#i can only hope that that was an automatic facebook thing

[amnestria-the-elf]

I had a dream that my 77-year-old mother was isekai'ed into BG3, so of course I had to write a small little ditty about it.

To be clear, my mother would make a terrible Tav. She has no interest in fantasy or sci-fi and spends the majority of her time on Facebook. Being outside is her least favorite activity. Her favorite TV show is one of the Sunday morning news programs (I have no idea which, because I have not watched broadcast television since 2012, but she definitely tells me about the stories they have on that show all the time.) She is not a decisive person; she was raised in the toxic traditional gender role post-war Boomer era, and is perfectly fine to let others dictate how her life turns out.

Having said all of that, she'd make a decent Bard. For a sweet-looking older lady, she can come up with some surprisingly sick burns. Probably all of that repressed rage that she refuses to get therapy about. Anyway.

*~~~*

Linda was far too old for this shit.

Other women her age spent their time knitting, or going to their little exercise classes, or watching their soaps, or swapping stories about their grandchildren, or writing interesting Facebook posts. God, she missed writing Facebook posts.

But not Linda. Oh, no. Linda had somehow gotten pulled into a horrifying universe and had some kind of parasite inserted in her head, and now found herself surrounded by an unlikely band of misfits who shared the same affliction.

Perhaps she was having a psychotic break. Maybe she was really back home and her daughter had placed her in some kind of institution because she was entirely unresponsive. Honestly, she hoped that was true, but her back hurt like hell and every wound she sustained bled real blood, and that odd little Goth girl had to heal her every time, so she was reasonably certain that what was happening was real.

She was getting better at not getting wounded as often, at least. She learned that she was of better use to the group when she stayed in the back and just yelled insults at the enemies while everyone else did their thing. The angry alien lady seemed perfectly happy to take her rage out on anyone in her way and that disturbingly pale elf did well with his little bow and arrow. He really needed to get some color into his cheeks; he’d never find someone to be with looking like that. If only she could go to Walgreens and get him some bronzer. It would do him a world of good.

The magical bearded man did a surprisingly good job of cooking their meals. Linda tried to help but quickly realized she had no idea how to cook over an open fire. She longed to be back in her newly-remodeled kitchen, with the induction cooktop and smart fridge that automatically reordered her groceries for her. How did any of these people even function without wifi? They would never get to see the funny cat videos that she sent her daughter every day. Such a shame.

The most helpful companion was the heroic young man who had jumped down to fight the goblins in front of the Grove. What was his name? Will? No, Wyll with a “Y.” She remembered the odd little Goth girl teasing him about it. He had been so good with those little horned children after the fight. Her granddaughter would love playing with him.

Tears stung at her eyes as she thought about her granddaughter. Would she ever get to see her again? She sighed heavily as she stared down into her bowl of porridge.

“Are you alright?” a kind voice asked.

Linda looked up to see Wyll coming to sit down on the log next to her with his own bowl of porridge.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine. I was just thinking about my granddaughter,” she said.

“Oh, you have a granddaughter?” Wyll asked. “What is she like?”

“She’s about the same age as those kids you were training back in the Grove. I think she’d like you, actually. She’s very active. She tears around the house as fast as she can, slaying imaginary dragons or pretending to be a lion.”

Wyll laughed. “A courageous heart, no doubt. I hope I can meet her someday.”

Linda sighed wistfully again. “She lives… very far away from here.”

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You must miss her very much.”

“Yes,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes again.

“Istik, enough sniveling,” that angry alien lady interrupted. “We must find the creche today. Purification cannot wait.”

“Give her a break, Lae’zel,” Wyll said. “She misses her family.”

“Tch,” Lae’zel said with an eye roll, but walked away.

“We don’t have to listen to her, you know,” Wyll said when Lae’zel was out of earshot. “You can choose what we do today.”

“I don’t know what we should do,” she replied. “You decide.”

Wyll frowned. “Well, the area where the githyanki were spotted is not far from a little settlement, Waukeen’s rest. There might be a healer staying at the inn there. It’s a longshot, but…”

“That sounds fine,” Linda said. “Lead the way.”

*~~~*

The burning building put Linda over the edge. No way could she handle rushing into flames and smoke to save somebody. Let the young people kick in doors and risk life and limb. Wyll seemed very proud of himself as he rushed in, so Linda just sat down on the edge of the fountain with a soft groan. Minutes passed; she started to worry that perhaps they weren’t going to come back out when a group of sweaty, sooty people stumbled out, coughing. 

When it became clear that Wyll was actually the son of a Grand Duke, Linda’s mind was made up.

“That’s it, Wyll. From now on, you’re in charge,” she said.

“I’m… what?” he asked, bewildered.

“In charge. You make the decisions. I’m done,” she said.

“Um, you’re sure? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes…”

“I’m sure. I don’t think any of the others can handle it. Magic man talks too much–”

“Magic man?” Wyll asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“I’m not good with names!” Linda snapped. “The pale one is too whiny and these two–” she gestured to Lae’zel and Shadowheart– “won’t quit fighting. That leaves you. Help me. Please.”

Lae’zel and Shadowheart both started to grumble, but Linda cut them off with a withering glare honed by years of experience taking care of children and a husband. Wyll eyed them, then nodded and took a deep breath. “All right. I’ll take charge. And make sure everyone gets what they need,” he said pointedly towards the others.

Good. Let Wyll do whatever needs to be done. From here on out, Linda was staying at camp.

[outrunningthedark]

Can I just say a lot of the complaining about Natalia really rubs me the wrong way? Like NO, nobody has to like her just because she’s a Female Character. YES, people are allowed to simply not vibe with a character. But… what is there to vibe with, one way or another? Across the episodes she appeared in, we learned her name, and her profession. That’s it. It’s genuinely part of what’s frustrating about the decision to tie her and Buck together for the ending. It makes the intended message that much clearer. They didn’t give her even two minutes of dating-montage things you might learn about a person. She’s an utterly blank slate, because she only exists to hammer home the hetero message. I can neither like or dislike her because we know nothing (and it’s not a fact of being a side character, we learned more about the lady whose husband died last ep in just a couple minutes). That’s kind of what’s so insulting about it all.

All opinions are welcome (as long as people leave the hostility at the door, which can be a big ask, apparently). I get where you're coming from, and I think it's probably in line with the majority opinion because MOST of us can separate actress just doing a job that she was paid to do vs. what her character brings to the story. No one HAS to like Natalia. No one HAS to hate Natalia. What people should be able to agree on without infighting (if the assumption/expectation was for the season to end with hope for Buddie) is that her presence had the opportunity to MEAN something. It should not have been used as an excuse to bring up Buck's relationships to/with other women because if you're gonna introduce this character as a POTENTIAL SERIES ENDING LOVE INTEREST she deserves to be given the kind of attention we saw devoted to TayKay even if there were only a few episodes in which to do it. Where was the conversation about Buck's anxiety/uncertainty surrounding death? Where was there a date in which they actually TALKED rather than Natalia learning things off screen (the first time) or by accident (when Lucy, TayKay via TV, and Kameron popped up)? Where was there even a line from Buck before the catastrophe where he told someone about not reaching out to Natalia after Kameron showed up unannounced (because if someone hadn't read the synopsis, adding her name to a scene would have at least left a little crumb to get back to later in the hour)? This is not, and should not, be a discussion about whether Natalia is likeable, and I've already got posts detailing the subtle differences between the s6 interaction and the one from s4, so no, it's not as simple as "a carbon copy of BT" - take, for example, that 6x18 being a possible series finale (vs s4 when the show was secure) meant Buckley-Diaz content was nowhere to be found. Because the takeaway was not supposed to be about that relationship. Just the ones the guys had found with other people. Other women, to be more specific. This is about the show putting out a product they ASSUMED the general audience (the millions not tumblr or twitter or even Facebook) would be okay with, yet they still somehow screwed it up by not actually putting in the proper effort along the way. People have spent YEARS complimenting 9-1-1 for being "above" such shoddy story telling. There's your proof that they are not. And just as an aside, though this ask was specifically about Natalia, if the worst thing you can say about Marisol is that her chemistry with her brother creeped you out, you don't actually have any kind of argument to make. How the show runner and directors interpreted that scene is not the fault of the character or the actress that was instructed to do everything that ended up on screen. And who knows, maybe she doesn't think it's weird either because not everyone automatically makes things sexual when talking about SIBLINGS.

[fennelockley]

7, 8, 11 and 23 for both toymaker and exodus

My two beautiful ridiculously powerful immortal men who have extremely questionable morals and bone deep loneliness that they'll never admit too 💕

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Toymaker: Be as completely off the rails about him as me? 🙏

Serious answer - I like that the fandom isn't afraid to touch upon the elderitch horror that he is, and will explore the endless powers that he has. He's pretty, but he's also ridiculously dangerous and without a care in the world.

Exodus: Honestly Exodus has such a small fandom that I just love everything that does get produced.

I suppose my main answer is pretty vague. In its that I like how, despite how few of us there are, people do get really in-depth with his character and flesh him out beyond the mere smidges we get in canon. (And everyone does a wonderful job with their headcanons).

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Toymaker: Nothing that I can even remotely think of if I'm honest. Not even with the fandom as a whole. Which is surprising considering the outer fandoms tendency to really trash things, but even the fringes on Facebook are chill with this character.

Exodus: I think I only have one gripe, and it's the outer fandoms tendency to completely write him off regardless if he's right. The automatic siding with Hope when it was revealed he betrayed her (despite being influenced by Sinister), and completely ignoring her actions (killing millions, while also influenced by Sinister). The fandom has a nasty tendancy of just reducing him to "idiotic religious extremist" - and I know he is, but he's also far more in-depth than that. You'll be surprised how right he is sometimes.

11. Would you date this character?

SKFJSH Self-Shipper in me says yes, I love them both dearly. Rational and serious me says...

Toymaker: It would be plausible to date the Toymaker. In the sense that he'd go along with the attention because he thinks its amusing, and ultimately him dropping it once he's bored. And thats the best case scenario.

I will gladly be turned into a doll by this man, but let's be honest, it will never be more than that.

Exodus: No. This man can barely be honest about his long lost love Eobar; a relationship isn't even on his mind. And he's far too devoted to his cause.

But I would gladly sell out the human race just to see him give me a small smile.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I couldn't pick just one, so have two each...

Thank you for the questions and letting me yabber about my boys <3

[realhousewives-fan]

Can There Only Be One Nigerian Queen?

One of the biggest mysteries this season is the family feud between Wendy Osefo and Nneka Ihim.

What is the cause of this animosity?

The feud had allegedly started when Nneka was signed as a housewife on RHOP.

After she was connected to the show, her cousin-in-law Lebe had been contacted by her friend of 13 years, Wendy’s eldest sister, Ivy.

Nneka was told that Wendy was upset with her for using her name to come on the show, while Nneka swore that she had never claimed to be her friend.

Wendy’s mother had also contacted Nneka’s cousin-in-law to ask all sorts of questions.

She had allegedly implied that she would pray against Nneka.

Why else would she mention her shrine where she prays against people?

A part of me thought that Wendy knew that her mother had made that phone call to Nneka’s family, and therefore decided to show more of her religious side this season.

It was literally the first thing she said this season: “You know I’m a Catholic, right?”

I don’t think they’re faking being Catholics, but I believe they’re using their religion as a deflection of the allegations they know are coming their way.

And did Wendy bring her own friend, Keiana Stewart, on the show in hopes of forcing Nneka out?

But why would Wendy and her family have such a strong reaction to Nneka joining the show.

Even Eddie Osefo denied knowing Nneka’s husband Ikenna Ihim, which made it weirder.

I understand that being friends on Facebook doesn’t automatically mean that you are friends, but why did Eddie unfollow him in the first place?

Wendy and her family don’t want Nneka to be on the show, and I must ask myself why.

Can there only be one Nigerian Queen on the show?

Ashley Darby even said in her confessional that it would be easier for Wendy to just admit that she wanted to the only Nigerian on the show.

Because that is what it seems like anyway.

There can only be one Nigerian Princess on RHOP and that would be Dr. Wendy Osefo.

[brw]

Sasquatch!

one aspect about them that i love – im obsessed with how post snowbird body she's like. automatically a better person. idk maybe it's shock from u know. fucking dying. but she literally commits 80% less war crimes when girlmode than before. letting her transition is a net positive for everyone involved idk why they won't allow writers to she/her sasquatch in new comics. it's NEEDED!!!

one aspect i wish more people understood about them – not enough people know about or appreciate she literally is divorced and has a son. an entire ass child we know absolutely nothing about other than that he exists. (At least from where I'm at but given nobody has ever mentioned this child to me ever im assuming the identity of my girl's child is still unknown). she's literally a divorced milf idk why she isn't more popular what more do you WANT

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character – i think she has james' number blocked and i have nothing to go on other than that she is conspicuously missing from the upcoming alpha flight series and i like to think she literally just blocked everyone involved and isn't picking up their calls and is just hanging out having some down time maybe revitalising the old gamma research. i know there's the whole samson thing but i choose not to think about it!

one character i love seeing them interact with – bruce! their relationship is so rocky and funny it's SO funny that they like roomed together for like barely a year in uni and like. 10 years later when they next see each other sasquatch just fully. beats the shit out of him. straight up so she can fight with hulk. absolutely deranged behaviour but to be fair she feels really bad afterwards but it's so insane. ms girl why. anyway glad they're very slightly more amicable and i find the whole sequence of bruce wanting to kill himself and wanda not realising that's why he's giving up his body so fast so fucking funny like GIRL Ur literally doing him a favour.......

one character i wish they would interact with/ interact with more – i would like her n purple girl /persuasion to interact again! they had a really cute dynamic with mantlo and i really think they gelled together in a really weird way n purple girl is one of the first people who kind of only knew wanda as wanda and that's just nice to me. i hope they see each other again at some point bc where im at in their history they're super cute together n i think they should stay like that. other answer is michael because i like michael and the vibes r almost always chill with him about.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character – i like to imagine post divorce heather n wanda grab lunch together and have a good time thinking back and hanging out together and reminding each other to block james on facebook too. and maybe girlfriends....

Give me a character and I will give you my thoughts on...

