#i took a break for my birthday and other stuff but i've already got some other stuff planned out

[sokkas-art-corner]

Hi! I would just like you to know that I absolutely adore and would die for the Baizhu/Dottore+their daughter Qiqi dynamic. 1000/10, I wish more people would think of it. I like to think of them as the “crimes against nature” fam.

Aw, thank you! I'm glad people are enjoying this specific brand of Baizhu/Dottore, haha. I've been imagining them as the "kinda immortal family" (Baizhu will get there) but phrasing it as the "crimes against Tevyat nature" family feels more fitting... and funnier, phbt.

Sometimes a family can be a kind doctor from Liyue who's made a life pact with a talking snake, an expelled scholar who went on to commit war crimes in the name of Science, and a zombie girl with a very bad memory.

(And Changsheng, somehow the most normal of the four despite being said talking snake)

[kairiscorner]

happy birthday — miles 42 x reader (birthday special)

↳ summary: miles has been really busy a lot lately, training hard under his uncle to better his tactics at fighting and balancing school and chores on top of everything, he just kind of forgets today was even special. but luckily, you don't forget your boyfriend's birthday that easily. ↳ word count: 1,916

↳ a/n: i did not realize it was my son's birthday on the third, i'm so sorry it's late SJEBCBFIVBRFVBRBVVRBO BUT I HOPE THIS IS GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR IT, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MY BOYYYY AND I HOPE YOU GUYS LOVE THIS <333

"got any idea what's up today, miles?" you asked miles with a big grin on your face as you caught miles in the halls before class began. he raised an eyebrow up at you as he glanced up at you after collecting all his books and everything else he needed for his first class of today before heading off. "um... no. is it movie night tonight? because sorry, i... i can't make it tonight, cielo." he muttered as he looked at you with eyes filled with hints of sadness and shame at not being able to hang out with you, despite really wanting to. his responsibilities as being the prowler, a student, and a son have got him really occupied lately. he can't really quit either of these full-time jobs he's got going on right now, and you couldn't blame him. you wished he went easier on himself, though, and took more breaks, took it a little easier on himself, maybe would blow off some steam from time to time and tell you at least how he feels so it doesn't bottle up inside him over time.

you held his hand and shook your head. "nah, silly, it's something more important!" you exclaimed with a grin. miles tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrow as he looked at you with a look of confusion. "um... hmm, is it a study night? i know it's not our anniversary yet, it's not your birthday, uh..." he mumbled as he closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head, frustrated with himself because nothing came up in his mind. he didn't think there was anything worth such importance today, though if he was being honest, he wasn't sure what date it was today; he just got by the month by remembering what tests were when, if tonight had prowler activities, or if tonight was going to be laundry night with his mom. he was honestly drawing a blank here, he needed you to give him more obvious clues to help him find out what exactly was so important about today.

you sighed as you let go of his hand and folded your arms in front of your chest. miles' eyes widened as he felt you let go of his hand, he reached out for your hand again as he stepped forward towards you. "cielo, wait! please, i... i'm sorry." he apologized first as he stepped back and took in a breath. "can you just, um, tell me what's up today? i'm sorry, i've just been so swamped recently, and i know that's not the best excuse, but i'm not--" he went on and on, but was interrupted by the first bell. "ay, gotta go, cielo, we can talk about this later!" miles said as he scrambled for his stuff and ran off.

you waited for miles outside of his classroom once your class ended, though he had to stay behind and ask the teachers a couple of questions and clarifications over his homework since he was having a lot of backlog due to his duties as the prowler. miles caught a glimpse of you outside, though before he could call out to you or walk over to you, the next bell rang, and you had to attend to your next class. miles couldn't focus properly, he was overthinking about whether or not he upset you, or if you were already disappointed with him forgetting what day it was today. he wasn't able to check his phone or ask for the date today since he was busy catching up with schoolwork. eventually, miles caught you at lunch, but... you were with ganke. you were huddled over with him at his table, the two of you smiling and chuckling at each other as you showed him stuff on your phone.

miles trusted ganke, and ganke expressed how he didn't have any interest in butting in between you two, but the mere sight of you with ganke–all smiles with him and laughing together, after he hadn't been able to spend much time with you recently due to his responsibilities and all–it hurt him deeply, thinking he failed you and were seeking comfort with ganke. miles walked away, hurt and sad, but angry towards himself for the most part. he ate lunch alone, just like he did before befriending ganke and meeting you, but he felt like he deserved it for pushing you aside, even if he didn't mean to and wanted nothing more than to be by your side.

as miles headed home after school, not seeing you in the halls or at the school yard as he scanned his surroundings for you, he felt super dejected and disappointed in himself. he wanted to stop thinking about his responsibilities for once and just put all his time, effort, and focus on you and only you–but he knew that would be a mere twinkle in his eye, a dream that will only remain as that, a dream. but as he entered the front door of his home, he was greeted to the voices of all the important people he had in his life, with yours ringing distinctly in his ears.

"happy birthday, miles!"

miles stiffened as he heard those two words with his name following the greeting not long after. he blinked for a few times and looked around–his mom and uncle aaron were there, so were ganke and... you. wait, could this be the super important thing you hinted about today? oh, man, did he feel like an idiot–he never thought of his own birthday as something of importance, but you... you kept thinking about him, all day. miles was speechless as you approached him, all smiles, and pecked his cheek. "happiest birthday to you, miles." you said as you pulled away and presented to him the gift you had for him. miles looked at you with a puzzled look. "cielo... for-for me?" he asked you as you chuckled and nodded. "for who else, dummy?" you asked him as miles slowly took the gift and stammered. "i... but, cielo, i don't deserve this. i've missed out on countless dates and meet-ups with you, i keep pushing you aside even though i don't wanna, i--" miles rambled on and on, beating himself up for feeling inadequate at making you happy due to his repeated absences.

before he could continue, you hugged him tightly. "and it's okay, babe. you're good. you try, and even if it doesn't work out, it's the thought that counts. i'm already happy you think of me all the time and want to spend time with me, even if you can't. i love you, miles." you tell him in a gentle voice as miles hugs you back, bringing you closer to him as he kisses your cheek. "i really love you, too, mi cielo..." he mutters as you pull away from him and lead him to the couch for him to open his gift from you.

you handed him a thick box, it was wrapped in purple wrapping paper with green accents, with a green and black ribbon to tie it up. you encouraged miles to open it as ganke filmed it, with his uncle aaron and his mom watching intently. miles was gentle in unwrapping the gift, he didn't rip it open, he wanted to feel the suspense of opening the gift you got him. soon, when he saw what was inside, he gasped loudly as his eyes went wide. he kept repeating 'wait, no...' in a breathless, excited way as he realized you bought him the sneakers he had been wanting for the longest time. he could never ask his mom to buy it for him, and he was saving up to buy them himself, but to get them from you... oh, he felt like he had ascended.

"mi cielo, no freaking way...!" he exclaimed in an overjoyed manner with slight chuckles in his voice as his smile widened as the fact you gifted him the very sneakers he had wanted for a long time sunk in and made him momentarily forget the sadness he was feeling just earlier. his uncle teased you as he wished you didn't gift him those sneakers, he'd have a new obsession for a little while and keep his eyes out for him. "that boy's gonna be wary about me, asking me if i touched them. he's gonna be real overprotective of those, especially since they came from you." his uncle aaron quipped as miles told him that wasn't true. just a little true.

miles kept thanking you and kissed you on the cheek, and as ganke was filming, he encouraged you two to share a kiss. "c'mon, you dorks! for the camera! kiss! kiss! kiss!" he chanted, with uncle aaron chanting along with him. his mother chided the two, saying you two weren't going to be doing anything of the sort in front of them, but you decided you didn't care anymore and pulled miles in for a gentle kiss. miles' eyes widened even more as you kissed him, and though his mother cried out in surprise, with his uncle clapping and chuckling as ganke cheered for you two, he found himself not wanting to pull away and kissed you back.

miles pulled away and gazed at you, a smirk growing on his face as he kissed your cheek. "oh, how did i get so lucky? how could i have you, mi cielo? you know, i'll stop being too serious, you're the only lucky break i have from all the chaos in my life. i promise you, though, i'll make up for all the time that should've been just ours together. i swear, i'll make this place safer for you, i promise." he said as he interlocked his hand with yours, clutching the shoe box in his other hand. he kissed your lips and pulled away, causing you to giggle and get flustered. "i'll hold you to that, miles. but please... don't hesitate to come to me, talk to me, or do anything with me. i love you, babe, i don't mind if you miss a few dates or meet-ups, just be safe out there..." you whispered to him with a smile.

his mother retreated to grab a glass of wine as his uncle called out to her to save him a glass, with ganke chuckling as he saved the footage and teased you two lovebirds. "this... has got to be the best birthday ever." miles gushed as he ran a hand through your hair. you chuckled as you fidgeted with the end of his left braid in your hand. "even with your uncle and mom watching us kiss, with ganke filming all of it, probably never gonna let us live it down...?" you asked as you leaned closer to kiss him again and pulling away. miles smiled sweetly at you as he answered, "really." he kissed you again, with you reciprocating his kiss. that truly was going to be a birthday he'll remember, and he's gonna make sure he keeps his promises to you and work hard to earn your love and pay you back for the gift you gave him. though if you were to ask him, the only gift he really wanted was just to... hold you close, hear your voice, and just be with you on his birthday and for all the birthdays there were to come in the future with you, his sweetheart.

tags !! @k4tsu3 @fiannee @luvstarrstruck @toneystank-3000 @ii01vq @maxoloqy @pixqlsin @solecitoszn @q2ie @zalayni @anikaluv

[penig]

So we're having a rough summer and I haven't been talking about it because why brood but it's different when you talk about people being nice. So, thumbnail sketch:

We finally (as I've been wanting to do for years) got an estimate on getting the house rewired (pretty sure some of the original wiring installed in 1910 is in use) and partially replumbed (can't use the shower tub because the iron pipes are too clogged), and the paperwork for the loan took forever, and then a high wind came along (on my birthday) and dropped a dead redbud tree on our porch and a large branch on our car, which was totaled, and we had to buy a new (used) car and get a tree service to come out and take care of the fallen wood and trim the trees so no more wood falls, but the cost to take care of the big branch and woodpecker damaged tree in the back yard was more than we could afford with the car business, but that could wait a few months assuming no more high winds come along; and the loan comes through and we get the car squared away and the tree service is scheduled to come and we're starting to breathe again -

And I spy somebody putting what I recognize as a code violation notice on the front gate so I open the door and come out to tell her that if this is about the redbud tree on the porch we've already scheduled the work and she says: "It's everything on the lot. Cut it down to 12 inches. You have ten days" So I point out that most of the tall stuff is legal garden plants that should not be pruned in August, that it's two years since I've been physically capable of doing yardwork of any kind, that the work she's demanding is impossible in that time frame and oh yes, it's August, in Texas, with triple digit temperatures predicted for the foreseeable future and it could very well kill me to try. She thought there might be a local program to help me (No; they're all for structural work) and wouldn't budge. So that was like being shoved back underwater when we'd almost crawled out on shore.

But we put out a call to our friends, and people came over Saturday and did miracles, and almost every day this week somebody has come over (in addition to the people putting holes in our walls and ceilings and arguing over how to run the wires and occasionally turning pale at what they find) to help me in the mornings before the third digit kicked in. We did not, of course prune any of the poor heat stressed legal plants, but great inroads were made on the rest of it, and one friend even cut up the big branch in the back yard and the tree service people hauled it off, along with a collapsed picnic table which they told me, when they quoted the price for this small secondary job, that they would not take.

This morning I could barely move. I'm getting a lot of pain in the good leg as well as the bad leg, and in my back, plus I was just weak with heat and tiredness, and for the first time in almost a year I decided I'd better break out the cane again, at least to take the stairs and walk in the yard to discuss with the friend who came today, the last day before the inspection, where best to put his effort (because it was plain to both of us that I wasn't lifting a finger) in order to convince the inspector that we really had done the best we could and to let the stuff we couldn't get to slide until fall and spring.

And I guess one of the workmen noticed the cane, and noticed that the handrail on the upper staircase had pulled out of the wall on one end (it had been anchored to the sheetrock, not the wall proper; the other end was anchored in paneling and was fine; this happened a couple of months ago and we had bigger worries), and just - fixed it. Because it's certainly fixed now. As is typical in Texas most of the workmen are people I can't even talk to because my Spanish is as bad as their English, so it's not as if we've made friends with them. And I didn't see it done, nor did the foreman know who did it when I brought it up and asked him to thank whoever it was, so it wasn't somebody looking to make points. They just saw a chance to do a small simple thing to benefit a total stranger, and did it.

