#low key also showing off my new *aesthetic* desk

[6th-for-truth]

Sorry not sorry that I need this quote on as many pieces of merch as possible.

Smaller font great for a subtle nod on a vehicle or a big bold one on a water bottle like this 😍

Available here on my Etsy!

[missramu]

Fishing lesson

Hello there! Enjoy another one of the kiss prompts!

Kiss number 22: in a rush of adrenaline

Matenro, the division from Shinjuku, had an entertaining tradition. Every once in a while, whenever their days off coincided with each other’s, they would go fishing. It was a hobby Jakurai had in common with Hifumi, and Doppo ended up tagging along with them. This weekend would be no different, and the doctor even made a reservation to have a guaranteed spot...

If it wasn’t for Doppo’s boss.

“I am truly sorry, sensei… I am just garbage, the worst kind you can find, and I ruined our day out…-“

The salaryman apologised, showing once again his low self-esteem, and sounding pitiful even during a phone call. Jakurai felt he wasn’t helping Doppo enough during their appointments.

“Do not worry, Doppo-kun. Don’t say such things, as it is not your fault after all. We will go fishing the next time, alright? There’s no need to be so hard on yourself…”

Jakurai cut him during his speech, not wanting Doppo to deprecate himself. He knew well his teammate was sorry, so everything the doctor needed to do for him was to reassure and calm him down. After all, Doppo didn’t ruin a single thing nor was his fault. If it was someone’s fault, it would be his boss for not respecting his leisure time. As he had predicted, Hifumi would make him company in order to finish Doppo’s tasks as soon as possible, so it would be just him at the fishing centre this time.

After –once again– reassuring the couple at the other line of the call that it was going to be all right, he hanged up the phone, making a half smile as he put it back on his pocket. He found lovely how Hifumi could be so devoted to his partner, sacrificing his own day off to help him and keep him company. With his teammates still on his mind, he started gathering his supplies: fishing rod, a replacement reel, lures and everything else he could need.

Just when he was going to leave his house, his phone buzzed again, this time receiving a call from someone completely different.

“Hey hey old coot! Whatcha doing on this loooovely Saturday morning?”

Ramuda’s voice announced him as cheerful as usual. Of course, who else would call him during his free day?

“Why, good morning to you too, Ramuda-kun. I was about to go fishing-“

He announced, holding his phone with his shoulder as he fetched his car keys, opening the vehicle’s trunk to start packing his gear.

“Ohh, one of your booring hobbies? Lemme guess, you’re going with your teammates, right?”

The fashion designer laughed at the other side, rummaging through his desk to pick a lollipop to unwrap and enjoy.

“That was our initial plan, yes”

Jakurai left out a heavy sigh, deciding that his gear could wait for a little, as he found himself incapable of holding the phone with his shoulder as Doppo could do.

“What do you mean with initial?”

Curious, the younger man popped the candy out of his mouth, paying real attention to Jakurai.

“I mean that they cannot come this time, so I am going alone”

“Boo-hoo, then Jakurai must be feeling soooo lonely!”

His curiosity changed to a tone that could be considered a mock or real concern. The doctor, knowing his partner, interpreted his words like what they were: something in between; real concern disguised with jokes, because that’s just how Ramuda was. Jakurai laughed softly, shaking his head a little.

“Why don’t you come with me, if you are so concerned about me being lonely?”

A small gasp was heard at the other end of the call, audible enough for Jakurai to notice the fashion designer’s surprise.

“Uh-mhhhh, fishing sounds a bit too boring for someone like me, but I guess I could go and make you some company! Don’t want my old man to be all gloomy!”

That was Ramuda’s way to announce that he was free and willing to go with him, if only he was honest enough to recognize he wanted to spend the day together with his lover.

“Alright then. I’ll be at your place in 30 minutes, so get ready. I guess you do not have a rod, do you?”

“Nuh-uh! As I told ya, I’ve never went fishing. You see, I don’t have grandpa’s hobbies!”

“Very funny, Ramuda. I’ll lend you one of mine, then”

“Wow, so cool! Thank you babe! See you real soon!”

Before Jakurai could reply, Ramuda ended the call, leaving the older man wondering whether he liked or not to be called “babe”. Letting that aside, he finally got everything in the car and, before heading to Shibuya, he came back home and fetched another rod for his new companion.

As scheduled, the doctor was in front of Ramuda’s shop just in time, only to see Ramuda was waiting for him. Jakurai chuckled, not expecting him to take fishing so seriously. He was dressed with a knee-length jean overall full of patches, a plain and short-sleeved blue crop top, matching sneakers and bucket hat.

“I didn’t imagine you would take this so seriously”

The doctor announced jokingly, rolling down the window and inviting the designer in.

“I must follow the aesthetic, you know!”

Replied the designer, opening the door and hopping in the passenger’s seat, grabbing the seatbelt and securing it. He then kissed his partner on the cheek as a greeting, giving him a paper bag.

“And I got you something too! You gotta be fashionable if I’m coming with you. I can’t let you ruin my reputation as a top designer”

Sceptically, Jakurai took the bag before starting up his van, checking what was inside. The contents surprised him, as he was expecting a present like the one he received last time –when Ramuda gifted him that one hat with the “women want me, fish fear me” phrase–. This time it was also a hat, but a decent one. One Jakurai could wear without having everyone’s eyes on him. The doctor smiled, putting it on and kissing his partner’s cheek.

“Thank you for gifting me this. I shall cherish it”

Ramuda giggled, opening a lollipop and lifting it cheerfully.

“You’re soo cheesy! I just wanna see you dressing fashionable for once, and not like a grandpa!”

Soon enough, the couple headed to the fishing centre, Jakurai driving back to Shinjuku. The ride was short and full of bickering from Ramuda to Jakurai and vice versa, since the doctor couldn’t help but fall right into the other man’s shenanigans.

After parking the car, they both got out of the car –Ramuda previously put on a pair of sunglasses–, got the fishing gear, and proceeded to go in. The staff welcomed the older man, as he was a regular there; and was asked about where did his teammates were as well as who his new companion was. It didn’t take them longer to realize he was the leader of Shibuya division, because Ramuda soon started to behave like, well, like him. The room was soon filled with cheers echoing how cute he was, as the designer was laughing and taking pictures with everyone that wanted one.

“I’m glad you’re already having fun, Amemura-kun. I can’t wait to see how will you react to fishing itself”

Jakurai waited for the crowd to calm down, heading right to his partner and gently reminding him what were they going to do. The smaller man put his phone back on his pocket, grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and going with him to the ponds.

“Since it’s your first time, I should tell you about this place”

The older man led the way, waltzing around fellow fishermen and families that went to enjoy their day.

“This is the Ichigaya Fish Center. People from both Shinjuku and other places frequent it, and, as you can see, it is family friendly. That’s because they don’t have a focus on professional fishing, having a small pond with goldfish that’s very popular among children”

Seeing his usual spot free, Jakurai went there, placing everything –starting by opening their chairs– down. Ramuda launched himself to the chair, enjoying the remains of his lollipop while the doctor continued his explanations.

“Since it’s your first time fishing, I’ll guess you don’t know how a rod works, am I right?”

“Yup! I mean, I know that you have to use a bait and things like that…”

Ramuda stopped mid-sentence, appearing paler and frowning.

“Wait wait waaaait a minute there. I’m totally NOT touching a worm, for your information!”

Jakurai laughed, sitting by Ramuda’s and starting to assemble both rods.

“Rest assured, it is not allowed to use live baits. They only permit mashed baits, so you will not be touching any worms”

The young man let out a relieved sigh, now intrigued by the doctor’s assembling task. He would ask him whenever he got a question, no matter how silly it could be; and Jakurai replied with pleasure, thanking Ramuda’s interest. It didn’t take them long to be completely ready, Jakurai handing Ramuda a rod and making sure he was holding it right.

“Always make sure to tie the knot tightly. A bad knot may make you lose a good catch. Understood?”

“Right and clear, mister!!”

And, like that, Jakurai taught his partner how to throw the rod, what led to a couple of failed attempts –where a fisherman’s hat was related, as well as an apology for “fishing” his hat– and a final success that made Ramuda enthusiastic enough to keep going.

“It’s important to know that fishing takes patience. Do you think yourself capable of such thing?”

Jakurai joked, receiving a pout as a reply from the pink haired man.

“I can be pretty patient if I want, humph!”

“Alright then. Keep an eye on your bobber, and if you see it shaking, then a fish is nibbling on the bait. If you see it going completely under the surface, quickly set the hook before losing the fish”

“Aand… How do I do that?”

His question was answered with actions: a fish happened to nibble on Jakurai’s bait, and he took that as an opportunity to teach Ramuda.

“It’s simple. You just have to do this–“

As soon as the bobber submerged completely, the doctor quickly rose the pole, pointing it straight in the air.

“By doing this, the fish will swing to you. Like that, you will have successfully catched a fish”

The designer looked at him in awe, amazed by the scene –and by how hot the doctor when he rose the pole–. He set down his rod and rushed to Jakurai, who was now holding his catch gently.

“Remember to hold it carefully. Pond fishes don’t usually have sharp teeth, but you may find fishes with spiny fins and, overall, they are very slippery. You have to hold them behind the head, without fear and gently”

Ramuda looked at the carp full of curiosity, admiring how his partner was holding it. He estimated that it was about 60 centimetres long, and laughed at the sight of its moustache.

“Before releasing it back, we remove the hook with these–”

Jakurai motioned to his other hand, showing a pair of needle-nose pliers. He took out the hook with ease, showing his skills and how accustomed he was to the activity, leaving Ramuda to wonder for how long he has been fishing.

The younger man took out his phone, making the doctor pose for a picture. Jakurai agreed happily, letting him take a picture.

“This is bringing back some memories! I used to be your teacher, but you’re the one teaching me now!”

They both smiled bitter-sweetly, remembering the old TDD days. The bitterness didn’t last long, because now everything was in the place it should be. No more misunderstandings that could make everything tangle up the way it was tangled before.

“Now it’s your turn, Ramuda-kun. Show me what you can do”

As soon as the picture was taken, Jakurai put the fish back on the pond, watching it swim away before sitting back and launching again his rod.

“Alright! Well then, here we go!”

Ramuda launched his pole, looking to Jakurai occasionally in order to check if he was doing it right. After he reassured him, he gazed again to the bobber, frowning as he focused on the task.

“UGH! This is taking forever! Why don’t they come faster?! Silly fishes!”

As the older man had anticipated, after 10 minutes motionless, his partner lost what little patience he had.

“What was the first thing I told you before starting, Ramuda-kun?”

“That it takes patience…”

He replied, somewhat irritated and frustrated.

“And what did you answer?”

Jakurai kept the conversation going, taking his chance to bicker the designer.

“Geez, I know, I know! I gotta wait! Now shut up, old coot!”

The lilac haired man laughed, launching his rod back in the water and providing Ramuda with small talk to help him overcome dullness. As someone who had lots of energy, he needed to be in constant movement; and activities such as fishing could be frustrating due to long waiting times and needing to be calm and quiet. For that, they kept talking about whatever topic they could find, keeping the designer entertained and focused –not losing his patience was the main goal–.

Their counting, after a while, was still negative for Ramuda. Jakurai managed to catch three medium sized carps and a big one, whereas the younger man only had a couple of failed attempts.

“I swear if I don’t get one the next time, I’m launching this stupid rod to the pond and never coming back!”

The doctor could notice how this was more frustrating than entertaining for his partner, and started to feel sorry for bringing him here. But the feeling didn’t last long, because soon enough Ramuda’s bobber went underwater again.

“Now, Ramuda-kun! Do it as I taught you, quickly!”

The designer reacted swiftly and, thanks to his efforts, he finally succeeded and raised the pole straight, catching his first fish. He grabbed it just like Jakurai told him to, and right after taking out the hook, he started to jump enthusiastically, laughing with pride and showing off his “prize”.

“Look!! I got it, I got it!!”

He couldn’t help but laugh, smiling widely for his picture. The doctor felt relieved, letting his recent thoughts go away, washed by his lover’s laugh.

“Yes, you did it very well. Congratulations on your first catch, my love”

Moved by the adrenaline, Ramuda jumped to kiss him after releasing the carp, clutching to the doctor’s neck and trusting him to hold him. The kiss was eagerly replied, Jakurai caressing his hair after putting him down again. The designer’s broad and sincere smile was something he would never get tired of watching.

“See? You just needed to be patient”

[mysterioh]

The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Ch. 6

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge of art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

Masterlist

I’m Your What Now?

Ah, Columbia University. The pride and joy of New York. The mecca for philosophical thinking and scientific advancement.

It kept only the cream of the crop. Sons and daughters of the wealthy, valedictorians, and exceptionally bright international students. The future president. The next Plato. Another Einstein.

There was a certain standard that came with being a student here. The ooh's and ah's and the jealous eyes that bore into their backs were natural for these Ivy League students.

And yet as Steve stood there he found it to be like the overpriced Catholic school he spent twelve torturous years at. After school, he didn't really see a reason to go to university. His future was predetermined and he had no desire to go against it.

Steve wasn't stupid. He was intelligent. An expert in combat and tact and a mogul in the business world. His performance was better than his peers with their fancy degrees and certifications. He had them under his foot and they only moved when he let them.

It just went to show that knowledge and wisdom didn't come from going to a fancy school. It came from experience and hard work, rigor, and determination. But even so, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of pride in his chest when he learned you attended Columbia.

Mrs. Rogers, you genius woman.

He sprinted up the steps and in towards the overarching gate. It was like a world populated by teenagers. Here, twenty-five was considered middle-aged. They milled around clad with backpacks and textbooks usually in a small group of three or four. Some passed by on bikes while others strutted to the beat of their music.

There were a plethora of styles. Punks and goths. Preps and jocks. Basic white girls with their leggings and UGGs. Snazzy poets in all black and topped with berets. Those avant-garde chicks that had an aesthetic like none other. Diversity was key at Columbia. The world was being represented here.

Steve passes by, following google maps on his phone to find the Student Resource Center in a hope to find you there.  

A day ago…

"Okay," Sam sighed, holding a paper in his hand with a laptop sitting on Steve's desk. "Quentin Beck, a biochemical engineering student at Columbia. Around twenty-one years old and is most likely a total geek."

"Hey," Steve warns. Bucky snickers like a child, chomping loudly on some potato chips.

"Sorry," Sam replied. "No social media accounts. Not even an old facebook. You sure this chick's not a hermit?"

"She's probably focusing on her studies. She's diligent."

"You're defending her as if you know her," Bucky piped up.

"I do know her," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's why you're googling her like a pervert."

"Shut up before I punch your teeth out."

"Anyways," Sam called them back. "She's on the school website."

"She is," Steve pushes him to the side. "Lemme see."

"There's no picture. It's just a list of tutors."

"She's a tutor? Smart chicks are so hot."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "I can hear your heart pounding all the way over here," he said lazily while sitting at his desk.

"Get your dirty shoes off my desk."

"Make me," Bucky taunted.

"So it's got hours of availability here," Sam said scrolling down. "Like when she's working."

"Ya know Sam I know you're a freak and all, but this is low, even for you," Bucky said, his feet still on the desk and his right hand greasy with potato chips. "I didn't know you were as big of a creep as Stevie."

"I wouldn't be talking, Mr. I stalk my ex's insta at four in the morning." Sam retorted, making Steve chuckle.

"I don't!"

"Bro, I saw you the other day!"

"What the hell are you doing at my house at four in the morning, you freak?"

Nat walks in to see the three lazing around and sighs. Sam quickly slams the laptop shut and Bucky slips his feet off the desk.

"What are you three doing?" She asked.

"Nothing," Steve smiled.  

"For NY’s biggest mob man, you sure do suck at lying." He frowns. "You're also pretty horrible at signing your own damn name on important papers." She said, waving a paper in her hand. "What the hell are these hearts?"

"That's not me!" He retorted with a light blush. "How do I know it's not you?”

"You really think I have the time to do that?" She snapped at him. "We've got shipments coming in today and you have a meeting with the Gambino head tomorrow. Do you have anything prepared?"

"No…" he whispered.

"Am I the only one working around here?!" She shouted making the three cringe at her shrill voice. "What have you three been doing all morning anyway?"

"Planning," Bucky spoke up and Steve whipped his head towards him. Bucky if you say anything.

"Planning?"

"Yeah, we're planning Steve's wedding."

Nat almost snaps her neck by the way she turns to look at him. Her red locks bouncing around as she turns. She gapes at him with a million questions.

Steve sighs, rubbing his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"Stevie, you're getting married?!?!"

"Sn2 Reactions have bulky bases and only occur when you have…" you said, snapping your finger to remember what comes next. "Wait, don't say it," you stop Quentin. "Primary carbocations!"

"Correct," he smiled, looking up at you from the flashcard in his hand. "Man, you're just killing it today."

"I've been studying," you informed. "...and living in Chubbic's office.

"And it shows," Quentin chuckles.

Tutoring was slow today with only a student here and there, leaving you and Quentin with some prime time to study.

"I swear all you ever do is study," Quentin said.

"No, I don't," you denied. "Last night, I played Overwatch till three."

"Okay, scratch that, you're a geek." Quentin corrected. You huffed.

"No, I am not," you retorted.

"Y/N, you don't do anything but school and work. You don't even go to parties or socialize with other people."

"People are overrated. I have better things to do with my time."

"Like what?"

"Like...stuff," you said.

Quentin rolls his eyes. "You can't keep living a shelled life, Y/N. It's not healthy."

"I don't see how it isn't."

"You have to go out and make friends. You're gonna go crazy if you sit in your apartment forever," Quentin sounded like a mom.

"Quentin, my dude, it's the 21st century. Technology exists."

"That's not good for you either!" Quentin sassed then sighed. "All I'm saying is that you should be more open. Not everyone is out to hurt you."

