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heartkyeom · 2 years ago

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now or never pt. 3

xu minghao x fem!reader

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 (finale)

word count: 9.9k

synopsis: when you make a chance encounter with your ex, you end up saying that you're engaged to your estranged neighbor xu minghao. when you find out your ex is coming to your friend's wedding, you've only got a month to become a convincing couple.

warnings: mentions of chronic illness, food, smut, brief flashbacks, shitty ex!joshua, mentions of family planning (…no comment)

notes: HI HI HI omg I am so happy to have this out you have no idea. this shit has been burning a hole in google docs for a month lol … the mentions of chronic illness are based on my own experiences as someone with a chronic illness, so I am not talking out of my ass I promise! this one has Some Drama and other developments and I am excited to hear your thoughts as always!!! pls enjoy, sorry for such a long note bye <3

tag list: @lavenderautumnx @mangogyu @idyllic-ghost @thetigeragenda @sleeplessdawn @tea-and-regret @butterfliesinthenightsky @sugarrimajins @hitorijanaikara-blog-blog @cosmicwintr @lztespring @soffrine @justasoftstan @lilactangerine @jeongiegram @hoohoohope @trashygigi @itzelise06 @bonsaijoons @playboygeniusphilanthropist

Things between the two of you were noticeably different after the kiss debacle at your apartment. His glances lingered on you longer than normal, you held hands whenever you saw him, and you didn’t pull your hands away from his when they accidentally brushed yours.

There was hugging that sometimes ended with a kiss on the cheek or the lips, maybe even the forehead when he was feeling especially happy to see you.

Out of all the new things that came from your romantic tension, you decided that you liked kissing him the most. Each kiss felt so intentional as if he didn’t want to waste any time not giving you what you wanted. Even when the kisses felt more intense, they were still tender and it fascinated you every time his lips were pressed to yours.

This resulted in you kissing him just for the need to feel that sensation over and over.

As the wedding was quietly approaching, you found him standing at your front door most evenings to spend time with you after work.

That’s how you found yourself on the couch, him laying across your lap while you sat upright. You absentmindedly ran your hands through his hair, and his soft hums were his nonverbal stamps of approval.

“Idiot,” You called out softly.

“Hm?” He didn’t look up from his phone.

“When are you taking me on a date?”

He looks up at you with a neutral glance, pondering his response for a moment.

“When are you free?” He smiles at you knowingly and you roll your eyes.

“Ha ha, very funny,” you reply in a deadpan tone, “but I think I can fit you in for Friday night.”

He nods in approval, lips slightly pouted in understanding. “I’ll brainstorm and let you know what we’ll be up to.”

You nod back, sighing to yourself quietly. Were relationships always meant to be this warm? You decide to yourself that they should be. It seems like he doesn’t have to try to be inviting, everything comes so naturally.

There’s only a brief moment of silence before he speaks up again.

“Let me make you something to wear for the wedding.”

“What?” You almost think you heard wrong when he says it, it sounds so outlandish.

“I’m serious,” Minghao’s glance was focused on you, but you’re not completely convinced.

“I just don’t want you to do that if you don’t want to,” you look away from him nervously. You had a hard time accepting gifts, especially when you didn’t think you deserved them. You never splurged on yourself, never with something big like designer clothes anyways.

“You have a fashion designer as a fiance. I promise whatever I make for you will be miles better than what you were gonna end up buying.”

You grabbed a pillow from the opposite end of the couch and hit him in the face, his giggles filled up the air while you lightly swatted the pillow at him.

“You’re right, but don’t say it like that,” you pouted, finally throwing the pillow back to its original spot toward his feet.

He finally sits up to look at you, grabbing your hands instinctively. “But seriously, brat, you deserve something nice. If you wanna make Joshua jealous, it’s gotta be with something good.”

You offer him a smile, but you feel a pang of guilt in your chest. You forgot that this was supposed to be a plot against Joshua, that none of this was supposed to be real. He was only meant to be in your life for another week and a half, but you can’t even try to imagine parting with him so soon.

You pushed any lingering thoughts to the back of your head to focus on him again, on the gift that he was graciously giving you.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be my revenge dress,” you state confidently, pushing your chest out. He shakes his head at you with a curious smile on his face.

“I promise it’ll be worth it,” He asserts.

“I don’t think you can make me something I’ll like,” You let out a short laugh, moving your hand away from his grasp to tuck a stray hair behind his ear.

“You’re really doubting my styling abilities.”

“I’m not, I promise,” you whine, and his hand comes up to pinch your cheek.

“It was a joke, baby,” He doesn’t seem to realize what he’s done until he sees your eyes widen.

“No, no, don't get any ideas, you’re still a brat,” He tries to defend himself, but you’re still smiling as wide as ever. He let down his guard, even if only for a moment, and it made you so content to see new sides of him.

“What’s that? You’re calling me baby now?” You coo, and now it was your turn to pinch his cheeks, his face had dissolved into a cute frown.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He was being more of a brat than you, but you decided to leave it alone.

“Anyways, you swear I’ll like the dress?” You give him one last skeptical look, but he can see through the facade.

“I know you will.”

—

The next day, Minghao insists on holding a private fitting session for the dress that night. You figured he would just text you asking for your measurements, but he insisted.

“Stop being stubborn and let me show you my studio,” He sounds resigned over the phone.

You have been persistent about Minghao not making a big deal about the dress and you don’t want to process why you’re pushing back so hard about it. In a way, it felt like you were trying to test him to see if he would give in. If you wore him down enough, maybe he would give up on trying to perform a nice gesture for an unwilling recipient.

Yet, you knew you were projecting. It was just hard to admit you were wrong, so it was easier to double down instead,

“I’m not being stubborn, most designers just make the clothes without being too hands-on. The models don’t get a tour of the designer’s studio, or maybe I’ve just been reading Vogue too much,” You sigh.

“You are reading too much Vogue and I’m not taking no for an answer, brat. You’re coming to the studio, end of discussion.” You can practically see him scowling at you through the phone, that lecturing tone of his is stuck in your brain.

“Fine,” you respond petulantly.

“I know you’re pouting. Stop pouting.” How is he so good at reading you even over the phone? He still manages to be precise even when you least expect it.

“Fine,” You adjust your tone of voice to satisfy him.

“And you’re not just a model, you know that. You keep trying to minimize yourself and I’m not gonna allow it.”

“I’m only your fiancée for another week,” You keep pacing around your apartment to distract yourself, even if it means your worst thoughts are coming out of your mouth.

“You’re deflecting! That’s not even what we’re talking about. Seriously, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just not used to this at all,” You settle on your couch, burrowing yourself into your plush blanket before responding again, “I’m terrible with gifts, I keep thinking it’s an inconvenience for you.”

“It’s not, trust me. It’s not just about him, it’s about how you want to feel. I want this dress to make you feel like he doesn’t have any power over you anymore.”

That brings tears to your eyes. You wished it was that easy to forget his presence in your life, but it wasn’t.

“Is it bad that he still has something over me?” Your voice shakes and you suddenly wish that he was next to you, giving you reassuring touches. You push your face further into the blanket, barely acknowledging your phone.

“No, definitely not.”

Your cries are so quiet that he can’t tell the difference, he only questions that you may have disappeared. “Y/N? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” You attempt to stifle your sobs, but your voice is far too broken to convince him that you’re okay.

“We don’t have to do this tonight, it’s okay,” His voice is softer than you’ve ever heard it, it throws you for a moment.

“No, I need to get out of this fucking apartment. We can still do it tonight,” You laugh through your tears.

“Okay,” he agrees reluctantly, “I’ll text you the address now. Be on time, though. I want us to start as soon as possible.”

“No problem.”

You’re sure it won’t be a problem, you’re already mentally planning all the details you want to mention before he starts making it. Somehow, your mind immediately runs to references that you want to embody.

Despite your mood, you still want to make the most of the session, and Minghao’s words leave you determined to make your opinions known.

—

“I’m outside,” You hesitate to speak, mostly because of your own nerves. You didn’t expect Minghao’s work building to be this tall, but that thought is foolish considering the circumstances. Minghao hadn’t necessarily explained the ins and outs of his job yet, but you knew it was substantial enough to warrant a private studio.

“Okay, I’ll just meet you in the lobby,” He responds nonchalantly before hanging up. When you enter the revolving doors, you’re thrown by just how high scale the entire office is. Everything is crisp, clean, and minimalist, minus the numerous runway shots and art prints that line the walls. You really try not to minimize yourself as Minghao mentioned before, but you feel far too out of place here.

The receptionist gives you a reassuring look, but you still feel an underlying sense of judgment. As soon as you feel your thoughts begin to spiral even further, Minghao appears from around the corner.

“Hi,” He smiles at you, pulling you into a brief hug. You take refuge in his scent and your anxiety is already disappearing.

“Hi. You weren’t kidding when you said this was a big office,” Your eyes wander around the lobby again, mouth slightly agape in wonder at the scope of everything.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to get used to. I’m honestly not used to it yet,” He admits softly.

“Are you ready to go upstairs?” He holds your hand, intertwining your fingers and tapping his thumb lightly on the back of your hand.

“Yep,” You take a deep breath, still trying to quiet those last few nerves. He senses that nervousness and gives you a kiss on your hand. He always manages to offer you a quiet kind of encouragement, especially when you need it the most.

“Okay, let's go,” He offers you a reassuring nod before walking with you toward the elevators. You’re silent as he presses the up button on the elevator. It opens almost immediately and again, you watch him press the button for the 15th floor.

“That’s really high up,” You whisper to yourself, but he manages to hear it.

“It is, are you afraid of heights?” A hint of concern pulls across his face, but you’re already shaking your head no before he can finish the question.

“Oh my god, no, just thinking out loud.” You’re not sure why you insist on making every step of this process so painfully awkward, he clearly had every intention of making you feel comfortable. Wearing the dress would be such a transitional moment in your personal growth, whether you want to internally admit it or not. It’s a symbol of a more confident person, one that leaves Joshua Hong in the past where he belongs.

“I have things in mind for the dress,” You finally speak up, you remember the folder of references in your bag that you organized just a few hours prior.

“I figured you would,” He smirks but you know there’s no malice behind his words. “What are you thinking of?”

“I brought some stuff with me, but I’ll wait to get into it.” He gasps in slight shock, it makes you excited to see him react so strongly.

“You’re really building the suspense here,” He ruffles your hair out of the blue without looking, but he turns his attention to you fully.

“Can’t give everything away,” You insist.

“Is that so?” He lowers his voice, it comes off a bit more sensual than you expected, and you don’t know how you haven’t completely lost your wits yet. You almost think he’s gonna kiss you, but even with your blooming relationship, he remains a tease.

The elevator chime saves you from replying, and he’s leading you out before you can feel properly flustered. His private studio is right off of the elevator and you’re captivated the moment you step through the door.

“Welcome to my 2nd home,” He takes a deep exhale and gives you the space to look around for a bit. The space is just so him in every way possible. It does remind you of his apartment, just slightly smaller. Just from a quick glance, you can tell he has a penchant for edgy and bold looks, it’s a major evolution of his personal style from college. He seems much more comfortable in his style now, even the dress forms have designs that reflect how much he’s changed over the years.

“This looks incredible, Minghao,” You look at him with a new sense of admiration, it makes you so happy to see what he’s made of himself even though you hadn’t seen much of him in the recent past.

“Thank you,” He sheepishly accepts the compliment. “Now show me these references you��ve brought,” He turns his attention to him before the kind words can linger on him for too long.

“Okay, so,” You reach into your bag to retrieve your folder, “I hope this isn’t too old school for you.”

“No, that’s okay. I appreciate the change of pace honestly, I miss having paper references to hang up at my station,” He’s already intrigued at the images laid in front of him before you have a chance to explain anything.

“I really wanted to lean into the Princess Diana revenge dress, so I pulled that and I also want to channel some 90s supermodels as well,” You spread the photos out across the table and show him just exactly what you want.

“So a Naomi Campbell type of energy?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Your eyes widened with excitement. You felt like the models of that era always had such an effortlessly cool style, so you wanted to exude that energy at the wedding.

“I can definitely work with that,” He organizes the photos back into the folder and moves to his desk, placing it near his computer.

You both spend a few more minutes debriefing about what your ideal dress would look like, and just from his initial descriptions, you can tell the dress will make a big impact.

“You have everything so organized, I’m the complete opposite,” You take a moment to observe just how neat the space is. Considering the type of work you’ve seen from him, it makes sense that everything is so clean cut.

“Yeah, I need it to be very organized here or else I can’t focus,” He continues to look around the space, grabbing items that catch his eye immediately. It seems like his mind is on autopilot, he doesn't have to think twice about what to grab. You’re sure he’s taken countless measurements, you’re just hoping it goes well without any issues.

“Okay, go ahead and step up there for me,” He gestures toward a circular platform near his dress forms. You place your bag down quickly before stepping up on the platform.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been measured for anything, I think you’ll have to be careful with me.”

“I think you’ll do just fine, but I’ll be extra careful. My supermodel,” He winks at you.

“You’re not supposed to flirt with your models, remember?” You outstretch your arms out of expectation. He chuckles at your eagerness and tilts his head slightly.

“Good, keep your arms out. And you’re not just a model, stop saying that before I hit you with my clipboard,” His fake anger melts into giggles and you can’t help but laugh as well. He extends his tape measure from your shoulder to your fingertips. You see the gears in his head turning as he writes the measurement down on his notepad.

“I’m gonna just come around here and measure your back,” He disappears from your view, but his touches are still considerate. There’s a brief silence, but you decide to get to know him despite his compromising position.

“How long have you been sewing?”

“It’s more like how long haven’t I been sewing,” He scoffs before continuing again, “I learned when I was young just by watching other people do it. Then, I finally felt confident enough to make my own clothes. It just kind of snowballed from there.”

“Wow, so people have been asking you to make clothes for them your whole life,” You watch him come back around to the front of the platform, eyeing his next target for measuring.

“Yes, and now I actually make the clothes I want, such as your new dress.” He did a broad gesture to your body before taking some more notes. It made you appreciative that you were in good hands with someone who was not only experienced, but passionate about their work.

“Hold on, I’m gonna put this around your bust,” He remains focused on the task at hand, yet you can’t manage to take a breath. This has to be the most intimate thing you’ve done with him outside of kissing, and yet he barely has to do a thing to build you up.

“It’s okay, you can take a breath,” He offers in a quiet tone. You let out a shaky laugh and take the breath you’ve wanted for the last minute or so. He still doesn’t seem upset, in that particular way of his.

“I’m sorry, you just have a certain kind of touch,” You give him an endearing smile and he takes a moment to laugh. He drops the tape measure and gets a better look at you, yet he tries to regain his composure before getting back to work.

“Don’t apologize, I know I’m a little bit irresistible,” He wraps the tape measure around your waist with a lilt in his voice, taking a second to remember the number in front of him. He drops the measure once again and jots down his findings, now taking a bit longer to analyze if he has all the right numbers.

“Ok idiot, you should ask me something you want to know about me now,” You finally put your arms down.

“Am I your first romantic fling since Joshua?” He states unremarkably, as if the state of your love life was small talk.

“Minghao!” You exclaim loudly, stepping down from the platform absolutely scandalized.

“What? I want to know about it. You’re not exactly forthcoming, as we’ve previously discussed,” He retorts. He’s not exactly wrong, you were private about it. Then again, who wouldn’t be? You didn’t exactly want to be single again for this long, it just sort of happened. Romance was less of a priority compared to actually surviving day by day.