The point here being that two people - whoever called in the code complaint (seriously, that should be illegal in August, at least for yard code with no clear and present danger) and the city employee who wouldn't listen to reason - went out of their way to force me to focus on the least pressing problem facing us right now at the expense of my own well-being. But they are far, far outnumbered by the people who have gone out of their way to help us, just because we needed help.

So, suck it, cynicism!

[dollywheeler]

September 29th, 1996

And I say hey-ey-ey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said "hey, what's going on?"

I've had this song stuck in my head all morning, still dancing along to it as if I'm still in the gymnasium, my gold dress swirling around me. I don't know why this song - it's not particularly romantic, or fitting to the occasion, doesn't sum up how the evening had felt. Yet, it had been the most magical moment of the entire night.

One moment, dancing with Daniel to Duran Duran, then this song came on, the slow start meaning we didn't break apart yet, trying to stay close as long as possible, but when the chorus hit the entire hall threw their heads back, screaming along in a messy harmony. It felt like a dream, didn't feel quite real, like some kind of movie, when your heart feels full even though you're just watching it play out in front of you. Except, this time I was in the middle of it, screaming along with everyone else, and it felt like I was floating, wishing the moment could less forever.

That's not to say the rest of the evening wasn't just as wonderful. Daniel took me to an actual restaurant, which was a nice change of pace from the dinner, but I honestly can't tell if the food was even worth it. My stomach was too busy swirling with nerves, and I could barely get any food past my lips because we were too distracted talking and laughing. It was wonderful - he was wonderful, looking dapper in his suit and glinting golden in the candle light. As far as first dates go, I'm sure it couldn't have gone any better. Not that I'd know, as this was my first first date, but it felt like a dream, like something that couldn't possibly be real.

It was the perfect blend between familiar and exciting - the comfort of someone you already know, someone you already love spending time with, mixed with the nerve-wracking thrill of a new context, of possibility.

We were having such a great time that we were late to the actual dance, having lost track of time completely during our conversation. Whitney gave me this knowing look about it - I don't think she would have believed me if I'd told her we'd just been talking.

Anyway, we danced and we laughed and gossiped and I didn't even care that Mike and his 'party' or whatever was there. I'd already realised I'd have to get used to them being around the school in every facet - that includes chaperoning school events. The night was too perfect though, and I was not going to let anything darken my mood.

I did get to talk to Max though, and thank her for the birthday gift. She said she'd mostly just said 'yes' or 'no' to things Mike had picked out and it was no big deal but that she was glad I liked it. I also used the moment to ask about everything else - I realised that if Mike won't call to tell her things, I might as well ask someone else for intel. Apparently, Lucas and her still live in Chicago, and she works as a counselor at the blind school she went to after whatever happened had happened. Everyone is always so vague about the details, but I didn't want to ask her directly and force her to relive it. That's one thing that actually is none of my business anyway.

Erica is living with them while she is going to college - she got her Bachelor's last June but just started law school. I can't imagine moving in with Nancy while I'm in college. Don't get me wrong, Nancy's great, but it's college! You're supposed to go out on your own and become independent and stuff. I said as much to Max, but she just shrugged and smiled to herself. She said Erica was happier with them than she'd been at the dorms.

I didn't know how to go from there so I just asked about El. I knew she still visits Hawkins a lot, because opposite to the others, I see her around town sometimes. At Melvalds with Joyce or in the diner with Sheriff Hopper, or alone around the library in the center of town. But there's also stretches of time when I don't see her at all. According to Max she takes a bunch of classes at the community college, but also travels a lot - bouncing between Chicago and San Fran and New York. Max said that whenever Dustin or Jonathan and Nancy have to travel for work, she usually tags along too. I don't know why or how she does all of that, but it sounds like a dream. Yet, at the same time, I think I'd personally hate it.

She seemed happy enough though, and it's obvious she is happy. From across the room I could see that, as always, her smile was wide and her skin warm with a tan, her hair pinned back with clips that clashed with her new pink highlights. Most of the chaperones hadn't bothered dressing up, but she had clearly thought about her outfit, each item carefully picked out to form a particular look, even if it was just jeans and a colorful sweater.

I didn't want to outright ask about Mike or Will, mostly because I know what they're doing right now and asking about Mike felt too much like snooping. Max didn't seem like she was going to mention it on her own, and before I could make up my mind on whether I really wanted to know, Dylan came to drag me back to the dance floor.

It was only after we were taking another break some time later that I realised I still didn't know what Dustin or Lucas are doing. I assume Dustin lives in San Fran, as that's the only reason El would go there as often as Chicago or New York, but I don't know what he does there. Probably some kind of tech company or whatever. And I'm pretty sure I heard Mrs. Sinclair talk about Lucas following in his father's footsteps but honestly I don't even know what he does so that doesn't answer any questions.

Might be something to talk about on Friday to fill awkward silences.

Anyway the dance was amazing, and someone must have succeeded in smuggling in alcohol because there was a girl puking in one of the bathroom stalls before 9 pm. She was nice though, told me she liked my dress. Even that felt magical, despite her smudged make-up and loopy expression, the entire night like a daydream where I was floating on air and nothing could ever be wrong.

There was an after party at Selena's house - I swear kids of divorced parents are raising themselves because somehow their houses are always empty at the most opportune times - but Danny and I decided not to go. I didn't want to risk ruining what had been the perfect evening, and I knew I'd only get more tired and everyone else less sober. It also kept the evening quiet, just Daniel and I in the car as he drove me home, drunk on happiness and singing along to the radio. Last night, it seemed, for once, I hadn't cared about missing out. I still don't.

I mean - nothing could have topped Daniel dropping me off at home, getting out of the car along with me as if he didn't know what he was doing either but had seen a few movies, and walked me up to the front door. I knew dad would already be asleep, but mom would be sitting up in the sitting room like she'd done so many nights before, for so many years on end, waiting for her teenager to get home safe.

I had my jacket draped over my shoulders because it wasn't too cold yet and I liked the air against my arms after the crowded gymnasium. Daniel pretended to pull it tighter around me, only to use it as leverage to draw me closer and kiss me. It feels silly writing it down because there's nothing I can say to really describe it. No words that feel right or do it justice, that explain how I'm blushing all over again just thinking about it, my stomach swirling at the recollection.

All I know is that I wish I was still in that moment, still holding his face in my hand, gently scratching my nail over his cheek, submitting the feeling to memory. But I didn't mind when he pulled away, his face flushed and dark eyes shining in the porchlight, because I got to smile at him and he smiled back, blush deepening as he stepped away and muttered a goodnight, dimples digging into his cheeks where I'd held him.

I watched him go before getting back into the house, finding mom asleep on the couch. It was late for her, I realised, even though it was only a little before twelve, and considered the fact she hadn't had to stay up in a long time - not since Mike had left. I didn't want to wake her but knew I had to - if just to let her know I was home and she wouldn't wake up worried.

I still can't quite believe the night was real.

I really should get the reading done for tomorrow, but I don't want to stop thinking about yesterday. Or tomorrow, when I'll see Daniel again.

Love, Holly <3

[violettawriting]

Chapter One

Francesca's POV

Friday night. Another college party. The 4th semester started three weeks ago and I already feel like I've been to enough parties for a lifetime. Me and the girls stop in front of the fraternity hosting the party, observing the decoration - which consists basically of a huge banner that reads "Happy 21st Birthday, Leon!!!" with questionable calligraphy and ink stains here and there.

"Ugh, men... why can't they make a simple banner right? Nothing in this decoration is appealing to the eyes." - Cami mumbles by my side and gets a laugh from Vilu.

"Cami, don't be mean. The boys did their best..."

I watch the place while my best friends discuss the manual skills of our male friends. Some people come in and out of the place, the music is muffled from outside and some flashes of colored lights escape through the windows. In the midst of the groups of people circulating around the facade of the house, I see Marco. He sees me too and smiles.

"Hey, I saw that." Camila nudges my arm. 'I was already wondering where our dear Marco Tavelli was. I haven't seen him in ages."

"Tonight promises to be interesting, huh, Fran?" Violetta laughs, teasing me. I roll my eyes and smile.

"Ha Ha. Girls, you know how my story with Marco is. Since he requested a transfer to London, we decided to take a break from... whatever it was that we had. I adore him, but it wasn't meant to be. Good thing he moved before we got into a serious relationship."

"Well, I like him. If you guys atarted dating, I'd approve 100%."

"I know, Vilu. You made that clear since the first time I bumped into him in the university corridors."

"Well, what can I say. I'm a romantic" she says, shrugging and then slotting her arms between mine and Cami's. "Now, let's go in. My boyfriend is waiting for me inside and I'm really in the mood for a drink."

***

The party has been going on for 3 hours now, and I'm slightly drunk. Not drunk like Cami, who is currently engaged in a dance battle - if you can call it that - with a group of Brazilian boys, but drunk enough to stumble twice on my way to the sofa in the corner of the room. Our whole group of friends is here tonight, as well as the rest of the entire university. After all, it's not every day that the motocross king and vocalist of the biggest band in Buenos Aires gives a birthday party. Funny how even in college, you can still feel like you're in high school sometimes.

I sit on the sofa, finally, and emit an involuntary sound as I feel my legs relax for the first time tonight. I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall, letting the music enter my ears and take over me. Although I'm not a fan of this song - or more specifically, of the person singing it - I start humming the lyrics of Destinada a Brillar quietly. After a few minutes, I finally open my eyes and instantly regret it.

I see the guy sitting on the other end of the sofa, all dressed in black leather and his hair messy, staring at me with a mocking expression.

"What?" I ask impatiently.

Diego doesn't answer, he just laughs and turns his gaze to the crowd. Ugh, this guy….

Vilu and him have kissed a few times at parties just like this one, when her relationship with León wasn't going well and they took a break. I never liked that jerk and definitely never understood what she saw in him. Camila says it's the magic of bad boys, that seduces you when you least expect and makes you want more and more. Anyway, I wasn't surprised at all when my best friend came to me telling that Diego had gone braging to León about the great time he had with her the night before. Vilu eventually forgave Diego, but I didn't. This guy is always looking for trouble and seems proud of being an idiot.

It's no secret to anyone that Diego Hernandez is involved in illegal stuff. He's a drug dealer and I've heard that he once stole some shit from a rich girl from the university. Normally, I don't have much contact with him. In fact, I don't even remember that he studies with us most of the time. But from time to time he reappears, getting into fights or... hanging out with Marco.

Yes, Diego and Marco are friends. Best friends. That will never stop sounding crazy to me, considering that Marco is the sweetest and most respectful boy I've ever met. When I first started hanging out with Marco - before he told me he was moving to the other side of the world and ended our "relatioship" - I tried to ignore my convictions about Diego and have a good relationship with him, for everyone's sake. But that's just impossible. Diego is everything I disapprove of.

"Hey, Di." a short girl with curly hair and dark red lips approaches and starts talking to him (read: flirting). "You disappeared. I missed you this week in class."

I roll my eyes and try to ignore the conversation happening next to me. I try to focus on watching my drunk friends doing embarrassing things in the middle of people and it actually works. Until a guy with an unhappy expression enters my field of vision and starts approaching with wide, firm steps.

"Dude, are you crazy?" the guy yells when he stops in front of Diego, who just looks boredly up at his face from under his long, thick lashes. "You're kissing my ex-girlfriend in front of me, knowing damn well we broke up four days ago?"

"Man, you're drunk. Just go back where you were, I'm not looking for trouble, okay?" he replies. The girl, now sitting on his lap, huffs and rolls her eyes at her ex-boyfriend.

"Do you think I'm joking, asshole?" The guy's fingers tighten around the beer bottle in his hand, and I see a vein in his forehead about to explode. "I'm not afraid of you, Hernandez. Don't doubt that I'm capable of beating your ass up."

At this point, people around are already paying attention to the discussion. The music is still too loud but it's possible to hear some cheers coming from drunk boys. I look back at Diego and he slowly takes the girl off his lap and stands up, facing the man.

"Dude, seriously. I don't want to fight, okay? I'm not doing anything, just enjoying the party. And you should too. If you want to fight, go fight alone. It's not my fault your girl chose to spend her nightsitting on my lap". He stares the guy with firm and challenging eyes.

And suddenly, the guy punches Diego in the face.

