#i had this in my files and forgot about it lolol

[mikunology]

「 we are double M 」

[naddiesflower]

Calling him by his name and not by a term of endearment

another one in the drafts that needed to see the light of day

Characters: Todoroki Shoto and Bakugo Katsuki

Shoto

You truly didn't mean to do it

You honestly just straight up forgot one day

You would always greet each other outside of class before school started

Like clockwork, you would give each other a small hug and you would always say “hi baby” or something similar, but you would always call him baby…..except for today

“Morning Shoto,” you pull away from the hug, and he has a frown on his face that looks different from the one he usually has

“You okay?”  

He’s quick to shake it off, “Yeah, come on, we’re going to be late for class.”

You guys were actually early, but you just brush it off as him wanting to be punctual

Shoto really wants to question you

But he doesn’t

Not outwardly at least

He’s thinking, “are they mad at me?”, “Did I do something to make them mad at me??”

He would do everything possible EXCEPT ask you what was wrong

The both of you walk inside the class and Shoto goes to your seat before you do and pulls out your chair for you

You’re surprised, it’s not like he’s never nice to you (though he doesn’t look it, he’s really nice) but you are perfectly capable of doing menial tasks for yourself

So you never expected him to do that, but you appreciated it nevertheless

“Oh, thanks Sho!”

His eyebrows crease

He hums in affirmation and gives a kiss to the top of your head before walking over to his seat

That’s when you know something is wrong

He wasn’t too keen on PDA 

So for him to nonchalantly kiss you on the head in class….was kinda fishy

Shoto can’t concentrate all that well in class now

Poor dude is wracking through his brain as to why you just called him Sho

WHY SHO AND WHY NOT BABY???

And now he’s pouting for the entirety of the class

Every time you look over at him he’s like >:/

ngl it’s really cute

You don’t ask Shoto what’s wrong until lunchtime rolls around

Well

You try to

When the lunch bell rings Shoto is like a man on a mission

He beelines toward you

If you hadn’t known what his quirk you would have thought it was super speed

Iida who?

Some of your classmates look at him weird 

This is just the image I get in my head lolol

Shoto: 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️   

Classmates:🤨

But he gets to you in like .5 seconds and he holds his hand out to you

He doesn’t even say anything to you, so you assume he wants to hold your hand

You place your hand in his but he surprises you when he pulls you into a hug

Thankfully everyone had already filed out of the class or else you would have been a burning bundle of embarrassment 

“Call me baby please.”

His mouth was right next to your ear and you could feel his lips move against it 

Your knees would have surely given out had you not come to a conclusion

You hadn’t called him baby the entire day and he was now clearly perturbed about it

There was one thing you really loved about Shoto, it was pretty easy to fluster him

And you see a perfect opportunity open itself up

Grabbing his face between your hands you pull him away from your ear and smush his cheeks together

“Oh my poor baby, I'm so sorry my baaaaby.”

A blush was quickly creeping its way up his neck

Which only encourages you more

Maybe he shouldn’t have reminded you

“Ok that’s enough….”

“But I haven’t called you baby enough times.”

“I’m going to eat by myself.”

“Wait!”

Bakugo

You did call Bakugo terms of endearment like babe, sweetheart, and the one you use the most, honey 

Bakugo claimed to dislike your nicknames, but he secretly really liked them

One day you and Bakugo get into a petty argument

I totally feel like you and he would fight over the smallest shit lmao 

And you’re not hanging around his desk before class like you normally do

You’re at Ashido’s desk obviously ignoring him

Which irks him, but that’s fine, he can ignore you too

But he can’t help but eavesdrop on yalls conversation

because Ashido’s desk is very close and totally not because he wants to hear your voice because he already misses it

“Why aren't you at his desk by the way?”

“Hmm, Bakugo’s?”

Oh this catches his immediate attention

He doesn’t even bother hiding his blatant staring at you from across the room

Since the both of you started dating not once have you called him Bakugo

It’s always been your cute gushy nicknames or variations of his first name

Mina already knows what’s up and wants all the details now 

She’s huddling closer to you, almost practically on top of your desk

But you never get to spill tea because the bell is ringing

But i assure you that Bakugou is giving you a hard side eye

Cuz he still needs to focus in class (he’s still a good student!!)

Lunchtime rolls around and he very discreetly walks next to you

“Hey”

You turn to look at him and just smile at him with your stupid cute face

He’s happy you’re not outright ignoring him

But he was at least expecting a, “c’mon Tsuki, i wanna get a good table!”

He brushes his pinkie against yours hoping you’d get the hint and hold his hand but nope

You pick up your pace and he sees you wrap your hands around Ashido’s arm, the both of you now animatedly talking

He would have found it cute if you weren’t hanging off of Ashido

That should be me by justin bieber starts playing

Bakugo is now internally raging inside at the lunch table

You would normally sit next to him but you're sitting across from him in between Sero and Kirishima

Man’s is literally stabbing into his food

everyone is now staring at his dramatic ass 

buy you're the only one who ends up making a comment about it 

"the food is already dead, i don't think you need to do that Bakugo."

he stops murdering his food 

he's had enough

He stands up forms his seat, goes over to a very confused you

Very gently, takes a hold of your wrist and starts dragging you up to the school’s rooftop

You’re questioning him the entire time

When you finally get to the rooftop Bakugo lets go of your wrist and just kind of stares at you

He’s silent for a couple of minutes looking like he’s going through a mental battle

Until he finally says something

Something that you can barely make out because he’s turned his head away from you and is grumbling

You: https://youtu.be/Y_3vk411ALE

“Bakugo what?”

There you go calling him by his last name again

“I said I’m sorry, don’t make me repeat myself!”

“Sorry for what??”

You can’t be serious

“For our argument this morning, the reason you’re calling me by my last name.”

“Oh.”

Oh?

JUST OH??

“I thought you were still mad at me so i wanted to give you space, i forgot about our argument way before school started.”

……

ATTENTION: TWO IDIOTS IN LOVE❗❗❗

Bakugo just sighs

He’s too tired to even get frustrated and just wants your attention

So he pulls you into a hug and buries his face into your neck

“Don’t ever do that again.”

You can practically hear the pout in his voice

“I'm sorry honey, i just wanted to give you space.”

“I don’t care about space.”

[pleucas]

i got a few asks about my process :0 so yea i took some screenshots mid-process of my recent cliff-skk thing just for that

m gonna preface everything by saying that i did have a ref for the environment!! i avoid color dropping from the image and tracing cuz i do want to hone some digital skills. also saying i'm doing an "environment study" when i'm really just drawing skk makes me feel better abt myself

when i don't have a reference, i tend to do some thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook. here's some random stuff of past work, where i rawdogged everything:

but whatever, back to the cliff-skk. i'll also post a timelapse of it for easy ref, but detailed stuff is under the cut :)

first i did some rough sketches on an orangeish background (underpainting etiquette, i find it helps things feel brighter and keep a stable tone when choosing colors to lay on top), and I quickly lined skk :)

then I laid down some flats for the background, again really eyeballing the reference for hues. afterwards i thought it was a bit bright, and i wanted a more sepia/nostalgia feel to it, so i hue adjusted everything to something more uniform

then i lay down flats for skk + the ocean, which i both had to color adjust a lot (you might see that in the timelapse), and then i jump straight into rendering the background. when i render, i always prefer to do it over something lineless, so i turn the sketch layer off. i rarely do lineart for backgrounds.

i also used to render the characters first, but i've found that it's just not a great approach—especially for art where characters and background are interacting, knowing the hues and shades of the environment is crucial to effective rendering on the character that doesn't make them look out of place.

when i'm rendering, i really try to keep in mind tenants of contrast, perspective, form, and light/shadow. ex, stuff "closer" to us has more detail; the hill in the back is minimalist (in comparison); the shadows lean cool-green while the light leans gray-yellow. rake brushes really carried me here idk... my fav brushstyle forever

eventually i reach a point where i'm satisfied (or bored) with the background. for the last stages i usually have the subjects hidden so i can really perfect the details—but then for super duper final details, like the little leaf specks and grass strands, i unhid skk so the poppy details could work around skk. then i get to rendering the characters :)

i forgot to take ss of all the stages when i rendered skk, but here's something from... about the middle of the process? i tend to render characters with the lineart hidden as well, sometimes bringing it back just to clarify things, but ultimately i prefer to define things by form than by line. that's just me tho idk, idt it makes or breaks anything, just a preference

again rlly just thinking about cool/warm, reflective tones (the greenish shadow on chuuya's left inner leg, sky-gray blue on dazai's vest), really just slotting the subject into the environment. after i finish rendering the characters, i usually return to the background and add some stuff—in this one i defined the waves a bit and put some grass around skk

and yeah then we're done idk LOL. sometimes i run the file through camera raw (photoshop) to do some color adjustments—i find that my iPad displays colors super differently, usually making things a lot lighter than they are (u can see how dark the timelapse is...), so i find myself lightening my work a lot. i also sharpen and add noise as needed :)

i think my process has changed a lotttt even in this past year. it's kinda crazy!! it's always fun to do these and just reflect a bit on how i work. mostly just mindless insanity until it kinda works.

thanks for sending in an ask. and if u read all that, thanks to u too lolol

[isekai-crow]

Mashle: Magic and Muscle Season 1 Re-Cap + Season 2 - Episode 1

Other Episodes-> ep2 ep3 ep4 ep5

This anime shits all over JKR in the best way possible. Highly Recommended if you can make it through the 2nd half of Season 1.

Overall Rating So Far: 8/10 with hopes it will stay there.

For comparison, season 1 ended up 6/10. TToTT as to why...

I'm writing this while re-watching season one, and maaaaan what a strong start Season 1 had!! 9/10 for the first 4 episodes!!

How is this avoiding copyright? I don't know but I fully support it.

I LOVE MASH AND HIS REALISTIC TAKES.

The pacing got completely thrown off after episode 5. Did we really need those fight to be THAT long and drawn out?? No. I get that animation studios are limited in how far into the manga they can go in a given season, but I would have preferred anime original filler over 2 episodes of metal punch dude, and the whole "chamber of secrets" esque episodes...

Despite being sorely disappointed by the second half of season 1, I did finish it. Starting episode 1 of Season 2, I completely forgot where the last episode had left off and it hasn't even been that long!! I had to laugh at just how much my brain had tuned out by the end, which is sad, because this is such an amazing premise.

HOWEVER

SEASON 2 EPISODE 1 BROUGHT BACK THE DRIVE TO WATCH!!

The first episode of season 2 doubles down on poking ALL sorts of holes in the plot of Harry Potter and sidestepping any massive overlaps to avoid copyright. BUT IT'S SO OBVIOUS, I LOVE IT.

May I introduce you to...

"Harry Potter with just enough serial numbers filed off to avoid a lawsuit." - Capybara

Spoilers for Episode 1 Below the Cut

We started off with a small recap of the end of season 1 and honestly I don't remember most of it happening.

Woo they beat the Tom Riddle/Abel Walker, Woo they won tons of points for their dormitory, Woo Mash's super special "magic spell" the Suplex!!!

But oh no! There is a rumor that Mash can't use magic has gotten out! To be fair, it was only a matter of time. Bicep Smash Magic can only get you so far lolol.

The little celebration party is very cute, and suddenly Abel and Abyss show up, and Mash is just totally chill with them joining in their party. Abel even brought a deck of cards and they're playing bullshit of all games lmfao

Personally I want to know why Dot has his mouth and face all bandaged up, but I assume that's Lemon's doing for some reason or another lol

Let me just say, I love Abel and Abyss. Abel is terrifying and carrying around his creepy doll and freaking Finn out, and literally just wants to have fun with everyone. He's far more incompetent, or maybe just normal? than he seems. And cares about Abyss!! And Abyss is doing his best to take care of his master, and thanks Mash for stopping them both. And can't talk to women!!

We love a traumatized bishonen.

Mash gets called to the Bureau of Magic and basically gets called a Mudblood to his face for not having magic and is being sentenced to death.

AND DRACO MALFOY SHOWS UP TO SAVE HIM.

You cannot dissuade me that this isn't another Draco.

And of course, to counter Draco/Ryoh Grantz, we get Knock Off Harry Potter and gang!

Neville with a dragon? Snow girl is Luna? The one with the book is Hermione? Obviously these are also original characters and there is no one to one with characters, but it's fun to try and place them.

Fake Harry Potter / Orter Madel says the most Not Harry Potter thing ever, and its hilarious that a character known for going against the rules has a caricature doing exactly the opposite.

Fuckin' mood Mash. Where the hell did RON come from??? ah.. his only purpose is to narrate what's happening. Makes sense.

The magi-parasite shows up, mob deals with, and it should be a done deal, but Orter continues to push the issue as Ryoh tries to stop him.

Will Mash be taken away and executed? He's not budging. Will Draco and Harry fight? What will become of Mash now that Dumbledore and Finn's Big Bro have shown up?

Until Next Time..

What the fuck is this show I love it so much.

[akaakeis]

oh nooooo i tripped and fell for u into ur ask box

eating ny ice cream rn ;; strawberry is such a weird flavour like if i had to choose and get one i would not get strawberry but if irs rhere at home im finishinf ALL of it

ALSO, DRAWING ON PEOPLE'S HANDS 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

anyways about the iwa smau!!! genuinely have no motivation rn #tweaks BUT i would like to say that the yn is shamelessly based off me like i have consumed acrylic paint on multiple occasions (today) (with ice cream)

ILYT!!!!! IM WRITING THIS RN SO I CANT RESPOND (CRIES)

lost a mark in my chem test today im tweaking

BUT THE FREAKY ENGLISH TEACHER SAID IM ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND DOING GOOD AND AN ATTENTIVE STUDENT AND LIKR????????? ERMMMM SHES INSANE BUT FHE ACADEMIC VALIDATION GOES SOOO HARD

also like lowkey icl i was hanging around ur blog again rn and thats why i decided to send an ask !! ur blog is so pretty rrrrr

I ALSO BASICALLY JUST PEAKED IN HS CUZ THE LIBRARIAN RECOGNISED ME AND GAVE ME A BOOK RECOMMENDATION AND LET ME TAKE IT EVEN THOUGH IT DIDN'T HAVE THE PROPER STUFF TO BE FILED AS BORROWED (like each book has a code and this one didnt and she STILL gave it to me) SO LIKE BASICALLY SHE TRUSTS ME BC IVE BEEN OVER HERE FOR LIKE A YESR AT LEADT TAKING A BOOK THEN COMING BACK 1-2 DAYS LATER CUZ I FINISHED IT LOLOLS

also about OUR iwa fic i was js thinking like,, fake dating this dumbass b word ushiwaka and hes like ?? why me ??? "ur names rhyme kind of" ?? wth ??

lowkey think im immune to anything thats in acrylic paint now bc i have Eaten So Much Of It

anyways the book is lowkey good i havent finished it YET but irs called the girl on the train and like woahhhhhh smth like that at our super conservative school is iNsane

i hope u feel better soon!!! if u dont ill fly over and idk. magic

i have a maths test tmr rjejsjskssk the topic is fun but I Don't Know what if i Fail

OSHIT I WAS SUPPOSED TO LOCK IN AND DO HW OOPS ERM HRU TELL ME AB UR DAY ETC ETC and also any sav x yaku tidbits youd like to drop <- forgot the ship name AND AND AND THE ANONS THINF IS SO REAK KMFG

ok byebye ily xx

ah thats a shame 😞😞 hope your knee or whatever u banged on the way in heals up well lina 😞

yum yum yum ice cream!! i hope ur enjoying it!! also thats so real i feel like strawberry ice cream is just an odd flavor... but true that i always eat the strawberry ice cream in the freezer just to spite my other roommate (with love!!!) LMAO

also real 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ i adore when people draw on me or let me draw on them it js makes me so happy <3

DONT FEEL PRESSURED TO WORK ON IT!! BE SPORADIC!! DO IT WHENEVER YOU GET IDEAS!!! WE WILL STICK AROUND TO READ WHENEVER U DECIDE TO WRITE

NOOO NOT THE CHEM TEST IM SORRY LINA :((( ITLL ALL WORK OUT THO

NOT THE ENGLISH TEACHER. IM SORRY SHES MY OPP FROM WHAT IVE HEARD ABOUT HER SHES FREAKY I FEAR. BUT FOR THE ACADEMIC VALIDATION I SUPPOSE I GET IT...

HELP i didnt ever realize how much time you spent on my blog like genuinely 😭 BUT THANK YOU SM!! im super proud of this theme even tho its not the most intricate <3

WOOOW THE LIBRARIAN RECOGNIZED YOU AND TRUSTED YOU W AN UNFILED BOOK??? i aspire to be you but i never step foot into my school library i much prefer my public library... there's sm more books that i read there!!! BUT THATS GENUINELY SO COOL WTF

bro that fic will genuinely be so funny 😭 like the quote we were yapping ab earlier "ushijima?? the hell?? you don't even go to the same school as him?? 😨" iwa would be more confused than anything at first AND I THINK THATS HILARIOUS!! and pls ushijima just AGREEING hes a closeted himbo i swear i swear i swear

alina im genuinely concerned over the fact that you CONSUME acrylic paint? but whatever? i guess? please dont eat too much that's definitely not meant to be consumed 🧍‍♀️

im gonna add that book to my tbr list!! i read the synopsis and it sounds pretty good tbh

THANK YOU!! my roomie is taking care of me so i'll probably be fine within the next few days 🙂‍↕️

AND GOOD LUCK!! im sure you'll do amazing dont even play w me rn alina YOU WILL DO SO SO SO WELL YOU LITTLE MATH NERD (affectionate)

OH YEAH GO DO HOMEWORK WTF 😭 IM GOOD! I FEEL BETTER TODAY <3 IVE BEEN IN BED SINCE I WOKE UP SO THERE ISNT MUCH TO TELL YOU ABOUT BUT UHHHH LAST NIGHT I WATCHED HOWLS MOVING CASTLE WITH MY ROOMMATE!! SAV X YAKU IS SAVORI!!! COURTESY OF BAKERY ANON MY LOVE 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ UMM I DONT HAVE TIDBITS RN BUT ILL DM YOU WITH RANDOM ONES SOMETIME DURING THE DAY TRUST!!

bye bye!! ily ily <3

[aprillikesthings]

Eh fuck it, lets do another

s1 ep6

I will attempt to make less commentary!! only when I have a funny joke or want to specifically note down plot/character shit for my own reference!! this is specifically a rewatch liveblog I assume y'all have already seen it!!!

YAY IT'S THE ENTRAPTA INTRO EPISODE have I mentioned I love her

I am reminded of Gir, I think it's the head and eyes

OH MY GOD Entrapta's voice was so different in her first episode???? o_O

I think maybe they hadn't decided yet to make her sound more obviously autistic??? (Like, we all knew she was autistic, but it's Word of God, too.)

She slides into something closer to her usual voice near the end of her first set of lines but still that is surreal as fuck

Man they really did have a hard break between the First Ones and the current era

oKAY SO something I keep wondering is how advanced communication is on Etheria, and this definitely implies, like, Etherian online forums. Unless they're doing it via letters delivered by courier or something, which I doubt

That said whatever they have, Adora doesn't know about it, because of course the Horde would block any communication with the outside world

nice trans pride flag, Bow

oh derp her name is Entrapta bc she sets traps I forgot

it's a robot naked mole rat lolol

sometimes this is what it feels like to open twitter

They really did lean into Entrapta's autism from the first episode, though. She's set up her entire life so she can spend the majority of her time on her special interests, and her employees (subjects?) provide the kind of food she likes (which are similar every time) with very little human interaction, and she mentions her robots help with "cleaning, filing, basic hygiene..." She also blurts out "you're abnormally tall," and asks to touch the sword. Plus finding her robots adorable.

For a hot second I thought She-Ra was gonna hack at Entrapta's hair D: But no she stabs the robot, and it releases the hair. Phew.

wh--

????

The animators for this episode had a lot of fun with people's facial expressions

Doesn't that shit come back later or is it a different thing that fucks up her and her sword

oh it's definitely the same thing

OKAY AND THAT EPISODE IS DONE yayyyyy I *can* make them shorter

Also they really did show Entrapta to be uhhh not a super moral person from the start--more interested in getting new information than anything else.

ALSO I still really like that cute pastry chef's outfit with the fluffy dress!!