You sink in your chair with a frown. You look out the window of the second floor to watch people walk by meters below. "But that’s how it always is in the end," you murmured. Quentin frowns. "Besides what do I need anyone else for? I have you."

Quentin's heart skips a beat, but he tries to ignore it. "But what if I'm not here? What if I have to leave?"

You sit up. "Where are you going?"

"I applied for this internship for this company in London."

"Wow, Quint! That's great!" You exclaimed. "I know you'll get it!"

"Thanks," he chuckles at your enthusiasm. "But I just worry about you sometimes. You're going to be all alone if I leave and I worry if you'll be alright."

"Then I'll call you every day!"

"Y/N," Quentin said with a lopsided smile. "I'm being serious."

You exhaled, masking the fear of him leaving by giving him a bright smile. One that's always only been for him. "Don't worry about me, alright? I'll be fine. You go out there and show 'em what you're made of. You're gonna kill it."

"Yeah?" He asked and you can sense the nervousness in his shaking hands.

"Like my good friend Naruto once said…" you alluded. "Believe it!" You said, giving him a thumbs up.

Quentin groans while crossing his arms. "You still watch that crap?"

"It's cool!" you defended.

"I swear you're a nerd."

"Hey, Quentin," Angelica from the front desk called walking towards you.

"Yeah?"

"There's a guy at the desk asking for you," she pointed.

"For me?" He asked puzzled. She nodded before leaving.

He gets up to leave. "I'll be right back. E1 reactions are next," he reminded. You nodded with a chuckle and took the cards he left.

Quentin walks up to the desk to find a blonde dressed stylishly at the front desk, chatting up one of the employees.

“Oh, Quentin,” Maria at the desk said as he arrived. “This is Mr. Rogers.”

Steve turns to look and his shoulders drop. “Uh, sorry, I think they’ve got the wrong person.” Quentin furrows his brows in confusion. “I’m looking for a Quentin Beck.”

“Um, I’m Quentin Beck,” he replied awkwardly, shaking the photo id that was around his neck.

“No, no,” Steve shakes his head. “I’m looking for a girl and her name is Quentin Beck.”

“There’s only one Quentin Beck here and he’s a man and it’s me,” he said in the nicest way possible.

Steve snorts. “Just because you grew a little beard doesn’t mean you’re a man,” he guffawed.

Quentin blinks once and then twice and a third time for good measure. “Excuse me?”

Back over at the table, you wondered what was taking Quentin so long. Taking a sip from your Hydroflask, you crane your neck to get a view of the front desk. The head full of blonde hair and spread of broad shoulders was hard to miss. You choked while drinking. Quickly placing your bottle on the table, you pat your chest in need of air.

What was he doing here?

You quickly jump up and run to the two. Steve catches you in the corner of his eye and pushes past a fuming Quentin.

“I knew I’d find you here!” he exclaimed.

“What the hell are you doing here, you freak?” you seethed.

“What do you think?” Steve chuckled, loving the way you pouted at him. “Here to see you, princess.”

Your cheeks burst in color and before you could say anything Quentin spoke.  

“Y/N, you know this guy?” he asked.

“Y/N, so that’s your real name,” Steve takes both of your hands in his. His smile is so bright that you cringed under him. “I knew it wasn’t Quentin. I mean it doesn’t even make sense,” he starts to ramble and you just listen. “To think someone as pretty as you would have a name as ugly as Quentin. Like who the hell names their kid Quentin these days anyway?”

“Ah, Y/N,” Steve sighs dreamily. “It’s like a sweet melody to my ears.”

You tried to reply, but all you could let out was a garbled jumble of words.

“Quentin’s a good name!” your brunette friend jumped in.

“Yeah, if it’s the 18th century,” Steve deadpanned, before turning back to you. “Anyways…”

“Y/N, who the hell is this guy?” he questioned irritated.

“Uh, well, you see, um…” you tried to explain.

“Been keepin’ me a secret, huh, baby?” Steve chuckled. “I’m Steve, a friend.”

“We aren’t friends,” you hissed, breaking from his grasp. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone, huh?”

“Wait,” Quentin butt in. “Is he that guy?” he pointed at Steve while looking at you. “Is he the bad guy?”

“Bad guy?” Steve asked you, making you blush under his gaze. “So you have been talking about me? Y/N, sweetheart, I ain’t a bad guy. I promise I’ll be nothing but good to you,” he said with a wink.

It’s like every ounce of sass inside of you is gone and you’re left speechless. Screw this man and his way with words.

He takes your hand in his and brings it to his soft plump lips before Quentin butts in and swipes your hand.

“Yeah, she told me about you,” he hurls at him, his voice firm and his grip on your hand firmer. “Who the hell do you think you are, messing with my girlfriend?”

Steve is taken aback by his words and you gape at Quentin. You’re his what now?

Quentin looks towards you and sends a message with his eyes. Just play along.

“Y-yeah,” you stumbled at first, “Quentin’s my boyfriend and I like his name! Actually I love it because I love him.” you straight up lied. Steve’s brows creased in irritation and he had the biggest frown on his face. You wrap your arms around Quentin’s. “So leave me alone, freak,” you hissed at him.

Now it’s Steve’s turn to be speechless. Your words pierce through his heart like a bullet. It’s like being shot in the core of his spirit over and over again until there’s a big gaping hole.

“Listen, jackass,” Quentin calls him back. “If you even look in my girlfriend’s direction, I’ll rip your eyes out,” he threatened, before turning around and taking you with him.

“Wow,” you whispered to him. “I think he bought it.”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he said, clearly dissatisfied.

“Shut up and kiss me on the cheek.”

“What?” he freaked out with a light red creeping on his cheeks.

“Just do it,” you ordered quietly. “And wrap your arm around my shoulders.”

He sighed. “The things you make me do,” he groaned, making you chuckle quietly. He places a sweet kiss on your cheek while hooking his arm over your shoulders protectively. He turns his head to see Steve still standing there. His face twisted in a scowl and fists balled so tight you could see white in his knuckles.

Quentin’s sharp blue eyes locked with his own. His gaze was as deadly as a violent act with an intensity that had the fearless mob man’s chest tighten. His eyes drilled out any notion that it could all be a hoax. Either he was a really good actor or there really was something between the two.

Whatever it was, Steve stood still with a strange sense of deja vu. He was a hopeless romantic and hopeless in all things that concerned love. And as he watches your retreating form chuckling at something the boy whispered in your ear, he regrets even thinking he had another chance at love.

[min-meowmeow]

The Fairy Shirt

History Teacher Taehyung x English Teacher Reader

Fluff/Angst if you squint

Word Count:  9,514

Synopsis: Taehyung has been a massive flirt for as long as you've known him, but what happens when he finally drops the facade?

or

Reader is mad thirsty for Kim Taehyung and will deny it for the rest of their life.

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

"I don't understand," Taehyung muttered through a disgruntled swipe of his hand through the blue cardigan adorning his chest, "how students get glitter on everything!" He switched hands, left taking over for right while right fumbled under the sticky grip of the sparkly decoration. "We haven't even used glitter!" 

You scraped the contents of your T.V. dinner —now turned lunch— into your awaiting mouth that then pressed into an unsatisfied frown. "They're fifth graders. Their blood is made of glitter." 

"Well can they keep it to themselves." He rubbed exasperatedly against his sweater and yet, somehow, only more glitter stuck. The contained screech was just barely silenced by the grit of his perfectly white teeth. 

The only other teacher in the lounge, Mrs. Lee, peered over the district's newly issued community magazine with a sour pout directed at the irritated 5th grade History teacher, but if Taehyung knew, he didn't particularly care. Her eyes followed him until his sullen figure fell into the 80s deco couch positioned just behind the small break room table you had taken residence in when the glorious lunchtime bell had rung not fifteen minutes ago. She only dropped her gaze when he dropped his head along the back of the couch, face disgruntled and glasses askew. 

"This is the third sweater this week," he grumbled. 

You peered over your shoulder to find the despondent man pathetically pouting with eyes delicately closed against the filtering of the sun through the turn of the century blinds covering the windows. A shimmer fluttered along the blue of his sweater with every breath that passed through his ridiculously sturdy chest while the scent of barely contained crayon wafted from the dredges of his clothing masking his usual scent of pine and coffee. “Did you, by chance, have Katie color anything today with her glitter crayons?” 

One sullen eye popped open. 

“Goddamnit, Katie,” he cursed. 

Mrs. Lee’s head popped up again from her magazine, glare placed just above the rim of her glasses absolutely piercing into Taehyung who continued to ignore her. You, however, did catch her stare and decided to intervene before she tore through his precious blue sweater. Nonchalantly, you rose from your chair and dumped your leftover tray into the nearby trash bin before returning to extend a hand towards Taehyung. 

“Come on, I have a lint roller in my room,” you offered in place of an explanation for your outstretched hand. 

He eyed it then eyed you suspiciously, but not really. Taehyung had been glued to your side as diligently as unwanted glitter since the day you both started at the elementary school, so you knew any cantankerous reactions from him were simply for show. The gentle way his fingers delicately, almost fragile, wrapped around the expanse of your wrist proved this to be fact. It also accelerated your heart stupidly fast as if you were one of those love-struck kids you often shook your head at when they passed notes between them in class, but that was neither here nor there. 

You pulled him to a stand and begrudgingly released your hold from around his skin before Mrs. Lee caught you lingering. Tae said nothing, rather simply proceeded to follow you out of the lounge where Mrs. Lee sighed loudly. Tae’s chuckle quickly drowned her out. 

“She hates me,” he grinned beside you. 

“She hates anyone who wasn’t alive when the dinosaurs roamed,” you quipped in return. 

A loud chortle was this time forced from the confines of Taehyung’s chest that startled you only enough to jump slightly. Thankfully, no one else occupied the hallways that led back to your adjoining classrooms, the fifth grade hall empty save for the two of you and one stray janitor, so you were the only one surprised by his outburst. 

You turned to him and caught his own cheerful gaze peering ahead, no sign of the annoyed man you had rescued from being told off by Mrs. Lee. 

“Was it that funny?” you questioned. 

He chuckled lowly this time, his lips pulled into an amused boxy smile. “Tyrannosaurus Lee.” 

Your classroom door swung open easily when your key slid into the ancient lock revealing a mess of literature posters that you thought were hilarious, but your students begged to differ. Taehyung released a whistle of surprise at the bags of paper mache flowers and butterflies lying around your classroom in messy bundles of Spring Festival preparations. You ignored it all, stepping over a large flower stem your students were still in the process of finishing. Taehyung followed you inside but side-stepped over the decorations before stopping at your desk when you reached it with a sigh. 

“I never get tired of seeing Shakespeare in MC Hammer pants,” he joked with a point behind you where the bard sat laminated in poster form. 

“It’s what he would have wanted.” 

A low mumble of affirmation followed Tae as he turned to peer across your vacant yet messy classroom while you began the search for the lint roller in the most logical place: your purse. Pushing aside your make-up bag, your wallet, a year old granola bar, and other miscellaneous snacks, you returned nothing in the way of a bright blue lint roller. Your nose scrunched at the center, mouth pulling in a sour pout. 

“Please tell me you didn’t pay for all of this yourself?” Tae’s voice came as a distraction pulling your attention to where he stood next to the largest bag filled with miscellaneous spring bugs. His expression matched your disgruntled one. 

You gave a deep sigh with a roll of your eyes. “Yep.” 

“Why?”

“There wasn’t room in the budget this year for the Spring Festival, so we had to make due if we wanted to keep it,” you explained, turning to dig through your messy drawers for the sought after lint roller. 

He made a weird, confused noise from across the room. “I thought parents were donating?” 

“Wasn’t enough for decorations.” You closed one drawer a little harder than you intended before opening another. “We tried asking Principal Do for a little money, but he wouldn't budge. Said it wasn't a priority.”  

Taehyung released a bitter laugh, knowing exactly what you meant. Every excuse you had both received from the administration had something to do with the fabled budget. There was never enough money to replace Taehyung's ancient and faulty overhead projector, but Mr. Won down the hall could get a brand new smart board for his Math class that he never uses. You had to carry the burden of your school’s yearly Spring Festival while the boy’s basketball team could have an end of the year party on the school’s dime. You were almost certain “the budget” was code for “go fuck yourself.” 

“Ah, here it is!” You called triumphantly with the blue handle tucked securely in between your fingers. 

Tae smiled gratefully as you extended it to him, taking it gingerly in his hand. He struggled a little bit in between rolls of the sticky substance along the fabric of his sweater, especially when he had to rip off a new clean sheet to pick up the remaining specks of glitter, but by the time Tae was done, he looked as clean as ever. 

A sigh fluttered out from his rosy lips, expression at ease. “What would I do without you?” 

“Walk around all day looking like a fairy,” you snorted.  

“I’d accept looking like a fairy if I could commit to the aesthetic, but this,” he waved his hands over the cardigan once more, “ this is not suitable.” 

“That may not be, but I’ve seen the majority of your wardrobe. You definitely have pieces in there that’ll work.” 

He dropped the lint roller back on your desk. “Any suggestions?” 

Your gaze held his in contempt with an unamused frown pulling the corners of your lips low. Tae, on the other hand, beamed at you with a trickster’s glint in his brown eyes. “That white button up with the green collar” 

“The one with the flowers and butterflies?” 

“That’s the one.” 

“How is that appropriate for fairies?” 

“Throw some glitter on there, you’ll be golden.” 

“Nice to know you think about my clothes often.” He tilted his head to one side, brush of bangs sweeping across his tan forehead to deliver the most sultry stare you had ever received from him.  

You grabbed the lint roller off your desk, twisting the handle under fidgeting hands. “Don’t look at me like that.” 

“Whatever do you mean?” 

“You know what I mean.” 

Taehyung leaned against your desk, hip pressed to the edge drawing your attention to the sly slant of his grin. His eyes softened around the edges when your gaze held strong with his. “Do you need help with the Spring Festival?” 

“It’s almost done.” You shrugged. 

“At least let me help set up, then.” 

You tapped your foot against the edge of your desk opposite of Taehyung, your mouth twisted to one side in thought. On the one hand, you were touched that he offered to help when he didn’t have to, but on the other, you didn’t want to burden him with a project he didn’t sign up for just because you wanted an extra hand and maybe some eye candy to get through the grueling afternoon set up. Besides, you knew you wouldn’t be the only one ogling the vivacious redhead.  

“You’ll just distract the PTA moms.” 

The roll of his eyes was almost audible. 

“Don’t avoid this by making jokes,” he whined, “That’s my job.” 

“It’s fine.” You spun your swivel chair in a circle until it came to a stop facing him.  

“If you deny me, I’ll stay anyway and really distract the PTA moms.” 

“Why?” It was your turn to whine. 

Taehyung gave you a chuckle. “So at least you’ll have someone to walk you to your car at night.” 

A heat began to rise on the tips of your ears with the stutter of your heart at his words. Taehyung was an incredible flirt, but sometimes, when he dropped the flirtatious exterior and became genuine— even thoughtful—with you, it was just too much for your poor little heart. You felt that he sometimes acted that way to disarm you, perplex you, because he found it funny to see you stutter at his words or blush furiously at his small touches. At times you wished he would stop, but the majority of the time you wished he would go further than simple touches or the tame offer of walking you to your car. 

“Teacher Kim? What’re you doing in here?” Ten year old confusion startled the both of you to turn to the door where you found a student you both dealt with standing just outside the threshold of your classroom. She peered at the two of you, a small crease appearing under her straight bangs that dangled over her suspicious gaze. 

“Talking about fairies,” Taehyung winked conspiratorially at you. 

The ring of the bell tore your gaze from Taehyung back to the entrance of your classroom. Vivi, to her credit, looked as confused as you suspected anyone would, but she simply shrugged and proceeded to her seat. A chorus of excited voices proceeding down the hall finally forced Tae to give you one last smile before exiting the room with another deliciously delivered “thank you.” 

---------

Pastel colored streamers already dangled from constructed booths and systematically placed tables around the fake wood floor that creaked beneath your feet as you entered the school gymnasium with a huge chunk of wood balanced precariously along your toes. A small speaker somewhere among the mess played some generic pop song through the echoing walls, all of the committee members along with volunteers sorting and hanging the decorations that had been made by numerous classrooms and students. Your eyes scanned over the mess, a slippery anxiety slowly crawling it’s way up your esophagus. 

You hated being on the Festival committee. 

“Why is paper mache so heavy?” Taehyung complained from beside you, the three large bags of the decorations trailed behind him along with the legs of a step stool latched onto his shoulder until he came to a stop at your side, exhausted exhale passing through plump lips. 

“I think it’s the glue,” you muttered. 

He hummed as his eyes gave a cursory glance around the crowded floor with an indifferent expression. However, you could see that a lot more eyes were on you now that he stood beside you, a lot of thirsty, hungry eyes that were devouring him where he stood. Like with Mrs. Lee, you knew he was ignoring it, but you couldn’t. 

“Come on, you’re already distracting them,” you grumbled, leading Taehyung away from the door to a small corner of the gym where no decorations lay. 

At your last meeting, you had divided up the gym into game sections where everyone from the committee would set up their game and help run it during the event. You had gotten the bug toss, a run of the mill carnival ball toss game where participants had five chances to stack up as many points as they could by throwing a bug shaped ball into five openings on a board painted to look like a grassy field with a ladybug on the side. Your third period class had happily painted the board instead of learning the thrilling parts of speech, but you got to torture them with it another day anyway, so it didn’t really matter to you.

You propped the board up against the wall in a huff, your arms not long enough to properly carry such a large piece of wood, but you had been damned to let Taehyung do all of the heavy lifting. He had offered, oh how he offered, to carry literally everything from your room and had almost succeeded had it not been for his own hubris and a rather comical arm cramp. That’s when you had won and were allowed to carry at least one thing. You were sure he assumed you’d go for one of the bags, but you decided to challenge him instead. Your arms hated you for it, but your pride gloated. 