Before I could understand what was happening, a fight broke out and everyone around me started shouting. Some people backed away as punches were thrown, forming an circle around the two fighters. The girl with red lips - now smeared - screamed desperately. I was stuck between the wall behind me and the two men fighing in front of me, meaning i couldn't leave to a safer place. After what felt like an eternity, a few boys managed to hold the furious guy for a few moments. And then, before I realized what I was doing, I pulled Diego by the arm firmly, guiding him to the nearest bathroom door, pushing him inside and entering right after him, slamming the door shut. When I locked the door, I turned to face Diego.

"Are you fucking serious?" I shouted, irritated. "Can't you go to a party without ruining everyone's night? Is fighting the only thing you know? You -"

Suddenly, aggressive knocks on the door behind me made me jump, and the drunk guy's slurred voice spitting threats to Diego only made me more stressed out.

"OH MY GOD, JUST SHUT UP! GO AWAY, THE FIGHT IS OVER, DOUCHEBAG!" I shouted back.

After some time, the knocking stopped, and I heard what sounded like León's voice yelling. I spin around to face Diego, feeling my face hot with angry.

"Are you happy? This fight just ruined León's birthday. And now I'm stuck in this bathroom with you because aparently I'm the only one trying to prevent the death of two young men tonight. Why are you even here? For God's sake, I--" I interrupted my speech when I see blood dripping from Diego's fingers, where his hand was holding his head. "Holy sh...did he hit you with a bottle?" I asked in shock.

"That's what it seems" Diego says dryly.

I run to grab something to clean the blood. I hand the toilet paper to Diego and rummage through the cabinets for some first aid supplies.

"Fuck, this hurts," Diego cursed while trying to stop the bleeding with the paper.

Finally, I found a box of band-aids and other first-aid materials and turned to the boy leaning on the sink counter, staring at the injury through the mirror reflection, clearly not knowing what to do. I took a deep impatient breath.

"You know what? Here, let me do this." I guided Diego to the edge of the bathtub, and he sat down, becoming shorter than me and giving me a good view of the huge cut on his scalp. "This is going to hurt," I say, short and to the point. I take a clean cloth and wet it a little, then bring it close to the wound, and when I finally touched Diego, he flinched and made a noise of pain.  I clench my jaw and sigh, trying to contain my frustration.

"Fuck," he's tense, the word is said through gritted teeth. "Careful".

"I'm trying".

I go for it again, and this time, Diego doesn't flinch. After long minutes, I managed to clean the entire wound, including the blood that had dripped onto his ear, and improvised a terribly made bandage.

And then, for the first time, I looked down at his face, and Diego was staring at me attentively. I ignored it.

"Your eyebrow and lip are cut too," I stated.

"Really? Huh, that's funny. I hadn't noticed the bloody taste in my mouth and the pulsating pain above my eye," he said sarcastically.

"Ha." I said, annoyed. "For God's sake, what did I do to deserve this? I knew I should've stayed at home studying for my next exam," I kept rambling while Diego just stood still, letting me continue to clean up the mess on his face.

When I finally touched the gauze to his lip, it twitched, and Diego gasped weakly. I unintentionally raised my eyes to his, and something inside of me softened as soon as those big brown iris met mine. And before I could bring myself to apologize for a reason I didn't fully understand, he whispered a quick "sorry" and  swallowed dry, while still holding my gaze. I looked away.

When I finished my work, my annoyance had dissipated a little, and I was able to talk to him again without spitting curses and yelling.

"That's the best I can do," I step back, observing my work.

"Thanks," he says weakly, standing up slowly and walking toward the mirror. Upon seeing the messy bandage, Diego let out a low mocking laugh. He's laughing. "We already know you definitely can't be a nurse."

I stare at the man in front of me incredulously, my mouth open. "I'm sorry? You're seriously gonna make fun of me after I saved you from bleeding to death?" Diego chuckles again and raises his arms in a sign of surrender.

"Okay, yeah, sorry. You did an awesome job fixing my bleeding head and face, okay?."

As I was about to reply something, a new voice echoes from outside again. "Fran? Diego? Are you guys in there?" I recognize Violetta's voice. "León already kicked that boy out. You guys can come out now."

I look at Diego as I respond to my friend. "Hey, Vilu. Yeah, I'm coming." I pass right by him, towards the door and unlock it, but before i open it and finally leave that crazy situation, I turn to Diego one last time.

"Just to be clear, the fact that I didn't leave you bleeding in the middle of this party doesn't mean I like you or can stand you. And just because that lunatic started the fight doesn't change the fact that you also messed up. Next time, do everyone a favor and don't show your face around here, okay?"

And with that, I walk out of the bathroom, without looking back.

[sleekervae]

Yoü & I [1.8]

Masterlist

A/N: woohoo! Two chapters in one day! 🤙

Warnings: mentions of drug use

The food was beyond delicious. Maria and her cousin, Andrea, had spent the day cooking up all these little finger foods for the guests to snack on. They were the cutest things the girls had ever laid eyes on and Maria was pretty proud of herself. 

Charlotte had a little paper plate in her lap with three little sandwiches of smoked salmon and cream cheese and sausage pastry puffs. She was listening to another guests recent travels through South Africa, not paying attention when Luke would reach over now and again and try to steal some food off of her, just to annoy her. Grabbing a sausage puff with a toothpick, waiting for Charlotte to glare at him and grinning like a little shit as he quickly shoved the piece into his mouth. Charlotte glared at him every time.

"Piss off, dude!" she laughed, much to everyone's amusement, "Go get your own!"

"But Michael took the last sausage puff!" he whined, goading her with puppy-dog eyes. 

"Well, that's not my fucking problem," she pouted back, "Eat the salmon ones,"

"Ew, no," he shook his head.

"What if I put vegemite on it for you?" 

"... We can discuss it," 

Soon after the party quieted down long enough so they could all sing Happy Birthday to Maria. Afterwards, they cut into the cake and dipped into the freshly-heated bougatsa. Luke and Calum were immediately transported to heaven at the first bite. 

"Holy fuck, I missed this stuff," Calum said, powdered sugar staining his lips. 

"It's fucking good, yeah?" Luke hummed.

"This ain't nothing," Chloe told them, "When Charlotte's grandma used to make it fresh -- I swear, that shit was better than sex," 

"Do you know how to make this, Charlotte?" another guest asked. The mousy brunette shrugged shyly.

"I've attempted it once or twice, but I always fuck it up," she replied. 

"We got to get your mom to show us how to make this," Kimberly nodded.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes, "My mom? Teach us how to bake?"

Kimberly shook her head, "I didn't believe me, either," 

"Hey, we're not complaining over here," Luke piped in, grinning at Charlotte. Some cake icing dotted the corner of her lip, "Hold still, babe,"

He brushed his thumb at the corner of her lip and wiped off the icing. Charlotte hoped he didn't hear the thunk of the lump she'd swallowed the moment he touched her.

The others ate their dessert and consumed an assortment of drinks. Ashton and Michael got into a thumb wrestle over who would get the last bougatsa; Kimberly claimed victory while they were distracted. 

"Ya thumb wrestle like children? Ya lose regardless!" she told the sulking boys. 

Maria excused herself from her friends for a bathroom break. Ducking out from the party she trotted down the hall and turned into the bathroom doorway. However, she stopped dead in her tracks. Melody was rooting around in her bathroom drawers, seemingly looking for something. 

Maria thought she must've been hammered and she was seeing things, but Melody was none the wiser. She kept rummaging around through her toiletry drawer, what the actual fuck?

The older latina crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway, "What're you doing?" she asked.

Melody's head shot up faster than a crack of lightning, her face paling when she'd been caught, "Hm?" was her only response.

"... What are you doing?" Maria asked again, her patience already on a thin line with this girl.

Melody slowly closed the drawer, "I was just looking for some aspirin. I got a bit of a headache," she said, trying to play it off cooly. Maria was unsure as to whether or not she was telling the truth. If she wanted aspirin, she could've just asked. 

"One drawer over with the first aid kit," she instructed slowly. Melody opened the next drawer and gasped in triumph when her eyes landed on the little red bottle.

"Oh, here it is!" she grinned at Maria, "Thanks," 

"Sure," Maria nodded, "... Just ask me next time instead of going through my shit," 

Melody shrugged, "Well, you were having too good a time it was kinda' hard getting your attention. Figured you'd keep it in the bathroom anyway; but you're right. Total invasion of privacy. I'm sorry," 

"It's fine," Maria lied, "Come on. I'll get you some water," 

She had Melody slink out first and she watched the young influencer disperse into the crowd. Maria took one last glance at her bathroom, an eerie chill crawling up her spine. Something wasn't right, here. She shut the door behind her and made good to lock it this time. 

♛♛♛

The next afternoon, the girls were sat in the airport's lounge as they awaited their flight's departure. They were all giddy -- albeit a bit hungover -- for this next leg of the tour. That is, they were... until Maria told them about last night's run-in with Melody.

"What the fuck is she doing going through your bathroom drawers?" Kimberly scowled. 

"That's just downright fucking creepy, even for Melody," Charlotte said. 

"Yeah. What -- she wanna' know what scent of Vagisil you use or something?" Chloe remarked, earning some seedy stares from strangers sharing the space. 

Kimberly grimaced, "Lower your voice, for God sakes. Everybody's a prude these days," 

Maria slumped down in the arm chair she was sat in, "Girl looked me dead in the eye and told me she needed some aspirin. Bitch, if you need aspirin, you come and ask the host who's bathroom the aspirin is in. You don't just invite yourself to look through the drawers; that's like inviting a total stranger to go through my underwear drawer!" 

"I had a date try that with me once," Kimberly said suddenly. 

Chloe's eyebrows furrowed, "... And did he violate your underwear drawer?"

"No, but I violated his eyeballs with my hairspray," Kimberly said.

Charlotte cringed, "Get your ass off Bumble," 

"That's really creepy though, Maria," Chloe continued. 

"You wanna' know something creepier?" Maria said, "I don't think she was after the aspirin," 

"Why? What do you think she wanted?" Charlotte asked. 

Maria shrugged, "Something she clearly couldn't ask me for, probably for fear of judgement," 

"Like what?" Kimberly asked. 

"Name it. I got cough syrup in there, bath salts, a couple different painkillers. And if that wouldn't do the trick, she'd probably raid my spice rack for the nutmeg," Maria said.

"Nutmeg? What're you talking about?" Kimberly asked again. 

Charlotte shook her head with discontent, "She thinks Melody was looking for drugs," she kept her voice low so other passengers wouldn't hear them. 

Chloe's eyes went wide, "Drugs? What kind of drugs would we have? We smoke weed, drink illegally, and the main food group in our diet is McDonald's,"

"Announce it to the world, why don't you," Charlotte grimaced, "Not like we're famous or anything,"

"Sorta famous," Chloe pointed out, "We on a B level," 

Kimberly was in dismay, "Wait, hold up -- you can get high off nutmeg?" she asked in disbelief.

"Apparently, too much of the stuff is like an amphetamine overdose," Maria replied.

"So... say if one were to eat a whole pumpkin pie..." 

"You eat a whole ass pumpkin pie, you'll def get sick, just not from the nutmeg," Charlotte said.

"Why would you wanna' eat a whole pie, anyways?" Maria asked. 

Kimberly shrugged sheepishly, "Sometimes, post-breakup ice cream just isn't good enough," 

"Yeah, we can't all have a big Australian pretty boy coming over to wipe our tears away like you, babydoll," Maria said to Charlotte. Charlotte stuck her tongue out.

"Jealousy is unbecoming, Maria," 

A look of horror suddenly overcame Chloe's face, the mention of Luke triggering a harrowing thought, "What are the odds do you think Melody does use something? 'Cause if she's using, there's a good to fair chance she'd get Luke involved. And I don't know how I feel about that,"

"Luke Hemmings and drugs?" Kimberly scoffed, "That's like giving double espresso to a puppy,"

Charlotte shook her head confidently, "Luke doesn't use drugs. I mean -- I would know," she said, trying sound certain, "You guys said it yourself, we're practically together all the time. The guys too -- if he was on something but... he's -- he's just -- he's not!"

"No one's saying he is," Maria placed a hand on her knee to calm her down, "Okay? We're not saying he's on anything. We're not even certain Mel is on anything,"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded to Charlotte, "Maybe she's just a creep who likes to go through other people's privacy? Maria caught her doing it last night," 

"And you're right, Lottie," Kimberly added, "We've all known Luke for years. If he was on something -- I mean, I'm pretty sure we'd pick it off," 

Maria brought her hand to her forehead, "I don't even wanna' imagine what Ashton would do if he caught Luke snorting shit,"

"Forget Ashton. What about Liz?" Kimberly said, "Finding out her baby is a junkie? She'd kill Mel first, and then Luke,"

"Why kill Melody first?" Chloe asked.  