[narrators-journal]

Working late

Previous: Here

For the rest of the time Ango had off, he spent with you. It was a nice time, and it made him happier than he had been in a long while to have someone to talk to that wasn't Tsujimura. It also helped that he could talk about something other than his job with you, as well as have something to think about aside from said job. So, in the end, he didn't regret trying out that dating app, even though he'd been so skittish to build a connection with someone. You, meanwhile, didn't seem to care about all of the flaws he brought up on your dates. You were fine with him not having much time to do much, and seemed to accept that this long stretch of time off wasn't his usual schedule. Thankfully, you didn't pry into why he'd suddenly gotten a month off if it wasn't normal.              "I'm not looking for a constant partner. I can deal with taking things slow and being long distance," You assured on the second to last day of his break, wrapping an arm around him in a small hug, "My only demand is that I'm allowed to send you stuff and keep in contact as much as possible. Please just don't ghost me." He nodded, and with that, you seemed pretty content with that, letting him leave to return to work after his month off. Sadly, his happiness was swiftly squished under the weight of the work Taneada gave him upon his return. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to him, his boss had always been keen on shoving piles of work at him whenever he could get away with it. So, he just dug in and focused on catching up for the month of work he'd missed. So, another week passed uneventfully. Ango hadn't gone home more than two or three times, instead opting to crash on one of the decorative office couches for small naps when he got too exhausted to continue to work at times. He was swiftly exhausted, struggling to keep awake and to avoid completely crashing and sleeping for most of the day during his little naps. Though, it wasn't all bad. He tried his best to reach out to you when he could, and you were one of the few bright spots he had on the days where he was too busy to go home. (y/n): You doing alright? Wishing for another vacation yet lol.Ango: Very much so, but the paperwork is pretty standard, so it's nothing too taxing. (y/n): Ew, that sounds so boring. Ango: It is. That's why I didn't go into detail about my job, other than some of it being classified. (y/n): Yeah, kinda would've ruined dinner if I fell asleep to your paperwork chat lol. Ango: Lol. He smiled as he read your casual messages while he laid in the dark office long after even Tsujimura and Taneada had gone home, leaving him with the night security guards and little else in the way of coworkers. Usually, Ango just went to sleep as quickly as possible, having honed the skill of falling asleep on command pretty much, but when you'd checked in on him, he was fine with staying up to talk to you and unwind that way, and when his phone vibrated to notify him of another of your messages, he was further encouraged to stay awake out of pure curiosity. (y/n): Hey, Ango, I might know a way for you to destress. Ango: What is it? Yoga?(y/n): Nope! With that message, you sent a photo attachment, and he turned quite red before he'd even opened the file. Oh god, please don't be up for sexting. I'm much too rusty at that. He quickly plead internally, than, after swallowing the anxious lump in his throat, he opened the picture. Sure enough, it was a risque photo of yourself, nothing nude, but he got a healthy hint of what you looked like beneath your clothing. It brought a bright red color to his pale cheeks, but he didn't dislike the image, in fact, it honestly sent a bolt of excitement straight to his pants. Though, he was then faced with the predicament of responding. Fuck, do I comment on their body? Their underwear? He mulled over his options for a long moment and tried to formulate a good response that didn't sound too rude, but in the end he still struggled. Ango: Why the sexual image? Ango: You look nice, Ango:Your undergarments are rather cute. (y/n): Lol, take your time, dear. Ango let his phone fall to his chest after that and just scrubbed at his face with both of his hands, being mindful of his round glasses, then wiped his sweaty palms on the couch before finally sending a response he didn't delete. Ango: I'm sorry if I seem rude, I'm not used to being sent photos. You are very attractive. (y/n): Awww, thank you~ Have you really not been sent risque pictures before? Ango: Not really, haven't had many partners before to try. (y/n): Lolol, well dear, it's usually good etiquette to send a pic in return if you want😉 That sent another hot bolt of thrill to his groin, but he wasn't super sure on whether he should give into that lascivious voice in his head. Is it really smart to do this? They could use any compromising pictures against you. The anxious voice in his head whispered, but, after a moment or two of debating, the glasses-wearing man took a deep breath and let it out slowly, I guess it wouldn't hurt, as long as I don't show my face it shouldn't be that bad, even if they does use it against me. Besides, I can't exactly sleep comfortably after this, might as well take a photo while I'm at it. He told himself, using a bit of reasoning to curb how anxious he felt on his way to the men's room, the one rare place where there wasn't any security cameras. Once safely hidden in a stall with his phone, out of the view of any of the night guards or security cameras, Ango took a moment to relax so his hands didn't shake too badly, then, pulled his pants down just enough to let his semi-erect member free. He then took a moment to figure out how to take a passable picture and sent it off, his cheeks now as red as a rose and his gut was in a maelstrom of nerves, excitement, and arousal while waiting the painfully slow minute it took for you to reply to his picture. When you did, it was with a second image, (y/n): I appreciate your bravery~ Here, a final little picture for ya before I go to bed. Good night, Ango~ Your humor helped to relax him after such a nerve-wracking adventure into such a new territory. Not to say Ango wasn't a puritan, he'd had sex more than once, and he was pretty flexible with what he did in bed, but sending lewd photos from work was a new, anxiety-filled experience. Although, his stiffened member didn't seem to care about that paranoia. Fuelled by your second, slightly more risque image, his member now demanded to be dealt with before he even thought of sleep.He let out a little sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair, taking his glasses off and setting them carefully on the back of the toilet before shutting his dark green eyes and began to slowly stroke himself. The friction his hand gave, paired with the images now in his mind was the perfect mix to form fantasies starring you. Thoughts of you taking his long-neglected member into your mouth, or maybe riding him, so many thoughts that made his erection twitch filled his mind, trickling in as he finally fed his long neglected sexual needs ever so slightly. He hadn't done so in so long that he forgot just how addictive it could be to chase that delicious boost of happy chemicals masturbation could give him, but he was highly enjoying rediscovering the pleasure of the friction from his hands when paired with the fantasy of you being the one to stroke his twitching member until the pleasure reached its peek and a groan was yanked from his throat and quickly muffled as his body tensed and his brain was filled with static for a few moments. When he'd come down from that high, his euphoria was quickly replaced by immense shame, so he was swift to put his softening dick away and scrub up the evidence of his alone time. He put his glasses back on, straightened his clothes, and took a few deep breaths to slow his pounding heart and lessen the stain to his cheeks before he left the bathroom and returned to the couch. This time, he just went to sleep.

[benhardyisdaddy]

must be a dream - part 1

MASTERLIST 

(this is my first ever 6U fic with billy so plz dont judge if its bad hahaha i hope u like it! ALSOOO i needed a last name for billy so i just used jones lolol okay byeeee) 

Word Count: 3,221

Description: what happens when you run into your “dead” boyfriend at the park?

“I love you.” 

Those three tiny words held so much meaning to you. Your boyfriend, Billy, made sure to constantly remind you of how much he loves… loved you. He always had a sweet, soft smile on his face when the words slipped from his lips. On this specific occasion, you were on your back with Billy’s bare chest pressed against yours. 

You’re both breathing heavily as your naked bodies are tangled together. Your hand was caressing his cheek as he moves his head to kiss your palm. You smile up at him as he stares into your eyes - his green orbs almost hypnotizing. He speaks those three words and you believe every ounce of it as your heart flutters. 

“I love you more.” you whisper back. 

He grins big and shakes his head. Suddenly, out of nowhere, his face falls as he fights back a wave of tears. He blinks them away, but not before you notice the change of expression. You knit your brows as you grab his face and make him look at you. 

“Hey,” you say softly. “What’s wrong?” 

Billy just forces a smile as he shakes his head. 

“I’m fine.” he says fast. 

He leans down and nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck. You wrap your arms around him as he leaves tiny, gentle kisses all over your shoulder. He’s so warm and comforting - you don’t want him to get up. As if reading your mind, he sits up and sadly smiles. 

“I have to go.” he whispers. 

You shake your head fast and wrap your arms around him even tighter. You look pathetically sad as you whine. 

“No! Not yet! Maybe you can reschedule for tomorrow?” you ask with puppy dog eyes. 

It takes everything in Billy to not fall to his knees and do exactly as you say. You were his kryptonite, his weakness. He had done anything and everything for you - except this. 

“Baby,” he whispers. “I have to go. They’re… They’re waiting for me.”

You frown even harder as you slowly rub your hand up and down his arm. 

“I don’t want you to go.” you say quietly. 

His heart breaks right then and there. I don’t want to go either, he wants to say, but he doesn’t. 

“I hate that this is your job.” you say, referring to his heists. 

Billy takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes.

“I’ll be...fine.” he says hesitantly. 

“Promise?” you ask as you hold up your pinky finger. 

This was yours and Billy’s way of trust. You don’t ever, ever break a pinky swear. He started this when you first started dating and it’s stuck ever since. Billy opens his eyes and his voice gets stuck in his throat as he stares at your pinky. He tenses his jaw and slowly reaches his hand out. 

If he makes a promise, he’d break it. If he doesn’t make the promise, you’d know something was wrong. He takes in a deep breath as his pinky wraps around yours. You break out into a huge grin and his heart skips a beat. Remember this smile, he reminds himself. 

“Alright, you promised. You can’t break it now.” 

Billy tries to smile as he nods. You lean up and kiss him once more. He gives you a quick peck to your cheek as he jumps up from bed and starts getting around. You’re lying there with the sheet wrapped around you as you watch him. He slips his shoes on and he’s finished. He turns around to slowly look at you. He looks you up and down and wants to back out of everything right now. You just sweetly smile and sit up. 

“You better not forget to kiss me bye.” you tease. 

Billy swallows hard as he walks over to you. You’re smiling like a little kid as he bends down and cups your face. He kisses you, but this kiss is different. It’s slow and sweet as he savors every last ounce of it. He wants to remember what your lips feel like, taste like. He wants to remember how soft your skin felt on his fingers. He wants to remember what your slight moans sound like as the kiss deepens. He just wants to remember… Needs to remember. Billy leans away as he rests his forehead against yours. You graze your finger against his bottom lip as he smiles. 

“I have to go.” he whispers. 

“I know.” you whisper back. “Please be careful.” 

All he can do is tense his jaw and force a sweet smile as he nods. He stands back up and turns around as he walks to the front door. You’re still watching him sadly as he grabs his backpack and swings it on his shoulder. He opens the front door and steps out. He turns around to look back at you. A tear trickles down his cheek, but you don’t notice it. 

“I love you.” he says loudly, thankful that his voice didn’t crack. 

You place your hand over your heart and smile. 

“I love you more.” 

Billy then places his hand over his heart as well and smiles. He gives you a slight wink as he slowly shuts the door behind him. Once it’s closed, he walks away and leans against the wall. His eyes are squeezed closed as tears finally pour out. He tries to catch his breath as his body trembles. He wants to run back into the room with you, but he can’t. 

“It’ll get easier.” 

Billy looks up fast and takes in a sharp breath as One is stood in the hallway with sunglasses on. His voice is flat as he looks down at his watch and then back up. 

“Listen, can we please have this life changing moment while we walk to the car?” 

Billy walks past him and gives him a death glare. One just smiles as he follows behind him. 

“This better be fucking worth it.” hisses Billy. 

One takes in a deep breath and pats him on the back. 

“Watch.” 

***

10 Hours Later 

Billy isn't home yet and you were beside yourself. You had called everyone you knew and were pacing around your apartment and shaking like crazy. This wasn’t like him. He always came home when he promised you he would. This wasn’t like him. 

You were currently on the phone with the police as they were trying to calm you down. They tried telling you that maybe he was just late. Maybe he got caught up with something and forgot to call. You tried to file a missing persons report, but they wouldn’t allow you. He hasn’t been gone long enough. You were about to freak out on the woman over the phone, but she interrupted with an almost slight gasp. 

“Ma’am?” she asks fast. “Ma’am, was your boyfriend’s last name Jones? Billy Jones?” 

You freeze and your whole body begins to go numb. Your throat is dry as you just nod. You realize she can’t see you as you close your eyes and whisper. 

“Yes.” 

Your voice was so tiny. The woman just sighs and you can tell she’s about to say something that you don’t want to hear. 

“Miss y/l/n,” she starts with a sad voice. “Ma’am, we have a deputy dispatched and on his way to your home. Can you please stay on the line with me until he gets there?” 

“Why are cops coming over? Where’s Billy?” you shout. “How did you find out his last name!? Where’s Billy!?” you scream as your face turns red. 

Suddenly, there’s a loud knock at you door as a man yells out that it’s the police. You keep the phone on your ear as you walk over and look through the peephole. You slowly open the door and watch as two male cops looks beyond sad and distressed. 

“Miss y/l/n?” he asks with a soft voice. “I am so terribly sorry-” 

The cop didn’t even get to finish his sentence when suddenly the phone you’re holding slips from your hand and hits the floor. Your face is in complete shock as their voices become mere background noise. A loud buzzing fills your head as you feel like you can’t breathe. You take a few steps back and shake your head no. 

Suddenly, the word dead is all you hear and you snap. You cover your mouth with your shaky hands and allow tears to pour down. You squeeze your eyes shut as your knees give away. They buckle under you as you fall to them. You hunch over and wrap your arms around yourself. 

“No, no, no!” you scream out. 

The officers hurry to you and fall to their knees as they try to help. 

“Please, no!” 

It hurt. Every inch of your body… Your heart. It all throbbed. It was like a nightmare had come true. Billy’s dead, Billy’s dead, Billy’s dead. That’s the only thought racing through your mind. What you would do for another day with him. What you would do to feel his touch one more time. What you would do to just have him be okay.

***

1 Year and 3 Months Later

“Those disguises are fucking awful.” says Billy. 

The group was on a mission that happened to be back in his hometown. Everywhere he looks it reminds him of you. He’s been in an awful mood ever since they landed here. More hot headed than usual. He’s been drinking more and hoping it will help him not to be constantly reminded of you every waking second. He regrets what he did. He regrets faking his death. He regrets seeing his funeral and having to watch you catch your breath as you cry. He regrets leaving you. He hates himself for it and he always will.

He is now currently walking through a large park that the two of you always went to with Seven next to him. Seven’s been the only one to help him with everything. He hasn’t been on the team long, but Billy’s already so close to him. 

“Why is it that I get a costume and you don’t?” asks Seven to Billy. 

He just laughs and shrugs. 

“Guess One wants to utilize my good looks.” he jokes. 

The speaker in their ears crackle on as One speaks. 

“Excuse me, ladies? Can we please stay on track and, ya know, find the bad guys?” 

They both roll their eyes as they continue walking around a large fountain that’s in the middle of the park. 

“I don’t see any sign of them.” says Two through the earpiece. 

“Maybe they’re in horrible costumes too.” Three says snarky. 

“Four, you see anything? Anything that might even look weird or suspicious?” asks One. 

Billy shakes his head as he scans around some more. There’s a playground just beside him as he looks through it. He doesn’t spot who he needs to see. 

“No, I don’t see any-”

He freezes. 

“Four, you still there?” asks Five. 

Seven looks over to him confused. 

“Four, what’s wrong?” 

His eyes follow his line of sight and he freezes as well. He sees you. You’re at the playground with two other women. The three of you are laughing as you watch tiny kids run around. There’s a stroller perched in front of you as you look down in front of it and smile widely. You’re making silly faces as you bend down and slowly pick up a small baby in your arms. 

Billy stops breathing. The baby was six months old and had Billy’s identical green eyes and blonde hair. He swears up and down that she could be his twin. You hold the sweet baby close to you and kiss the top of her head. She’s laughing at you as you stand up with her. 

“Four,” Seven says fast. “We need to go. I know what you’re thinking. We need to go.” 

Billy can’t move. He’s in a trance as he watches you walk around and kiss the babies chubby cheeks. You look so happy with her. You’re still so beautiful and he wants to so badly rush over and hug you. You were just right there. So close, yet so far away. 

“What’s going on?” asks Two. 

“Yeah. Can someone keep the rest of us informed?” asks One. 

“It’s…” Seven trails off. “It’s her.” 

That’s all he has to say and they automatically know. 

“Get him out of there!” yells One. “Now!” 

“Come one, Four. We have to go!” 

Billy just keeps his eyes on you as Seven grabs his wrist and tries to drag him away. Billy’s not fighting him, but he’s still frozen in place. Suddenly, you spot the movement from the corner of your eye as you turn with a smile still on your face. It takes your eyes a moment to adjust to the two men that are staring your way. 

At first, you’re a bit worried by it, but suddenly… Suddenly, your eyes land on Billy. Your smile falls as your eyes lock. You feel like you can’t breath as you just stare at him. You’re dreaming, you tell yourself. You’re just imagining it. That’s not really him. You blink a few times and open your eyes once more. He’s still standing there. You take a step forward and find yourself breathing hard. 

“Billy?” you whisper. 

“Four, we have to go!” harshly whispers Seven. 

“Four, I swear to god, if you get caught, I will kill you myself!” shouts One in the earpiece. 

“I have a baby…” whispers Billy. 

Everyone goes silent. 

“Shit.” One barely whispers. 

You find yourself slowly walking forward. Billy’s not disappearing, so that must be a good sign. Right? This wasn’t like the other times. You could have sworn you saw him on the other side of the street or right outside your apartment window. He was actually standing there. You shake your head as you get closer and eventually you’re stood right in front of him. You didn’t know what to say. Your throat was dry as tears pour down your face. Billy’s crying too as his eyes are locked with yours. You find yourself shaking your head and almost laughing. 

“You’re dead.” you whisper. 

It’s almost comical to you now. 

“I’ve actually lost my mind.” you laugh out. “You’re dead!” you say a bit louder, your face now serious. 

Billy says nothing as he just stares at you with sad eyes. 

“Am I dreaming?” you ask.

He slowly shakes his head no. You gasp and cover your mouth with your hand. Your baby has her head on your chest as she’s dozing off. Billy looks to her and can’t fight back a smile. 

“I don’t understand what’s happening.” you whisper. 

Just then, you begin taking steps backwards. You’re shaking your head as you stare at him and Seven cautiously. 

“I’m going crazy.” you whisper. “You’re not really here. I’m going crazy.” 

You turn around and go to walk away, but not before Billy reaches out and grabs your free hand. You gasp at his touch as you fly back around. Your eyes are wide as he stares down at your hand holding his. Your chin is quivering as your face scrunches up. You’ve missed his touch so much. You forgot how comforting and warm it is. You shake your head as you look up to him, tears pouring down. 

“It’s me.” he whispers. 

“Four, we have to go.” Seven says with a dark tone. 

Seven gives you a sympathetic look as he tugs on Billy’s arm. 

“Go home and stay there, okay!?” calls out Billy as he’s walking away backwards. “Just promise me you’ll go there and stay?!”

Just then, Billy holds up his pinky and you feel like you could faint. That’s when you know it really is him. You're sobbing now as you shakily hold up your pinky as well. Billy’s face falls into a huge grin as he stares at you until he’s gone. You still don’t understand what’s happening. Maybe you really were in a dream. You find yourself wiping your eye and hurrying back to the stroller. The mother’s you came with all look worried and confused by your teary eyed expression. 

You explain to them that you need to go home and say it’s a family emergency. They hug you goodbye as you speed walk back to the apartment just down the block. You get inside and close the door. You lock it fast and quietly lay your baby down for a nap. She looks so peaceful as you smile and kiss her forehead. She looks so much like Billy that it almost broke your heart. 

“Billy’s dead.” you whisper to yourself. “They saw him fall. He’s dead.” 

You wait at your apartment just like he had told you too. You lay down on your bed and close your eyes. If this was a dream, maybe you could finally wake up from it. Dreaming of Billy was the worst thing ever. The two of you would be together and laughing and the next thing you know, you’re waking up by yourself and with the feeling of utter loneliness. You would have rather fallen asleep and stayed asleep. 

At least you felt that way until Stella was born. You found out you were pregnant with Billy’s baby a month after he had died… Or at least you thought he did. It was the happiest yet saddest time of your life. You got to be a mother to a beautiful baby girl, but you were still losing Billy. Mixed emotions had become your constant state of mind. 

You’re still lying in bed and realize you must have dozed off. You sit up and look over to the crib where Stella was and realize she’s still asleep. You smile at her as you lay back down and stretch. Your mind goes to Billy as you feel yourself about to cry again. Maybe it had all been a dream. Or maybe you really were crazy. Whatever it was, that wasn’t really him. He’s not here. He’s dead-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK 

Your eyes go wide as you sit up fast in bed. Someone was at your door. You slowly stand to your feet and don’t move. You listen closely and slightly jump when there’s another knock. You’re almost trembling as you slowly tiptoe over to the door. You close your eyes and take in a deep breath before leaning forward and looking out the peephole. Something was covering it and blocking you from seeing out. Your heart was now racing as you were scared. You close your eyes and call out. 

“Who is it!?” 

There’s silence for a moment before someone speaks out.

“You kept the promise!” 