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

"Hi Watermelonsmellinfellon!

I know what it's like to be homeless, especially with this inflation BS. The gist of what I shared was about gig work, specifically UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub, etc. While the latter two take a while to be approved, UberEats is pretty quick, you just provide a picture of your drivers license and vehicle registration/insurance. I got approved in about 5 days, but some people get approved even sooner. Most of the time you pull up to a fast food/normal restaurant and pick up food that is already bagged up and ready to be delivered. The main thing is getting a insulated bag to hold the food in. Then you drive to the customers address and drop it off. Doing those dropoffs should help you all get money for gas quicker. You can link your debt/bank account for payouts. If you do instant payout it will take $0.85, otherwise there is no charge for automatic payments on Monday's. I definitely recommend looking at YouTube videos under 'gig work', 'First day with UberEats', etc.

Also, another thing that could help you and your family is looking at the Facebook and Craigslist marketplace listings for houses/trailers. I have seen plenty of trailers or rooms for rent for under $1,400. Sometimes even if you qualify for it, the state run programs just can't help, you have to find a place for you, and your family. I also wanted to mention Amazon has a section for submitting your own fanfiction/stories under there Kindle Direct Program (KDP). Pretty much everything is free to use it, you only get charged a fee for selling a story or book. Also, the reviews for books can be kind of brutal.:/

Finally, have you considered using Airbnb? There are many options depending on how long you would like to stay while waiting for a spot to open. I lived for half a year with my mom at a condo by the beach with 3 beds, free wifi, and washer/dryer for about $4-5,000 all together. I don't know where you are in that state, but from doing a quick check I came across an affordable condo in Maryland, Ocean City for $1,427 based on if you checked in tomorrow until 3/18 next year. The guy who is listing it is called Nicholas. I don't personally know him, but on the listing it does say long stays are allowed, free washer in dryer in unit, and 3 bedrooms with four baths. There are plenty of other listings like that as well, I don't mind trying to help you through online searching to find a place you guys could stay. Getting a place this time of year tends to be cheaper as well in the more seaside areas as it's off the 'peak' seasons.

I don't know how to use Tumblr, but I think there's a way to add each other and talk through it? We can keep talking through here if you want. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.O.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was left as a comment on my new fic where I did not even mention that I'm homeless because it's a new fic in a ship that my readers don't care about so it'll probably only be seen by new people who won't give a damn about my personal problems.

I deleted the comment but saved the contents because the intentions were good even if the execution was terrible. And it's also incredibly difficult to maintain composure and a pleasant attitude when you become irrationally pissed off all of a sudden.

One thing that needs to be made clearer. I can't get a job. Why? Mom is too disabled to be by herself for any period of time. And when even Dave cannot get a job because even the businesses around who will look past his knee brace won't accept a P.O. Box and want you to be living in a house with an address, I know I have no chance in hell cuz I'm in the same boat. That's why I started Ko-Fi.

Mom is disabled. She gets benefits from that. With Dave jobless because of his knee, we've been knocked down from a $18K yearly family, to an $8K yearly family. To put it into perspective, to qualify for housing in half of Delaware, their idea of the poverty level is a family of 4(1 child, 3 adults) making a minimum of $25K yearly. We are nowhere near that and because of that, we don't qualify for low income housing.

As for Craigslist and FB, they simply cannot be trusted. We've already done the promised 'meet-ups' and searching through both sites and it's all scams. And Dave falls for every single one and give's mom's phone number to every damn person he talks to and she's gets nothing but scam calls all day long(we know they're scams cuz when she calls back suddenly the number is no longer in service or doesn't exist anymore).

Airbnb is for people who make at least five figures a year. Mom did look into it under Bethy's pleading and for the size of our family and the specifics as well, everything was over $2K a month. Even when she lessened up on specifics, they either stayed that price or listings stopped appearing. We also can't leave Delaware because while Bethy's case worker is no longer hounding us, the case isn't closed yet. Something Dave cannot seem to grasp. We can't leave or mom and Dave will get in trouble.

The Amazon thing seems worth a try but honestly Patreon seems like it'd be easier.

I've already explained the van's condition and so that's out as an option too.

[dantesletritahs]

Miguel O’Hara fic. HELP.

So I just watched Across the Spiderverse... And I took a shower and my ideas wouldn’t stop. But I need someone to tell me that it isn’t cringe, or that it is. If it makes sense or if it doesn’t. JUST HELP PLEASE.

Very messy Chapter 1. (The rest is just the outline and dialogue)

Okay, let's do this one last time. You are... Nothing especial. You study a major that probably won't change or save the world. At least you speak four languages, so yay... But it's the normal people that keep the world spinning right? Heroes just help to keep it safe. You have beautiful flowers to care of. ‘I love you, my preciosas.’ You have so many friends. ‘Hey, we're going to grab a bite after class, wanna come?’ ‘I have to work, sorry’ Everyone loved you. "Why do you keep inviting them? The answer will always be no." Amongst the other you's, you were the one that was never going to do something important or remarkable for the world. The one with a normal life. Or at least you were supposed to. ‘Never trust Miguel O'Hara.’ That dream, again. Usually, you didn't dream, but when you did you saw a world so different than yours. So magnificent, including yourself. Lately, when you did dream, only one thing happens. You. ‘Why do you...?’ You touched your face, their face? The person in front of you looked like you, just... A little different. ‘Never. Trust. Miguel.’ And then you, or that other you, pushed you to a fall that woke you up instantly. And their, your, words somehow made sense. You had a recurring nightmare, fangs, blood, fading away. You tried to blame it on the accident, the trauma of losing your family all at once. Or it was maybe you're tiredness. Attending college, working till 11 pm, and doing homework till 3 AM had to have some effect. You just wished it wasn't this one.

THE REST (it’s even messier I’m sorry) What happens next (messy outline) is that Miguel kinda kidnaps you? Like he shows up in your reality, with zero patience he grabs you and takes you with him to the base or whatever it is. You're shocked but also asking so many questions, and the only thing he says is that you're the key to saving all of them, or at least, the only one that's left. What? Turns out you never dream because there were always a few variants of you, two, to be exact. You and another you. The other you (TOY from now on) had a degree or doctorate in something sciency that was getting close to destroying "The Impostor" (idk sounds cringe wanna change). The impostor had the ability to show up in anyone’s dreams and pretend to be them (or someone close to them) and implant serious matters that would prevent some canon things to happen, that meant Miguel had always to be pending on being ready when it got to that point. They (the Spideysociety) could never guess when or where it would happen because The Impostor implanting ideas took time, from weeks to months to years. What are you doing there if it’s TOY the one with the answer? Because TOY was murdered by The Impostor and now you are the only ‘you’ left. But I don't know anything about science? I study literature (or something humanistic/artistic). There’s no other option. If someone can understand you, is you. TOY’s work is coded; we hope you know how to decode it.

Miguel is going to confine you in a room, no one can come in without his personal authorization, and you can't leave. He's the one that drops by the most, when he does the lights automatically go out because it hurts his eyes. (IDK much about Miguel aside from what I learned in the movie and a silly post on Facebook).  The room has its own bathroom, a bed, and a desktop with a few pages and notebooks that could be saved from TOY’s apartment before burning to the ground. You have one condition to stay there, they bring your flowers to the room, your radio and your bookshelf. One day you were having dinner listening to some music when the lights go out, you were used to it by now but you had told Miguel (and others that time from time visit you, still a maybe) to never bother you when you were eating because you preferred to do it alone. Always. ‘I’m having dinner right now, Miguel.’ Nothing. ‘Miguel this isn’t funny, you know I don’t like being alone in the dark. It’s creepy.’ Nothing. Panicked, you stand up. Miguel isn’t there, someone else is. A shadow. But it isn’t another spider-person, you think since your eyes aren’t used to the dark yet. The shadow moves and tries to attack you, your first instinct tells you is The Impostor. It’s the only answer, but how? You look at the door, the dashboard was destroyed, and the door is open. You still have your book in your hand, you throw it at them and make a run for it. You hear them laugh. ‘You’re braver than I thought!’ It’s your own voice. You run as fast as you can, but you weren’t allowed outside and the place has a weird design. You don’t know where to run and can’t run in some directions since everything is designed for Spider-people. You’re getting dizzy. ‘Miguel!’ You keep running wherever you can but you’re afraid you may be losing ground. You trip and fall. Quickly you try to get back on your feet but The Impostor makes you stay on the ground. ‘I'm not sure what his goal is to have you here. You're nothing. Of all you’s, you’re the most useless.’ Miguel quickly arrives and takes the Impostor off of you, you cover your head, shutting your eyes off, crying. You hear the fight and can only deduce it ended with The Impostor disappearing. ‘Are you okay?’ He asks. Your panicking. ‘Hey, Hey, Hey. It’s over now. They’re gone.’ ‘Was that... Was that the Impostor?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘They looked like me.’ ‘That’s what they do. They impersonate. They can look however they want to. We have never seen their true form.’ ‘They were going to kill me.’ ‘It’s okay now.’ Unsure, he puts an arm on your shoulder as a form of giving comfort. ‘I... We, the system failed. Your face is in our database, they got in by looking like you.’ ‘But they broke the dashboard on my door to get in.’ ‘There is only so much The Impostor can do with their ability. From now on, you’ll be under surveillance 24/7.’ ‘No... No, please. My loneliness is the��one thing you haven’t stripped me out of.’ ‘It’s the only way to prevent this from happening again, aside from other measurements.’ ‘Who’ll take care of me?’ ‘We will establish a watch rotation tomorrow. For now, you’re with me.’ ‘No, Miguel, please..’ ‘You think I’m excited about babysitting you? I’m not. But you are the only one left.’ He stands up and offers you a hand. ‘On your feet. I’ll let you get some rest, and then I’ll train you for combat.’ ‘But I don’t have... Anything all of you have.’ ‘You don’t need one to fight. You’re useless if you don’t know at least how to defend yourself.’

Then the two of you get closer, and you have some heart-to-heart talks about your family and your past, he doesn’t say much but he understands. You tell him about your studies and he learns that you know how to speak other languages, including Spanish. You sometimes exchange some words in Spanish. (My mother tongue is Spanish so sorry if it looks cringe but I’m going to exploit it). One time you were eating alone in a place with a view of the city, and Miguel approaches. you. You think is the Spider-person that was watching you. ‘I told you I want to be alone, (their name).’ ‘Leaving you alone is against the established rules.’ ‘Ah, Miguel.’ He asks why you like eating alone and just in general being alone. You tell him it’s because, after your family’s accident, you had to work twice as hard to better your grades, get a scholarship that didn’t pay all of your college fees, and then take on a job because you had no one left. The only times you could process your grief was while eating and having a shower, the rest of your day was busy with classes, work, and homework. Miguel apologizes for interrupting you but you ask him to stay and sit with you. That’s when you realize you love him. ‘I enjoy spending time with you.’ You say. And he knows. (Something that moves on the plot here)

The climax is that you dream again and you tell Miguel, because now you know it’s The Impostor. ‘I had a dream! It has been The Impostor this whole time!’  You tell Miguel about the ‘Never trust Miguel’ nightmare and since there were only two of you and one was killed, it could only mean that The Impostor has been the one showing up in your dreams.’  By this point, you have done zero progress on decoding TOY’s research and Miguel is getting impatient. Learning that you didn’t tell him about the nightmare is the last straw. ‘You haven’t done any progress at all and now you’re telling me The Impostor has been in your dreams for a while? This could potentially mess everything up. Starting from how they could’ve been implanting fake ideas and scenarios for a long time. It’s useless, I’m sending you home.’ ‘I thought you said I was the only one left!’ ‘And you are, but maybe someone else can understand TOY’s research. We are running out of time.’ You have been filling for a while that Miguel isn’t telling you the whole truth so you ask for it. Why did TOY study something related to physics and such? Why did they take such an important path if you’re supposed to be a character in the background? Miguel answers. ‘Because TOY’s family wasn’t supposed to die in their universe, unlike yours. However, The Impostor messed with their universe canon and they died. TOY found out that wasn’t supposed to happen and changed their major to try and stop them from doing that to anyone else.’ You answer. ‘And then they were murdered.’ ‘Yes...’ ‘Give me another chance.’ ‘It’s been to long.’ ‘Please. I.. TOY was supposed to be happy with my family in their own universe.. And it’s comforting, in a way, to know that. It isn’t fair they had to lose what I lost when they TOY didn’t deserve it. I want to keep trying. For them. For me. They deserved to have that life, at least. Miguel thinks for like two seconds. ‘Very well. Along with the notebooks and the other stuff, we found something else in TOY’s apartment. We wanted to test you with the notebooks, but maybe it’s better if I just give it to you.’ He hands you a small box with a lock. 3 0 4 5 (?) ‘What is it?’ ‘We think it may contain TOY’s research. The lock only allows three guesses before self-destruction and our stupid labs messed it up twice. The lock always goes back to the same numbers.’ ‘I understand why.’  ‘You do?’ ‘Yes. The reason it goes back to this particular combination is that it’s the right one.’ ‘They already tried one. That’s how they lost one try.’ ‘And the other?’ ‘They started moving the numbers back to zero so they could start trying every combination one by one. That’s when the box spoke saying there was only one try left.’ ‘Not so smart I see.’ ‘So what’s the code?’ ‘Well, zero means to, three means nine, five means ten...’ ‘...Whatever you say.’ 9 0 8 10 The box opens and a video of TOY begins. This variation of you is very similar, with the sad aura all over you, but there are some differences. ‘Hello there.’ TOY speaks. ‘If you, or me, is watching this, is because he found you.’ TOY smiles. ‘I trust Miguel O’Hara to hand this to you and to take care of you, of us. I’m sorry you lost your family and more sorry I had to do it too, I wished my universe could be a home where sometimes you could come back to. It wasn’t fair, to any of us. I was supposed to fix this, but there is not much time left... If you, the other me, are handed this, you will find my complete work, still coded just in case, on how to end with The Impostor. I have yet to find out how and why they are doing this but... I don’t think I’ll ever will. I trust you. I believe in you. Because, well, I know you. There is a fire in us, there has always been. Our lives entwine in this, us becoming so much more than what we expected. It doesn’t matter if you are majoring in (this), I know you will be able to descifer it and finish what we started. Good luck. TOY’S complete research shows up and now you begin understanding it. (The research is hidden between, for example, the lines of your favorite books and whatever, but I have no idea. Help.) So you start decoding everything and working alongside the lab people you start building whatever it needs to be built to stop The Impostor. Until something happens.

