#maybe I should reach out to the etsy store I got it from and see if they do repairs

[obstinaterixatrix]

those fucking action live watches are so expensive too, they’re like $300 minimum

[superhero--imagines]

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Part 2 Here!/ Part 3 Here! / Playlist Here!

* Sorry guys but this mans been living in my head rent free

* So the first time you see Satoru it’s with those black specs he likes to wear and you get a glance at those GORGEOUS eyes

* He meets your eyes for a second before looking away, it’s the briefest of interactions

* But your heart is racing and you can feel the familiar heat of attraction starting to lap at your face

* ‘He looks just like a prince’ you think

* You find out pretty fast the ‘prince’ similarities stop at appearance

* “Ah it’s not my fault you’re so weak~” You hear him say with the princely smile as he teases Utahime

* It looks like he’s held something so high she can’t reach it

* “Try your best, if you drink plenty of milk I’m sure you’ll be tall enough one day~” he says before laughing with that same princely face

* “You shouldn’t pick on those that are weaker than you” Geto intervenes, somehow making the entire situation worse

* You watch as Gojo laughs

* You’re starting to think he might be the real curse you need to exorcise

* You continue watching him as Utahime tries to kick him in the crotch

* “You silly girl, did you forget there’s an infinity between us?” Cue Gojo’s “A-hahahahaha” laugh

* Yeah, he’s definitely a demon

* You keep your distance, Gojo’s beautiful and all, but you’re not dumb, you’ve heard about the Satoru clan.

* “Hey Geto-Kun, who do you think would win in a fight me or a lion?”

* Besides that guy is way too reckless, you’d rather not get all mixed up in that if you can help it

* You watch as Satoru takes his shirt off, his well defined chest glistening

* Still, you’re grateful for the show

* Little do you know the famous Gojo Satoru has taken note of you as well

* Naturally given his ability he notices everyone, but he especially takes note of you

* It’s not because you stand out, quite the opposite

* You blend into the background easily, supporting others when needed

* But not to the degree where you unable to defend yourself, or you’re sacrificing your own life for someone else

* He grins

* Looks like he found something interesting

* You’re at the vending machine eyes racking over the drink selection

* But there’s another thirst quenching sight right next to you, their hand resting on the vending machine, that princely smile aimed right at you-

* “So what do you say?” Satoru asks, and you start to wonder if that princely smile seems just a bit wolfish “Do you want to be my lover?”

* You’re kind of annoyed

* What an impetuous question, you can count on one hand how many times you’ve spoken to each other, and you only need both hands to count the words said in each of those encounters

* “No”

* You turn your attention back to your drink choices, it’s pleasant weather so you don’t want anything hot.

* Anything carbonated is out of the-

* Gojo moves closer, peering into your face with that grin

* Ugh does he have to stand so close

* “Why ‘no’? I know you think I’m attractive”

* “I also think you’re a womanizer with a god complex”

* And really why shouldn’t he be?

* He’s probably the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen in your life, not to add the sheer power he contains in that body of his

* But just as he has the right to be a womanizer with a god complex, you have the right not to take part in that narrative

* He backs away, leaning back against the wall

* So he’s not going to deny it

* Well, at least he’s somewhat self aware

* Those clear blue eyes catch yours again, and you have to fight against every human instinct from showing any human reaction

* You turn back to the vending machine making your selection when a smile lilts onto his mouth

* “Friends then”

* “Just colleagues” you reply, grabbing your drink

* But as you walk by you push a canned beverage into his chest.

* It’s a can of green tea

* It’s his favorite drink

* He looks to you seeing a bottle glinting in your hand

* So you didn’t sacrifice your own thirst, but you also didn’t ignore his needs

* He feels that same wolffish grin curl onto his mouth

* “What an entertaining person”

* After that if you’re anywhere within a 50 feet radius of him he’ll go out of his way to get your attention

* “Oh wow, looking especially radiant this morning (Y/N/N)” he’ll say with a playful seductive wink

* When you don’t respond he tries annoying you instead

* “Ah you can’t reach that? Here let me-” and then he’ll proceed to hold it even further out of your reach

* He’s expecting you to jump up and down, or at least give some sort of response but you just walk away

* Well that wasn’t what he expected

* He feels that grin spread across his face again

* Very interesting

* His attraction to you is pretty shallow

* He’s interested you because you’re entertaining

* And you’re entertaining because you aren’t interested

* Which only makes him that much more interested in you

* Its a paradox

* You watch him flounder around, annoying Utahime for a giggle

* Well it doesn’t matter anyway, you know how he is, he’ll get bored soon enough and lose all interest in you

* He’s not the strongest {f*ckboy} for nothing

* You see him turn to meet your gaze, offering a boyish smile and a wink

* You make sure not to give any reaction, turning to listen to something Shoko is telling you

* You hope he can’t sense the twinge of heat you feel on your face

* You’d be lying if you said you didn’t find the attention a little flattering

* I think for the most part you’re right, Satoru is mostly playing around-

* At least at first.

* You’re just something new and fun no one knows about, and wildly entertaining since you never respond the way he thinks you will

* You’re kind, but not at the expense of yourself, and he likes that

* Besides you’ve got this quite sort of consideration for others-

* It’s not flashy, it’s so subtle most people hardly notice

* It’s in the way you bring an extra snack for Utahime when she’s running herself ragged training

* “They were having a two for one special”

* Or the way you’ll get your teacher a plushie you saw at a shop at the station because you know he needs more

* “I just thought it was cute, but I haven’t got any room for another one”

* You’re quiet, someone who hears things and she’s things, but never says anything about them

* A wallflower

* But you’re not weak

* There’s something about those two things put together in the same person that entertains him to no end. Like a paradox or a puzzle he can’t seem to solve no matter how hard he tries

* Satoru’s had at least a hundred lovers, and a great many of them had provided him with their own brand of kindness and consideration

* But he’s never felt something as warm as when he see’s a lunch box in his dorm after he hobbles back from a mission that lasted a little longer than expected

* He peers at the note attached, it’s not even signed but he knows it’s from you

* “I know you think you’re god or whatever, but even gods have to eat”

* He doesn’t know why, but he’s overcome with the urge to cry

* He gulps hard- it’s not like this a lunch you made by hand or anything, it’s just something from the convenience store

* And it’s not like this note is particularly affectionate or special either, he’s gotten entire love letters from his previous lovers

* So he’s not sure why he saves your note, placing it behind a picture frame where only he’ll know it is , or why he thinks that convenience store lunchbox is the most delicious thing he’s ever had

* Even though he knows he cares about you, and that he’s grown quite fond of you -

* I don’t think it clicks for him

* And part of that is because well, he’s Gojo Satoru

* He collects lovers like some people collect photographs or memories

* They serve their purpose, and he lets himself be entertained by pretending all the feelings are real, and then he moves on to the next one

* It’s just what he’s used to

* And this whole paradox you two have going on could go on for a few years until something finally shifts

* He went a little too far with one his half-flirting-half-tormenting pranks

* And for the first time you give him a reaction, it’s only for a second, but annoyance and anger mar you face

* And then just like that, it’s gone and you turn and walk off in the other direction

* Sh*t.

* He went too far didn’t he?

* It should be fine right? You’re not too mad at him right? You’ll get over it-

* Right?

* But for the next few days you don’t speak to him, and you don’t make eye contact

* It bothers him more than it should

* Normally he would be annoyed that his toy would have the gall to blatantly ignore him like this-

* But this is different than that.

* He’s-

* He’s feeling regret

* He shouldn’t have acted that way to you, maybe if he had just done something differently, or said something differently-

* It’s not like the way things were between you two was ideal or anything,

* But at least then you would at least speak to him

* ... and every once in while he would get to see you smile

* It’s never at him, it’s mostly when you’re with Shoko or Utahime

* Occasionally when you’re with Nanami or Geto, who you’ve been talking to more recently

* He’s pretty sure you three are talking about him, just one day away from forming a “down with Gojo Satoru” club

* Still that smile when you laugh-

* The way you look so carefree and young and so full of life is worth all the slander in the world to him

* He needs to see that smile, to know something that wholesome and kind exists somewhere in this cruel world

* Satoru’s thinking about how to go about apologizing to you

* He’s caught between buying you a Lamborghini or buying you a special grade tool when he ends up running into you

* “Ah, could you help me with something?”

* He would quite literally give you the clothes on his back right now if you asked

* You stand up on a a chair holding a glass of water

* “Apparently this is supposed to help with concentration or something” You say pressing the glass full of water to the ceiling

* “Can you hold this broom?” You ask and Satoru nods, holding the broom handle steady as you make sure it’s pushed against the glass holding it steady

* You nod approvingly down at him

* The rest happens pretty fast, you’re off the chair, carrying it away

* “The broom is actually a special grade tool, so cursed energy won’t work on it”

* You grin

* “Have fun figuring how to get out of that Baka Prince!” You say with a laugh

* And Satoru is dumbfounded

* But not because you just pranked him into a holding up a glass of water with a broom

* But because as you were rushing away, you showed him your teasing grin

* It’s the first time you smiled at him

* And as he looks up at the glass of water, a smile slowly spreads across his face

* It’s not the wolffish smile he usually has when he’s around you, or the princely smile he uses when he’s trying to get something

* It’s a genuine smile

* Ah, so that’s it

* He’s fallen in love with you

* If you’re not the one entertaining him, then he’s just not interested

* Ah geez

* He was so focused on trying to get you to fall in love with him that he really didn’t see this coming

* Well he’ll have to start being serious about pursuing you now-

* Though for you to pull off something like this on him tells him you’re his ideal match without a doubt

* A wallflower with a mischievous streak, he likes that.

* He scratches his head with his free hand

* “I wonder how I’m supposed to get out of this?” He muses looking up at the glass full of water

[harrypotter-imaginess]

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Part 1 Here!

A/N: I think, maybe one more part and an epilogue and it's done haha.

- “You know I love spending time with you Reg-“

- Regulus looks up from his parchment to meet your eyes

- “But do we really have to hang out here?”

- He looks around the secret chamber in the clocktower in the courtyard you two are currently situated in

- The sliver of golden light streaming in through the clock’s face practically glowing on his parchment

- “Is there something wrong with this place?”

- He used to come here all the time when he was trying to get away from his “friends”

- He thought it was pretty pleasant

- A nice quiet place to study

- You just raise an eyebrow

- “Reg, you seriously see nothing wrong with sitting in a dust-ridden chamber and doing our homework by streams of sunlight?”

- It’s almost pathetic really, you both have to sit right by the face of the clock to get even a sliver of light so you can see where you’re writing/reading

- For a second, a single moment, you wonder if Regulus is ashamed to be seen with you

- But it vanishes as soon as it appears

- No, Reg isn’t like that

- You’ve had faith in him until now, not believing the rumors but instead trusting your eyes, and you’re not going to stop

- You’ve got some regrets

- But you know choosing to trust Regulus will never be one of them

- what Regulus says knocks you off your feet though

- “ I do it all the time at home,” he says automatically with a shrug

- Three seconds later his eyes punch shut

- He shouldn’t have said that

- And sure enough, when his eyes rise to meet yours you’re looking at him with a stern expression

- “They make you study in the dark?!?” You hiss, he imagines you’re whispering so you keep yourself from yelling

- “No they make me read in the dark,” He says it like there’s some great big difference or something.

- Ever since he opened up to you about his home life, you’ve been almost protective of him

- He’s started to patch things up with Sirius, but not in the eyes of others

- Mostly in carefully concealed letters and occasionally in the dead of night in the astronomy tower

- It’s not a ton, they still have to act indifferent to the rest of the world

- For Regulus’s safety

- But it’s already better than it was

- But of course, you don’t know that, he’s been especially careful that you don’t find out because it could mean danger for you

- He’s only opened his mouth, about to tell you:

- ‘It’s not that bad, it’s just when the lights on late at night his parents get suspicious he’s doing something he shouldn’t -which he technically is since he’s mostly reading Muggle books you recommended or writing letters to you- and will warrant a search’

- When you cup his face in your hands

- “You shouldn’t have to do that Reg” your eyes seem glassy, eyebrows threaded together as your lips pull into a fine line

- Adorable really

- It’s cute how you get so upset for him

- He’d have laughed if he wasn’t so away of how soft your hands were as they touched his face

- He shuts his eyes for a moment, relishing in the gentle comfort the skinship brings

- “They’re my family” he murmurs, nuzzling his face into your touch

- He says it like there’s nothing else to say

- Like it’s an irreversible fact of life

- And maybe it is because as long as he’s alive he’ll never be able to change the fact that he and his family are connected

- That he’s a Black

- The thought makes your mouth pull a little tighter

- It makes you angry

- Because when a family is that terrible to you, well it’s nothing more than a curse

- Before you know what you’re doing you squeeze his face and say:

- “Then I’ll be your family from now on”

- .

- ..

- ...

- Regulus’s eyes are wide as he stares at you

- You feel your face grow warm, mouth opening and closing-

- Why did you say that?!?!?

- Your searching for the right words, your hands about to move from his face when his hands cover your own

- “Is that a proposal (Y/N)?”

- There’s a teasing glint in Regulus’s eyes and you feel your face grow even warmer

- You would hide your face if he weren’t holding your hands in place

- “ Regulus (L/N) does have a good ring to it don’t you think?”

- You groan pulling your hands free so you can finally hide

- “Please stop teasing me I didn’t-“

- “Who says I’m teasing?”

- You look at him and he has the most tender expression as his fingers push a strand of hair behind your ears

- “W-what do you mean?”

- His smile doesn’t dim in the slightest, his eyes warm

- He moves closer to you at an impossibly slow pace

- You wait with bated breath

- And when he’s only an inch away he whispers

- “You’re smart (Y/N), so don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out”

- And then he kisses you

- His lips brush against yours

- It’s shy of even a peck

- As he retreats back, eyes fluttering open, you move with him pressing your lips against his more forcefully

- He almost stumbles back from the movement. Catching himself with a hand placed behind his hand

- His other hand threading into your hair

- Regulus has kissed people before

- Underneath the mistletoe at Slughorns Christmas party

- In the gardens at the pureblood balls

- One in a shadow in the corridor

- But it’s never been like this

- Where one kiss turns into two

- And then two into four

- And before he knows what’s happening he’s lost track of how many kisses you’ve exchanged

- All he can think about is the taste of your mouth

- The feel of your hair, the soft skin on your face, the tender feeling of his hands on your waist

- He feels like he’s drunk, almost dizzy with joy, completely intoxicated on you

- He only comes back to his senses when you place a hand on his chest and push back slightly

- “Stop” you whisper, and the world alone is enough to make him feel stone-cold sober

- “Not here, not like this”

- You’re sprawled on the floor of the clocktower, both of your hands pressing against his chest, pressing him back

- And he’s hovering over you, one of his legs pinned on either side of you, one his hands on your face, and the other is underneath the hem of your shirt

- He jerks his hands away from your waist

- When did he get on top of you like this?

- “Sorry I didn’t realize-“ his words stutter to a stop as he moves off of you

- He doesn’t even know when the situation escalated this much

- Weren’t you just exchanging chaste kisses a second ago

- He feels awful, he hasn’t even taken you on a date and he’s already pushing past your boundaries

- But you don’t let him feel awful for too long

- You thread your fingers through his, lifting his hand so you can press kisses to it

- “It’s not that I didn’t like it,” because you did, his hands were so warm, and he smelled so good

- It felt so soft

- So comforting

- But

- “ I just didn’t want to do it here” the place is covered with dust, and you’re pretty sure you felt a spider crawl up your leg at one point

- It’s just not hygienic

- You’re a little nervous you’ve upset him, most guys would

- Most boys wouldn’t have stopped when you told them, offering reasons to keep going, pushing a little bit further than you liked before retreating

- They certainly wouldn’t have found themselves away like Regulus did

- And of course, Regulus doesn’t get upset, how could he?