Your eyes go wide as you take in a sharp breath. It couldn’t be… You must still be dreaming. You quickly unlock the door and fling it open. In front of you is stood Billy with a small smile on his face. You can’t look away from him until five others begin standing behind him with awkward smiles on their faces too. You gulp as you look back to him and then it happens. What you thought would happen to you at the park finally did. 

Everything goes white and you pass out.

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[casual-flower]

Hiii 💕 6 , 20 ,24 for the artist asks? 👉👈

Haii!! 💕 I hope you've been doing well!! ^^

6. Longest a drawing has taken to finish?

This year it was probably a drawing I did for my closest friend. Originally it began as a drawing of her and Yoosung but then after like 3 hours of trying to figure out Yoosung physics I gave up on him lol. So it ended up as an attempt at a more cartoonish, but also somewhat painterly style portrait of my friend.

Tbf I've no clue how long it took in total in terms of hours, but I think it had the longest video time out of any of my other drawings lol

All I know is I made that file in January and the last time I touched it was September,, but dw!! I didn't work on that singular drawing for 9 months straight lmaooo

Once again, I'm not sure how many hours it would have taken as I work without looking at time, but this drawing would have probably taken me around 4-5 days, working for a few hours each? :p that's just a rough estimate lolol

20. What do you think you've improved on the most over the past year?

Probably on slowing down a bit when I draw. I still have a long way to go, but I always seem to speedrun all the processes?? And for what reason?? lol. No, but I think I've made progress on this because I finally identified it as a problem that I have, so I was able to work on it ^^

I was looking at my sketchbook shelf so I can compare my old drawings and- I found a sketchbook I completely forgot about?? :0 it's a mixed media one so I can use watercolour if I get back on it hehe. happy early birthday (jk lol) heres an unfinished mysme sketch from said sketchbook;;

I remember why I never finished this sketchbook now. Its bc it was my "inktober sketchbook" LMFAOOOOO I BARELY DID A WEEK OF INKTOBER PLS 💀

okay lemme see my fast sketchy sketchbook,,

I know this was a fast sketch but damn that waist 😳 There's this other drawing I did and the waist on that one was tiny too but like,, on that one it was genuinely disproportionate and I think those were exceptions to my general art,, but I thought I would mention them anyway djkskdkd

This has almost nothing to do with the question anymore lol. This was just me practicing poses and I was really proud of this one!! (Btw idk why I put balloons next to the date?? That's not my birthday, nor anybody's that I know of?? LMFAOOOOOO wtf)

AAAAAA its Ema Skye!! (Ace Attorney)!! I love her so I had to share lol anyways;:

OH actually I think I improved on filling up these pages more within the last 1-2 years?? look at this difference lol

to this!!

wait I just realised that most of my pages that I've got very filled up have a lot of um;; commentary and writing for absolutely no reason LMAO help,, this is the best I can do to demonstrate a bit of my improvement;;

25. What do you like most about your art style?

Sad news;; I don't have a consistent art style 😔 BUT there are some consistenties, which I can consider for this lolol.

I generally like the way I draw eyes, I think? They vary depending on the subcategory (lol) of the art style I end up going for, but in general I think I like the way I draw em

i kinda like the way I draw hair, too? though I think its bc I've been given compliments about that lolol

Thanks for sending this in!! ^^ 💕

[just-jordie-things]

What Happened 27 Years Later - Richie Tozier

word count: 18k warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, gore summary: 27 years after the horrid summer of ‘89, (y/n) gets a call that the Losers Club need her to come back to Derry to put an end to It once and for all.  But she’s got quite a history with Richie Tozier, and she’s not sure how great of an idea seeing him again is. (a/n): after IT Chapter 2 I got the inspiration to write for the fandom again, not sure if I'll stick with it or not but enjoy this super long fic anyways lolol

___

When Mike Hanlon called on that fate damning day, (y/n) had almost forgotten that it had been twenty some odd years since she’d seen her childhood friends.  Or even heard from them.  And despite the wave of nostalgia she felt when she heard his voice, a part of her still wanted to make up a reason as to why she couldn’t go back to Maine.  Any excuse would have worked, she was an excellent liar.  

“(y/n), you have to come back,” Mike had pleaded into the line.  “IT’s back, (y/n).  We promised”

Her heart sank to her gut, and it was as though her insides were digesting themselves.  All rational thought told her to decline, to go back on her promise, to tell Mike she would never step foot in Derry again.  But instead, what came out of her mouth was-

“Of course.  I’ll get the first flight out tomorrow”

It was like her instincts kicked in and spoke for her, knowing that she was going to do everything in her power to avoid going back to that hellhole of a town.  For years she’d rebuilt her life, pushed down her trauma, lost the memories of the horrors that occured when she was just a child.  And not even just that fucking clown.

“See you soon, (y/n/n).  RIchie will be glad to know you’re coming”

He hung up before she could catch her breath, not having heard either of those names in… well, twenty seven years. ___

“(y/n/n)! Richie! Get the hell over here before we fuckin’ leave without you!” Eddie screamed from outside, where him and the rest of the Losers Club were waiting with their bikes to head to the quarry.

“We’ll just meet you there!” Richie called back through (y/n’s) open window.  She was preoccupied with packing up her backpack with adventure necessities.

“No we won’t!” (y/n) added in a holler, shaking her head at Richie.  “Come on, let’s go now” She said, throwing her backpack on her shoulders.

“No,” Richie whined as he dragged his feet after her.  “Can’t we go on our own in a few minutes?

“Why?” (y/n) laughed, grabbing a can of rootbeer from the fridge on her way out the door.  “That desperate for some alone time?” She added in an overly theatrical sultry tone, laughing at her own funny voice.

Being Richie’s best friend had definitely rubbed off on her.

“Well, yeah” Richie chuckled, hoping he could just laugh over the awkwardness.

(y/n) spun on her heel, the corner of her lip tugging upwards even though she bit her cheek to keep from grinning.  It was kinda hard not to smile at him when he gave her that dorky look.

“Come on,” She giggled softly, tugging on his wrist with the hand that wasn’t holding a rootbeer, and pressing a quick and chaste kiss to his cheek.  “Our friends are waiting”

With that, he groaned, but nevertheless followed her out the door.

He’d follow her anywhere. ___

They were going to meet at a chinese restaurant.  Well, the chinese restaurant, the only one in the small town of Derry.  The one that they went to after getting plastered prom night, the one they went to to pick up dumplings to sneak into the Aladdin.  It had so many hazy memories surrounding it.  The more (y/n) tried to remember, the less she could actually recall.

It almost felt like they were made up.  Instead of being precious childhood memories, they felt like dreams she’d had years ago and could only vaguely remember.  They were real, though, right?

It was strange, second guessing herself when it came to some of her memories of growing up in Derry.  Especially the ones with-

“(y/n),” A voice announced behind her, like they’d forgotten her name until the moment they saw her standing outside the restaurant.  She spun around, staring wide eyed at Big Bill Denbrough.  “Hey” He breathed out, and once again her instincts kicked in, making her feet move until she was in his arms, hugging him tightly, and burying her face in his coat.

“I can’t believe… I can’t believe you’re here.  That I’m here even” She chuckled bittersweetly as she pulled away, eyes flickering over Bill’s features.  He’d aged well, all things considered.

“Yeah, me neither, to be honest,” He gave a half assed laugh, shoving his hands into his pockets.  “Well look at you, what are you up to these days?”

“I uh… I’m living in New York now…” She started, nodding her head slowly.  “Trying to be a journalist but… it’s hard these days, you know?”

“Oh really? I’m writing too… got a few things published but I’m in a bit of a stump right now”

(y/n) gave him a small smile, and nodded her head.  She had dealt with her fair share of writer’s block.

Mike was the next to show up, and again they played catch up, and he told them that he’d started working at the library, and had never left Derry.  This confused both Bill and (y/n) but neither criticized him for it.

Then came Beverly, whose presence was enough to make things easier, and conversation seemed less forced.  It must be her wit and charm.  They were all grateful that she didn’t grow out of it.

Eddie arrived not too long after, jittery and awkward as usual, but it was endearing.

Ben gave them all a surprise, he’d grown up real well, and seemed to finally have some confidence in himself as well.  (y/n) started to wonder if everyone really was doing as great as they were saying.  If they were all doing better than her.

Or maybe it was because she wasn’t around.

The more the others started to catch up and get into a more natural conversation, the quieter she became, observing them, seeing how happy they all were together.  She debated whether they would notice if she left right now, if she turned and walked down the alley, and then flagged down a cab to take her straight back to the airport.

“Well look at all you motherfuckers standing around outside in the cold!”

Suddenly she was drawn right back into reality, perking up to see Richie Tozier getting out of a cab, rubbing his hands together and then stuffing them into his coat pockets.  He was grinning from ear to ear, that same, dorky, adorable grin.  That grin made (y/n) certain that she was remembering Derry correctly, that it wasn’t all made up in her head.

His smile went soft when his gaze landed on her, while Bill was greeting him with a hug, and Eddie was making fun of how he must’ve never cut his hair, which hung in messy curls just past his ears.

“Hey,” He said, after what felt like a lifetime passed.  Bill let go of him and he wandered up to (y/n), a disbelieved scoff of a laugh escaping his lips.  “Wow, look at you, toots,” His hands wrapped around her shoulders, squeezing them gently as he smiled at her up and down.  “Sure grew up to be a Maxim model huh?”

Finally, she made a sound, laughing and punching his shoulder before he tugged her against him for a hug.

“Well c’mere rascal,” He said as he wrapped his arms around her tight, and it felt natural to rest her cheek against his chest.  “Missed ya”

“Missed you too, Rich,” She mumbled against his coat.  Even though she hadn’t missed him until she saw him again, just now.  “But- uh- what about you?” She asked, pulling away far too quickly for Richie’s liking, and wrapping her arms around herself.  It was to keep warm, but Richie knew it was a defense mechanism.

“Oh, you know, LA, radioshow, adult life and all that bullshit” He rolled his eyes, and (y/n’s) lips parted as though to convince him otherwise, but she quickly shut it and nodded her head awkwardly.

“Right” She mumbled, and everyone filed into the restaurant. ___

“Alright, my turn.  What’s your dream job?” (y/n) asked curiously while she unrolled a fruit roll up.

“My dream job?” Richie scoffed at the question.  “We’re paying a game where you can ask anything you want, and I have to answer honestly.  And you still haven’t asked how big my-”

“Beep beep!” (y/n) screeched before giggling.  “Jesus Rich, it’s my turn, and that’s my question”

“Alright alright…” Richie trailed off, staring up at the sky while he thought.

They’d been laying on her roof for a few hours now.  Originally they’d just come outside because the sun was setting, and (y/n) thought it would be neat to watch.  But the sun had long set, and the stars were twinkling in the inky sky now.  They’d gone back inside, only to get a blanket to rest on, and snacks to keep them energized through their game.

“What do you think I’d even be good at?” He finally asked.  “I mean, really, besides flipping burgers at Burger King, what is there for me?”

“What?” (y/n) hummed, looking over at him and furrowing her brows.  “Richie, you’re good at everything.  You could be… a professional dancer-”

“What the fuck!?”

“Or a doctor-”

“Opposite sides of the spectrum toots-”

“Maybe a love doctor then,” She giggled, and then looked over to see Richie furrowing his brows and shaking his head at her ridiculousness.  “What? You’re flirty, you’ve got moves.  But if not that then-”

“Why do you believe in me so fucking much?” He cut her off again, this time quietly, and his eyes stared into hers seriously, trying to figure her out.

“What do you mean?” She replied.  “Why wouldn’t I?”

Of course, he could give her his endless list of reasons why she shouldn’t.  But she’d spoken so confusedly, like the very idea of not believing in him never once crossed her mind.  Something about it was so sweet, so innocent, so loving, that he forgot all about his hidden insecurities, and instead was overcome with adoration for this girl.

He realized he must’ve been thinking and staring at her for too long, because her brows drew together like she was worried about him.

“Richie? Are you alright?”

He nodded, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and his hand reached out to take hers, the one that wasn’t holding a fruit roll up.  Despite blushing at the action while he intertwined their fingers, she was still confused by the action.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ marry you one day” He announced, and (y/n) let out a laugh, surprised by the comment.

“Why?” She asked through her giggles, eyeing their connected hands.

It wasn’t like it was the first time Richie held her hand.  He did it all the time, the boy craved physical attention.  But something about laying on the roof, stargazing, and his hand in hers, was different.

“No one in this goddamn town’s good enough for you anyways.  Your other options are a group of psychopaths, or the vapid dick-twitches from school-”

“Alright, alright,” (y/n) squeezed his hand, getting him to stop running his mouth.  “So you’re my ideal husband then, huh?”

“Sure am toots,” Richie grinned at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back at him.  “What do you say, when we do it, we move the fuck outta Maine”

“When we do it?” (y/n) repeated, and moved to lay on her side to give him her full attention.  Their hands still clasped together between them.  “You’re serious? You actually want to-”

“Hell yeah,” He answered sincerely, but the dopey smile on his face made (y/n) curious if he was being serious or not.  “Why not?”

She let out a huff, eyes wide, somehow still surprised by Richie and his antics.  After all these years, he still managed to sweep her off her feet with surprise.

“Because we’re seventeen!” She exclaimed.  “I don’t even know where I want to go to college yet- or even what to major in and-and you want to get married?”

“Hm,” Richie hummed, as he contemplated it for a moment.  “How about this then, when we’re, say, thirty? If you’re not married yet, I’ll marry you”

“Uh huh, and if we lose touch? You just gonna show up out of nowhere with a ring?” (y/n) teased, and Richie faked a glare towards her.

“You think we’re gonna lose touch? Us? No way.  Not in a million years”

She nodded her head side to side in agreement.  There wasn’t a chance the two of them could lose touch.  They were best friends, if not just a little bit closer, and dangerously sitting on the line of something more.

“Okay then, a marriage pact it is,” (y/n) chuckled.  “Shouldn’t there be like… rules?”

“Nope,” Richie said, popping his lips dramatically, and making her furrow her brows in silent question.  “Because then you’ll make a rule against me killin’ all your boyfriends so I can marry ya”

She scoffed out a laugh, before going instantly silent as she saw the serious look on his face.  She stared at him for a minute, trying to read his complex expression.  Richie was fairly good at hiding his emotions, but she had a way of getting under his skin and getting him to confess to whatever it was he was hiding.

Tonight all she had to do was raise her eyebrows, and the trashmouth caved.

“Or we can say fuck the pact, and just get married next year” He told her.  And the girl’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“What?” She mumbled.

“We’ll be eighteen,” Richie shrugged.  “And then we can move outta this awful fuckin’ town together.  I’ll follow you, to whatever school you choose, I’ll go with you.  I probably won’t get in but that’s alright, I’ll work, and help make rent, it’ll be fun.  Adult life shit”

(y/n) laughed breathlessly, her eyes full of wonder at how he’d thought up all of this in that eccentric mind of his.

“You want to marry me that bad, huh?” She asked softly, and Richie just grinned back at her.  “And you want to live with me? Damn Tozier… I thought you were a commitment-phobe?”

“Toots, I’ve been hanging around you for…  ten whole years now,” He told her, and his thumb began to stroke over the back of hers.  “I don’t think I’m scared of committing to you.  Do you?”

Her breath caught in her throat, and suddenly this was less fun and light hearted, and more sincere, and heavy.  And his seriousness was starting to make her heart beat a little harder in her chest.  And gravity was weighing down on her, pinning her body to the blanket and shingles underneath her.  Tears welled in her eyes from the pressure of the situation she’d found herself in.

Richie’s thumb still caressed hers.

After a long moment, she finally shook her head, unable to find her voice.

“You alright?” He asked, “You look like you’re gonna cry”

(y/n) chuckled sadly, wiping at her eyes with her free hand.

“Sorry, you just… you’ve got me thinking about the future now” She told him, and the corner of his lip tugged into a smile.

“Gotta think about it at some point toots,” He said.  “Can’t stay here forever, seventeen, in Derry.  That’s a nightmare.  This place is a nightmare”

“Yeah, it is,” She agreed quietly, eyes wandering back up to the sky for a moment.  “Not all of it though” She added, eyes wandering towards Richie’s again, only to find his gaze fixed on her still.

He gave her that big dorky grin that she loved so much, and then laughed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him.  Her smaller frame fit perfectly against his, and she let out a sign, content.  Perfectly content.

“Alright then, Tozier,” She hummed, shutting her eyes as she used his arm as a pillow.  “When do you want to start this adult life?” ___

Everyone was full from the abundant amount of food they’d ordered, and were relaxing together.  The awkward tension had fizzled out as Bill tried not to brag about his novels, Ben hopelessly flirted with Beverly, and Eddie complained about the smoking habit most everyone had.  No one could deny the hole in the conversation where Stanley was supposed to be, but they tried their best to remember him how he was, and honor his life.

And then came the hard part.  The part where Mike told them about the disappearances, about the numerous children that have gone missing.  Just like they had twenty seven years ago.  

“It’s back,” Mike said solemnly, and suddenly the laughter died, and the seven of them went silent.  “It has to be Pennywise.  How else could fifteen children go missing in a week in Derry?”

(y/n) stared down at her hands in her lap, her fingers wringing together anxiously.

She wasn’t sure she could go through this again.  Her trauma had just gotten under control, as the years passed she remembered less and less of what happened, and that helped, but it could only do so much when every other thought she had tonight was a horrible memory of her life here.  It had taken so many kids when she was growing up, and once the Losers Club had figured out what was going on, she went to bed every night afraid It would take her too.  And that fear lasted for years, until she was finally old enough to strike out on her own.

It seemed the further away she’d gotten from Derry, the more distant the memories were too.

Finally, when it was too late to stick around and the owners were silently begging the group to leave, they started saying their goodbyes, and headed to the door to call cabs.

“Hey, toots, wait up,” Richie called while (y/n) was putting her coat on and making a bee-line for the door.  She paused, reluctantly, and then turned to look at him.  “You stayin’ at the hotel up the street?”

“It’s the only one in Derry… so… yeah”  She answered, quiet, and sheepish.

“Wanna split a cab?” He asked, and she didn’t know how to politely decline his offer, so she nodded silently, and he followed her outside.

November in Derry was relentlessly cold, and even in her coat, with her hands stuffed deep into it’s pockets, (y/n) was shivering, and bouncing on her feet in hopes of producing enough energy to keep warm.  While Richie was calling for a cab, she was watching her exhales visibly blow out in front of her.

“Alright, should just be a few more minutes” He told her as he stuck his phone back in his pocket.

“Hopefully sooner” (y/n) mumbled back, bringing her hands to her mouth, and cupping them together so she could blow warm air into them.

“So you’re still always cold huh?” Richie half joked.  “Nothing’s really changed then”

She looked up at him for a moment, but bashfully diverted her gaze when she saw him looking back at her, and decided instead to study her boots.

“Everything’s changed” She said quietly, shamefully.

She felt embarrassed that she’d done little to nothing to keep in touch with her friends.  Especially Richie.  But it felt even worse to realize that she’d just about forgotten them, replaced them, and created a new life in order to further stomp away the few good memories she did have in Derry.

“Yeah, I’ll bet it has” Richie replied soberly.

“And I know it has, because I have no clue what to say to you” (y/n) spoke in a whisper, her eyes round and full of sadness as she blatantly didn’t look at him.  But Richie wasn’t afraid of staring her down.

“Yeah,” He agreed.  “Me neither”

She finally met his eyes for more than two seconds, a sad sort of smile tugging on her lips.  He returned it, letting out a huff of a laugh.

“It’s really strange seeing you again, toots,” He told her, the old nickname never died, but it did sound more depressing than it once did.  “I uh… I can’t believe I almost…”

“Forgot about me?” (y/n) finished wistfully, eyebrows drawing upwards in a knowing manner.

Richie only nodded his head, and he was the one to stare down at his shoes now.

“Yeah…” (y/n) sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as she felt the coldness spread further throughout her body now.  “I mean, we were…”

“Who would’ve guessed it, huh?” He spoke sarcastically, kicking at the pavement of the sidewalk they were waiting at.

She looked at him again, at a loss of words.  It broke her heart to look at him now, to see how handsomely he’d grown up, knowing he had a whole life of his own now, without her.  And they’d once planned their life together.

“Cab’s here” Richie announced when a taxi rounded the corner.

They fell back into silence as it pulled up, and Richie got the door for her to get in first.  Always a gentleman, (y/n) thought to herself, before remembering the day he’d gotten into a mud fight with Beverly over something she couldn’t quite remember.  Well, always a gentleman with me.

