#it comes out literally 6 days after my birthday i'm so excited

[bluefuecoco]

i just realized we have LESS THAN A MONTH UNTIL TOTK AAAAAAAAAAAA

[lamppost-t]

Hey babes !!!! If you aren’t comfortable with this that’s okay but I had an idea for a Joel miller fic.

This is in a universe with no clicker virus…. But ANYWAYS imagine being close with Joel and being a mother figure to Sarah??? And Joel is getting really comfortable with you around and he’s just so happy to see his daughter with a mother figure again :((( I wanna take her shopping and go on family outings with them and see them get their happy ending.

- Yours truly …. Harmonica

UGH YES I LOVE THIS SM

Girls day out

Pairing: Joel x reader, Sarah x Motherfigure!reader

Warnings: None just fluff and barely any usage of y/n

Summary: You take Sarah out for a girls day out for her birthday

Authors note: I had so much fun writing this btw its Fem!reader but I'll write more Gn!reader soon I swear TRUST, Thanks harmonica your literally my home girl!!

not edited, tell me if theres anything wrong it the comments (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

The hot blaring sun hit your eyes as you held Sarahs hand navagating through the outdoor mall. you guys had been out for hours, you wanted to treat Sarah to something special since Joel was working till around 6 and thought it would be a great time for you guys to bond, so you took a day off of work. "where do you want to go next?" you asked

"Uhm can we mabye stop for a drink?" she replied flashing a smile

You guys madeo your way to a small local coffee shop, one of your personal favorite that you grew up going to. you bought Sarah and you drinks and you guys sat down looking over your mountains of shopping bags. "thank you for this, I had alot of fun" Sarah said softy

"no problem I love having exuses to spend time with you" you replied, to be honest you loved seeing Sarah happy, Sarahs mom had left both Joel and Sarah a bit after Sarah was born and Joel put his all into raising Sarah. still, growing up without a mother figure was hard on Sarah and Joel had noticed. Joel felt horrible for her but there was really nothing he could do. when you and joel started dating and as you got closer to Sarah, Joel noticed Sarah become happier. "I'm really grateful for you y'know" Sarah said taking a sip from her drink "I'm grateful for you too"

When you got home Sarah put on a fashion show for you and Joel of clothes you had bought her.

"Are you ready?" she asked from behind the door, her voice emanating excitment.

"come on out" you laughed glad to see her so happy.

she came out in a purple dress she had been the most excited when she saw it, even though it was very expensive, you didn't bat an eye, beeing able to give Sarah nice things was something you loved doing. Sarah did a small twirl before looking at the both of you

"do you love it or do you love it?" she squealed

"its absolutely gorgous!" Joel said, a smile plastered on his face

"thanks Y/n got it for me!" Sarah joked smiling at you

the rest of the night you, Joel and Sarah watched movies and ate cake until it got late. Sarah had fallen asleep on the couch and Joel picked her up and brought her to her room. you followed and you both put her to sleep. you placed a kiss on her forhead and as you pulled the covers up you stepped back to make sure she was comfortable. you felt Joels hands wrap around your waist as he placed a kiss on your shoulder

"thanks for taking her out today" he said "I don't think shes ever been that excited" "no problem" you smiled.

you enjoyed spoiling Sarah and had no plans to stop.

[as-kind-as-summer]

I finally have a minute to sit down so I'm going to yell about the Lord of the Rings musical for a bit! I'll put everything under a cut so people can avoid spoilers! Pic of me in my cute hobbit-ish outfit first 😊

So disclaimer first, hopefully I'm remembering everything correctly but I recently started a new job and can't take any days off in my first 90 days but desperately wanted to see this show. So I worked a night shift, drove 6 hours, and by the time everything was over I'd been awake for ~21 hours. And also everyone who knows anything about this show is long. Like we were sitting in act 2 and I couldn't remember if they'd sang The Road Goes On in act 1 because it had been two hours ago by that point 😂All this to say, if I misremember please forgive me and feel free to correct me!

My friend and I had the most amazing seats for this show! I'd been debating whether or not I wanted to go through the trouble of going to see it with work and all but then I got an email because apparently I'd signed up for the Shakespeare Theatre's 30 under 30 program and that made everything worth it. I'll post a picture below but we sat second row in the center section on the end of the stage right side. In the picture you can see the stairs literally came down about six inches in front of my feet. I'm not usually a fan of sitting so close but with how immersive the show was it was perfect.

(Obligatory photo with the playbill because I will always be a theatre nerd at heart)

Starting at ~15 til, the actors all started coming out and wandering the audience, just talking to people and having a good ol' time. Again I'm such a sucker for immersive performances and despite being terribly awkward this was still very exciting.

With everyone wandering around and then the show just sort of starting with no big to-do, it really felt like you're a part of the story. Like 'oh I really am here at Bilbo's birthday party.' Again just a really good time, I think it added another really great layer to the show.

I know I just keep saying how fun this show looked but honestly it looks like such a great time and like every single actor on stage is having the best time. The choreography isn't anything terribly complicated but it just looks fun. Also we saw this on a Wednesday at the evening performance which means there would've been a matinee earlier and you never would've been able to tell. I've seen shows where you can tell the actors are going through it during their second show of the day(and rightfully so) but I wouldn't have had a clue if I hadn't known the schedule. Really just such an amazing cast.

The puppetry was phenomenal! I'm not typically freaked out by puppetry but I had a visceral reaction to those Nazgul puppets. Don't know what it was about them but I was legitimately unnerved. One came up next to me and I did not care for it at all. Pretty sure the people behind me were chuckling every time I cringed but like honestly so fair 😂

So I only found out about the existence of this musical in June and it was absolutely my accident. After seeing the trilogy in theaters, I fell back in hard and was just like 'huh I wonder if there's a stage version of this if not there should be' and googled it on a whim. Pretty much been listening to the London soundtrack on repeat since then but there were a lot of songs that I felt very eh about on the soundtrack that are loads better within the context of the show. Like a lot of the Elvish acapella songs being actually just background to the action that happened onstage felt a lot more natural than listening to them on their own.

Speaking of songs I liked more, Lament for Moria was absolutely beautiful. I hate to compare casts because I think every actor brings their own unique take to the role but that was just a song that I wasn't terribly fond of on the London soundtrack. But the actor that played Gimli in this version had an absolutely gorgeous voice. I was telling someone I always assume actors in a show will be able to sing because obviously they've been cast but there are still times where someone opens their mouth and I'm stunned and this was one of them.

I really enjoyed the set design a lot. I love the current trend of having a simple versatile set with smaller pieces that are wheeled on from time to time. Also, such a sucker for turntables and platforms. I don't know what it is but I think it's A+. Also the climbing wall grips in the back so Gollum could climb up and down were fantastic! Such a simple solution but I think it worked so well. I could see them since we were so close but the way they were painted, I'm guessing they blended in really well further back and the effect would've been amazing.

Obviously even at nearly 3 hours long this is still a wildly condensed version of these stories but I was still disappointed that almost all of Two Towers was cut out other than Treebeard. This of course isn't unique to this production, just the way it's written. I don't think it necessarily detracted from the story since most of the action and important bits do take place in Fellowship and Return of the King but Two Towers is still my favorite so this is a personal gripe mostly haha.

The costumes were all great, a lot of it felt sort of generic fantasy-ish but I love generic fantasy-ish costumes so I was happy. However, I thought the orcs costumes were so cool! Especially with the new(? I'll be honest with y'all I have not read the books(yet) and I feel like I heard about this being the ending somewhere. Not sure if they changed it for the movies and the ending of the musical is the actual ending? anyway) ending they were very neat!

I'm also such a sucker for instruments being played onstage especially when it's the actors doing it and especially when a lot of them are playing multiple different instruments. I just will never get over the talent.

I think I've said most of what I wanted to say so I have to talk about Now and For Always. Since my first listen, Now and For Always was my absolute favorite song. Like hyperfixated listening for hours on end kind of favorite song. I just think it's so beautiful, the harmonies are gorgeous, and it really embodies what these stories were about. I saw the snippet Chicago Shakespeare posted before I went and I was iffy about if I'd like it. I could not have been more wrong. The way it was so slowed down, having the rest of the cast standing around Sam and Frodo, the delivery of the last verse from Frodo to a sleeping Sam? I'm tearing up just thinking about it again. Like that's what it's all about, you know? The tenderness and kindness in the midst of horrors. The true power that friendship has to carry you through the absolute worst of things. I don't even have more words, it was just such a beautiful and touching presentation and it's going to stay with me for a very long time.

Oh no wait I did have one more thing to say, they tried to make me like Denethor and no one will ever make me like Denethor! Denethor hater for life, all my homies hate Denethor. I'm sorry, I know they used the explanation of 'he's too close too Mordor it's poisoning his mind' nope don't care. The best thing Denethor did was set himself on fire, change my mind.

All this to say, I had the most amazing time and I am forever grateful I found this production when I did and had the chance to go see it. I don't think it's for everyone, as like 'duh obviously' as it sounds I think you really have to enjoy both LotR and theatre. The people behind us were snickering from time to time because there were some things that were kind of goofy. Most of it was at the weapons, they're definitely on the cheaper side but it's a regional theatre and I'm sure they only had so much budget. You have to be able to suspend your disbelief when seeing any show but especially this one. Forget what you know from the books and the movies and just go in with an open mind. It's a spectacle, it's goofy, it's serious, it will absolutely wrench your heartstrings if you just let yourself be open to it. Everyone is obviously so passionate about what they're doing and it made for such an amazing show, highly recommend to go see it if you get the chance 💜

[melancholysway]

I know it says that the asks are closed but, I do want to throw this out there for when they do become open again.

Can we have the fem S/O give their turtle a gift for their birthday and it happens to be multiple positive pregnancy tests?

Yes!

also please note: DO NOT do this to your s/o if you both aren't ready to have kids. That's terrible and might even ruin the relationship. Personally if I was a guy and wasn't ready for kids I wouldn't want this as a present. It'll literally ruin my birthday LMAO. (does that sound harsh? sorry ya'll)

So, I'm writing these in the scenario that you've both talked about having kids and are actively trying to have them.

also! I'm so sorry for being inactive! school is whooping my ass and my job! i'm trying my best to get these out without having you guys wait too long!

TMNT 2007 Headcanons: Fem!S/O Giving their Turtle a Positive Pregnancy Test as a BDay Gift!

Leonardo

lowkey so fucking excited

like the thought of a mini leo running around makes him so happy seriously

he will go on and on and on (and on and on) about how he wants to be the one to teach the baby ninjitsu

"it'll run in their blood just wait and see"

he also wasn't expecting the test to come on his birthday of all days

after trying for a while to get pregnant (wink wink) he just wasn't sure it was possible. A human and a mutant? the odds are super low.

like, scientifically low.

So when you bought the 3 pack of tests for extra reassurance, you thought the best way to tell him was on his birthday that was upcoming.

You don't make it a big scene, you give him the wrapped-up gift in private

"Another gift? You're spoiling me, love" He opens the gift up, confused on what it could be

And tadaa! it's not one, not two, but THREE positive tests!

He's speechless for a moment. You were nervous. Did he not want kids anymore? Was it not the right time for this sort of thing? You were both trying so hard tha-

"I'm going to be a dad."

"I'm going to be a dad!" His smile starts to grow, and after getting up he just hugs you so tight and goes to tell his own father.

He also wants to know immediately if it's a boy or a girl- he's so excited that he forgets you're not able to tell in the first few weeks.

Showers you in butterfly kisses all over your face. He's so happy, that he actually yells it out into the sewers that he's gonna be a dad. He can't stop saying it

And he won't ever stop saying it, he doesn't care, he's ready. So so ready.

Leo would be such a good dad guys omg.

Raphael

At first, raph doesn't want kids.

It sucks, but you have to respect it. He's not obligated to say yes, and vice versa

You wonder why, and when he finally tells you the reason, it's almost comical.

he doesn't think he would be a good dad.

It's just- he's so...big...and violent...and, well, wouldn't the baby be scared of him or something?!

"I'm not just telling you this because I'm yours, Raph, but I 1000% think you would make an amazing father."

He takes it with a grain of salt. He's unsure. He doesn't wanna hurt the baby or anything.

But, he's so gentle with you, and you let him know that.

Once you give him some time and reassure him, he caves in and says yes.

"I got this, babe."

He tries oh so hard to get you pregnant. To keep this blog PG-17, I won't go into detail, but you get the idea (wink wink)

Him and Donnie are two peas in a pod, so he's going to Donnie at least once a day to ask him what he's doing wrong or right when it comes to getting you pregnant. Not only that, but he's asking Donnie if it's possible- if it's truly possible he can have a baby with you.

“If I'm almost a 6-foot talking walking mutant turtle, anything is possible, Raph.”

It's been a few months, and once you take a test and says it's positive, you could cry.

You contain yourself, saving the test where raph won't see it- you hide it in Donnie's lab.

It's now a secret between you and the purple terrapin.

Donnie suggests you give him it as a present. Raph's been getting amped up about possibly being a dad, plus his birthday is almost here, so why not surprise him that way?

And, you do.

It's so sudden and you do it so nonchalantly that he has to do a double take when he opens the box.

He's in shock for a bit, as he was starting to lose hope it wouldn't be possible, but here it is, sitting right in front of him.

He puts it aside and gives you such a passionate kiss, you become weak in the knees.

He's gonna be a father. He's gonna be a dad- just like Master Splinter was to him.

He wants to be the best father he can be, and thinks about all the things he wants to teach his kid when they start to grow up.

"I want 'em to be like you, but wit my good looks."

It's the sweetest compliment he could give you, and it's one of those rare times that he smiles. Right now, he's smiling at you, at the box, and at life.

Donatello

This turtle is nervous.

He already knows the science behind everything, he knows there’s a slim chance of you actually being pregnant, but he still wants to try.

Donnie thinks he wouldn't know how to parent despite reading so much and watching and experiencing parenting himself. He was basically raised by a single dad

and if Splinter can take care of 4 mutant turtles as a mutant rat, then Donnie can raise a mini him

Very on top of your cycle, he wants to know what phase you're in so that it increases the chances of getting you pregnant

makes sure you're eating enough nutrient-rich foods and drinking enough water for higher chances of pregnancy, yes ya'll it helps!

he tracks how you're feeling and such which is really sweet of him. Dating Donnie is basically dating a doctor.

And after months and months of trying hard for a baby, you're shocked as you're looking at 3 different positive pregnancy tests.

You weren't expecting it today- as it was Donnie's birthday, and being pregnant hadn't been on your mind for a few days until today. Yes, you noticed your period was late, but you assumed it was from the slight stress you were experiencing, you wanted today to be special for him and were focused on just that- and what do you know, you have his ultimate birthday gift inside you at the moment.

Donnie does so much for everyone else that you wanted to spend it with him being pampered like the king he is

It all goes well, and he couldn't be happier

just when he thinks the day is done you whip out this tiny purple box from behind your back and he's super confused. He got so many things today from you, and you had another trick up your sleeve?

He goes to sit in his swivel chair at his work table and opens it, looking at you sheepishly when he opens it to reveal all the positive tests you took this morning

"I found out this morning, and I thought this would be a good gif- Donnie!"

He picks you up and twirls you around, cheering with you that you're going to be parents- finally!

Though he's a little nervous, he has enough knowledge- deep down Donnie really thinks he would be pretty decent at the whole dad thing.

He sets you down and kisses you, thanking you for being his.

Michelangelo

Okay, this turtle couldn't be any happier

will NOT shut up about it at all

He goes to Donnie a lot to give him advice on how to get you pregnant (tmi, but whatevs,) and Donnie tells him about ovulation, fertility, the whole nine yards

so he utilizes those windows in your cycle, the better chance to get you pregnant am i right?

he's not really thinking about how low the chances are, he thinks if he's lucky enough to be with someone like you, he'll have enough luck stored up to have a kid!

Once his birthday comes around, you decide to surprise him with it once he wakes up

"Happy birthday, Mikey. I think you'll like it a lot."

and he does

he's still wiping his eyes from his deep sleep but he's still super excited as to what his first gift on his birthday would be

"Thanks! You got me sticks?" Whoops. You may have forgotten to have them facing up. Either that or he's still not fully awake

"No, Mikey, turn them over,"

It takes him a bit, but he got the gist. You could tell once he shot out of bed

"No way! Everybody, I got a kid for my birthday!"

Cue Mikey waking everyone up in the Lair to tell them the news

He tells Leo first, he's the lightest sleeper anyway- and he's so happy for his baby brother

Now everyone's awake, he's already deciding on names (an equal amount of boys and girls names,)

You didn't even get that far as to names, but he's literally 20 steps ahead of you, I'm talking asking April what kinds of clothes she thinks would fit on a half mutant half human baby

But seriously, this is a great gift for Mikey! It's what you both have been wanting.

//

taglist:

@bee-1n-space @ducky-died-inside

masterlist

[ryqoshay]

Tri-Arame: Persona Plight?

Primary Pairing: N/A Starring: Setsuna Nana Also Starring: Shioriko, Student Council Vice President Words: ~1.4k Rating: G Time Frame: The day after Episode 6 of Season 2 Story Arc: Stand Alone

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Author's Note: Happy Birthday Setsuna! ♡ ＼(≧▽≦)／ ♡

I'm so happy to be able to post this! It was an honor to be chosen to write for the Shout Your Love! fan zine. And a lot of fun writing this entry. And participating in a good cause. And having one of my favorite LL artists @myonmukyuu draw something for one of my fics. But I still looked forward to sharing this story with more readers, so here we are.

