#i mean i was in high school last time we got a new president so i don’t remember

[listen-to-my-eyes]

it’s crazy that half the country thinks that it’s becoming a facist hellhole while the other half is expecting a golden age. the political system is at its best dividing us into groups against each other

[jjkbambi]

frat flu luigi mangione x virgin!reader 18+

summary!!! (smut inspired by this request) you’re set to interview frat president luigi mangione for the penn newsletter!

note: fratboy!luigi but not reallyyyy associated to that cheating demon storyline. written as a standalone but could be seen as a prequel if you squint. unedited but happy new years

warnings: long fic cuz we need a reason to be fuckin, sad bc luigi’s sad, comfort, an attempt at fluff, and of course smut, dubcon (he grinds on you while you’re sleeping), so dry humping, p in dis v (VIRGINNN)

luigi mangione, as described by his fraternity brothers: “cool,” “mega smart,” and “totally chill.” all phrases you could blindly draw from a hat to describe a stranger walking down the street.

surely, this couldn’t be your debut in penn today. a spotlight on the brightest mind on campus, phi kappa psi fraternity president luigi mangione. top of his class at a mysterious luxury private high school, started a hash brown business at sixteen, and, according to his linkedin, volunteers at local libraries, elderly homes, and animal shelters during breaks back home. he’s got a first aid/cpr certification, a bartending license, and a squeaky clean record.

“he doesn’t even complain on yelp,” you groan.

your friend, lacy, sits in the drivers seat, shaking her head. “maybe he’s just nice.”

you shoot a glare at her.

she raises her hands, defensive. “i’ve only heard good things!”

“oh, well, if he was really so nice, he wouldn’t have canceled on me a hundred and one times.” as if he’d heard you, your phone pings—his name flashing on the screen.

from luigi Hey pretty! Something came up today. So sorry. Can I see you another time?

“one hundred and two,” you declare, showing her your phone screen. at this point, it felt less like inconvenience and more like cruelty. his constant rejections, delayed responses, and last-minute reschedules were a relentless reminder of your looming failure to finish the piece on the phi kappa psi house. journalism club was going to fucking kill you.

“y/n, he literally could not have been nicer.” she finally puts the car into park. the both of you look outside.

frustration had been simmering for weeks, growing with every missed promise. almost two months ago, he’d smiled big and earnest, assuring you he’d meet for the interview—yet here you were, still waiting. the distance between you two seemed to stretch with every passing day, and you couldn’t summon the energy to pretend you still cared for niceties.

you’re outside his fraternity house, calling him, he surprises you by answering almost immediately, his voice low and hoarse, like he’s just woken up. “hello?”

“hi, it’s y/n.”

“oh,” he says, tone dipping as he cleared his throat. “hey, how are you?”

“yeah, i’m fine,” you say, unbuckling your seatbelt. “i just wanted to talk—”

“yeah, i know ‘m sorry,” he tells you, sincerity to be debated. “i’ve just been a bit all over the place these past few weeks.”

lacy mouths, “im staying in the car.”

nodding, you hop out, a familiar sense of anticipation lingering. it’s not your first time at the fraternity house, but each visit feels different. the mansion, though grand, has a worn charm—earth-toned walls and overgrown grass, with boys constantly darting across the yard. trash cans overflow with aluminum cans, remnants of the never-ending chaos.

“no, i get it, i do. i, you know, am busy all the time.”

“oh, i’m sure,” he says. “are you free next weekend?”

you didn’t even have to check your schedule to know you were free. but you were already here. “well, actually, i just, um…” you feel a bit of your confidence deflating as you trespass their yard. your face flushes and you suddenly feel the eyes of the other brothers staring at your silhouette like curious dogs, unsure of whether to bark or bite. “i was just passing by the neighborhood, i was wondering if i could come over now?”

he yawns. “what? you mean right now?”

“is that alright?”

“how far away are you?”

“yeah, uh, i’m outside your front door.”

“oh?” he says, clearly taken off-guard. the embarrassment finally settles in. what the hell were you doing?

“you know what, never mind. i’m so sorry,” you flush, spinning on your heel and rushing down the steps, avoiding eye contact with the other guys.

you’re not sure if it’s your heart stopping or the phone call ending, but it’s in that moment that the blackwood door opens. you turn around, and the brown-haired boy steps through, looking disheveled, with dark bags under his eyes as if he hasn’t slept. though, despite that, he’s in gray sweatpants and a long sleeved black compression shirt.

“y/n, come on in,” luigi says, his voice booming, almost too loud for the quiet pennsylvania street. he glances toward the team of players in the front yard, bringing attention to you all over again. “this is the journalist for the penn.”

you shuffle up the steps again. “it’s called penn daily.”

“right,” he nods, eyes searching your body up and down. “you want a jacket?”

you’re in leggings and a tank top. you’re shivering. “no, no, i like the cold.”

the brown-haired boy shakes his head, grabbing one off the coat rack anyway and tossing it over to you.

“you’ll like the jacket even better.”

as he guides you through the house, the weight of the silence surrounds you. you’ve only ever seen the place during parties—neon LED lights casting strange shadows, tables covered in empty Solo cups and suspicious piles of random powders. it always felt like a place of unrecognizable chaos, where everyone was too busy to think about much else but the next round of shots or whatever game they were playing. but today, in the quiet of the late morning, the house feels different. the lights aren’t flashing, the music isn’t blasting, and there’s no throng of people rushing around. it feels oddly intimate, even though it’s still just as cluttered as always.

“is this what it looks like clean?” you ask, only half-joking.

“be nice,” luigi barks, tone plain as he rolled his eyes in faux annoyance. “we had a long night yesterday,” he gestures to the crowds of twentysomethings outside, one group cleaning off the mountain of soda and beer cans off the plastic gray tables, the other playing ping pong. “another long night ahead. you should come.”

the invitation doesn’t sway you, you’re distracted by his face. though his curly hair is neatly cut, and his chocolate brown eyes hold a quiet, dark intensity. his tall frame fills up the room, the way he stands commanding attention without trying. his features are sharp, framed by thick eyebrows, and his smile is small, barely there, and it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. he offers it to you as if it’s expected. there’s an underlying feeling you can’t shake. it’s like you can tell it’s forced. you’ve seen enough of him in passing (and in stalking) to know this isn’t the usual “luigi” you’re used to seeing at parties or around campus.

you bite the inside of your cheek. “you know, if today’s a bad day, you don’t have to—”

“no, babe, it’s fine,” he says, the term rolling off his tongue like it’s second nature.

in the short time you’ve known him, you’ve picked up on his knack for nicknames and gathered you probably shouldn’t be flattered—all the boys in this frat were entirely too flirty.

he pushes the door to his bedroom open, stepping aside to let you in. “shouldn’t take too long, right?”

“sure,” you lie as you slip past him, fingers brushing over the notepad tucked in your back pocket, your mind racing with questions you’re suddenly too aware of.

“well then, it’s no rush,” he says.

quickly, you notice the collection of allergy medication at his desk. a heinous amount of nyquil, half-empty bottles scattered among crumpled tissues and unopened water bottles. it’s almost comical, the way his organized chaos betrays the “untouchable golden boy” image you’d pieced together. his desk, once probably neat and deliberate, now looks like the scene of a losing battle against the flu. curious, you ask, “bad fever?”

luigi laughs dryly. “something bad, that’s for sure.”

you feel yourself sink at the admission. instinctively, you reach up to feel his forehead, your fingers hovering just shy of his skin. it’s a simple gesture, something you wouldn’t think twice about doing for one of your roommates, but as soon as your hand makes contact, he stiffens, his body recoiling ever so slightly. the movement is subtle but enough to make you hesitate, pulling your hand back as his lashes flicker up to meet yours.

“jesus christ,” you gasp. “you’re burning up.”

luigi doesn’t answer immediately, his gaze lingering on you just a moment too long, his eyes a little softer than usual.

“think i’ll be fine,” he says, but there’s an edge to his voice, like he’s trying to brush it off. it feels more like he’s saying it for both of you than for himself.

a pang of guilt hits you hard—a reminder of how you’d pushed for this interview while he was clearly feeling terrible. all those ridiculous, relentless messages, the nagging about deadlines while he was probably just trying to get through the day. god, you feel like an idiot.

you cup his cheeks, serious. “you should really get to bed.”

“what, and miss the privilege of being interrogated by the penn’s finest?” he teases, leaning into you. you’re struck at how warm he was, how utterly unprofessional you were coming off as, how awful it would be to pull away.

the article, you remind yourself, inching away. “if you pass out mid-question, it’s not going to make for a great article.”

“least i’ll be a shoo-in for the sympathy vote next semester,” luigi says with a wry chuckle, his tone light but laced with something deeper as he glances back up at you, almost as if testing your reaction.

“come on,” he reaches for your hand when you frown, interlocking your fingers and swaying you. he doesn’t pull you too close, something about the way he’s looking at you has you sure he’ll never give you the satisfaction, but your fingers interlock and there’s a hint of a smirk playing at the edge of his lips, smugness plain. “i couldn’t let you walk out here so fast. you know what they would say about me if they thought i let down a pretty girl like you?”

you feel your face go pink but your ego won’t let his flirting power last. his forehead was burning hotter than sauna, he probably didn’t know what was even happening. “you look like you haven’t even slept,” you say, matter-of-factly. “would you just sit down?”

“trust me, this headache’ll be gone before you can even say sto meglio con te,” he says, his voice a little softer than usual.

he grins as your brow furrows. “you could put that in your article. successful, speaks italian, looks like shit.”

“i didn’t mean that. i’m just worried.” ignoring the fluttering in your stomach and his persistent gaze, you turn your phone over. “i could order you some soup. there’s a really nice pho place down the road—”

“what’re you, my girlfriend?”

“mangione,” you sigh. “you’re being impossible.”

“baby,” he says, the word slipping from his lips with a teasing familiarity that catches you off guard. it pierces straight through your ego, sharp and unexpected. “i promise, ive got way more interesting things to talk about than allergies. come on, ask me.”

before you can react, another voice calls from outside, and you hear hurried footsteps approaching the door. luigi hesitates for a second, glancing at you. a younger group of fraternity brothers peeks in, looking urgent.

“hey, we’ve got a problem with the fundraising paperwork—someone made a mistake with the donations, and it needs to be fixed or we’re going to miss the deadline,” one of them explains, his voice tight with stress.

“who was in charge of that?” luigi asks, a lilt of accusation in his tone.

the younger twentysomethings look around, feigning innocence, avoiding eye contact. “whatever, it doesn’t matter,” he mutters, rubbing his eyes. “i’ll take care of it.”

he squeezes your hand before he leaves the room, saying, “stay put for me.”

so you sit on his navy blue bed, stiff and idle, your mind wandering as you wait. you text lacy and tell her you’ll catch up with her later as the constant sound of chaos fills your ears. you hear the house scrambling through the halls and luigi’s answering calls and questions, directing people, moving them out the way. the speakers for the party this weekend just got delivered, the delta 3 girls are inviting them to volunteer at their annual car wash, and there’s a leak in the basement that needs immediate attention. after what feels like hours, you can’t keep your eyes open anymore. exhaustion pulls at you, and without even realizing it, you fall asleep on his bed, the rhythmic noise of his busy life buzzing around you.

“y/n,” luigi exhales as he finally re-enters the room, his exhaustion evident in every step.

he’s greeted at the sight of your body sprawled across his bed, eyes fluttered shut with his jacket blanketed over your silhouette. he’s not so sure what comes over him, but he locks the door. your peaceful slumber is a stark change from the drunk mayhem on the other side of the door, and he’s intent on keeping the peace. the bed dips under his weight as he sinks down beside you, too tired for niceties. without a word or a second’s hesitation, he pulls the jacket off you and brings your tired body closer to his.

it starts off innocent. his arms are wrapped around your stomach, your body limp against his. he cradles into the nape of your neck—and you’re so soft and you smell so good, he can’t help himself. he tells himself he won’t take it too far. starting with small, sweet kisses against the side of your neck, almost tickling you out of your unconsciousness. you sleepily squirm under his hold and he’s straining in his sweatpants before he can make sense of it.

“you’re so pretty,” luigi whispers. it would be a waste, really, to have you this close without touching you. using you.

he grinds his hips against your plump ass. he’s so fucking hard, he really can’t help it. he has to have you, but he can’t bring himself to wake you—you’d been so sweet to him earlier, doe eyes wide with concern—he figures he has to return the favor somehow, right? letting you nap in his bed feels like the least he can do.

“you’ve got no idea how often i lose my mind thinkin’ about this, about you,” he confesses. the noise outside is loud, chaotic—a world away from the quiet intensity between you. it’s too loud for anyone else to know of the secret unfolding here, in the space of his touch and the weight of his gaze.

he’s rougher now, tightening his grip on your hips as he jerks himself into you. you were so worried about him earlier. you’d want this, wouldn’t you? to help him out, make him feel better?

his defense of plausible deniability falls apart piece by piece. one of his hands stray from your hip to your clothed core, rubbing you, desperate for friction. he groans into your back. you were wet, he was sure of it, he had to make sure of it. he slips his hands down your leggings and rushes to palms your wetness. he has to make sure you’re feeling just as good as he was.

you shudder at the touch, slowly bringing yourself from rem to reality. the room is hotter than you remembered, and you almost shriek as you realize luigi’s hands had been all over you. he’s quick to put his hand over your mouth, talking in your ear, “‘m sorry baby, couldn’t resist.”

his sloppy wet kisses are hot against your neck, so frantic, so desperate, so needy, his stubble unnerving you as you squirm under his hold. you can hardly make sense of what’s happening. “luigi.” you mewl as he grinds his clothed cock into you. “what’re you doing?”

he moans at the perfect blend of innocence and surprise twined through your voice. its undeniable now — he can’t spend another second not experiencing you.

“you said you wanted to make me feel better, yeah?” luigi grunts. before you can respond, he’s slipping a finger into your wet pussy. you jolt at the wild unfamiliar storm that grasps you, trying to turn your head over to him, to look at him, to ask him what the hell had gotten into him. he kisses you when your head tilts, his free hand wrapping around your throat.

“that’s so much fuckin’ better,” he tells you, stretching your core out with another two fingers. he’s so eager—so intent on making a mess of you, you’re almost humiliated at how easily you fall apart underneath.

you quiver and shake, and try to twist out of his groping hands, but he doesn’t budge, pressing harder into you. “you’re doin’ so fuckin’ good for me, sweetheart,” he swears.

“luigi,” you cry, helpless. the friction felt so hot it made you light-headed. the pleasures storms out any logical part of you. “i don’t—i don’t know what to do.”

of course you don’t. you were entirely too sweet, too well-meaning, too fuckin’ stupid to realize how badly he wanted you. running up to him after his gym workout, bright-eyed as you asked him to hang out. not on a date, not even as friends, but for a stupid fucking college paper. he should’ve taken you right there, in the parking lot, let you scream on it so loud the entire campus knew you were his, saved all this goddamn time.

“you’re a fuckin’ virgin?” luigi asks. he needs to hear you say it.

he rips his hand from your aching cunt and you cry out at the loss of friction.

“yes,” you pout.

“any good journalist knows to use specifics.” you see a cocky grin etch onto his lips before he flips you over and brings you in for a proper kiss, your arms wrapping around his neck as he sinks into you. you kiss him back. you wanted this, whatever it was. “tell me again.”

“i’m a virgin,” you admit, reddening.

he smiles against your cheek before kissing you again—“been waiting for me, yeah? you want me to take you?”

“luigi, please.”