She sighed contently as she relaxed in the back of the tobacco smelling cab, enjoying the hot air blowing, and rubbing her numb palms together to heat up quicker.

Richie hastily gave the driver the address, and again, it was silent.

When he let out a heavy breath, (y/n) looked over to see him fogging up the glass, and then drawing a smiley face.  She let out a laugh at the childishness, and he looked over at her with an amused smile.

Maybe not that much had changed.

When they got to the hotel, they split the pay, and Richie paid the tip, even though (y/n) argued to split that too.

They walked inside together, but stalled awkwardly in the hall by the elevators.

“I’m- uh, on the fourth floor” (y/n) said, though she wasn’t sure why.  He hadn’t asked, and she wasn’t trying to invite him to her room by any means.

“I’m on the second” Richie replied, bopping his head in a nod.  She felt relieved that he’d even responded, since she’d said something so weird.

(y/n) was mentally kicking herself, begging the elevator to get to the first floor faster, so she could go to her room and be alone sooner.  Probably to cry.  She guessed when she shut the door and was in privacy, the stress would overcome her and she’d have a mini breakdown.

“You want to go to the hotel bar for a couple drinks?” Richie spoke suddenly, just as the elevator doors opened.

It would be so easy to jump inside and press the fourth floor button and get the hell out of this situation that made her palms clammy and her knees weak.

“I’d love that” She said instead, a smile spreading across her lips that took away some of the nervous tension that blanketed the two of them.  He grinned back at her, and they abandoned the elevator to head back to the lobby. ___

After they each had a drink, it became easier to talk to one another.  And slowly the tension went away, and they could catch up about their lives.  (y/n) was eager to hear about Richie’s radio show, giggling when she realized that it probably had been his dream job.

“I should’ve known that you would find a job where you could keep all your voices,” She giggled, swirling the ice in her drink around with her straw.  “Probably talked more in them than in your usual voice”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended,” Richie declared in a british accent that he’d definitely gotten better at.  “But I’ll let it slide, since it’s you” He finished in his normal voice.

“Alright then,” She giggled softly before taking a drink.  “So, besides work, what else is new? What’s Los Angeles like?”

“Loud, full of angry people.  I love it.  You would’ve liked it-” Richie stopped himself with an awkward cough.  “At-at one time anyways, you would’ve liked it.  But you’re probably shacked up somewhere real nice in New York, huh? Big city?”

“It’s alright,” She shrugged a shoulder.  “I live in an overpriced studio apartment that I can’t afford, and can’t afford to lose” She told him, making him chuckle.

“A journalist in New York City,” Richie mused as he looked at her.  

She looked so goddamn pretty, as always.  Her hair falling in messy waves around her shoulders, wearing a simple sweater and jeans, the coat she’d been wearing hanging off the back of her chair.  She’d angled the seat to be facing him rather the counter, giving him her undivided attention.  Well, him and the near empty drink in her hand.  She was smiling, that cute smile that he hadn’t realized he’d been missing for all these years.  

“Told ya you were destined for something great-”

“Rich” (y/n) laughed, shaking her head shyly.

“What? That’s amazing!” Richie said proudly, and then in a softer and more sincere tone, “You’re amazing”

Her cheeks were pink, and she stared down at her drink so that he wouldn’t see her blushing, but he saw anyways.

“So, now’s the big question” Richie said, and she grinned back at him curiously, finishing her drink and flagging won the bartender for another.

“Shoot” She said, propping her elbow on the counter, and leaning her head in her hand while she studied him.

“What’s the boyfriend situation?” He asked boldly, and while the question made him nervous, her certainly didn’t show it.  He kept a straight but questioning face, raising a brow at the girl after she hesitated for a few moments too long.

“Uh.. no, actually,” She answered, and happily took the new drink from the bartender, just glad to have something to hold onto.  “You?”

“No boyfriends here” Richie grinned, and (y/n) chuckled but gave him a pointed look.  “Nah, you know me.  Dating isn’t my scene” He said, setting his beer bottle on the counter and watching her look skeptically at him.

“Dating isn’t your scene?” She repeated in a monotone of disbelief.  RIchie shrugged and nodded, but the smile on his face said that he knew otherwise.  “You tried to marry me, Rich” She reminded with a small laugh.

“Well, that was different,” He answered simply, but the girl’s brows furrowed and her lips parted in surprise as she shook her head.  “You were… you,” He clarified.  “But, I suppose you know that” He finished in a near mumble.  However, it did not clear up her confusion.

“Rich…”

“You don’t remember, do you?” He asked, and she shook her head, waiting for him to explain himself.  “That night I told you I wanted to marry you?” He suggested, hoping that she’d be able to remember.

He knew as well as the others that recalling memories of their childhood in Derry was the damn hardest thing to do.  But he was desperate for her to recall this one specific night.

After a few sips of her drink, and a troubled silence while she racked her brain, her eyes widened, and her head shot up to look at him, and he knew.  She remembered. ___

“Alright then Tozier,” (y/n) mumbled as she nuzzled her head on Richie’s arm.  

The small affectionate action alone nearly made his heart burst out of his chest.  He figured she could hear it, or feel it even.  Her chest was pressed against his, she had to feel his wild heart beating against hers.  But if she did, she didn’t mention it.

“When do you want to start this adult life?” She finished, sleepy eyes meeting his.  The faint smile on her lips made them look so kissable.

“As soon as fucking possible toots,” He answered with his usual dorky grin.  “Whenever you’re ready to get outta here” He added in a more sincere tone.  I’ll just… follow you”

“You’re really gonna follow me wherever I go to school, and marry me?” (y/n) asked, swallowing the nervous laugh in her throat.

It was quiet for a moment, which was very unusual for Richie, but then again, everything about his friendship with (y/n) was unusual for him.

“Of course,” He told her, not an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.  “Anywhere you wanna go, as long as you’ll take me”

“Of course” She mimicked him, voice quiet, barely a whisper, but he still caught what she said.

“Well then, next year” Richie grinned, and (y/n) nodded in agreement.

“Next year” She repeated.

Richie smiled at her, eyes flickering over her features, admiring how pretty she was in the moonlight.  She was pretty in any lighting though.  His free hand, the one that wasn’t trapped from her lying on his arm, reached up to tentatively trace over her cheekbone, before pushing her hair back behind her ear.  He didn’t miss the way her cheeks turned rosey pink from the gentle action, but he knew full well that he had that effect on her.

“You trying to make me fall in love with you tonight?” She asked, in that soft sleepy voice that made his heart soar.  She practically whispered it against his lips, the words filling the short inch between them.

He wasn’t sure what it was exactly that brought him to do it, but the moment was there and he just couldn’t not kiss her.  Not with her looking at him like that, not with her laying so close.  He was just dying to do it.

So he did, he closed the space between them, and with the hand he still had on her cheek, guided her lips to meet his in a soft and sweet kiss.  So sweet, (y/n) couldn’t quite believe it was Richie Tozier kissing her.  She wasn’t sure he’d ever been this gentle, even with her.

They parted slowly, and her eyes fluttered open to see Richie smiling back at her.

“Don’t have to make you do anything toots,” He murmured, finally answering her question.  His thumb caressed over her cheekbone.  “You did that all on your own”

She let out a huff of a laugh, eyes flickering between his, trying to figure out if he’d meant that, or if it was just another one of his grand romantic gestures.  She didn’t find even a sliver of deception.

His tongue swiped over his bottom lip, and he chuckled a bit, making her brows knit confusedly.

Confusion seemed to be the theme of the night.

“You taste like fruit roll up” He told her, and they both burst out laughing.

“Shut up” (y/n) scolded between giggles, swatting at his chest affectionately.

“Mhm, make me” He said teasingly, leaning back in again, this time letting her be the one to initiate the kiss.  She’d wasted no time in doing so. ___

“Oh my god…” (y/n) murmured, staring at Richie with wide eyes, and he chuckled at the reaction.

“That forgettable, huh?” He joked, and she rolled her eyes.  “No… I know it’s this place that made you forget.  We all forgot stuff, you know”

“But that… I can’t believe… I mean-”

She cut herself off, shaking her head, a rush of embarrassment flooding over her.

“I know,” Richie told her, hoping she wouldn’t feel guilty about it.  He’d forgotten too, for a while anyways.  “But, we’re here now?” He suggested, in an attempt to lift her spirits.  “I’m staying here the rest of the week”

“Me too,” (y/n) said, a smile pulling on her lips before hastily finishing off her drink.  Richie watched with a startled expression as she drank the rest of her liquor, and set it back on the counter.  “Wanna go do something stupid?”

“I love a woman that’s forward” Richie laughed, and followed her out of the bar without question. ___

“You know.  When you suggested we do something stupid, this isn’t exactly what I thought you had mind” Richie said.

“What’d you think I meant?” She replied innocently, peering up at him from under her lashes.

“It’s just… so cold”

She giggled, poking his bare chest, and then turning back to face the pool in front of them.

The artificial blue waters reflected off the plain white walls and the slick tiles of the room, the only light there being the spotlights from outside that barely seeped in through the windows, and the moonlight reflecting off the waters.

It was probably one in the morning by now, and the pool had long been closed.  And they were standing at the edge of it, chilly in their underwear.

As she looked down at the seven foot deep end of the pool, (y/n) was reminded of standing on a cliffside, and peering down at waters a hundred feet below her.

“I dare you to jump first” She told him, too nervous that the water would be even colder than the air in here.

“What? No, I dare you to jump first” He responded, and all the drinks in his system started to show.

She giggled at him, shaking her head and then staring down at the water again.  She was starting to think that this wasn’t her best drunk idea.  If they got caught, they’d definitely get kicked out of the hotel, and there was no way she was going to stay at her parents’ house while she was in town.  She hadn’t even told them she was in Derry this week.

“Okay, maybe this was a bad idea” She muttered as her tipsy brain began to overthink the consequences of skinny dipping in a hotel pool in the middle of the night.

“Oh come on I didn’t raise you to be a pussy” Richie said, and before she could process what he was doing, grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him as he leapt off the edge of the pool and  cannonballed into the deep end.

She barely even had time to let out a screech before she was submerged in the freezing water.  She thrashed her legs around quickly to resurface, letting out a surprised gasp.  Richie came up moments after her, pushing his wet hair back off his forehead and laughing almost maniacally.

(y/n) playfully scowled, shoving her hands in the water at him, and splashing a big wave of water into his face.

“You’re the fucking worst!” She shouted at him, her voice and the sloshing water echoing loudly in the high ceilinged room.  Despite her scolding, she was laughing, and unable to contain the grin on her face.

Maybe it was the three drinks, maybe it was the joy of the risk they were taking just by being here.  But she was overcome with excitement and laughter as they got into a splash war.  The first one to be a baby and whine about the chlorine in their eyes loses.

“Ow!” Richie cried out.

He lost.

His fists were rubbing his eyes, and (y/n) stopped splashing him, trying to stifle her giggles as she swam closer to him while he rubbed his irritated eyes.

“You’re a baby,” She teased.  “Come on, I splashed you like- twice-!”

She was cut off by a screech when Richie suddenly splashed a huge wave of icy water, directly at her face, before grabbing her shoulders and shoving her under the water.

“You tricked me!” (y/n) gasped when she came above the water again, teeth chattering while Richie just laughed at how funny she looked with her hair stuck all over her face.

“You look like a fucking newborn” He gagged in between laughter, pushing her hair back behind her head.

“Fuck off” She chastised, a breathless laugh escaping her lips.

They were treading water pretty close to one another, and his hands were still cradled around her head.  Twenty seven or so years ago, he would’ve kissed her right now.  He probably wouldn’t have been able to help himself either, just like every other time he’d ever kissed her.

“Truce?” (y/n) asked, and he laughed, nodding his head, and taking his hands off her in order to shake her outstretched hand.

“Truce” He agreed.

They swam around a bit, every once in a while surprising each other by chasing the other.  At one point, while (y/n) was swimming away from Richie, he’d grabbed her by the ankle, taking the risk of getting kicked in the face, and tugged her back towards him.

She was drunkenly laughing at the action as his arms wrapped around her torso to trap her, proudly grinning that he’d won this round.  Her hands were pressed against his chest as she giggled up at him.  Her eyes twinkled the same way they used to when she laughed, whether sober or drunk, they always lit up.

“Humor me for a minute?” He asked, and she looked at him peculiarly before nodding her head.

“Alright”

“What do you remember?” He asked, and she blew a raspberry as she raked her mind for the memories that felt vivid enough to be real.

“I remember… the Barrens…” She said slowly, and drifted out of his arms.  “I remember jumping off the cliff in our underwear, and… and we found a turtle”

“That’s the most important thing you remember?” Richie scoffed, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Shut up I’m thinking.  Can’t think when you run your mouth”

“Alright alright, continue” The trashmouth waved his hand dramatically for her to go on, and watched her smile as another memory came to mind.

“I remember Prom night,” She added, and he smacked his hand over his eyes, groaning with embarrassment, and making her giggle.  “Dancing with… uh… Eli? Eli Hopkins?”

“Fuck you” He muttered, but she continued.

“And you scared the shit out of him.  You were too chicken shit to ask me to Prom yourself, but had no problem making the poor boy terrified to tears over dancing with me!” She teased him while laughing loudly.

“Eli Hopkins was a- he was a fuckin’ prick! I saved you” He tried to be convincing, but (y/n) didn’t buy it.

“Uh huh,” She said with a scoff of a laugh.  “And I remember throwing our own after party, getting wasted and then… well we went to that chinese restaurant we were at earlier”

Richie nodded, recalling the memory perfectly.  It was the first time he’d witnessed (y/n) drunk off her ass, and as hilarious as it was, by the end of the night, he’d been genuinely scared for her.  That was when it dawned on him that maybe he didn’t just have a little crush.

“Oh! And I remember Street Fighter,” She said, a playful smile on her face.  “You were going to-”

“-train, yes, and I did! I was great” Richie finished for her in a serious tone that made her giggle.

“Yeah, and I’d just sit there and drink slushies until you were ready to leave to do something fun,” She reminded him.  “Who was I kidding, it was very entertaining to watch you play,” She added more lovingly then she had been.  “I remember the night on my roof,” She continued softly, and Richie could already tell she was going to bring up their more intimate memories.  “I remember you kissing me, for the first time,” She said, impossibly quieter.  Her voice wasn’t echoing anymore.

Richie swallowed thickly as she swam back closer to him so that she didn’t have to raise her voice to share these specific memories.

“And the second time,” She added with a breathless laugh.  “At the arcade, after you beat your high score,” Richie smiled back at her as she went on.  “And the third time, at… at…”

(y/n) trailed off, brows furrowing together as she tried to remember where they had been, the night that Richie ran up to her, took her in his arms, and kissed her as passionately as she’d seen in the movies.

“After graduation,” Richie told her.  “That night, after the ceremony and everything”

Today was the first day of the rest of their lives.  Their real lives, the ones they were going to start outside of Derry, and no one was more eager than (y/n) was.  She’d bragged for weeks about getting into a college in New York City.  Not because of the prestige of the school, or the flashy city, but because it was far enough away from Derry, and the boy-slowly-turning-man was going to come with her.

She hoped.

She hoped he remembered his promise, to follow her wherever she so chooses.  But it had been a year since he’d made that promise, and she wasn’t sure that being with her was what he still wanted.

It was no secret that the future was a scary thing to Richie Tozier.  He didn’t handle the unknown well, or the part of growing up that required him to be an adult and make adult decisions.

She went home alone after the ceremony.  After taking a picture with the rest of the Losers to commemorate their big day, they’d said their goodbyes and parted ways.  Surprisingly, Richie left on his own without another word.  Which was very out of character for him, everyone had just assumed he’d leave with (y/n).  Including (y/n).

So as she began listing out all the things she still needed to pack for New York, she tried her best to push away the troublesome thoughts.

What if Richie didn’t want to be with her anymore? No, they weren’t anything official, and he’d only kissed her twice, which they never really talked about, but it had to count for something.  They certainly weren’t platonic kisses.  Not to (y/n), at least.

And she hadn’t thought they were platonic coming from him, but maybe… maybe he just didn’t feel the same way she did.  They way she thought he did.

When her mother yelled up the stairs for her, she had completely stopped writing in her notebook.  After only writing ‘clothes’ and ‘buy laptop’.

“Someone’s outside for you!” Her mother yelled again, and (y/n) set her things aside to head downstairs to see which one of the Loser’s were surprise visiting her.

After how awkwardly they had parted at graduation, she didn’t expect to see Richie standing at the door.

“Hey,” She greeted, forcing a smile on her face.  “What’re you doing here?” The words weren’t malicious, more curious, but there was definitely and undertone of hurt in them as she crossed her arms.

“Wanted to… uh…” Richie brought a hand to the behind of his neck, nervously tangling his fingers in his hair, before rubbing the nape of his neck.  “See you” He finished lamely.

(y/n) let out a giggle that couldn’t have been contained if she tried, and leaned against the doorframe casually.

“Well, here I am,” She told him.  “So why are you really here? You’re a shit liar you know”

Actually, he was a great liar.  She just knew him so well now that she could read his body language like an open book.  And there was something he was anxious to tell her.

“I should apologize, about today, leaving without….” He wasn’t sure what to say.  He’d told her goodbye, what else would he have said or done? “For leaving” He finished.

His eyes squeezed shut before he hung his head, mentally beating himself up for how bad he was at this.

“We all left, why are you sorry for leaving?” (y/n) asked, ducking her head so she could be a bit more under him, since his head was hanging, now she could meet his eyes.  She gave him a gentle smile, that soothed him enough to lift his head back up and look at her normally again.

“I just am, alright? I feel like shit about it” He said defensively.  (y/n) shook her head at him, brows furrowing.

“Richie, you’re acting weird,” She told him.  “Even for you”

“Fuck it, I don’t even know what I’m fuckin’ doing right now” He muttered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jean jacket and spinning on his heel to get off her porch.  “I’ll see you later”

(y/n) let out a silent scoff as he started to walk away, off her porch and down the driveway.  Her and Richie rarely had awkward interactions.  They always clicked, they were always comfortable.  Whatever he wasn’t telling her, was really driving a wedge between them that she didn’t know how to un-wedge.

“Rich, wait!” She called, shutting the front door and heading down the few steps off her porch.  “What’s going on?”

He turned back to look at her, standing on the sidewalk now, while she was planted in front of the steps.  He threw his arms out in a helpless fashion, before letting out a heavy sign.

“I want to go with you!” He declared in a reluctant confession.  “Everywhere.  Anywhere, really, I just want to fucking go and- and be there with you”

(y/n) stared at him in shock.  Richie wasn’t the loud professions kind of guy, but here he was, yelling what excited and scared him the most in her front yard.

“You do?” She asked breathlessly, like she was scared he was going to take it back and leave.  “You’ll come with me? To New York?” Tears welled up in her eyes from relief and nervousness.

“I- Jesus fuck” Richie muttered, before heading back up to her through the dewey grass, practically breaking into a run as he got closer to her.

His hands seized outwards, cupping her face and pulling her against him as he slammed his lips down against hers, kissing her fully, and passionately.

This wasn’t like their other kisses.  This wasn’t a gentle kiss in the moonlight, or an excited thoughtless kiss.  This was purposeful, and conveyed everything they’d both been harboring for years now.

Her arms lazily reached up to rest her elbows on his shoulders, fingers toying with his hair as their lips met repeatedly and in sync with one another, sharing ardent kisses in between quick breaths.

“Of course I want to go with you,” He mumbled, lips brushing over hers, and then kissing her once more before pulling away to look at her.  “I fucking love you”

The tears in her eyes spilled over, streaming down her cheeks and running against Richie’s fingers and palms.  A barely audible breathless laugh left her lips.

“I fucking love you too” She whispered back, pushing his glasses up his nose for him before tightly wrapping her arms around him, pressing her lips against his, and then burying her face in his neck.

She remembered standing there for a long time, just crying and embracing as tightly as they had after they’d defeated Pennywise.  It would’ve been impossible to break them apart.

(y/n) stared at Richie for a long moment, blinking away the mist in her eyes.  He could tell she remembered, because she had that same look on her face that she did at the bar when she’d remembered their first kiss.

“The only thing that would’ve made that better would’ve been if it were pouring rain,” Richie said in a half assed joke.  They both laughed weakly.  “That’a been some real… real sappy shit”

“It was plenty sappy” (y/n) murmured, swimming just a little bit closer to him.  Close enough to tell he was squinting just a little bit without his glasses on, and for a moment she wondered just how blurry she was to him.

“Yeah, well,” Richie coughed, trying to break up the tension.  “You brought out the romantic part of me that I didn’t fuckin’ know existed” He laughed, but she smiled softly at him.

