#i’ve deadass spent all day on these

[laurrelise]

ok here we are so far what do we think!!

^ luther 100% dedicates his account to sloane and responding to his siblings (but mostly sloane) i’ve said this before but without a doubt he posts a picture of her every day like “another day passed and i’ve decided im still in love with my wife”

^ i hc that diego doesn’t go on social media a ton. he looks at his siblings’ posts and what he’s tagged in and all that but for the most part he tries to focus on irl experiences.

^ allison is verified and she absolutely posts a lot. sorry i don’t make the rules.

^ i thought i was so funny for his bio and location lmfao. his url was originally going to be “highandmighty” because i thought it was witty but im still kinda undecided, i cant really think of a good username for him 😭 lmk if anyone has any good ideas!!

^ you can’t tell me this asshole wouldn’t have “umbrellas dni” in his bio and then constantly retweet and comment on their posts. because he would. he absolutely would.

also i think at the height of his scamming era he got a ton of twitter followers but then lost a bunch but still has a sorta decent amount lol

^ i don’t have much to say tbh i love viktor so much he’s so adorable

^ unfortunately making five a chronically offline old man is so fun. making him misunderstand everything about social media is a blast. he sees the little prompt things and thinks he needs to specify that he’s at his house or that he doesn’t have a website. i simply love him im sorry

also i’m still waiting on the results of the pfp poll so when that’s over i’ll change his pfp to match whatever is chosen lol

[thetriumphantpanda]

The Way You Miss Me | Joel Miller (Chapter Five)

You put your plan into action - in order to get closer to Joel, you have to get close to Ellie. The home truths that come out as a result aren't at all what you wanted though.

Pairing | Joel Miller x Female Reader

Word Count | 3K

Warnings | Angst and pining, mentions of death and origin story of readers scar which involves a knife but nothing else.

Authors Note | This one flew out of my fingers like lightening so I hope you enjoy it! Would love to hear your thoughts so leave comments, like or reblog or pop on over to my ask box if you fancy it! Also not me deadass writing in one of my favourite bands, shoutout to any of my fellow elder emo's out there. The shame of the outbreak is that these guys never got to jam along to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge or Misery Business..... This fic is actually loosely based on an All Time Low song from their new album, if you wanted to listen you can find it here - listen and watch out for nods to the lyrics in the dialogue here!

It had been a week since the awkward encounter at the bar with Joel and you were frustrated that you hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with him. You’d been watching him from afar, he’d been in the stables one day getting himself assigned a horse so that he could start heading out on patrol. He’d spent an evening at The Tipsy Bison with Tommy, the only acknowledgement was a swift nod of his head towards the table you shared with your father but that was only because Tommy had hit him on the arm, mouthing for him not to be rude. You’d watched him walk down the street past your home a few times, watching from the window and wishing it had been your home he was coming to. The one constant in all of it? The little girl. Ellie was attached to him like a barnacle to a whale, he was never without her, and you’d bet your bottom dollar (If you had any) that the key to getting closer to Joel was that little girl. 

“Can I ask you a question?” You asked Tommy one day whilst you were helping him repair some fencing around the outer wall. 

“You just did, but sure thing Sunshine.” 

“Do you know much about Ellie?” Your tried to keep your tone as nonchalant as possible, but the grin on Tommy’s face suggested he knew exactly where you were going with this. 

“I’ve gotta be honest Joel’s kept her to himself mostly,” He shrugged, picking up his hammer to beat some nails into the wood you were holding still for him, “She’s a firecracker, swears like a sailor and is the only person I’ve ever seen make Joel laugh since the world went to shit.” 

You hummed in understanding, “You know about the things she likes to do?” 

“I think you’re treading a very thin line here.” He warned. 

“I’m not trying to do anything Tommy,” You spoke defensively, “She follows him around like a lost puppy, I’ve not seen her make any friends, I just wanted to try and do something nice for her to make her feel welcome.” 

Tommy sighed, “Space,” He replied simply, “Joel said she liked space, wanted to be an astronaut or something like that, and she's attached to that Walkman like it's her lifeline,” He was focusing on not hitting his fingers with the hammer, “Maria actually put aside a box of things she thought she might like, with the baby she hasn’t had time to take it over, but maybe if you drop back with me later you can drop it off for us?” 

“Sounds good,” You responded, “Will he be there?” 

Tommy smirked, “No, he’s on evening patrol on the fence tonight so nothing to worry about.” 

“I’m not worried Tommy.” 

“Sure, that’s why your nails are bitten down and you’ve been chewing at your lips since he arrived,” Your eyes widened, he was always the more astute of the brothers, “You used to do that before, when you were worried about things.” 

“Well like I said, I’m not worried about anything.” You mumbled. 

“Whatever you say, Sunshine,” He winked at you, “I finished hammering that about five minutes ago, you can let go now.” 

*** 

The box was heavy in your arms – you silently cursed Maria for filling it up so much, what was even in here? You could see a few books on the top and an empty notepad and there was some material at the bottom that could only be clothing. You thanked the Gods for not allowing the bottom to drop out of it, setting it down on the porch before knocking on the door of the house Tommy had pointed at when you were walking back to his. 

It took a while for someone to answer, but the door was eventually ripped open, and Ellie was stood in front of you, trying to catch her breath. 

“Oh hey,” She greeted, “Joel’s not here.” 

“Lucky me, because I’m actually here to see you,” You smiled, tapping the cardboard box on the floor with your foot, “Maria sent me over with a few things she thought you might like.” 

Ellie bent down to pick it up but you beat her to it, “It’s heavy, let me bring it inside for you.” 

She smiled and moved in the doorway to let you pass. The inside of their home was exactly as you’d imagine it to be, it wasn’t that much different to how yours had been when you moved in. Simple and bare save for the few pieces of furniture, a coffee mug was sat on the table near the kitchen – if Joel was half he man he had been before that would be his, half full of coffee that he’d drunk before leaving for patrol. 

“You can set it down on the table.” Ellie directed, which you did, taking hold of the coffee cup to find it was exactly how you’d imagined, half full of coffee which was still slightly warm, Joel had left recently. 

You watched as Ellie started going through the box, taking out the books to read the back of them before setting them down and investigating the clothes, seemingly happy with what Maria had chosen. 

“I hope you don’t mind but I brought you something too,” You spoke quietly, fishing around in your jacket pocket before pulling out a CD, “I don’t know if it’s your sort of music, but I’ve seen you with your Walkman around town and though you’d like something different to listen to.” 

She took the CD gratefully, “Foo Fighters, what kinda name is that?” 

You giggled, “You know they were actually pretty good, I listened to them all the time before all this, trust me.” 

“You sure you don’t wanna keep it?” Ellie asked, trying to pass it back to you. 

“I don’t have anything to listen to it on, so it’s all yours, I wanna know what you think of it though.” You gave her a smile and a wink. 

“Thanks,” She said, “This is actually super cool.” 

You knew you couldn’t linger too long here; you didn’t want to outstay your welcome and make Ellie feel uncomfortable. You wanted to do something nice for her so she would tell Joel. Then you’d be front and center in his mind. He might even thank you himself and surely that meant opening a conversation with him. Baby steps, you kept telling yourself. 

“You’re welcome,” You reached out and squeezed her shoulder, “And if you ever need anything else you can always ask me, I know how hard it can be to settle here after being… out there.” 

Ellie nodded at you, and you excused yourself, heading home and hoping you’d planted a big enough seed to grow. 

***

The next morning, as Joel was setting breakfast on the table for Ellie before she went to school, the seed started to bloom. 

“Your girlfriend came round last night.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You know that woman you knew from before, the one we met at the bar?” 

“Ellie, she ain’t my girlfriend,” Ellie shrugged at Joel’s answer, shoveling eggs into her mouth, “What was she doin’ here?” 

“Bought some box of stuff Maria set aside for me,” She said with her mouth full, earning a glare from Joel at her table manners, “She bought me this awesome CD as well, did you ever hear of the Foo Fighters?” 

Joel nodded, trying not to remember that the only reason he did was because you had insisted on keeping that damn CD in his truck – it had been the background noise to most of your evening escapades when you couldn’t be in his bed. It wasn’t his particular cup of tea, but he had always liked watching you out of the corner of his eye as he drove you to your spot, tapping your fingers on the side of the car and singing along when the moment took you. 

“Well, I hope you said thank you.” Joel grumbled, drinking the last of his coffee, “Now come on, you’ll be late.” 

As Joel stood on the porch and watched Ellie walk down the street to school he cursed you. Cursed you for being the sweet little girl he always remembered and making Ellie happy, because now he’d have to seek you out and thank you himself. Running a hand over his face he resolved to do it today, better to get it over with instead of dwelling on things. 

***

You were bent over the bench in the tool shed taking inventory when a knock at the door pulled you from your counting. Tommy had asked you to take stock of what materials were left after you’d repaired the fence the previous day and although it was giving you a headache it was distracting work, having to concentrate on something that wasn’t Joel. 

“Come in!” You called, not looking up from the pile of nails you were counting, you scribbled the number you’d already counted to on a slip of paper, dropping the rest back in the tub to continue counting later. 

Turning around, Joel was leant on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. In the daylight and up close he was just as devastating as he’d been all those years ago. You silently willed the giddy feeling in your bones to go away. 

“Not interrupting anything am I?” He asked, nodding his head towards the bench. 

“Not at all, it’s a welcome break actually, only so many nails you can count before you go insane,” You laughed, hoping he would do the same, but his face was as stoic as ever, “Do you need something?” 

He let out a sigh, “I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for Ellie yesterday, she’s been through a lot, and this is an adjustment to say the least, so thank you.” 

You smiled at him, “You’re welcome,” you replied simply, “I’ve seen her wandering around with that Walkman attached to her so figured she could use something new to listen to,” You started rambling now, “I can’t even believe I managed to find it, it was just hanging out in some old store we stumbled through a few years back and all I could think about what how we used to listen to it in your truck when you’d….” Your eyes went wide as you stopped yourself from finishing your sentence, this wasn’t how you wanted this to go, “Sorry.” You mumbled, looking down from his eyes to your fingers where you set to work worrying at a bit of loose skin. 

“It’s alright,” He spoke, “If I’m bein’ honest it’s exactly what I thought about when she showed me last night.” 

“Oh,” You exclaimed, snapping your eyes up to him, “Have you thought about me much?” 

“Darlin’,” He spoke softly, “It’s best not to talk about it, I don’t want to upset you.” 

You nodded, “That means no then right?” You replied, “Because if you had you would have said because that would have made me happy, saying you don’t want to upset me means you didn’t.” 

“It was easier that way,” He admitted softly, “Convincing myself you were gone.” 

“Wish I could say the same,” You shrugged, “Was there anyone else?” 

You didn’t know where all this was coming from and you were half expecting him to tell you to shut your mouth and mind your own business, but to your surprise he answered, “There was one woman, her name was Tess, it wasn’t…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words, “It just made sense, we ran in the same circle, and I guess we just helped distract each other sometimes.” 

“Understandable.” You replied simply, itching to get yourself out of the conversation now. 

“What about you, was there anyone else?” 