"You think Luke would get into that shit on his own? Yeah, right. Momma Hemmings' coming at that bitch with a fucking two-by-four and knock those duck lips off her face," the bassist scoffed.

Charlotte then interjected, "Could we talk about something else, please?" she asked, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. The girls couldn't blame her, how terrifying would it be to find out one of your closest friends, someone you practically share every aspect of your life with, abuses pills? 

"Sure," Maria nodded, just as eager to steer off topic. Besides, Luke didn't fit the mold anyway. He'd smoke weed, sure, but they all did, "What're we gonna' do first when we get to England?"

"Sleep off this hangover for one," Chloe replied. 

The conversation changed and soon enough, the girls were being called to board their plane. And yet, for the majority of the flight Charlotte had a sinking feeling in her gut. Even when Luke and Calum popped by her seat for a chat, she couldn't help but look at the 6'2 blonde a little differently. Her mind was wandering, looking for anything that indicated to her that Luke's behaviour was off. But he was normal, as normal and goofy as the day they'd met. 

You're being ridiculous, she thought to herself, he's not on anything. He never would... right?

♛♛♛

The moment they stepped off the plane, Charlotte took her phone off airplane mode and regretted it immediately when she saw she had a few missed calls from her mom. Eight, to be precise, and a flurry of text messages.

"For fuck sakes..." she fell into step with Maria as they made their way to exit Heathrow, "Look at this,"

The bleary-eyed latina took a glance at the phone screen and shook her head. Penelope was at it again with her overbearing and over-worrying.

"Jesus, eight calls? Seriously?" she asked.

"One for nearly every hour of the flight. And like, twelve messages," Charlotte replied, she scrolled through the messages, "Your brother is still seeing that whore. I know he's lying to me. What did you say to him before you left? Why aren't you answering my calls?"

"Didn't you tell her you were travelling today?" she asked.

"Oh, of course," she nodded back, "When she gets hysterical though, all rational thought flies out the window," she started to dial her mom's number. 

Maria's eyebrows furrowed, "It's 11pm over there right now, isn't it?"

"Well clearly, it's an emergency. So I think she'd appreciate the call back, regardless" Charlotte smirked, knowing fully well her mother was already fast asleep. 

Maria shook his head, "You're bad, Char," 

"I know," she put the phone to her ear, "But I look damn good while doing it," 

A few feet behind the girls, Luke fell into step with Ashton. Charlotte wasn't the only one to note Bryana's lack of presence at the party, and Melody's words echoed in his head on repeat. Ashton didn't often let it show when he was down, he was supposed to be the happy-go-lucky git of the group. Always laughing and joking around, so it was rare when Luke would truly see Ashton upset.

"Hey," 

"Hey," Ashton yawned into his fist.

Luke licked his lips nervously, "Listen, I don't want to get into anything but... are you and Bri okay?" he asked. 

The curly-haired drummer seemed to go a shade paler at the mention, but his face gave nothing away, "Whatcha' mean?"

The blonde shrugged sheepishly, "I mean -- she wasn't at Maria's party last night --"

"I told you: she had a thing," Ashton replied, staring at the younger lad quizzically. 

"What kind of a thing?" Luke asked. Ashton neglected to respond, instead focusing on pushing through the crowds of travelers, "I'm not trying to pry or anything, mate. I just -- if something's going on, we're here for you. All of us," he nodded in the direction of the girls.

Ashton feigned a smile, "I know. And I'm good, we're all good. I promise ya,"

If there was one thing Luke would change about Ashton, he'd get him to be a little more truthful with his emotions. For as long as he could remember, Ashton would bottle up his feelings on the inside and slap a smile on his face, and on more than one occasion he'd crash and burn at the end of misery lane. 

"Alright," 

An hour and some later the bands arrived at their hotel. Charlotte had called her mom, hearing the same grating annoyance in Penelope's voice as she bitched about how it was the middle of the night, but afterwards proceeded to complain to her daughter about how sure she was Troy was keeping things from her. Charlotte did what any burnt out daughter would do with their paranoid, overbearing mother: tune her out and simply agree with everything she was saying so she'd settle down. 

"That's the problem with your generation; you all romanticize drugs and unwrapped sex until you end up pregnant and have to live with your overworked parents for the rest of your lives -- rent free!"

"I know mom, I know," Charlotte sighed, slumped over the couch of her hotel room. 

Across from her sat Chloe on the bed, sprawled out and trying to doze off. But Penelope was so loud she could hear her from the speaker. She kept her eyes trained on the singer, and when Charlotte caught her gaze she made a gun sign with her hand and motioned to blow her brains out. Chloe simpered. 

"Are you even listening to me?" Penelope snapped. 

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Yeah mom, I've been listening for --" she glanced at the bedside clock, "Forty-eight minutes exactly," 

Penelope huffed, "Alright, alright. I know when you're sick of me, sweetheart. Just try not to cry too much when I finally kick the bucket," and here came the guilt. 

"Mom, I'm not sick of you," Charlotte reasoned, "But I just got off a nine-hour flight and I'm exhausted," 

"So, why did you call me?" Penelope asked.

"Because I feared you'd harass the phone company again if I didn't," she replied, "Now, just calm down. Troy's an adult and he can do what he wants," 

"But what if he gets her pregnant or she gets him into LSD? I don't want no helter skelter hipsters coming around my house and blowing their sage around!" Chloe heard that and nearly busted out laughing.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, bleary and fatigued, "Mom, he's not going to get anybody pregnant. I mean -- look at him. The kid's swimmers probably can't even make it past the cervix," Chloe grimaced. 

"Charlotte, don't be so crass," Penelope chided.

"Well, stop being so paranoid! And lay off the kid! You can't be helicoptering over his shoulder all the damn time," Charlotte replied. 

"It's not paranoia, but a mother knows when a girl isn't right for her son!" she replied, "If you ask me, the Martinellis should've sent that girl to reform school long ago," 

"I know, mom," Charlotte huffed, "Look, I got to go but just take it easy for God sakes. Give Troy a little room to breathe," 

"He's not like you, Charlotte," Penelope stated, "I never have to worry about you, you're independant. It's your brother the world is going to eat alive. Goodnight, Charlotte," and with that, the older woman hung up. Charlotte wanted nothing more than to toss her phone out the window. 

Chloe grinned at her friend, "... So, how's Penelope?" she asked. 

Charlotte glared back at her, "Why is talking to my mother for forty minutes more exhausting than a transatlantic flight?"

"Because she's crazy," Chloe stated simply, "No offense -- but I mean, helter skelter hippies? What does she think this is? The Manson Murders?" 

"I don't even know anymore," Charlotte peeled herself off the couch and went to collapse on the twin bed, "The woman is like a damn gas leak. I don't see her or hear her for a multitude of time, but she's slowly trying to kill me,"

"Maybe you ought to get her Xanax for Christmas," Chloe smirked. 

Charlotte crawled under the blankets, fully prepared for a twelve-hour nap, "Xanax wouldn't be strong enough. I need some elephant tranquilizers," 

"Isn't that shit toxic for humans?" 

"I don't know. But we'll find out," 

Chloe huffed and grabbed the chord to draw the curtains closed, crawling back into her own bed for a nap, "Get some rest Charlie, you'll feel better," 

"Mmhm," Charlotte already had her eyes closed and was willing herself to sink into some sleep. However, her phone buzzed with another text and she swore she was going to hit the ceiling. 

"Oh my God! This woman!" she grabbed the phone to turn it off, but her blood ran cold when she saw it wasn't her mom who had sent her a text.

"Hewy Char"

"II miss yo,"

"I'm sdtill down if yaou arey?

"Jus forq a night?"

"It's Ben, by the wak," 

Clearly he was drunk, so it gave Charlotte no satisfaction that he was only texting her because he was inebriated. She could've sworn she blocked his number, anyways. But how disrespectful could a person be? Not only to their ex, but to themselves as well?

"What is it?" Chloe asked, noting Charlotte's despondent silence, "Is it your mom?"

Charlotte felt a cold shiver ripple down her spine. Apart from anger, the only thing that pumped through her blood was fear. The thought of him coming anywhere near her again nearly had her on the brink of tears. Years of forgotten manipulation and abuse came flooding back in the blink of an eye and Charlotte felt she was back in her apartment, cold, alone and shattered. 

So she immediately blocked his number and deleted the texts.

"No, it's just data warnings," Charlotte replied, swallowing the dense lump in her throat, "Nothing important,"

[magebunkshelf]

This was originally posted to my Ko-fi page. If you follow me there, you may have read all this already.

Mitch was a surprise hit for me. He was a fun character right from the start, but I never expected him to become the channel mascot, or for people in Discord servers to begin referring to me as 'the raccoon one'. It's been amazing, and it means the world this little lad has resonated with people the way he has. 

I've spoken before about how Mitch was originally just going to be a one-off character, same as the earlier Foxboy. Mitch 1 came out around the same time as the first Vampire Hunter audio started to gain traction, so while the hunter series got the views, Mitch was the one people remembered. 

Last time I did a write-up on Mitch, I mentioned how he named himself. He never had a family and so had to pick out his own name when he was young, so called himself Mitch after a snowboarder in the PS1 game MTV Sports Snowboarding. Likewise he doesn't know when his birthday is, so it made sense to give him a date of the same origin; the 30th of September is the date MTV Snowboarding released (in NA at any rate!). Not much meaning behind the date other than that, but I felt it'd make sense for him. What can I say? Mitch grew up in the late 90's and though snowboarders were cool!

The Bunkshelf has always thematically been about exploring personal insecurities. The channel is a way for me to explore fictionalised exaggerations of various personal flaws, I feel it makes for more interesting and realistic interactions, and it helps me and hopefully the audience to understand and work with these flaws, rather than doing what I used to do, pretend they're not there. Right from the start with the Incubus I think this was pretty obvious, but with some characters like the Neko Listener, it's the listener character that carries the insecurities. 

Mitch at his heart is a character built around critically low self-value. He's a non-human living in a human world, a 'trash panda' with no home or family. He's a thief. He broke in to your house to steal food, but all his bluster fell away when he was confronted by genuine basic kindness. This has continued throughout his series, with him trying to make himself useful in organising your stuff as a way to convince you that he has a use, so you don't just discard him. The listener is kind to him, and he can't accept that he deserves it.

Sometimes it can be difficult to accept when someone is being genuinely nice to you. While the insecurities on the Bunkshelf are fictional caricatures, I've long had difficulty with compliments, feeling like they were undeserved or being overly kind, that the other person was missing some flaw in my being and only seeing me or my work through rose-tinted glasses, and it made me worry how they might react if they found out I'm not as good as they seem to think I am, like I'd been dishonest to them.

It's hard sometimes to apply the kind of advice you might give to a struggling friend to yourself. It took me realising that of course I unconditionally cherish my friends, to realise that people would feel the same way about me, and that when they say things like that, when people offer compliments or nice words, it's genuinely meant, and it's genuinely deserved. That it's okay for people to like you, and for you to like yourself.

That's what Mitch has always been an exploration of. Even in part 4 he was still shying away from the listener's kindness, still holding on to his understanding of the world where he doesn't matter. Today's audio is the tipping point we've been building up to his entire story; Mitch finally learns to accept that he's loved.

At any rate, that's the goal. I hope it works kinda!

So yeah, we've come to the end of the story arc we've been building for Mitch! I'm going to give the little guy a break for a bit, but just because his story is 'over', doesn't at all mean his story is over. We'll see Mitch again! He's not going anywhere!

[rainyfestivalsweets]

11/8/22 wt 254.

Had a great start yesterday but got stuck when my boss sent me and URGENT request as I was trying to take my lunch break.

I ended up going to lunch over an hour late by the time I left. I was super super starving/ ravenous, and I ended up eating more than I had planned.

I made croxk pot taco meat with:

one pound of ground beef

2 cans of rotel

some onions

bag of broccoli slaw

taco seasoning

I added the broccoli slaw because: I'm going to be the only one eating it!

As such I can add whatever I want!

Broccoli slaw makes it more volumous for a significantly lower calorie count than using 2 pounds of ground beef. I obviously don't mind veggies at all.

That was good!

I had 4 little tacos with the little Mr. Carb tortilla taco shells, I had a taco bowl that I used as dip with some quest protein chips, so that was all good.

Then my sister called and we were visiting. THIS IS WHERE I WENT AWRY.

I plowed through a fiber one brownie or 2, a fiber 1 cookie, some kodiak bear Graham crackers and cool whip.

(Sigh)

It was just kind of a free-for-all; I don't even know what happened.

Went over my lunch talking with my sister by an hour or so.