“I know,” She whispered.  “I… I bought tickets, bus tickets”

Richie stared down at the waters, watching his legs kick back and forth to keep him afloat.  This part of the memory ate him up inside, made him sick with nerves, and guilt.

“Two of them.  For New York”

He still wouldn’t look at her.

“I waited for you, at the station, begged the driver to wait a few more minutes, so many times”

As (y/n) continued talking, the memory kept coming back to her.  Until today, she’d had it in mind that she left Derry without looking back.  But she had looked back.  She’d looked all over the bus station for Richie that night.

“You never showed” She finished weakly.

Richie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head at her.

“I…” He couldn’t even find the right words to say.  An apology seemed too small.  “I couldn’t… be there,” He said, only to shake his head again and try to find a better way to put it.  “With you.  In your dream.  You- you had a whole life ahead of you, waiting for you in New York, and that proved to be true”

“Richie…” (y/n) murmured sadly, knowing what he was going to say next.

“I didn’t want to get in the way of that.  I didn’t realize when I made you that promise that… I was imposing on your dream, while trying to live out mine”

She moved even closer to him, grabbing his hands under the water, squeezing them both securely.  Her lips quirked into half a smile as her eyes flickered between his.  He had to see her clearly now, seeing she was a mere few inches away from him.

“That was our dream,” She told him softly, sincerely.  “I would’ve given anything if you’d come to the station that day”

“Yeah,” Richie mumbled, looking down at the distorted water where she held his hands.  “And I’d give anything to go back and fucking run to the bus”

She giggled, and it was a sad sound, but it was still music to his ears.

“I fucked up” He said, and she nodded, unable to deny that.

“Yeah, you did,” She agreed, in a tone too sweet for the occasion.  “But… you also brought back memories I can’t believe I lost, so I’ll forgive you”

He grinned at her, and his hands grasped hers more securely to draw her in closer.

“It’s really great to see you again” He told her softly, and (y/n’s) legs slowed in their kicking to keep her afloat, making her lower a bit in the water until her chin rested at the surface.

“Great to see you too” She mumbled, eyes flickering back and forth between his repeatedly.  She could still read him as easily as she had when they were kids.  She knew he wanted to kiss her.  Hell, he probably knew she wanted to kiss him too.

“And you’re not married…” He added, one of his hands releasing hers to wander further down in the water, before settling on her hip and drawing her body against his completely.

“I’m not…” She said, brows crinkling in confusion at his comment.

“And neither am I,” He added, and she nodded, clearly not following.  “And I do believe we had a deal, toots”

She giggled, rolling her eyes at the idea of the marriage pact they’d foolishly, drunkenly-in-love made when they were seventeen.

“I see you for the first time in twenty seven years, and you still want to marry me?” She asked, only half teasing, as her hand settled on his shoulder, holding herself against him.  She didn’t want him to let go anytime soon.

“You’re the one that taught me to commit, sweetheart,” Richie reminded her, and his nose bumped into hers as he leaned down towards her a bit.  “Pretty sure I would’ve waited a hundred and seven years to marry you”

“You’re a fucking idiot, Tozier” (y/n) replied in a murmur, shutting her eyes as she nudged his nose to the side with hers, blindly searching for his lips.

They met with ease, the kiss so electric both were surprised the water didn’t fucking electrocute them to death.  Both of Richie’s hands gripped her hips while (y/n’s) hands played with the curly wet strands of his hair.  And as soon as that kiss ended, a second began, and all either of them could hear was their erratically beating hearts in their chests and the echo of the waters sloshing around, spilling over the edge of the pool and making the tile floors even slipperier.  With each connection of their lips, they became more desperate for more.

Perhaps to make up for time lost, or maybe just because they’d forgotten how good it felt.  And good was an understatement.

She whimpered a bit as she wrapped her legs around his hips, trusting him to keep them afloat while his hands roamed over her back, before tangling up in her hair.

When it got a bit too… steamy… to stay treading water in the deep end while making out, they parted just long enough to swim over to the wall, and (y/n) giggled as Richie pulled on her arm to bring her back to him, pressing her up against the edge of the pool, and caging her in with his hands on either side of her, holding onto the lip where the flooring jut out just a bit over the water.

“Much better” He mumbled, making her smile as he leaned down to kiss her again, fully, passionately, it was like their lips still molded perfectly against one another.

She let out a long sign through her nose as she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his body to be flush against hers under the water.

“This is my new favorite kiss” He told her, and she giggled against his lips, tilting her head back to look up at him.

“What was your favorite before?” She questioned.

“What was yours?” He shot back.

“I didn’t have one,” She laughed, “I personally ranked them all equally”

“Well, mine was the one on your roof” He answered, and she giggled again.

“Which one? There were like- fifteen that night-” She teased.

“Wow (y/n/n),” He replied, tone thick with sarcasm.  “You must really get around, huh?” He quirked an eyebrow at him, and she bit her lip to keep from grinning like too much of an idiot.

“No… no, I’m just a bit of a slut for you” She joked, and pathetically splashed water at his chest.  Richie laughed, shaking his head at her.

“Don’t say that,” He told her.  “God, that sounds awful, what’re you trying to make me out to be?” She continued to laugh, fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck.

There was nothing but adoration in her eyes, and as usual, Richie couldn’t help himself when he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose, and then leave a peck on her lips as well.

“Coulda been kissin’ you for like thirty years,” He mused.  “I really am an idiot”

“Shut up, you’re gonna ruin the moment” (y/n) ordered, drawing his head down close to hers again.

“We’re having a moment?” He replied like a dumbass, and (y/n) just rolled her eyes before pressing her open mouth against his, which did the trick in shutting him up.

“Not if you keep running your mouth” She hummed, as she caught her breath, before sensually kissing him again.

“Hey! You two!”

The pair broke apart, but put no distance between them, even as a flashlight shone in their faces, effectively sobering them up the rest of the way.

“Pool’s closed, horny freaks,” The security guard muttered and shook his head.  “Get the hell outta here and back to your rooms before I go report you to my manager”

Richie cussed under his breath, but pulled himself out of the pool anyways, and turned to help (y/n) out as well.  The guard waited impatiently as they grabbed their clothes and towels, and scurried out of the room.

The corridors of the hotel were even colder than the water, and as they took the elevator to their floors, both of their teeth were chattering from the unforgiving air conditioning.

“Well that fucking sucked,” Richie grumbled.  “Guy totally ruined our moment”

(y/n) scoffed before giggling and swatting an arm at his chest.

The doors opened when they got to the third floor, and Richie dropped a kiss to her hair before stepping out.

“Goodnight, toots” He told her with a half-smirk half-smile that made her heart flutter, just like it used to.

“Night Richie” She murmured back with pink cheeks.

The doors began to close, and he began to head down the hall to his room.

However, before they could shut, and before the elevator could take her one floor higher towards her own room, (y/n) shot her arm out, triggering the sensor that made the door open again, and raced out onto the third floor hallway.

Richie turned around, a grin already growing on his face to see her standing there, looking surprised by her own actions.

“Can- can I stay-”

“Come on, toots,” Richie cut off her stammering, reaching his arm out for her to tuck herself under, and he kept his arm around her the whole walk down the hall.  “Let’s go” ___

As the sun seeped in through the cheap thin curtains, (y/n) stirred in her sleep, letting out a whine as she stretched her legs, inadvertently kicking another pair of legs under the covers.  Which earned her a playful groan and a chuckle from Richie Tozier, who she realized now had his strong arms wrapped securely around her middle.

“You awake, toots?” He muttered, lips brushing lovingly over her forehead as he spoke.  “Better be, ‘cause if you kick in your sleep you’re sleeping on the floor tonight”

The girl leaned her head back, peering up at him with half lidded sleepy eyes.  But the sun hit them just right, illuminating the (y/e/c) hues, and for a moment Richie was reminded of the stars.

“You’re that certain I’m staying here tonight?” She teased, fingers toying with the messy locks of hair that fell over his ears.

“Well, seeing as I checked you out of your room this morning…”

“You what?” (y/n) gaped at him, a surprised and tired laugh escaping her throat.  Richie shrugged guiltily, but the proud smile on his lips told her that he didn’t regret it one bit.

“Yeah, this morning,” He informed her.  “Took a lot of effort to get you fuckin’ off of me though.  You still death cuddle in your sleep”

“Shut up” She mumbled, wacking the side of his head lovingly before going back to playing with his hair.

“You know your entire body was on top of me?” He asked, and she rolled her eyes, not even sure she believed him.  “It’s like after you were done last night you just passed out-”

“Beep beep, Richie” She hummed with a pointed glare.  Although her cheeks flushed pink as she remembered the events of last night, after she’d followed Richie off the elevator, and into his room.

“I can’t believe I didn’t suffocate,” He went on dramatically.  “You coulda killed me woman!”

“And yet, you checked me out of my room so I’d stay here the rest of the week” She teased, and bumped the tip of her nose against his affectionately.  

Richie smiled down at her, leaning in closer, but before connecting their lips he just had to run his mouth first.

“By the way, you have to get your stuff packed and outta there before noon”

(y/n) leaned backwards so he couldn’t have his satisfactory good morning kiss, brows furrowing.

“And what time is it?” She asked, watching him grumble before looking over his shoulder at the clock on the bedside table.

“Uh, 11:30”

(y/n) rolled her eyes, and shuffled out of bed.  Only then realizing she was only clad she in his mustard colored button down.

“Richie,” She sighed, gesturing downwards at the barely-covering-her-ass shirt and bare legs.  “Where are my pants?”

“What pants?” Richie played dumb, and she gave him a bored glare.  “The only thing I remember about pants was ripping them off-”

“Beep beep!” She squealed, already rushing about the hotel room in search of something that covered just a little more skin.  She found his tee shirt, which she threw at him, and her own shirt, which she just held on to.

What? She was already wearing a shirt.

“Did you hide them?” (y/n) asked, hands on her hips as she stared Richie down, where he still laid comfortably in bed.  Too comfortably.

“I told ya toots,” He grinned.  “Haven’t seen ‘em since I took em off ya”

Her brows furrowed as her eyes narrowed skeptically.

“Who knows?” Richie pretended to ponder it.  “Maybe I threw them out the window.  Legs like those shouldn’t be covered-”

“Alright.  So what you want right now, is for me to run out of here, pants-less, go up to my floor, pack my things and come back here to stay for the rest of the week, right?” She asked, done with the playful bullshit.

“That’s exactly what I want.  Yes” He agreed with a sly grin as he folded his hands over his stomach, watching her curiously to see what’d she’d do next.

“Fine” (y/n) huffed, and headed for the door.

“Well- wait- hold on toots,” Richie called, and she turned to look at him, hoping he’d just give in and get her the pair of jeans so that she didn’t have to do the walk of shame across the hotel.

(Not that there was anything shameful about what happened last night)

“You’re gonna leave without kissin’ me goodbye?” He asked, puckering his lips playfully.

(y/n) rolled her eyes, and action that Richie had grown quite fond of, seeing that it was almost always directed towards him, before tugging open the door and racing down the hall to the elevator.

The less people to see her in just a weirdly colored button-up, the better.

She made it into the elevator without any complications, and sighed in relief as it took her up the one floor to get to her room.  All she had to do now was run to her room, slam the door shut, and pull on a pair of jeans.  How many people could be up and about in the hallways anyways? It’s not like Derry was a destination overflowing with people-

“(y/n)?”

The doors opened on the fourth floor, revealing Eddie Kaspbrak and Ben Hanscom waiting outside of it, jaws dropped open and eyes wide with realization as they looked at the girl.

“Holy fuck you slept with Richie!” Eddie screeched, his joyous laughter echoing down the halls, before he suddenly cringed and groaned in a disgusted manner at the girl.  “Why?”

“Because they’re still in love” Ben cooed adorably.

(y/n) shook her head at the both of them, realizing just how much they hadn’t changed.

“Excuse me” She managed a mumble as she pushed past them, cheeks pink as she speed walked towards her room.

“Those two are still fucking digusting” She heard Eddie tell Ben before she got into her room and was finally able to shut the door and have some privacy.

And despite the teasing, it made her smile, because what Eddie thought was disgusting, (y/n) and Richie had waited a lifetime for.  This was their fate, finally coming true. ___

After packing up her things, putting on a pair of pants, and moving her bags into Richie’s room, the old gang headed into Derry with Mike, awaiting further instruction on how to defeat It.  For real, this time.

Much to everyone’s dismay, he’d told them to split up, to search for the artifacts they’d each left behind when they left Derry.

“Woah woah woah,” Richie spoke up, shaking his head almost comically fast.  “That’s probably the worst thing we could do right now!”

(y/n’s) hand grabbed his wrist calmly, and her thumb stroked over the soft skin to settle him down.

“For once, he’s fucking right.  Splitting up is how we die” Eddie agreed.

“You have to find it on your own,” Mike said.  “That’s how this works, it has to solely be yours”

Richie frowned deeply, but didn’t argue again.  Mike had spent the last twenty-seven years plotting, studying, trying to find a way to stop IT through hours, years, of research.  If he said this was the only way to do it, then it must be.

“Once you have them, meet back at the library, okay?”

Everyone nodded, and began to head off in search of their artifacts.

Richie however, tugged (y/n) back, and gave her a look she could only describe as lost.

“It’ll be fine,” She told him with a reassuring smile, her hand settling against his cheek.  “I’ll be fine,” She clarified.  “And you will too.  It’ll only be a few hours, and I’ll see you at the library, alright?”

“I hate this” He muttered, and she giggled softly.  Richie took her hand from his face, holding it delicately in his.

He gazed at the matching scars in the palms of their hands before looking back at her again.

“Be safe?” He spoke in the form of a question, and she nodded.

“And you don’t be stupid.  I mean it this time”

“This time?”

“Could never stop you from doing stupid shit before” She teased, and pulled her hand out of his as she turned to leave the woods.  “See ya in a bit-”

“Hey! No goodbye kiss? Again?” He complained, and she grinned back at him.

“You can have it after your special mission,” She mocked.  “I’ll see you at the library, Tozier” She added before finally heading off in the direction of town.

She had a pretty good idea of what her artifact would be.  She just wasn’t totally sure how to get to it. ___

The (y/l/n) household looked the same as it had twenty seven years ago, if not a little more run down.

As she stood in front of her childhood home, (y/n) couldn’t hide the grimace on her face.  Countless memories of the suffering she’d gone through growing up in that house.  From her neglecting parents, to the nights she’d spent crying herself to sleep after being plagued with nightmares, her house was her least favorite part of Derry.  And it was supposed to be a safe haven.

She could have walked up to the door, greeted her parents, and then went up to her room to retrieve the artifact, sure.  It would have been relatively easy.  

But she didn’t want to see her parents.  She wasn’t ready, and somehow, it seemed easier to scale up the side of the house to her bedroom window, and sneak in as quietly as she could, rather than have to face the people who raised her.

As she struggled to force open the window, she wondered how Richie had managed to creep in all those years ago.  He’d done so every night, how the hell did he get himself all the way up to the second floor?

Finally, the plane cracked as the worn wood gave out, and (y/n) was able to the window upwards and open.  She cheered silently to herself as she crept inside her bedroom.

She left a considerable amount of things behind.  Her bed was still against the same wall, and her desk and dresser on the opposite side.  There were a few boxes of things that she’d left behind to be donated, but it appeared her parents had never taken them to the donation center.

Actually, the more she looked around, she wondered if her parents ever even came into her room.  It looked untouched, dusty, and not a single thing had been moved since the last time she’d been here.

She curiously looked over the photos she and Richie had taped onto one of the walls, a collage of the Loser’s Club.  Polaroids of the gang at the quarry, in their Halloween costumes, at school dances, regular ones from sleepovers.

But in the center of them all, she’d plastered one right overtop of a picture of Bill on his bike, with Bev holding onto him from behind.  She’d covered it with a picture from Richie.  

The photo was a blurry one of the two of them, (y/n) sitting on his lap, on Eddie’s couch, she thought.  Her hands were on his cheeks, shoving them together adorably and making his lips pucker.  She was grinning down at him, and despite his mouth being forced into looking like a fish, she could tell just by looking at the picture that he was smiling back.  Ben had taken the picture, she remembered.  And she remembered Richie giving it to her.

She carefully pulled the polaroid off the wall, fingers stroking over the delicate image, before flipping it over.

It was still there.  The note.  

In his typical messy handwriting, he’d written her a little note on the back of it before thrusting the picture towards her for her to take.

Stay adorable, sunshine.

And a little heart scribbled underneath it.

(y/n) found herself giggling as she looked at it, the same giggle she’d let out the day Richie had given it to her.

This was her artifact, she knew it, she could feel it.

She carefully tucked the precious photograph in her pocket, eager to get back to the library to show the others.

Just as she was halfway out her window, a voice whispered to her.

“(y/n)? Sweetheart, is that you?”

A shiver ran down her spine.  Her mother’s voice hadn’t aged a day.

She was frozen in the windowsill, staring with wide eyes at the closed door.  There were footsteps on the stairs, and she could see a shadow walking beneath the crack of the door.  If she didn’t move now, she’d be caught.

“My little girl?” The voice called again, but this time it was distant, and distorted.  “Is it really you?”

Her heart pounded in her ears, absolute fear in her bloodstream as all she could do was watch as the door suddenly swung open, revealing her mother.

Except, it wasn’t her.

It was her body, with torn, yellowing skin.  Once dull (y/e/c) eyes glazed over with a milky film.  Saliva dripping past rotting teeth, and over pale lips.

“My child,” The thing that wasn’t quite her mother called, and (y/n) let out a guttural scream as It raced right towards her.  “You’ve come home! Back to mama!”

“No- No!” She screamed, and It took a few taunting steps towards her.  Close enough that the stench of rotting flesh wafted into her nose.

And as quickly as It had stepped towards her, it’s limbs bending and snapping unnaturally, as It took a different shape.  A new shape, that was also vaguely familiar.

Her father.

“It’s about time you came home…” He drooled all over her carpet, and if she wasn’t so overcome by fear, she probably would’ve thrown up.  “It’s been so long, your mother just about died.  But now you’re here.  To stay”

Her breath caught in her throat, swallowing a scream and in turn letting out a whimper.

“No-! No you’re not- this isn’t- you’re not real!” She squealed, and forced her legs to swing out the window.

“Not real enough for you?” The gnarled voice of her supposed father asked, and slowly, the parts of him that were torn, the glossy eyes, and the drooling lip, disappeared.  And just like that, it looked just like her father, the one she’d known as a child.

She wasn’t sure if this was worse than the zombified version.

“Stay!” He surged forward, snatching (y/n) by her wrist.  “Stay and float”

At that, she found her voice and screamed again, yanking with as much force she could to get her arm out of it’s dirty grasp.

“Stay and float! Stay and float! Stay and float!”

As it continued to screech it’s mantra, his voice became more and more deeper, louder, monstrous.  And she was afraid she’d have to risk getting her arm ripped off just to get out of it’s hold.

He threw his head back, a disgusting shriek escaping it’s throat as it’s jaw unhinged, and the body took on a new form.

“Come on toots,” An all too familiar voice took over.  “Stay and float”

It took all of her fear and willpower to get away in order for (y/n) to muster up the courage to swing her leg in through the open window, kicking not-Richie’s jaw with a loud and unpleasant crack against her boot.

It stumbled backwards, finally releasing her arm as it did, and collapsed inside the bedroom.

Because of the force of her kick, and because of It letting go of her hand, she stumbled onto the roof, and rolled backwards off of the slope of shingles.  Landing back down flat on the dewey ground with a thud and a groan.

She whined as she just laid there for a moment, processing (as best as she could with the wind knocked out of her) what had just happened.  From It attacking her, to falling off the roof.

Richie was gonna love to hear about the latter.  He’d fallen off her roof countless times when they were kids, in failed attempts to sneak out of her room.

With a wheeze she pushed herself to sit up, wiping off the grass and wetness from the sleeves of the ugly button up she still wore.  After getting used to being in an upright position, she forced herself to stand, huffing and puffing and mumbling profanities.

Her hand subconsciously hovered over her back pocket, pulling out the photograph and panted out a ‘thank fuck’ seeing that it wasn’t too damaged from the encounter.  Just a little bent at the edges.

A rush of adrenaline surged through her, and for the first time since coming back to Derry, she truly believed they could defeat It.  The Losers could win this. ___

“Hello?” She called out into the library, eagerly running in and searching for the others.

She held the polaroid in her hands firmly, glancing around the aisles of books, but judging by the lack of response, she figured that no one was back yet.

She had known right away what her artifact would be, so perhaps the others were still on the search for theirs.