“Well, yes, you are the first. I felt too miserable to date after Joshua until I forgot that I was supposed to be actively pursuing dates. Then this whole thing happened,” You push your lips out into a frustrated sigh.

“There’s no shame in that. I also haven’t had many remarkable relationships until now,” He placed his materials down at his workstation, slowly making his way to his desk.

“Really? I thought you’d have some escapades, Mr. Irresistible.” Even if you didn’t end up in this predicament with him, he still seemed like a pretty attractive boyfriend from an outsider’s perspective.

“Not many people like dating a workaholic, no matter how irresistible I may seem,” He gestures at himself with a dejected laugh.

“I’m assuming that’s not the only thing that got you in trouble.”

“You’d be right. I wasn't really emotionally mature enough for what they needed, and I thought I could get away with a lot of mean shit. That took a long time for me to admit to myself,” He nods solemnly.

“That’s probably not what you wanted to hear from me, was it?” He looks up at you with anxious eyes, but you’re not really deterred. Instead, you pull the chair from his workstation and next to his desk.

“No, but I appreciate the honesty. Nice to know you’re not completely emotionally stunted,” you joke, but it’s still serious in your mind. Minghao was always honest and upfront about what he wanted, even if you weren’t used to it. As bad as it sounds, you weren’t used to hearing that kind of vulnerability within your romantic relationships. You hope that could stop with this evolving relationship.

“Not completely, but I would like to keep growing of course. Nothing’s perfect about me.”

“You’re giving me a free therapy session and a dress, you should really start monetizing this,” You work to lighten the mood again and he catches the shift easily.

“I know, I should put all this free space to use,” He gestures to the rest of the studio and you burst into laughter.

“You can stay if you’d like, but the sketching and sewing process is not super glamorous,” He shakes his head. You didn’t want to stand in the way of his work, but there was still a sense of longing that sat in your heart.

“It’s okay, I don’t want to be a distraction. I want the dress to be perfect,” You stand up and make your way behind the desk, sinking onto his lap without thinking.

“It’ll be perfect, I promise,” He leans into your face, stopping just short of your mouth. You take the cue to kiss him, placing a tender hand on his cheek to steady yourself. Your hands wander to the nape of his neck, slowly weaving your fingers through his hair. He lets out a quiet moan that encourages you even more, slightly grinding your hips onto him. He kisses you just as eagerly, but his restraint appears just as quickly. You can tell he wants more, but the rational part of him took over.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” He presses one last kiss to your cheek and gives you a warning look. As much as you want to dive into your wildest fantasies inside his studio, your mind and body are probably not prepared for the consequences.

You can’t help yourself one last time and push his hair aside, leaving a soft kiss on his forehead. You stand up to walk toward the exit before you can catch his reaction, so you almost miss the blush on his cheeks.

“Text me when you get home,” you face him for a moment before turning around again. “Please eat before you go home too,” You call from the entryway.

“I will, to both,” He waits for you to turn around again before giving you a short wave. You offer a short smile back and finally retreat to the elevator.

As you ride back down to the lobby, you’re convinced that he has a hold over you. It’s not apparent until he’s gone that you’re itching to have another piece of him. It should be embarrassing, but you don’t have any kind of rebuttal. He’s found his way into your heart and there’s nothing you can do about it.

—

Minghao insists that the date should be a surprise, so he left you guessing until the very last minute.

He blindfolded you which took lots of convincing on his part, especially when you heard people whispering about why you must be blindfolded. You heard him convincing people on the street that no, he was not kidnapping you, he just needed to get you to the date without ruining the surprise. You were already skeptical of the situation, but he was trying to be romantic, so why not let him?

Wherever you were, you were definitely outside. It made sense after climbing lots of stairs on the way, he really didn’t appreciate your complaints but it was a bit of a treacherous journey. The breeze pricked your skin, instantly leaving goosebumps on your arms.

“Okay, are you ready?” His calm voice brings you back into focus.

“Yes, please hurry. I’m already cold,” You can’t help shivering, you hate that you didn’t bring a better jacket.

“Okay, you can take it off.” You unravel the loose knot of the cloth and pull it off your eyes.

You’re standing in front of a rooftop dinner that was meticulously laid out in front of you. The white tablecloth blew gently in the wind, along with the candles that were lined up across the table.

Two plates of pasta sat across from each other and you looked at Minghao with a big smile on your face.

“You remembered that I was craving pasta,” you replied excitedly.

“You ranted about it yesterday on the phone when you were drunk, I couldn’t forget it,” He was practically beaming, he seemed just as excited as you.

He instinctively pulled out your chair and let you sit before going to his own seat. You noticed the glasses of white wine near your plates and silently praised him for his choice.

You were so hungry that you barely spoke to Minghao for a few minutes. You look up to see him admiring you, it makes you feel a bit self-conscious but he clearly liked you enough to see past it.

The conversation comes soon after though, you talk about anything and everything. It ends up being a mix of catching up with each other, joking with each other, flirting, and complimenting until your wine is gone. You hadn’t seen each other in person since the studio fitting, but there were still a significant amount of things to mention to each other.

He pulls the bottle up from beneath the table. “Do you want more?”

“Yes, please.” He takes that as a cue to refill your glass and looks at you with a mischievous glance. “Is that because you’re not enjoying the date?”

“Shut up, I’m having fun.” You look away from him towards the skyline with a smile on your face. You hear him laugh and place the bottle back near his feet again.

In the silence, you decide that Minghao makes things easy. Even though it’s technically a first date, it feels far too comfortable for that. It reminds you of the distant familiarity you have, and it brings the memories of college to the forefront of your mind.

“How did we meet again?” Minghao asks you out of the blue. It was strange how he could read your mind.

“It was at one of Chan’s parties, wasn’t it?”

“No, we met after that.”

“Stop, it was definitely at one of those fundraiser parties he used to throw,” You placed your fork on top of the empty plate, insistent that your memory was correct.

You remember the moment vividly, the memory still remains fresh in your mind after so long.

Chan had invited you to a fundraiser party he was throwing, but despite your continued questioning, he wouldn’t disclose what it was for. He wanted it to be a mystery party where you approach a certain person and they would give you more information.

You weren’t close to anyone here besides Chan, so the prospect of approaching strangers to figure out the theme of the party was daunting. Yet, Chan wanted you here, so you figured you should play into everything.

The party was moderately loud, everyone was busy in their own corners with friends, casually drinking from plastic cups.

The house was big, far bigger than any college student could afford on their own, and you wonder who phoned it in so that Chan could have a family home act as the location for his party.

You wanted to find at least one area where it was relatively quiet, and your wish was granted when you found a study past the living room.

When you open the door, you discover that the room was practically a miniature library, books were lined across the walls in color-coordinated patterns. The dark wood and jewel-toned furniture made you feel like you stepped into a Sherlock Holmes novel, and the person sitting at the desk seemed to give off similarly mysterious energy.

“It’s $5 for the drink,” he stared at you unemotionally. Confusion spread across your face immediately after.

“Wait, what? Why am I paying for drinks?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No?” You reply in the same questioning tone and he lets out a small laugh.

“Chan is raising money for his dance showcase final. He needs a proper studio to record in and there’s a lot of costs with that,” The unnamed person releases a sigh, as if he’s the one raising the money.

“Oh, that does sound expensive,” You furrow your brows slightly and look at the floor.

“He’s got enough rich dance friends who will donate, he’ll be fine,” You hear the reply and nod to yourself.

“Are you a dance major?” You look up to ask and he nods.

“I’m a dance and fashion design double major,” He seems tired from having to man the station, so you figure you’d give him some enthusiasm.

“Holy shit, really?”

“Yeah, you sound like you’ve never met a double major,” He giggles at your surprise.

“I haven’t, I guess you’re right,” You feel a bit shy underneath his gaze and look at your surroundings instead.

“What about you?”

“I’m a fashion design major too,” You nod decisively at him. He nods back and doesn’t explore any further than that. You’re silently grateful, mostly because you don’t want to talk about school more than you have to.

“So, are you gonna buy a drink?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s for a good cause, so why not,” You reach into your wallet to find a $5 bill and hold it in your hand.

“Okay, I mostly just have hard cider and spritzers. He gave me the fun drinks, as you can tell,” He observes the cooler near his feet.

“I’ll just take some hard cider, then,” You laugh through your ask and it manages to make him crack a smile.

“Yep, one second,” He plunges his hand into the ice to grab your drink, placing it next to you.

You place the bill down next to the drink and he nods at you, placing it into a small chest of money.

“Thanks,” you smile and open the drink, taking a short sip before sitting down in one of the plush chairs next to the desk.

“What’s your name? I completely forgot to ask,” You shake your head at your lack of manners, but he doesn’t seem too offended.

“I’m Minghao. What’s yours?”

“Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” He gives you a small smile again and it makes you feel a little less alone at such a strange party.

From the rest of your drunk memory, you remember that you spent most of the night with him, giving him the rest of your cash for drinks. You can’t recall how much money you ended up giving to Chan’s fund, but you do remember that Minghao eventually stopped taking your money. It was sweet, the entire night with him was sweet, and you treasure that memory more than most experiences in your college career.

“Remember? We were in that old library study room for the rest of the night?”

Minghao’s face is blank, shaking his head no at the idea of this scenario even existing.

You sigh loudly, slightly annoyed that he doesn’t remember any of it.

“Well, you should remember how you fucked up my midterm project,” He pokes you in the arm and you clutch the area, whining lightly at the pain.

“Shit, I do remember that.”

“You should, it was very upsetting,” He lets out a deep laugh, reflecting on the nightmarish experience of his sophomore year midterm for textiles.

Minghao was deeply annoyed.

You, the last model needed for his textiles midterm presentation, never showed up to the class and it threw him off completely.

He met you at his scheduled fitting and he was extremely grateful that Chan found another person to help him complete the assignment. Your measurements were taken, everything was fine, but it seemed to unravel right in front of his eyes.

He luckily had another model as a backup just in case and had another outfit made for said model, but it was ultimately frustrating. He loved the outfit he made for you, it was the one he would have preferred to present in front of his professor, but fate had ultimately not been kind.

Thus, when you finally walk into the classroom 2 hours late, he’s admittedly not happy to see you.

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“I’m so sorry, I seriously didn’t mean to blow this off,” You look completely disheveled, but it doesn’t move him at all.

“You almost cost me my midterm, I don’t accept your apology,” He moves his attention to cleaning up the remains of the presentation, organizing his files into one spot.

“You have to hear me out, please,” His back was turned to you, but he whips around at the response.

“I mixed up the times, I completely forgot I had an appointment across town and I realized I couldn’t make it back on campus in time.”

“You could have let me know,” He runs his hand through his hair with a defeated sigh. “Shit, you could’ve told Chan and he would’ve told me.”

“I know and it’s completely my fault.”

“The last model could barely get out of class to come help me. My professor would’ve taken off 30 points if all my outfits weren’t on live models. You have no idea how much work this took me,” His voice is emotional yet his tone is still even, that’s what scares you the most.

You had some idea of what it took to complete the project, but he was right in the fact that his designs were extremely intricate. It was something you liked about his work and what gave you the push to help him when Chan told you about his friend’s project.

“I’m really sorry,” Your voice is small, you can’t help the tears that welled up in your eyes.

“I just need you to leave,” His voice is quiet, but the conviction is there.

“Minghao, please-“

“Don’t. Just leave, please.” He doesn’t wait to watch you leave, just goes back to organizing his things before he hears the classroom door close.

When he finishes the story, you can’t help the deep sense of shame that washes over you. He wasn’t completely right, you did meet him for the first time at the party, but this second time was so disappointing that you wish it didn’t happen at all.

“I’m still really sorry about that,” Regret laces your voice and you don’t know how to contend with the details he still doesn’t know about.

“I know you are, it just really hurt me at that moment.”

The silence overtakes you both for a while. A few minutes pass with you both just looking at the city skyline, tuning in to the noise from the streets.

“What was the appointment for?” He asks and it forces you to close your eyes.

“I got a chronic pain diagnosis,” You shudder at the memory of yourself crying in the doctor’s office alone, questioning how you could live through the rest of college, the rest of your life with debilitating pain. He shifts in his seat at the response.

“It was hard because I knew it was something bad, but I didn’t think it could be like that,” You shake your head, trying to fight the tears in your eyes.

“I struggled with that kind of pain since high school, but it was never something I couldn’t handle. And you want to know what’s awful?”

He nods at you, silently asking you to continue.

“When we were at the gala, I was jealous. I was sad that this could have been my life. If I was just healthy enough to get through years of interning, I could be something like you. It hurt me in college to see all that coming true for you. I couldn’t do anything to further my career and it fucked me up,” The tears were flowing freely now and it took everything in you to not sob.

Yet, when you see him move his chair next to yours and place his arm on your shoulder, you just collapse into his arms.

His touches are so gentle, not intruding in any way, yet it hurts all over. The hug felt like a silent apology for not being understanding years ago, but he couldn’t have known. Plus, you shouldn’t have had to disclose anything. It was simply a lost cause.

“I hate that you feel jealous of me. No one should have to kill themselves to get these kinds of opportunities, you shouldn’t have to suffer,” His words make you question what you’ve been taught about pushing yourself to succeed, it almost makes you sick thinking of the guilt you felt for something that was out of your control. You can’t even nod at him, you can only continue to let out cries until you feel a bit of strength.

“I never wanted to work in corporate. I never wanted to be like my parents, I didn’t want to suffer in a job I hated just to survive,” You slowly sit up to face him again.

“You still have so much time, you still have the rest of your life to chase that dream if that’s what you want. The job isn’t standing in the way anymore, right?” He grabs your hand. You nodded, your sniffling took up the silence between you two.

“Ok, so you have the power. Is fashion what you love?”

His question almost makes you cry all over again.

“It’s everything to me. I just have no idea what to do about it,” Your words are clouded in uncertainty.

“Don’t even think about that right now. It’s just enough that you want to start,” You nod at the idea of not having to decide anything right now. It will put your heart at ease at least for a little while.

“When did you get so wise? You were just the guy who was perpetually mad at me for most of college,” You laugh shakily, squeezing his hand tight.

“I’m not that smart, trust me,” He shakes his head and brushes the hair out of his eyes.

“Don’t say that.” You cup his face and run your fingers across his cheeks. It feels almost instinctual to be as gentle with him as he is with you.

“I’m supposed to be comforting you.”

“Let me do this. I missed you,” You give him a short peck, forcing yourself to push the desperation in your stomach down and leave it there.

“It’s only been a few days, brat,” He presses a kiss to your cheek and pulls back to face you again.

“Too long. Thank you for all this,” You pull him into a hug and inhale his scent, it’s sweeter than usual but you like it. His hand lands on the small of your back and you feel it idly running up and down.

“You’re welcome. Let’s go home, okay?” The idea somehow feels lovelier every time you hear it, as if home is something you two can create without it being a physical location.

—

You make it home, but the desperation in your core doesn’t let up. The way his hair falls in front of his eyes, his grip on the steering wheel when he’s driving you both home, the hand that gently strokes your thigh.

He brings you back to your front door and you don’t want him to slip away.

“So we’re gonna roadtrip up to the wedding venue, it’s only a few hours so it shouldn’t be too bad.” He leans against your doorframe, the top 2 buttons on his shirt are undone and it’s all you can focus on.

“Okay, sounds good.”

“Before I forget, I’m gonna give you the dress tomorrow. I managed to finish it earlier today.”

You simply nod, getting lost in his eyes. He seems to notice when he waves his hand in front of your face. “Earth to Y/N,” He prods you out of your daydream and the embarrassment hits you immediately.