You laughed, “Travelling across country trying to keep my dad alive isn’t really conducive to that sort of thing, so no Joel, there was no-one else,” He nodded in understanding but didn’t move to speak again, “I should really get back to this.” You mused, pointing to the bench. 

“Of course, sorry for takin’ up your time, and thank you again, Ellie really did appreciate it.” 

Joel left without another word, closing the door quietly behind him and all the frustration you’d felt came tumbling out. Angry tears pricked at your eyes at your stupidity that he’d have thought about you at all. You were only ever the stupid little girl with her stupid little crush and the moment he had the opportunity to forget you he did. Of course he did. You wiped at your cheeks furiously, willing your emotions to get themselves in check so you could go back to work, but for the rest of the day you’d catch yourself in your melancholy, tears threatening to fall and your mind completely distracted. This was not how this was supposed to go at all. 

***

“You should have seen his face!” Your father roared at the table, “White as a ghost when I woke up.” 

You weren’t sure how you’d made it here but you were sat at a table in The Tipsy Bison with your father and Tommy, along with Joel and Ellie, whilst your father recounted stories of your survival, telling them with an enthusiasm that would rival a war veteran speaking about their time in the forces. He was currently going through the motions of explaining how you’d made it to Jackson and how he thought Tommy was going to pass out when he realized it was the both of you he’d rescued. 

You’d mostly kept quiet, only popping into the conversation to correct him when he got something wrong. Otherwise you kept your focus on the glass of whiskey in front of you that Tommy was keeping topped up with the bottle he’d bought from the bar for you all. 

“How’d you get that scar on your face?” You looked up at Ellie, everyone else looking at her in horror for being so blunt. 

“Ellie, don’t be so nosey.” Joel chastised her. 

“It’s alright,” You shrugged, “It’s pretty lame actually, we’d shut ourselves in a house a few years ago trying to hide from a pack of infected, not realizing someone else had the same idea. I was looking out the window to see if we had a clear route out when I heard someone shuffling behind me. I turned around and by the time I realized what was happening he’d slashed the knife on my face.” 

“Did you kill him?” 

“Ellie!” Both Tommy and Joel burst out at the same time. 

You chuckled, realizing you probably shouldn’t encourage her questions, but replied anyway, “In a way I guess I did, we had a bit of a struggle and he tripped and fell out of the window, it was a tall building so yeah, he died.” 

“That’s cool.” 

You shrugged, looking around the table to see that everyone was willing the conversation to move elsewhere, you were itching to know more about how Joel and Ellie had come to be together aside from the snippets Tommy had told you, but you didn’t think this would be the right place to ask. Instead, you fished a cigarette out of your jacket pocket, shoving it between your lips and excusing yourself. 

You were halfway through it, leaning against the railing outside the bar when you felt someone come up behind you and lean themselves down next to you, “Never thought I’d see the day when you turned to those.” 

“Well, I’m not surprised if you spent the last twenty years convincing yourself I was dead,” You shrugged at Joel, as always, alcohol emboldening your tone, “I’ve gotta die of something and I’d rather these than being torn apart limb from limb or sprouting mushrooms from my face.” You punctuated the end of your sentence with a long drag of your smoke, blowing it out into the cool night. 

“How do you always do that?” He asked. 

“Do what?” You raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Make anything seem funny,” He offered, “The world’s gone to shit, everyone we’ve ever really cared for is dead and yet here you are, joking like we’re back to the days before.” 

 “It’s the only way I don’t focus on all the shitty things I’ve done to get here.” 

It was silent between you for a moment. You could have sworn you saw Joel move his hand as if he was going to place it reassuringly on your arm like he always did but he didn’t, even if your head was screaming at him to do it, just to breech the barrier he had up between the two of you. 

“Can I say something?” You asked after a moment. 

He nodded, “I don’t want to step out of line, but I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about Sarah,” You could see him physically tense next to you, “You don’t have to tell me what happened, in fact, it’s probably best you don’t but… I liked her Joel; she was a good kid and she didn’t deserve what happened to her and I’m sorry you had to go through that.” 

“I hate the way you miss me.” He mumbled. 

You looked him dead in the eye for the first time, “I don’t hate the way I miss you,” You spoke honestly, “I think it’s the only thing that kept me alive sometimes, thinking about the chance to see you again, hold your hand or kiss you.” 

He sighed, “You can’t stand there and say that,” He spoke roughly, “With your big eyes beggin’ me to be the man you deserve, I couldn’t be that before all of this and I certainly can’t be that for you now,” and then finally, “We can’t keep doin’ this.” 

You nodded, stubbing out your cigarette and throwing it to the ground in front of the bar, “Understood,” You spoke, giving him a final glance, “Goodnight Joel.” 

PREV | NEXT

[mskinkyafro]

I have a question but don’t hate me for it. And I’m being deadass bc after today’s volume it has me thinking.

And I understand that my perspective is more lax and indifferent bc I’m not on a loyal route this season but I’ll ask here. I would on the Reddit but they’d bully me…anyway…

What do you guys consider is loyal? What is expected?

Bc don’t get me wrong, outside of narratively having all the Li’s react the same and question their compatibility with Mc being a huge mistake.

At surface value, I feel like this is one of these times that it feels like players/fandom want our li to just be passive. Like non-reactive to the villa. Only to be around and obsess with Mc.

Bc I get is a whiplash and sting to have your fave li, one you spent all the time with or gems etc just to have one date and that all is questioned. But that’s all apart of being on love island the games/show.

Like some people out of fear how fast their attachments and feelings grew, which is what the Li said causes them to second guess. But it felt like real motivation that was purely about them. And not Mc. And I like that.

Sometimes these Li act with only us, the player in mind. And I wish they’d be more independent from Mc.

Also I understand there was no true conversation it was kinda just put out there for Mc to deal with. And tbh I wish FB had committed to it being a TRUE DILEMMA. Because the impact was minimal bc your Li changes their mind in like 5 seconds. And it was waste of time.

Now if it was for a few days or for one full volume where they were splitting time between Mc and Uma or even as far as wanting to share with Uma at one point. That would be interesting.

And I feel like more and more as I keep playing these newer seasons I’m starting to realize I hate that. I hate the “loyal” route expectations of our Li.

And as I play other games and stories, I forget how GREAT it was when the characters have motivations outside of Mc. And if it potentially hurts Mc feelings or not what we as the player would want, we just have to deal with that. Bc the character is making a decision based on what is good for themselves in that moment.

Idk if I’m along sense, but it feels like nowadays the fandoms doesn’t want that. They like the way out Li is basically our pet.

Idk I’m just curious bc we say Mc is embarrassed or the Li wasn’t loyal but I mean damn, they can’t even decide what relationship is best for them. I know they say one thing and then it’s all like well maybe I’m second guessing. It’s dumb but felt like a real moment. Idk that’s why I’m asking like, is loyal to yall where your Li should never second guess or want anyone else ever. Is that really how you’d prefer your Li?

And don’t get me wrong, I’ve played most of these seasons on a loyal route so I get it. But maybe I’m just forgetting but I don’t feel like the older ones had this as bad as I’d say seasons 6-9 have lately. And on one hand it’s nice in some cases but todays volume really solidify that I like a challenge in these games or some sort of like story that yes I can influence but I want to see what they do and decide. I feel like I’m not making sense. Idk 🤷🏾‍♀️

[mayonaka-mizu]

a bit of self reflection…

i feel so confident that for the first time in my life i’m gonna be able to lose the w3!ght. i’ve tried on and off my ENTIRE LIFE and it’s never stuck.

but now i have the tools i need to do this right.

- i’ve had years of therapy

- i’ve finally been diagnosed and medicated for ADHD, which not only helps suppress my appetite but has greatly increased my impulse control! this means logically thinking through what f00ds im gonna eat is a whole lot easier and im not just b!nge!ng because i can’t control myself. the diagnosis has also helped me get a better understanding of how my brain works and what works for me. i have never been more in tune with myself than i am now.

- i have grown and changed so much over the last few years. i have finally proven to myself that i am capable of positive change, having that knowledge makes me feel confident that i wont give up or fall back into old habits like i always did in the past. i know i can change!

- i am finally properly medicated! i have antidepressants which also act as anti-anxiety, and i have ADHD meds. im more focused than i’ve ever been, and im more emotionally secure and regulated that i’ve ever been. i can still have bad days but like 97% of the time i am absolutely chilling and having a great time being alive. i no longer have any reasons for emotional eating! and when hard times do come up, i am able to work through it on my own and not turn to something to comfort me (besides, like, my bf- but he’s not f00d so it’s fine)

- i have dismantled my previous views about food from growing up and i found the root of why i 0ver3at. this has allowed me to find ways of avoiding that and still getting the same satisfaction as i would from 3at!ng (i.e. texture, why a high volume is so satisfying to me, etc.)

-i buy my own groceries now! i go f00d shopping on my own time and, while i do still live at home, im an adult so no one monitors what im 3at!ng, when, or what f00d im even buying bc it’s my own money. 5 days out of the week im at work for 9-10 hours a day so most of my day is spent not even being around f00d. if i don’t bring anything to work then i don’t 3at anything at work, it’s easy!

i have successfully worked through all of the root causes that caused me to get to where i am now, and for the first time i am attempting 4n4 with all these tools. i know i am EXTREMELY lucky to have had all these opportunities at my disposal, i know therapy and medication isn’t always an option for everyone, so this is by no means a “this is what you need to do to succeed” post because i still haven’t actually succeeded. but all these reasons are motivators for me. since i’ve worked through all root causes there is absolutely no excuse for me to not do this successfully. if i can’t do this, i have nothing else to blame it on other than my self discipline and work ethic. all of my excuses are invalid now, they have all been addressed. so if i can’t do this than that means i deadass just didn’t work hard enough. and that would fucking suck, right?

