#i’m nostalgic for like ten years ago

[preciouspatriots]

FAVES FOREVER!!!!

[supernovafics]

series masterlist | next part

pairing: modern!college!steve harrington x fem!reader, bestfriend!eddie munson x fem!reader

word count: 1k words

warnings: explicit language, no steve in this one (but he will be in everything going forward) (we're just setting the vibes in this one yall🫡 )

summary: you suggest an idea that you immediately regret, but you find it too hard to take it all back

PROLOGUE | ❝𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌❞

Spring Semester 2018

“We should set each other up on blind dates.”

Right as the words left your lips, you regretted them. And then you were immediately wondering how long it would take for you to look back on this moment and not feel completely embarrassed by it. 

Your honest answer was ten years, your more hopeful one was five. However, you could also see yourself never getting over this moment because you knew that everything else that transpired from it would be entirely your fault, and you’d probably forever feel like an idiot because of that.  

A confused look crossed Eddie’s face for a brief moment. “What?”

It was only you two in your apartment right then, sitting on the couch in the living room with a blanket draped over your laps. The night started with him suggesting a horror movie to watch and you agreeing because the plot of it sounded just dumb enough to seem interesting. The credits of said movie were now rolling on the TV screen in front of you, but neither of you paid any attention to that. 

“Um, that’s why I asked if you think you’re ready to start dating again. Because I’ve been thinking that we should set each other up on blind dates, and I didn’t wanna suggest that idea if you weren’t ready to start dating again.”

Your initial question that started this entire conversation had nothing to do with that random blind date idea you just pulled out of thin air. It, instead, had everything to do with you watching a nostalgic romcom in your childhood bedroom two weeks ago during winter break and feeling an ache in your chest that resurfaced everything you had successfully pushed away for the last few months.  

That was what led you to asking Eddie if he was thinking about dating again; the answer to that question would tell you exactly what you needed to do about your feelings. If the answer was no, you could easily bury everything back down for another handful of months before it hit you like a ton of bricks again; this time you planned to avoid watching romcoms for as long as you could. If the answer was yes— well, you actually hadn’t thought that far ahead, and that was the main reason why you hadn’t planned on bringing the question up tonight. 

You were going to avoid asking it for as long as possible. Hopefully, until you found some other reason to push your feelings away for the millionth time. But then you were blurting it out as the credits of the movie started rolling. 

“Hey, um, do you think you’re ready to start dating again?” 

You weren’t expecting his answer to be yes, and you especially didn’t expect him to sound so sure about it. 

The last time the topic of Eddie’s dating life came up, it was the beginning of the Fall semester. Robin had asked if he was finally over Chrissy and the break up— a break up that was abrupt and, in his eyes, came out of nowhere, but according to Chrissy, she had been feeling “off” about things for a couple of months. 

His answer was no back then, he wasn’t fully over the almost year-and-a-half relationship. And because of that, dating again was pretty much the farthest thing from his mind.

Now, though, it was a complete one-eighty of that. 

“Yeah, I am, honestly. It’s been a long time since the breakup, and I think I’ve “wallowed” long enough. I’m completely over Chrissy. Finally.”

You responded with, “That’s really great,” and you hoped it didn’t sound as surprised as you felt. And then he was asking you why you asked your question, and for a few moments you were at a loss for words. 

It could’ve been easy to finally say everything. I like you. I love you. More than a friend. Maybe always more than a friend. 

However, none of it would form on your lips. 

You couldn’t find it in you to tell him the truth. So, instead of finally doing that, you decided to put yourself in this idiotic “blind date” situation. 

That was why the question should’ve stayed buried down just like your feelings. Because even though his answer was yes, he was ready to “get back out there,” you now weren’t sure if you’d ever want to take this chance that you had been waiting and hoping for since Freshman year. 

The fear of ruining everything that you two had built since that first year of school when he lived just across the hall from you— a friendship that quickly became one of the most important things in your life— weighed too heavily on you. 

That fear never managed to actually change your feelings for him, though. 

It did, however, make you do some of the most insane things ever. Like, suggesting a very dumb idea. 

But, somehow Eddie didn’t think it was dumb. 

“I honestly don’t hate that idea.” 

You simply looked at him for a moment before speaking. “Actually?”

“Yeah,” He nodded and his shoulders upturned in a brief shrug. “A blind date could be cool, and we know each other really well, so we’d probably actually choose good people for each other.”

And that was when you started contemplating how long you’d feel like an idiot because of this moment. 

You smiled, hoping that it didn’t look as fake as it felt. “Yeah, exactly. That’s why I thought of it.”

The conversation seemed to take on a life of its own from there. Eddie said that you two should do it next week and you nodded along, continuing to say things that you didn’t mean in the slightest but you simply pretended like you did. It felt as if you had accidentally dug yourself into a hole and there was no logical way to backtrack on everything you said. Eddie mentioned that he already had someone in mind for you, and you lied and said that you did too; even though the thought of now having to find someone for him made you feel the tiniest bit ill. 

Moments before he left for the night, you thought about simply taking it all back and finally just telling him how you felt, but when you pulled back from the goodbye hug he pulled you into, you couldn’t do it.

Apparently, you just loved making things stupidly complicated for yourself. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

next part!

taglist (lmk if you want to be added or taken off<333); @eddiernunson , @loulouloueh , @the-aster , @blckburd , @totally-bogus-timelady , @yujyujj , @irhdifartzamfyaa

[eds6ngel]

✎ when i kissed the teacher | part five

summary: with summer break starting, it's time for you to pack up your things and leave hawkins elementary. so, will you be able to find a new job? and will you ever reunite with steve, the man that not only started this whole mess, but that you also love?

part one ♡ part two ♡ part three ♡ part four ˚⋆｡˚ full masterlist.

warnings: dad!steve. singledad!steve. 90s!au. fem!reader. use of y/n. swearing. mutual pining. slow burn. a lil bit of hurt. tons of fluff by the end. mentions of food. job interviews!! slight age gap [r is 25, steve is 29]. roommate amy being the best friend we all need. no more warnings as this is the finale!! [3.6k].

Finishing up your last week at Hawkins Elementary was not the easiest. Not only were you met with multiple days of children’s tears, hours spent reassuring them that everything was going to be okay, but the other teachers began to judge you. You would enter the staff room to dirty looks and ignorant comments. But, of course, adults bullying co-workers wasn’t fire-worthy, was it?

You packed your classroom up last Monday, the white walls, once covered in student’s artwork and decorative pieces, now bare. It made you feel melancholic and nostalgic simultaneously. Almost three years ago, you were walking into that first grade classroom for the first time, ready to made your dedicated space feel like home.

And now you were leaving, much earlier than anticipated. This should’ve been your second home for the rest of your life. But, now it was going to belong to someone else. Someone else was gonna fill the walls of student artwork, of decorative pieces, of their own little trinkets to display appropriate parts of their personality. It should’ve been you. It should’ve always been you.

Your permanent record was updated the day of your departure, the job search becoming increasingly difficult by the hour. Teaching positions cropped up everywhere, especially since you lived so close to Indianapolis, a mere twenty minute drive.

Yet, so far, none had even given you an interview offer. Many point blank stated that your record was the issue, the others you could definitely assume by their rejection wording.

The sound of your apartment door opening disrupts you from your job search, and from you continuing to stare into space.

Your roommate Amy arrives home with a paper bag full of groceries in hand, the fruit collection peeking out of the top. “How is your wonderful afternoon going?” she cheerily asks, a smile on her face, placing the groceries onto your kitchen counter.

You huff, placing your head in between your hands, “Shit. I’m not getting anything, Ames. I’m gonna have to resort to becoming a fashion retailer or something. I’m running short on money to split the goddamn bills with you.”

“Well,” she smirks, pursing her lips and creeping up to you, whipping a sheet of paper out from behind her back, “I may have a solution for you.”

You take the sheet of paper from her, inspecting the cover as it reads: TEACHING POSITION AVAILABLE. $30,000 ANNUAL SALARY. SECOND GRADE TEACHER. FULL-TIME. ERNIE PYLE SCHOOL 90.

“Ames, this is such a prestigious school! Aren’t they in, like… the top ten in Indianapolis or something?”

She hums, “Mhm, which is exactly why you should at least put an application in!”

You groan at her optimism, “I have a permanent mark on my record. They’re gonna turn me away the second they see it!”

She heads back to the kitchen, beginning to un-pack the groceries, mumbling out, “Well, you never know.”

And, she wasn’t entirely wrong. Even if it was a one in a million chance, a chance is still a chance.

“Screw it,” you thought, you were gonna put a damn application in. The highly likely rejection was just adding to the list by now, it wasn’t even a sharp sting in your heart like it used to be anymore.

Why not take a chance?

And, my God, was that chance worth taking.

It was a Sunday afternoon, you relaxing on the couch reading your favourite book, when all of a sudden, the landline phone rings.

Amy was currently out on a date with her boyfriend, so you had the house to yourself. You put your bookmark in its place, moving from your comfy position on the couch with a groan, walking over to grab the phone from its stand placed on the wall. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Miss. L/N?”