Also, go check out the other stories in the collection and celebrate Setsuna on her special day!

And finally, worth mentioning that I am referring to Setsuna as Nana in this chapter, as she is in Nana-mode through most of it.

---------

Nana wanted to hum happily as she crouched and opened the cabinet door to her secret stash, but she was Nana at the moment and…

Wait, did she need to continue keeping up the façade now that she had revealed her secret to the school? For that matter, did she even need this secret stash anymore now that her parents knew as well?

Nana gasped slightly as a thought occurred to her. She could take her collection home and display it openly in her room now. Her regular ritual of shuffling books and discs among her friends and her stashes here at school and at home was… no longer necessary. She realized she should be happy about this turn of events and yet it somehow felt… anticlimactic? Had she come to enjoy this ritual that much?

Did she also enjoy keeping Nana and Setsuna separate?

She had attended classes all day as Nana, as usual. And she had intended on continuing in Nana mode through the upcoming student council meeting. She would eventually change to Setsuna mode to meet the rest of the idol club to continue the activities of the second School Idol Festival.

But could she have attended class as Setsuna? Could she run the student council as Setsuna? Or perhaps could she attend the festivities as Nana? Would everyone else be willing to go along with that, or would it weird them out? For that matter, would she weird out herself?

Nana reached up and touched one of her braids as she pondered her new situation. She did enjoy the hairstyle, and wearing glasses did help her feel like she was being more serious about things. Plus, there was no denying that she thoroughly enjoyed changing into Setsuna by undoing her braids, often intentionally dramatically, and swapping her glasses for contacts. It felt like she was literally liberating herself to be herself. Not that being Nana wasn’t being herself, of course.

Plus, just a few days ago, Setsuna had told her fellow idols that the student council and the school idol club were different things. She had explained that she loved both, wanted to continue both, and thus had wanted things to stay the way they were.

Except now things were different.

Nana jolted at the sound of the door opening on the other side of the room. Hastily, she slammed the cabinet door and spun toward those entering.

“Ah, Setsu…” the vice president cleared her throat. “I mean, Council President.” Despite the shift in formality, Nana could easily see she was holding back excitement.

“Nakagawa-sa,” Shiroriko greeted politely, seemingly unphased by the behavior of the girl beside her.

“M-Mifune-san, Vice P-President-san, you t-two are early!” Nana heard herself sputter before putting conscious effort into her words.

Shioriko blinked stoically as she approached. “As are you,” she observed before her gaze shifted down. “That is quite the collection you have.”

“Geh…” Nana realized her bag was still open.

“Do you normally carry that many books with you?”

“N-No, I… uhm…” Nana fumbled for an explanation. So much for preventing stuttering. After half a second of thought, she decided lying to Shioriko wouldn’t be effective. Her shoulders slumped. “I was sorting my collection.”

“Oh? What types of books do you collect?” The vice president sounded interested.

A familiar flame flickered within Nana. She was about to quash it when a thought occurred to her. With her secret revealed, a little crossover between her personas was fine, right? Maybe?

“Manga, doujin and light novels,” Nana replied, monitoring her excitement level, letting a little out, but not too much. She then listed her favorite genres, making sure to list fantasy and romance first.

“I should have guessed,” the vice president smiled. “That’s what you list in Setsuna-chan’s bio on the club’s site. Do you have any recommendations?”

The tiny flame flared into a full, fiery conflagration.

Recommendations? Of course she had recommendations!

Nana stooped and grabbed a book from her bag. “I was going to reread this one because the next entry in the series is being released later this week. It’s so~ good! A masterpiece! The story focuses on a couple of angels in Heaven. This one,” she pointed to a blue-haired girl on the cover, “comes from a cursed bloodline, which is why her wings are black and most of her powers are dark. Even her familiar is black.” Her finger moved to a cat on the girl’s shoulder. “And this one thinks of herself as just an ordinary, run of the mill angel.” She indicated a redhead. “But of course she…” Nana gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry, I… I really shouldn’t spoil anything…”

The vice president laughed lightly. “It’s fine. Who is the blonde?”

“She’s their superior officer.”

“Angels have officers?”

“They’re part of Heaven’s military and some of the chapters focus on them fighting demons.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“It really is!” There was no way Nana could hold back her grin if she wanted to. “I highly recommend it. You should read it.” She held out the book.

“Is that not the second book in the series?” Shioriko inquired.

“I have the first!” Nana wheeled around and whipped open the cabinet. “Here!” She grabbed the book and turned back to hold it out

“You’ve been using school resources to store your collection?”

Nana froze. “I… I…”

Shioriko smiled. “No need to worry, Nakagawa-san. As with your former secret concerning your identity, I shall maintain this one as well.”

“Thank you, Set… Council President,” the vice president accepted the doujin. “I can’t wait to read it.”

“We still have some time before the others arrive,” Shioriko pointed out.

“You’d be alright with us reading while you’re here?” Nana asked, finding herself surprised.

“I am quite fond of reading myself.” The younger girl responded. “Far be it for me to deny others from doing so.”

“I could recommend something for you as well.” Nana offered, getting excited again.

“Thank you, but I generally prefer novels over manga.”

“I have light novels,” Nana quickly scanned her collection. “I’d let you borrow my favorite, but I believe that one is at home… Oh, how about this one?” She pulled out a book. “It’s about a war-torn world where magic, alchemy, steam tech and high tech all coexist, and various nations specialize in certain ones and they all combine their might to protect their world from invaders from another dimension. The heroes are so~ cool! My favorite character has this high tech suit of armor that lets her fly around and shoot fire and plasma. She’s awesome!” 

Before she consciously registered her own actions, Nana was miming her Setsuna Scarlet Storm call and response motions. Wait, why was she doing that? She was Nana at the moment! She felt heat rising in her cheeks.

“That sounds amazing!” The vice president cried excitedly. “Can I read it after you, Mifune-san?”

Oh… Maybe it didn’t matter.

“I believe that would be up to Nakagawa-san,” Shioriko replied.

“It’s fine,” Nana assured. “I’d love it if you both read it so we could talk about it after.”

“Very well.” Shioriko accepted the book. “I shall return it post haste.” With that said, she moved to one of the couches, sat down and immediately began to read.

“Well, it seems we only have a few more minutes before our meeting.” The vice president glanced at the clock on the wall. “Shall we get some reading in?”

“Yes.” Nana nodded.

As she made her way to her desk, Nana’s thoughts turned to all that had just transpired. Perhaps a little crossover between Nana and Setsuna wasn’t so bad. The vice president and Shioriko seemed to have no trouble going along with it all. Surely it would be the same with her friends in the idol club, right?

With one last glance at the two readers on the couch, Nana finally opened her doujin and began to read.

---------

Omake

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Let’s see… Shioriko thought to herself, scanning the shelf. They’re organized by title, so it should be… Ah. She reached up and pulled out a book.

With the School Idol Festival over, Shioriko had accepted Setsuna’s invitation to join her and the vice president on a shopping trip for books. It felt a little odd buying a doujin, as she typically preferred novels, but she had read Setsuna’s copy and was immediately hooked on the story. And she couldn’t deny that the art was lovely and lent itself well to the fantasy setting. Or RPG setting, as Setsuna had insisted on calling it.

“Ooowahhaa!” An excited cry caught Shioriko’s attention. “I can’t believe it’s in stock!”

She turned to find Setsuna marveling at some school idol merchandise.

“I’ll get one too!” The vice president matched Setsuna’s enthusiasm.

Shioriko smiled and moved over to join her friends at the display to see if there was anything that might catch her eye.

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Author's Note Continued:

Here is the Afterward I used for the zine:

Ah, Setsuna, my favorite idol in the Nijigasaki generation of the Love Live! franchise.

As with µ’s and Aqours prior, it took me a little while to settle on a favorite from the Nijigasaki club. PDP wasn’t quite enough, and it took SIFAS, the Nijiyon comics, and a lot of fanart for me to figure things out with the group. And as with those before her, Setsuna faced stiff competition.

I honestly thought a couple of the other girls would be my favorite before I settled on her. Ultimately, it was her over-the-top passion for that which she loves that propelled her to the top.

However, it’s not enough for Setsuna to be passionate about something she loves. She needs to share that excitement. She needs to shout her love. And while performing on stage as an idol definitely allows her to do just that, she has other things than idols that she loves that she needs to address off stage. And I love that the canon material gives her friends that allow to geek out as much as she wants; many actively encourage her excitement.

I’ve written many excitable Setsuna moments, many of which include geeky rants, or at least the implication that one took place. And I plan to write many more. However, with the chapter I wrote for this zine, I decided to give Nana a chance to geek out.

The Nana/Setsuna dynamic is also one of the aspects I enjoy about the character. Her Clark Kenting around school amuses me to no end. And I love that she continued to use Nana mode even after her secret was revealed.

I’ve long wondered how Setsuna might view the two sides of herself after the big reveal, and this zine entry seemed as good an excuse as any to explore it a bit. And include some of the happy geekiness that I adore so much. And have some of my ideas drawn out by the talented myon. How could I pass up such an opportunity?

So to that, I must extend my thanks to Ethanol and myon for selecting me to participate in this project.

[drunkjaked]

Omg I'm kinda embarrassed I know you said it's not bad to reply late but this is getting out of hand... how did your presentation go? I ended up not going to the other concert because my brothers got sick and he's was my ride 😔 but I was supposed to see barns courtney he's super good live it would've been so much fun 😔 I got the necklace!! I think it's called the ballina necklace? But it's basically just the logo with a pearl in the middle it's so pretty I love it like it's my own child <3 your Spotify wrapped... miss ma'am... like that's so valid of you but damn top .005% like I can't even imagine that I just. Wow. But again so valid I love that for you <3 I don't use Spotify so I don't get all the fancy graphics and data and all that but I do get my top songs of the year and my top artist of the month which is cool but I do kinda wish I could participate 🥲 it's fine though I like the app I use! I hope you're doing well, and I hope that school isn't too bad cause lord knows it can be -_- do you have any plans for the holidays? And yeah honestly matching boba and mcdonalds I think we were meant to meet <3 I hope you have a wonder amazing day/night and that every day gets better and better <3 -💕

hey 💕💕💕don't worry about it really !!! just glad to hear from you at all <333

wow.. the presentation.. i absolutely fucked up my 7 seconds of speaking time .. humiliating, but the rest of the group did so well and im really proud of them for staying calm and getting shit done <3 im also in love with one of the boys that was in the group and we all went out for drinks after doing the presentation and i drunkenly told him that i hoped the two of us would still keep talking after finishing the pres even though we don't have to and he like .. reciprocated my hopes and told me that he thinks im cute so .. that is .. just lovely.. anyway sorry for dumping all that out in here, my bad..

sorry that you couldn't go, i hope your brother is feeling better though !!! and omds that necklace is so SO pretty.. please keep an eye on it because people (me) can just be .. downright evil these days and like.. take your things from you 🤷🤷🤷.. especially the ones that they think are really beautiful and also want to possess.. haha,,, happy for you. 🙁.

my spotify wrapped.. i was like asking other people about theirs and like .. my friend's top song was a song she listened to 64 times THE WHOLE YEAR??? like i just .. was so impressed because like every song until my top 6 has 1k plays MINIMUM like .. im so jealous of people who can consume media in appropriate quantities.. it was down from last year though, my total minutes last year were 169k .. yikes .. who was your top artist and what was you top song? if you don't mind answering, also the thing about wrapped is like it's so colourful and full of patterns that it feels a little overwhelming.. like im grateful for the stats but the package it comes in is .. too much AND ITS SO LONGWINDED LIKE IT TOOK 150K MINUTES JUST TO SEE EVERYTHING OH MY GOODNESS 👎👎👎.

i'm doing pretty good honestly.. now that my presentation is over almost all of my school related stress has gone with it, i just have two more things to hand in and i'll be able to just relax and do nothing until january when classes start up again !!!

my holiday plans are pretty tame, my siblings (2 brothers and a sister) are going to come home and we'll spend time together for like a week or something before they all leave but EXCITINGLY.. my birthday is coming up (dec 17) and i'm so excited.. my birthday is literally my favourite day of the year so im reaaaaally looking forward to it even though my plans aren't particularly special 🥳 !

how are you doing? how are your classes treating you? especially around this time of the year oh man.. any holiday plans of your own?

im happy that we did get around to meeting and i hope we can be friends for a long time !!! thank u for the well wishes, as always im hoping the same for you and that you look after yourself and have lots and lots of fun ! all my love 💕, great catching up w u as always <3

[audaciousamadeus]

Self-pity, the post

Ladies and gents, what a week.

It's been 6 months. 6 months since I found out the method I was using to answer the first question of my PhD project wasn't well-established and the person I got it from in the lab was also trying it out. 6 months of troubleshooting. After promising results indicating that I managed to fix the protocol, I processed a huge amount of samples, not only for my project but for many collaborators. 

Now the data was finally here (as of the previous week), and I had my lab meeting presentation the week after the arrival of the new and shiny data. The presentation was one day after my 30th birthday. Exciting and frightening times. 

On the week I got my data, I also got a proposal from a colleague to catsit and housesit while her and her boyfriend were away on a festival for 4 days. "You should see it as a little getaway" she said. Thinking about how much work I needed to get done and how little that would happen if I stayed home and got distracted by my flatmate, I accepted the offer. Went to her place on Tuesday for dinner, picking up the keys and meeting the lovely cat who looked like the pathetic pleading emoji. Their garden looked perfect for my data analysis getaway, and I was looking forward for the weekend.

Very little analysis was done that weekend (pre-processing takes time) and instead I bought some cheap vintage clothes from a store that was closing in Camden, went to a local bakery in Nunhead and walked in the Nunhead cemitery with my newly bought tradwife cosplay of a dress. Maybe some people must've thought I was an apparition. When waiting for my data to get ready and choosing which experiments I should prioritise for my presentation I sang to the cat, who loved it. This weekend I was completely obsessed with Real and Rain, both songs by Unprocessed, and by Alibi from Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar and Yseult so that's the repertoire that the cat got to listen to.

On Sunday I also walked to the lab to feed some cells and got my ass literally kicked by a homeless man in Peckham. This was probably an omen, if not a visual metaphor of this week kicking my ass. Also, I couldn't find my bike lock keys. Just grand really.

While looking at the initial quality control of my data I was faced with a very depressive image. The degree in which the problem in the protocol was indeed solved varied to insane degrees depending on the sample. And the useful percentage of the data was usually too low. Considering that I was going to watch a film the next day with an amazing bioinformatician from my lab, I decided to ask in person whether she could meet me to discuss my data for the lab meeting.

Usually, I would say no to social outings so close to my presentation, but I really look up to her and feel like we have a bond. Due to a part of the lab having a different location we barely interact. A few more people that I had similar feelings towards were going to join as well. I felt like I couldn't decline the opportunity to meet them and that I would deal with my presentation stress and tiredness later. 

We watched the best worst film: Troll 2. The one in which there is no Troll 1, no trolls (there are goblins though), and one of the actors was some guy that was an outpatient from the University of Utah psych ward. It was gloriously trashy. The Bioinformatics Goddess told me to come over to their part of the lab so we could discuss things the next day.

Getting to the fancy part of our lab the next day, I first saw Mr Genius, who was also there in the Troll 2 watch party. Something about him tells me that he can handle my sense of humour and that we're quite similar, but I'm always reminded that this is not fully the case. The mismatch isn't big, but it always gives me a weird sense of unease and anxiety amidst the joy I get when talking to him. Him being intellectually intimidating doesn't particularly help, but still, I quite like our interactions. After some light banter about the film, I told him that soon I was going to talk to the Bioinformatic Goddess about my data and he decided to join.

Going through my slides and data their silence intensified until both cut that with indignation at our boss. They were both furious at our boss for the lack of adequate supervision that I have received so far, and the amount of hard work that I put for almost no reward. It takes me a lot of mental effort to show them my work and have discussions, as I feel slightly inhibited towards them due to me seeing both as inspirational people, but I think I managed to calm myself down a bit and to have a proper discussion with them. My fears were confirmed. the way that the data looked, I would only be able to detect biological phenomena that were quite pronounced. And perhaps this could be the case with one of the collaborator's projects, but it was most definitely not mine. It felt reassuring to see that they both felt that I was competent actually and that they both had my back. "You are truly excellent, and this is a waste of hard work and intelligence, I'm sorry but this just makes me so angry", Mr Genius said. It feels a bit delirious to write this down, even. We spoke a bit about what analysis I could do with what I currently have in order present something on Thursday, and they were both very helpful.

