFT tbh i felt like so nauseous about eating anything though today idk why (i have like two suspicions lmao i def know why) but since i'm working i was like "then i'll just pick something up on the way there!!" so i went to my groccery store to get a sandwhich BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY </333 so i'm having a blazing dragon poke bowl instead??? and it's okay 😔 like i don't know how i feel yet about groccery store sushi and stuff but i've had it before!! it's just a bunch of spicy imitation crab, cucumber, carrots, and rice and i'm mainly just there for the rice. AND OMG i walked around the store bc i was trying to see if they had liquid death (caffeinated tea i think. i don't like it but i really need caffeine today </3) and they didn't have any and i decided to go back to like their little food section to get bao (you can probably guess my ethnicity too 😭) and i almost got hit bc this man WHIPPED around when i tried to pass him like i literally ducked i was so scared he was about to hit me and that man was STILL not aware of me. ANYWAY SORRY RANDOM STORY YOU AND ME AND VIET FOOD!!! TWIN FLAMES!!

ALSO OMG MYSTIC MESSENGER 😭 BRO I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT 707 LIKE TWO DAYS AGO WHEN THAT WHOLE ANON APOCALYPSE HAPPENED I WAS LIKE "i'm going to go 707 on these people and find out where they live and haunt them /hj" PLEASE I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THEIR LITTLE "remember to eat" messages and everything but it's so cute <33 and YES we will yap together!! i went in to school today although it starts tomorrow to switch up my schedule and going there was HORRIBLE i saw so many disgusting people :/// BUT i have a pretty good schedule now so it has it's pros and cons!!! i just give people dirty looks and accidentally saw "ew" aloud all the time :))) AND IK THAT SOUNDS MEAN BUT LIKE YK HOW PEOPLE ARE and the people that live in my state are all rich privileged kids and it never changes 😭 i see them everywhere AND THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME AND ACT THE SAME AND ARE GROSS

and LMAO A BURNER ACCOUNT I WOULD TOTALLY TAKE IT THOUGH!!! i'd love to talk to you whenever please please please feel free to make one and dm whenever you'd like!! <3 I LOVE SEEING YOUR ASKS THOUGH I LITERALLY WILL BE HAPPY EITHER WAY AS LONG AS I GET TO TALK TO YOU <3 I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY TODAY ANON!!

[kkaurwaii]

Little rant because I feel like everybody is kind of ignoring me right now 😁 !!

So I have been sending my one friend tiktoks since yesterday about midday and usually she will respond pretty quickly if I send her something especially if it’s about enha but she hasn’t been responding. We have texted today in the morning so idk why she isn’t responding to the vids I send her. Tbh this is not a really big deal but I think I might be having this thought because my other friends haven’t really texted me anything really…

It’s summer holiday right now where I go to school so most of my friends have been on holiday somewhere (or are still) but that has never been a problem before. It still isn’t now because holiday is here to catch a break and maybe go on vacation with ur family but even with thatI feel like we should have hung out sometime… 6 weeks and it’s almost the last one and I have seen exactly one friend that is not even from here (she lives in another country but came to visit so we hung out for a day). Last year we - my friend group (idk if I can call them that because it’s always the same 6 people and some random other people join) - hung out like 3 or 4 times during those 6 weeks even tho everybody still went on vacay somewhere…

I also texted one of my friends on wednesday if we want to watch the meteor shower that was supposed to happen that night together and he said it’s not the best time bcs he had to work the next day so I suggested friday (today) and he said he’ll text me to tell me if he wants/has time (bcs he is not doing so well right now I think). He still hasn’t texted me tho and it’s almost 8pm now so I don’t think he will any time soon. On top of that he has been posting so many tiktok’s where he is hanging out with other people and having fun and I’m just kind of jealous…

I am proud of myself for at least texting 2 people if they want to hang out because usually I am never the one to ask and text much because I just feel like I usually get rejected or my friends have something to do with someone else already or they are still on holiday or whatever…

It’s always like 1/10 that actually says yes and I’m so jealous of people that get to hang out together because I feel like no one wants to hang out with me. I also know that this is probably all my imagination but it just feels to real…

And I forgot to mention - my absolute bestie lives in another country and she went back home for summer so I can’t hang out with her either…

[fluffytampons]

Day 3-7 Of Dieting

Hi sorry for not posting in a while!! My winter depression kicked me back and I had work and currently on the job hunt.

So far things have been going well regarding my diet and I have started to begin little and little changes about my appearance. My double chin is going down very little, my biceps are starting to look a little better, and according to my mom she says my stomach is going down which I have noticed as well. Unfortunately last saturday when I worked, my two friends got me christmas gifts and one of them got me some strawberry mochi. I didn't know how to tell them that I was not allowed to eat it, so I just downed it during my work break just to get it out of the way. That was the only time I cheated- but I still ate diet food for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, I was going to make a taco salad that was gonna be spicy. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy the ingredients for it and the things I need. I was originally not going to eat at all yesterday because I hardly ate. All I had was two pieces of BREADLESS chicken. My mom was gonna get me to eat her soup, which was stressful. So I door dashed myself some Red Lobster. No, I did not eat the biscuits that were given to me for free. My sides were broccoli and a salad. I just ate the salad because I hate broccoli. I gave the biscuits to my mom and step dad. I just ate the two lobsters and the salad because PROTEIIIIN. Tbh, it was surprisingly not that good which sucks. But at least I seasoned that shit with like lemon or whatever to make it better. Probably won't have them door dash me red lobster again because it was way too pricey- I just wanted to be healthy. I also have not cheated yesterday nor do I plan to cheat today!!

KINDA TMI BELOW

Yeah uh im still on a diet but that red lobster really fucked my stomach to the point where I was about to shit myself this morning 😭😭😭

[helbertinelli]

Tbh I don’t follow your blog so I don’t know what your stance is about Reylo, but judging by a recent post, I’m going to assume you’re against it. I don’t really care- to each their own & all that. But I noticed you said only Reylo’s were fans after TLJ. I’m sorry, but that’s not true. I’ve been on tumblr since 2011 (formally in the Hunger Games fandom) and to be quite honest, I haven’t seen a lot of FinnRey content. Not saying it don’t exist, but I just don’t think they make up the majority of the fandom like you’re implying. I know this because Reylo won “most popular ship” or something on tumblr last January and the Twitter polls confirm. In no way is this meant to drag your thoughts and feelings- ship whatever you want. But please don’t drag Reylo to promote your ship. There’s enough room for all of us, even if your ship isn’t technically canon.

I didn't say FinnRey was the majority of the fandom. I said people liked FinnRey and Damerey too, but they weren't as vocal about it as Rey/los are. I don't care that Rey/lo won the most popular ship, it just proves my point that Reylos are more vocal about their ship. It doesn't mean it's a good pairing and it doesn't disprove anything I've said about it in my last answer.

I don't know why you felt the need to flex about you being on tumblr since 2011... I've been on tumblr since then too. A lot of people have. It doesn't make your word any better than that of people who only joined yesterday for example. It was a really weird flex.

I'm not dragging Rey/lo to promote my ship. I'm dragging Rey/lo because it's a bad ship and its fans are annoying as you're proving by harassing me over a post I made. If someone sends me an ask and tells me that Rey/lo sucks or asks my opinion on it, I will tell them how much Rey/lo sucks. Like maybe don't go looking into the anti tag just to find people to harass if you don't like seeing people dragging Rey/lo.

Also, my ship is canon. It's been canon since 77 when SW was first made. I don't care about the sequels or Rey, but I can still give my opinion when she gets paired with the guy who continuously mind-raped her and tortured her and her friends. A ship being canon or not doesn't mean anything. Weird how you were here since 2011 and forgot that back then fandoms didn't give a fuck about whether the ships were canon or not.

[bluecolouredlou]

Show your process

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.

Thank you E for tagging me ❤ @quelsentiment tagged me to do this, kinda zouis, fic that I just posted yesterday! But I can’t promise that I still remember everything since i wrote it back in November.

1. Planning 

So, November and Nanowrimo were a thing that I was doing, because I am that insane. I needed a break from the story that I had been writing (I will probably explain some more to that later) so I looked all through the internet for some nice prompts that I could just use and write something short for. Neither do I remember where I got the prompt nor what exactly it said but it was something like “Chocolate or Gummy bears”. And that was pretty much as much planning as I did.

2. The Story

The first draft was pretty easy, I just wrote it in one setting since I used it as an extension of the Novel I was writing so I didn’t had to create any characters or anything at all. In the end those were  415 words.

After this draft I just forgot about it again until like April, where I started to post all the drabbles that I had lying around somewhere (tbh the only reason I remembered was because I talked to somebody about the story that goes with it). 

So then I had decided that I wanted to post it.

To be honest, this drabble is not all that exciting nor does it mean that much to me so I just tweaked around with the dynamics a little bit since the original story was a/b/o, I tried to fix all grammar and spelling mistakes and I generally just made it a little prettier. That’s then about it and I doomed this story finished.

The title here was a bit hard since it was really short and the main themes in the story were chocolate and gummy bears but neither sounded like a good title. In the end it was then just “Debate” because that is what’s happening.

3. The “Moodboard”

Not that this is really a moodboard but what I normally do is go onto Pinterest. I guess I don’t really have a tactic for finding stuff, I just look up various stuff that’t in the theme of the book or is mentioned somewhere, the only thing I have learned is that you can just add “aesthetic” behind whatever you are looking up and the pictures will just be a tad bit prettier.

Pinterest wasn’t working here for me so I went to Unsplash and Pexels which are both really good sources for high quality, free images. 

There is just looked up further variations of chocolate and gummy bears up, til i found the picture that I used for the cover.

Making the actual cover was then pretty easy because if you look at the other drabbles that I did (here, here and here) the covers are more or less all the same. So I just made another page in Canva  in 1080x1080 pixels, set the pictures as a background and cropped it so that it would look good.

For the fond I used in all the covers “Sunday” and for my @ I used “League Spartan. There isn’t much that say, I just tried to make it make it look good, the one thing that I did was trying to make the font as big as possible. 

For the colour of the font I just took one of the colour Canva suggested

And played around a bit with it, until I was happy with the colour and you could read it.

4. Posting

Nothing deep happens here, I just pop it on ao3 and create the post here on tumblr. For my tumblr post I am also pretty much always using the same layout since I found one for my fics that I liked and I thought looked pretty. 

The only debate I had was whether I should tag this as zouis or not since it may have been primarily about them and in the story they are in a pack but in the story it is never displayed as such. In the end I did I kinda did it on tumblr but didn’t tag it as such on ao3. And that’s basically it.

I’m tagging:

@zaynsalbum​ for this drawing

@silverfoxlou​ for this piece

@thosefookinavacados​ for this drawing

and @zi-shu​ for this moodboard

[dissoluteways]

positions - Chapter II

❧

Chapter I / Chapter II

PAIRING: Hyuk/OC RATING: PG WARNINGS: Office AU. WORDCOUNT: 7350

Notes: Wanted to post this yesterday but my internet stopped working again -_- but here is chapter two! i’m so happy with this whole fic tbh, the longest slow burn i ever wrote. This chapter is still PG, but get ready for more guys c:

When it was monday, she almost forgot it was PR day, until it was actually time to go and check the new products. As soon as she got up from her seat in the office, Sanghyuk noticed and got up as well, walking right behind her when she exited the room. 

She breathed in deeply, like she always did, before walking into the PR room. 

Surprisingly, the delivery guy didn’t actually say anything, other than hello. She blinked when he started unloading the boxes on the usual table, without saying a word. Not even looking at her. She looked at Sanghyuk for whatever reason, like she was looking for an expression similar to hers, but he looked just like usual, normal. She blinked again, looking around to see if it was actually Monday or if she was still dreaming or something. 

Hakyeon was just walking by outside the room, and decided to walk in at that moment. 

“Can you write the usual down, Sanghyuk?”

“Yep.” He nodded, taking his phone out.

She approached Hakyeon, walking hurriedly to him and getting really close to whisper in his ear.

“Am I dreaming, or are we really here at work?” 

“What?” Hakyeon eyed her, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“That guy. He didn’t say anything inappropriate to me today.” 

Hakyeon looked over her shoulder at the same time she did. Said guy was actually unloading the PR boxes in a hurry. 

Everything was bizarre. He was annoying her just the past monday. What happened that made him give up in just a week?

“Interesting.” Commented Hakyeon, still staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.” 

She knew he was seeing something she wasn’t. She turned to look, the delivery guy was leaving, after unloading all the boxes, in what surely was a record time. Sanghyuk was checking all the boxes, and noticed she was looking. He beamed at her and she almost tripped on her own two feet.

Hakyeon looked at her with a knowing look. She hit him on the shoulder.