“It is her, yes,” you reply, the voice of an older-sounding man speaking down the phone to you.

“Nice to hear from you, Miss. L/N. I am calling from Ernie Pyle School 90 regarding your application for the second grade.”

Great, another rejection to add to the overgrowing list.

“We do see that there is a strike on your permanent record, but we also do take notice that you have a lot of other qualities we admire here. So, we would like to bring you in for an interview, if that’s all right? That way, we can get a good idea of your character and what the strike really entailed from your perspective. Does that sound good with you?”

You had to knock yourself back into reality as the words are spoken down the line. They were actually offering you a fucking interview.

“Umm… Yeah! Yeah, that sounds amazing, thank you! When would you like me to come in?”

So, two days later, you were dressed up in your smartest attire, walking into the brown-bricked building, the school a lot smaller than you had anticipated.

An older man, who seemingly matched the voice on your landline, greeted you at the entrance, the school empty for the Summer Break.

He directed you to his office, you neatly placing yourself on the chair in front of his desk, sitting appropriately, trying to appear as professional as possible.

“So, I’m sure you’re aware of the interview process from your previous work listed on your CV, so if you wouldn’t mind telling me a little about yourself,” he begins.

You breathe out, smiling at him, “Of course. I grew up in Indiana, more towards the north in a quite rural area. Growing up as a child in the seventies, I really felt under-appreciated as a student, as if I wasn’t valued. So, that’s where my love of teaching started to grow. I wanted to lead the next generation of students in a way that I felt, and many other of my friends at the time felt, would’ve been beneficial.”

“Well, as someone who has been working in schools since the seventies, I can see why you thought that way,” he chuckles. “It seems your generation has been the leader of change. Okay, we all know that students can become a handful at times. So, tell me, how would you deal with a stressful situation?”

“Well, firstly I would find the identifier of the situation by calmly asking the child what happened, as that helps me form a route to solve the issue. At my previous school, I had a student who got pushed into the mud and his favourite t-shirt got ruined, which made him extremely resentful and angry towards a boy. I got him a spare t-shirt to change into and promised I would scrub it out as best as I could during lunch break, which I followed through with. I then brought the two boys together, asking the other boy why he did it and he said that his friend allowed him to do it the previous day, so I taught the lesson of consent and how our feelings towards a situation can change from moment to moment. The boy apologised, the other boy accepted that and rode through his emotions. And by the end of the day, his t-shirt was just like before, mud stain-free. I’ve found that it’s much better for myself to understand the reasons behind something, instead of resorting to a lack of control over my own emotions and lashing out at one or both of them.”

The principal smiles at you, replying, “That’s a wonderful answer, thank you for that. Now, as you brought your previous school up, I do have to ask you about the strike on your permanent record. It says here that you, quote, ‘Broke student confidentiality,’ so I was hoping you could talk me through that situation. We here at Ernie Pyle like to overview a situation before immediately judging, much like yourself with stressful situations. So, please, go ahead,” he directs you.

You breathe out, trying to present your answer in a non-biased viewpoint, “There was a student’s father that I can confirm we both mutually did have feelings for each other. I set my boundaries in place last Christmas as he did try to ask me out, but I told him exactly that: student confidentiality. But, the school’s Easter Brunch rolled around, he helped me tidy up my classroom whilst the kids were on recess, and we kissed.” You purse your lips, having a sinking feeling that this was not going to secure you the job, “I would say he initiated it, but I also leaned in, because as I said, we both did have feelings for each other, so that part of my brain took over. However, I did pull back fairly quickly and asked him to leave promptly. The kiss was caught on the security cameras, and since it happened, I got fired for that reason.”

You bite your lip in nervousness, anticipating the rejection. However, you were presented with a far more mature answer that you were expecting.

The principal presents a thoughtful expression, “Hmm… I see. You said that you stated your boundaries before, yes?”

“I did sir, yes.”

“And that kiss was initiated by the male parent, to which you reciprocated for a short amount of time, before eventually pulling away, removing yourself from the damaging situation?”

“Correct, yes.”

He looks you in the eyes, leaning forward in his seat, “And have you contacted this parent outside of the school hours, whether that be after school, during school breaks or over the weekends?”

You shake your head, “I have not, no. The only time we spoke after school hours was when he aided me in running the school’s Christmas Fayre.”

“I see…” he pauses for a moment, “I’m going to ask you one more question before making my decision, if that’s all right with you,” to which you nod with a smile. “You worked at your previous school for three years, and I’m sure you’re aware that we really value applicants that have that prior experience. So, what skills have you learnt or improved as your time as a teacher of elementary school children?”

You look off to the side, sighing happily at the memories of your previous students. You turn your head to look back up at the principal, your answer coming confidently to your brain, no fears present. “I’ve learnt how to time manage and be organised. I would schedule my day in the morning to have certain worksheets and items stored in accessible places for me to switch over in between recesses and lunch breaks. Also, not all kids learn at the same pace, so I have to factor in extra activities for the children who complete their work a little faster than some of the other students. But, I think the most important thing I learnt was empathy. Children are just smaller, more innocent versions of us adults. I’ve found that many adults believe they must control their children, but I’ve learnt from my experience as a teacher that it’s better to approach every child with warmth, kindness and love. I’ve heard lots of children say that they hate school as young as five years old, and I want to be the one to change that. I want my students to feel safe and loved in my class, and for them to have it be one of their favourite parts of their day.”

He leans back in his chair, sighing out as he takes his glasses off, “I’m just… Wow. I am truly amazed by your answers, Miss. L/N. They are absolutely phenomenal. These are the exact values we like to promote here at Ernie Pyle and you would be a great addition to our team.”

Was he actually kidding? This sounded like an acceptance…

He sits in his chair with his eyebrows furrowed, a thinking look on his face, “However, I do run into this issue of your strike… But, I’m willing to find a way around it. Willing to put in some extra rules.”

You nod, perhaps a little too eagerly, “Anything. I’ll take on any extra rules you require.”

He looks at you once more, “Okay, I’m willing. These are what your rules are gonna be: You cannot speak to any male parent alone in your classroom, whether that be with their child present or not. If they ask you a question whilst dropping off their child, you must direct them to Mrs. Lane, who is going to be your teaching assistant. As well as this, obviously following the previous rules, no parent can aid you in any after school activities, events, or anything of a similar nature. If you need guidance with an event, you must ask another member of staff to aid you. These are the rules I’m offering you, okay?”

“Of course sir, I completely understand.”

“And I’m going to be super strict with this. If I even see you step slightly out of line, I won’t hesitate to add another strike to that record of yours. Do you understand?”

“100% sir. Absolutely,” you respond.

He smiles, raising from his seat, you copying his action as he extends his hand out to you, saying the words you’ve been waiting to hear for a long time: “You’re hired. Welcome to Ernie Pyle.”

You walk into the front door of your apartment, your hair now a disheveled mess from the windy storm forming outside. Amy looks up from her seat on the couch, re-runs of old episodes of Friends playing on the TV mounted on the wall.

She simply snorts, “Jesus. You look like shit.”

You shut the apartment door behind you, replying with a chuckle, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

She stands up, walking over to you where you had dumped your purse onto the small table where the pair of you eat, “So, how did it go?”

You decided to play with your best friend’s emotions, sighing solemnly as you act sad, mumbling out, “Turns out I have to start taking care of kids five days a week again…”

She furrows her eyebrows, before gasping, putting her hand over her mouth in shock, “You got it?”

You smile widely and giggle, “Yeah, I got it.”

She screams a little too loudly, lifting you off the floor in a hug in excitement, squeaking out, “Oh my God, this is amazing! I told you you would get it!”

You part from each other, you playfully rolling your eyes, joking, “Yeah, yeah. You were right again.”

She smirks overdramatically, “Of course I am. When am I ever wrong?”

You chuckle as she jumps up and down, still in shock at your news, “Holy shit, holy shit! You have to call Steve!”

You part from her again, looking at her with a confusion expression as you let out a “What?”

“Steve. You know, the guy you’ve been crushing on for almost a year?” she says with a smile, “You have to call him!”

You sigh out, pinching the bridge of your nose, “Ames, they just put a bunch of extra rules in for me because of that whole situation. I don’t think they’d be very happy if I suddenly start speaking to him.”

Amy groans at you in frustration, “But, Y/N, he’s not your student’s dad anymore. What are they gonna do? Fire you by association? If anything, that’ll make them more at ease as you’ll be taken, so less likely to become flirty with other student’s dads!”

You let out a long breath, thinking over your best friend’s words, before shaking your head, “Nope! Nope! I’m not doing it, Ames!”

She nods eagerly, “Yes you are!” she teases, running back to the living room and grabbing the phonebook from off the bookshelf, before returning to grab your hand, dragging you onto the couch as you plop down. She shoves the phonebook into your lap, pointing at you, “You’re gonna look up his last name and I’m going to watch you pick up that phone, dial his number and call him. Okay?”