My next meal was a snack pack from Walmart. Pretty good-it was A little turkey stick, a cheese stick, some carrots and some broccoli with ranch.

I took my tea with me to my meeting.

Went to dinner for one of the persons birthdays. I was really looking forward to this dinner but I overate. I had way more chips and salsa than I needed and I was very nervous/stress eating. Ugg.

I am trying really hard to make some new friends, or more close friends. I realize that the loss of my close friendship with the gal who is now living with my ex wife left a big hole. (Like she was my best younger friend and we would do a lot of stuff together, Including dinners, concerts and weekends away).

I'm scared that I have left myself in a social wasteland. *IF* my relationship with my girlfriend ends, I will be absolutely socially devastated.

I visited with my other best friend on the phone after raising home from dinner. I had told her about the weight regain --going from 243 now backup to 252-257.

She took a beat and asked "What can I do," and it broke my heart.

The thing is: I don't know.

I don't know what YOU can do; I don't know what I was doing that was making me so successful in the 1st place! I've been at this for so MFN long--I've been exercising for so long, I've been dieting for so LONG!

What was the magic key that helped me drop that weight earlier this year????

Yes I understand that not drinking alcohol anymore is probably part of it.

I am continuing to not drink until I lose more weight.

I don't know what else is part of the mix.

I do not want to regain this weight.

I actually need to physically lose probably another 50, 70, 100 pounds, Depending on what my muscle mass is. (Not really worried about it until I get closer to the finish line, to see where my muscle mass is at that point-- but I mean I could be done in 50 to 60 pounds if I have enough muscle mass)

That brings me to today and the stupid things that I do while I'm at work.

I ordered a dr Westin's weight loss bundle which I am currently now regretting.

I literally purchased it like less than an hour ago, and I am deep on the REGERTS stage.

It looked good but then I went into the "how to eat guide" and it's basically all the things that I try to stop doing over a year ago.

Low carb, fasting & lots of supplementation.

It looks like you need to order so many more supplements than what actually comes in the weight loss bundle. It was already over $200!!! AND I didn't get to apply my coupon, so that was 20% that I didn't expect to spend. Would have been $40. Saved.

Yes, so yeah stupid things I do. UGGGGHHH.

But here's some things I did figure out this morning: I can probably take twice as much glucomanan as I have been taking, or close to it.

it looks like up to 9 g a day is shown to be clinically safe.

I need to buy more of that stuff.

What else?

I am eating the plainest meal I've had in a while.

3 eggs and some egg whites.

My eggs didn't have any hardly any egg whites! I added egg whites--so I have no idea how much this meal is so, it's anywhere from 210 to 300 calories. I'm guessing!

I didn't measure the egg whites; I just added them to the Pan.

( I am still working so I am trying to get fed while I'm still at work because I need to go vote today).

So that's where I am today:

No morning workout.

1/2 hour earlier to work

Shopping regrets

Plain ass eggs.

[casspurrjoybell-24]

The Alpha's Boy - Chapter 1 - Part 2

Book Two In : The Alpha's Trilogy

*Warning - Adult Content*

Alistair 'Star' Claymore-Phoenix

Ivan was my rock, my sunshine on a cloudy day.

When I'm down, he was there to make me feel better.

I've spiralled out of control, more than once and when everyone thought I was at my breaking point, Ivan was there, to show me things could get better.

I watched as Silas took a knife and started slicing the cake, putting the first and biggest slice in front of me, then handed all the other slices to the crowd around us.

We didn't have an overly big family but the Autumn Falls' pack was large, one of the largest actually.

I'm sure it would be bigger had my uncle been here but he's been missing for years and if anyone had so much as said his name, Dad was likely to get emotional and the mood to the party would die.

Ivan bounced over to me, putting an arm around my shoulder and planting a kiss on my cheek.

I groaned, rubbing the feel of their cherry lip gloss off my face.

"How dare you rub off my kiss," Ivan said, a mock disappointment in their tone.

I looked up at him, he was flawless.

His eyes were a calming hazel mixed green, that always looked like they could see into your soul and his face was his 'best feature' as he liked to say.

Back when we were in junior high Ivan got into makeup and honestly, he killed it, his fake eyelashes were the perfect length.

He could go on for hours telling me about blush, contour, eye gunk and all that stuff.

I didn't really care about it but I sat there and listened as he went on and on.

I've spent more hours waiting for him to put his face on, then I have been waiting years, for words to come out of my mouth.

"Happy Birthday you mother-fucking Star-boy," Ivan said, with a laugh.

I glared at him.

'You're not funny,' I signed.

Over the last few years, everybody that I had contact with, went out of their way to learn ASL, which should have made me feel special but really all it did was make me feel awkward and embarrassed.

Sure it was cool that people knew what I was saying but I couldn't help the feeling of it being a burden on everyone.

It was fun teaching my Papa how to sign as Darren always made jokes while we did it and signed the easiest things wrong.

Silas already knew ASL when I had met him, so together we taught Darren, he also helped me teach Ivan.

Some people thought of me as special, that I had my own language.

They thought it was so cool but really, it was far from it.

I longed to laugh with my friends, swear at them, joke with them in a loud group.

I wanted to join in on the screaming contests my little brothers held.

I didn't want everyone to stop and pay attention when I wanted to speak, I just wanted to go with the flow.

I wanted to be like everybody else, so why didn't I wish for that?

Why did I wish to find my mate?

Because I'm fucking realistic that's why.

Darren and Silas had taken me to as many doctors as they could find to try and see if 'anyone' could fix my vocal cords but it was useless.

They were shot, scar tissue was built up, they were healed in the wrong place, fused to another part of my throat.

It would be more damaging to me to go in and try to fix them and the odds of them actually working again were slim to none.

So no, I wasn't making a wish for my voice, besides, when I was phased in my wolf form it was there.

That little voice in my head, it joined into the many other voices around us, a good reason to spend most of my time in my wolf form actually.

Hence why I went for runs most nights, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends because I wanted others to hear me.

I wanted to howl at the moon like the animal I was, I wanted to chew the head off my Father and Dad for embarrassing me and during those moments, I could.

"Now, how about we go for a little drink after this lame gig and get the real party started," my friend Liam said, putting a hand on both Ivan and my shoulder and leaning his head in between us, trying to lower his voice enough to not be heard by my nearby parents or Grandfather but honestly, Liam was a dumb-ass if he thought he could keep a secret around here.

Just as the words passed his lips, my Father and Pack Alpha, Silas glanced over at the three of us with a brow raised, while Dad let off a low chuckle shaking his head.

Ivan lets out a loud laugh as well, just as my Father was about to walk over.

"No way Lee. My big boy and I have plans to crash at my place after this and he's going to see if he can beat my high score in classic Pac-Man. Which is going to take all night because he can't."

With Liam saying that, I watched as my father turned back to Papa and start talking again about Malachi's upcoming therapy session.

'Be outside my place at 10:30' Ivan signed, with a smirk checking around to make sure nobody was actually watching us.

I wanted to snicker along with him, laugh with my friends but I just had to nod and smile, hating the feeling at turned inside me.

I look over, as my eyes met Rudy's who's stood across the room with our friend Declan.

I nodded my head to the right, indicating that I wanted to see him outside.

I got out from my place at the table, telling Ivan and Liam, I would be right back, before sneaking out the back door, with Rudy following not far behind me.

Rudy and I didn't always get along, he had Ivan had gotten close once upon a time and it had admittedly made me jealous.

It was during one of my bad spots, Rudy and I had learnt to work together, on some parts of our relationship.

I walked out of the back-yard of my house, enjoying the cold night air.

It was only eight-thirty but the sun still fell behind the skyline.

The wind was chilly but it was to be expected for January.

"How much did you need?" Rudy asked, digging into his back pocket and pulling out a small baggy.

'Two should hold me over, until I can get to Taylor tomorrow.'

[theclo4ked1]

Bread, Oil, and Super Sonic: The Sonic Month Ever

(I took those moon pictures 10 days prior, it was a perfect night but anyways) June 29, around 2.00am: After many years of NOT trying, but now actually putting in all, and I mean... ALL. of my effort some months ago—then, taking a break because I became busy with stuff, and... Bottom line: very early that morning, I finally collected all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 2 (1992 via the Mega Collection, not the Mobile Ports or Origins), definitely the hardest of the tetralogy (1, CD, 2, 3K) to do such a task, though I can't decide which of the other three I'd order next by decreasing difficulty. I say Sonic 2's set is the hardest because the Special Stages' design and "strategy" relies heavily on trial-and-error, i.e. memory. Let's say if, for example, an unassuming casual with little to no experience with this game, had a go at obtaining even one Emerald, I'd wager they'd fail the first Special Stage at least once before succeeding—I assume that because that's the only one (out of the seven) I have relatively sufficient knowledge in life thus far... I'm saying I know it well enough to beat it first try with little mistake. I don't know if it was ever on my bucket list, but it seemed it should have come sooner. Before June 29, I had previously collected all 14 Emeralds in 3&K, the seven Time Stones in CD (2011 via PSN, not the Gems Collection), then the six Emeralds in Sonic 1 (via Sonic Generations); all milestones happening in very distant points in my life. Sonic 2 had always seemed the most difficult to me, so for every time I had followed through with beating the game, I had ignored the Special Zone even though I was capable of getting, at most, two of the Emeralds before really biting the bullet- the bomb, actually.

...A disclaimer: I did this feat playing as Sonic alone for the adventure so Tails wouldn't *CRASH* and make us lose the Rings needed to reach the quota. I've tried before as Sonic and Tails, and I'm sure it's possible with enough time and patience (more than I already have), but you need to time your inputs about a second earlier than you normally would because the Tails CP is programmed to copy Sonic's movements to act like he's really following you, Sonic; seeing him jump, processing, then reacting in accordance. It's not quite frustrating, but when I need to jump over bombs, I'll do that. Tails, though? *CRASH* and then I reflexively squeal "tAiLS" like a stern parent.

[ ! ] The following is not an Addendum, this post has just been in the drafts for an extended period of time, and I haven't got around to finishing it.

So, not even a month later (Jul. 16, 2024, around midnight), I get all the Chaos Emeralds with Tails by my side. It was just as difficult as I'd hypothesized above. Miraculously, I snagged the seventh Emerald by the time I reached Oil Ocean Zone Act 2, just before Metropolis Zone Act I-Forgot-But-I-Think-It-Was-3, which is when I finished the first time. It's hard to prove this to you because the Super Sonic "Good Ending" will play regardless of whether Tails is with Sonic or not. You're just gonna hafta "trust me bro." I'm rather proud of myself, I'm starting to believe that if you really get off your ass and put your mind to something, you can achieve it (with a few exceptions I will not name). Here, watch this, I'd like to share it, I think it's funny and a motivator.

I was forgetting why else I wanted to write this post, but I just remembered: the subtitle "The Sonic Month Ever" is relevant because the Sonic Symphony World Tour showed up a while ago in June and I saw it. It was more special because, as any Sonic fan would know, June is Sonic's birthday month. I got to sing (luckily you don't have to hear how hoarse my voice got by the end of it) and jam with all these strangers around me; it was great, and having played Sonic Mania for myself some time before that event made me squeal during its medley. Sonic Mania made me fall back in love with Classic Sonic, that game is so fucking GOOD, seriously, I've been all over the Mega Collection lately, I haven't touched a fuggin' Colours, or a Generations, or a friggin uhhh Unleashed, or something idk in a long time... Joking aside, I still have to finish Frontiers ever since I wiped my save data to make a complete experience for the Final Horizon update soooo... Oh! Here's a useful life tip: make system restore points on your computer. You don't wanna be like Uncle MAI whose precious Sonic Symphony videos and pictures got corrupted and were thankfully recovered and restored by PhotoRec. Seriously, this happened yesterday, my MicroSD card shit on me and I almost resorted to actually giving money to a data recovery software (lookin at you Disk Drill fuck you piece a shit). I'll spare you the ranting, I did enough of that when I first lost everything ok byye Thanks for reading!

[100dayproductivity]

70/100.

This morning's coffee is not what I expected. There's half a mountain missing in the background. Supposed to be Lisbon. Not bad, though.

I've got some more pie charts for you today! Let's have a closer look at what I spend my money on. We already know that more than half my money goes to housing. Let's break that down further.

So about a quarter of my housing cost goes to property tax and insurance. The rest is all mortgage. Eek! Something needs to be done about that...

Alright, let's have a closer look at "Everything Else". First, there's basic necessities: food, clothing, heat, water, electricity, phone & Internet. (Yes, I know one might argue that Internet is not a basic necessity, but really, it is. Besides, it comes bundled with the phone.)