- He squeezes your hand, looking down at you kindly

- “No it’s okay. I’m more than happy to wait for anything more than a kiss until I’m officially Regulus (L/N)”

- You shove him away and he starts laughing

- “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?” Your face feels like it’s burning

- He only laughs harder, following you when you gather your things and start to leave

- “Don’t tell me you’re taking it back, you’re breaking my maiden heart over here (Y/N)” he grins when he sees you even more embarrassed As you walk through an empty courtyard

- You look mad, but you intertwine your fingers with his when he reaches for your hand

- And for now, it’s enough

Bonus:

- “So does this mean I’m you’re boyfriend now?”

- “Obviously”

- You’re scribbling away into your parchment, rushing to get all the answers down, your hand firmly held in his

- You hope he doesn’t hear how quick your heart is racing

- “So should I tell all our friends were dating with the intention of making me an official (L/N) in mind?”

- “I’m breaking up with you”

[incomingalbatross]

GF Fic: (Insert Time-Related Pun Here)

Having a birthday on the last day of summer was great when you were a kid.

When you were in college and vacation ended somewhere in the last third of August? Not so much.

“Grunkle Ford, I...I don’t think Mabel and I can make it to Gravity Falls,” Dipper confessed, the day before his twenty-second birthday.

“Is it the travel time?” Ford asked from the other end of the phone. “If your usual transportation is too slow, we can call in a favor or two for you kids—I know plenty of entities that would be happy to give you a lift as a birthday present—”

“No, I know, I know,” Dipper said, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “And I really appreciate that, Grunkle Ford, I just...it’s not the travel, it’s being there. The other years we’ve been in college, our birthday was always on a weekend—last year was a Monday, but we spent that year with you guys instead of in school—”

“Thank goodness that seer tipped us off about her vision of 2020!” Ford agreed. “Taking a gap year to sail the Arctic with us was definitely the right decision for you two.”

“Right? Half a semester of online classes was more than enough. But—I mean, maybe it’s being back in school after being gone for a year, maybe it’s just early-semester problems, but...” Dipper sighed. “It’s just, I’m taking five classes, and I’ve got a TA job this year, and I’m getting back into the DD&MD group again and maybe planning to DM a oneshot as a Halloween event, and...” He sighed again. “It all looked much more manageable on my schedule. It was color-coded and everything!”

Grunkle Ford hummed noncommittally.

“Yeah, I know,” Dipper admitted. “Not the first time I’ve overbooked myself.”

“Not quite, perhaps. But it’s very good that you’re learning to recognize it and take steps to take care of yourself—when I was in college, I burned out routinely.”

“Mabel would sic the ‘Self-Care Fairy’ on me again if I didn’t learn.” The “Self-Care Fairy” was a truly terrifying onslaught of Mabelness, complete with costume and character voice, and would not go away until its subject had reached an acceptable level of well-being and had examined their mistakes. “Which is why...I have to cancel. If I came to Gravity Falls, even with instant travel, I’d only be able to get there around like 5:00 PM and I’d be stressed and anxious the whole time. And then I’d get back here exhausted and with no homework done and with class tomorrow, and...I just don’t think I can afford that.” Dipper paused, a knot twisting in his stomach. “I’m really sorry, I wish we could come...”

“Of course, Dipper, we know you do!” Grunkle Ford hastened to assure him. “Don’t feel sorry for us—of course we’d love to see you, but we just had the summer together. I’m just sorry you’re so short on time.” There was a moment’s silence.

“But how is Mabel doing? Is she facing the same challenges?”

“I mean, sort of.” Dipper smiled ruefully. “She kept trying to figure out some solution so that we could have our usual birthday and everything would work out, but...neither of us could come up with anything that would actually work. And she’s really busy too. She jumped back into school full steam ahead, and she’s got her Etsy store, and all her social groups to keep up with—you know she’s better at managing her energy than I am, but it’s still a lot.”

“I understand that,” Ford said. “You both do what you need to to keep up with your responsibilities, okay? We’re very proud of you both, you know.”

Dipper swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I know, Grunkle Ford.”

“Well, then, I’ll let you go—I imagine you have plenty to do right now! We’ll get in touch with you tomorrow, even if only by text.”

“Thank you, Grunkle Ford! Mabel and I are going to video-call at some point, we think, so there’s that. Say hi to Stan and Soos and Melody and the kids and everyone for me?”

“Of course, my boy. Have a good evening.”

“You too.”

The call disconnected, and Dipper sighed, throwing himself down on his bed. After a minute, he picked up his phone again and texted Mabel.

Just called Ford and canceled plans. He said to take care of ourselves and that he and Stan are proud of us.

Then he pushed himself into the homework for tomorrow until his phone buzzed.

Aww, of course he did. <3 Thanks for calling, brobro. I wish we could go, but you were right--I’ve got WAY too much booked. Why didn’t we check what weekday our birthday was FIRST???

Dipper snorted. Maybe we’re dumb :/

IMPOSSIBLE, Mabel sent back. Clearly an evil College Schedule Gremlin messed with our brains

Is that the same guy who makes it so you can never take the prereqs you need when you need them?

Yep!! And the one who fogs your brain so you THINK you’ve filled all your requirements until it’s too late to patch up the holes in your plan. His phone buzzed a second time after that text. ...Ugh, maybe there ARE gremlins in all the college systems

It would explain Blackboard, Dipper agreed with a frown. Huh, maybe they should look into that...

Anyway, though, u good for Zoom tomorrow?

Dipper huffed, reminded of the fact that they had no time for a paranormal investigation right now. Yeah, he typed, I can do an hour or so anytime after 5:30.

Cool, I will figure out a time and let you know!! Can’t wait to see your 22-year-old face!! :) Even if it sucks that we can’t party :(

Same, same. TTYL :)

Dipper tossed his phone aside again, shutting his eyes for a minute. It wasn’t just the party that had him down—though he would miss the bash that Gravity Falls usually threw on their birthday. It was...everything.

It was having a birthday without Mabel.

Oh, sure, they would talk, but they wouldn’t be in the same place. That was why, really, he’d hung onto their plans until the very last minute. He’d made it work on paper—taking an evening to travel to Gravity Falls, have a party, and be back in time for the next class—and it just felt wrong to admit defeat, to compromise on something this important. Their birthday meant the two of them celebrating together, having a good time, acknowledging that it was important.

This year wasn’t going to feel like a birthday at all, Dipper thought glumly.

But no, that was quitter talk. They were going to do their best anyway, because they were the Mystery Twins! Even if the situation was lame. Even if he was going to spend his time on the call with Mabel tomorrow doing homework and/or bursting with stress.

He opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. “Why do I always overfill my schedule?” he asked plaintively.

The ceiling didn’t answer.

---

Dipper dropped his backpack with a thud on his dorm room floor, hastily unzipping it and digging out his laptop. He was late—he’d left his thermos in his last classroom, and been halfway across campus before he realized and turned around to go get it. He blamed his sleep deprivation (a week in, and his body still hadn’t readjusted to the rhythm of morning classes).

Now, though, he could finally pull up Zoom. He plugged in his headphones as he waited for it to connect (stupid dorm wifi), and was rewarded with an ear-splitting squeal.

“Happy birthday, Dipper!”

He grinned at her beaming face. “Happy birthday, Mabel!”

“Did you get a birthday cupcake?” she demanded. “Or at least a birthday cookie?”

He grimaced. “I got ice cream at the cafeteria, but I had to eat it there,” he confessed. “Here, I’ve got...a birthday candy bar?”

“Hmph.” Mabel looked crestfallen, but plastered a smile on anyway. “It’ll have to do! We can sing Happy Birthday, anyway. One, two, thr—”

Before they could launch into an inevitably out-of-sync rendition of “Happy Birthday,” Dipper heard a loud knock. Judging by Mabel’s startled turn towards her door, she heard it too—

Wait, what?

The knocking repeated. On both their doors.

“..Huh,” Mabel said thoughtfully. With a wordless glance between them, they both unplugged their headphones and went to their respective doors.

“Happy birthday, slugger!” Stan said, grinning, the instant he saw Dipper. Over the internet, Ford’s voice was greeting Mabel at the same time.

Dipper’s jaw dropped.

“Ha!” Grunkle Stan shoved past him into the room. Waving to the camera, he added, “Happy birthday, sweetie!”

Ford peered past Mabel into the screen. “Happy birthday, Dipper, my boy!”

“But—what—”

“Grunkles!” Mabel cried. “...But wait, why not just video call us? Not that we’re not happy to see your wrinkly faces, but you came such a long way!”

“Yeah, exactly,” Dipper said, waving his arm in confusion. “You guys—you know we can’t really visit, right? Even with you with us? We don’t have time. I dont want you guys to waste a trip—”

“But we didn’t,” Ford said smugly. “We came to bring your birthday presents.”

With a flourish, Stan produced something and handed it to Dipper. It looked like...a piggy bank, but with a clock face set into the side?

Mabel gasped. “It’s so CUTE!”

“But what is it, Grunkle Ford?” Dipper asked.

“Simply put, my boy...it’s time.”

“It’s a Time-Savings Bank,” Stan said proudly. “Got our hands on these babies a few months ago, on a little side trip. See, when you’ve got some extra time—like, at night, or when you’re waiting for a pot to boil, or whatever—you can use these gizmos to store it up instead! Then when you need more time, you use the clock to take it back out. Whammo! You squeeze in a few extra hours between the normal ones.”

“Like Daylight Saving Time without the false advertising,” Ford added. “We know you two are short on time right now, but...if you’d like, there’s enough in here to give you and everyone currently at the Mystery Shack a good few hours of spare time. What do you say, kids? Still up for a party?”

“Are we!” Mabel crowed.

Dipper stared at this miraculous device. “But...that’s a lot of hours,” he said. “Where did you get the time?”

Stan barked out a laugh. “You kiddin’, Dipper? We figured from the start that at least one of you would burn out when you went back to school. We’ve been putting time aside in these things for months.”

“...Really?” Dipper said. Somehow, he found himself blinking rapidly, and swallowing down some obstruction in his throat.

Stan coughed uncomfortably, looking away. “I mean, it’s not like we gave you any time we had a use for. Just some odds and ends here and there...every day... Anyway! You kids wanna get this show on the road?”

“YES!” Mabel shouted.

Dipper beamed. “Definitely,” he said. “Absolutely.”

And a few minutes later, when they all found themselves in the Shack (courtesy of one of those “favors” Ford had mentioned yesterday), and Dipper had piled into the inevitable group hug with his twin and his grunkles—and with hours of birthday celebration in front of them all—he had to add, “Best present ever.”

[blueluneacy]

Soaps and Special Drinks

I wrote a giant melone x reader off a fantasy i had at work. enjoy

word count: 4k

warnings: delusional yandere, not sfw, breeding kink, stalking, public sex, aphrodisiacs, forced drugging, major dub con, does making someone uncomfy at work count? idk but its there

You didn’t hear her until she called your name for the third time, and when you did, you nearly fell over.

“Oh god, what happened, what did I miss, I wasn’t asleep, my eyes were open!” You yelled, leaving your manager to jump.

“(Y/n), it’s okay, don’t worry!’ She said, laughing a bit to herself. “Don’t worry, I was just going to ask about what was happening and if you needed anything. But it looks like nothing is happening.” She sighed. You nodded, looking around the shop. You worked at a small, handmade soap. The soaps in here were beautiful, but the shop itself was quiet, only getting a few customers. The bulk of sales ended up being online at the owner’s etsy shop, with the actual building simply being in their family for the last 300 years, making it hard to part with. You didn’t mind, the soap was nice, you often got to take some of it home, and the work was easy. But you couldn’t deny that god, it was really god damn boring. 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry, I’m just… Really bored.” You laughed, your manager just sighing.

“I can take the front of shop for a bit and you can play on your phone or something. You don’t have to just stand there all day.”

“I don’t mind it. Gives me time to think. Besides, I see you playing on your phone in front of shop all the time, I know that I can do it right here if I wanted to.” You hummed, your manager just rolling her eyes.

“I put it away when a customer shows up, don’t you worry. And what is it that you’re always thinking about, huh? A boyfriend?” She teased. You rolled your eyes.

“You know that I don’t have anyone like that in my life. I end up thinking about stupid stuff. Like what would happen if cows became four feet taller, or something.” You told her. It was a lie, of course, but you could never admit what actually went through your mind.

After all, how could you admit that you were just sitting there thinking about otome games and anime characters? It was nice to sit and think about lots of handsome men loving you. Maybe you played too many video games or watched too much anime.

“Alright, alright. Keep sitting with your weird thoughts.” She teased, the two of you laughing before the bell at the door rang as it swung open. 

The two of you stared as you saw the man walk in. He was so strangely dressed, and he was wearing a mask. Is this some sort of bad Dread Pirate Roberts cosplay? Half of his shirt was missing, which you sort of wanted to chalk up to bad sewing, but you also knew that it merely could be bad fashion. People around here are weird looking. He had choppy purple hair that covered one of his eyes, making you think that maybe the whole mask thing was meant to be an eye patch more than anything. You weren’t an expert in eyeball health. Still, you smiled brightly at the customer, not wanting to offend as you walked over to him, ready to assist in any way possible.

“Hello, Welcome! Is there anything in particular that you were looking for today?” You asked, Melone looking over at you before his eyes widened. God, you were just so… So god damn cute! The apron you were wearing hugged your curves so well, your body was so cute in the way you held yourself, smiling as you looked up at the man. He could just notice your tummy under the apron, a shudder going through his body as he saw your bright, smiling demeanor looking up at him.

“Oh, I heard that there were handmade facial products here? I’m looking for something a little more natural in my skin care routine.”  He replied, looking down to see your little name tag, smiling as he got the information. “Ah, I suppose then you could help me, (Y/n)?”

You forced your grin a little wider when he said your name, before nodding, waving him over and you brought him over to a little corner of the store. You don’t know why, but it seemed to only make you uncomfortable when people did things like read off your name tag. Which seems silly, after all, it was there for a reason, but still.

“Of course, sir, let me show you. Are you looking for something like a cleanser? We also have exfoliate scrubs, made all in house.” You told him. Melone just hummed, leaning over the products and moving a bit too much into your personal space as he pulled off his gloves. 

“You can call me Melone, sweetheart, no need for the formalities. And do any of these have scents in their formulas? I would hate to break out from oils…” He asked, touching his face lightly. You just smiled, shaking your head. You took note of his name, trying to keep yourself smiling

“Any scents that the product has is from the actual parts, not from anything we add. Like, our coffee ground scrub smells like coffee, because you know. We also have some regular facial soap, all in bar form, that we have, if you’d like to see. I can also make some samples for you, and we have a sink where you can try out some of the testers we have out.” You told him. He just smiled, nodding as he looked around a bit.

“That’s all well and good, but what would you recommend before bed? I need to remove my makeup, and so many cleansers are for the morning.” He complained. You just smiled, looking around and grabbing the giant pot of what you were looking for.

“Here we go! This stuff kills at removing any makeup. It’s made with shea butter, honey and rose water, with a little bit of tea tree oil in there for that calming feeling.” You said, reaching in and using a little spoon to put some on one of the little dishes your store carried, and then handed it to him. “Go on, go to the sink and check it out! You should also really check out our poppy soap too, it has poppy seeds in it which honestly? My skin has never been better.” You chuckled. Melone looked at you, before smiling and nodding. If that soap was what gave you such a glow, then he would definitely have to try it. You sighed as you went back to the counter next to your manager, watching the man as he washed his hands, his eyes widening before he grabbed one of the little papers you had next to the table, and a pen. Since everything here was served in whatever amount the customer wanted, the shop kept papers for customers to make a list of what they wanted.

“What is it now, daydreaming about a customer?” Your manager teased, leaving you to roll your eyes.

“Do you want him instead? He was all in my personal space.” You replied.

“Oh, cheer up, he wasn’t that bad. A little weird, but harmless. And you really need to get used to the idea that Italians don’t have a notion of personal space. You practically lost it when that old lady grabbed your hand.” 