He dropped the bags next to you then stood back to look over everything now on the floor. It was going to be a long afternoon. 

“Where do we start, boss?” he asked, hands already ripping open the bag closest to him with glee. 

You opted to open another bag, the one with the giant flowers and fake grass, and shrugged. “We just gotta make it look nice. Coherent.” 

“Can do,” he grumbled. 

Pulling out the paper grass first, you laid it out on the floor in a heap of pieces before taking a seat facing the wall where you were planning on taping them. The pieces were numbered, something your second period class had decided to do since the color of grass apparently went in a sequence of dark green to slightly lighter green, but you didn’t complain once you started sorting it. You found it odd how meticulous they had been, their pride exuding from their little faces when they approached you with the pile of colored paper. At least they had something to be proud of, you thought, as you began taping section by section along the glossy paint of the gym wall.  

You noticed Taehyung take his position on the other side of the board with bug cut outs in hand, but no tape. You hadn’t thought far enough to grab two rolls of the gorilla tape, so you slid your only one over to him until it hit his foot quietly. He looked down, a goofy smile appearing across his face as he went to pick it up. 

“We’ll have to go get more eventually,” he remarked as he ripped off pieces of the sticky fastener, alternating between sticking one piece of it on the board by his side then handing another piece for you to use. 

You flattened your hand along the newly secured blades. “We’ll deal with that when we run out.” 

Taehyung hummed, one vibrantly colored butterfly being pressed into the wall with the help of four pieces of tape. You both worked in quiet unity as you dealt with the lower section while Taehyung went for the higher stuff. You had to admit, it was rather peaceful having Taehyung with you, his presence making you feel less overwhelmed than you would have been had he not insisted on helping you. 

As you worked, you continuously stole glances up at him as he moved back and forth between the bag of decorations and the wall. He had changed into sweats and a plain black t-shirt after the last of your wonderful students had left the building, the blue cardigan from earlier discarded into a gym bag he kept in his car for his work out days. 

The shirt was loose, but hung over his frame so exquisitely that you could make out the working muscles in his back, the bulge of his biceps when he raised a paper mache lady bug up to the wall, and every once in a while, the dip of his collar bones when he bent down to retrieve more decorations. His sweats, while laced at his hips, showcased the curve of his ass so much better than any of the other pants he owned. You suddenly could really relate with those sexually repressed PTA moms. 

“Like the view?” Taehyung asked without turning to you, but his voice was enough to snap you out of your reverie. 

You turned back down to your work, hands securing an already secure piece of grass. “I’m just checking to make sure you’re doing it right.” 

“Right.” Taehyung nodded, unconvinced. “Or maybe you’re cataloging this outfit since you’ve never seen it before, you know, because you always ignore my invitations to work out with me.” 

You pushed yourself to stand once the final piece of grass was on your side of the wall. Next was going past the board and over to Taehyung’s side. “The only exercise I do is chasing my cat when he tries to steal student homework.” 

You eyed the area by his legs, understanding that if he continued to work on the same side, you would end up being pressed between him and the wall. You decided to brush him away instead, ensuring that he was a few feet behind you before plopping back down on the floor. 

“Your cat eats their homework?” 

You pulled a few pieces of grass towards you. “I’ve had to write a few apology notes to parents.” 

“That must have gone over well.” 

“My cat’s an asshole.” 

Taehyung crouched down next to you, the remaining pieces of grass firmly held in his palm along with all of the tape you had saved for the job. You gave him a confused pout that made him laugh, his body so astronomically close you could feel the vibrations from the action. “I can do these. Start putting up decorations on your side of the wall.”

Your pout revealed itself unallowed, but you pushed yourself to stand even if it was just to give yourself some space from the gorgeous man. He immediately took the seat you vacated with a grin and a wink up to you. Chills found their way up your spine as they often did when Tae looked at you like that and you found yourself cowering in awkward attention. “Th...the colors are numbered. Students made sure of it.” 

The cocky grin fell to an endeared smile. “I know, fairy.” 

If you turned any redder, you were sure you would wind up looking like the streamers adorning the first grade booth in the corner of the gym. 

Your mouth set into a thin line that you attempted to turn into a smile, but thankfully Tae only winked and turned down to the task at hand instead of saying anything else. Without his attention, you felt it a little easier to breathe. 

Focusing on your own task, you began dragging out the large flowers and bug cut outs left in the plastic bag you had chosen as yours. Your students had the most fun making the flowers, especially when it came to construct the paper mache stem to attach to the large flower heads they made out of many, many pieces of construction paper. More than a few of them had stuck the gooey pieces of newspaper to their friends instead of the flowers, but no injuries were incurred so you didn’t really care that much as long as it got done. 

You settled the step stool firmly against the wall with one hand occupied with a bundle of cut out bugs. You then grabbed the tape and climbed up until you stood higher than the edge of the board settled between you and Taehyung. Your gaze fell down to him for half a second and that's when you noticed not so subtly that you stood at the perfect vantage point to gaze down Taehyung’s loose shirt like a pervy gawker at a Hooters. Cheeks sparked in rosy flames just in time for you to turn away before he noticed your reaction to the skin visible past the neckline of his shirt. It was his choice to wear such a loose shirt, you justified, unable to stop your mind from wondering what lay just beneath the dip of his collarbones. 

Butterflies soared in your stomach along with shame at the mental image your mind produced for you. Obviously, you thought Taehyung was handsome and, obviously, you had maybe fantasized about him once or twice, but you couldn't understand why you were so thirsty for him now of all days. Maybe the slimy energy from the PTA moms was rubbing off on you. 

Shaking your head of the thought, focus and attention turned back to the bug cut outs you were supposed to be taping to the wall. Quietly you cut off three pieces of tape then let the core slide down your arm until it settled against your elbow. Your fingers tentatively stuck two bugs haphazardly along the wall to give the appearance that they were flying with the other remaining cut outs flattened in the press of your thighs.

"Think I could get some more tape?" Taehyung pulled your attention from your work to find him with a hand extended up towards you. 

You were dazzled for a minute by the look of his deep, brown eyes gazing up at you expectantly, but you quickly came back to your senses when he began to get up. 

“Yeah sorry. Here--” 

The heel of your right foot met air on your way off the step-stool finding you toppling backwards unexpectedly. Your heart shot up into your throat as the same step stool screeched against the polished wood and you didn’t even have a chance to try to save yourself by the time you met a softer surface than the floor. One that smelled suspiciously like pine needles and coffee. 

Eyes grew wide when you realized who you were pressed against just in time for him to settle you on your own two feet, then turning you to face a very concerned expression on Taehyung's face.  

“Are you ok?” he questioned, hands roaming over your arms, waist, and back in search of an injury. 

The sensation of his hands on you jarred you enough to brush him off. “I’m fine.” 

He ignored your complaints, instead holding your head firmly between his two palms, his bright brown eyes boring holes into your own through the sheen of his round glasses. You were so enthralled with his intense gaze, you didn’t notice his fingers until they flicked you across the forehead. “Watch where you step next time.” 

Your response came in a grumbled “ow” that he only caught because he was still ridiculously close to you, but that was fixed when you pushed him away in retaliation, panicked eyes looking for the roll of sticky substance he had wanted only to find it a slight distance away. 

“Can you help me get the tape? Please?” 

He only shook his head, his hands brushing over your hair one more time before his footsteps squeaked their way along the wood floor to retrieve what you had accidentally dropped. You inhaled as many gulps of air as you could, heart jack hammering away in your frantic chest.

Taehyung returned a moment later, hand offering the roll of treacherous tape. “Here. I---” 

“Mr. Kim? What’re you doing here?” 

Both you and Taehyung turned to find the expensively beautiful mom of glitter enthusiast Katie Benton standing with hands perched on her hips and a Pan Am smile on her red painted lips. 

Taehyung scratched the back of his neck. “Just helping out, Mrs. Benton” 

“Oh, wonderful! If you don’t mind, I can’t seem to reach high enough to place this hook. Can you help me?” she asked with a perky grin. 

“Sure thing." He nodded then turned to you, the roll of tape being tossed to your unexpected form. “I’ll be right back.” 

You began scratching at the loose piece of tape, eyes focused heavily on his too charming smile. “Distraction.” 

You watched him walk away with one last wink in your direction before he was engulfed by a throng of overly peppy suburban moms. They crowded around him like bottom feeders to a carcass laughing and placing perfectly manicured hands all over his shoulders and arms. Taehyung, for his part, mostly laughed as she strategically shrugged off one claw for another, but he never told them no. You believed he secretly liked it and no matter how much he denied it, and you were certain you would never believe otherwise. 

Turning back to the pile of paper bugs and plants strewn around your feet, you gave a hefty huff of breath through your parted lips suddenly finding the work just a bit overwhelming without Taehyung by your side, but you knew it had to get done. You grumbled once more after Mrs. Benton and her hoard of middle aged Desperate Housewives before tucking in your resolve and getting to work. 

--------

You couldn’t say you were particularly proud of the way your booth turned out—paper bugs unevenly placed on the wall, board propped up against two buckets filled with miscellaneous gym supplies, flowers crumpled and one halfway broken from your inability to stop them from falling—but given the lack of help and your overly exhausted body, it would have to make due. 

Taehyung never returned to your booth after he got whisked away by Mrs. Benton, the poor man being passed around to many different booths depending on the lie the moms told to get him there. You watched it happen between your own tasks, begrudgingly muttering under your breath how nice it must be to be rich and shameless. However, you hadn't taken a look in quite a while and you weren't entirely sure if Taehyung was even still around. The thought hurt your heart a little bit, mostly because he had offered to walk you to your car at the end of the night, but you figured it was for the best.  

After cleaning up your area as best you could, you wiped sweat and residue from the paper mache off on your already dirtied jeans glad that you would now be able to go home. Sweat dribbled it's way from your hairline as you gathered your things and you went to wipe it off when you turned and found Taehyung sauntering over to you. You would be lying if you said your heart didn't skip many beats, but you sure as hell wouldn't admit it, either. 

"Finished already?" He asked and you only nodded, tucking the strap of your satchel bag across your chest. He threw a sturdy arm around your shoulders in response. "Let's get out of here, then. I'm tired of being their mule." 

You laughed despite yourself, already making your way to the entrance of the gym. "You can be an ass sometimes." 

"Are you saying that because I abandoned you?" 

"Maybe." 

"I'll make it up to you, fairy," he muttered. Unsure if you were supposed to respond, you ignored the statement. 

Walking together through the gym and out into the almost empty parking lot was a quiet affair that found neither of you really wanting to break the silence. Tae still had his arm around you, the weight of it more comforting than you would care to admit, and you found yourself wishing it could stay wrapped around you forever. 

You could imagine how secure you would feel lying under his arm at night snuggled deep into the blankets with Taehyung slotted behind you. His body perfectly fit against yours like two puzzle pieces meant to lay side by side with the delectable smell of his cologne mixed with the scent that was so undeniably Taehyung enveloping you. You could almost imagine how that warmth could change to a searing heat as he held himself above you, his same arms caging you in between his body and the mattress beneath you. 

The thought of being pressed against his naked skin came so quickly that it clashed with the real reality you faced making you want to squirm away from him, unsure why the image of you two together was suddenly rearing its ugly head when you had never let your emotions get the better of you around Taehyung. He wasn’t really doing anything different, either. Maybe you were hormonal. 

Your cars came into view at the end of the third row with your smaller silver Kia looking down right pathetic next to Tae’s bulky red camaro. You had joked once that it looked like a husky pitbull revving and rolling down the asphalt every morning at 7:30 AM. He didn’t appreciate it, but you got a good laugh out of it, so you considered the joke a win. 

Tae’s arm fell from your shoulder when you stopped next to your car, shimmering flecks of multicolored dots glinting off his clothes and hair from the street lamp high above you. You smiled stupidly to yourself, hand unconsciously brushing away at the annoying craft supply. “You’re full of glitter again” 

Tae gave one disgruntled look down, heavy sigh puffing against your face. “Seems Mrs. Benton likes it as much as her daughter.” 

You leaned away from him to press your back against your driver’s side door. “She also seems to like you quite a bit, too.”  

“Gross.” His nose scrunched in the middle. “She’s married.” 

“That’s not stopping her.” 

“Well, she can’t have me. I’m not that kind of man.” 

“That you’re not,” you grumbled, tense fingers digging into the taut muscles of your shoulder as you gave the stiff joint a roll. 

Taehyung’s head tilted, confused crinkle tucking his eyebrows closer together under the fringe of bangs. Soft hands ran up and down the length of your arms, sympathetic gaze and hushed baritone voice calling you to meet his eyes. “You ok?” 

“Yeah, just a long day.” Your heart stuttered. 

“I’m sorry.” He frowned, only to wipe it off with one of his best cocky grins. “Hopefully I made it a little more tolerable?” 

Your eyes rolled halfway to the back of their sockets. 

“Yes, Taehyung, your immense help this afternoon was great.” 

“I said I’m sorry!” He whined. 

“I’m kidding.” You grumbled, dropping your gaze from him to stare at your awkwardly shifting feet beneath you. “It was nice having you there. Being on committees like that freak me out. It was nice not dealing with all of that nonsense by myself.” 

Fingers pressed under the dip of your chin forcing your eyes back to his and you noticed that he wore a soft expression again. The change in his temperament nearly gave you whiplash this time around, but his deliciously sweet smile pulled you right into him despite the dizzy feeling overtaking you. 

“Well, I’m always of service. You know that. Just ask.” 

You fought the blush, but felt it rising onto your cheeks nonetheless. “Thanks, Tae.” 

His fingers kept a grip on your chin absolutely refusing to let you look down or away again. Your body jittered under the glow of the parking lot's hazy light with every pass of Taehyung’s brown eyes over your facial features, focus diligent as if he were trying to find a glitch in your code that would make you disappear as soon as he discovered it. Lungs felt tight making it almost difficult to breathe, but you didn’t move. You didn’t even try to look away. 

A fond grin spread over the stretch of his lips as his hands moved to encompass your cheeks comfortably between his large palms. Eyes flashed down to your lips quickly startling your lungs to a near halt. He began leaning closer, hope spiraled and warred with dread in your bloodstream.

Then gently, his eyes dusted closed just as the plush of his lips warmed the space on the edge of your lips far enough to be mistaken for a peck on the cheek but close enough to prove that wasn't the case. Your hands balled into fists, unsure if your natural instinct was to push him away or pull him closer. You settled on neither, keeping your hands, instead, close against your sides as your mind reeled. 

Shocked wouldn’t even begin to cover what you felt as Taehyung pulled away leaving the sensation of his satin lips pressed into the edge of your lips. Elated, yes; blindsided , most definitely, but above all else, you felt confused. Confused because Tae had never exhibited any form of physical touch before. At least not of the kissing variety. And it made you panic. Your face must have worn your feelings plain as day, because once Taehyung opened his eyes once more, the satiated expression disappeared leaving uncertainty in its wake. 

“I---” he began, but you quickly brushed his hands off of you and turned your head to look anywhere that wasn’t at him. 

“Don’t worry about it. Those PTA moms must have gotten you really riled up.” 

“That’s not---” 

“I’m gonna head out, Tae.” You pulled open your car door with more force than you intended, propelling your body into the seat before he could stop you. “See you tomorrow?” 

He stood there dumbfounded, andalusite eyes the size of the moon on his masculine face. He stuttered a few times before settling his anxious mouth down into a defeated pout. “Yeah, see you tomorrow. Drive safe.” 

You hummed in response and pulled the door away from him effectively locking you inside the safety of your moderately dirty Kia. He waved you off once you pulled away and you sped away from that parking lot as fast as you could, desperate to get home and bury the events of the night deep in your subconscious until you couldn’t reach them. 

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

You usually refrained from drinking a glass of wine on school nights, much less three, but the heat you still felt from your interactions with Taehyung today left you exhausted. Your mind felt numb along the edges while your vision remained only a little fuzzy. The ludicrously narrated nature documentary that played on your TV garnered a half-hearted chuckle from you every time the whiny man complained to his TV producer, but you weren't sure whether you actually found it funny because of the alcohol or just clever. If you suddenly blacked out, you wouldn’t particularly mind. 

Tipping the lip of the glass into your mouth, you discovered that no wine remained in the cheap plastic. A frown presented itself on your pouty lips with a grumble following shortly after. You promised yourself only one glass, but you had broken that promise an hour ago. Now, you reached for the bottle nestled beside you on the floor, emptying the contents into the glass until the liquid almost reached the lip once more. It was the bottles turn to be empty, and you giggled as you dropped it on the ground. 

The two fast buzzes from your phone dropped your smile from your lopsided lips as your eyes fell upon the glowing screen perched on your coffee table. You almost decided to ignore it, your attention falling back to the swarm of jellyfish on your T.V. screen as the narrator compared them to his vacuous coworkers, but something told you to check and see who it was.

The drunk part of you, mostly, who really wanted it to be Taehyung. 

Struggling with the wine glass and your own imbalance, you reached over to the coffee table and snatched up the phone in unsteady fingers. You turned on the screen to find a text message awaiting you once you unlocked it, the name of the sender sending excited jitters down your spine. 

Mr. Kim. 

It was a picture. 

Your eyes scanned over the photo he sent you hungrily taking in every detail you could of the man posed in front of a mirror wearing a velvety navy blue shirt over nice fitting black slacks. His hair appeared slightly tousled and a little wet from what looked to be a shower. You couldn’t help the way your mouth watered, eyes only catching the words below the picture after scanning the whole image twice. 

[9:48 PM] Think I should wear this shirt tomorrow?

A crinkle formed on the bridge of your nose at the question.