[peaachietea]

a little recap of my weekend..

i went to megacon! even though joseph quinn didn’t go, i meet some other people i’ve been wanting to be meet for a very while now! also overall the con was awesome and definitely a lot better than last year!

be warned it is a little of a long post 😬

on friday, i finally meet jeff ward who plays buggy in the one piece live action! i have one thing to say about this man… HE IS THE SWEETEST SWEETHEART TO EVER WALK THIS EARTH. his laugh is so contagious and honestly i could have spent hours talking to him! he is so engaging and kind💛 jeff ward is literally the best!!

i also got to see a lot of cool artist on friday and got a few commissions done which i adore💛 

on saturday, i finally got to meet paul bettany who plays vision in the mcu! he also is so kind and i got him to sign my wandavision special edition wandavision box. i asked him to draw a heart with a v in it like they do on wandavision and he deadass said to me “that’s what they did??” which made me laugh because HOW DID THEY NOT TELL HIM VISION BOUGHT THAT PLOT FOR WANDA AND HIM 😂 i also brought up how much i want to see vision back in the mcu and how much i love vision and he winked and smiled at me about it and then later saturday night it was confirmed that vision was gonna be coming back! im glad i was the first to know about it 🥰

i also meet jason lee who plays earl hickey from my name is earl and i know what your thinking.. you watch that show??? yes, yes i do! it one of my all time favorite shows and im currently on my rewatch of it for like the 1000th time and i just have to say that jason lee is a really down to earth man. he is literally just vibing and having a good time. we talked and i told him how much i love him as earl and how much i watch the show and even at one point he chuckled and kept repeating “damn it randy!” and then i cried because i think i’ve been waiting so long to meet him and then luckily my mom was with me because she reminded me to show him the picture my boss made of us (she bought me is autograph and photoshopped him and me together) and he loved it and signed it for me just because he loved it so much!

now for sunday, this was more of a chill day but was also very stressful because con going for more than one day gets very very exhausting. i was definitely not feeling it. i would have definitely said screw it if it weren’t for tom hiddlestons panel i bought tickets for. let me just say how incredibly lucky i was to go to that panel because i will cherish it forever. just being able to see him sit and talk about loki and himself was amazing and seeing all the people that also love him was amazing. he is so sweet and kind and said so really insightful things! i wish i could have meet him face to face but 10000000% if he goes next year… im spending ever penny to meet him.

here is a little clip from the panel💛

[artistic-mathematics]

my 2am analysis on Dwangela

okay I really don’t know why I decided to write a canon compliant Dwangela fic spanning the entire show like

I don’t even know how I’m gonna begin to write season 4′s stuff. like every time I even think about it I just want to vomit bc HIGHKEY if Dwight had just fed Sprinkles the medicine Angela told him to they probably would’ve gotten married in season 4 and all would’ve been fine but nope it took them eight whole seasons to even get engaged afterwards and then we got almost 0 content of them actually being in a healthy relationship again and it’s just like 3u5irefwngkjej54

this all stemmed from the fact that I genuinely think to this day, Dwangela is still misunderstood by the majority of the community. actually, Angela as a character is still misunderstood, which is crazy considering that this show ended over a decade ago and my first watch was like two months ago.

before anyone says anything YES, Angela was still a horrible person and I don’t really think I need to cite why, but I do think her motivations and eventual progression arc are just completely slept on (and also, season 9 finale Angela is a much, much better person than she was during the rest of the show).

I think the biggest thing I’ve seen from people is like “why did Angela end up with Dwight?” and they just tend to forget that Angela went through an entire character arc in literally just the last half of season 9. would it have been better if the show actually like shown more of it? absolutely. but it’s pretty obvious that Angela from S9E20: Paper Airplane is a completely different Angela from S9E22: A.A.R.M. is she still the greatest person? oh absolutely not, but I do think that her actions in this last half (starting from S9E16: Moving On) show enough growth and maturation that she deserved her own happy ending with Dwight.

(ALSO YES, IT’S A HAPPY ENDING. people who say that Angela is going to cheat on Dwight clearly misunderstood this entire plot line. I’ll get to that later.)

she hits rock bottom in S9E21: Livin’ the Dream and even then we can see a huge difference between this episode and S9E20. in the previous episode, she refused to accept help from Dwight (and by extension, Esther), but in this episode not only does she try to go out of her way to help Andy but she also accepts help from Oscar and actively reaches out for his hand, something that she’d deadass refused to do since season 3 when he was outed as gay. by accepting she needs help and then finally, FINALLY admitting out loud that she loves Dwight (something that she pretty much skirted around when possible, even back in seasons 4-5), she’s shown that she’s finally letting down the walls that she’d constructed for years and years. she’s finally letting herself be vulnerable, and that shit takes strength, especially from someone who’d spent so many years letting pride dictate her life and practically pretended to live a life that wasn’t hers just to save face.

(yes, she did it because she hit rock bottom. but then again, she literally didn’t even have to do that. she could’ve just kept digging a deeper hole for herself anyway, blaming Oscar and the state senator and still refusing to admit anything. would it have helped her? no lol, but at least she was able to analyze and recognize that her own actions were her downfall instead of continuing blaming others for her issues, which she had no problem doing throughout the show.)

another thing I’ve noticed is that people were like “she continued lying to Dwight about Phillip” and I’ma be real with you, I think that lie is the most ethical lie she told throughout the entire series.

let me explain.

actually, let Angela explain, because she outright explains this during Dwight’s proposal that she wanted him to marry her because it was her he wanted to marry. I don’t think this was selfish at all. sure, she probably should’ve told him -- lying about it is still shitty -- but what does she even gain from lying about it? she literally gains absolutely nothing here. she already admitted to Oscar (and by extension, herself) that she loves Dwight. if Dwight were to propose to her because of Phillip, there’s no world where she’d be unhappy in that relationship since she knows she loves Dwight.

but she doesn’t know if Dwight still loves her (yeah, they did make out like five episodes ago BUT remember he’s in a committed relationship now) -- and she was literally just in a loveless marriage. she was also in a loveless engagement, with Andy (and oh my god I might make a post about this at some point but I HAVE SO MANY GRIPES OVER THIS ENGAGEMENT. not at the writers, but just like how did this even??? like?????).

in S9E21, she makes it very clear that she’s accepted that Dwight and Esther are a thing. S9E22 happens some time afterwards (around a month or so according to Dunderpedia) and it’s probably long enough for Angela to realize that it’s genuinely serious, and I mean. just look at Dwight in that episode. he looks so happy.

when Dwight calls Angela into his office to propose that business marriage, I think all of these things came to her mind -- and let’s be honest, the last time they tried to make some business out of something that clearly should be romantic (cough cough sex contract cough cough) it, uh, didn’t go well. and so she lies. she tells him that Phillip isn’t his son, and that lie was enough. it sent his emotions into turmoil, enough so that he ends up calling Jim in and talking to him about it makes him snap to his senses -- that he still loves Angela, and now that Angela is actually available again he needs to go for it.

and of course Angela accepts. you can see her anger from Dwight almost running her off the road completely ebb away when Dwight yells “I love you!” she pauses and processes.

oh also for the people who think that marriage is terrible and that Angela is just gonna cheat on Dwight? the entire point of Dwangela was that Angela couldn’t commit to any of her other romantic relationships because she still loved Dwight. from seasons 2 through 9 she was still very much in love with Dwight, and only cheated on people with Dwight.

also I don’t think Dwight ever stopped loving Angela, either. I mean like, he seemed to really like Isabel and went through an entire talking head where he compared Isabel and Angela to each other but as Jim said to Dwight in S9E21, “you just have to forget about all the logic and fear and doubt” -- and the thing is, I don’t think love ever made sense to Dwight after he broke up with Angela in season 5. it also makes sense as to why Dwight broke up with Isabel so brutally as a result, treating her like absolute garbage the day of Pam and Jim’s wedding.

also I think people forget that like, Dwight was very in on the cheating??? Angela knew she was engaged to Andy in season 5 and knew she was engaged (and eventually married) to the state senator in season 8, like he obviously was a part of this too lmao? and there was a whole episode where people shat on Michael for dating a woman who had a husband and how he was a horrible person LIKE. he knew she was in a relationship and still chose to do what he did. I’m not saying that it’s his fault entirely bc it’s still like 95% Angela’s fault but Dwight buddy, come on, idk what you expected

anyway I go sleep now I just had to get this out before I passed out lol

[hypaalicious]

My internet was out for a week & this is my survival story.

No deadass I was kinda struggling 😭

But at the same time, I learned a lot about how social media is absolutely affecting my brain chemistry and it’s enlightening.

I’ve often had to take breaks from certain platforms whenever I find myself overwhelmed. But I always had an escape to like, other media.

When I ghosted FB for years, I took solace in Tumblr.

When I got burned out on fandom stuff on Tumblr, I ditched it for Twitter.

Whenever Twitter gets to be too annoying, I just scroll on Reddit.

But this was the first time in many moons that I had absolutely NO access to any of my vices. 🥲 Worst part was not having access to my besties on Discord, I felt so isolated and restless and bored. I depend on Twitter as like, my news station as well so there was a lot of FOMO on my shoulders. I was just sitting in the house like

I’m an asocial introvert but being absolutely cut off from the world at the safe distance I already kept it was brutal.

But, I went back to reading. I absolutely tore through Jacqueline Carey’s newest release in a day. I picked up an Astrology book I’ve had forever and read through that. I spent my time doing more chores or just… not having constant stimulus. I was still anxious because I couldn’t talk to my besties and also work on my VN stopped cause the team was waiting on ME to catch up 😩 But…

I’m calmer, overall. I feel less polarized and combative mentally. I have a lot to catch up on but it’s not as overwhelming in my head as it usually is. I feel like despite all my attempts at trying to get to a deeper understanding of astrology by following knowledgeable astrologers, I got more of a breakthrough NOT being pelted by a thousand astro opinions a day. Reading Carey’s book absolutely reignited my love for Terre d’Ange and adult writing in general; she has such a mastery over words I’ve only been able to grasp like ONCE in my life. I was all up in Joscelin’s story like

You really don’t notice how much you’re not being challenged in your reading until someone with her skill runs you over and you thank her for the privilege, LMAO!

I’m scrolling on Twitter now and feel detached from it in a way that’s good, I think. Being constantly informed is a double edged sword and I’m TRULY understanding how just… very reactionary social media is even when you follow people/topics that mean well. It literally cannot be healthy to absorb the knee-jerk takes and think pieces people make all the time, even if it shows me a perspective on issues I hadn’t considered.

It’s sad that my eternal fight with Cox internet forced me to take a sabbatical but I’m thankful for it. I need to be more disciplined and make my own planned absences from social media because I feel better not being constantly plugged in and doom scrolling. Idk how I’m gonna wrestle my ADHD to comply but ima figure it out, lol.

I guess this ramble is a reminder to take breaks from this hellsite and any other form of social media. It seems like nbd when you’re jumping from a YouTube video to IG to Tiktok all in the span of maybe 20 minutes and have been doing that for years. You don’t notice when you’re being overly influenced. You think cause you’ve curated your feed very well that you’re not stressed, especially when there’s extreme examples of unwell people on display to reassure you that you’re doing just fine by comparison.

Bestie, no you’re not. 😭 You’re drowning in stimulus and giving yourself no time to sit in stillness and find YOURSELF outside of all of the noise. Detox from all that and see how far you’ve REALLY come.

[charmixpower]

For me recently I’ve been eating up all the rivusa crumbs in the movies ESP magical adventure but since I have no irl outlet I’m just gonna say here that in secret of the lost kingdom the freaking cut scene from the Italian where the old white man tells riven that he needs to figure out whats his reason fighting and Musa just comes and links arms with him owns my heart AND THEN it links back to when they have their moment towards the end where he tells her she is what he’s fighting for😭😭 dude that kiss is engraved in my head for absolutely no reason I love it so much the animation was giving all it could have been giving at that moment😭😭 and also when Musa was giggling while riven was doing extra stuff with his hover bike just makes me so happy🥲

But then magical adventure ironically outsells the sotlk rivusa moments Bcs let me say when they meet in eraklyon and she runs and pushes up on his shoulders to kiss the side of his forehead😭😭 and his hand placement just gives me life and when they kiss (with so much tenderness that my heart is exploding) his hands deadass brushes over her ass😀😀😀 (the fact that the animators made an ACTIVE DECISION TO ANIMATE THAT TOO) it just helps with my hc that musas favourite place to hold riven is around his neck and his is around her waist (and lower ig🤷‍♀️ ) and they’re holding hands to wan to the ship too🥲🥲🥲 ALSO when riven ran up to musa on the ship to tell her “I always loved playing pirates” I MEAN COME ON THEY ARE SO CUTE and when they’re all kinda mourning over sky’s dad riven just puts his hands on her shoulders to comfort her and she later just reaches back to place her palm over his hand on her shoulder😭😭😭 URGH my heart can’t handle all these moments and then when the winx get back their powers she tackles him from the back and wraps her arms around his neck while she’s flying😭 and they just stay that way and look at each other when bloom and sky kiss lol🤪 and then when they need to fly back to the ship THEYRE THE LAST COUPLE TO SEPARATE AND HE JUST HOLDS HER HAND FOR AS MUCH AS HE CAN BEFORE SHE FLIES OFF😭😭😭 ok I think I’m done with my rivusa verbal diarrhoea I spent a whole 3 hours watching magical kingdom because I kept going back and slowing down the cute rivusa crumbs and analysing everything🤪 thank you for coming to my Ted talk about why rivusa have always been and will be the best

HELPPP THIS ASK IS EVERYTHING AND MORE!!!!