“Yes, sorry. The road trip and dress. Got it,” You run your hands through your hair to deflect the attention, but he’s still concentrating on your strange expressions.

“What are you thinking about?”

“You, mostly how much I wanna fuck you,” You say it before you can realize it and you immediately catch yourself. You blame it on how tipsy you are, but he’s already laughing.

“Wow, so you’ve been objectifying me all night, then?” He smirks at you and readjusts his stance.

“No, not really,” You shake your head.

“Do you want to do something about that then?”

“Only at your place, though. Still haven’t seen that bedroom of yours.”

He puts his hands over his mouth and laughs loudly, enough to make you smile back at him. “I guess I can arrange that.” His breath hitches and he grabs your hand, leading you to his apartment a few doors away.

He’s able to balance his keys without letting go of your hand, unlocking the door without too much trouble. As soon as he pulls you inside and locks the door behind you, he has you pinned against the door, slipping his tongue down your throat in a heated kiss.

You reciprocate almost immediately, your lips responding to him naturally. Your hands travel to the back of his neck, your fingers desperately carding through his hair. He pulls away from your mouth to leave a trail of kisses across your jaw and down your neck. He bites and sucks a hickey onto your neck, but you’re too satisfied with the pain to care about the blooming bruise that will appear.

Everything is desperate about the way he holds you, the way he frantically kisses you as if he can never do it again.

You let out a small moan and cradle his head even tighter, it drives you crazy how he knows your pressure points already.

“Get up,” He taps your hip and nods at you, you wrap your arms and legs around him. His arms support you so easily, he raises you without much effort.

He brings you into the bedroom, but you don’t have much time to look around before he’s placing you down at the top of the bed. He pulls you back into a kiss, but now his hands are wandering across your body.

His hands land on your breasts, gently squeezing them and teasing you by circling your nipples with his fingers over the fabric. You curse yourself for not wearing a bra, since it’s easy for him to tug down the straps of your dress to reveal your chest completely.

He smirks for a second and you feel slightly concerned. “What? What’s wrong?” You whisper.

“Nothing, you just look beautiful,” He returns his attention to your chest and kisses your nipple, taking it in his mouth and leaving small bites. It pulls a moan out of you immediately, in fact, you probably haven’t stopped moaning since you got inside of his apartment.

“Can I take it off?” He places his hands on your hips, slightly gripping the fabric of the dress but still looking at you expectantly.

“Yes, of course,” The response comes out too quickly, you can barely wait for him to move. He tugs the dress down and off of you until you’re nearly naked. He notices your heels are still on, so he places a loving hand on your calf and takes the shoes off easily, tossing them on the floor without a second thought. His eyes focus on your underwear which are very clearly soaked from his ministrations.

“You really did want me, huh?” He asks you quietly. You can only nod, you’re trying to will away the throbbing but to no avail.

He hooks his fingers underneath the band of your underwear and pulls them off quickly. His fingers are so tender, but you still flinch at the contact.

“Relax, baby, it’s okay,” He doesn’t correct himself on the nickname and it drives you insane.

His fingers graze your entrance, carefully stroking you. He pushes his fingers inside you and the pressure makes your waist lift off the bed. His strokes aren’t intense from the start, but rather a slow build that makes everything hurt in the right way.

The dull ache of his fingers is subsided by his other hand running up and down your leg, along with him occasionally whispering some praises at you. You feel selfish asking for more when he’s doing perfectly well, but the need overtakes your shame.

“Hao, please,” you whine, dragging out the words.

“What’s going on?”

“Need more, please. Need you inside me,” You can’t stop yourself from squirming, and he practically has to hold you down.

“I’m just gonna stretch you out first, then we can do more, I promise.”

“Okay,” you nod and he briefly stops his movements so he can lean in to kiss you. It gives you just a bit of reassurance before he continues again.

It’s only a bit longer before you feel adjusted to him and he slips his fingers out easily.

“You did really well,” He brings himself up to your face again, cooing over you for a moment.

“I’m okay,” You mutter just loud enough for him to hear, you hate that you’re trying to deny yourself how good it felt to be underneath him.

He nods at you and takes the next few moments to strip out of his date night clothes. For a moment, he’s not hard to read or unbothered at all, he’s simply your person. Yet, he hadn’t been that unbothered cold person towards you for a while. You don’t know why you unconsciously put that assumption on him, but you decide to analyze that at a later time.

When the fabric of his patterned shirt falls to the floor, the definition of his arms and abs make your head spin, so you try to focus on his expression instead.

Seeing him naked brings up a feeling you’re not familiar with, the feeling that you just want to lie on his chest with no sexual escapades to focus on.

That fantasy had to come to a halt as he’s fully naked now, the way he puts on a condom clouds your thoughts even more.

“I’m gonna start, okay?” You feel his cock pushing at your entrance and you can tell it’ll be rough, but his encouragement spurs you on.

You let out a small noise of approval, you hate that your words get stuck in your throat when he needs to hear you the most.

The push forces you to grit your teeth, you can barely contain a scream so it comes out as a mangled kind of moan. He obviously looks concerned, but you insist you’re fine. You’ve just never felt this full with anyone, and when he bottoms out, you’re finding it hard to catch your breath.

“Gonna go slow,” he whispers and his movements align with his words, it has you desperate to touch him. He angles himself lower so that he can really hit your walls with the right amount of power.

Once he finds the sweet spot, he speeds up and it all has your orgasm crashing in sooner than you expected. The only sounds you can hear are your moans and his skin slapping against yours, he’s so focused on you that it’s almost overwhelming.

“You feel so fucking good,” He says it more as a moan, avoiding your glance like he can barely contain his pleasure.

“Look at me,” You manage to get the phrase out and his eyes flutter open, mouth slightly agape. You catch him smiling for a moment before he speaks again.

“You look so good taking me like this,” He leans down to give you a languid kiss, it’s sloppy but you capture his words in your mouth.

“Hao, I think I’m-,” You feel tears pricking at the corners of your eyes, his movements are so perfect that you nearly fall apart on the spot.

Your moans get higher and higher until you go silent. Your body stills, unable to verbalize that you’ve crossed over the edge. Your jaw is slack, eyes shut, chest fully heaving as you come down from your high. Your vision is fuzzy when you first open your eyes, but he’s using the last of his strength to get himself there.

When your eyes finally focus, you notice the tension in his eyebrows. His breaths are low, but the intensity of his orgasm is close to yours when he clutches your shoulder and falls into the crook of your neck.

You’re still for a moment, just listening to his breath radiate near your ear as the warmth tries to pull you towards sleep. You fight the urge by running your fingers through his hair slowly.

“That feels too good, you’re gonna make me fall asleep,” he hums. It makes your body shake with laughter, but you won’t let him fall asleep when you remember he’s still completely tucked inside of you. That ache is starting to build again and it forces you to speak up.

“Idiot,” you whisper.

“Hm?”

“You’re still on top of me.”

“Shit,” He pulls out of you almost immediately and the relief is palpable.

You watch him get up and walk into the bathroom, not expecting him to say anything.

“Don’t stare at my ass,” He stops in his tracks to face you before turning around again.

“I’m not,” you insist, but you know he won’t believe you. He squints his eyes and turns around again.

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious,” You raise your voice with a giggle, steering your eyes away from the bright lights in the bathroom to focus on sitting up instead.

He’s gone for another minute or two before running back out to the bed with a few things in tow, namely towels and clothes for the both of you.

“You’re a liar,” He exclaims, landing on your lap with a big grin, straddling you which brings a giggle out of you.

“No, I’m not,” You try to hide your face in your hands but he pries them off too easily.

“Yes, you are,” He peppers kisses all over your face until your protests make him sit up again. He grabs one of the towels and silently starts to wipe you down. You still aren’t used to those soft touches of his, it fascinates you how focused he is on you.

“Hao,” You squeak, unaware of how spent your voice is.

“What’s up?” He glances up at you, yet his movements continue.

“I don’t wanna go home tonight.” You’re not sure why you sound so scared, but the idea of sleeping alone when he’s nestled himself into your bed multiple times over the past week makes you nervous.

“You can stay. You can always stay,” He replies fondly. It brings a new sense of comfort in your chest that you haven’t felt in a long time, the safety that pushes away any doubt that may pop up in your mind. It’s a simple statement, but it does so much for you internally that you’re sure you’ll be replaying it in your head for a while.

He presses a chaste kiss to your lips, moving his face a few inches away to analyze your face for a moment. You can almost sense how enchanted he is by you, but he won’t say it. “Go freshen up, I’ll keep the bed warm for you.”

You slowly get up and the aches are already starting to set into your muscles, but he’s worth it. The few minutes spent in the bathroom pass by quickly, you’re sure that you can get away with not doing your skincare routine for one night.

You open the door and he’s nearly asleep, his eyes are closed and his quiet breaths calm you even from afar. You make sure to turn off the lamp next to you before sitting down again on top of the comforter. When you settle under the covers, he stirs awake briefly, his arms instinctively pull you into his chest.

“Thought you were asleep,” You mumble against his collarbone.

“Waiting for you kept me up,” His voice is already raspy, the vibrations of his voice make your heart stir.

“Good night, idiot.”

“Good night, baby,” He still doesn’t notice before he drifts off to sleep, but you ultimately don’t mind.

It makes you realize just how different things are already, and the changes continue to sneak up on you.

—

“I can go get the tea.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I need to get something too so it’s no big deal,” You’re already looking out the window toward the convenient store, mentally preparing yourself for the task at hand.

After the debauchery of last night, you convince Minghao to get breakfast outside of the house. He then realized once the meal was over that he ran out of his favorite tea, so you volunteer your services to do the convenient store run. You’re grateful that he’s not going to protest any further.

“Okay, I’ll stay in the car then. Text me if they don’t have it.”

“Got it,” You reassure him before stepping out of the car, slamming the passenger door shut while adjusting your hoodie.

You really do try your best to hide your soreness, but the moment you enter the convenient store it’s a lost cause.

You can bear it though, this trip is only gonna take you a few minutes anyways. You find Minghao’s jasmine tea relatively easily, recalling the distinctive logo you saw in his pantry.

You tuck the box under your arm as you wander to the snack aisle, your mind quickly gravitating to pretzel sticks. There were honestly too many things that you wanted to buy, but you remind yourself that this isn’t a proper grocery trip. You grab the large bag loosely, letting it hang from your fingertips as you walk through the store.

You rack your brain to think if you need anything else, but your mind stops when you see him.

It’s Joshua, standing directly in the middle of the family planning aisle. He’s not holding a box of condoms, but a bottle of prenatal vitamins instead. He’s looking intently at his options, but his eyes unknowingly stray to you for a moment.

You walk away before he can get a good look at you, the sight of it makes you want to abandon the tea and pretzels altogether.

She was pregnant.

The woman he cheated on you with was pregnant and it wasn’t going away. In fact, you had witnessed the final nail in the coffin, the proof that she was keeping the baby.

“Y/N, wait,” You hear him calling your name, but you have to keep walking toward the self checkout, you must in order to keep your sanity.

“Stop,” He eventually catches your arm and you turn around with a disgusted expression.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” You spit out at him.

“I didn’t want to tell you like this, I was waiting for the right time,” His response already seems defeated, as if he knew none of his words would satisfy you.

“When were you gonna tell me Joshua? When she was about to go into labor?” You’ve backed him into a metaphorical corner, he has to scramble for some excuse.

“I was gonna wait until the wedding,” he sighs, looking away from you briefly. You weren’t sure if you wanted to slap him or just curse him out in front of the entire store. You ultimately opt for something in the middle.

“The wedding!” You exclaim in a hushed tone, trying not to disturb the other patrons in the shop. “You,” you point the box of tea in his face, “are a fucking asshole.” You turn around again and walk faster towards the self checkout. You scan your items hurriedly, tuning out the automated voice in return for whatever Joshua wanted to say.

“I just wanted to give you closure, that’s all,” he replies in a hushed tone.

“How is that closure, Joshua? The man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with flaunting the fact that he got his mistress pregnant is not closure,” Your back remains turned to him as you swipe your card. The approval chime on the card reader fills the silence, you quickly bag your items and snatch it off the bagging area.

“I’m sorry.” He responds finally. You turn around to look at him again, stopping just short of the shop’s automatic doors.

“You’re not sorry, you’ve never been sorry. I’m happy for you though, really,” You force your voice to be even.

“Y/N, please,” It almost looks like he could cry, but it’s not possible to feel sympathy for him at the moment.

“You were always gonna be a good dad, I dreamed of the family that we could’ve had for months while we were dating,” You sigh when you think of the person you were almost 5 years ago, back when he was your entire future. You’re so grateful that he isn’t now.

“I just didn’t think it was gonna be at the expense of me in the process,” You turn away for the last time and walk through the doors with your head held high. The one time you should be crying, you can’t.

You simply take a few shaky breaths, you close your eyes to ground yourself again before opening them. You quickly spot Minghao’s car and knock on the window to signal your return, you hear the click of the lock shortly after.

“Everything okay?” You hear him as you sit in the passenger seat once again.

“Yeah, I got the tea.”

“Good. I saw you talking to Joshua for a second, what was he talking about?”

“I dropped something, he just ended up talking to me for a few minutes,” The lie feels too bitter to tell him, but you do it anyway for the sake of your own peace.

Minghao only nods again, not asking any further. You were again very grateful that he minded his business.

This secret would live within you, at least for another week until the wedding.

The gentle hum of the car on the road lulls you to sleep, but you can’t fight the tear that falls from your eye as you wander into unconsciousness.

The only thought in your head is you hope that the rehearsal dinner goes without a hitch.

Yet, you know in your heart that the impending news would likely unfold into a disaster.

#WHEW this took a while #but so worth it ugh #very excited for reactions #minghao smut #minghao x reader #the8 x reader #seventeen x reader #svt x reader #minghao fanfic #heartkyeom

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missymurphy1985 · 3 years ago

Text

The Extra (part 9)

Warning - illness, mentions of death

Authors Note - I have personal experience of this horrific disease - I hope I don't upset anyone with it, but it's a topic very close to my heart.

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @peakyciills @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @namelesslosers @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @cilleveryone @peaky-cillian @misselsbells06 @datewithgianni @heidimoreton

A month had passed since you'd deleted his number and blocked him. You were staring at the letter in your hand, shaking. You knew this day was coming, but you'd pushed it so far down that you had only truly thought about it when Cillian had told you he loved you.

You'd told Liane the truth. Why you couldn't commit to him, even though you desperately wanted to. Truth be told you'd fallen for him just as hard - and that's exactly why you'd pushed him away. It was bad enough you had to live with this, you couldn't force someone else to. She'd encouraged you to get tested - and you knew she was right. It was time you took your life in your hands once and for all. You'd spent too many years since your mother's and sister's untimely deaths burying it.

Picking up the phone, you dialled the number, heart pounding. The receptionist answered.

"Morning. My name is y/n y/l/n. I had some tests. I've had a letter to say the results are in?"

"Can I ask what the test was for?" The receptionist asked.

"My GP referred me. It's for the breast cancer gene. I'd like to know if I carry it."

"Let me check our records Miss Y/L/N. Yes, I have your results here. Would you be available to come in this afternoon? We've had a cancellation?"

"Can you not tell me over the phone?"

"I'm not allowed to, the doctor has requested to see you in person." Your heart lurched, that was never a good sign.

You immediately wanted to call Cillian, but remembered you didn't have his contact details any more. You called Liane instead. She would pick you up at 2pm and go with you to the appointment.

Sat in the waiting room, Liane held you hand to calm you. Your nerves were in tatters. This disease had already taken so much from you - your mum, your older sister, two cousins... You knew there was a strong chance it was going to take you, too. The doctor called you through.