The Impostor was caught trying to enter HQ using your face again, but it looks like they were doing it on purpose. The Impostor was easily captured and brought to the machine that was built to show their true form.  You were standing right beside Miguel when the machine is started up and... The Impostor still looked loke you. ‘What is happening?’ Miguel asks. ‘Why is the machine failing?’ ‘It’s... Not.’ ‘But...’ Panicked, you looked at Miguel. ‘But they look like me! Why do they look like me!?’ Miguel tries to calm you down and The Impostor laughs. ‘Go on say it Miguel! Say it!’ ‘What... What do they mean by that?’ You ask looking at The Impostor. ‘I AM you!’ ‘No...’ ‘Yes! And he knew.’ ‘Miguel...?’ You look at him and the guilt on his face confirms it. ‘Look, it's...’ ‘You lied to me!? You said there were only two of me! Are there more!? Did you actually mean something when you said you were going to look for somewhere else to descifer TOY’s work?’ ‘Yes... There are four variants of you... The researcher, The Impostor, you...’ ‘There is another?’ ‘Not for long!’ The impostor laughs. ‘You are the worst out of the four of us.’ ‘Shut up!’ Miguel screams. ‘But he brought you here because he knew I wouldn’t chase you. Because you are useless. You’re nothing.’ ‘Don’t listen to them.’ Miguel says. ‘No! I was right...’ You breathe heavily. ‘We were right, I shouldn’t have trusted you...’ ‘They are manipulating you.’ ‘Are they, Miguel? Do you think I would believe your words over mine?’ ‘The Impostor has nothing to do with you.’ ‘Oh, we have everything to do with each other.’ The Impostor laughs. ‘And it starts with you.’ The Impostor directs their gaze over Miguel. ‘What do you mean by that?’ He asks. ‘You see. When a canon doesn’t happen and the universe starts falling and disappearing and yada yada, your team shows up trying to fix things. And while they’re doing that, the universe is also compensating to not disappear in a matter of seconds, as it would happen if it didn’t compensate. When you saved a timeline where the family of one of your stupid people died, the universe overcompensated with another family. Mine.’ ‘What...?’ You wonder. What if your own family wasn’t supposed to die either? ‘My family wasn’t supposed to die in my universe. But they did. And it’s your fault Miguel O’Hara. And now, everything and everyone will die too! It’s only fair. I’ll make sure every timeline is destroyed because of you.’ ‘Destroying the universe won’t bring your family back.’ Miguel tries to reason with The Impostor. ‘Oh I don’t want them back. I want to make you pay.’ They look at you. ‘I told you not to trust him.’ ‘Did my family...?’ ‘Wouldn’t you like to know.’ Miguel calls out your name. ‘Look.’ ‘No.’ You answer angered. ‘I shouldn’t have trusted you. I shouldn’t have complied with any of this. I should have gone back home when I had the chance to!’ ‘Please...’ Miguel begs. ‘I want to go home.’ ‘Don’t...’ ‘I’m not asking.’ ‘You don’t understand.’ ‘I think I do, Miguel! I... I am better without you.’

Back home you are eating dinner on your kitchen table when your lights are suddenly turned off. ‘It’s me.’ You hear Miguel say and you stand up facing him. ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with you. You betrayed me. I trusted you and you lied to me.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Don’t... Don't you dare to use that with me.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Stop.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Just shut up!’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because I love you too!’ ... ‘How long have you known?’ You ask Miguel. ‘When you were attacked. That night...’ ‘No. How long have you known I love you?’ ‘When you said you enjoyed spending time with me.’ ‘What?’ ‘I believe it takes a special type of feeling to enjoy my company.’ You two laugh. ‘I hate you.’ ‘No, you don’t. Or... I hope you don’t.’ ‘You betrayed my trust.’ ‘I know.’ ‘And you know I don't give that easily.’ ‘I know.’ ‘You know how hard it is for me to trust someone.’ ‘I do.’ ‘And yet you lied.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘Come again?’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘The city is extra noisy today!’ He comes close to you and whispers inches from your face. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘That’s better and... I forgive you.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘But. I still don’t trust you.’ ‘I understand.’ ‘It’s going to take me some time.’ ‘I know.’ ‘I have one condition.’ ‘Which is?’ ‘Always tell me the truth.’ ‘I will. No more lies.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘I want to kiss you.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘You want me to tell the truth, here it is.’ ‘Kiss me.’ *smooch smooch*

How do you solve the conflict? How does it end? What happens next? I have no idea. Please help.

[trshltna-blog]

How Malaysians coped under the pandemic- and public health 😷

P/S : I'm typing this out from my point of view as I experienced the pandemic as an 18 year old who just graduated from high school so basically I was not studying that time, and would play PUBG with friends I barely talk to now until 3a.m. Hopefully I'll still be as insightful.

When Covid-19 hit drastically in Malaysia in 2020, the whole nation went under lockdown which meant people couldn't physically interact with other people who didn't live under the same roof. From here, you can clearly tell how social media fits in this week's post. Call me an optimist but I'm glad to have gone through such a time with social media existing, in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century. I clearly remember a week turning into 3 weeks, to a month, to just 3 whole months of lockdown with no simple way out.

Over the past 2 years, social media has helped a lot in spreading information about the virus which clearly effected the public health. Alongside that, the pandemic effected other concerns too which included people losing their jobs, economic crisis, people's mental health and also the lack of food for households. With social media, it felt as if we weren't totally alone, although most days felt really draining and undetermined.

Alas in good light, those with access to social media were entertained by applications such as Tiktok, which blew up a lot during the pandemic because of its constant mindless scrolls of videos. I mean, it's not like we could do anything else anyway. There was the Dalgona Coffee trend, a lot of Megan Thee Stallion dances made and the 'I'm bored in the house yeah I'm in the house bored', if you know, you know, I guess!

Okay, I'm steering away a bit, back to public health!

I always say social media is helpful and I see the positive side of it mainly because my insights were all these infographics regarding Covid-19. Day after day they were go viral and with the ever ending use of Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook, people were easily aware about these important details.

For example, this infographic above guides individuals on how to use a face mask, because I do recall some people that weren't sure which type to buy, how to wear it and even shared their face masks with people. That was honestly so dangerous so I'm glad they came up these things to spread awareness.

I hope many Malaysians (who see this, lol) remember this image above! Because every single day family group chats would be updated with this on the Covid-19 cases and also all over other social media applications. It was so scary when the numbers kept increasing for positive cases, but we were always hopeful for more recoveries in the days coming.

There was also this application made for only Malaysians called MySejahtera which was quite successful in my opinion. Before this app was created, individuals who went out had to write down their names, phone number and their body temperature before entering a shopping mall, store, restaurant, or anywhere enclosed to be precise. Unfortunately, there was a plothole to this method as people could get away with writing down and also lie about their credentials. This is where the app comes in.

By August of 2021, most people had already gotten their 2 doses of vaccines. With that, all enclosed areas would restrict those with only 2 full doses to enter. A friend of mine who was interning in Kuala Lumpur that time couldn't even enter Pavillion mall because she had only 1 dose. This was all automatically uploaded and kept in each Malaysian citizen's MySejahtera. In order to enter, all you needed to do was scan the QR Code provided.

Social Media also enabled for this infographic above to be shared around many Malaysians before getting their vaccine. Even though there wasn't much choice since Malaysia had only fully provided Pfizer for the elderly, AZ and Sinovac for the rest, it was still good to be notified about the other vaccines existing.

I always love a clean, simple yet informed infographic and the image above did just that. It kept to its main point and conducted it well for people to read and dissect the message. That is, the message above is to spread awareness on places that one may highly likely get the virus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Malaysia created several infographics and guides for those who seek help during hard times like the pandemic. I'm not going to go in detail but if you check out their site https://www.who.int/malaysia/emergencies/covid-19-in-malaysia/information/mental-health, you can see that WHO provided for those who have lost their loved once, for the frontliners and even those who were struggling with their mental health.

I wasn't enrolled in Swinburne that time but they had also done a Swinburne's Mental Health awareness week, which is good as a university in Sarawak to promote such importance to students. Checklists and Bingos were a way to engage with a lot of people online so it was quite popular at that time. Here, I scrolled all the way down to @/swinburnesarwak's 2020 posts to find this.

All and all, it's good to know how Malaysians all over used social media to their fullest in maintaining a safe environment for most during the pandemic. Sharing these correct infographics, articles regarding the virus may seem small but here's the beauty of social media : nothing is ever as small when it's already out there.

#week7 #mda20009 #publichealth

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

From the article (because it's paywalled):

A teacher promised his 1978 class an eclipse party. He just hosted it.

When he started teaching in 1978, Patrick Moriarty passed out worksheets to his science class, showing the trajectories of upcoming eclipses. Only one was expected to pass near their hometown in Upstate New York, but watching it as a class was going to be difficult — it wouldn’t occur for nearly five decades.

“Hey, circle that one on April 8, 2024,” Moriarty recalled telling his students. “We’re going to get together on that one.”

His students laughed. Thinking that far ahead was difficult for Moriarty — let alone for his junior high students.

Still, for years, Moriarty told all of his classes to plan for a gathering that year far in the future. That promise was top of mind when, two years ago, he created a Facebook event and tried to contact his former students.

Moriarty didn’t expect them to remember, but as word spread among former classmates, hundreds expressed interest in the event.

On Monday, Moriarty fulfilled his promise when about 100 former students watched the total solar eclipse from the driveway of his Rochester, N.Y., home. But ultimately it wasn’t the eclipse that astonished Moriarty — it was his students.

“When teachers go into education, they hope that they can be that kind of teacher that would have an impact on people and make a difference for people,” Moriarty, 68, told The Washington Post. “And this event right here just firmed it up for me that I guess I did okay.”

After graduating from the State University of New York at Geneseo, Moriarty began teaching earth science as a 22-year-old at a junior high school in Webster, N.Y. He built a reputation as a tough but caring instructor.

He stayed after class to tutor students and cracked jokes when they were nervous about tests. His students said he made subjects they had not cared about — cloud formations, wind trajectories and temperature changes — interesting.

For 16 years, Moriarty told his students that he would put an advertisement in their local newspaper, the Democrat and Chronicle, in 2024 with details about the gathering. His students didn’t think much of it.

“The things that you get asked at that age is, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years or 10 years?’” said Kevin Thompson, who took Moriarty’s class in 1982. “To think 40-plus years down the road was almost impossible to comprehend.”

In 1998, Moriarty became a principal of a junior high school in Fairport, N.Y. He never forgot about the plan for the 2024 eclipse, and neither did his students. When he ran into them at local restaurants and stores, he told them they were still going to meet.

By April 2022, sharing events in newspapers wasn’t as common, so Moriarty created a Facebook event and tried to track down his roughly 1,200 former students. He hired a local pizzeria to cater the event.

Within a few months, about 100 former students told him they would attend. Moriarty kept posting updates on Facebook and bought 130 pairs of eclipse glasses.

Moriarty began talking with students he had not seen in more than 40 years. Thompson visited Moriarty a few weeks ago and was surprised by how much shorter his former science teacher seemed — since Thompson had grown a few inches since ninth grade. He still called him Mr. Moriarty.

“This has got to be the longest homework assignment in history,” Thompson, now 56, recalled telling Moriarty.

Moriarty said he didn’t recognize some former students who came to his house Monday, but he remembered most of their names. Many had graduated from high school and college, started careers, gotten married and had children since they last spoke.

Former students traveled from across the country and brought their yearbooks for Monday’s event.

Moriarty was once again the head of the class, this time in a driveway, telling his former students how the sky would appear as if it was nighttime, the temperature would drop and the automatic lights on some homes would turn on.

When the sky darkened, Moriarty said everyone grew quiet, and they were surprised when it suddenly became bright about four minutes later. The sky was cloudy all afternoon, so no one actually saw the moon. That wasn’t important to Moriarty and his students.

“The eclipse itself … took a back seat to what this was all about,” Moriarty said. “The eclipse was my catalyst more than anything.” As visitors prepared to leave, Moriarty suggested they convene again in two decades, when the next total solar eclipse will occur. Everyone laughed — just like they had in 1978.

[snwcppd]

I redownloaded Threads recently and realized why it was never going to replace Twitter. For a lot of people (myself included), different social media platforms are used for entirely different purposes. For instance, I mainly use Instagram to connect w/ IRL friends and Facebook to connect w/ my family, and when I had Twitter, I used it for purely online spaces. An important part of this is making sure all of these were separate from each other; just as many of y'all would be horrified if people you knew IRL followed your Tumblr, I would've felt that way a few years ago about my Twitter.

The problem with Threads is that it's definitionally linked to Instagram; when I first made my account, a lot of my mutuals on Instagram automatically followed me on Threads. A button will appear on your Instagram account linking to your Threads account (although they recently made this button removable, it's still on by default). You can't change your username or display name natively on Threads; that's linked to your Instagram account. For some (or even most) people that may not be a big deal, but the people who use these apps the most and therefore make these apps into major social networks do care about these things.