[9:50 PM] You: Why are you asking me?

[9:51 PM] Mr. Kim: I was gonna wear the fairy shirt, but it’s dirty.

[9:51 PM] Mr. Kim: Help me pick out another one? 

[9:53 PM] You: Why? 

Suddenly your phone began buzzing in your palm with the same name of the man you did not want to speak to while inebriated flashing green across the glass screen. You hesitated in swiping to answer, but answered the call too quickly before he was sent to voicemail. 

“It’s the Spring Festival tomorrow. I gotta look sparkly!” he offered in place of a simple hello, his voice sounding far too awake for someone who had to be back at work in seven hours.  

“So Mrs. Benton can find you easier?” you grumbled.

“Jealous?” 

“How about the rose pink button up? That’ll look good with gold glitter.” 

“Nice change of subject.” You could hear the amusement in his voice being slightly rustled by what sounded like fabric being pulled over the speaker until it quieted and he gave a sigh. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more today. You were right. They’re vultures.” 

“You liked it.” 

“I would have liked being with you way more.” 

“Stop being a flirt.” You dropped your head into your available hand, his words making your drunken cheeks burn hotter than before.  

“I’m being honest! I like you so much more than all those PTA moms combined.” 

You wanted to ask if that’s why he kissed you, but lost the courage. “That’s just because we’re on the same team.” 

“That’s not the only reason.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Mmm, I’ll tell you tomorrow. Get some sleep. It’s gonna be another long day.” 

He hung up the call before you could pester him into giving you an actual answer, leaving you sat in silence with only the company of the whiny British man on T.V. to help you make sense of your muddled thoughts. 

-----

You hadn’t seen Tae all day. You weren’t avoiding him. Not necessarily. You just happened to be so busy with the Spring Festival preparation that had taken you out of your classroom before first period even began that bumping into Tae was almost impossible. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to see him. You just hadn’t had the chance. Your freakishly early arrival and blatant ducking every time Tae made an appearance had nothing to do with it, either. At least that’s what you proclaimed to an imaginary judge and jury that sat judgmentally in your brain. 

Heading into the afternoon portion of the Spring Festival, you yawned. It wasn’t a pretty yawn, a delicate yawn, something akin to a dainty fawn snuggled warm in a bed of roses. No, your yawn was ghastly, wide, and tumultuous as it fell from behind your pressed palm loud enough to call the attention of your two homeroom helpers, Vivi and Luisa. They giggled when you turned from them with a five minute signal, asking them to man the station while you took a small walk to the snack table by the stage on your right. Your first order of business: nabbing some sort of bread thing. 

You weren’t worried about leaving the two girls behind. After all, they were two of your favorite students, hard working and diligent, and they often made it a habit to linger by your room when they had free time. You trusted them without a doubt. And they liked you enough to stick with you for all six hours of the festival without complaint. It was a good little thing you had going. 

However, it was because of their favoritism towards you, no doubt, that they picked up on your downcast demeanor that morning when they showed up to help. They asked if you were sick, and you had to contend that, no, you weren’t you were just tired. They then proceeded to tease you, asking if you were tired because you had stayed up all night with Mr. Kim. You let them live with that lie, because even that was better than the truth. 

What you didn’t tell them was how viciously hungover you were from that bottle of wine the night before, the stench of the sugary liquor still stuck in your nostrils. All because of their second favorite teacher, Mr. Kim. 

Gingerly, you nibbled on a piece of Graham cracker you snuck from the donations box hidden under the snack table, hoping that it would stave off the nausea you so vehemently felt. This is why you didn't drink often, you kept telling yourself, present you chastising past you for putting you in this kind of predicament. And the day before the Spring Festival, come on really? You almost wanted to go back in time and slap the wine bottle out of your past selves hand. This was cruel and unusual punishment. You felt so bad that the very idea of crawling under the snack table to stop the world from spinning seemed like a viable option. 

But you didn't. Because you were an adult. And people were watching.  

Instead, you cast your eyes outward over the crowd of happy children and mildly annoyed parents taking inventory of those you had met before and those you’ve never seen in your life. You could make out the teachers in the room just by body language alone and the way they all kept to the edges of the commotion with watchful eyes trained on their group of homeroom rugrats. It was then that you spotted a familiar face, the one you weren't intentionally hiding from, strolling your way through the mess of people that were currently crowding up his gym. 

You noticed the handsome, young gym teacher before he noticed you, but when he did notice, a bright smile overtook his charming face as he approached you at the table, a hoard of small plastic cups filled with the sugary beverage provided by Mr. Park's homeroom nestled just behind you in your own treasure pile. Just like a magpie. 

“Hey Jungkook.” You waved happily at him as he arrived, your own smile mirroring his bright one.

“Hey, Teach. How’re you doing?” 

You hummed through a piece of graham cracker. “Hungover, but don’t tell anyone that.” 

“Secrets safe with me.” He motioned an x over his heart, ensuring you that he wouldn’t tell anyone. It made you giggle a little bit. 

Jungkook was one of your colleagues that you actually, genuinely liked as a person. He was funny in a dorky, charming way that often left you endeared to him after speaking with him for a handful of minutes. He also never took himself too seriously and was not afraid of being the butt of a joke if it meant others around him would be happy. His looks didn’t hurt either because, shit, was the man hot. That was neither here nor there though, as you actually saw him as a close friend, not a potential romantic interest. 

However, not everyone crowding in the gym felt the same as you did towards the younger gym teacher. If you thought the PTA moms were being vicious with Taehyung, you had another thing coming when they locked their sights on poor, defenseless Jeon Jungkook. 

“What’re you doing here?” You asked whilst you subtly eyed every thirsty mom who threw longing gazes Jungkook’s way. 

He awkwardly shrugged. “You know, checking stuff out.” 

“Hiding?” 

“Whatever do you mean?” 

You raised the half eaten Graham cracker to your mouth, nibbling on an edge like a gerbil. “Tae had the same problem last night.” 

Hearing this, Jungkook's expression opened like the floods unleashed on an unsuspecting biblical village. His eyes grew wide, mouth hung ajar in bewilderment as he groaned. “Dude, they’re vultures. Like can’t they buy vibrators or something?” 

“I’m sure they have plenty." 

“Oh, that’s a mental image I did not want." 

“You gave it to yourself,” you snickered. 

He only winced.

You continued to nibble on your sweet treat as you and Jungkook fell into silence once more. Well, as silent as you could be in a room full of kids and parents all pretending they didn't mind the nauseating Baby Shark playing over the speakers. You almost wanted to ask Jungkook if he could watch your booth for a minute while you suffered in true silence somewhere else, but a figure strolling into the gym made you pause. Body growing tense as eyes cast downward to avoid him seeing you staring at him. 

Jungkook, for all the good he was, bent down so his mouth was closer to your ear level. “Looks like I’m not the only one hiding.” 

You flashed him a glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Did something happen with you and Mr. Kim?” 

“I’m gonna feed you to the vultures.” 

It was his turn to snicker as he caught sight of Mr. Kim looking around the gym, no doubt looking for you. He wasn't sure what the situation was between you two at the moment, but he knew sexual tension when he saw it and fuck was it rolling off the two of you whenever he caught you guys talking.

Jungkook watched Mr. Kim, Taehyung, seemingly attract to you like a moth to a very enticing flame and he wasted no time in b-lining straight for the pair of you when he did catch sight of you gnawing on the graham cracker. You refused to lift your head to watch him make his way over and Jungkook had half a mind to stay quiet just to see how this would play out. For amusements sake, of course. 

He found it best to warn you before you punched him for not warning you. “He’s coming over. Give me a signal if you need to be rescued” 

You very nearly told him to fuck off. In front of the students. 

“Hey! There you are!" Taehyung's voice interrupted your angry thoughts calling your attention to him rather than the annoyingly mischievous gym teacher. 

“Hey,” you muttered, enthusiasm lost on the syllable. 

Taehyung didn't notice. Instead, he stretched one arm away from his body, the other tucked behind his back, as a shit eating grin plastered itself on his gorgeously tan face. “So what do you think? Fairy enough?” 

“Why’s your hand behind your back?” 

“Ah. See.” He cleared his throat, then swept his arm out to reveal a pretty red rose, freshly cut. “Some students felt generous enough to give me a rose they won, but with one caveat: I had to give it to you” 

You could blame your reddening cheeks on the hangover, but that would be a lie. Blaming the sudden wave of nausea on the hangover would be a lie too. “What? Tae, you don’t have to it’s fi---” 

“I really owe them for this, actually. Didn’t have the guts to just outright say it,” he grinned right through your stuttering response.  

“Say what?” 

Instead of answering, he extended a hand out to you-the hand without the rose-and shifted his grin into a charmingly shy smile you couldn’t exactly resist. 

“Come take a break with me. I’m sure Jeon won’t mind watching the booth for a few minutes.” 

“I---” you stammered, brain all but pudding in your cranial cavity so much so that you couldn’t even resist. All you could do was look back to a very pleased Jungkook who looked like the cat that caught the canary. “Kookie, do you mind?” 

“Remember you’re still at work, please?” he winked. 

“That’s not---we won’t---” 

“No promises, Jeon.” Taehyung waved him off as he grasped your hand in his. 

You swore you heard entertained snickering as you walked away from Jungkook, but it could also have been the beehive swarming in your ears that produced the noise. You weren’t sure. You also weren’t sure how you ended up in front of Taehyung’s classroom given that you didn’t even remember leaving the gym. You were quite surprised you made it out without any big issues, if you were being honest. 

Tae unlocked the class then swiftly pulled you inside before locking the door once again, probably so no one would bother you. Your confusion only grew when you came back to yourself fully and realized that you were alone. With Taehyung. In his classroom. And he looked amazing. As always, but still. Nerves began to grow despite you trying to stop them. 

“Tae, what’re we doing in here?” you turned to him in bewilderment, but he left no room for a verbal response. 

Eyes grew the size of cathedral windows when you felt the soft press of his honey mint lips against your very chapped ones. Your body froze in the moment as you took it all in, the absurdity of the situation unfolding before you. 

There you were, dressed in messy jeans and a rumpled t-shirt with a vicious hangover paling out your complexion. Your hair was, no doubt, a horrendous rat’s nest and your breath, no doubt, tasted of expired alcohol and graham crackers. And you were kissing Taehyung. Taehyung, the man who stole your heart slowly without you noticing. Taehyung, the man who you never would have guessed wanted you in the way you wanted him. Taehyung, the man you swore was going to be just your friend for the rest of your life. You were kissing Kim friggen Taehyung. Or rather he was kissing you. Because you couldn’t fucking move an inch with your body set to stone from anxiety alone. 

You wanted to fall into a deep hole of self loathing. That is until Tae’s large hand came to press against the back of your head, his tongue giving your bottom lip a bold swipe and you were lost. 

To hell with insecurities, the kiss felt damn amazing. 

You weren’t bold enough to dig your fingers into the loose shirt adorning his torso, but you did allow yourself the comfort of falling into his body with every inch of your chest pressed tightly against his own. The surroundings faded the longer the kiss went on until you both forgot where you were along with the even more pressing issue of what you two were doing being absurdly inappropriate. 

Because it was absurdly inappropriate. If the school principal caught you...

It seemed that thought, covered in images of the school principal firing both of you, added the cold dose of reality for you and you softly pushed Tae away until only your breaths mingled. He chased your lips desperately, yet you kept your steady palm resting along the flat plains of his chest until he was able to look at you with clear eyes.

You didn’t dare verbally ask the question that was raging in your mind, but you were shit at hiding your emotions, so you knew Tae was able to read every last word on your perplexed expression. He sighed after a few heartbeats, eyes falling for a second to the crumpled rose on the floor then rising back up to meet yours. 

“I like you. A lot. So much.” He gulped, unsteady lungs pumping unsteady breaths across the expanse of your face. “I’m sorry I’m being so forward about this. I’ve tried...so hard to show you how I feel, but I could never tell if you understood. You always look at me with those damn doe eyes...I didn’t want to take a chance anymore. I like you.” 

Utter sincerity dripped from his expression, yet you could do nothing but remain silent. So many emotions warred within you from elated to cautious then circled right around to fear and dread. You didn't know how to interpret all of them at once, so all you did was stare back at him like, well, a deer in the headlights. It made Taehying anxious, tongue running nervously over his bottom lip, hand clenching in a fist where it came to rest on the wall behind your head. “Please say something.” 

You gulped. “Tae...we work right next to each other” 

“I know.” 

“If this doesn’t work out…” 

“Trust me, I know.” he sighed, very nearly relieved as he rested his forehead against yours.  “But, last night...when I kissed you...I knew I couldn’t get around it anymore. Vivi and Luisa just helped push me along, I guess.” 

Hearing the name of your two students made you pause and pull away from him, mind working overtime to figure out when in the hell they had time to do that. “They gave you the rose?” 

“Told me to just tell you I loved you already.” His laugh turned into a bewildered expression when he caught the shocked stare you gave him. “Don’t freak out. I’m not saying I do--- but totally not saying I don't ...although that’s the natural progression right? If this works out and we---” 

His nervous chattering quieted with the layer of your lips against his, which was exactly what you wanted. You weren't worried of him loving you or not loving you, at least not yet. You just got him. You wanted to explore your relationship first. Just the way you never wanted to stop exploring his delicious mouth. But, when you started grinning at the thoughts of all the things you would get to do with each other, you knew you had to stop and set the record straight. 

A cheesy grin spread across your mouth when you noticed how pacified he looked. 

You couldn’t help but give him a single peck. “I like you too, dummy.” 

He hummed. “You do?” 

As an answer, you resumed where you left off absolutely living for the soft slide of your lips that worked in tandem while, unaware, somewhere out on the school grounds were scores of parents, teachers, and your boss who were all none the wiser of what was happening in the fifth grade History teacher’s classroom. It almost made you laugh with nervous excitement were it not for Taehyung's arms slipping around your waist. 

He pulled you flush against his body until you could feel every firm, toned muscle under his goddamn self proclaimed fairy shirt. He was radiating a comforting heat you couldn't get enough of. You wanted to run your hands over his warm skin, slip your greedy fingers under the offensive fabric and see how it feels to have Taehyung under your fingertips. How he would squirm under you, but you refrained. 

After all, you were still at work.   

He pulled away from you first with a look of nervous intent in his eyes you couldn’t quite read. After a confession like the one he just gave you, you weren’t sure why he would be unsure of himself now. Yet, there he was. You softly brushed your thumb over the glistening saliva surrounding his mouth, hoping to give him a little courage. 

“Wanna come over to my place tonight?” 

This time, you were the one unsure. “Tae--” 

“Not for that,” he laughed, then tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear, all tenderness in his smile. “I want to make you dinner. Have an actual date with you.”

You wouldn't be able to stop the jack hammering in your chest even if you tried. And you didn't try. Because those words, this feeling, were exactly what you always wanted with Taehyung. You couldn't deny yourself any more.  

“I would love to.” 

[hellapainyo]

I WANNA HEAR YOUR HEADCANNON FOR A LIL DATE(NOT FIRST, MAYBE 4TH OR 5TH)WITH ONE OF THE MAKNAES OF NCT/WAYV ORRRRRRRRRRRR LIKE A LIL BLURB FOR ALL OF THEM IDK DO IT IF YOU WANT I JUST LOVED YOUR LIL HENHEN THING AND I WANNA HEAR M O R E

First, AHHHH thank you! I’mso excited to try out writing a bit just for fun and it warms my heart that youwanna see more!

I’m going to include ’98and ’99 line because I’m not the most familiar with the Dreamies and Wayv yet.That being said, if you want me to do something with any of those members specifically,let me know and I will!

And please, feel free to send in more requests!

Jungwoo:

I see Jungwoo as a soft guy who likes to plan things

Idk he pegs me as whimsically pragmatic, which Iadmire

I feel like the 5th date would feelimportant to him, it’s a nice round number so he wants to ask his date to behis partner officially

He plans it all out that they’ll have a smallpicnic

Followed by a bike ride in the park

Then it finishes at a fountain that’s deepwithin the park where he will ask them

It’s a sunny day and warm when he meets his dateat the café, so he’s all chuffed and building his ego so he can feel confident

When his date shows up, he’s got this fake machoman thing going which just makes them giggle because “manly Jungwoo” is hysterical

They’re about to depart for the picnic when itstarts raining

Cue moody, bratty Jungwoo

His date is trying to be easy going and is findinga cultural center you can bring outside snacks to, but in the process, Jungwoois too upset to notice the bracelet he bought to confess with just falls out ofhis pocket

They get to the museum and spend a bit looking atall the pieces and his date is pointing out the parts they really like and Jungwoois loosening up

They find the luncheon area and open up thepicnic and have a grand time talking and Jungwoo is deciding that he can saveit, he can make it cute

He looks at the map of the museum and sees thatthe only exhibit they haven’t looked at is a hologram field of flowers

After their lunch he drags his date to the hologramand while they are admiring the beauty, Jungwoo realizes he lost the bracelet

He’s aggressively patting his pockets when hisdate turns around, smiles, and hands him the box the bracelet was in

“Is this what you were looking for?”

“I… Yes. Um…” he opens the box, “Will you by my girl/boyfriend?”

“I’d thought you’d never ask”

Lucas:

He’s an Aquarius so I falter between him being asuper energetic partner and also a really lazy one because he works so hard

So let’s go with a lazy date because I’m softfor cuddly Lucas

He’s definitely the guy who is both super chillabout the status of relationships, but also so incredibly devoted and whippedfor whomever he’s seeing

The “define the relationship” phase doesn’texist for him…

“We’re going on dates, so we’re dating,” is hisperspective

I imagine him being adorable and naïve andcuddly after a long day at practice

He showers and shoots up his partner with a textasking if he can hang

His partner is like, “Uhh my roommates arethrowing a party tonight. Do you wanna come to that or do something more lowkey?”