She kept on wondering what was going on until later that day, when all she had in mind was hunger and actually getting home. Mondays were always a mess; she wanted to leave as soon as possible. 

Sanghyuk usually left five minutes before she did, only because she took five minutes extra to prepare herself and check to see if she wasn’t forgetting anything, before walking out. 

But as soon as she stepped out of her office, Sanghyuk was standing there, with his phone in his hand as he scrolled through whatever app he had opened. 

“Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Waiting.” He looked at her, mimicking her expression.

“For what?”

“You.” 

His voice made his answer sound like it was obvious. She looked at him confused.

“You said you walk home alone every night.”

It took a while until his words actually settled in her head.

“Sanghyuk, you don’t have to-”

“Noona, I will argue with you if I have to, but I am walking you home.” 

His face was completely calm, with a small smile on his lips, it was incredibly unnerving; she felt a chill going down her spine, and she hoped she wasn’t blushing. Once again. 

“I didn’t tell you I walk home alone just to make you walk with me.” She told him, as she started walking down the hall towards the elevators.

“I know.”

They walked into the elevator just in time, and she turned just in time to see the grin on his face. He looked at her in that moment, and they exchanged smiles.

To her surprise, Sanghyuk kept accompanying her to her place during the rest of the week after that. On Tuesday she told him once again, he didn’t actually have to do that. He didn’t pay attention, and continued to wait for her each day.

She enjoyed it so much, the little attention he was giving her. The small crush she used to have on him, was obviously and inevitably turning into more because he didn’t deserve less than that. He was nice and polite and very considerate; she hoped to god he didn’t have any invalidating flaws. Maybe he just liked pineapple on pizza or something like that.

Hakyeon walked into her office on Thursday, looking a little concerned. And he closed the door after he came in. Which he never did before.

“What’s the matter?” She looked at him, worried. She closed her laptop once she had a glimpse of the look on his face.

“Sanghyuk scolded me for letting you walk home alone the other night.” 

“What?”

“A woman shouldn’t be walking home alone, that’s what he said.” Hakyeon sounded exasperated, but somehow happy.

“I don’t understand shit.”

“We ran into each other at lunch yesterday,” Hakyeon sat down across her, his voice low. “Told me he ran into you on friday and that he couldn’t believe I let you go home alone.”

She blinked.

“That’s not scolding.”

“You didn’t see the look on his face.”

“Well I can’t say he’s wrong.” Her face flushed a little, and she looked down at her phone, feigning distraction. 

“You didn’t tell me he walked you home.”

“Hakyeon, you’re not my mom!” Her face was red and she tried not to laugh at how funny and ridiculous the situation was.

They stared at each other for a while, almost defiantly. 

“We’ll see.”

He stood up abruptly and walked out as loudly as he could; Sanghyuk looked at him funny and confused as he passed by in front of him.  

“What?” She yelled back at him. What he said didn’t actually make any sense. 

She would have most definitely told him about Sanghyuk had he not told her a few days ago he wanted both of them to hook up and that he was going to make a plan. She loved him but he was going to ruin everything. 

“Is everything okay?” Sanghyuk popped up suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. He looked confused; she was probably making faces.

“Yeah, it’s just…” She sighed loudly, trying to find the right word.

“Hakyeon-hyung can be a little intense.” Sanghyuk smiled, sympathetically.

“I can’t imagine having him as a teacher.” She commented, knowing well that Sanghyuk had him as a dancing mentor.

“He’s just as intense as you know him, but sometimes he has that smile where you know he can kill you because you’re doing something wrong.” He replied with a grin on his face.

“Oh yeah, I’ve only seen that smile twice in my life.” She leaned back on her chair to fully look at him. “Regretted it ever since.”

He chuckled, looking at her in the eye. She returned his gaze, smiling back.

Sanghyuk was really cute; she noticed that all the time, he still had a very much baby face. The rest of his body though, was definitely manly, with broad shoulders and muscular thighs. 

She still only wanted to boop his nose.

She looked down after a few seconds, a little embarrassed. Sanghyuk only smiled wider.

It was rutinary by then that she and Sanghyuk just simply walked out of the office together at the end of the day, he didn’t wait for her outside anymore. Some of the girls down the edition department started asking her on friday if they were dating, and if not, if they could have his number. She obviously denied it, but refused to give them his number under the pretext she was more professional than that and they should ask him themselves. Somehow it worked.

That, though, put into perspective that Sanghyuk was far more attractive than she realized. She obviously thought he was handsome, but everyone else considered him handsome AND hot. 

“With all that muscle and height, he’s obviously a catch.” Hakyeon commented when they had lunch that friday. “Some guys at the studio are also, very much gay for him too.”

She frowned. Sanghyuk was so nice to her. But maybe he was also nice to everyone else the same way. 

“Sanghyuk,” She said, casually, on that friday evening, when they were walking to her place. “Are you dating anyone?”

He looked at her, taken aback. She was about to tell him, he didn't have to answer if he was uncomfortable, but she didn't get the chance before he replied. 

“No. I don’t really have the time for that.” He said, his voice apathetic. 

Well. That was something she didn’t particularly think about.

“But I kind of like someone.”

“Oh?” She said without thinking.

“I mean, I do like her.” He was blushing a little bit. It was cute but at the same time it hurt her a bit. “But I don’t think she looks at me the way I look at her.”

“What do you mean?” She didn’t really mean to pry, but it was more powerful than her.

“She’s more focused… on her work?” It was like he wasn’t sure of what to say exactly. She didn’t get that.

But she certainly got that he liked someone else.

“What about you, noona? Dating someone?”

“Oh, no.” She replied right away, thinking about the last time she actually dated. A million years ago.

“I guess someone else would be walking you home if that was the case.” He smiled at her.

“Maybe, I still like walking with you though.” She returned his smile, softly elbowing him on the side, affectionately.

His smile turned into a grin as they reached her building’s block.

“Sanghyuk, where do you live?” She asked when he was about to turn and leave, after reaching the stairs from her building.

“Why?” 

“I just want to know.”

He didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. What could possibly be making him doubt his answer? Maybe she made him uncomfortable. 

“I live about ten blocks from here.”

“Where?” She was surprised that he lived so far away. “I mean, is it around-”

“It’s the opposite direction from here.” He pointed to the usual way he took after walking her to her apartment. Which was the exact direction they were coming from.

She stood there, perplexed, staring at Sanghyuk like he was crazy.

“Sanghyuk-”

“Don’t worry about it, noona.” He smiled at her sweetly. “I walk you home because I want to.”

She tried to argue with him more, to make him stop doing it if it meant he was even further away from home, but he was quick in turning around and saying goodbye so she didn’t get a chance. 

It was impossible he was that nice. Why would he do that? He said he liked someone. Yet he was starting to give her hope with his actions and she couldn’t ignore it. Everything was confusing and she didn’t want to overthink.

She met up with Hakyeon and Taekwoon that weekend, on a saturday night, at their apartment. And she told them about it. She needed to, it was annoying not to confide in anyone, even when Hakyeon was a bit annoying.

“At least we know it’s a she.” Hakyeon said.

She frowned, confused.

“It’s a woman.”

Oh. 

“What are you gonna do about it?” He asked.

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“What can I do?” She asked. If he liked someone else, was there any option? She didn’t mind things being like this. “At least I can have a friendly professional relationship with him now.”

Both Hakyeon and Taekwoon stared at her for a solid minute. 

“What?”

“I didn’t think she was this dense.” Taekwoon commented, more to Hakyeon than to her.

“Don’t talk like I’m not here.” She sighed, exasperated. “What do you suggest?”

“He keeps walking you home?” Hakyeon asked, and she nodded. “Let him do that for some time. I’m sure that’s gonna do some magic.”

She wasn’t going to argue with that. 

Sanghyuk’s company was really comforting. She really appreciated that. Sometimes she had a hard time meeting and getting along with new people, but he was so easy-going, there wasn’t any trouble. 

She let her face fall into her hands. Damn, she was really into him.

She eyed Sanghyuk from her seat, with her face behind her laptop’ screen, from her office, on Monday morning. He was really focused on his own computer’ screen. And she felt like a teenager, looking at her crush from a distance. His face really changed when he was working, he was completely serious. It was really hot.

It was a habit by that point to stare at him from her office, she had been doing that almost every day. So she was a bit surprised when he suddenly looked back at her. She jolted, taken aback, not knowing if she should just pretend to look away; but he decided for her when he smiled brightly.

The fact that it was incredibly unprofessional to have a relationship with someone you worked with, plus Sanghyuk’s confession that he actually liked someone else; made everything really difficult. She liked him more than she should, she was aware she was falling in love. The circumstances weren’t ideal though, and it didn’t help he seemed to be really fucking nice to her.

Sanghyuk walked into her office later that day, just at the same time she was about to walk out, it was inevitable they bumped into each other.

“Sorry, noona!” Sanghyuk exclaimed, kneeling down so as to pick the files and paper she dropped. “I mean, boss…”

“It’s fine, Sanghyuk.” She said, crouching down as well to help him. 

He didn’t see her when she did though, and when he got up in a rapid move, he clashed with her head this time, with his own head. 

With her heels it was hard to keep balance, especially when she was kneeling down, so she couldn’t help falling to the side when Sanghyuk bumped his head with hers. At least she was wearing pants that day.

“Noona!” He cried, louder and with a higher voice this time. “Shit, I’m sorry. Sorry...”

She couldn’t really react as fast as he did, only to move her hand to rub her forehead, where she bumped her head, but he quickly grabbed that hand, and offered his other one to help her stand.

“I’m sorry for saying shit, as well…”

“It’s fine, Sanghyuk,” She repeated, trying not to laugh at the whole situation.

She grabbed the other hand he offered her, and stood up slowly, trying to keep her balance as she settled up with her shoes. Once she was up and well, she focused on their hands, connected, staring intensely.

“Wow, your hands are really big.”

“What?” Sanghyuk asked, confused.

She didn’t say anything, only focusing on his hands. She knew they were big, but now she could contrast them with her own. And they were huge. And also incredibly soft.

“Are you alright, noona?” Sanghyuk asked after a while. 

She was still looking at his hands, and he probably asked because it was all she was doing. But Sanghyuk’s hands were really nice.

She looked up though, and his face was really close to hers, looking concerned. He was so close, actually, that she could see every little eyelash. And every little freckle he had on his face (just a couple, his skin was otherwise, immaculate), and his eyebrows, and his soft lips, and his cute nose.

“Noona.” His voice kind of distracted her from observing the rest of his face, but she looked at him in the eye instead. 

His eyes were soft, focusing only on her, and she was positive her entire face was red just by the way he was looking at her. 

Neither of them said one word though, she didn’t actually dare to speak, but she noticed Sanghyuk had swallowed loudly, for whatever reason. And he was also starting to flush, the tips of his ears getting red faster than any other part. 

There was a knock on the main door, the one connecting Sanghyuk’s desk to the corridor. She pulled away abruptly, startled and a little scared. But he still looked at her, with a more relaxed expression this time, before he stepped away a little to see who was knocking. 

She stayed there, frozen, confused. 

The way he was looking at her. Could it be… ?

A familiar face popped up from behind her door. Jieun, from the photography department, had been a good colleague since she arrived at the company, and she greeted her with a smile.

“Unnie!” 

“Hey, Jieun,” She returned her smile, signaling for her to come in.

She realized the papers and files she dropped a few minutes ago were still on the floor. Jieun looked at her, curiously.

“I… I just dropped this, sorry.” She excused, which wasn’t a lie, but it somehow felt like it was. She picked everything up in a second. “What’s up?”

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” She whispered, eyeing the door. 

She looked worried, and without a second thought, she closed the door. 

“What’s wrong?”

“You know the delivery guy who brings in the PR stuff?” 

“Yeah…” She felt like she knew where this was going.

Jieun looked doubtful, unsure if she should even say anything. 

“Is he bothering you?”

“Yes… I know he has bothered you too in the past.”

She nodded. 

“Did you report him to HR, unnie?”

“No… No, I probably should have.” She felt embarrassed he went on to bother other girls, if he hadn’t already been doing that at the same time he was harassing her. “Do you need help with that? I’ll fully support you.”

“I just want him to stop bothering me.” Her expression changed a bit, like she felt a little stronger this time. “If that’s what it takes then I’ll do it.”

“Do you know if he was bothering other women?”

“I only noticed he was doing that to you…”

She thought for a second. If there were other girls, it would be easier to report him, since HR considered those cases more solid. Unfairly so, but it was what it was. 

Then again, one report was all it took sometimes.

“I think we both should report him.”

Jieun looked at her with wide eyes, then nodded vehemently. 

“I’ll go do it now.”

“Sounds good,” She smiled at her, warmly. “I can’t go with you. This is a personal case, HR won’t allow me.”