I'd go as far as to say that this is the reason that despite the *gestures broadly,* Twitter isn't dying anytime soon, mainly because there's no real replacement for it. Mastadon and BlueSky, god bless them, were never going to compete with platforms as big as Twitter, and sites like Reddit and Tumblr have such a different culture that it's very difficult to integrate Twitter emmigrants. Threads really had the best chance, being backed by a large company that has social media experience and being created with the sole intent of rivaling Twitter, but Meta fumbled at the endzone by linking it so heavily to Instagram for seemingly no reason. (If I had to venture a guess it's because a lot of young people distrust or dismiss Facebook as a platform, which is a valid but unwarranted concern for Meta imo)

That's a real shame, because Twitter has gotten a lot worse since Elon took over. The biggest thing I noticed when I redownloaded it a few months ago was just how much worse bots were. You can hate the Twitter Blue checkmark system all you want, but for a moment it gave me a glimmer of hope that it would fix the massive number of bots on the platform, which has always been genuinely unparalleled. Instead, it's only become worse. If you aren't aware of the dead Internet theory, all you need is to look at a modern Twitter reply thread for living proof. Granted, these problems have been present for years now, so what did Elon do to fix it? Monetization, which instantly made things 10x worse. I'd go as far to say that modern Twitter is proof that social media platforms should never have native monetization, because the financial incentive for bots will be heightened exponentially. (It's worth noting that I consider platforms like YouTube and TikTok, which can and should have monetization, to be video sharing rather than social media platforms, despite Google's recent efforts with YouTube. Community posts still suck, stop putting so much effort into them, Google)

But because no platform can genuinely rival Twitter, it's just gonna keep chugging along until they run out of money, which is gonna be a while considering it's now owned by one of the richest men on Earth. I don't think it's entirely too late to course-correct for Threads, the platform is slowly growing and Meta is increasingly seperating it from Instagram, but at this rate true competition with Twitter may be a long-gone fantasy.

[jodilin65]

I've decided that from now on, if something is private, it doesn't go in online journals, even if the posts are set to private. I may or may not schedule future private content to post after I'm gone, but while I'm alive, I think that if it’s private, it should be kept offline. Even if the chances are slim, glitches and hackings do happen. I know there was a time when both Facebook and LiveJournal made every single post on some accounts public. Now, I'm never dumb enough to post sensitive info publicly or privately, but I'm still considerate enough not to want to hurt people's feelings with some of the things I may write about. I still write for me and care about me first and foremost, but a little bit of self-censorship can’t hurt.It looks like some of the glitches on PB have been resolved, but I know it’s only a matter of time before there are other glitches, if not repeats of old ones. So, I’m just backing stuff up there privately for now, but will eventually go public again. For now, I just need a break from that site.

Tom, who knows a lot more about coding than I ever will, is going to see if he can get Copilot to write a script that will allow me to automatically change background pictures on Blogger. It would be similar to a wallpaper or screen saver changer, only I might have to upload the pictures because then it won’t change when the computer is asleep. Then again, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change while I’m sleeping or not at my computer.

Little Miss Be Happy is having stuff done... as usual. Tom noticed she had something like 20 bags of mulch stacked up back there. Neither of us has a clue what it’s for. We saw a guy back there spraying the grass. At least she has the money to have all this stuff done since she is still working.

Tom is going to have to get a new dermatologist. He has a suspicious spot on the bridge of his nose. Having grown up in the desert, he may have to deal with these things popping up periodically for the rest of his life. This is probably why he may need cataract surgery while I may never live long enough to need it because he grew up in the desert rather than the Northeast as I did.

They gave him a cooling towel at the plasma place today. They were giving them to everyone. It’s this special material that you wet and put around your neck. I’ll have to remember it when I have a warm spell. Yesterday, I was comfortable, but I started to get cold for a while today, and again, my right hand seemed cold as well. I really wish I could test my TSH at home every day! Sometimes I think I’m still hypo and other times I don’t feel it. At under 160 pounds, I know I can’t be that hypo if I am.

We ordered the sound-blocking foam tile inserts for the bedroom windows. We’re hoping to set it up in a way that will allow us to pull the foam out of the top panes to either let in light or open the windows to air the place out when we want to. The foam is two inches thick and has grooves. They should help with blocking sound and definitely with light since I like the bedroom to be pitch black no matter when I’m sleeping. After I save a little more work money for a Temu order for a few different things, I will then save for the sticky foam tiles for the exterior bedroom wall. These will be thinner, covered in vinyl, and have some kind of decorative texture. The foam tiles going in the windows are black and ugly, but it doesn’t matter because the curtains are going to be covering them.

[heyyallitssatan]

Here’s a piece of adhd advice from someone with it. Actually, this applies to any fucking disorder mental or physical, fucking everything.

Fuck everyone else’s advice.

I don’t care if it’s your therapist, best friend of ten years, or the autism mommy on Facebook, fuck them. I don’t mean that everyone is automatically wrong and you should never try to fix things, but I do mean that everyone can be wrong. The only person who knows if something works for you is you, if someone gives you a piece of advice that they swear worked for them or their friend/son/wife, and you know that that won’t work for you, just say thanks and move on. You don’t have to do it if it doesn’t work. I don’t care if it works for every other motherfucker on this earth, it may not work for you and that’s ok. Find a way that helps, that does work for you. If you don’t know any ways at all, then accept some advice (from veritable sources, like a therapist or friend whose dealt with something similar, just someone you trust to give solid advice) and try it out. See if it works, no harm if it doesn’t try something else. There’s the psa. Good luck, hope everything’s ok, and one day you’ll find something that helps, promise.

[nuttyeaglecolor]

4 Best Methods To Sell Dating

I'm not ready to fall in love with someone. The ghost, for instance, tends to break up with someone by simply "ghosting" them, which can be devastating for the other person. Scammers say they can’t meet you in person. נערות ליווי ברמת גן Some people, as odd it might sound, meet the one perfect person they're going to be with way back in high school or college, and never get in a serious relationship again in their entire lives. Finding the one who is perfect for you can be a challenge, but it's important to reflect on who you are as a person. No matter how many times things might go wrong, we still often hope that when we start a new relationship, this might be the person we end up spending the rest of our lives with. Whatever the case may be, 2020 is all about a fresh start for a brand-new or current relationship! You may fear that revealing your true intentions will limit your pool of potential matches or make you stand out from other online daters. I sent a message to all of these matches but only 20% replied. Additionally, the site automatically blocks messages from male users containing certain words while showing such messages as being sent.

Make sure your computer has a secure password, up-to-date anti-virus and a firewall to prevent someone using the online dating site to access your personal details and computer. Let me find someone special first! While it's unknown if mermaids swim in the ocean depths or dragons lurk in deep underground caves, there is one place you can find them: guarding your heart. It's a tough place to be in, but luckily, we've created an in-depth dating quiz to help you out with this problem! To help you figure out if your current relationship has serious potential, we've come up with a series of questions that test the compatibility between you and your current boo. But perhaps the coolest perk to come from Drake and Booker’s friendship is Booker being name-checked in a song. How about both of our families can come together for the holidays? You know, someone who doesn't seem that serious about the relationship and inserts jokes whenever they can. It's that "spark" when you fall in love with someone. But the real question is: Which of these categories do you fall in? No, I wish I had been. No, that would scare people off.

The algorithm then further extends this process by prioritizing people that have the best odds of sparking conversation and getting the ball rolling. This worldwide hit of 1980 is known as Queen's best selling single. When Doves Cry" was the lead single off of Prince's 1984 album "Purple Rain." It was the top-selling single of the year. It became more well known when it was re-recorded and re-released on the commercially successful 1983 Bowie album "Let's Dance. Some of these people decide to stay single for a while, and others get right back into the dating game, in search of that perfect relationship all over again. You will never have the “perfect relationship” because perfect relationships don’t exist. They're also great family pets that will remain loyal until the end. Counseling tends to be shorter term and has a set end date. If you have defined a many-to-many relationship that uses a custom pivot model, and that pivot model has an auto-incrementing primary key, you should ensure your custom pivot model class defines an incrementing property that is set to true. Deleting the shortcut tab does not delete the Facebook Dating profile that you've set up from within the app.

Facebook Dating doesn’t have any virtual dating features, per se. I don't have much of a preference. It depends on how much I like them. I don't really like it, but I understand why it's said sometimes. Well, why not make it happen? I'll go above and beyond to make someone happy. Once again, you are in no way responsible for someone else’s predatory behavior, but you should feel empowered to protect yourself and avoid situations that make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable. If you're in a relationship with someone, they aren't just someone that you're dating for a bit. Serious; I need someone who is determined. Both you and your partner need to identify the bad communication habits you have now and establish healthier routines. When things get bad in a relationship, do you tend to ghost them? There are different types of heartbreakers; some of them include ghosts, comedians and bad boys. The first that comes to mind is Clubhouse-though if you are unable to get an invite, there are plenty of Clubhouse alternatives to try instead. 7. Individualized marketing messages are also called campaigns.

[xpeachesncream]

how many drinks? | one shot (jjk)

summary: the question is - how many drinks would it take for you to sleep with your bestfriend?

pairing: jjk x reader

genre: (18+) college au, dance group au, bestfriends/bestfriends with some benefits au | fluff, smut, sprinkle of angst

words: ~12.2k

warnings: cussing, mature language/implied sexual content, kind of crack-y, dancer!jk to fulfill my needs, unprotected sex, sprinkle of dirty talk, fingering, sprinkle of a handjob, slight biting, nails digging into skin, oc almost gets taken advantage of/forced into doing things she doesn’t wanna do, rough handling, song kang is in this too because i’m also a hooch for him but he’s an ass here, alcohol consumption, intoxication, mentions of blunts/smoking, house parties, cuddling, kissing/makeout sessions, straddling, breast/nipple play, hickeys, fucking on the edge of the bed, multiple orgasms, fingering, licking/neck kisses, oral (f. receiving)

note: one shot title is taken from miguel's song ‘how many drinks’ + a couple of things--

both hoseok and jimin’s piece mentioned below are inspired by real-life pieces my old dance mentor has choreographed and taught. this is the inspiration behind hoseok’s couple piece; this is the inspiration for jimin’s piece

i’m a hooch for all three of them in this video

enjoy imagining koo and oc dancing part of their couples piece like this 🥺

"Y/N." You picked up Jungkook's call as you sat at your desk in your dorm room. You had been finishing up your bio homework until the interruption came blaring through on your headphones.

"Yes?"

"Can I nap in your room?"

"The fuck I look like? A hotel?" You snorted.

"Yeah, a 5 star at that with how good you take care of me." He tries to butter you up, causing you to roll your eyes.

"You're lucky I like you."

"Yesssssssss!" You hear him faintly exclaim on the other line. "Be there in a sec."

"You know my doors are always unlocked." Which, it was true. So many of your friends had decided to live off campus that you and your other bestfriend [and beloved suitemate] were probably the only few left on campus. And that meant people were constantly in your room, hanging out or using both of your rooms, [with permission] or the couches in the shared living room space of your suite as a place to nap. College, amirite? Why the fuck would you lose your parking spot to go back to your apartment when you have friends who lived right on campus? You weren't just good for smuggling free food from the cafeteria to your broke ass, struggling off-campus friends.

Sooner or later, you're greeted by a fluffy, black-haired Jungkook, looking like his shit must have air-dried with how wavy and voluminous it was. He swings your door open so aggressively that you jump a bit in your seat, swinging off your headphones like you weren't even expecting him. You watch as he flings himself onto your neatly made bed like he hasn't felt a bed in years.

"Ugh, yes." He moans as he belly flops onto your bed and stays in that position.

"When's your next class, you little baby?"

"In like an hour or so, I don't know." He says sleepily. "Wake me up, please?"

"Sure." You realize it's Wednesday, and he definitely has Ecology lab later at 3:00PM. You figured you'd wake him up by 2:30 just to give him enough time to groggily walk his ass back over to the science building.

You and Jungkook weren't really close before college. It was moreso that you knew of each other since high school because of mutual friends. You'd see him at parties and he'd see you, but it was never more than the casual hi and bye and small talk. Maybe the occasional comments on facebook pages and the likes on pictures on instagram. But foreel, other than that, that's as real as your friendship got for awhile. You didn't mind it though, you were good with your set of friends and he was good with his. A lot of your friends attended the same university as you two and then your groups intertwined even more. 

But, it wasn't until the past couple of months or so where you both unexpectedly got really close - simply just by talking more and being around each other more. You both had similar interests and Jungkook wasn't the most vocal in his group, but with you, he seemed to talk endlessly. He loved comics and he loved raving to you about Marvel and DC superheroes. He loved to draw, and he'd draw you things every now and then - his most recent being you as a scientist superhero saving the world from overgrown malaria-infected mosquito monsters. It was the cutest thing you had ever seen, and you tacked it against your cork board near your desk. Then, small things like that turned to bringing you food or boba, being stuck at the hip where he'd only go to a certain place on campus if you were there; texting each other inside jokes and funny ass tweets all day turned to facetime sleepover calls and then late hangouts eventually turned to actual sleepovers in your bed, where he'd drape his arm around while you both slept but it never escalated into anything more than that in bed. Although he did fucking hate your medium-sized Olaf plushie that took shelter on your bed - he'd always hike it across the room and talk about how annoying he is and how he's always taking his spot. You never understood it, really.

And then soon, it turned to small displays of affection behind closed doors, where Jungkook would hold you close. Hold your hand if you two were in the room watching a show, or movie. Small kisses exchanged. Big kisses exchanged, making out sessions. But, that was literally it. Nothing else. No sex. No pressure. Lots of unspoken feelings, obviously, but you weren't gonna be the one to bring that up. Because you were comfortable, and if anything, you didn't wanna ruin what you guys already had going.

Like, is this a friends with benefits thing? Maybe? Maybe not? It was hard to label it because it's not like you both determined so, it kind of just fell together that way. And there was really no pressure to fuck every single time you got affectionate. It was cute, sweet. And no one really knew it was like that behind doors - possibly your suitemate Kass and her boyfriend, Jimin, but that's only because you shared the dorm suite with her. Jimin was also one of Jungkook's roommates and his really good friend, so whenever they had slept over on the same night, it was pure and utter chaos. But honestly, if Kass and Jimin hadn't been around you two much, they most certainly wouldn't have the idea.

Whatever it was, it was a comfortable closeness that you both experienced and appreciated. However, the both of you were afraid of discussing what this really was, afraid it'll ruin the dynamic. The atmosphere. Having to come to terms of what it might, or might not be. Neither of you can fully admit that you like the other. Although, it got hard. People did lightly tease you two because you both always looked for each other and were stuck by the hip out on campus.

Oh, well. Bottom line is that you liked your relationship where it was at, but it doesn't mean you haven't thought about the what if's. Jungkook was insanely attractive, and it's no lie that girls swarmed him left and right on campus, but he didn't give a shit [either he didn't give a shit or he was dumb as hell?]. Okay, rewind — to be fair, he would have a fling or two, flirt once or twice. He'd tell you so and so was cute and that they've hung out or texted, but that's it. He just wasn't necessarily looking for anything cause he too enjoyed where he was at with everything.