I thought I was the only one obsessed with movie Rivusa, bestie I love you, I could talk about "I've always loved playing pirates" for hours straight

YOUR SO RIGHT

SotLK is about big dramatic Rivusa while MA is all about those domestic casual Rivusa moments and I could stare at them forever

I rewatch the first and second movie p often because I love and are obsessed without them thank uuu so I am absolutely the person to send this to thank u for the food

I'm so mad they cut that scene bc Riven's arc in the first movie makes so much less sense without it but it's literally the same arc again and I'm sick of is, MA forever for just letting Rivusa vibe and exist

Like I know Riven is the most interesting and well written male character in the show but give my man a break 🙄🙄🙄 his shoulders must be in so much pain form carrying most of the specialist sub plots

I love all the Rivusa kisses from the first kingdom, but the one where she was surprising him was so cute. Riven defo stuggles with being openly affectionate even tho he really really wants to be and Musa knows this show she's being affectionate enough for the both of them I love them so much sobbing

Their so soft but I can't believe you needed the movie to tell u that Riven is handsy with his s/o /j like it was so obvious. I couldn't tell you who is worse between them tbh. Musa, as seen by her s1 outfit, is more attention getting, Riven is only subtle when you compare him to her. Musa is going to kill Riven with her outfits one day, and she's not gonna even be a little sorry because it was completely intentional

The animators knoooo

My hc is that Musa really likes just attaching herself to his arm. His arm is stuck being cuddled to her chest and he's not getting it back thank youuu. That hc is because the s2 finale party is literally everything I've ever needed in Winx, but I can definitely see where your coming from. Musa is part of the "I'm going to jump on my boyfriend" coalition with Stella and Aisha

And yes true, canon

THEIR LITERALLY SO CUTE ADORABLE AND SOFT IN THAT MOVIE AND I LOVE THEM SO MUCH FOR IT

I love how Musa prefers to sneak attack Riven by jumping on his back. Stella and Aisha r so proud. She definitely does that just to mess with him. "Hahaha I snuck up on you 😜" and Riven, who damn well heard her is like "yaah you did babe" and then she messes with his pointy hair

They are BOTH CLINGY BECAUSE THEY WORRY ALOT ABOUT EACH OTHER CHANGE MY MIND I LOVE THEM SO DEARLY

YE S YES UES IVE DONE RHE SAME THING YOUR THE MOST VAILD PERSON IN THE WORLD

I completely agree and I am patiently waiting for the next ted talk this was WONDERFUL

[britcision]

It definitely can be and it’s something to watch out for if you’re just told you’re wrong a lot and you’re sure you’re right, especially about conversations, agreements, or events (and especially if it benefits the person who’s convincing you you’re wrong)

But I’ve also spent hours looking for toys, books, and occasionally buildings that just deadass don’t exist and never did because I remember what were probably dreams as reality

And the most fun game is “did I take my meds today, yesterday, or last year”, for which I need physical real world cues because while skipping even a day has real world consequences, those consequences also happen if I have a flare

(This is extra fun for my friends and family cuz I will also forget who’s been told an important life update and just talk about it like they already know and vaguely reference and people get very confused)

Some brains are just a little glitchy all on their own, which would make you more easy to gaslight so it’s worth knowing and keeping an eye on

Does anyone just like, not trust their memory? And like not in the way of, oh I'm not gonna remember to do the thing, or oh I forgot to do the thing again. I mean in the like yes I remember this thing, I know I remember this thing, but did it actually happen? Did I make it up? Did I actually say that? Like I can very clearly remember that thing that happened but I'm too scared to bring it up because I'm convinced that I'm remembering it wrong like I don't know why my head works like this but it's so fucking frustrating.

[munsonhoneybaby]

when i tell y’all i did not sleep more than an hour last night before i woke up and spent all of my time from 3:30 am to 7 am throwing up 11 times i am so deadass

god bless Bentyl for for calming my stomach enough to let me sleep from 9-1:30

my gnarly ass cough that i’ve had for three days is sticking around tho

[bittersweeethoughts]

3.24.24

You know what’s fucked up? I’ve always been there for you and your problems. I’ve tried to help you dig yourself out of your situation, out of your problem. I’ve given you advice to prevent yourself from digging yourself a bigger hole. At the end of the day, I know that shit went out the other ear cause you still went ahead and STILL lent your money out to other people. You’re fortunate to have some solvable problems that people can help you with. I spend all this time to think of ways to help you out, just for you to blatantly ignore me — for what? 

Me on the other hand? None of my problems can be solved, but some comfort/support would’ve been greatly appreciated. Sure, it seems like nothing could be done with my grandmother’s passing. Seems like you couldn’t do anything about me getting sick for 3 days either. But the very least you could’ve done to make me feel better is to spend time with me, making sure that I’m okay. As my boyfriend, you couldn’t even fucking deliver that. I’m so fucking disappointed. I brag about you to everyone about how amazing you are, how incredibly kind and generous you are as a person. And that’s exactly how people see you. But behind the scenes???? You barely give me the time and attention that I ask for — even during this difficult week, I was shown that I wasn’t worthy of your fucking attention. It makes me feel so fucking sick to my stomach, it’s fucking insane.

Sure, you spent time with the boys because you were depressed, to distract yourself away from your problems. But remember that at the end of the day, you’re in a never-ending loop, a problem that will never fucking end because you keep handing out money like you’re the fucking bank. Remember that your problem is a problem that can be solved. Your cause to your depression can be solved. But yet, nothing can bring my grandmother back. 

I don’t even ask for much. I just want your love and attention. You keep apologizing for not having the money to love me. I keep telling you that what I desire isn’t money. I don’t know how many times I have to fucking drill the same shit into your fucking head. I don’t know what’s going on up there — if you’re even comprehending anything I’m saying to you. I decided to date you because you showed to me in the beginning that you were DIFFERENT from other gamers. You showed to me that you were CAPABLE of changing and improving for the better.

At the end of the day, I just feel like I’ve been lied to. All these empty promises and apologies. We’ve been through the same arguments countless of times. How many times does it take for you to realize that if you can’t show me that you’re husband material, there is no point in any of this? Why do I keep on getting toyed with? Is this a fucking game to you? Cause I’m not a game. I’m not another body count. I just want to be treated right. Why is that so fucking hard? Deadass why am I begging for the bare minimum from someone’s son like please, I don’t want to keep on doing this. When are you going to start taking me seriously? I fucking hate my life right now. I fucking just want to end it.

[taxfraudhousewife]

how far do i go back before i can stop feeling guilty

i know it wasn’t me just my blood

closest i’ll ever get to sweet white guilt

guilt any european might hold so it shouldn’t matter

from sand made soil by way of blood and salt

from soil never mine but i still long like it is

i don’t care — not me

from soil steeped in seasonal flood

from red the poppies grow

i don’t care — not me

if they came for the jews and the slavs and the gays and the muslims

fuck am i supposed to do with that

if they came for the healers and artists

then i have no choice right

i don’t care — not me

if it’s everyone but me might as well shower with them

i got lucky

the right mix of jew and slav and gay and muslim can be nothing at all

the right mix gets to be niece and cousin of everyone else dragged away

why now and not two years ago

is that what happens when you see one palestinian kids brain fall out her fuckin head

maybe it’s actually the worst thing i’ve seen

is that good or bad

every weird fuckin execution makes me think of you

is that what your last waking seconds were

cold and hungry and probably better off dead

i didnt get the humiliation part of genocide until now

it makes me think of you were your last few years spent ashamed

was it cause of how you turned out

do you blame them like i do

you blame them by the masses i know

but by the man do you blame them

had you not been ethnically cleansed would you personally still turn out like that

i hate them hard like it would bring you back

i know you’d hate it but the thought of you fills me with hate for them

you don’t get it cause it’s you but you looked like shit i’m being deadass

you were so skinny and green and it was so fucked up and i just wanted to cry the whole time

you don’t get it i know you don’t care but that was fucked and i still dont understand

i can’t understand and it just fills me with hate for them

all i know or think i do is

they did that shit to you

i wish i knew you before you lost your fuckin marbles

before they stole your fuckin marbles

i know it’s still you just missing several marbles

but it makes me really fuckin sad cause you’re nice

i hated people harassing me to eat i thought you were sabotaging me

i hated the body shaming i thought everyone was lying to sabotage me

maybe it was cause yours sounded less like an accusation

you of all pieces of shit made me eat and i couldn’t make you eat

i know it’s different i know it’s just convergent evolution

still i can’t stomach it

the thing in my head is always

I COULDVE TAKEN CARE OF YOU

then i could’ve been your right hand

isn’t that fuckin dumb as fuck

bold ass assumption for me of all pieces of shit to make

still i could’ve i would’ve

easy for me to say now

is that how lenins and hitlers are born

whatever it is you got me i’ll die for your cause except i won’t cause i’m scared to

sometimes i feel like it wouldn’t feel right to now

never called myself uyghur but an extension of you

not the village not the elders and children just you

really you and husya were the only things holding my heart there

husya is not okay i repeat the husya is not okay

i hoped you might save him as dumbfuck as that sounds

i thought he’s a terrorist and you’re a terrorist so obviously you’re like friends with his boss

hoped too hard you might be friends with his boss

didn’t think to know you’re not iran backed

he used to be normal i did his online russian course in grade nine

in grade ten i saw him for two days and we drank hennessy on the bus

he didn’t talk about it

not a god fuckin damn idea where he is now

like we don’t even know what fuckin country he’s in

would you happen to know

can you see him from all the way up there

is he blowing up malls is he freeing slaves

does he eat well is it hard to get weed wherever he is

you men and your abandoning

if you’re not in cold storage and you care to divinely intervene

and if you feel bad for my grieving you if you might make it up to me

can you watch over him o holy muslim jesus

make him gtfo while he can

[acollectionofsleeplessnights]

I need to get a new therapist. I tried to open up about some things with my therapist. Like how losing my dad was hard.  Because my family is a complete dumpster fire and I was never really able to process it.  They just used it as an opportunity to traumatize me more...because they're literally crazy and incapable of compassion. My therapist deadass looked me in the eye and goes, "But you got through it, right." and I just said, "Ugh yeah, I guess." and pressed my lips together and smiled. I knew I never wanted to bring that up again. The conversation was dead because, "I got through it." All that was missing was my therapist throwing a "champ" at the end of his sentence. Like you've been rick-rolled, but like "white dad-ed" instead. It didn't even make me upset. I just walked out of the office and kind of laughed as I entered the elevator. I thought to myself, 'this is so stupid. I can't believe how stupid this is. I need a new therapist.'