“I know, it’s fine, unnie.” Jieun returned her smile.

“I’ll do it later today.”

Jieun bowed ceremoniously, like she was really thankful.

“Don’t do that, it’s fine,” She tapped her shoulder gently. “Go do it, I’ll call you later.”

Jieun grinned brightly before opening the door and walking out, decisively. 

Sanghyuk eyed her curiously from behind his desk.

“Can I ask what happened?”

“The douchebag delivery guy is being reported.” She said out loud, slightly angry but also really happy. “Finally.”

Sanghyuk’s eyes were wide open as he stood up and approached her.

“I’m reporting him too, later today.” She said as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Can you come with me?”

“Of course.” 

He paid no mind how her voice probably broke a little when she asked him that, answering immediately. She was really thankful. 

She used to think she was stronger than some guy annoying her every week; yet at the same time she knew it was stupid to feel like that, when a man wants to be a misogynistic piece of shit, there was no stopping him. 

When there was half an hour left before six, the usual time everyone went home, she went to HR, with Sanghyuk walking behind her, like usual. She couldn’t walk into HR’s office with someone else to make a report like that, so Sanghyuk rubbed her back affectionately before she went in. 

Strangely, Sanghyuk asked to walk right after her, and she eyed him curiously when he walked past her as she was walking out. 

Once he was out, she was about to open her mouth to question him about what happened, but decided against it. Maybe it was none of her business.

“Don’t worry about it.” Sanghyuk said without any question asked, interrupting her thoughts before she could dwell on them.

She bit her lip for a while, but decided to trust his words.

The next day, she told Hakyeon about it when they were having lunch in his office. He didn’t seem surprised that guy has been bothering other women at all, which she understood. But he also didn’t seem surprised when she told him Sanghyuk also went to HR with her, but declared something, alone. Something she didn’t know what it was.

“I guess I can tell you since you’re telling me he already went to HR.” Hakyeon said, putting aside the food on his desk.

She looked at him, lost and confused.

“Sanghyuk told that guy to stay away from you.” He told her, completely serious. 

“What?”

“He said he would report him to HR if he kept bothering you.”

“Are you serious?” 

For some reason, that pissed her off a little. She wanted to know the full story though.

“I don’t exactly know what he told him. Just that he would report him if he didn’t leave you alone…”

She stood up, not giving it a second thought, and walked out of Hakyeon’s office, leaving some of her stuff and food behind. She heard him call her name, but she didn’t care. She wanted Sanghyuk to tell her directly what happened. 

When she walked into her office, Sanghyuk was there, sweaty and with his hair slightly dishevelled. He had been working out like he usually did, but this time, that didn’t distract her.

“Sanghyuk,” She called his name, and he turned to look at her, surprised. She didn’t give him the chance to say anything. “Is it true you talked to that delivery asshole and told him to leave me alone?”

He seemed taken aback by the whole situation, confusion filling his face. It quickly changed though, and he looked completely serious suddenly.

“I did.”

“Why?” 

She was annoyed. She had every right to be. Going behind her back to do that didn’t sound right. He was acting like she was more than just her boss, especially when back then, they didn’t have anything more going on. They still didn’t have anything then. 

“He was bothering you.”

“Sanghyuk-”

“I told him that’s not the way to treat women,” He kept talking, his voice firm and serious. “And I was going to report him to HR if he kept harassing you. He was clearly making you uncomfortable.”

She bit her lip, and walked a little closer to him.

“Why didn’t you ask if I was okay with that?”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

There was a moment of silence, in which they both just stared at each other. She was annoyed, yes, he had no right to threaten someone like that. 

She did start feeling another emotion bubbling inside, and it was gratitude. And affection. 

“I’m sorry I did it behind your back, noona.” Sanghyuk said, looking down. “But I’m not sorry I did it.”

She stood there, staring at him, with her eyebrows furrowed. She was conflicted because that particular attitude did not sit well with her. But she was grateful. 

“You weren’t going to beat him up, were you?”

“Who do you think I am?” Sanghyuk chuckled a little, amused at the idea.

She sighed as she looked down.

“I’m sorry, noona. I didn’t know it was going to upset you.” 

Sanghyuk had taken a few steps closer. He looked sincere, serious, and she felt like she could melt once again. It’s like his charm didn’t have an off button. Still conflicted about what happened before, but feeling very much smitten with him, she could only eye him as he walked closer.

“At least don’t do it without telling me.”

He nodded, still approaching her, only slower than before. She eyed him curiously, going back to biting her lip, as she took one small step back. He was exceptionally tall, the closer he got, the more she had to stretch her neck to look at him in the eye. She felt somewhat smaller than usual. 

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, at least from her point of view. Sanghyuk lifted his hand and slowly brought it close to her face, softly settling his fingers on her cheek.

Her face was completely stunned, eyes wide open, she was very aware she probably looked very stupid, at the same time heat invaded her. His thumb moved towards her bottom lip, which she was still biting, and he gently caressed it, making her release it from her teeth.

Sanghyuk was looking at her in the eye the entire time, and only broke eye contact the second he tugged at her lip with his thumb, his gaze settling where his finger was touching her. 

Her body jolted when the phone on Sanghyuk’s desk rang loudly, bringing her back to planet Earth. He was startled as well, moving his hand away from her face, but otherwise staying still where he was standing. They kept staring at each other, however, until the phone rang a couple of more times.

Sanghyuk moved first, walking to his desk and picking up the phone.

“Hello.” His voice spilled annoyance, and it surprised her a little. He also forgot to clarify it was her office they were calling to, something he did every time he picked the phone up. 

He turned to look at her after a few seconds and held out the phone for her.

“It’s for you.”

“Oh.”

She quickly walked towards him and grabbed the phone, side-eyeing Sanghyuk as he walked past her.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Hakyeon’s voice filled her head when she put the phone to her ear, sighing loudly. Since when has she been holding in her breath?

“I wasn’t going to.”

“You didn’t let me finish the whole story.” 

She frowned, confused, until she felt Sanghyuk’s hand on her hair, pushing it back and away from her face. She quickly turned to look at him, flushing. He only looked at her for a few seconds before he grabbed his sports bag, and walked out of the room. 

“Hello?” Hakyeon’s voice asked over the phone, and she almost forgot he was still on the other side of the line.

“I’ll go back now.” She said before hanging up. 

For whatever reason, it sounded best if she didn’t tell Hakyeon about what just happened. She obviously told him about the discussion they had, but she wasn’t going to fire him for that, which Hakyeon seemed really glad about.

“If it makes you feel better, he didn’t actually tell me he did that.”

She looked at him, confused.

“I heard him, the other day when we were outside.”

“How come you heard him and I didn’t?” 

“I guess it was more like I read his lips,” He stated, totally confident in himself. “And I saw the look on the other guy’s face when he was talking to Sanghyuk.”

Everything was confusing. Sanghyuk was obviously looking out for her with that attitude. At the same time, it seemed like something any decent guy (and there aren’t many) would do. But what happened the day before, and earlier that same day was confusing. He had looked at her a way no one has looked at her before. Or at least not in a very long time.

Didn’t he say the other day he liked someone? She hated feeling conceited, but it seemed like that someone was her. Her heart skipped a beat whenever she thought for a second the way he looked at her when his thumb tugged at her lip. She wanted more of that. 

It might have been an awkward way home that day, if it wasn’t for the fact that they ran into Jieun when they were walking out the door.

“Unnie!” Jieun called her, and she turned to look at her. “HR told me they were replacing the delivery guy, and dismissing him!”

She was a bit taken aback. She expected HR to tell her something like that since she also complained. 

“That’s great!”

“Apparently someone else also went in and told them they saw him harassing you?”

Gulping, she eyed Sanghyuk, who was standing just a few feet apart from them.

“I’m glad everything worked out.” She smiled, genuinely. 

Jieun gave her a quick hug before thanking her again, and walking away.

Thinking about what she just told her, she took a minute before turning to Sanghyuk.

“It’s unfair they believed us once you also went forward.” 

He looked at her for a second, before sighing. 

“I’m sorry, noona.”

“Don’t worry,” She smiled at him comfortingly. “It has nothing to do with you.”

They started walking towards her place. She felt like she should say thank you anyway. And sorry as well. She wasn’t convinced about his attitude yet, but it helped her, and Jieun. 

“Sanghyuk,” He looked at her as they walked. “Thank you for helping me.”

He seemed a bit taken aback by her words, but remained silent as she kept on speaking.

“And I’m sorry I got upset with you.”

“It’s alright, noona.” He patted her shoulder gently. “I’m sorry I upset you, as well.”

She was thankful Sanghyuk was so easy going. Conveying her feelings would somehow put her in a vulnerable position she wasn’t yet ready to take. So she settled with just nodding her head in response.

The rest of the way was calm, only exchanging frivolous words about how the rest of their day went. The tension was palpable but neither of them did anything about it.

*

The next few days were exactly the same. Sanghyuk never brought up those small moments of intimacy they shared; and she didn’t do it either. She was far too embarrassed to do it. 

Her head kept going about the idea that maybe Sanghyuk liked her. Like her like her, not just in a boss-assistant way, or whatever. 

She also wondered about how it would look if they were seen together. The rule of dating someone within the company wasn’t exactly a rule, as it has more to do with appearances than anything else. But it did look bad, especially because Sanghyuk was almost five years younger than she was. 

She groaned loudly from her seat in her office, as she dropped her head on the desk. It was Friday, and the constant thinking of that rule (and Sanghyuk) worned her out.

“You ok, noona?” Sanghyuk asked, from his desk.  

Sanghyuk was so sweet all the time, except when he was really all up her face. She hated him.

“I wanna go home now.”

“In three hours, we can.”

Somehow, “we” really sounded like both of them were going to her place, and she was glad he couldn’t see her face because she was blushing like hell. 

She didn’t feel it was a particularly good day when it was finally time to go home, and it was raining. Pouring down raining. She looked out the window, and was at least thankful she was wearing spool boots, instead of the classic pumps or scarpins she usually wore. 

“Noona.”

Sanghyuk’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to look at him. He was looking at her curiously, with his bag already in his hand and an umbrella in the other. 

“Shall we get going?”

She would usually take a cab to her place if it was raining, but she didn’t want to go home alone, without Sanghyuk. She nodded, grabbing her coat and bag before walking out of her place.

The only umbrella she had was the one Sanghyuk grabbed, so they would have to share. It was a big one luckily. But he seemed to be only putting it over her head instead of in the middle, so he wouldn’t get wet either.

“The umbrella is for both of us!” She elbowed him on the side, and he bent over a little, but was clearly unaffected. 

“Don’t worry, noona, I have more hoodies at home.” He replied, chuckling.

She grabbed his arm, the one holding the umbrella, and locked it with hers.

“Now you have no excuse.” She grinned. 

He smiled back at her, like he was trying hard not to smile even wider. She thought it was adorable.  

She did, however, feel slightly nervous being so close. Maybe he felt her heartbeat, which was really fast in that moment? She was positive she was blushing a little. It was inevitable; she blushed way more often than she’d like to admit. 

“Are you doing anything this weekend?” She asked, trying to make conversation.

“I have dancing classes with Hakyeon-hyung tomorrow morning, and I also work at night.”

She didn’t forget he took dancing lessons. She’d love to see him dancing one day, she knew he was awesome at it. 

“What about you, noona?” He asked, looking at her with curiosity. 

“Nothing in particular, probably watching some movies or series.”

It was embarrassing to admit her life was pretty uneventful, but it was what it was. Maybe she could hang out with Hakyeon on Sunday. 

“That sounds fun!”

She huffed, glaring at him playfully.

“No, really! I barely have time to watch a movie every now and then, so it does sound fun…” For some reason, his voice was kind of deflating, like he was kind of embarrassed by saying that.

“Well that’s understandable since you work and study so much.”

“I guess…”

He sounded more down than before, and she didn’t like it. 

“What’s a movie you really like?” She tried to deviate the conversation back to a more light subject.

His eyes opened up adorably, and he seemed to be thinking about his answer very seriously before he spoke.

“Maybe one of the Avengers… I do like them all.”

She really tried, but couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is that too lame?” He asked, giggling.

“No, no!” She said, trying to compose herself. “It’s just really cute! Adorable actually, that you like superhero movies!”

He scratched his nose, obviously embarrassed, but she still thought it was lovely. In an attempt to make him feel better, she pat his arm, before speaking again.

“I like those movies as well, I love Endgame actually.”

“Not the best of the entire series, not gonna lie.”

“Maybe, I like all the characters in there though.”

He hummed in response. 

The arm that was locked with hers tightened every time it was time to cross a street. It caught her attention the first time they crossed a street like that, but it was then the third time. Maybe he was doing it on purpose.

“What about you, noona? Favorite movie?”