It doesn't take long before Sleeping Beauty is snoring face down on your bed, looking like Patrick Star with the way he's sprawled out. But, you continue to do your work until it was time to wake him. You gently shake him, his puppy eyes looking back at you after being face down all nap.

"Class time."

"No." He groans. "Can't I just stay here with you?"

"No, dude. Get to class." You chuckle. "You already skipped last week."

"Yeah, but this is a new week Y/N."

"Jungkook." You almost say in a scolding manner.

"Fiiiiiiine." He whines as he shoots up and hops off from your bed. "Are you going to our party on Friday?"

"I said I'd think about it right?"

"Yeah, like on Monday. It's Wednesday."

"And I'm still thinking about it." You snort, making him pout.

"Just come for a little bit."

"Why? You know parties aren't my thing and you'll be too drunk anyways. I'll end up wanting to go right the fuck back home as soon as I step outside."

"I'd like to be drunk and have you there. It'll be more fun!" He pouts as he holds your hand and swings it back and forth.

"I mean, to be completely honest, I'll probably end up going because of Kass anyways."

"Because of Kass." He rolls his eyes. "Oooookay. Not because of you, Jungkook, no." He says sarcastically, brows furrowed.

"Ew. You're such a fucking whiner. Leave." You laugh, throwing an empty water bottle at him.

"I'm kidding." He chuckles. "Wanna grab dinner with me after practice?"

"Sure. If you pay." He groans

"Fine. I'll see you later." He puckers up his lips to blow you a kiss, which you automatically reject by giving him a look before turning your attention back to your homework. You were hoping he'd offer to go to In-n-Out because you were craving that #2 with animal fries and a neapolitan shake, plus there was a Target in the same plaza that you wanted to drag him to for new pens and clearance sale shopping. And you wouldn't even warn him about it. He would tag along, no question.

Hoseok stands in front of the mirrors in the studio, pacing back and forth as your dance group learned a couple of 8-counts from this new piece he had been brewing up. Apparently, it was supposed to be a couples piece but he wasn't sure if he was going to keep it that way. He watched to see if this would be better as a group, or if he should stick to his original plans.

Your college dance group was a small group formed by people with pure, genuine interest and love for modern hip hop choreography. Hoseok was the dance lead, with Jimin being the back up lead. The group came together, taught each other pieces, taught workshops for those interested on campus and performed at the various talent shows and productions the school had throughout the year. It was just your group's way of showcasing your talents, something you all purely enjoyed, and it was nice to see the love and support given by the audiences.

"Okay, run that from the top one more time please. We'll take break after, swear." Hoseok chuckles and gives Jimin the cue to start the song back at the starting point. Jungkook makes a funny face at you as he huffs and puffs, trying to catch his breath from the last time you went through the counts.

"Ew." You giggle, slightly pushing him aside. Miguel's How Many Drinks begins to blast through the studio speakers, Jungkook doing his best to sing along and match his tone all while focusing on his steps. Once you're done going through the counts, the music continues to play, Jungkook twirling over to you just to sing—

"Cause I ain't leavin' aloneeee, I feel like I could be honest, babe." He spins to your other side. "We both know that we're grown, that's why I wanna knooooow - how many drinks will it take you to leave with meeeeEEeeeE?"

"You can give me all the drinks in the world and I swear I still wouldn't." You snort, making him frown and click his teeth.

"Too bad that's not really how you act when I ask to sleep over, though." Silence as you stick your tongue out at him. Cause, yeah. You really do tell him to sleep over without hesitation. You loved his company, you can’t lie. "Yeah, fraudulent as hell. I never taught you that." He jokes.

"Shut up, Jungkook—"

"Okay!" Hoseok says, clapping his hands. "This'll be a couple piece. I honestly think it'll work better that way, just like I envisioned it. I'll work with the couple to clean this up before the performance, but to whoever isn't casted for this, Jimin still has a piece to teach the rest of you, so don't feel discouraged!" Hoseok chuckles a bit, giving the rest of the group a small smile. "So with that being said - Y/N, Jungkook, I want you two to do this piece."

"Ouuuuuuuu." Jimin teases you from the sidelines, causing you to put up your middle finger.

"We won’t let you down, cap." Jungkook swings his arm around you.

"I'll teach you the rest of the piece next practice so we can start polishing it up and making it clean before the talent show."

"Sounds good with me." You flatly say, even though 100%, you're pretty excited for many reasons. One, you had been wanting to do a solo or couples piece for awhile, and two, your partner was Jungkook. Your best friend, your ride or die, the dude you've spent so much time with and gave your affection to behind closed doors. It made you giddy just thinking about it, even if you'd blatantly lie to his face later on when he'd tease you. And Jungkook felt the same. You missed the way he subtly bit on his bottom lip when you were named his partner, just so he wouldn't smile too big in front of you.

After practice, you egg him on enough to agree to take you to In-N-Out, without hinting at the plan you had drafted out in your head earlier.  The plan that says you're gonna drag his ass to Target afterwards and he had no choice but to come along.

"Y/N, you liar." He groans. "You said you weren't gonna go to Target." He pouts as you follows behind you anyway.

"Kook, I literally just need to get one thing."

"What's the one thing that you couldn't get on your own time?"

"I don't know, I'll have to find out when we get in there." You giggled, causing him to groan again. "Plus, we're here already. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Ah shit, I suppose I can get some bottles for the party."

"Yeah, make yourself useful Jungkook."

"Yeah, make yourself useful Jungkook, aheh." He mocks your tone and does that really weird and ugly ass laugh that dudes always do when they try to mock girls, however, you ignore it because you've just stepped into Target and bitch, this was Disneyland to you. Heaven. Paradise.

"Hm, what are we drinking on Friday?" He says his text outloud as he follows you around the dollar section where you begin to pick up really unnecessary items that you're probably just gonna store away in or around your desk somewhere.

"Should be holy water because you all need it."

"Mmm, I don't know, I don't think they have that but we can check." He responds ever so seriously, causing you to chuckle.

"How many people are you expecting?"

"Honestly, I don't even know. We said we'd keep it to close friends only. I don't really have any friends, so that's all on them."

"Ah, makes sense as to how the entire class was invited." You fire back sarcastically. "Your upstairs neighbors are really gonna have a blast."

"They're invited too."

"You guys are so dumb." He laughs when you hit him against the chest. After walking a bit, the two of you head towards the alcohol aisle, Jungkook grabbing what his arms will allow him to grab since alcohol is a little cheaper here than other grocery stores. "Isn't there a limit as to how much alcohol you can buy?"

"I don't see anything anywhere." He hauls about 4 big bottles back to the cashiers. "Besides, I'm giving them business compared to Safeway and those other grocery stores."

"Grab the coupon at least, genuis. It could save you some money." You take off the coupons from the three bottles.

He looks down at the coupon attached to the 4th bottle. "Sign up today and get 2% cash back on every bottle you buy." He snorts after reading the coupon outloud. "More like sign up today and get 2% cash back turnt." He looks at you. "This doesn't sound like a coupon, miss. Where's the ‘get 5 dollars off’ bullshit?"

"2% cash back turnt? Really?" You furrow your brows at him and hand the coupons to the cashier. "Here. God, maybe you shouldn't be hosting parties with your roommates."

"Maybe not." He holds his bags, even grabbing onto yours as you both walk out to his car. He turns up the radio, the both of you singing along to the songs coming through. When he pulls up to the lot of Edgehill Village, he parks in someone else's marked spot only because it's technically next to your door and he doesn't anticipate to stay long. But honestly, that never goes as planned. He grabs your bag from the trunk, silently following behind you as you unlock your door to an empty suite - just as you expected. Kass was most likely at Jungkook’s, spending the night with Jimin, and you'd be alone for the night. It didn't matter to you though, the peace and quiet was always nice.

"You sure you're gonna be okay here alone?" You nod.

"Yup. It's kind of nice actually." You lean forward onto your bed since it's raised a little higher than usual with bed risers, and open up your laptop. Jungkook sets your Target bag down and wraps his arms around you from behind, planting a kiss on your cheek and on your jawline.

"You sure you don't want me to sleep over? Cuddles sound nice."

"It sounds like you want to."

"Only if you want me to." He nuzzles his head against your neck, waiting for your response.

"Kook, please." You chuckle. "If you wanna sleepover, then go ahead."

"Yesssss! I do."

"Well you need to find parking, or else the person that owns that parking spot will be highly upset."

"You got it, captain. Pull up a movie!" He says, dashing out of your room to move his car. He's most likely going to come back in another 5 minutes, being that the only free parking at this time of night is probably on the other end in the gym's lot, or somewhere on the streets [if he got lucky].

And so that 5 minutes sure does go by before Jungkook is breathing heavily when he walks into your room, duffle bag swung over his shoulder with a big, dorky ass smile on his face.

"I'm back!"

"I see." You snort, still going through the movies.

"Hey, let's run through what Hobi taught us first."

"Ugh, I'm so tired though."

"Cooooome on, just once." He pulls you by the hand, his body pressed against yours as his his other arm wraps around your waist. "Please." His puppy dog eyes look down at you, causing you to push him away because fucking hell, that shit makes you weak. Makes the pussy throb just a lil, you know? Christ.

"Only if you watch 10 Things I Hate About You."

"Sure, I don't mind." He pulls up the song on your laptop. The both of you face the mirror in front of you, careful not to hit each other since you had such limited space to fully move around. Running through it once was a full blown lie, being that you both are doing it for almost 5-6 times before you're laughing at how out of breath you already are. You're so out of it and winded by the last time around that you accidentally hit Jungkook in the face, causing him to whine and stumble off to the side.

"Oh shit!" You laugh. "I'm so sorry, Kookie!" You run over to cup his face. "Are you okay? You good?"

"Shit, Y/N. You have a heavy hand." He keeps his hand against his cheek.

"I'm sorry." You lean in to plant a kiss on his cheek, but Jungkook being Jungkook, he looks to the side to have his lips meet yours instead. He picks you up in one swift motion, your legs wrapped around his torso as he sits you on your bed, your hands still cupping his face. And honestly, you really wanted him. You've always wanted him since this whole thing started. God, he was attractive to you - every little thing about Jungkook was a fucking weakness, but you weren't gonna let up first. Not tonight. The scar on his cheek, his soft, fluffy hair, his toned body, his muscular ass arms, the way he held onto you when you both slept, the way he kissed you.

Lord, he was truly going to be the death of you.

Before the kiss could get any deeper, you smile into it and back away, keeping your gaze on the small, dazed smile Jungkook has on his face.

"Can we watch now?" You ask, subtly biting onto your bottom lip.

"Yeah, good idea."

"Actually, after all that, I need to shower first."

"Can I join?" His eyes light up.

"Sit your ass down. You can go after." You laugh as you hop off the bed, grabbing your pajamas for a quick shower. You literally take 10 minutes, walking back into your room with wet hair and an oversized shirt and shorts underneath. Although you had been completely comfortable with Jungkook, the both of you have never really seen each other fully naked like that. Whenever he slept over, you were both always fully clothed. You've seen him hop out of the shower and come in shirtless, but that's probably about it. You start to brush your teeth as he rummages through his emergency duffle bag full of shit that he holds in the trunk of his car, grabbing a fresh pair of clothes to change into after his shower. You already know his ass is gonna use your shampoo for everything because he loves the smell of it and always talks about how good your hair smells.

While waiting for him, you slip yourself under your covers and pull the laptop closer to you, scrolling through your phone aimlessly to see what's new on instagram. Which, is absolutely nothing, so you let out a dissatisfied sigh.

"Ready!" He comes in, tossing his towel aside and shutting off the lights to crawl into your bed with you.

"You smell just like me." You chuckle.

"It's great, isn't it?"

"Your hair isn't bothering you?" You run your hand through his incredibly wet hair as he shakes his head.

"No, I'll be good."

"Okay." He wraps his arm around you to pull you onto his body, the movie already off to a start. As the movie goes on, you find yourself getting sleep as both of your bodies sink deeper into the sheets, Jungkook still not letting you go. The laptop rests on his belly, while your head is on his chest, his heartbeat the one thing putting you to sleep pretty quickly. He's comfortable, just as you are. He's warm, you're warm. He's content, you're content. You drift off to sleep while he continues to watch, knowing your bodies will be pressed tightly against each other in the morning.

"Kook there's so many fucking people here. The cops are gonna come and shut this down quick." Jungkook shrugs.

"Oh well, wasn't my idea." He snorts. "Shot?!" He hands you a shot that you take with ease, feeling like you aren't drunk enough for all this shit and all these people. "Atta girl."

"Yuck, though." You slightly make a sour face as you feel the warmth trickle down your throat and into your stomach.

"Heeeey, whyyyyy do you look so FaMiliaR?" This girl asks Jungkook in a weird, flirty tone, where every other consonant goes up and down. She's obviously really fucking drunk and out of her mind because for one, she definitely goes to the same school as you two, and she has definitely been in class with Jungkook before.

"Oh uh, my name's Justin Bieber. I used to sing from time to time." He says nonchalantly with you furrowing your forehead at him because what kind of response did he just give her?! What did he just tell her? You're so embarrassed that you slowly turn on your heel and walk out of the kitchen as you hear him sing One Less Lonely Girl hella out of tune, with the girl completely smitten over his drunk ass.

"Where's Jungkookie?" Kass asks as she sits on Jimin's lap.

"Over there, pretending to be Justin Bieber apparently."

"Oh, nice. You don't come across that often." Jimin says sarcastically. "Are you staying here tonight?"

"Yeah, stay here tonight, with Kookie." Kass wiggles her eyebrows, her cheek resting on top of Jimin's head. "It's not like that's anything new."

"Um, I'd rather much be back in the dorm."

"That cold, lonely place? When you could be here, in such a pretty apartment with such a pretty boy?" You shake your head at her.

"Unbelievable." You mutter. Suddenly, an incredibly tall man walks into the apartment, reaching about 6'1 and almost hitting the ceiling with his tall ass. You've never seen him before, but he walks in with Hoseok and Namjoon and for whatever reason, you can't peel your eyes off of him. "Woah, who's that?"

