#it is actually their fifth all nighter in a row

[padawansuggest]

Cody: *comes into Obi-Wan’s apartment after Rex mentioned he thinks Obi and Ani pulled an all nighter*

Obi-Wan: *lying face down on the carpet in plank formation, dead asleep*

Anakin: *texting on the couch while trying to keep his eyes open*

Ahsoka: *having made a comfortable next in the meditation area that genuinely looks comfortable, probably fell asleep at a human-normal but not togruta-normal time*

Initiate Grogu: *stealing more cookies*

Padawan Reva: *helping Grogu steal more cookies, the sugar will be their lifeblood*

Cody: …is he okay?

Reva: *looks at Obi-Wan* Yeah? Master likes to sleep like that.

Anakin: *looks at Obi-Wan, concentrates for a second to float a pillow to him to drop next to him*

Obi-Wan: *instantly snatches the pillow to curl on top of it and stretch out like a lazy cat*

Grogu: *comes over, looks between Reva and Obi-Wan for a few moments, faceplants on the floor next to Obi-Wan to fall asleep under his chest and the pillow*

Cody: …is /he/ okay?

Anakin: Yeah, Grogu likes being smothered. Long as he’s got breathing space he’s fine.

Cody: So. Debatable?

Anakin: Probably. *puts down his phone and finally decides to pass out too*

Reva: *comes over and latches onto Cody’s hand with a soft whine* Is it bedtime now?

Cody: It’s noon, but it’s your bedtime, yeah. Come on, kiddo. *leads her off to tuck her into bed*

[winged-deity]

Hi, hope you're doing well! I loved reading your stories and imagines! The parents of the SMP one was my favorite. If you're accepting requests, I've had this idea where a visibly sleep-deprived reader starts to develop crazy eyebags and they're asked when was the last time they've slept, to which Y/N shrugs and says "Wednesday?" not even realizing it's already Monday and haven't slept in 5 days. I can imagine Phil saying "You little shit. Bed. Now" but I'd love to see how you'd interpret how the other parents would react if you're able to 🥰❤

Thank you for your request, and sorry for the wait!

Go the F**k to sleep!

Parental DSMP x Reader (platonic)

Technoblade

He would be coming home from either a training trip (or the prison, who knows), and after leaving you with our lovely forgetful grandpa aka Ph1lza f*cking Minecraft, he would very much find you doing through an allnighter for the fifth day in a row.

He would physically drag your ass to bed and force you to lay there and listen to him read about mythology until you'd finally fall asleep.

The next morning you'd wake up to the smell of tea and filling breakfast, at the dinner table you'd hear a lecture from Techno, stating how sleep is important and how you need to take better care of yourself.

"You better get the rest needed if you want to fight alongside me, kid"

Revivebur

As much as he seems like he doesn't give two shits about anything, but when he finds you almost falling asleep standing while cuddling his old sweater. He stops everything he's doing, doesn't matter if he's with Tommy, Ranboo, Quackity- you're his priority at that moment.

He will wrap his arms around you and make you look up at him, that's when he notices the dark bags under your eyes and finally ask the question "when was the last time you slept, kid?" and upon hearing your answer, he'll drag you all the way back to Pogtopia where you would have a quiet and peaceful time to rest.

He will lay your head on his lap and sing you songs (the l'manburg anthem as well if you're lucky) until you eventually fall asleep.

"You need to take better care of yourself, even if I'm back- i won't always be here to take care of you"

Awesamdude

he would honestly be struggling with sleep just as much as you since he'd spend most of his time at the prison meaning he didn't have much time to take care of himself, never mind you.

But one day when he finally got home earlier, a day off in mind. He would find you downing your god knows how many eth cup of coffee, dark circles finding their home under your eyes.

"I'm home-.." he would have announced tiredly, but upon seeing your even worse state, he would be right by your side in the blink of an eye. Ushering you to bed, reading to you just like he used to when you were younger.

"Guess we need to look out for each other, My little buttercup"

Jschlatt

During the Manburg era, your father was obviously very busy, being the president and all, you were mostly taken care of by Quackity.

But the one time he retreats from his office early, he'll finally notice how sleep-deprived you look, sitting you down and surprisingly enough having an actual talk with you.

"Hey kiddo, haven't you been sleeping?" he then gets to hear all about your all-nighters and overall lack of rest.

He then drags you to his kingsized bed, laying you down and slowly humming to you while filling out paperwork until you fall asleep, he would continue to do so every night until he's sure you're taking better care of yourself.

"You don't need to keep yourself from resting, pops is here to look over you"

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

Hopefully, this is to your liking! I had to ask help from my beloved since I was completely head empty no thoughts upon starting to write this lol.

[ayamturd]

enough│dream team

summary: y/n is overwhelmed and hits a breaking point. luckily, her boys are always there for her.

warnings: angst to fluff, light cursing

pairing: real-life platonic!dream team

a/n: was trying to write comfort drabble but got carried away, oops— pls feel free to comment or give feedback!

wc: (1.4k) - m.list

Falling face-first onto the safe haven of your couch, you felt as if you could cry from exhaustion. 

Today was long, longer than usual. From pulling an all nighter to barely finish the analysis essay you put off to the very last minute, struggling to understand the notes in most (if not all) of your online classes, to the torturous hours at work dealing with difficult coworkers and harsh customers, to say you were emotionally, physically, and mentally drained was an understatement. 

Despite the numerous assignments you knew were waiting to be completed, you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. The stress of simply worrying about them was already enough to drown your thoughts as you smothered your face into the pillow cushions. Before the raging thoughts could continue to ring though, the discord notification quietly broke the empty space, the phone being previously thrown somewhere on the floor. 

The bright screen blinded you as you brought the phone towards your face and answered the call with blurred eyes. “Hello?”

“Aye, nice to know you’re not dead!” What?

“Sap, what the hell do you want?” The lack of sleep was present in your quip tone. You probably would have apologized upon realizing if you could think straight. 

“Geeez, no need to get all upset. Was just wondering if you were still planning on joining the stream.” 

“Stream? What stream?” As if answering your own question, you pulled the phone away to check the date and sat up in slight panic. Fuck. “Shit! I didn’t realize that was today, I thought it was still Thursday!” 

Sapnap laughed, but it didn’t help calm your nerves at all. “Honestly, you’re fine. We were just wondering what happened since you weren’t answering any of our messages.” You scrolled through the boys��� messages from the past hour asking where you were. 

“Ahh, but still, I’m so sorry. I just got home but let me set up and I’ll be there in the next five minutes or so.” 

“You sure? It’s fine if you don’t wanna, s’just a chill stream while we speed run and shit.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I promised and haven’t hung out with you guys in a while anyway.” Rising slowly from the couch, you stretched with a groan and headed to your bedroom to quickly change into something comfortable. 

“Alright, nice. I’ll tell the guys, see you then.” You hummed a bye and closed your phone. Slipping out of your dirty uniform and putting on something loose, you collapsed into your office chair and turned on your monitors. You weren’t in the greatest mood if you were being honest with yourself, but you would feel bad if you fell through with plans and didn’t want to disappoint anyone. You tried to force down any negative thoughts before entering the call.

“—eorge! What?!” Clay’s signature yell practically made your ears bleed when adjusting the headphones on your head. You were quick to turn down the volume. 

“What are you idiots up to now?” you asked, letting the boys know of your presence.