"Your results are here y/n. And I'm pleased to inform you -"

"What?" You gasped. The doctor smiled and took your hands in hers.

"Y/n, you don't carry the gene. It isn't there - your chances of developing breast cancer are no higher than mine, or Joan Bloggs on the street. You're going to be okay." Even the doctor had tears in her eyes. Liane was gobsmacked. You just burst into tears.

"I'm not going to die?"

"Oh honey if I had the cure for that I'd be a millionaire!" She laughed, you did too. You felt like the world had just been lifted off your shoulders, taking a dark cloud with it. A dark cloud you'd been living with for nearly 10 years. The real reason you'd split with your ex. The reason you refused to get your breasts out for auditions. The real reason you backed away from a life in acting. You didn't see the point if you weren't going to be here for the long haul... But now?

Now you'd been given a new life. A new start. And your thrown away the best chance of happiness you'd ever had in one stupid click of a button.

Liane noticed your sadness in the car on the way home. You suddenly realised you weren't actually heading home though, you were on the M6 heading to Wolverhampton.

"Erm.. where are we going?" You asked, seeing the sign for Wolverhampton fly past.

"Road trip."

"Destination?"

"It's a surprise!! Do you trust me?"

"Always..."

"Then don't ask questions."

You rolled your eyes and figured you were probably en route to Bicester Village in Oxford. That was your happy place - a day of shopping, good food, few drinks in the evening... Before long though, your eyelids grew heavy. You always fell asleep on car journeys, this one was no different. Within ten minutes you were out cold.

You felt Liane nudge you gently, waking you. Opening your eyes, you looked around, expecting to see the car park. Instead you saw terraced houses, a green park, and a street sign with 'London Borough - Kilburn' on it.

"Why am I in London??" You asked. Liane shrugged her shoulders.

"Fancied a change - never been before! Just got on the motorway and drove. Been years since we've done that hasn't it! Just drove with no destination?" You grinned, remembering the random road trips you used to take years ago. You'd ended up all over the UK, even catching a ferry to Amsterdam one Friday night just because you were bored!

"So what's the plan?"

"Let's go explore!" She paid for the parking via an app on her phone and you both climbed out the car. The houses were all Victorian style and beautiful. The park was glorious - the sun shining on it beautifully. Liane suggested a picnic in the park first to line your stomachs, then cocktails.

"Aren't you driving us home later?"

"Yes - I'll be on the mocktails! Come on, let's go find food... There's loads of little deli places over there!"

Picnic done, it was cocktail time. Sadly, there didn't appear to be a cocktail bar anywhere near... But there was a nice looking pub over the road. Settling on a normal G&T, you both made your way over. Liane sent you inside to get the drinks while she sat in the beer garden out the back.

Heading outside with two G&Ts, you looked around for her but she was nowhere to be found. You quickly scanned inside again just to make sure you'd not missed her. Setting the drinks down on a bench outside, you waited. Must've gone to the toilet. Taking your phone out you sent her a text letting her know where you were.

Ten minutes passed - still no sign. You were worried now. A ping on your phone.

"For god's sake woman open your eyes and look in the corner!!" Liane... What the hell? You looked up and nearly dropped your phone. Sitting ten feet away from you, on his own... Holding his phone in his hand and staring at you the same way you were staring at him. In complete disbelief.

He looked back at his phone and shook his head. Both of you realising you'd been set up. Completely played.

He stood up, you were convinced he was going to leave but he didn't. He sat opposite you instead.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hey..."

"Can I talk before you do?" He asked. You nodded.

"I know... I didn't... Fuck this makes so much more sense in my head..." He laughed.

"Can I talk instead?" He nodded. You took a deep breath and told him the truth. About your family. The deaths. The illness. The tests.. and the results.

"That's why I pushed you away. That's why I push everyone away. But you were the first one I pushed that I regretted... I regretted it so much because no one had ever made me feel as alive as you did. No one made me float on air like you did. No one made me forget about this cloud hanging over me like you did..."

"You thought I'd leave you if you had the gene?"

"My Dad left when my mom was diagnosed. He couldn't handle it so he bailed. Wasn't a great role model."

"Your dad's a dick. I'm not." His brutal, dead pan response made you laugh. In fact you didn't just laugh, you were in hysterics. He laughed with you, and took your hands in his.

"If I promise not to tell you I love you, will you let me see you?"

"No."

"Erm... Okay?"

"I want you to tell me you love me, if you mean it. Then I'll decide."

"Y/N... I. Love. You. I fucking love you. I adore you. I've had the most miserable four weeks of my life thanks to you!" He laughed.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that.."

"It's okay. You can make it up to me."

"You're giving me a second chance?"

"I never gave up on the first one. But this time, we take it slow. Get to know each other. I'll start by asking if I can take you out to dinner tonight?"

"I have nothing with me... All my stuff's at home..."

"Fair enough. Then we have two choices. You go shopping with Liane and get yourself something.. or go home and we can arrange to meet another time?"

"I'm already here, and shopping was on our to do list. Dinner tonight sounds lovely."

"Unblock my number. I'll text you the details later, okay?" He finished his drink and pulled his jacket on, quickly typing a text as you unblocked his number. If only you'd known it was that easy to get his contact details again... The message pinged through.

"Thank you..." You smiled reading it. He leaned over and kissed your cheek softly, before walking away. Glancing back, smiling, as he left the pub.

Liane was with you in seconds.

"You sneaky little shit, how did you do this??" You laughed.

"Anto contacted me last week, said he was sick of Cillian moping. We kinda worked together... Are you mad at me?"

"Not at all. Where's Anto?"

"Right here." Anto appeared out of nowhere and you threw your arms around him.

"Thank you. For everything?"

"No need to thank me. This was Liane's idea. Bit of a rush to sort once you'd got those results but luckily you live 3 hours away and you sleep like the dead!" He laughed. "Now get yourself gone - you have a date to prepare for!"

#cillian murphy #cillian smut #cillian x fem!reader #cillian fanfic #cillian x smut #cillian murphy x smut

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years ago

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Five Fics Friday: Jan. 14/22

Happy Friday everyone!! So glad it’s the weekend... only been back to work for a week and I already need another holiday, LOL.

Hope you enjoy these fics, and please give some love to these new fics and authors in the Boosted fics, and a couple more added to my MFL list :) Cheers!

SIGNAL BOOSTING

Tonight's so very different by The_Spiral_Staircase (NR, 349 w., 1 Ch. || 221B Ficlet, Ill-Timed Love, Melancholy Memory, One Sided Pining, Angst, One Night Stand) – That a one-night stand can mean different things to different people is certainly no news, although it can be a hard-earned truth. Even for high and mighty Sherlock Holmes.

The Liar and The Lost by yesthankyouforyourinput (M, 38,459 w., 11 Ch. || Post TRF, Angst, Grieving, Depictions of Violence, Alcoholism, Established Relationship, Country Hopping, Depression, Guns, Anal/Oral Sex, Depictions of Torture, Blood, Injury, BAMF John, Slow Burn, Anderson's Fan Club) – 'You should take a look at this - A' And with that, John was on the next flight out. A cheap airport coffee in his hands and all of his necessary possessions in his backpack. If he was going after him, he had to be silent. Untraceable. He needed to find out what the hell was going on out there, even if it killed him. He had heard his call to action.

Emergency by EmeraldUrAFreak (M, 40,353 w., 24 Ch. || Teenlock AU || Teen Romance, Drug Use, Angst, Hospitalized John, Broken John, John Whump, Absent Parents, Sherlock Fixing John, Insecure John, Younger John, Older Sherlock, Helping Each Other, Papa Lestrade, Case Fic, Alternating POV, Mild Gore, Horror, Non-Graphic Violence, Corpses) – Recovering drug addict Sherlock Holmes meets supposedly permanently hospital stuck John Watson. As they become friends- and maybe even more - they have ups and downs finding out each other’s pasts. Sherlock is shocked at how deep John's goes resulting in a case of new stakes. Fixing old relations and creating new ones that are hard to keep in this dreadful time. They never knew what was waiting around the corner.

RECENT MFLs

My Heart Beats For You by jalexandria (M, 1,212 w., 1 Ch. || Hanahaki Disease AU || TLD Divergence, Angst, Non-Canonical Character Death, Sad Ending, Drugs, Pining Sherlock, Hurt John, Death Fic) – Things go very, very badly when John makes a horrible mistake.

Until the End of my Days by chervilspotatoes (M, 20,272 w., 20 Ch. || Merlin Crossover / Medieval Magical AU || Sorcerer Sherlock, Prince John, Pining Sherlock, Developing Relationship, Teenlock, Servant Sherlock, BAMF Sherlock, BAMF John, Heroic Sherlock, Misunderstandings, Alternating POV, Protective Greg, Love Confessions, Soul Bond / Mates, Happy Ending) – Sherlock learns to embrace his destiny as Prince John's protector, but soon realizes he is in love with the unavailable prince. However, this knowledge does not stop him from staying by John's side as John becomes king and faces unforeseen circumstances.

#johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #five fics friday

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Drug companies defend vaccine monopolies in face of global outcry (Washington Post) Abdul Muktadir, the chief executive of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical maker Incepta, has emailed executives of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax offering his company’s help. He said he has enough capacity to fill vials for 600 million to 800 million doses of coronavirus vaccine a year to distribute throughout Asia. He never heard back from any of them. The lack of interest has left Muktadir worried about prolonged coronavirus exposure for millions of citizens of Bangladesh and other low-income nations throughout Asia and Africa who are at the back of the global queue for shots. Drug companies have rebuffed entreaties to face the emergency by sharing their proprietary technology more freely with companies in developing nations. The companies are lobbying the Biden administration and other members of the World Trade Organization against any erosion of their monopolies on individual coronavirus vaccines that are worth billions of dollars in annual sales. The fights over vaccine supply are not just over a moral duty of Western nations to prevent deaths and illness overseas. Lack of supply and lopsided distribution threaten to leave entire continents open as breeding grounds for coronavirus mutations. Those variants, if they prove resistant to vaccines, could spread anywhere in the world, including in Western countries that have been vaccinated first.

Colorado marks latest mass tragedy after 10 killed (AP) A shooting at a crowded Colorado supermarket that killed 10 people, including the first police officer to arrive, sent terrorized shoppers and workers scrambling for safety and stunned a state that has grieved several mass killings. A lone suspect was in custody, authorities said. The attack in Boulder, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver and home to the University of Colorado, stunned a state that has seen several mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting. Monday’s midafternoon attack was the seventh mass killing this year in the U.S., following the March 16 shooting that left eight people dead at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.

COVID-19 strikes Brazil’s Congress as third senator dies (Reuters) A third senator has died of COVID-19 in Brazil, raising questions around precautions taken in the country’s Congress where as many as one-in-three lawmakers has been infected with the virus devastating Latin America’s largest nation. Senator Major Olimpio, a former policeman who backed and later fell out with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, was declared brain dead on Thursday by doctors at a Sao Paulo hospital where he had been in intensive care for three weeks. Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic, with by far the highest current daily death toll anywhere in the world. “People are very scared, and they are afraid to go to work,” said Silvio Ribas, a press secretary for Senator Lasier Martins, a 78-year-old politician who was released from hospital on Thursday after two weeks fighting COVID-19. At least 145 of the 513 members of the lower house have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 12 months, along with 31 of 81 senators, according to a survey by news portal Poder360.

Spain hopes number of foreign tourists will rebound to half pre-pandemic level this year (AP) Spain hopes the number of foreign tourists visiting its sun-kissed islands and picturesque villages can rebound this year to half pre-pandemic levels, Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said on Monday. “Maybe the ideal goal is ... to get half of the tourists we had in 2019. This, for the industry, would be an achievement,” she said in an event held by Europa Press news agency. In 2019, Spain had the world’s second highest number of foreign visitors at more than 80 million. This plummeted by more than 80% to 19 million tourists in 2020, the lowest level since 1969, as a result of the travel restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic. Tourism accounted for around 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and one job in eight.

Court orders French celebrity magazine to pay homeless man €40,000 (Le Parisien/France) Since its founding in 1949, the iconic French weekly Paris Match has published countless photos of the rich and powerful—and every now and then, a paparazzi shot might cost them. Last week, instead, the magazine was ordered to pay serious money to a homeless man for running a photograph of him without his permission. A court in Nanterre, west of Paris, ordered Paris Match to pay 40,000 euros to the man for running his picture. “Everyone, no matter their degree of celebrity, their wealth, their present or future occupation, has a right to privacy and enjoys exclusive right over their image which allows them to oppose its use […] without prior authorization,” the court wrote in its decision. The photo, published without the man’s consent in January 2018, showed the unnamed 48-year-old smoking crack cocaine on a metro platform in the French capital’s 18th arrondissement. Unlike other people in the photograph, his face was unblurred, the daily Le Parisien reports. Alerted by friends who recognized him in the Paris Match article, the homeless man sued the magazine: In May 2019, the magazine was ordered to pay him 10,000 euros in damages, but failed to remove the photograph from its website and app, resulting in an additional 30,000-euro fine last week. Le Parisien quoted the man as saying that he used some of the money to “help out friends” and that he now may be able “to get [his] wife and children back.”

Merkel Seeks Four-Week Lockdown Extension in German Setback (Bloomberg) Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed keeping German lockdown restrictions in force for another four weeks after Covid-19 cases rose beyond a level that may prompt government action to avoid health-care overload. The plan would extend and slightly tighten existing curbs through April 18, according to a chancellery draft seen by Bloomberg. Merkel and regional government leaders will discuss the proposals on Monday during talks on how to proceed with the lockdown amid an upward curve of infections in Europe’s biggest economy.

Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce U.S. dollar use (Reuters) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a visit to China on Monday with a call for Moscow and Beijing to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and Western payment systems to push back against what he called the West’s ideological agenda. Lavrov, on a two-day visit to China, is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart at a time when both countries’ ties with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden are badly strained. U.S. and Chinese officials on Friday concluded what Washington called “tough and direct” talks in Alaska, while Russia’s ambassador arrived back in Moscow on Sunday for consultations after Biden said he believed President Vladimir Putin was a killer. Russia is also braced for a new round of U.S. sanctions over what Washington says was its meddling in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Moscow denies. Speaking to Chinese media before the start of his visit, Lavrov said Moscow and Beijing were compelled to develop independently of Washington in order to thwart what he said were U.S. attempts to curb their technological development. “We need to reduce sanctions risks by bolstering our technological independence, by switching to payments in our national currencies and global currencies that serve as an alternative to the dollar,” Lavrov said, according to a transcript of his interview released on Monday. “We need to move away from using international payment systems controlled by the West.”

Turkey’s turmoil (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden joined with Europe to condemn Turkey over its decision to annul its ratification of an international treaty on preventing violence against women. Turkey’s exit from the treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention, brought thousands to Turkey’s streets in protest of the move. Turkey was one of the initial signatories and the first nation to ratify the convention. In a White House statement, Biden called the action “deeply dissappointing” and a “disheartening step backward.” The Turkish presidency released a statement on Sunday saying the convention had been “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality.” Turkey’s currency was also rocked on Saturday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired central bank governor Naci Agbal. The Turkish lira fell 15 percent against the U.S. dollar after the news broke.