“I don’t know if we have the same taste.” She was embarrassed about telling him her own favorite movie, but she did laugh, she couldn’t object much. “I love Moulin Rouge!”

“Oh, that’s a good one.” He replied, completely serious.

“You think?”

“Yeah, what they did with the music there? Completely awesome!”

“Yes!” She nearly yelled, very excited to talk more about the movie. “Love how they combine multiple songs to create a musical like that!”

The way in which Sanghyuk looked at her in that moment, with soft eyes, could utterly melt her until she was nothing but goo on the ground. 

That was also the moment her legs, after resisting Sanghyuk for so long, decided to give up on her little, and she slipped. Slipped and almost fell. And it was really almost, because he was there, his arm tensing again, supporting her as he grabbed her other arm with a strong grip, not letting her fall and hit the ground.

She was dazed, confused about slipping and then being caught by Sanghyuk so fast. But he was looking at her, concerned.

“Are you alright?” He asked. 

“Yeah…” She replied, looking at him in the eye. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”

He helped her stand on her feet steadily, before letting go of her arm. His gaze was still fixed on hers, and she didn’t dare to turn away until she started feeling embarrassed, so she looked down.

He must have noticed she was nervous, because he extended his arm, the one she was still holding, with a soft smile on his face, like an invitation to keep on walking. Accepting his gesture, she linked her arm with his again, returning the smile as they kept on walking.

The rain was getting worse by the minute, and they were only three blocks away from her place. But Sanghyuk lived God knows where, so she wanted to hurry just so he could make it home without catching a cold on his way back.

“Come on!” She was tugging at his arm to make him walk faster. 

“You’re gonna fall for real if we start running.” Sanghyuk said, grinning mischievously, but walking faster still. 

“I won’t!” She said. She only almost fell because she was looking at him and that was a weakness in that moment. 

Against what was probably the wiser choice, they both started jogging down the street, with Sanghyuk giggling happily as he held the umbrella. 

She felt like a kid again, laughing and trotting down the rain, getting wetter than she should because running with an umbrella was almost impossible, especially when someone else was carrying it. But Sanghyuk didn’t seem to mind though, totally enjoying himself, getting wet as well as he tried to keep up with her own pace.

They stopped when they were about to cross the street to get to her building, only a few feet away before crossing the street. They giggled all the way there, as she firmly grabbed Sanghyuk’s arm once again.

“That was fun.” She commented, as they reached the main stairs.

Sanghyuk only nodded, beaming. She pulled him in under the stairs with her, under the roof so he wouldn’t get any more drenched by the rain. His hair was a little wet, some droplets falling on his shoulder as he closed the umbrella. Her own hair was a little soaked as well; she felt bad for him though.

“Thank you again, for walking me home.”

“It’s cool.” He replied, with the same smile on his face. 

His hand was on her hair then, to her surprise, gently combing it and pushing it away from her face. 

She took a step back, going one step up. His hand went down slowly, and he eyed her intensely. She was a little frightened about the situation, feeling like she might be misreading everything when he was so nice to her all the time. 

Not wanting to read between lines anymore, she took a deep breath before asking.

“Do you like me?”

Flustered, she tried not to break eye contact, especially when Sanghyuk raised one eyebrow, skeptical. He stayed silent for a couple of seconds, which might as well be hours for all she knew, only blinking once as he went up one step, towering over her one more time. 

“Don’t you know?” He asked, voice low.

She blinked, not really following what he meant to say. His hand reached for her face this time, fingers softly stroking her cheek.

“Everything was for you.”

The hand he had on her cheek slid down her jaw, his thumb caressing her cheek, as he slowly closed the space between them. 

It was like her heart stopped and there wasn’t enough air when Sanghyuk kissed her. It was just his lips pressed against hers, sweet and tender, she could melt right there. She closed her eyes after a moment of surprise, and kissed him back.

He pulled away too soon, or at least she felt like it, but remained close.

“I do like you.”

She had no idea what was going on, her brain taking a long time to register all the words he had been saying even before the kiss. 

Inhaling sharply once his words settled in, and feeling encouraged after his confession, she grabbed him by his clothes and pulled him in for a kiss again. 

Sanghyuk seemed to be frozen when she moved in so boldly, but quickly cupped her face with both hands, kissing her back and smiling into it; the noise of the umbrella falling from his hand to the ground not bothering them one bit. It was different from the last kiss, still gentle but slowly getting braver, and all she could think about was that it was really happening, warm delight spreading from her chest.

“I like you as well,” She said when they stopped to breathe. “A lot, actually.”

He grinned, youthfully, and planted a small kiss on her lips before pulling away.

She couldn’t help but look at him intensely with a big smile on her face. She was not ashamed at all, not when he was looking at her the same she looked at him.

Without saying anything, she slowly went up the stairs until she reached the door, still smiling as she grabbed the keys from her bag to open the door. Sanghyuk stood there, on the first step, looking at her adoringly. 

She didn’t really want that moment to end. If she could she would spend forever kissing him. 

Having already opened the door, she dropped her bag on the floor, turning around to face Sanghyuk once again. He had already grabbed the umbrella and had turned away, but looked her way when he heard the sound of her bag plonking, just in time when she went all the way down the stairs and basically threw herself at him. 

Sanghyuk barely faltered, dropping the umbrella again and wrapping his arms around her waist when she kissed him. She wanted to make the most out of that moment, and Sanghyuk seemed happy to oblige, kissing her back just as intensely. She hummed when he squeezed her sides, feeling deliciously small by the way he was holding her. 

Neither one of them wanted it to end, and she could feel how eager he was when she pulled away, and he went on to kiss her cheek, her jaw and her neck. Sighing, she melted right into him, throwing her head back to give him better access. She wanted more, so much more.

“I have to go to work.” Sanghyuk spoke into her neck, voice spilling annoyance and frustration.

She pecked his lips and pulled away, smiling sweetly.

“We’ll see each other next week.”

His hands squeezed her hips once more before he stepped away. He held her hand as she went up the stairs, only letting go because neither could stretch their arms more. 

As she went in, grabbing her bag from the floor, she showed him her smile one more time. He returned it, holding the umbrella once again as he waved (adorably), before walking away.

Once she was in her apartment, she lingered on her door, not taking off her shoes or coat. Sighing loudly, she hoped she wasn’t dreaming, everything that happened too delightful to be true but somehow it was. She licked her lips, still tasting him, and dropped to the floor, burying her face in her hands, feeling like she may explode any minute.

When she was in bed, at midnight, almost dozing off already, she got a text message. From Sanghyuk. 

Sanghyuk: So you like me, huh.

She smiled, knowing well he was joking. She wondered if she could start joking too, and how mean could that joke be. But she didn’t want to risk it yet. 

If I recall, you said you liked me first.

Sanghyuk: Fair enough, I do like you.

Sanghyuk: You’re the best boss I had. And you’re pretty hot.

She tried not to blush, but she knew she failed. Luckily he couldn’t see her.

And you’re a pretty hot assistant.

Sanghyuk: It’s like we were meant to be.

Sanghyuk: Can’t wait to see you on monday. I miss you. 

I miss you as well. 

She fell asleep later than she hoped, looking forward to next week already.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Hey!! 👋🏽😄 I know you said in your last rant about SK8 and Reki and Renga that you were one of those people that always looks up and learns from others, but after your last Langa edit, I just wanted to remind you how immensely talented you are. I might have not seen your first attempts at editing, but I know how it looks like when you're barely starting something, and I'm sure everyone is proud of the progress you've made and many people looks up to you as the level of skill they want to achieve. You're doing amazing! 💖💖💖

Hi, my love!!!!!! ASDFSDFGHG that’s soooo sweet, thank you so much for saying this, it really means the world to me <3 Oh, haha I’ve deleted most of my old videos so it wouldn’t hurt anyone’s eyes lmao T_T I’m still a bit nervous each time I’m uploading my vids to the day to be honest, even with so many subs rn, but at first I really didn’t have any supporters at all and my god I sucked at this, but I guess the love for my fav ships was stronger apparently haha. So I always get silly happy at each nice comment and feedback, so thank you seriously. 

I really love love love vidding, Idk why but when smth comes out the way I wanted it’s a super addictive feeling for some reason, but many times I just looked at the final result and just threw it in the trash and started over and my god how many times SonyVegas crushed and didn’t autosave the project. I’m like Suga now, I’m pressing the save button each 2 minutes, cause don’t want to lose anything xD Being someone’s inspiration is truly an honor to me, I’ve got some messages that hit me too hard. Still feels weird bc I’m like “but do you know that I can’t even use photoshop tho, how do u like me now then?” lol.

I’m always drawn to talented characters, bc they amaze me, esp the humble ones. Like those who hate Haru or Lanaga just buffle me honestly. I understand that they’re pretty and talented and everything, but they’re also the sweetest and loveliest human beings, so like...??? And I adore those who don’t whine and get what they want. I just can’t help it. I’m a strong believer in the fact that "you can do anything if you put your mind to it”. So far it worked in real life so suck it lol.

People are also saying like Langa doesn’t deserve to win this and Haru doesn’t deserve to be in Olympics, like Langa didn’t snowboard since he was 2 and Haru wasn’t swimming every day since he was born. I’m like.. and you need to check in the mirror if your face is a shade of green. BTW I’ve also been in a professional sports for quite a long time since I was a little kid, ballroom dancing and adored it back then, and I did not get jealous at ppl who were talented than me, I was watching the tapes actually with a popcorn. And oh god those large competition events when you sit there for days and give it all, but then you’re like 296 out of 1000. Why was I proud instead of being sad? Idk xD It was fun.

So thanks for liking the vid, cause I even regretted uploading it a bit yesterday. Sadly everyone already knows that we lost this fandom to the middle schoolers being extra, so they do not care for anything each episode except for this ship, so that’s what I got for posting a just Langa vid:

And etc. and that just made me sad, cause I do not like such fandoms, like it’s not even related to the video, that I’ve been making... with love.  Also thanks for the "sama” title, I’m flattered, but editor only wants to vid matchablossom for now, so like there’s no need for any warnings. I’ve been in such horrendoes fandoms, that I’m immune to this. I also in fact didn’t know some keep ruining Langa’s page and saying that he steals Reki’s screen time... cause he’s aparently the only main character...? ...lmao? I didn’t even know Langa can be hated tbh. I wasn’t really ready for all the drama that followed me making a vid about him.

I’ve already deleted some comments, cause I’m like what this even has to do with the vid about Langa? No, I am not obliged to make a vid about Reki, too. What if I post a matchablossom vid, everyone will only start commenting “do renga”, cause fuck your efforts? I’m like... I hate such fanbases, seriously. I do not even know where this is going, but their fans are already pissing me off. I’m still trying hard for this to not affect my point of view about the ship, cause it’d be kinda unfair to them, but its getting harder each week istg.

And I maybe can’t take requests, but I love when some try to get me addicted on their ship with passion and great arguments. It happened to me with some nice ppl. But def not with agression and stupidity haha.

Cause apparently its one of the fandoms where you can’t NOT care for the main ship, even if you accept it for the only possible Langa ship (cause he doesn’t give a shit for anyone else, so like what’s the point), but it doesn’t do anything for you. I’m like... thanks for threatening. This will make me on board ASAP. Like it’s not the epitomy of love to me... I’m sorry? LMAO 

Some anon even sent me a “you’re dense” (literally thats it) ask after that Reki ask. I was tempted to write smth like “oh I’m sorry, this is the most epic love story of my life and his character is the most complex in the world and he’s the best friend and the most inspiring human being that ever hit my screen. can I become undense now? xD”. But you know I do not know if they’d realise the sarcasm and my pride sadly never allowed me to sell my life values for a bunch of 12 years olds to love me lol

My sister always laughs and jokingly says “but you’d probably get much more subs if you made a vid about this or that, but at what price that would be lmao”. Cause yeah, I never could make myself vid smth I do not like, cause I love vidding and do not want it to be associated with things I do not like, plus it’ll most likely turn out ugly, if I do not care. My mom says that she can feel love I put in my shipping vids that’s why she loves them. I really don’t think she’s wrong. But that also kinda makes me an idiot technically, cause I’m not into many of the popular ships, and some popular animes I just find really basic. 

Also I’m like 100% sure it ain’t happening, but even if they miraculously suck each other’s dicks while sitting on a skate board, I can still have the rights not to care at the end. Like did I sign some form where I’m obliged to love each and everyone canon gay ship even if it’s not what I like? Like gay is not the type of love in relationships. You can only care about his ass like Lan Zhan for example or you can only care about your ass. Like that’s different types of relationships, and whatever you like you like. So get all the way of people’s backs, please.

Also do ppl know that you do not need to be blind to the bad sides of the characters in your ships? Or you just gonna be like “I suddenly can’t see” for forever.