It just reminded me how a lot of people have seen me my whole life. This therapist was no exception. Like I'm a high functioning depressed person, a high functioning sometimes anxious person, I am a high function person with ADHD, who avoids large crowds and loud overwhelming concerts. Not because I don't want to go, but unless I really, really want to go, I'd rather not be overstimulated to the point where my brain shuts down and restarts multiple times in the time span of only a couple hours. With as much as I have been able to achieve or function, it has always been met with an equaled to or greater level of disfunction my entire life. I'm overcompensating in an effort to keep it together. I've just had so many years of practice I make it look easy.

 I've been depressed since I was 7. When I found out that my dad passed away, I felt a profound loss. But the overwhelming grief, in some ways, felt like most other days. Because I am used to being depressed. It wasn't a place I had to go. It's a place I've been for years. Like I knew every house on the block. I've named every street. I've decided what goes where, and what dark corners get street lights, and what corners get left dark. So I don't have to look at them. I knew all the residents and all the people who live there, who float around like ghosts.

It's not that it was easy to get out of bed, it was just something I was already used to doing. So it didn't matter if I felt sad or upset. I had to get on with it. Because that's the only thing I've ever known. It's the only thing I've ever been confidently good at. It's a safety blanket. It's a stone castle with no doors or windows. It's isolation and it's freedom...and in a colossally fucked up way, it's home. So I don't know how to tell people that sometimes it's not that I'm okay. It's not that I'm "over it." It's that this is the only thing I know how to do. And you can't take that away from me now. Not after I've spent years perfecting my craft. I have to make other people feel like it's okay. Because if I don't they might feel as bad as I do most of the time. And that breaks my heart. So I have to do this. And you can't take that away from me, because if you do, what will I have left...It's a compulsion, you see. It's not that I'm okay. It's just...that I am still alive. And I am trying really hard to finally convince myself that I am okay.

[edorazzi]

HHHHHHHHH, KIM!!!!!!! 👀👀👀

This is INCREDIBLE, oh my gosh, I don’t even know where to start!  My neurodivergent space boy with all the intricate details of his suit down perfectly, and the vibrant, vibrant colours of his character design popping above everything else! Plus his soft, genuinely happy/approving expression which is so different from his usual deadpan just-trying-to-survive-the-day look! EOS happily overlooking her dad as he tries to eat cake in zero-G (only bothering with a plate to avoid Brains getting on his case about crumbs in the system, at least he can pretend he tried)! The curve of the Earth like John’s reclining across it! The constellations forming a birthday message out in deep space! My name lit up digitally in TB5′s hardware, aaaaaaa!!!!!

You’ve been such a star (pun fully intended) putting up with me through this new fixation! I know I just babble no end but it’s a true joy to share things with you and I’m SO honoured you went into this series with me - and took the time to make me something so beautiful to boot!!! 😭 I can’t imagine how long you spent drawing this out with all the fine details but I’ve deadass been staring at it for over 24 hours now. Might print it out and eat it for maximum enjoyment, idk. 

I love you so much Kim, eeeeeeek! Everyone please check out my bestie @officialladynoirette​ and her work, I’m so lucky to have such incredible and talented friends!!!  🥰💕👏

Happy birthday to one of the dearest people in my heart @edorazzi ! Josie you are amazing and talented and I adore you and everything you are :’V I’m so happy you give me the privilege of being your friend and it always is so much fun talking to you! I’ll be wishing you nothing but happiness for another year around the sun! And obviously I had to give you your space boi

[primofate]

2K Followers Event: Pancake and Waffle Cafe Masterlist

Banana Whip Cream Pancakes (not in a relationship but flirting) (VOLLEYBALL/HIGH SCHOOL GENSHIN AU)

Characters: Zhongli, Diluc, Kaeya, Albedo, Tartaglia, Kazuha, Xiao, Thoma and fem!reader

Warnings: not proofread, pining, it’s pretty long and fluffy

Notes: I decided to combine this with the volleyball AU (but it pretty much still reads a lot like a highschool AU) I just wanted to get the whole volleyball team over haha. @diaflower I’m sorry this took so long D: All I’ve been doing is apologizing for taking such a long time HAHA Im so sorry!

More Genshin Volleyball and Modern AU here

Check out @simplypotz beautiful rendition of the Genshin Volleyball Team (I’m still not over it btw)

#1 Zhongli (Captain/Wing Spiker/Ace)

Zhongli is that quiet class president who does things by the book. 

The type where his report card comments would read “Able to strike a good balance between academics and school activities”

Overall a good role model, though he comes off as standoffish most of the time because of his detached personality. In reality he’s just really concentrated on the things he needs to do.

You’re in the same class as him. You just didn’t interact much, mostly because you also thought he was pretty standoffish. He didn’t speak, only when spoken to.

There was one day you caught him just standing at the canteen, you separated from your friends because you wanted to buy a drink.

He stood there, looked at the menu, patted his pockets and realized he didn’t have any Mora money. He must have forgotten his wallet at home.

It was amusing to you, seeing him just stand there because he was usually always put together and knew what he needed to do. 

You came up to him and said “...I can lend you some money?” He was surprised to say the least. He knew your name though and it was your turn to be surprised. You didn’t think he paid attention to his classmates.

A week after, you found him in almost exactly the same predicament. Except this time he didn’t have ENOUGH money to buy his meal. You butt in once again and gave him the remaining amount he was missing.

He would always pay you afterwards but it had gotten you kind of concerned. “Zhongli are you...I mean, if you have trouble with money I can help you with lunch from time to time,” You deadass thought this guy was POOR. 

That was the first time you saw him laugh. He reassured you that he was fine, just that he doesn’t really have a good concept of how much things would cost and end up not bringing enough to school. 

For one reason or another you end up spending lunch with him quite often, probably three times a week. It just happened, you always tell yourself its because you’re worried the guy wouldn’t eat but your friends start to tease you about it. 

“Oh see, here he comes,” one of your friends start to giggle but grab your other friend to run away just as Zhongli walks up to you, and quizzically looks at your two friends running away. You only sigh and shrug and join Zhongli for lunch.

This was in your first year.

By the last year of high school everyone thought the two of you were dating but you were just really close to each other. Still, there was a little bit of difference in the way he treated you versus back then. 

He never forgot his wallet anymore, in fact he started to be the one to buy you lunches and he knew exactly which lunch sets you liked and which drinks you preferred. 

You spent a lot of time together, mostly doing homework and research in the library. It’s also standard for you to go to his volleyball games if he had any. For him, he always secretly looked around to see if you were there. 

Eventually one of his team members (He swears it’s Tartaglia or Kaeya) asks if you’re single and Zhongli ends up snapping at them. (The two were just playing around, they know that their captain likes you, he just needed a little more push)

It was probably there that he realized that he’s unwilling to give you away to someone else. 

The next day he’s mustered up the courage to tell you that he wants to start dating you properly. 

And that eventually leads to him introducing you to the team.

#2 Diluc (Vice Captain/Wing Spiker/Defense Specialist)

As a first year Diluc kept to himself. Kind of like you. You had a select few friends here and there, but you were mostly known as the “nerd” of the class. Real diligent and hardworking. 

Diluc is a handsome lil thing, so a lot of people considered him eye candy. He was really hard to talk to though. His gazes were sharp and he always seemed to have a frown on his face.

Despite you being the most boring girl in class (or so you thought) Diluc actually had a kind of secret admiration for you. He’s seen your notes one time, you left your notebook open on your table. It was neat and tidy and so easy to read. 

Anyhow, when the exam came round there was a particular thing that Diluc could not understand. Some type of math formula. Now, he was usually good in his studies and he hated asking people for help, but while everyone else went home as soon as the bell rang, he sometimes had the habit of staying for a while and looking over his homework. And the only other person left in the room would be you and him.

So, he decided there was no harm in asking you when it was just the two of you in the classroom. “Hey...Y/N...?” You’re so shocked that he comes up to you with his worksheet and a sort of unsure look on his face. “Do you think you could explain this one to me...?” 

Sure your other classmates asked you ALL kinds of questions about studying and things they didn’t understand but Diluc asking you was another level.

“Oh, um... sure. Here...” You ask him to sit on the chair in front of you and end up doing homework together. The sky is already orange when the two of you finish and he decides he should walk you home, to which you resist at. “It’s totally fine, my house is just nearby, and its not really dark at all!” 

You seemed insistent, so he lets it go and the two of you go your separate ways.

The next few days Diluc actively seeks you out if there’s something he doesn’t quite understand (mind you it’s not that often, possibly once a week) but he does it during recess now and your friends take note that you are possibly one of the only girls he talks to in class. 

Nothing really happens. It’s just a casual “I’ll look for you if I have any questions” type of relationship. 

It was in your second year that you interacted with him again. There was a Science project due soon and you went to your local library. The one in school wasn’t very sufficient so you had to look for your own reference materials. 

You possibly lost track of time and when you picked your head up to look outside, the sky was bordering on an orange-to-dark blue hue, indicating that it was later than you thought. 

As you were about to pack up you hear someone walk over to you, and you look up to see that it was Diluc. That was the first time you saw him in casual wear. 

You find out that you both were there to do a bit of research and that his house is just a walk away, just as yours was. He glances outside and at the sky “...I’ll walk you,” before you could protest he adds “My house is on the way anyway,” 

You couldn’t find a reason to refuse and the two of you end up walking while talking to each other a little. It’s kinda awkward, in a way that silence between two people who just met were awkward but in a sense there was a bit of nervousness there too, and you had no idea why. 

Gradually it seems as if the two of you find yourself in situations that bring you two together: being lab partners, getting paired up for reports. But these were by chance, the teacher arranged you two together.

So when there was an assignment that required pairwork and when the teacher said “You can choose your partner,” you only had to look up and see that Diluc was turned around to look straight at you. You’re not sure what compels you to nod your head but you do start to wonder if he’s only using you for your brains.

It’s a bit of a slow build up but while working on the assignment together you just randomly blurt it out “You must have chosen me cause I’m good at reports right?” You thought nothing of it, just said it with a laugh. 

Imagine your surprise when he confidently says “No, I chose you because I like you,” and he was staring straight at you, with a blank, unreadable look on his face. 

You’re probably blushing and you’re not sure what to say but you want to confirm “L-Like me? As in... Like, like?”

He’s confused. What’s the difference between “like” and “like like” he asks. 

By this point you’re flustered. “Like as in friendship like or more than friends?”

It dawns on Diluc then and his face breaks into realization, he’s also starting to turn pink around the cheeks but he doesn’t answer immediately. “...I guess, a little more than a friend? Maybe?”

And that’s how your awkward little romance started. Filled with subtle glances and quick smiles. The simple walks home and the huge amounts of courage that it takes just to hold your hand. He was a naturally secretive person, so your classmates didn’t suspect a thing, but you liked it that way as well. It was like the two of you in your own little world. 