She began to wander amongst the shelves, curiously admiring the very old looking books on them.  But in a small town like Derry, it wasn’t too surprising that they hadn’t gotten anything new in the last thirty years.  Or by the looks of it, one hundred and thirty years.

Just as she was about to actually pick out a book to pass the time, she heard a muffled noise, which sounded all too much like someone struggling to just be the old building settling.

Her instincts told her to call out to see if anyone was there, but her history with terror told her to keep quiet, and follow the noise to see what was going on.

She crept on the tips of her toes down the aisle, and again, a definite ‘hmph!’ could be heard.  She surely wasn’t alone in the library.

Peeking her head around a shelf, she was certain that this was where the intruder was.

Her heartbeat spiked, seeing him there.  He had aged horribly, as expected, but something about him still had that terrifying ‘Henry Bowers’ vibe.

It was probably because he held Eddie in a prison-like grasp, a hand clamped over the hypochondriac’s mouth, and his other hand pressing a knife dangerously close to his neck.

(y/n) could see there was already a stab wound on his cheek, covered by a small square of gauze.

“(y/n)? Is that really you sweetheart?” Bowers asked, tongue licking over the front of his yellowing teeth in a sultry manner that made her shiver and grimace at once.

“Let him go, Henry,” She muttered, and tucked her photograph in the back pocket of her jeans.  “You can still walk away from this.  Walk away”

“Whatcha got there?” He asked, ignoring her completely.  “Somethin’ sentimental? Hm? Somethin’ that’s gonna save your sad little lives? Aww…” He mocked, and shoved Eddie forward with him as he stepped closer to the girl.  “Give it to me and I won’t fuckin’ slit his throat”

Eddie let out a whimper, muffled against Henry’s clammy palm.

“Not a goddamn chance” She said, voice clear, hands curling into tight fists.  

There was a time that Henry Bowers could’ve threatened her into doing anything, but that was a lifetime ago, and she wasn’t afraid of his pathetic ass any more.

“Now let him fucking go”

“So pitiful.  Always so naive, bitch” Henry said, and took his hand off of Eddie’s mouth to grab him by the back of his shirt, still holding a knife to his neck.

“You alright?” (y/n) murmured to Eddie while he sucked in deep breaths.

“He smells so fucking bad” He muttered back, and (y/n) chuckled, and gave him a certain nod.  A nod that told him that he needed to make a move to distract Henry, and get that knife away from his neck.

The idea of fighting against a crazed man with a knife petrified Eddie, but he trusted (y/n), and right now, he trusted her with his life.

So before he could chicken out, he kicked his foot backwards, effectively swinging his foot right between Bowers’ legs.  This distracted him just long enough that Eddie could run away, and (y/n) grabbed his arm to pull him with her faster, towards the library doors.

“He’s still fucking alive?” She screeched as they ran, and Eddie fumbled for his inhaler in his pocket.

“Yeah, and he’s still a fucking psycho!” He replied, taking two puffs of proventil.

The doors were just in sight, they were just a few quick strides from the exit.

But out of seemingly nowhere, (y/n) was ripped away from Eddie, and thrown against the ground.  She groaned aloud as her head slammed into the floor, leaving a bruise where a bump would later rise.

“I’m tired of you fucking running away!” Henry screamed down into her face, making her wince and shut her eyes, shuffling as much as she could to get away from his knife that was threateningly pointed at her.  “I’m gonna fucking kill you this time” He muttered, raising his arm with the knife, and (y/n) held her arm over her face to brace for the sharp impact.

However, she barely felt the swipe across her cheekbone, before there was nothing.

She dared herself to open her eyes, lowering her arm just as the weight of Henry Bowers fell off of her, a metal beam shoved into the back of his skull.  She let out a squeak of disgust at the gruesome sight.

Just as quickly as she felt sick to the stomach, she was flooded with relief to see Richie standing over her, panting heavily and staring wide eyed from Henry’s corpse, then down to her.

“Holy shit,” He muttered, mostly to himself, and took (y/n’s) hand to help her off the floor.  “Are you alright?”

She could only manage a shaky nod, her hands grasping his wrists, and her hold tightening on him the longer she held him, the reality of the situation settling in.  She could’ve died.

“I killed him?” Richie half asked her, and she nodded again, glancing for half a second at the body on the ground.  “I fucking killed him” He breathed out, both surprised, and a little proud.

He was beginning to smile, before he abruptly ripped himself away from (y/n) and threw up the contents of his stomach on the floor.  Apparently reality had just settled in with him too.

“Oh my-” (y/n) gasped at Richie’s violent puking.  She turned her head away, but patted a comforting hand on his back.

Mike, Ben, and Beverly came into the library a few moments later, all groaning and shrieking at the sight of Henry Bowers’ body on the floor, a pole through his skull.

The day had just started, and there was so much to catch up on, and so much left to do.

But for now, they had to go get Bill before he stupidly walked into Neibolt alone. ___

Richie’s hand had never held (y/n’s) so tightly.  His heart dropped to his stomach as soon as they’d stepped foot into the (definitely haunted) house, and his hand had instantly shot out and grabbed hers.

For her or himself, he wasn’t sure.  But they were both grateful for it in the moment.

“It’s just like last time” (y/n) mumbled, shining her flashlight all over the floor in front of her.

“If you thought that was romantic, it wasn’t” Richie replied, giving her a small smile, that she weakly returned.

If her heart wasn’t about to beat out of her chest right now, she might’ve even laughed.

After a horrible encounter with a creature designed from Stan’s corpse head, and having to swim through greywater to get to the tunnel, her heart only beat harder, and louder.  Fear and adrenaline mixing together in a toxic concoction that made her swear she could feel her blood pumping.

She peered down the tunnel, afraid to even trust the rocky walls of it to climb down, much less what was on the other side.

Mike had already hoisted himself down, and Ben followed shortly after.  (y/n) was the next closest to the opening, so she knew it was her turn.

“You’re alright,” Richie told her as she tied her flashlight around her wrist.  She nodded, wanting to believe him, but her eyes were full of tears, and her bottom lip quivered a bit.  “I’ll be right behind you, okay? It’s gonna be fine”

With a kiss on the cheek, she believed him a little more, nodding again, and then slowly lowering herself into the well.

Her hands shook as she grabbed the jutted out rocks, but she didn’t slip up the whole way down.  And when she finally landed on her feet, in a cave beneath the town of Derry.

Richie dropped down a few short minutes after her, and wrapped his arm around her waist, tugging her against his side almost comfortingly as they waited for the others to come down.

“What’d I tell ya?” He said with a dopey grin down at her.  She let out a small laugh, and for a moment, leaned her head against his chest.

Her cheek had stopped bleeding, and while the cut that Henry Bowers had made wasn’t deep, it looked awful.  Dried blood smeared over her pretty skin, dirtying it.  Richie made a mental note to help her clean that up later.

“Yeah yeah, you’re always right,” She muttered, looking up at him again.  “Thanks for saving my life earlier”

“Yeah, I’m a real hero, huh?” He said with a heavy sign, and she swatted at his chest with the back of her hand, and then wandering a little further into the cave, exploring the path they’d have to take to get to their final destination.

The journey continued as Eddie was the last to come down the well.

And after what felt like hours of walking, it was obvious when they reached the place they were looking for.

“Alright, quickly now!” Mike called, running up to the large rocky structure in the vast open space.  Rocks jutted out from the ground, almost forming a crown in the cave.

The others followed behind him, and watched as he placed the pyramid on the ground, filled it with lighter fluid, and set it on fire.

“Okay, now place your artifacts inside” He instructed.

Bill was the first to pull his out, a paper boat, with neat handwriting on it’s side that read S.S Georgie.

Then Beverly, a taped-together postcard that she didn’t really share about before adding it to the fire.

Next was Eddie, who threw in his old inhaler, but not before taking a puff from it first, making everyone cringe.

Richie threw in an arcade token without a word.  And when Eddie called him out for having an artifact that would take forever to burn, he snapped back at him.  No one asked any questions about it.

Ben added a piece of paper to the fire, which he admitted was a page from his yearbook, and the only signature on it was Beverly’s.

(y/n) was next, and she reluctantly pulled the polaroid out of her pocket, gazing down at it lovingly, and smoothing her thumb over the bent corners.

“Is that…?” Ben peered over, grinning to see that the picture he’d taken all those years ago, as a joke about how much (y/n) and Richie cuddle, was still in near perfect shape.

“Wow,” Richie mumbled, reaching out to hold one side of the polaroid, as (y/n) held the other.  “Look at that”

He turned it over, curious to see if his message had faded away.  But there, in black sharpie ink, written in his handwriting, Stay adorable, sunshine.  A sloppy heart scribbled underneath.

She grinned bashfully up at him, before a sadness settled on her features as she looked at the fire.  Richie squeezed her hand, as if to tell her it was okay, she could throw it in.

“It’s uh…” She cleared her throat, hand a bit shaky as she held the picture over the fire.  “It’s the one thing I should have brought with me but… didn’t”

With that, she dropped the photo into the fire, and watched edges curl up and turn black, before the flames ate it up.

Mike held up a rock, painted with what had to be blood.

“Do you remember this, Bev?” He asked, a knowing smile on his face, and her own features lit up as the memory replayed in her head.  “It’s the rock that hit Bowers” He said, looking at it, and admiring what it had done for him all those years ago.  It had saved his life.

He tossed in the rock, and the flames erupted even larger, brighter.

And above them, a portal, of sorts opened up.  (y/n) got a glimpse of bright orange streams of light before Mike hollered for everyone to look away from the deadlights.

She had more trust in him than she had curiosity in the lights, and was quick to look downwards, pressing her hand over her eyes for safe measure.

Richie’s hand grabbed her free one, pulling her closer, and even closer when the power of the deadlights going into the pyramid was blowing harsh winds all around them.

The ground began to shake as the orbs were completely submerged inside the pyramid, and (y/n) pressed her face completely against Richie’s chest, holding him tightly and fearfully.  She wasn’t sure what was happening, or when it was safe to look.

But things settled down, the winds stopped, the ground stilled, and slowly, everyone cautiously peeked their eyes open.

Mike was quick to slam the lid over the pyramid, trapping the deadlights inside.

“We did it?” Bill breathed out, unsurely.

“It’s gone?” Richie asked.  “Just like that?”

“We did it,” Mike said, a tired grin tugging on his lips.  “We did it, we trapped the lights”

Everyone seemed to smile, and let out sighs of relief.

(y/n) pulled away from Richie only to reach up and eagerly press her lips against his, hands splaying across his cheeks, and grinning even wider as she pulled away.  He took her in his arms, lifting her off the ground as he hugged her enthusiastically.

“We fucking did it!”  He cheered, even spinning the girl around before setting her back down.

Their moment was short lived, as they were soon joined by Pennywise, who mocked their efforts at defeating him, and released the deadlights from the pyramid.  And if that wasn’t enough to make their fear settle in their bones again, he grew about a hundred feet, taking on the leg form of a monstrous spider, and chased them amongst the rocks with crazed laughter.

Richie haphazardly reached out for (y/n), and pulled her with him behind a tall rock that should keep them out of It’s view for a few moments, which was all he needed.

“Listen to me, are you listening to me? Listen,” Richie instructed hastily.  “We dont- we don’t have much time-”

“What?” (y/n) said, urging him to hurry up before Pennywise rounded the corner and was able to see them.

“First chance you get, you run the fuck out of here-”

“Richie no-!”

“Promise me, fucking- swear to me, that if you get the chance you fucking book it, okay?” He pleaded, but she shook her head back and forth, tears welling in her eyes as Richie continued to beg her.  “Swear to me- do it (y/n) swear”

“I- I can’t” She whimpered.

“You can, please, please.  If you stil love me just- just fucking promise me you’ll get the hell out of here, and get safe,” She cried harder, a small gasp departing her lips as her throat burned with tears.  “I need you to be safe, okay?”

He peered around the rock, seeing Pennywise nearing where they were hiding, and then turned quickly back to (y/n).

“Richie I can’t leave- I’m not leaving you again,” She wept, tears flowing down her cheeks.  “Please don’t make me-”

“I’ll be there with you as soon as I can,” He promised, cupping her cheeks in his hands.  “I swear it, alright? I just need you to swear to me you’ll get out of here”

“Rich” She cried, squeezing her eyes shut tight, and for a mere second relished in the feeling of the pads of his thumbs swiping away her tears.

“Do you understand me?” He spoke after a moment, and she nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Her sad eyes met his, and they alone told him everything that she needed him to know.  He gave her a bittersweet smile, before drawing her face in close for him to press his lips in the space between her eyes.

“I love you,” He murmured before pulling away.  Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Richie could see that It was even closer, and he pushed her away from him.  “Now go!”

She let out a cry as she was forced out of his hold, and the tears started up again as she made a bee-line towards the entrance of the cave they’d come in through.

She made it through the passing just before It was able to spot her, and hid under the rock as she watched It pass, and Richie ran from his hiding spot to another.

Her hands had been shaking, and she couldn’t get herself to move, even though at this point, she probably would get away.  But looking at the Losers, her friends, all running about the cave and trying to hide before It could grab them and terrorize them, she couldn’t go through with it.

Her eyes caught Richie’s, who began to shake his head, already knowing what she was thinking.  She gave him a sad smile, and realized she wasn’t shaking anymore.

She wasn’t afraid.

Richie shook his head again, waving his arms around in an ‘x’ sort of motion, desperate for her to listen to him.  To turn around and start running.

‘I’m sorry’ she mouthed, and wiggled out of the crevice.

“(y/n)! No!” The scream Richie let out echoed over the sounds of Pennywise’s snapping jaws and clattering crab-like legs.

She wasn’t afraid, but he certainly was.

She scaled up to a cliffside that was jutted out from the cave’s wall, collecting as many rocks as she could and beginning to throw them with all the force she could muster.

And if their lives weren’t at stake, he would be proud and cheering her on as she began to launch rocks at It.  But instead, his heart was beating erratically with fear as he watched her do something so reckless.

Nevertheless, he ran up to her, and joined her in pelting the monster with the largest rocks they could lift.

“You’re stupid! You’re insane!” He yelled at her, but she just gave him a wide grin, and shrugged her shoulders, before heaving up a rather large rock, swinging low so she could throw it as high as she could.  It landed with a loud ‘thunk’ ‘crack’ against Pennywise’s skull, and he screeched as the area began to crack, blood pooling upwards.

“Well where do you think I picked it up from?” (y/n) asked teasingly, hands dropping to her knees as she bent over and heaved.

She only had a moment to catch her breath before Pennywise whirled around, and the small moment of victory was gone in an instant.

It’s large crooked leg knocked her off the cliffside she stood on, and sent her tumbling down to the ground below.  Richie shrieked, scurrying to get down to her, but in his haste his eyes went upwards, landing on the blue circling orbs, and he was trapped in the deadlights.

(y/n) pushed herself up on shaky arms, spitting out blood and wiping haphazardly at her mouth to get the excess blood off her lips.  As she got up, her eyes caught Richie, floating above her, staring with dull eyes at whatever Mike had told them not to look at.

“Richie!” She screamed, and despite her legs feeling like jelly, she shoved herself upwards and ran towards him, hoping if she jumped high enough, she could grab his leg and pull him down to her.  “Richie! Come on!” She pleaded, eyes welling with tears as she tried, and failed, over and over again to grab onto him.

“(y/n)! Look out!” Eddie blared, just in time, as It came running towards her, reaching greedy hands down towards her body.

“Come on toots,” It’s voice was deranged and she hated the way her special nickname sounded coming out of it’s clown painted mouth.  “Don’t you wanna float with your lover?”

She scrambled away as quickly as she could, but It was so close behind her, she was bound to be snatched right up.

“Help!” She screamed, begging her legs to move faster, but sure enough, a large hand wrapped around her torso and picked her up like she was a doll.  

She screamed, throwing her fists against the back of Pennywise’s gloved hand, as though it could cause any damage anyways.  The higher he pulled her upwards to his face, the more she realized she didn’t actually want him to let go of her.  A fall at this height was bound to kill her.  So eventually, she stopped hitting his hand, and instead clutched onto the silk glove to keep her secure.

“You’ve caused quite some trouble” It spoke angrily, leaning in close so she could see it’s bright orange eyes.

“There are other ways to make him feel small!” Mike shouted.  “You have to make It feel small!”

Her eyes darted from the man on the ground, back up to the large figure that held her captive in it’s hand.

“I’m not afraid of you,” She declared, voice clear, and candid.  For a moment, she swore It’s face twitched with a wince.  “You’re just a clown.  You’re not fucking scary.  And I’m not scared of you!”

It snarled, baring it’s endless rows of razor sharp teeth as it roared right at her face.  She screamed, suddenly very afraid that this was how she died, that she’d be just another one of it’s snack-turned-victims.

But just as she thought she was going to be thrown into It’s mouth like a potato chip, the roaring ceased, as a long metal spear had been thrown into it’s exposed throat, ripping through to the otherside.

Her eyes widened at the gruesome sight, and It stumbled backwards, dropping her body in the process.  She screamed as she fell, but was silenced as soon as she hit the ground.

“Oh my- fuck! (y/n)!” Eddie ran over to her, helping her sit up and make sure she hadn’t hit her head too hard.  “Did you see that!? Did you see what I just fucking did!?” He cheered for himself, but his voice was merely a distant echo in (y/n’s) ears.

“Wh- what about Richie?” She mumbled, rubbing her head as she looked over to see him falling from where he was floating.  “Is he- oh my god”

Her legs shook, so much so that she kept on tripping and falling as she made her way over to where Richie laid, and eventually her knees completely gave out, and she collapsed at his side.

“R-Richie?” She shook him, afraid to see his eyes shut as he laid there, almost lifelessly.  “Richie!?” She yelled now, grasping the material of his shirt in her hands as tears built up and burned her eyes.

He gasped, head shooting up for a moment before falling back down against the rock.  He took in deep breaths and stared at her with wide eyes, not sure what had just happened that had knocked him out.

“You’re okay, you’re okay?” She repeated herself, hands moving rather quickly over his face, both comforting him and inspecting for any blood or injuries.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” He wheezed, and (y/n) took his face in her hands, a cry of relief coming from her throat.  She was smiling, but still crying.  “You gotta stop crying today toots, I don’t have the time to kiss all those tears away” He teased, and pushed himself to sit up on shaky arms.

“Shut the fuck up” She whimpered happily, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him to sit up the rest of the way so she could hug him as tightly as possible.  

Her hands grasping at his hair, and then his shoulders, and then the back of his shirt, anything she could hold.  Richie buried his face in the crook of her neck, arms encircling her torso and squeezing her tight against him.

“God, Rich,” She mumbled, pulling away from him to look at his face.  His glasses were a bit cracked, and there was a nasty bruise along his cheek, a little bit of blood trickling down his forehead from his hairline.  “You look like shit” She giggled, carefully wiping away the blood with her thumb.

“Yeah yeah, real hot coming from you” Richie said, silently counting the cuts and bruises littered over (y/n’s) face.  The cut from Bowers, a bruise at her temple, a slightly blackening eye, bloody nose, split lip, she was a mess.

It hurt to smile, but she couldn’t help it.  One of her hands shakily racing to place her palm against his cheek.  The expression on her face something that made Richie want to both cry and hold her in his arms for as long as possible.

“Richie…” She mumbled.  “I-”

The world stuttered in it’s timeline, it had to have, because what happened next, Richie was certain it was in slow motion.

A large claw protruded through (y/n’s) chest, making her words stutter to a stop, and slowly, she bowed her head down to see that it was, in fact, It’s razor sharp leg.  Impaled clean through her back.

“(y/n)!” Richie’s scream was blood curling, but all she could hear in that moment was white noise, eyes trained on the wound in her chest.  She was frozen in fear, and the realization that she was going to die here hit her like a truck on the highway.

Her chest suddenly felt very warm, and as It retracted the claw that had pierced through her whole body, she realized it was because of the fresh blood streaming out of her body, dampening her clothes in a soggy red.

Richie’s hands were fumbling over the wound as Pennywise’s claw was retracted, and the other Loser’s were screaming insults at it to finish the job.  Meanwhile, Richie carefully laid (y/n) down over his lap so she’d be more comfortable.

“(y/n), no… no no no, sweetheart, hey,” Richie cooed quietly, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over.  “Hey it’s alright, you’re alright, we’ll get you out of here real soon-”

“Richie,” She whimpered, taking his bloody hand away from her face, and intertwining his fingers with hers.  “Listen to me”

Her voice was small, but she needed him to stop his rambling so he could hear her.