So really thanks for such wonderful message and liking the video and for the boosts when I need them and not being an ass to me if I’m not being obsessed with smth, when you like it. (like I think we have different ship in bnha, right? but we’re still doing great tho, thanks for being an angel <3)

I still didn’t expect this becoming a Voltron 2.0. situation tho. We in our twenties see everything differently, I guess. I do get extra about “their love is everywhere”, but I do not get extra by anonymously attacking ppl, threatening creators and yelling “queeerbating psychotic blind assholes if these two aint fucking by the end of the season I’m shaving my head and jumping out of the window and shoot the director. you do not ship it HARD? YOU DUMB FUCK. THAT’S THE BEST LOVE STORY IN THE WORLD”. Like damn, take your blinders off and see the world, kid. Firstly, it’s definitely not, secondly, ppl see love differently in general and at each age too.

Ah, also you must kill Adam, cause he’s a pedo apparently. Like he ain’t even a threat to your ship, unless you’re blind, but they’re still at it, like they do not know that this kind of age difference is literally nothing for an anime? And that there are canon ships with a huger age difference left and right, too. It’s like its their first time approaching an anime or smth. Like in anime world character can literally kill 1000 ppl with his bare hands and bathe in their blood and we can still stan them, depends on their story, ok? Also Langa couldn’t care less for his advances, so like separate Adam from your ship pls. Like, fuck off, if someone is interested in his character. Yeah, he’s a weirdo for reasons, but anime kind of weird do not apply to real life. Stop acting like you’re some purist, when later you’re gonna ship smth else and it suddenly will not apply. Also rules do not apply to animes, everyone knows they do not apply. These are not western cartoons, my god. And 24 years old flirting with 16 year old is defiinitely not the weirdest shit anyone has ever seen in the anime. Chinese BL has characters who were 14 and 30 when they met and happily married. Also FICTION is not life. Literally no one cares. If you’re scared for your saint eyes, do not watch animes, you’re gonna have a heart-attack from what you can see there. Also we’ve seen gayer bromances in animes, who are just bromances, so pls do not shoot anyone if it’s not canon.

So basically I was kinda pissed yersterday, cause fuck them for ruining the tag, but after chatting with my hommies and your ask, I’m okay again, I just have to avoid this fandom and stick to a tight community xD. I just got used to my nice fandoms and forgot for a bit about the precautions you need to take if you’re in one of those. You know. Who make a circus out of lgbt, instead of supporting it, and make other ppl hate being in fandoms.

P.S. sorry for this partially unrelated rant, your messages really always make my heart bloom, so thanks for supporting me, and I know you’re proud of my progress, too <3 and this makes me happy. LY

[towerofgodscreamblogwink]

reading last chap of s2 after covering several chapters yesterday, also since it's end of the season, for once I put some bigger serious thoughts at the end

who the FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE???

OH MY GOD KARAKA IS TSUNDERE

there are OTHER slayers?? (except fucking ex white)  if they mentioned it earlier i must’ve forgot

that’s not how to talk to your daddy greatest

 -(no i don’t like jahad i’m here to bully karaka because i tend to bully my faves)

*punches table* rabbit boy. get out. i have not sighed so loud in my entire life

oh i see why people were calling them furries.

listen, you either give us catboys or leave.

please don’t say “creatures” if it’s like your furry way of talking

that guy: not to worry he has a permit

gustang: *pulls out paper* “i can get whatever i want”

i’ve read “gremlin” im dONE

you know what maybe i should just go to bed rn

also cat is destroying my door dear lord

ok so it’s the next day now

“ahahaha”

“I can’t read...”

SHIT I HAVEN’T NOTICED RACHEL GOT TELEPORTED

erh i’m dumb on this one, why have they made this parallels?

I don’t want to tell you this but he just reminded me of chara undertale...

wangan: onii-chan!?

wait what

ouch

soooo karaka believes wangan’s story even w/o ring then?

*spits tea* ow goddammit not the feels

anyhoo that’s the end of s2, siu put a note about break but yeah that was years ago, so pretty sure i’ll be starting s3 even now but i won’t be posting it rn

anyhoo well that was suprisingly long season? my usual knowledge of “Seasons” is usually from anime, and these tend to have seasons with usual 2 or 3 arcs but they usually don’t go in so many different directions 

personally it feels like half of season 2 is a season on it’s own tbh, and maybe that’s how anime could adapt it, perhaps? although 12 episodes would work best with just setting on saving bam from fug.. either anime would make the seasons in parts like aot did with s3 or have lots and lots of seasons, since probability of anime getting 24 episodes has gotten awfully small those years

As for the opinions on season 2... I see first half and season on it’s own, so let’s start from this - Bam getting rescued, and first time they enter hell train. First of all, Bam as Viole is absolutely nailing this, and I wouldn’t mind having Viole as protagonist to be honest, although it would be indeed sad as Viole is not the happiest person, but damn is he a cutie. Is he a baby. 

Wangan - oh dear I dunno if others saw the plot twist coming, but I did not - I have absolutely been viewing him as Bam’s counterpart to his Viole side, just a complete shounen protagonist who’s completely ordinary. Boy was I w ro n g. I only remember vaguely being sus about him when Viole has mentioned his ring, but that was about it, as it was never mentioned again, I forgot about it. And then it appeared Karaka has this ring. Boy was I shooketh.

I don’t think I exactly liked the further progression though until Wangan’s story was revealed - until then he kinda fell into background, and then soon again as said story was revealed. However I do know Siu has big plans with him, and at this point I know Siu’s writing enough, so I don’t have much worries about his further progression

Also sadly there was no Karaka-Wangan brother bonding

Next in mind I have Khun, naturally, as he’s my icy hot favourite. I don’t really know why even, when I saw him in anime I was quite indifferent about him. So if you want me to explain why do I like khun, I can’t really explain. Other than when he was becoming my favourite, I remember being dissappointed in myself and making a post to myself “Goddammit don’t fall for him just because he’s your type” and he’s not even really my type in terms of personality, but at that point I was jsut shrugging it off, maybe it was his childish over-dramatic posture contrasting his cold personality because I just hit that protect button

Also yes I may be basic just slap me already

And before I’ll start talking: girl’s scout outfit, really? I support my son and I can understand his edgy and k-pop fashion... But I’d be lying if I said I understood him for shit at that moment

So now that we’re past back... I was actually recently re-reading first chapters, and damn, the difference of Khun before Bam was rescued - was rather intriguing. He was laughing his ass off at silly things (his team being dressed silly) but oh sweetie did it feel weird.

Next, I keep thinking about him on the train obliberating Rachel - despite popular opinion, his cockiness was actually getting on my nerves, and only thing saving it, was his reasons were Bam - so in other words, at least he wasn’t an asshat for his own sake.

I much liked his personality during second half of the season 2 - as much as there wasn’t much khunbam content - seems like Khun has grown as a person,as his cocky aura much disappeared as he became more understanding towards his own weaknesses. Now his “cockiness” became rather entertaining if you catch my drift, because despite his jerk nature, he *is* well aware of his flaws, and I just like that. Not that he *wasn’t* considerate of that already, but the hidden floor really did wonders on him.

And dear my, his relationship with Bam. I’ll be honest, at some point during reading first half of season 2, I felt like I was reading romance story between him and Bam. It was all the little things, like playing with Rachel just to know Bam’s past, Khun noticing Bam was uncomfortable with Viole wig, Khun being near Bam as he spoke he has no reasons to live, Khun standing up for Bam when strangers tried to use him and Isu asked for his help but skipped the asking part, Khun looking back to Bam telling him he’ll be back when going to catch the fish on train, Khun trying to talk to him when Bam locked himself up in his room on train, constantly checking and finally waiting in his room when he notices Bam is gone, Khun noticing lack of Bam’s presence before going to floor of death right *after* he just said he feels like world is ending if Bam isn’t here, and then beeming when Bam does in fact appears. And that’s just all the stuff I can remember right now, and I mean the *little* things. The big things are the ones we know well - “So that I can always chase” and the famous world one I don’t have to quote.

Second half didn’t have much scenes, but there were few that did stuck to me - Bam’s line to Kiseia how he understands why she hates him, but he’ll do everything he can to stop her if she plans to harm Khun *again*. Because it seemed like Bam kind of moved on from Khun getting stabbed by his sis, but that panel did show that not only it *did* stay with him, it also stayed with him that it was *Kiseia* who hurt him.

Another scene was the one I don’t think I need to talk about much, as we all pretty understand - moment of Khun and Eduan awkward father-son bonding. Khun tries to close himself off, but Bam reaches out, and forces him out of comfort zone

But what mostly stuck out to me, was his behaviour after Khun became kinda dead. It was the way he spoke to endorsi and rest, how *he’s* going to take khun and follow the *harder* path, and anyone who *don’t want to come*, can take the easier one. Basically, he was prepared to go the harder route completely alone because it meant taking Khun with him, and he was just, prepared to go without any help, he only optionally added that others can join if they *want* to.

Another interesting scene, was Hwaryun calling him out, when few of his teammates has been captured, due to them taking the different path from Bam - but if they are meant to escape with Khun, they have to leave them, and when Bam gets steamy about it, Hwaryun goes - “I didn’t choose the teams. You’ve chosen them based on who matters more.” It’s so subtle, so cruel, yet intriguing - one of the most worst way to tell someone he cares for someone else more - she’s only saying Khun mattered to him more, but in this context, it sounds accusing, making Bam’s decision selfish. And that’s something that’s absolutely in my mind - his care for Khun, called out in “accusing” matter - as something that stopped him from commiting other decision - as something he’s willing to priotize others over.

So I can’t stop thinking about that, and truthfully? That last “take care of Khun after me.” line.

But the other line from bam’s monolouge that gets me is “Wait a bit more Khun... I’ll wake you up again.” That “again” gets to me, but I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s the way he looks at Khun longily. 

So this covers their relationship, and I think I’m only gonna mention Bam now real quick and perhaps Eudan and Jahad, because the post’s getting long and I don’t want to make *this* post specifically long.

I don’t have much to say about Bam, as Bam himself doesn’t have much to say about him. He didn’t have much definying features or characteristics besides the time he was Viole, but you have to hand it to him for growing after meeting after she pushed him for the first time - it was still hard to say anything about him though. For several chapters later - as well, except he did manage to develop the traits of self-sacriface, and actual resolve to save everyone - because he talks about *always* and sure fights for his friends, but who doesn’t? Where his personality shines in this regard, is in the moment of Bam saving his enemies with no questions asked, and White by the way definetely helped Bam to develop his personality for sure.

But either way I’m here roasting Bam, while my goal was to say, that it was in the hidden floor where I’ve actually started recognizing him as his own character - it was in the moment of him having final confrontation with Viole, I finally saw what kind of person he was. And I liked it, he became a solid character in that moment, accompanied by proper flashbacks and exploration. And Bam continues to be then written quite consinstely as in one of later flashbacks, he indeed says, what he said to Viole a while ago - he’s afraid of being alone. Not only that, the internal conflict was added - is he a monster? is he not? It’s simple conflict but can do wonders, and it’s not something that Bam even thinks about, it’s more of a really subtle conflict within a character design itself, rather than Bam.

So basically now Bam indeed feels more of an actual character

And before I’ll end it for now, I want to mention the meeting of young Eudan, andyoung Jahad - truth to be told, I don’t have most unique feelings towards them as anyone sees the point - the adventures with pure intentions turned evil, aka how everyone can turn evil. What makes me more interested, is how Siu has used it for storytelling... Main characters having a big meeting with the younger versions of villians? Haven’t seen that one yet, so I’m interested what direction Siu will take with it, since this is my first time seeing it, so I’m really curious how exactly you can utilize such scenes in terms of long planned story, and not only how they affect story as a whole, but how they also affect just aspects of it as well.

So, that’d be it on my commentary and small “opinion” on season 2. It wasn’t like I exactly wanted  to put it here, but I wanted the end of season 2 to have more meaning to myself. But not only to have a meaning to myself *just* for my own reasons, but because I didn’t want to leave the whole season with nothing but small comments there and there. I wanted my experience altogether to be something bigger - but not only experience, but my “legacy” as well. So, that’d be about it x2, if you’re still reading, congratulations, I appreciate that, and you get an apple

[snowdice]

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 40]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. None edited chapters are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

It’s probably going to be short today tbh.

Arc II What We Do to Each Other

Chapter 16:

As it would turn out, Janus and Virgil did not get in trouble for hooking up the old phone to Virgil’s integrator, mostly because it wasn’t really a mistake on their part. The phone cleared all virus checks that the tech people both from the university and the TPI ran on it. The phone should have been clean and should not have caused an issue.