Since, he’s exhausted, he decides the latter andhe shows up at their apartment in sweats and wet hair

He is the charismatic boy he is and greets everyoneand does the stereotypical, “I’m just gonna steal them for the night.” *wink*thing

They wander the streets, find delicious streetfood, and stretch out their legs together all while joking around

Lucas finds a claw machine and spends $10 justtrying to get a tiny snorlax stuffy for his partner

They result to just buying him shaved ice to gethim to shut up about it

At some point, they both get super tired and,upon realizing they can’t just go back to the dorm or the apartment, they finda movie room

Which btw is like this thing where you rent aroom and essentially you can Netflix and Chill with privacy

The front desk guy is making suggestive faces atthem as they rent one without realizing what actually happens between tired Lucasand tired partner

They make it up to the room, pop the popcorn inthe microwave and snuggle in to watch Finding Nemo

They get a noise complaint for them arguing overwho between them would most effectively be able to communicate with whales

At which point they settle down for snuggles andthey fall asleep tracing stars on each other’s arms

Mark:

My sweet, kind, nervous boy

He’s another one who pegs me as someone nervousaround people he likes

But also, he calls his date “Dude” and “Bro” regardlessof their gender and that, my dudes, is everything I look for in a man

He’s ambitious and also really enjoys stereotypicalcute coupley things so he suggests taking a cooking class with his date

The dish of the day is omurice (which is supertasty okay)

Cute Mark fumbling with the cooking aprons is socute because he doesn’t know if his date wants him to put it on them or not sohe stands there for like 10 seconds with fiddly hands until his date puts one overhis neck and he realizes “Oh okay we’re being COUPLEY coupley”

They attentively watch the instructions andpractice the techniques and everything seems fine

Until it comes the time when they are set looseto make their own dish

Mark accidentally finds himself behind his datebecause Mark is clueless and didn’t really remember how they were instructed tocut the carrots for the rice

He was too busy gawking at how lovely his datelooked with an apron on

Fite me, Mark likes domestic aesthetics

And he realizes his uselessness lol so he wantsto express his appreciation and ends up backhugging his date which is beyondcute but they both get embarrassed and Mark is about to pull away until hisdate just pulls Mark’s arms around their waist a bit tighter

“Your support makes me feel capable” orsomething cute

Anyway, between their constant hugging, poorcooking skills, and unsteady hands, their omurice looks terrible, but tastes great

Inspiration: Yoosung’s ugly omuricefrom Mystic Messenger:

Xiaojun:

A dude I don’t know much about, lol

Like Mark I think he would love to learn somethingnew with his date

But I also think he has a lot of tact too

I can imagine him planning a date and giving hispartner no other context than, “Meet me at the café at 2” and so his date justshows up to this cute rustic café

They sit and have some tea and Xiaojun, being asly bean, keeps complimenting the stoneware the teapot, mugs, and plates aremade from

To the point where it’s annoying lol

And finally his partner is like “Yeah I get it,you like them.”

And he finally reveals that the main date iswheel thrown pottery

 Both he and his partner have little to no experiencewith clay apart from a couple random pinch pots made in elementary school

So they get to the studio and they see all thesetechniques and equipment and they are terrified

Xiaojun is the type to smile through the pain sohe’s just grinning and ignoring how intimidated he is

But he’s cute and intuitive enough to tie backhis partner’s hair for them

They’re both terrible at it, but they pose it uplong enough to get the cute ‘Ghost’ scene to post on SNS (poor instructor being forced into taking cringey pics of them)

In the end they make a glob of clay

Xiaojun passes it off as abstract art

The other members make fun of it when he has it onhis bedside table

It somehow is a good phone stand though

Hendery:

This egg, I swear

He’s such a crackhead

The other members have cute little dates withfun chances for skinship, right?

Hendery wants to play paintball and none of hisfriends want to because he cheats at games, so he asks his naïve partner to gowith him

Regrets

His partner is acting all shy about it like they’venever played before, which just feeds into Hendery’s “I’m gonna win so yougotta buy me lunch” mocking

They get all suited up

And the game begins

Hendery is trying his best to hide just so hecan have a better vantage

But this crackhead is a giggly mess because he’sthinking about his date’s face when they lose

Which just makes him easier to find

Plus he’s distracted so he doesn’t notice whenhis partner gets the higher ground with a great vantage point to literally seehim crouching and giggling

*pow* *pow* *pow*

Three chest shots in a row and Hendery is donefor and lost

Forever disappointed Hendery because the gamelasted a total of 7 minutes and he didn’t even get to attempt any shots

He’s just a pouty boy

So much so that he has to get consolation icecream before he can go buy their lunch

But later, he brags to all the members about howgood of a shot his partner is

“I feel so safe knowing they can protect me.”-Hendery

“We don’t have guns here…” -Kun

“BUT if we did! I would be so safe.” -Hendery

I hope you like it!!

[containsxmultitudes]

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.  Nick Monroe NICKNAME. Nicky, blondie, idiot, asshole, “ugHH I WANNA STAB MY EYE OUT WITH A SPOON THAT JOKE WAS SO HORRIBLE.” GENDER.   Genderqueer trans guy HEIGHT.   6′1 AGE.  41 ZODIAC.  Scorpio-Sagittarius cusp. SPOKEN LANGUAGES. English, ASL and PSE, and with the right triggers, or alters near the front, he has a muted form of the gift of tongues so various languages sometimes.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.  Blond EYE COLOR.   Blue SKIN TONE.   Fair BODY TYPE.  He’s tall, a little broad, squishy and thick in some nice places. He’s just healthy for now. VOICE.  Think Mark P’s voice. That’s about right. DOMINANT HAND.  He’s naturally ambidextrous, so he doesn’t have an actual dominant hand, but he does use his right hand for things because it’s more convenient most of the time. But like if he hurt the wrist of his right hand he could quite easily use his left. Might be a bit rusty but it would take very little time to pick it up because of being naturally able to do so anyway. POSTURE.  So standing he usually has a posture that is, for lack of better terms, a little confident and flirtatious because that’s what vibe he wants to put out there. So usually his hip is cocked a little, or he’s leaning against something. But if he sits he tends to slide into a bad posture if he sits for too long. Mostly because he has some back pain from leaning over an art desk a lot so it’s hard to keep a good posture constantly. If he’s in front of people he does try his best to take his bad posture and make it useful toward looking more interested. If only because leaning toward people a little bit does indicate interest and he knows that. SCARS. Most notable are the Lucifer corruption burn scars on his face, he has more of those burn scars in various patches over his body. There are also: two parallel lines between his shoulder blades where wings could be. Very faded top surgery scars on his chest. Faded self-harm scars on his thighs. Some are covered by tattoos, little scars on his knuckles from punching things til they bled, a jagged stab and drag scar on his lower right side, small bullet scar under his hair where Dean shot Lucifer with the colt, and faded stretch marks on his hips and such from having a baby once. TATTOOS.  Tattoo of a snake wrapping up his left arm (looks a little like this if I had to pick a size and style comparison, Nick’s is a tiny bit smaller and has some blue color in it, but it’s close X), Alligator thing on his left shoulder (can be compared to this in aesthetic X), a tiny cross tattoo on his right index finger ( X ), this on his left palm ( X ), floral half sleeve on his right arm from his shoulder to his elbow (kinda like this X), 2 carnations on his right shoulder with Sarah and Toby’s name and birth and death years as a tribute to them, anti-possession on his left ankle in blacklight ink. A bouquet of sunflowers up his right calve, actually an undecided leg sleeve on his right leg in general too, undecided sternum tattoo, others in various places I haven’t decided yet. But he’s a tattoo artist, so he’s pretty covered.

**note that most of these tattoos aren’t exactly what his look like, they are just the comparisons as close as I can imagine them as someone who can’t draw.

BIRTHMARKS.  No birth marks. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). He’s tall, he has those very noticeable burn scars on his face, a smirk on his face.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.  Baltimore, Maryland HOMETOWN. Somewhere in Baltimore County, Maryland. SIBLINGS. Eden Monroe (eldest sister), Lacey Monroe (older sister), Elijah Harrison (half-brother of the same age) PARENTS.  Robert Monroe (father), Aria Monroe (mother), Scott Harrison (biological father; deceased)

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.  Tattoo artist CURRENT RESIDENCE. New Haven, CT CLOSE FRIENDS. Maya Becker, Chev, Kennie Rhodes, and his work friends Lisa, Layla, and Atticus. It’s otherwise interaction dependent. RELATIONSHIP STATUS. Widower, Default single. Interaction and verse dependent. FINANCIAL STATUS. He’s like a good middle class right now, I think. DRIVER’S LICENSE. Yes. VICES. Drinking, hypersexuality and sometimes the lack of self control that comes with it, various other things depending on the time frame we’re talking.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.  Pansexual/queer/bisexual he uses these, for himself, interchangeably. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.   Switch LIBIDO.  Very high sometimes. TURN ON’S. Kissing with tongue, bit of an oral fixation so things that occupy his mouth, but also laughter during things, neck kissing, hands. use your hands, on a similar note he likes it when people give attention to his hand in the affectionate way, sweet talk or dirty talk depending on the general vibe, confidence, a sense of humor, no fear using toys lmao, he also likes a good tease, on the low-key he likes it when people say please when he’s topping. TURN OFF’S.  Disrespect, not taking no for an answer, fear tactics, anything that is rude as fuck, he doesn’t like any form of humiliation. LOVE LANGUAGE.  He likes love being shown through physical affection, and he likes to give physical affection. But he tries his best to learn other people’s languages so he can show them proper affection at some point. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. So in general his relationships have heavily leaned into just friendships, or casual things. But when he gets into romantic relationships, they’ve usually become very long term and he likes that. His end goal with romantic things is long term. Not necessarily marriage, he’s cool if someone doesn’t want that, he understands why someone wouldn’t. But like long term partner is a romantic end goal for him because he likes the security of it. But if it’s not romantic, long term friendship also works for him. He just wants ongoing friendships somewhere.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. either I’m So Sorry by Imagine Dragons, SAIL by Awolnation, or Soul Wars also by Awolnation. HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. Art, tattoos, hanging with friends, making puns, making people laugh, playing video games on occasion, depending on mental state maybe drinking, he also likes learning card tricks. MENTAL ILLNESSES.  Dissociative Identity Disorder, PTSD, Depression, ADHD, Nightmare disorder, insomnia. PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. Various chronic pains, but also Meniere’s Disease (inner ear disease that leads toward eventual permanently being hard or hearing or Deaf to simplify it.) PHOBIAS. Lucifer, God, being a failure or a disappointment, hurting those he loves, not being good enough. That nothing he ever does now will change what he’s done in the past, the idea of immortality, but also a lighthearted one: Butterflies and moths, boy has Lepidopterophobia SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. It varies depending on the day, and how he’s feeling. But he puts out a confidence that would make it appear like his level of self confidence is very high.

tagged by : @waywardbled​ tagging: Steal it, you heathens.

[walkerismychoice]

Whiskey Brothers

Book: The Royal Romance and Endless Summer Crossover

Pairing: Drake Walker and Jake McKenzie (Platonic)

Authors Note: Happy Birthday @lazychic28! She made this request a while back and it has been sitting in my inbox, so I figured what better time to write it than for her birthday! Also as a disclaimer, fraternities and sororities are not painted in a very positive light in the fic. I know that’s not the case for all, but it is for these particular people.

Word Count: 1357

Drake stood outside the door to his dorm room ready to start his new life. He was excited to be away from the palace and Cordonia and to just blend in with with other "normal" people or "commoners" as they called them back home. He had no details about his roommate other than his name, but Drake couldn't imagine he could be any worse than the stuck up nobles he had to put up with for most of his life. However, as he opened the door and crossed the threshold, he wasn't so sure of that anymore.

"Hey man, it's about time you showed up! I was beginning to think I was going to get this room all to myself." His roommate appeared to be shorter and small-framed with shaggy, dirty-blond hair and a deep southern accent. He sat on one bed surrounded by piles of clothing. The bed against the opposite wall, which Drake presumed to be his, was piled high with his roommate's possessions.

"I can see that." Drake said flatly as his eyes darted toward his own bed.

"Oh, sorry about that. Like I said, I was starting to think you weren't going to show. I'm Jake. Jake McKenzie." He hopped out of bed to shake Drake's hand. He was as small as he had looked sitting down and was dwarfed by Drake's 6'2" muscular frame.

"Drake Walker." Drake shook his hand back firmly.

"Jake and Drake, that rhymes!" Jake noted enthusiastically.

Drake rolled his eyes. "Neat...Now could you please move your things so I can set my stuff up?"

"Sure thing, Big D." Jake replied with a smirk.

Drake glared down at Jake. “Do not call me that ever again. My name is Drake.” What was with this guy?

“Aww, come on. Nicknames are my thing. Fine, if you don’t want me to call you that, tell me more about you. I can hear from your accent you aren’t from around here. I’d say somewhere in Europe?” Jake guessed.

“Cordonia.” 

“Cor-what-ia? Never heard of it."

“Cordonia. It’s a small island off the coast of Greece,” Drake explained. “You don’t sound like everyone else around here either. I detect a southern accent.” Maybe if he got Jake talking about himself he would drop the nickname thing.

“Yep. Louisiana. But hey, how do you know that much about American accents?”

“My mother is from Texas”

“Hmm,” Jake tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I know! I can call you Walker, Texas Ranger!”

“What?” Drake narrowed his eyes. “Why the hell would you call me that?”

“Haven’t you heard of the show Walker, Texas Ranger? Chuck Norris? Ring any bells? Drake shook his head no. “That’s too long anyway. How about Chuck? Nah, you don’t look like a Chuck.”

“Really, you can just call me Drake.”

“Do you ride horses?”

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Drake spat. “But yes, I have spent a lot of time around horses.”

“Makes sense with this whole cowboy aesthetic you have going on.” Jake waved a hand up and down pointing out Drake’s jeans and button down flannel shirt. “That’s it! Mother from Texas...Rides horses...Cowboy is now your new nickname.”

“God no.” Drake shuddered. “I will not answer to that.”

“Sorry pal, it’s been settled,” Jake said with a smug look on his face. “I don’t chose the nicknames, the nicknames choose you.”

Drake wondered if this guy ever shut up. “I’m not your pal either.”

“Don’t worry, you will be in no time.”

***

If Jake had thought they would become fast friends, it was quite the opposite. Drake should have known what a slob Jake would be from that first day. If that had been it, Drake could probably let it slide, but Jake was far from an ideal roommate. He never shut up and continually refused to call Drake by his real name, always coming up with new nicknames. However, Cowboy remained the favorite, much to Drake’s dismay. Jake always stayed up late with the TV turned up too loud, and seemed to hardly ever make it to class. More nights than not Jake was bringing home one in an endless string of one night stands. Drake was relegated to sleeping on a couch in the common room lest he want to listen to moaning all night and risk seeing more of his roommate than he wanted to.

Jake was always asking Drake to come out to the bars with him. He even got him his own fake. Drake was committed to keeping weeknights for studying and preferred to hang at the dorms or go to low-key house parties with a small group of close friends rather than take Jake up on his offer. Drake found himself studying one Saturday night before midterm exams and Jake was not having it.

“Dude, you are always studying. It’s Saturday night! You should be out partying. Come on, Cowboy! I’m dragging you out with me.” Jake tried to pull Drake from his desk chair but he didn’t budge. “If you don’t join me, I’m going to have to bring the party to you.”

Drake sighed deeply. “If it will get you to shut up for five seconds, fine, I will go. But I’m only staying for a couple of drinks."

Jake grinned gleefully at his victory as he ushered Drake out the door. When they got to the bar, it was packed wall to wall with frat guys and and sorority girls.

Jake scoffed. “Shouldn’t these assholes be having an exclusive party at the frat house so we don’t have to see their stuck-up faces?"

“Heh,” Drake chuckled. “Looks like we finally have something in common. They remind me of the high and mighty nobles back home, living off mommy and daddy’s money and thinking they are better than everyone because of their status.”

“Yeah, maybe we should head to another bar with better company.” Just as Jake turned to leave, a large, redheaded frat guy came barreling through and stepped on Jake’s foot. “Hey Gingy, watch where you’re walking!”

“What did you say?” The redhead seethed.

“Maybe you need both your eyes and ears checked, Big Red.” Jake poked him in the chest.

“That’s it shrimp!” The guy pulled his fist back and started to strike out at Jake. Drake seeing it all unfold quickly jumped in and caught the punch in his hand and then twisted the guys arm until he cried out in pain. “Fuck, what was that for?"

“As far as I can tell, you are the one that owes my friend an apology for barging into him,” Drake reasoned. “Now, do you want to cause more of a scene, or are you going to leave us alone?”

“No man, we were just leaving.” He gathered his frat brothers and they filed out shortly thereafter.

“Wow, Walker, I’m impressed! Where did you learn moves like that?”

Drake shrugged. “I took a lot of self defense and martial arts training back home. No big deal. And look at that, you kind of called me by my name.”

“One time deal for saving my life...Anyhow, since they are gone, why don’t we stay?” Jake suggested.  “I’ll buy you a drink. You earned it.” 

“S’pose I can’t say no to free booze.” Drake sat down on a bar stool, and Jake sat next to him. 

The bartender showed up moments later. “So, what will you two be drinking tonight?"

“Whiskey, neat” They replied in unison and then stared at each other in disbelief before both bursting out laughing.

 “Maybe you aren’t so bad, McKenzie. You do have great taste in liquor after all.” Drake clapped him on the back.

"You do realize you told that idiot we were friends, right? Looks like we are on our way to becoming best buds." Jake clinked his glass against Drake's.