“Hey, that was a while ago, that’s not fair! I think I’m used to it now, he’s just sort of creepy. Melone…” You mumbled his name to yourself, Melone’s ears perking up as heard you speak about him. Oh, your name sounded so good rolling off your tongue. He wanted to hear it over and over again, make you make the sound, scream it, moan it-

“I think I have my list ready, cara. Care to help me out?” Melone asked, coming over to the counter and leaning over it, handing the list over to you. You just took it from his hands, looking over the list before sighing.

“Can you get the bar soap while I get the cleanser?” You asked, writing down what you needed in the liquid before handing out the rest of the list to her. She nodded, walking off with a small smile on her face before you just sighed, going to get the cleanser. You grabbed one of the small glass jars you had, before putting it on the scale, taring it out after placing down the glass. 

“Five hundred grams, right?” You asked, only for Melone to nod. 

“Yes. It’s heavier, so it’ll be less than what I assume it’s going to be, so I might as well just go for it. I’ll use it anyway.” He replied, watching the way you reached into the pot and carefully scooped out the cleanser. You were so focused, he couldn’t help but imagine what you would look like in a domestic situation, maybe using a serving spoon to scoop out sauce for dinner, maybe just for the two of them. Maybe you would be in a cute little apron like the one you were in now, your feet bare and your hair loose as you grew heavy with his child-

In that moment, Melone felt a plan start to form in his mind.

The rest of the transaction went fine, in all honesty. Melone seemed as though he was suddenly in a hurry, that he forgot that he had something to do, purchasing his items and leaving with a quick “Ciao!”. You could tell that he was speed walking down the street, but you didn’t really care. Maybe you were over exaggerating, and he was just some normal gy, albeit oddly dressed. Still, it didn’t really matter to you. The fact that the store was empty meant that you could go back to your daydreams.

You were so grateful when the store finally closed. As the two of you locked up, you pulled your coat closer to your body, looking around.

“You should be careful now going home. It’s dark a lot earlier now, I’m afraid that maybe there might be some bad actors in the alleyways…” Your manager sighed. You nodded in agreement, the thoughts of how dangerous this city was becoming as Passione moved themselves in running through the both of your minds. Your manager had talked about moving, not wanting her kids to grow up here, and you couldn’t blame her. But both of you knew deep down that no matter where you went, the mafia probably lurked there somewhere.

“I will, don’t fret. Text you when I get home?” You asked, giving her a smile. She just smiled back and nodded.

“Don’t zone out and forget, alright? I’ll text you when I’m home as well!” She said, before waving, the two of you walking off in separate directions.

You hummed slightly to yourself as you walked down the street. You made sure to stay close to the streetlight, but you could swear that you could see something out of the corner of your eye, the feeling of being watched harsh in your stomach. You turned around often just to check, but no one was there. You must really be losing it today.

Still, it was like you were attracted to what was unknown. You instinctively started to move farther away from the streetlight, to try and see what exactly was going on in the shadows, but nothing was there. You barely even noticed how far you were in the dark until you passed by an alleyway. You didn’t even see the hand that shot out and grabbed onto your collar.

You immediately tried to scream, but you could barely make a sound as lips crashed into yours, your body pressed up against the wall as you squirmed. You winced as your head slammed against the wall, your vision tripling and a groan leaving your mouth and easily swallowed up by Melone. He pulled away, taking deep, harsh breaths, watching as you tried to focus on him.

“Don’t worry cara, it’s only me, didn’t mean to scare you, wanted to surprise you on your way home…” He cooed, pinning your hands above your head and moving to let his lips press against your neck, leaving light kisses and he hummed.

“Wha… Y.. You’re that guy from the soap shop! What are you doing, let me go!” You yelled, starting to squirm. Melone just pouted, as if you had told him a bad insult or you had genuinely hurt his feelings.

“Ah, don’t be like that, bambina. Are you mad because I embarrassed you at work? It’s alright, I’ll make it all better.” He hummed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small vile. He used his teeth to pull out the cork, before letting a drop hit his tongue.

“Yep, it’s still good. Go on, drink this all down, and you’ll feel much better, carina.” He told you. 

“Like hell I’m going to drink anything you give me-” Perhaps you shouldn’t have spoken. When you opened your mouth and started to yell at him again, he just shoved the vial into your mouth, pouring the liquid in before covering your mouth with his hand.

“It’s alright, I know it tastes awful, but you have to drink it all, amore, otherwise it won’t work.” Melone hummed. You just sat there, holding the foul tasting liquid in your mouth before finally caving and swallowing. It wasn’t like you had much of a choice. When Melone felt that you had swallowed, he pulled his hand away, leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss against your forehead.

“Di molto… Good, thank you. It means a lot to me that would trust me like that.” Like you had any other fucking choice. You just let your eyes narrow as you continued to let them dart around for some sort of escape.

“What exactly did you fucking give me?” You hissed, Melone laughing a bit.

“Well, I suppose you’ll feel it momentarily, won’t you? Liquid medication only takes one to four minutes to assimilate…” He hummed. You swallowed, feeling that your mouth was starting to feel really dry. It felt like everything was getting hotter, until your whole body was on fire. You let out a soft whine when you finally opened your mouth to let out a few pants, suddenly out of breath, before squirming again. This time, to try and get rid of the heat that was engulfing you. 

“W-What is this?! Please, it’s so hot, what did you do?!” You cried out, internally cringing at how desperate your voice sounded. But Melone just ate it all up, leaning in to press his body against yours, the outline of his cock making you shudder. God, think, what was happening to you?!

“It’s one of the best aphrodisiacs out there. Only the best for you, bella, I want to make sure that you feel amazing throughout all of this…” He told you, before pressing his lips against yours. You tried to struggle, but god, you were feeling so weak as the drug coursed through your veins, and Melone’s lips felt so good against yours. You felt your knees get weak, your body slipping down the wall that you were leaning against as it became harder and harder for you to support your own weight. Melone just pulled away, watching you sink to the ground as if weighed down by your own lust, smirking to himself. You were so beautiful like that. Melone could see the way you were tugging at your clothing, trying to get them off in some relief from the hell that consumed you. He just chuckled, pulling you up and making you lean on him. You just ended up grabbing onto Melone tightly, trying to take deep breaths.

“Don’t worry bambina. I bet it hurts bad right now, doesn’t it? Maybe I should’ve opened you up first…” Melone thought aloud, before shrugging. Too late now. He reached down to start to pull your panties off, the other arm wrapped around you and firmly holding you against him. He shuddered at the way your soft body pressed up against him, holding onto him like it was the end of the world.

“Don’t worry, (Y/n). I’ll make this heat go away, make you feel all better. You’ll feel perfect and well once you’re fucked full of my children.” He hummed. Despite yourself, you just nodded, desperate for a suggestion that would mean that you would feel better. 

Melone practically jumped in delight, easily pushing two fingers inside of you, relishing in how wet you had become, to the point where you were starting to slick your legs. You moaned, gripping onto Melone tightly and starting to whine shrilling, babbling back at him.

“O-Oh fuck, that feels so good, fuck, please, Melone, pleeeeease…” You whined, already trying to buck against his fingers. It felt so good, but it wasn’t enough, it just wasn’t enough to satisfy you, to make you feel whole again.

“You’re tempting me so much, bambina. You make me want to fuck you right now, god, you’re going to be so full when I’m done with you, my cute little wife.” He told you as he added another finger, scissoring you open. God, if you could hold yourself up, Melone would have no problem getting on his knees and eating you out until you came all over his face. He wondered what cute, fucked out faces you would make after cumming five, ten, a hundred times for him. He felt his cock twitch in his trousers and did his best not to get ahead of himself. He wanted to make sure that you felt just as good as he did, but god, you were making it so hard with those cute faces of yours! The way you were clinging to him, gasping and moaning like a bitch in heat, begging him for more, it was all so much.

“P-Please, fuck, more… It’s still so hot, please, need you so bad…” You mumbled, moving to rest your head against his shoulder as he thrust his fingers into you. He let out a low moan at your words, his hips slightly bucking against you for it. He was so pent up, not wanting to waste a single drop until he found the perfect person to fill up with it, and here you were, all perfect and begging him to breed you full of his children.

“Aww, poor thing. Perhaps I gave you a bit too much…” Melone sighed, pulling his fingers out of you and leaving you to whine in frustration. He pushed his fingers into his mouth and just moaned, shuddering as he tasted your juices. You grabbed onto him tighter, begging for some sort of relief from this hell. When Melone finally pulled his fingers from his mouth, he let his own lips crash against yours, pushing your back against the wall and pressing your chest against his to hold you up while his hands moved to rip his cock out from his trousers.

It was nice, bigger than you expected, and you could see that Melone was well groomed about himself as well. In any normal circumstance, you would be continuing to scream, but as Melone started to rub his cock against you, slicking himself up with your juices, you just moaned.

“Yes, fuck yes! Please, more, give me more, god, fuck me already!” You cried out, squirming and trying to make Melone’s cock catch to try on your entrance. Melone just groaned, moving a hand to grab your hip, before pushing into you slowly. He threw his head back as he moaned, his nails digging into you as he started to move, only pulling his cock out half way before slamming back, leaving you to whine in return.

“Oh, cara, you’re so tight, fuuuuck… You’re so perfect, fuck, my pretty little wife, gonna be such a great mother, fill you up and keep you full of my babies-” Melone groaned, leaning forward and leaning on your shoulder, babbling his nonsense into your ear. And you just ate it all up, nodding and wrapping your arms around him and digging into his back, whining.

“Fuck, yes, please… Feels so good, please, Melone, pleeease…” You whined, holding onto him tightly as you tried to grind against him. Your words were enough to really spring Melone into action, starting to pound against you wildly, mouthing as your neck and leaving harsh bruises. You just scratched at him in return, leaving red welts that might even turn into bruises tomorrow. Melone groaned at the idea of you marking him so primally, the feeling of you marking him as yours just as he was marking you as his. 

“God, you’re all mine, aren’t you? Love you so much, (Y/n), gonna keep you safe, warm, all mine, I’m yours just as much as you’re mine, fuck-” His teeth dug into his lip as he felt the way you were clenching down on him, the signal that your orgasm was fast approaching. Really, it was a miracle that you haven’t cum once or twice already, but perhaps it was something in the back of your mind that was holding you back, keeping you from finishing.

“Mmm, I can feel you’re close… Di molto, that’s perfect, do you want to cum while I breed you? It’ll be a great way to make sure it goes as far as it can.” Melone groaned into your ear, his voice sultry and husky in a way that filled your foggy head with static, only pulling Melone closer as you tried to chase your own orgasm.

“Yes, yes please, fuck, it’s too much, I’m gonna cum, please let me cum, please-” You mewled, on the verge of tears from how pent up you felt, grabbing onto Melone as if he would disappear if you let go.

“Fuck, good, then cum, cum on my cock, make me breed you, gonna fill you up so much, so perfect and soft and round, do it, cum for me, God-!” His voice was practically as a howl as his movements became jerky, before finally thrusting in and bottoming out inside of you, finally cumming. It was the feeling of him pushing inside of you that one last time that set you over the edge, a loud keen coming from you as you squeezed down on Melone, starting to milk him for all you could. 

The two of you rode at your orgasms together, quiet panting and whimpers from the both of you as Melone finally pulled out of you. You practically collapsed as he let you go, free from the burning heat but now exhausted beyond all belief. Melone caught you, holding you up with his arms and chuckling a bit. You shuddered as you felt some of Melone’s seed drip down your leg, leaving Melone just to purse his lips.

“We shouldn’t be wasteful like that. I should’ve brought a plug, poor thing…” He sighed, reaching down to scoop up what fell and push it back inside of you. You moaned at the sensation, giving him a look to let him know that you were much too sensitive right now. He just laughed at your expression, before easily scooping you up in his arms.

“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We have all the time in the world once we get home.” Melone hummed. You stared at him incredulously, trying to figure out what the fuck he meant. You started to squirm a bit, but you were much too exhausted to really put in an effort to get away from him.

“Hmm? Well, of course I’m going to bring my wife home.” Melone hummed, petting your hair lightly. Your face went pale at the realization, but there was nothing you could do. Even if you could get out of his arms, you were too weak to run away away from him. You were stuck, hopelessly trapped with a madman, forced to listen to his deranged cooing as he made his declaration.

“We have a lot more work to be done if we’re going to make you a mother.”

[bopbopstyles]

7. Home for the Holidays

SERIES RATING: M (sex)

CHAPTER WORD COUNT: 10.1k

MASTERLIST | INSPO TAG | ASK TO JOIN THE TAGLIST

Y/N promised herself she would never date a musician. It was her one rule–her only rule, actually–when it came to dating. But then, Harry Styles rolled into her life and asked her to break it, just this once. And this is what happened.

a/n: thank you for all the love lately!!! <3 u guys

pls reblog to spread the word about only exception! 🥰

Harry and Y/N had discussed the idea of having some elaborate reveal that they were having a baby, but they decided to just do it in the fashion of buying onesies for their parents for Christmas gifts and letting their parents open them and discover the truth. Harry and Y/N spent hours one evening picking out onesies on Etsy that said things like “I love Grandpa!” and giggling over the prospect of telling their parents, excitement seeping out of them.

But first, Y/N knew she had to tell Hanna and Jamie. She suspected that they already thought something was wrong, after she had cancelled on all of their recent requests to go out for drinks. So when she asked them over to her apartment for dinner, she didn’t know what the mood would be. They arrived in normal fashion, though, Jamie bringing ice cream for dessert and Hanna bringing a bottle of wine for them to share.

When she plucked glasses from the cabinet—three, one for each of them—that’s when Y/N knew her time had come. “Not one for me,” she said calmly, turning away from the salad she was making.

Hanna looked at her, confusion across her face, and then at the wine. “But…it’s wine.”

Y/N nodded. “I can’t have any.”

Hanna gasped, the glasses dropping to the counter and barely avoiding cracking, and rushed to her friend. Jamie stood there, shocked, eyes flickering between Y/N’s stomach and her face. “You’re pregnant?” He asked finally, eyes wide.

She nodded, and Hanna dropped to her knees. “Can I touch?” Hanna asked softly, eyes on Y/N’s belly. She was the first person to ask, the first person who would feel the place where Y/N’s child was growing, but she didn’t mind. It was her best friend, after all. So she nodded.

“What’s it like?” Jamie asked, coming over to stand next to her, head cocked to the side.

“What, pregnancy?” He nodded. “Well, so far, it just means I can’t have wine and I vomit a lot. I’m also so fucking tired all the time.”

“When you were sick,” Jamie said, putting the pieces together in his head. “Shit.”

Hanna slapped him. “Stop it, you.”

“No, what is it?” Y/N asked, pushing Hanna away from her so she could turn to Jamie.

“I just…” Jamie ran his hand over his face, eyes flickering to her. “Harry knows?” She nodded. “And?”

“He’s over the moon,” she informed him, voice stern. She got it. He didn’t think Harry would want the kid, that she was going to be raising it alone. And maybe, if Harry wasn’t so goddamn stubborn, she would be. “I tried to tell him he didn’t need to be around, but he literally started crying at the prospect. He’s the one who convinced me to let him stay, to do it together.”

“Wow,” Hanna said, leaning against the counter. “I always knew he was wonderful, but that—that’s something else.”

Jamie reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, his expression softening. “I’m sorry—I was worried about you. I’m happy for you, and Harry, as long as you are.”

She took his hand and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of it, something they always did to make up. “Honestly, I am. It’s not what I was expecting, but doing it with Harry, it’s not as bad as I was expecting. It’s actually kind of incredible.”

“Is the sex, like, insane?”

Her head swiveled to Hanna and Jamie gasped, swatting at Hanna’s shoulder. “Han!”

“What? Your hormones are like raging right? It’s got to be incredible.”