You huff, your breath blowing the hairs out of your face as you complain, “Fine! I’ll do it.”

Amy smiles widely, clapping her hands together and shouting, “Yay!”

You open the phonebook, flipping through until you reach the letter ‘H.’ You scan through the names, reaching the correct starting letters. Hare-, Hari-, Harp-, Has—

“Uh.. Ames?” you say, blinking rapidly, her humming at you, “It’s not in here.”

“What do you mean it’s not in there?” she questions, walking over and sitting next to you on the cream-coloured couch.

“His last name is Harrington. Look,” you point to the page, “It says Harps, and then skips on to names beginning ‘Has.’ He’s not fucking in here.”

“You’re not joking with me? You aren’t making up that name to not call him?”

You look her dead in the eyes, “I’m not kidding. He’s not in here.”

“I mean, he must be one of those rare people who really values privacy. Had his name removed or something,” she replies.

You huff, rolling your eyes and slamming the book shut, placing it back on the bookshelf, “I guess the Universe is telling me really not to go through with it, huh?” you direct at your best friend, turning around and storming into your room, closing the door forcefully behind you.

You would be lying if you said you weren’t at least a little bit disappointed… Okay, maybe more than a little.

But… maybe not all hope was lost.

You and Amy took turns taking on the weekly adulting tasks, splitting the boring household chores between the two of you.

You had travelled into Indianapolis, grabbing your weekly groceries for the two of you. You were browsing the selection of cheeses, deciding which one would taste the nicest in relation to your budget. However, a tall man was leaning over you, trying to reach an item located above your head. However, once he spoke, you recognised that voice from anywhere

“I’m so sorry, I just need to grab—” The man looks down at you as you look up at him, your eyes connecting in an intense gaze, “Holy shit… Y/N?”

“Steve?” you breathe out, trying to register the fact that the man you thought you would never see again in your life is standing right in front of you. He’s wearing a Wham! t-shirt, light blue jeans, and a denim jacket in a similar shade. And my God does he look gorgeous.

And he thought the same about you as you stood there in your yellow, flowy dress. Perfect for the warm Indiana summer, and perfect for you. It hugged you so well, in all the right places. It made you look breathtaking.

“Um, hi! Hi… How— How are you?” he asks, blinking rapidly as he tries to form a sentence, his body still shocked from not only how beautiful you look, but the chances of you two meeting in the same grocery store out of your towns.

“I’m doing good, how have you been?” you respond, trying to keep the conversation as casual as possible.

“Pretty great, yeah…” He pauses for a moment, staring at the ground, afraid he would blush if he looked at you again, “Alena’s great too, by the way. Just in case you wanted to know…”

You nod, “I’m glad you two are doing good. I know that me leaving and all probably took a great toll on her, and I wanted to say sorry—”

However, he interrupts you, “Wait, you left the school?”

You sigh out, realising that Alena must’ve not shared the news with her dad, most likely too nervous to tell him that it was because of his actions. “Yeah… I got fired. They caught us kissing on the security cameras and you know… student confidentiality, you know all about that shit.”

“Shit…” he breathes out, sinking in the fact that his actions were the reason for your job loss. “I’m sorry. I never should have kissed you. It was completely my fault and I—”

But now, it’s your time to interrupt him. You giggled, “Steve, I promise, it’s okay. Besides…” you look up, smiling, “I may have found a better teaching job that pays more anyway. You kind of saved me in a way.”

He chuckles awkwardly, “Yeah… I suppose I did…”

The two of you laugh together before the air falls into silence again, the sounds of regular shoppers and beeping machines filling the atmosphere.

Steve was the one to speak what seemed to be the thought lingering on both of your minds, “So… Does that mean I can ask you out again?”

You decide to tease him, “Depends what’s in store, Harrington.”

He laughs at your comment, “Well, I was thinking I pick you up, I take you to a fancy restaurant, and then we shoot the shit, see where the night takes us… Not in a sexual way of course! I just mean in general…” He mentally face-palms himself. Why did he have to phrase it like that?

You giggle at his ramblings, “I like the sound of that,” you smile up at him, your heart fluttering all the more faster, “When are you thinking for?”

“Um… Friday night, seven o’clock at your place?” he asks.

And you verbalise the answer that he’s been wanting to hear for almost a year, the two of you finally being allowed to love each other: “It’s a date.”

and that's the end!! i hope you all enjoyed this five part series, i had so much fun writing it!! now... where do we go from here?

so, if you've checked out the masterlist to this series, you may have noticed the 'spinoffs' section. that's because i'm giving you guys leverage over the future of this little au!!

so, what spinoffs would you like to see? steve and r's first date? them officially getting together? first outing as a couple with alena? even future down the line? it's totally up to you, these are merely suggestions!!

i will be opening my asks back up next week for this series only, so i can't wait to see what scenarios you guys come up with!!

as always, thank you for dedicating your time to reading this entire series, it means so much to me!! ♡

taglist: @livsters @bakugouswh0r3 @nix-rose @ihatepeanutss @cats00089 @suitelif3 @clincallyonline17 @crowssixof @starkeylover @eris-rose-86 comment if you wanna be added/removed from the spinoffs taglist!!

[kanirou-crosshack]

ten people I’d like to know better

tagged by: @pennyserenade

Last song: war - grandson

Last book: polar horrors: strange tales from the world’s ends - edited by john miller

Last movie: beggars of life (1928) / the great silence (1968) / flow (2024)

Last show: jonny quest

Last thing I googled: rock hudson telegram

Last activity: line dancing at a gay club

Favorite color: brown

Sweet/savory/spicy: savory

Looking forward to: one of my dnd campaigns coming off hiatus

Current obsessions: silent films, richard arlen, epic of gilgamesh, my cats

Tagging: @lambentwarg @dorothyoz39 @deceptioncoffee @1989nihil @lacroixgrimoire @autumngracy @letitrainathousandflames @rainbowlovedove @thesmilingfish @cadmusfly @whiteladyofithilien @thebreakfastgenie

And since this is a Get To Know You post and I’m insufferably talkative when activated, footnotes:

Not my usual fare but since the inauguration I’ve been listening to my aggro/nihilism/activism playlist a lot

It’s midwinter and been damn cold lately (by our standards) so this has been my nighttime balcony reading. Getting insight into how people in the 19th century perceived the last blank spots on the map and processed that by writing speculative/horror/weird fiction about it has been fascinating

Three because I can, first two were the past two nights at home and the third was the last I saw in theatre. I was talking about wings (1927) at work the other day and it activated another silent movie fixation. Beggars of life is now in my top ten. Deeply moving. It’s also been cold and snowy lately and the great silence was a snow western that’d been sitting on my list. Bleak as hell, I bounced between the Italian and English audios before settling on the surprisingly good English dub, but it’s a shame that audio track is compressed to shit. Flow I saw in theatre a couple weeks ago and it was incredible. Beautiful, compelling, I cried a lot.

A formative childhood favorite of mine and the recent comic revival had me feeling nostalgic. Problematic as shit sometimes, oddly not at others, but I’m deeply attached. Race and Benton were a queer awakening for young me

Was talking about actors becoming fucked up presidents for obvious reasons, which meandered to Reagan, the AIDS crisis, and Rock Hudson, and I wanted to get his final public statement that Lancaster read at the Commitment to Life fundraiser right

I am not the Going Out type, but committed to joining the queer country line dancing community near me a year and a half ago and it’s one of the best things I ever did for myself. Line dancing at the gay club scratches a magical itch and I do it at least once a week

I love brown. Lovely color, so many shades, can be bright and warm or dark and muted. Makes up the second most common color in my wardrobe after black (another favorite but not as interesting/insightful)

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I will munch salty snacks, savory cheeses, or smoky meats all day long

DnD is a favorite hobby of mine, blorbos from my brain, and one campaign I’ve been missing is coming back from a long holiday break

I went with things rotating in my mind within the last week or the list would be a mile long lol. I mentioned what triggered the silent films already, but I’ve been particularly into Arlen lately. His eyes captivate me and his body language is so good. That so many of his early films are lost pains me. A coworker asked me about Gilgamesh last week and that is a dangerous trap card to activate. I discovered that a Norton Critical edition was published a few years ago and have been diving into that. I also adopted two cats last month and they are everything to me.

[madarasthicc]

Map to Hope Chapter 11

Madara x female reader

An arranged marriage twenty years in the making comes calling for Madara Uchiha. Now that Konoha has stabilized, his bride-to-be is ready to be at his side. But is Madara ready for what marriage all entails?

//I decided to cut the wedding into two chapters. It felt better this way. Please enjoy!

[Masterlist]

[Chapter Ten] -> [Chapter Twelve]

Chapter Eleven: Run Away with Me.

Y/n took a deep breath. It was finally her wedding day. Yukiko had left just a bit ago to check on how things were coming along at the temple. It was still early but her grandmother wanted to be sure things were being set according to the plans made. Plus she was sure her grandmother was also checking on Madara. It made her very pleased to see how much her grandmother approved of her husband to be. It left just her mother there to help prepare for her wedding day.