"Who's what?" Jungkook finally comes to your side after being Justin Bieber for a good minute or so, his eyes following yours. Who was he and why were you looking at him so intensely?

"That's Kang! You've never met him?" Jimin says, doing a slight nod to greet him as he passes by. Kang and his fine self looks up at you, a small smirk creeping up at the corner of his lips as he continues through to the kitchen behind Hoseok and Namjoon. "He's a transfer and on the basketball team."

"He's fiiiiine." You and Kass swoon over him a bit, Jungkook giving you a look.

"He's alriiiight. I've seen better."

"Shut up, no one asked you." You lightly punch him on the side, making him lightly groan while Jimin and Kass laugh. The rest of the party, you suddenly have a goal to find out more about Kang and see what he's about because you and Jungkook weren't official. You both didn't really know what this was, but one thing you knew for sure was that it wasn't anything exclusive. You wouldn't bring it up, so wouldn't Jungkook - so was this really something all that meaningful?

Whatever, you didn't wanna keep going in circles about it.

Jungkook fucking hates it though, and he's honestly really jealous that you're suddenly trying to be all cute and woo the new, tall, handsome [but he's not really that fucking handsome to Jungkook for christ's sake] basketball player. Jungkook almost wants to mock his every move and how suavé he is, almost looking like a try hard with the way he's leaning against the wall and talking to you.

Wait— he's talking to you?! You were literally right next to him 2 seconds ago.

"What the fuck?" He squints, trying to make sure he's actually looking at you.

"You're so full of shit." Jimin laughs.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you just admit that you like her and stop being childish about it?"

"I don't like her. She's just my bestfriend."

"Um, okay?" Jimin snorts. "When you sleep at her place every chance you get and vice versa? When she has a ton of your shirts and hoodies in her own fucking closet? When you always get so affectionate with her in the dorm? Sure, you don't like her."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do, you've done it in front of me and Kass before but you both tried playing it off. I don't understand you two."

"Well, I don't like her. She obviously doesn't either with the way she's trying to be all up on him." Jungkook glares at you, his teeth biting the rim of the cup harshly as he brings it to his lips to take a sip.

"Whatever, I'm just saying dude. Probably better to be straight up about it than not."

"Kaaaaaaay." Jungkook responds sarcastically, trying to play off how butthurt he was right now. Cause yeah, he did fucking like you. He was just scared to admit it though because of reasons like this - the fact that you possibly didn't like him back killed him. The fact that you could possibly be using him to feel wanted, needed. It made his stomach turn.

He just really liked you, and god, did he want to be the one in your bed tonight. Whether or not that ended up in sex, whatever. He just wanted to be the one to touch you, be on you.

Meanwhile, Kang was attractive as hell and ouwee, were you feeling him tonight. You were, you really were - except, you could literally feel the holes Jungkook was burning through you from across the room. You'd occasionally glance over due to how distracting it was, Jungkook literally have no shame with eyeing you, almost glaring at you, from across the apartment.

"Is it too forward if I ask for your number already?" Kang licks his lips, his teeth lightly piercing his bottom lip as he looks down at you.

"No." You smirk at him, taking his phone to put your number in.

"We should kick it soon. I'd love to hang out with you and get to know you better."

"Yeah, just let me know when." You blush, until you're suddenly pulled out of your daze by a loud 'ahem,' the loudest throat-clearing you have ever heard in your life. You turn to see Jungkook making his way back over to the shots, knowing damn well he's calling you over. "See you around?" Kang winks before he tips his cup to you and gives you a single nod.

"Sure thing, cutiepie." You bite onto your bottom lip, making your way over to Jungkook at the shot station, instantly pinching his arm.

"What the fuck?"

"Nobody was calling you over." Jungkook smirks.

"Shut the fuck up, yes you were. I know that was you clearing your throat like that."

"I'm sorry, does it bother you?" He blinks cutely, tilting his head to the side. "Besides, why come over here when you're too busy with your man?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Why in the hell would I be jealous, Y/N? Do you." The words sting you, even though part of you still wants to believe that Jungkook may actually like you. All you can do is sigh and brush it off, placing your cup down in front of him as he pours himself another shot. "You sure?"

"Just give me the damn shot." You say, making it your 7th.

And the 7th turns into 8, 8 turns into 9, 9 turns into 10. And at 10, you're pretty fucking drunk even as the party is starting to die down by the time it's close to 2am. All 10 were a good combination of shots and mixed drinks.

10 drinks.

10 drinks is what it took for you to lay in Jungkook's bed at the end of the night, hands tangled in his fluffy hair as your makeout session intensifies by the minute - all due to this sexual tension, frustration, whatever the hell it was brewing between you two after all this time. The both of you are drunk as hell, and it's pretty evident with the way you can still taste the alcohol on his tongue, both sloppily touching up on each other, kisses getting wetter, clothes coming off like there's no tomorrow.

"Wait, are you sure?" Jungkook says, about to unhook your bra.

"Jungkook, god, just fuck me." You plead drunkily, the room spinning around you. He continues to unhook your bra, tossing it across the room where your other clothes lay, peppering kisses along your neck before licking up a stripe to meet your lips again. He hooks his fingers across the band of your panties, tugging them down and letting them get lost within his sheets. You take this as leverage to tug his boxer briefs down, already stroking his hardened member the moment you come into contact with it. The sad thing is that you both are so fucking drunk, you can't even appreciate the fact that you both are naked in front of each other for the first time ever.

You can't even come to terms with the fact that you both are about to fuck each other and cross that boundary completely.

But, hell, what do you care? You were drunk. You got a cute guy's number. You're getting dick at the end of the night.

"Oh shit, Y/N." He moans into your mouth as he feels you stroking him. "Need to feel you." He quickly runs his finger down your fold, slipping in two digits to pump them in and out, quickly prepping you for his dick.

"Hnnng--Kook." You bite onto your bottom lip as your eyes shut close momentarily, your head digging deeper into the pillow the more he tries to stretch you out. "Want you inside of me."

"I got you." He says. You almost whine at the loss of contact until you feel his tip poking at your entrance. He slowly continues to slip himself inside of you, Kook letting out a small groan while your mouth was left open, a soundless moan releasing before you hiss and take in all of him. He fills you up so well, so completely. He was so big that you felt full, bloated, with him being inside of you the way he was.

"Ohhhhhgod." You whimper as he starts to steady his pace, the lewd noises of his cock slipping in and out of your wet pussy filling his room - god forbid if Jimin or their other roommate Yoongi heard this right now. It would be nothing short of pornographic.

"You're so wet. Is that all for me?" He says, causing your eyes to roll to the back of your head as he begins to aggressively thrust into you.

"Y-yes." You whine.

"Say it again."

"All for you, Kook."

"I fucking thought so." He drunkily responds as one hand grips onto your hips tightly, the other in your hair as he digs his head back into the crook of your neck, his tongue messily licking near your jaw before he nibbles onto your earlobe.

"Hmmmmgggh, Jungkook. Fuck." You moan as you start to work your hips upward into his, your clit rubbing against his pelvis, causing the pleasure to pool quickly within the pit of your stomach. It causes goosebumps to pierce through the surface of your skin, your hands gripping tighter on his hair. "You're-you're gonna make me cum. Faster." You plead. He does just so, hammering into you, the sound of his hips slamming into yours bouncing off of the walls.

"Ahhh—Y/N." He groans.

"Just like that, just like that, just like that!" You repeat, your clit feeling incredibly stimulated by the way it rubs against his skin while he fucks into you. "Oh shit! Jungkook!" You moan loudly, biting his shoulder as you feel yourself trembling hard in his grip, your orgasm taking over your entire body.

"Shit, shit, shit—Y/N, Shiiiit." He says into your neck, followed by more curses and groans as you feel him coat your walls warmly. He stays inside of you until the both of you come back down to normalcy, your breathing becoming more regulated. He slowly slips himself out, plopping next to you on the bed, but doesn't welcome you into his arms.

The night goes on, the both of you sleeping on your own sides of Jungkook's bed, not really saying a word to each other. Because the both of you, although still pretty drunk, are more aware by the time it's over and it's become so clear how fucked up this got.

You were hurt. Completely hurt. Because you didn't expect Jungkook to just fucking ghost you after that night. You wanted to talk about it, maybe come to the conclusion that you two should just distance yourselves from each other to figure this out, even if it would hurt you a lot to do so.

No.

That morning, Jimin and Kass had to take you back to campus because Jungkook had darted out of his room, nowhere to be seen until later that night. The next week or so, there were no texts, no calls. No visiting your dorm, no asking to sleepover.

Nothing.

Just radio silence, white noise, if you will.

The one thing he could come up with was a stupid response to your text when you finally caved and asked what you did wrong mid-week.

Something along the lines of 'what do you want me to say, Y/N? do you want me to force myself to feel a certain way?'

Followed by a 'i'm sorry, fuck. that came out really wrong' even though you thought it came out perfectly fine. You understood loud and clear.

Even though this wasn't really an exclusive thing, or even a 'thing' if we wanna be straight up, you still couldn't help but feel like Jungkook had just dumped your ass with no explanation and you were still waiting for that explanation to come, whether it would or not. And because of this, you started to see Kang, hangout with him more often. He even took you out on a dinner date and you really enjoyed his company. He seemed genuine, caring, supportive - even if a lot of the basketball boys were the complete opposite. He was different, you liked to think.

And so you stand in front of the mirrors in the dance studio, you and Jungkook awkwardly running through the piece with Hoseok watching, confused as to why all of a sudden the two of you have this weird tension going on. It hasn't entirely ruined the couple piece, but it hasn't brought it together, either. The both of you could barely look at each other, barely get into the movements, the emotions behind the motions. Hoseok had to correct a few things, his 'pah pah pah's' echoing in the room constantly with how many times you and Jungkook had to be set straight for your sloppy steps today.

"Okay, I'm not saying it's bad, cause it's not. But can you both please act like you at least like each other or something? What's going on with you two? You aren't normally like this." Hoseok says, coming down to a crouch in front of the mirrors.

"Nothing, we'll do better. Don't worry." You brush off the entire question with your quick response. Jungkook looks at you, his hands on his hips, lightly frowning at how much you're distancing yourself even though he knows its entirely his fault for running from his feelings and not being honest with you.

"Okay, let's do it from the top." The music starts, you getting into the piece without making any eye contact with Jungkook. Even the steps that cause you to be close and near Jungkook, you look anywhere but his eyes, and your touch is light, trying your hardest not to let any feelings pass through the motion. Hoseok is a little more pleased this time around, but it still doesn't sit right with him, so he lets you two take a break while he heads to the other studio to check on Jimin and the rest of the group.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Jungkook, you don't get to ask me that." He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, not sure if he should continue on or not.

"Y/N—"

"Save it, and let's just get this over with, okay? I don't wanna be here just as much as you." Your words cut him deep because dear, you have gotten him completely misunderstood and yet, he still can't speak. He still can't talk about his feelings. He still can't save this even though he wants to, even though he loathes seeing you the way you are with Kang.

"I never said—"

"Kay, ready? Let's run this full out and make it a good one so we can call it for today." Hoseok says, clapping his hands to hype you two up somehow. The music starts and you're finally able to get into the steps. The emotions. And god, it's only because you're so hurt by your own bestfriend. You're hurt that he fucked you so good, and then dipped. You're hurt that he couldn't even face you the day after. You're hurt that after all this time, he made it seem like you still didn't matter enough - at least enough for an explanation, for some kind of reasoning, conversation, behind what just went down between the both of you. Between what has been going down between the both of you.

Besides the stupid ass responses he gave you through text.

You get so into your feelings that you don't even realize you're tearing up by the time the piece is over, and Jungkook catches it even though you face away from him as soon as the music cuts out.

"Nice, okay! That was so much better! Let's pick it up next session, yeah? We'll keep cleaning it up. Thanks guys!" Hoseok says. You immediately head towards the wall, grabbing your things to avoid any confrontation from Jungkook, but he grabs your arm as soon as you slip through the door.

"Y/N, wait. Stop."

"Let me go." You yank your arm from his grip.

"Why are you crying?" He stops in front of you, his hands placed on your arms to prevent you from moving any further.

"I'm not." You blatantly lie while you aggressively wipe away the stragglers coming down.

"Really? Just gonna lie like that?"

"Why do you care? You haven't said shit to me all week." You snap back, and Jungkook is taken aback from the tone in your voice. You remove his hands from your arms, and take one last look at him before shaking your head and walking off.

Next mistake? He doesn't come after you.

This was a waste of fucking time. If he truly cared about you, he wouldn't let you hurt like this.

You let out a deep sigh before clutching onto your things and walking back to your dorm. The walk from the gym/fitness center was damn near on the other end of campus compared to your dorm. It would be a good 10 minute walk if you really took your time. A good 10 minutes to ponder on your thoughts.

Yes, you liked Jungkook. You really liked him. Having sex with him solidified those feelings even more. How could you not have feelings for your bestfriend after all the moments you've shared? Was it your fault for assuming that? Was it your fault for walking through that door when it seemed to be completely open for you?

"Sup." Kang comes out of nowhere, pulling you out of your thoughts. He swings his arm around your shoulder, gently pulling you closer to his body.  "Just got out of practice?"

"Sure did." You give him a toothless smile. Yes, he was attractive as hell. He always will be. But, even with the time you spent together, the date he took you on, he still couldn't make you feel the way Jungkook has been able to make you feel.

"How was it?"

"Um, it was alright. Nothing new really, just cleaning up the piece before the show. You're going right?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He smiles down at you. "Listen, I don't know if you've heard, but there's another party tonight."

"A party? It's Wednesday." You snort.

"Yeah, I mean, one of the boys on the Lacrosse team is throwing it at his family house because his parents will be gone. Wanna come? I'll pick you up. We don't have to stay for long." You looked at your watch.

"What time is it at?"

"Like 9ish?" Enough time for you to shower and get a quick dinner in your belly. Why the hell not? You were caught up for the week. You didn't have any pressing assignments that were due asap.

"Sure. I'll come."