Y/N coyly smiled and this time both Hanna and Jamie gasped, their questions toppling over one another. She had never shared too much of her and Harry’s sex life with her friends, valuing his privacy, and that wasn’t going to change. But she did tell them, “It’s on a whole other level,” which earned clapped hands and shrieks. And she wasn’t lying. The added hormones raging through her bloodstream had her wanting him at every time of day, and Harry seemed even more infatuated with her than normal, touching and kissing her every chance he had. She couldn’t even count the times they had had sex in his kitchen, not being able to wait until they went upstairs, or the times he had dropped to his knees in the shower, desperate to taste her. Sex with Harry was always mind-blowing, good in a way she had never experienced before, but sex with Harry while pregnant neared an out of body experience sometimes. He could oscillate so well between kind, soft, cuddly, and this man who was simply dying to be inside of her, murmuring words in her ears that had her blood rushing straight down.

When her friends left, she called Harry and told him exactly what she had been thinking about, and he promptly drove to her apartment, not wanting to leave her desiring him and unable to quench her thirst. He took her on her bed, their teeth gnashing and hands scrambling over skin, Harry sucking harshly on her neck until she reminded him they were seeing her dad tomorrow, at which point he opted for a spot on her breast. Their increased size and sensitivity was driving Harry—and Y/N—mad, so he had his lips on them whenever he had the chance.

“How,” he exhaled as he drove deeply into her, the only sound audible in her room the sound of their panting and skin slapping, “do you feel better every time I’m inside of you?”

She knew what he meant. She could never tire of him, the way he fit inside of her, the way he touched her body, the way he made her feel. Fingers threaded in his hair and she yanked him down to her, begging for his lips to reach hers again. And when they did, she murmured, “You’re the best I’ve ever had,” against them. Harry groaned, deep and throaty, and pressed a deep spot that had her seeing stars.  

Afterwards, Harry asked her to lay down and he slipped down her body, pressing his lips to the spot right below her belly button where their child rested. “Hi Peanut,” he whispered against her skin, Y/N smiling down at the sight of him talking to their child. “It’s Papa. Sorry if that disturbed you, just needed to show Mama how much I love her. I hope you can understand and forgive me.”

“Shut up,” she told him. “That’s much too crass for them still!”

“Shh,” he told her, finger to his lips. “I’m not done.” He bent back down and rested his hands on her hips. “Can’t wait to meet you. I’ve been dreaming about you, you know.” Y/N didn’t know that and she looked down at Harry in wonder, curious how she had gotten so lucky. “Dreamed you were a girl. Not that that means anything—you are whoever you want to be, Peanut. I’ll love you no matter who you are, always, unwaveringly.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” she whispered, hand curving over his jaw and tugging his head up so their eyes met.

He pressed a lingering kiss to her belly before crawling up to her face, fingers brushing across her flushed cheeks. “I wanted to tell Peanut first.”

“A girl, huh?” He nodded, and she smiled. “I’d like that, I think.”

“I think you’ll like whoever they are,” he told her. “Because they’ll be utterly perfect, just like you.”

She smiled into the kiss she gave him, hoping he knew that it wasn’t her they’d resemble in perfection, it would be him.

Harry was bouncing on his toes in both excitement and fear at the prospect of telling her father. He genuinely liked Peter, looked up to him even. Even as he grew older, he had managed to maintain his career, finding new and creative ways to make a living, which was not easy. Despite his success, he was still incredibly down to Earth and didn’t make you feel judged when you wrote with him—which was something Harry, as a relatively new songwriter, deeply appreciated. His imposter syndrome in the songwriting room was something he constantly battled, especially when he wrote with new people. But Peter put Harry at ease immediately, making suggestions in a way so Harry didn’t feel like an idiot, and praising him when he had genuinely good ideas.

So that was all to say, the last thing he wanted was for Peter to hate him for getting his daughter pregnant at 23.

Peter opened the door to his house beaming, the Motown Christmas Album playing in the background as Y/N and Harry stepped in, a flutter of hellos and hugs. “It’s been too long!” Peter said, giving Harry a clap on the back. “How was tour?”

“Good,” Harry said as Peter shut the front door. “Long.”

“Heard from Jeff you’re doing March to July this year,” Peter said, leading them into the living room where the tree was set up, the jolly holiday spirit wrapping around Harry like a hug. He and Y/N had decorate his place a bit, putting up a tree she went and got from the store and decorating it with ornaments, but he never went all out with decorating. Decorating any house that wasn’t his mom’s just felt wrong somehow.

Harry nodded, taking a seat next to Y/N on the couch, loving the way she leaned subconsciously into him when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, should be a long one.”

“Didn’t know you and Jeff were friends,” Y/N asked her father, taking a sip from the hot coco her father had placed in front of them.

“Decided I should get to know him a bit better ever since you and this one started spending all your time together,” Peter said with a chuckle. “Especially since you don’t call enough and give me the information yourself.”

“That’s a lie,” Y/N said, glancing up at Harry as if to reassure him that she was, in fact, a good daughter. “I call him all the time.”

“Don’t doubt it,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her hair. He was an affectionate person, and he had always appreciated the fact that Y/N never pushed him away, always seemed to lean in for more. Made him feel even more loved by her.

Peter set down his own cup of hot chocolate and made his way over to the tree. “Now, I know you have to head up to your mom’s, so should we get started on the presents?”

Harry and Y/N had decided to go to her dad’s on the way up to her mom’s house, driving up a rental car and fly out of San Francisco to London to cut down on the amount of time they had to drive. It was busy on the highways and honestly, Harry hated driving for long distances in the states, but for Y/N he’d do it. Driving on the wrong side of the road was something he never could fully adjust to and doing it for hours at a time took the utmost concentration.

“Yes!” Y/N replied, grabbing their gift for him from her purse and setting it under the tree. “But I want mine first.”

Peter chuckled and dug around for Y/N’s, the red and green wrapping paper making Harry smile. He liked that Peter wasn’t perfect at wrapping but he still made an effort, the crinkles in the paper and jagged edge of the paper authentic and loving. “Hope you like it, doll.”

Y/N ripped open the paper, a green slim box revealing itself in the paper. She shook it like a little girl, which made Harry laugh softly next to her, before opening up the box. Inside lay three concert tickets to the upcoming Taylor Swift tour, which had Y/N squealing, launching herself into her father’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She said, giving her dad a tight hug, Peter’s full body laugh filling the room.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “You never took me up on last year’s gift, so I decided to just make an executive decision. Harry, I know you’ll be gone, but I thought you could take Hanna and Jamie with you.”

Y/N nodded, a quick look to Harry that made his heart clench. “Yes, of course. They’ll scream when I tell them how good the seats are.”

Her dad chuckled. “I have no doubt.” Y/N gave her dad one last squeeze before settling back into her spot next to Harry, the way she interlaced her fingers with him sending him the message that She wished it could be him going with her, but she wasn’t mad. “Now, Harry.” Peter reached around the tree and grabbed a gift for Harry, wrapped up and looking like a book of some kind.

“Oh,” Harry said, reaching up to grab it, “thank you so much. You didn’t have to get me anything, though.”

“Nonsense,” Peter replied, waving the idea away. “You’re with Y/N, so you’re part of the family.”

Y/N shot him a knowing smile, the thought passing through both their heads at how right her dad actually was. Harry ripped at the paper, his fingers curving around a leather journal that quite resembled the one he lugged around with him everywhere he went. “Oh,” he said, looking up at Peter. “Wow. Thank you so much.”

“Of course,” Peter replied. “When we were writing I noticed you were about halfway through your old one, so I thought you were probably due to have a new one.”

He was right, in fact. Harry had planned to buy one back in London at his favorite shop, but it seemed that Peter had beat him to it, the mark on the back from the same place as his current notebook. “This is incredible,” he said, wiping at the tears threatening to spill from his eyes at the thoughtfulness. “So thoughtful. Thank you.”

Y/N threaded her hand through his, giving it a squeeze to remind him she was there and he glanced down at her face to help stitch his emotions back into place. “Now, Dad, we’ve got ours for you.” She scrambled up, grabbing the bag from under the tree that held their carefully selected onesie for him.

Peter ripped out the tissue paper, digging his hand in and reaching around for the gift. Y/N bit her lip and looked up at Harry who gave her a reassuring smile, reminding her with his eyes that Peter was going to be happy for them, just as they had discussed. “Oh!” Peter said when he pulled out the onesie that said “#1 Grandkid” on it and an ultrasound photo they had had printed for him. Tears welled in his eyes, looking up at Y/N and Harry in disbelief. “Really?” He asked, words breathless.

Y/N nodded and Peter yelped in excitement, rushing to grab them both into hugs, a flurry of love and warmth they desperately needed. “Due in June,” Y/N told him.

“Summer baby,” he said, to himself looking back down at the ultrasound photo in his hand. “Good. Could use one of those in this family.”

Harry laughed and Peter reached out, a soft hand on Harry’s cheek. “Welcome to the family, son.”

The word made Harry’s heart clench, the thought of being a permanent part of Y/N’s family a prospect too good to be true. “Thank you,” he replied.

Peter proceeded to pepper them with questions, cracking a joke about how he almost got Y/N a crate of wine as a joke from last Christmas but was glad he didn’t, and they chatted about what he was going to be called. They decided on “Pop”, something short and sweet, and a shortened of what Y/N had called her grandfather before he passed. Over brunch they talked about their upcoming trip to England and their plan to tell Y/N’s mother that evening. Peter nodded at the sound of his ex-wife’s name, and Harry thought for not the first time about the fact that both he and Y/N had parents who were divorced. He hoped it wasn’t a sign for him at Y/N—he wanted to stay with her forever. They hadn’t talked about the idea of marriage, but it was something playing at the back of his mind ever since they’d learned they were going to have a baby.

He didn’t want to get married just because of their child, but at the same time, he loved Y/N and couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else. She challenged him, loved him, made him a better person. Made him laugh like crazy, bought him all the weird foods he liked, gave the best massages. Reminded him that he had a life outside of work—a life he loved. The prospect of marrying her wasn’t scary to him. In fact, it sounded like heaven.

Y/N couldn’t help but watch Harry as he drove, one hand on the steering wheel, one on her knee. At first, he did it because she was bouncing her knee up and down, but then kept it there, and Y/N suspected it was because of the same reason that her fingers crawled up his forearm: to feel his skin under her fingers. The drive was long, probably eight or nine hours, but she didn’t mind it—nine hours to spend with Harry’s undivided attention, the coast whipping by them.

They got on the road by noon, hugs and teary eyes as they said goodbye, and she texted her mom they’d be there at nine and would grab dinner on the way, so no need to wait up for them for dinner. Harry told her to DJ and she put on their playlist first, belting out lyrics to all of their favorite songs, Harry even using her water bottle that sat in the center console as a microphone. His seat dancing had her laughing hysterically and his smile never seemed to fade from his face as they drove. After the playlist ended, she put on the NPR podcast she had been listening to lately, and Harry asked her political questions, still trying to wrap his head around American politics.

They stopped for dinner at In-n-Out and Y/N took the wheel for the remaining two hours of the drive, since she knew it by heart and Harry was getting a bit stressed. They switched shakes back and forth as she drove, chattering about their favorite holiday memories as kids and laughing at their embarrassing moments. She loved glancing over and seeing Harry’s eyes already on her, a twinkle in his eye she knew well—it was the one where he was overwhelmed by his feelings for her. He had told her one time when they were wrapped up on his couch and she asked him why he was staring at her like that, and it had made her pull him into a deep kiss, much like the one she wanted now. But she was driving, so she settled with kissing the back of Harry’s hand, the smile he gave her settling deep in her heart.

The porch light was on at her mom’s house, the simply blue post-war bungalow the perfect place for her mom to have moved into. It was the right size for a single woman and her dog, June, who they’d gotten shortly after her and Y/N’s day got divorced. Y/N usually stayed in the guest room, which she didn’t mind too much—she was proud of her mom for making a new life for herself in San Francisco. It just meant her bedroom at her dad’s house was even more special to her, the one remaining shred of her childhood.

“Nervous?” She asked Harry. He’d met her mom once, back in the summer before he left for Dunkirk press. They’d gotten on famously, but they definitely weren’t as close as Harry and her dad. One time she’d walked into his house to find him on the phone with her dad, jabbering about songwriting and the brilliance of Stevie Nicks.

He shut the car door behind him and walked to the trunk, popping it open. “A bit, yeah.” He pulled out their suitcases and shut the door, looking up to where she leaned against the car. “I just don’t want her to think I’m horrible for getting her daughter pregnant, ya know?”

Y/N scoffed, and walked over to him, hands on his cheeks. “H, it’s not like you were the only one having sex. It’s a two-way street—I’ve got just as much responsibility in this as you.”

He nodded, leaning into the press of her fingers on his skin. Together they walked up to the front door, Y/N knocking softly. The door swung open not even a minute later, her mom standing there beaming at them. “Mama!” Y/N wrapped her mom up in a hug, her mom’s blunt bob swinging as they rocked back and forth. Her mom was a hugger, always had been.

“Hi you two,” her mom said, embracing Harry next. “Come in, you must be exhausted from the drive.”

They made their way inside, the screen door slamming shut behind them. Inside it felt like her mom—a winter candle burning on the counter, the news softly running on the TV, a blanket thrown over the couch. A glass of wine sat on the coffee table half-empty and Y/N looked at it longingly. How was she going to make it until June without a nice relaxing glass of wine at night?

Harry was talking to her mom, telling her about the drive and how they’d stopped for burgers, her mom telling him about her preferred In-n-Out order. “Let me take you back to the room,” she said, and Y/N and Harry trailed behind her to the guest bedroom where a fresh set of sheets adorned the bed, a soft glow from the bedside table lamp. “Here you are,” she said, leaning against the wall as Harry set up the suitcases in the corner. “I’ll let you guys settle in for a minute. I’ll be in the kitchen, okay?”

Y/N nodded and her mom left the room, shutting the door behind her. She looked to Harry, who was sitting on the bed, a lingering gaze on her face. “What are you thinking about?”

“Didn’t realize you didn’t have a bedroom here.”

Y/N glanced around the room, the nondescript art making it obvious that it wasn’t Y/N’s room. There were no traces of her in it except for the framed photos on the dresser of her and her mom from her childhood, the ones her dad’s best friend had taken when she was seven. “When she moved up here it just didn’t make sense,” she explained. “Only two bedrooms, after all.”

“Mhm,” Harry said, grabbing her waist so she could nestle between his knees. “Kinda liked the idea of sleeping in your childhood bed.”

“Dirty, dirty boy,” she murmured against his lips, bending down to kiss him. “Well, don’t worry, we’ll be sleeping in yours to make up for it.”

He nudged at her neck, pressing a kiss to the skin there, a soft gasp leaving Y/N’s mouth. “Can you believe I’ll have my girl and my baby in bed with me?” He kissed the juncture of her jaw and neck and she carded her fingers through his hair, loving the way his eyes fluttered shut from the touch.

“Lucky man,” she said.

He kissed her one more time before saying, “Got that right.”

Hearing her mom in the kitchen, she pulled away from his grasp. “We should go out to my mom.”

“Gonna tell her now?” He asked, standing up from the bed.

Y/N considered it. It was late, but she couldn’t very well stand in her mother’s house and pretend. “Yeah. I don’t want to pretend.” She bent down, unzipping her suitcase so she could pull out her mom’s gift from where it was tucked in between her clothes. With a kiss between her shoulder blades, Harry followed her out of the room, their gift held tightly in her fingers.

She was nervous, she had to admit, as she walked into the room. Her mother had always wanted her to wait until she was older to have kids, to have a full career and life before she started a family. But she didn’t think that her mom would be unhappy with her once she told her—her mom had always been there for her, through thick and thin, every step of the way. This was changing Y/N’s life forever, so of course her mom would be supportive, she told herself.

“Mama?”

Her mom’s head popped up from where she stood at the sink, washing dishes from her dinner. “Room okay?” She asked, drying her hands on a dish towel.

“Great,” Harry answered, hand squeezing Y/N’s. “We wanted to give you your Christmas gift, actually.”