“Y/n! glad you finally decided to join us!” George remarked. You could hear the stupid grin on his face while loading up the game, and scowled at your screen as if he could see it. “Shut it, Gogy. I was busy and it slipped my mind.”

“Mhmmm, suuure. You totally weren’t ignoring us for the past hour or so.” The cheeky little bitch.

“Hey, just cause the girls you hit up don’t respond doesn’t mean every girl in the world is ignoring you!” 

You could hear Clay wheeze as George and you began your usual bickering. Wanting to entertain their streams, you tried to interact and talk with each of the boys as much as possible, but you felt the high of speaking with friends significantly drop as the night continued on. 

The events of the day and the sensitive thought of meeting expectations and your inability to do so were starting to creep onto you. Even your game play was off as you died the fifth time in a row within the first 3 minutes again; the growing frustration made you tear up and get more angry at yourself. Who sucks at a block game and starts crying about it?

You didn’t realize you had gone silent until Clay called your name. “Yeah, Dream?”

“I ended the stream a few minutes after George and Sap, no need.” Oh. You must’ve spaced out and not noticed. When did George and Sapnap end stream? 

Letting out a sigh, you responded, “my bad Clay, I wasn’t paying attention.” 

George began speaking. “You okay tonight, y/n? It’s been awhile since we last actually talked and you got pretty quiet at the end there. I thought you were afk at first but could hear your keyboard.”

“I’m good, just tired.” You struggled to make a smile, barely convincing yourself as is.

“I don’t know, even when you’re tired, you’re not dead silent and completely zone out.”

“Yeah, what’s up with you today? I know you said you were at work but it’s not like you to forget things completely.”

“Plus you weren’t really fighting back that last argument. I know I’m amazing at Minecraft but I didn’t expect you to—“ You let out a stuttered breath and choked back a sob at their words, the heavy weight of the day finally crashing on you. 

You could hear George try to apologize for something he could have done to upset you and swallowed your silent hiccups to respond. “Don’t, George. Please. Trust me when I say you didn’t do anything wrong.”

The call went silent before Clay spoke up. “Then what is wrong, y/n? You can’t tell us something isn’t bothering you, we just want to help.” Now that opened the floodgates. Your breathing became irregular as more tears came into view. If the boys were talking, you couldn’t hear anything they were saying. You felt awful for forcing them to listen to you cry your emotions out, but Sapnap was quick to softly console you when you pathetically began to repeat broken sorry’s.

Eventually your sobs became sniffs as you calmed yourself while listening to George tell you to breathe in and out. The call became relatively silent once more.

“I’m so sorr—”

“Y/n,” Clay firmly stated, “never say sorry for something that isn’t your fault. You’re okay, okay?” You sniffed and nodded to his words, replying with a soft okay.  

“What’s wrong, y/n?” George was more gentle then before, him trying his best to comfort you in comparison to his joking manner. 

“I— I’m just so tired. Tired of school, t—tired of work, tired of trying to keep up with everything. I feel like I can’t breathe and it hurts. A—and I can’t help but hate myself for not being able to keep up with my own responsibilities and shit. I just, why am I not good enough?” The pause of silence was deafening and you looked desperately at the boys’ icons for an answer before screwing your eyes shut. 

Clay was first to respond. “Y/n, I know that right now everything feels hard and stacked up against you, but please trust me when I say it gets better. I know you said it’s been hard to breathe but you have to let yourself. You shouldn’t hate yourself for not being able to keep up, it’s just a sign you need to step away and give yourself a break. You’re not alone, okay? I’m here, George is here, S—“

“I’m here,” Sapnap interrupted. Clay let out a murmured groan while George scolded him for talking. “Oh, uh, sorry…” You giggled slightly.

“What I’m sure Clay was trying to say before is, you have us to back you up, alright? Struggling to take on your own responsibilities isn’t something to feel alone in, everyone needs support and we’ll always be yours. You are good enough. You’re too good for your own good that you won’t let yourself see it.” They collectively chuckled at George’s words. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

You slowly nodded while still grasping everything they said, a warmth replacing the shuddered breaths as you exhaled. “I do, yeah.” You couldn’t help but feel touched by their attentiveness and genuinely smiled. “Thank you guys, for listening and calming me down. It means a lot.”

“Course, y/n.” Sapnap reassured. “We love you and all that shit.”

“I love you guys and all that shit too.”

[milky-mochi]

late night texts | csb

genre: fluff, crush! soobin, close friend! soobin, friends to lovers, soobin is a fluffy baby okay he’s a cute blundering mess

pairing: choi soobin x reader

word count: 1.7k

summary: soobin is helplessly head over heels for the girl he cares so much for, but he keeps his feelings to himself, until things suddenly change for the better, over late night texts and blooming roses.

song: 🎶 blueming by iu 🎶

soobin's fingers hung over his messenger app in anticipation.

It was half past ten, and yet his phone delivered him no message from you. you had promised him that you would text him at quarter past, after your shift at your internship had ended, but fifteen minutes had passed and there was still no green dot beside your icon.

soobin just assumed you had fallen asleep after a tiring day, which he totally understood. he didn't blame you one bit, knowing how tired you must have been after non-stop activities for twenty hours. sighing in defeat, he placed his phone face down and cracked his knuckles.

he missed you so much his heart ached, but he could never text you first. he didn't know if he meant enough to you for it to not be annoying, and soobin was a big coward.

just as he got up to get a drink as a distraction, his phone chimed. soobin nosedived into his table so hard to grab his phone that he probably could've broken it.

at the top of his notifications, a light blue notification from you awaited him, labelled clearly with your contact name. soobin had been too afraid to put a heart beside your name (for fear of the boys finding out, or even worse, you). but you were too special to him for it to just be your name. so he copied a cute little flower emoticon from this layout site and placed it lovingly beside your first name, even though he knew that his contact in your phone was probably saved as every one else was.

clicking on the notification, soobin's furrowed eyebrows smoothened and his bunny smile revealed itself. the thought of you never failed to make his day a whole lot better.

y/n ❁: hey soobin! :D

y/n ❁: sorry im so late :(( i missed the bus and didn't get home until like 2 minutes ago

soobin sighed as he let out a knowing smile. you had busted your data watching videos of your favourite drama a week ago, so you couldn't text him on the bus.

binbread: omg it's okay y/n

binbread: don't you wanna take a shower first? i can wait!

y/n ❁: i'm alright, soobin. thank you tho 🥺

y/n ❁: and besides,

y/n ❁ is typing…

y/n ❁: i'd much rather talk to you

soobin felt his heart pounding in his chest, felt the blood circulating through his fingertips, his face, his entire body. he was flushed red and felt warmth consume him, leaving him with the jittery, skittery feeling that your sweet words always bestow him with.

binbread: y/n omg aaaaaaaa

binbread: 🥺🥺🥺

binbread: i love talking to you too

binbread: how was your day?

whenever soobin asked you this at the end of every day, it was never just a conversation starter, let alone a formality. he genuinely always wanted to know how your day went, worried at how much you exerted yourself to serve others. soobin knew how reckless you were when it came to your own needs, and he sealed a secret promise to always look after you, especially when you didn’t look after yourself.