After work I went home to make sure I had some analysis pipelines running for the pre-processing of a few datasets before heading off to Pizza Tuesday (with the people from the Bosnian wedding). I took an apple strudel that I baked that morning as a little birthday thing. We spoke briefly about the dancing blog guy, and they told me something vague about reasons for him ditching me. I couldn't really put their bits of information together, but something about him "not being that social" and them thinking that I "deserved better" (as if anyone deserves anything. As if there should be the need to diminish the person who is not your friend, the person said friend is attracted to and decided to like based on their own assessment, just because this friend got hurt) and that in reality he most likely just couldn't "handle it". Whatever "it" means. The prospect of commitment? My feelings? His feelings? I decided to not ask any further, but somehow hearing that from them intensified my heartache. I almost preferred to think of my previous hypothesis that he just didn't care about me and thought I was physically unattractive. Hope I don't care about people ever again, 4/10 experience.

I wanted to spend the night working on my presentation and analysing data, but the wise Bosnian Pizza Tuesday host told me it would be better to sleep and to work on it in the morning. Feeling emotionally exhausted, I don't think there was anything else that I realistically could do.

At last, it was my birthday, and I decided to go early to the bouldering gym as a treat. That felt great and I even found my bike lock keys there! I felt like the universe was finally smiling at me. My Persian ex sent me happy birthday wishes, we spoke a bit about my lab struggles, and he said "Good luck with all of that. Never forget: you came a long way and you have done great things. You are also gonna be even better and go higher!". I cried a bit in the middle of the gym and was very thankful that it was empty. His support has always been invaluable, and I will forever be grateful and resent the fact that I am not attracted to him. Went back home and got some presents from my flatmate's parents (for tolerating their deranged ape son. Just kidding). Went to work and found some more goodies on my desk from colleagues.

People kept asking me for celebrations and what I would like to do on my birthday. I decided to go out for drinks in a cute pub close to the lab as a celebration after my presentation. I felt like I didn't have energy to organise anything else and that I would need the drinks. I'm definitely not on the path to become a raging alcoholic. 

Also, early March I had bought one ticket to watch the Spirited Away theatre play on my birthday, with the original Japanese cast. I feel a bit guilty that I did not invite anyone to come with me, but I truly wanted to have this experience alone and treat myself. Back then however I did not know I was going to have a presentation the next day. And truly, it was magical! And it was all in Japanese! When it was over I returned home and spent most of the night finishing my presentation.

I concluded that I shouldn't lose all my sleep over this and that if there was any interesting bit of data to show, there was not enough time to properly prepare slides in a way that I could communicate something meaningful to the lab. It would just be a show-off of how much I had done and that only thing that would accomplish is for me to feel like I am not useless. I refuse to do such meaningless self-soothing behaviour ever again. It was painful, but I decided to make a presentation based on how the method that I was using was indeed not usable, what are the exact issues, ideas of how to proceed, some optimisations on other methods. The main focus was to inform other lab members and my boss if they wanted to either use the method or suggest it to collaborators, and to gather feedback and ideas of what I could possibly do. Personally, the whole thing was painful to me and gave me a feeling of failure and not being smart enough to know when to quit optimising and switch to something else. But I received reassurance from peers that things are ok and that's how a PhD goes.

I am still, however, feeling that sort of numb sadness. Indeed, good that I had drinks afterwards. Good job, past me.

For the celebratory drinks there were some people from my lab, my flatmate, two London besties, and a guy adjacent to my Brazilian friend group who moved to London before I hanged out with these people. We talk quite often on Telegram but I think that my texting style became too European to keep up with Brazilian texting (but it's still too Brazilian and intense for the European standards). I got lovely cards, a few gifts and an AMAZING vegan (so that my Witchy Muse could eat) chocolate and raspberry cake from Konditorei, organised by my tasteful and thoughtful flatmate. 

Celebrations didn't stop there. Two people joined me for climbing on the next day, and on Saturday my flatmate gave me the surprise present of watching episode 6 of Star Wars in the cinema, a perfect ending for our Star Wars craze we had for the past weeks watching every main film in the franchise. I'm incredibly thankful for all the lovely people that consider themselves my friends. Highschool me would never once have thought that one day people would care as much. Considering that she never had that, I didn't have a lot of practice with saying no and finding a balance. It's especially hard considering that it's not easy for me to immediately access my emotional feedback on things, so if something is too much it usually hits me consciously way later than for most people. It was getting obvious though (at least for me) that my interactions were getting stunted and unnatural the entire week. That was not very 365 party girl of me. 

I'm just...

Tired. 

Exhausted really. 

I want nothing more than to stay in bed, watching nonsense on YouTube, or some series, or to casually read a fiction book, and to sleep for 9 hours every night for 1 month. Surrounded by pillows, preferably with cuddles every so often. And that would be the only contact with people that I would want in that ideal one month.

But that fantasy is far from happening in the foreseeable future. You see, I started writing this from a Starbucks at the London Gatwick airport with a large cappuccino. I had a flight to Geneva at 7:45am and woke up at 3:30am to come to the airport and be on time. With a pack of discounted babybels in my pocket so that they wouldn't go bad in the fridge.

Said flight was overbooked. I will now fly at 4:55pm. It was 8:36am as I started writing this. I stayed in that Starbucks for almost 6 hours writing this and reading a paper to make slides for a summer course in the Swiss Alps. The flight was also 2 hours late and now my earphone batteries ran out. I'm finishing writing this on the plane to Geneva. Woe is me.

When Mannequin Pussy said, "Everyone says to me 'Missy, you're so strong' but what if I don't wanna beeeeeeeeee" I really felt that.

This is just the beginning of frenetic two weeks. And It's me and my pocketful of babybels against the world.

Exhausted salutations,

Drained Amadeus

PS: The timeline is probably very confusing so I'll simplify it here:

Week of the 12th of August: At some point in the middle of the week, my data arrived

15th to 18th of August: Catsitting in Nunhead

21st of August: My birthday

22nd of August: Lab meeting presentation

[pinestripe37]

1, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 21, 23, 26, 27, and 36! (this is a TON of questions so don’t feel pressured to answer all of them XD you can pick & choose if you’d like!)

Yayy I am so excited!!

Do you have freckles?

Teeny tiny bit, not really noticeable I don't think.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

Yes! I have my favorite Lucy in bed next to me lately and it's nice because she's my special soft kitty from when I was a toddler :)

I am ALSO GETTING A STUFFED MISTPAW FOR MY BIRTHDAY! :D

Do you prefer drawing or writing?

I actually don't know! :0 Because I really really enjoy both! And I'm certainly so blessed to be able to express my feelings through both! I'd say it varies based on the time. Which is also nice because I can just switch back and forth between both whenever I don't have inspiration for one. It's so wonderful that God gives us multiple gifts, and lets us serve Him in such different ways! :'D I've been writing a quite a bit lately but I have been starting to think of some art ideas so perhaps I'll be drawing shortly!

What’s your ideal number of blankets to sleep with?

Two! One to cover myself with and one next to me in case I get cold. DEFINITELY NOT ZERO ZERO IS THE LEAST IDEAL NUMBER- I have so much trouble sleeping when it's hot because it feels weird to not cover myself with a blanket.

Who are five (or more) people you want to hug right now?

~ you of coursee <33 I love you friend :')

~ My irl friend who has been so wonderful to me, it's still hard to believe that I'm appreciated, y'know?

~ ahfhijkjh allll my friends really, aaahh I love my friendss :')

~ a person I've been wanting to be friends with for many years and still pray for and will forever pray for. I have faith that if it's in God's Plan someday we will meet again and someday we will be friends and someday we will hug.

~Jesus, definitely, my Lord and Shepherd and Savior and First Love. Being with Him forever in His Presence is the best and safest Place always and He's the One who Saved me and died for me and loves me most. <3

What’s your favorite color?

Mint green and/or teal! :D But really I actually find all colors beautiful, all the colors God painted His creation in are beautiful!

How was your day today?

Pretty good. :) Pretty tiring and I'm probably gonna nap soon lol. Tiring but also blessed and peaceful day, so I'm grateful for that! :')

Do you believe in aliens?

I just stick with the answer of... Only God really knows so knowing that only He knows is enough for me. Leaning not on my own understanding is the way to go with anything I don't know for sure.

What are some seemingly childish things you like?

A bunchh! :D Stuffed animals, playing with toys, a bunch of shows including Peep and the Big Wide World and Odd Squad, picture books (my mom and I both), I feel like probably a bunch of other stuff.

What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?

My favorite favorite Book is forever the Bible. I mean, it's God's Word and I can talk to Him and hear from Him, and He's blessed me with such amazing incredible moments in Scripture with the Guidance of the Holy Spirit, and taught me so much, and I can literally read it forever and still be amazed with a new insight from the Holy Spirit each time even after reading a passage over and over because the Word is Living and God continues to teach us through it. Such a wonderful blessing indeed!! :'D

My favorite fiction book would be.. maybe Little Women, or The Vanderbeekers of of 141st street (by Karina Yan Glaser) it's suchh a sweet series :') Ooh, and the Wingfeather Saga! Still gotta finish reading but I'm enjoying those books so much!

Do you like your middle name?

Yes! I've actually had a very interesting and lovely conversation with my friend about name meanings, recently-ish, and we figured out interpretations of my middle + first name meanings that fit my life and come from a Christian perspective, so that was fun! :D

Eeeee thank you for sending an ask, my dear friend!! :D <3

[typical-simplelove]

To Capture a Moment (M. Barzal)

Author's Note: This was a prompt from the ever amazing @thatflyersfan, so thank you for this! The prompt was "taking polaroid photos", and I'm a sucker for childhood friends to lovers, so this is the product! I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you thought either in an ask or in the tags. Enjoy!

Author's Note 2: If you reblog this, I'll send you an ask thank you and mention you in an appreciation post (if I do this!)

Warnings: Mentions of sex, one or two slightly NSFW scenes (but VERY mild), a mention of a breeding kink (literally mentioned in one sentence), marriage, pregnancy, Santa, but the rest is just fluff!

Word Count: 9.3k

Enjoy reading!

If anyone were to walk down the hall of your and Mathew’s hallway of your new home, they would see it lined with polaroid pictures. These polaroid pictures show the relationship between you and Mathew from the young age of five to now sharing your new home, married, and with two children. A hallway that was the epitome of a picture is worth a thousand words.

Age 5

“Mathew, please, just stand next to your sister, please,” Mathew’s mother requests. Her tone was close to begging. Your parents had to deal with a family emergency, so they sent you to the Barzal’s to be babysat. Mathew’s mother decided to take Liana, Mathew, and you to Lafarge Park.

Currently, you are sitting on a bench giggling as you watch Mathew sigh as he gets up from where he was sitting next to you. He groaned as he got up and stood next to his sister. He wraps his arm around her but doesn’t smile. At the touch, Liana screams and begins to cry. It was close to her nap time, and the smallest things were making her fussy. Mathew’s mother sighs and goes to pick up her daughter to try to comfort her. Mathew grins widely and sits back down next to you.

“I don’t like taking photos,” Mathew says bluntly. You look at him but are squinting as the sun is in your eyes.

“You like taking photos in your hockey gear,” you point out.

“Yeah, but I don’t like taking photos,” Mathew emphasizes the word photos as if that were enough explanation. It wasn’t. “You know what I mean?”

“No.”

Mathew gives you a curious look, and you want to point out his hair is getting long, but his mother calls Mathew back over to take the photo.

“But I don’t want to,” Mathew whines.

“Mathew,” she says in a mother’s knowing tone, and Mathew gets up exasperatedly. He stands next to his sister. He opts not to put his arm around her this time and looks at you before the picture is taken. You smile widely at him and wave. Mathew wears a giant grin on his face in response. His mother notices Mathew’s wide smile; she smiles when she realizes you are the reason for Mathew’s smile. She takes the photo quickly knowing that Mathew’s smile is short-lived.

“Yn, come take a photo with Mathew,” she calls to you. You skip over to Mathew. Surprisingly, Mathew doesn’t complain about taking another photo. Then again, though, Mathew never complained about anything when it came to you.

“Mom, can we do the fancy camera? The one that prints out right away?” Mathew asks.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Mathew’s mother says and pulls the polaroid camera out of her purse. Mathew insisted she bring it today, and she guesses this was why. “Smile,” she directs and snaps the photo. Once the photo is printed, she places it in her wallet.

“I’m going to hang it on my wall,” Mathew tells you after the photo is taken and that he did. After he got home later that day from dropping you off at home, Mathew begged his mother for the photo. He tapped it on his wall next to his hockey posters because to him, you were just as important. As Mathew moved around for hockey, that photo always followed him around with a few others. It sat in his wallet, and when he felt homesick, he’d look at it with a wide smile. Now, it sits amongst the many polaroid pictures on your wall.

Age 6

Whenever you and Mathew were together, Mathew’s mother always brought the polaroid camera with her. Mathew always loved taking those kinds of photos with you. In the past year, you and Mathew have taken countless polaroid pictures that lined both your walls and his.

Today, you were sitting in a local hockey arena watching Mathew play. Well, you were watching the empty ice getting ready for warmups. You were wearing one of Mathew’s sweatshirts as you shivered in the cold of the arena. You were clutching the mug of hot chocolate Mathew’s mother gave you in hopes of warming up. When Mathew got on the ice for warmups, you smiled widely. Even at such a young age, seeing Mathew would bring a smile to your face and make you all warm and fuzzy.

You walked towards the glass to get a better look at your best friend. When he skated by you, you tapped softly on the glass to alert him you were there. When Mathew turns to see you, he gives you a giant smile from beneath his helmet. He takes a few moments to stop and looks at you for a moment. Mathew’s mother takes the polaroid camera out of her bag and quickly snaps a photo of the two of you in this exact position.

That photo remains on the Barzal mantle till this day.

Age 7

The annual Christmas Fair was back in Vancouver again, and Mathew was super excited to see Santa this year. He figured that his dream of playing in the NHL would come true as long as he asked Santa for it for every year of his life until it happened.

You were both standing in line waiting to go inside the Fair. Despite being bundled up in your warmest sweater, jacket, gloves, and hat, you were still cold. One would think that after spending copious amounts of time in a hockey arena watching Mathew play, you would be used to the cold, but you weren’t.

“Are you cold, Yn?” Mathew asks concerned. He can see you shivering but trying to hide it.

“Just a little,” you lie.

“Oh, here,” Mathew says and walks over to you. He wraps his arms around you in a giant hug to keep you warm. You feel your cheeks warm at the touch, but you, at the age of seven, think it’s just you already warming up. You rest your head on Mathew and wrap your arms around him. “No, keep them in your pockets, so you can keep warm.”

“What about your hands?” you worry.

“Don’t worry, I play hockey; I’m used to the cold,” he reassures you and flashes you his signature grin. Mathew’s mother wasn’t able to capture a polaroid photo of this event, but your mother was able to pull out her phone to capture the moment. Even at the age of 7, Mathew would do absolutely anything for you.

Eventually, yours and Mathew’s families end up inside the fair and in line to see Santa. Now, a hot chocolate in your belly and a warm meal, you were slowly warming up and didn’t need Mathew to hold you anymore. He was bouncing with excitement as you both got closer and closer to the front of the line.

When it was Mathew’s turn to see Santa, he walked up, and you waited in line for your turn. A sudden gust of wind made a giant shiver rack through your body, and Mathew noticed from where he was sitting on Santa’s lap.

“Is everything alright, son?” he asks.

Mathew looks up at him with worry. “My best friend is cold, and I don’t like it when Yn’s cold. I’d rather be cold instead of Yn.”

“Well, maybe we should finish here quickly, so you can go and make Yn warm. What do you say?”

Mathew nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, I like that.”

“So, what do you want, son?”

Mathew looks into Santa’s blue eyes and is about to ask for an NHL career. He then looks at you and sees you shivering. Mathew’s heart stops and realizes that it doesn’t matter if he got the NHL career if you were cold. You couldn’t be cold because if you were cold then you’d get sick. If you were sick, then who would be Mathew’s best friend? “I want Yn not to be sick.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah,” Mathew nods. “I can’t have my best friend sick because then who would be my best friend.”

“Well, then, I’ll be sure to grant your wish, son,” Santa says. In all his years of doing this, he’s never heard this one before. “Keep Yn close, okay? Yn seems like a special one.”

Mathew always kept those words close to his heart whether or not he remembered who told them to him.

Age 10

For the past ten years, you and Mathew have taken a photo on yours and his birthdays. It was always you on the right and him on the left. Whoever’s birthday it was would be holding the gift the other got them. It was tradition.

It was your tenth birthday, and the day was coming to a close. All your friends had left, and it was just your family and Mathew’s family who were still there. You were on your third piece of cake, and Mathew was trying to convince you to give him a bite, too. He looked nervous.

“Are you okay, Mathew?” you ask after finishing your final piece and giving Mathew a piece.

“I have a gift for you,” he mumbles.

“Oh!” you thought you opened all your gifts.

“Can I give it to you?”

“Yeah, sure,” you answer. Mathew gets up to grab the gift, and you throw out the plate in the trash.

“This is for you,” he says and passes the bag to you. You gently take the wrapping paper out of the bag; you set it to the side and pull out the box. You gasp when you see it. You smile and jump up to give Mathew a hug. You wrap your arms around him.

“Thank you for the polaroid camera, Mathew,” you whisper as he wraps his arms around you.

“Of course, Yn. It’s time you had your own, so we could take all the photos we want.”

“Come on, let’s go and get my mom to take a photo of us.”