“what’s that?” he says, cruel.

you pout again and try to please him, rushing into another kiss. he captures your lips gladly, but refuses to bring you to the satisfaction of salvation.

all too mean, he points out, “you don’t even know what you’re begging for.”

at this point you were sure you could get drunk off the warmth of him. if you bucked up into the air, you could feel his bulge raging against his sweatpants.

“i want you,” you whine. “i mean—i just—i thought you wanted me too..?”

“of course i do. look at you.” luigi grunts before he strips off his shirt, ripping down your leggings with a force that pulls your body down the bed with him. his dark gaze drifts down.

you flush at the sight of the wet mess all over your legs. “you did all that just for me?” luigi mocks. “you want me that fuckin’ bad?”

“yes,” you have no idea why but you do. you can’t imagine a world where you walk away now and never experience him.

luigi never had any intention of being nice about this. his morals and his plans for the night unraveled the moment his eyes found you sprawled across his bed. harshly, he grips your hips—sure to leave marks, hoping for it—before pounding the entirety of his length into your purity.

the stretch scorches, searing into you. you see white, red, and hell all at once. “luigi—!” you cry out.

“you’re so good,” luigi assures. he tries to pace himself as you fall apart underneath him. he tries he tries he tries—but your inexperienced pussy molds around him, so perfect and wet, he can’t help himself.

you feel everything but perfect. unnerved and wild and overwhelmed, whimpering underneath him like a sick puppy. he fucks into you like he’s itching to see if you’ll break.

“it hurts,” you whine.

“you look so fuckin’ pretty with your legs spread,” luigi says. “can’t get enough of this perfect pussy.”

you paw at him, desperate for sacred ground, grip landing on his arms, hard and toned underneath your fingertips. he smirks. “feelin’ me up, sweetheart? you like my arms?”

the sound of skin slapping overtakes your corner of the world. you’d seen him before, but never like this. you’ve never had anything like this.

“luigi.” you whimper. “i can’t, you’re so big—”

“i know, pretty, i know,” he murmurs, kissing the running wet tears down your cheeks. “d’you remember the night you went up to me after the gym? d’you remember what you were wearing?”

you can’t help but claw your fingers deep into his arm muscles, desperate to find a vice for the pain. “oh my god,” you gasp. he pounds into you relentlessly and before you realize, you’re rolling into waves of foreign pleasure.

“stupid fuckin’ tank top,” luigi groans. pleasure storms you as he gets more brazen. he pulls down your camisole, lapping at your tits, biting you, marking you. “wind blew over and i got to see your perfect fuckin’ nipples. wanted to tear you apart right there.”

“what? really?”

“had to jack off in my fuckin’ car thinking about you, about this,” he murmurs before smashing his mouth back onto yours—and this time, you feel more prepared to bear it, melting into his warmth, lips perfectly reunited. you’re shivering under the heat. he fucks you hard into the mattress, hellbent on breaking you in. you’re sure he’s accomplished it already. you’re dizzy and light and on top of the goddamn world.

he sees through you. “fuckin’ close?”

“i-i think so—”

“so fuckin’ stupid,” he muses. “stupid fuckin’ virgin, doesn’t even know when she’s gonna cum.”

“you’re so mean,” you whine.

“yeah, you think so?” he growls, his voice low and dangerous as his hand strikes your cheek. the sting blooms like fire, another cruel signature of his dominance, a mark left behind in his endless quest to tarnish the golden purity you wear so effortlessly. his wicked touch moves down to your delicate clit and the sparks of pleasure turn into storms. you’re done for, waves of white gushing around him as you cry out his name.

“oh god,” luigi groans. “such a good girl, creamin’ on it like that. so perfect.”

the jolt of pleasure within you only makes you more sensitive. this time, when his hands return to your body, they’re clamped around your neck. he’s pulling into you, punishing your delicate cunt. as you quiver and froth, his thrusts grow sloppy and he rasps again—this time more guttural, more intense—and soon enough you feel his huge cock twitch inside of you, sending streams of his seed into your stomach.

he joins your silhouette on the bed, his warmth melting into yours as he pulls you close. his arms wrap around you, steady and secure, and his lips press softly to your forehead.

“‘m sorry,” he murmurs into your hair, his voice low and soothing. “didn’t mean to get so rough.”

you struggle to find the breath, then the words, “no, i—i think it was fine.”

he looks at you, his smile fading into something more thoughtful, his gaze deepening with quiet admiration. “just fine?” he asks, his voice laced with a hint of playful disbelief.

you meet his gaze, your heart fluttering, and with a mischievous glint in your eye, you hum,

“penn’s finest.”

MASTERLIST ! leave me suggestions and review me <3

[marlshroom]

came to the fucked up realization after finishing gravity falls again last night the parallels of the dream bubble bill made for mabel and the literal state of delusion he keeps himself in.

in the book of bill on the page where bill cipher describes how he figured out a way to manipulate her into giving him the rift, it says:

"Summers ending, my guy. Ending to death, bro. She'd do anything to make it last just a day longer. Probably something RASH and OUT OF CHARACTER, even!"

as we know, mabel cannot handle the fact that she will be growing up. that the relationship with her brother is going to change. she is scared of high school.

bill then says "That was it. She'd never make a deal with me. But she'd make a deal with someone she believed could give her more time. The dream was done. I had her."

bill then creates the dream bubble for mabel, he makes every one of her dreams come true, a place where time is still and she can be a kid forever. a lie so great that she wont have to face the truth.

in journal 3 on one of the pages bill is writing in code, we see this:

[ID: "I ask you, why must[should] time only move forward? Why must cause preceded effect. Who voted on the law of physics."]

my friend helped me break down what bill means by this:

why can we only move forward in the 4th dimension of time. why does something have to make another thing happen, why must cause come before the effect. why cant you move backwards, in the other direction, change the decisions youve made.

how interpret this is bill asking why he is not able to back and stop what he did to his family. he says to ford that he tried and failed to undo the past.** why did him wanting people to acknowledge his advantages instead of suppress him lead to the destruction of his whole dimension?

**(i just want to point out that this is probably the time where bill is the MOST open to anybody, or at least the first. to his henchmaniacs he had been telling them that he liberated his dimension until the oracle discovered the truth. here, to ford, he got so much closer to telling the truth. he SHOWS ford the last atoms of his world. he says that it was destroyed by a monster, not that it was liberated! destroyed)

back to when bill says "I had her" about mabel, he had her cause he knew exactly what needed to happen to trap mabel in a delusion because it is exactly what he is doing to himself. creating a fake narrative of what happened to him, that he was vindicated in killing his whole dimension. only ever doing exactly what he wants because confronting the truth is too scary for him(good fucking lord). the morality page offers good insight into this too.

i am actually just going to quote the whole page and highlight the important part. it speaks for itself really

"THE POINT IS it's[morality] is a very flexible concept! But parents and presidents don't want you to know that, because then you might start asking other questions, like who put them in charge, anyway? So they cram your brain full of guilt and regrets for transgressing the laws that they just made up(the laws that they made to prevent the destruction of their dimension, regardless of if the law + the wrongful medication of a fucking baby triangle did any good to actually prevent it). Wouldn't it be nice if you could put all that baggage down? Quell the shame that follows you everywhere for a lifetime of crimes? MAKE THE SCREAMS FINALLY STOP? The good news is you CAN silence that annoying voice, and here's how!

DENIAL

Works 100% of the time in every situation. What you you mean there are people who disagree? I can confidently say there aren't!

RATIONALIZATION

If you can do it, you can justify it! "Truth" is open-source code and anyone can edit it anytime! Want to be like me? List 3 "evil" things and then 3 "reasons why they're actually good." You'll be rationalizing like Bill in no time!

DETACHMENT

Did you know 100% of your human cells die and are replaced every 7 years? That means that anything you did 7 years ago wasn't even you-it was some dead loser! You can't be held accountable for what a dead person did! What? You think this is just another form of rationalization? I DENY THAT!

THE BILL CIPHER DECISION METHOD!

Working over the eons, the voices in my head teamed up and worked out a foolproof method for making any decision in any situation.

DO WHATEVER I WANT."

ooooooooooooooooooh boy.

he is fully admitting here that he is living in a completely different really in order to justify doing whatever he wants. he gives mabel the tools to deny, to rationalize, to detach herself from the reality of it all. that time has to move forward. and he thinks it will work because it worked on himself.

but it doesn't work on mabel because she understands that she needs other people. shes vunerable, she lets people in, admits when shes wrong. and bill cant do that because it would destroy the fantasy he's created for himself.

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - Everything is Awful or New or Both

Feb 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessmen t of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) ep 11 of 12 - It’s an ep 11 so we knew this was gonna be a downer. This was definitely a “date me date my friends” kind of situation. At this rate, GeminiFourth’s other characters in Chicken are going to kiss before TinnGun do. I love Tinn’s dad. Also, it looks like our a tiny little ship of crumbs is sailing. How cute is that!? Sunshine + sunshine! Bonza. 

Bed Friend (Sat YT & iQIYI uncut) 1 of 8 - Fuck buddies get messy, AKA Between Us the second cumming only this time in an office (and on a desk). I have been waiting for James to hold down (or be held down in) a BL for years! All hail the new kings of high heat. BUCKLE UP I GOT A LOT TO SAY. I like that there’s a dark underbelly (*snicker*) of trauma to this one, it has a slightly a Japanese feel which suits mature characters and an office setting. King’s yearning worried eyes are glorious. Poor thing, he totally adores this beautiful broken fragile boy and doesn’t know how to capture his attention. I admit Net was the one I worried about with this pair. James was always gonna be great. It turns out, I didn’t have to worry. This is an awesome show and I fucking love it. It nearly scooped the top spot. Frankly this is the Office BL I have been WAITING for Thailand to give us. 

NOTE: I watched both YT’s cut and iQIYI’s uncut version. (Anyone else feel odd using those terms under a high heat BL context?) I like YT’s better, mostly iQIYI’s interface is shit. Deets? There was a little extra from the “morning after regrets flashbacks” but not so much I think you’ll regret missing it. Unless you REALLY prefer high heat. The emotion of the sexual connection and Uea’s lonely submissive need was transmitted in both versions, but the iQIYI is slightly more MOAR. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) ep 10 of 12 - Flashbacks to the cutest boyfriends ever and then PAIN. All I can think is “thank fuck this was handed to Pond & Phuwin.” One of the world’s saddest executions of the sniff test trope. Meanwhile, Perth is SO GOOD but I wish Chopper would record his conversations with his dad. Look, we all know Chopper is gonna take his dad’s bullet for Nuengdiao, right? Oh well, if you didn’t know, I just told you. 

Moonlight Chicken (Weds YT) 3-4 of 8 - The plot... erm... thickens. I told you Jim had a tragic backstory with an ex. And now it’s all gotten VERY messy. Sigh. Fourth & Gemini are cute, tho. 

Hit Bite Love (Sat YouTube) ep 4-5 of 6 - I do like King & Burger. The idea of giving your perspective boyfriend your CV is ADORBS. Auditioning for the part, as it were. I would like it known that my sexual identity is chili (AKA spicy) henceforth. (My pronouns are MaxTul & sometimes Phi.) Look, this is an absurd show. Last ep it was BDSM 101, this ep we got a lesson on how to use a condom properly? AND why the closet is both necessary and damaging? I mean I applaud their educational endeavors but BL: The After School Special? Did I sign up for Degrassi Junior BL while I wasn’t looking? 

Boyband (Thurs YT) 1 of 10 - BL drama about putting an idol boyband together. AKA how to make ABL suffer by combing favorite (celebrity romances, Kpop) and least favorite (bad singing) tropes. AND? I REALLY like it. It’s fun! What singing there is, is looped not live. So we in Cutie Pie territory. It’s easy to skip. The pairing is rich/poor and I like an other side of the tracks romance.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) ep 8 of 10 (or 15&16 of 20) - Covid strikes. Boyfriends are worried. Omg they are so cute and hot and awkward. Tension in the office politics too. It’ll be okay, babies. 

Jack o’Frost (Japan) ep 1 of 6 - After getting dumped, Ritsu has an accident and gets amnesia. Ikuya, his ex, struggles to help him regain his memories while wondering about the state of their relationship. But Ritsu falls in love with Ikuya all over again. Engaging opening but I’m just not sure about the premise. 

It’s Airing But ... 

Chains of Heart (Sat Gaga) 1 of 10 - Not dropping for me until tomorrow so it’ll be in next week’s round up I hope. Suspense thriller about a forest ranger, smugglers, amnesia, and lost love. Stars Haii (Cirrus in TT2) and Marc (My Gear & Your Gown in YYY). Adapted from a Y-novel of the same name by TJ Tommy.

My Beautiful Man 2 (Viki & Gaga) - Because there are only 4 eps, I decided to wait and binge this one. 

Cafe In Love (Thai) 10 eps on Ch3+ - Thai pulp, stars the actor who played Noh’s best friend Ohm in Love Sick 2. When his coffee shop closes, a man tries everything to save it and falls in love along the way. I had a hunt but can’t find it. 

Moments Of Love (Thai) Feb 14 Foremorfilm Production movie for cinema release. Was originally a series with Golf (609 Bedtime Story & The Eclipse) to direct, and SmartJames (LeonPhob from Don't Say No) to star. BUT is now something totally different. We’re all confused.

Destiny Seeker (Tues WeTV ) 10 eps - it’s not on any WeTV I can get ahold of. Engineering student Songkram is head of dorm 3, for "strong & athletic" students. Aye is head of dorm 2, for the "good looking" students. Aye used to be Songkram's tutor and friend, but they fell apart after becoming dorm heads. Aye is actually in love with Songkram but thinks Sonkram likes someone else. Songkram actually likes Aye. So, Bad Buddy the pulp rebirth meets that weird Japanese “girls-crossdressing-as-boys for love and infiltrating secret society of hotness” tradition.

Our Winter (Thai & Korea ?) - TutorYim vehicle supposedly airing now. Search me. 

The End Of The World, With You AKA Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu (Japan Sun Gaga) - DNFing this one. It’s way too high heat for them to end it happily and full of dark stuff like cheating, suicide, depression, abuse. I actively HATE one of the main characters and mildly dislike the other. Easier to just stop watching.  

Next Week Looks Like This:

2023 forthcoming BL master post. (see comments some are inaccurate, NOT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

My favorite thing to happen in BL this week. Possibly EVER.

Honestly, such a weird little After School Special. (All Hit Bite Love.) 

SAIL MY LITTLE CRUMBS! SAIL!!!! 

You TELL her, Paw. (All My School President) 

We stan the out boy. Own it, babycakes. (Moonlight Chicken.) 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Beautiful by BEAST, look, sometimes we gotta go back to our roots. Check out the legends for what they were, criticize my taste later. Fuck I miss those times when everyone had to sing live and the one with the hot mic had to stop dancing to catch his breath because, ya know, he still had to sing. 

ALL that said, you slackers should check out HELLO GLOOM - Dancing In The Dark. I alway said IMFACT was the most woke Kpop group, now they broken up(?) nice to see ‘em solo in queer fuck-off style. 

[pandenewie]

20 - Mama I’m in love with a criminal

Prev | Masterlist | Next

It’s funny how quickly rumours and gossip spread in a place like Be Lift High. And with high school relationships typically lasting 3 to 5 business days, it’s no surprise each week when there’s a hot new couple that’s got everyone's attention. Y/n’s not sure why they thought dating Jungwon would be any different.

“Omg, did you see they’re wearing his jacket?”

“They’ve worn it every day this week!”