She should have known something wrong was going to happen with the way her mother looked at her all morning. Something in her eyes had this sad but nostalgic look. Looking around, as she finished her make up when her mother suddenly opened the door and there Itsuki stood. Ume had always had a soft spot for Itsuki. It was obvious by this action that she still preferred Itsuki over Madara.

“I’ll be right outside.” She softly closes the door, leaving Itsuki alone with her.

“What are you doing here? Oh my divine.” Y/n didn't know how to react as he looked her over. His blue eyes wide in almost wonderment.

“Wow, you look stunning.” He said softly, squeezing his hands closed but kept them to his sides. “Really, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” He said approaching her.

“Itsuki. Stop. You are only going to hurt yourself by doing this.” She hissed as she backed up, away from him. “Plus if Madara knows you’re here-“

“Are you afraid of him?” Itsuki asked, taking her hand and pulled her closer. “Has he hurt you? I fucking knew it. I knew he was no good.”

“Stop, stop Itsuki. I didn’t say that.” She snapped, “Madara has never hurt me. He’s never laid his hands on me unless I asked him.” She began to push him away, trying to yank her hand from his grip.

“Run away with me?” He asked, getting on his knees and taking both her hands. “Please? We can get out of here before he even knows.” He asked.

“No! Itsuki no.” She said, pulling him up to his feet. “No, I’m not running away with you. I-“ she didn’t think she could say she loved Madara. But it felt like the start of love. It felt like she could fall in love with Madara. Easily.

“You love him?” He asked. When she didn’t reply right away he pulled her to him. “You don’t love him, come away with me. I know you still love me.”

“I don’t love him, not yet. But I’m happy with this.” She said firmly. “Itsuki. I am happy with Madara, I’m looking forward to my life with him and I refuse to let you try and ruin it.” She smacked him hard and pulled out of his hold.

“Please, I used to love you. I will always love you in some way. But I am marrying Madara, in a few hours and I refuse to let you ruin my wedding day.” Y/n turned away from him rubbing her arms. Despite the warm air she felt chilly. This all felt so wrong. “You need to leave, I don’t know what my mother was thinking. Go.”

“I’m not giving up on us. I love you Y/n.” He said, exhaling slowly. “We love each other, we belong together. Please, just think about it, think about us. Think of everything we dreamed of and everything we wanted.” He asked, reaching out to touch her, but pulled his hand back when she flinched.

“We were practically children! It has been five years! Move on.” She yelled, grabbing a tea cup and threw it at Itsuki. It smashed and soaked him when it crashed into his chest.

“Itsuki.” Ume suddenly came in. “Go, you’re only upsetting her.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

Alone for once that day, Y/n took a seat and tried to breathe. She was glad she had a few more hours to get herself together. She had been looking forward to today and now she wanted to undress, shower and go to bed. And yet she still had the ceremony and the festival afterwards. She wasn’t going to be able to convince Madara to skip that. Plus she couldn’t skip out on all the hard work Hashirama and the village put in for celebrating her wedding to Madara.

“I-“ Ume returned.

“Nothing.” Y/n hissed. “You will say nothing. Help me out of this dress, I need to bathe. You ever pull something like that again, and I will ask the Hokage to send you out of the village. Are we clear, mother?”

“Yes … I am sorry.” Ume began to help her undress. “I didn’t think-“

“No, clearly you were not thinking. I am marrying Madara, I am loyal to him. I will not tolerate another situation like that, that man needs to move on. Whether either of you like it.” She took a deep breath, letting her mother undress her. “It’s my fucking wedding day. I won’t let anyone fuck this up, so I will bathe again. You will redress me and redo my hair. And we will pretend like this didn’t happen.”

“Yes. Of course darling.” Ume held her breath. She’d never seen Y/n so angry, she was just trying to give her daughter and Itsuki closure. Closure she didn’t get but she had been very wrong.

——

Madara wasn’t sure how he felt about the day. He never gave his future marriage much thought, especially before the village was created. And afterwards, he was far too busy with building the village up and controlling his grief. And it was times like these that it reared its ugly head. There he stood in his bedroom, dressed in his Uchiha finery for his wedding, and yet he had no one at his side. Hikaku had stopped by that morning to go over a few things, his cousin would be temporarily taking over clan dealings while Madara enjoyed his honeymoon with Y/n after the wedding. But after that Madara was alone with his thoughts and his brother’s eyes in his head.

There was a sudden knock that had him jump. He wasn’t expecting anyone. “Come in.” He called out, turning away from the mirror. Yukiko smiled as she saw him when she entered the room.

“My, my, you clean up well.” She teased as she approached. “I wanted to check on things, make sure everything was running smoothly.”

“Things here are fine, Hikaku just left a bit ago.” Madara said, feeling himself bristle a bit. Unsure why he was feeling that, wasn’t he just feeling lonely a second ago.

“And where are your groomsmen?” Yukiko asked, surprised to see Madara here alone. She assumed at the very least Hashirama, as Madara’s best friend, would have been with him.

“I have no one.” Madara said, raising a brow. “My nearest kin are all gone … there’s no one I could bear to have at my side if it’s not them.”

“Not even Hashirama?” Yukiko took a seat and gestured for Madara to sit across from her.

“Don’t get me wrong, Hashirama is my best friend, I love him dearly.” Madara began as he took a seat on the floor across from Yukiko. “I am blessed to have him in my life as that, and that we get to see our dream grow … but he’s not my brothers.” He doesn’t add that it felt disrespectful to have a Senju stand at his side on his wedding when it was a Senju that killed two of his brothers. Hell, it could even be that all his brothers had been killed by Senju’s. No clan, still to this day, claimed Togakushi’s death.

“That may be, but surely they, your brother’s, would not want you to be here alone on your wedding day.” Yukiko pointed out. “Why is your cousin not here with you?”

“He’s too busy taking care of things for me, and there is no one else I trust with the clan other than Hikaku.” Madara pointed out. He sighed leaning back, he felt pathetic. Other than Hashirama and now Y/n he had no one. He used to have friends, siblings and now he had just Hashirama as his only friend and soon Y/n as his wife.

“Their deaths weigh heavy on you, don’t they?” She asked softly.

“Most of them do … My sister was ill and there was nothing anyone could do for her. It would have been wrong to force her to continue to live like that. Though I feel guilty I didn’t spend more time with her while she was still here but it was hard to see her wither away. Same with my mother, though I was mostly angry with her for giving up.” Madara said softly, thinking about grabbing his pipe but didn’t want to smell of smoke right before his wedding. “Father died in battle, just like how he wanted to go … and there was little love between us by that point. But Izuna, Kuro, and Togakushi … they were my little brothers and I failed them. I let them die and for what? A war that had no ending, and no winner. You would have liked Kuro, he was a little shit stirrer like you. Toga was only five, so I don’t know what he would have become had he grown up. But he was sweet and liked to talk anyone’s ear off. Izuna was,” Madara sighed deep and slow. “Izuna was far from perfect and I spoiled him rotten. I’d like to think he would have grown used to peace.”

Yukiko hummed as she reached out and took Madara’s hand in her wrinkled ones. “I am sure they would be proud of what you’ve been able to accomplish. Bringing the clans of the Land of Fire together and building a village of this size, especially in the time frame you did so is no easy feat. Even between you and Hashirama.” She said, patting his hand before cupping his face. “While you may choose to stand there alone, you will not be leaving the temple alone. Y/n will be at your side from today forward, let her share your burdens. Let her be there to share in your sorrows so you may not crumble beneath them.” She added patting his cheek before she left him once more to himself.

It was strange to have someone act so familiar with him like this. His own grandparents had died when he was young. While strange, it was nice to have that comfort for today. Even if Yukiko wasn’t his grandmother by blood, she would be by marriage and her comfort and wisdom was appreciated.

—-

Yukiko knew something had happened. When she returned from checking over the preparation at the temple and Madara. Y/n was down right ice cold towards her mother. And it looked like Y/n had taken another bath after already being dressed up when she left.

“Ume. Give us a moment.” Yukiko asked, Ume nodded and stepped out. “What’s got you in a twist?”

“Mother.” Y/n practically growled.

“I figured as such.” Yukiko took a seat before gesturing for Y/n to continue speaking.

“She snuck Itsuki in to see me … to convince me to run away with him.” Y/n said softly.

Now that was the last thing Yukiko expected to hear. Maybe her daughter was more cunning than she gave her credit. It was quite the ballsy move. Sneaking someone into the house to see Y/n before her wedding, especially a man she had previously been with romantically.

“There was a young man named Daisuke Beppu.” Yukiko began patting the seat next to her for Y/n to take. She waited to continue until Y/n sat down. “He was a butcher, just a few years older than your mother.” She said, taking Y/n’s hands. “He loved your mother, and she loved him.”

Y/n had never heard of this. Had no idea her mother had anyone before her father. She held her grandmother’s hands and remained silent as the woman spoke.