“Oh!” Her mom’s eyes widened, eyes darting to her small tree nestled in the corner of the living room. “Thought we could wait for the morning, but that’s fine. Can I get you anything? Wine, water?”

“Water is perfect,” Harry replied. He had promised to abstain from the same things she had to, a promise Y/N wasn’t sure he would be able to keep but loved the idea of. He had been so sweet when he’d made it, pushing the bottles of wine to the back of his pantry and swearing he wouldn’t touch a sip of alcohol until the baby was born.

Her mom filled two glasses with water and together they all migrated to the living room. Y/N could feel her heart hammering in her chest. This was more anxiety-inducing than telling her dad, who she knew wouldn’t say a word to her about it, be nothing but supportive. But her mom had a tendency to be a bit judgmental, a side Y/N had experience a few times in her life and one she hated. She swallowed her fear, though, and handed her mom the paper bag, the tissue paper crinkling in the room.

She leaned into Harry’s side as her mom opened the bag, thankful for the comfort of his arm wrapping around her waist softly, the reminder of him being there to support her.

Then her mom pulled out the onesie, “I <3 Grandma!” embroidered on the front, flowers all over the material, and her mom yelped in surprise. She looked up at the two of them, eyes wide, disbelief all over her features. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes,” Y/N said, unsure how to read her mom’s reaction.

“This isn’t a prank? I’ve seen them on the internet before.”

Of course she had. “No, Mom. It’s real.”

Her mom didn’t said anything for a bear, her eyes flickering between the onesie and Y/N, and then to Harry and back down. “Congratulations, honey,” she finally said. “Harry, can I talk to Y/N alone for a bit?”

Harry stirred against her. “Uh, of course. I’ll be in the room, okay, love?” He pulled away, a lingering kiss to her head, and left the room, leaving Y/N and her mom alone.

When the door clicked shut, her mom finally spoke. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“Yes,” Y/N replied without even thinking. “I thought a lot about it before I even told Harry, and we talked about it once I told him. He wants this baby, and so do I.”

“But your career,” her mom said, voice hardening and the sound making Y/N stomach curl. “It’s just starting out. Won’t this affect it at all?”

“I can still be a mom and work,” she said, pointedly. “You did it, after all.”

“I was 33 when I had you,” her mom reminded her. “You’re only two years out of school.”

Y/N sighed. This was the exact reaction she didn’t want from her mom, but at the same time it didn’t surprise her. “This wasn’t in the plan and I know the timing isn’t great, but I want to have this baby. I love Harry and he’s going to be an amazing father.” Her hand slipped down to cup her belly, where a bump wasn’t quite apparent but would be soon enough.

“When he’s here,” her mother said and Y/N glanced up from her belly to her mother, whose expression was blank.

“What does that mean?”

Her mother gave her a pointed look. “You know exactly what that means, Y/N. You’re going to be essentially a single mom. It’s not even like it was with your dad—Harry’s one of the most popular celebrities in the world. How is he going to be able to be here for you? For your child? And what about privacy—have you even thought about what it’s going to be like to raise a child in the public eye? How are you going to have playdates and send your child to school and let them live a normal life? It was so hard for me—you saw that. It was hard on you to have your dad gone all the time, and you always told me how you didn’t want that. And now here you are, doing it all over again.”

Y/N could feel her heart beating faster, the anger rising in her body. She hated it when her mom spoke like this about her father, as if all that happened in her life was all because of her dad, but she knew it wasn’t true. She loved her father, always had, despite her mother’s attempts to sow seeds of discontent in her. “Harry isn’t my dad,” she said, trying to keep her voice measured, but failing miserably. “He wants this child, Mom! I tried to shut him out, tried to force him to leave, and he wouldn’t let me! He wants to raise this child and he wants to raise it with me. We talk about things, you know—it’s not like you and Dad, living in a house where you don’t even talk to one another.” Suddenly it was spilling from her, all the things unsaid over the years, her anger at her mother’s attack on not only herself, but on Harry who had been nothing but good. “You don’t know Harry, so how dare you paint him to be someone he isn’t.”

“He may want this baby now,” her mother said, a lace of venom dripping from her words that Y/N hadn’t heard in years. “But what about whenever you’re telling him he can’t tour because you need help? And what about whenever you’re left at home, taking care of a child while the father of your child is off gallivanting across the world? Will you still want him around then?”

She pushed herself off the couch, the desire to argue with her mother not something she wanted to play into. She just wanted to get out of there, to grab Harry and go. The way her mother spoke to her about Harry made her see red, and she didn’t want to hear it anymore.

“Don’t you walk away from me, Y/N.”

At the sound of her mother’s words, Y/N whirled around, staring her mother straight in the eyes. “I’m not a child, Mom. I know what I’m getting myself into. I’ve thought long and hard about this decision, about how my life is going to change, and this is the decision I made. This is the decision I made with Harry. We’re talking about his tour, how he’s going to do it. We’re talking about the life we’re going to have together. But I also know who he is—he loves what he does, and I love that it makes him happy. I can’t ask him to give it up, even if it would be easier, because it’s part of who he is. If he didn’t have that, he wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with.

“I don’t care what you think about this,” she said and she realized the words were true. Her mother’s opinion of her didn’t matter nearly as much as it used to and she didn’t know when that had changed. “I’m doing this and I would love your support, but if it’s not there, I’ll be okay. But I’m not going to sleep under your roof while you speak about the man I love like that.” And with that, she spun on her heel and walked down the hall, heading straight for the guest bedroom where Harry was waiting for her.

When she pushed open the door, Harry was already on his feet, walking towards her. “We’re leaving,” she told him, ignoring the arms he held out for her. “Now. We’ll find a hotel—I just cannot be here with her right now.”

Harry nodded, not fighting her on it. He had probably heard the entire fight—the walls in her mother’s house weren’t thick. He helped her zip up her suitcase and find her phone that she had plugged in, tucking everything into her purse without a word. They left the room they had barely even settled into, suitcases behind them as they walked down the hall.

Her mom stood in the same exact spot, staring as they walked towards her. “Please, Y/N—“

“No,” she said, cutting her mom off. “I came here hoping you would be happy for us, but if you aren’t that’s okay. Just don’t call me until you are ready to welcome Harry, and our baby, with open arms.” She unlocked the door and pushed the screen door open, holding it as Harry exited behind her.

“Wait,” Harry said as she went to close the door. He pushed it open and stepped into the house, Y/N watching as he looked her mom straight in the eye. “I love your daughter, Trisha,” he said, “and I’m not going anywhere. I cannot wait to have a family with her, to love her for the rest of my life. And I hope you can come to accept that.” He pulled the door shut behind him, Y/N watching him with wide eyes and love in her heart. “Come on,” he said, tucking his hand in hers. “Let’s go.”

He pulled out of the driveway wordlessly, holding Y/N’s hand tight over the console. “I love you,” she said, her words making Harry glance at her. “Endlessly.”

With a soft kiss to her hand, she knew that she had made the right decision. “I love you more,” he said.

They found a hotel downtown, Harry running the room on his credit card despite her protests, and took the elevator upstairs to their room. Y/N was exhausted from fighting with her mom, even if it wasn’t long. She hated arguing with people, but especially her mom. And now she was sitting on a hotel bed as Harry set up their room, running through the argument in her head over and over again, playing over each of her words, analyzing each with precision.

“Baby,” Harry said, crawling across the bed behind her so his body surrounded hers. “Come shower with me.”

She leaned back into his body, letting him absorb her weight. “I can’t believe she said those things.”

“Me either,” he agreed, “but can we shower and then talk about it? Know you’ll feel better after.”

“I guess,” she said, letting him pull her off the bed and guide her into the bathroom, the look on her mother’s face when the door slammed shut behind her in her brain on repeat.

With delicate hands, Harry untied the laces of her Converse, peeling her socks off and not reacting when she tried to get him to stop, worried her feet smelled. Instead, he looked up at her and said, “Bit past that, love.” He pulled her sweater off, then her loose-fitting jeans, then made her turn around so he could unclip her bra and shimmied her underwear down her body, leaving her naked in the hotel bathroom. He shed his clothes in rapid time and turned on the shower, warm water cascading down from the shower head. “C’mon,” he said, stepping in and beckoning to her, his curls flattening under the water. “Let me wash your hair.”

The prospect sounded divine, so she followed him in, letting him position her so she was directly under the stream. He hummed a tune she hadn’t heard before as he squirted the hotel shampoo in her hair, running it through her locks tenderly.

“What’s that?” She asked, bobbing her head back so he could get better access to her locks.

“Hm?”

“The song that you’re humming.”

“Oh,” he said, pushing her head forward to let the water rinse out the shampoo. “Wrote it a few days ago.”

Conditioner was next, a blob in his hands before he started massaging it into her hair. “What’s it about?”

He was quiet for a minute, untangling each of the knots in her hair like he knew she did. “Our baby,” he said, words so quiet they were almost lost under the stream of water.

She turned around in his hold, eyes fastening on his. The water was warm on her skin as she looked up at him, wonder in her brain at the sweetness in his eyes as he ran his fingers up and down her arms. “Really?”

He nodded, a flush to her cheeks that she adored. “Woke up in the middle of the night and the tune just…came to me. Don’t quite have all the lyrics yet, though.”

Without a pause, she pulled his body into hers, struggling to find the way to show him how that made her feel. “Will you play it for me when it’s done?”

“It was goin’ to be your birthday present,” he mumbled.

“I guess I’ll wait,” she told him and turned back around to let him continue washing her hair. “I meant what I told my mom.”

“Hoped so.” He brushed his hand through her hair to let the conditioner run out of it. “Nearly made me cry.”

“Why?”

He paused. “So different from when you first told me,” he said, words rough in his throat. “To hear how you feel now, how you defended me to your mum, it meant a lot to me.”

“H,” you said, “I love you. No matter what.”

He didn’t reply, but she knew it wasn’t because he didn’t feel the same way, but because if he told her he would cry. She could hear it in his words, feel it in the air between them. Instead, he showed her how much he loved her by lovingly pulling out the knots in her hair, by washing every inch of her body, by even helping her shave her armpits, by wrapping her up in a hotel robe after and rubbing lotion into her skin. He passed her a toothbrush with toothpaste on it and side-by-side they brushed they teeth, soft gazes in the mirror. And then he turned off the light and pulled her into bed next to him, arms surrounding her body and holding her as she cried, her mother’s words swirling through her thoughts. He pressed kisses to her hair and murmured how much he loved her, how proud he was, what a great mother she was going to be. With each touch he helped heal her heart, push the words away, focus on the truth: that she was  happy with him, no matter what anyone tried to convince her of. She just hoped he would stay around even when she doubted it.

The drive to Holmes Chapel brought Y/N peace, the English countryside a warm embrace, the settled and peaceful look on Harry’s face making her smile as he drove. She had been ignoring text messages from her mother since she had woken up, and being away from Wi-Fi meant her phone wasn’t buzzing with text messages and phone calls every few minutes. Suddenly, Y/N was thankfully for the fact that she didn’t have cell service in England, because it made her push away her worries and focus fully on Harry.

He was describing his mother’s home to her. The furniture collected from charity shops over the years, Anne having a knack for finding the thrown away and giving it a new home, despite his many offers to buy her new furniture. She liked filling her house with stories of the past, of considering the life a side table or a throw pillow had before it found her. Y/N thought it was quite sweet, and from what she knew about Anne it didn’t surprise her in the slightest. Gemma and her boyfriend Michal were going to be there when they arrived, both of the Styles children bringing home their significant others, something which apparently Harry hadn’t done in a while. When he revealed this, she smiled and told him that she was honored to be there.

It was a three hour drive that passed quickly, since Y/N fell asleep about halfway in, her head lolling on her shoulder as the countryside passed by. She woke to Harry’s voice, murmuring, “We’re here, love,” in her ear and unbuckling her seatbelt. “Time to go give my mum the surprise of her life, yeah?”

That idea woke Y/N up right away. She was admittedly nervous to tell Harry’s mother, especially after how telling her own had gone. Although from what she knew of Anne and Harry’s own accounts, Anne seemed to be much more willing to go with the flow, surprises rolling off of her quickly after years with Harry Styles as her son. So she tried not to dwell on it as Anne and Gemma rushed out of the house, enveloping Harry into their arms and then Y/N, a flurry of hugs and kisses to the cheeks that had her feeling like she was being welcomed home.

The house was smaller than Y/N expected, but somehow perfect. A wide white door and a lovely patio outside, white framed windows that reminded her of her own childhood home. There was red brick she loved and a large tree outside. “You look beautiful, dear,” Anne said, an arm around Y/N’s shoulders as she guided her inside. “Glowing, you are. You must tell me your secret!”

Pregnancy, she thought to herself, but instead just said, “Lots of moisturizer,” which had Anne chuckling to herself.

The house was just as Harry had described. Laden with rugs and family photos, a few of Harry’s awards on the walls, displayed with pride. A giant Christmas tree sat in the corner, hung heavily with ornaments and tinsel, Y/N smiling at the sight of an ornament with a young Harry’s face on it, her having a nearly identical one at home on her mother’s tree. Although she didn’t have time to notice it. “So this is it.” She turned and found Harry standing behind her, watching her study his childhood home. “What do you think?”

“It’s exactly as you said,” she replied. “I love it.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Want to see my room?”

“Desperately,” she replied, which had Harry chuckling.

“Mum,” he called into the house, “I’m going to show Y/N my room. Be back in a jiffy.”

“Don’t make too much racket!” She heard Gemma holler through the hall, “These walls are thin, in case you’ve forgotten!”

“Shut it!” Harry replied, Y/N laughing at their exchange, it making her wish for not the first time that she had a sibling. “Come on, love.”

They climbed the stairs, Y/N commenting on his yearly school portraits that decorated the staircase, which he tried to cover her eyes for so she couldn’t see them, but she managed to wrangle free. She had to admit that Harry was a downright adorable child, although when she looked at his face—dimple and crinkled eyes from laughter, she wasn’t surprised. The thought had her considering what their child would look like, which she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of.

“Whatcha smilin’ about?”

“Thought about what our child would look like,” she said softly, Harry’s eyes lighting up at the thought.

His hands found her waist, tucking her close to him, her back pressed against the wallpapered walls of the second floor. “And what are you thinking?”

“With your face,” she said, a finger running down his cheek, “and my brain, they’re going to be unstoppable.”

He frowned. “But your face is nicer.”

“They have to have your eyes,” she said with a pointed look. “I’m not willing to compromise on that. And your dimples.”

He smiled at her, the dimple in question popping out. “My dimples, eh?”

“Mhm,” she murmured. “Quite like them.” She stuck her index finger into the depth of it, the chuckle escaping his lips warming her body that was still cold from the December chill.

“I’ll allow it as long as they have your ears and your lips,” he said, a lingering kiss pressed to the latter. “Now let me kiss you in my childhood bed, for Pete’s sake.”

“Dirty, dirty boy,” she said, and let him lead her into his room. It was an alcove room, one he could barely stand up fully straight in, and somehow it suited him. The walls were a simple cream, but covered in posters of bands from eight years ago, when life was simple and he was still sixteen. An overstuffed bookcase sat against one wall and an oak dresser, most likely empty, sat next to it with photos of him and his family scattered across it. The main attraction though, was the bed, an oak headboard attached to it with plenty of pillows and a checkered duvet cover that reminded her of the ones she had seen in the dorm rooms of boys at college.

“Well?” Harry asked from where he leaned against the closed door. “Is it how you imagined?”

She turned and she couldn’t help herself—the appearance of Harry in a beanie and an oversized sweatshirt in his childhood bedroom with a shit-eating grin on his face made her want to have him in every way possible. “Better,” she replied before backing up until the back of her thighs hit the edge of his bed. “But better if you eat me out on your childhood bed.”