"Cool. See you later then?" He says, about to part ways with you. You simply give him a nod before walking deeper into Edgehill village. You hoped you wouldn't regret this tonight, and you really hoped he meant it when he said you two didn't have to stay for long. You drag yourself into your room, seeing Kass' door wide open, revealing her packing up her duffle bag.

"Hey, where are you headed during the middle of the week?"

"My two classes got cancelled for tomorrow so me and Jiminie are heading out for a mini getaway for our anniversary." You cross your arms and smile. "He's just gonna catch up on shit when we get back I guess." She laughs.

"That sounds cute. I hope you have loads of fun this weekend, babe."

"What are you gonna do?" Kass and Jimin were obviously aware of everything happening between you and Jungkook being that they had to be the ones to take you home. They never pressed on it though, knowing you both were still pretty upset about how things were playing out. They figured you two would eventually work it out, but until then, they would just sit back and keep their mouths shut. You two were being completely stubborn, but it wasn't their relationship to fix.

"Well, there's this party Kang wants to take me to tonight."

"The Lacrosse party? Messy." She laughs. "Be careful, but also have fun, yeah? I still don’t know if I trust him.”

"Yeah I know."

"Tell me how it goes!"

"I will." You wave her off as you head into your room and shut the door. You figured you would just grab dinner on campus to avoid spending more money than you should; after all, dinner seemed to be pretty bomb tonight. You didn't mind going alone, sometimes Namjoon would join you, asking for you to bring him a plate of food while he does the hard job of sneaking inside the cafeteria through the back door. He usually waits for you at a free table and ends up staying there to have dinner with you, updating you on how life has been, how school has been. Sometimes Hoseok would join you, too. Either way, you didn't mind if no one joined. It was nice to have dinner by yourself from time to time.

You get there on time to be able to grab some food, eat quietly and head out before the cafeteria gets way too busy for your liking. You slip into the shower and throw on a mini skirt, a crop top and a denim jacket, lightly fluffing your hair in the mirror and adding a dab of lip gloss to your lips before Kang is calling you to tell you he's outside your dorm. He's wearing something similar to your color palette, however, you don't make much out of it since this also wasn't really an exclusive thing and you sure as hell weren't going around telling people you and Kang had a thing going on.

To him, you two might be a thing. You've definitely overheard people talking about you two in passing.

To you though, you two definitely weren't. And it was a big fuck you to Jungkook for that.

The house is packed from end to end already, and you're surprised being that it has barely hit 10 minutes since the party was expected to take off. Kang is having to park down the hill, allowing you to hop onto his back for a quick piggy back ride up until you reach the front of the house. There's people already fucked up out on the lawn [you figured they fucked themselves over during their pre-game session cause that shit really happens from time to time], either laying there drunkily or yacking on a free patch of grass.

Gross.

Messy, indeed.

Some people are posted, smoking blunts and offering it to people who were passing by. You and Kang both pass up on it, the idea of not knowing where it has been not sitting right with you. You both head straight to the bottles, taking shots and downing mixed drinks to chase it with so that you can catch up with majority of the crowd. Kang has his arm around your shoulder throughout the night, keeping you close to him, even when he's getting pretty drunk. You realize he's a little more handsy than usual, a little more touchy than you expected him to be. It doesn't bother you for a minute, until he really tries to hike up your skirt while you sit on his lap. You gently shoo his hand away, playing it off while he nuzzles his head against your neck.

"Let's go upstairs, babe." He says, the pet name sounding incredibly off coming from him. Maybe you were drunk, maybe you really just weren't in the mood. It just didn't sound cute, if that even makes sense?

"Okay." You respond stupidly, not wanting to cause a scene at a lacrosse party. You intertwine your fingers with his as he leads the way up the stairs, eyeing the doors as they come into view. He leans forward towards each door, making sure it's clear before opening it. You assume he finally finds one that he's satisfied with when you catch the small smirk that grows at the corner of his lips when he turns the door knob and brings you inside. He pulls you into a deep, rough kiss, one that doesn't even allow you to breathe and process what the fuck is even going on. You can't get into it for the life of you, no matter how hard you try to back away. "Wait, wait."

"What's wrong, baby? Isn't this what you wanted?" He says, kissing down your neck as he drops his jacket to the floor. He gently pushes you onto the bed, his hands traveling up your skirt as you lay there trying to push him off.

"Wait, stop." He doesn't listen. He continues until his hands are literally hooking onto your panties, his finger swiping down your clothed folds. You try fighting him off, but he's way stronger than you. He continues to be aggressive, forcefully trying to shove your panties down until you muster up all the energy you have to finally push him off of you completely. "Stop!"

"What the fuck? I thought you wanted this?"

"Who the hell said that?"

"Are you serious? The way that you're dressed and the way that you look at me. The way you approached me at your friend's party - isn't it all because of this? Because you wanted me? Why are you backing out now?"

"Jesus, get over yourself." You stand, fixing your skirt back down. He furrows his brows at you before his hand grips your arm tightly, shoving you against the wall.

"The fuck, you can't just leave without giving me anything. I brought you here to this party."

"Let me go! You're fucking sick. No one even told you I wanted this to go down. I don't know who you think you are, but you need to get yourself together and stop assuming every pussy is yours to take." He attempts to pin you, his hand holding up both of your hands against the wall while the other tries to pull up your skirt. Someone accidentally opens the door, distracting him and giving you leverage to shove him off and get the fuck away. You dart down the steps, fixing your skirt as you head outside and away from the house.

Fuck, you're far from campus. And Kass and Jimin aren't around.

God.

You groan and run your hand through your hair as you continue to walk down the hill and into the neighborhood to get as far away as possible from that house and that gross ass dude. He was literally just like the rest of the basketball team. You've heard stories and they weren't nice. Looks like he was trained well already, and that shit was sad. What a waste. A beautiful human being with such a nasty, sick mindset. You hoped other girls hadn't fallen for his shit.

Ugh, it sends shivers down your spine. Bad shivers.

"Hello? Y/N?"

"Kook, can you come pick me up please?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Where are you?"

"I'll drop my location. Please hurry." You say, looking back to make sure your coast was clear. You drop the pin into your text thread with Jungkook and sit on the curb until his arrival. It's getting pretty chilly out, and the denim jacket you're wearing fails to provide you with the warmth you're looking for. Sooner or later, Jungkook is pulling up, damn near hopping out before he can shift the gear into park.

"You okay? What happened?" He says, opening the door for you before rushing over to the driver's seat.

"Nothing, can we just go back to your place?" He nods silently, and doesn't press any further after hearing your tone. He watches from his peripherals how you fiddle with your fingers and constantly reach to pull your skirt down even though he doesn't think there's any other way you could pull it down even more. He watches as he parks the car on the curb in front of his apartment how you simply undo your seatbelt and hop out to walk straight into his apartment. He watches as you welcome yourself into his closet and pick out some clothes for you to change in.

You were hurt, and his blood boils thinking about who could've done this and what they could have possibly done.

I mean, no. He knows who did this, but the question was what exactly did he try?

He hears the shower turn on, then quickly get turned off after a good 5 minutes. You had stepped in for a quick body shower, using Jungkook's bodywash just to rid yourself of feeling gross. Feeling gross from being shoulder to shoulder all night long, people breathing down your neck. Kang touching you inappropriately. You slip into Jungkook's clothes, his scent wrapping around you entirely. When you head back into the room, Jungkook has his headset back on as he faces his computer, logging back onto his game of League of Legends. You silently toss your dirty clothes to the side of his room, making a mental note to grab it tomorrow morning and toss it straight into the laundry.

Straight into a fire, perhaps. But you loved those clothes so much, it was unfortunate it'd have such a horrible memory to go with it.

Jungkook slowly removes his headset again and removes himself from his game before he heads over and sits on the edge of his bed. You simply look at him, pursing your lips tightly together to prevent yourself from crying.

But he can tell.

"What happened Y/N?" The question triggers you, making you cry into your hands as he sits there, dumbfounded and worried at how he can fix this and make you feel better. "Look, you don't have to tell me all the details but please tell me how I can help. At least tell me if I need to beat Kang's ass." He says, pulling you into his arms.

"He tried to fucking take advantage of me." You mumble as you remove your face from your hands.

"He did what?" He manages to ask even though he has a hard time swallowing the lump that formed in his throat. He already assumed you had placed him in the same category as Kang even though he never intended to take advantage of you. He really took that night as something special [even drunk], and he never meant to make you feel like you were a used object. Not like Kang.

"He-he," You sniffed. "He tried to force me into having sex with him. He took me upstairs at that lacrosse guy's party or whoever the hell it even was, and he started to aggressively kiss me. And then he tried to force my panties down and touch me there, and—"

"Okay, please don't go on or else I'll literally go over there and tear his ass apart right now. I promise you." He says sternly, his jaw clenching tightly. "God, fuck. I'm so sorry Y/N. I can't apologize on his behalf but fuck, you didn't deserve that." He uses his sweater to wipe your tears.

"I don't even know why I'm crying, this shit isn't even worth it." You groaned. "It's just overwhelming to process, I guess."

"That's okay." He says, letting out a sigh as he brushes his hand through your hair and continues to wipe the stragglers falling from your eyes. "Anything I can get you right now?"

"No, I'm probably just gonna go to bed." He nods. "Thank you for picking me up."

"Of course. You know I'll always be there." He says. You slip yourself into his sheets, watching as he makes his way back to his desk. But fuck, the only thing you needed right now was him. You didn't want this distance anymore, and you just wanted to be comforted in true Jungkook fashion.

"Wait."

"Hm?" He hums as he has a hand placed on the  head of his chair while he turns to you.

"Can you just lay with me?"

"Yeah." He says, shutting off his computer before making his way over to you in the dark. You feel him slip in next to you, his arm snaking around your shoulders so he can pull you close and onto his chest. "Better?"

"Yeah." You say, shutting your eyes as you listen to his heart beat.

"Y/N."

"Yeah?"

"I never meant to take advantage of you, or make you feel like I used you that one night." Silence. "It was dumb of me, but I just— I had trouble coming to terms with my feelings. I was scared that you wouldn't feel the same way, but I thought fuck it, at least you would know, right?"

"What are you talking about, Kook?" You ask, close to a whisper.

"I'm saying that I really fucking like you, Y/N. No, that's not right." He curses himself. "I-I uh, I'm in love with you. And I don't know if I messed this up already with the way I acted, god I hope not, but you at least deserve to know that I truly do value you and that you mean alot to me. That night, even though we were pretty plastered, it meant a lot to me. It was more than just sex and I'm sure you felt that too." He waits for your response as his fingers rake through your hair. "Please say something, anything."

"I feel the same way, Jungkook. You're an idiot for running off, but I couldn't even stay mad at you. You just know how to hit my soft spots and I can never say no to it. Can never turn my back on it." He presses a kiss against the top of your head.

"Fuck, I'm really glad to hear that cause I don't know what I would have done besides cry if you rejected me." You playfully hit his chest.

"You're annoying." You jokingly say as you chuckle.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I never wanted to hurt you."

"It's okay." You look up to press your lips against his before laying back down.

"And Kang better be fucking glad you're pressed against my body right now because I'm still looking to beat his ass."

"He's not even worth it." Is the last thing you say before you find yourself drifting into a deep sleep, in the comfort of Jungkook's arms.

"You two feeling okay? Nervous?" You and Jungkook shake your heads. "Good, you guys got this. You've been looking amazing during practice, the audience will love you two, no doubt. Just remember to show emotions through expressions and hit every beat sharply." Hoseok nods in unison with the both of you.

"Got it, thanks Hobi." You smile at him toothlessly. You and Jungkook patiently waited for your turn backstage, the talent show already off to a wild and fun start. So many students came by to showcase their talents - from beatboxing, open mic, freestyling [like Yoongi did], dancing, singing, you name it. It was always a fun time at the talent show, and it was always nice to see people getting love for the shit they loved to do.

"You're up next." Hoseok says. "I'll be in the front row. Kick ass and have fun!" He says as he rushes off towards the opposite end to head back out to his seat in the theater.

"Ready?" Jungkook holds out his hand for you to take.

"I think so." You playfully respond as the backstage crew is rushing out the previous talent and rushing you two in to take your places on stage. The lights pick up as soon as the music starts, Kang's big ass head already in full view for you. He's definitely not smiling, no, he has a look of pure disgust because he simply couldn't get what he wanted from you.

And boy, who's fault was that? Not yours, no sir. It was his fault for thinking he had it like that.

But anyways, you're feeling the music, you're feeling the piece because you're dancing with your bestfriend and there wasn't this grey area anymore. It was easier to get into the motions, to get into the feeling, especially when things felt right between the two of you.

And God, what else is more attractive than Jeon Jungkook hitting his 8 counts so smoothly, with just enough umph to make it pop but make it pop cleanly.

Yo, please. I beg. Send some help. You could literally melt on stage.

The moments where Jungkook has to be close to you, where he has to touch you - you let him, and you touch him with meaning. You don't stray away this time because you have no reason to. The crowd is cheering, lots of 'ou's' and 'aw's' erupting from various places in the theater.

"Pretty lady." Jungkook whispers in your ear as the move requires his hands to be placed on your hips for a quick moment. You hear him slightly singing along to the song as he parts from you, causing you to blush.

Sooner or later, the couple piece is over and the song is transitioning to Jimin's piece, you and Jungkook rushing off the stage so the next group can take their positions. Jimin wanted to test his limits, creating a piece a little different than his usual taste - Chris Brown's Came to Do begins blaring through the theater speakers. You immediately jump into Jungkook's arms once you both reach backstage, the both of you immensely happy and pumped that you got through the piece without messing up one step or beat. It went so smoothly that Hoseok was standing in the front row, clapping and cheering in typical Hoseok fashion. You intertwine your fingers with his, slipping through the side door to catch Jimin's piece on stage. You and Jungkook are cheering them on, always impressed by the shit your friends can come up with. You both loved dancing, but you couldn't even imagine coming up with your own pieces to teach people.