“I would’ve never put them together, to be honest.”

“What do you mean? It’s like opposites attract.”

Y/n’s no stranger to stares and whispers in the halls, especially when the topic is what they’re wearing. Although this time is less about what they’re wearing and more about who it belongs to.

“Damn, I know Jungwon’s popular and all but I didn’t think people were this interested in his love life.” Hikaru scoffs, tightening her grip on Y/n’s arm as the two walk down the hallway. She would be lying if she said the stares weren’t mildly uncomfortable. “I don’t even know how people found out.” Y/n mumbles. “I blame Riki.” Hikaru scoffs, any excuse to start an argument.

“What did I do?” A voice asks, causing the two friends to turn towards the sound. Expecting to see Niki’s annoying face, they’re surprised to see an unfamiliar blonde instead.

“They weren’t talking about you, idiot.” The girl next to him, who Y/n immediately recognises to be Wonyoung, rolls her eyes. “Sorry, I just heard the name Ricky and assumed it was me.” He laughs. “That’s not even your real name.” Wonyoung mumbles before turning to smile at Y/n.

“Anyway, rumours going around say you and Jungwon are official?” She asks hopefully. Y/n feels their cheeks heat up slightly at all the attention. “I mean… yeah?” They reply sheepishly, causing Wonyoung to squeal in excitement. “That’s so cute! It took him long enough.” She exclaims, shaking the blonde (who is apparently Ricky) a few times for added effect.

“I didn’t know you guys were friends with Jungwon.” Hikaru says, curiously. “Of course we are… we’re on the council together.” Ricky clarifies, with an enthusiastic nod from Wonyoung to back him up. “That makes sense! I honestly couldn’t tell you who’s on the council this year.” Hikaru says, not caring if she upsets their feelings.

“I get that. I’ve been pretty slack as vice president since I was away for most of this semester. And Ricky hasn’t done the best as a fill-in.” She snides, elbowing the boy in the side. “Hey! I told you to pick Youngeun instead of me!” “She’s already the treasurer! You can’t expect her to do everything.” “But Jungwon can?” “You know Jungwon’s different.”

As the two start to bicker back and forth, it suddenly becomes very apparent why Jungwon is the only council member getting things done. President or not, he’s certainly the one who takes his role more seriously.

A sudden weight on Y/n’s shoulder causes them to turn their attention away from the Wonyoung vs Ricky argument and towards the sudden presence on their other side. Y/n’s eyes meet with Jungwon’s as he sends them a dimpled smile, using the arm around their shoulder to gently pull them into a side hug.

“What’s going on here?” He asks, ending the argument with just a few simple words. Everyone turns their attention towards Jungwon, now aware of his presence. “Oh, hi Jungwon.” Wonyoung waves, pulling her arms away from their position around Ricky’s neck (she wasn’t going to actually choke him, she swears.) “Sup Prez.” Ricky coughs slightly, raising his eyebrows towards Jungwon.

“We were just asking Y/n about your relationship since you’re keeping all the juicy details to yourself.” Wonyoung teases, causing Jungwon to laugh slightly. “Well not to burst your bubble, but I doubt you’ll get anything out of Y/n.” He says, squeezing their shoulders slightly as if to emphasise the point.

“Now Hikaru, do you mind if I steal Y/n for a bit? I promise you’ll get them back by lunch.” Jungwon asks, causing Hikaru to scoff. “Oh please take them for as long as you need. No returns.” She says, removing her arm from Y/n’s and pushing them towards Jungwon. “My heart.” Y/n fake cries. “Go hang out with your boyfriend, I’m gonna find Hiyyih and Eunchae.” Hikaru winks, waving goodbye. Wonyoung and Ricky decide to leave as well, mumbling something about continuing their argument away from the president.

“Are those two always so…” “Yeah.” Jungwon sighs, already knowing what Y/n was going to say. “They’re kinda like Hikaru and Niki. Pretend to hate each other and yet for some reason, they’re always hanging out.” He continues, causing Y/n to laugh slightly. “We’ve still got a bit of time before class starts. Let’s go somewhere where people are less nosy.” Jungwon says, causing Y/n to just nod and follow along. They’re not used to Jungwon being so confident and assertive, especially around them, where he’s usually awkward and shy. This new side of him is certainly one they could get used to.

The pair soon find themselves in the library, their go-to spot now that the toilets are being renovated. Once safely inside and out of view of teachers, Jungwon leans against one of the bookshelves, careful not to knock anything over. Y/n quickly slips off Jungwon’s jacket, revealing their outfit for the day.

“You’re kidding.” Jungwon laughs, attempting to hide his pinkening cheeks behind his hands. Y/n giggles slightly at his reaction, moving to stand between his legs before carefully removing his hands from his face. “What’s wrong? You don’t like my outfit?” They ask, trying to stop the smile from spreading across their face at Jungwon’s nervous expression. “I don’t think it counts as a shirt if you can see through it.” He mumbles, releasing one hand from Y/n’s grip to gently pull on the sheer top. “I have a singlet on.” Y/n defends. Jungwon rolls his eyes at this, knowing Y/n’s just arguing for the sake of it.

“It’s cute.” He mumbles, wrapping his arms around Y/n’s waist and pulling them further into his chest. “You’re cute.” Y/n retaliates, a sense of pride washing through their body at the sight of Jungwon’s cheeks visibly burning up. Y/n bites their lip to stop their smile from growing further as Jungwon buries his head in the crook of their neck. “What happened to the confident Jungwon with Wonyoung and Ricky, huh?” Y/n asks, gently running their fingers through his hair. “You make me nervous.” Jungwon mumbles. “That’s a shame.” Y/n sighs. “President Jungwon’s pretty hot.”

Y/n’s words cause Jungwon to let out a groan as he attempts to hide even further into their neck. “You’re gonna kill me.” He mumbles against the skin, making sure to sneak a quick kiss that he hopes isn’t noticeable. It is. But Y/n doesn’t bother to point it out, since Jungwon is practically melting at this point.

Y/n’s eyes flicker to the clock that hangs on the far wall of the library, signalling that class will start in a few minutes. “I don’t wanna go to class.” They sigh, tightening their arms around Jungwon’s neck. “Skipping is bad.” Jungwon murmurs, despite making no move to get to class either. “You know we could just stay here…” Y/n trails off, pressing a kiss against the crown of Jungwon’s head. The sudden affection causes him to pop out of his hiding place, eyeing Y/n suspiciously.

“Tempting…” He says, his eyes falling to Y/n’s lips. “But we can’t.” He continues, standing up straight and pulling almost completely away from Y/n - expect his hands, which stay resting gently against their waist. The distance doesn’t last long, however, as Y/n quickly pulls Jungwon back into their personal bubble. “You’re no fun.” Y/n pouts, reaching up to run their fingers through his hair.

“Not sure what your idea of fun is.” Jungwon sighs, closing his eyes slightly at the relaxing touch of Y/n’s fingers. A surprise tug at his strands causes Jungwon to yelp, opening his eyes to look down at Y/n. They’re a lot closer than they were a second ago and Jungwon lets out another sigh at the realisation that his first escape attempt came up unsuccessful. “This is fun, isn’t it?” Y/n asks, leaning forward to press a quick peck against Jungwon’s lips. So quick, that he barely even registered the contact until it was too late.

The bell rings for the start of class, but neither Y/n nor Jungwon move an inch. "You're gonna be late~" Y/n teases in a sing-song voice, giving Jungwon another quick peck. "So are you~" Jungwon mimics, repeating the same action.

It's a standoff at this point, who can get the other to give in first? Y/n knows the likelihood of them winning this is high - considering the fact that Jungwon will do just about anything they tell him to.

They're about to lean forward to press another kiss against his lips when a sudden gasp causes them to freeze.

"Y/n, what are you doing? You're supposed to be in class!"

Both students turn to see the school librarian looking at them disappointed. Y/n chooses to ignore the blatant favouritism and reluctantly pulls away from Jungwon. "Sorry ma'am, I was about to go." They reply, slipping Jungwon's jacket back over their shoulders. "Well hurry along, you're probably holding poor Jungwon up. He has so much work to do, that boy."

Y/n rolls their eyes at the double standards before turning their attention back to Jungwon. "I'll text you later." They say, subtly squeezing his hand before allowing the librarian to walk them out.

Jungwon sighs before the realisation hits that he should be in class, too. His eyes widen as he quickly slings his bag over his shoulder, pulling out his phone to double-check that he’s not too red before rushing out of the library.

TAG LIST (closed): @kang-yeosangs-initials @kpopstanmeg @b1ndignity @soobiverse @dudufodd @mikadorbs @pagesofmiracles @tya0 @ilovewonyo @bringer-ofchaos @huening-ly @ifearjwn @callmeblondie @run2min @straykids-riley (can't tag) @rikimylove @chaechae-23 @lacimolela @n1ght-maring (can't tag) @luvvsjungwonn @yenqa @tzuyusluv @viyqe @vocaloshin @deadgirlwalking3 @flamiricky @hanniesss @grayscorner @wonqr @neozon3nha @beomgyusonlywife @ahnneyong @lani-heart @jayujus @str4wb3rizz @yunwonie @jeonncafe @danielleismyname @spilled-coffee-cup @jaylans-stuff @oceanmsxoxo @j-wyoung

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Loki spin-off ideas

I'm going to preface this by saying, I do not think we will ever get a Loki spin-off. But that doesn't mean I can't think about all the great possibilities there could be. And also I am quickly running out of ideas again.

Spoilers for Loki.

TVA workplace comedy, featuring B-15 Verity, Casey, OB, on occasion Sylvie and Mobius, and introducing new (queer) characters. Casey and OB stumble their way into a relationship, Verity once and for all establishes that she can detect lies, Mobius is sad until in the season finale (with special guest star Tom Hiddleston!) someone figures out how to get him to Loki. And we get Lokius in the last ten seconds, because they pull a Will Shatner and purposely ruin every other take that isn't them making the fuck out.

TVA training shorts, featuring Miss Minutes (ugh), reminiscent of those high school PSAs they made Cap do ("So you got detention," etc.), but animated in the style of the introductory video Loki watched in the first episode. You could also have a second season of them as an updated version following the dissolution of the Sacred Timeline and how the branches are seen as good things now. Maybe the new ones are narrated by members of the Time Revengers, since Miss Minutes is still being rehabilitated. (I'm still deciding if the idea of listening to Mobius tell the story of how the multiversal tree was created would be heartbreaking even if he managed to remain professional and not break down in tears, or if it would be really sweet that he gets assigned that video.)

Lokis in the void, following mainly Kid Loki and (if we retcon it, set this before the show, or he somehow survived) Classic Loki, but also ridiculous schemes of President Loki (yuck, no thank you) that constantly get thwarted. The B-plot is Alligator Loki sneaking off and getting up to some shit in an anti-Perry the Platypus running gag. (Wait, maybe I just want a Phineas and Ferb parody where every character is a Loki and it takes place in the void. That could be so stupid it's hilarious.)

Classic Loki in Valhalla please I need it. Like we start similarly to the events of my fic After, where Classic Loki arrives in Valhalla and reunites at long last with Thor (don't ask me how, I know technically his timeline was reset). Then the show continues with Classic Loki and Thor getting up to hijinks in Valhalla, maybe scheming to break out of Valhalla (a storyline for Loki in various contexts I've played around with a few times). We could have different characters from the Thor movies and comics in Valhalla, but since they're all dead, they're all played by older actors. You could make some easy, low-hanging old jokes (back pain every time they use their weapon, etc.), but they're gods and they're dead, so technically they should be fine. They're just old and dead. (But like, Tony Stark is for sure in Valhalla, too. You could have some frostiron going on. Or Fandral. He's there, too, Ewing.)

Mobius's adventures in the multiverse, just episodes of him traveling through time and experiencing it (I'm realizing now that this is basically just the premise for Doctor Who...). Also going on in this series is obviously Mobius missing Loki and looking for a way to get to him. Of course (because this is my show and I say so), the series would end with them reuniting and confessing and staying together, either in the tree if need be or in the wider multiverse if Loki is able to leave the tree. And there would certainly be episodes throughout the show featuring the other members of our Time Revengers. Maybe the workplace comedy and this show are occurring simultaneously. (Like one episode of TVA someone's like "Where's Verity?" "Oh she's on a mission." And you're like oh the actor has a break or is filming something else, and then later that week the episode of Mobius airs and THERE'S VERITY!)

Sylvie in Broxton. That's it, that's the show. Just Sylvie living her best life in the small town, working at McDonald's, hanging out at Lyle's record store, ignoring 90% of the calls on her TemPad (unless it's Mobius, because in spite of herself, she's a little worried about him).

[clarabosswald]

Choosing Rebirth Over Revenge After My Release From Gaza

By Liat Atzili Artwork by Haley Jiang

Ms. Atzili is a high school teacher in Kiryat Gat, Israel, and an educator at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust remembrance center.

In Israel, the Shoah, or Holocaust, has often been spoken of in recent years alongside tekumah, meaning rebirth, after the survivor generation chose to rebuild a nation rather than lose itself to grief and vengeance. Molded by that spirit, Israel became a refuge for Jews in danger the world over, and has healed its relationships with Germany and other nations that perpetrated or enabled the Holocaust. I work at Israel’s national Holocaust remembrance center, Yad Vashem, where I teach Israeli 12th graders about the Shoah and prepare them for school trips to Poland. As the last remaining members of the survivor generation dwindled among us in recent years, my focus has been on how best to teach students about the Shoah when the eyewitnesses are gone. While preserving the memory of the horrors and losses the Shoah wrought remains important both for young Israelis and for children around the world, the concept of tekumah is also a central component of Holocaust education. Tekumah provides us with the vital life lesson of how to move on with dignity and purpose after experiencing a tragedy, and it is perhaps the most important gift that the survivors gave us. On Oct. 7, the Jewish people suffered our greatest tragedy since the Holocaust. That tragedy came to my own home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was burned down as I was taken to Gaza as a hostage. I was held in a home with Gazans and Hamas fighters, with no news of the outside world. Terrified, alone and unsure of the fate of my family, I kept myself going for nearly two months, promising myself I wouldn’t miss the graduation ceremony of the class I teach and imagining reuniting with my husband, Aviv, and our three children. I am a dual citizen of Israel and the United States, and I was released after 54 days thanks in large part to the intervention of President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. My children, thankfully, survived — one after terrifying hours in hiding, one by sheer luck of having been elsewhere that day, one who staved off the attackers by holding the door of a safe room closed. But my home of 30 years was burned beyond recognition, and the home of my heart — my husband, Aviv — was among the 1,200 killed by Hamas in Israel on that terrible October day. So immense was the destruction, I found that terrorists had even killed my dog, Revi.