y/n ❁: omg it was amazing

y/n ❁: there’s this guy named hangyul who just started interning with me

y/n ❁: he’s so funny omg i actually had to tell him to shut up so i could get work done

guiltily, soobin felt his heart drop. of course there was another guy, someone much better, someone of the quality you deserved-

y/n ❁: ok lowkey

y/n ❁: think im gonna set him up with seungyoun

binbread: seungyoun? the guy from your dance studio?

y/n ❁: yeah!!! they’d go so well together

y/n ❁: oh yeah

y/n ❁: hangyul is gay

y/n ❁: lmao

soobin felt embarrassed at how relieved he was. soobin was definitely the jealous type, and he hated it. he hated the way his mind would jump to conclusions, hated the way he always felt on the verge of being replaced, and he really hated the way his jealousy was always amplified when it came to you.

you didn’t have any mutual friends, so he’d rarely ever have to see you interact with any other guy. he was so grateful for that. who knows what his jealous heart would do if he saw you with someone else. at least, with this, he had that false sense of security that maybe, maybe, your feelings echoed his own.

binbread: omg do it y/n

binbread: don’t you need to sleep though

binbread: as much as i love talking to you

binbread: you literally pulled like 8 all nighters in a row

y/n ❁: it was only 3 :(

y/n ❁: and i missed you :(

y/n ❁: stay soobin :(

y/n ❁: soobinnie :(

you frowned at soobin’s inactivity. little did you know, soobin’s neighbour had knocked on his door, asking if he could borrow scissors because his kid needed it for a project and he couldn’t find a pair in his home. you could have waited, but you had missed him the entire day. and you were feeling really, really, annoying.

y/n ❁: soobiiiiiiiiiiin :(

y/n ❁: soobin come back :(

y/n ❁: i miss u :(

y/n ❁: love :(

y/n ❁: baby :(

y/n ❁: you’re my

y/n ❁: honey bunch

y/n ❁: sugar plum

y/n ❁: pumpy-umpy-umpkin

y/n ❁: you’re my sweetie pie

after soobin had kindly handed his neighbour his scissors with the baby blue handles, he immediately picked up his phone and read your messages. instantly, his face burned up and he dramatically put his hand to his heart (because he was alone, and you made him do things like that just by calling him two pet names and quoting a children’s song). but as the ‘seen’ appeared at the bottom of your messages, panic began to jolt your bones.

y/n ❁: soobiiiiiiiiiiin :(

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

y/n ❁: the user has deleted this message

binbread: y/n

binbread: i saw everything you sent lmao

binbread: dont do this to me :(

y/n ❁ is typing…

y/n ❁: do what binnie? :)

binbread: that

binbread: [insert crying cat meme]

binbread: [which i don't have on me now because i cleared my storage]

y/n ❁: ok i literally cant take this

your thumbs twiddled around your screen as you inhaled sharply.

y/n ❁ is typing…

oh no, thought soobin. this is the end. this is where she gets irritated with me because i can’t take a joke. she blocks me and we never talk or hang out again. she find another guy and she’s happy without me and i’m sad and lonely and miserable, shovelling bread into my mouth as a replacement for my soul-

ding!

y/n ❁: you’re too cute for this world soobin

y/n ❁: and u make it so much better for everyone

y/n ❁: especially for me

y/n ❁: and i know this seems weird, and may very well ruin our friendship

y/n ❁: but i really really like you

y/n ❁: and im tired of hiding it

damn, soobin thought. damn i was not expecting that.

soobin’s heart was beating wildly out of his chest for the third time that day, only because of you. his fingers were shaking as he typed his reply as fast as he could. the moment he had dreamed of for months had finally come tapping on his screen.

binbread: oh my god

binbread: i like you too

binbread: i’ve liked you for like

binbread: so long

binbread: is this real

y/n ❁: or is this the fantasy

binbread: those aren’t the lyrics y/n

y/n ❁: i tried okay

binbread: and im so proud of you for doing so

binbread: truly a pop culture queen

y/n ❁: :(

binbread: okay okay

binbread: jokes aside

binbread: i've liked you for like,, 10 months now

binbread: this is a dream come true

binbread: you're a dream come true

binbread: so y/n

binbread: will you go out with me?

y/n ❁: i literally just confessed to you like 3 minutes ago

y/n ❁: like yea of course choi soobin

binbread: you could’ve just said yes :(

binbread: but okay meet me at the 5th station tmr?

binbread: i wanna take you to my favourite bakery! :D

y/n ❁: totally :D

and so here, at fifth station, act ii of your relationship with soobin had revealed itself. soobin looked like a prince, stepping out of the subway in a creme button up and black jeans, approaching you with a red rose in one hand and his phone dialling your number in the other. he smiled brightly as he approached you, seeing your face and your screen, popping up with his contact name.

incoming call…

soobin ❁

and so to his favourite bakery he brought you. it was rose themed, from rose gold metal vases to wooden countertops, and rose infused drinks and pastries, you felt like a princess. his princess. especially when he brought you for a walk in the cafe’s rose garden and you ran your hands gingerly over their velvet petals, thinking about the rose in your hand, how lucky you were to have it, and how many more of them you would get to enjoy. soobin gazed at you with soft eyes and gently took your hand in his.

“we’ll be as beautiful as this, together. a hundred roses,” soobin said, as if he were reading your mind, “wanna make them bloom with me?” 

---

a/n: ayo! hoped u liked my first soobin fic 🥺 i love choi soobin and he’s very cute,, anyway if u have any requests feel free to send em in!! i’d love to write em <3  

[choerrypuffs]

hello! may i request barista!xiaojun trying to make medstudent!reader feel better while studying for exams but he does it awkwardly and cute?? i love your works esp. that billionaire!kun angst sksjs

anonymous said: YOUR TAEYONG AU WAS SO CUTE MY H E A R T 😁😁😁 can i request something as cute as that for xiaojun? perhaps even another neighbor au heheh–but you dont have to if you dont want to! i would just like some fluffy xiaojun :))

pairing: bartender!xiaojun x med student!reader

genre: fluff

word count: 1.6k

author’s note: two requests for xiaojun in a row, wow this really is his world and we’re just living in it 

With each page turn, you feel a little bit of your sanity leave you.

You’ve been cooped up in your dorm for the past week, studying for the absolute hell that is finals week. You’re running on four hours of sleep and hell of a lot of caffeine. Day and night have just been blending together and you genuinely have no concept of time anymore. Your roommate has been staying with her boyfriend more often, which leaves you and your misery all alone with no one to vent to.

This must be what solitary confinement feels like, you think to yourself.

Once you read the same sentence for the tenth time in a row, you finally give up and slam your anatomy textbook closed. It’s only 11:20 PM, so you decide to go out for some fresh air. Just the thought of being in this room any longer makes you feel suffocated.  

You don’t bother changing out of your sweatpants and t-shirt, simply throwing a light jacket over it. You’re not sure when you last washed your hair so you tease it up into a ponytail. Shooting your roommate a quick text (though you’re pretty sure she’s not going to see it), you grab your wallet and keys and head out. 

The night air feels cool when it hits you and you close your eyes, relishing the breeze. You begin to wander aimlessly around the neighborhood, trying to procrastinate going back as much as possible. After a while, you eventually stop in front of a bar. 

You aren’t much of a drinker because you really don’t have the time to be one. When you do drink once in a blue moon, it’s usually with your roommate on the floor of your room. Just once, you’d like to have that experience of getting blackout drunk at a bar and dealing with a nasty hangover instead of blacking out after pulling an all-nighter studying and dealing with staying awake in your 8 AM chemistry class.