In fact, they were still trying to pin down the code on the general university server. They could tell that something was mucking about on the system but what or how was a mystery. This also meant that there was no telling what information had been compromised and considering how many things Silver Mountain had its hands in, that was… a bit worrying.

 Another worrying thing was there was suddenly more activity of late at the TPI. There were more time distortions popping up every day. Usually they would be few and far in between. There had been 3 total recorded the year before, but over 12 in the last week. Some of them were fake like the one Janus had investigated, but some of them were real. It painted a distressing picture and also was a drain on their resources. Khalid was actually looking to advertise positions to hire new recruits which was something she rarely did as she liked to keep appointments to the TPI in house.

 They’d even loosed the number of field agents needed for each mission and Janus and Remus had been splitting up just to get everything done. Today, he and Remus had thankfully only two missions scheduled for the day.

“Are we going together or separate today?” Janus asked Remus.

“Think they’ll burn me at the stake for being a witch if I go alone to either of them?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. I think we’re getting a bit late into the 1700s for that in Cuba, but I have no idea about Mesopotamia.”

“Let’s just go together. I did not like almost drowning yesterday because I was the only stranger in town when the weather was going wonky.”

“Surely it isn’t because you opened your mouth. Ever.” Janus said dryly.

“How was I supposed to know he was the local clergyman’s son?”

 Janus rolled his eyes. “On second thought,” he said, pushing a button on his desk to choose Cuba as he next mission, and standing up. “I don’t want you coming with me.” Yet, he did not protest when Remus also signed up for the Cuba mission and he waited for him by the office door before going to talk to Rhi.

Rhi was a bit frazzled when which meant quite a bit as she was usually incredibly put together. Remus didn’t even seem inclined to tease her today.

“Okay,” she said once they’d closed the door behind them. She flipped through some documents on her desk. “Picani and Clockson. Camaguey Cuba 1755. Do you know Cuba?”

 “Uh,” Janus said. “Yeah?”

“Like you’re reading the things, right? I don’t have to babysit you, right? You got it? The Seven Year War was happening, but it won’t affect you much as it hasn’t really hit Cuba. It’s the middle of the Camaguey Carnival. Everyone will be everywhere and there will be chaos so as long as you don’t really fuck up you should be fine. Um…apparent races.” She looked up at them and studied them each for a moment as thought looking at them for the first time despite having known them for years. “It’ll work. Go to costuming.”

“Shouldn’t we…” Janus said, “sign things?”

 “…Yep,” she said, fiddling with her desktop and then sending documents over to their side to sign.

Janus and Remus both did before sending them back.

“Great. Good.” She stood and grabbed some things from behind her. “You can go.” She sat back down as they took their things and Janus noticed a message pop up on her desk. She looked up at Remus looking exhausted. “What?” she asked.

“Just open it,” Remus said.

Rhi tapped it and a photo opened.

“I got her a new mouse toy!” Remus said happily as Rhi looked at the picture of Diesel Fuel attacking a cloth mouse.

“That is… appreciated Agent Clockson,” Rhi said. “Now get out.”

 They did, leaving to get their costumes on and checked. Costuming was just as busy and frazzled as Rhi had been and they actually had to wait for decon because there’d been a mix up with the agents leaving before them. They landed in Cuba without issue. Janus could already hear the festival in full swing outside the small building they’d were in. Remy was standing there with a very not time appropriate mug of coffee.

“Sue me,” Remy said when Janus raised an eyebrow at it. “Please just… get in and out without causing trouble. Seriously. I don’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.”

 “We’ll do our best,” Janus assured.

Remy pulled his sunglasses down to look at him. He looked exhausted. “God please do more than your best.”

Janus nodded tightly. “We’ll be in and out,” he said, already glancing at his timepiece. It had been disguised as a golden bracelet which made it a bit harder to actually use, but wrist watches wouldn’t be invented for more than a century, so they’d have to make do. “The time distortion, if that’s what it is, should be in the middle of town. Let’s go.”

He and Remus exited the building onto the packed city street.

 Janus was immediately bombarded with all types of sights, sounds, and smells. There were many colorful articles of clothing and costumes as people went every which way along the street talking to other members of their community, playing instruments, and dancing. There was the sound of people speaking Spanish, still mostly almost pure Castilian Spanish with perhaps a bit of influence from Taino as the Haitian revolution had yet to push the Creole language over to Cuba. People must have been hard at work cooking different dishes for the carnival as many different spices wafted through the air. It was sticky hot considering it was the middle of June in the tropics and Janus was immediately sweating despite the temperature appropriate clothing he’d been outfitted with.

 He glanced around their immediate area, just scoping out the crowds. His eyes were immediately drawn to one person near them.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he said out loud when he saw Pat. Remus looked in the direction Janus was.

Even if Janus didn’t recognize him the moment he laid eyes on him, he probably still would have ended up staring as he was the only person in the area who clearly did not know how to do the dance he was attempting.

Remus snorted and Janus shook his head in secondhand embarrassment. “Well, would you look whose boyfriend’s here,” he said to Janus. Make that firsthand embarrassment. “Has anyone told him the Mambo wasn’t invented until the 1900s and also that’s not how you do it?”

 Chapter 17

Pat stopped dancing the moment he saw Janus approaching him, but he still bobbed cheerfully ( and unrhythmically) to the music. “Hi Janus,” he said pleasantly.

“You just have to rub it in, huh?”

There was a flash of confusion across his face, but then he smiled. “Well, I know where in our relationship you are. How was France?”

“You’re a bastard.”

“You stole the phone,” he laughed.

“You stole the bomb,” Janus countered, “and you wanted me to steal the phone. You booby trapped it.”

“No,” Pat correct, putting a finger up. “We have security on my phone because in high school I once forgot it in the school locker room and long story short, the three of us ended up in a lake. So, then Lo made sure I always had some sort of tracker on it. When I started time traveling, he updated it and when I met you we updated it again in case there was ever an opportunity like that. Lo calls it using our weaknesses to our advantage.”

 “He’s a bastard too,” Janus growled.

Pat just laughed.

“Is someone talking about me?” Remus asked, stepping over to them. Janus rolled his eyes.

“Oh,” Pat said, blinking at Janus’s partner for a moment. “Remus.” He hesitated slightly. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” Remus asked. “Uh, I’m doing good. A little stressed out with work, but fine.”

“Good,” Pat said with just a little too much heartfulness to it.

“What?” Janus asked, eyes narrowed at Pat. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Pat asked. He met Janus’s eyes briefly and it made panic surge up Janus’s spine because the look Pat was sending him wasn’t one that said he was playing dumb. It was a warning.

 Oh, Janus did not like this. That look told Janus Pat had some foreknowledge that he absolutely could not tell Janus about without messing up the timeline spectacularly. This was why this mess the two of them were mixed up in was so bad, but it seemed Janus did not have much of a choice when it came to Pat.

Despite how bad of an idea he knew it was, he still wanted to push, because whatever Pat was hiding could be very, very bad and it had to do with Remus. There were so many reasons Pat could be acting like that around Remus, but the worst ones were definitely the ones on his mind. Death, injury, illness. They were all possible especially in their line of work and especially with how time was being screwed with right now. And Pat knew. He knew exactly what the answer was, and oh did Janus want to push.

Experience knowing what worse things could come out of having foreknowledge made Janus bite his tongue.

 “So, what are you two doing here,” Pat asked, and Janus unhappily let him change the subject.

“Oh, like you don’t know,” Janus replied.

“I don’t know,” Pat said innocently.

“There’s another time distortion,” Janus said, “and while you didn’t know what it was the last time I saw you, I’m pretty sure you do now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a time distortion here. I can help you if you like,” he offered sweetly.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to see if I could find the Flying Dutchman,” Pat told him.

“And so you went to Camaguey?”

“Uh huh.”

“One of the farthest places from the ocean in Cuba?”

 “Is it?”

“I don’t trust you.”

Pat just shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want my help finding the time distortion, I’ll just be on my way then.”

“Wait,” he said when Pat went to turn away. Pat paused. Janus turned to Remus. “Remus, do you think he’s bullshitting me so I let him wander off and do whatever the hell he’s doing, or do you think he’s bullshitting me into letting him come with us.”

“Hmm,” Remus said, looking Pat up and down. Janus could immediately tell he wasn’t going to get any helpful answer. “Well, if we’re going with the how much do I get to see his, admittedly very sexy, ass criteria.” Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Letting him leave now means instant gratification and a nice full image when he turns away. However, letting him go with us means many more opportunities to get a glimpse, but they’d probably just be glimpses. So, yeah that’s a tough call.”

“You didn’t even bother to give me an actual hidden suggestion with that bullshit,” Janus groaned. He glanced at Pat only to see him hiding his very red face in his hands. Janus blinked. “Oh,” he said. “You got him, Remus.” Janus was surprised. He’d expected a bit more tenacity for someone with Pat’s personality. Of course, Janus was used to Remus, so that perhaps had some effect. Pat made a muffled distressed sound behind his hands and Janus raised an eyebrow. “You really got him.”

Pat flapped one hand around while still using the other to completely hide his face. “It’s just. His face. Saying that. Is weird.”

 Janus could not say that he didn’t feel a slight spark of joy at seeing Pat flustered. After all, Pat’s weapon of choice had often been flirting with Janus in the past. However, he still smacked Remus on the shoulder when it looked like he was about to continue with something likely far more inappropriate. “We are here for a reason,” he reminded. He turned to consider Pat and squinted at him. “You’re coming with us, I’ve decided. I don’t want to let you out of my sights. Don’t,” he said empathically turning to Remus as the man opened his mouth once more.

 Pat had mostly recovered, though his cheeks were just a bit pink still. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll go with you. Where do we start?”

Janus glanced at his timepiece. “It’s not showing up on our trackers yet.”

“It messed with your tracker last time,” Pat pointed out.

“I know,” Janus said. “Which means it could be another fake one or whatever is causing it hasn’t started yet. If things start going wrong, but it still doesn’t show on our radar, it’s almost certainly a fake one, but some of the fake ones haven’t blocked our technology.”

“Here, I can check,” Pat said.

“Please don’t pull out an iPhone,” Janus begged.

 Pat stuck out his tongue at him, and then smiled. He reached for the bracelet on his wrist and twisted it back and forth a few times before pressing his palms together. He glanced around them quickly to make sure no one around them was watching and then peeled apart his palms like he was miming reading a book.

“What the fuck is that, and how do I get one?” Remus asked immediately. It was innocuous, whatever it was. If someone from this time caught a glimpse of the display, they’d likely assume it was a trick of the light, but staring right at it, Janus could tell it was a map of the surrounding areas with a softly glowing blue light marking their current location. Janus could see no screen or origin of a hologram. It looked like the image was drawn onto the man’s palms, but as he watched, the image shifted to zoom out.

 “There doesn’t seem to be anything major yet,” Pat said wiggling his fingers a bit. The display changed slightly to some sort of colorful overlay Janus did not understand. Pat hummed. “Did you two come from that building recently?” he asked nodding at it.

“Yes,” Janus replied. “How do you know?”

“There’s sometimes a slight temperature change when people time travel,” Pat explained. “I can read it on here.” He tilted his head. “There also seems to be a big enough temperature change in a church a few blocks away that could indicate time travel. Want to check it out?”

“We might as well,” Janus agreed.

“And if it’s nothing, we can get drunk on the communion wine!”

“He’s going to get immediately struck by lightning,” Janus said.

 Chapter 18

“If we see anyone,” Janus said as they entered the church. “You keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Remus, do you understand me?”

Remus immediately turned to Pat. “You know, I didn’t grow up Catholic,” he said to Pat who looked at him in confusion. “So the first time I ever entered a Catholic church, you can’t blame me for being a little confused about the whole cabinet thing with a wall between them. After all, everyone was singing about glory to god and what not. So I…”

Janus slapped him. “This is why you were almost burned at the stake yesterday.”

 “Excuse you,” Remus said, putting his hand over his heart. “I was almost drowned.”

“You were almost drowned?” Pat asked, his voice seeming legitimately distressed.

Remus shrugged a smile on his face that caused a Pavlovian migraine to start up behind Janus’s eyes. “It’s one of the hazards of the jobs, and really it would have all been worth it if I’d actually gotten to drown in that man’s…”

“We’re in a church!” Janus cut him off switching from Spanish to Swahili in the hopes that no random passersby would be able to understand him in this time and place. “Don’t talk about lewd sex things. Don’t talk about sex at all. It’s a Catholic church!”

 Remus continued to speak in Spanish with no regard for anything. “But not talking about lewd sex things takes away 3/4ths of my personality,” he pouted.

“More like 9/10th,” Janus grumbled, “and the other 1/10th is just normal stupid.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t be mean,” Pat scolded, in fucking English for some reason, “but Remus, honey, you probably shouldn’t be saying things like that right now.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Remus said switching to English.