That night after the show, everyone heads to a nearby restaurant for dinner with everyone. You all take up almost an entire section of the restaurant, splitting two long tables to accommodate the entire group with doubled the waitresses to take your orders. You settle for water, splitting an abnormally huge and filled deep dish pizza with Jimin, Kass and Jungkook. It was a good day, a good night, everyone at the table happily eating and chatting it up over dinner. You turn down any drinks because to be honest, drinks lowkey make you queasy just from the thought of how much you drank at Jungkook's apartment, plus the added bonus of that party Kang took you to. Jungkook declines as well, knowing he has to drive you back safely.

Jimin and Kass head back to the apartment because Yoongi says he's gonna hang out with Joon And Hoseok for a bit, and they warn you and Jungkook that things may get loud so the both of you decide to really stick to the plan of bringing you back to the dorm. Jungkook does his usual routine of dropping you off first before finding parking around campus. You hop in the shower and come out in Jungkook's oversized crewneck that he left in your closet, forgoing the shorts because you certainly thing that at this point, he'd love to see you in his sweater and panties.

And he does. He smiles as he pulls you close, his hands traveling up your sweater, only to find out that you literally don't have shit on besides some cute little boyshorts. He feels himself hardening in his pants quick because he's incredibly attracted to you and everything about you, always has been, always will be.

"You did amazing tonight." He says, gently kissing your forehead.

"You did too, partner." He gives you a slightly shocked look.

"Is that all I am to you? Your dance partner?"

"Yeah, why? Were you expecting more?" You joke as you smile up at him.

"Yeah, I was."

"Oh?" He gently swoops you up into his arms, your legs wrapped tightly around his torso as he sits you on the bed, his hands resting on your thighs while you continued to hold him around the neck. "Care to tell me what you were expecting?"

"Well, you know, my best friend—" He presses a kiss against your lips, thumbs gently rubbing circles against your hips. "My girlfriend."

"Hm, say that again?" Your fingers are gently playing with the ends of his hair, your lips barely grazing his.

"My girlfriend." He says closed to a whisper, kissing you softly. The kiss deepens quick, Jungkook's tongue lining your bottom lip as his way of asking for permission to take it further. You gladly take it and let him in, your tongues instantly fighting for dominance. Your fingers travel up his hair, tugging ever so slightly just to let him know you want more. That you need more.

And he gets that.

His fingers hook onto the band of your boyshorts, tugging them down and letting them fall down your legs and onto the floor. He breaks the kiss momentarily, his brown, puppy dog eyes looking straight into yours.

"Hey." He says, brushing the hair out of your face.

"Hm?"

"I know I said the last time was special, and it was. It is." He corrects himself. "But, I wanna do right by you this time around. So, is it okay if I keep going? Are you comfortable?" He asks properly, since the two of you are both sober and perfectly coherent, aware of your surroundings and the fact that you'll be seeing each other fully naked in a few minutes.

"Yes." You respond. "Yes, I want you to keep going. I want you. This." He simply nods, bringing his lips back onto yours. His hands climb up your sweater and gently gives your breasts a good squeeze, earning a small moan from the both of you. His other hand begins to travel down to your pussy, two long fingers slowly probing your entrance and causing your breathing to hitch.

"You okay?" He asks lowly. You nod, biting onto your bottom lip as you tilt your head back and rest on your hands, no longer able to keep up with the kiss due to all the pleasure starting to pile up deep in your core. Jungkook starts of slow, his head now buried into the crook of your neck as he works his digits upward, tickling at the right spot.

"Ohhhh, Kook." You mewl as his tongue swipes across the surface of your neck, biting gently beneath your jaw. He begins to pick up the pace, the sounds of him finger fucking you filling up the room entirely.

"Fuck, you're so wet baby." He groans into your neck.

"I'm gonna cum." You whine, teeth almost piercing through your bottom lip in between your whimpers.

"Need to taste you." He removes his fingers and sinks down in between your thighs, gripping onto them and pulling you just a teensy bit more off the edge of the bed so he can get a good angle. The sight of his eyes looking up at you in between your legs is to die for, and the sight alone is enough to make you cum. But, you hold on, you ride out for a little longer - feeling Jungkook's tongue swipe in and out of your folds before he's sucking endlessly on your clit.

"Ahhh, fuck, wait, Jungkook!" He slightly smiles while eating you out, signaling that he's not stopping even if you beg him to. "Hnnng—shit!" You moan loudly as you feel yourself toppling over the edge, your body shaking in Jungkook's grip. You twitch every time he continues to suck gently on your sensitive nub, letting you ride out the rest of your high. He comes back up to your lips, the taste of your own cum lingering on it as you kiss him deeply.

"You taste so good." He says, back to twirling your nipples in between his fingers.

"Wanna feel you." You fiddle with his jeans, undoing his belt and sliding the rest down as much as you could. Jungkook gets out of his shirt and tosses it aside before helping get the sweater above your head. His eyes glow at the sight of your bare body in front of him, wanting to do nothing but please you and please you well.

"God, you're so perfect." He places kisses down your collarbone, to the surface of your breasts before quickly swirling his tongue around your perked buds. You moan as you tug down onto his boxer briefs, immediately stroking his hardened member while he tended to you. Jungkook was a fucking beauty himself - his soft hair, his perfectly toned body, his long 'thick in all the right places' dick.

"Please." You plead. "I want you inside of me." You whimper, causing Jungkook's breathing to hitch when you slightly tighten your grip at the base of his shaft. He gently pushes your hand aside to take over, lining himself up at your entrance. He inserts the tip, watching your eyes roll to the back of the head as he slowly sinks into you.

"Mmmmmgod." He moans. "So tight for me, baby. So fucking wet and tight." He repeats, close to a growl. Your moaning begins to pick up, matching the pace of his thrusting. You're still on the edge of the bed, Jungkook keeping you steady by gripping your thighs tightly. He marvels at the sight of your titties bouncing up and down with every thrust, hissing and shutting his eyes momentarily to keep himself grounded and to prevent himself from coming too quickly. Cause god, he can literally blow any second now.

"Jungggggkooook, yessssss!" You moan loudly, whining even at this point with how good he feels fucking into you at such a fast pace. You're feeling slightly sore already from him hammering into you, but nonetheless, it builds more pleasure for you and you want nothing but to reach your high again. "I-I'm coming!" Jungkook moans in unison with you when he feels your walls pulsating against his cock.

"Such a good girl for me." He says, slowing his pace. The creamy sounds of Jungkook's cock slipping inside and out is music to the both of your ears. He finally gains the courage to remove himself, sitting next to your spot on the edge of the bed and pulling you onto his lap. You swing a leg over, your hands resting on the nape of his neck while you sink yourself lower onto his length. Your mouth opens to let out a moan, but the best you can do is let out a hiss. It feels too fucking good that you can't even process it thoroughly. Jungkook pushes your lips down onto his by grabbing your neck, his other hand guiding the movement of your hips as you roll into him.

"Mmmggg—Jungkook." You whimper in between kisses. "You feel so fucking good, god. You're gonna make me cum again."

"Yeah, cum for me. Cum all over me. It's yours." He grunts, his hands guiding you to work him faster. Your movements are getting sloppier, and you feel your wetness starting to coat his pelvis. He doesn't give a fuck though, and neither do you. This shit feels too good for you to worry about the mess you're making on him.

"Cum with me please." He moans at the sound of you whispering into his ear.

"Faster, baby." He says, almost making you cry at how awfully close you are to unraveling. You tug onto his hair, your head buried deep into his neck as you try and suck onto the surface, trying to find an outlet, some kind of release, until you let go. You suck harshly as you coat his cock with your cum, leaving a purple mark right at the base of his neck. You continue to ride out your high, rolling your hips sloppily as Jungkook finally lets himself go, his moan bouncing off of your walls as his seed fills you up warmly.

You stay in your position, slowly raising your head to cup his cheeks and kiss him deeply once more.

"Fuck, I love you." He says slightly pulling away.

"I love you too." You giggle.

"Didn't actually need any drinks to do this now, did we?" Jungkook jokes, softly pinching your hip.

"Shut up."

"Damn, you both couldn't even at least try to be quiet?!" Jimin yells from outside the door.

[universi-tea]

HOW I DITCHED MY PHONE ADDICTION

recently I’ve been working on making my relationship with technology healthier. i was completely addicted to my phone for a really long time, and it was making me miserable. i’d spend 4-7+ hours on my phone everyday, just scrolling through tiktoks or instagram. i never had time to do what i wanted, and it was really impacting my mental health. 

so i decided to make a change. now i’ve cut my screentime down by 85%, and i feel so much better. my laundry actually gets folded and put away now, i’m finishing projects in a day that used to take a week, and i’m actually reading again (i’ve read three books in the past couple weeks! it’s been years since i’ve finished a book).

so here’s what finally worked for me! 

set a goal

at first i thought about just buying a flip phone and calling it a day, but then i realized there was a lot of legitimate stuff i used my phone for. texting/facetiming friends, getting directions, listening to music, checking the weather, ordering takeout, etc. 

after a couple days, i found out that getting my average weekly screentime (iphones track this automatically) to around an hour was a doable goal. an hour might still seem like a lot, but spread across the whole day it feels like a good amount. i’m only ever using it for a minute or two at a time to search something or reply to a text. 

by measuring my progress by the week instead of the day, i was able to not feel too bad if i went over by a little one day. i’d just make up for it the next day.

my overall goal is to use my phone intentionally -- no more scrolling through to distract myself when i’m bored. i only use it when i need to.

if i can keep it up for 2 months (i’m almost there!), then i’ll buy myself something i’ve been wanting for a while as a reward. 

find alternatives

figure out what it is that makes your phone so addicting, and come up with alternatives. i realized for me, it was just wanting something to do with my hands. i found a few things to keep me busy: reading, crossword puzzles, jewelry making, even just fidgeting with something. i also got a digital clock for my room so i wasn’t picking it up to check the time so often. 

using other tech might not fit with your goals, but my google home has helped a lot. if i have a quick question that’s bugging me i can just ask, instead of getting pulled into a research rabbit hole. 

if your goal is to cut out tech completely, you’ll need to come up with alternatives for the more practical stuff, too. 

give yourself physical reminders

1- changing my wallpaper (it had been the same for a year) made me more aware that i was checking my phone at all. before i’d just mindlessly pick it up without really noticing, but having it look different than i’m used to helps remind me what i’m doing and to keep it quick.

2- some people say to keep your phone in another room. personally if i’m walking somewhere to get my phone i’m going to use it for a while to make it worth the effort. instead, i keep it just slightly out of reach. somewhere that i have to bend to a weird position to reach, but not actually get up. this way i’m not mindlessly grabbing it, but don’t feel like i need to check everything at once to make it “worth” the effort of getting it.

what didn’t work 

but might work for you!

apple has a built in feature called that will alert you when you’ve spent x amount of time on your phone or a certain app. i tried this for a while and it made absolutely no difference - i’d just dismiss it and keep scrolling.

i personally didn’t want to just delete the apps i was spending too much time on. i have a couple friends whose main form of communitcation is sending me tiktoks, and i keep up with college friends through instagram. i did have luck with deleting the reddit and facebook apps, though, since those added absolutely nothing to my life. 

focus apps actually made me check my phone more. there’s one where you grow trees by not using your phone, and i was constantly looking to see how cute my little forest was which totally defeated the purpose. 

now i can use my phone to make my life easier, but don’t feel like i’m completely dependent on it. that’s been huge for my mental health and overall wellbeing, so i really hope you give it a try!! 

[etirabys]

Frequently, when I go off social media, I do some of the things I hoped to do more of by quitting social media, and I also re-start playing Tetris. But I only play this one variant of Tetris Battle that on Facebook was popular among my high school classmates in 2011, and is no longer available online.

Clearing a row in Tetris Battle is rewards you in one of two ways: by inserting a gray row at the bottom of your opponent's stack of blocks, or by clearing a gray row that your opponent sent you. If your stack is so elevated by the gray stuff that the incoming piece collides with your blocks before ever coming fully onscreen, your opponent wins a "KO", and your gray rows reset to zero. The game ends when someone lands 3 KOs on their opponent, or when 2 minutes elapse, in which case the winner is the person who has more KOs. If the players have the same KO count, the person with the higher rows-cleared score wins.

Here's the thing – combos increases your rows-cleared score (and amount of gray you fling at your opponent), topping out at sending four grays for each row cleared. So the correct technique of Tetris Battle is to stack your blocks as high as you can, as fast as you can, leaving a gradually narrowing funnel on one side – and then nail your opponent with as many combos as possible, ideally when their stack is high and undepleted. I hit a 10 combo in this video, which is about as good as I can do. (And those 10 won me 30 

If you want to win fast, you nail them hard at the beginning. If you want to build a high score, you balance {stacking combos, not KO'ing your opponent into too-early defeat, and not being KO'ed repeatedly by your opponent while your stack is unprepared}. (Unprepared means 'too short' and not 'too tall', because a good tall stack can be burned quickly for fuel to disperse the gray your opponent sent you.)

And then there's the art of sending pieces into the funnel – calculating on the fly how each falling block should be arranged so that the next piece has a way to clear. After a decade, I don't consciously think about it – I see the colors of the next 3 blocks out of my foveal vision and my brain automatically hands me an opinion about how the current one should fall. These opinions are not great, but they feel eerily good. The intention-chain dances just out of conscious reach. Pure instinct. It's why I build the funnel on the right, so that the upcoming sequence is closer to the center of my vision.

2P Tetris Battle. ruined me for normal Tetris. I tried especially hard to get into normal Tetris in 2019 or so, when host website was shut down. Hated it. This year, several days into social media break, I hunted about in desperation and found Notris Foes, which is an offline clone where I can play against AIs. That's okay – I was mostly playing against AIs to begin with. (Although I hope enough were human, or based on real human data, that my informal research finding that males preferred the more adversarial 2P over 6P Battle Tetris than females did is not wasted/invalid.)

And... yeah. Here I am, trying to beat my social media addiction, then trying to beat my Tetris addiction (I get into states where I'm miserable and tired but I can’t stop playing) that springs up in the absence of beefier attention-predators... I play this game that I’ve played more than any other game, and I feel so damn good at it. My excellence feels futile, and lonely, and liberating. I feel a bit like one of the last surviving animals in a dying ecosystem – childless, wheeling supreme above a bare and lovely biome.