In Myanmar’s hinterland, army uproots ethnic Karen villagers (AP) In the jungles of southeast Myanmar, the army was shooting and otherwise oppressing civilians long before last month’s military coup. This largely unseen repression continues even now. In the country’s remote southeast, an army offensive has driven as many as 8,000 ethnic Karen people to flee their homes in what aid groups say is the worst upheaval there for nearly 10 years. They’re now living in the jungle, with fears growing for their health and security, and no prospect of an early return. This crisis in the borderlands has been overshadowed by the deadly crackdown on the mass movement protesting the military’s takeover of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. But it also is a reminder of the brutal force Myanmar’s army has long used against civilians, and in particular the country’s ethnic minorities.

Think Covid’s Messed Up Your Travel Plans? Try Getting Into China. (NYT) Leave your partner and children behind. Quarantine for up to a month. Get inoculated with a Covid-19 vaccine from China, if you can find one. And prepare yourself for an anal swab. For the past year, people trying to go to China have run into some of the world’s most formidable barriers to entry. To stop the coronavirus, China bans tourists and short-term business travelers outright, and it sets tough standards for all other foreigners, even those who have lived there for years. The restrictions have hampered the operations of many companies, separated families and upended the lives of thousands of international students. Global companies say their ranks of foreign workers in the country have dwindled sharply. At a time of strained tensions with the United States and other countries, China is keeping itself safe from the pandemic. At the same time, it risks further isolating its economy, the world’s second-largest, at a moment when its major trade partners are emerging from their own self-imposed slumps. Other countries have their own travel restrictions, though few are as tight.

Dozens of towns isolated by flooding in Australian state (AP) Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues to inundate the country’s east coast. Around 18,000 people had been evacuated from flooding in New South Wales by Monday and emergency services feared up to 54,000 people could be displaced with rain forecast to continue until Wednesday. A year ago, vast swathes of New South Wales had been charred by unprecedented wildfires following years of drought that gripped most of the state. Some of the same areas were now being by inundated by one-in-50-year and one-in-100-year rain events. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said up to 38 parts of the state had been declared natural disaster areas. “I don’t know any time in our state’s history where we have had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic,” Berejiklian told reporters. “So, they are challenging times for New South Wales.”

Israel revokes permit of Palestinian foreign minister (Washington Post) Israel on Sunday revoked the VIP permit of the Palestinian foreign minister after he returned to the West Bank from a trip to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed. The move appeared to be Israeli retaliation for Palestinian support for the ICC’s war crimes investigation against Israel. A Palestinian official said Foreign Minister Riad Malki was stopped Sunday as he entered the West Bank from Jordan through the Israeli-controlled crossing. Malki’s VIP card was seized, the official said. Losing the VIP status makes it harder for him to move through Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank, and traveling abroad will require Israeli permission. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced earlier this month that she was opening an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel committed in the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip.

Small, cheap spy satellites mean there’s no hiding place (Economist) In the middle of last year, Ecuadorians watched with concern as 340 foreign boats, most of them Chinese, fished just outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (eez) around their country’s westernmost province, the Galapagos Islands. The law of the sea requires such vessels to carry gps-based automatic identification systems (ais) that broadcast where they are, and to keep those systems switched on. Some boats, however, failed to comply. This regular radio silence stoked fears that the boats concerned were sneaking into Ecuador’s waters to plunder its fish. Both local officials and China’s ambassador to Ecuador denied this, and said all the boats were sticking to the rules. In October, however, HawkEye 360, a satellite operator based in Virginia, announced it had detected vessels inside Ecuador’s eez on 14 occasions when the boats in question were not transmitting ais. HawkEye’s satellites could pinpoint these renegades by listening for faint signals emanating from their navigation radars and radio communications. HawkEye’s satellites are so-called smallsats, about the size of a large microwave oven. They are therefore cheap to build and launch. HawkEye deployed its first cluster, of three of them, in 2018. They are now in an orbit that takes them over both of Earth’s poles. This means that, as the planet revolves beneath them, every point on its surface can be monitored at regular intervals. Quilty Analytics, a research firm in Florida, expects the number of radio-frequency (rf) intelligence satellites of this sort in orbit to multiply from a dozen at the beginning of January to more than 60 by the end of next year.

Whoopsie, container overboard (Wired) Since November, at least 2,980 containers have fallen off cargo ships in the Pacific Ocean, in at least six incidents that have outfitted Davy Jones’ Locker with stocks of vacuum cleaners, frozen shrimp, some Kate Spade swag and more. Rising imports and bad weather have led to the above-typical cargo losses, as the 2,980 lost in the past few months is over twice the annual amount lost from 2008 to 2019. Bad weather is the main cause: the Essen attributed its 750 lost containers to “heavy seas,” the Eindhoven lost 260 containers after a blackout in the middle of a storm, and the Apus lost over 1,800 containers in gale force winds and large swells, one of the worst losses ever.

#headlines #news

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tepre · 5 years ago

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Hello! Would you mind if I ask you how you outline your fics? I’ve been trying to but I don’t know how to start

YEsSSSs OUTLININGGGGGG my favourite thing

ok this SO depends on the kind of fic/story you’re writing. For ‘Us, in Lieu’ for example I did no outlining because I wasn’t planning on….HAHA ANYTHING REALLY. But it was mostly because the progression of the story hinged on emotional/character development, and the plot/flashbacks were peppered in as supporting characters where necessary, for context etc, but that wasn’t what propelled the story.

I guess that’s the main question you start with: what propels the story? With GFD, it was this idea that they both had to go through various phases of NOT wanting and DESPERATELY wanting each other, and that it would take years for those to align. So the first barebones outline looked something like,

Harry –> hates D, is forced to be w him

Draco –> likes H, but H won’t give him a chance

Harry & Draco –> take distance

Draco –> is lovely and caring and H gets to see it from a distance

Harry –> OH NO now likes D

Draco –> has moved on, has someone else now

Harry –> pines for D/would do anything

Draco –> helpless for that vibe

Harry & Draco –> drawn back into each other’s orbit –> FINALLY COLLIDE

And over the course of a few days I filled in each bullet point with minor outlines for scenes, snippets of conversations I wanted them to have, etc. So if I’d have to write a fic where the PROPELLING ENGINE was, uhhhh, idk, they both want the DADA teacher position, and McG says OK you each a month-long trial to prove yourself, & you have to take turns teaching classes, my first question would be: why would either of them want to be a DADA teacher?

Answer:

Harry - has had a realisation that teaching is the only thing that makes him happy.

Draco - cares 0 about teaching, is bored in his life and with everyone and has had his OWN realisation that the only thing that has ever entertained him EVER was arguing with Harry Fucking Potter.

Conclusion:

Draco only tries for the job to be around/fight with Harry. We now have a dynamics where Harry cares A Lot about getting a thing, and Draco cares A Lot about annoying Harry. Ergo, Draco has a Secret Motivation. Ergo, the POV narration that would best suit this story is a Harry POV, where toward the end we get a frazzled confession from Draco that he just wanted to be close to Harry.

My second question would be, what narrative timeframe would best showcase these dynamics? Because we’re dealing with a story that comes pre-packaged in a time frame (”YOU HAVE 1 MONTH TO PROVE YOURSELF!!”), that answer is a given:

They arrive at Hogwarts.

A month at Hogwarts where they both try to out-teach the other

Something bigger than The Rivalry happens that forces Confession out of Draco

Resolution

This is the bare-bones of your outline. Now you can start asking questions that’ll fill in the fleshy parts. Like: what’s Draco’s teaching style vs Harry? Is Draco surprisingly good at teaching or not at all? How do we ramp up the tension so that it leads to an eventual conflict? Or even fun smaller details like: where do teachers sleep/what’s the accommodation like? Do they have to sit in on each other’s classes? Do we get to know the students well?? Will they root for either one of the teachers, will the students’ opinions be the ones that decide, in the end? And then you start getting an outline that looks more like this:

They arrive at Hogwarts [find out Harry’s motivation via flashbacks –> had a revelation last month, quit job as Auror, this is all he wants]. –> TURNS OUT –> SHARE GUEST QUARTERS?? Separate bedrooms but shared lounge space/showers. [D: “Oh a common room! Oh how nostalgic. Potter, quick, call me a brat and I’ll wrestle you to the ground, it’ll be grand, come on, I’m ready, do it.”]

Take turns teaching classes? Harry the Tues and Thurs classes, Draco the Weds & Friday classes. No DADA on Mondays. Harry –> thinks it’s a homerun. Turns out?? Kids are super INTO Draco’s DANGEROUS AS FUCK laissez faire approach [0 lesson plans, takes them out onto the fields and lets them blast clay pigeons in air wHILE EATING Bertie Botts in the stands and laughing & clapping whenever something goes wrong], whereas Harry is seen as the ‘safe by the books teacher’ [hermione’s helped him prep.]

TURNING POINT FOR HARRY –> needs to step it up!! –> STEPS IT UP (Bogart?? Brings in an animagus?? shows wandless magic?)

TENSION IN THE SHARED QUARTERS. Draco walking around in bathrobe?? Showers w door open?? Tries to get Harry to go to Hogsmead w him?? Harry is PISSED.

During one of Harry’s classes, Draco has a SNARKY COMMENT and Harry is like well if you’re so SMART come up here and demonstrate and idk stuff happens and it ends up being a DUEL full of SEXUAL TENSION and the students are all like :O :O :O

Back at quarters –> Harry is FURIOUS at how things got out of hand and he picks a fight and then it’s like they’re ABOUT TO DUEL AGAIN but instead of duelling it’s sort of a fight but instead of a fight Harry ends up pinning Draco to the door and then SUDDENLY TOTALLY UNEXPECTED they’re hardcore making out –> ILL ADVISED ROUGH SEX ON COMMON ROOM FLOOR.

Classes continue. Rivalry ramps up. They continue to have ill-advised sex in their shared lil space and then retreating to their private rooms & totally not talking about it.

They have ONE CLASS LEFT. DRACO DECIDES TO OUTDO HARRY ONCE AND FOR ALL. Takes his students too…?? Lake? Forest??? Favourite student gets accidentally HURT or in TROUBLE and Draco has to run to Harry for help and they RESCUE STUDENT, but after the whole adventure –> HARRY = SUPER PISSED W DRACO FOR PUTTING KIDS IN DANGER and if he REALLY wanted the job he’d never– Draco –> frazzled and FRUSTRATED and confession: “I didn’t even! I never wanted! I don’t care about the job! Who–why would I, god, I don’t–! I just–I just wanted to–!” / “What? You just wanted to what?” / “Be with you! I–I wanted–” [grimace like he’s angry, with himself or Harry or the mossy forest floor at large] “You. I was bored without you. God, life is boring. So boring! And I thought … I just thought …”

HARRY IS EVEN MORE FURIOUS OVER THIS CONFESSION. Avoids Draco for rest of day?? or two?? OR IT’s WEEKEND and that night Harry doesn’t hear Draco return –> 3am still awake, can’t sleep not knowing where Draco is?? –> GOES TO LOOK FOR HIM, STILL FURIOUS.

Finds him @ hospital wing, asleep by Favourite Student Who’s Now Recovering From Injury’s bedside (HARRY CANNOT BUT GO WEAK AT THIS). Wakes him up gently. INTENSE EYE CONTACT MOMENT. –> silent walk back to quarters. Then –> Harry kisses him and it’s gentle and sweeter than before –> takes him to bed in his own room and now it’s all sad and achy cuz Draco is hurty and wants him and now Harry KNOWS.

MONDAY!! McG calls them in to tell them results!! Draco tries to disqualify himself cuz he signed up under False Pretences. McG is like ABSOLUTELY NOT cuz guess what you’re actually a good teacher. Like your ass is CRAZY AF but the students love ya and they learn a lot. DADA is too wild for you but what’s up let’s put you on Potions, Harry congrats you’re our new DADA teacher.

Draco gets to have emotional moment over having found something he’s passionate about and realises that–fucking Harry aside–he hasn’t been bored AT ALL this past month.

THEY GET TO BE TEACHER HUSBANDS LIVING TOGETHER AT HOGWARTS YAY

THE END

This was the longest answer, I apologise, BUT I HOPE IT HELPED??!?!

❤️❤️❤️!

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axultraplus · 4 years ago

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50 Tips to starting your own business

These steps are what every entrepreneur must follow in order for his idea to be successful.

Get access to all of my Testimonials And Results

Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It is very stressful and demands practically all of your time and attention. On the other hand, it can also be a great personal and professional experience. Here are 50 tips to help you on your entrepreneurial adventure.

1. Discover your skills. Not everyone has what it takes to start a business, that does not mean that your idea is not brilliant, only that you may not have some vital personality characteristics to launch your company. Before investing time or resources, evaluate yourself and see if you have the typical skills of an entrepreneur.

2. Develop an idea. Don’t start a business just because something is hot or because you think marketing it will make you money. Develop a business concept that you are passionate about related to something in which you have some experience. Next, think of a product or service that you think will improve people’s lives.

3. Prove your credibility. Once you have an idea, discover how you can turn it into reality. Is the product something that people want or need? Can you make a profit selling it? Does it work?

4. Write a business plan. A solid business plan will guide you forward. You will also need it to present your idea to potential investors. It should include a mission statement, executive summary, company summary, product or service samples, description of your target market, financial projections, and cost of operations.

5. Identify your market. Even if you have detected some interest in your business, you need to do more homework. Evaluate the market so that you sell to the people who will surely make the purchase. Take a competitive evaluation.

6. Determine the costs. Do additional research and learn about standard costs within the industry. This will not only help you run the business more efficiently, but it will also be valuable information for investors.

7. Establish a budget. Once you determine how much money you will have to work with, find out how much you need to develop your product or service and create a marketing plan.

8. Find the right investors. You’re going to need some type of financing to get started, whether it’s from savings, credit cards, loans, venture capitalists, or donations. Find an investor who shares your passion, someone you think you can work with.

9. Listen to investors. Like it or not, they will have an opinion when it comes to your business. Listen to their advice and suggestions, but that doesn’t mean you have to do everything they tell you.

10. Have a great support system. You are going to invest a lot of time and resources in your new business adventure. Make sure your family agrees. They should be aware that this process will challenge them financially and emotionally.

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11. Determine the legal structure. Determine what is best for you: being the sole owner, having a partner, a limited liability company, an S corporation, a non-profit organization, or a cooperative.

12. Select your company name. Decide on a name that goes with your brand, then see if that’s available and if you can use it freely in your country and state.

13. Register the name of your business. If the name you want is available, register it as soon as possible in the corresponding offices.

14. Take advantage of resources at no cost. These can be social networks or even a person who offers you advice and experience to move your startup forward.

15. Buy insurance. Make sure you have the right insurance for your company. This can vary according to the type of business. If you work from home, make sure your insurance includes theft or damage to company assets as well as liability for damage related to it.

16. Fix the ledgers. Keep track of all the money that comes in and goes out of the business.

17. Choose the right location. Choose a location that suits the needs of your business, one that offers an opportunity for growth, the right level of competence, and proximity to suppliers. It must also be accessible to customers.

18. Don’t worry about an office. If you are not making a profit, do not be mortified by acquiring a space to work, you can do it from home.

19. The patent can wait. Patents can cost a lot of money. Pay this amount when you are sure you have enough clients to pay off the bills.

20. Be flexible. Odds are, your original idea will have to be modified. Being able to adapt and change something to offer the customer something they want will determine whether or not you will be successful.

21. Sare your ideas with friends and family. The people closest to you are the ones who will be the most honest with you about your idea. Feel free to seek their advice and suggestions.

22. Ignore the negatives. There is a big difference between constructive criticism and someone quickly saying that your business will fail. The best thing to do is ignore these people.

23. Don’t be angry. If your idea is rejected by clients or investors, don’t succumb to anger. Find out what they didn’t like, make adjustments, and come back to them once you’ve changed what they wanted.