You and Mathew go and find his mother. When you find her, you take the camera out of the box and hand it to her. You and Mathew position yourself against the wall, and he wraps an arm around you. You hold the box in your hand and smile. Mathew, though, isn’t looking at the camera; he’s looking at you with the widest grin on his face. All that mattered in his life was making you smile. If he made you smile, then Mathew always wore the happiest grin on his face.

Age 13 - Stargazing

Your parents had to go out of town to take care of your grandparents, so you were staying with the Barzals for the weekend. You were both currently laying on in his backyard on a blanket staring at the stars. It was your favorite pastime — laying together looking up at the stars.

You were both lying next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. You turned your head and looked at Mathew, but you looked to find him already looking at you. “It’s pretty,” he says.

“It is,” you agree and turn back to the sky. Mathew, though, remained looking at you.

“Do you have your polaroid camera?”

“Yeah, right next to me. Why?”

“Let’s take a photo,” Mathew answers. He sits up and leans over around you to grab the camera. In the process, Mathew’s arm brushes your stomach briefly, and his face grows warm at the touch. Somewhere, between the ages of 12 and 13, Mathew has developed a crush on you. He didn’t tell anyone because why would he? At this age, Mathew would get teased for having a crush on you, so he didn’t tell anyone. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if you liked him, too.

Mathew lies back down next to you and rests his head close to yours. He lifts his arm up and positions it so that the both of you are in frame. You both smile, and Mathew presses down the button.

The photo comes out, and Mathew’s heart warms at the picture reflected.

“Can I have my camera? I want a picture of the stars, too,” you ask. He hands you the camera, and his hand brushes yours briefly. You thought nothing of it, but Mathew’s heart was racing. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Mathew whispers, and you give him a curious look. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just acting weird.”

“I’m not acting weird; you’re acting weird.”

You laugh. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter.”

Mathew watched you take a photo of the stars in the sky, and he came to one realization: he never wanted to live in a world where you weren’t there.

Age 16

It was Mathew’s 16th birthday, and you were sitting on a garden chair watching him have the time of his life with his friends. As you both started high school, you both found yourself in different friend groups. That wasn’t to say, however, that your friendship wavered. It just meant that you both weren’t next to each other all the time. You were okay with that new realization. You were okay with it because that meant that you could work through your new found feelings for Mathew. You didn’t know when it happened. One day, you were eating lunch with Mathew, your friend, with normal hair and normal eyes and a normal laugh. You were eating lunch with Mathew, your friend, who was normal looking. The next day, though, you were eating lunch with Mathew who had the most beautiful smile, the most beautiful eyes, the softest hair, and was the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. He was no longer the boy you grew up with. He was Mathew, and you finally understood what all the girls were talking about. It was difficult for you to breathe around him because you wanted him to hold your hand and love you. It went from Mathew being your best friend to you loving Mathew as more than a friend, and it scared you.

You were sitting there smiling when Mathew caught your gaze. He looked you in the eyes and waved. You waved back and warmth filled you. He excused himself from his friends and walked over to where you were sitting.

“You brought the polaroid camera,” he says as he brings a chair next to yours and sits.

“Well, we’ve taken the same photo for the past sixteen years. We might as well continue tradition, right?” you tease.

“Yeah, tradition,” he whispers giving you a look that makes you melt. He leans his head close to yours with a soft smile. “Can I tell you something?”

You nod trying to suppress a shiver.

“Somewhere in the past —”

“Yn, can I borrow your polaroid camera, please?” Liana interrupts as if knowing what Mathew was going to say. You tell her yes, and you see Mathew, out of the corner of your eye, blush and shake his head while also glaring at his sister.

“Um, you were saying?” you ask hoping to rebuild the bubble you both just had.

Mathew looks at you trying to figure out if he wants to continue. “Um, somewhere in the past five or six years or so, I screwed up.”

“Screwed up, how?”

“I fell for you,” Mathew whispers, a blush overcoming his face.

“But, you’re sitting right now,” you say oblivious.

Mathew laughs his laugh, and you melt into a puddle. “I fell in love with you, Yn.”

“Oh. Oh!”

Mathew laughs again with a bashful smile settling on his features. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”

“Are you still sorry if I were to tell you I fell in love with you, too?”

“I wouldn’t be sorry, then,” Mathew says and leans his head close to yours. He takes one hand and cups your cheek. He rubs soft patterns on your cheek as he begins to tilt his head. “Can I kiss you?”

“Please,” you beg. Mathew places his lips on yours softly as your hands go to his neck and begin to softly playing the hair at its base. It was a kiss full of fireworks. All the noises around you mellowed out. All the emotions you feel for your best friend come out in one kiss as it deepens. You both pull away when a flash from a camera startles you both.

“Sorry, I just had to,” Liana apologizes, handing you back your camera with the photo printing.

“You didn’t have to,” Mathew grumbles angrily.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry,” you tell her, taking back the camera. You look at the photo and smile. Mathew was gently holding your face as he kissed you softly. You both had wide smiles on your faces as you kissed each other. “See, we have a photo of our first kiss.”

Mathew kisses your forehead softly. “Here’s to many more.”

Age 18

“Yn, come outside, please?” Mathew begs with a pout on his face. “I want to take a photo with you.”

“But we’ve been taking photos all day,” you groan. It was reaching 9pm at night, and the joint graduation party for you and Mathew was over. You were both lounging on your bed reminiscing about the future. Mathew was going to have this amazing NHL career, and you were going to college.

“I just want this one,” Mathew says as he gets off the bed. He looks at the many polaroid photos sitting on your wall of both your family, friends, and him. He was in most of them. He picks up your polaroid camera and grins at you. “Please? My parents bought sparklers, and we haven’t used them yet.”

You get up because Mathew could get you to do anything as long as he gave you that grin. “Okay.”

Mathew takes your hand and leads you both downstairs. “Liana, can you take a photo of us?”

“More photos?” she asks. Liana was just as fed up with taking pictures, too. “Yn, how do you put up with him?”

You shrug with a smile. “It’s easy when I love him.”

“I love him, too, but I can’t put up with him,” Liana mumbles following you both out the door. Mathew inquires about the sparklers and is directed to his mother’s car. You and Liana stand out in your backyard. “What kind of photo does he want?”

“I’m not sure, but I know he wants a polaroid photo.”

“He’s obsessed with those,” Liana comments as Mathew walks up to you two. He hands the polaroid camera to Liana and ushers you over to where he wants to stand. He takes two sparklers out of the box and hands one to you.

“I want to kiss you as we hold the sparklers,” Mathew mumbles against your skin. His words sent shivers down your spine.

“Okay,” you whisper as Mathew lights yours and his sparklers. He looks at you with a wide smile and wraps the arm that’s not holding the sparkler around your waist. You wrap your arm that’s not holding the sparkler across his shoulder and lean in for a kiss. “Liana, take the photo when we kiss, please.”

Liana makes a comment about how disgusting the two of you are before saying an “okay.”

Mathew leans in with a smile and kisses you. You kiss him back with a smile just as wide closing the space between you two. You see the flash out of the corner of your eye and pull away slowly to set the sparkler out. When they’re out, Mathew pulls you in for another kiss full of love and passion. He never gets enough of kissing you; if it were up to him, he’d kiss you for every moment of every day.

“The photo’s ready,” Liana interrupts, not wanting to watch her brother kiss anyone even if it were you. You both separate breathlessly and observe the photo. He wraps his arms around you and settles your back against his front. He rests his head against yours and holds you tightly against his chest.

“We look cute, babe,” Mathew whispers into your ear. You look into his eyes and break out into a smile.

“We do look cute,” you agree. You were about to say something else, but the flash of the polaroid camera interrupts your words.

“Sorry,” Liana apologies. “You guys just looked really cute.”

Mathew kisses your cheek, and his heart bursts with love. He loved you so much that there were no words. From where they were sitting on the back porch, your parents and Mathew’s parents were looking on with love. You and Mathew were perfect for each other, and they knew that your relationship would stand the test of time.

Age 21

You were in New York for the first time during the hockey season. In past times you’ve been in New York, it was either before the season or after the season. This was the first time that your school schedule lined up perfectly with a chance to go see Mathew play on Long Island. You met the WAGs for the first time tonight, and you instantly loved them and them the same. You were currently standing next to Sydney, who took you under her wing, at the glass as warmups just began. You had your new polaroid camera and ready to snap one of Mathew.

“Do you and Mathew have a strong connection to a polaroid camera?” Sydney asks.

You nod with a smile. “Yeah. For as long as I can remember, we’ve always taken photos with a polaroid camera. We have millions of photos together.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen them. Mathew displays them proudly across his apartment. He loves them, but he loves you more,” Sydney teases.

You don’t reply except for smiling bashfully and shaking your head playfully. You were about to say something when Mathew interrupted you by bumping into the boards in front of you. He looks at you, and his heart grows a million sizes seeing you wearing his jersey. You smile when you see him and wave. He begins to show off in front of you with his stick handling. You shake your head playfully at his actions, but you use the opportunity to snap a photo of Mathew. It’s of him concentrating on the puck. You tuck it into your purse to observe later on.

“Did you want me to take one of the two of you?” Grace asks, who was on the other side of you and has also taken you under her wing.

“Would you? That’d be great.”

“Of course,” she says and takes the camera from you.

“Can Grace take a photo of us?” you ask Mathew. You were suddenly nervous that he was going to be embarrassed of your tradition.

“That would be amazing,” he tells you genuinely. He leans against the glass on his side, and you do the same on your side, smiling at Grace. Once the photo is taken, you, once again, put it in your purse to look at later. Mathew waves before rejoining the rest of his team.

“You guys are cute,” Sydney comments with a smile.

“Oh, to be young and in love,” Grace comments and both girls laugh. You put the camera in your purse, and you smile as the heat rushes to your face. Indeed, to be young and in love.

Later that night, you and Mathew were sitting on his couch when you pulled out the polaroids from the day. Mathew looks at the polaroid that you took of him without him knowing and blushes. You notice it and kiss his cheek.

“You look good, babe,” you tease.

“Yeah, but this one is better,” he says pointing to the photo Grace took of you. His hold on you tightens as he rests his head on the crook between your shoulder and neck. “Wanna know why?”

“Why?” you giggle as Mathew’s breath tickles you.

“Because you’re in it,” Mathew flirts.

“Shut up,” you say bashfully as the warmth reaches your face.

“It’s true,” he whispers. “I’m not ready for you to go back to school. I want you here forever.”

“Don’t worry,” you reassure. “After I graduate, I’m going to get a job here in New York, and we’ll be here forever together. Don’t worry; you can’t get rid of me that easy.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Mathew says and places a kiss on your cheek.

Age 22

Mathew is sitting next to your father with a bouquet of flowers and your polaroid camera on his lap. Mathew’s leg is bouncing as he anxiously waits for your name to be called. It was finally your graduation day. You’ve been working hard for the past four years, and it was finally paying off. Mathew was so proud of you, and he was so happy that he got to be here at his super smart, super beautiful girlfriend’s graduation day.

A name a few before yours was called, and Mathew and your family perked their attention to be ready when you were called. In moments, your name was called, and you were walking across the stage. Mathew and your family all stood up to cheer for you. Mathew put the flowers down on his chair and put the camera up to take a photo. He snapped one exactly as you were handed your diploma. He put the photo in his wallet with the same one from when you were five.

As you were walking across the stage, you caught Mathew’s eyes, and he winked at you. You smiled bashfully, and as you sat, you felt the warmth on your face. The rest of the celebration went by quickly as you all threw your caps in the air and cheered. You were done! You finished! You were officially a college graduate! You said tearful goodbyes and congratulations to your friends before making your way to your family and Mathew.

Mathew stood to the side as your grandparents, parents, and siblings embraced you and congratulated you. He could see the impatience in your eyes as you greeted each and everyone of them, wanting to greet Mathew. As you hugged your grandparents after your parents, your mother walked over to Mathew.

“Hand me the polaroid camera. I’ll take a few as she comes over to you,” your mother says, and Mathew hands her the camera.

Finally, finally, it was Mathew’s turn to see you. “Congratulations,” he says to you softly.

“Thank you,” you whisper.

“These are for you,” Mathew says and hands you the flowers. You both vaguely notice the flash of the camera as your mother took a photo of Mathew handing you the flowers. You take the flowers and smile behind them embarrassed. One of your siblings takes the flowers from you, so you can properly embrace Mathew. He wraps you in a giant hug and kisses your forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“I can’t believe that my girlfriend is a college graduate,” Mathew comments as you pull away to look at him. He leans his head down and kisses you softly. You reach your hands to wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer to you. You both deepen the kiss but not too much as your father was right there watching you two. As you and Mathew kiss, you both, once again, vaguely recall a flash of the polaroid camera. It didn’t matter. When you both were together, especially kissing, the entire world faded away. Finally, you both pull away with breathless smiles.

A few weeks later, you were both back home in Coquitlam, and it was nearing the end of your graduation party. Mathew was sitting on the back deck with his parents, Liana and your dad as the night winded down. In your hand, you held the two photos your mother took and wanted to show Mathew.

“Mind if I steal him for a moment?” you ask resting your hand on Mathew’s shoulder.

“Please, he keeps talking about you, and it’s making me sick,” Liana says. Everyone laughs in response, and you take Mathew’s hand and lead him away from the group.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I want to show you the photos from graduation,” you tell him. “The polaroids.”

You and Mathew find a spot in the backyard and sit. Mathew sits first and opens his legs for you to sit in between. You rest with your back against his chest, and his arms reach around your waist to hold you tightly. He kisses the side of your cheek as you show him the photos.

“Here’s the first one,” you say and show him one. It’s the photo of Mathew handing you the bouquet of flowers. Smiles are adorned on both your faces, and Mathew’s eyes are laced with nothing but love for you. “We look good.”

“You always say that,” Mathew teases.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true,” you reply looking at your boyfriend of many, many years.

He kisses your temple. “What’s the next one?”

You flip to the next photo and show it to him.

“Now this one, this one, we look good,” Mathew says, giving you a raised eyebrow. It was a photo of Mathew giving you your congratulatory kiss.

“We do look good,” you comment with a smile.

Mathew was contemplating on whether or not to tell you about the photo he took of you while you walked across the stage. He opted against it wanting to keep the photo to himself for the moment. “This is our thing, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean ‘our thing’?” you ponder.

“You know, all couples have their thing. This is our thing, taking polaroid photos,” Mathew explains.

“I guess it is,” you hum. “It’s not a bad ‘thing’ to have.”

“It really isn’t,” Mathew says and kisses you. He will be forever indebted to his mother for starting this tradition that the two of you have.

Age 24

On your first night after moving to New York, Anthony and Mathew insisted on taking you out to celebrate. You were tired, though, from unpacking and settling in all day, so you told them you didn’t want to do anything crazy. Why was Anthony tagging along? You didn’t know. He was there to help unpack, and he said you three should celebrate, so here you were.

You let Anthony and Mathew pick what they wanted to do as you showered and unpacked your stuff in the washroom. You walked out freshly showered to Mathew and Anthony having wide smiles on their faces.

“What if we took you to Times Square?” Mathew says. He walks over to you and wraps you in a giant hug. You hum in response, but Mathew isn’t sure if it's from the hug or agreeing with going to Times Square. You wrap your arms around him and breathe in his scent. You missed his scent before you moved in with him. You spent a few years back home with a job before you moved to New York. You wanted to be on your own for a bit before making the trek across the continent.

Anthony clears his throat to signal that you and Mathew weren’t the only two in the room. You both pull away, and Mathew’s face is crimson red as he meets his friend’s eyes. “So, Times Square, yes or no?”

“Sure, but not too late because I’m tired,” you reply. Getting to Manhattan from Mathew’s, no your apartment, Long Island apartment was long. You told them the train would be easier, but Mathew and Anthony would rather drive, so driving it was. The entire night was a blur. You were tired and exhausted, and the ecstasy you felt from being in the City with your boyfriend, finally, was too much to handle. You were over the moon overjoyed.

The three of you stopped for a moment in the main square of Times Square, and you looked around in awe. Mathew was watching you with nothing but love in his eyes as you took in the sight. He spent every night over the past few years wishing and dreaming of the nights and days he’d get to have you by his side. Anthony, on the other hand, was rolling his eyes at his best friend’s love sick nature.

“Did you bring your polaroid camera?” Mathew whispers into your ear.

“Yes, why?” you ask with a smile on your face that makes Mathew melt into a puddle.

“Let’s get Beau to take a photo for us.”

You watch as Mathew asks Anthony to take a photo of the two of you; you giggle quietly as Anthony rolls his eyes but says yes. Mathew walks over to you and wraps his arms around you. Anthony holds the camera up as you and Mathew smile for him. However, instead of looking at the camera, Mathew is looking down at you as you smile at the camera. He’s looking at you, the love of his life and the light of his life. Anthony snaps the photo but rolls his eyes at the lovesickness of his best friend. The photo prints, and you throw it into your purse to look at later. You continue to explore the awakeness of the Big Apple with your hand in Mathew’s. You fell in love with the city, and you were excited to be living in the lively state of New York.

Later that night, you’re getting ready for bed and standing at your dresser in the bedroom. You set your purse on it and take the polaroid camera out. Next, you take the photo out of your wallet and look at it. You smile at you and Mathew in the photo. As you’re looking, Mathew walks out of the washroom with his sweats hanging low on his hips without a shirt on and wraps his arms around you. He holds you close against his bare chest and rests his head on your shoulder breathing in your comforting and familiar scent.