“Listen- listen,” She mumbled, gathering what little strength she had to squeeze his hand.  “It’s okay”

“No-! No, no it isn’t it’s not fucking okay-”

“Richie,” She cried, one tear rolling down her bloody cheek.  “I’m okay, I’m gonna be okay,” She was lying through her teeth, just trying to calm him down even if it was just for a moment.  “You’ll be okay”

He shook his head, tears falling freely now, but he didn’t cut her off.

Thi couldn’t be happening, not now, not after he just got her back.  He just got her back, last night.  And they’d had a wonderful time together, they clicked just like they had back then.  He’d gotten to kiss her again, hold her again, love her again, how could this happen? How could she be ripped away from him so soon? This wasn’t fair this wasn’t fair this wasn’t-

“I love you,” She whimpered quietly, sad to even say it, given the circumstances, but she knew she had to.  For both of their sakes.  “Okay? I love you, I always did, okay?”

I told you to run, why didn’t you run away? Why didn’t you listen?

It wasn’t fair.  But there was no changing it, there was no way for him to fix it, and that’s what broke him the most.

There was no saving her.

“Okay,” Richie mumbled back.  The finality of their situation could be heard in the one word he spoke.  It was a goodbye.  Holding her hand tightly in his, and his free hand stroking her hair out of her face to keep it from getting stained with blood, he nodded his head a bit down at her.  “Okay.  I know, toots”

It was quiet for a minute as she tried to hold back her tears, for him.  SHe could feel her heart slowing, and most of her body had gone numb in shock.  All she could really feel was Richie’s hand tightly holding hers.  She hoped that when the time came, he’d let go.  Begged whoever was up there to help him let go.

“Hey,” Richie called softly, hastily wiping at his wet eyes with the back of his hand.  “(y/n) (y/l/n)”

“Richie Tozier?” She replied weakly, confused.

“Will you marry me?”

The question was so soft, she almost didn’t catch it.

A cry left her lips as she nodded, unable to hide her tears from him any longer.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” She mumbled.  “Yeah, I’ll marry you”

Her whimpers broke his heart, but he smiled gently down at her nonetheless.

“Alright then toots,” He whispered, and stroked her hair back again so he could lean down to her, and kiss her forehead with a featherlight touch.  

She closed her eyes at the action, and they both missed Pennywise being shrunken down into dust.  Too wrapped up in one another to even realize he was gone.

“Rest easy, baby” Richie said quietly, his nose pressed into the crown of her head, and his eyes squeezing shut tightly, too afraid to look at her as she took her last breath.  “I love you so fucking much”

When he finally pulled away, he knew her eyes wouldn’t open again.

The Losers were quiet as they gathered together, all staring at (y/n’s) boneless body in Richie’s arms.  He was holding her against his chest, rocking slightly as he cried into his shirt that she still wore.  If they’d stepped closer, they would have heard him cursing straight at God.  But no one dared to take another step forward, letting Richie have this moment to mourn. ___

“She saved my life,” Eddie declared, while everyone was floating in the quarry, rinsing off the blood and gore that stained most everyone’s clothes and skin.  “At the library.  If she hadn’t come in, Bowers would’a killed me”

The others nodded solemnly as Eddie spoke.

“She genuinely cared about me,” Ben said next, remembering the first time he’d met her.  She was the one that offered to let him ride on her bike after his run-in with the Bowers Gang.  She’d demanded that they helped clean him up.  “I guess… she saved my life too”

“Mine too,” Beverly agreed, smiling bittersweetly.  “Beat up Greta Keene in the seventh grade.  She was half her size, and she lost terribly but… she did it anyways”

“Me too,” Mike added.  “Told my grandpa she was a vegetarian so when she came over we didn’t have to slaughter anything,” He chuckled a bit.  “We always starved but… she knew I was always too chicken shit to do it”

“She used to help me with my s-” Bill cut himself off before he could chop up the word.  “She’d help me pronounce things b-better,” He looked down at the water with a frown.  “She always just wanted to help”

Everyone was looking at Richie now, while he was holding his glasses in his hands, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I have too much to say” He finally spoke through his tears.

Beverly swam over and held onto his arm, leaning her head against his elbow to comfort him.

“You always do,” Eddie said, but the teasing words came out in a gentle whisper, as he floated to Richie’s other side, and wrapped his arm around him.  “And somehow, she loved that about you”

Richie laughed humorlessly, and for a moment wondered how she’d put up with him all through their adolescent years.

“I abandoned her,” He told them.  “We were supposed to go to New York together, but I left her” He frowned deeply, but the corner of his lips twitched up in a small smile.  “But when she came back… when we all came back she…”

It was like his voice broke at that point, and he shoved his glasses back onto his nose.

“She still loved me anyways” He finished in a hushed voice.

“Of course she did,” Beverely cooed.  “No one’s ever loved anything as much as (y/n) loved you” She told him sincerely.

“Back then and now,” Ben added.  “Just so you know.  It was always obvious to the rest of us”

Richie’s lips pulled into a small smile at everyone’s kind words, but they didn’t stop the tears from falling down his cheeks.

Everyone gathered around him to embrace tightly, all mourning the loss of their friend, and admiring her for saving all of them in her own little ways.

“I just miss her so much,” Richie whimpered, leaning his head down onto Eddie’s shoulder as he cried.  “I don’t know how to go about the rest of my life now without her”

“Day by day,” Bill said softly.  “We’ll get a gravesite for her, alright? So we can visit?”

Richie nodded, wiping at his face.

“Yeah, that’d be nice” He mumbled out.  (y/n) wouldn’t have wanted to be buried and forgotten in the place Neibolt once stood.  She’d want a real memorial, and Richie wanted it for her.

He was going to do for her what she deserved, for the rest of his damned life, he swore it.

It would’ve been in his vows, anyways.

___

taglist: @hippeyhaley (i'd had my taglist for IT closed bc i didn’t think i'd be writing for it again, but i'll re-open in the case that i do continue writing for it, hmu if you want to be added)

don’t worry, here’s the alternate ending.  i knew y’all would cry about it.

xoxo ~ jordie

[yoongis-scooter]

senior year, but make it infected

pairing: yoongi x reader (yoongi seems to be in high demand so imma just keep writing for him until 1) someone requests another member or 2) i write something good that’s with another member lol)

word count: 1,029

genre: highschool!au, best friends!au (you n yoongles reminisce about your senior year) (also tried to make it funny but im not funny so)

warnings: this involves covid-19 and essentially how high school seniors are being effected by that so if that upsets you/triggers you don’t read! also there’s a couple swear words

authors note: hi y’all!!! i am/was a senior this year so i’ve def been reminiscing on my high school memories n such :’) also a lil fun fact!! all the stories told in this fic are inspired by things that have actually happened to me lolol but yea!! i hope you enjoy!!

new cases of covid-19 confirmed!

restaurants shutting down do to covid-19!

CDC recommends that citizens stay quarantined!

that’s all your news feed had been for weeks now. you feel awful for everyone that’s been affected, sure, but you find it hard to care now that your last few months of your teenage years have been infected with this god forsaken disease.

you’re mother told you that you were being over dramatic, and that it’s time you start letting go and start thinking about your future. maybe she was right, but you weren’t having it. 

you sit at your desk that’s placed by your window. it overlooks your front yard and you can see all the people that walk by throughout the day. some wearing masks, some not. many move away from the people they see walking towards their direction in silent fear, but they still said a polite hello to not seem too rude.

the time on your phone reads 1:18 AM in little white lettering. you and yoongi had been on the phone with each other since 11, and the call showed no signs of ending any time soon. these nighttime calls with yoongi were a regular occurrence now that the two of you can’t see one another every day at school. the two of you live only about a 10 minute walk away from each other, but your parents were so caught up in the news that they wouldn’t let you leave. so facetime calls would have to suffice until this all blows over.

you’re drawing little doodles on your notepad while you and yoongi talk about miscellaneous things. you look out of your window briefly and notice a lone duck waddling it’s way into your yard. he wanders for a couple minutes while you and yoongi continue talking. you watch him for a minute and then go back to your doodles.

“don’t even get me started on mrs.jung, i can pull up her mugshot at any moment so she better watch how much work she gives us” yoongi babbles. you had accidentally brought up the sore subject of the teacher, knowing how much she gets on yoongis nerves. sometimes you’ll do it just to watch get mad. what can you say, its cute.

“wait she really got arrested? i just thought that was a rumor”

“yea, it happened in like 2013 i thi-”

HONK HONK HONK HONK

your head shoots up, spotting the duck running around your yard and honking like the world was going to end. 

“what the fuck is that?” he asks, looking at your equally as confused expression through the phone screen. you groan loudly, but for some reason the obnoxious honking triggers a memory, and you start smiling a little. yoongi, still very confused, speaks up.

“can you like, not do that? it’s creepy” yoongi said, slightly disgusted by your sudden change in behavior.

“do you remember that one time jungkook was drunk off his ass and he could stop telling us facts about canadian geese?” you beamed, looking at yoongi through your camera. the memory brings a smile onto his face too.

“oh my god... i do. and hoseok was really freaked out because jungkook has never even left the country” yoongi hummed, the both of you now grinning like idiots.

this leads you into a rabbit holes of funny moments that had happened in your friend group.

like the one time you, taehyung, and namjoon had spent 20 minutes painting jesus’ ass to perfection in art history class and then realized you only had 10 minutes to finish the actual assignment but ended up just turning in the ass anyway

like the one time jungkook found one of your head bands on your bedroom floor and put it on like a tube top, then proceeded to prance around your house chanting california girls by katy perry

like the one time your class had taken a trip to washington d.c. and had gotten a chance to attend the changing of the guard ceremony at arlington cemetery, but when all of you got there, namjoon forgot to put his phone on silent so his ringtone started blaring during the what was supposed to be quiete ceremony

the laughter that had been coming from the both of you had finally calmed down and the two of you caught your breath. the both of you still had large smiles on your faces.

“i can’t believe i’m about to say this, but i actually think i’m gonna miss high school” you sigh, looking down at your floor. 

“yea... i mean we’re still going to see each other though. we’re literally going to the same college (y/n)” yoongi chuckles, wanting to tease you but he holds back, because he feels the exact same way. 

“oh shit” yoongi whispers.

“what?”

“it’s 3 in the morning”

you look at the time and yoongi is in fact correct. the numbers read a bright 3:07 AM and you grimace at the thought of having to get up tomorrow.

“well i think it’s time that i hit the hay. i recommend you do the same, (y/n), would hate to see bags under your eyes tomorrow” yoongi joked, and if he were right in front of you, you would’ve flicked him on his forehead.

“shut up! i’ll talk to you tomorrow?” you ask hopefully. and he confirms with an echoed tomorrow.

you throw yourself onto your bed and start looking at old pictures in your camera roll. you miss your friends, and you would give anything to just be in the same room with them again. 

you begin gathering all sorts of photos into a file. the folder consists of any and every stupid memory and greatest accomplishment that the eight of you shared throughout your four years of high school. you share it with them and finally shut your eyes, dreaming about seeing your best friends again.

when yoongi wakes up the next morning he sees the notification from the photo album you humorously titled ‘senior year, but make it infected.’ he chuckles at your amateur attempt to be funny

“what a fuckin’ sap”

[shepardyke]

EDI

okay...okay..........okay

How I feel about this character

i have many feelings about edi. this playthrough has brought out a lot in me about her that i haven’t thought about in previous runs. even though this is like my nth time playing, im still finding new ways to love the characters so like... i always thought edi was fun and an enjoyable addition to the crew. i was like 10 when i was first introduced to her but my little brain couldn’t see her as anything more than the cool AI that hassles joker and saves the ship. and then in me3, at 12, i had the mindset of top left equals good in my choices. i never wanted to be mean to her and i understood her wanting to learn more about organics but like that was all i ever thought about with her. she was a great addition to the fire team and was still very cool. but like this time im understanding more about her desire to learn and her desire to protect organics. i noticed that it starts even earlier than me3, probably even before she gets released from her shackles. even with cerberus programming she does care for the crew. and i get annoyed with joker not wanting to help edi better understand organic behaviors and the purpose of life. edi would gladly offer to help joker with any of his issues but its wack that he wouldnt do the same. and like that really gets me, cos through out me3 we see edi grow to be empathetic to other organics that aren’t shepard or joker. she doesnt like joker’s krogan/salarian joke because she thinks it was stereotypes like that that led to the genophage, she tries to console liara after thessia falls, and tries to cheer up shepard too. LIKE she cares so much for the crew the she wants to buy gifts for them,,,,, LIKE DUDE............ C’MON she lidderally says that she would sacrifice herself to save the crew...... just her changing the way she thinks/processes things... she wants to do good, to be good, and i fucking lovvvve her for that..... and shes so much funnier than joker its insane.. i get goosebumps thinking about the endgame cos she’s so grateful for shepard’s guidance and helping her feel alive..........godddddd

All the people I ship romantically with this character

other than fshep (and fshep only, but only because she’s been such a helper on understanding human behavior lolol), i can’t really see her being with another character romantically... not that i don’t think she’s capable.. but mostly because i think there’s so much more for her to discover first not just about herself but about her relationships with other people. i think she still needs to learn more about the other organic races and how they think and what attributes they live by. the love she has for her crewmates is special and real, and if romance is something she wishes to experience, then that’ll be for when there isn’t the looming threat of galactic annihilation. i hc edi as wlw anyways lol

My non-romantic OTP for this character

lidderally everyone for now (fshep maybe) i like what shepard says to joker when you persuade him to not pursue romance. edi trusts the crew to be her friends during this time for her. again if she does want a romantic experience, she should have it not for the sake of the end of the world

My unpopular opinion about this character

mutuals agree but like........... edi/j*ker aint it chiefs...... fin

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

we learn that edi was made from the rogue vi on the moon back in me1,, and idk i kinda wanted there to be a discussion if edi had remembered that experience... like i lidderally cannot remember if they talked about it beyond the video files on cronos station and if that did happen edi im so sorry i forgot

[brynhildr13]

MY personal unofficial live report of NYC!

Again, this is NOT OFFICIAL. I was NOT PRESS. This is just MY PERSONAL account of my amazing experience!!! I copied it from my Facebook post i made. @baby-come-bach is "Melissa".

Okay. So now that im home and safe and I committed everything to memory i wanna talk about the show!!! IF you wanna just skip down to the meet and greet go down below the line. The stuff above is what happened during the concert.

The live was AMAZIIIIIINNNGGG!!! EVEN BETTER THAN THE LAST SHOW.

There was the stage, then the pit, then behind the pit was about 6 steps and a platform with a railing. Behind that was another set of steps and a railing and seating in the back. Once we got into the venue i told Melissa to take my poster and go get me the spot i wanted while i got merch. We were behind the pit at the railing on Uruha's side. He's my fave bandman and OHHHO MY GOD THE VIEW WAS. PERFECT. Melissa must have read my mind because she knew i like uruha but didnt know what side he stood on. Lolol. She guessed correctly and stayed to the right. I stayed in line for merch and got my stuff and went to meet her. I couldnt have asked for better view. We werr SO CLOSE. And above the pit so i didnt have to fall victim to my stature.

So we wait and then they start the show. And they all walk out all stoic and tall and QIDNWODNWJD. Kai came out first, then aoi and reita and uruha, then ruki last. And they went right into their songs. They sounded SOOOO good omg.

My highlights from the show:

Uruha was HEADBANGING ALL NIGHT and SPINNING AROUND AND SMILING HE WAS SOOOO INTO IT HE BROUGHT SO MUCH ENERGY.

Ruki kept dancing and shaking his shoulders and hips. He cant dance that well so it was endearing and funny but also kept the mood.

Kai was smiling like the sun the whole time. He LOVES to perform and it shows.

Reita kept bending down really low and slapping his bass really hard. Especially when they played one song that featured him. (the mortal) He went HAM. IT WAS AWESOME.

Aoi was so majestic. He didnt really MOVE much but he did walk around the stage with the others a lot. He was so captivating just like before.

And there were two or three 15-30 second pauses. Their english was WAY better than last time, especially Ruki's! He said "we were so excited to come to New York!! We're so happy to be here!!!!" And then they riled us up with call and answer. It was great!!!!

The second pause was Kai!! I didnt even know it was him until I heard talking and didnt see Ruki on stage!! But Kai said, "i love new York!! I love you guys!! We are so excited to be here!!" And then he did a call and answer with us.

I SWEAR THEY ALL LOOKED AT ME LIKE 25 TIMES DURING THE LIVE. It was like they wanted to see EVERY FAN. They kept their eyes up and out to the crowd most of the time!

I TRIED to show them support but i also wanted to actually stand and WATCH. So I really only Committed to Ninth Odd Smell, UGLY, abhor god, and Filth in the Beauty. The rest I was more tame on cuz i wanted to SEE them. But all those songs get me HYYYYPE so i had to give it my all.

They played Suicide Circus again too!!!!! And Inside Beast this time!!!! Those were the two songs Melissa knows best so she got to hear stuff she enjoyed! Also, we made sure to watch Aoi in the second verse because he bowed most regally with his arm up and he twirled his wrist as he brought it down into the bow. Just like in the music video!!! It was AMAZING. SOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!!! And Ruki's rapping was SO COOL TO HEAR LIVE AGAIN. it was even better than last show!

ONE THING I always enjoyed was when Ruki adds a little improv to long outros. For Sono Koe Wa Moroku which is a slow ballad he added his own little wisps of vocals and screams which was so cool!!

They ended the set with filth in the Beauty and the crowd kept trying to call for encore but no one knew how to keep time so everyone kept thunderclapping instead of joining together in one voice.

One girl in the pit got on someone's shoulders and lifted her top and flashed the camera that was recording us. I couldnt tell if they kicked her out or not. All i remember thinking was "thats DEFINITELY not gonna make them wanna come on stage any sooner." Also no one crowd surfed that I saw like last show. And this girl behind us was yelling "WE /DESERVE/ AN ENCORE." which irritated melissa and i a bit. Like, bitch, no you dont deserve it. You deserve the OPPORTUNITY for it. What a gross fan. I hoped they werent VIP cuz I wouldnt want her to be a bad fan to them and say anything rude. When they did come on stage that girl was acting like she single-handedly brought them out on stage. She otherwise didnt bother us. We ignored her the rest of the time. She was gone from my mind in two seconds once they came back out.

They played 3 encore songs and ended with Tomorrow Never Dies!! Which is a good song to end on. It has a beautiful message of hope. Once it was over Ruki kept saying "thank you!!" And we'd answer with a cheer and he said "we will see you again real soon!! Good night, New York!!" And then as we filtered out they checked our wrist bands and we were allowed into the seating part to wait until they were ready for the meet and greet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They called row by row and we were in the middle of the last section so we scooted out and ran to the top. I wanted to be LAST FOR THE MEET AND GREET. And we ended up DEAD LAST. We were next to these girls who flew FROM JAPAN to see them. I would have liked to talk to them but I was so nervous to, so i just quietly listened to them converse in japanese.