“He’s my partner, I have the right to call him stupid,” Janus insisted.

“And I love you too!” Remus said in Greek because he was really, truly, stupid.

 Pat looked between the two, but then seemed to accept it, dropping the concerned expression for a slightly amused one. “If you say so.”

“Can I… help you?” A voice asked. All three of them whipped around to see a young boy looking at them and seeming very confused. Which was fair considering that to his ears, they’d just been speaking nonsense.

“We’re here to pray!” Remus claimed, then he turned to wink at Pat and said under his breath in Swahili, “to that ass.” Pat went immediately bright red again, which was doubtlessly Remus’s aim. Janus subtlety stepped on his foot while smiling at the boy.

 “Oh,” the boy said. “Okay.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in questioning the random strangers in front of him further. “I’m going to go back to the celebration now.”

Janus smiled at him. “Have fun,” he said. He waited for the boy to leave through the front door before slapping Remus on the back of the head.

“Ow!” he whined sounding far too pained for how hard Janus had actually hit him.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Let’s just start investigating,” he said.

“Sure, sure, you never let me have any fun,” Remus said, pulling up his wrist and spinning the golden bracelets on his arm. “Hmm…” he said.

 “What?” asked Pat.

“Either I put on the wrong jewelry this morning… or my timepiece isn’t working.”

“Well, then I’m guessing we’re in the right place,” Janus said. He turned to Pat. “Your stuff still working?”

Pat brought up whatever device was on his hands. “Yeah,” he said, “and it looks like something is just starting.” Just as he said it, there was a violent crash of thunder.

“Well,” Janus said. “We should probably find the source and soon. Which way?”

Pat glanced around himself and then motioned with his wrist. Suddenly there was a 3D display of the church in front of them.

 Janus could see immediately where the problem had to originate. There was a swirling mass of some sort of energy centered at the top of the bell tower of the church. As he watched, he saw the picture of the church glitch out a bit. He had a bad feeling about that.

“Is there something wrong with your display?” he asked, or more hoped.

Pat shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so…” The room seemed to shift suddenly underneath their feet. It felt a bit like time travel, but also wrong. The picture on the display flickered harder, part of the building fracturing and dissolving before appearing back in place. The room settled after a moment, but Janus’s stomach did not.

 “Whatever is going on,” Janus said, “We need to stop it right now.”

Pat nodded. “The quickest way up would be that way,” Pat said pointing. The display closed as he did.

“Then, let’s go,” Janus said.

The world was eerily calm as they all started off in the direction Pat had pointed out. In fact, it was almost too quiet.

“Where’s the nearest window?” Janus asked when they came out on the second floor.

Pat glanced at his hand. “There should be a couple a few feet that way.” Janus nodded and left them standing there. When he glanced out of the first window he came to, it appeared to be night. Yet, when he walked to the next window, he saw daylight.

26606

“Time is fracturing,” Janus informed them. “We need to be careful.” This time distortion was much more intense than any of the other ones the agency had been tracking down over the last few months. It had also come on much faster. Usually there was some time between when the time distortion began and it started having extreme effects on the environment. He was suddenly very glad that he and Remus had not split up today. He was even glad for Pat’s company, no matter how aggravating he may be sometimes. Not to mention, he was glad for the man’s technology that seemed to circumvent whatever was blocking Janus and Remus’s timepieces.

He backed away from the windows and returned to the others.

“Whatever you do,” Janus said. “Don’t let anyone be in a room alone.”

“I know what time fractures are this time,” Pat promised.

“It was as much for the idiot as it was for you,” Janus said.

“You accidently bring a bubonic plague infested rat to 900BC one time and you never live it down.”

“I’d say I should put a leash on you, but you’d twist it into something disgusting.”

“Probably,” Remus agreed.

“Where next?” Janus asked, ignoring him.

“That way,” Pat said.

They walked together to the door he’d indicated. “Please don’t be bullshit,” Janus prayed. He opened the door and immediately got bowled over by a stream of salt water.

 Chapter 19

Janus landed flat on his back, a wave of water splashing over him and then quickly retreating, but still leaving him absolutely drenched. He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “Don’t,” he warned, “say a word.”

Of course, he was with the two most impossible people in all of space and time, so neither of them headed him.

“I thought you said we were far from the ocean, Jan,” Pat said.

“Yeah, Janny,” Remus immediately jumped on board because he was an asshole. “I thought we were far from the ocean!”

“Maybe I’ll achieve my goal of finding the Flying Dutchman after all!”

 “Ooo ghost pirates! I’ve never gotten to fight ghost pirates before. Any good with a sword Patty?”

“My friend has a sword and he let me use it before… but all I did was cut a hole in our couch, and then Lo was mad at us.”

“I mean… just pretend the pirates are a couch and we’ll be good!”

Janus slowly sat up. There was still water on the floor and every so often a wave would crash into the room as though the door frame signaled the edge of a beach. Pat reached down to offer him a hand up and Janus slapped it away.

 “Rude!” Pat claimed, but his eyes were alight with mischief.

Janus shoved himself to his feet on his own power.

“You deserve it,” he hissed. “For all of this!” he waved his arms around.

“Water you talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You are on thin ice.”

He looked down at his feet with a contemplative expression. “Looks like water to me.”

“Arg!” Janus spat, throwing up his arms.

“I don’t sea why you’re screaming, Janus.”

“Yeah,” Remus contributed. “You seem overally emotional to me.”

“Yes, yes,” Pat replied. “Very em-ocean-al.”

“One may even say he’s pretty salty.”

“I know where you live, Remus,” Janus reminded.

 “Alright, alright Remus, reel it in,” Pat said.

Remus opened his mouth to respond, but Janus cut him off. “Why don’t the two of you dedicate all of that brain power to figuring out how to cross the literal ocean in the next room,” Janus suggested hotly.

And it was a literal ocean. If one ignored where they were and the fact that there was a staircase climbing out of said ocean about 80 or so meters away. There was sand being washed up across the door frame and a seagull flying in the distance. At least it looked like a nice day in the room with the way the sun was glinting off the water. At least it wasn’t storming there. Yet.

Janus’s head throbbed with the thought of what had to be happening with the time distortion to plop a piece of the ocean into one single room in a church. Usually they’d be calling the TPI for backup or at least for information, but that was a loss. Even if they tried to get out of range of whatever was disrupting their timepieces, time was so unstable, they’d very possibly get dumped somewhere dangerous. It was better to just get to the time distortion as quickly as possible and stop it.

 “Hmm,” Remus said. “I wonder how deep it is. Do you think there are man eating sharks in the water? Or giant jelly fish? Remember that one time I got stung by a jelly fish and almost died?”

“Yes,” Janus said, lips pursed, “and it was entirely your fault.”

“I just looked so squishy!” he declared, “I didn’t know it was a murder blob.”

“I think I have a boat,” Pat said.

They both turned to him. “What?” Janus asked. He was looking at his hands and just hummed in response to Janus’s question. The next thing he knew, Pat made some motion with his hand and a yellow raft started to autofill from his palm. “...Why?” Janus asked.

“I… recently started carrying a wilderness survival pack in my time device.”

 “I’m not going to question it. It’s better than swimming.” By the time the raft was completely deployed, they’d all been shoved into the walls by it.

“Huh, on second thought. I probably should have put the raft in the room before blowing it up.”

“You think?” asked Janus.

Pat glared at him over it. “I never really thought about how to open it in a narrow second floor corridor.”

“Just try to shove it through the door without popping it.”

“Why are you looking at me?!” asked Remus.

They managed to somehow squeeze the raft through the door into the other room after a few minutes.

 Pat squinted at the tottering raft he was holding to the door frame. “After you,” he offered.

Janus glared at him.

“You’re already soaked!” Pat defended himself.

Janus sighed and very carefully climbed into the raft. It tottered dangerously, but he didn’t immediately fall out, so that was a plus. The other two of them slowly also climbed onto the raft with him. They then sat in it for a few seconds. “Is there an oar?” Janus asked.

“Oh right!” Pat did something else with the device in his hands and an oar slowly unfolded from his hand.

“Seriously, I want one of those,” Remus said.

 “Let’s just get out of here,” Janus said, snatching the oar. The staircase luckily wasn’t too far away. They probably could have swam it if necessary, but the raft gave them some modicum of protection. Everything seemed to be going in their favor, which of course meant everything was about to go incredibly wrong.

They were about halfway across the water when the entire world around them rumbled.

“…I hope that was a giant jellyfish,” Remus said.

It was unfortunately not a jellyfish or any sea creature at all. The world around them fractured, the ocean seeming to split right down the middle so the water right of the staircase was 6 feet higher than on the left. The sky flashed red and yellow before the water split completely like Moses splitting the Red Sea.

 There was a millisecond as the split widened until it was only a few feet from them, to decide whether when they landed they wanted to be on the side with the water or on the side without it. On one hand, going towards the side without water could mean they fell to their deaths or the water crashed back down on top of them when it settled. On the other hand, if the fissure was closing or shifting to a new area, it was very possible that they’d end up trapped in the middle off the ocean with no connection to the church.

 Well, the best chance to actually get to where they were going was probably the side without water. It seemed everyone had the same idea at once because as he grabbed for both of them, they both grabbed for him and they all went tumbling off the raft into what could have very well been a bottomless pit.

Janus learned after a couple of seconds of free fall, that it was definitely not a bottomless pit. He landed hard, flat on his back and saw stars. The next moment something landed on top of him, squeezing all of the air out of his lungs.

 Something else fell half on top of his legs.

“Ow,” Pat said from near his ear.

“Yeah, well you’re the one on the top,” Janus groaned though his teeth.

“Wow, I never took you for a bottom, Janus,” Remus said from near his feet. Janus kicked up his legs into whatever part of him was on top of Janus and he gave an “oof.”

Pat snorted a bit and Janus glared at his… shoulder? He shifted around a bit so he was less thrown across Janus and more just on top of him. Janus blinked. There was a wooden ceiling above them, so that was a good sign, though there was also a giant dark hole of nothingness directly above them which was not as good.

 Janus moved slightly. He could tell he was going to be bruised later, but he didn’t seem seriously injured. “We should,” he started, but was interrupted as the hole above them pulsated and dumped a bunch of sea water.

Pat shrieked as they were all drenched with the chilly water. Luckily, they seemed to be on higher ground because, while water kept pouring out of the hole, it drained away just as quickly instead of drowning them.

Water still hitting his back relentlessly, Pat peeled his head up to look Janus in the eyes. A giggle bubbled out of his mouth.

“It isn’t funny,” Janus informed him. Pat just giggled more, leaning his head against Janus’s chest and cackling.

 Janus just rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, this is an entirely appropriate reaction. Thank you for your contribution to our very important mission.”

Pat seemed incapable of stopping laughing completely, but he did calm himself enough to peel himself off Janus’s chest and lean forward so their noses almost touched. “It’s hilarious and you know it,” he claimed.

“In what way is this ‘hilarious’?”

“In many waves,” was the joy filled answer.

“You’re horrible.”

Pat hummed. He hadn’t moved to get off of him even though they really should be moving in case something worse than water came through the hole in the ceiling. He hadn’t even moved his face away.

“No, no, you two just tell me when you’re done being gay for each other,” Remus interrupted. Janus was surprised to see he’d stood up at some point and was now hovering over them.

 Janus flipped him off even while Pat laughed once again. Pat finally drew away and rolled off of him so Janus could sit up. Pretty much everything hurt when Janus moved, but he was able to stand up, so he was probably fine enough. “So,” he said looking around. “Where are we now?”

 Chapter 20

Janus looked around himself while Pat booted up his map to try to figure out where they were. They were in a small room that may actually be considered a large landing as there were staircases on either side of it. The water that was still coming out of the ceiling was running down the staircase that led down from the room.

 Something was stopping the water, creating a pool on the steps that was already about to overflow into the room. With the speed the water was flowing, they should have enough time before the room completely filled up with water and drowned them.

Janus wondered if they were in the church or not. It was not out of the question and there was church like décor around them, but who knew? He could feel a strange vibration in the ground and the one window in the room shone with green light.

“Hmm,” said Pat. “That looks not good.” He’d projected his map so they could all see everything.

 The map itself was moving. Rooms were phasing in and out of focus and fracturing down the middle. One room was even spinning lazily around in circles. Janus could see the room they were in. It was connected to the bigger blob of rooms, and there was a black line connecting it to another room from the top which was obviously the hole spewing water at them.

“Well, at least the time distortion is still coming from the bell tower,” Remus said. Janus shot him an unamused glance. Said bell tower was currently upside down and shuddering as well as divided from any other room by at least two inches of empty space.

28842

“How are we supposed to get there?” asked Pat.

“We don’t,” Janus said. “It’s literally impossible.”