“What’re you looking at?” he asks in a low husky voice that sends chills down your spine.

“The photo from tonight,” you say in a low voice as Mathew pulls you closer into his body. “You didn’t even look at the camera.”

“It’s a waste of time to stare at a camera when the best part of my life is right there,” Mathew flirts. He kisses your neck in between words pulling a soft whimper from you.

“You’re such a flirt,” you teasingly scoff. You rest the photo on the dresser and turn around, so you’re facing Mathew. You rest your arms on his shoulders and feel the expanse of the muscles there. You watch as Mathew’s eyes begin to darken and fill with need and desire.

“How else am I supposed to keep my girl satisfied?” he smirks.

“I can think of a few ways,” you tell him confidently before closing the space and placing a kiss on his lips. Mathew instantly picks you up, and you yelp slightly at the sudden touch. He carries you to the bed and places you down slowly. In between kisses, you tell him, “I love you.”

“I love you, too. More than anyone or anything in the world,” he replies. One day, he knew that he’d be getting Anthony to take a photo of the two of you with an engagement ring on your left hand.

Age 25

Engagement Party

Four months after you moved to New York, Mathew proposed to you. He got down on one knee during a date-night at home. You knew something was up when Mathew was nervous the entire night. You, obviously, said yes to forever with your best friend and the love of your life.

Now eight months later, Mathew’s family was throwing you both a small engagement party to celebrate the engagement about a month before your wedding. It was just both of your immediate families and close friends. You didn’t invite many people knowing the majority of the important people in your life would be flying to Vancouver for the wedding in about a month.

You were wearing a white sundress that made you feel like the bride that all movies and books describe. You were surrounded by your family, but most importantly, you were celebrating getting married to your best friend and love of your life.

It was getting late, and you were sitting on Mathew’s lap. You were resting your head on his shoulder with your arms wrapped around his neck and his arms wrapped around yours. The steady breathing from him and his warmth led to you falling asleep. He was tracing small patterns on your hip as he continued to talk to the small group of people around you. At some point, you heard Mathew tell someone to grab his sweater, and he threw it over your shoulders. You were so tired and didn’t tell him you were cold, but he just knew.

You didn’t know when you fell asleep, but you just did. No one noticed you were asleep until someone asked you a question, and you didn’t respond. Mathew looked down at you and noticed that you were sleeping. You looked adorable and comfortable in his arms. Mathew’s heartbeat quickened as he realized that he got to spend the rest of his life with the person in his arms. He got to spend the rest of his life with the person in his arms who looked so at rest, so beautiful, and so happy.

Liana quietly gets up to grab your polaroid camera from your purse. She knew that you’d want to have this documented.

“Get used to this, Mathew,” your dad began. “Yn will be falling asleep in your arms like this forever.”

Mathew smiled at your father’s words and rested his head against yours. He’d be more than okay with that. Liana didn’t tell Mathew he was going to take a photo. She knew that you’d far rather that the photo was candid and not scripted. Liana approached the group quietly and snapped a photo. Mathew was too absorbed in holding you that he didn’t notice. Liana left the photo on your nightstand where you found it the next morning. You smiled at the photo when you saw it knowing you weren’t making a mistake with who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.

Wedding Day

You woke up the night after your wedding day curled into Mathew’s bare chest. You opened your eyes and a wide smile erupted across your face. You ran your fingers along Mathew’s stomach, and your breath hitched in your throat when you caught sight of your wedding band on your left finger.

“Morning, baby,” Mathew says in his morning voice that still makes your heart flutter. He runs his left hand across your back, and his wedding band sends chills down your spine.

“Did you know that we got married last night?” you ask sweetly.

He gives you a low chuckle. “Yes, I do know that.”

You giggle. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

You both lay in bed for a while in silence before Mathew says anything again. “Liana gave me the photos she took on the polaroid last night.”

“Oh,” you say as you sit up. You and Mathew put Liana in charge of taking a few polaroid photos of the two of you knowing she’d be the best one to do so. Mathew also roped in Anthony, but you both had more faith in Liana.

You sit up against the headboard as Mathew gets up and grabs the envelope that Liana gave him before you both left the previous night. Mathew pulls you against him as he rests against the headboard, too, and hands you the photos. You look in the envelope and notice six photos.

You pull out one and smile at it. It was your first dance with Mathew. Liana took the photo perfectly just as the song was coming to a close and Mathew was twirling you with your dress splaying out around you. Mathew had nothing but love in his for his new wife and a giant smile on his;he had tunnel vision when he looked at you. The entire world faded away except for you. You remember Mathew placing a kiss on you just as you reentered his embrace. Your heart was beating through your chest as Mathew and you continued to dance to the remainder of the song.

“We look good,” you tell him, showing him the photo. Mathew grabs the photo from your hand and is careful to only hold the corners. You’ve been on his case many, many times about not smudging the photo.

“You look good, babe,” Mathew corrects. “You always will look better than me.”

You smile bashfully at your husband’s words and smile into his chest. He tightens his grip around you before grabbing the envelope, placing the photo in it, and grabbing another. He smiles at the photo of him and his mother dancing together. “Look, it’s your mother-in-law,” he comments.

You look at the photo and smile. “Indeed it is.”

“Is it weird that she’s officially your mother-in-law?”

“Not really. I mean, it’s different, but not weird. Your mom has always been in my life, so it’s not like I don’t know her. Is it weird that my parents are your in-laws?”

“Yes, absolutely. The amount of stares that your father has given me? He never scared me when we were growing up, but in the past few years, he has.”

You laugh and place a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t worry. He’s just being protective of his child.”

“It better be just that,” Mathew mumbles. You grab another photo from the envelope and smile at the photo of you and your dad dancing together. Both yours and your father’s eyes had tears in their eyes knowing that this was it. This was what you both knew was coming but weren’t ready for. You were starting a life with Mathew and forming your new family, and your father was losing his child to the man who loves you as much as he does.

You put the photo back in the envelope and grab the next one. It was the photo of the kiss after the officiant said, “you may now kiss your bride.” You and Mathew both had wide smiles on your faces as you leaned in for the first kiss as a married couple. You remember how eager Mathew was to kiss you and how much he needed to kiss you. Sometimes, it makes you wonder how he goes on long roadtrips without kissing you. Mathew’s hands were sitting on your waist under the edges of your veil with his gold wedding band reflecting the light of the ceremony’s venue. Your arms were wrapped around his shoulders with the light reflecting off your grandmother’s tennis bracelet, your something old, and Mathew’s grandmother’s gold bracelet, your something borrowed. The space between you two was non-existent as you both needed to be as close as possible to kiss. You and Mathew both had a professional photographer at the wedding, but there was something more special about the photo being taken by someone who you loved.

The fifth photo is of you and Mathew giving each other a bite of your wedding cake after biting it. You both opted for a traditional two-tiered cake with white fondant and flowers around the base. Mathew had his left arm on your waist, your veil taken off to preserve it, with his right hand holding a fork close to your mouth. You had your dominant hand resting on his chest with your nondominant hand with a fork in it to feed Mathew a piece of cake. You both were looking in each other’s eyes but midlaugh. You couldn’t remember what he said that made you laugh so hard, but you did.

The six and final photo Liana took was of your send off. To reminisce from your high school graduation party, you and Mathew opted for a sparkler send off. Sure, it was cliche but much of your relationship with Mathew was a cliche. You and Mathew were standing in front of his car as your family and friends held sparklers cheering for you all. Mathew had his hands cupping your face and giving you a kiss with a wide smile on his face. You had your arms in his hair holding him close to you. It was a perfect ending for the day of your dreams with the man of your dreams starting the life of your dreams.

“I can’t wait to see all the professional photos,” you tell him as you put the envelope on the nightstand.

“Who really needs professional photos?”

“I mean, we have all those polaroids from growing up but not many from last night, so we do?”

Mathew looks at you and smiles. “I guess we do.”

The professional photos were exactly what you were hoping for. Each time you looked at them, your heart beat just a tad faster and your stomach did somersaults. Mathew always did have that effect on you.

Honeymoon

After the wedding of your dreams, you and Mathew were off to Paris for a honeymoon of your dreams. Sure, it was very cliche, but, again, everything about yours and Mathew’s relationship was a cliche.

It was halfway through the trip when it dawned on Mathew that you both didn’t have a polaroid photo together. He was shocked to say the least when he realized it. That same day, you and Mathew were heading to the Eiffel Tower, and Mathew figured it was the best opportunity for a photo op, so he threw the camera into your purse and made a mental promise to get a photo of the two of you.

You and Mathew purchased your tickets and took the elevator to the top of the tower. On the descent, you and Mathew got off on the second level to get more pictures opting to take the steps down. You were looking at the Parisian skyline with Mathew holding you against his chest. Your arms were crossed against your chest with Mathew’s arms on top of yours. The metal of his wedding band sending shivers down your spine.

“Can we take a photo?” Mathew mumbles against your ear.

“Yeah,” you whisper back. You aren’t sure why you whispered, but you didn’t want to break the intimate moment.

“I’ll go find someone to take it for us. Polaroid, right?”

You smile softly. “Yeah.”

Mathew asks one of the working attendants to take a photo for you two. You hand the polaroid camera to the attendant. You and Mathew take the same position you were just in; however, now, you were both facing away from the skyline. You smile for the camera, but, as usual, Mathew isn’t looking at the camera but at you.

“Your husband wasn’t looking at the camera, would you like me to retake it?” the attendant asks.

You laugh softly. “No, that’s okay. Thank you.”

The attendant walks away as you look at the photo. “Why don’t you ever look at the camera? We rarely have any photos of us — polaroid or digital — where you look at the camera.”

“I think I’ve said this already, Yn, but there’s no need to look at the camera when all I want to look at is you.”

You smile and shake your head playfully at your husband. “Okay, smooth talker, take a photo of me?”

“Gladly.”

Mathew took way too many pictures of you on his phone, but his words were “it’s important to capture your world in someone else’s eyes” which he did.

Age 27

Three weeks after giving birth to your first son, Isaac, you and Mathew were exhausted to say the least. Being new parents and with the stress of the end of the regular season coming soon, you and Mathew were just plain exhausted.

Mathew was at a hockey game that night. Somehow, despite the exhaustion of being a new father, Mathew was still playing well. He managed to have a four point night; the commentators said something about his new found “father strength.”

The game ended about an hour ago, and Mathew would be home any minute. Finally, finally, Isaac was sleeping and wasn’t crying. You posted a note on the door for Mathew telling him that if he woke Isaac, you were going to a hotel to sleep. Mathew, chuckled to himself, when he read your note. He walked into your apartment, and his heart melted at what he saw. You were sitting on the couch with Isaac sleeping on your chest. You were stroking his back to keep him quiet. Every few moments you’d kiss his head out of love.

You left the polaroid camera on the kitchen counter after taking a few photos of Isaac and your new family. Leaving the camera out allowed for Mathew to take a photo of you without knowing. He puts his stuff down quietly and picks up the camera. He takes it out of the case and snaps a photo. The flash of the camera startles you slightly. When you look over to the flash, you smile when you see your husband. Mathew places the photo facedown on the table and walks over to you. He takes his tie off and rests it on the side of the couch. He sits next to you and kisses your forehead. “Hey,” he whispers.

“Hi,” you whisper back.

“How was Isaac?”

“He was good,” you tell him. “I’m tired. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the rest of his life.”

“Hey, we’ll be okay, okay? We’ll figure it out, okay?” Mathew reassures.

You nod. “Yeah, we’ll be okay.”

Later that night, you put Isaac down for bed and enter your bedroom. You fell asleep easily that night in Mathew’s arms with a soft smile on your face. Yeah, everything would be okay.

Age 28

Shortly after giving birth to Isaac, both you and Mathew were hit with a really bad case of baby fever. Everytime you or Mathew held Isaac, the next immediate thought you both had was “let’s have another baby.” Every time you saw Mathew doing skin-to-skin contact with Isaac, your heart would flutter with love for your husband, your son, and a strong desire for another baby.

Seven months postpartum, you finally felt comfortable with approaching your husband with the topic of having another baby. Mathew was super excited that you brought it up. At first, trying to conceive was slightly painful. You were both patient with the process knowing it would happen when it would happen. You finally conceived after six months of trying.

Five months later, you felt comfortable announcing it to the world. You bought a whiteboard and wrote a message that said, “Baby Barzal #2 coming soon.” Also, you placed the ultrasound photo on the top corner with a baby jersey with “Barzal 02” on it. You took a photo of it to post both on yours and Mathew’s instagrams. You smiled at the messages you received from your friends, family, the WAGs, and Mathew’s teammates. You both opted not to tell anyone except for immediate family wanting to enjoy the news on your own for the time being.

“Mathew, do you know where the polaroid camera is?” you call out realizing that you had a polaroid of the baby announcement for Isaac but not baby number two.

“On the dresser, probably,” he called from Isaac’s room. You could hear the scrunch in his nose as he changed Isaac’s smelly diaper.

“Thanks, babe,” you call back and walk into your bedroom. You grab the camera and walk back to where you have the pregnancy announcement still sitting on the floor. You snap a photo and smile as you place it on the wall.

With baby #2, your heart was full and excited for what would be coming in the future.

Age 29

“Anthony, please?” you beg.

“Why do you guys always get me to take the photos of the two of you?” Anthony whines.

“Because you’re the best at it!” These words do not convince him further to take a photo of you, Mathew, your daughter, Shannon, and your son, Isaac. “What about, if we have another baby, we name them Anthony”

“What? No,” Mathew yells. “No way. No more kids”

“Just give me the camera,” Anthony sighs. You, who is holding Shannon, and Mathew, who is holding Isaac, walk out to the door of your new house. Shortly after finding out you were pregnant with your second child, you and Mathew began looking for a house to live in, figuring an apartment, no matter the size, was too small for the family you both wanted to build.

Mathew holds Isaac in his right arm and wraps his left arm around your waist. You hold Shannon in your left arm with your right arm wrapped around Mathew and look up at him and smile. He smiles back down at you. Anthony knows, after taking way too many polaroids for you two, when to take the photo — when you both inevitably kiss. As he expected, Mathew leans down and kisses you with a wide smile. Anthony holds up the camera and snaps a photo. You both pull back as Anthony hands the photo and camera to you.

“One of your future kids better have Anthony as their middle name or something. Don’t say you’re not having more because we both know the way Barzy is,” he grumbles as he walks back into your newly finished house.

Mathew goes into Isaac’s bedroom to put him down for a nap as you put Shannon down for a nap and grab the tape to put this new polaroid photo on the wall. You put it up and smile at the rows and rows of photos that line the walls. You stand there looking sentimentally at all the memories.

“Hey, you okay?” Mathew asks and rests an arm around your waist.

“Yeah, just look at all the photos from our lives,” you tell him. You rest your head on his chest as you both your eyes trace over the photos. The photos spanned from many different parts of your lives, both together and separately. On the wall, there are many photos of you and Mathew from when you were young, to young adults, to adults living together in New York. On this wall tells the story of how you were best friends from a young age to being lovers to finally being married. The wall tells the stories of you and your friends from high school and college, and it tells the story of Mathew’s hockey career. The wall tells the story of your engagement and marriage. All the photos are a piece of who you both are.

“Here’s to many more photos on this wall,” Mathew says.

“And to maybe another wall dedicated to polaroid photos,” you add on getting a smirk from Mathew.

“The more kids we have, the more photos we’re going to have.”

You giggle. “I thought you didn’t want any more kids.”

“We make some really great kids, so maybe.”

“And it's not because you have a breeding kink?” you tease, and Mathew blushes at your words.

“Maybe it’s because you look great pregnant.”

“So, maybe more kids?” you suggest with a smile.

“Maybe more kids,” Mathew confirms with a kiss on your cheek.

Despite the wall being 75% filled, you knew that your best days were still ahead of you. You couldn’t wait for the future photos that will tell the story of yours and Mathew’s lives together.

Taglist: @goalision @coffee-ontherocks @glassdanse @barzal-burakovsky @boqvistsbabe @heatherawoowoo @heaveniish @stars-canucks @tkapuckit @mellany1997 @nhlboyshavemyhart88 @heybarzy @2manytabsopen @habsfan @besthockeyfics @plds2000 @kaitieskidmore1 @iwantahockeyhimbo @tysonsjosty @barzysandmarnersbitch @ollywahlygator @leafs-forever @laurenairay @no-pucks-given @sixmapleleafs @davopuck @thebestoffanfiction @islesnucks (Join my taglist here!)

[yellow-side-things]

"Love, Victor"

Dear friend,

"Love, Victor" had been on my watchlist for quite some time but I haven't watched it until a couple of days ago and let me tell you: I'm very glad I did. I just need to get these thoughts off of my mind, otherwise I'm going to combust:

1) First and foremost: "Love, Victor" is way more realistic and authentic than "Love, Simon". The latter is by no means a bad movie, it's just now that I have a comparison Simon's coming out is depicted picture-perfectly and very cliche, when in reality it isn't always like that. Coming out is the one thing, dealing with the aftermath the other. People are not always as accepting and tolerating as you'd like them to be.