"Yeah, yeah. Clean up your side of the room and stop kicking me out in the middle of the night, and then we'll talk," Drake said as he tried to hide a smile. Jake was by no means a perfect roommate, but he was turning out to be a decent friend.

[greenxscarves]

ghost hunter / ghost emily au ;0c

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it *rubs hands together* Nyehehehe

Jack picks Emily up as he’s helping some distant cousin help clear out the house of a recently deceased grand-uncle or something like that. It was an old house that belongs to someone in the Morrison clan.

By ‘picks Emily up’ I mean he snags an ancient looking pocket watch because he’s seventeen and Aesthetics(tm).

Weird shit always happened before, but after he gets the watch, things get worse. So much worse.

He gets about a dozen people to bless the watch and try to cleanse it.

It works for about a week and then the activity starts up again. It can range from everything from knocks to falling items and things being pushed off counters and things going missing. He’s half convinced a ghost-cat has followed him home.

He picks a university to attend and moves in early. Like during summer session early due to a campus job he acquired.

Within a week he’s met a guy at the library and they go on a few dates. The activity finally dies down and Jack thinks that maybe this new boyfriend(?) is good luck.

Six months pass and he starts getting sick more and more often. He learns his boyfriend is into some... weird things, but hey he won’t judge.

The activity picks up again. Threats/warnings are left scrawled in mirrors, sometimes in steam, sometimes in blood. He feels hands and shoves and a book has been pushed off the bookshelf more than a few times when the boyfriend is over. One was even chucked at his head.

Winter solstice comes and shit hits the fan. Blood magic and occult rituals and some unnecessary chanting and a few too many knives for Jack’s comfort. If he thought having a boyfriend who was in a cult was bad, he really didn’t like that it was a demon-worshipping cult and the demon was his boyfriend.

Apparently the ‘I want to hold your heart in my hands’ was not an awkward figurative statement of affection.

Jack manages to Not Die due to sheer dumb luck.

Demon (ex) boyfriend is still out there.

The rest of the cult, not so much. They’re not as lucky as Jack.

Ready to put this behind him, he goes to sleep of this shitty dream.

He is not ready for the Red-Head floating above his desk.

Fast-forward twenty years.

After that initial demon hunt, Jack pursued the paranormal researcher stuff. He finished college, met Ana Amari and then proceeded to start a business with her.

They’re both very serious about it. Most of the time.

Ana sees ghosts. Always has been able too. The tattoo she has was an attempt to stop seeing them.

To actually pay the bills, they run a small curio shop. They live in one of the ‘haunted capitals’ of the world so they cater to tourists and the like. They do have a ‘real shop’ in the back for those who actually practice or hunt.

Emily is not bound to the pocket-watch. It’s just where she returns to if something goes wrong.

 She was a ‘witch’ who died of an ordeal by water. Aka a dunking, but years before it was standard practice.

Jack calls it a hipster witch-drowning. Emily couldn’t stop laughing for an hour. Ana was ready to kill both of them.

She actually was a witch, but the magic was not what got her killed. She has hundreds of years of knowledge, so while she’s not like a walking library, she is sort of like a walking Spark Notes.

Emily is pretty much by Jack’s side constantly. He usually has the pocket watch tucked into a jacket or hooked to his wallet. If not the pocketwatch, then something small that Emily possesses. Her preference are hats. He prefers things he can tuck away securely.

Jack attracts supernatural shit

All three of them hate being called ghost hunters.

Other mediums have offered to exorcise/guide Emily to the other side.

Jack politely declined. Emily was less polite.

They use the bluetooth earpiece to not look completely mad when talking to Emily. People just assume they have a research aide or something.

Mostly they investigate low-level things. Jack can count on one hand the number of times he and Ana have run into something that legitimately unnerved either of them. Ghosts and spirits and supernatural creatures are usually fine.

There have been two demons that Emily and Jack have encountered. The first was his uni boyfriend. The second was a research trip they agreed to when Ana left to visit family.

Emily does not like Jack dating. Mostly because he attracts weird people. Or things. If she has to stealth explain to Jack one more time that his date is not human, she’s going to scream.

The current person of interest scares the shit out of Emily. She won’t say why and she doesn’t stick around when he shows up.

Emily helped Jack study during uni.

She also bullied him into taking some classes she was interested in. It’s how he ended up with a few weird minors in things.

Her ability to interact with the real world is pretty mercurial. Jack and Ana have experimented with ways to change this. She can almost consistently use a computer now. Jack low-key regrets it.

Cryptids are counted among the paranormal.

Emily gets a little too excited about mothman.

Whatever Emily possesses sort of functions as a talisman against low-level spirits. She’s very territorial so no hitchhiking ghosts for Jack and Ana.

Emily really wants them to go hunting for bigfoot at least once.

She also wants to ‘swim’ in lake Champlain. Jack refuses to have another Nessie incident. 

[droneseco]

Logitech G915 TKL Keyboard Review: High Quality at a High Price

Logitech G915 TKL

9.50 / 10

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See on amazon

Without a doubt, the Logitech G915 TKL is an excellent keyboard. I've been using it every day for the past three months and I have no regrets. It's responsive, has all the features I want from a keyboard, and looks great with an impressive build quality. If the technical specifications and aesthetics of the G915 TKL appeal to you, and you're willing to pay the asking price, you won't be disappointed.

Key Features

Tenkeyless and mechanical

Tactile switches

Wireless

Specifications

Brand: Logitech

Wireless: Lightspeed / Bluetooth

Backlight: RGB

Media Controls: Yes

Battery: 40 hours (100% brightness), 1,080 hours (0% brightness)

Num Pad: No

Switch Type: Tactile

Replaceable Keys: Yes

Pros

Satisfying and smooth typing experience

Quiet, considering it's a mechanical keyboard

Sleek and stylish low-profile design

Vibrant and very customizable RGB lighting

Decent battery life, especially with RGB off

Switches between two devices easily

Cons

Very expensive

Only the function keys can be programmed for macros

Buy This Product

Logitech G915 TKL amazon

Shop

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There's no doubt about it: the Logitech G915 TKL is a premium mechanical keyboard.

It looks stylish, with a compact design, brushed metal finish, and flashy RGB lights. It's wireless, with a reasonably portable weight and decent battery life. It also has nifty additional features like media keys and the ability to connect to multiple devices.

All of that helps make a good keyboard, but none of that matters if the typing experience is terrible. Happily, the Logitech G915 TKL is the best typing experience I've had. The low-profile tactile keys are a joy to use, offering satisfying force feedback without being too loud.

Here's the kicker though... it costs $230. Is it really worth spending that much on a keyboard?

Sleek, Compact, and White

While the Logitech G915 TKL does come in black, I've grown tired of all my computer peripherals sucking the light out of a room. While the black variant released first in June 2020, I waited patiently for the white. I'm glad I did.

With a brushed metal finish giving a premium, professional look and feel, the keyboard stands out on the desk. That aluminum alloy top is against a steel-reinforced base, so it feels like kit that's built to last. The underside of the keyboard is plastic, but it doesn't detract from the look—plus you're not looking there anyway.

Other reviews have noted that it's hard to see the keys on the black version in a dark room with the RGB off; that's not a problem here, since the dark letters pop against the white key caps.

There is one downside to the white: it'll show dust and dirt very easily and quickly. Obviously it depends on your environment, but I've found myself needing to dust the keyboard every week or so just to keep it looking spick and span.

The key caps are coated with material designed to minimize fingerprints and it's effective. After a long, intense gaming session there is some smudging where your fingers have been resting for hours, but you really have to look for it and it's easy to clean.

The TKL in the name denotes tenkeyless, meaning it lacks the right-hand number pad you might be used to. Frankly, unless you do lots of numerical data entry, you're unlikely to miss it. The lack of a number pad makes the keyboard compact (368 x 150 x 22 mm), though not cramped, which means you can bring your mouse closer for a more comfortable posture.

There's also no wrist rest. Having only ever used keyboards with one, I thought this would be troublesome. In fact, because the keyboard has such a low profile (it can either lay flat, or slightly raised to two settings via underside feet), there's no wrist strain and the lack of wrist rest was instantly forgotten.

Onboard Profiles, Media Buttons, and Volume Scroll

Since this is a TKL keyboard, that means there's not much space for dedicated programmable keys. However, Logitech's G Hub software does let you assign whatever you want to the function keys, including macros and game-specific actions.

It's a bit curious that you can't program every single key and that's presumably a limitation of the software rather than the hardware. It's something that Logitech would be wise to support, since more customization is no bad thing.

You can store three different profiles within the keyboard, which you can switch between on the fly with F1, F2, and F3. It works well, though I've not found much personal use for it.

At the top of the keyboard are dedicated buttons for things like changing brightness, entering game mode (to disable specific keys when gaming), along with media controls.

There's also a button for switching between the wireless USB dongle connection (which Logitech brands as Lightspeed) and Bluetooth, which means that you can use this keyboard on two devices at once. The switching is instantaneous, so power users should find no interruption to their workflow.

A minor complaint is that these buttons are slightly soft and don't feel that nice to press. They can be pushed easily from any angle, which is handy, but it does mean that they require some force to fully push in, resulting in an unsatisfactory wobble.

On the other hand, the volume slider that sits in the top-right of the keyboard is a delight. This textured wheel can be spun endlessly, which is fun in itself, but offers easy and quick refined volume control.

A Satisfying, Tactile Typing Experience

The Logitech G915 TKL comes in different key switch models, but I went for the tactile switches, which are quieter and don't require a full press to register a keystroke.

The tactile switches used here have an actuation distance of 1.5 mm, an actuation force of 50 g, and a total travel distance of 2.7 mm.

Despite being a small keyboard, it doesn't feel cramped. I'm able to type quickly using it, with each key press feeling responsive and pleasing; in part thanks to the smooth feel and slight curve of the keys.

Considering this is a mechanical keyboard, which are generally notorious for their noise, the G915 TKL is relatively quiet to type on. The tactile switches themselves are pretty inaudible, but if you type forcefully and quickly you will notice the volume.

I've never suffered from keystrokes not being registered, which is vital when typing and gaming. You won't even notice when the keyboard goes into rest mode, bar the green light of the battery light indicator showing briefly, since it wakes up and responds instantly the moment you press a key.

Simply put, typing on this keyboard is a joy. It's not only responsive, but it's also physically enjoyable thanks to the premium feedback of the tactile switches.

Light It Up With RGB

Of course, this wouldn't be a modern keyboard without RGB. I'm still not entirely sold on the concept, since I don't spend much time looking down at my keyboard, but there's no denying that it looks fantastic.

Within the G Hub software you have a whole host of different color and animation options. You can choose from presets like "breathing" that pulsates color, "echo press" that changes the color of keys as you press them, or "audio visualizer" that responds to your music.

If you don't like any of these, you can go ahead and build your own lighting options, customizing the colors (Logitech claims to have 16.8 million colors available), animations, speed, and so on. Chances are you can achieve all your RGB ambitions here.

You can even apply pre-configured profiles for specific games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Rocket League.

The colors are wonderfully bright and vibrant, even in a well-lit room. They pop especially well against the white key caps.

Reasonable Battery Life

This is a wireless keyboard, which means that battery life is important. You don't want the keyboard dying on you in the middle of a game.

If you keep the RGB on at full brightness, the Logitech G915 TKL will last around 40 hours. You can reduce the brightness to make the battery last longer, or turn the RGB off entirely.

As someone who writes for a living, and who owns a wireless keyboard to not have wires on my desk, 40 hours battery life will barely see me through the week. A bit more juice would have been appreciated.

You can conserve battery life in G Hub, where you can set inactivity lighting settings, like dimming the brightness after a minute. You can also choose various low battery warnings when it drops below 15% charge, like having the keys breathe red.

With no lights at all, the keyboard will last around 1,080 hours (that's 135 days of 8 hours use), which is much more reasonable. Losing the RGB is a shame, but you might consider it worthwhile to benefit from far superior battery life.

That said, the keyboard does charge quickly, from zero to full in under three hours. If you're a heavy computer user who wants all the lights, know that you will have to charge often. Just remember to plug it in overnight every week or so and you'll be fine.

Worth the Asking Price?

Without a doubt, the Logitech G915 TKL is an excellent keyboard. I've been using it every day for the past three months and I have no regrets. It's responsive, has all the features I want from a keyboard, and looks great with an impressive build quality.

Time to go out and buy one, right? Maybe. When it comes with a $230 price tag, this keyboard really needs to be perfect for you to justify that sort of expenditure. For me, it's everything I want from a keyboard.

However, if you value customizable keys and macros, the G915 TKL is let down by Logitech's inadequate G Hub software. Equally, if a wrist pad is important for you, it's a non-starter. Besides, there are cheaper alternatives that will give you those things.

But if the technical specifications and aesthetics of the G915 TKL appeal to you, and you're willing to pay the asking price, you won't be disappointed. This is a fantastic keyboard that I hope to use for years to come.

Logitech G915 TKL Keyboard Review: High Quality at a High Price published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[wanna-17]

yoon jisung first meeting! AU

summary: in which you are flaked by your friend on open day and meet a cute uni tour guide 

length: 1.7k

a/n: oops this turned out very long but hope you guys enjoy it regardless

you couldn’t believe the fact that you’re friend had flaked you for the uni open day 

well she didn’t exactly flake you as she really was very sick and had a fever 

you even went to her house to check if she was alright 

the uni open day was basically a day in the holidays prior to start of uni where all the first years could go and visit the uni they were gonna start attending and be able to meet people in their degree and get a tour of the uni by older uni students and receive aesthetic booklets and freebies you wanted the freebies lmao

and like in order to get a spot, you needed to sign up 

and you were really shy so you mostly relied on your friend to do the talking

but you had no choice but to go bc you’d already signed up and you also wanted to see the uni properly since you never got the chance to go as it was in the city 

idk if this is a thing for anywhere in the world like in Australia we have open days but its not like compulsory or anything just beneficial lol

so there you were at your uni open day 

you almost hopped on the wrong train and it took you a good 15 minutes to find the meeting area

luckily you’d given yourself extra time in the morning so you were right on time

you told the girl at the desk your name and grabbed the files and freebies bag that was pre-prepared and you also had to awkwardly explain to them that your friend was sick and that you also had to get her freebies bag lmao

after getting all that stuff, you awkwardly hung around in the corner of the big room by yourself pretending to be scrolling through your social media me 24/7

everyone around you had at least one friend keeping them company and everyone was chattering 

and you were just.......there feeling super shy and awkward and self conscious 

and then suddenly there was a tap on your shoulder

you looked up and met eyes with a boy smiling brightly at you 

it was probably the brightest smile you’d ever seen in your life 

and when he smiled, his eyes would sort of crinkle in a cute way and it made his eyes look like crescents?????

you were low key blown away, why was such a cutie talking to you?

“hey, so i saw you standing by yourself, did you need any help?” asked the boy cheerfully

“oh-uh-i-am-fine” you stuttered awkwardly in reply

firstly you were an awkward bean and secondly this guy being cute did not help your emotions at all 

you had been to an all girls high school and you had basically turned socially awkwardly and lost the ability to talk to those of the opposite gender except for your dad lol me

“oh ok! are you waiting for someone?” asked the guy 

“um i was meant to come with my friend but she got sick so ‘m also grabbing my friend’s stuff” you replied quietly with your head slightly bowed down 

“cool! that’s so nice of you!” chirped the guy, “i’m jisung by the way, what’s your name?” 

“i’m y/n, nice to meet you jisung” you replied 

“well i can keep you company before the open day officially starts, we never start on time” 

for the next few minutes you guys chatted briefly and had small conversation 

you were in awe at how nice and patient he was 

most people would have probably gotten annoyed at you because you were quiet, shy and super awkward 

he was like a ray of sunshine, super cheerful and slowly he made you feel more comfortable even though your replies were short and boring 

the open day started and the person at the front who you assumed was a professor called out for the tour guides to come to the front 

jisung who was standing next to you walked up to the front 

you were surprised because wow you were talking to a uni tour guide??? who was so nice???? and cute????

jisung happily went to the front and joined the other uni tour guides who were forming a line at the front 

the professor made them say their name and to share anything about themselves

when it was jisung’s turn you paid extra attention 

he was just so bright and lovely and you couldn’t get over how his smile could light up the room 

“hello freshmen! my name is jisung and im a second year. to be honest, i graduated high school a few years ago and had to put off uni for a couple of years due to problems. when i started last year, i was quite nervous and insecure because i was older than most of the students but here i am now! uni is a great place and no one at uni cares about your age, your circumstances, your background and all that. i’ve made a lot of friends and have been welcomed by so many people. so why am i saying this? i’m sure that there are some of you that are very nervous and worried so my goal is to help you guys adjust to uni and help you to love it and make the most of your time here!” says jisung in his speech 

the professor nodded in approval and all the first years clapped

“hey guys no, clap like this! it’s called the jisung clap” says jisung as he deomonstrates a cute yet silly clap where it was he clapped in a circle 

everyone laughed and followed along 

*cue everyone in the hall clapping the jisung clap for a solid minute* 

you laughed along with everyone jisung was definitely a fun and nice person 

after the tour guides finished all their intros 

the professor was like “ok first years get into groups of about 15 people and you’ll be allocated a tour guide”

you stood there awkwardly frozen in your spot as everyone around you made groups with their friends and were introducing themselves to new people

you felt really worried and intimidated as a gush of anxiety rushed over you 

just as you were planning to escape with your bags of freebies a voice called out your name which you recognised, “hey y/n, come and join my group!” 

it was jisung, he was a couple of metres away from you already and he used his hands to wave you over

you gave him a meek smile and had no choice but to join his group

the tour went for a good 2 hours as the uni was massive 

jisung was so nice that he looked at everyones timetables and showed them where the lecture rooms and tutorials would be held

he also gave everyone tips along the way, told everyone where the best and worst bathrooms and just really fun facts about uni that actually made the tour interesting 

and throughout the tour you couldn’t help but find yourself slowly falling for jisung

yes he was handsome, but his personality glowed - he was so sweet and down to earth and humorous 

but you felt hopeless because your last crush was in grade 10 when a boy opened a door for you and you felt your heart racing lmao 

and you couldn't help but think that jisung sorta paid extra attention to you during the tour??????

like when the other first years were chattering amongst themselves he’d appear beside you and chat with you 

and during lunch he squeezed tomato sauce on your sausage sandwich and it was probably one sided but as he was squeezing the tomato sauce, the sausage sandwich was on a fragile cheap plastic plate and it nearly toppled over and both of you guys had tried to save the sausage lmao and in the process your fingers made contact 

and you were blushing so hard that you couldn’t look up

but little did you know he was smiling to himself bc you were so cUTE 

he’d also offered to hold your numerous freebie bags and your stuff when you had to go to the bathroom 

bc tbh you knew he was so nice to everyone so it wouldn’t have any special meaning 

and tbh it was probably just a fleeting small crush lol

as the tour came to an end, you wondered if you’d ever see jisung again bc the campus was so big and he was a second year so you didn’t have classes with him 

just as you were prepared to leave, you looked at jisung one last time who was chatting to the professor 

you silently said goodbye dramatically in your head as you took one last longing looking at him you were too shy to say goodbye even though he had said goodbye to all the first years in his tour group lmao introvert problems ME 

just as you had taken like 7 steps you heard someone call your name 

it was jisung’s voice which you had come to recognise as he had talked nonstop for 2 hours 

“y/n!!!!” 