“But he could not offer your mother the life she had always lived. A life with him would be one of hard work. So I arranged for her to marry your father, who was also similar in age but could offer her an easier life and protect her.” Yukiko continued. “Your mother was furious with me, even tried to run away with the young butcher she loved. So I sent the young man away to another village and threatened to harm him if your mother did not do as I told her. I had arranged all the marriages of her siblings before her, but she was the only one who fought me on it.” She stated looking at Y/n closely for her reaction. “Ume married Ichiro, and Daisuke married later on as well. And I thought things were good, I didn’t like Ichiro but he seemed to treat your mother well and he took care of her.”

Y/n frowned as she listened. She knew now her parents didn’t have a loving relationship but she had no idea it was due to her mother being forced into the marriage and loving another man.

“While she was pregnant with you, she found your father cheating on her with another woman. And he admitted that he would sleep with whomever he pleased whenever he pleased. So your mother left their marital room and swore he’d never touch her again.” Yukiko said softly, squeezing Y/n’s hand. “Your mother was devastated but a proud woman who would not allow this. After you were born I told your father he was to never touch your mother again and that he better keep you both happy. If he wanted to live.”

“So mother has been worried I’d suffer the same fate as she did. And wanted to give me the chance she never had.” Y/n whispered, feeling her eyes tear up. “But I’ve told her that I’m happy with this. And I truly am.”

“It brings painful memories to think about. You’re her only child, she wants you to have the choice she never had. I think she’s so blinded by that pain she still feels that she assumed you would want what she wanted.” Yukiko said softly, gently petting Y/n’s hair. “It wasn’t right of her to do, and if Madara ever found out it would spell disaster. But she just wants you to have the ability to choose for yourself.”

“And I choose Madara. Every time.” Y/n said firmly. “This may have been my nightmare five years ago, but today and tomorrow and every day after I will always choose Madara. He’s who I want.”

“I am so happy to know you are happy with this.” Yukiko said, cupping her face. “I know it wasn’t always so. But Madara is a good, honest man. I think you two will make a good marriage and will be happy together. As long as you both continue to choose each other.” She said pulling Y/n into a firm hug.

“Thank you for telling me.” Y/n said softly. “Will you bring my mother in for me?”

“Of course.” Yukiko kissed her forehead and stood to leave the room. Ume stood just outside the door. “She wishes to speak with you.” She said to Ume stepping out of the doorway, closing the door behind Ume.

“Y/n-“ Ume started, taking a seat next to her daughter.

“Mother, I love you.” Y/n said, pulling her mother into a hug. “But please, I am choosing this. I’m choosing Madara. I need you to respect that, respect him and our relationship.” She said, pulling back to look at her mother. “This cannot ever happen again. I am so sorry you lost Daisuke. That you were forced to marry my father and that he betrayed you. But Madara is not father. You cannot hold father’s sins against Madara, who has done nothing but welcome us. And come to care for me.”

“I’m sorry.” Ume said, starting to tear up. “I didn't, he never said anything about wanting to run away with you. He said he just wanted to say goodbye.” She said taking Y/n’s hands.

“None of us can tell Madara this happened. Let’s hope no one saw, I don’t want to lie to him but I know he would not handle this well. Especially from you.” Y/n said as gently as she could. “Please, mother, please try to make peace with this. I am marrying Madara and he will, one day, be the father of your grandchildren. I don’t want there to be strife between you two.”

“I swear, I promise I will be better.” Ume nodded quickly. “I will do everything I can to make things better between him and I for you.”

“Thank you, mother.” Y/n hugged her again. “I know he’s gruff and rough around the edges but he’s a good man with a big heart. And I do see a good, happy life with him here in Konoha.”

Ume hugged Y/n tightly. She could swallow her bitterness towards her own situation for the sake of her daughter. If her daughter was happy with Madara then she would be happy. Her daughter’s happiness and well being were what was really important.

—--

Madara took Yukiko’s words to heart and made his way to the Hokage residence. While he knew Hashirama would be in attendance at his wedding as Hokage, Madara did decide to ask if he would join him as his groomsmen. He felt a bit awkward standing in front of the large house all dressed up as he knocked and waited.

“Madara?” Hashirama opened the door, a bit surprised to see the other man standing at his doorstep. Especially on his wedding day. “Is everything okay? Come in, please?” Hashirama stepped back to allow Madara to enter his home.

Madara nodded as he stepped inside, he had only been inside Hashirama’s house one other time but it had still been in construction. “I had a question for you … I didn’t really think about the idea much but Yukiko is a wise woman.”

“Of course, I will do my best to answer it.” Hashirama said, leading Madara into the living room. Hashirama’s brown eyes met Madara’s black ones as they took a seat. “What can I help you with?”

“I -” Madara swallowed thickly. “I want you to stand at my side. During my wedding today.” Madara said fiddling with the sleeves of his robes. “As my family.”

Hashirama stared at Madara, his mouth opened in shock. “You want me? To stand at your side, as your family for your wedding? Really?” He was shocked, he thought for sure Madara would have had Hikaku there. Or some other Uchiha he didn’t know on a name to name basis. “Madara I I would be honored.” Hashirama could feel himself tear up.

“Please don’t cry on me.” Madara said but had a fond smile on his face. “Thank you.” He added softer.

“Can I ask why? I mean surely there is some clan mate who is more suited -” Hashirama started before Madara cut him off.

“Hashirama, after Izuna there was no one.” Madara said softly, looking away. “I don’t connect with people like you do. Sure, Hikaku and I are somewhat close but he is focusing on making sure things run smoothly for the wedding and while Y/n and I are on our honeymoon.” He pointed out.

“Madara.” Hashirama reached out and squeezed Madara’s shoulder. “I would be honored to be there for you, I know I could never replace Izuna at your side but I would be very happy to do this for you.”

“Thank you, this means a lot.” Madara said softly, laying a hand on Hashirama’s that was placed on his shoulder. “Now, go get cleaned up, we have a temple to be at and I won’t have my bride waiting for me.”

“Of course, old friend.” Hashirama got up, leaving Madara to lounge in the living room. “I’ll be right back.”

“And you cannot wear the Hokage robes! They’re hideous!” Madara yelled out, which heard a frustrated shout from Hashirama. Madara couldn’t help but laugh, he felt much lighter now. He would have to thank Yukiko for her kind words and encouragement after the wedding.

[eventinelysplayground]

Lost in Eternity

Kinktober Day 24: Somnophilia | Against the Wall

Pairing: Comte x Female Reader

It's a day early but Happy Birthday to our favorite french noble Comte! This fic was fun to write and something I had been wanting to write for a little while anyways this just gave me an excuse to do it. I did pull from his romantic end and used a tiny bit of the dialogue from it. A decade later and you find yourself in a nostalgic situation with Comte but will it end the same as it did back then? This fic is NSFW so minors do not interact. WC approx 1257.

The chill air and feel of the cold stone against your back brought some relief to the quickly rising heat spreading across your skin and throughout your body.

Abel's hands move from your hips up your back and slowly begin to unzip your dress. The same white dress you wore ten years ago when you married in a late night ceremony where only the two of you were present. Many things have happened in ten years to you both. You welcomed children, said goodbye to friends and those who were like family. Through all the changes the one constant was your love for eachother so when Abel told you earlier today he wanted to renew your private vows at the same church you readily agreed.

“Mmm Abel.”

You feel his lips curl into a smile against yours.

“Last time we were here you had to correct yourself.”

You smile at the memory and can't help but giggle.

“I haven't made a mistake in years now.”

“No, you've been quite the good girl for me.”

Abel's lips captured yours in a heated kiss. His tongue flicked at your lips and you parted them, letting his tongue in and twining it with your own. As your tongues danced together his hands began to assist your dress in sliding down your body. He was bolder than he was ten years ago, not that you were complaining, but at the same time if he was going to reminisce. Just as his hands reached your hips again you pulled away from the kiss and looked into his eyes, a coy smile on your face.

“No…not there….”

Abel looked puzzled but only for a moment as he answered your coy smile with one of his own.

“No one's here but me and you.”

“I know but….”

“I’m sorry but I'm sick of pretending to be good and holding back. But I always want you, even more than I did back then.”

Abel drew you away from the wall and closer to him then began to rain kisses down upon your skin. Every movement of his lips and hands along your body found them in a spot that drove you mad and sent a current of desire out from everywhere they landed. He sucked gently on the top of your breast making you moan.

“Mmmm.”

He stepped away from you and quickly removed his jacket and shirt, discarding them on the floor of the church tower's balcony. He pulled you back towards him and into a hungry kiss. His hands found their way under your dress to your underwear and he ripped them off you.

“Abel!”

“I'll replace them.”

His deft fingers began to move along your clit.

“Ahh!”

His fingers slid further down and into you. As his fingers slowly moved in and out he began leaving a trail of blooming red marks down your neck and along your collarbone. His free hand found your breast and quickly began playing with your taught nipple. You wrapped your arms around his neck and lightly bit his earlobe making him growl.

“Abel.”