When I got out of Gaza, I discovered there was no Kibbutz Nir Oz to return to. I am living in what is called a “temporary arrangement” apartment in the southern city of Kiryat Gat; as of now I can stay here for three years, perhaps longer. My children are of an age when they are leaving the nest, and I am experiencing that bittersweet rite of passage as a new widow, without a home. Now is the time for the world to demand and secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. I want to be reunited with my neighbors. Then will come the time for mourning what we have lost. Neither of these missions ends our work. Beyond the horizon of our pain, we must recommit ourselves to tekumah with the same determined optimism of the Holocaust survivor generation. I see no alternative. Without tekumah, we will only sink further into the cycle of mutual anger and victimhood that has plagued our relationship with the Palestinians for too long. That is not the approach that the survivor generation chose, and in their spirit I do not seek revenge for what I have been through. I am humbled by how my fellow Israelis put their lives at risk to fight my kidnappers, but I do not feel any catharsis in seeing the destruction of Gaza. Instead, I want to focus on building a better future for my three children — and for the children of Gaza. After the Holocaust, a new generation rose up in Israel, focused not on the past but instead on making the future bloom. Tekumah for Israel after this war will mean rebuilding our national identity and moving past the divisive politics that marked the year leading up to Oct. 7. Our adversaries may be dangerous, but no one has the power to destroy our country more than we do ourselves. But for me tekumah is not only about Jewish lives, it’s also about all those lives that shattered on Oct. 7 and after — including those of my non-Jewish neighbors, Israeli citizens, who have been caught up in the battles ever since. It also means working toward a rebirth for Gaza. While I cannot influence the choices that Gazans will make for themselves, I hope those responsible for launching this war are replaced with people who want a better future alongside Israel. After seeing the investment Hamas made in its underground city, it is easy to understand that so much was squandered in Gaza over the past 18 years. Gazan citizens, too, deserve a rebirth, one that imagines a future not of combat but of shared existence. One more arena in which tekumah is sorely needed is in the diaspora. Antisemitism, which is as old as Western society, these days seems to seep into much of the public discourse around Judaism, Jewish people and Israel. I am not blind to my country’s failings, but it is deeply troubling how this conflict, which was started in the most violent way by Hamas, has contributed to a rise in violent antisemitic acts. Tekumah in the diaspora would allow for the full expression of Jewish life without fear, both in Israel and around the world. If the young people among the decimated European Jewish population were able to face the future with optimism after the Holocaust, we, too, can find the strength to repair what has been broken.

[gray-dun]

TLDR: Some songs have a deeper meaning than most people think would be great if people could read between the lines and where more media literate. But I get it art is subjective and thinking is hard.

Also fuck the person that said "high school is the best time of your life".

OVER SHARING TIME. Trun back while you can

I've been thinking about Green Day because they are apparently relevant again...

The year is 2006

Months before the student council had asked for students to submit songs to be voted on. My friend group hummed and hawed about it for a few days, and we eventually decided that Float On by Modest Mouse was a good choice. We all went around to other friend groups and tried convinced a few people to go along with us.

The early to mid 2000's where bat shit crazy (although compared to the 2020's haha fuck...) it was the height of "the war on terror", and I feel lead vocalist Issac Brock summed it up perfectly that time in an interview.

"It was a completely conscious thing. I was just kind of fed up with how bad shit had been going, and how dark everything was, with bad news coming from everywhere. Our president George W. Bush is just a fucking daily dose of bad news! Then you've got the well-intentioned scientists telling us that everything is fucked. I just want to feel good for a day."

At the time, it felt like the song was saying "yeah shit sucks, but just keep pushing forward. You'll get there" and that resonated with our teen brains that were constantly bombarded with fear mongering, blatant racism, homophobic raving, and the looming economic recession. (So about the same as now I guess) Christ, I thought I was closeted and socially withdrawn now. Back then I was constantly told to my face I looked like a school shooter/drug dealer or asked (called) if I was gay (or other slurs of that nature) by "friends" and "family". Only for them to then turn face and day shit like "I should be more open about my feelings and talk more" or "you feel distant". Hmm I wonder why.

Anyway

Lo and behold the day the ballots were handed out Float On was there. However, so was Time of You're life by Green Day. That lunch we cast our votes and a sense of dread hung over our group as we sat around the lunch table. We all wondered if people knew that the full title of the track is Time of your life (Good Riddance) and what it was even about.

For those that don't know or are too young, the song is about the lead of Green Day masking his anger about an ex moving away and being a passive-aggressive man child about the whole situation.

The class of 06 graduation came, and I somehow received my diploma. As the ceremony wrapped they played us out to Time of your life (Good Riddance). My friends and I all gave each other a quick knowing cringed glance, and after the celebration we headed over to a friend house to play 3.5 ed D&D for the entire weekend before our last summer together.

Since that day I have never gone back to that high school, or spoken to the majority of the people i graduated with. I remember one of my friends at the time said "as you get older you'll miss them and the times we shared" and honestly... Good Riddance.

[just-a-music-and-poetry-lover]

I'm scared. So fucking terrified that I can't express it right.

I'm from Portugal. Our government was dissolved by the president recently because our Prime Minister of the last 8 years resigned after his name was brought up in a criminal affair regarding very high patent government members. You might have heard of it if you follow international news. If you do, you probably know more about it than me, but this is the issue in a nutshell.

In the last elections, the Prime Minister's party had the "absolute majority" in Parliament (I don't know the name in English, that's how it's called in Portuguese), which basically means that more than half of the government's members belonged to that particular party, meaning they could pass whatever laws they wanted if they all voted the same. This meant that, for the first time in forever, real change could have happened for the better here if they had done that, since they call themselves a "center-left" party.

The problem is that some major problems happened during this government's time in power, as well as some others that had little to change happening to them. People are frustrated. Everyone is. Everyone was already tired of that party being in power during the last elections, but because there was the threat of the rising far-right parties, people got scared and mainly voted for the same party, afraid that we'd have another far-right government, not even 50 years after we freed ourselves from a fascist dictatorship. So he and his party got the absolute majority in parliament. And things got worse.

Yes, it is time for another party to be in power, but the far-right is NOT the answer, and that's what many people, and alarmingly, many young, about-to-vote-for-the-first-time impressionable people, are failing to understand.

The far-right claims to be a people's party, they claim they defend the people's interests, but THEY DON'T. They're racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, queerphobic in general, they're pro-marginalizing already marginalized communities. Did I already mention they plan to end universal healthcare, public education and social services? Well, they do.

The problem is that many people who are advocating for that party right now, when the new elections are a month from tomorrow, will absolutely lose rights if they get to power.

But they don't listen. They just think that, because a leftist party messed up (and they did mess up pretty badly, don't get me wrong. I'm in the left but I can recognize that), that the far-right is the solution to everyone's problems, when they will only make them worse.

I think of myself, a transgender man, who will absolutely lose my rights to transition as I wish if the far-right gets to power.

I think of my little sister, who is about to celebrate one month dating her girlfriend and who will not be able to get married to her if she wishes to do so if the far-right gets to power.

I think of my grandmother, who was recently very sick and would not have survived if Portugal didn't have universal healthcare, who have died otherwise because the family would not have been able to pay for her treatments in the privatized healthcare the far-right idealizes.

I think of all the immigrant friends I've made over the years and how they would all be deported to their countries of origin if the far-right got to power.

I think of every child, myself included, who would not have gotten even the most basic of education if there weren't public schools in my country.

I think of the scholarship I got to study at university because my family is low-income, which I would definitely not have received if the far-right was in power.

If you're from Portugal and are old enough to vote, please do so with conscience. Lives will depend on your vote on March 10th. Lives will be sacrificed for an illusion of freedom that will immediately disappear or lives will be spared. Please, vote, but don't vote for a party that would take away the rights of more than half of the population. Even if it seems like those measures wouldn't affect you, they definitely would. We're all in the same boat. Some of us won't even get on the boat if my concerns turn out to be true. The majority of us will drown.

[medea10]

My Review of Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro: 2nd Attack

First season review here.

Like a moth to a flame, I return to something that I know isn’t good for me to watch. I’ve made my point very clear about how I felt watching the first couple of episodes of Miss Nagatoro two years ago. But I also felt like there was a massive change within the characters since then. I don’t know, maybe I’ve succumbed to this weird Stockholm Syndrome I’m witnessing.

HISTORY: Naoto Hachiouji is a timid boy. This will be the one and only time you will see his real name. Everyone calls him “Senpai” so I shall do so in this review. Senpai doesn’t like confrontations or hanging out with anybody. You’ll usually find him in the art room or library working on his drawings. His quiet world is shattered one afternoon when he finds four loud girls sitting in the library. One incident of Senpai dropping his drawings sparks interest in one of the four girls. Hayase Nagatoro has an immediate fascination with her quiet and shy senpai.

Now when I say “fascination”, I mean Nagatoro teases the ever-loving crap out of this boy every chance she gets. It’s usually customary for an underclassman to respect their senpai. But all of that is thrown out the window with this anime. You can say this is just Uzaki-chan in a high school setting and the main heroine doesn’t have a big rack. Also, Nagatoro is just fucking brutal. Senpai was reduced to tears by the end of episode 1 this bullying was that bad!

SECOND ATTACK: I guess we’re right back to the tail-end of the culture festival and it’s primarily the same thing.

Senpai breathes. Nagatoro attacks. Pervy! Creepy! Hahaha! Something absurd happens that could be taken the wrong way. Jealousy. More laughing at this boy.

…Yeah, that’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s the same thing as last season. I mean, yeah, there are several changes here. We see a more vulnerable Nagatoro at times. Senpai switched up his appearance a bit by changing to contact lenses. And at least this season doesn’t consist of Senpai being bullied to the point of tears like last time. Though the awkwardness is up 1000% here.

LICENSING: Crunchyroll still has a hold on this anime and as expected, they released their usual number of dubs in the weeks following the premier. And of course, we got the return of the English cast from the other year with Kimberly Anne Campbell and Erik Kimerer.

NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED: I mean, there were a few here and there so I guess they deserve a nod.

Let’s start with Nagatoro’s sister, Misaki. She’s a Nagatoro all right, she’s a teaser just like her baby sister. And yes, she sees that her sister like Senpai.

Speaking of relations, remember the art president from last season with the curvy body? Now that Sana’s graduating, her little cousin Hana is now enrolled in the school and keeping Senpai company in the art room.

JAPANESE CAST: *Misaki is played by Yoshino Nanjou (known for Eli on Love Live, Awatsuki on Railgun, Aiko on Baka & Test, and Sonia on Berserk 2016)

*Hana is played by Sayumi Suzushiro (known for Kei on Kaguya-sama and Kurena on 86)

ENGLISH CAST: *Misaki is played by Vivian Lu

*Hana is played by Xanthe Huyhn (known for Menma on Anohana, Hanyuu on Higurashi Gou, Platelets on Cells at Work, Takina on Lycoris Recoil, Haru on Persona 5, Hanayo on Love Live, and Hidomi on FLCL: Progressive)

RANDOM NOTE: Art president is still at it. Seriously, how the hell can she run that fast in heels and in that bunny-girl costume without spraining an ankle, have a nip-slip, tearing fabric, or working up a sweat? I’m convinced this bitch ain’t human!

SHIPPING THE SECOND ATTACK: What do you mean Senpai doesn’t know Nagatoro’s first name? That’s like first episode knowledge! To be fair, the most Senpai has to go on is what her friends call her “Hayacchi”. But in anime romcoms, one of the biggest moments would be for one of the characters to call the other character by their first name. We went through a lot of that shit in the second season of Uzaki-chan. Every so often, we do get genuine moments between Senpai and Nagatoro like when Senpai stuck up for Nagatoro or when Senpai asked Nagatoro’s first name. Besides that, it’s the usual Nagatoro acting all tsundere when someone asks if she likes Senpai, but will flip if she sees Senpai with another girl.

Anything else to go on?

Um…how about these two going on a date? More details below.

ENDING: This has been a pretty productive season. Not when it comes to admitting one likes the other or something like that. Hell no! Character growth, I meant. Nagatoro showed a lot of growth when it came to practicing judo again. I was aware of this arc going into this season and it was nice to see this other side to Nagatoro besides the teasing and taunting. As for Senpai…he started wearing contact lenses and it stuck around.

During the judo competition, Nagatoro baited Senpai with a kiss. If he wins a competition, she’ll reward Senpai with a kiss. Did he win a competition? Hell no, Senpai wound up flat on his back in his first match. But then Nagatoro asked Senpai the next time she wins to promise her a kiss. Yeah, could you be any more obvious here? We all know both of you like each other. But we gotta get the minor cast of characters to nudge them into going on a date. Hana Sunomiya (the younger cousin of the art president) especially nudges Senpai to ask Nagatoro on a date. After a lot of back-and-forth between the two and their terrible ideas for dates. Seriously, who the hell would ever suggest going to a dog fight for a date? Senpai, the fuck is wrong with you?!

Thankfully, we get a more romantic scene after that stupidity (music and all) where Senpai runs to Nagatoro to formally ask her out on a date to the aquarium. The two of them felt really good during this moment. The next day, their minds were pretty much pudding and that left their friends thinking they have to interfere. Sana and little cousin Hana are going to prevent anyone from messing with their date. Meanwhile, Nagatoro’s friends Gamou and Yoshi jumped to every wrong conclusion by thinking Nagatoro is going to take away Senpai’s virginity.

Where would they get a stupid idea like that? Oh, I don’t know. How about any time anyone here mentions Senpai’s virginity and dirty stuff like that?! I forgot how immature high schoolers are.

The date at the aquarium went…well, how would you expect a date (or mock-date) to go in this anime? Nagatoro’s going to keep calling Senpai creepy. Nagatoro’s going to be critical about this trip with Senpai. Senpai is going to do that gesture that now looks weird after wearing contact lenses. To be fair, he’s been doing it since putting the contact lenses in. It’s still weird. Nagatoro is going to get jealous and threatened being surrounded by all the other couples at the aquarium. Senpai is going to be oblivious to what Nagatoro really wants. And Senpai is going to have one chivalrous moment. Everything I said here is exactly what happened and doesn’t need to go any further.

Nagatoro seemed to have had a fun time on today’s date. Even though she gave it a score of 50 out of 1000 points, she had fun. And we end with a hug…No, not really. Because they were interrupted by Nagatoro’s friends and the Sunomiya cousins. In short, that moment was ruined. Nagatoro was pretty steamed with her friends and Hana felt guilty. But all was forgiven eventually. They got to hug eventually. That’s how they ended the season at least.

Okay, I’m feeling much better about this than I did when I first started watching this anime. I let some time pass since watching those episodes where Nagatoro made Senpai cry and let the actions of this season swirl around my head a bit. There’s not a lot I can say to sway people to watching this as teasing chicks and wimpy boys can sometimes be a trigger point for some people. Like I said last time, if you were a fan of Uzaki-chan, this is probably another one to check out. They’re both very similar in story.

After watching both Uzaki and Nagatoro’s second seasons this past year, I’ve come to the conclusion that Nagatoro and Senpai are ahead in the romance department. Yeah, I feel like Uzaki and Sakurai have gone like several steps backwards compared to these two. But I feel that’ll be more of a discussion for a different day and review. Possibly if either one of these guys gets a third season. I feel like things might get a little interesting in the future as Senpai is a third-year in high school and that means he has his whole future ahead of him to plan. But again, if and when that happens, I’m interested to see what plays out between him and Nagatoro.

Okay, that’s it from me. If you want to watch Nagatoro, Crunchyroll has both seasons available. While you’re there, if you want to check out Uzaki-chan too, it’s there as well.

[newstfionline]

Thursday, September 7, 2023

American democracy’s falling score (The Atlantic) Since 2016, America has experienced what political scientists call ‘democratic backsliding.’ The country has seen a surge in political violence; threats against election workers; efforts to make voting harder; and a campaign by the then-president to overturn the results of an election—hallmarks of a democracy in distress. Organizations that track the health of democracies around the world have captured this problem in numerical terms. Freedom House’s Global Freedom Index gives countries a score from 0 to 100 each year; 100 indicates the most democratic. In 2015, the United States received a score of 90, roughly in line with countries such as Canada, France, Germany, and Japan. But since then, America’s score has declined steadily, reaching 83 in 2021. Not only was that score lower than every established democracy in Western Europe; it was lower than new or historically troubled democracies such as Argentina, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Taiwan.