2) I like that multiple issues make up the show which makes people relate on different levels: Most importantly homosexuality in a religious household that is also heavily influenced by culture (especially older generations). Emotional and mental trauma of children of mentally ill and unavailable parents (e.g. Felix and his with depression dealing mother and him having to take care of her, Mia and her neglecting dad, Lake feeling worthless and ashamed of her body because her mother trimmed her on diets from a young age). This one may be odd but the fact that Victor and his siblings cannot properly speak their mother tongue - I can kinda relate...

3) I really like that it takes Isabel a long time to come to terms with the coming out of her son and that she doesn't accept it after one oder two episodes. It makes it more real.

4) Felix and Lake were cute together but they reminded me too much of Stiles and Lydia in Teen Wolf - The "loser" gets together with the popular girl. Although they didn't have as much screen time, I think Pilar and Felix would make a great couple and I'm very excited to see more of them in season three!

5) Honestly, Mia got on my nerves for the majority of the time but in the end she just feels lonely and wants to be loved. The love she can't find at home she searches for in other places. We all just want to be loved, so I do understand why she acts the way she does (at least sometimes...).

6) I do understand that it must have felt very embarrassing and humiliating for Benji that Victor found out about his past as a teen alcoholic, especially on his birthday and on a get-together with his parents. However, confronting Victor in terms of him being new to all the "gay-stuff" and considering him a burden is just hurtful. Yes, they were both very vulnerable and hurt in that situation and again, yes, in such situations you say things you regret afterwards but still. There was most likely someone leading Benji through that stuff as well when he first came out. Words stick with people and you can't take them back. You may apologize afterwards but in the moment of speaking those words, a tiny bit of truth resonates.

7) Rahim is a very cool character and I like how comfortable Victor feels around him, particularly because Rahim can relate to him on a level Benji can't, which is coming out to very religious parents. And I must admit, I've felt more tension between these two than between Victor and Benji, especially when they sang "Holy" together. However, I find it sad that Rahim literally pops out of nowhere. He makes his first appearance in the sixth episode which makes it seem like they wanted to squeeze him in. If only he had been around since the beginning of like season 2 and then became more important each episode. But this way it's like, "Yeah, let's just add him because the first love isn't meant to work out all the time."

8) I think it's beautiful how Adrian reacted to Victor being gay. Adults always have that fear of disturbing children when telling them certain things, things that - in their way of thinking - "don't conform to the norm". But sometimes you don't have to be that terrified. Children have that beautiful way of taking many things with such an ease, you'd be surprised. And that ease slowly but surely transfers to Victors parents (especially his mother) and they start to come to terms with their son's homosexuality because it's not a phase; that's just who Victor is.

9) The scene that made me cry the most was when Felix showed up with his social worker in front of Victor's apartment and broke down in Isabel's arms. He really needed a motherly hug and the song playing in the background intensified the moment. It's so impressive yet sad how good he was at keeping this major part of his life (the situation with his mother) a secret from his best friend who literally lives in the same building. He hid his sadness and sorrow so well by constantly acting like the funny friend, which by the way is a response to emotional trauma.

10) Last but definitely not least: Why make such a big fuss about telling the entire school you're gay? You don't owe anyone an explanation. Like, why do you even feel the need to tell them, it's none of their business? Just tell your loved ones and that's it... We live in the 21st century, can we please just normalize that there are other sexual preferences other than being straight? Especially older generations: I know it's different from what you know and what you were taught but please try to loosen up a bit.

Needless to say, there are many more things and scenes making this show so special and important but these are just some of the things I've thought about a lot.

Just because I feel like it here are some song recommendations from "Love, Victor":

- "Heaven Is a Hand to Hold" by Duncan Laurence

- "Somebody to Tell Me" by Tyler Glenn

- "Brave" by Riley Pearce

- "Holy" by Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper

- "Two of us" by WRABEL (this song hasn't been released yet but AHHH, I NEED IT. NOW!!!)

Lots of love <3

[mmilkbreadd]

Chapter twelve: “Hugs and More Friends”

Masterpost - Prev - Next

(These links might not work, so I recommend you looking in “Masterpost”, linked on my profile)

Warning(s): none.

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After Bokuto (and Akaashi) found out that you had arrived, you and Tsukasa decided to stay watching the game from where you were, instead of going to the stands where the whole audience sat. 

Ushijima and Tendou, on the other hand, decided to go find something to eat and then return. They said they weren't interested in watching the game, but actually, it hurt them to think that this might have been their place if they hadn't lost in the final. 

You positioned yourself next to the commentators and watched as number six from the opposing team served. Even though it had been a great serve, Fukurodani's defense was extraordinary and they were able to defend the ball like nothing. 

The toss came to Akaashi with great height and speed, and then it went straight to the ace, Bokuto, who hit the ball so hard it went between both blockers. A few seconds later, the referee blew the whistle indicating the point in favor of the Owls. 

It was the first time you had seen a Fukurodani match so close to the court. Well, it was actually only the third time you've seen one of them, so there wasn't much room to comment. But yes, from far or near you could tell that Bokuto Koutarou was an excellent player; even if his emotions were too strong when he played (and in real life mostly). Watching him move around the court, so sure of what he was doing (most of the time), with a smile on his face, was worthy of admiration. That made him completely different from you… And it also made him much better than you were.

Every expression that Bokuto made while playing was because he enjoyed Volleyball. He was good and he had fun; both things were impossible to have at the same time in your case. When you saw his type of game, you thought, am I really a good player? Am I supposed to enjoy it as much as he does?

Maybe being a good player meant living for and with Volleyball, enjoying every aspect of it. 

Bokuto had achieved his goal: he had managed to impress you. 

Noticing that you were wrapped in your thoughts, Emiko saw how your eyes sparkled when watching the game. She thought that enjoying Volleyball was not only playing it but also seeing it and feeling it as if you were there with the other players. She also thought that was what you were thinking at the time, so she let you continue to watch calmly as you were doing before. 

It is seen that each person has a different perspective of what it is to play and to be good at it. 

Then, coming to the end of the match, Tsukasa elbowed you on the arm to get your attention.

“Hey, it looks like you're lost somewhere,” she said with a smile. “Have you seen the game, at least?”

You nodded at the moment the referee blew the whistle indicating the end of the set, and therefore of the game. 

When both teams finished greeting the public, Bokuto came running to where you were, followed by Akaashi who shook his head when he saw that his friend was not going to stretch. 

The instant his feet landed in front of you, his arms wrapped around you and your body began to bounce in the air. Fukurodani's ace was jumping with you in his arms.

“Bokuto-san!” Akaashi and you yelled at the same time. Your cheeks were red as a tomato, and Emiko was laughing out loud about to fall to the floor. 

When he finally released you, Akaashi whispered “I'm sorry” over and over as he bowed several times. 

The first interaction with Bokuto Koutarou had not been satisfactory. It was too weird.  

“Y/n, it's good that you came!” he yelled. He couldn't control his tone because of his excitement to see you keeping the promise you made him. “And what did you think? I hope you are impressed now and that it was not “normal” like yesterday!”

Every word that came out of Bokuto's mouth was accompanied by a little jump. He was really ecstatic to see you... And that you could watch him play too. 

While you were trying to get the color out of your face, Emiko started talking to Akaashi about other things, ignoring their friends respectively.

“To be honest, it was an excellent set,” you said looking at him, who was smiling more and more. “... C-congratulations.”

Hearing your stutter, Tsukasa gave you a small smile. She knew you were nervous. Her plan was working out perfectly. 

“Phase one of the plan “Helping l/n y/n to get a boyfriend”, completed,” she thought as she continued talking to Akaashi. “Maybe I'll get one too… Who knows”

After several compliments from Bokuto, he asked you if you wanted to go to lunch with him, and discuss strategies for upcoming matches. Of course, your first thought was “I won't go”, but before you could respond, Emiko pushed you (literally) towards the exit. And although Koutarou offered Akaashi and Tsukasa to go too, your friend managed to elbow Keiji in the form of complicity so that he would say no, and achieve her purpose: that Bokuto and you go alone. 

“It will be you and me then,” he said heading for the exit. “Maybe it's for the best, I think that your friend likes Akaashi! And I also want you to tell me everything about yourself. Now that we are friends we have to know everything about each other!.”

Great, more people wanted to be friends with you.

You weren’t sure what to think of it. But maybe it wasn’t that bad.

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Bonus:

- Tsukasa Emiko is 6 feet tall.

- Her birthday is on Christmas Day (December 25th)

- Her favorite food is chocolate ice-cream.

- When she met MC she disliked her because she was jealous of how well she played.

- She finds Akaashi very, very, attractive.

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Taglist: @nataliahaslosthershit @softesyoongi @allofycurlove @iwaizumi27athletictrainer @quiche-inoya @lukeyaccount @melodiamore @bokutowo

Thanks for the support!

───∘°❉°∘───

Thanks for reading!! 🥰

[justziamorwhatever]

Ok but let's talk about this freaking babygate 3.0.

THE PLANNING

Let's start by saying that this was well planned, and for sure the news didn't got leak as an accident. It's well planned for 2 main reasons:

1. The most obvious one, the news got leaked in the same week as the appearance on Fallon, and after a day ^that the news got leaked^ they also said the sex of the baby like, for real?

2. Look at her bday party, if she didn't want to let everybody know she have could. But she WANTED so I'm not surprised about the brooch or all that PINK.

And also, I don't know if she's really pregnant or no, but for sure it isn't Zayn's daughter.

REASONS SHE'S NOT PREGNANT

But here comes why people think she isn't pregnant:

1. She has been horse riding that is actually not recommended for pregnant women

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Apr 6, 2020 at 2:41pm PDT

2. People say that she has a small bump, but about that I have to say something. For people in the beauty industry is pretty normal to try to have a small bump because they have to keep their image and make it easier to lose the weight gotten with the pregnancy. In Italy we had a similar case with Chiara Ferragni.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chiara Ferragni ✨ (@chiaraferragni) on Dec 3, 2017 at 5:01am PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chiara Ferragni ✨ (@chiaraferragni) on Dec 3, 2017 at 7:39am PST

This is Chiara 6 months pregnant, but she isn't a model, she just works in the beauty industry. So I don't know, it could be or not. But, in my honest opinion, Gigi doesn't look pregnant at all, just look at the birthday photo where you can see how she's dressed, not even a small bump. I don't know, complicated. I also wanted to say that in her last post she didn't include her belly in the photo so we can't actually see if there's a bump or not.

3. She went grocery shopping during the lockdown (I can't find the source sorry). That's what makes me say that maybe she is unconscious of what she does, because during a global pandemic the last thing a pregnant woman should do is going out of your home.

4. She has been drinking lots of coffee, that is actually not recommended during pregnancy.

5. ZAYN IS NOT WITH HER. He just isn't, I don't care if you believe in Ziam, Zarry, Zigi or whatever the fuck, he is not with her. We haven't got a single photo of them two together, the ones during her birthday were fake, not even on Jimmy Fallon he appeared. I mean, she's talking about the pregnancy and you are so happy and shit but you still don't say anything and don't even make an appearance just so people can say "at least he is with her during this hard moment". If he is as overwhelmed as she says, why he isn't with you? C'mon, nobody is believing this shit anymore. Zayn is in London, stop it.

For sure Zayn doesn't give a damn.

THE SHADING

Some hours before the news got leaked, The Weeknd posted this on his Instagram story

I don't know how he knew and I don't think it's just a coincidence.

The same day after the news blow up

And a pair of days after

So actually nobody, not even Maliks, liked that.

WHAT ABOUT ZAYN

What I personally think is that Zayn doesn't want anything to do with that. Nobody has ever said that he is the future dad, Gigi used the "we", Yolanda the "they", nobody ever pronounced Zayn's name. So I think Zayn is actually trying to get out of this uncomfortable situation, and if she is really pregnant then it will come out that she isn't Zayn's daughter but someone elses and they are going to not make it look like Gigi cheated on him. I think that they also didn't mention him so it can be easier to say that this isn't Zayn's children, because they never told that clearly. They confirmed the pregnancy, but never confirmed the baby was Zayn's.

JIMMY FALLON

Let me tell you something: she looks more excited talking about the cake than the baby. Like, look how excited she is. I also wanted to point out that when Jimmy says "Zayn" Gigi didn't say anything.

THE MISCARRIAGE THEORY

So, a lot of people has been bringing out the theory of faking a miscarriage.

Of course, if she really is pregnant, I wish her the best, literally. But if she isn't and she fakes a miscarriyng she is gonna lose the dignity she had. I'm not against abortion, but women that want a baby and then they lose it aren't happy at all. It's a very sad moment of everybody's life and the woman feels bad with herself. And if she really fakes it, than she'll be looking like she is joking about losing a baby accidentally. And, of course I repeat, if she really is pregnant I wish her the best, for real.

DUA LIPA

Recently Dua Lipa, a singer but also Gigi's brother's girlfriend, released her album. Before this happened it got leaked and Dua was really sad about it, she cried during a live. Everybody felt so sad for her of course. But now that her album came out, she is doing some interviews.

I mean, make up your own opinions. She was there to talk about her album and they started off with the pregnancy. Obviously I'm not blaming Gigi for this, but you can actually hear how Dua is pissed off. And she says that she didn't know that from a long time. Also in this interview too, when the interviewer says "Zayn" Dua didn't say anything.

I think that's all. If I forgot something or I made a mistake please let me know, I'd love that.

Also tell me what you think about this and your theory. Obviously, I'm still a Ziam, duh.

Have a nice day/night,

Giorgia xx

[hiimsociallyawkward]

the wicked day

hey guys. i'm back with my random and annoying merlin thoughts. i should be studying for my bio quiz, but yk- i don't want to :,) love you @lady-ofmagic-andstars✨enjoy✨

literally every time i'm going watching i'm going to comment on john hurt that says young man instead of young boy

it's so subtle but wow. thanks i didn't need to be hurt so early on in the episode

i know i know i'm basically a child but this is so exciting

merlin is so cute

aw no not arthur being pouty abt his big birthday

I LOVE THE 'i heard that' thing so much. i love it i love it

off topic, but i love knife throwing. i've always thought that if i had to choose a weapon that's not a gun, i'd choose knifes. swords? maces? crossbows? sure. but knives?? that's where it's really at

i love arthur not wanting to overburden their citizens

ok uther? i hate him

but here? i love him

he's a good dad here. remembering arthur's birthday? that's so sweet. uther in season 4 is the only time i semi like him

AW ARTHUR AND UTHER AT DINNER

i love them

off topic but i like that arthur is wearing his 'every day' clothes, jacket and a tunic under his cape. that's it. the knights are all wearing his garb but arthur is just wearing his 'regular clothes'

hehe gwen being nervous about arthur being on the wheel is so sweet

idk why but i always get nervous at that last knife.

like of COURSe i know he's not going to get hit but it's scary.

the 'not wearing any trousers' thing omg. bbc really decided to do that

i wish we had more of this parental dynamic of arthur and uther

dam alright arthur. being out of it but still being in it enough to see the guy in the reflection? i stan

SKLFJASLDFJA uther fighting to protect arthur

literally me through his whole scene going 'oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez' on repeat.

so off topic but i kind of like the hairstyle they have for most of the guys in this show?? idk is that weird

oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez uther dying

like, i HATe him. i've been waiting for this since season 1 but this scene makes me sad

ok i don't remember the last episode of merlin so i forget what arthur says when he's dying in merlin's arms??

it's something like 'hold me' right? i feel like that has the same energy as 'stay with me' so while i can't exactly say this is sort of parallel, it's sort of parallel?

i mean, ok 1. dying in someone else's arms. 2. dying in the arms of someone you love? romantically, platonically, familial? doesn't matter. both uther and arthur died in the arms of someone they loved. 3. i'm just gonna say 'hold me' and 'stay with me' have the SAME energy, so if no one has called semi-parallels, i'm calling semi-parallels

bradley's single tear

stfu agarvaine. i'm serious. legit everytime he shows up i wanna pow pow pow him

legit. agaravaine needs to get away from morgana.

DO NOT GRAB HER ARM MISTER. LET GO OF HER

I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH HER. LET GO OF HER RN

i've said it once and i'll say it again, i love gwen

not to romanticize death or anything but i like candle light vigils.

ok maybe slightly symbolic but probably not? ok actually i think it is, not to toot my own horn but this is also just really straightforward too.

arthur wearing 'street garb' and his 'knight stuff' sort of differentiates between 'arthur' and 'prince arthur'. the scene where merlin and arthur are looking over the vigil and merlin's talking about how there's nothing that can be done, and arthur mentions using magic, i may be off about this but i feel like he's speaking more from prince arthur rather than arthur, uther is my father.

like of course arthur's hurting, everyone knows he's hurting. but idk. i feel like he feels like he's not ready to be king. he needs more time, and he can't be king yet. so therefore, prince arthur is talking about needing to save their king.

gaius and merlin are both right here. idk what else to say.

wow merlin 'you can't stop me' love that

jeez 'maybe this is my chance to change that' little do you know what's happening soon merlin.

oh shoot.

arthur asking merlin if he would use magic to save his father? i'm just thinking back to merlin crying, but not crying over balinor because he couldn't tell arthur, and merlin having to mourn his father in secret. vs. arthur, asking merlin for advice. sharing all his worries and insecurities with gwen. begging gaius to do something more for his father. this just makes me so sad

arthur TRUSTING merlin. with everything. taking merlin's opinion on things and aw

this is dumb but tbh i really like merlin's outfit. like tbh i think i dress in the same sort of style, just ✨modern✨ sadly, no neckerchief for me but i do have a necklace that says 'heather' despite my name being 'ashley'. ily conan gray

ugh. arthur calling merlin a coward but also calling him brave?? you need to pick a side arthur

LMAO ARTHUR STOP THINKING ABOUT WATCHING MERLIN PEE

bruh arthur breaking the vase. it's so dumb but merlin referring to the vase over and over actually makes me chuckle

ok merlin going 'you have come to kill me?' reminds me of another show but i can't remember but i thought i'd put it out here anyways

oh shoot i just realized/remember that uther got stabbed on arthur's birthday. hell of a gift am i right 😭

hehe arthur 'sweeping' with the broom. silly goose

dragoon sounds so vulnerable asking for the right to use magic freely

i love you arthur. this scene, i'm like YES. arthur i love him

i love the saying 'my word'. like, i don't want people to promise me anything anymore. i want them to give me their word.