24. Deliver the product or service quickly. Your business is a work in progress and if you launch a product or service quickly, you will be able to build a community of customers who can provide you with valuable feedback that will help you improve your offer. As the founder of LinkedIn says “If you are not ashamed of the first launch of your product, you made it known very late”.

25. Offer new products or services. If you already have clients make sure you take care of them by giving them new products or services.

26. Be patient. Always keep in mind that success will not happen overnight. It’s going to take you some time before you win anything.

27. Deliver more than they ask for at the beginning. Once you have a new client make sure you go the extra mile for at least the first month. You’ll have that customer hooked.

28. Post on your blog all the time. Don’t be ashamed to share your triumphs and struggles. Customers will enjoy your honesty.

29. Avoid fights with partners. If you have disagreements, fix the problems as soon as possible. Fighting can distract you from doing things right in business.

30. Don’t worry about losing a percentage of the company. An investor has acquired a share in your company. Recognize the fact that eventually at some point you will have to give up a portion of control of the business.

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31. Hire a copywriter. Unless you can write very well, hire someone to write the emails for the target customers. It will also help you with press releases and other things that will bring out company news.

32. Prepare for meetings. When preparing for your meeting with a client, read as much as you can about the industry, your competition, and that client’s company.

33. Make a meeting agenda. Have the targets you want to touch on hand. Mail that agenda to your colleagues before the meeting so they can prepare too. Make sure these goals are clear and understood by everyone.

34. Don’t be afraid of the competition. Do not speak ill of the competition when you are with clients or investors. There is no need to be pitied. In fact, talking this way may turn customers away from competitors who offer a product or service that you don’t. Remember, when the competition leaves, there will be a market for your business. Use that knowledge as inspiration to do things better than your rival.

35. Benefit from word of mouth. Nothing beats good word-of-mouth marketing. Let your friends, family, and influencers share what your product or service does.

36. Offer a customer experience. An experience includes sensory marketing. This means managing colors, lights, scents, and so on. Integrate all these sensations into your offer, in such a way that they conquer the senses of your consumers.

37. Network. Don’t be afraid to go out and show your face to the public, whether it’s at a conference or just hanging out with a friend on a Friday night.

38. Give impeccable customer service. Interacting with people is an important part of your job. Your business could win new customers because you made them feel important. For example, Zappos was not the first online store to sell shoes, but the company perfected its customer service and won over many buyers.

39. Make sure your website works. Potential customers want to know as much as possible about your business, so access to it should be quick

40. Don’t worry too much about your finances. Some of the best businesses were launched when the economic situation was not the best for the world, so don’t think twice and go for it!

Get access to all of my Testimonials And Results

41. Make sure customers pay the bills. Make sure you receive payment for your product or service. Instead of being taken advantage of, set a certain time to make the payment. It also won’t hurt to accept credit cards or have the option of having them pay directly on your website.

42. Find the right employees. Hire the right people for the position. Even if it’s your business, you won’t be able to deal with everything, so you need qualified people to complete the job.

43. Assign responsibilities. Delegate achievable tasks to your work team.

44. Honesty is the best policy. If you have any employee issues, make sure they are resolved. Nobody likes talking behind their back.

45. Remember that opposites attract. Hire people with skills and personalities opposite to yours. They will challenge you and bring new things to your business.

46. Say goodbye to your social life. You are going to spend a lot of time dedicated to your business. Even if you plan a night out with friends, you can leave early because a light bulb went out. The good thing is that these people will understand you.

47. Accept that you will be the last person to get paid. As CEO, you will be the last to receive a check, and that will be until you have the appropriate earnings.

48. Don’t expect success right away. Just because your business hasn’t made you a millionaire (yet) doesn’t mean your business is a failure. If you have received some kind of profit doing something that you are passionate about, it is a success story, right?

49. Accept when it’s time to retire. Failure is inevitable. If things aren’t working out and you’ve done all you can, put your pride aside and shut down. Something like this is not easy to accept but it is for the best.

50. Don’t just trust the advice of others. Although I offer to give you these tips, perhaps the most important is something I learned the hard way: Even if many people offer their help, realize that in the end, you are the owner of the business and the person responsible for its success or failure. of the same. If you know what worked, you will have the skills and knowledge to move your business forward.

#businesssmall business tips business advice small business small business owners small business advertising scaling a business grow your bus #business smallbusiness supportsmallbusiness businessowner businesswoman businessman womeninbusiness blackownedbusiness localbusiness smallbu

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crispturquoisewater · 4 years ago

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This blog begins where the end of my journey should have been, but instead, it looks evermore likely, and evermore hauntingly, like it is in fact, just the beginning.

I had imagined that after four months of brutal illness, a multitude of infections, and endless other issues, that the turning of the new year would entail a welcome wave of freedom from hospital, god-awful doctors, and the hell that I had been staggering through in order to try and get better. Instead, the New Year has brought new challenges, the continuation of unreseolved illnesses, and even worse, a hightened sense of arrogance and narcissism from certain doctors that make this journey utterly unbearable.

Whilst writing this first post, I am passing an astonishing amount of blood, my back hurts, my bones feel like they’re broken they’re so painful, my feet are swollen and hard to walk on, and despite all of this, my doctor will not refer me to a nephrologist because it is “not his job”. I shall come to explain.

You wonder; when doctors took an oath to act within their patient’s best interest at all times, did they ever intend to adhere to that? Did they start off well and distend into a world of atrocity and cruel narcissism, acquiring a raw sense of vulgarity along the way? Either way, his leaving me to get sicker, in order to prove a point, is abhorrent and negligent.

Here’s what happened this week...

About 6 months ago, I started peeing large amounts of blood. Sometimes the urine sample would show infection, sometimes it wouldn’t. I got treated over 8 times with antibiotics, but after three months of repeated bloody urine, agonising pain in my back, swollen feet and a distended belly (in my opinion everything pointed to issues with my kidneys), and no infection showing, I told the surgery that I thought it was time that I was referred to a specialist - because constantly pissing blood is surely not normal. It’s beggars belief that after months of bleeding my doctors’ didn’t take the initiative to refer me themselves or even try to look into the issue further - instead of keep sending the sample off for cytology and getting the same results.

I got referred to Urology - even though the symptoms suggested it was my kidneys and the doctor actually asked if I had ever seen a nephrologist, they only referred me to urology - and after being throughly checked, the urology consultant sent a letter to my surgery and asked the GP to please refer me to nephrology, because the bleeding is clearly not right but is not coming from my bladder.

What happened next is, to say the least, astounding.

After spending a morning in hospital earlier this week (as many days are spent, now), the blood results showed that my white bloods, neutrophils and inflammation markers had raised from bloods taken 10 days before (I was in hospital for a ten-day follow-up because the week before I had developed a bad rash from new drugs I am taking for adrenal insufficiency). I said to the ER doctor that I had started passing loads of blood again that day (it comes and goes), and asked him to do a dip-test. He refused. He said that he didn’t want to give me more antibiotics and therefore, he didn’t want to test the urine to see if there was an infection. 🥴I don’t want anymore drugs. In fact, at this point, I think it’s probably dangerous to give me more antibiotics when they’re clearly not working. But surely, it’s not right for me to be passing so much blood and for the doctor to not even acknowledge it or try to find out what is going on. In fact, he didn’t even mention it in his discharge letter. I was happy not to spend any longer in hospital, but I left feeling slightly confused and, yet again, defeated. I find it bizarre that my bloods are showing an infection, along with bleeding profusely and yet I am told it is normal. I hate to dispute it, but I raised my questions, was told that the rise in bloods were due to my drugs (even though through multiple infections my inflammation markers have never risen and I know it isn’t my drugs because my dose has gone down, now up), and left.

If there is one way that this horrendous period of illness has made me feel, it’s defeated. As well as a feeling of being gagged and silenced and as though I could be screaming into the abyss, telling the doctors what is wrong, whilst being patted on the head, with a derisive smirk plastered across their faces, as they snigger and repeat, ‘there, there’. It’s been emotionally, physically and psychology horrendous.

After my midweek morning in hospital, I spoke to my GP that afternoon. I needed to ask him to make the referral to the nephrologist, as requested by the urologist in the letter. Nothing is ever done off the surgery’s own backs - even blood results that require attention takes for the patient to call up and prompt them to be looked at. I had called earlier in the week to ask for the referral to be made to the same hospital that I had been seen at for Urology, but I was told by the secretary that I would have to speak to a doctor for the referral to be made. Queue the 8am rush, and over 100 phone calls to try and get an appointment.

So, after three days, on the afternoon of the morning I had spent in hospital, my GP called me. Immediately, his tight, clipped tone was ready to bite. I explained that the Urologist had asked the surgery to refer me to nephrology in the letter and asked for the referral to be made. However, before I could finish my sentence, he told me that there was no letter on the system. He clearly had not looked. I explained that there was definitely a letter on the system because I get a copy and the secretary had printed their copy two days before, on the Monday. He looked again and miraculously, he found it, but not without making comment that it was in the “wrong” format. Of course, that was the reason.

I sat quietly whilst he read. And then, with an outraged scoff, he angrily spat that the referral should have been made internally and that it was solely down to “abject laziness” from the hospital that it had not been done. He told me that it was not his job to do it and, despite me bleeding heavily from what looks to be my kidneys, being in excruciating pain and feeling very sick, he told me that he would send the letter back to Urology and tell them to do it themselves. I was dumbfounded. But as ever, as with many who have had to undertake the constant battle of dealing with doctors through complex illness might be familiar with, I had to be the one to keep the cool head and stay calm.

I told him that when I had the conversation with my urology consultant, that she said it was for the surgery to make the referral, so I understood it was for them to do. He replied “absolutely not” before accusing the hospital of “workload shifting” and telling me that patients “choose to believe” that it is for the surgery to make the referral to another specialist. As it stands, I’m pretty sure that when one specialist has finished with you, the discharge letter has to come back to the surgery and the surgery has to be the coordinator, to refer you to the next specialist. But my GP was adamant that the hospital was lazy and useless and that they were the cause of any delay I might suffer.

Given how ill I have been, the amount I have been through, being immunosuppressed and any infection potentially being critical, I was flabbergasted that he was refusing to make the referral because he wanted to prove a point. I explained that whilst the two (the hospital and the surgery) disagreed, I was the one stuck in the middle whilst getting more sick. He said “I know” but told me that they had to learn to do it right.

I emailed the hospital the next morning, telling them his opinion and begging them to please make the referral. I followed up this email with a phone call on Friday morning, but as yet, have heard nothing. It’s always such a battle, and that, along with the already horrendous and draining existence of illness and constant hospital, makes everything so much worse. Multiple times I have told the surgery I am struggling with the stress of all of this, but despite offering help, or even acknowledging my concerns, they continue to play me like the ball against their two bats.

It’s Saturday evening and I am bleeding so heavily that I’m having to wear a sanitary as if I’m on a period. I feel sick. I’m in pain. And I have absolutely no idea where to turn anymore. Family have told me to go to ER but they will simply tell me that I’m waiting to see a specialist, which, currently I’m not because the referral hasn’t even been made.

The day after speaking to that GP, I spoke to another one. I told him that I needed my urine dipped. I handed in my blood-drenched urine and got told there was no infection but that it would be sent away to cytology anyway, just in case. I wonder what the protocol for these doctors is, when a young female patient is bleeding continuously, at times of no infection, with raised white blood counts and inflammation markers? Because all I am being faced with, is silence. I don’t even have the confidence to go to hospital anymore, because I feel as though I will be ignored.

And so, I am sitting here, desperate for the bleeding and pain to stop, but with no idea how.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 13, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

As of today, the United States has more than 16 million confirmed coronavirus infections, with more than 200,000 cases diagnosed every day. We are closing in on 300,000 deaths from Covid-19. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration gave Emergency Use Authorization to the coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. Today, Pfizer began to ship the first of about 3 million doses of vaccine from its facility in Michigan. Pfizer will be working with UPS and FedEx to send the vaccines around the country.

The first to get the vaccine will be high-risk health care workers. Along with them, White House staffers who work close to Trump will be among the first to receive the vaccine, to prevent more of them from becoming ill with Covid-19 after so many of them have become sick in the past months. There has been a backlash to this information, as critics note that the administration has downplayed the virus, officials have refused to wear masks, and the White House has held large gatherings that turned out to be superspreader events, so the idea that Trump staffers will now take scarce vaccines doesn’t sit very well. After the New York Times broke this story, Trump tweeted late Sunday night that he has asked for staffers not to get the vaccine immediately, “unless specifically necessary.”

Still, the eagerness of Trump administration officials to take it might help convince reluctant Americans that the vaccine is safe. The Biden-Harris team has already launched a drive to educate people about the vaccine, worried that the Trump administration’s downplaying of the virus has set that effort back significantly. While a president-elect generally stays quiet in the weeks before taking office under the principle that America has only one president at a time, Biden is indicating that he will not stay silent in the face of mounting deaths the White House refuses to acknowledge. "We’re in the teeth of the crisis right now," the president-elect said Friday. "This nation needs presidential leadership right now. … You know, we… have to face it head on.”

To combat widespread skepticism about the vaccine, Biden is highlighting trusted public health experts like Anthony Fauci, as well as other well-known figures who have agreed to be vaccinated on television. Biden’s team is also working with the Advertising Council, a nonprofit organization of advertising agencies that produces public service announcements, to launch a $50 million advertising campaign in the new year. This effort is late getting started and has been hampered by Trump’s politicization of the vaccine process, which led executives from both Pfizer and Moderna, the companies with the most promising vaccines so far, to skip Trump’s “vaccine summit” at the White House last week.

Aside from his aggressive action to combat the coronavirus, an evaluation of Biden’s nominees tells us a great deal about what we can expect of his administration. He has chosen institutionalists with a great deal of experience, and with a general bent toward fairness in government. So, for example, Dr. Janet L. Yellen, Biden’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, has served as chair of the Federal Reserve and chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and her hallmark was always her defense of wage workers at a time when leading Republican lawmakers insisted that building the economy meant cutting taxes for those at the top of the economy.

Yellen is known to support lower interest rates, which tend to boost borrowing and thus the economy, but also worries about the extraordinary debt under which the country now labors. The budget deficit in 2020 was $3.1 trillion, and the debt is more than $20 trillion, which means that more than $52 billion of our tax dollars every year go into paying interest on the debt. That amount is as much as the combined budgets of the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and State. Yellen has suggested that she sees a need to raise taxes—which heartens progressives—and to cut retirement programs, which horrifies them. She worries about the long-term effects of the rising debt as baby boomers age, doubling spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Last year, Yellen told the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Fall Conference that she thinks our financial issues “will not be solved without some additional revenues on the table, but I also find it hard to believe that it won’t be solved without some changes to those programs…. So this is certainly something that people in this audience should have in their sights as something that will greatly affect the well-being of our cohort or, more likely, our children.”

This moderation is cheering former Republicans, like Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post, and making progressives despair. But Biden’s picks seem to be less about indicating the content of his administration than indicating he plans to have an administration in the first place. He seems to be signaling that he intends to rebuild the framework of the government that Trump has dismantled in his four years. As for what comes once that framework is rebuilt, his choice of California Senator Kamala Harris—the first woman, and the first woman of color, on a presidential ticket-- as his running mate suggests he is not signaling a return to the past. Biden has always been famous for being in the middle of the Democratic pack, and will move to the left or the right according to what he hears from the public.

The president-elect is rushing to jump into the presidency in the face of a leadership vacuum as Trump continues to stew over his election loss and to plot yet more ways he can try to overturn the results. All those options are weaker than the ones that have already failed. That’s not to say damage isn’t being done: yesterday, Trump supporters who refuse to accept his defeat roamed U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C, where last night, people were assaulted, 33 were arrested, and four stabbed.