“There has to be some way,” Pat argued with a frown.

“If we try to use time travel, we’ll definitely get shredded by the warping time and space around it and walking there isn’t an option. There aren’t even any entrances!”

“Well, there were at one point.”

“Yeah, before,” he gestured wildly to the ceiling that was still pouring water into the room.

“So?” Pat asked.

“’So’?! What do you mean ‘so’?!”  

Pat shrugged. “When one door closes, cut another one.”

Janus froze and looked at him for a long moment. “Where the hell did you hear that?”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “You.”

“I don’t think like that anymore.”

“Well then I guess we’ll die,” Pat said lightly. “Of course, that’ll make an even worse time loop considering I’ve met older versions of you.”

“Fuck,” Janus spat. “Fuck. Fine. Give me a minute to think. Not that I even know if we have a minute because,” he gestured once again to the room.

 “Okay,” Janus said. “The room with the source of the time distortion is separated from us by a swirling pool of dark nothingness and there is no way to get to it. But, the only way we’re going to stop the distortion from ripping apart time and killing us as well as probably a bunch of other people is to get to it. That is an impossible situation. There is no solution. That door is closed to us. What other ways are there to look at it?” He looked at the visual representation of the rooms. One of them suddenly went spinning out and his eyes tracked it. We need to be in the same place as the source,” Janus said. “That is fact, but we don’t have to get to it.”

“Um, what do you mean?” Remus asked. Pat shushed him.

 “If you want thing A and thing B to be in the same place, there’s more than one way to do it. If you can’t move thing A to thing B, you might be able to move thing B to thing A. Pat, you have a working time device. We can’t travel with it because that would kill us, but if we can make it do a stutter warp, it could draw the time distortion to it.”

“You…” Remus said. “Want to create another time distortion in hopes that the original time distortion will be pulled into this room?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sounds good to me!” Remus said.

 He maybe had expected Pat to argue, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved his hand to his wrist. There had been nothing there before, but when he touched down on his wrist with two fingers, there was suddenly a metal bound around it that Janus immediately recognized from the times he’d seen Pat’s timepiece before. How was it made invisible? He shook the thought off as Pat offered it up wordlessly. Janus took it and Pat leaned over his shoulder to look.

Despite the fact that the device looked nothing like his own, the interface was surprisingly convenient. “I assume you have safety setting to prevent a stutter warp,” Janus said. “How do I turn those off?”

 Patton pointed at a gear icon on the screen. “You put it under your normal settings?” he asked.

“I have to put in my password or use my fingerprint!” Pat defended.

“It doesn’t matter right now.” He navigated through the settings. He was interested to see that there were many different saved default security settings, but he didn’t get much of a chance to read what all they did. He just turned them all off.” It popped up with a message to put in the password and Pat pressed his fingertip to it. Another message popped up warning them that turning off these settings could cause damage to the machinery, the person using it, and time itself. Janus pushed “okay.” A message popped up that asked “Continue” and Janus pressed “yes.” One last message popped up that said “Security functions disabled.” Janus pressed “okay.”

 “Anything else I’d need to disable?”

“Nope,” Pat confirmed.

He navigated back to the main screen and then bought up the manual travel input screen. Yet another message warning him not to do this flashed and Janus once again ignored it. He copied the space time coordinates that the device said they were currently at and put it in the ‘travel to’ location. “Well,” he said. “Here it goes. Let it be known that if I die, it’s my own fault for allowing Remus into a church.”

“Really?” Remus said. “That’s what you’re choosing to be your last words?”

Janus just raised an eyebrow.

“Love you too Janus.”

Janus nodded and hovered his finger over the travel button. He quickly mashed his finger to the button 22 times.”

 The device warmed in his hand enough that he almost dropped it. Time literally froze for a few breaths as whatever Deity that may or may not exist processed their stupidity.

Janus was not a scientist or technician, but he had a good idea of how badly they were fucking up right now. The timepiece was attempting to travel over and over again to the exact same place and time. This basically punched a small hole through time, that if left unfixed would grow and disrupt space time all around them. As it was, their current position, all gathered around it and staring at it while one of them had it literally in their hand, was perilous.

 There was a rumble under their feet and the world tilted on it’s axis. The all went tumbling down in a pile of limbs to new floor of the room which had once been a wall.

Of course, this change of gravity caused the water that had been building up in the staircase to dump on top of them.

Janus would have cursed, but he was too busy being under the water. He maneuvered himself away from the other two flailing bodies and managed to shove his feet against the wall turned floor. His head popped above the water in time to see the ceiling, or well, it would be the opposite wall, rip in two and the other walls/floor/ceiling start to fold in.

 “Give me a boost!” Pat called over the noise of water rushing and walls crunching.

“Give you a boost where?” Janus asked.

“Up!” Janus wasn’t sure if ‘up’ really existed right now, but he still nodded. The water was a few inches over his head, so he held his breath and interlaced his hands so Pat could put his foot in it. He was shoved down into the water, but it gave Pat enough leverage to shoot up out of the water. When Janus resurfaced, he saw that the man had grabbed ahold of the crumbling wall and was pulling himself up into what for all appearances seemed to be absolutely nothing.

 It took a moment, but then Janus blinked, and he was suddenly in a new room entirely or perhaps it was the same room. He honestly didn’t know at this point. Remus was next to him. He couldn’t recall if he’d been there before the shift or not, but they were both treading water. Pat crashed into the water next to them. Janus’s wrist buzzed as his timepiece came back online. “Got it!” Pat declared when he resurfaced, holding a device up. It looked almost the same as the device they’d found in France, but this one was definitely different if it was able to cause that much chaos that quickly.

 Janus looked around and pointed at what appeared to be a set of stairs. The three of them swam over and pulled themselves out of the water.

“Where are we?” Pat asked.

“Looks like a basement,” Remus replied. “A flooded basement.”

Janus pulled up his timepiece and pushed some buttons to stabilize Pat’s timepiece. It slowly stopped vibrating and cooled. “Here,” he said, handing it over to him. “I suggest you put the safeties back on now.”

Pat nodded and took it.

“We’re still in Cuba,” Remus informed them, looking at his own timepiece. “Same church too, but in the basement and… two and a half centuries later.”

“Remy is going to be pissed,” Janus said.

Remus shrugged. “He’s always pissed… at least at me.”

“Well,” said Pat, slipping his timepiece back onto his wrist. “Thanks for being willing to pool our resources.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Stop.”

“Ah, mi sirenito-”

“I hate you.”

“-never.” He disappeared with a pop which was when Janus realized, he’d never handed over device that had caused the first time distortion.

“…You bastard!” he yelled at thin air as though the man could hear him.

“Well,” said Remus, “that mission went swimmingly.” Janus reached over and shoved him back into the water.

 Chapter 21

“We should probably get out of here,” Janus said, very much not helping Remus out of the water. Remus pulled himself back up onto the staircase and shook like a dog. Janus crinkled his nose as water droplets hit him. They didn’t smell salty anymore, he noted. In fact, there was a broken pipe spewing out water on the other side of the room.

Janus and Remus cautiously snuck out of the church, not wanting to be seen and blamed for the flooded basement. They came out on a city street that was much different than the one they’d entered from.

 They walked down the street a bit, Janus’s eyes scanning the buildings. His eyes caught on a sign and he tugged Remus towards it.

They entered the small paladare and the person delivering food to one of the tables blinked at them both. Right. They were in clothing from the 1700s and were soaking wet. He met eyes with the woman, challenging her to say something. She did not.

They found a seat at one of the tables.

“Ah…” the worker said, approaching them. “English?”

“Ron,” Janus said, “por favor.”

Remus turned and started ordering the both of them food in Spanish. Janus didn’t pay attention to what he did.

 After his second shot of rum, Janus sighed and brought up his timepiece to ping the TPI. The reaction was almost instantaneous from their perspective. Remy all but kicked down the restaurant’s door and walked over to them. “How the fuck?”

“Ah, Remy,” Janus said calmly. “Have a seat. We’re waiting on our food.”

He did, but probably only because people were looking at them. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a long day,” Janus answered, “and I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, it certainly looks like you’re interested in the food,” Remy said, eyeing the empty shot glasses.

“Let’s just say, I’m glad Cuba started letting paladares legally serve liquor a few years ago.”

 It’s clear that Remy wanted to ask them what had happened, but he also was cautious enough not to make a scene here and Janus wasn’t planning on getting up until he’d at least gotten his food. “Why are you soaked, by the way?”

“Turns out the ocean isn’t as far away as we thought,” Janus said.

“Also, a church basement is flooded,” Remus said.

“Fantastic,” Remy replied.

They sat there mostly in tense silence until their food came, and then Remus and Janus ate. Remy slapped down some pesos once they were done and then proceeded to all but physically drag them out of the restaurant.

 They were led to an alley way and then through an old almost hidden door. Remy immediately rounded on them. “What the hell happened?” Remy asked.

“The time distortion caused level 5 time fractures in its vicinity, we almost drowned three times, and the worst person in the universe fucked me over again.”

“To be fair,” Remus said. “He did save our lives before that.”

“I saved our lives first,” Janus said. “I don’t have to be fair.”

“Oh, yeah, Mr. Curl Up In A Ball And Perish. I’m sure we would have been fine without him.”

“Anyway,” Janus said to Remy. “If you want your lump of flesh, I suggest you take it now, because Khalid is going to murder me, and then fire me, and then rehire me so she can put me on desk duty and make me do paperwork until the end of time.”

 “What did you do?” Remy asked.

Janus grimaced. “Made a time distortion.”

“You were the one who made the time distortion?” Remy asked.

“Not exactly,” Janus answered.

“He made the second time distortion,” Remus said. “It was actually pretty cool.”

“It was not cool,” Janus snapped. “It was irresponsible and dangerous. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“We would have died,” Remus said.

“And we could have done worse than dying if it had gone poorly,” Janus argued. “I just…” he tugged on his hair a bit, and Remus gave him an alarmed look. “I’m going to go talk to Khalid,” he said. He didn’t give Remus any time to speak, but just waved his hand to travel back to the TPI.

 Remus followed him instantly, of course, but Janus proceeded to ignore him until they were out of decontamination. Janus walked himself straight to Khalid’s office.

He knocked on her door and she called for him to come in. He did and sat heavily in the chair in front of her. She frowned at him. “You really should go to Cultural Outreach first.”

“Just fire me,” he said.

“What?” she asked.

“I just shouldn’t work here anymore,” he said. “At least not as a field agent. Really any type of agent.”

She paused and reached to her desk to pull up some file on the screen there. “I’ll fill out the incident report myself instead of Dr. Eran then,” she said. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

 Janus explained everything that happened, and Khalid diligently wrote it down. It was far outside her job description, but she didn’t explain or really react to anything he said more than nodding to say she’d gotten it recorded.

When he was finished, she saved the file and leaned back.

“Well,” Khalid said, folding her hands in front of her and scrutinizing him. “Honestly, this isn’t anywhere near a fireable offence.”

“But I…”

“You went against policy certainly, but policy sometimes has to be broken in disaster scenarios. You know that.”

“It was stupid,” he bit out, feeling sick to his stomach.

“Is it if it worked?” she asked.

Janus didn’t answer.

 “The major reason I originally assigned you to be a field agent is because you’ve always been good at thinking your way out of difficult situations even when they go against the rules we set. You have good instincts that I trust, but you haven’t seemed to trust them lately,” she said.

“You shouldn’t trust them,” Janus said darkly.

Janus felt his throat tighten as she considered him for a long moment. “This isn’t the first time you’ve asked me to fire you,” she said. “You wouldn’t tell me why then, and I respected it at the time, but…” she paused. “You’ve changed, Janus.”

 “Well then I’m not any good to you.”

“I’d beg to differ,” she replied, “but fine.”

Janus was actually surprised by that. He looked up at her. He somehow thought he’d feel better when this happened, but he didn’t in that moment. He just felt ill.

“I’m not firing you,” she continued, meeting his eyes, “but if you don’t want to be a regular field agent, fine. I have a particular mission in mind for you.”

“What?” he asked.

“This ‘Pat’ thing is getting ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t have enough resources to focus on it right now considering how much is going on, however, but I trust you and you’re already involved. So, I’m going to reassign you. No more missions. No more dealing with in department duties. You find him and his source of time travel. That’s your job. Whatever you think you need to do that job is fine. Request whatever trips or resources you need. Bring on Remus when you need or even Fred and Lena.”

“You’re…” he said. “Giving me more freedom and resources?”

“Like I said, Janus. I trust you. The one time I didn’t, after all, Pat ran off with a timebomb, so I learned my lesson.” She smiled briefly and stuck out her hand. “Deal?”

Janus sighed and once again resigned himself to staying at the TPI. “Fine,” he said. “Deal.”