#3 Kaeya (Middle Blocker)

Nothing about this guy is subtle at all.

You’re not even from the same class so sometimes you do wonder how it ended up this way.

It was during one of the volleyball games. You and your friends just decided to watch it and see what the fuss was about. You really didn’t think anything was going to happen. You were gunna watch it and leave. That’s all. Probably would leave halfway if you were too bored. 

But you get smacked on the face by a volleyball, your nose is bleeding.

It’d been none other than Kaeya who was messing around with his serve and effed it up so badly that it went flying into the second floor and right at your face.

It was also him (at the command of Zhongli) who went up to the second floor, checked on you and offered to take you to the clinic (actually Zhongli forced him to)

You said it was fine but Zhongli was giving him the death glare so Kaeya insisted. By this point you had half your face covered up cause you were trying to stop the bloodflow from your nose.

The nurse took care of you and Kaeya waited. When you came out your nosebleed was pretty much gone but Kaeya was struck. He thought you were cute and he couldn’t see it earlier cause you were practically covering your face.

“Sorry about that,” he says again and you wave him off. “It’s fine... It happens...”

There’s a moment of silence while he walks you back and it’s really weird cause the next thing he says is “...So uh, what’s your name, and what class are you in? Don’t think I’ve seen you around,” 

Possibly because you’re a recluse and just avoid socializing out of your own class. You tell him your name and which class you’re in and he nods. You thought that’d be the end of it.

In the next couple of days one of the guys in class keeps handing you notes “Kaeya says to give it to you,” this guy says. You’re guessing he’s friends with Kaeya or at least acquaintances. The first note he ever gives you is: “Hey! Hope you’re feeling better! :)” and there’s a tiny chocolate coin that comes with it.

It’s so childish that you laugh but you can’t help and feel amused by it. You don’t reply to any of his notes (mostly because you don’t know how to, do you just give it to him directly? You were a little too shy for that)

But one day, his note along with another chocolate coin reads: “Kinda wanna talk to you a bit more, here’s my number :) Tell me what you think about the chocolate coins...They’re not actually the best tasting ones huh? :P”

And that’s where the text messages start. Your first message to him was “Chocolate coin 6/10. It’s a little too sweet and when it arrives to me it’s already kinda soft and mushy”

The banter between you two is unreal. It’s like he says something and you say something back and the two of you just vibe real hard over it. 

“Come to my game this Friday? Promise I won’t hit you on the face again :)” and you agree.

He’s only the tiniest bit shy with his waves when he spots you on the stands and he only really meets you after the game when he’s all dressed up and freshened up, so you don’t have a proper chance to meet his team. 

You start to realize that you hadn’t missed any of his games since then and he LOVED your support, but nothing really happened. Just a lot of banter and flirting.

Up until one day, just before classes started, a familiar note was given to you and you hadn’t received one in a while. It read “The chocolate coins wouldn’t cut it, left a box under your desk.” Your hands start to search under your desk where you usually kept some of your books and you touch a rectangular box. 

It’s a box of proper chocolates, the kinds that people would give out on Valentines. You could tell it was slightly expensive, what with the wrapping and everything but the note stuck on the underside of the lid (you nearly missed it,) had you blinking in surprise. “Be my girl?” it said and someone at your classroom door cleared their throat (not a lot of students were in yet, they were just starting to file in for the day) You saw Kaeya there with a lopsided grin and an expression on his face that was a cross of uncertainty and fake confidence. 

You only grinned at him and wrote a note back “Only if you don’t smack my face with the ball again,” and shove it into his hands, turning around and retreating back to your seat before he could respond.

His laughter at the door was enough to tell you how relieved he was. 

#4 Albedo (Setter)

This guy is straightforward as all hell, and he doesn’t get flustered about it at all. He just doesn’t see anything wrong if he’s just spitting facts.

Prior to dating the two of you were just seat buddies. He always seemed to sit in front of you.

You would never catch Albedo making a mistake, not because he was a perfectionist, but mostly because he was just a very careful and calculating person. 

Because he sat right in front of you, the two of you were in the perfect position to interact whenever the teacher would say “Turn around and discuss with a partner,” 

The first time that happened was in first year, he looked at you for a bit, you looked at him for a bit, before getting down to business seriously. Actually discussing what the two of you thought about the reading.

Your class numbers are also in sequence with each other. You were always number 4 and he was always number 3. So you inevitably stuck together in PE when the teacher couldn’t be bothered and would say “Relay race today! Class number 1 to 4 in one group, 5 to 8 in one group. The rest of you count by yourselves!” 

In one of the PE games, the class was learning about volleyball. Once again you got grouped up with him. 

You didn’t really think a lot about these instances, it was just all coincidences to you and you hadn’t really noticed that you get paired up with him a lot.

But in that group volleyball game, that was probably the first time you REALLY SAW Albedo. He was an amazing setter and though you didn’t know a lot about volleyball, you saw the way your group members were able to spike the balls he set for them.

“Albedo,” you called out to him after that class. “Are you in the volleyball team? You should really try out,” In his first year, he wasn’t and he hadn’t any interest in volleyball at all. He was more of a science club person. So he brushed off your comment. 

You asked him again, probably a month later, poking at his back before class started. “Albedo, did you try out?” He raised an eyebrow at you and told you straight that he wasn’t interested in volleyball. You remember scrunching up your eyebrows at that moment, thinking what wasted talent he was. 

“You should really!” And then every single day, you would just ask him if he had tried out yet. He got tired of it. “What do I have to gain by joining a sports team? I don’t even enjoy sports...” 

“You won’t know until you try!” and then, just to shut you up. One day, he finally did. 

He got accepted.

At first he thought it was just a fluke, until the captain told him that he had remarkable sense for being a setter, and knew where to direct the ball at the right moment.

“You should’ve tried out earlier, we really could use someone like you in our team,” is what Zhongli said when Albedo was finally handed his jersey.

The next day, as he comes into the classroom, he throws the jersey on your table, and sits at the chair in front of you. 

You blink at the jersey, before picking it up and spreading it out in front of you. “Genshin High Volleyball Team” “#4″

It dawned on you that he finally tried out and got accepted. “You’re in the team!” You said but glanced at the number again. “Did you get to choose your own number?”

He was facing away from you, unpacking his school bag for the day and answered. “Yes, I chose the number,”

You quizzically looked at the number 4 and tilted your head. “Why the number 4? You know it’s bad luck?” (number 4 is bad luck in some cultures: particularly Chinese, maybe Japanese too?)

He doesn’t answer for a moment, but when he does all he says is “Class number,”

You chide him again. “But your class number is 3, Albedo,”

He finally turns, looks you straight in the eye and takes the jersey back from you. “Yes, but yours is 4,” and turns back around to continue prepping for the class.

You’re stunned and speechless. There’s some type of warmth and shock spreading through your being. 

“You got me into this, so it’s only fair if you watch my first game,”

So you do and you have no idea how but now you’re meeting him after his practice sessions, you’re watching him in his games and you send him good luck messages before each one. 

To him, you’re always going to be his very first fan. 

It almost feels natural and you’re not too shocked when he asks you one day as you meet him after practice, “So, we’re dating now, right?” 

#5 Tartaglia (Middle Blocker/Wing Spiker)

The love at first sight kind of guy. But you don’t take him seriously because he practically flirts with every woman alive.

“Awe come on Y/N, just let me take you out on a date,” He isn’t subtle at all, but because he’s so easy going about it, you really can’t take him seriously. You refuse every time.

“He doesn’t really flirt with other girls... It’s more like... He’s just overly friendly with them,” your friend says, discussing him one day. You roll your eyes. It’s practically the same thing. “But he hasn’t asked anyone else out except you, I think. Maybe just give him a chance?” your friend adds. 

It really doesn’t make a difference to you.

“Y/N-chan!!! Is today the day you say yes?” It’s like an every day occurrence and you’re getting annoyed. It’s not that you don’t like him at all, he’s a decent guy, it’s just that you always think it’ll go wrong with how friendly he is to other girls and you don’t deny the fact that you might be an easily jealous person. (You don’t really know but it feels like you would be)

The “harassment” is unreal and at some point you say yes just to shut him up and he is STOKED. 

He has the date all planned out, it’s out at a theme park that you’ve actually been wanting to go to for a while. It’s astounding how well prepared he was, he even knew your favourite treat and favourite flavour of cotton candy. You didn’t know that he’d already actively asked your friends for tips a long time ago. 

What surprises you most is that he actually isn’t as annoying as you thought he was. “Hey, I know I really forced you out on a date this time, but don’t think too much about it and just have fun, okay?”

He was being considerate of how you felt after all that and didn’t want to pressure you into anything. Still, at the end of that one he asked if you wanted to go on another one and you end up saying you don’t mind. 

Still, there are days when you see him in school and he’s animatedly talking to other girls and looking like he enjoys it. You can’t even be mad because it’s not like the two of you are already a thing. This is exactly what you were afraid about, but you don’t want to bring it up to him because you just didn’t want to be the type to try and change someone to mold into your expectations.

Still, you went out on that second date. That second one also surprised you. It was pretty simple this time around, but the two of you ran into a girl from school, who started to animatedly talk to him about some random thing. You stood there, thinking that you’d be ignored now, but he excused himself pretty fast from the conversation. “Ah, Rika, sorry, I’m busy right now, I’ll talk to you next time okay?” and pulls you along. 

You blink and tell him, “...You could’ve talked to her for a bit... I wouldn’t mind...” He looks back at you, surprised. “Huh? I’m not wasting my precious date time,”  

You find out he’s a pretty one-track mind person (which means that he wasn’t all that great at multi-tasking) but that meant that when he set his focus on you, he wouldn’t put it on anyone else.

Him being friendly with other girls was probably because he was a funny person and easy going, but it actually had nothing to do with how loyal he could or couldn’t be.

This was further proven when, while in class, he again was talking to another girl but he saw you outside the classroom carrying a heavy box, probably from the art room and completely abandons his conversation with that girl without warning and goes out to help you. 

He always gravitates towards you in the end. 

It’s on the third date that the two of you exchange phone numbers and get to know each other a bit more. You learn that he’s pretty passionate about volleyball and apparently that if he’s set his sight on something, he doesn’t give up easily on it.

He’s annoyed that he can’t walk to school with you though, cause you two live on completely different sides of town. But when he has time he still walks you home then takes the bus back to his place. You tell him he doesn’t have to do that since its such a hassle but he keeps saying spending extra time with you is worth it.

Before your fourth date he invites you to one of his games. He’s real energetic about it and he really has a different kind of drive. Even when their team is lagging behind he manages to keep his determination and keep pushing. That’s another different side of him you see. 

You start to feel like he’s actually not as bad as you thought he was at first.

This guy, because he’s so friendly, he ends up having a lot of girl fans but when he sees you at the stands, again, with his one-track mind, he completely doesn’t see anyone else except you (you probably earn a few glares from other girls but whatevs)

What probably nails it for you is when there’s a sudden commotion outside the classroom one day. “Don’t talk about her like that. So what if you’re pretty? You expect me to like you when you’re so foul mouthed?” Everyone is practically outside their classrooms watching as Tartaglia confronts a girl who looks shocked. It was brutal, and the girl runs away crying. 