It is not clear what is going to happen to the Republican Party with Trump demanding loyalty even as he is losing battle after battle after a very clear defeat in the election, and his base turning violent. Those lawmakers who have signed on to Trump’s attack on our democratic processes have painted themselves into a corner along with the extremist Trump base, and their strategy might weaken them politically.

In an important move today, evangelical leader Beth Moore, the founder of Living Proof Ministries, a Bible-based women’s group from Houston, Texas, who has almost a million followers on Twitter, tweeted: “I do not believe these days are for mincing words. I’m 63 ½ years & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it…. Fellow leaders, we will be held responsible for remaining passive in this day of seduction to save our own skin while the saints we’ve been entrusted to serve are being seduced, manipulated, USED and stirred up into a lather of zeal devoid of the Holy Spirit for political gain….”

Moore follows this weekend's statement by evangelical Karen Swallow Prior, who said she was “now embarrassed and ashamed” for voting for local and state Republican candidates (although she had never voted for Trump). “What a bunch of money-grubbing, power-hungry, partisan cowards who care nothing about conservatism,” she tweeted. Conservative journalist David French also wrote this weekend that “the frenzy and fury of the post-election period has laid bare the sheer idolatry and fanaticism of Christian Trumpism.”

If evangelicals return to their traditional stance that politics corrupts religion, the modern-day Republican Party is in trouble. In this year’s election, about 80% of white evangelicals supported Trump. They make up 15% of the U.S. population, but because they turn out in huge numbers, they provided about 40% of Trump’s votes in 2020. Since the Reagan years, white evangelicals have been a crucial part of the Republican base. If they are starting to rethink their loyalties, it will be a game changer.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#quotes #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #political #election 2020 #COVID-19

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dragonsaphirareads · 5 years ago

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Falling Petals

Day 8 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary!

Ship: Loceit

AU: Canon/Hanahaki

Word Count: 2403

Summary: Logan starts coughing up flower petals one day and he has to figure out what to do before it’s too late.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

It was during their weekly movie night that Logan first felt the itch. Something brushing against the inside of his lungs, causing small coughs as he tried to discreetly dislodge whatever it was without disturbing the others too much. He stood to go get a glass of water, to try and force a change, and that was when the nausea hit.

He ran to the bathroom, the door loudly slamming shut in his haste. He collapsed in front of the toilet, barely having the forethought to make sure his glasses didn’t come off as he heaved. It was a violent feeling, like he’d coughed so hard that he’d forced the contents of his stomach back up, but nothing wanted to come out.

Logan stayed there, changing between coughing and heaving until finally he felt something dislodge and stick in the back of his throat. Against his better judgement, he stuck his hand in his mouth to pull out whatever it was that was causing this.

He couldn’t help but stare at it in amazement and growing horror. How was this possible?

Sitting pretty in the palm of his hand, was a single yellow flower petal.

Logan froze where he heard a knock on the door, and Patton’s worried voice from behind it. “Logan? Is everything alright?”

He cleared his throat - the itch had only momentarily gone away, and was beginning to build again. “I’m perfectly fine, Patton. I believe I reacted poorly to the amount of junk food I’ve consumed in the last hour.”

Patton hummed through the door, not sounding fully convinced. “Really? You’ve never had that happen before... Are you getting sick?”

Logan got to his feet, locking his knees so his legs wouldn’t shake, and he crushed the petal before dropping it into the toilet bowl and flushing it. He then opened the door and forced his face into a neutral expression. “I’m certain. I do believe I’ll retire for tonight though. If I am ill, that will be for the best.”

The fatherly side pursed his lips, and when Logan looked past him, he could see the other two turned on the couch to look at him. “If you’re sure it’s just that... can I bring you anything?”

Logan shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine, go ahead and finish the movie without me.”

He felt three pairs of eyes following him as he ascended the stairs, and there was a heavy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach that did not pair well with the itch in his lungs. Even if he had wanted to sleep, he wasn’t sure he would be able to in this state.

Instead, he grabbed his laptop and began meticulously searching online for any information on what was happening to him. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get his answer.

“Hanahaki disease?” Logan muttered aloud, reading the paragraph to himself. “‘A fictional disease where the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love.’ One sided love? What kind of joke is this?”

This couldn’t be real. Yes, the sides had gotten sick before, but it was always in the vaguest of ways. Their symptoms were unique to who they were and what the issue was. They had never suffered from a cold, much less a fictional illness that existed in derivative fiction written about fictional characters!

It had to be wrong. But every attempt to find another explanation kept bringing him back to this ‘hanahaki disease’, as well as resources about the language of flowers.

He hissed air through his teeth, rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hand. Then his lungs began to itch again, and he launched into another coughing fit which ended with several more yellow flower petals in his hand.

It was impossible, but he couldn’t deny that every piece of evidence was pointing towards him having this disease. Perhaps it was fictional, but there had been weirder things they’d done and had done to them in Thomas’s videos.

For a moment, he let himself laugh at the irony that he was the one who’d come down with the illness. Of anyone to suffer from one-sided love, of course it would be him. It was ridiculous, but as more petals filled his mouth, he decided that he didn’t have much time to laugh at his situation.

In a way, he’d known that something like this was coming. He’d started to notice recently that his body reacted extremely whenever he came into contact with a certain lying trait. His heart would begin to race, his palms would get sweaty, and it was significantly harder to form proper sentences when Deceit met his eyes.

All signs pointed to him having developed a crush. He hadn’t told anyone else - Roman and Patton were still wary of the snakelike side, and Virgil clearly had an unresolved history that he had no interest in reopening any time soon.

Logan had been ready to write it off, to let the feelings die off naturally as Deceit showed no sign of reciprocating the strange new emotions he was having. But now, as he scanned more and more sources, he realized that wasn’t an option anymore.

There were only two ways to get rid of the disease. The first was to confess their love, and have it reciprocated. There were conflicting sources on what would happen if the subject of the feelings didn’t feel the same way, but they all agreed the result was not desirable.

But it was nothing compared to if the disease was allowed to progress without treatment. According to the sources Logan found, Hanahaki caused flowers to bloom in the lungs. If nothing is done about the illness, those flowers would spread and become thorny and rough, eventually causing internal bleeding and then... death.

Logan snapped his laptop shut and threw the covers over himself as he heard footsteps outside in the hall, and only a second later he heard the door open and light spilled in from the hall.

“Logan? Are you still awake?”

The logical side stayed still, and soon enough the door was softly closed and Logan was left alone.

He didn’t sleep, though. The entire night, he pondered over his situation, and his various options. He could certainly confess his love, but what would it mean for Thomas if Deceit didn’t feel the same way?

What would it mean if he did?

On the other hand, Logan would be putting his host in even more danger if he didn’t do anything about it. Could he die? He wasn’t exactly human, but he was able to get sick, apparently. Would another Logic come to take his place, or would it be like the time Virgil ducked out, but permanent?

He couldn’t take that risk, he realized. It was a given that he would deteriorate if he didn’t take any action. It was worth the risk of confessing, as embarrassing as that would be.

Logan’s heart raced at the idea. He couldn’t do it out of the blue - he knew his nerves would get the better of him if he simply approached Deceit tomorrow. But he couldn’t wait too long, or his health would begin to suffer and his friends would most certainly notice. He calculated he had probably a week, maybe two before he would have to tell them.

They were filming a video a week from today, and Deceit was featured prominently in that script. That was when he would do it, Logan decided. After they had wrapped up for the day, Logan would ask to speak with Deceit alone, and that’s when he would confess.

He had a plan, and he would follow through no matter the possible consequences. It was in Thomas’s best interest, after all.

The week went by agonizingly slow. Every day more flower petals came from his lungs, increasing in frequency and quantity by the hour. On Wednesday, a full flower bud forced its way into his throat, and disposing of that under Virgil’s watchful eye was a difficult task.

They knew something was up. Logan would be foolish to think he could completely hide his condition from them. But he’d been able to fend off their questions, and he’d made it to Friday.

A few minutes before they needed to rise up and start filming with Thomas, Patton grabbed Logan’s arm and gently pulled him to the side.

“Logan... I’m really worried about you. You’re so pale, and you’ve been running to the bathroom every other minute for the last week. And don’t think I didn’t see those bloody tissues in the trash. What’s happening, Logan? This isn’t just a little stomach bug like you’ve been saying.” Patton mumbled, his grip tightening as he spoke.

Logan sighed. Of course Patton noticed, and of course he had to pick today of all days to confront him about it. If he could have just waited until tomorrow... hell, if he could have just waited a few hours, everything would have been fine!

He opened his mouth to answer Patton, to tell him everything was fine and he was on the mend, but it was then that his lungs violently spasmed and he doubled over from the force of it. Logan had to open his mouth and just let the petals fall as he coughed and hacked to Patton’s growing horror.

“Logan! What’s happening?!”

“Ha... Hana...”

“Hana-what? Logan, please, you need to go lay down!”

Logan shook his head, panting as he wiped at his mouth. “No, I can’t... that won’t help... I need to... need to speak... with Deceit...”

Patton grabbed his shoulders, fingernails digging into his skin. “What? Why Deceit? Logan, please, you need to rest!”

“Patton, please! I have a plan, it’s fine! This isn’t a normal sickness that one can just rest from and recover! It’s called Hanahaki, and it could kill me if I don’t speak with Deceit, who’s currently waiting for us to rise up and start shooting with him!”

The moral side was panicked, but Logan had to pull away before he insisted for a third time that he go lie down. He closed his eyes, ready to muster the energy needed to rise up and face what he needed to do, but before he could, they felt the air change and the other two sides appeared beside them.

“We’ve gotta find Deceit.” Roman announced, and both Logan and Patton stared at him.

“What? Isn’t he with Thomas?”

The prince shook his head. “No, he never showed up, and then my brother popped up and said he’s refused to leave his room for weeks now.”

“And I was not going to let Thomas go there himself, so we’ve gotta go see what he’s sulking about.” Virgil added, his hands in his pockets.

In his room for weeks?

Logan stumbled away from them, towards the stairs and towards the hallway that lead to Deceit’s room. He nearly tripped as he picked up the pace, and he heard his friends call after him and then come running after him as well.

It was pitch black in the dark sides’ part of the Mindscape, but Logan could see a figure standing in front of the doorway, his piercing orange eyes the only spot of light in the darkness.

“Obsession.” Logan greeted, coughing up another batch of flower petals. Obsession’s eyes darted, and Logan knew he was able to see in the dark and so knew exactly what he was going through.

“Oh, this is too good.” The orange side snickered, stepping aside from the door and knocking on it from behind his back.

A weak voice answered from inside. “Go... away...”

“Someone’s brought you flowers, Dee! Isn’t that nice? Won’t you let him in?”

Logan didn’t have the energy to glare at Obsession, instead moving to open the door. There was something blocking it, but even in his weakened state he was able to force it open.

Deceit’s room was softly illuminated by glowing golden spheres hanging in the air, which allowed Logan to see just what sorry state Deceit had fallen into.

He was lying in bed, a mountain of ratty blankets piled on top of him. His eyes were half-lidded, and he didn’t even seem to register that Logan was in the room at first. There was a pile of something on the floor beside the bed, and when Logan sank to his knees beside it, he realized they were flowers.

Dark blue flowers and flower petals, to be exact.

“Deceit...” Logan whispered, feeling that telltale itch building up in his throat. The other side stirred, his golden eye glowing in the dim light.

“L-Logan? Why... are you here?”

The logical side couldn’t help but smile. “I heard you were feeling ill. And... I also needed to tell you something, and seeing you like this has caused my fears about it to dissipate.”

Deceit blinked slowly, trying to digest his words. “Because... I’m sick?”

“Because you seem to be suffering from the same thing I have been for the past week. Although... you seem to be much further along than I am...”

“Two... months...” Deceit mumbled, then his eyes widened and he tried to shift out from under the blankets, with little success. “W-Wait... the same... thing?”

Logan’s heart was racing, but he leaned in closer to Deceit, meeting his eyes. “A disease born from one-sided love... but it appears it wasn’t unrequited after all.”

“Logan, are you... saying...?”

“I’m in love with you, Deceit. I have been for a long time, but I was not ready to admit it to myself until recently.”

Deceit blinked again, dragging in a shuddering breath. “I... I love... you... too...”

Then he slumped, having exhausted the little energy he had. Logan stood, cradling Deceit’s head as he sat down on the bed and laid it in his lap. Deceit squeaked in surprise, but Logan’s fingers started carding through his hair and all the tension in his body released as the snakelike side fell into a deep, comfortable sleep, the thorns in his lungs dissolved the moment Logan had uttered the words.

Logan stayed there for hours, soon falling asleep himself as he enjoyed the freedom from the itch in his lungs, and the comfort from the warmth growing in his heart.

For so long he’d disparaged it, but perhaps love wasn’t so bad after all.

#loceit #logan sanders #deceit sanders #tsshipmonth2020 #saphira writes #saphira writes ts

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aparecium-hq · 4 years ago

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Welcome to Aparecium, Ira! You have been accepted for Justin Vane. Justin sounds like he has so much wonderful potential, and Kat and I can’t wait to see him interact with other characters, especially the other Quidditch players. Check out the new member checklist, and jump right in.

Character Basics

Birthday (Age): 25

Gender (Pronouns): He/Him

Sexuality: Straight

Blood Status: Halfblood

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Occupation: Quidditch Player: Chaser for the Montrose Magpies

Faceclaim: Tyler Posey

Biography:

The War had changed Romilda Vane. Once a bubbly air-head who thrived on gossip and the trivialities of teenage life, facing certain death and defending her school set her off on a journey to find her purpose. She backpacked across Europe - both magic and non-magic - with strangers who became friends. Though living like a muggle was extremely difficult at first, she was never one to give up on a challenge. Her true Gryffindor seemed to shine through. This is where she met and married a muggle, and had Justin soon after.

Justin was only 2 when his father abandoned the pair, and he never heard from the man in his life. Though it was just mother and son, Justin never felt like he was missing out on much. Quite the opposite, he was in fact the apple of his mother’s and grandparent’s eyes. His early days were spent reading about magical and muggle history (including his mother’s own works), playing wizard’s chess with his grandfather, being the center of their little village’s attention, and flying around on his Nimbus.

Going to Hogwarts was the most natural of transitions - Slytherin house was definitely a place where he would thrive. And thrive he did. With his cunning and charismatic words and resourcefulness, Justin was the favorite of many house-mates and teachers alike. But what really differentiated him was his singular, almost blinding focus on one thing: Quidditch. Though he had no known Quidditch players in his family, Justin became one of the youngest players to ever make the house team as Chaser. Even when other Slytherin players would sometimes find their way to the pack through bribes or influence, no captain dared bump “Vane, 09”’s spot for someone else. When his grandmother died in his 5th year, his focus on the game only became stronger. He passed with the bare minimum in his academics and chased his ambition with even more conviction. Upon graduating from Hogwarts, Justin cut a deal with the best team in the League - The Montrose Magpies. The first few years out of school were him living his dream. Though his grandfather passed away, Justin was satisfied that he had gotten to see his grandson become a star. People were soon lining up to get his autograph and some rare “fans” would even track down his home address every four months or so.

Of course, being a star quidditch player so early in the game, Justin couldn’t help leverage the popularity. He garnered a repute for being a casanova, something he carried over from his days at Hogwarts. Though it never became anything serious with anyone. It was all mostly for a bit of fun and sometimes to satisfy his own ego. Girls found themselves in bed or on dates with him, but never once did he bring anyone back home to the Vane residence.