“hello jisung” you said shyly

“y/n you didn’t even say goodbye to me” pouted jisung 

“haha oh sorry..” you replied unsure of what to say 

“so like are you heading home now? wanna go together?” asked jisung

you looked at him in shock and started blushing before nodding 

“well if you were wondering, i dont mean to be creepy but i had a look at your application form and you actually live 2 streets away from me so i was thinking it’ll be nice if we could travel to uni together if you want, but that’s only if you want no pressure!” said jisung 

you were so surprised that you didn’t know what to say so you just nodded as he smiled brightly beaming at you 

“let’s go now then, we can grab some ice cream place that just opened!” said jisung 

and as you two walked out the uni, you couldn’t help but think this year was going to be really great and that uni was something you could look forward to and that maybe you could overcome your shyness in talking to guys

and if your friend hadn’t flaked on you, you probably would never have met jisung, so you were thankful to your friend !!

omg i feel like this is terribly written and super long and ranty. it was actually 2k at first and i had to cut it down lmao. as always, please let me know how you find this!! im still not over seeing wanna one in real life TT 

find others here: daehwi (x), sungwoon (x), woojin (x) and guanlin (x)

[lanadelreyfiles-blog]

Lana Del Rey: 'I got jolted into the real world' By Mark Savage for BBC News. Lana Del Rey is in a good mood. She's just been in the studio with Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw, trying to make him giggle while he goes about some serious radio presenting business; and she's daydreaming about her favourite UK delicacy - a sandwich from Pret. When she discovers she's in the same building as the BBC newsroom, the star politely asks for a guided tour.

"I never get to do stuff like this," marvels the singer, as she walks wide-eyed past the studios and satellite feeds. In this context, Del Rey is oddly anonymous. Jane Hill, who is preparing to read the lunchtime news on BBC One, doesn't even look up when the superstar squeezes past her desk. It's a rare luxury for someone who's followed by paparazzi and the all-seeing cameras of TMZ when she's at home in California. She addresses the lack of privacy on her new album, ‘Lust For Life,’ where a song called ‘13 Beaches’ finds Del Rey searching for a spot "past Ventura and lenses plenty" where she can enjoy a romantic moment in seclusion. When we sit down to chat, she reveals those same concerns stopped her attending the women's marches in Los Angeles, earlier this year. "I drove my sister and her girlfriends to the marches," she says. "I thought about [joining in] but I felt, like, not really sure how it would go. "I didn't really want to be a distraction to that group of 10 girls who were going. I wanted them to think about the actual march and not about me standing right next to them." But the star is making her contribution in other ways. A new song, ‘God Bless America - And All The Beautiful Women In It,’ is an ode to womankind ("may you stand proud and strong"); while ‘Coachella - Woodstock In My Mind,’ mines the contradictions of dancing at a festival "whilst watching tensions with North Korea mount". It's a new dimension for Del Rey's lyrics - which have traditionally concerned themselves with "looking for love in all the wrong places". "I kind of got jolted into the real world again," she says. "Just being in California, it's such a liberal state, I was bombarded with the news every day. So my studio became like a think tank - during the elections it was a constant conversation with my producer and engineers and assistant engineers. "And then obviously during Coachella, that news broke about North Korea and pointing missiles at each other. That was a bit of a rude awakening." Del Rey's work rate is astonishing. ‘Lust For Life’ is her fifth album in six years - and it bursts at the seams, with 16 tracks, all co-written with her longtime producer Rick Nowels. They record everything at his studio in Santa Monica, just blocks away from the beach, so it "never feels like work," says the star. "Just walking in every day and having a coffee together and taking a walk, and then we start. So it doesn't ever feel like I'm pumping them [the songs] out. Although it's definitely a blessing that I've been able to put out so much music." On ‘Lust For Life,’ the singer has opened up musically, as well as lyrically. The title track is a pulse-raising duet with The Weeknd, while ‘Summer Bummer’ almost self-destructs, dissolving into digital noise and blacked-out beats, with Lana's vocals barely holding the song together. She's also welcomed collaborators into her world for the first time - absorbing them into her aesthetic, rather than capitalising on chart trends. "It was really fun!" she says of working with A$AP Rocky and The Weeknd. "I wanted those guys to add a little fire, a little energy to the record." More daunting was inviting rock legend Stevie Nicks to duet on ‘Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems.’ "I was definitely nervous," says Del Rey of the recording session. "She got off the plane at 10:30, so she didn't get to the studio until midnight - and she just breezed in, black on black, gold everywhere. She was kind of a vision. When she started singing, she told me she wanted to hear me sing something, too. And then I really freaked out! I said to her over the mic, 'I just sound so quiet compared to you.' And she was like, 'That's ok, you can be my little echo!' I thought that was so cool. I'm not as loud as her. My voice isn't as low as hers. But she loves it for what it is. That, as it was happening, was a career-defining moment for me." Other songs on the album had a more troubled gestation. Del Rey says the closing track, ‘Get Free,’ originally had a different title, and much more personal lyrics. "That song started out really revealing," she says. "I wanted to summarise my whole experience over the last six years; and then I realised, I don't want to reveal everything." Once the initial version was "out of my system", she says, the recording was "deleted completely then started from scratch". The lyrics became more vague and more hopeful; and the re-recorded version ends with Del Rey referencing Neil Young: "I want to move out of the black, into the blue". "I think it would have been hard for me to do interviews if I'd said a couple of particular things that I was thinking of," she says of the original. "Kind of the way ‘Ultraviolence’ did. It was harder to promote that record." She's referring to the title track of her second album, which depicted Del Rey in a destructive, abusive relationship. Del Rey has previously hinted the song refers to her association with an "underground sect" in New York, which was controlled by a charismatic guru. In concert, she has recently stopped singing the song's key line, "he hit me and it felt like a kiss". "I don't feel comfortable with that lyric any more," she says now. "Whatever my concept of affection was at the time, it does not serve me any more. Obviously. Hopefully." On ‘Lust For Life’ she seems happier, more outward-looking than before. On stage, she's more confident, too. Launching the album at a one-off gig in London, she's forced to abandon her performance of the opening track, ‘Love.’ Earlier in her career, she might have frozen. Now, she just sings it a capella, with the crowd stepping in as her own personal choir. "I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think my keyboard player was playing the wrong chords," she explains. "I was leaning in to him and saying, 'That's not it, that's not it' and he was like, 'That is it, trust me'. I listened for 10 seconds and I was like, 'Damn, I definitely can't get it'. I couldn't get it in rehearsal, either. So I just told him to stop. I feel bad - I was kind of abrasive. But that song is at the heart of the record and I thought it'd be weird if I didn't do it. So, luckily the people who were at the show knew the words and they sang along with me." She listens with glee to a recording of the song - explaining how, because she wears in-ear headphones, she hadn't realised how loud the crowd had been. "I'm so glad," she says. "Being in the audience, did you feel that, too?" I tell her it was like being in church. "Oh, stop!" she beams, and bursts into laughter. That good mood isn't going anywhere soon.

[01934sonicperformance]

Development blog

Sonic performance documentation

So this performance took a long process of pre thought to come into fruition, numerous experiments and many strands of inspiration from many performing artists. Namely - fourtet, floating points, binkbeats and Christian Loffier. Thankfully there is many online resources available and even direct explanations of there live sets by the artists themselves, so this really helped get a clear understanding of what they are doing.

What I hope to achieve with my own performance is a unique and one off creative play through of a set recontextualisations and and freshly realised versions of previous musical works of mine.

Kit list

Ableton live + Ableton push

Numerous plugins (notable plugins I’ve used - Crystalliser, Ableton FX rack for multiple macros at once)

Midi keyboard

What I learned from studying other artists work

So there’s a couple videos that really pushed me to figure out a way to perform effectively, one being Fourtets rundown

Fourtet red bull presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIvnLBF7vU&t=108s

Key information

One computer running Ableton that has the main bodies of the tracks

The way he organises it is each channel is a different song, so the whole track is broken up and then looped.

He has pads to use that launch midi clips separate to these channels

He uses some ambient found sounds eg. Film reel, as a bed of sound. I could do this with foley

These free loops generally fit the track at anytime

Uses a dj mixer or fx and general mixing the 3 channels that he has generating sounds

Uses cool edit to create really fast loops

He holds off his most recognisable parts of the song and does unique versions of the song before bringing in main hooks etc.

Christian Loffier in the lab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsTdB4s_zK8

Key information

Ableton launching clips, being routed and effected by a live mixer (this is a great basis for me to start)

Elektron rytm for drums

Strymon and soft synths playing off Nord keyboard

Really great foley percussion

Particularly like how fluid he keeps it, can see that a lot of what he does it live mixing

Sounds like crystalliser for some of the textures

REALLY well mixed

-  I particularly like the aesthetic presentation, clean wooden minimal, will adopt this for mine perhaps

Developing and building the core / stems

So at the very start of this project, I decided to work from stems to create the clear direction and foundation. I’ve worked on some new materials and decontextualised different parts of my musical history in this project, So to do this I’ve discerned what parts are most suited to be transformed live and how I can best stem them and implement them. After choosing these building blocks, I kept them all pretty flat, there is no dynamic change added artificially, all the flourishes/drum processing I wanted to keep to being live which I talk about later, as one thing I felt from the beginning is that I really want to avoid just simply activating scenes with Ableton, as part of the problem I had to solve on how to keep this engaging for a third party. So this explains the core of my live set, stems bounced in to looped scenes, triggered throughout to create the arrangements, photographed below.

The method I’m exploring in this area of my performance is assigning the knobs of my Ableton push to pre made FX rack macros. The audio effect rack in Ableton is really great for this, as you can stack up numerous plugins and assign them to one knob, and repeat across all 8 knobs available, essentially every track would have some iteration of this. There was a lot to solve in terms of the most effective ways to assign and perform the effects as instruments.

So for example selected stems eg. The “fort blue” track, I got the main chords and drum/foley as stems and then added new elements that differ to the original. So on this level there is a readapting to create something new or eventful which differs from the usual track to support “liveness”. I created an FX rack to Marco that is essentially a with a low cut and a reverb wet dry signal mapped to one knob, so this is a clean way to bring certain melodic sounds in and blend and into textures on the fly, you hear this in the intro for example, as I leave the live looping stuff and enter into the first song.

So with building an alternate arrangement from the core stems bounced from the original project, I and created parameters of performance, aka planned areas to be improvised with, eg playing with pre made macro assignments to create variation and excitement and also aid in a fluid arrangement. The macros generally consisted from 2-5 assignments, with delays, reverbs, filtered and more twisted fx. A good example of this being implemented of this is from 9.15 -10.45 with all 8 fx rack knob s loaded, specifically made to twist these drums in a certain way (screenshot below), although unique variations of this are being used through out, like from 4.10 - 4.30 (and onwards) to introduce the drums.

Adding free floating audio/live recorded loop techniques

By “free floating” I mean unattached to the clock/brain of Ableton. So I’ve began doing this by adding synth flourishes played on my midi keyboard throughout, this adds a good performative element.

In the intro, I thought it fun to create loops based on the Ableton plug in Echo, to create infinity loops of a synthesiser. So the first minute is completely improvised and entirely generated on the spot. I manipulate it live with crystalliser (this effect is rife in the first half).

Aesthetics

I wanted to set “the stage” carefully following the kind of thing I found visually appealing, taking inspiration from lots of people, like christian Loffier and the way Ableton displays its performers.

I used a Panasonic Lumix g2 shooting in 4k. My cat sleeps on my desk, so she was invited to the concert. I wanted it to catch the general vibe of the room, and show what I was doing. Unfortunately on my favourite take it cut my hands, but this will be something i fix in the future. I decided to hide with a self portrait as I haven’t shown my own face on my work before, and I don’t intend to.

I had an audience of one, sparky. She helped convey the feeling of the room in her natural habitat which by my side as I work.

Reflection

I wish I ended up integrating more live audio objects, but in the end I just couldn’t fit it in with the time constraints. I would have liked to have had more time doing things like the intro with the Echo delay looping/effecting, but I’m glad I at-least go to add parts of it to the stem bases performance.

Overall I am happy with the result, although it had lots of challenges, I felt I got a good production standard with good musical content, I really focussed on getting a solid mix before starting, and felt I achieved that, which Paul mentioned is massively important. This has created a really beneficial springboard for me to launch deeper into live performance.

[heidireiss-blog]

Memes, GIFs and Emojis

This week’s readings seamlessly tied together the rhetoric surround Memes, Gifs, and Emojis. All modern vehicles for discussion that circulate popular media, these three mediums of visual communication individually play unique roles in shaping internet or messaging culture. In his article “It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic”, Nick Douglas notes that there is an evident ugly aesthetic in memetic culture that is a product of the speed and lack of gatekeeper within the system in which memes circulate. An example of an Ugly Meme is seen in the memes below (Photo #1 and #2) of the Moth Meme trend. The main humor is in the fact that moths are obsessed with lamps because of their attraction to the light. A universal understanding has been “memeified” and injected into existing ugly meme formats. As you can see from the form, the pictures of the people in bed and in the car are probably off the internet and a low quality picture of a moth is copied on one of the faces. It is an inherently easy production of a meme and allows for quick iterations that build an internet trend. This is an example of Douglas’s point that “Specific sites will start memes but mostly spread them to a wider population for further iteration” (Douglas, 2014). Meme culture has democratized participation, allowing for anyone to be a creator to innocently parody, critically satirize, and celebrate the authenticity of ugly. Douglas uses the trends of Rage Comics, Shitty Watercolour, The Shitty Network, Nailed it, Bazinga Comics, and Snapchat to explain how memetic culture is a rebellion from the New Aesthetic of refined, clean pixelated art. The analysis of memes in this article describe how memes reflect the culture of the platforms they are represented on. This point is illustrated in this article which presents the perspectives of millennials on how meme culture is tied to political opinion. One high school student quoted in the article noted, “"I love the way memes can brilliantly explain a huge political issue in a simple way” (Myles cited in Ballantyne, 2017). This ties to Douglas’s argument that public opinion is represented more effectively through Internet Ugly rather than perfect execution. Internet Ugly is simple and available to quickly created iterations but carry significant meaning for the participants, both creators and viewers.

Photo #1 and #2 : Source 

Due to a combination of the features, constraints, and affordances, GIFs are also a key component of digital communication as they add a feeling or expression that is lost in simple text communication. In the article “Never Gonna GIF You Up: Analyzing the Cultural Significance of the Animated GIF”, Miltner and Highfield explain how it through “the performance of affect and the demonstration of cultural knowledge” that these isolated snippets of larger texts can be understood within the contexts of society (Miltner & Highfield, 2017). The visuals are also polysemic, offering different meanings and understandings to various audiences. Offering an interesting comparison to the political perspective on memes, Miltner and Highfield similarly indicate how GIF’s participate in political commentary. An analysis of GIF’s from the 2016 presidential campaigns provide insight in how moving, repetitive visuals of politicians can be understood within the political contexts and outside of them but all the while holding significance for how the people in the GIF’s are viewed and used. The authors also note how GIF culture has transitioned from a user driven format to a visual device with institutional implications as commercial forces have adopted GIFs. However, they make the distinction that’s commodification has not diminished the value of GIFs in everyday communication.