HAHA THIS IS SO DUMB. MERLIN SAYING 'QUESTIONS. SO MANY QUESTIONS'. I LITERALLY SAY IT WITH THE SHOW EVERY TIME. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME

aw arthur just sitting there with the cup and trying not to break it HAHA he's so sweet. slightly scared after that vase yk what i mean

ok i don't like morgana and everything but that necklace? that's a stroke of genius. yes girl. make up the plan as you go along

frick you agarvaine. do not scare gwen you PERV

jeez agarvainewas SO rude putting that necklace onto uther. like yes, ik you don't like him but STILL. that's just rude

i'm going to start calling people toads now

hehe arthur closing his door and merlin being right there. it's not necessarily a trope but it totally is and i love it

ah yes. merlin and the tavern. i feel like it's been referred to before but it's still funny.

ok ik arthur carrying merlin is there for kicks for the kids but i laughed anyways

apparently i have the humor of a 10 year old

this is really dumb but the scene with arthur and the two guards. i'm just thinking 'how tall are these guards'. ofc ik that the staging/perception could be doing something that might be making arthur look shorter, but my first reaction was 'bradley is 6' just how tall are these guards??'

merlin's speech about magic makes me sad

aw 'i hope, one day, that you'll see me in a different light'

dragoon has the same effect on arthur as merlin does

uther waking up 😭

AW. UTHER'S LITTLE SIGH AND THEN 'ARTHUR' BREAK MY HEART COVEY. BREAK IT A THOUSAND TIMES.

they're both so happy. this makes me so sad now. oh jeez. oh jeez. oh jeez

oh jeez oh jeez merlin's expression. AW merlin gave arthur his word. oh jeez this is very stressful and i'm only watching this

ok obviously. merlin doesn't want to see arthur in pain. but ALSO this was merlin's chance to change things once and for all. and now uther is dead. #no liam just payne

arthur's face post crying. skf;aldjfa;ldk AW

frick you agarvaine. literally die. i can't wait for merlin to kill you

i think this scene is pretty. the light on the left and the dark on the right? ok actually, i'm going to be making an off base comparison now because that's all i do.

i'm remembering this post i saw on here and it was like, arthur uther and morgana in the throne room. in order of the way they sit in the throne room, first it's arthur, uther, and then morgana

well. the really dumb and off base comparison here is the 'light' goodness of arthur and the 'dark' evil of morgana being mirrored in the picture above.

'light', bravery, doing what's right- being on the left. 'dark', evil, power on the right- and arthur in the middle of it, king

like i said, it's a dumb off base comparison, but at least the picture is pretty

oh jeez this scene

my heart breaks for both of them

merlin not being able to form a sentence at first.

😭😭😭😭 arthur please. you're breaking everyone's heart right now

you already knew i had to include this scene

arthur walking in there all alone

oh jeez he's all alone

dumb parallel number 2. arthur walking into the throne room with uther, father and son. merlin and gaius closing the door for arthur- pseudo father and pseudo son.

'he'll never know who i really am'

i want to do a DEH post soon but jeez. the line that hits hardest for me in DEH is 'i never let them see the worst of me. cause what if everyone saw? what if everyone knew? would they like what they saw? or would they hate it too? and jeez that's all i can think about when i think about merlin and his secrets

again. no liam, just payne

asldkfja;sldkfjas dlf merlin waiting for arthur

i have so many feelings

i love the show of affections for his father. you already know that uther wasn't affectionate when arthur was growing up, but still. forehead kiss? i love it

I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT YOU WERE ALONE. i hate this and love this so much. i'm not saying merlin is completely selfless, because merlin wants magic to be leagalized and arthur is the way to do that. but omg merlin not wanting for arthur to feel like he's alone breaks me

first, merlin being physically alone while waiting for arthur. arthur was technically alone too, but he was with his father

but also, merlin being alone in the sense of his magic. no one knows except for gaius. lancelot knew and then they killed him. merlin is so alone when it comes to his magic, and morgana's enchantment only pushes merlin into his 'magic shell' more. arthur thinks magic is pure evil, and merlin is made of magic. what does that mean would think of arthur. this hurts me so much i'm so sad

friend 😭

arthur asking if he's hungry and them getting breakfast together

ok this sound track

pendragon red. i actually stan

gwen wearing a purple dress?? color symbolism?? nah i'm over thinking

ASIFA;SDLFJAD HE'S KING OF CAMELOT

IT'S LIKE I WANT TO CRY BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD RIGHT NOW.

oh jeez oh jeez.

and merlin saying 'long live the king' at the end of the episode?

chills

Anyways! I’ll be back next week to rant more about aithusa so I’ll see you then! thanks I love you bye

[skzluvs]

Piece of cake 🎂; Yang Jeongin

Genre: Fluff! Friends to lovers au!

Warnings: mild swearing

Word count: 2.8k

A/N: Happy Birthday to our cute maknae Innie, he has grown so much. I’m beyond proud of him, he’s such a beautiful soul I wish nothing but happiness for him. I’m so soft for this boy I’m legit crying.

You were all gathered in the living room.

The four boys standing in front of you staring at each other with confused looks. There was a moment of silence before you snapped at them in annoyance. There was no way they could be any more stupid.

"Do I really have to explained it to you again you doofuses" You raised an eyebrow in disbelief at the sight of the obvious lack of understanding your friends had. Seungmin just moved his hands encouraging you to repeat the plan one more time. You took a deep breath, before continuing, "For the last time, Hyunjin is in charge of distracting jeongin, until we finish decorating" The boy nodded in agreement, he understood his role was probably the most important one, " Felix I need your lungs to blow those balloons" You pointed at the table covered with bags with deflated balloons. "Seungmin and I are in charge of baking the cake" He smiled in excitement. " And I think that's it, simple right, it's a piece of cake"

Someone cleared his throat behind you, clearly irritated at the fact that you didn't assigned him an important task like the others.

" What about me Y/N, what am I supposed to do" He said pouting.

" Jisung you have the most important part" You said reassuring.

" Which is?" He asked euphoric. Clapping his hands.

" Stay here and make sure to not open your huge ass mouth, I promise your contribution is the most helpful one" You said smiling sarcastically. " If anyone dares to ruin this surprise I swear for my life I'll haunt every single one of you in your sleep for the rest of your miserable lives, and you would see what's to live a nightmare with your eyes open, understood" A few scared whispers and some sighs at the end they all came to agreement. Working together as a team to give the youngest, undeniably the best surprise party, needless to say this was carefully planned by you over the course of the last few weeks.

Everyone left, not before settling that Hyunjin would come back exactly at 6 with Jeongin, therefore everything had to be ready before that.

You got into Seungmin's car, he turned on the radio, letting you choose the next song, you both sang along to Taeyon's spark, on the way to the supermarket.

" Get a shopping cart we need to pick up a few things" You said to him, as you entered the local market. Pulling up a list from your bag with all the items needed.

He got the cart and followed you behind like a puppy, through the aisles, helping you pick now and then when you were torn between certain brands.

"So should we make it a chocolate cake or a vanilla cake?" You asked him staring at the two boxes in each one of your hands.

" That's such a simple question Y/N, Chocolate superior" He said looking at you obvious.

"Alright, alright Chef Seungmin let's do chocolate" You said throwing the box into the cart. " Ohhh" you exclaimed fascinated. "We have to get this" You pointed, jumping in the excitement at the cute cake toppers. "Jeongin is going to love the tiny fox sprinkles" You smiled at the resemblance between your best friend and the furry animal.

" You are so whipped Y/N" Seungmin said teasingly.

"Shut up, he's like a little brother to me" You stared at your shoes trying to hide the blush creeping into your soft cheeks.

"Not so little, remember he literally just became an adult today" Seungmin was right. Jeongin was just a year younger than the rest of you, that's why your group tended to baby him the most, and he hated it so much. Now that he was all grown up you wondered if his attitude would change towards your antics.

Once you finished shopping. Seungmin and you went back to the house. You got the groceries from the trunk carrying all the bags, with your hands full, you struggled finding the key to open the door.

"Call Jisung and tell him to move his lazy ass from the couch so he can come and help us" 

You heard him comply through the phone but in less than a second the door opened revealing your friend who still looked half asleep.

" Don't stare just stare at me, help me carry these" You said handing him the heavy bags that were already leaving bruises on your wrists.

"Did you guys went to buy cake ingredients or the whole grocery store" He said complaining at the amount of things you got.

" I got a little carried away okay" You confessed taking your shoes off at the door and walking straight to the kitchen.

Seungmin got ingredients from the bags and laid them on top of the kitchen table. You got the molds and the mixer from one of the cabinets, and tied your apron from your waist.

"Crack two eggs" You signaled Seungmin, as you poured the batter into the mixing bowl.

You were spraying the molds with butter so Seungmin could pour the batter and it wouldn't stick to the bottom once the cake was completely cooked. When your phone in your back pocket began to vibrate. You decided to ignore it, since you were extremely focused on your task. But after a couple of more rings you couldn't bear with the annoying sound any longer.

You picked up right away. Not before telling Seungmin to put the molds inside the oven.

"Hyunjin why are you fucking calling me right now " you leaned over the counter trying to wipe off your apron that was covered on white flour and sugar.

"He's been sulking all day Y/N, I even took him to the amusement park but he seems so down is actually depressing, He literally just said to me "This would actually be fun if Y/N would've come with me and not you" I'm deeply hurt, never imagined he thought of me as your replacement" He sighed dramatically.

" Just deal with it, you can have another of your existential crisis later" You rolled your eyes at your dramatic friend.

"Can you at least call him? he's just acting so weird, he just told me he wants to come home I don't know what to do" He whispered nervously.

"I'm trying to bake a cake hyunjin I can't give him a call right now" You said clearly. " But you are talking to me right now and the cake doesn't seem to be stopping you from doing it" He backfired.

" Ugh you are so annoying, maybe I can't call him because I'm busy and my hands and covered in flour and, Seungmin Lower down the temperature I can smell something burning!!!" You yelled. "I don't know hyunjin, keep him occupied, after all is your job, you better not come any earlier than we accorded. I’m warning you, I got to go" you said ending the call abruptly. Rushing rapidly to the oven where smoke was starting to escape from the sides of it.

" Fuck Y/N I think we burned the cake" Seungmin said panicking.

"Oh you think so" You responded sarcastically. Trying to extinguish the smoke before the alarm went on.

You opened the oven only to see your chocolate cake, all spilled, dark carbon colored batter dripping from the mold.

" Why you said we would bake the cake, if you had never done it before, don't just blame it on me!" He yelled back at you.

"Maybe I just wanted to do something nice for my fucking best friend, Seungmin"  You replied infuriated at the boy's words.

You walked away trying to not lose your calm "everything it's okay Y/N just take a deep breath" you whispered to yourself.

Your three friends standing in front of you not wanting to say anything, terrified to even move an inch knowing you could break down at any moment.

" Felix those balloons are not going to blow themselves!" You exclaimed.

" You ate the snacks I left on the table, didn't you, I told you earlier those were for later" You pointed at Jisung who only raised his hands innocently.

You were frustrated to say the least, overwhelmed,

Tired, you wanted to cry, the perfect party for your best friend was a complete utter disaster. You looked at the clock half an hour until Hyunjin brings jeongin back. You stepped out of to house because you began to feel suffocated. You needed some air. In desperation you remembered the person who was always one call away.

You dialed the number hoping he would pick up the phone, he was always busy working on his studio, so you didn't actually expected for him to pick up after the first tone, you were surprised when he did.

"Hey Baby girl"

"Chan" You whined at him.

" What's wrong?" He asked concerned.

" I need your help" You said.

" I'm all ears" He laughed softly. Chan was your supportive friend. He took care of you since he was older, he was always there when you needed him.

You ranted the catastrophe of your failing attempt of birthday party.

" Can you please bring me a cute cake? Jeongin might be on his way and I can't let him have a burned piece of uncooked batter for his birthday" You asked, hoping not to disturb him too much, knowing how busy he was most of the time working on his new tracks.

" Sure thing baby girl, I was heading out either way, I can't come empty handed" He said and you sighed in relief feeling like that heavy weight was lifted from your shoulders.

" You are the best Channie, I'll see you in a bit" You said your goodbyes and ended the call, you were extremely grateful towards him.

You opened the door entering the house. Your friends gathered looking at you with concerned expressions. The three of them instantly running towards you, the minute you crossed the doorstep, wrapping you in a group hug.

" We are sorry Y/N" They said unison.

"We know you've been under so much stress trying to make everything perfect" Seungmin said apologetic.

"And your stupid friends have ruined it all" Felix added teary eyed.

" We'll make it up to you, Let's get to work we have to give Innie the best birthday party ever" Jisung encouraged all of you to stop being so emotional and get on top of your game.

With you basically running out of time. You all began to work at a unquestionably high speed. Felix blowing balloons like crazy. Seungmin cleaning the mess in the kitchen. Jisung restocking the snacks and the drinks. And you dusting off the living the room. Everyone was so focused that no one even listened when the bell rang. Until you stopped the vacuum.

You opened the door, Chan was standing there smiling so bright, showing his dimples, you almost jumped on top of him if it wasn't because the cake he was holding with both of his hands was in the way.

"Channie, I've missed you so much" You said clinging yourself to his back.

" It's been a long time baby girl"

The boys immediately stopped what they were doing to come greet their brother.

" Chan mate you finally came to visit us" Felix said hugging the other Aussie.

" I wish I could come more often but this college life man, it ain't easy plus I've been working on some songs with Changbin" He said looking for Jisung, turning to talk to him directly. " We can't wait for you to graduate, without you we can't be 3racha"

" Just a couple more months, It's going to be awesome man, the trio reunited again" Jisung said with the eyes filled with excitement.

Chan helped you decorate with a couple of party decoration supplies he brought. You looked around one last time. Unable to contain the tears at the sight of how everything came together at the end. Proud of yourself and you also had to credit the hard work your dumb but amazing friends.

An upcoming text brightened the screen of your phone. It was hyunjin announcing that they were 5 minutes away from arriving. That was your cute, You all went to hide in different spots, after turning off all the lights. You headed directly to the kitchen and grabbed the cake, crouching behind the counter.

The house was dead silent until you heard the sound of the key clashing into the lock. The door opening slowly.

“Why is it so dark in here?” Hyunjin said playing along while pretending to looking for the light switch.

“ Wait I thought you said Y/N was not home, why are her shoes here?” Jeongin asked confused, with certain affliction in his voice.

“ Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Innie, Happy birthday to you” You sang as you made your way towards him. The cake lighted up by the incandescent light from the single candle placed in the center.

The rest of your friends joined you while screaming

“SURPRISE”

Jeongin was loss for words, his cheeks stained by the beautiful tears that were sliding carefully. Like an open faucet, unable to control them. He smiled through them. Flashing his indistinguishable pearly white teeth. Alluring dimples. Stars that flashed on those sparkly eye pools as he stared directly at you. Like you were the only thing he was able to see in that dim room.

He closed his eyes and blew the candle wishing for something his heart desired for so long.

Everyone clapped and congratulate the boy who was no longer a baby but now a man. Hyunjin turned on the lights and you all gathered at the table to eat.

As you were walking to the dinning room, someone softly pulled from your sleeve.

Your eyes instantly meeting with his.

lost in his angelic aura.

You had been crushing on the boy for long enough

That you truly wanted to impress him with this whole surprise party idea. It seemed like your planned worked at perfection when he wrapped you in his arms.

“No one had ever done something like this for me, thank you so much Y/N” He whispered into the crook of your neck. The proximity making your limbs froze and your skin tingled due to the warmth he provided.

“ It’s nothing, Im glad you liked it Jeonginnie” You replied with a loving smile.

“ You know I was mad at you all day” He laughed bittersweet.

“Sorry for missing on riding the Ferris wheel with you” You said making fun of him.

“ I actually wanted to ride it with you instead of being stuck there with Mr. Dramatic for 45 minutes” a sigh escaping from his pink soft lips.

“ Is it because he becomes all clingy as it goes up, he’s such a scary cat” Laughing at the memory of hyunjin clinging into your arm like his life depended on it, the last time you all went to the amusement park.