Tartaglia walks off as well, probably to cool off but you follow him up to the school rooftop. You give him some time to cool down before approaching him and asking if he’s okay. He flashes you a smile. 

“She said some nasty stuff about you and I couldn’t control myself. I’m probably no different to her...” he sighs a little and finally you see that he was genuine in every sense, just that he gets overexcited at times.

You thank him for standing up for you and he shrugs. “It’s my fault anyway, for always entertaining them when they want to talk. I don’t want to be rude and turn them down all the time, but that gives them the wrong idea...”

You say “Well, once we become official maybe they’ll stop getting the wrong idea and stop latching on to you...” 

“Yeah...” It takes him a few seconds before he freaks out “WAIT, YOU WANT TO BE OFFICIAL?!” 

It was heading that way anyway, so you agree but boy what a handful of a boyfriend he is cause he’s on such a different high when the two of you are officially an item. He literally doesn’t even want to be apart from you even for a minute. The kind that would say “I missed you,” even when you just went to the bathroom for 5 minutes.

#6 Kazuha (Decoy/Middle Blocker/Wing Spiker)

Respectful, polite and patient. You waited a while before this guy asked you out officially.

Beforehand the two of you acted like a couple already anyway. The type that people would ask “Are you two dating?” but then both of you would deny it. 

It was more of a friendship that was in plateau. It wasn’t going past that it seemed.

You were childhood friends, your parents knew each other so you grew up around each other. Hence in the mornings the two of you would walk to school with each other. 

Even if you keep saying that the two of you aren’t dating, in your class, the two of you are pretty much seen as a couple (everyone ships you as well) Kazuha is usually nice to everybody in general, but he’s a little different with you. There’s an added sense of gentleness.

Sometimes you pack lunch for him and sometimes he packs it for you (It’s on both your mother’s requests. Your mom would go, oh tell Kazuha not to bring lunch tomorrow I made enough for him too. Type of thing)

If you were sick even the teacher would know and say “Kazuha here’s an extra worksheet for Y/N, pass it on to her,” 

There are really times where the class doubts that the two of you are just friends (can you tell that your whole class is just waiting in bated breath for the two of you to start dating?) There was one time where you got hurt in PE class, it was wholly an accident that Henry collided with you (it was a game of dodgeball) but Kazuha had a different air around him and everyone saw the glare that he directed at Henry. (It was scary because Kazuha always had a smile on his face) but then it was gone as soon as it came and everyone thought they just imagined it. 

Everyone except Henry. Henry still remembers that and he will never forget it. Poor Henry. 

Even with things like crying, Kazuha knew that side of you. When there was a time you got so frustrated because you studied really hard for a test but still failed it. You went off to the bathroom during lunch time. When you came out, all cried out and ready for class again you were suddenly pulled into a warm embrace. Kazuha had been waiting outside for you. His darn hugs makes you cry all over again.

The real change happened when he saw you getting a love letter in your locker. You opened it in front of Kazuha and read it. It was a really sweet letter and you didn’t outright reject the guy. Apparently it was a senior and you’d caught his eye. Kazuha never said anything about those letters.

One day that senior writes that he wants to meet you at the school garden after school that day. You agree and the senior confesses to you. Kazuha is round the corner listening to all of it and he’s struck by the panic that he feels. That’s it. No more walking home with you, or picking you up. No more lunches together and no more hugs to comfort you--but he heard you reject him. 

The relief he feels is what gives him the biggest sign that he didn’t want to see you with someone else. He doesn’t ask that day why you reject the senior, you came back to Kazuha with a smile anyway and you seemed pretty content with your decision. 

While walking home that day, he stops dead in his tracks and you realize seconds later that he has stopped walking. You turn back and you see an unreadable expression on his face. “...Kazuha?” 

“...Y/N... I don’t like it,” Kazuha had a hard time saying what he needed to say because this man is just not the selfish kind. “I don’t like it, when I think that you might date another person,”

Your shoulders relax, you look at his face for a bit more before smiling and walking up to him and taking his hand. “Kazuha, it’s always been you. You slowpoke,”

It’s ironic how you call him slowpoke when he probably has the fastest reaction times in his team.

#7 Xiao (Libero)

“Xiao! You have to stop putting all your time in volleyball practice! I swear your grades are going to suffer!”

That is basically the epitome of your relationship before the two of you started dating. You got on his nerves because you nagged him to no end. You were childhood friends, but the kind that loved to argue a lot. That’s just how your dynamics was. In school though, the two of you ended up in different classes, so you didn’t really see him all that much.

His grades never did suffer though, he was a decent student but he always pushed himself to do better in volleyball. Boy was obsessed with the game and he just wanted to keep on getting better.

You on the other hand, were a pretty mild person and stayed with the music club. (You didn’t know how to play any instrument though)

Xiao always acted tough in front of others but when he was younger he would cry easily when frustrated. Growing up, that crying just turned into hot-headedness. He had a temper sometimes, but you were used to it. 

Despite you always nagging him about taking breaks from volleyball from time to time you still went to his games. He really was a great libero. Quick reflexes and good receives, you admitted that you were a little jealous of how much progress he’d been making. It seemed as if he was slightly further away from you. He now had his own thing to focus on and yet you...had set your sights on nothing.

Nevertheless that made you determined to learn an instrument, and you particularly chose the flute because you remembered that Xiao liked the flute. Though, it disappointed you a little that your choice of musical instrument was dictated by Xiao. It’s like he was always on your mind. It was probably here that you realized you liked the guy more than you thought you did. 

With you focusing on music club a bit more and Xiao pouring his time into volleyball, the two of you spent less and less time together. You hadn’t really realized it until you got a text message from him one day. “Hey, you ok?”        “Yea, why?”         “Nothing, I just haven’t seen you in a while,”

You were a little surprised he noticed but you arranged to spend lunch with him the next day at school. 

Nothing really changed between the two of you, lunch was spent normally, with you berating him and him glaring at you while he ate and chewed on his food. Occasionally you would pinch his arm when you thought he wasn’t listening to you.

Xiao always looked annoyed when you berated him but in truth he couldn’t quite imagine what it would be like if you stopped doing that.  He messaged you that day because he was struck with the sudden emptiness of not hanging out with you for a while. 

“...What happened to your hand?” He asked, seeing some of your fingers bandaged up. “Oh... I’m learning to play an instrument, it gets sore when I go for hours so...” Xiao knew how that felt, his arms would get red too when he practiced receives too much. 

“....Are you going to let me hear?” “Huh?” “...You playing an instrument, are you going to let me hear?” “Oh, uh... I guess? Maybe when I’m a little better at it,”

In some senses he was glad you found something you really wanted to try but on the other hand he felt as if you were slipping away and growing up without him a little. Which was a good thing, right? It’s not like you always had to watch him grow. 

But that had hit much harder when you missed one of his games. He looked up to the stands, to the chair that you would always be on and found it empty. Ah, that’s right, the music club had an event today too. 

He called you up after that game and asked if you were done with your music club activities. You said it’ll be 15 minutes more and he said he’d wait outside for you at the auditorium.

He was surprised when the auditorium doors opened and files and files of people who were audiences walked out. He didn’t think that the event was such a big one. When he spotted you, he waved you over and said the two of you could walk home together. “You played today?” He asked you and you scratched your cheek, those bandages were still on your fingers. “Yeah, a little, not a solo though. Not a big deal, you probably wouldn’t be able to hear my flute at all!” 

“...It is a big deal,” he said as the two of you walked. You glanced at him sideways. “It’s a big deal cause you worked hard on it...You’ve always been at my back so...So invite me to the next one, I’ll come watch. I don’t care how small your part is,” 

You are SHOOK at how touched you are, you NEARLY felt like crying right then and there but you revert to your “annoying childhood friend mode” and pinch his cheek. “Hah? You’re just inviting yourself now? You got some nerve...” The rest of the walk ends up in banter.

But then you do end up inviting him to the next concert of the music club. It was at the auditorium as well, and although you and the club were supposed to play as an orchestra, your flute part was given a little bit of solo time, probably just a few precious seconds. 

It isn’t much of a shock to Xiao when he’s a little nervous for you, but you played just fine and the melody was a calming one. 

“So, how was it?” You ask when you meet him outside again. “...Good,” he was never really good at giving compliments but him showing up was a compliment enough for you. He glanced at your fingers again. “...You really should stop spending so much time practicing, your fingers are going to break,” You laugh, cause that sounded like exactly what you would say to him about volleyball. “Says you, the volleyball freak,”

“...It’s not about that, I just can’t hold them when they’re all bandaged up,” He says to you and again you’re shook. “...What do you mean?” He’s walking ahead of you and he doesn’t seem to want to meet your gaze. “I mean that I can’t hold your hand,” he mutters and you most likely blush.

“...I mean, how long have you been wanting to do that...?” You ask him as you fall in step with each other. “...For a while,” 

There’s nothing but the sound of footsteps between the two of you, before he feels the tangle of your fingers around his after a few seconds and your slight murmur. “Idiot, they’re not that fragile...”

Nothing is said between the two of you about dating, but the two of you know that it’s already happened. Maybe later on, he’ll confirm it, but for now you’re happy with this. 

#8 Thoma (Pinch Server/Middle Blocker)

You don’t go to the same school, but your school is just a few blocks away from his and you always pass it on your way home.

Aside from that, he’s actually your neighbor! And let’s face it, if you have a neighbor as handsome as him you’d probably spend a lot of time looking out your window to see if he’s out there or something. It just so happens that your bedroom window faces the front of your house, which is right next to his. 

So, for the longest time, the only thing you know about Thoma is that he is extremely helpful. He meets his mom out at the pavement when she comes back with groceries and helps her carry it. He walks his dog Taroumaru every day. You’ve even seen him helping a random granny with her groceries the other day. So in a sense, you’ve built this totally perfect image of Thoma in your mind. Without even talking to him. 

One day you just happen to go out of your house for school at the same time as him and just as you come out of the gate you see him and he’s looking at you, then he breaks into a smile. “Oh hey! You go to the school near ours? That’s their uniform right?” 

You were extremely shy to talk to him but he made it easy to converse. He was actually really funny and had some weird thoughts going on in his mind sometimes. You hadn’t even realized you were walking together until he was already at his school and waved goodbye to you. 

That was the first time you interacted with him and that was pretty much it for six months. The rest of the time was just looking out your window and sometimes seeing him there.

Until one day, you ended track and field practice late. The sky was already dark and you were just walking home, when you run into him at his school gates as well. He blinks at you and you blink at him. “Oh! Neighbor! Wow you’re out late too! Ahaha!” And again he’s so good wiith conversations that the two of you fall in step with each other. You learn that he’s in his school’s volleyball team and you tell him you’re in track and field.

It’s here that you see a different side of him. “I...don’t know...maybe I’m not cut out for volleyball, I’m new in the team and I feel like I’m not really helping all that much,” so he was a normal person with normal insecurities too. You tell him to just keep trying and that it’s probably too early to give up. He smiles and laughs “You’re totally right!”