In addition to Memes and GIFs, Emojis are also a unique instrument for visual communication. Emojis help the participants of a digital conversation portray an emotion or idea to compliment their text. Often emojis are used in a situation where the intended tone of the sender is unclear with just the use of words. According to the main idea of Marcel Danesi’s article “Emoji Semantics”, the primary function in the basic emoji code is to portray a positive tone. I personally find myself using emojis when I am sending a text that may have a negative interpretation but I don’t want it to come off like I am mad. For example, I would send a text to my housemates saying “Hey, could you send in your checks for the electric bill (insert smiling face emoji here)”. Had I sent the message without a smiley face my message may have come off cold and demanding when in reality I am not mad. By using the smiley face, the recipients of the text can visualize me smiling while asking them to pay the electric bill and interpret a positive tone. I think the article “Emoji Semantics” brings up an interesting idea that emojis are essentially reminiscent of “an ancient form of ‘visual consciousness’ that was evident in the origins of writing” (Danesi, 2016). The premise of this argument is that a message can be more closely tied to the actual visual feeling implied from the message, like how ancient writing was transcribed,  rather than simply words themselves. Danesi also explained how emojis employ a thesaurus effect, meaning that connotation, strongly based on culture, is applied to all emojis to varying degrees. I agree with this point as I know there are certain emojis that even just among different friend groups are understood differently or carry a culture specific meaning. This also can give way to misinterpretation where one person may think an emoji carries one meaning while the other thinks it means something else. This article further explains specific research studies that have indicated the frequent misinterpretation of emojis across cultures and different devices in particular. However the article also states, “ A new study shows that people can misinterpret the emotion and meaning in emoji quite significantly, even when they’re on the same platform” (Larson, 2016). For example, a few of my friends the other day realized that the emoji below (Photo #3) was actually intended by apple to be an information desk girl when we all thought she was indicated she got her haircut or was acting sassy. These differences of interpretation would influence the way my friends may use this emoji in comparison to someone who works at Apple. Regardless of the potential for misunderstandings, emojis, like GIFs and Memes, primarily grant messages more power and employ a helpful human essence to digital communication.

Photo #3: Source 

Readings Citations: 

Marcel Danesi, “Emoji Semantics” in The Semiotics of Emoji: The Rise of Visual Language in the Age of the Internet (pp. 51-76).

Nick Douglas (2014). “It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic” in Journal of Visual Culture 13(3), pp. 314-339.

Kate Miltner & Tim Highfield (2017). “Never Gonna GIF You Up: Analyzing the Cultural Significance of the Animated GIF” in Social Media + Society, pp. 1-11.

[eventsinwrold]

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[the-fitsquad]

Pc Workstations

Microsoft Reveals New Windows ten Workstations Edition For Power Customers

Find the ideal Engineering CAD Software program for your business. Its motherboard also supports up to two Xeon CPUs for a total of 56 cores (28 cores every single), and dual NVIDIA Quadro graphics card. Developed by Autodesk, Maya is a skilled-grade 3D modeling and graphics computer software. The Indigo Magic graphical user environment blends the simplicity of a familiar icon-driven interface with the power of UNIX. The Precision Tower 7810 is a very impressive workstation that delivers drastically much more functionality than its Ivy Bridge-based predecessor even though retaining the many configuration options necessary to take complete benefit of the additional CPU muscle. These also feature a 1TB 7200 rpm tough drive and a SuperMulti DVD optical drive, ship with preloaded Windows 7 64-bit, and consist of a Windows 10 Pro 64-bit license.

As new technology is put in spot, office workstations need to also adapt. The committed NVIDIA graphics card makes the excellent greater while the sleek design of the AIO aids you function on a cleaner desk. If you require as considerably processing power as can be squeezed into a desktop workstation, then the W599 dual-socket technique is for you. Dell recommends only Universal Power Supplies (UPS) primarily based on Sine Wave output for APFC PSUs, not an approximation of a Sine Wave, Square Wave or quasi-Square Wave (see UPS Technical Specifications). With an emphasis on durability and gorgeous aesthetics, every member of the JP Workplace Workstations group strives to satisfy the needs of our consumers whilst remaining as competitive as feasible in the marketplace.

You will need to have to spend attention to memory slots (4+), maximum addressable memory (32GB+), number of SATA ports (six+) and obtainable PCI two. and 3. slots to accommodate your graphics card(s). Users of Prysm’s meeting area and net-access options can continue to count on the exact same experience they presently get pleasure from right now, or switch in between internet and app access as necessary for maximum productivity and ease of use. Quadro K620 comes with 384 CUDA cores which is 192 far more than present in K420 and tends to make it twice as effective as K420. If you want to install or configure software program on the server, make contact with your network administrator. There is insufficient disk space to perform the requested operation. Furnishings and workplace space concerns ought to be submitted with enough lead time to the facilities team.

HP ZBook 14, which the firm claims is the world’s first workstation ultrabook, sports Intel’s Thunderbolt technologies for high-speed data transfer, HP India said in a release. The CPU features 25MB of cache, and 40 PCI-e 3. lanes, and supports DDR4-2400. Workplace screens should be kept as low as is practical, but of sufficient height to accommodate screen-based storage if needed. This Dell Precision T5400 Workstation Tower System is powered by a two Intel Xeon E5420 two browse this site.5 GHz quad-core processors and 16 GB of FB-DDR2 ECC RAM. There have been ‘S’ versions of the models that incorporated memory bundled in. When HP-UX was incorporated as an OS, there was a ‘U’ version of the 9836s and 9920 that utilised the 68012 processor. Also, considering that neither the workstation in the Support Office nor the one particular in the Executive Office could ping in the network, you can conclude that the device is turned off.

Modelling workstations are nevertheless capable of rendering your scenes, but could take a bit longer to do so if you have optimised for modelling. Durability: Each element in a CAD workstation Pc are held to a larger standard than what is identified in a company Pc. The notion is that these elements will be used at high demand, and they should be capable to manage these expectations. They key right here is stability and efficiency with Solidworks which is why you want anything like the Quadro K4000 Workstations graphics cards are basically glorified gaming cards but they have extremely stable drivers. These are the last of our HP workstations for sale so grab a great machine whilst you can. The only genuine advantage from getting a used Xeon workstation from, say, ebay, was the price, but I fear this sort of rig really wouldn’t be significantly more rapidly than my existing i5 ( to which I just added 16gb ram, creating my life a looot less complicated already ).

Tear although heavy rendering or compute-intensive workloads with the configuration that fits your functionality wants best, no matter what business you happen to be in. AVADirect creates custom workstations built to cater what ever your requirements might be, whether or not you happen to be a designer, coder, engineer, architect, scientist or medical specialist. HP customer study revealed that when it came to hardware, engineers and designers often lack functionality, flexibility, and inspiration. Computer Aided Style (CAD) has not only lowered the time spent drafting to a fraction of what it utilised to be, but any modifications in the drawing can also be done quickly without having getting to redraw every little thing. When fewer programs start off up during Windows start up, your laptop will have fewer programs to open for the duration of Windows start up. By possessing fewer applications to start for the duration of Windows begin up, it indicates your personal computer can devote more time beginning up Windows rather then your immediate Messaging application, media players, workplace suites, and 3rd party search programs.

For graphics, the Xeon E5-2667 CPUs are effectively matched with the mid-variety 3GB Nvidia Quadro K4000. Plus, Precision’s intuitive design and style delivers front access to hard drives and an externally removable power provide for higher manageability. This is my little guide for tweaking workstations for the greatest overall performance achievable. This page contains info on the public pc workstations located in the Library branches across campus. By storing copies of every single element, HP support is in a position to recreate any supported customer configuration for the life of the Z series line. A far more effective processor not only means your laptop will run faster, it also permits you to run applications that reduce spec PCs struggle with, including photo editing, graphic style and music creation computer software.

Information processing, and imaging. Just to rattle off a handful of much more specs (due to the fact there aren’t a lot of machines like this), it offers 10 USB 3.1 Gen two Variety C ports, dual Gig-E ports, seven complete-length, complete height PCIe slots (nine total) and optional Thunderbolt 3. All of that is housed in a cleanly laid out, tool-free of charge chassis with a 1,700 watt power provide and invective ducting. There are currently numerous image processing systems offered for use in clinical and investigation environments. Workstations are also strong sequencers (many have 16-track sequencers). NASA is sending 120 HP ZBook Workstations to the International Space Station. In docked mode, the HP ZBook x2 can energy two extra 4K displays or 5 total displays.

The most current addition to HP’s Z Series Workstations, the HP Z1 is just a single of four other models obtainable in the range, which is designed to cater to the ever-evolving demands of professionals nowadays. Industrial Pc Workstations residence computers and peripherals in such a way that cables are kept out of harm’s way. With the introduction of AutoLisp and the growing power of AutoCAD as a modeling technique, it became clear to me that we were on to anything far more potent and considerable than a drafting program. At first blush, you could balk at the value of our overview unit, but as we wrote in our recent overview of HP’s Z230 SFF Workstation , a workstation naturally falls into a various league than an ordinary desktop—one exactly where obtain price tag is the least of its buyers’ issues.

Bloatware consists of all of those “trial” and extra application applications that are designed to tempt you into buying stuff that did not come with your Computer. (It is worth noting that Macs do not have this problem). HP announced the new Z620 workstation at the identical time the Z820 was announced. A server must have higher-powered central processors, massive memory, and more disk drives than the clients. These are the multi-core hyper threaded CPUs and GPUs which are discovered on workstation laptops and they are excellent for running heavy applications. It really is challenging to picture me outgrowing this machine any time quickly (with the exception of graphics if I start off undertaking GPU-intensive development or RAM which I’ve got plenty of capacity to upgrade).

The Z2 Mini G3 comes standard with Windows 10 Pro, but Windows 7 and Linux are also obtainable upon order. The activation server reported that it failed to insert item key home. Mobile Personal computer Desks are available in a wide range of styles, sizes, colors and supplies to suit mobile workstation requirements in a wide variety of expert and academic environments. You get dual hex core Xeon processors, 32GB of RAM, 512GB SSD boot drive and the new blazing fast Quadro m4000 graphics card. Chose from refurbished Dell laptops , like the Dell Latitude range or refurbished Dell desktops from the Optiplex variety. An affordable mid level workstation featuring a quick Intel i7 processor with Hyperthreading and the PNY NVIDIA Quadro M2000 4GB graphics card.

On the other hand, I did run the Intel processor diagnostic tool 64 bits and its showing a huge red fault for the QPI link, so I guess it may be very relevant. There are four memory DIMM slots free of charge (the method can deal with up to 64GB), and seven SATA ports to help a lot more drives than can fit in the chassis. You will hit the 4,4ghz reliably when utilizing only 1 core, which is exactly what you require in cad software. Never underestimate these computer workstations, as they will make your perform dazzle like by no means just before providing you the custom options, even though delivering the ideal-in-class functionality. Our workplace furniture gives a vast variety of metallic closets of varying sizes, distinct sorts of doors, multiple configurations of desks that will satisfy the needs of any modern day office with lots of other accessories.

Produced for mobile inventive and style pros with the most demanding projects, where compromise is merely not an selection. The T7610 will offer you up to 512GB¹ program memory and energy up to three higher-end graphics cards, which includes up to two NVIDIA Quadro K6000s cards starting in October. The weekest CAD-capable graphics card is about 400+ USD. The Indy workstation’s high-efficiency architecture, combined with the leading applications in MCAD, color publishing, graphic arts, scientific applications, the Planet Wide Net, content material authoring, software development, and film and video, offers you the richest, most strong solutions accessible. Merchandise incorporate effective expert desktop (WS) and laptop (WS-M) based laptop workstations, and Deskside and Rack based (RS-D and RS-R) computing options which are created for complex, simulation, analysis and visual image rendering tasks.

Nonetheless, some processes inside SOLIDWORKS such as rendering or simulations usually use a higher number of cores. DTK (Datatech Enterprises): Press Esc Key Right Right after Powering On the Computer. Right now there is a Free of charge Preflight Tool obtainable named FreeFlight at the URL under, you can download the computer software totally free and get totally free help and assistance. Following following this guide, your computer need to start off up more quickly, run applications more quickly, multi-tasks more effieciently, and have more offered totally free pc resources like RAM, CPU cycles, and challenging drive space for gaming, workplace function, motion pictures, more rapidly virus scans, and so forth on your laptop or laptop running Windows. HP’s most inexpensive, no-compromise workstations, the Z220, features subsequent-generation Intel® Core and Intel® Xeon® processors, the latest integrated and discrete expert graphics from Intel, NVIDIA and AMD and four integrated USB three. high-speed ports.

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MENU Facebook Pinterest Instagram SEARCH HOUSE TOURS DESIGN LIFESTYLE DIY ORGANIZING & CLEANING REAL ESTATE MARKETPLACE VIDEOS How To: Prep For A House Sitter  READ NEXT: 5 Simple Secrets of People Who Always Leave the House on Time How To: Prep For A House Sitter Beth Zeigler Jul 8, 2009 how to SHARE EMAIL 35 Because our cat is somewhat low-maintenance, we have neighbors feed her twice a day when we go out of town. If our trip is for an extended amount of time, we'll have a friend house-sit for us. However, creating a list of things to take care of before the house sitter arrives ultimately enhances the relaxation factor of our vacation... Even if our neighbors are just checking in on our pet, we'll bake cookies, leave a six-pack of beer or perhaps a gift certificate to Trader Joe's. If our trip is for extended travel, we'll stock the fridge with the house sitter's favorite goodies. We like to ask the house sitter to stop by a few days before we skip town so we can go over important details. Because we always seem to be running around the last minute before a trip, it helps to show the house sitter around when we're feeling less frazzled. That way, we won't leave out critical information. We also like to leave a spare set of keys hidden outside the house in case the sitter gets locked out. If they do misplace our keys, it prevents them from having to contact the landlord and explaining what has happened. And while we like to keep our landlord from having to replace missed keys, we always tell him when we're going out of town. In addition, we provide him with the name and phone number of our house sitter or neighbor. In addition to leaving a long list of important phone numbers and set of instructions, we also leave the sitter a blank check just in case an emergency vet visit is in order. And lastly, we leave a spare set of car keys on the counter just in case our car (for whatever reason) needs to moved. Apartment Therapy readers, how do you prep for the house sitter? Related Posts 5 Good Things About Our Housesitting Gig Things To Do Before Leaving For The Holidays The Vacation Checklist For Your Home (Image: House Call: Jon's Contemporary Hybrid) SHARE EMAIL  ATVIDEO OF THE DAY 00:00  SPONSORED STORIES  How to Protect Your Fleet Against Cold Weather U.S. Cellular  Type in Your Name, Wait 7 Seconds, Brace Yourself TruthFinder  Small Space? These 7 Décor Hacks Will Keep You Styling Chairish  How To: Get Rid of Dark Under Eye Circles Health Headlines Recommended by 35 COMMENTS unnecessary::necessaries 8 years ago we just recently adopted a cat from a local shelter great tips, will help us out a bunch when taking an out of town trip - thanks :) FLAG REPLY emmaduck 8 years ago Do other people here really think it's necessary to tell your landlord you are going out of town? I've never even considered this before (but I'm a new renter). FLAG REPLY AnaH 8 years ago Congratulations on your adoption! I have a binder that has all my cats info in it and directions to our vet and the 24 hour animal hospital, I leave that out with treats (for humans and cats) and spare keys. FLAG REPLY SHOW 32 MORE COMMENTS Join the Conversation! Enter your email to sign in or to create an account  email address NEXT Need help? Click here.  SPONSORED STORIES  Credit card rewards keep getting bigger. We found the cards with astronomical rewards. Credit Karma  Don't Miss These 5 Dirt-Cheap Home-Staging Ideas Bankrate  Save Money & Boost Efficiency With Fleet Tracking Solutions U.S. Cellular  Best Arthritis Supplements Yahoo Search Recommended by SPONSORED POST Search House Tours by Room & Color Looking for color inspiration? You can now search Apartment Therapy House Tours by room and color and find how to get… KEEP READING NEXT POST   READ NEXT: 10 Inspirational Images for Camping in Style Flickr Find: A Makeshift Landing Strip  Taryn Williford Jul 8, 2009 reader submissions SHARE EMAIL 3  We all want to have the perfect little landing strip. A convenient area by the doorway we use most with plenty of surfaces and enough storage to drop all of the day's burdens—your cell phone, iPod, wallet or purse, mail and keys—and enter your serene and peaceful place (Hey, spending all night curled up at your desk clicking through Facebook can be very relaxing!). But sometimes... landing strips just happen. We spotted this image on Flickr of a landline cordless phone doing double duty as a landing strip. In this case, being the kitchen's go-to spot for takeout menus. Of all the reasons for keeping landlines around, like the benefits of a non-cell-phone in an emergency or just the fact that real handsets can be so damn sexy looking sometimes, we've never seen their possible double life as a storage unit as one of them. What do you think? Does this makeshift landing strip remind you of a space in your home? Let us know in the comments. Image from devinlynnx at Flickr with a Creative Commons license. SHARE EMAIL   SPONSORED STORIES  A Fast Way To Pay Off $10,000 In Credit Card Debt Credit Karma  Last Minute Cruise Deals Are Right Here Yahoo Search  rag & bone's Passion For Quality Extends Beyond Clothing rag & bone Official | Designer Clothing, Shoes & Accessories  21 Car Cleaning Tricks You'll Wish You Knew Earlier Reader's Week Recommended by 3 COMMENTS CassieB1 8 years ago It reminds me of many spaces in my own home, in that someone is trying to cram a bunch of junk in a space that doesn't work at all practically OR aesthetically. It looks terrible, and what happens when you take one of those menus out? I can imagine that all coming loose and fluttering to the floor. FLAG REPLY Joan A. 8 years ago It reminds me of many things in my home that I'm trying to change. FLAG REPLY ctmagnus 8 years ago My mother used to do that with the kitchen phone. But then the calendar hanging over the phone was replaced with a larger one, and she got a phone that didn't have a huge back, and both of these caused her to have to stop using the phone for this purpose. FLAG REPLY Join the Conversation! Enter your email to sign in or to create an account  email address NEXT Need help? Click here.  TOP 10 IKEA HACK PREDICTIONS FOR 2017 #9: BARKABODA Wood Countertop IKEA's description: The herringbone pattern has a beautifully pleasing geometry to the eye. In BARKABODA countertop the… KEEP READING NEXT POST SUBMIT A STORY Got a tip, home tour, or other story our readers should see? TELL US ABOUT IT! © 1994–2017 Apartment Therapy, LLC. ADVERTISE WITH US ABOUT CONTACT PRESS PRIVACY POLICY OUR TEAM JOBS SITE MAP