Your needy whisper of his name was all the instruction he needed from you. He quickly withdrew his fingers from your core and you involuntarily whined making him smirk. He undid the front of his pants letting his hard cock out before grabbing you by the ass and lifting you up causing you to wrap your legs around his waist. He pushed you back up against the stone wall while sealing your lips in another kiss and you shivered at the feel of the cold stone once again on your burning skin.

His composure is gone now, no longer the proper darling gentleman of French society but the conflicted man who loves you and craves every part of you. As your kiss deepens you feel one of his hands leave your ass and trail along your thigh, hiking up the hem of your dress even more. You feel the tip of his cock enter you and relax against the wall as much as you can. His thrusts are slow at first so as not to scrape your skin on the stone even your kisses have become gentle now.

His hand leaves your thigh making its way up to your breast and caressing it. His lips leave yours and make their way down to join his hand. His tongue flicks over and around your nipple and you run your fingers through his silken hair.

“Nghh Abel!”

Your head falls back against the wall and you tighten your grip in his hair. They're signs you're coming undone and he starts thrusting into you harder and faster knowing that you're close. He brings his head up from your breast and rakes his fangs along your neck.

“Abel…”

Even in this state of bliss you can still remember how this played out ten years prior. How his sweet words called for you to join him but you were still afraid and uncertain then, and so was he.

“I told you, I don't mind…becoming a vampire. I still want to be with you, more than anything.”

His fangs left your skin but you could still feel his warm breath on your neck. He slowed his pace and placed one feather light kiss to the nape of your neck before pulling away just enough to see your face.

“The pain only lasts for a second. After that you'll feel such pleasure you’ll forget about the fear.”

His voice was as gentle and sweet as it had been back then, back when you did fear the uncertainty of eternity. Now though…now you smiled as you slowly turned your neck and pulled Abel closer, your fingers steady.

“Abel, let's get lost in the happiness of an eternity together.”

“Cherie…”

He brought his lips to your neck and pressed his fangs lightly against it for a moment before sinking them deep into your flesh. He was right, the pain only lasted a second before you felt a warmth spreading throughout your body. You felt like you were on fire and all your senses were becoming overwhelmed.

Abel began thrusting faster again, moaning and grunting as he drank from you. He used his hand that was still holding your ass to lift you higher and his next thrust hit deeper inside you and the new sensation quickly pushed you to the edge.

“Ahhhh!”

Your walls tightened around his hard cock as you rode out a wave of pleasure like you'd never felt before. Your body began to go limp from the overwhelming pleasure and your fingers lost their grip, you were helpless in his arms able to do anything but faintly call his name once more. As soon as you did he gave one last hard deep thrust and then you felt his hot cum inside you, his cock twitching every time it released more of it into you. He slowly removed his fangs from neck and tenderly lapped at the wounds, making you cry out and your body jerk and shiver. It was then you felt Abel's hand on your cheek.

“I love you, Cherie.”

You were so close to passing out from it all. You just wanted to sleep but you shook off that feeling, if only temporarily, to gaze into Abel's golden eyes as you smiled at each other.

Tag list: @queengiuliettafirstlady, @nightghoul381, @nani-nani-nani, @floydsteeth.

Special tag: @valkyyriia, come and get your man!

[thetevinterspy]

I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers—and I’ve even stayed off Tumblr for a few weeks—but the closer we get to Veilguard’s release, the harder it gets to hold back. While I don’t rely on reviews to decide whether to buy or play a game, I have been curious about the Community Council’s impressions. Because, let’s face it, I don’t really care what the “dude bro” YouTubers think. I care what people like us think.

I already knew I wouldn’t be swayed in either direction, but the truth is, this game matters a lot to me. I expected it to have its fair share of flaws—no game is perfect. All I really wanted was for it to feel like home.

This world changed my life in ways that are difficult to put into words. And now, we’re not just reading about places like Arlathan; we’re going there. We’re seeing Antiva. We’re going back—back home. As a longtime Dragon Age fan, I only cared about the opinions of those who understand that feeling. And those reviews delivered exactly what I’d hoped for.

Each game has had its own unique vibe, but especially this one. It’s been a long time coming, and as Ashe mentioned in her “review,” none of us are the same people we were ten years ago. This game has evolved along with its audience. We’ve grown, matured, and there’s also a new audience to welcome. Bioware is reaching out to all of us, both old and new.

I know this will sound nostalgic, hopeful, and ready for whatever’s to come—and I’m ready to lose myself in Thedas again, with all the highs and lows. I have a feeling this might be a reset for Dragon Age, perhaps even a bittersweet goodbye to certain things. I can’t wait to see how they wrap up this chapter and introduce new places, new stories in this incredible world.

I’m not sure if any of the developers will see this, but on the off chance that someone from the team does: thank you. We can see the work, the long hours, the sacrifices you’ve made without being able to show or tell us anything. You’ve had to watch from the sidelines as the uninformed and the angry try to twist the narrative.

But for those of us who are here for the heart and soul of Thedas, we’re ready. Thank you for creating this world for us once again, and I hope each of you is taking care of yourselves and your families. I can’t wait to see the response to all your hard work.

P.S. – BioWare If you’re hiring, I’d make a hell of a community manager. 👀

[the-colourful-witch]

i just found ur account and wanted to let u know that i’m absolutely obsessed!!

i love the way u somehow combine this childlike wonder and nostalgia i connect with discovering the hp-verse so many years ago with the modern versions and stories i have in my head now. just beautiful.

You know, this wonderful message made me stop for a minute. I was just sitting casually at the breakfast table, eating my oatmeal, reading my little book, sipping my coffee, listening to my Dad mutter about taxes, and my mother giggling over cat videos... Every regular Friday morning, right? ... Where was I? Oh right, I read your message! And I felt my heart swell <3 Thank you. It's so lovely to hear that you experience my art like this. I do these drawings mostly for fun because I've always loved drawing HP characters and putting my own spin on the world. And since creating this blog, that has changed so much. For the better, don't worry :) I get messages like this and I'm reminded of how much fun it is to share art. I think I read all the books for the first time when I was nine...? Nine or ten, I think. It changed my life! It sparked a lifetime of reading pleasure and an obsession with fantasy and fairytales. Then, I was already drawing the characters and imagining how it would feel to live in the Wizarding World. And it's just like you said, creating this art now feels nostalgic, yet new at the same time. We're all adults now (most of us, I think, I don't actually know) but we can't let childlike wonder ever go away. It is what keeps us creative and opens our minds and hearts to new and exciting experiences. That is what I want people to feel when they experience my art. The little spark of magic that never really went away. My art is for the eleven-year-old versions of ourselves that never got their Hogwarts letter.

[katatty]

Sims Say the Darnest Things: When you get this, list five of your characters and their best quotes so far. Then pass it on to five other storytelling simblrs.

Aw man, this is a fun one! I've been writing stupid stuff for my sims to say for so long it's hard to think of a top 5, but definitely have some funny moments I'd like to reminice on :)

“Who cares about work? Money isn’t everything, Raye!” “I’m just not sure I’m responsible enough for this. I feel like a kid myself half the time!” “Well, better grow up fast, because I’m keeping the baby! Bleh!!”

This line from Emmie is iconic to me and kind of sums up both the good and bad in her character! She's enthusiastic, chirpy and always ready to jump into stuff but can be kinda selfish/thoughtless with like, poor boundaries lmao. It also always makes me giggle adding "Bleh!!" to the end of her lines idk

Bella: Cassandra! Oh my, are you all right? Cassandra: I’m fine, Mom. Bella: You’re having a mental breakdown on our back porch!

idk this is just funny to me bc Bella is half concerned for Cassandra and half worried that Cassie is bringing down the vibe at her fabulous dinner party lol

Camellia: I keep thinking I’ve forgotten something!  Lori: Cami, I feel like that almost all the time. Nine out of ten times it’s nothing important!

I'm realising going though these most of them aren't even particualrly "great quotes" they're just things I found funny to write, haha. My way of escaping the "5 characters" thing by making them all require context or somehting. idk! RIP to Orion

Lilith: Since when you do you cook, anyway? Ashley: I’m teaching myself. It’s called having a growth mindset, you should try it. Lilith: Hey, I’m all about personal growth. You know I achieved lifetime happiness this week? Ashley: Our date was that good, huh?