Again, for a few months, you don’t see him at all. The next time you see him is because you forgot your keys at home and both your parents were out. It was an extremely hot summer day too, as you just sat on your porch steps. 

You weren’t really paying attention to who was passing by outside the gates. But Thoma passed by, and he back tracked when he thought he saw you just sitting there. “Hey, you okay?” You look up and explain the situation to him. “Oh... Well, come over my place while you wait for them! It’s really hot out here! I’m sure my mom won’t mind!” 

You strongly refuse, mostly because you were freakin embarrassed. “Come on, really, you’re gunna die out here,” in the end you really just wanted air conditioning so you agreed.

His mom was as nice as he was and prepared cold tea for you to drink. She did leave the two of you in the living room and went off to do her own thing. While Thoma changed out of his uniform, you did your homework on their dining table. It looked like he had the same idea since he brought his school bag down with him and sat next to you to do his. “Wow, it looks like your math is a lot harder than ours,” 

When the two of you finished, your mom messaged you saying that she and your dad was going to be a bit later than usual today because of business meetings. Thoma took that as an opportunity to offer “Wanna watch this new series together? It’s a mystery show,” and he went off on a tangent about how it was pretty popular these days. You agreed just for the heck of it, I mean you were in his house, what choice did you have? So the two of you moved to the sofa and watched it in the living room together.

Surprisingly you ended up liking it, but on the third episode, your mom called and said they were back home. “Ah that’s too bad, hey let’s watch it again next time!” 

You didn’t really expect there to be a “next time” it was just one of those things that people said to be polite. But, come Friday that week and your mom answers to a knock on the door. “Mrs.(your last name)! I was wondering if Y/N was in?” Indeed you were and you were so dumbfounded when he said the two of you can continue watching that series together and asked if you preferred to watch it at yours or at his. You didn’t mind either way so you end up watching it at his. 

So over the course of the week he ends up going to your house or you end up going to his just to watch that series together. It was naturally more fun to watch it with someone, you could share your reactions together and talk about it as well. All of this happens in the living room though, while one of your parents were around. 

It was a few weeks later that he tells you he’s going to have his first volleyball game and he was hella nervous for it. He didn’t ask you to come, he just talked about it but you took note of the date and showed up to watch him.

You honestly didn’t even know what you were doing there. I mean, he probably had other people supporting him, right? He seemed like the type to have a lot of friends and everything. Just before the game started he spotted you off to the side and he’s shocked, but he jogs towards you “You came...to watch me?” he asks this with wide eyes. “Umm... Yeah? Since you did say you were nervous... A-Am I making it worse? I can go...”

“No!! I-It’s good! I’m happy!” He was a bit jittery but he did really look happy. Before he leaves, some of his guy friends come around and he introduces you to them, then goes off for his game. His guy friends look equally nice, but they snicker around you and one of them speaks up. “Ah, so you’re the girl Thoma has been talking about so much,” 

You’re surprised yet again. His friends basically throw him under the bus while the poor thing was nervous for his first game. His friends say that Thoma’s always excited for Friday nights cause he gets to watch the series with you and some other things that you found amusing.

Thoma’s team ends up winning and you congratulate him for a job well done, but all the things his friends said is still swimming around in your head. He meets his friends briefly, before they all leave and Thoma comes back around to you.

You just can’t hold it in. How can you keep it a secret? Plus you’ve been crushing on the guy for a while too. “Um so... your friends...they’re a little talkative...” you trail off seeing if he would get the hint. It takes him a few seconds before his face is a blushing mess. “W-Wait, did they say anything weird? D-Did they tell you a-about the stuff I say about you?”

You meekly nod your head and his face basically combusts into redness. Then he sighs... “I just... really like your company,” the both of you are just red.

“...Same,” you finally say and he takes that as a positive sign. “Th-Then, you don’t mind spending a bit more time with me, right?”

It’s a really simple start, but it was also really wholesome.

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[dinosaurtsukki]

haikyuu!! buzzfeed unsolved AU

OK THIS IS THE LAST BUZZFEED UNSOLVED RELATED HEADCANON SET I PROMISE 

[edit: check out the link at the bottom of the post for more buzzfeed unsolved au content :)]

hinata and kageyama:

90% of the show is them yelling and nobody watches it with earphones on

both of them believe in ghosts but that doesn't mean they want to see one

hinata will literally go to the bathroom five times before going to the spooky house and kageyama gets mad at him for it but there is Fear in his eyes

producer: 'were you scared?'

kageyama: 'pfft, no'

cameraman: *points camera down to show that kageyama's legs are shaking*

they also bring a shit ton of food with them when they stay the night at a place and they'll deadass be eating while talking about the history of the place

‘this house *crunch crunch* was built in *crunch crunch* 1972'

the producers tell them to stop bringing snacks but fans of the show love it

sometimes they'll shoot a mini mukbang video

SPICY, BARBECUE POTATO FRIES | Mukbang at the Waverly Hills Asylum'

hinata: *looking up how to do a seance on wikihow* it says we gotta offer some food for the spirit

kageyama: *spills the doritos he was eating on the table

*after 20 minutes*

kageyama: fuck this

hinata: *starts eating the doritos*

producer: ...

the ghosts: ..................the, audacity

tsukishima and yamaguchi

pretty much a ryan and shane duo right here

yamaguchi: we'll be visiting this place as part of our ongoing investigation on the question, are ghosts real?

tsukishima: *shakes head*

yamaguchi just wants to see the look of fear in tsukishima’s eyes at least once

yamaguchi: *hears a random thump sound* fUCk tSuKkI a gHoSt!!!

tsukishima: *sees a chair being tossed across the room* huh, the wind is pretty strong today

he likes to stick his head into attics to scare yamaguchi

yamaguchi always carries a water gun full of holy water

yamaguchi: i have holy water with me and i'm not afraid to use it! but i'm also sorry you had to die such a horrible death i hope you find peace soon

tsukishima: *walks into a basement that is supposedly a portal to hell* fuckin’ take me already

so many 'yamaguchi being an angel and tsukishima being a demon for 10 mins' video compilations 

daichi and sugawara

a very chaotic buzzfeed unsolved duo

suga, who is satan’s child himself, and daichi, who needs a raise

daichi: hello everyone! this is daichi,

sugawara: and suga

daichi: and you’re watching...

sugawara: jackass!!

daichi:...buzz...buzzfeed unsolved??

daichi started out being afraid of almost every place he had to walk into but after having to deal with the chaotic mess that is suga for an entire season, he no longer Feels Fear

this is because suga will deadass film a tiktok dance video no matter where he is

daichi: suga, someone was literally axe-murdered there

suga: *dancing along to ‘I’m a Savage’ or whatever that tiktok song is called*

daichi: *at cameraman* do you see what i have to deal with every day?’

suga is only genuinely scared by ghosts when his followers point out that a ghost was caught on camera in one of his tiktok videos

suga: *watching the video*

that was the end of suga’s tiktok career

tanaka and nishinoya:

another bunch of loud bois but they are much louder than kageyama and hinata

they’re very much into proving the existence of cryptids and are most known for that episode they spent hunting bigfoot by dressing up to look like bigfoot

tanaka: ‘you know that thing they do in cartoons where they stack on top of each other under a coat so they look like just one big guy?’

nishinoya: ‘ryuu i love you so fucking much’

other guy there who is also trying to catch bigfoot: oMg ItS bIgFooT *takes picture with the blurriest camera he could find*

both of them are very committed in their investigation of the supernatural and they’re very unconventional approaches

nishinoya: *lying on the ground in a creepy basement* EAT MY HEART DEMONS! WE’LL PUT THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!

tanaka: *takes out a spirit board* *spells out O-M-A-E  W-A  M-O  S-H-I-N-D-E-I-R-U*

ghost: *spells out N-A-N-I*

tanaka and nishinoya: *screaming*

kuroo and kenma: 

kuroo deadass flirts with any ghost or demon they encounter and kenma would sleep over in a haunted asylum for ten bucks

kuroo: *sidles up to the infamous annabelle doll* hey there little lady, what’s a pretty thing like you doing in a locked, glass case with a ‘don’t touch’ sign like this?

kenma: kuroo, there’s a demon inside her

kuroo: well, i’m a bit of a demon myself

kenma: she attempted to choke a guy in his sleep

kuroo: oooh, choking. i can get behind that...

kenma: *looks at camera*

the demon in annabelle: d-daddy??

“kuroo flirting with demons and kenma looking at the camera for 5 minutes”

kuroo’s actually a huge fucking scaredy cat and kenma secretly tries to push him over the edge

kenma: *plays computer-generated screams of the damned on his phone*

kuroo: WHAT WAS THAT?

kenma: ...I didn’t hear anything *looks at the camera as if he was on the office and plays the sound again*

kuroo: i was too scared to close my eyes last night

kenma: i was actually able to catch a bunch of pokemon last night. who knew the winchester mansion is such a hotspot

producer: did you catch any evidence of ghosts?

kenma: ...i caught a gastly

bokuto and akaashi:

bokuto is a die-hard mothman fan and akaashi is emotionally involved in proving that ghosts exist he will stop at nothing

akaashi: all of the evidence on the shadow figures and orbs spotted in this place can only suggest one thing...

bokuto: mothman did it

akaashi: no

bokuto: yes

akaashi: mothman is literally five states away

bokuto: he has wings

during their individual investigations, akaashi has already foreseen how bokuto is going to react

producer: it’s been quiet for a while. do you think bokuto’s no longer scared?

akaashi: oh no. he should be screaming right about now...

bokuto, inside the haunted house: *screams and waves his flashlight around*

akaashi:  and then he’s gonna call for help

bokuto: AKAAAAAASHIIIIIIIIII

*few hours later*

bokuto: i saw my life flash before my eyes in there

akaashi: *muttering incoherently near his ‘evidence wall’ full of blurry pictures and red string*

bokuto: i must’ve stared into the abyss at one point

akaashi: this place is fucking haunted. can i go back? it’s for sale right?

ushijima and tendou:

ushijima’s knowledge of ghosts is based on hollywood movies and tendou has exorcised places just by vibing

ushijima: *brings out a pottery wheel* if there are any ghosts in here, you know what to do

he’s actually never watched Ghost he just knows That One Scene

tendou: *naruto-running through the goatman bridge with a go-pro strapped to his head* IT’S MY BRIDGE GOATMAN, IT’S MY BRIDGE!!!

the Goatman Himself: i’ve never felt so fucking scared in my entire fucking life

ushijima believes that chanting in latin will Summon the Ghosts and tendou takes full advantage of that

tendou: *handing ushijima a slip of paper* here, apparently this will summon a full-bodied apparition

ushijima: thanks *begins chanting*

producer, interviewing tendou to the side: okay, what did you make him read this time?

tendou: i typed out ‘let me eat your ass’ in latin on google translate and went from there

cameraman: *zooms in on ushijima chanting*

the ghost haunting the castle: *is confused in French*

in the end neither of them get evidence on ghosts

ushijima: well, we'll have better luck next time

tendou: maybe even revisit this place ?

the ghosts: i know i'm dead but this is the first time i've been scared for my life

[EDIT: for more buzzfeed unsolved au content written by me, check out The Search for the Mysterious Mothman, a headcanon set feat. bokuaka]