Justin loved every second of being a Quidditch player - being on the road, developing a bond with his team, the crazy fans. But most of all, he loved the sport. His dream life was, however, halted abruptly when Romilda became severely affected by illness.

To care for her, Justin has recently taken a hiatus from Quidditch. To their relief, a new hybrid technology apparatus at St. Mungo’s is showing positive results and his mother is getting better by the day. Given his history and values, he is quick to trust this new technology and welcome it into their life. Being one of the most successful Quidditch players on the scene and the son of a prominent writer on muggle subjects, Justin’s voice is quite influential. With the changing environment, he has been put in a unique position of power. Being a Slytherin, you can bet that he will play his cards exactly right.

Character Questionnaire

How does your character feel about their family? Justin’s personal ambitions and needs are second to one thing and one thing only - his family. His mother is the most important person in his life. Before their deaths, he shared a close relationship with his grandparents, with his grandfather often filling in the gaps of his father. They were the reason he didn’t completely fall off the rails at school. On the other hand, they are also the reason he became a little cocky and entitled, though they did their best to keep him grounded in his later years. He feels that he owes everything to his family, and considers himself kind of lucky that he did not have to take his father’s name so he can carry the Vane legacy forward.

How would your character describe their own work ethic? Is that an accurate measure of themself? Justin would describe himself as “keeping up” with the needs of being a Quidditch player. However, this is far from the truth. Justin has optimized almost every area in his life to become a better player - on and off the ground. He follows a strict diet and gave up alcohol almost as soon as he has started drinking it. He works out every single day and spends a minimum of an hour on a broom, a habit he has not missed for a day since his 6th year when he was made Slytherin Captain. Even socially Justin makes sure that he’s up to date with what’s going on with who so that a simple lunch date can turn into a stronger bond with his teammate, his coach, or whoever. His work ethic is very much a good measure of himself. Of course, he is a gifted player. But Justin doesn’t take that for granted even for a second, fearing it could go away in the blink of an eye. This is what fuels him to work so hard every day.

How would a stranger who has just met your character describe them? A little conceited, definitely cocky, yet charming in a way that puts you off at first but makes you smile eventually.

Para Sample

“Mum, please. Stop trying to get up, will you?” Justin pleaded. Romilda’s frail figure couldn’t support itself as she reached out her hand to the brown box at the foot of her bed. “I told you, I’ll read you your beloved fan mail.” Sweat was dripping down his jersey as he sat on the other side, taking out a letter and reading the cover. He looked at his mother, confused.

“I’ve read plenty of my own fan mail.” A sly smile was at her lips. “Go on then, I’m listening.” Justin chuckled but began reading. “Dear Justin, I think I’m in love with you. I have watched every match you’ve ever played. I think about you all the time. I live in Little Haggleton, and nothing of importance ever happens in my town. All the boys are off working at the Ministry or managing shops. It’s so boring, I could die.” He paused and looked up, sporting a look which said ‘don’t make me read more.’ Romilda raised her brows, nodding. Her smile was growing wider with every word. “Attached to this letter is the address of a pub I go to every Friday evening for drinks and a picture of me. If you like it, please consider coming to meet me.” Justin paused once more, raising a brow at Romilda. She nodded again. “I would love to marry you.”

No sooner had he finished his sentence, Romilda began to laugh. He couldn’t contain himself either, rolling his eyes. “Show me the picture, maybe she’s pretty.” “Absolutely not. Please stay in bed so I can reject all future marriage proposals at my own discretion.” “Well she’s got a point, Little Haggleton is very boring. Your wedding would be the most important event of the decade.” “Ma!” Laughter echoed through the room as Justin put the letter back in the box. “You ought to bring someone home sometime, JJ. Who knows how long I’m sticking around.” He flashed a disapproving look at her before speaking. “You moving on before I’ve found another woman to torture me for the rest of my life? Seems highly unlikely.” The two laughed again as he picked up the box. “But really, I’m taking this away before you promise my hand to some poor country maiden without my knowledge.” Justin kissed Romilda’s forehead before heading out of the room, a smile on his lips and a picture of a stranger in his hand.

Additional Information for Original Characters

Character Teaser

If he looked into the mirror of Erised, Justin would see himself holding the Quidditch cup, the captain’s badge shining on his chest, and a glorious smile on his lips. Or so he thinks. He’s spent most of his life chasing this dream to the world’s end. But every day he cares for his ailing mother, the vision wavers a bit in his mind. A golden childhood and a successful career seem to be enough for most people, but Justin’s still hungry for more. He knows sooner or later his Quidditch dreams will be fulfilled, and his career will be penned down for posterity. But what after that?

Feelings on Magical Integration

Justin is definitely an integrationist. Not only was his mother fascinated by muggle culture, married a muggle and learned to live in muggle society seamlessly - she also made a fortune by writing books on her experiences. Needless to say, she was one of the first people to support the movement. Now, personally reaping the benefits of Madley’s through his mother’s unique treatment, Justin is determined to support the movement in any way he can. As long as it doesn’t jeopardize his career, that is.

Connections

Fred Weasley: Justin and Fred formed the unlikeliest of friendships at Hogwarts. After a chance meeting and a brief conversation about muggles, they stayed in touch and became each other’s confidants. Justin supported Fred when he was in college, and even visited him occasionally.

OPEN - (name) and Justin have had quite a few sexy escapades a couple of years ago, but the fire died down because of factors beyond their control.

OPEN - Nothing like a friendly rivalry that can turn into cut throat competition to keep you on the top of your game, right? (name) and Justin trade tricks of the trade and push each other to the limit.

#apareciumacceptance #rp #rpg #hp rp #hp rpg #justin vane

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Fire Season Comes Early To California (CNN) Fire weather is coming early to California this year. For the first time since 2014, parts of Northern California are seeing a May “red flag” fire warning due to dry and windy conditions. The warning coverage area extends from Redding in the north to Modesto in the south, and includes portions of the Central Valley and the state capital of Sacramento. The warning also extends to the eastern edges of the Bay Area. A brush fire that started Friday in Pacific Palisades flared up Saturday due to gusty winds, burning more than 1,300 acres and threatening homes in Topanga Canyon. Topanga State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains is about 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. The Palisades fire caused about 1,000 people to be evacuated from their homes early Sunday, with other residents on standby to leave.

Pandemic Refugees at the Border (NYT) The Biden administration continues to grapple with swelling numbers of migrants along the southwestern border. Most of them are from Central America, fleeing gang violence and natural disasters. But the past few months have also brought a much different wave of migration that the Biden administration was not prepared to address: pandemic refugees. They are people arriving in ever greater numbers from far-flung countries where the coronavirus has caused unimaginable levels of illness and death and decimated economies and livelihoods. If eking out an existence was challenging in such countries before, in many of them it has now become almost impossible. According to official data released this week, 30 percent of all families encountered along the border in April hailed from countries other than Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, compared to just 7.5 percent in April 2019, during the last border surge. The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy, erasing hundreds of millions of jobs. And it has disproportionately affected developing countries, where it could set back decades of progress, according to economists. About 13,000 migrants have landed in Italy, the gateway to Europe, so far this year, three times as many as in the same period last year. At the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, agents have stopped people from more than 160 countries, and the geography coincides with the path of the virus’s worst devastation.

The U.S. conversation on Israel is changing, no matter Biden’s stance (Washington Post) In Washington, support for the Palestinian plight is getting louder in Congress. On Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote a widely circulated New York Times op-ed pulling the spotlight away from Hamas’s provocations to the deeper reality of life for millions of Palestinians living under blockade and occupation. He pointed to the havoc unleashed in recent weeks by rampaging mobs of Jewish extremists in Jerusalem, as well as the questionable Israeli legal attempts to forcibly evict the Palestinian residents of a neighborhood in the contested holy city. “None of this excuses the attacks by Hamas, which were an attempt to exploit the unrest in Jerusalem, or the failures of the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, which recently postponed long-overdue elections,” Sanders wrote. “But the fact of the matter is that Israel remains the one sovereign authority in the land of Israel and Palestine, and rather than preparing for peace and justice, it has been entrenching its unequal and undemocratic control.” In another era, Sanders would have cut a lonely figure among his colleagues. But he is not alone. A number of Democratic lawmakers, including solidly pro-Israel politicians, issued statements indicating their displeasure with the casualties caused by Israel’s attacks in Gaza. Others were more vocal, accusing Israel of “apartheid.” Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) tweeted: “This is happening with the support of the United States....the US vetoed the UN call for a ceasefire. If the Biden admin can’t stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?” Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a center-left pro-Israel advocacy organization that increasingly reflects the mainstream position of American liberals, said in a briefing with reporters last week that the “diplomatic blank check to the state of Israel” given out by successive U.S. administrations has meant that “Israel has no incentive to end occupation and find a solution to the conflict.”

Mexico City is sinking (Wired) When Darío Solano‐Rojas moved from his hometown of Cuernavaca to Mexico City to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the layout of the metropolis confused him. “What surprised me was that everything was kind of twisted and tilted,” says Solano‐Rojas. “At that time, I didn't know what it was about. I just thought, ‘Oh, well, the city is so much different than my hometown.’” Different, it turned out, in a bad way. Picking up the study of geology at the university, Solano‐Rojas met geophysicist Enrique Cabral-Cano, who was actually researching the surprising reason for that infrastructural chaos: The city was sinking—big time. It’s the result of a geological phenomenon called subsidence, which usually happens when too much water is drawn from underground, and the land above begins to compact. According to new modeling by the two researchers and their colleagues, parts of the city are sinking as much as 20 inches a year. In the next century and a half, they calculate, areas could drop by as much as 65 feet. Spots just outside Mexico City proper could sink 100 feet. That twisting and tilting Solano‐Rojas noticed was just the start of a slow-motion crisis for 9.2 million people in the fastest-sinking city on Earth. And because some parts are slumping dramatically and others aren’t, the infrastructure that spans the two zones is sinking in some areas but staying at the same elevation in others. And that threatens to break roads, metro networks, and sewer systems. “Subsistence by itself may not be a terrible issue,” says Cabral-Cano. “But it's the difference in this subsistence velocity that really puts all civil structures under different stresses.”

Today’s the day: British holidaymakers return to Portugal as travel ban ends (Reuters) Sun-hungry British visitors descended on Portuguese beaches once again on Monday as a four-month long ban on travel between the two countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic ended, in a much-needed boost for the struggling tourism sector. Twenty-two flights from Britain are due to land in Portugal on Monday, with most heading to the southern Algarve region, famous for its beaches and golf courses but nearly deserted as the pandemic kept tourists away. Visitors from Britain must present evidence of a negative coronavirus test taken 72 hours before boarding their flights to Portugal and there is no need to quarantine for COVID-19 when returning home. Back at home, most British people will be free once again to hug, albeit cautiously, drink a pint in their pub, sit down to an indoor meal or visit the cinema after the ending of a series of lockdowns that imposed the strictest ever restrictions in peacetime.

Afghans who helped the US now fear being left behind (AP) He served as an interpreter alongside U.S. soldiers on hundreds of patrols and dozens of firefights in eastern Afghanistan, earning a glowing letter of recommendation from an American platoon commander and a medal of commendation. Still, Ayazudin Hilal was turned down when he applied for one of the scarce special visas that would allow him to relocate to the U.S. with his family. Now, as American and NATO forces prepare to leave the country, he and thousands of others who aided the war effort fear they will be left stranded, facing the prospect of Taliban reprisals. “We are not safe,” the 41-year-old father of six said of Afghan civilians who worked for the U.S. or NATO. “The Taliban is calling us and telling us, ‘Your stepbrother is leaving the country soon, and we will kill all of you guys.’” At least 300 interpreters have been killed in Afghanistan since 2016, and the Taliban have made it clear they will continue to be targeted, said Matt Zeller, a co-founder of No One Left Behind, an organization that advocates on their behalf. He also served in the country as an Army officer. “The Taliban considers them to be literally enemies of Islam,” said Zeller, now a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. “There’s no mercy for them.”

A Desperate India Falls Prey to Covid Scammers (NYT) Within the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, few treasures are more coveted than an empty oxygen canister. India’s hospitals desperately need the metal cylinders to store and transport the lifesaving gas as patients across the country gasp for breath. So a local charity reacted with outrage when one supplier more than doubled the price, to nearly $200 each. The charity called the police, who discovered what could be one of the most brazen, dangerous scams in a country awash with coronavirus-related fraud and black-market profiteering. The police say the supplier—a business called Varsha Engineering, essentially a scrapyard—had been repainting fire extinguishers and selling them as oxygen canisters. The consequences could be deadly: The less-sturdy fire extinguishers might explode if filled with high-pressure oxygen. A coronavirus second wave has devastated India’s medical system. Hospitals are full. Drugs, vaccines, oxygen and other supplies are running out. Pandemic profiteers are filling the gap. In many cases, the sellers prey on the desperation and grief of families.

Full-blown boycott pushed for Beijing Olympics (AP) Groups alleging human-rights abuses against minorities in China are calling for a full-blown boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a move likely to ratchet up pressure on the International Olympic Committee, athletes, sponsors and sports federations. A coalition representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, residents of Hong Kong and others issued a statement Monday calling for the boycott, eschewing lesser measures that had been floated like “diplomatic boycotts” and further negotiations with the IOC or China. “The time for talking with the IOC is over,” Lhadon Tethong of the Tibet Action Institute said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. “This cannot be games as usual or business as usual; not for the IOC and not for the international community.” The push for a boycott comes a day before a joint hearing in the U.S. Congress focusing on the Beijing Olympics and China’s human-rights record, and just days after the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said boycotts are ineffective and only hurt athletes.

Grief Mounts as Efforts to Ease Israel-Hamas Fight Falter (NYT) Diplomats and international leaders were unable Sunday to mediate a cease-fire in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowed to continue the fight and the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a joint response to the worsening bloodshed. The diplomatic wrangling occurred after the fighting, the most intense seen in Gaza and Israel for seven years, entered its deadliest phase yet. At least 42 Palestinians were killed early Sunday morning in an airstrike on several apartments in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said, the conflict’s most lethal episode so far. The number of people in killed in Gaza rose to 197 over the seven days of the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, while the number of Israeli residents killed by Palestinian militants climbed to 11, including one soldier, the Israeli government said.

Israel, Hamas trade fire in Gaza as war rages on (AP) Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on what it said were militant targets in Gaza, leveling a six-story building, and militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Tuesday. Palestinians across the region observed a general strike as the war, now in its second week, showed no signs of abating. The strikes toppled a building that housed libraries and educational centers belonging to the Islamic University. Residents sifted through the rubble, searching for their belongings.

Israel’s aftermath (Foreign Policy) In Israel, the aftermath of days of violence in mixed Arab-Israeli towns has led to a one-sided reaction from state prosecutors: Of the 116 indictments served so far against those arrested last week, all have been against Arab-Israeli citizens, Haaretz reports. Meanwhile, Yair Lapid, whose centrist Yesh Atid party’s chances of forming a coalition government has crumbled since the violence broke out, placed the blame on Netanyahu. If he was in charge, Lapid said on Sunday, no one would have to question “why the fire always breaks out precisely when it’s most convenient for the prime minister.”

Long working hours can be a killer, WHO study shows (Reuters) Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Monday. In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, the paper in the journal Environment International showed that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. That was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000. “Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” said Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72%) were men and were middle-aged or older. Often, the deaths occurred much later in life, sometimes decades later, than the shifts worked. It also showed that people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region were the most affected.

#headlines #news

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