Rising Rents Are Hitting American Suburbs Hardest (WSJ) America’s suburbs are posting the country’s fastest-rising rents. Many white-collar workers with remote jobs moved out of city apartments for roomier accommodations during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. Now, high mortgage rates and home prices are keeping some of the same families renting for longer periods. A rise in crime and homelessness in several big cities also has some renters looking to the suburbs. The trend is propping up rents and fueling concerns about rental affordability in suburban areas.

Empty seats (NYT) The long school closures during the Covid pandemic were the biggest disruption in the history of modern American education. And those closures changed the way many students and parents think about school. Attendance, in short, has come to feel more optional than it once did, and absenteeism has soared, remaining high even as Covid has stopped dominating everyday life. On an average day last year—the 2022-23 school year—close to 10 percent of K-12 students were not there, preliminary state data suggests. About one quarter of U.S. students qualified as chronically absent, meaning that they missed at least 10 percent of school days. “I’m just stunned by the magnitude,” said Thomas Dee, a Stanford economist who has conducted the most comprehensive study on the issue. Dee looked for explanations for the trend, and the biggest reason for the rise seems to be simply that students have fallen out of the habit of going to school every day.”For almost two years, we told families that school can look different and that schoolwork could be accomplished in times outside of the traditional 8-to-3 day,” Elmer Roldan, who runs a dropout prevention group, told The Los Angeles Times. “Families got used to that.”

Mexico’s peso is soaring. That’s bad news for people who rely on dollars sent from the U.S. (Los Angeles Times) Pedro Sánchez Martínez has spent decades as a contractor building houses for his neighbors in this farm town. Seven years ago, he set out to build one for his own family. The pace of construction in rural Mexico, where mortgages are hard to come by, frequently depends on how quickly relatives working in the United States send dollars. Sánchez has relied on money transfers from two sons toiling as gardeners in California. “I had hoped to be done in a year or so from now,” he said. But that was before the dawn of the “super-peso,” as the Mexican currency has been dubbed since steadily gaining 18% on the dollar during the last 12 months. Millions of Mexicans rely on remittances. A weaker dollar means fewer pesos to buy livestock, food and other necessities, or pay for quinceañeras, marriages and funerals. With more dollars now going toward basic expenses, home-building here has all but collapsed. And across the Mexican hinterlands, there are hundreds of towns and villages that rely on dollars as a lifeline.

Fierce storm in southern Brazil kills at least 21 people and displaces more than 1,600 (AP) At least 21 people died in southern Brazil due to a fierce storm that caused floods in several cities, authorities said Tuesday. Rio Grande do Sul Gov. Eduardo Leite said the death toll is the state’s highest due to a climate event. He said about 60 cities had been battered by the storm, which was classified as an extratropical cyclone. Rio Grande do Sul was hit by another extratropical cyclone in June, which killed 16 people and caused destruction in 40 cities, many of those around state capital of Porto Alegre.

German court refuses extradition to U.K. based on prison conditions (Washington Post) In an embarrassment for post-Brexit Britain, a court in Germany has refused the extradition of an Albanian man to Britain over concerns about prison conditions. The particulars of the case aren’t especially noteworthy: British authorities accuse the man, who had been living in Britain, of trafficking about 11 pounds of cocaine and laundering money equivalent to $415,000. But the German court’s response is unusual. “It cannot be assumed with sufficient certainty at the moment that the persecuted person, if extradited to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, would receive humane detention conditions there,” read the ruling by the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court. In a commentary, Jonathan Goldsmith, a member of the Law Society, the independent professional body for attorneys in England and Wales, said the ruling was “another severe rebuke” for the British government’s record on the administration of justice.

Scholz calls for a broad pact to slash bureaucracy and modernize Germany (AP) Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germany’s opposition and regional governments on Wednesday to help slash a “thicket of bureaucracy” that slows down Europe’s biggest economy, as his government grapples with poor poll ratings and a reputation for internal strife halfway through its term. Scholz told lawmakers that his governing coalition has begun making Germany less complicated and bureaucratic, for example by introducing flat-rate tickets for regional public transport and by building the country’s first liquefied natural gas terminals within months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But he appealed to highly decentralized Germany’s 16 state governments, local officials and the opposition to join in a “pact for Germany that makes our country faster, more modern and more secure.” That would include doing more to streamline notoriously lengthy planning processes, move forward the country’s famously slow digitization and speed the building of new homes.

The U.S. will send $1 billion more to Ukraine (NYT) During a visit to Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken today announced more than $1 billion in new American aid to Ukraine. The aid includes mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs, which will assist Ukrainian troops in their push into Russian-occupied territory. But the aid also goes beyond security assistance, with funding to help “rebuild a free, resilient, thriving” country after the war, Blinken said. The U.S. and Ukraine are in talks over a long-term security partnership that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he would like to resemble Washington’s alliance with Israel.

Kharkiv’s subway classrooms (Washington Post) The first-graders gathered to start a new school year in a windowless underground hallway turned classroom, gushing about the best things in the whole world. Monday marked the first day of classes for students in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, located just 25 miles from the Russian border. It was also the 558th day of Russia’s continuing invasion and, to protect the children from the constant threat of airstrikes, makeshift classrooms have been set up throughout the city’s sprawling subway system. More than 1,300 schools in areas controlled by the Ukrainian government have been destroyed since start of the invasion in February 2022, according to UNICEF, which has documented profound learning loss among Ukrainian children after their safe environments were obliterated. In Kharkiv, where the launch and impact of missiles from Russian soil are measured in seconds, online classes are now the norm. So officials here launched a voluntary initiative for parents and students who want to learn in a physical classroom to supplement computer-based learning while offering hardened shelter from the bombs.

India’s prime minister uses the G20 summit to advertise his global reach and court voters at home (AP) Major roads in New Delhi are teeming with giant posters and billboards announcing India’s presidency of this week’s summit of the Group of 20 nations. And one leader’s picture—smiling benignly from every traffic circle—stands out from the rest: Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi is also on the front page of major newspapers, and Indian TV channels are flashing his picture, accompanied by the Hindi word “Vishwaguru”—a leader of the world. In public speeches, his ministers are touting him as a steward of a surging India. It is an unabashed homage to the populist prime minister and staunch Hindu nationalist, who is celebrated by his supporters and by his party as someone who is leading a developing nation of more than 1.4 billion people to a bright new future. But this advertising blitz also displays the personal ambitions of Modi, who in the past has used the optics of New Delhi’s growing geopolitical clout and foreign policy triumphs to consolidate power. Experts say while India’s presidency of the summit represents a moment of pride for the country, Modi’s government has also used it to market the leader’s image and elevate his party’s prospects ahead of a national vote scheduled for next year.

Great Wall damage (Foreign Policy) Two construction workers in Shaanxi province ran an excavator through a breach in China’s Great Wall while looking for a shortcut, damaging the structure and making national news. It’s hardly the first time that part of the Great Wall has suffered: Only around 8 percent of the structure remains intact, and 30 percent is entirely gone. That’s in part because the Great Wall isn’t actually a continuous structure; it’s a collection of remnants of various fortifications built in different periods for different purposes. Originally associated with suffering and toil, the Great Wall became a symbol of national pride as a result of the admiration of European travelers—to the degree that the Chinese national anthem, written in 1934, calls upon the people to “with our flesh and blood, build a new great wall.” Despite efforts at passing national protection laws, however, locals have a habit of pillaging the bricks for sale to tourists.

[faeryworlds]

outbreaksurvived​:

@faeryworlds

“Ah, no more bikinis at the beach then.” Randy quipped, holding Sidney close to him. He had won, had survived copycat Ghostface killers, and married the girl from high school who often occupied his dreams. “I still have you beat on scars, with being swiss cheesed by Billy’s mother, with kitchen housewares.”

He had a flashback to Stu Macher’s house, and the taller high school student throwing him down the stairs, and begging Sidney to give him Dewey’s handgun. Both of them accusing the other of being the masked killer, and Sidney had basically said, “Fuck both of you!” to them and locked the door, and ran right into Billy’s arms.

“I hate that fucking house. I wish they’d burn it down, to be honest.” Randy groaned, and he began to cough a bit, his lungs acting up a bit, as he reached into the kitchen cabinet, to get one of his pills from a prescription bottle. Randy Meeks wasn’t exactly in top health, and was pushing his mid-fourties, lucky to be alive. He had been in a coma for seven weeks, after his stabbing attack, fighting to not go to that great big movie store in the sky, with Sid praying and holding his hand.

The new revelation about Billy having a daughter was taunting, and Randy didn’t know how to feel about it, pausing in his mid-drink of wine. “Wait, so you mean that Billy was really cheating on you with someone? What a piece of shit. A snake in the grass. Although it hardly matters. He got close to you so that he could kill you.” He sighed. “I don’t know, Sid. I’m not the President of the Loomis Family fan club, for obvious reasons.” Billy’s mother almost killed him, and Billy himself had shot him.

He bites his lip, as he smiled happily, as he cupped at Sidney’s bottom, through the back of her jeans, leaning in to kiss her neck provocatively. “Well, I have a few ideas of amends. I did take my medication tonight.” Randy chuckled. “Maybe…the two of us putting the kids to bed, and heading off to bed early.”\

Randy’s face lights up some. “Well, our baby daughter threw up all over me today, while feeding her!” He laughs. “So I got the FULL fatherhood experience today, Sid.”

He sighed, thinking about how Dewey had died, upset. “Don’t go, Sidney. Things are real now, and even Dewey bought it this time. Remake and sequel rules state that nobody is safe, even main characters.” He brushed a lock of his woman’s hair aside. “You don’t have to go back to Woodsboro. You have nothing to prove to this ghost-faced motherfucker.”

Originally posted by northernwet

“Hmm, I didn’t know we were keeping score who is winning when it comes down to scars.“ I think she, him and Gale all three had jus trauma to the Stu Macher house, since she was there for a second time and once again because of a ghostface attack. “I don’t think they will burn it down, Randy. Another family will move in that house.” Sidney was looking at him when he started coughing, yes she was worried about him. Especially that his health wasn’t that great to begin with. Even when Billy is dead he can get on Randy’s nerves. “He really was cheating on me with someone else and got that person pregnant. Because Sam is in her mid-twenties, I wasn’t even surprised when I heard about it. Randy, Sam isn’t like Billy. Okay yes she killed her boyfriend, so did I back in 1996.”

When he started kissing her neck she was closing her eyes for a short moment as she opened them again. A small grin appeared onto the woman her face when she heard what he had to say. “Heading to bed early you say, you know that doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all.” She smiled and then laughed hearing him say that. “Not the first time that happened, babe.” There was no way in hell she would ever step foot in Woodsboro again, that was the last time and the only reason she went back was when she heard Dewey had died and she wanted to be there for Gale. For now Sidney was going to stay here with Randy and their kids and be a mom and wife. Just like she had done the past ten years until recently when the attacks happened again. 

“I would love to hear the few ideas you have in mind that I can make amends with you. I have a feeling what one of those ideas might be.“ She then looked at him, leaning in to kiss him. “Does this mean you want to put the kids to bed now? Because I am all in for it. Since I do have to make it up to my husband.“ She ran her fingers through his hair, as it had been a while since well they would call it an early night. 

Time to just make sure the kids are in bed although Allison is old enough to go to bed herself and she most of the time is in her room anyway to play on her Nintendo Switch or to talk to her friends.. She didn’t even knew pre-teens were doing things like that, then again time change with how pre-teens and teens act right. 

[torturing-characters-101]

Hi! This is kind of a weird question but how/why was influenza (and other diseases that we have vaccines for now) so deadly 100-200 years ago? Obviously vaccines help tremendously, and probably immunity over time, but are there other reasons that the flu was a much bigger deal a century ago? Sorry if this is oddly specific, but my current project is historical. Thank you!

This is a very interesting question and there are a couple of different ways of looking at it.

Let's start with influenza:

[Note: it's surprisingly difficult to get good worldwide flu data, so I'm going to use US numbers for the purposes of this post.]

I think the first thing to understand is that unlike many other infectious diseases, influenza is substantially different every year. That means that the immunity that you build in 2017 from either the flu or the flu shot won't necessarily help prevent you from getting the flu in 2023. By then it will be a different enough virus that your previous immunity won't be as helpful. Though it might make it a little milder. But keep reading, I'll give you some fun facts to share at parties:

We name flu (A) viruses based on two different proteins on the surface of the virus. The proteins are "H" and "N". There are 16 different "H" proteins, and 9 different "N" proteins that we currently know of. The combination of the two forms the "name" of a particular flu virus. Think H1N1, or H5N6, or any other combination. Each combination has their own attributes, which contributes to how infectious or deadly they are in any given year. And which ones circulate are different every year.

Just mathematically, that's a lot of substantially different flu viruses. Hundreds of them, in fact. And you have to build immunity to each one individually. You could, say, build immunity to H2N5, but that would do little to save you from next year's H4N3. And not only that, but within a single type there are many smaller variations. For example, say you got H5N3, but then it went and mutated. If you then got exposed again, you might have some immunity to new!H5N3, but it could also be just different enough that you still get sick.

Like I said above, different types of flu virus are deadlier or spread faster than others. H5N1 (a type of avian flu with a human mortality rate of 52%) is terrifyingly deadly but fortunately doesn't spread particularly well, while H1N1 (the star of both the 1918 and 2009 flu seasons) spreads rapidly and kills primarily young adults (weird, since flu usually kills babies and old people).

This is why in 2009 we did the whole "close the schools vaccinate the teens hide the president" routine. Because if it was *that* H1N1 we were all about to be screwed in ways we had never experienced before. Fortunately it wasn't, but thank goodness we did it. Also if you got vaccine #2 in 2009, you are also protected against the 1918 strain of H1N1. You're gonna be a hit at parties with that one.

Now, if you look at only deaths (not the best measure, but one with some emotional punch), within the last decade alone we have years where 12,000 people died of flu in the US (2011-2012) and years where that number is as high as 61,000 (2017-2018). These numbers are similar throughout recent history (relative to population), but then you get years like 1968 (where 100,000 people died in the US) and 1957 (where 116,000 died), and then sometimes you get these wild whopping years like 1918 where 675,000 died (equivalent to 1,750,000 people dying in today's US population). These fluctuations have happened since Hippocrates was around, and probably long before that, and there's really nothing to suggest it's getting any milder in any statistically significant way.

Now, outside of these natural fluctuations, we do have some ways of driving down these numbers. We do have a vaccine. It is different every year, based on our prediction of what the most likely or dangerous types of flus will be this year. Fortunately, you do get to keep this immunity for some time, so you can look at the flu vaccine as a personal collection of different flu viruses you have immunity to- you can collect 2-3 different ones every year in one shot and you didn't even have to catch them!! Yay! Unfortunately, since we never reach herd immunity with the flu vaccine, and we can't perfectly predict and incorporate all the strains that will circulate in a given year, while you do get some protection, it's not ever perfect. But it *is* still worth it.

We also have other feats of modern medicine as backup to the flu vaccine. We have oxygen, antiviral drugs like tamiflu, immune modulating drugs, and technology like ventilators to help keep people alive in ways we would not be able to in previous generations. So that's also an advantage. Unfortunately, these don't always work either, and we are still at the whim of those yearly fluctuations in influenza virus deaths.

And really, if you ask any epidemiologist, covid is just a little trial run for the next Big One. Which is both extremely likely to be a flu virus and which we're statistically overdue for.