“Fuck me,” he breathed, feet moving quickly to reach her, hands on her cheeks before she could process it. His lips were sweet, wet from when he’d licked them before pulling her in, and his palms were calloused against her skin. But he felt like Harry—her Harry—and that’s all that mattered to her. With a nip at her neck, he fell to his knees in front of her, eyes darting up at hers as he shimming off her leggings and the blue cotton underwear underneath them. “Like these,” he mumbled against the skin of her inner thighs. “Might have to keep them.”

She gasped when his tongue licked up the length of her slit, the sensitivity from not having him on her skin in the past few nights combined with the raging hormones in her bloodstream had her keening for him. “They’re just cotton,” she said through gritted teeth when he sucked on her clit, toying with her. “Harry, Jesus.” “Not my name,” he smiled against her and Y/N couldn’t help but tug on his hair as if to tell him Shut it you narcissist, which just made Harry chuckle. The vibrations sent shockwaves through her body, her head falling back as a moan of his name left her mouth. “Gotta be quiet,” he reminded her, shoving two fingers in her mouth that she quickly accepted, lolling her tongue around them like it was a lollipop. The sight had Harry bucking into the end of the bed, which Y/N just grinned at, not missing it for a second. When Harry had his mouth on her, she couldn’t look anywhere else.

Then he darted his tongue inside of her and Y/N’s hand went to her breasts, which had grown from her pregnancy and Harry didn’t seem to mind, adoring how sensitive they were. “More,” she begged, voice rough in the room. “Please, please, H.”

“Comin’ love,” he said, sucking on two of his fingers before pressing one to her slit, the cold feeling of his rings on her hot flesh making her gasp. “Like that, baby? Like it when I fuck you with my fingers, my rings still on? The fingers you just had in your mouth?”

“Harry,” she groaned, trying to contain the sounds threatening to escape her. Not being able to hold up her body anymore she rested on her hands, propping up her body on his mattress. She knew that it made her breasts stick out, which Harry loved—he was a man, after all—and the sound of him grunting at the sight made her smile at him coyly. “Like the view?”

He sucked on her clit in response before twirling his tongue in a cruel circle around her labia. “Love the view,” he muttered against her, spit falling from his mouth. “Love you, baby. Fuck, look at you as I fuck you—like you’re made for me.”

“Close,” she said, the sound muffled against her hand she had thrown over her mouth to keep the sounds in. She was leaning on just one hand, unsteady and about to let go if he let her. She loved to let him control her orgasms, the sound of him telling her to come always sending waves of pleasure through her body.

“Yeah?” He said, inserting another finger and curling them so she was bucking against his hand, his name an echo on her tongue. “Come for me,” he murmured, fingers digging into her thighs to hold her steady, his rings imprints on her skin. “But you gotta stay quiet love—I’ll have you screaming for me when we’re home, okay?”

She turned her head into the duvet in an attempt to silence the scream rising in her chest, but when she came, it just simply wasn’t enough. Anne and Gemma would’ve probably heard her if they were outside the door, a muffled scream of his name flowing from her mouth. She bucked against his hand, chasing her high and Harry licked her through it, the cold saliva from his tongue and his rings inside of her making her body shake.

“Fuck,” Harry said when she finally came down, body pliant in his hands. “That was bloody incredible.”

He pulled his fingers from her, a hiss leaving her teeth at the emptiness inside of her. “That’s how you got me pregnant,” she told him with a laugh.

“But that involves my dick,” he informed her, crawling up her body so he could smother her face in kisses, the slick of her still on his chin.

“Yes,” she said, pushing him away. “But it was that and then your dick that got me pregnant. You’re good, you know.” She rolled over, a hand on his chest. “Not that you need to hear it. Your ego is already too big for this relationship.”

“Ha!” He grabbed at her sides, pulling her closer into him. “You love my big ego. And my dick.”

Her head dropped to his chest with a groan of defeat. “God, you’re such a boy sometimes, I swear.”

With a kiss to her temple, he sat up and tugged her along with him. “C’mon, we can’t stay too much longer or Gemma will never let me forget it.” She licked at his chin, letting the rest of her juices land on her tongue before following him downstairs, trying not the laugh at the way he walked, obviously trying not to let the material brush against his dick too much. She truly loved a menace, she thought to herself. But he was her menace.

In the kitchen, Gemma, Anne, and Michal were sat with cups of tea, two set out for Y/N and Harry that had now gone cold. “Took you long enough,” Gemma said. “Tea’s gone cold while you two got reacquainted upstairs.”

“Gem,” Anne scolded. “Don’t embarrass your brother.” Gemma rolled her eyes, but stood up to reheat their tea.

Harry wrapped his arms around Y/N and she leaned into him, loving how his hands subconsciously rested on her lower belly, right over where their child rested. “Mum, Gem” he said as Gemma returned with their now warm tea. “We have somethin’ for you.”

“Oh!” Anne set down her tea and surveyed the two of them. “But we don’t do gifts until the morning of.” That was still two days away, but obviously Harry was eager. Y/N had told him that he could choose when he wanted to tell Anne, and it seemed like now was the time he had chosen. He was like Y/N, she thought to herself, unable to keep a secret from her parents for long.

“I know,” Harry replied. “But want to give it to you both now.”

Gemma shrugged. “I don’t mind an early gift,” she said.

“Perfect. One second,” Harry told them, disconnecting his arms from Y/N’s waist. “It’s in our luggage. Meet me in the living room?”

They all nodded and Harry disappeared, the sound of a zipper in the other room. “Well, he’s certainly excited,” Anne told Y/N, coming over and giving her a smile. “It’s good to see him so happy.”

Y/N couldn’t help but wonder how often Anne had seen her son unhappy over the years, how many women had broken his heart, how many times the world had broken him down. Harry had shared some of it—the disappointment over Zayn leaving, the women who had ripped him to shreds since Harry gave his heart so willingly—but not all of it. She supposed with time, she would learn it all, but she was no longer eager to uncover every stone of him that she was when they were starting out. Now, she knew she would have quite a long time to know every part of Harry, and the idea quite appealed to her.

Anne and Gemma sat on the couch, Michal in one of the armchairs, and Y/N took the other one, the one closest to the fire burning in the hearth that stockings hung from. After growing up with solely warm winters, it was nice to be someplace cold for a change.

Harry wandered in with the last two bags, one for Anne and one for Gemma. Gemma’s was Y/N’s favorite, the one that said, “I love Auntie” in multi-colored letters and confetti all over it. She fully planned on finagling it back from Gemma so she could actually dress their child in it one day. “Here you are,” Harry said, handing both the bags over before going to sit on the arm of Y/N’s chair, her hand in his.

Gemma looked at her mother. “On the count of three?” Anne nodded, a playful smile, and they counted down, Harry squeezing Y/N’s hand in anticipation.

“Oh,” Anne said when she pulled out the onesie, the one nearly identical to Y/N’s mom’s. She looked up at Y/N and Harry and there were tears in her eyes that made Y/N want to cry. “Really?”

“You’re pregnant!” Gemma shrieked, dropping the onesie before bounding over to Y/N. “Oh my god, I’m going to be an Aunt! A little niece or nephew!” She grabbed her into a hug, laughing with joy in Y/N’s ears. “Best Christmas gift. Oh my god, Haz!” Gemma pulled her brother into a tight hug, and Y/N’s eyes rested on Anne who was full on crying at the onesie in her hands.

Harry saw it and went over to his mom, his arm around her shoulders. “You’re going to be a grandma,” he told her, which only made her cry harder. “Mum?”

“Happy,” she reassured him, before taking his face in her hands. “So happy I could explode!” This was the reaction Y/N wanted, she thought to herself, surveying the scene of pure joy. “Y/N,”  Anne said, arms outstretched. “Come here, love!”

Y/N practically floated to Anne, the prospect of a mother’s arms around her exactly what she needed. Anne bundled her up in them, tears still streaming down her face as she gave her a tight hug. “We’re due in mid-June,” she said when Anne pulled back, it being the only thing she could think to say.

Anne beamed at her, eyes darting between her and Harry. “My word,” she told them. “This it the best surprise. A little baby! My baby boy,” she said, taking Harry’s face in her hands and kissing his cheeks, “is going to be a Dad.”

Harry’s eyes caught Y/N over his mother’s shoulders, a reassuring gaze that told her he knew what she was thinking. That he wanted to remind her it would all turn out okay. And when she looked around her to the happy scene, the fire in the hearth and the joy on the faces in the room, she knew he was right.

Harry purposefully woke up earlier than Y/N on Christmas morning. He had been trying to figure out when to give the key to his house (not that she didn’t already have one, but it was the idea that counted) and finally he had settled on Christmas Day. So when he awoke, snow falling softly outside his window, he scrambled out of bed to grab the key he had wrapped up in a box the night before with his mother’s help.

“Harry?” Y/N’s sleepy voice came from the bed, her hand sticking out to the place where he’d just been lying.

He loved that she always craved his presence in her sleep. He had noticed it early on, the way she held him in her sleep, always burrowed deeper into his body, was hesitant to let go of him in the morning. With the box in his hand, he crawled back onto the bed, occupying his old space. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he said, placing the box on her pillow, right next to her head.

Her eyes fluttered open, eyelashes brushing against the pillowcase. Then her gaze met the blue box tied with a white ribbon sitting on the pillow, and her eyes widened. “What’s this?”

“One of your Christmas gifts,” he said. “Didn’t want it to be in front of the whole family.”

She sat up, pushing back the duvet cover revealing his old school shirt that she had worn to bed. When he had told her to pick anything she wanted, she had gone through every shirt in his drawer before settling on this one, loving how soft the material was from years of use. Harry loved how she looked in his clothes, but seeing her in the mornings with messy hair and adorned in his Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School shirt made his heart clench.

He didn’t know how she would respond to the gesture, the request for her to move in with him. To his brain, it made sense—they were having a kid together, after all—but he also knew how Y/N was about these things. It meant commitment and she was always hesitant to take that next step. “Open it,” he told her, sitting up too so their bodies faced one another.

Her fingers grasped the edge of the box, eyes flickering to his face before pulling it open. Inside lay the key to his house, golden and ridged, the one that fit perfectly into the lock on his front door. “Harry…”

“Will you move in with me?”

For a few beats, she just stared at the key, but when her eyes raised to his, he knew what she was going to say. “Yes.”

He leaned over and kissed her, one filled with love and passion and everything he was trying to say. She dropped the box to the bed and let him press her back into the mattress. “Can’t wait to make you come in our bed,” he mumbled against her cheek, drawing a chuckle from her, but she didn’t stop him she he drew her underwear to the side and dropped to his knees, wanting his girl to start her Christmas off right.

TAGLIST: 

@smokeinherperfume @afire-hes @harryinsweatersandbandanas @marinalima3 @havethetimeofyourstyles @ursogoldenshan @inmygardensuit @marinalima3 @amaridon @harrys-watermelons @dontgiveupthedayjob @cronias13 @apples2019 @laula843 @afterstylesmadeit  @kait-brin @harrys-watermelons @groovybaybee @clumsywithlove93 @1142590m @erin0717 @ketchuplukehemmo​  @detroitkiwis​  @meetmeinfleetwood​ @kakaym @harrystyles-concepts @harrymoncheri @berrynarrybanana​ @samjo1986 @harrydobedirectioning

Would you like to know when I update The Only Exception? Let me know here!

NEXT CHAPTER COMING JULY 25TH @ NOON CST

[shinahbee]

December favorites 2020!

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GREETINGS

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 Hello,

 So we have finally reached another year happy 2021! let's all hope this year will be kind to us, as I have mentioned in my previous favorites post, I finished my work term and now will be working on my art more

so please look out for more art coming soon!

also this maybe a little too early to think of but I was thinking of opening an etsy store to sells stickers/ keychains, this was a project that was on my mind for many years actually, but I have never really considered starting it

Please let me know if any of you would be interested if I do start one.

I would also like some ideas as to what type of characters from what show would you like to see merchandise from. I know there are some franchises that are not well known and most people wouldn’t be able to find so much as a fanart of that particular character/show

so if you could all let me know what you’d like to see in the shop I will highly consider it, with that being said I don't have any anime recs this month, mainly cause I was very busy in the month of December and have not watched any dramas or anime in a while,

so just a heads up, that part will not be included this month. The only thing I was watching is bunch of end of the year award shows, so like the drama awards and melon music awards and MAMA awards...haha that seems really boring to discuss so i'll skip that.

My friend and I were discussing and thought that they should rename these music awards as the BTS awards because they won so many lol.

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MANHWA/MANGA/WEBTOONS

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 This section of the favorites is on fire! you don’t even know how far deep the rabbit hole i`ve dug myself into.

I finally was able to save my progress and crawl back up to list a few of my favorites/ updates of the old favorites and a special segment to ones that triggered a raging response due to utter frustration

Let’s start with a review of the manhwa I have read and discussed so far

 Recap:

 1) Whose baby is it? (ongoing)

2) Social temperature (ongoing)

3) Salad days (ongoing)

4) To be or not to be (ongoing)

5) Path to you (completed)

6) Here u are (completed)

7) BJ alex (completed)

8) No way, vampires don't exist (ongoing)

 so some updates on the previous ones that I have listed out so far, with the exception of the completed ones.

 1) Who's baby is it? ; last time I read up to chapter 72 and now they have up to chapter 126 and I have to say so much more has happened in terms of story and relationship development and I especially love the development between

yi yun and his relationship with jinyao, they are acting more and more like a married couple without even knowing it. You see a gradual change within the two of them that shifts from being very comfortably being able to talk about their problems to one another to

physical touches that would make them  both nervous, I don't mean physical in a sexual way...it's not at that point yet, it's just holding hands and being near each other makes them, nervous and as an audience I felt that nervous energy

and it makes as the audience appreciate the development even if it is slow, it becomes more realistic over time.

Needless to say, I am still a giant fan girl of this author and her story and I can't wait to see this week’s chapter

 2) social temp; I said that I have read the novel so I pretty much knows what happened in the new chapters that were just out, this manhwa is updating a little slow so I have to wait to really comment

When they go further, there is a scene soon that will be the turning point of their relationship so I am excited to see that in the manhwa

 3) salad days; There is also a slow development here as well in terms of relationship building, so far they are working on their careers as professionals and dealing with bullying and jealousy from their peers

But it's all part of life so I appreciate that the author included these aspects as an important part of the story and not just focusing on romance alone.

 4) To be or not to be; you'd think a person who had studied Chinese for 8 years would be able to read the raws....nope,LOL

So far the story is going into a good direction so I'm hoping to see how this new development will play out in their relationship

 5) no way vampires don't exist; I have and fanart and long post dedicated to this alone, so please refer to those for more details. I am happy this is updating again and hopefully all of it will be translated in no time for others to enjoy

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Welcome to heaven

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Okay so that is all for the old ones that I have read, I will include updates throughout my favorites now and then if it is still ongoing.

now let's look at some new ones that I have found this month, these are just a few of the ones I selected out to talk about, but I have read much more as I have said and these were the ones that were the most memorable

 1) Unintentional love story- "Wonyoung gets unjustly suspended from work after getting caught up in a corruption scandal. But when he accidentally discovers the chairman's favorite artist Yoon Taejun living under an alias, he is tasked with a tricky new mission. Could this be Wonyoung's chance to get his job back?"

 This is the summary from the licensed lezhin website, and it pretty much sums up the story, it is still ongoing right now so I can only comment on how I feel about it so far.

I really like this story its really straight forward and focuses mainly on the two characters and how their relationship went from business partners to eventual lovers

it has minimal drama and works on moving the relationship buildup between the two main characters and I really appreciate that, it makes me less frustrated, since you know there is always that one a-hole that will never take no for an answer

i will discuss that later for the other ones I plan to discuss. But so far the story is straight forward and cute, and I really like wonyoung he is really adorable. This is a manhwa but not in the form of a webtoon, so it's black and white and read in traditional manga style

if you like a straight forward story and development please give this a read, you will enjoy it.