Squaring your shoulders and straightening your back, you confidently push open the doors and walk in. You expect a loud club-like scene with a bunch of people dancing on top of each other, but that’s not what you get at all. The place is low-lit with jazzy music playing, and there’s barely any people here. Instead of a dance floor, there’s a big pool table in the middle of the room. The bar is all the way in the back, and you awkwardly navigate past a tipsy couple playing pool to get to it.

There’s only one person sitting at the bar, an elderly man wearing a suit. He’s chatting jovially with the bartender, swirling the drink in his hand around. You can tell by the way they’re talking that they are very comfortable with each other, and you almost feel a little bad for intruding. The bartender hears you approaching and looks up. You nearly trip over your own feet when you make eye contact with him.

He’s so good-looking that you’re honestly a little intimidated. Dark, messy hair that falls into his eyes, features that are on par with any model, and looks damn good in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. You kind of just want to run away, but he’s already seen you so it’s too late.

“What can I get you?” he asks, smiling politely. His nametag reads Xiaojun.

You sigh, shrugging. “Something that’ll make me forget, or take off my pants.” 

Xiaojun stares at you, clearly not expecting that answer. The elderly man laughs, a big belly laugh that makes you involuntarily smile. “Darlin’, that would be tequila.”

“Then I’ll have that,” you nod. 

“First time here?” Xiaojun asks, shooting a stern glance at the elderly man.

“How could you tell?” you joke.

“Just a hunch,” he chuckles, “anyways, I don’t think tequila is what beginners should start with.”

“I’ll drink whatever you give me. I just want to get drunk,” you respond, shrugging.

“Rough night?” Xiaojun looks up at you as he begins to make your drink.

“You could say that,” you sigh again, propping your face up on the counter top with your palm.

“I’m all ears if you want to talk about it, um…” 

“Y/N,” you supply, “and thanks. I’m sure I’ll go on some drunken tirade anyways, so be prepared.”

The elderly man is quiet as the two of you chat, a knowing smile across his face. He finishes the rest of his drink before clearing his throat, taking his brief case from the seat beside him. Placing some bills on the counter top, he says, “Anyways, I gotta get going. The missus is waiting for me back home.” 

“So soon?” Xiaojun asks, surprised.

“Yup,” he replies, “I’ll see you later, Xiaojun.” 

“Alright, be careful.” 

The man turns to leave and you wave him goodbye. He winks at you as he gets out of his seat, and you’re confused as to why but you smile at him anyway.

“Here’s your drink,” Xiaojun says, setting a glass in front of you. 

The concoction is red at the very bottom before it turns light pink at the top, like an ombré effect. You can’t help but marvel at how beautiful it is (just like him). 

“Wow,” you breathe, “it’s so pretty.” 

“It’s called Love Affair,” he explains, before turning red and immediately beginning to splutter. “U-Um, the name is weird but it’s my favorite drink, so uh…”

“Thank you,” you say, smiling at how flustered he is. You bring the glass to your lips and take a sip. It burns slightly, but you don’t particularly hate the feeling. It’s tangy, like a citrus fruit but also a little sweet. 

“How is it?” Xiaojun asks, a touch of anxiousness in his expression. 

“I like it,” you say, drinking more. 

“I’m glad,” he beams, looking both relieved and proud. 

It doesn’t take you long to finish it, and he makes you some of his other favorites. You feel the buzz get progressively stronger, and it’s only a matter of time before you’re drunk. Xiaojun can tell too because the drinks he gives you becomes more and more diluted with each glass. He’s in the middle of making your fifth drink when the rational part of your brain finally logs out.

“Do you ever feel like giving up and just becoming a homeless person for the rest of your life?” you ask, slightly slurring. 

Xiaojun looks up, amused. Your face is flushed and your hands are on your warm cheeks as you just barely manage to prop yourself up. Whether it’s intentional or not, you’re slightly swaying back and forth to the background music. You look absolutely adorable and he feels his heart rate quicken. 

“Actually, I have,” he says truthfully. “Why?”

“Well, I currently feel like that right about now,” you confess, “and it sucks.” 

“Did something particular happen?” he asks gently. 

“I’m a med student,” you explain, “and finals are coming up. I’ve been studying nonstop, but it feels like nothing is sticking. It’s just―so much is banking on these exams and I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I fail. How on Earth am I gonna pay back my student loans? What if I become one of those losers that live in their parents’ basement because they can’t get a job? What if I become a beggar on the side of the streets?” 

You don’t realize you’re crying until Xiaojun gently dabs your tears away with a napkin. You’re embarrassed but not nearly as much as you would be if you were sober. Sniffling, you try to apologize but he doesn’t let you. 

“Look at me,” he says gently, cupping your face with his hands and slightly squishing your cheeks together. His hands feel cool against your skin. “I’ve felt exactly the same before, but you know what? It’ll pass. Don’t freak yourself out. Study hard like you have been, and you will do just fine. Make sure to take breaks too. Oh, and don’t go to bars during the middle of exam season either.”

You laugh, slightly leaning into his touch. Xiaojun looks down at your lips, and for a moment, you think he’s going to kiss you before he steps back and takes his hands away from your face. You pout as he does. 

“Right,” his voice cracks and he clears his throat, “you’ve had enough drinks. I’ll call you a cab, so go home.” 

You whine, but he’s not having it. Once you realize your sulking isn’t going to work, you huff loudly and fish out your wallet. “How much do I owe you?” 

“Nothing,” he replies, “it’s on the house. As a good luck to your exams.”

You smile at him. “You’re very sweet, Xiaojun.”

He rolls his eyes, but there’s a pink tinge to his cheeks. You try to get up, but your legs feel like jelly, and you fall back into your seat again. Xiaojun immediately is at your side, wrapping your arm around his shoulders as he helps you leave. He manages to get a cab within minutes and even shoves some money in your hands for the fare. 

“For more good luck,” he says, grinning. 

You want him to kiss you so badly that you blurt, “Kiss me. For even more good luck.

Xiaojun’s eyes widen, and it’s cute, but his response is less so. “I can’t. You’re drunk.” 

Damn him for being a gentleman. 

“But…maybe tomorrow,” he promises, brushing his thumb across your cheek.

The cab driver honks, and Xiaojun quickly ushers you in the car. He waves at you as you drive away. When you can no longer see him anymore, you let out the breath you’ve been holding and lean back. You can’t tell if your face is warm from the alcohol or something else.

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

A Song For My Soulmate, pt 2

Steve found himself humming the song as he made himself a sandwich. It was funny how quickly all the music he listened to was taking on significance. She would know what his musical taste was just by the music he sat back and enjoyed, but more so, it would help her to figure out when he was trying to communicate.

He was trying to come up with something that would ease her into the idea of exactly who he was, and was carefully listening to something significant to who he used to be every night at around eight pm. Tony had facetiously suggested the old war bond song, but Steve had immediately cut that idea off. He didn’t want to scare her.

He brought his sandwich to the living room, and put the plate down beside his chair, checking the time on his phone. He had five minutes to queue up Artie Shaw and get settled with his food when he was nearly knocked off his feet by the intensity of the music she was listening to.