So basic necessities account for about a third of my spending.

A few things to note:

Take-out/dining out is not included here. 10% of my spending is on groceries only, mainly: fresh produce, raw meat & deli meat, dairy & eggs, bakery items, pantry items.

"Household" includes all the things you need to run a household besides clothes and food, such as: toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, batteries, etc. I've lumped clothing and "household" into one grouping because I'm not tracking individual itemized receipts, I'm just looking at banking and credit card statements, so my data is based on what stores I shopped at, not what I bought. So, for example, I know that money I spent at Winner's was more than likely an item of clothing, but it could also have been bed sheets. I mostly buy soap, toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner, moisturizer, dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent from Melaleuca but I sometimes also buy snacks. So it's not a perfectly parsed accounting of my spending habits but it's close enough.

Next, we have expenses that are really not optional: visits to the dentist and optometrist, and my contact lenses. My health insurance premiums are included here as well, since my insurance pays for most of my dental, vision and prescription medication (however, my out-of-pocket expenses for prescriptions is not reflected here as it was captured under my household spending.)

Also in this section are my life and disability insurance premiums. These are not optional as I have dependents.

We're down to the final 6th of my money. Where does this go?

Ah yes, my cats. Those darned cats! The bulk of this amount has been for vet bills. My older cat is really elderly now and has been requiring a lot of vet visits lately. And I pay through the nose for each visit. Ugh! But what are you gonna do? He doesn't have too much time left, maybe a couple of years at best? I want to give him a good quality of life in his senior years.

"Miscellaneous kids expenses" includes my share of money my ex spent on things like shoes and coats for our children, and their cell phones. These should really be under the "clothing and household" grouping. But whatever. Also included here is the cost of my kids' extracurriculars.

A tiny sliver of my spending goes to transportation. The reason it's so tiny is because I don't drive. I occasionally need to use public transit but mostly I walk or bike as almost everything I need for day-to-day life is within 2km of my house.

And now we're down to the last little piece of the pie. This is the only part of my spending that isn't really necessary.

This is where I've recorded take-out and dining. Once again, eating makes the biggest dent in my wallet. (We'd all be so much richer if we didn't have to eat.) Also included in the light blue bar is "fun" stuff, like when I took my kids to this live show, or that other time we went to a video game arcade to celebrate my son's birthday. Stuff like that.

Finally, the yellow "miscellaneous" bar is for expenses that didn't really fit in the other categories. Banking fees, for example. The cost of shipping a couple of books I sold on eBay. Sadly, the small amount I've donated to charity is also reflected in this amount.

So there you have it. A complete breakdown of where my money goes. It doesn't take a personal finance genius to see that I probably have more house than I can comfortably afford. I already live very frugally, there's just not that much room left for cutting back my other expenses. Even if I did tighten my belt even more than it already is, not only would I cut myself in half, it wouldn't be enough to make a difference in my housing cost. I'm going to have to do something drastic to address this situation. Like rob a bank (just kidding!). I'm either going to have to earn more, or leverage my house so others are paying for it. Interesting. I'm going to have to mull this over.

In the meantime, I have some things I really need to work on today:

Mow the lawn (will have to be tomorrow because it's raining again!)

Fry up some ground beef I have in the fridge before it goes bad

Invoice my clients! I'm late with this!

Laundry

[colinsbagel]

Mr. Pac-Man

(A/n) : Hey! so this is one of my first fanfics, so feel free to correct anything I did wrong. (although I don't take criticism very well). I did over - expand the plot, I'm sorry. I hope you like it <3

Peter Maximoff x GN!Reader

not my GIF

Slight Warnings : brief mentions of sex, and oh, Language !

____________________________________

Pink Floyd played as you scribbled random words on paper hoping they make sense, spoiler : they didn't! As you try your best to finish your history paper u hear the doorbell ring. You go down quickly because you would do anything to avoid your homework, you opened the door finding no one on the other side. You looked towards the left and right, but no one was there. You examined the area, and smelt a slight fragrant of something sweet, knowing exactly who was at the door. Going back up to your rooming hoping to find your boyfriend Peter maximoff. One of the X-men, "quicksilver" as he calls it. You didn't find him, but u did find a note which read "Hey, so I saw you've been worried about school and stuff, so I planned something special for you at my house ! I won't kidnap you don't worry...

Love

Peter"

You let out a low chuckle upon reading the last line as your mother came in "Who was at the door?" she asked with a concerned look. "Oh, it was Peter don't worry" you said effusively. "He's asked me to see him at his house, Can I go?" "Did you finish your history paper?" "Yeah! I wrote about the civil rights war" you said with a confident smile "Ok just don't be late" your mom said leaving your room. After your mom went to do finish some work you let out a sigh of relief, because technically you didn't lie nor told the truth it was a grey area.

You didn't really need anything flashy, so you wore a loose top which said "NIRVANA" tucked into some jeans and a pair of silver sneaker Peter got for you on your birthday. You didn't bother putting any makeup on as it was too much of a hassle for you. You used your powers to teleport to his house, granted you showed up in between Lorna's tea party, it still worked !

Looking around for Peter, you found him in the kitchen mumbling to himself. "Hey Lover Boy!" He got slightly startled but pulled u in for a comforting hug. "Got your note" you said pulling it out from the pocket of your jeans "thank you for this, but make it quick I have to finish my paper" "Y/n, quick is basically my name, besides I have a special evening planned for us" he said with a cocky facial expression. Speeding past you he left a quick kiss on your cheek and said "Come on down!" motioning towards his "room" aka his mom's basement. You followed him down to see that it didn't look like a trash museum for once. "So your mom finally got you to clean" "Nope, I did it myself!" he replied earning a smile from you. "So for tonight we'll be watching y/f/m, eating junk food and trying to see if u can beat my high score at Pac-Man". "That sounds amazing! And of course I can beat your score I've done 3 times already" you said gestured to the Pac-Man machine. He sped over to the game and gave you a playful smirk "So you wouldn't mind beating my high score again?" "If you do beat my high score I'll let you do whatever you want with my hair" he continued remembering that you always wanted to style his hair, it was always in a mess due to him speeding everywhere. You walked over to the machine and stood beside him, with a smirk you said "Well then prepare to lose, don't cry when you do" you moved your head to his ear and left a subtle kiss on his neck. "Or we could do something else you know?" he said raising an eyebrow looking back to his bed. "Oh shut up!" u blurted with a cocky tone. You took the controllers and started playing. Peter stared at you, he didn't care about the high score, most of the time he likes to stare at you.

Not in a creepy way, but he has always loved admiring your features. "Shit-" You mumbled under your breath breaking peter out of his daydream. "I TOLD U!! I let you win all those times!" He said jumping with his fist in the air. "Sometimes I can't find the difference between you and a golden retriever" u said laughing at his state of joy. He chuckled at the comment and sped over in front of the TV "well since you lost you're going to do what I want" "Which is??" you questioned moving your eyes to him "you're going to spend the night here" "but peter-" he cut you off by saying "don't worry I just want to watch a couple of movies and spend more time with you" "You've been busy with school so I missed you" he continued looking down at his shoes. The corners of your mouth formed a huge smile as you went in for a hug "Then we're watching y/f/m" He pulled back from the hug and you felt a blur go by as peter showed up beside you with 2 cans of soda, a bag of popcorn and a VHS tape for y/f/m.

You giggled and sat down as he started the movie. In a swift motion he sat back down with his head on your chest. "We do need to fix your hair though" you said as he grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth. "No can do you lost our bet remember?" He said in a muffled voice while eating popcorn. You both continued to watch the movie, here and there you both would scream at the TV. Peter ended up finishing all the popcorn by throwing it on the screen when his least favorite character comes on. After the movie ended Peter saw you fell asleep on the floor with a soda can in your hand. He quickly threw all the trash and carried to his bed. He snuggled up beside you and pulled the covers over the both of you. He kissed your forehead and whispered "Good Night Twinkie"

(a/n) lemme know if u want to be added to a tag list :) also please don't mind how this a repost

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Que Será Será

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38180695

Summary: Buffy asks Angel if he has any classical literature suggestions, essentially, as she is trying to get into the stuff (but isn't really being successful there) as she's back in school and taking some English classes again. It's posed as a simple, innocent question, but Angel can tell that something is bothering her about having to ask it at all. Oneshot. Fluff. Future fic. Canon/AU.

Que Será Será

"Angel, do you have a certain book you think I might like? Uhh... let me clarify. Something that's maybe akin to classical, but also not that to get me started in somewhat liking the style?"

Angel looked up from the dish he was working on for the Scoobies' upcoming Thanksgiving dinner and regarded Buffy curiously.

Thankfully, the molé he'd made to go over the turkey was already done and placed in the fridge, and the turkey was ready to go in the oven now. And everything else was either being brought by others or could be made in the morning, if someone realized that they'd forgotten something at the last minute. So, Angel slid across sunflower shade of their kitchen counter and gave the love of his life his undivided attention now, smiling at the woman for a moment with the look he reserved only for her.

"Why the sudden interest in having to read a certain reading style at all, Buffy?" Angel asked, curious, peering down at Buffy to try and better see into her beautiful candy-colored eyes. "You should just read what interests you. What? Are English majors trying to say that anything not a classic isn't 'real literature' again?"

And that seemed to be the answer, as Buffy was suddenly swiftly walking away from Angel with her cheeks stained cherry.

For a second, Angel thought about not following after his fiancée. Even though Buffy had asked for his help here, it was still pretty clear that she was embarrassed that reading wasn't exactly her favorite pastime. And Angel knew that if he offered her quick reassurances, it might actually infuriate her more and then he'd have the Slayer on his hands… even as they talked about non-Slaying things.

But at the same time, Angel imagined that leaving things as they were would also make matters worse. And he never wanted Buffy thinking that she was less than she was.

So, his decision made, Angel jumped off the kitchen island and followed Buffy into their living room, that was very much inspired by the sea, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind. And he definitely took it as a good sign that she leaned into his embrace, instead of getting into her crate of weapons underneath their favorite tan couch to find a stake and end him on the spot. "I don't know why you let what others think get to you, Buffy. They're just being snobs. Even I, someone who grew up during these 'classical' times, think there are much better stories out there than this classic literature now. But if you're still adamant that I help you find something kind of classical that you'll like, know that I will."

"I don't know, Angel!" Buffy sighed at once, pulling away from the vampire, after he'd worn his heart on his sleeve—and this did break Angel's heart some, he wouldn't lie, but he got the sense that Buffy had left his embrace moreso to sort out her own feelings, than because she was upset with him at all—as she set out to pace around the room. "I guess because I'm not getting any younger? And the Slaying has finally slowed down, which is what I've always wanted… But now I need to start thinking about my career. I'm back in school, and…

"I don't know! Maybe it's crazy… But I've actually thought about going into something English related, since even though I was never really great at it, I also wasn't really sucky girl when it came to it, either. And I always did like poetry, like with that beautiful book of poems that you got me for my birthday. But the more I hear people talk about me, I just- I don't know."

As Buffy talked about the insecurities she was now feeling over English Lit, because of people's words to her, Angel couldn't help feeling how he'd once come to be self-conscious of his drawings.

One of the reasons he'd never pursued that talent of his while he'd been human, was because Angel's father had always said that his art was good (one of the few compliments he'd ever afforded him), but not good enough, compared to some of the others in the land. The man had said that maybe if he worked at it every day, he'd eventually be able to do something with it. But until then, he would surely know a hard day's work and the feel of sweat on his back.

Angel had often wondered if it was that—as well as Darla driving the point home that he'd never have his father's approval, after the demon in him had killed his father—that had driven Angelus to become the most artistic vampire the world had ever known, but in such a sadistic way.

Not wanting Buffy to experience anything like that at all, Angel stopped her walking around the room now by gently catching her hand.

"Angel, what-" she started.

But he silenced her by putting a finger to her lips and winking. "There's always going to be someone out there who started earlier than you did… and because of that, has training, and knows the 'right' way to do things. But that doesn't mean they're better than you and that you should give up. Or that you'll never outshine them. I mean, it's never too late to start something, Buffy. Believe me. You should know that better than anyone. Weren't you the one who sponsored my redemption? I certainly started that late, but look at me now."

And at that, Buffy was grinning with a look that Angel thought that she used only for him—something he appreciated for sure—with her nose all bunched up, dimples at her lips, and her candy apple eyes sparkling. "You're right, Angel. Thanks for reminding me of that… around Thanksgiving, no less. I mean, I'm a Slayer who was found by the Watcher's Council late and did things in the most untraditional way… and the best way they could have been done that way, really. If anyone's going to rock out the next great American novel, it's going to be me."