TL;DR: The flu isn't getting milder so much as it varies wildly in severity every year. The next major flu pandemic is probably going to be in our lifetimes, so start collecting your flu immunity now if you haven't yet. New collections drop every August and are available until April. Get em' while they're hot. This year's included a 2009-like strain of H1N1 and a delightful H3N2 number from Hong Kong.

As for All the Other Vaccine Preventable Illnesses:

*ahem*

Yes, it's vaccines. It's obviously vaccines. Its basically only vaccines. Anyone who has ever told you it's not vaccines is lying. No other major discovery of modern medicine has ever saved as many lives, prevented as many disabilities, and created as many opportunities for a life well lived as vaccines have. No antiviral drug, no antibiotic, no ventilator can even hold a candle to vaccines. The answer is f*cking vaccines*.

I hope I have made myself clear.

Enjoy this table:

*Yes I do have a masters degree in public health and am a registered nurse that interacts with the public regularly, how did you know?

-Ross @macgyvermedical

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The child labor story hidden by the Great Resignation

Over and over in the history of labor rights, we see the same story: if workers exclude a group from labor protections, bosses will recruit that group to scab against them and smash their power. Xenophobes argue that this means we should block immigration to head off competition with low-waged workers, but history teaches us that this is a losing move.

The winning move is to open your solidarity to every worker, regardless of immigration status, national origin, gender, or age. That’s why last year’s strikes against two-tier contracts (where younger workers are excluded from union benefits) were so significant:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/18/labor-shortage-discourse-time/#deere-dash

The Great Resignation has seen an increase in worker power, with gains in wages and working conditions. A recurring motif in Great Resignation talk is dunking on the boss’s lament that there is a “labor shortage,” pointing out that there’s really a *wage* shortage.

https://www.google.com/search?q=labor+shortage+meme

In other words, if you’re a capitalism stan with a Laffer Curve tattooed on your bicep, you should be able to recognize that if workers won’t sell their labor at the price you’re offering, you might have to increase your bid.

As the success stories in /r/antiwork tell us, bosses *will* increase their bids, but only after exhausting all other possibilities:

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/su1bvq/fired_and_hired_today_for_having_long_hair/

And back to labor history, one of the options bosses will try before raising wages is hiring some excluded group at scab wages.

That’s why we’ve seen such a boom in hiring children to do jobs that were once held by adults.

But hiring child scabs is a problem. Kids have even *more* statutory labor rights than adults: limits on how many hours they can work, which jobs they can do, and more. Fortunately for employers, kids don’t know about those rights, and they can often be pushed around.

Writing for the United Steelworkers blog, USW international president Tom Conway writes about the rise of child labor exploitation and the efforts of Republican legislators to make it easier to turn children into scabs:

https://m.usw.org/blog/2022/exploiting-young-workers

Conway’s article opens with the story of a high school wrestler who had to quit the team because his boss fired him for refusing to work more than the 16 hours/week that allowed him to participate in sports and keep a job. “[The] dejected youth conclude[d] he had to give up sports so he’d be available to cater to his next employer’s every whim.”

The store manager refused to budge on the termination, even when the wrestling coach pleaded with her: “You don’t know what it’s like to be a boss these days.”

As bad as this boss is, she’s benign compared to other abusers of child labor, like the SC Walgreens that hired a 12 year old; the AL chicken plants brutalizing migrant teens; or the TN contractor whose insistence on putting a 16 year old on a rooftop ladder resulted in the teen’s death.

Nationwide, chains like Wendy’s and Chipotle are increasing the hours of their underaged workers, blowing past legal limits that are supposed to balance a kid’s right to an education, a social life and employment:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chipotle-massachusetts-fined-labor-violations/

The business lobby understands that exploiting kids is a low-risk activity, thanks to kids’ vulnerability and understaffing at OSHA and other agencies, but they’d like to reduce that risk even further. In WI, the GOP passed legislation allowing bosses to work 15–17 year olds for longer hours (the law was vetoed). There’s more legislation being cooked up in statehouses across the country.

I got my first part-time job — mopping a dance studio twice a week after school — when I was 11 years old. Working has always been a part of my life. But both I and my parents were careful to ensure that my work didn’t eclipse my childhood, or put me in physical risk.

That said, the first time I worked in a union shop — as a page in a public library — I was excluded from the union. What’s more, there was enormous pressure to increase my duties (and those of my co-workers) to replace our adult union colleagues.

Kids have a place on the job. Working is a great way to learn and grow. But kids are also vulnerable to exploitation. Kids who end up taking jobs at wages lower than adults aren’t the problem. The bosses who turn kids into scabs are the problem. The answer isn’t to exclude kids from (safe, balanced, protected) work — it’s to include them in solidarity movements.

[soramei]

From Resentment (hhj)

Pairing: Hyunjin x Reader (she/her)

Summary: After a fated meeting involving a cute and fluffy puppy, you found yourself drawn to Hwang Hyunjin: the school prince. Everybody in high school loved him. It was hard not to. Not only was he rich, smart, and athletic, but he was also incredibly kind-hearted.

However, one day seemingly out of the blue, everything that you thought Hyunjin was came crashing down.

Now a freshman in university, you were excited to live out your dreams. That was, until Hyunjin came hurtling back into your life like an uncontrolled meteor. His presence threw a curveball on all your plans, and would eventually change your perspective on everything that you thought you knew.

Genre: studentl!hyunjin au, angst, enemies to lovers

Warnings: cursing, tw puking

Word Count: 8.8k

Masterlist

A/N: Not an Intentional update but a hyunjin oneshot!! disclaimer: no aspect of hyunjins personality here was drawn from real life — irl hyunjin is a ray of sunshine <3

You looked at your math homework, proud that you got all the answers correct. Since it was a slow afternoon at your job today, you had extra time to focus on your homework. The boss at the convenience store you worked at allowed you to have your homework out, as long as it was hidden behind the cash register.

As you stared at the rest of your homework, you started to feel the weight of tenth grade pile up on you. Because it was your first year of high school, you were still trying to adjust to everything; your grades, your teachers, and all the new students walking around the halls.

You stuffed the rest of your homework in your backpack. It was the end of your shift, and you wanted to go home as soon as possible to start with the rest of your studying. Crap. No matter how hard you tried to zip up your backpack, it wouldn’t close. After trying one more time, the zipper tore from your backpack.

You cursed under your breath. You couldn’t afford to buy a new backpack right now.

You had just been able to afford your new school uniform by taking up extra shifts at the convenience store, and you still needed money for your grandmother’s prescriptions. You sighed, annoyed to have another monetary stressor weighing on your shoulders.

Walking outside with your now torn backpack, your eyes widened at the group of boys in front of you. You immediately recognized them from behind.

The school princes. These three seniors were all known for three things: being extremely smart, handsome, and talented.

On the left was Seungmin, and from what you’ve heard, he was the smart and quiet one. He was always helping the teachers, being the class president and all. Any time a girl or a boy needed academic help, Seungmin was there and happy to assist.

The person on the right was Jisung. With his charming and charismatic personality, he had dated tens upon tens of girls in his grade. Just in the last year. It helped that he was really good looking — and also stinkin’ rich. His father was a notorious restaurateur, and with him being the first son, he was basically given unlimited spending rights.

The only person richer than Jisung was the boy in the center of them both: Hwang Hyunjin. This boy was the school prince. The prince of princes. He somehow managed to participate in music clubs, engage in study groups, and captain the soccer team all the while keeping up excellent grades. Every girl that Jisung had dated was said to have been rejected by Hyunjin first. That was his only flaw: he was notoriously cold to any and all romantic confessions.

You followed behind the three princes, staring at your torn up sneakers. You knew you didn’t exist in their world, but even being near three handsome and rich teenage boys made you nervous.

Suddenly, you heard a whimper coming from behind a bush to the left of you. It sounded like a hurt animal.

Worried and curious, you walked over to the bush to see what it was.

It was a puppy. Small and fluffy, it looked up at you with it’s beady black eyes and cried out. His paw was bleeding.

You panicked. Having never seen a hurt puppy before, you had no idea what to do. You called out for help.

“Help!” you cried, hoping that somebody had heard your call for help. You desperately wanted to help this hurt puppy, but you hesitated to touch it, afraid that you would hurt the animal even more.

The puppy howled in pain, making your panic rise. You were about to call out for help again, when you heard somebody running up behind you.

“What is it?” The voice asked.

“I-I don’t know. I just saw this dog here, and-and his paw is bleeding,” you anxiously stuttered.

“Here, let me take a look.”

You heard the voice behind you, so you shuffled over to make room.

It was Hwang Hyunjin. The person that responded to your cry for help was the most popular and well-liked person in the school. You were shocked, a bit intimidated actually, so you silently moved to the side for him. His black hair shone in the sunlight as he bent down to examine the dog.

“Come here, boy,” he chirped. The puppy listened, and started limping to him. “Something hurt you, didn’t it.”

He stood up, picking the puppy up along with him.

“C’mon,” he gestured with his head, “my vet isn’t too far from here actually. We can make it by walking.”

You silently nodded and followed him.

He was right. The walk to the veterinarian clinic, though very awkward, wasn’t too far. The clinic was empty at this time of day, with the receptionist being the only person in the room.

“Hyunjin! Always a pleasure,” the receptionist beamed. It seemed like Hyunjin’s likeability wasn’t only confined to your school. “My, what do we have here?”

“There’s something wrong with his paw,” Hyunjin tried to show the receptionist where the blood was coming from, “is the doctor free right now?”

“As a matter of fact, he is,” the receptionist said whilst checking the schedule. “I’ll take this little boy to the back where he can get prepped for the veterinarian.”

Hyunjin handed the puppy carefully to the receptionist. The receptionist took out a crate for the dog, put him in, and then disappeared through the back door. The two of you were now left alone in the waiting room.

“Uhm,” you coughed, “thank you. I know you probably want to get back to your friends, so you can leave now.”

“No, I’ll stay,” he looked at you and smiled, “those idiots are just playing LOL at the PC room anyways. Plus, I want to see how this little boy turns out.”

You smiled back at him, nodding your head. A few moments of awkward silence passed.

“I’m Hyunjin by the way,” he said.

“I know. I’m Y/n.”

“You’re in your first year, right?” he said, looking at the colour of your uniform.

“Yeah, it’s so hard to get used to though. I’m trying my best with my homework, but I think this school stuff just doesn’t click with me,” you rambled.

“Oh?”

“I want to go into dance. I’ve never been able to afford professional lessons, but I’ve always wanted to go to university for dance. My grandparents said they would let me if my school grades were high.” You didn’t know why you were giving your life story to Hyunjin. He just had this natural charisma that made you want to spill everything to him. It was the way he looked at you with those cat-like eyes.

“I know what you mean. It took me forever to convince my parents for me to major in dance. I got in by early admittance, but I’m sure they still have their reservations about my major.”

“You’re majoring in dance?” you asked, eyes wide.

He smiled. “I’ve loved dancing ever since I could remember. It’s my passion, and truthfully, the only thing I’ve got going for me.”

You were shocked. At school, Hyunjin was known for so many things other than dancing. Hell, you didn’t even know he enjoyed dancing and you thought you’d heard everything about him already.

The two of you chatted for a while longer before the vet came out with the now happy looking dog.

“It seemed like this little guy got into a fight with something, and he got a pretty large gash on his paw. Luckily, it wasn’t bleeding too much so I just gave him some anaesthetic and stitched it right up.”

You sighed in relief. “Thank god he isn’t too hurt.”

“Yes, it’s good that it wasn’t too bad,” the veterinarian agreed. “I’m assuming this is your dog? As soon as you finish with the bill, I can release this little guy and the both of you are ready to go.”

Oh yeah. The bill.

Although you knew you couldn’t afford to pay the vet bill, you didn’t know where this little dog would go if you couldn’t take him home. You did the mental calculations, and if you worked some extra shifts, you could probably be able to pick up the bill today. Buying a new backpack could be saved for another day.

“Sure, where can I pay?” you asked.

“Just over by the receptionist.” The veterinarian pointed.

You walked over to the receptionist, and she handed the bill over to you.

You almost fainted.

Just the anaesthetic and the stitches alone cost over two hundred dollars. This was extremely over your budget, and probably even more than the amount in your savings. You felt uneasy.

“Uhm, actually, I don’t think I can-”

“Do you take cash?”

Hyunjin had interrupted you, walked up to the receptionist, and pulled out his wallet. He peaked over your shoulder and took out a huge wad of cash to hand to the receptionist.

“Hyunjin, you don’t have to,” you begged. You felt bad that this guy you didn’t even know had just offered to cover you for over two hundred dollars.

“Think of it as a good luck gift from a fellow dancer.” He smiled.

That was when it clicked. You didn’t know what clicked, but it just did. It was his smile. It was the way the corners of his eyes crinkled up and how the corners of his lips pinched at the end. You now understood why all the girls at school were in love with him. He was quite literally perfect.

You thanked him profusely, even after the two of you had left the clinic. With the dog in your hand, you walked side by side with Hyunjin.

“So,” he started, “have you thought of a name for this guy yet?”

Oh yeah — he was your dog now. “Hmm, I don’t know yet.”

“What about Coco?”

“Coco?”

“Yeah, let’s see if he likes it.” Hyunjin leaned in and cooed at the little puppy. “Hi, little Coco!”

The puppy’s eyes lit up, and with his tongue stretched out, he started panting.

“I guess he likes it,” Hyunjin smiled. God, his smile could melt all of Antarctica.

“Coco it is.” You poked at Coco’s nose.

Hyunjin was about to say something back to you when his phone buzzed. He took a peak, rolled his eyes, then smiled. “My friends are god awful at games. I swear, they can’t even win one round without me. You’re okay with going home alone?”

He was going to walk you home? Could he be any more perfect?

You nodded your head. “Thank you, Hyunjin. I’ll pay you back for the bill one day.”

“No need,” he winked. “Like I said, it’s a good luck gift. Oh, and you can ask me if you need help with any school work. Anything to help a fellow dancer.”

He waved goodbye, then went running off in the other direction. You held Coco close to you, heart pounding. Although you didn’t want to be like all the other girls who fell for him, you felt like you were already falling for Hyunjin.

-

The next day, you had planned to go shopping for dog supplies after school. After a really long and arduous debate with yourself, you decided to sacrifice all of your savings in order to buy everything that Coco needed. You knew Hyunjin owned a dog himself, so throughout the whole day, you worked up the nerve to ask Hyunjin to come with you.

At the end of last period, you gathered all your stuff from your desk and headed to the soccer field where you knew Hyunjin and his friends would be. Whilst you crossed the field, you noticed Jisung staring at you. You found his stare intimidating, but you tried to brush it off. He then whispered something in Hyunjin’s ear.

“Hi, Hyunjin,” you said anxiously, biting your lip. “Umm, do you want to come with me to shop for Coco?”

He stared at you for a couple seconds, then, a look of disgust appeared on his face. “Why? So you can use my wallet again?”

You stared back at him, wide eyed. Who was this person? It wasn’t the Hyunjin that so graciously helped you out yesterday.

“W-what? No!” you exclaimed. “I-I just wanted your opinion…”

“Sure,” Hyunjin smirked coldly, “opinion my ass.”

“Hyunjin,” tears were pooling in your eyes, “I don’t understand.”

“If you need money so much, here.” He reached in his pocket and turned up a wad of cash, throwing it at your feet. “Just don’t come to me next time. And buy yourself a new pair of shoes while you’re at it.”