Ashley & Lilith's unhealthy-ass relationship banter is always so fun to write, I really miss them! I really like having sims actually mention, like, game mechanics? Lilith saying "I achieved lifetime happiness this week" just tickles me. tbh i also think "it's called having a growth mindset" is really funny, really fits ashley's self-improvement-reddit-guy vibe

ok and my all time favourite scene/quote is this ripp moment idk this was 5 years ago but i still laugh thinking about it it was so unhinged

“So this makes us and the twins, what? Step-siblings? That’s hot.” “You are such a pig, Ripp!” Lilith kicked him under the table. “I’m gonna kill you.” “Chill out, Tank! It’s not like it’s real incest! You and Angela can keep fucking if you really want to.”

like most inappropriate and gross comments of all time????????? lmao. very sad that Ripp has grown as a person I miss writing him as an immature dickhead lol

ANYWAY thank u for sending this, it was really fun & nostalgic and has me really wanting to actually write posts again, maybe I will queue some up :)

tagging @potential-fate, @moocha-muses, @dunne-ias, @antisocialbunnysims & @rurpleplaysmuttingtonac if any of you fancy doing this :)

[504py]

Came across your blog and just got to say how nice t nostalgic and great it is to see an active hetalia blog in 2023 :) hetalia sucked me in as a teenager (both into anime and yandere) and stayed with me as a hyperfixiation for years. Although I’m 25 now and haven’t watched the show in years I often find myself thinking about the characters. Those goofy guys just got a special place in my heart I guess :) love your content! Thank you so much for creating it

ANONNNNN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

YOU'RE TOO SWEET GOSH THIS MADE MY ENTIRE WEEK 😭😭😭😭😭 i swear that's gonna be one of the compliments that i'm gonna remember forever 😭😭😭 thank you so much!!!!!

but same oh my goddd... i swear i saw hetalia almost ten years ago now but i can't seem to get the stupid country show out of my head 😭 i guess it's a weird comfort nostalgia thing bc the show was so "of its time" in both good and bad ways LMAO. it's like a time capsule to when i was a kid discovering anime for the first time.

like, now that i'm older and can actually participate in creating cool fandom stuff i was so geeked over when i was a child, i was thinking of revisiting the old fandoms i was in at the time. and, uhhh, the next ones on my radar is black butler, kuroko no basuke, and, uhh...

do any of you perhaps remember free! iwatobi swim club????....

[her-royal-sightless]

And I’ll never be the same 🍁

It’s been three years since Red TV and it’s also the first week of the Toronto Eras Tour shows. I’m still holding out for the last minute ticket drops and contests, but in the meantime, I dug up some pics I took during the Red Tour ten years ago.

I was fourteen and taking these on my little point and shoot camera. Obviously they’re not the most aesthetically pleasing, but there’s something about the blurry stage and crunchy jumbo screen shots that make me feel so nostalgic even after losing most of my sight at sixteen. Yes, I’m struggling to look at these photos now, but the eye strain is worth it.

One of the visual memories I’ve still retained well is Taylor’s performance of The Lucky One. The gown and gloves she wore are seared into my head. They’re burning red if you will. If I could’ve made an outfit to wear to this current tour, it would’ve been this one. 

And of course, memories don’t have to be limited to visuals.

Every time I hear State of Grace, my heart skips a beat as I remember returning from the bathroom right as the show was starting. I was half way through the tunnel that led to our section when the drum beat kicked in. I started screaming with everyone else and bolted back to my seat while my mom yelled at me to be careful. Luckily, we made it right on time. Although, lesson learned, don’t drink a giant cup of coke right before a show. Even if you need it to down the expensive, but bland, burrito you bought in the stadium.

Whenever I put on my very worn concert tee, I also remember all the effort my mom put in to get us to the Roger’s Centre that night. She’d surprised me with the tickets for my grade eight graduation, and though she didn’t know every song, she didn’t stop me from talking about the whole album in the month leading up or on the train ride to downtown. And when our train back was too full, despite being tired from work that week, she just listened to me rave about the concert and looked through blurry photos with me the entire bus ride home. When the Eras Tour started last year, she immediately wanted to talk about things like the crazy stage dive and when Taylor would announce Canadian dates.

It’s been over a decade since Red came out and it’s still one of my favourite albums for many reasons, this concert included. I know the Eras Tour has set some pretty high expectations for a lot of people, but I hope that everyone who’s seeing Taylor for the first time gets to experience the same sort of long lasting memories I did that night.

It was rare, I was there ❤️

[rambleonwaywardson]

your pfp makes me really nostalgic every time i see it, like ten years ago it was steve and bucky and now ten years later it’s buck and bucky. the passage of time and our interests evolve but really they’re still the same yadda yadda yadda

You and me both! I noticed the exact same thing when MotA got me back on Tumblr consistently. I keep going back and forth about changing it, but it doesn’t feel right to right now? The way you said it might be exactly why.

Also thanks for reminding me that my MCU/Stucky phase was TEN years ago 🫣. And I’m still here, still obsessed with WWII content, except the writing is better and somehow even more gay 😂

[lyon-amore]

A special reunion Oneshot

At first, he didn't imagine that she was that MC that was being talked about so much. When he saw her walk into his bar, Phil recognized her right away. MC had already been to Duskwood. Exactly ten years ago. When she lived there. There were many memories that they had, especially because it had just ten years ago, the two of them had dated.

It was long before he earned the title of womanizing boy. That girl had been his first love. His first girlfriend. Seeing her again made him remember those happy moments they had spent together. When the girl sat in the chair, leaning against the bar, she gave the bar owner a smile.    "Phil Hawkins" MC smiled, with a proud smile "Who was going to tell me that I would get you out of jail?"    "Who was going to tell me, that you'd be the one who got into Hannah's business?" Phil leaned over the bar, with a charming smile "Thanks for helping me."    "I wasn't going to leave you in there" the girl replied, resting her chin on her hand "How long ago? Ten years?" She asked in a nostalgic tone.    "Saying it in that tone, you make me feel old" MC laughed and he stood up "What do you want to make you look beautiful? A beer? A good wine? Me?"     MC leaned back a bit, with a somewhat awkward laugh.    "Really Phil?" She shook her head "Ten years without seeing each other and this is how you want to start?"     Of course, he had screwed up and to the bottom. He had forgotten that Jessy's group had spoken badly about him. To which surely, they would have told the young woman that he flirted with all the girls he liked. True, but it wasn't for her to get like that either. They were supposed to be confident, right?    "Sorry" the young man apologized ", I guess I got nervous seeing you."    "That's a lie and you know it." she pointed his finger at her, accusingly, but without erasing his smile.     They both stared at each other, as if they were communicating telepathically.    "You know? Since we've met again, let's celebrate.” Phil took out the tequila and two small glasses.     He began to prepare the drink, passing it to the girl, who looked at the glass before looking at him.    "To our reunion." Phil raised his glass.    "To our reunion." MC imitated him.     They gulped it down, making a throaty sound. Although it was little, it burned in the throat.    "So" Phil continued, sitting up again at the bar ", now you're going to look for missing persons? I thought your dream was to be an actress and get away from this quaint little town."    "And I have some small roles" She pouted ". On television... As an extra..."    "Poor your dreams."    "But I'm not giving up" She poured himself another glass of tequila and drank it in one gulp ". God, I needed it..."     He wouldn't stop looking at her. Remembering the pain of when they had to say goodbye.

Maybe it was out of spite or because he was unconsciously looking for MC in all the girls that hooked up with. He fixed on her lips, remembering the last kiss they shared. He wanted to remember what it was like to kiss her again. Would it be just as passionate? All the memories of her were coming back, the moments alone.    "What's up?" MC asked, with a laugh.    "I was thinking" Phil approached her, placing his hand under the girl's chin "Why don't we remember the old days?"     They were approaching each other, her lips were close. But MC was clever and avoided it, approaching his ear.    "Like I said" MC began to whisper ", you can't start a conversation like that after ten years."     And he thought he was the only one who knew how to make girls nervous. MC was managing to turn the tables, now she was in charge. The feel of her hand running down his arm made him shudder. As she slowly pulled away, he kept his gaze on her tempting eyes. He had gasped at the sight of her. More than before he wanted to kiss her.    "It seems" the young woman smiled mischievously "that I am capable of dominating you."     Phil laughed, taking another glass of tequila.

The people and the music flooded the environment but he only listened to her. Her voice controlled him now.    "I do it because I respect you, precious." He replied, controlling himself when he saw her with that provocative smile.    "Very well then" MC put his hand to Phil's face, her red nails standing out against the boy's white skin ", you have to learn to be a good boy, Phil, you don't have to rush so soon."     Phil cursed everything he was going through in his mind. Out of respect for MC, he was controlling himself. For someone he had loved and admired in the past and still did as soon as she entered his bar, he remembered it. He was picturing her without clothes, would she be offended if he told her? He bit his lip, looking her up and down. MC laughed.    "Aren't you torturing me too much?" Phil asked her "We know each other too well for you to do this to me, MC, doesn't it hurt to do this to me?"    "No, not really" she laughed with a bit of malice ". But I'll tell you when you can kiss me, okay?"     Phil smiled. So yes, she wanted the same thing as him.    “And how long do I have to wait for that?” he asked her, running a finger along the girl's neck, down to her cleavage.    "When you stop trying to get me on your turf like you do with the other girls."    "You offend me if you think I'm not going to treat you like the other girls." he approached her, brushing his lips over her neck and up to her face.    "Isn't that what you're doing now?" MC whispered, leaning to one side of her, inviting him to continue "Aren't you afraid they'll get jealous and come after you?"    "I don't do this the first time with girls" He left small kisses on the girl's neck and saw that her skin was starting to get goose bumps. She was enjoying it ". And if I'm honest" he passed his hand behind the young woman's neck, looking into her eyes ", at this moment, I don't care if they look at us now."     MC smiled, approaching his lips. Phil took it to mean that he could kiss her, but he was surprised because again she took the initiative from him, biting his lip and playing with his tongue.