Continue to slay vampires some… read whatever her heart desired… write the next best novel… and be a great mother, Angel knew, as Buffy pressed her lips to his now. He couldn't have agreed with her more.

Author's Note: Wow. This story kind of completely snowballed into something else entirely. Buffy and Angel were supposed to get into a conversation about "The Scorpio Races" by Maggie Stiefvater, but that didn't happen at all. Oh well.

Also, I don't actually think there's an accented "é" in the dish "mole" (though I spelled it "molé"), that I mentioned above. It's a Mexican dish and mole is, like, another word for sauce. And part of me wanted to write mole sauce or something, but then that would be redundant. And then I was tempted to just write mole, but then I was worried you guys would think Angel was cooking a mole or something. But whatever. I will gladly have spelled this wrong, I guess, just so you guys know Angel WASN'T cooking a mole.

Hope you guys liked this:)

[chiefbeifongcanrailme]

Birthday countdown

Linumi - UF-Lin

I think this would be an interesting set-up for Linumi. I had a few other thoughts and ideas (stuff Peach and I have also discussed) but I went in this direction since I've never written about it before. It's kinda promising if I were to take it further. Anyway, this time next week I'll be picking up my cake! 8 days to go!🌼💚

Bumi knew someone important was arriving on his fleet when the decks were scrubbed until they shone and his men cleaned up like they did when they were finally about to meet their spouses and loved ones. As Commander, however, the one thing Bumi took great pleasure in was a good surprise. All he was to be told was that someone would be showing up and the rest would be taken care of. The who of the situation was something Bumi looked forward to uncovering in his office at the time of his appointment.

On this particular instance though, Bumi's men seemed scared straight- chins up and slouches corrected. It amused him to narrow down on who was visiting this time that had everyone so high strung.

Bumi was resting his feet on his desk and casually studying a new map when a distinct knock struck his door.

Time for his meeting. Time to meet...

Bumi placed his feet down, straightened himself on his seat, and cleared his throat before announcing, "Come in."

The door flung open swiftly and in walked a woman of metal and curves. Bumi's eyes traveled from the metallic boots up to an hourglass made of hips and breasts followed by toned arms coated by metal, light clear skin, and neatly pinned ebony hair.

"Commander." The stern voiced woman nodded.

"Lin?" Bumi would've never guessed he'd be seeing her.

He got off his chair and walked around his desk, "What are you doing here?" He extended his arms out for a hug but having known the woman her whole life he knew better than to pounce on her as much as he may have wanted to.

Lin awkwardly placed her hand in his and shook it in lieu of hugging him, "Good to see you too, Commander Bumi."

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Chief Beifong? Tenzin breathing too loud for you?" He chortled as he took his seat and gestured for Lin to sit across from him.

"Yes, actually. The Avatar is in Republic City because of Tenzin, as if my job hadn't been hard enough already, the equalist threats are rising. The Avatar isn't ready, Tenzin is a pain and my officers are vulnerable. I'm here to inform you to prepare your crew should we need and call for back up in the city." Lin entwined her fingers together on his desk as Bumi took in all of the information.

"Of course, Chief Beifong. I'll also inform General Iroh to be my backup just in case."

"That'll be all, then." Lin stood up and turned around to leave.

"Did you bring your airship all the way here just for this?" Bumi got up too, surprised that she was leaving already.

"Yes, Commander." Lin sighed, standing in her spot facing the door.

"Lin." She could feel his breath on her shoulder, "How are you doing?" He gently held the back of her elbow to turn her around to face him.

"I'm fine, Bumi." She snatched her arm away to fold it with the other in front of her chest.

"Finally, on first-name basis." Bumi joked, "Stay awhile, Linny. What's the hurry?"

"In case you didn't pick up on it: the city is in shambles and I need to protect it."

"Well, the city can wait until you've had a lunch break." Bumi placed his hands on her arms and led her back towards her chair, "I'm going to fetch some good food while you- umm- feel free to do whatever you want here."

"Bumi I have to-"

The argument died on her lips when he stood unmoving in front of her. He raised his eyebrows at her, challenging her protest and when she moved her gaze to the floor, he smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You're exhausted. Just stay."

"Just don't call me Linny.." She mumbled.

"Of course not, Chief Linny." He bent down and playfully kissed her cheek.

A full large meal and some alcohol later, the two continued chatting and catching each other up. After "the break up", they barely spoke but since reconciling with Tenzin- of sorts- Lin decided that it was okay to reconnect with old friends. Granted, she wouldn't have come about this decision if he hadn't insisted on her staying, nonetheless, she was grateful to have him back in her life. While she hadn't quite forgiven Tenzin, she had no reason to let Bumi bear the brunt of his brother's misgivings.

"This was nice, Bumi." Lin smiled as she turned her head to check the time.

"You must visit me more often then!" He returned a genuine smile.

"Sure." Lin offered, knowing fully well that it wasn't going to happen.

Bumi reached his hand out and placed it atop hers on the desk, "Are you in love with anyone?" He asked blatantly.

Surprised by their conversation taking a more personal turn, Lin widened her eyes, "No- no. I'm not." She glanced down at his hand, unsure of what to make of it, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering-" He shook his head, not moving his hand, "What's keeping you in Republic City? If it isn't a person or the job you're clearly miserable doing- why are you still there?" He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes.

"You're right. There's nothing and nobody keeping me there. I'm just trapped living a legacy like your brother." She moved her thumb to stroke his knuckles.

Bumi seemed to be ingesting her answer before he spoke up, "Join the United Forces." He realized he blurted it out without assembling his thoughts fully, so he recovered, "It worked for me- I mean- feeling trapped in a legacy and then joining this- away from the city, the Island, everything. Besides, you'd be good at the job and a great asset to whatever unit you join."

Lin considered his offer a bit more seriously than she intended on, "The city needs me, Bumi. Whether or not as Chief, I have a duty and I can't just run from it. This is bigger than me."

"I understand." Bumi let go of her hand and looked her in the eyes, "As much as I hope the city doesn't fall, I do hope I get to see you again soon."

"With the way things are going, you probably will." Lin exhaled, "Again, thank you for the meal Commander Bumi. I hope we can do this again over better circumstances." She meant that.

On returning from the South pole after having her bending restored, Lin took a hard look at her life. Was Bumi right? After everything she'd been through- was the city worth it? Was she really needed? Did the city's needs matter more than her own? Was there anyone really keeping her there?

She made a decision that evening before heading out to Air Temple Island. Of course, she wasn't visiting on leisure, she had two opposing kinds of paperwork to submit. A resignation and an application- and they were both to be submitted to two different people residing at the Island.

The cool wind on the ferry only strengthened her resolve. She liked being on the water, she could get used to it. She had the qualifications, the experience, and she felt optimistic for the first time in years.

The scene at Air Temple Island wasn't what she was expecting at all. Despite their new victory, Tenzin looked exasperated while all the kids: teens, and younger noisily bent their elements on the field.

Lin took minute joy in Tenzin's displeasure until she saw Bumi leading the clan of kids to further vex his brother. When did he say he was shipping back? Perhaps she could leave with him.

"Lin. What are you doing here?" Tenzin snapped her out of her thoughts.

Lin raised the papers in her hands to answer him.

Tenzin nodded and led her to his home office, all the while grumbling about anything and everything. Lin wasn't paying attention until she heard the one name she was interested in.

Her attention piqued as Tenzin continued rambling, "... I mean, it's like I have five kids now. I know what you're going to say-"

"What did you say?"

"What-"

"Bumi retired?" Lin shakes her head, catching him up to her.

"Yeah. That was his big announcement. But don't you think-"

"Tenzin, I have to go." Lin stopped in her tracks.

"Wait- what- you brought-" Tenzin shook his head.

"It's not important. I need to go back to the station. I'll see you at work later." Lin almost sprints back out to catch the next ferry.

There were two realizations that were conceived that evening but wouldn't come to light until much later. As much as Lin was ready to join the United Forces, she had finally found a reason to stay. Bumi, on the other hand, decided there was no need to stay at sea when he had to give someone a reason to stay in the city he knew she'd never leave.

[lokigodofaces]

Roommates Update

Just thought I'd give you guys an update since I've been posting about this stuff lately but being vague.

It's almost the end! I'm moving out next week! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

It's come to the point now where it is mainly one roommate that's been causing problems for Ellie and I. Let's call her Mary. Then there's two more roommates, Allison and Camila. Camila actually is pretty cool, but there were a few things she did at the beginning of the semester that weren't great and she's gone pretty much all of the time, so I didn't really ever get to talk to her until like a week ago. Kind of wish I got to know her more, but she's always gone, I stay holed up in my room because of Mary. Circumstances just weren't right. Allison is interesting. She's kind, and relatively friendly, but she sides with Mary on a lot of things. Or does things that are just unhelpful (she takes up like a third of the fridge). But 90% of my problems in the apartment are caused by Mary.

There's too much to say it all, but I'll let you know some things.

Okay, so it was my birthday not long ago, yay. I am now the same age as almost everyone in this apartment (has kind of sucked when people in my classes that know ask me how old they are, and they just tell me, "Oh, they're stupid 18 and 19 year olds," because they didn't realize I'm the youngest of them all so hearing that was just more frustrating because I had boundaries figured out by 16 or 17, and they didn't). It was a Sunday, so we were all at church, and everyone at church sang happy birthday to me. So all of my roommates knew it was my birthday (Ellie was the only one that knew beforehand. I don't tell my date of birth to people I don't like). And what is one thing people have on their birthdays? Cake. I baked cupcakes and brownies (I also felt like brownies, more about that later). And then I cooked steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob because it was my birthday, I wanted to eat something nice. And Mary walked into the kitchen, saw that I was already working on dinner and decided to make dinner then (it was a reasonable time, so I'm not mad about that, just about other things). She was being kind of rude about it, not letting me get to the sink to wash my hands after I touched my meat, not letting me work around her, and all of that. The table was covered with my stuff, including all I had baked and the stuff I was currently using to cook (it was a lot because an entree and 2 sides use a lot of dishes and my steak requires like 4 dishes just to prepare). Mary points at my cupcakes and says, "What's with all of this?" in a rude tone. And I'm trying to stop myself from laughing because she's seriously asking why I made cake on my birthday. I set my jaw and give her a straight face and tell her I stress bake in a tone that said, "Stay away." Don't know how I didn't break into laughter honestly. She literally sang happy birthday to me six hours before, and she asked me why I was baking cake.

Also with the cooking, I cut my cob in half because I didn't have a big enough pot. Those things are thick and take a lot of work to cut in half. And Mary started being all condescending, giving me advice on how to cut it. I refrained from telling her I've been watching her use knives all semester and she doesn't know how to hold a knife. Granted, it's an easy mistake, a mistake I made for years until I took a cooking class. If you didn't know you are supposed to hold the blade while you cut, like the picture below. Seriously, I didn't know either, I had to take a class where I was tested on knife techniques before I learned that. It stabilizes the blade. And there are exceptions, and it doesn't matter too much if you aren't doing the type of cooking I did in that class, but, still, it does feel a little funny that she tried to correct me on how to use a knife when she doesn't do it right.

Also, Mary has been really...fake around me. She's been...somewhat kind to me all semester (clearly only because she was by other people who would judge her if she was rude) but now she's being way fake. Okay, maybe she feels bad and is trying to do better. But that doesn't mean that I trust her. And if she isn't going to apologize, I'm going to continue believing she thinks she's in the right. She keeps asking if I'm alright, saying I don't seem alright. Yeah, no duh, Sherlock. It's the end of the semester and I have to live here. She's been saying she wants to get to know me better. Then maybe she should have listened to me when I said she was hurting me and done something about it and apologized. So that's been driving me insane.

Fridge space is still an issue. Ellie and I already had a very small place in the fridge. And Allison (who already uses up the most space) has been pushing our stuff over to make room for her when she isn't even using the space she has efficiently. Seriously, I could pack all that crap into a space a third of the size she uses. Believe it or not, our fridge isn't four inches deep. You can have things you don't use as often behind other things. Back to this later.

Ellie's parents live really close, and she's also moving out after this semester. So she's been packing ahead of everyone else because she can store everything at her parents'. And I had to contain myself when I saw Mary smiling because Ellie was packing her dishes.