 2) Karasugaoka Don't Be Shy!! - "Sou Izuhara, the leader of the crime prevention group "VOICE" that protects east Karasugaoka, realizes he's in love with the man he keeps butting heads with and leader of the rival group "Karasukai," Tetsuji Shinba...!?"

 omg finally a manga recommendation? lol. you have no idea how much trouble I had remembering the title of this manga, I didn’t save it into my bookmarks and I usually did that if I was going to talk about it in the favorites.

I went through 5 websites to figure out the name but at least it was found. This story is both comedic and cute and it was a perfect break from the dark stuff I have been reading, I don't believe it has been updated in while so I'm not sure if it will ever be picked up

but there is a decent amount of chapters to get started on. But as the description says that it is a story about two crime prevention group leaders, they look like thugs but they prevent crimes from happening, so like an anti bullying campaign that recruits volunteers. two of the leaders from the largest groups apparently doesn’t get a long

on the surface but one of the leaders Izuhara really in fact admires the other leader Shinba. they start to get along after shiba went to izuharas territory to take care of some suspicious activity on that side and accidentally discovers a whole new side to izuhara due to the fact that he wasn’t wearing his glasses and didn’t know he was talking to shinba

and invited him to hang out together for that day. lol. You probably know the direction this is heading; it all starts from interest in a person right?

anways, I never recommended a  manga yet so this would be a good one to read,it has a balance of a good romantic comedy.  

 3) Semantic Error- "Computer science major Chu Sangwoo is the epitome of an inflexible and strict rule-abiding person. While working on a liberal arts group project with freeloaders who don’t put in any effort, Sangwoo reasonably decides to remove their names from the final presentation. But he didn’t imagine how involved he would become with the person whose study-abroad plans were messed up because of that project. The involved person: the campus star who everyone knows, Department of Design’s Jang Jaeyoung. He has everything from skills, looks, family background and good relationships except for 1 big problem: Chu Sangwoo. What happens when an engineer and an artist whose personalities are like oil and water have to work together? Jang Jaeyoung is like a semantic error in the perfect world of Chu Sangwoo. Will Sangwoo be able to debug this?"

 this has got to be one of the most accurate portrays of an antagonist relationship start off ever, it was really comedic and relatable at the same time, if you are in current group assignments and are or have suffered the same as sangwoo, please let me know cause I know I have.lol.

there’s only 16 chapters so far and I believe it hasn’t been updated in a while either so I don’t know if it is discontinued or not.

I can't wait to see the development between the two male leads, because their relationship right now in the manhwa is really hilarious and worth the read.

side note, not that this will ever be considered as a k-drama but I would like to see sangwoo being played by kim soo hyun, because he looks like him in the drama it's okay not to be okay.

 4) Tied up in twins- " The story starts off with three friends Jiwoo, sohee and woojung who had been friends since high school began to developed complicated feeling towards one another, woojung had been in love with sohee and sohee had been in love with jiwoo who was in love with woojung, things turned for the worse when jiwoo got drunk one night out and decided to confess his feelings to woojung by going to his apartment, he found 'woojung' standing outside and invited him to go drinking, he finally was able to let out his feelings and 'woojung ' accepted them without hesitation. Jiwoo felt like he was on cloud nine at the moment and slept with 'woojung' that night after thier feelings were made mutual. Turns out 'woojung ' was not actually woojung himself but his twin brother sarang, not knowing this fact he spots sarang with a man from his past eunji that used to bully him during his military service which made him confused and angry that 'woojung ' might be playing with his feelings. Sarang then confessed that he is the twin brother  of woojung and both of them decided that that night was a mistake and that they should just forget about it as it didn't happen. Of course fate had other plans as they keep running into each other during difficult times and decided to become friends. It didn't take them long to be attracted to one another which lead them to end their previous relationship, sarang especially was suffering from his cheating boy friend's abuse and jiwoo with his one sided feelings for woojung. After a series of events sarang and jiwoo found that their feeling for each other were mutual and started to dating, which poses a lot more obstacles than either of the two had bargained for...."

 This is actually my very own summary since I can't find one for this manhwa, I also did and fanart and discussed why i really like this story in that fanart, so please check out my art for my thoughts on it! Shameless self promo....

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Welcome to hell

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ooo now it's time for the fun part.LOL. Now let me just say that there is sometimes a fine line that defines what shounen ai and Yaoi are, sometimes stories is listed as both because one story that starts off like shounen ai will suddenly become yaoi

I define yaoi as a story that includes all the things that i'm uncomfortable with, which is emotional trauma from sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape, physical abuse, suicide etc

 these stories usually include some or all of the listed above and could make you uncomfortable in many ways, so as a warning if you are bothered by any of that even a little please don't read the ones I’m about to list, because there is a lot of it and there are situations that made me really sick while reading them. on the upside there is a lot of whole heartedness from the love scenes between the two main characters, although it’s like pages of sex scenes, you know from reading that it is between two people that love and trust each other.

 so you have been warned, i'm not going to spoil it in terms of story but there is something these ones i chose out have in common and that is a SICK A-HOLE THAT EVERY PERSON WANTS TO KILL.You should have seen all those comments about calling sangwoo (killing stalking) to kill theses mofos and I could agree more, these disgusting human beings made me sick.

 so let's begin...btw these are in no particular order, I was going to list these from the least worthy of dieing to most worthy of dieing but you know in the end they should just all die...lol.

1) My Suha -"A skillful secretary by day and choosy cruiser by night, Suha is a young professional who’s in search of some no-strings-attached action. He hasn’t had much luck lately, though, since a handsome face doesn’t always match what’s in a guy’s pants. This might be why he finds himself wondering about his dreamboat boss, Director Park Jiwoon. But there’s no way he can mix business with pleasure… That is, until Jiwoon and Suha run into each other in the gay bar bathroom."

 so where to begin, um this pretty much includes all those listed above but it mainly focuses on the relationship between jiwoon and Suha, and it is not abusive and very loving in fact,I'm glad that they show the contrast between how suha's previous realtionships don't work out because of his trauma

and how jiwoon despite being an unwanted heir in his grandmother's eyes was able to give love and protection to the person that matters to him the most. So there's this scum bag...I even forgot his name but the red haired dude in this story he`s the legitimate heir to the family, who is the absolute worse and not only sexually abused Suha when they were younger and also emotionally scar both jiwoon and suha

making them feel incapable of being loved. I didn’t get a good feeling form him when he was first introduced and I was right...lol. But at least the comments section was in agreement; let me sum up my feelings in the form of this gif alone...

 you get the point...

I heard it was going to finish soon so hopefully these emotional scars can be resolved and that suha and jiwoon stick together to get through it all. That would be a good ending for them after everything they have been through.You really need to read it in order to under stand why these events happen the way they do but please remember that suha`s inability to feel love stems from the all of his previous relationships not lasting long yes...but started with this red haired mofo. I am never going to let this dude live, let`s just say that.

2) Crash into me- " Seung-chan is stressed. He has enough on his plate with the long hours at work, and now he can’t even get any rest at home! Every night, the lustful moaning and violent banging from the apartment upstairs keeps him awake. Just as he’s at his wits’ end, he chances upon the gorgeous, enigmatic Hyesung outside his building. Surely all those filthy sounds couldn’t be coming from such a pretty mouth? But as Seung-chan soon finds out, there’s a lot more to Hyesung"

 from that little description you’ve probably figured out what’s going on with the neighbour next door keeping seung chan awake right? well no surprise sexual abuse, after hyesung was forced to suffer from a ordeal that wasn't his fault the brother of the person that died made it seem like it was his fault and sexually assaulted him

and so this ongoing sexual abuse progressed for several years which lead hyesung feel like life is meaningless and he should just die, until he locked eyes with seung chan walking back to the apartment and thought of jumping out the window, because he had a strange feeling that seungchan who he has not met before would catch him if he did.

I just almost cried from what I just wrote...to think there’s is some a-hole out there that would drive a person to suicide like that just to satisfy his own needs or whatever...i don't even know cause it’s still ongoing...i don’t think any amount of back story will justify any kind of sympathy for this person..

from what I have read so far it seems so be going ending soon so i hope seungchan and hyesung will be able to get through all this and live in peace because of suengchan, hyesung was able to love again and find his worth and is able to fight for himself and I’m sincerely glad that he had met and trust him whole heartedly.

3) Dine with vampire- "Caught in the clutches of an abusive relationship, Sooin longs to escape. A vampire who finds human blood repulsive, Chi-hwan only drinks the blood of other vampires. When chance brings the two together, Chi-hwan makes Sooin an enticing proposal. Chi-hwan will help Sooin get out of his living hell, and in exchange… Sooin has to let Chihwan drink his blood. Will this proposal change both their lives for the better?”

 y'all don't even get me started on the mofo in this story....I’ve never felt so much rage from staring at a 2D character on my screen, the amount of times I hissed at him...you don't even know

like I have mentioned before ever since my twilight phase I didn’t consume anything vampire related in a while, I don't really care much for the vampire aspect but I guess it's still important over all

once you start the first chapter you will immediately know why I hate the harry potter a-hole in this story..he is despicable and that’s putting it lightly...but you know he doesn’t last long cause vampire tsukiyama (lol, not his name but they look alike) shows up and kills the mofo

and saves sooin who is the person who harry potter had been sexually abusing...to the point where you guessed it, he wanted to die.

chi hwan agrees to grant any wish sooin wanted in exchange for his blood because being vampire by nature he had not been drawn to anyone’s blood for some reason and had only consumed the blood of other vampires.

of course it was a small price to pay for sooin considering all the misery he had gone through. slowly sooin discovered that love was not abusive through the many times chi hwan...lmao i almost called him tsukiyama again...and he had sex, he discovered that it was safe and gentle and enjoyable

nothing that he had ever felt before, and so they became drawn to each other more than they thought they would to the point where they genuinely care for one another, though of course chi hwan knows that one day sooin will die and he will have to live on forever alone, thus the fate of his vampire blood.

 but here’s the catch..it's not a spoiler really cause you knew it was too easy when main villain dies in chapter 4...and he’s on the front cover...which means yes harry potter mofo is back...ugh...he should have burned his body...WTF and as a vampire no less..

i'm like great now look what happened, you should have chopped him up and threw him into the incinerator!

you know that saying " mistakes were made..."

anyways, now he's back meaning shits about to do down and i'm not ready to see it happen, right now they are going through his back story and i’m like sorry author...whatever you try to feed me there’s no way i can have any sympathy for this dick...

 so that's all i'm going to rant about for these yaoi titles...i had to go back and read some it again to know what i'm going to write about and i revisited a lot of things i’d rather not.I think the rage I felt was ignited again all of a sudden and I felt utter frustration to finish reading it again, what I am trying to say is, ya`ll need to read this once and that`s it...these aren`t stories you`d want to revisit.lol

so if you like this hell segment let me know and i'll continue it cause there’s an endless supply of content for this genre, I have a few more but i'll save those for next month.

and i'll probably come across more in the mean time to discuss, but I guess this is where fiction and reality divides, cause you know in real life if this crap exists absolutely no one will take this bull crap!

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

MUSIC

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 I have been listening to the Start up soundtrack and found a lot of songs i like from it, I don't like the drama and have not finished it, but the soundtrack is bomb

I have also been liking some old pop songs and went down the rabbit hole of 90`s pop songs...Britney spears especially

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

 so that is all I have for this month, I'm sorry its manhwa and manga focused, i'll have time to watch anime that I need to catch up on and start some drams now so i'll have more

to discuss in the next month hopefully, so please take care of your selves in the new year as well!

take care,

sheena

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SOCIAL MEDIA

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INSTAGRAM: shinb_art

TUMBLR: shinahbee

DEVIANTART: she-be.deviantart.com

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[tcstu]

June’s Honorable Mentions

The writer’s really brought it this month! Below are all of the pieces that were contenders for winning this month’s Ekphrastic Fiction Contest. I hope you enjoy reading the pieces below. If you like someone’s story, make sure to reach out and let them know. I’m sure they would love to hear from you!

As a reminder, this month’s artistic piece is titled, “Cloud Skipper,” and it was created by @crimson-chains. This artist has created quite a bit of original art and fan art, so if you like the piece below, make sure to visit this artist’s Tumblr page or you can browse their Etsy store . 

Note: The Honorable Mentions below area listed in the order they were received and do not reflect a system of ranking.

Untitled

By: @emilyelizabethfowl​

“If it looks stupid, but works, it ain’t stupid.”

That was basically Kyra’s entire worldview.

Other might insist that conjuring giant floating fish was a waste and idiotic exercise in ludicrousness. Kyra was of an opinion it was far more efficient - it took less resources, for one. The shapes were way simpler than if you tried to conjure a mammal or, Stars forbid, a bird. Not to mention the magic required to breathe life into a fish - even a floating, non-water-bound fish - was kiloRituals lower than the minimum requirement for any other animal type!

Kyra knew very well she was in the right there, but if nobody wanted to admit it, that was fine, too.

She’d just have to let her superior travel times and expenses (or the lack of thereof) speak for themselves.

“She Should Be Wearing A Harness, Though”

By: @evanthenerd83​

They were walking home from school when Jared suddenly tapped his shoulder.

“What,” Sam asked.

Jared pointed into the sky, to where the clouds were clustered together and all as one.

“Looks like Mel’s followin’ her dreams again.”

And lo and behold, there she was. The eldest Gosling child, her dark brown hair flapping about. The wind kicked up the skirt of her school-uniform.

She had her arms spread out, legs too.

She stood on the back of a Diviworm, barely taller than the ribbon-sails protruding from its curved back.

Her eyes could have been closed.

It slithered through a rather large cloud, following an air current. All thirty-five of its fins glistened. The enamel-gems had just caught sunlight.

Sam Gosling simply sighed. “Hope she’s got one of Dad’s rigs on, then.”

Untitled

By: @a-river-of-roses​

It was that time of the year.

You know that time when everything would go weird. When fish could fly, and rabbits could talk, and you could do whatever you ever wanted.

Morgan wanted to do a lot of things, be a lot of things, most of them weird. In the spirit of the times, of course. Last year xe was half cow, half-human! The year before that, xe answered calls as a demon. This year Morgan’s eyes were set to the skies. Xe was going to be among clouds!

When xe saw the first fish rise above the surface of the ocean towards the sky, xe immediately closed xyr eyes and wanted to rise with them. As xyr feet left the ground, xyr body became as light as a feather. Morgan tumbled round and round on xyr way and once or twice almost crashed right to the Earth. Almost. After this tumultuous journey, xyr head finally broke through the ceiling of clouds.

For miles, there was giant white cotton candy accompanied by fish of all sizes and colors. Morgan looked around xem to the stunning scenery. Xe laughed as the rays of sunshine danced on the scales of the fish.

When Morgan jumped particularly high, right before falling back to the clouds, xe looked down at the world below. Everything was so small xe could hardly see the giant statue of an octopus in the middle of the town. The world looked miniature, like toys children might play with. Xe jumped between the clouds to xyr heart’s content for hours and hours. And when xe was tired, sat down on one of the fish and rode with it for a while.

Now, how to get down from here?

A Day At The Museum

By: @daalseth​

Mrs. Snydley, the prim and stuffy art teacher led the class of fourth graders through the musium. They looked at all sorts of paintings, from Rembrandt to Worhall, from Cezanne to Picasso. At each the teacher asked questions about the form, the structure, the colour. Above all she wanted to know how it made them feel. What stories were the pictures telling them. The excited class responded to each painting eagerly with insights and stories. Mrs. Snydley loved the once a year trip to the Art Gallery.

Toward the end of the trip the Mrs. Snydly took them into another wing.

“Class,” she began, “the paintings here are what are called Surrealist style. Let’s begin with this, it’s called The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.” The class went wild for the melting clocks, the strange landscapes, the dead bird. They loved it. It was the same with I Saw Three Cities by Kay Sage. It got their creative juices going. Even The Treachery of Images by Rene Magritte wound them up, once they understood what the words said.