The song wasn’t something modern, but it certainly wasn’t his era. It was much more reminiscent of the music Tony would queue up in the lab when he was pulling an all-nighter. Hard, loud, lots of guitar and drums. She’d been quietly listening to his music for days now, so much so that he’d nearly forgotten the communication was a two-way channel. He bolted down the hall to the elevator and jammed the button frantically, hoping to get to the lab before the song ended.

It wasn’t the most creative of lyrics, but when he burst into the lab, he was able to almost follow the chorus, and started singing before checking to see if Tony was alone.

“I really wanna know Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Ah, who the fuck are you? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Oh, tell me who are you? Who are you? Ooh I really wanna know Oh, I really wanna know Come on, tell me who are you, you, you, ah you?”

Tony started laughing. “Did you just drop the f-bomb, Cap?” He glanced over at Bruce, and another, unknown scientist, who were both trying to smother their laughter, unsuccessfully. Steve felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment and his shoulders dropped.

“I guess it doesn’t actually matter who the song is by, right? She just wants to know who I am?” It was mostly rhetorical.

“It’s called Who Are You, and it’s by The Who,” Bruce offered, patting his shoulder as he walked past. “So I guess the big question is, are you going to tell her?”

“What if she has no idea who I am? She could be from anywhere in the world. I was reading on the internet this morning that there’s over seven billion people on the planet. It’s pretty arrogant to think she’ll know American history well enough to know who Captain America is. And there aren’t any songs called ‘you scared the crap out of my, and my name is Steve’, unfortunately,” he shrugged. Tony laughed again.

“Start with where you’re from. Here. I’ve been creating a playlist for you.” He tossed an iPod toward Steve, who caught it with one hand.

“Beastie Boys?” Steve asked, looking at the first song on the playlist.

“Trust me. Tomorrow night, settle in and enjoy at least two tracks. She’ll be able to figure it out, and then maybe she’ll offer up some more info about herself,” Tony offered. “I’ll even come sit with you.” Steve nodded and felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment again.

“Sorry for interrupting like that,” he apologized as he backed out of the lab.

XxX

All week, the guy had been listening to some serious grampa music. It wasn’t that it was bad, she reflected, but it was definitely from her grandfather’s era. He was clearly trying to send her a message, because for five days in a row, spot on at eight at night, her head would fill with whatever he’d selected for his radio show for the night. After a couple of songs, the music faded away, and she was able to return to whatever she was up to.

She’d countered his consistency with her own broadcast last night, however.  There was no way to put the question burning in her head better than The Who, and she’d danced on her coffee table, flailing away at an imaginary air guitar as the song crescendoed through the living room. She’d only turned it down when the neighbour from across the hall had banged on her door asking her to turn it down.

“Sorry, it got away from me!” She’d apologized, beaming a bright smile as she hid her bottom half behind the door. She’d had one of those days where she’d immediately stripped down to a tank top and undies the moment she’d walked in the door, and hadn’t bothered getting dressed.

“No worries. I thought the building was soundproof, but I guess those of us on the lower floors didn’t get included in that retrofit,” her neighbour had smiled.

“Well, even from the twenty-fifth floor, the view is awesome, so I’ll keep the volume down, and not complain, how’s that?” She offered. Her neighbour had smiled and given her a wink as she’d shut the door. Everyone in the building was friendly, which was weird, in her experience. She supposed it came from living in what was essentially company housing. When she’d been hired for the employee medical clinic, she couldn’t believe she’d found an employer who was seriously willing to provide it all and pay more-than-fair wages. But two years in, and it was definitely a dream come true.

It had been a long day. The boss had authorized free flu shots for all employees, so the clinic had been slammed with folks waiting. She felt like a syringe with a pulse by the time she’d plodded off the elevator and stripped off her scrubs, two hours later than her usual end of shift. It was going to be another tank top and undies night. Thank god she didn’t have plans. She was flopping down on the couch with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a spoon when she noticed the time. It was 7:59, and about to roll over to the hour.

Just as expected, there was music. Unexpectedly, it was not Big Band. Initially she couldn’t follow what she was hearing, and then, slowly, she caught it, just before the chorus.

“We got a safe in the trunk with money in a stack With dice in the front and Brooklyn's in the back.

No sleep till No sleep till Brooklyn, no sleep till Brooklyn !

Ain't seen the light since we started this band M.C.A. get on the mike, my man! Born and bred Brooklyn The U.S.A.”

She sat up, nearly dropping the ice cream. The Beastie Boys had been one of her favourite groups growing up, and the song had to be significant. Was her soulmate telling her he was in Brooklyn, or from Brooklyn? In this entire world, he was that close? She put down the pint, and grabbed her phone, quickly searching her playlist and queueing the song on the bluetooth stereo. She settled back into her chair with the spoon and Chunky Monkey and let her response wash over her.

“One hand in the air for the big city Street lights, big dreams, all lookin' pretty No place in the world that could compare Put your lighters in the air everybody say yeah, yeah, Yea, yea

In New York, Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothin' you can't do Now you're in New York These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York”

XxX

Steve sat up on his own couch and made eye contact with Tony, who was lost in the second Beastie Boys cut on the iPod. “Holy crap. She’s from here.”

[faintblueivy]

You Need Sleep - Izuocha fanfiction

A little Izuocha piece after a long time. Aaaaahhhh, I just can't seem to write anything else other than fluff! 😅

...

You Need Sleep

Izuku leans against the back of his office chair. And groans when even the soft cushion doesn't provide him any comfort. His back and neck aches and his head throbs badly. The countless bruises on skin hurt and burn.

Being a Hero is hard.

Due to the lack of the staff and increase in recent criminal activities around his area, Izuku has been pulling all nighters for three days in a row.

His run-ins with the villains left him scars that marred him for life and his rescue efforts for the civilians left him mentally and emotionally drained.

But at the end of the day when when his hard work was greeted with those innocent smiles that could light up the entire sky, he felt rewarded, handsomely in fact.

And maybe it was that feeling of supreme contentment that kept him alive and kicking, well literally.

He finds his eye lids shutting when the door of his office is pushed open. He scrambles back in alarm, the green light flickers over his body and his veins thrum with power coursing through them.

His emerald green orbs meet the warm brown ones.

"Deku-kun?" Even when her voice is soft, it is still enough to wake him up and calm him down simultaneously.

"Ahh. U-Uraraka-san. It's you." He rubs the back of his neck in a nervous manner, hoping that she would not look at his reaction to her arrival as something worrisome .

The dark beneath his eyes speaks volumes of his sleep schedule. Even with the sturdy body of a fine Hero, his shoulders are slouched with fatigue and his hair looks wilder than usual.

"You're still here? Didn't your shift end about two days ago?"

The steel behind her voice makes a shiver run down his spine.

He chuckles anxiously, "U-um, actually, we are short on staff so I've been trying to make up for it."

Her brows raise in mild surprise before she lets out a large sigh.

"Leave it to you to do something so stupid."

Izuku gapes because Uraraka rarely is angry enough to call him that.

She swipes her phone out and taps on the screen furiously. In the next few minutes with her cell phone, she has already glared at him to drink a tall glass of water and he quietly obeys her orders because making her mad is the last thing he wants to do now.

"It's done!" She exclaims happily.

At his questioning look, she laughs. "I asked Kirishima-kun if his agency could cover up a part your area for a few hours and he said yes. And I can patrol the other part of yours too when I do mine after I take you home."