When they called us we filed down! And we went thru these doors and there were small steps and THERE. THEY. WERE. right there!!! I saw Reita's mask and hair and my stomach dropped cuz it was ACTUALLY THEM. So melissa helped me get the poster out and I unfolded it and I get up to Aoi and I was so star struck I forgot EVERYTHING I was gonna say. But i saw him look down and see it and he said "oh wow!!! Design?" I couldnt even answer. The staff beside him thought I didnt understand so she said "he asked if you drew this." And i said "ohhh my god. Yes. Yes. Design. Yes." And he looked at me, IN MY EYES with these bright wide eyes and he said "thank you! So cool! Thank you" and he took my hands in his and we looked in each other's eyes and I saw warmth and love and dedication. Im sure he saw pure terror and awe in mine but we said thank you. I slide it down to Reita and i see him look down and his eye we could see through his mask, which up close almost looked like cloth and not plastic, got so big and he has a deeper voice so he just said "WOW!!" AND stared for a second and then he looked at me and said "you draw this??" And I still had no words so I just nodded and said "YES. YES. DRAWING." And we still held eyes and he said "this is amazing!!! Thank you so much!" And he took my hands in his and shook and we said thank you!! Then I slid it down to Ruki and OH MY GOD RUKI WAS PERFECT. From my peripheral i glimpsed aoi and reita following with their eyes. And ruki saw it and his face LIT UP and he said "WOW! YOU DREW THIS?!" And I found my words so I said "yes! Kakimashita! I drew this!!" And he pointed to himself and he smiled and said "I LIKE THIS!!!! I LIKE THIS!!!! THANK YOUU! THANK YOU!!!" and he grasped my hands in his and we shook and said thank you. Then I move to Kai and he says "HI!!!" AND I SAID "HELLO!!!!" and i show him and he SMILES SO BIG and he said "oh wow! A drawing!?" And I said "kakimashita! I drew this!" And he looked at me and said "its amazing!!! Good job!! Thank you!!" And his smile WAS EVEN BIGGER AND HE just MELTED MY HEART RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!!!!! AAHH!!! and he grasped my hands in his and shook and we ssaid thank you to each other and last was MY FAVORITE URUHA and let me tell you. He recently dyedd his hair blonde and I did not like it. It was cut like a bob and it was super "I wanna talk to your manager." Our ongoing joke was to call him Susan. But i saw HIM. AND HIM AND HIS HAIR WAS A FOOT AWAY FROM ME. AND HE LOOKED. BEAUTIFUL. IMMACULATE. I ALMOST HAD THE NERVE TO APOLOGIZE. But I showed him my poster. His reaction was my favorite. His eyes got real big and he said "ooooooooooooooohh!!!! Wow!!!!!!!" And i said "kakimashita!! I drew this!!" And he couldnt even speak he just kept saying "wow!!" And he looked at me and I looked at him and we shook hands and he took my hands in his and he said "thank you so much!" And I said "thank you!!!" And then i don't remember but i think uruha was still super close to me after we let go and i turned away and i think i turned back around and black out yelled "OMG YOURE MY FAVORITE." AND I think he smiled embarassed and said "thank you so much!" And then we tried to fenangle it back into the box and i caught the smallest glimpse of Aoi and Reita leaning over the table to look and see. Eventually we got the plastic on and the staff member said "ill take it." So we handed it over and then I both hand waved and said "BYEEE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!" AND OH MY GOD ALL 5 OF THEM LEANED OVER AND LOOKED AT ME AND WAVED AND SAID "BYEE THANK YOUU!!" and then they gave us our VIP towels and we were told to scoot so we went down the hallway and out the door!! And that was IT!!!

I. MET. THE. GAZETTE.

This is what I gave to them and Showed them.

I. SHOWED. THEM. MY. ART.

THEY. LLLOOOVVVEEEDDD. MY. ART.

AS MELISSA SAID, "it was a Total Eclipse Of The Art."

MY BIGGEST DREAM CAME TRUE.

[myeonsjun]

Basic Kpop Gif Tutorial

Hello! So, an anon asked me if it was possible to post a gif tutorial the way I do mine. Something about them looking beautiful, which I’m still thankful people find them like that. I apologize for the wait, dear anon. I had finals, plus taking care of a family member who just had surgery. But I hope you like it! And remember, this is just my way of doing it. Make sure that when you do begin, that it’s all about fun! Be creative and try new things :D. Also, it’s nice to have a support system which I have in a few of my mutuals. They gave me their support and guidance through it. I wanted to give up but I didn’t because I wanted to improve. So, here it is! 

So, for starters, I began with downloading vapoursynth for MAC, but I know they have avisynth for PC’s. It depends on what you use. Here is where you can get either. I’ve been told it needs patience when downloading, and it did. lol. Just along to the instructions and you’ll do just fine.

There is another way to follow along once you’ve downloaded. These mini-tutorials helped me a lot. Because who would have thought that it mattered whether the file was TS or whether it comes from Youtube. (I was a fool, guys). Here are the mini tutorials you can use as guidance. Honestly, it explains it more thoroughly than I could ever do.

Now, this is where I can finally demonstrate how I do my gifs. After I finally selected, like the tutorial, I just place where in the video I want to gif. Try to make it less than 3 seconds. More than that might not be enough to stay under the 3.0mb Tumblr’s guidelines required for gifs.

Once that happens, the program will lead you to this screen:

Then based on the Tumblr gif guidelines it depends on however big you want to make your gif. I was beginning to do Kyungsoo’s birthday post which I would need 9 gifs being 177 x (however big you want it) I chose 350. But make sure the middle ones are always 178 x ###, it’s just the rules lol. 

I set it like this because it’s worked so far and it makes my gifs really nice, but again, feel free to experiment and see what works for you.

This will be on the right side of the screen after you’ve made the selections on the left side of it. Once you’re satisfied you highlight all of that and place it under portion which will finally encode your video. 

So, you have to place it between the lines 22 and 25 just because it works that way and I placed #60fps on the end of line 22 because that will give you more frames and you’ll have more that you can work with. It’ll look like this: 

I just placed what I created with selections in the previous screen in the spaces I’ve said they’re needed in. Once that, you have to check your code to see if it’s good for the system to encode and you didn’t miss something you forgot to highlight. 

After checking it and seeing it successful, then that’s when you want to go under ‘Script’ again and ‘Encode video’

A screen will pop up, after that happens make sure under the ‘Header’ option, you click ‘Y4M’ and then click ‘Start’

Once the encoding is done you have to go to your ‘Output’ folder which is where your encoded video will be. 

You’ll open Photoshop, I use PS6. And then you’ll do File > Import > Video Frames into Layers. 

Now once there is where you’ll finally be able to start your gifing process but not before you finally choose where you want to begin your gif and you want it to end. 

Make sure you do limit to ever 2 frames. Why? Because it’s easier and I’ve always been told this when gifing. 

I select all of my frames and have it display under 0.05 seconds just because to me it looks really nice and isn’t as slow or fast. But some others do 0.03. It all depends on how you want your gif to look. It isn’t about comparison. After that is done, you can finally begin playing around with the features. 

Me, being a lazy ass I just used a PSD I saved from my last gifset of Suho lolol. I wanted to see first if it’ll look nice with the new gif I was trying to edit. Once it did instantly, I was satisfied XD. Again, don’t be like me. lol. I sometimes just tweak a few things here and there depending on the gif until it looks great. 

The end result is this: 

I really really REALLY hope I was able to help you, dear anon. Or anyone in general. Even I’m still learning on how to make wonderful gifs. Some of my mutuals are outstanding but it’s best not to compare yourself to anyone. Of course, sometimes you wonder if you should even gif a performance or scenes other people have done so, but to be honest, you should do it because you want to. We need more people appreciating our favorite idols so don’t feel discourage :D You can do it! Ok...enough of about me, feel free to message me if you have questions!!

[its-annanguyen]

Final Thoughts on Experience

INTRODUCTION

As a Bachelor of Applied Science candidate, I am more focused on the interface design aspect, mainly dealing with web + mobile design & development. I enjoy creating digital arts with a combination of computer programming in HTML/CSS. My hope is to become a UI/UX developer at a high-tech company like Google, Amazon, or even Yelp. That is why I am thankful to have interned at One Wave Designs during the summer of 2018 from June 1st to August 31st as a Web Design & Development Intern.

INTERNSHIP PROCESS

Learning Experience

As a Yelp Elitist, I searched up the “Best Web Design Company” on Yelp, in which One Wave Designs popped up as the first search with a 5-star rating! I gave it a shot and emailed the President/CEO/Owner of the company, Paul. He responded back asking for my resume and portfolio where I finally got a response a month later that I got the internship position!

During my time as an intern, I was responsible for mainly 3 things: web design & development, layout concepts, and SEOs. I mainly worked on 8 projects in 10 weeks. I learned that SEOs (Search Engine Optimization) is very important in web development because websites with good SEOs will always appear at the top of the search list depending on keywords that you use. For instance, if I were to type “Hawaii Web Design” in Google Search, One Wave Designs will be the first to pop up under all the other Google ads search. I learned how to hyperlink emails (mailto:) and phone numbers (tel:), which are also important factors in SEOs. Hierarchy, or the way you order the sizes of the header and texts, also matters too. When you’re adding images or links, it’s good to add a title or alt texts to increase SEO keyword searches. Lastly, saving/uploading images that are 200K or less is great for websites because it loads a lot faster.

I learned how to use 2 types of content management system (CMS), DNN Software and WordPress. I am very familiar with WordPress, it was my first time hearing about DNN. Unfortunately, though, DNN is not used as often anymore and non-developers are shifting to easy CMS like WordPress.I really liked using DNN because of how much coding is involved, whereas WordPress is almost dragging-and-dropping... this is more ideal for non-coders.

I learned how to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software called FileZilla. This allows me to be flexible and customize a website through HTML/CSS coding. Basically, I can manipulate a style of the website by changing up the codes - which can only be done by FTPing and coding. It’s very confusing to explain and understand... I never heard anything like it before until I interned here! After taking web design & development course here at UHWO, I learned that it’s always a smart idea to make copies of the original files that I’ll be editing incase I mess up the codings. Don’t want to repeat that mistake again because there was a time where I had to reset the entire website and build it from scratch. :(

Layout concepts were the MOST STRESSFUL projects I had to do when I interned here. I honestly kind of dreaded it. Paul hated doing layout concepts too! Which explains why I always worked on them instead of him. These 4 software helped me a great deal when I had to make layout concepts/drafts for potential clients:

WhatTheFont.com

Google Fonts

Pantone Color Picker

iStockPhoto.com

WhatTheFont.com allowed me to upload a screenshot of a word so that it can identify the font types for me. Once it generates a few options of fonts, I’d download them (for free) using Google Fonts. Fonts that I find on Google Fonts are great for websites because it doesn’t have to be embedded. Another thing with the web is determining the color, so that’s why I always use the color picker on the Pantone website. Lastly, copyrights and permissions on images/videos/etc. are always questionable. That’s why I always look up stock photos on iStock since we have a subscription with them anyways. 

Discoveries

I feel like I’ve grown as a person over the years. I used to be so shy and quiet, never being the first person to speak or raise my hand. Through this internship among other things, I learned how to speak up and ask questions when I needed to. If this is an unpaid internship that I am devoting much of my time to, I EXPECT to learn quite a few things. It never hurts to ask questions because that’s how you learn -- this is my motto. I learned that I am not that great at criticisms or taking in constructive feedback. I want to learn how to be more patient because there were times I’d get super annoyed when my supervisors would tell me what to do when I’m already doing it or will do it. Also, seeing how much projects I’ve done in such a short time span, I discovered that I am a very quick self-learner. As Paul mentioned, every client will have different expectations when it comes to building their website, which is why he couldn’t help/guide me as much as he should’ve. But in a field like web design/development, everything to customizable and flexible, so there’s never just “one way” to work on every single project.

Sample Work

Here’s a GIF image I found that totally speaks to me when it comes to designing layout concepts: the struggle with making the sizes exact. I was able to learn what the difference is between changing an “image size” and a “canvas size” on Photoshop because of this!

CONCLUSION

I wouldn’t mind working in a place similar to my internship~ I mean, I accepted a job position with One Wave Designs after finishing up my internship hours so that says something :D until this day (December) I am still with them. After 6 months, I learned a lot from working at a small yet successful company. There’s sooOoOoOoo much stress that comes with it. There were several times when Paul would dump a handful of projects on me despite my limited schedule and time constraint. I would lose my cool with him at times, and that’s where I reached my boiling point and told him I had enough. That’s when I discovered how much courage I had. Just a few days ago, I turned in a 30-day resignation letter to him, planning to resign by the end of this year since my last semester of college will be a stressful one yet. After Paul received my letter, he decided to give me a freelance position and allowed me to work whenever I can and work from home instead of in the office (lolol). This is what I’ve always wanted!

To conclude, it was a great experience interning here, but it was even better when I actually got paid. Sometimes I would question whether the amount of work I’m doing would even equate to how much I was getting paid by the hour. Ultimately, I was in it for the long run to build my experience and resume. I finally learned when/where to draw the line, which I should’ve done a lot sooner. 

In the end, I learned that it’s good to build relationships with others and never be afraid to ask questions. Since I showed a lot of dedication and commitment when working here, I was able to earn Paul’s trust and was able to get things my way most of the time. I take internship experience very seriously. I’m here to learn so I’m not afraid to ask questions when I need to.

Whoops, forgot to add my presentation slides here: CM 390 Presentation

[phdandhbc]

Hello friendly sevy! Can I request fluffy head-canons for vanderbean and jumin walking and enjoying the pretty cherry blossoms with mc?

Oh I love cherry blossoms. This might have escalated, but here you go! I thought Vanderwood escalated but then Mr. trust fund kid arrived.

Vanderwood (Vanderbean lolol):

When you told Vanderwood about how pretty cherry trees were and how much you always wanted to see hanami in Japan, he immediately starts calculating the risks of going there.

Going outside is a risk with the agency still looking for him.

Going outside with you by his side would only put him in danger.

Flying to a country. Booking tickets for a flight. Security checks at the airport.

Booking a place to stay.

The list is endless.

He shakes his head, trying to tell you how impossible to fulfill this wish is.

But then again you’re his girl and this man will do everything for you. And he knows he can’t cage you both up forever.

Your sad looks motivates him even more to make it possible. He’s gonna make you smile!

After a few calls and a lot of hacking of 7, you got those tickets, fake IDs and two bags full of costumes, wigs and things Vanderwood and you would never wear, except for this emergency state. It’s not black. Not purple. No leo print. And no leather. This guy feels so weird and uncomfortable whenever he looks down on himself, but reminds himself it’s all for you. Also he won’t let go of your hand and constantly draws circles with his thumb on you.

The security guards ask if he’s a drag queen or something. No one owns this many wigs. Vanderwood is about to freak out.He already hates this trip. In Japan he calms down a little, but is still on guard, always checking his back and yours especially. Whatever happens, he will protect you. Always. It might seem really creepy to others but you know he only wants what’s best for you.

He won’t even close his eyes during kisses to make sure everything is fine

Nothing can bring him to smile.

The first night in the hotel is calm. You two get to cuddle up and embrace the moment together. Still he doesn’t smile.

The next day you decide to go see the cherry blossoms down by a beautiful river.

Vanderwood even checked the place via security cameras.

He made 7 watch them all the time and distract the agency if necessary. Everything is under his control.

Or so he thought.Sadly dozens of others made the same decision. Every corner is crowded with people, kids, and even elders. As soon as he sees all these people, he grabs your hand and changes direction, away from the crowd. Vanderwood’s really trying to make you understand this place is just too dangerous for the two of you, as you begin to cry. You were almost there and still something had to go wrong.

Vanderwood really hates to admit the fact, but all his preparations aren’t enough to shut the voice in his head that screams danger. Nothing will ever be enough to protect you from his life.

That creep in the black raincoat over there - it’s freaking hot here, pure sunshine. The old hag over there - way to fast for her age. Too many suspicious people.

So he just hisses at you to calm down and to follow him. Immediately he puts an arm around your shoulder and drags you away further as his phone starts buzzing. You make him take that call, it could be important after all.

And it’s 7, blasting something about being the defender of justice and some directions. Both of you look at each other, clearly not understanding anything.

Vanderwood really hopes this won’t become a bigger disaster.This will be your last vacation anyways. He can’t handle than inhuman amount of stress and anxiety.Since he has no other options and 7 has never REALLY let him down Vanderwood and you follow the directions. No, breaking promises about cleaning his house himself doesn’t count

After a few minutes the two of you end in a little abandoned park.

Immediately he turns around and checks the area for any escape routes, cameras and so on.This place is perfect. Three exits, no people around, security cameras for 7 to keep you safe and the best: the most beautiful cherry tree he has ever seen in full blossom.

one look at your face tells him everything he hoped for. You like it. That big smile and that sparkle in your eyes.. during all these stressful moments he almost forgot how beautiful you are. 

With another weird comment 7 cuts the call, leaving you both alone. None of you really listened to him, already captured by the moment. 

You’re crying again. Somehow the beauty of the cherry tree and the knowledge that someone is watching over you, like a guardian angel, feels so good. These are happy tears. 

You throw your arms around Vanderwood’s neck, who pulls you closer immediately and holds you tightly.

Before you can form the words to thank him, he presses his lips on yours, a slight smile on them.This time his eyes are closed ;)

You visit your special tree every day from now on, enjoying the calmness that fills you both there.

Vanderwood still hates the fact that 7 has found this place. To your surprise the next time you want to go somewhere, Vanderwood just calls 7 to plan your trip. This creep has a new female flight attendant costume now.

Jumin:

When you told Jumin about how pretty cherry trees were and how much you always wanted to see hanami in Japan, he immediately grabs his phone and tells Jaehee to make preparations and make sure the private jet is ready.

Assistant Kang has to join to calculate new potential clients and companies there.

First he demands to take Elizabeth with you, but agrees on leaving her and Jaehee back in Korea.Jaehee is happy until she becomes the new cat-sitter.Not the c-fur AGAIN

Within hours you’re in the jet, cuddled up next to your husband. Your head rests on his shoulder as he sips on his glass of red wine.

You had considered ordering one as well, but you stomach is a little uneasy already and you’re not sure if wine is a good idea.

He’s still preparing and calculating various options where to eat dinner as the you doze off a little. Jumin subconsciously fondles your head and grins as he realises his little kitten fell asleep.

As some complications make the jet shake, the crew asks you to sit on the normal seats and fasten the belts. You never experienced such bad complications so you’re naturally anxious, but Jumin leans over and kisses you until you forget everything around you. He must have seen the fear in your eyes because he refuses to let go of your hand for a second and repeatedly asks the pilot to change his course so there would be no more complications.

The movements of the jet begin to calm down again, allowing you to calm down again. You’re still pressed to your husband, almost crushing his arm. He tries to loosen your grip, which only ends in you gripping his hand instead.

He gently lifts it to his lips and presses little kisses on it, until you finally relax.

The crew offers you to leave your seats again and you take the chance. Jumin offers you to place your head on his lap while he reads some more reports. You’re a little sad to see him work again, but both of you know he has to take care of these files. There won’t be a free minute until he does.

And you really don’t want to share your husband with DOCUMENTS again at night.

Sweet dreams embrace you soon after. As you doze cuddled up on his lap, Jumin wonders what makes you so very tired today. Perhaps you couldn’t sleep well last night? He decides to make an appointment with your doctor for the evening before dinner, just to be sure.

You wake up a bit later as the jet lands on the ground again. It was a short flight, but you feel really tired and exhausted. Jumin chuckles as he looks over to you. Somehow he still looks as perfect as always. Just how does he do that?

You excuse yourself for a while, taking a shower and dressing into something nice before you leave the jet. After that, driver Kim brings you to a private cherry blossom show. Of course Jumin has rented the complete area to spent the time alone with his wife. Only bodyguards allowed.

You tried to convince him to just take a selfie with you to have a memoir for the family album back home, but he grabs his phone again, hiring the best photographer in town. And Kimonos for both of you to wear. And Geishas. Don’t forget the professional tea ceremony. In the end a complete film crew is on set, making sure both of you look absolutely flawless. These photos have to be perfect, Mc.Just the best for my beautiful wife.

As the sun goes down you shoo everyone away and take Jumin’s arm to go for a walk under the cherry trees. A light breeze is coming up and petals begin to gently rain on both of you, covering you under a layer of pink.

He chuckles and pulls you closer to pluck some of them out of your hair before he places a kiss on your lips.

You beam at him, and tell him how wonderful this moment is. Just the two of you. Actually that’s all you had in mind when you talked about the cherry trees.But as always Jumin went a little further than expected to make you happy.

Before dinner Jumin and you meet up with your doctor to have the little check up your man insists on. He’s really annoyed as you make him leave the room when the examination begins, but in the end he gives in. He just wants you to be happy. Minutes later you leave the room again, looking exhausted again. Jumin rushes to your side, asking what’s wrong. He blasts question after question at you, but you make sure he stops. A small lie helps to calm him for now and make you both leave for the restaurant. It is the first time you ever lied to him. Or not? Basically there’s nothing wrong, it’s just not what he expected.

In the fancy restaurant he picked, you laugh and enjoy the time with him, barely thinking about the news you have. This might change everything and you know it too well.

He’s a little confused as you ask him to go visit the cherry trees again, but he’s glad about the opportunity to fulfill another wish of yours. You walk under the trees once more, slowly pacing here and there. You especially liked one tree, so you two stop there to watch it for a while. Jumin stands behind you, hugging your stomach as you both look up to the blossoms that are gently lightened by lampions.

You gulp one last time. One big breath. And then you tell him about the news you got from the doctor earlier.

“Jumin- you’ll be.. a father.”

Finally it’s out.

He doesn’t react immediately. All you sense is a slight shiver at your back.

You turn around to look him in the eyes and see him stare at you.

Jumin clearly doesn’t believe what he just heard.

He can’t. Your voice cracks as you ask if he’s alright. There’s no answer. He just pulls you into a tight hug and presses his lips on yours.

A tear meets your cheek and you pull back, studying his face.

But all he does is grin.

“I’ll have assistant Kang make preparations for us to move into a house. A big one.”

You chuckle about this idea and point out the need of a garden with cherry trees.He absolutely agrees.