The day when I posted the thing about wanting to yell at my roommate was about Mary. She touched everyone's stuff in the kitchen, going so far as to unplug my toaster and move it around. She was cleaning like crazy. The thing is she never has bought her own cleaning supplies. Instead she uses Ellie's and my sponges we use on our dishes. Without ever telling us. Any time she cleans anywhere in the kitchen, she uses our stuff. If she was cleaning her dishes, I wouldn't care. But scrubbing the chairs people sit on? And really what I don't like about it is that she doesn't tell us. She never has told us. I only know because I've walked in on her doing it. (Back to sponges, I have more). Also, she threw away some of my stuff that day when she cleaned in the kitchen. Pretty upset about that. So, I had a Zoom class I forgot about, so I couldn't clean up my stuff from when I cooked lunch, and I ate while on Zoom. So my brown sugar was sitting on the counter, the twisty tie I use for it next to it. And you'd think someone wouldn't throw that away because the use was obvious. But nope, Mary threw it away.

Speaking about sponges, my sponge went missing in the first week. And I finally found out what happened. Mary took it and put it in her bathroom stuff and uses it to clean the bathroom. Don't see why she can't buy her own sponges to clean and feels she has to hide other people's in her stuff. Also I had a sponge but it was just the rough top part. It was super big so I cut it in half and used half of it and put it by the sink with the others. I left the other half on the table because something urgent came up. And in that time, someone decided it would be a good idea to grab that one, which was next to all the stuff that belongs in my room I was about to put away, and not just put it with the other sponges, but use it on something filthy so I can't keep it anywhere but the sink. Not as bad as literally stealing my sponge, and I should have put it away, but still not happy. Also, Mary's been using Ellie's sponge to clean paint and has stained it so bad. Back to sponges later.

As I mentioned before in other posts, none of them know how to load a dishwasher in a way that's remotely space efficient. I rearrange their crap all the time so that stuff can fit in. Mary put dish washer soap in there, and walked away without starting it. So I was going to put my dishes in. The dishwasher was mostly full, but I still was able to fit it in easily. Mary was still in the kitchen, and she was mad. "It's full." I ignore her, because it isn't full. If I rearrange it slightly, there'll be room for my dishes and then it can be run. "Seriously, it's full." Her tone is angry, as if it's bad that I would try to fit like 2 dishes in. I look at her, and I'm honest with her. "I grew up in a family of eight. I've done this every day of my life for years. There is room." I rearrange it, fit my dishes in and double check that she did put the soap in like I thought. "I already put the soap in," she said, still mad. As if I was supposed to know that she would put in soap and then...walk away. I start the dishwasher and walk away, trying not to roll my eyes and this. Because fitting your dishes in the dishwasher is clearly a bad thing, isn't it?

Okay, I'm done with Mary, I'm done with Allison. I only have one week left of this pain. And I'm going to do small, subtle, sometimes passive aggressive things to get back at them. Subtle enough no one could ever get me in trouble for it without them also getting in trouble for the rest of the semester. All of the "talk about that later" stuff? Here is where they matter.

Fridge space. Most of Ellie's stuff is at her parents'. Leaving empty space for people to eat up. And I have claimed it. Ellie is welcome to any of my stuff if she asks (she doesn't have to ask about the apple juice or root beer I bought to take up space). So in a way, since I put the stuff she can have in her original spot, it's not like I'm using up too much space. And, either way, it's still less space than Mary and Allison, so they shouldn't complain. And every time Allison pushes my stuff over, I push her stuff back. She already uses the two bottom drawers, over half of the bottom shelf, and part of the middle shelf. I'm not letting her take any more space.

Sponges. I'm done with Mary using Ellie's and my stuff for her cleaning of everything on Earth but dishes. So I took ours in Ellie's and my room. Mary can buy her own stuff if she's so desperate.

I've been vengefully loading the dishwasher. Literally, I had a large meal today that used a lot of dishes. Steak, special rice recipe, special black beans recipe, fried egg. You can see how that could take a lot of dishes (as I said, my steak takes 4+ dishes just to prepare). I had the dishwasher full of just my dishes, and nothing else could fit in. And this is with me washing dishes whilst cooking and reusing them. And this isn't planned or anything but it made me feel vindicated. But I also continue to rearrange the dishwasher when Mary is in the room (not just to annoy her, she's just normally in the room when I need to put stuff in the dishwasher). She is not happy about this. She's tried to rearrange the dishwasher in her own, space inefficient way. And I change it back to what will actually allow there to be dishes.

When I'm in public places (kitchen, living room), everyone but Ellie and Camila leaves a lot of the time. My room is a mess from packing, so I can't focus on homework in there. So I work on the loveseat. Not too happy about that. Or that my laptop charger is out here, and my textbooks I use to write my essays. This has been a past couple days thing, but I can tell people are not happy. But I can't put everything back into my room every night for real. I go to bed at like 2 am at the earliest, and Ellie has long since fallen asleep by then. I don't want to wake her up, so I leave everything out in the living room.

And I've left more of my stuff on the table than normal. By that I mean one (1) pack of cleaning wipes (that Mary still doesn't use and prefers to steal sponges). Because steak is messy to prepare and I need to clean the table and counter afterwards.

So, yeah, fast update. Didn't include the, *looks at list*, Mary insulting Ellie when she isn't there to defend herself in front of others, lack of cooperation with deciding when management can inspect the apartment, Mary locking me out while I do laundry and not opening the door for two minutes even though I could hear she was on the other side of the door, disrespect of pretty much all of my property. But, frick yeah, I'm almost done, and I'm gonna mess with them in the most subtle passive aggressive way I can.

[softsebnbuckystan]

Soul ties - Part 9 (Bucky Barnes au)

"If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world ?"

"Can I come in?"

It was Bucky's voice – of course it was. You tried wiping your tears away before speaking. A part of you didn't care if he saw you crying, but you still hated when you couldn't hold back the tears.

"Yes." Your voice was husky from the crying and you weren't sure he'd heard you until he opened the door. You were still on your knee, unable to even look at him.  Bucky seemed to understand talking wasn't really what you wanted at the moment. Instead, he kneeled next to you and unexpectedly wrapped his arms around your shaking body. You'd noticed how rare it was for him to touch people ; even tapping Steve's shoulder seemed to hardly ever occur to him. Your shaking stopped instantly as you gave into his embrace, leaning against his chest.

"He was about to call me a whore, wasn't he?"

Had it been Steve, he would've told you no in an effort to comfort you. But Bucky radiated blatant honesty when he talked to you, which you appreciated more than you would say.

"It doesn't mean he's right," he said.

"Maybe not. But that's still the word he wanted to call his wife. How did I even- fuck." You shook your head. "How did I ever fell for his tricks? I knew his friends were trash but...I thought he was the exception. I never thought he'd act like this with me."

"Act how? Rude?" Bucky asked, unsure about what you exactly meant.

"Yeah. The neglect has been going on for years, you know." You looked up at him and got out of his arms to sit properly. It didn't take him long to take a seat next to you, leaning his back against your bed. "I just put it all on his job." You grabbed Bucky's hand : you'd never needed to touch him as much as you did now. Something in the controlled way he breathed and the warmth of his skin helped you think straight and prevented you from spiralling.

"Is it the first time he insults you?"

"Openly? Yeah." You sighed. "He's been petty before but calling me names...never."

"I'm afraid to ask this, but I have to." He looked you in the eyes, searching for...what, exactly? "He was pretty violent when he grabbed your shirt. Was that the first time as well?"

The question made you look away once more. Inexplicable guilt flooded your body as you tried to think of some lie. You leaned your head back on the mattress and closed your eyes, opting for honesty.

"No."

You could almost hear Bucky's jaw clenching ;  his other hand formed a fist, whereas the one holding yours remained gentle.

"He's never been violent intentionally," you quickly explained. "It's just... We've had our fights, alright? And when we start yelling at each other, I always tell him we both need to calm down but that doesn't suit me so he tries to stop me from leaving the apartment and...well. It goes from grabbing my arm a little too hard or just locking the door and hiding the keys. He even threw them out the window once."

Recalling those fights didn't help your tears stop rolling on your cheeks but damn, it felt good to actually say it to someone. Wanda never needed you tell her things : she could just read them when she felt like you were lying. With Bucky, it was different. You actually wanted to tell him what had happened.

"What did you do when he did those things to you?"

"Not much. It only made me angrier so I would sit on the couch or even in my room and stop talking to him until he opened the door."

"You do realise how that's...far from right, yeah?"

"I'm starting to." You shrugged. "This might be stupid but, seeing how everyone here treats me, how you treat me, it's making me realise Darren is not this perfect husband I imagined him to be. He was the easy way, you know? We met, we liked each other and he had a good situation and I could already see the white-fence family every American movie depicts. I just didn't know it would turn into a soap opera." You laughed bitterly at your own not-so-funny joke.

Bucky suddenly got up, keeping your hand in his to help you stand as well.

"What are you doing?" you asked.

"It's still your birthday and I don't want it to be ruined by that guy," he let out in one breath. "C'mon."

He took a right turn after your bedroom door, walking you further away from where the party was supposed to be. You didn't walk for long before he opened an other door, walking you into his own room.

"What's the plan, exactly?" you asked again, more than confused. "I thought you meant we'd go back to the others, and..."

"Damn, I didn't realise how this looks." He let out a nervous laugh and you mentally slapped yourself for going blank over how cute it was. "Nobody even asked you to a proper dance on your own birthday and I want to fix that, if you'll allow me."

He looked back at you through his eyelashes, looking all anxious about your answer.

"What music choice do we have?"

His face lit up and he went through a box of vinyls on the floor. "I only have old stuff, I'm sorry. I believe this should do it, though," he said as he picked out one of the pockets. "It's from 1956, but it actually came out first in the 30's. Most people know the most recent, so..."

"I didn't know you were a music nerd," you said with a smile.  "How very cute of you."

He shrugged as he placed the disk on the record player. Piano notes started rising through the air and you recognised Louis Armstrong's voice.

"May I?" Bucky held out his hand and he waited for you to nod before grabbing yours, placing his left hand on your hip. Your instinct was to inch closer to him as you both started swinging slowly in the middle of his room. His blue eyes were sounding  you out.

"This was indeed a wonderful idea," you whispered, not wanting to break the moment as Ella Fitzgerald started singing her own chorus of Cheek to cheek. Bucky beamed and you enjoyed the view, returning  his smile before resting your head on his chest. His heartbeat became another rhythm to follow and be lulled to. "I can't explain how you make me feel and that scares me, Buck. And yet, it's the best feeling I've ever experienced."  The use of his nickname did something to him : you felt his heart skip, causing you to smile discreetly. "Talking to you is ridiculously easy," you continued, "and I'm not that muck of a talker. Just ask Wanda."

He laughed softly and you tilted  your head up as his chest shook from the movement.

"I know what you mean," he confided. "I don't feel all of the guilt I carry when I'm with you. It's refreshing. I don't feel like I'm being judged at every second."

"I couldn't possibly do that," you explained. "I know a little more about the things they made you do, now, and I'm more impressed at how you came out of this. You're still there whenever someone needs help, like when that fire alarm rang for no reason the other day. And when that thing went off in the lab, you took time to help me. How could anyone judge you negatively?" Your frowned. "Sorry, I interrupted you."

"It's fine," he assured you as the next song on the vinyl started playing (not that you were paying much attention to the music, even though Dream a little dream of me was an all time favourite of yours).

Your eyes scanned his face and when you noticed his own gaze lingering on your lips, you moved  your hand from his shoulder to his neck. You were still slow dancing effortlessly, and you could feel his breath slightly picking up.

"I want to do something," you muttered. "But if you don't want me to, I won't feel bad if you stop me." The last thing you wanted was him to let you do anything out of pity ; you didn't think that was the type of thing he'd do, but there was no harm in making sure. Your fingers fiddled with the short hair on the back of his head and you extended your neck a bit. You felt Bucky's breath on your nose and lips as you got even closer to him, closer than you'd ever been until now.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked in a whisper. "Trust me, I do, but last thing I want-"

Those were the only words you needed. You pressed your lips against his and a whole firework show started in your belly. His hand on your hip pulled you into an even closer embrace as you kept playing  with his air. When you broke the kiss and rested your forehead against his, you couldn't get rid  of your smile. So it was true, what books said about butterflies.

--- I'm so happy to finally post this part!! This was definitely my favourite to write so far, even though it's a tie with the stars scene. :) I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.

P.S. : the tag list is still growing and damn that makes me so happy!! Your support means everything.

P.S. 2 : I feel like this story will be wrapped soon. If you have any request/idea you'd like to see for a next one (short one shots or series), I will gladly hear it!

Tag list :

@ginger-swag-rapunzel @joscelyn02 @writehistorynotthegrocerylist @bluemoon-icecream @lady-loki-ren @simplybombshell @lizajane3