"Home?" He says as if the word itself is foreign.

"Of course!" She smiles.

"Uraraka-san! You don't have to-"

His words get struck in his throat at her fierce glare and he swallows.

"You. Need. Sleep." Her every word is emphasized when she takes a step towards him and pokes him in the chest.

Three times.

And he gulps.

He obediently follows her to her car and straps himself to the seat.

He doesn't know when falls asleep.

He doesn't know when when he is brought up to his apartment on the fifth floor.

He doesn't know when his boots get off along with different accesories and tools strapped on his costume.

He doesn't know when he's tucked into his bed and an All Might blanket is spread over him.

All he knows is that when he wakes up, her faint smell lingers in his apartment and the sweet warmth inside his chest makes him grin like a madman.

...

So...? Did you like it? I'm sure that the Hero Deku is a workaholic and our Ochako would have to do this every once in a while.

What do you think?

[gfbender]

Fitness Log - Week 02 (04/14)

I forgot to publish this last week so uh... oops. Posting for my own logs.

Weekend and Monday I skipped the gym/practice bc I’ve been swamped with work for upcoming finals. I pulled two all-nighters in three days to finish six assignments and I think I saw into the void. 

Tuesday: (10 reps/set) Goal was to up my set #s.

15 mins (1.5miles) on the elliptical

Chest Press: 4 sets x30 lbs

Row: 4x30lbs

Shoulder Press: 3x10 lbs

Pulldown: 3x40lbs, 1x45lbs

Assisted pull-ups: 2x50lbs, 1x45lbs 

Assisted dips: 2x70lbs

Chest Fly: 2x25lbs

Core exercises, + free weight curls

Wednesday: Lead practice this day and it was super fun, finally got to teach the first-years the fifth engi form which involves a lot of fancy bladework and trying to knock the naginata out of your opponent’s hands.

Thursday: Actually made it to the gym again, thanks in part to the Korra fit fam for being lovely and inspiring :)

15 mins (1.5miles) on eliptical

Seated Leg press: 2x60lbs, 2x70lbs

Chest Press: 3x30lbs

Row: 2x30lbs, 2x35lbs

Pulldown: 3x40lbs, 1x45lbs

Shoulder Press: 4x10lbs -- this is a record tbh I hate this exercise

Chest fly: 2x25lbs

Core exercises, + free weight deadlifts, squats, lunges, and calf raises

I’m surprised my performance didn’t suffer because I was so sleep-deprived, I was even able to up my weights and set numbers on a couple exercises. A good week overall. 

[sunriseinorbit]

Okay so here’s what’s going on in my life right now because I really need to rant about it:

I went on a four-night trip for orchestra and missed two days of school. The first night I got three hours of sleep, the second I got six, the third I got nine, the fourth I got seven, and I got home at 2 in the morning so I got six hours of sleep again last night. And I didn’t go to school today because I would have fallen asleep in three different classes and I think I’m sick too, so if I had, I would have gotten four and a half.

So here’s the amount of homework I missed from missing two and a half days of school (one of the school days I was gone was a block day where we only have half our classes) and to be fair I have four APs but like here we go:

US History - Two hours (if I’m lucky) of questions that are already late because I didn’t do them last week, plus another hour of reading

Calculus AB - Five days’ worth of assignments (I missed another day last week for a Latin thing) plus learning calculus entirely on my own which I can’t do

Chemistry - I missed two lectures and corresponding homework assignments plus group work, I have to self-learn an entire mini-unit and go in outside of class to do the group work

Latin (the only non-AP where I actually get homework) - reading of the weekly ecce romani chapter, plus making up a quiz and a test (since I missed the test I now have a 49% in the class)

Language Arts - HOOOOOO BOY. Ten-page research paper due Wednesday (I spent six hours working on it today, that’s the only thing I did and I still have a fifth of it to do), a 40-minute essay to prepare for the AP test, and four chapters of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

I didn’t finish anything. And people are definitely going to make fun of me tomorrow because I avoided pulling two all nighters in a row after a nightmare trip for my sleep schedule.

So yeah there’s that

[katielynn526]

B-Team Support Group AU

Okay hear me out...

Donnie and Mikey getting sick of how their family treats them and doing something about it. 

Something happens. The final peg on this jenga tower of awful gives way and shit comes a tumbling down. Mikey gets hit by Raph a little too hard and is seriously hurt, Donnie just pulled his fifth all-nighter in a row and Mikey finds him passed out in the lab, Leo and Raph leave their little brothers in the lurch to prove their A-team bullshit superiority, etc. Whatever it is, it’s the last straw.

Donnie packs up his laptop and a few essentials from his lab, Mikey puts Ice Cream Kitty in her cooler and stuffs some comics and his teddy bear into a backpack. They leave the lair in the middle of the night, no clue where they’re even going. They just need to get out.

Donnie calls April and they crash at her place for the night. Mikey can’t sleep, his stomach is in knots. He stays up with April, watching Donnie snore away on the couch where he’s passed out. He tells her this is the most sleep Don’s probably had in weeks. They stay up talking until dawn and April holds Mikey when he finally breaks down and cries.  

Pretty soon it becomes clear that Donnie and Mikey staying with April is a temporary solution at best. It’s a small apartment and the brother’s can tell Mr. O’Neil, still suffering from his own PTSD, isn’t exactly comfortable with having his home invaded by mutant teenagers. Donnie can be quiet (until he blows something up), but Mikey’s hyperactive energy is too much.Plus the risk of being seen by the neighbors is too great.

April still insists they’re welcome to stay, but the brothers are gone before she comes home from school.     

Karai originally planned to stake out one of the Shredder’s former hideouts with Shinigami, but the plans change when she comes across Donnie and Mikey on the rooftops, looking lost and tired as they try and figure out what to do next. They can’t go back yet, but they can’t survive on their own topside, not without help. Karai knows that hopelessness, knows what it like to feel like you can’t go home.   

She and Shini bring them back to the Shredder’s old lair. telling Donnie and Mikey they can stay as long as they need to. 

Donnie’s still a bit wary of Karai but he agrees, knowing it’s their best option right now. He texts April and tells her that yes, he and Mikey are safe and please tell the family they aren’t dead or kidnapped. They just need some space.

Mikey is just glad he doesn’t have to go home yet and psyched he gets to spend time with his new big sister and her awesome witch-friend.

Karai texts Leo to let him know that his brothers are safe and with her, but also makes it clear that he, Raph, and Splinter fucked up badly and they need to get their shit together. Don and Mike will come home when they’re ready and if Leo or Raph tries to come over and force them to come back she will personally cleave their shells from their bodies.  

CUE MONTAGE OF CUTE B-TEAM AND BIG SISTER BONDING:

-Mikey hanging out with Shini, coming up with countless contests to test their mad skillz™: Who can do the most impressive flips, who’s more flexible, best dancer, most rad yo-yo trick, etc.

-Karai and Mikey playing a Japanese trading card game (like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh) becuase he found one of her old decks and pulled out his own. 

-Karai being super nervous about being a big sister because she’s never had siblings before and Oroku Saki wasn’t a really affectionate parent, but Mikey putting her at ease and telling her she’s doing a great job.

-Donnie being a little uncomfortable around Karai because she used to be their enemy and tried to hurt April. But she’s also helping them and he sees how hard she’s trying. 