“ That and because I hoped to hold your hand” He said staring into your eyes, trying to tell you something, but you were unable to read through the lines.

“ You do that all of the time Innie” It was not a novelty the amount of skin ship you and your best friend had.

“ You can’t possible be any more dense Y/N” He spoke a little irritated at your ignorance.

Your friend was rather shy, this sudden confidence had you all bewildered.

“ I like you, you idiot” He said obvious, tired of hinting something that was crystal clear.

“ You what...?” You were puzzled, your jaw almost hitting the floor in disbelief.

“ I know we’ve been friends for such a long time but I be always seen you in another light, will you let me be the one who holds your hand forever?” He asked extending his hand to grab yours softly, sliding his palm on top of yours and intertwining fingers.

“ Yes” You whispered hiding your face in his chest “I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you”

He untangled your hands to grab your jaw softly, so you would look at him, Bodies shaking, an adrenaline rush, and fireworks exploding the moment he laid his lips on top of your, delicate and with such sincerity, a kiss that revealed the profound innocent love they had one for the other.

“ Best birthday ever” He said stealing one more peck at your lips. He became addicted to the taste.

“ It was a piece of cake” You winked at him. “ For your information Seungmin burned your original cake, The one I baked with so much love”

“ Oh that’s why it smells like barbecue” He said. Both of you exploding into laughter. “ At least you didn’t burned down the house, I need to keep you as far away from the kitchen as possible sweetheart”

[zayphyr]

birthday baby

pairing: neighbours!woojoong x bestfriend!reader

genre: pure floof :)

warnings: none!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

you open your eyes to the repeated ringing of your doorbell, and groggily check the alarm clock on your bedside table

6:02 am,,,, on the first day of your break,,,

whoever's on the other side of your front door better have a real good reason, you think as you get off the bed and run your fingers through your hair

"what?"

"hAPPY BIRTHDAY Y/N!!!"

a very excited hongjoong stands before you in a bright green jacket with a chunky blue sweater underneath

(the light hits his platinum blonde hair beautifully, you mentally note)

your best friend's holding a massive wrapped box in his arms, smiling (almost literally) from ear to ear

it's waY too early in the morning for your heart to do whatever it's doing now

you take a whole good five minutes to realise it is, in fact, your birthday, and he really is standing in front of you like that,,

"oh, right, thank you" and motion for him to finally step inside

which he happily does, and places the massive box on your table

"tadaa!"

"okay, what's in the box?"

"why don't you open to find out?"

his eyes are practically sparkling now

you slowly take apart the pretty, pastel pink wrapping, carefully taking away the tape

till he eventually intervenes and rips it off bc he's too excited for you to see what's inside

opening the box, you see a mASSIVE soft brown teddy nearly your height

you read the powder blue tag around its neck and chuckled

'for when you miss me too much! rosebud here's gonna keep you and pororo the penguin company'

"aww joongie, I love it so much!!"

you bury your face into its fluffy, soft arms

"heyyy, rosebud's for when you miss me, I'm right here now", he pouts waiting with open arms

you laugh and squish your face into his sweater instead, breathing in his scent while he holds you close and ruffles your hair

you shuffle into the kitchen to make coffee for the both of you

"joong, I love you and all, but it's six in the morning, you could've given it to me later. why are you even awake?"

"it's my bestest baby's birthday!! how could I waste any precious hours of the day sleeping??"

you roll your eyes slightly and smile to yourself, while he comes over to where you are

"I'm going right back to sleep after coffee, mind you. I gotta catch up for the nights I spent finishing up all those assignments"

you place two coffee mugs on the table beside him- your black ralts themed one and his yellow sylveon one

(yeS he has his own coffee mug, that's how often he's at your place)

"yeah, there's no way I'm letting you do that today of all days, you have the whole rest of the month to catch up on it anyway."

"but joong, whyyy? just let me sleeeeeep" you pout

"cute, but that's not gonna work today. the whole reason I asked about your agenda for the day was because you'll have to clear it! I have a lot of things planned so all you need to do is follow me~"

he emphasises on the last word by putting his hands on his cheeks, making a flower out of his face

while your face decides it's a good time to heat up

"you know, you're really lucky you're cute"

*cue nervous laughter from your side*

before he could respond, your doorbell rings,,, again

"wh-"

you open the door only to be greeted by a massive bear hug

"happy bIRTHDAY Y/N!! we have so many things to do and places to go and it's gonna be amazing, I'm so thankful you exist and you're gonna have to get ready quick because-"

you only hope he doesn't notice your heart beating a wHOLE lot faster than usual

laughing, you pull away to see the other half of your best bud duo

aka a very hyped wooyoung, also dressed warm, in a deep red jacket on the multiple layers he has on over his white tee

"I really don't get why you guys are so excited, I nearly forgot I was turning a year older today"

"guys? oh no-"

"beat you to it, woo"

hongjoong speaks up in the doorway, arms folded over his chest with a pretty smug smile on his face

"come oN, don't you have work today??"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"ugh fiiine, but we're first gonna get breakfast at this place I found that she'll love"

"cool with me, so long as we go to the carnival next"

"and I'm driving"

"yeah no, that's out of question"

"but I've got her a little something and it's in my car"

he tries pouting to get his way, key word here being *tries*

"please, I'm practically immune to those. your car, but there's nO way I'm letting you drive after last week"

wooyoung turns his attention to you, yawning, still in the hallway

"y/n, go get dressed!!"

he walks you by the shoulders to your room and then joins hongjoong on the couch

you hear their voices over the muffled noises of the tv

"I want coffee too!! where's my mug? get me some, hyung"

"I'm busy, get it yourself"

"you're literally just watching someone talk about walls"

"yeah and?? I'm learning more about cement than you ever will"

you smile to yourself while you open your wardrobe to decide on an outfit

it sure is gonna be a long, tiring day for the butterflies in your tummy

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this is a lil oneshot I wrote for my baby kiwi @extraterestirol 💘 I was supposed to post it on her birthday but oh weLL,, hope you liked it regardless! 💌

[finnwolfhard7137]

The Art of Falling in Love-Finn Wolfhard × Reader

Chapter Three is here...

Chapter Four: Paradise

Word Count 2.4k

Warnings: some fluff

_____________________________________

Oakes wakes you and Miles up by shaking the both of you like rag dolls.

Oakes "GUYS!" 

"Huh? What's going on?" You look at Finn who is still behind you and he is laughing his ass off.

Finn "We literally just slept outside all night." You face-palm and laugh.

Oakes "Not going to lie...that's fucking goals." Finn laughed even harder and pulled you tighter into his side.

Oakes "Did you guys not go into your trailers all night?"

You both "No."

Finn "I honestly didn't wake up at all last night."

"Neither did I and I always wake up at least once during the night-"

Finn "Me too."

Oakes "Well, you two lovebirds...it's 6:30, let's eat before we have to film." You both agree and get off of the ground.

"Shit...I got your hoodie dirty." You look at the sleeves and sigh.

Finn "Don't worry about it, I can wash it. I wouldn't change anything about last night for the world." You blush and lean into him. You spot Oakes chuckle at you two, to which you kiddingly flip him off. He repays the favor and you both just laugh like three children. 

You get taken into your trailer first for makeup and hair because you take the longest to get done, Finn and Oakes just relaxed while you were gone. Oakes noticed that Finn watched as you left and hit him on the shoulder.

Finn "What?!"

Oakes "You love her don't you?"

Finn "I sure as hell like her. What's not to like?"

Oakes "She is pretty great, you two look good together."

Finn "I haven't asked her yet, Oakes. I don't wanna rush her into anything."

Oakes "I think that she likes you too, Finn. If that is what you are worried about, you are crazy."

Finn "I just don't want to mess anything up with her, she isn't like anyone I have ever met, she is like...perfect! Y/n is like the girl that I have always imagined being with..I don't know how to explain it-"

Oakes "I know what you mean dude. You don't need to explain it, I totally get it."

Finn simply nods and takes a drink of his water.

Oakes "Just ask her dude, she's gonna say yes."

Finn "I will eventually, Oakes." Oakes rolls his eyes and he punches him in the arm and starts to laugh, "You are so pushy!" 

Oakes "Hey, I just support it! My two best friend's together...like fuck yeah I want it to happen!"

Finn "Thank you, that means a lot. I want to ask her properly...maybe I'll take her somewhere beautiful, other than the desert. Make it memorable, ya know."

Oakes "Yeah, that would be good." They continued to talk until it was their turn to get ready for the day. When you came out, Finn was walking towards his trailer which happened to be right next to yours and winks at you. You almost trip on the last step because he is just so damn cute.

…

You read your script and today, you go to school with Oakes and Boris: He doesn't leave yours and Oakes' side the whole school day, he rides with you on the bus and afterwards, you and Oakes go to his house. It sounds really fun from how the script put it so today is going to be exciting. When he comes out of his trailer, he is wearing a black blazer with a skateboarding graphic t-shirt. He honestly looks so good that you almost drool! You look away so that you don't get caught staring, in a few moments you feel his arms wrap around your neck, across your chest in a warm embrace. You can't help but smile and grab his arm in acceptance.

Finn "Well don't you look beautiful!"

"I have this stupid prosthetic on..how can I be beautiful?"

Finn "You are! Makeup, no makeup..prosthetic or no prosthetic. And hey, you won't have to wear it the whole time." 

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to future scenes.." he let go of you and crouches down in front of you and smiles. "What?"

Finn "Stop..just stop being self conscious, you are fucking perfect so stop." You smile and pull him up to you to give him a hug. You want to do more but you want him to make the first move...obviously. He hugs you tighter and you just melt. 

__________________________________

John "Action!" 

Theo "Boris, Pippa is going to join us today."

Boris "Is she really? Excellent!"

Theo "Yeah but she's worried about ya know...getting bullied."

Boris "I like her, I won't let them pick on her. She cannot help it." You come into the view and Finn smiles down at you. 

"Hey Boris."

Boris "Hey! You've been good, yes?"

"Yes." 

Theo "Come on, we are gonna be late to first period." When you get in the classroom, the classroom stared at your head. Some girls were even laughing. Boris noticed and got in front of you.

Boris "You got a problem, ay?! This woman survived a fucking bombing, show her some respect." The girls immediately started to apologize. All you were told to do was shake your head and take a seat next to Finn which you do. 

"Thank you."

Boris "Of course." Theo looked behind him and saw you two talking and gave Boris a smile like, thank you. 

John "Cut! Perfect guys." You immediately go back to your normal self as soon as he yelled 'cut' and took a deep breath. Growing up as a kid, you used to get bullied so to have to reenact what you really had to go through, was rough mentally. 

Finn "I almost lost my shit…"

"Oh really?"

Finn "Yeah, I hate bullies."

"Me too, but thankfully it's just for the movie." He agreed but before he could say anything, John yelled 'action'.

….

The school day is over and you all get on the same bus. Finn and Oakes sit next to each other and you sit by yourself on the next row.

Boris "Did you enjoy school today?"

"Kinda."

Theo "Well you did good for your first day back, Pippa."

"Thanks-"

Boris "How about you both come over my house? I have drinks."

Theo "Drinks?"

Boris "Yeah, I have beer at my house. You two should come over."

Theo "Do you want too?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

Boris "Good. Hey, I didn't tell you earlier but um, I think that you look very pretty today Pippa."

"R-really?"

Boris "Of course." Theo nudges him so hard that he almost fell off of his seat, he immediately shoved him back but even harder. Earning a laugh from you, making Oakes look at you with a shock on his face.

Theo "Y-you laughed!"

Boris "So? Everyone laughs."

Theo "No...you don't get it. Pippa hasn't laughed since the bombing." Finn looks over at you and smiles from ear to ear, making you happy. 

"You guys make me happy. No one else does." Finn grabbed your hand from across the aisle. You don't remember that being in the script but you really don't care. 

John "Cut." The school bus stops and you all get out of the bus. 

John "Lunch break guys, you did good."

"Can I get the prosthetic off? It is starting to hurt."

John "Of course, Y/n. Next week, the movie skips a month in advance so you won't have to wear it anymore. Just hang in there for two more days and it'll be off for good."

"Alright, awesome. Thank you!" Finn walks up to you and kisses your forehead.

"Ima get this thing off, you can join me if you want." 

Finn "After you." 

Bill "oohh it started to come off."

...

"Is that why it started to hurt?"

Bill "yeah, the glue was pulling on your fine hairs."

Finn "Prosthetics hurt in general."

Bill "This is true. I have never had a client be excited to get them applied."

"I was on the first day, not anymore." You three laugh. 

It takes a good minute to get it all taken off and your hair fixed up. Finn didn't leave the seat next to you the whole time, he just talked to you and complimented you on today's performance so far. He has been your biggest supporter all week and it never gets old: hearing one of your idols tell you how amazing you are doing...doesn't get better in this line of work. 

Oakes comes in, "They got a whole buffet...you guys are missing out!"

Finn looks at you so intensely that you burst out laughing. He picks you up and carries you out of the trailer, running all of the way to the free buffet. 

John "Hungry?"

Finn "uh...a little-" he says grabbing a whole plate full of food. 

Oakes "look at him, he's a freakin' giraffe! He needs his food.." Finn almost chokes on his food from laughing so hard. Finn is really tall, especially in person. 

"You aren't wrong!" He sits down and pulls you onto his lap. John and the rest of the film crew just smile at the sight. 

__________________________________

When you three got to the house, the camera's started rolling when you guys sat down in his unfilled pool with beers and cigarettes.

John "Action." 

Boris "Would you like vodka?"

You and Theo "No thanks."

Boris "My dad drinks it all the time, so much he can not feel his feet. Literally, it has a name."

"Is it just you two here?"

Boris "Yes. My mother is dead."

Theo "Mine too."

Boris "Mine was alchie...got drunk and fell out the window."

"Jesus."

Boris "Did you lose anyone...ya know. When Theo did."

"My uncle. He took me because it was for my birthday, I just wanted to see the beautiful art with him and then..well you know. It is all my fault."

Theo "Hey, it isn't your fault."

"You blame yourself too, Theo."

Boris "You both are wrong. Don't blame yourselves! You guys didn't know that that was going to happen."

"Change the subject." Finn thought for a moment.

Boris "What is your favorite art piece in the museum."

"It is a piece called The Goldfinch."

Theo "That is where I met her, we were all looking at that painting before it all happened."

Boris "Wow...All I gotta say is that I am glad that you are here, Pippa. With you and Theo here, it is a lot less lonely."

"I am glad much happier here. You wouldn't think that the desert is better than a city but it is to me. Especially now, it is much quieter."

Theo "It will be easier for you to heal."

"Yeah, hopefully."

Boris "Don't you worry, we will all get through our own struggles together."

John "And...cut! Fantastic job guys!" This scene only took one shot to master. You three high five and get undressed because that was it for the day, the rest is for Ansel and Aneurin who play Theo and Boris older in the movie.

…

Aneurin "You make my job hard, Finn...how am I supposed to top that?"

Finn "Oh you can do it, I didn't even do anything."

Aneurin "That is my point!" Ansel joins you, Finn, Aneurin and Oakes.

Ansel "You did great today guys! I'm very impressed." You all thank him. 

Oakes "What are you shooting today?"

Ansel "With Nicole..I'm visiting her after years of not seeing her."

"Oof so an emotional day?"

Ansel "Oh yeah."

Oakes "You've got this. You can cry on command."

"You can?"

Ansel "Mhm."

"If you can cry when I tell you too, I will pay you 20 bucks right now."

Ansel "You are on!"

".....Now!" Sadly..he does in seconds. 

Ansel "Pay up, Y/n!"

"Fuck you." You hand him the 20 dollar bill, laughing in defeat. You didn't know that he could cry that quickly, or that anyone could for that matter.

John "We are shooting in 5!" 

Aneurin "I'll see you guys later." The two boys left and started shooting. 

__________________________________

You three ended up watching them film: taking in their movements and the way they say some words and how they react to comments and such. 

Finn "Hey, it's getting late. Wanna go for a drive?"

"Yeah, I'm down. Oakes, you coming?"

Oakes "Nah, you guys go ahead. Have fun."

Finn smirks at you and runs to his car, opening up the door for you. 

"Where are we going?"

Finn "I know a beautiful place back here, I've been waiting for an opportunity to take you."

"Ohh I'm excited." In the drive there, you text your mother about your amazing day and sing songs with Finn. When you are with him, it is just pure happiness and bliss. You have never experienced this feeling before: crushes yes, dating yes but not actually being in love with someone completely and fully and getting that same energy in return. 

…

Finn "We are almost here. I want you to close your eyes!"

"Really?!"

Finn "Yeah, come on close em." You feel the car stop and you hear him put the gear in park. He gets out of the car and he helps you out. A few steps forward, you can feel the sand beneath your toes.

"The beach?!"

Finn "Just wait." You two walk until he stops. "Okay, open." You open to see the most beautiful sunset over the waves.

"Oh my god. It's so..beautiful."

Finn "I knew that you would love it. I remember when we all went to Chick-fil-a, you told me that you loved the beach."

"I do, it's my paradise." Finn smiles at how amazed you are at your view. But to him, you are his view. You are way more beautiful to him than the ocean. He puts his arms around your waist and watches the waves crash onto the shore with you in his arms.

To be continued...

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