You looked down at the money, trying to hold back your tears. Why was Hyunjin being like this? You didn’t understand. His two jockeys beside him didn’t even bother to stop him. As you tried to stop yourself from crying, you felt your sadness turn into rage.

“I don’t need your stupid money,” you said, kicking the cash back to him. “Maybe you can use your daddy’s money to buy yourself a new personality.”

Hyunjin’s two friends tried to hold back their snickers at your words. Hyunjin heard, turned around, and gave them both death stares.

You didn’t bother to listen to whatever he was going to say next and simply stomped away, rage burning inside you. Everything about him was a lie. His charming and charismatic personality, his generosity, his kindness. They were all lies. He really was nothing but a rich, spoiled boy living with his father’s money.

There was rage behind every step you took. Wiping away your tears, you headed to your locker. You didn’t need him anyways; it was better to realize his true personality earlier rather than later. Hands shaking from anger, you dialed the combination to your locker.

“Hey, sorry about what happened earlier.” A voice came from behind you. “He can be a real jerk sometimes.”

It was Jisung. You rolled your eyes. You didn’t want to see him either.

“Why didn’t you do anything about it then?” Your voice came out shaky. It was obvious that you had cried.

“Once he starts, there’s no stopping him. It’s usually better to let him finish uninterrupted, or else he will get more mad.”

“Oh,” you said. Your hatred for Hyunjin grew even more.

“I could come with you, though. I don’t know much about dogs, but I can help you carry your bags.”

“I don’t know…”

“C’mon, no way you can carry everything by yourself.”

You hesitated. “Okay, I guess.”

And so, you left for the pet store with Jisung, still confused about everything that had happened. It was strange with him. He was nice and cracked a joke every now and then, but it was just different from being with Hyunjin. At least he was nice, you thought.

Your trip went well. You managed to buy everything you needed for Coco. In a turn of events, Jisung had actually come in handy as he offered to carry the huge bag of dog food you bought. He even offered to buy you a coffee.

“Thanks for all your help, Jisung.” You stood outside the door of your apartment, smiling at him.

“No problem, gives me an excuse to work out my guns.” He pretended to flex his arms.

You choked back a laugh.

“You should get going now. It’s late,” you said.

“Alright,” he started to leave. “Hey, if you see me in the halls, feel free to say hi.”

You nodded and waved to him as he turned and walked away, remembering his words. Every time you saw Jisung in the school hallways, you gave him a small wave in which he happily returned. However, whenever you saw him walking with Hyunjin, you made sure to purposely avoid them. You didn’t want any negativity in your life.

You kept up the waves, and soon, waves turned to small conversations which soon turned to flirting. By the end of the semester, you and Jisung somehow ended up as a couple. Jisung was polite and sweet, unlike a certain person. With every free moment you had, you hung out with Jisung — all the while avoiding Hyunjin.

The two of you stayed a couple for the rest of Jisung’s senior year. Somehow, the two of you had even kept up your relationship throughout your whole high school experience. It was hard at times as he went to university, but with a lot of effort, you had made your relationship work out. You barely had time to talk with him, but you enjoyed the little time that you did have. Jisung had never even once mentioned Hyunjin when you were together, and with time, you had totally forgotten about that jerk. You weren’t even sure if they were still friends.

You worked hard in school and reaped all the benefits. Your rank had consistently been in the top twenties amongst all the other students, and you even had time to practice your dancing. You remembered the day that you received your acceptance letter from university. Hands shaking, you had barely managed to open the letter all the way before you screamed. You had gotten into university with your dream major: dance.

Because of your excellent grades, you were able to pay a lot of your tuition with scholarship money alone. You hesitantly decided to quit your job at the convenience store to focus on university. Although quitting meant that your bank account would take a big hit, you decided that it would be best in the long run. There was a lot in your savings, and you even had a little extra to buy a new outfit for your first day of school.

Jisung had been busy on the first day of university. He had previously promised to show you around campus, but with him being a no-show, you wandered around by yourself to try to find your classes. You had trouble with the campus map at first, but after walking around for a bit, you were able to find all your classes with ease.

Your first few classes were a snore. Because they were all theory, you had to down two cups of coffee in order to stay awake. Somehow, you managed to take coherent notes despite being bored out of your mind. You just wanted to dance.

The good thing was, after sitting through many classes, your time to dance finally came. Your last class of the day was an introduction to dance course, and you couldn’t wait to go. You wanted to know your teacher, your peers, and most importantly, express yourself.

The dance class was in a studio in the university’s fitness center. It was huge, way bigger than the tiny gym in your high school. Upon entering the studio, you were immediately met with the sight of students, exactly like you, already stretching. You chose a spot in the room and started stretching as well, making good use of your time before the instructor comes in.

After some time, most of the students — including you — had finished stretching and were sitting in silence waiting for the instructor. The door swung open, breaking the silence. The instructor had come in.

“Hello new students,” he said, “welcome to Dance 100. Today, I will go through the curriculum with you as well as introduce your final project.”

The instructor whipped out a projection of the curriculum and started explaining the purpose of the course, what you would be graded on, and how you would be graded. He then read through his class expectations before moving to your final project.

“This final project will act in place of a final exam,” he explained. “You will be required to create a dance that includes everything we’ve learned in class and write an essay explaining all the elements in your dance. It will be worth half your grade.”

The class gasped in surprise. Not only did this project sound extremely difficult for a first year course, but the fact that it was worth half your grade made it borderline unfair.

“I know it might seem difficult, but worry not, you won’t be doing this alone. Every year, the first year dance students get mentored by the third year dance students for the final project. Each student has already been assigned a random mentor which will be introduced this class.”

The whole class murmured, talking amongst themselves and expressing their opinions on this project. It was definitely an interesting project. You hoped that you would be paired with a good mentor that would actually care about how well you did.

There was a knock on the door.

“Ah, this must be them.” Your instructor opened the door and a wave of third years came flooding in. Each one of them had a name tag pinned on their shirts. “Class, these are the third year students.”

You all politely greeted them.

“Now,” the instructor continued, “I will put the class list on the projector, and each of your names will correspond to a third year mentor.”

The instructor put out the list for display. You scanned down the list of names, eventually finding yours. Following the dots to your corresponding mentor, you almost choked on air when you saw yours.

It was Hwang Hyunjin.

You were at a loss for words. Just when you thought he was out of your life forever, the man that was so incredibly mean to you — the man you hated with your whole soul — was now your mentor. Just the thought of being in the same room as him filled you with disgust.

You scanned the sea of third year students, and your eyes immediately found him. He was staring back at you with the same shocked expression that you had on.

He looked different. Not only had he grown taller, but he had lost all his baby fat as well. His hair was different too. It was bleached blond and it almost hit his shoulders. What was the same, however, was his intense stare and his plump lips.

You walked over to him.

“You look different.” His eyes scanned up and down.

“So do you.” You clenched your jaw and sighed. “I guess we have to work together.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said flatly.

“Listen,” you copied his tone, “I’m not excited about this either, but I want to get a good grade for this class. If you don’t wanna help me, just say so and I’ll just work alone on this.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he rolled his eyes, “this is part of my grade too. I can’t let you fuck this up for the both of us.”

You rolled your eyes back at him and pressed your lips in a thin line. Ignoring what he said, you asked, “where do we start?”

“Let’s find a time to meet every week.” He pulled out the newest iPad model from his bag. Of course he would have the newest iPad. “I’m busy every day except Saturday, so let’s meet then.”

Way to consider your opinion. He was lucky that you weren’t busy on the weekends.

As Hyunjin worked on sorting his schedule, you took your time to look at how he had changed. With his hair blonde, he looked like a completely different person. You didn’t understand why he kept his hair long though. It kept falling in his eyes.

“Stop staring at me. It’s freaking me out.” He narrowed his eyes at you.

“I wasn’t.” You crossed your arms, defending yourself.

“Whatever.” He tucked his hair behind his ear and put his iPad back in his bag. “Don’t be late on Saturday.”

And with that, he left. You looked around the class. Most of the other students were still with their mentors, presumably getting to know each other and discussing the project. You almost wanted to ask your instructor to switch with somebody else, but that would mean passing on the nightmare known as Hwang Hyunjin onto a perfectly innocent person. You had your moments, but you weren’t evil.

The interaction with Hyunjin had left you in a sour mood for the rest of the day. You tried to study, but you were too distracted by the thought of having to work with that monstrosity for a whole semester. It was worth so much of your grade, too. You had just hoped that Hyunjin was as good at dance as he previously told you. You remembered him saying how dance was his passion in life. That was when you still liked him. Who knows, maybe he only said that so he could play you like every other girl he played with.

For the rest of the week, whenever you thought of the dance project, you were filled with dread. You tried to ignore it, and sometimes it worked, but most of the time it kept reappearing in your mind like a virus. The way Hyunjin had infected your mind bothered you to no end.

Time passed fast though, and before you knew it, Saturday had already come. Searching through your closet, you picked out a simple outfit for practice today. You slid on your tattered old sneakers and headed off to the studio that Hyunjin had told you to go to.

Entering the dance studio, you noticed that you were right on time. However, Hyunjin was not. Great… He made such a big deal over you being on time that he himself forgot to be punctual. You sat on the wood floors and started to do some stretches to warm up.

Eventually, after you finished your stretching, he entered the studio. With a girl. Holding a textbook, Hyunjin handed it to the girl and put on his signature deceitful smile. His ugly, perfect smile. The girl batted her eyes and waved her fingers goodbye before strolling out the door. You rolled your eyes at this, feeling bad for the girl. Hyunjin was playing her right in front of her own eyes and she didn’t even realize it.

“Were you really late because of a girl?” you sneered.

“Why do you care?” he retorted, flinging his bag to the corner of the room.

“I don’t.”

“Sure you don’t.”

Not wanting to waste time with that childish banter, you decided to end the conversation then and there. “Okay, well anyways, I’ll show you what I learned in class this week.”

Hooking up your phone to the speaker, you chose the song that you’ve been practicing with for the whole week. As the song progressed, you found it hard to not get lost in the music. Just dancing was the easy part; incorporating everything learned in class was another story. Although it was fairly difficult, you thought you executed everything very well as the song came to an end. Finishing up, you panted from exhaustion and looked at Hyunjin for his comments.

He stood, with his arms crossed across his torso, leaning against the speaker. There was a blank expression on his face.

“Not bad.” He started to walk up to you.

“But?”

“But you’re too stiff. You’re too focused on perfectly executing the technical moves that you forget to just move your body. Do what you did half-way through the song again.”

You turned the music on, trying to do the dance with Hyunjin’s criticisms in mind. Looking in the mirror, you did your best to show as much emotion as possible, all the while moving more fluidly. The room was filled with heavy bass and the squeaks from your sneakers.

Suddenly, the music was abruptly cut off.

Hyunjin had stopped the music and was making his way over, face still unreadable.

“You’re still trying too hard and it shows.” Hyunjin shook his head.

Clenching your jaw, you did your best to hold back your anger. Were you just not supposed to try? This annoyed you. Just because he didn’t need to try to be good at anything didn’t mean you couldn’t.

“Well,” you tried to say calmly, “how can I do this then?”

“You have to relax.” He put one hand on your hip and started to guide you. “Don’t focus on each individual aspect, but try to imagine everything as a whole. Then, things will come naturally.”

You followed his hand, allowing Hyunjin to guide you to his own rhythm. After a while, every movement felt so fluid and you didn’t even notice that your face started to match your movements. Glancing at your reflection, you gasped, noticing how different your dancing looked. You whipped your head to face Hyunjin, the two of your inches apart and breathing heavily.

“See,” he mumbled, looking down at you. “Once you stop thinking, everything just comes naturally.”

You looked back at the person inches away from you. It almost felt as if he was being kind. But you knew the type of person he was. You weren’t going to let this happen again. Snapping out of what weird trance you were in, you pushed him away in an act of self perseverance.

He didn’t say anything.

“I’ll try again,” you said.

Hyunjin strolled over to the speaker and turned on the music. This time, you didn’t think about anything you learned in class or Hyunjin’s criticisms. You just trusted in your body. Everything else was blank.

Taking a step forward while still in your trance, your shoe lost its grip on the floor, causing you to fall right on your knee. You cried in pain, holding on to your knee.

“Fuck,” Hyunjin hissed. He ran over and bent down to your level. “Can you move it?”

“I think so.” You tried to straighten your knee. It hurt, but you were still able to do it. There would most likely be a nasty bruise there the next morning.

“You’re still wearing those scraps that you call shoes? They’re literally coming apart at the seams. This is going to happen again if you don’t get new ones.”

You blushed in embarrassment from his remarks. “I’m not going to spend money on things that I don’t need.”

“Well, you need shoes. Just go buy a new pair later.”

Was he being serious? Or was he just spoiled?

“Hyunjin, not everybody can just go spend money whenever they want,” you loudly sighed. “Unlike you, I need to consider my budget for most things.”

“Well, why can’t you ask your boyfriend to buy it?” he sneered. “Seems like you’re good at doing that.”

How did he know you were still dating Jisung? What did he mean by ‘good at doing that’?

“What?” You crossed your eyebrows. “Do you think I’m with him just for his money? Do I really look like that kind of person to you?”

“You used me for my money,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What?” You couldn’t hear him right.

“Nevermind, rehearsal's over.” He stomped off, leaving you alone in the practice room holding on to your injured knee.

-

You busied yourself with everything and anything you could do over the weekend in order to forget what happened during rehearsal. However, no matter how hard you tried to forget, Hyunjin’s comments on your shoes stuck in your mind like glue.

During your shift at your job, you couldn’t help but keep staring at your worn sneakers. You never paid attention to your shoes before until now. They did the job, so why would you need to buy a new pair? Still, you unconsciously paid attention to every step you took.

On Monday’s dance class, you decided to go early. It was always nice to warm up in a room with other try-hards. They felt less judgemental than the others.

The studio barely had anybody in it this early before class. Everybody was either stretching or had already started going over what was taught last week. Shuffling your way over to your locker, you couldn’t help but compare everybody else’s shoes to your own. You’ve never cared about trivial matters such as shoes, but you couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious as your worn-in sneakers squeaked its way over to the lockers.

Opening your locker, your eyes widened, shocked at what you saw. Inside was a box containing a brand new pair of sneakers. It was an expensive brand as well, a brand that you never thought you would be touching in your life. You turned your head around, scanning the room. Everybody seemed to have been busy with their own thing.

Did somebody put these in your locker by mistake?

Taking the shoes out, you noticed a small slip of paper fly out. You picked up the note.

Keep these. I was a jerk.

You knew who had sent this. It was Hyunjin. You didn’t know what game he was trying to play at, but you weren’t going to fall for it like you did that day in high school. Gingerly putting the shoes back in your locker, you decided to return these back to Hyunjin at your next practice.

-

“No, I gave them to you as a gift.” Hyunjin turned his nose up at you, refusing to take back the shoes.

“Why would you give these to me if you think that I only use people for their money?”

“Because,” he rolled his eyes, “if you’re unable to dance then my grade is screwed as well.”

He made a good point, but you were stubborn. “Still…”

“You know what? Keep it, give it away, sell it, I don’t care. Let’s just start practice.”

After that dance practice, you threw your old shoes in the trash.

-

It was midterm season a month into school. You thought you had gone to hell and back with high school, but this was even worse. Each day consisted of waking up, studying, and going back to sleep. You lived on coffee and toast. It wasn’t much, but it gave you the energy to sit at the library for hours to study.

You didn’t see anybody during the midterm season, Instead, you chose to hermit yourself up at the library for days on end. This meant that, at least for a couple of weeks, your dance practice with Hyunjin was put on hiatus. Not that he minded, of course. He happily deleted the practices from his schedule.