-Karai listening to Donnie vent and commiserating with him about how toxic and demanding family can be. Cause let’s face it, Shredder and Splinter are both super harsh Japanese dads so Karai gets what it’s like. 

-Shini showing Mikey her collection of shojo manga (in Japanese of course)

-Mikey showing Shini how to make awesome shadow puppets.

-Mikey showing Karai and Shini Ice Cream Kitty. Shini thinks she’s adorable and loves taking cute videos of ICK with her phone and sending them to Mikey! 

-Shini telling Mikey all about growing up in Japan and showing him pictures of her and Karai when they were kids, pictures of her life in Tokyo, and one pic of her and her ex-girlfriend, Don’t ask. It didn’t end well... ;)

-Shini calling Mikey, “Mikey-chan.”

-All four of them hanging out in what used to be Oroku Saki’s private quarters, watching poorly dubbed samurai movies on the huge flat screen TV and laughing as they get popcorn everywhere.

-Mikey cooking a big meal for everyone in what used to the the foot clan break room, all of them talking in Japanese while Karai and Shini tease the boys about their terrible accents. 

-Sparring sessions where Mikey isn’t constantly underestimated and Karai and Shini try to teach him techniques to focus his mental energy.    

-Donnie fixing up Stockman’s old lab, overjoyed to see all the awesome high-tech equipment left behind when the Foot Clan fled. Once he clears away all the groady candy wrappers and acid fly spit it starts feeling like home. 

-Karai and Mikey tag-teaming Donnie to make sure he gets a good night’s sleep and doesn’t spend all his time in the lab. 

-Donnie and Karai bonding over blowing shit up and the construction of badass ninja weaponry.

-Shini helping Donnie develop cool new ninja smoke bombs and helping him devise ninja tech for hypnosis and illusions.  

-Karai teasing Donnie about his crush on April but actually giving him solid relationship advice. 

-Mikey, Karai, and Donnie all getting to complain about Leo and his self-sacrificing, lone ranger BS. 

-Donnie building a heat lamp for his snake mutant sis. Snake!Karai curling up and basking with her mutant bros. 

-Leo not heeding Karai’s warning and blowing up Donnie’s T-phone with angry messages. Karai finally going to the lair to bitch out her mutant family and call out her father on what a negligent dick he’s been.

-April and Casey visiting the Girl Gang lair (that’s what I’m calling it) to see Mikey and Don. 

-Casey flirting non-stop with Karai while she kicks his ass multiple times. Soon it becomes a friendly contest between the two on who can come up with the dirtiest pick up line. (Donnie has had to cover Mikey’s ears multiple times).

-April being really nervous around Karai b/c of their history. But they bond over wanting what’s best for the b-team bros and become reluctant friends. Cue Shini insisting that April needs a makeover (because seriously how can she not wear armor?) and lots of badass ninja girl talk. Mikey helps while Donnie and Casey just watch the awesome craziness unfold.

-Karai embarrassing Donnie in front of April but also totally setting them up!

-Mikey and Donnie getting to just chill and be bros without the pressure and constant criticism of their big brothers.       

-Raph and Leo dealing with the fact that their little brothers left, realizing how much they were needed.  

-Leo burning everything he cooks and desperately wishing Mikey were there to take over. (Splinter, Raph and Leo end up living off of takeout, rice, and instant ramen over the next few weeks)

-The hot water heater in the lair breaks and guess who’s not around to fix it? Raph grumbling as he looks up how to fix a hot water heater online, thinking about how fast Donnie would’ve solved the problem. Then Leo breaks the toaster and there���s more shit Raph has to try and fix.

-Realizing how empty the lair feels with out Mikey’s laughter and the occasional explosion from Don’s lab. 

-Leo missing being able to bounce his plans and strategies off his calm, fact-checking genius brother.

-Raph missing Mikey’s easy affection and regretting every single time he hit his baby bro just because he was goofing around. 

-Raph and Leo being too proud to apologize and paying for it dearly as things in the lair continue to break and they try not to give each other food poisoning with their terrible cooking skills. The older brother’s getting angry at themselves and angry at their father for not demanding his younger son’s return. 

-Splinter taking a long look at his actions and questioning his abilities as a father. Wondering how he can repent and heal his family when his youngest sons’ return.

-Splinter staring at a picture of his sons and realizing how much of a burden he’s placed on their shoulders by demanding they fight his war with Oroku Saki. He wonders when was the last time he’d asked Donatello and Michelangelo if they were alright. 

-Casey finding a sulking Raph and using his own experiences as a big brother to call him out and talk some sense into him (And you know it’s bad when CASEY JONES is the voice of reason here). 

-Mikey calling Karai “Nee-san” without even thinking about it and Karai trying and failing to hide how happy she is.

-Karai calling Mikey Otouto and watching his face light up in joy as he hugs her.

-Donnie calling Karai Nee-san quietly when it’s just to two other them after a long tear-filled talk. Karai trying hard not to cry when she realizes she’s earned his trust. 

I’M SORRY I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS AND IDEAS ABOUT THIS AU OKAY! 

The health and well-being of the B-team is super important to me, and if I need to make an AU where they get taken in and cared for by a badass ninja girl gang I will! 

[junker-town]

Your Watch Grid guide to a really weird Week 7 of college football

Streaming info and other viewing basics, all sorted to make it easy to spot the likely best games in each time slot.

For like the fifth weekend in a row, college football’s got a light-looking schedule. We’re really piling up big games for the latter half of the season, it seems! That’s OK, though, because we’ll keep having fun along the way.

Week 7 also feels totally out of order, and not just because Oklahoma-Texas/Texas-Oklahoma/the Red River Rivalry/the Red River Shootout/the Red River Showdown/etc. isn’t an 11 a.m. local kick. Most of the best games are in Saturday’s early half, so be sure to clock in early.

Below, the Watch Grid attempts to sort your Saturday by watchability, with TV times and streaming info for each FBS game. Also, here are a few notes on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday, Oct. 12 college football schedule

Texas State at UL-Lafayette (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU/WatchESPN) is football. Georgia Tech-Miami would’ve been a great Thursday nighter, but it was bumped to Saturday during this year’s weather reshuffle.

Friday, Oct. 13 college football schedule

Maybe watch No. 2 Clemson at Syracuse (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN) and No. 8 Washington State at Cal (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN). These games are pretty similar, with big road favorites traveling to play teams that seem like they should be points-y, but really aren’t, but have still been more competitive than expected. So who knows!

Saturday, Oct. 14 college football schedule

Early shift

Pretty great start! Angst watch is on for FSU, Michigan, Tennessee, and others, while TCU-KSU is one of the more promising Saturday openers yet this season.

Weirdly crowded middle shift

An excellent second shift, and any of those top five games could’ve been the pick, but the Red River [Game] adds its usual, unpredictable layer of deep-fried personal animosity. Why are so many games kicking off right around the same time, leaving the next frame with a lot of bloat? Because no one is in charge!

Highly skippable early late shift

When even the most spirited non-power hipsters would have to agree the Florida Gators are in one of the most watchable games, it’s clear you can make a drive-through run somewhere in here.

Actual late shift

What a strange conclusion! Oregon-Stanford might be the weekend’s most important game, and it doesn’t kick off until even later than the times Chris Petersen has been complaining about! I’m slightly more confident in MSU-Minnesota than Utah-USC, which will probably be viewed as deep disrespect for the Utes, though that goes for anything typed online anyway.