When they broke apart, they gasped for air. A small laugh escaped the MC's lips which Phil liked.    “Can you hand over the bar to one of your employees?” She asked, whispering in his ear.    "Give me just a minute and we'll go home."    "Perfect."      They should have more reunions like this.

[dream-meister-translations]

DREAM MEISTER THE RECOLLECTED BLACK FAIRY

RICHE PAST #1

━

On vacation from the Gastronomy guild, I find myself unusually alone...

I’m spending my vacation visiting our grandparents who run a winery. Though I suppose since it’s my day off, and I’m alone, I should be calling them “my” grandparents.

My grandparents offer me a warm welcome, just like they always have, and will continue to do.

RICHE : Grandpa, Grandma. It's been a while.

RICHE'S GRANDMOTHER : Oh, you've come! Come on in! We've been looking forward to your visit, you sweet, dear boy!

RICHE'S GRANDFATHER : Indeed, you're looking quite spiffy. Quite a change from back when you were just a boy.

RICHE'S GRANDMOTHER : Oh, nevermind that, Riche has always been serious about anything he set his mind to.

RICHE'S GRANDMOTHER : Even when you helped out at the winery, you always put your best foot forward and were constantly learning and researching many new things each and every day.

RICHE : Yes. I want to thank you, Grandpa, Grandma. It's because of my time spent helping out here that I am who I am now.

RICHE'S GRANDFATHER : Yes. Yes. You first starting working here about six years ago, if memories serves correctly. Ah, this feels nostalgic.

We reminiscine about many things for a long time after that.

RICHE : (Grandpa’s right...)

RICHE : (If you’d asked me back then, I’d never have dreamed of turning out this way...)

-FLASHBACK-

Ten years ago…

THUG 1 : Argh!

RICHE : Tsk... You never learn, huh? You wanna go again?

THUG 1 : S-Sorry!

RICHE : Speak up! I can't hear you mumbling like that. Should I make you speak louder?

THUG 2 : Eek! S-Sorry...

RICHE : You're apologizing to the wrong guy!

THUG 1 & 2 : W-Were sorry f-f-for… trying… trying to mug you!!

SCHOOLBOY : Th-Thank you...

RICHE : Jeez, don't ever try stealing from anyone again, got it?

THUG 1 & 2 : Yes, sir!

DELINQUENT 1 : As expected of Richie-Boy!

DELINQUENT 2 : Did you see their faces? They were terrified!

DELINQUENT 3 : There's no one who can rival Richie around here anymore!

━

You see… Back in those days… I was quite a bit more rebellious than I am now...

I’d spend my days getting rid of troublemakers like bullies and shoplifters, one after another.

Don’t misunderstand. It’s not like I had any righteous sense of justice. The reason I did such things was simple...

My brother Kuchen was a natural at making desserts. His chocolate was second to none…

And my brother Cuit could run a kitchen like no other.

Compared to my amazing brothers, I was nothing special. I had no talents. No prospects.

By virtue of being the youngest brother, I was loved by default. Cherished. And I felt incredibly guilty being so loved and offering so little. Dealing with the miscreants out on the street was my way of dealing with that.

DELINQUENT 1 & 2 & 3 : We'll follow you to the ends of the earth, Riche!!

Before I knew it, the delinquents around town were beginning to look up to me, almost as a leader. But one...

SCHOOLBOY : U-Um, th-thanks for helping me! Can I do something for you…? In return I mean…?

RICHE : Nah, you don’t need to thank me. Oh, but it is that time...

SCHOOLBOY : "Time"?

DELINQUENT 1 : He means it’s time for him to go home. Richie-Boy here has a curfew.

DELINQUENT 2 : Even as a delinquent, he's so serious~

RICHE : It’s not about meeting a curfew. And I’d hardly consider myself a delinquent... But, yeah, if I keep talking, I'll be late. See ya!

I take off at a sprint, humming to myself as I make my way home…

━

RICHE : Cuit! I’m back! What's for dinner tonight?

CUIT : Welcome back, Riche. It's beef stew today. Dessert is chocolate mousse made by Kuchen himself.

RICHE : Awesome! Sounds amazing!

KUCHEN : Don’t you ever get tired of acting like that? Day in and day out?

CUIT : Hehe. Go on, go wash your hands.

RICHE : Okay!

No matter how bloody the fight, I made sure to always, without fail, make it home before the Sun went down.

Because I knew... that the dishes my brothers had put so much effort into making were waiting for me back home…

[runningandraisingmyheathens]

How I’m handling the heat wave. We get a really nice breeze from the river.

Regretting not having brought snacks or water though. And all my children are at the grocery store with Keith, so there’s no one to do it for me.

Ignore my red eyes. I’ve been laying here crying. I had a very close friend die about ten years ago, and I just found her daughter on Facebook. She just graduated, and she looks so much like her mother. So I’m just being nostalgic and missing my friend.

[tenrousei-kuroi]

I did read Angel Sanctuary! I never finished it, though. I remember that what got me to start was the author’s art style. Her characters are so pretty!

I’m not familiar with A Cruel God Reigns, but by your description, it’s right up my alley (also, with a brief search, I see it has a very traditional style from the 90s/00s mangas that I find very nostalgic). I’ll definitely take a look into it.

As for the Black brothers, I think I discovered the ship around 2017-18, so there was a fairly good amount of work by then, but Blackcest has definitely grown a lot in the past couple of years. I’ve not read many James/Regulus works, mostly because many have a 'cleansed', fanon version of both – which also applies to the Marauders as a whole – and I have very picky views of Regulus’ characterization (my boy canonically had his own fan board of Voldemort 😭 and as far as we know, he never fully – or at all – quit his bigotry, yet in many works, his Slytherin friends and himself diverge completely from this).

But I do think Sirius/Regulus will remain somewhat popular for a long time. The Black family seems to have an appeal within the fandom that I don’t see as much with other families, such as the Lestranges, for example. Also, the idea of two good-looking, rich boys in a complicated family is intriguing (or at least I hope so; if not, you’ll see me signing up to your mailing list). On that note, I'm still hoping for the day Rodolphus/Rabastan gets popular lol

Anyway, thank you for the link, and I'm looking forward fest postings (ngl, I'm pretty confident in my abilities to recognize your writing style in anon fests. Sometimes I read a title and I think "this looks like a title ten would use". Is it a little stalker-ish of me? Maybe 😅).

Yeah Moto Hagio’s a bit more old school, she was most prolific in the seventies and eighties, and her art shows it. I could be misremembering but I believe her work “Sunroom” is typically credited as the first boy/boy manga kiss. And she’s one of the pioneers of the modern boy’s love genre. Real “culture award winning” sort of author.

Jegulus fics are hilarious to me and there’s a reason I call my stuff James/Regulus when I tag it, because that portmanteau has become its own thing. Whenever I read a Jegulus fic in my brain I’m thinking, “you know you can just write Timotheé Chalamet RPF, right? He’s not gonna’ come for you” 😂 And honestly that fanon “style” is bleeding over hard into the Sirius/Regulus section.

No shade, I’m glad people are having fun. Makes it harder for me to find the kinds of fics I like but I’ll survive lol. There’s just a larger selection now. And popular as it all is, I do truly feel people will move on. Because it’s less an attachment to the characters and more to these seriously altered fantasy versions of them, which can be easily grafted onto the next popular thing.

If you had told fifteen year-old me my weird incest and incest-adjacent pairings where two of the three characters aren’t even alive in canon would one day be as common as they are now I’d’ve thought you were high 😂 yet here we are.

I’ve dabbled a bit in Rodolphus/Rabastan but they always end up coming out so similar to my Sirius and Regulus that I don’t like it. I’ve kind of tabled the pairing until I can force myself to be a bit more creative with them. People already put up with all my Sirius/Regulus nonsense being basically the same, I don’t need to be grafting their dynamic onto other pairings 🤣🤣

When I pick prompts for fests I always try to ignore the promoter names until after I’ve chosen, but it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, roughly 80% end up being yours anyway. Talk about wavelengths.

And let’s blame 2009 LiveJournal for my pretentious and easily-spotted titles, shall we? Specifically a Sirius/Regulus fic from forever ago called “A Thousand Years Good Wine” which basically flipped something in my brain and I haven’t been able to title anything like a normal human since.

That was a stellar fic, by the way. And if anyone ever ever ever finds it back for me I’ll…I don’t know…write them a 100k commission of their choice or engrave their name on my tombstone or something because that fic is LOST beyond belief and it causes me literal pain sometimes lol.

I’m feeling rather inspired today so I might spend my Saturday night plinking away at one of my fics. Odds are it probably won’t be the one that’s due in three weeks but we can always hope TT.TT