You also didn’t see much of your boyfriend, Jisung. Ever since school started, he seemed to always be missing in action. He would almost never have time to be with you, and with the few moments that he was, it seemed like he was always so apathetic towards you. You brushed this off as stress though, as you finally knew what it was like to experience university exams.

It was a clear and sunny day on the morning you finished your last midterm. Leaving the exam room, you looked up to the sky, basking in the sun. Today was going to be a good day. Not only were you now stress free, but you were also invited to an end-of-midterm party for your dance class tonight. You had never gone to a university party before, so when a classmate asked if you wanted to go, you eagerly accepted.

Wrapping up your dance class, you stood at your locker, gathering the rest of your stuff.

“Hey.” An arm wrapped around you.

“Hey, Jisung.” You smiled, turning around to face him.

“You’re done all your midterms?”

“Yup.” You nodded happily.

He took a look at your shoes.

“New shoes?”

You hesitated in answering his question, not knowing where Jisung was with Hyunjin in terms of friendship. It was better to be truthful now rather than apologizing later.

“Hyunjin gave it to me.” You looked down, fiddling with your fingers. Why were you afraid of Jisung’s response?

“Wait, what? Hwang Hyunjin? Like from high school? Y/n, I thought you hated him.”

“I did! And I do,” you tried to explain, “but he had a reason to give me this.”

“Bullshit, Y/n. You’re really gonna believe any reason he pulls out of his ass? I thought you actually matured from high school.”

“Well, you would understand if you were around more often!” you yelled. You knew it was wrong to address other problems and blow this out of proportion, but you couldn’t think straight. Your mind was clouded with anger.

“What does this have to do with anything?” Jisung barked back. “What we’re talking about is how you, no matter how shitty of a person Hyunjin is, keep going back to him! Y/n, all that man does is take. He takes from you and he sure as hell takes everything from me. I won’t let that happen this time.”

When had he taken anything from you? All he had done was give.

“Jisung, let’s end this.”

“You’re right. Let’s cool down and talk later tonight.”

“No,” you shook your head, “I mean, let's end us.”

Jisung looked at you in disgust. “It’s Hyunjin, isn’t it?”

“No,” you vehemently denied, “Jisung, you never have time for me, and the little time we do have together you act like a different person. And now you’re being all possessive just because Hyunjin gave me a gift? I’m sorry, I just don’t see us recovering from this.”

“Fine, whatever.” Jisung turned around. “We’re done. But Y/n, don’t come running back to me when Hyunjin screws you over like he does with everybody.”

After Jisung left, you stomped your foot on the ground, tears pooling in your eyes. It was for the best — breaking up with him. For the past month, you hadn’t been happy with where your relationship was going, but this wasn’t the way you wanted to end an almost three year relationship.

Wiping away your tears, you tried to compose yourself before heading over to the pub. Jisung wasn’t worth the tears.

The walk to the pub wasn’t far as every establishment catered to students was a short walking distance from campus. For your entire walk over, you kept your head down so as to not receive looks from others. The headache from your cries and a blush of anger still lingered with you. Hopefully you’ll look somewhat normal by the time you reach the bar.

Checking your reflection once more in your phone camera, you fixed your hair a bit before going inside.

The bar was filled.

With students from both your dance class and the third year class, there was not an empty corner in sight. The music was loud, but the sounds of chatter coming from the students were louder. The place was dark, with the only source of light coming from very dim, bright blue LEDs.

It was surprising to see everybody in a different setting. You were used to the sight of your classmates being only in sweats and workout clothes, but now that they actually had time to get ready, everybody seemed like a completely different person.

You saw a few of your classmates wave at you, beckoning you over to where they were sitting. As soon as your butt landed on the chair, they spared no time to push a shot glass filled with clear liquor in front of you. You gladly took the drink, wanting to just let go and forget about everything that happened today. Holding back a cough, you scrunched your face as you felt the alcohol burn in your throat. It had been so long since the last time you drank.

After five you stopped counting. Partly because you knew you were going to drink more, but mostly because your head couldn’t even count to five anymore. Scrunching your eyes, you tried to focus on the blurry figure of your classmate complaining about her professor. Bored out of your mind as her mindless babble went on forever, your eyes started roaming around the bar. As your eyes wandered, you noticed somebody behind your classmate staring at you.

Hwang Hyunjin.

Even in your inebriated state of mind, you knew that it was Hyunjin. What other university student had the balls to bleach their whole head blonde? Your eyes met, and he ran a hand through his golden locks. Why do the most beautiful people harbour the most wretched personalities?

You tried to ignore his staring by focusing your attention back on your classmate, but eventually, you couldn’t help but glance back at him. He was still looking at you.

You saw a girl come up to him. She was the same girl that showed up with him on your first ever practice session. Because of the dimly lit bar and your drunken vision impairment, you had to really squint to make out what was going on. The girl, all smiley and giggly, put her hand on his shoulder, making Hyunjin break his eye contact with you. He smiled at the girl, mouthing words that were drowned out by the music. For some reason, this made you furious. Why was he so nice to everybody else but you? What had you ever done to him to make him hate you so much?

You kept your eyes on the girl, knowing full well that you shouldn’t have. You hated that — even on your night off, even when you had just broken up with your boyfriend — Hyunjin was still in your mind like an unkillable parasite. You hated the way he tucked his hair behind his ears. You hated how the corners of his eyes crinkled up when he smiled at her. You hated him.

You watched as she leaned in and whispered something in his ear, causing him to laugh. That was the last straw. In a drunken haze, you took your phone and bolted out the door, ignoring the concerns of all your classmates. Maybe it had been a mistake breaking up with Jisung. Maybe he really did know what was best for you.

Stumbling out onto the street, you tried to dial Jisung’s phone number. It proved to be too difficult of a task, however, as your drunken fingers could only tap on random numbers on the screen. You cried out of frustration.

“Y/n.”

The voice coming from behind you startled you, causing you to lose your grip on the phone. It dropped on the cement with a loud crack. Tears welled up in your eyes as you bent down to pick up your phone. There was a huge crack right down the middle of the screen.

“You cracked my phone,” you said, trying to keep your composure.

“So? It’s not like it’s worth much anyways. Just ask your boyfriend to buy you one.” Hyunjin’s evil eyes squinted down at you.

“Why are you still on about this? Hyunjin, I’ve never used anybody for money and I never will!” You couldn’t control the tears flowing down your face. “Plus, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I broke up with Jisung today.”

You didn’t know why you were spilling your guts to the last man in the world you would trust. Surely, it was the alcohol.

“Y/n.” His tone had completely changed. He almost looked — concerned?

“Whatever, Hyunjin,” you slurred. “Just leave me alone. You can go back to that girl and have your fun with her.”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t care.”

“Y/n, why do you care?” His tone got louder.

“I don’t!” you yelled at him. Your tears made everything even more blurry.

“Y/n! Tell me, why do you care?!” He spat back at you with just as much fury.

“Fuck you, Hyunjin. News flash, not everything in the world revolves around you and your rich and prestigious life. Maybe you wouldn’t be so toxic if you would just understand that.” You screamed at him through your sobs. “Also, I don’t know where you got this stupid story of my being a cash whore from, but I will say this one last time: I have worked for everything in my life and I have never and will never use anybody for their money.”

Hyunjin looked back at you, shocked. You stared back at him in disgust. Not wanting to waste anymore time on him, you stumbled down the street to look for a taxi. However, as you wobbled down the pavement, everything became even blurrier than before. You felt nauseous. You couldn’t control it anymore.

You threw up. All over the sidewalk. You couldn’t stop. Every time you thought that it was over, more and more came out. Your throat burned, and it wasn’t just the alcohol.

As you hurled out all the remains of today’s lunch, your hair was held back.

“Get away from me, Hyunjin,” you groaned. You didn’t want him to see you this weak.

“Who else is gonna take care of your drunk ass, idiot,” he mumbled.

That was the last thing you heard before everything went black.

-

It was a blinding white light that woke you up. You groaned, trying to block the light with your forearm. Cracking your neck, you tried to holster yourself up.

You were on a leather couch. Squinting, you surveyed the room you were in. It was clean, spacious. The floor was a white marble — there wasn’t a single speck of dust to be seen. Across from you was an incredibly wide TV with many game consoles scattered around it. You looked behind you. There was a large kitchen island illuminated by warm pendant lights. Sitting at the island, on his laptop, was Hyunjin.

“Wh-what happened to me?”

“You’re the worst fucking drinker I’ve ever seen, that’s what happened.”

You rolled your eyes.

Hyunjin ignored you, standing up and leaving for another room. Less than a minute later, he reappeared with a toothbrush and a roll of toothpaste.

“Go clean up. You look disgusting.”

You snatched the toothbrush from his hands. He pointed over to the bathroom and you trudged your way over. His bathroom was huge, almost bigger than your bedroom at home. You felt as if you were in a hotel.

“Your bathroom is huge.” After washing up, you felt not only cleaner, but more awake. “You’re really living the life with your family’s money, huh.”

Hyunjin sighed, slamming his laptop shut causing you to flinch. “Why, after everything, do you think I’m this rich, pretentious fuck?”

You rolled your eyes. Not this again. “Well, why do you still think I’m this money hungry monster?”

“You really wanna know why, Y/n? It’s because Jisung told me so. He was the one who told me that all those years ago.”

You were shocked. Jisung was the one who told him that? Your ex-boyfriend that you had loved and dated for almost three years? You didn’t want to believe it, you really didn’t, but there was this tiny whisper in the back of your mind telling you that it was true. He had a reason to — Jisung was always going on about how Hyunjin always took from him.

“But Y/n, I-” He stopped mid-sentence.

“You what, Hyunjin?”

He pressed his lips to yours, caressing the back of your head. You were shocked, but almost autonomously, your lips parted feeling the heat of his breath against yours. He pressed his body to yours, running his hand down your waist. His lips, the same lips responsible for his perfect smile, felt so soft against your own. You heard the thuds of his heartbeat as he held you closer.

You broke apart, gasping for breath. The realization of what you had done just hit you.

In a panic, you used your whole strength to push his body away from you. “I-I have to go.”

“Y/n, wait!” Hyunjin called.

You paid him no attention. Instead, you ran across the marble floors, hoisted the front door open, and sprinted out. Hoping that Hyunjin wasn’t following you, found your way outside and took a taxi home.

You sat in silence, trying to process what had just happened. You had just kissed Hyunjin. You had just kissed Hyunjin. Hands shaking, you grasped at the ends of your hair, trying to calm yourself down. Did that just happen?

You were more mad at yourself than at him. How could you have just kissed Hyunjin? You hated him. He was nothing but rude to you, never smiling and always accusing you of things that were clearly lies. He made you feel self conscious, nervous, and everything in between. You hated him.

But he was so sweet on that fateful day in high school. He gave you a new pair of shoes when you had slipped during practice, and he held your hair for you when you were drunk. His hair glistened in the sunlight, his smile made your heart race, and his lips ignited sparks of every colour in the rainbow in your chest.

You hated Hwang Hyunjin. You hated how fast you became infatuated with him on that day in high school, and no matter how much you tried to deny it, you hated that your feelings haven’t changed ever since. You hated Hwang Hyunjin. You hated that you loved him.

Curling up in your bed, there was no stopping the tears flowing down your face. You cried and cried upon this realization, and you remained this way for the rest of the day. The effect Hyunjin had on you was bigger than you ever expected, and you hated it.

-

At school, you tried to avoid as many people as possible. The kiss you had shared with Hyunjin was plaguing your mind, distracting you and igniting the fire that was your inner turmoil. Even the thought of Hyunjin put a strain in your heart. It was the way his breath fanned over your nose, gently tickling it like a bird’s feather and the soft silk of his blonde locks brushing up against your cheeks.

You shook your head, trying to erase any and every thought of that man. Walking to your locker, you were stopped in your tracks, the dam in your eyes starting to crack. You couldn’t do this today. You turned around to go somewhere else — anywhere else.

“Y/n, wait.”

You sniffed, wiped stray tears from your eyes, and picked up your pace.

“Y/n.” He grabbed your shoulder, turning you around to face him.

“Hyunjin, please, I can’t do this today.”

“Are you… Are you crying?” He touched your face, wiping your tears with his thumb. “Y/n, why are you crying?”

You shook your head. You were scared of what would happen if you opened your stupid mouth.

“Y/n, please.” Hyunjin begged. His voice was shaking. “Tell me why.”

You shook your head again.

“Y/n, please.” His voice cracked.

“Hyunjin,” you paused, taking a shaky breath, “it’s because I love you. I’ve loved you ever since the first moment you smiled at my pathetic ass. Even when you hurt me more than anyone has hurt me before… I never had a choice, Hyunjin. It’s always been you.”

You tore yourself away from Hyunjin, embarrassed to your core. That was the most humiliating thing you’ve ever done, but at least you had closure now.

“Y/n…”

“No, Hyunjin. You’ve torn me down and humiliated me enough already. What more could you possibly want?” You demanded, aware that everybody around you was staring.

“Y/n,” Hyunjin rasped, “It’s only ever been you. I’ve spent the last three years miserable knowing that you were with someone else. I’ve-I’ve never even been with another girl in the past three years. I know you have no reason to believe me because I was such an ass. I am such an ass. Y/n, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for projecting my insecurities on you, I’m sorry for accusing you of things I know you’ve never done, and I’m sorry for anything else I might have fucking done. Y/n, I love you. Please, I don’t fucking deserve it, but is there any way you could forgive me?”

You stared at Hyunjin’s bloodshot eyes, tears freely flowing down your cheeks, and before you could even think, you found yourself pressed against his lips. Your eyes closed, savouring the feeling of his soft lips touching your own. His wet cheek pressed against your own, and with a nudge of the nose, Hyunjin deepend the kiss with a raw passion in which you’ve never felt before.

You cradled his head, relishing in his silken blonde hair as you brushed your fingers through his locks. He sighed in response, his breath tickling against your cheek. You were fully aware that everyone on campus had seen both your messy confessions of love, but you didn’t care. All you could do was replay the moment that Hyunjin had said those words — those three tiny words — over and over in your head as you ran your fingers through his hair and kissed his soft, honey lips.

[andhumanslovedstories]

Whenever there’s Taylor Swift news of any kind, I always think about this boy I knew in high school who was so Republican and so Evangelical, and I was so Democratic and so Atheist But In That Way Where You Think About God All The Time. We were in a bunch of classes together, and we got on pretty well despite every conversation being an ideological argument.

(There was him and another boy who was president of the Young Republicans at our school, and me versus one or both of them could be relied upon to derail a class for five minutes. I was the short haired girl in English class with Opinions, thanks.)

Anyway, this guy was also a massive enthusiastic and unapologetic fan of Taylor Swift. She’s three years older than me and him, and as he pointed out, if you take into account production delays, her most recent album will always be directly about whatever age we are now. “That’s what I love about Taylor Swift,” he said. “At every stage of my life, she’ll be relevant to me.”

So as a result of this conversation in probably 2010, literally every time Taylor does something newsworthy, I want to message him and be like, “quick temperature check. Is Taylor Swift currently speaking to where you are right now in your life?” I don’t mean this is a mean way or a gotcha way to either him or Taylor Swift. I haven’t seen him since high school, a quick glance at his Facebook page suggests that many of his opinions have changed at least a little over the last decade, as I have as well (which is a fucking ordinary miracle that we are not forever our 17 year old selves). But I’m just so genuinely curious.