[creativesage]

(via 4 Things You Need To Build An Innovative Culture | Digital Tonto)

By Greg Satell

In the late 1960’s, Gary Starkweather had a serious spat with his boss.  As an engineer in Xerox’s long-range xerography unit, he saw that laser printing could be a huge business opportunity. His manager, however, was focused on improving the efficiency of the current product line, not looking to start another one. 

The argument got so heated that Starkweather’s job came to be in jeopardy. Fortunately, his rabble rousing caught the attention of another division within the company, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which wasn’t interested in efficiency, but inventing a new future and they eagerly welcomed Starkweather into their ranks.

Within a decade, Xerox’s copying business declined sharply, but the laser printer took off and soon became the firm’s main source of revenue. In effect, the work that was squelched in one culture, thrived in another and saved the company. We tend to think innovation is about ideas, but it depends on people even more. Here’s how you create an innovative culture.

1. A Focus On Problem Solving

When you think about an innovative culture what probably first comes to mind is a bunch of fast moving hipsters guzzling down energy drinks and pulling all-nighters, pausing only to play a quick game of foosball or frisbee. Or maybe Steve Jobs on stage with a devilish grin just before he wows the audience with “one more thing…”

Yet in researching my book, Mapping Innovation, I found that very few of the organizations I studied looked like that. Some were fast moving startups, but most of the successful ones were led by executives that were mature and thoughtful, not brash or erratic. Others were large corporations and world class labs that tended to be fairly conservative.

The one thing I found in common in every fantastically innovative place I looked at was a disciplined passion for identifying new problems. Unlike most organizations, which are content to struggle with everyday issues, the enterprises I studied had a systematic method of finding new problems to work on that would take them in new directions.

The approaches vary considerably. IBM creates grand challenges, like building a computer that can beat humans at Jeopardy. Experian set up a Datalabs division to find out what’s giving its customers “agita” and launch new business off the solutions they build. Google’s “20% time acts as a human-powered search engine for new problems.

We tend to think of innovation as fast moving, but the truth is that it usually takes 30 years to go from an initial discovery to a measurable impact. So the “next big thing” is usually about 29 years old. If you want to innovate effectively, don’t chase the latest trend, find a problem your customers will care about and solve it for them.

2. Create Safe Spaces

In 2012, Google embarked on an enormous research project. Code-named “Project Aristotle,” the aim was to see what made successful teams tick. They combed through every conceivable aspect of how teams worked together — how they were led, how frequently they met outside of work, the personality types of the team members — no stone was left unturned.

However, despite Google’s nearly unparalleled ability to find patterns in complex data, none of the conventional criteria seemed to predict performance. In fact, what they found mattered most to team performance was psychological safety, or the ability of each team member to be able to give voice to their ideas without fear of reprisal or rebuke.

Interestingly,  highly innovative teams can be safe for some ideas, but not for others. For example, two of the scientists at PARC, Dick Shoup and Alvy Ray Smith, developed on a revolutionary new graphics technology called SuperPaint. Unfortunately, it didn’t fit in with the PARC’s vision of personal computing, the two were ostracized and eventually both left.

Smith would team up with another graphics pioneer, Ed Catmull, at the New York Institute of Technology. Later they joined George Lucas, who saw the potential for computer graphics to create a new paradigm for special effects. Eventually, the operation was spun out and bought by Steve Jobs. That company, Pixar, was sold to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion.

Xerox PARC is now a shadow of its former self. As it turned out, anything that didn’t have to do with the researchers’ vision for the future had no home there. So if you want to innovate consistently for the long term, you need to create a “safe space” for all ideas, not just the ones that fit with your initial mission.

3. Foster Informal Networks

In 2005, a team of researchers decided to study why some Broadway plays become hits and others flop. They looked at all the usual factors, such as production budget, marketing budget and the track record of the director, but what they found was that what was most important was informal networks of relationships among the cast and crew.

If no one had ever worked together before, both financial and creative results tended to be poor. However, if the networks among the cast and crew became too dense, performance also suffered. It was the teams that had elements of both — strong ties and new blood — that had the greatest success.

The same effect has been found elsewhere. In studies of star engineers at Bell Labs, the German automotive industry and currency traders it has been shown that tightly clustered groups, combined with long range “weak ties” that allow information to flow freely among disparate clusters of activity results in better innovation.

So before you embark on your next reorganization designed to “break down silos” you might want to think about how informal relationships develop within your enterprise. The truth is that innovation is never about nodes. It’s always about networks.

4. Promote Collaboration

All too often, we think of innovation as the work of lone geniuses who, in a flash of inspiration, arrive at a eureka moment. Yet the truth is that research shows that the high value work is done in teams, those teams are increasing in size, are far more interdisciplinary than in the past and the work is done at greater distances.

Just as importantly, there is growing evidence that it is crucial how these teams function. A study done by the CIA performed after 9/11 to determine what attributes made for the most effective analyst teams found that what made teams successful was not the attributes of their members, or even the coaching they got from their leaders, but the interactions within the team itself.

In another, more wide ranging study, scientists at MIT and Carnegie Mellon found that high performing teams are made up with people who have high social sensitivity, take turns when speaking and, surprisingly, the number of women in the group. There is also a wealth of research that shows diverse teams outperform more homogenous units.

So the evidence is both abundant and clear, if you want to make your organization more innovative, don’t go searching for hard driving “A” personalities spouting off big ideas and interrupting others, but rather seek diversity, empathy and to network your organization so that teams interact more effectively.

As MIT’s Sandy Pentland has put it, “We teach people that everything that matters happens between your ears, when in fact it actually happens between people.”

[Entire post — click on the title link to read it at Digital Tonto.]

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We are proud and honored to have had our @CreativeSage company Twitter account chosen for the fifth year in a row now (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016), for the Top 50 Innovation Twitter Sharers List! We want to thank Innovation Excellence and everyone in our community who voted for our account again this past year.

Additionally, Founder/CEO/Chief Imagination Officer Cathryn Hrudicka maintains a multidisciplinary artist account at @CathrynHrudicka that some of you may want to follow, too.  She has served as an Artist-in-Residence, and can recommend other Artists-in-Residence in all artistic disciplines, for companies and organizations.

At Creative Sage™, we love to work with clients on social innovation, educational innovation, healthcare innovation, civic and government innovation projects, as well as corporate innovation projects. Our core capabilities include creativity training and coaching, and the design and facilitation of innovation programs, including in the areas of design thinking, arts-based processes, applications of science and neuroscience tools when appropriate, change management, and business model innovation.

We have been very effective in helping organizational leaders and employees move through transitions and cultural changes. We work with for-profit, nonprofit, B-corps, trade associations, and other types of organizations.

In addition to offering our services in creativity and innovation program design, consulting, leadership coaching, and training, we may be able to help your organization define and choose a Chief Innovation Officer (or another innovation management role)  — or our founder, Cathryn Hrudicka, may be able to serve in that role for your organization, on a contract, part-time or limited full-time basis.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss your situation and how we can help your organization move forward to a more innovative and profitable future. You can also call us at 1-510-845-5510 in San Francisco / Silicon Valley.

We look forward to helping you find the path to luminous creativity and continuous innovation!

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