Mrs. Snydley lead them down a short distance and showed them another work. “This is going very well,” she thought to herself.

Stopping at one of her favourites she began, “A good example is this one titled Cloud Skipper, by an artist named Chrimson Chains. Now look at this painting and tell me what you feel. What story does this painting say to you.”

The class looked at the painting, and a hush fell upon them. There were enormous multicoloured fish leaping out of a boiling sea. A small girl was suspended in the sky. Over it all was a rainbow. The class stared for a long time.

“Well class…impressions.”

The children said nothing.

“Don’t any of you see a story in this work?”

Silence.

The teacher was taken aback. Usually this painting elicited a lot of response, maybe if she got the ball rolling. She looked at one child in the front row.

“Dougie, you’re good at making up stories. What do you get from this painting?”

The child stared at the canvas for a long time.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Snydley,” he said apologetically. “I’m sorry, but I don’t see a story. I like the picture, but just don’t know what to do with it.”

Mrs Snydley was crestfallen. This picture usually did so well with the children. Undeterred she pressed on.

“Well then children, let’s try something else. If you follow me over here, we have a work called the Son of Man by Rene Magritte.”

The children followed her across the gallery. Once there they began to giggle and talk excitedly as they speculated on the man with an apple in front of his face. This was something they could understand.

Untitled

By: @nadunacreates​

Rowan did not know what it was about the color blue that fascinated him so.

The sky and the sea, the sparkle of a gem, the glint of her eyes.

He knew that beings like him weren’t made for the softer pleasures in life.

He knew that he wasn’t supposed to lie in a field of flowers, look up at the sky and get lost in the shape of rolling clouds and distant dreams. He wasn’t supposed to close his eyes and take a breath and just be — he wasn’t supposed to enjoy this existence.

And still.

It’s just: he doesn’t understand, even after twenty years. He can’t even remember it, after all, the previous life that made him deserve this punishment, the one that made him deserve to die and get reborn with white hair and black antlers on his head and black fingers on his hands. The one that made him deserve to be so marked as an outcast, a servant, as something lesser, something to be feared or hated.

He thinks he must have done something truly horrible, something so very unforgivable, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t remember, and no one will tell him anything.

He’s sure there must be people who know — but they’re not supposed to tell him, so they don’t.

Maybe this is it.

The sneaking off, the hiding away. The doing things he isn’t supposed to, the color blue.

Maybe this is it, he thinks, even as he climbs the last few feet, digs his (black) fingers into the soft green earth and pulls himself up. Maybe it’s because he’s enjoying the life he’s been given, because he dares to dance with the gods, and they laugh with him.

If it is, he thinks, as he crouches at the edge of the cliff and watches the blue blue waves crash against the bottom of it, then he knows he doesn’t regret it.

He doesn’t have to wait long, up here, until the shimmer of a rainbow appears in the spraying mist, until he can just about make out the glimmer of scales, red and blue and black and green, down below.

And then the gods jump and he lets himself fall.

He doesn’t know what it is about the color blue, but it’s always felt like coming home.

Untitled

By: @mareebrittenford​

Everyone who visited New Reef City wanted to dive with the giant koi. The giant fish with their sparkling scales photographed so well, and were so easy to feature in the tourist brochures.

But it wasn’t as simple as doing a basic dive class and booking a tour.

The fish wouldn’t come out of their cloud shadows unless they wanted to. Everyone seemed to forget they were wild animals, not a trained performance. Although of course there have been many failed attempts to turn them into exactly that. But the fish defy enclosing. And any attempt to cage them leads to the whole population going into hiding.

For the good of the economy laws have been passed that forbid the capture and containment of any of New Reefs most popular citizens.

No, if you want to dive with the giant koi, and actually interact with them you have to dive with one of the sky masters.

And Elspeth is the best of the sky masters. People say she’s odd, she’d rather spend her time in the sky than with humans. The tourists can be annoying, but she’d lead a thousand tours if it meant that her best friends get to live free. (and sabotage a thousand more enclosures.)

[missmaxime]

Mouth; room; close; keen

You really know what you’re asking, haha. I cherry-picked for the first three, because as it turns out I use those a lot. And fyi under ‘Close’ is a small excerpt of the Joan/Rio fic ;) 💕 MOUTH From ‘Shine a Light Now (This Time it’s got to be Good)’

“Apparently I am ‘overqualified’,” Beth complains dramatically, putting extra emphasis on it by adding sloppy air quotation marks. Phoebe starts opening her mouth to ask because she cuts her off with: “Find my Family a Pet, Season 5.” Phoebe sputters, grabbing a can of coke to rinse her mouth and spitting it on the pavement. “It’s animals, elderly ánd kids, the three circles of hell. Rookie stuff, damn sure you’re overqualified.”

From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5

Paul put the bag down, leaning onto the reception desk. “You don’t want to join me and Marissa for breakfast?” he asked. “I hear it’s delicious here.” Rio encircled his arm around Beth’s waist, squeezing it. He clacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Beth grabbed ahold of his hand, dragging it onto her belly. “Maybe we’ll join you tomorrow, Rio and I have an important appointment.” Rio stroked her through her coat, and Paul picked up on the hint.

From ‘If worst comes to worst, I left a note’

“Y’know what ya getting into?” he asks. She smirks. “Do you?” His eyes get darker and her attacks her mouth again, slipping his tongue between her lips. She circles her hand onto the back of his head, pulling him into her more. And, as much as she hates to admit it, it’s nothing like she ever experienced. Not with Dean, not with the two boys she kissed before, this is something more, and it’s frightening. Frightening, but thrilling. 

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

And she surges back into him, claiming his mouth. Their lips sliding over each other, erupting sparks in her chest she can’t remember feeling. Their position frustrates Beth, sitting next to each other, so she takes it upon herself to pull back from him – the groan he releases almost embarrassing. She doesn’t let him wait long, climbing onto him so she can straddle him. The trail his warm hands leave on her skin as he lets them travel up from her knees to her thighs, before sliding them under her dress is mesmerizing. She kissing him briefly on the lips. “More,” she breathes, quite sure her pitch is quite uneven. 

From (WT) ‘Come on baby, won’t you show some class’ [aka Mick locks Beth and Rio in a storage room because he’s tired of their shit]

Rio lets his fingers travel along her panties, feeling how wet she already is for him. He chuckles at that, increasing the pressure. “Yeah, you want me, don’t you darling?” He says, now slipping two fingers between her folds, feeling the heaviness of her wetness flooding his hand. He leans his head in, putting his mouth against her ear. “Don’t you?’ he asks, but sucks her earlobe in before she can answer, retracting a very repressed moan from her. That just riles her, and she tries to retract her bend leg from the table. But he grasps her ankle, keeping that leg in place. He reaches out with his other hand, buttoning open his pants, pulling down those and his boxers far enough to extract his lid. “Don’t, do, that,” he says, licking her face on one side in one long stroke. And she revels in it, against her better judgement. 

From (WT) ‘Get Well Soon’ [or the S3 deviation I started writing before S3 aired - FYI Orla is the realtor the girls use to find a store]

The day went by in a blur at best. Beth and Ruby had been cleaning the worst of the storage rooms for almost the entire day. Next they had painted the front-side of the store all white, immediately changing the look of it from depressed to welcoming. And when Orla entered the store around two she even took of her mouth mask. “Look who got this place close to presentable,” she stated, looking around somewhat impressed. Ruby threw her paintbrush into the turpentine. “I’m sure it still smells like fish,” she sighed. “Well, yeah,” Orla admitted. “But at least now it’s thinly masked by chemicals. And as you can tell by my face that’s something I’m way more comfortable with,” she joked. Ruby laughed, kind of surprised by Orla’s sense of humor. “I did hear it’s a bad idea to shoot anchovies up your forehead anyway.” Orla shrugged. “I’ll try anything with a success rate of over 85%, so bring it,” she smiled as she put a bunch of papers on the counter. 

ROOM From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5 (apparently I use this word a LOT in this chapter, Imma cut down on that one haha)

“No, we’re good,” Salazar answered. She exited the same way the game. “Got enough estrogen in the room as it is, right?” he said, grabbing his teacup and raising it to Rio. Who answered by raisin his own cup. Beth looked at him with disdain, she failed to hide it. She tried to separate this business Rio from the Rio she knew from the wedding, and even though she could fracture herself easily, breaking him up into different people was way harder. “Are you kidding me?” she shot at Rio. He gave her nothing. “We were in business before I was in your bed, you should give me some credits,” she said angrily. “My ass is on the line here too. And I sure as hell have more on that line than you do!”

From ‘If worst comes to worst, I left a note’

“Why didn’t you like me last time?” she asks. “Think you wouldn’t be interested.” Beth is taken aback by that, and it shows. “Why? You liked someone better?” she throws back. He laughs genuinely and shakes his head. “Nah. Just thought I’d was a bit out of your wheelhouse.” “Why?” she asks. But the buzzer goes off, and he wastes no time getting to the other side of the room to get to his next date.

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

Turner’s been on holiday with his boyfriend for a week in Bora Bora, and since he’s the only one who talks to the matches she doesn’t really have anything to do. She has already cleaned the front office and the break room and the cabinet with office supplies after two days, so now her most potentially productive activity is putting colorful post-its on her own face. Fortunately, just before she feels like her last braincells are dying off, the phone rings. And she scrambles to sit up in her chair, grabbing the horn. “Love Inc, Amber speaking, how may—” “Amber!” It’s Turner. He sounds agitated. “Well, hello sunshine,” she smiles, feel her own teeth crack at the faux sweet tone of it. “Cut the crap,” he orders. And she can’t really make out a lot of background noise, but the loud voices in the background, and actually – altogether chaos, don’t sound too promising. For him though, this sounds like all the opportunity for her. 

From ‘A Tail to Remember’ [AU where Beth suddenly sprouts a tail that acts on her deepest desires]

“What?” she croaks, her voice still paralyzed by sleep. She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand, and when she can see well through the dusk of the room, she sees Dean laying face down onto the ground next to the bed. “You pushed me!” he’s upset, face crowded with angry splotches of red. And, did she? She looks at where she’s at; still very much on her own side, not even close to the middle. “How?” she asks confused. He’s being all angry-toddler about it, gathering his covers and dumping them on the airbed. “I’m sure you just had a bad dream,” she offers. 

From ‘Get Well Soon’

Beth let the curtain drop back again and focused on the envelope, as she walked back to her room. She turned it around in her hands, there was no address, no stamp. She dropped onto the bed as she opened the crimson envelope in her hands, extracting the midnight blue card from it. In swirly silver printed handwriting it said ‘Get Well Soon!’ surrounded by differently shaped stars. Beth almost sighed in relief, recognizing the print from Lucy’s Etsy. When she opened it though, it felt like she was being doused in icy cold water. ‘Thinking of you lots!’ was staring at her, mocking her with a scarily recognizable handwriting even without the weird e’s he usually wrote. Without another thought Beth threw the card into a corner, dimmed the lights, and crawled into the bed, hoping it would swallow her while she would fight her nightmares that night. 

CLOSE From the ‘Untitled Joan Holloway/Rio’ fic

“I did tell him I’d give him a dollar if Mick would be there in promised time. He lived up to expectations,” she explained. Rio turned his head. “Give him two,” he ordered Mick, before returning his attention back to Joan. She felt great with Rio ignoring the line of people waiting outside to get in, the bouncer opening the door without even giving them a questioning look. Inside was a whole different experience than the rundown outside gave. It was still kind of dark but the lighting and music gave it an intimate and welcoming feel. He escorted her to a booth close to the bar, looking out onto the dance floor. It was very obvious she was one of the very few white people here. “What’s your poison?” he asked, signaling a waiter. “Maybe some bourbon?” she asked. He ordered a bottle of the good stuff. She liked that. She turned her back to him. “Would you mind, taking the pins out?” she asked, her chin pushed against her shoulder as she looked at him expectantly.

From ‘Wild at Heart’ Chapter 5

Beth drops her bag, and moves in on him. “You know, I shot that window pretty good last time,” she says haughtily. “Yeah, when you were on your feet,” he says. Beth takes the gun from him. And she’s taken back to that one night Rio shot Dean in the chest. And by now she’s pretty sure he wasn’t totally honest about not knowing if that shot would leave him alive. Especially after what she now knows she can do with a gun, much less Rio, who has years and years’ experience on her. “So, did Sal get back to you?” she asks, while she takes a stand close to him, taking a hold on his gun. 

From ‘The Kaleidoscope of Love’

It’s all he needs to fully attack her mouth. Entangling his hand in her hair, pulling her in as close as they can get. Their lips slandering, navigating to tend to each other’s needs, sucking and biting, both teasing and tending with conviction. She smiles a little when she thinks about the lipstick marks she’s probably leaving on his face, takes pride in marking him, letting everybody know what they’ve been up to. The thought makes her bolder, rocking her hips against his, a movement he immediately answers, groaning into her.

KEEN NOTHING (*le gasp*). Well, there is once, but it’s in the chapter of Shine A Light Now (This Time it’s got to be Good) where I’m working on now, and that’s just too rough of a draft.  

[mascaratearsnlipsticksmears]

1..Who was the last person you held hands with? Probably My son

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Shy until I’m

Comfortable

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? My surgeon

4. Are you easy to get along with? I try to Be. Don’t give me a reason to not Like you 😉

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? Never had someone take care of me from drinking .....I’m usually taking care of everyone else

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? Loyal. Chill. Down to earth .

7. Are you married? No.

8. Do you want to get married? Eventually . I do , but I need it to be for the right reason.

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Makes me feel Lonely lately believe it or not.... 😔

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? Steve

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? “Oh cool 😎”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

lil peep- star shopper

Brand new-Jesus Christ

Bebe rexha- I’m a mess

Anything Billie eillish

Doja cat -rules

Ashnikko-daisy

That’s more than 5, Idc

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? Only certain people

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? I don’t know anymore

15. What good thing happened this summer? Got a tan and not covid 👌🏼👌🏼

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? My little guy? I will kiss him when ever I can cause one day he’s not gonna want me to and I’ll be sad

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? Absolutely

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? Yes

19. Do you like bubble baths? 110%

20. Do you like your neighbors? Yea

21. What are you bad habits? Overthinking, caring to much.

22. Where would you like to travel? Anywhere

23. Do you have trust issues? No, people that scumbag me Normally get cut off so I only keep ppl around I trust.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? Coffee & a bowl

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? Uhhh everything from the chin down 😔

26. What do you do when you wake up? Set gage up for class in the living room

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?darker

28. Who are you most comfortable around? Lauren Rayza

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? They don’t get the chance, yes a few tried to contact me but my mentality is fuck them.... one even tried emailing my friends to reach me 🙄🙄🖕🏼

30. Do you ever want to get married? I do, one day. Didn’t I just answer this

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail? Yes

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? Idk I’d have to think about it

33. Spell your name with your chin. The fuck?

34. Do you play sports? What sports? Bought a bike yesterday Lol. I used to be on the swim team and I played soccer~ also took dance for 7 years.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? Depends on my mood

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? Absolutely.

37. What do you say during awkward silences? Try to avoid them at all Costs

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? No.

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? Sephora Ulta Victoria secret

40. What do you want to do after high school? Lol I think that bridge has been crosses already

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Not everyone , no.

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? Normally bad anxiety and hurting , or extremely chill

43. Do you smile at strangers?

Yea I do.... but now I forget I have a mask on and look like a retard

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Can I just going fishing ?

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? My son.

46. What are you paranoid about? Money

47. Have you ever been high? There’s a joint in my hand.

48. Have you ever been drunk? Who writes these things??

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? No.

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? Navy

51. Ever wished you were someone else? Eh wish I was still me with more $$$

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? I don’t have to wish, I’m doing it.

53. Favourite makeup brand? Tarte, morphs, fenty

54. Favourite store? Didn’t I answer this?

55. Favourite blog? My own💚

56. Favourite colour? Black, Periwinkle , light lavender ,pink

57. Favourite food? Japanese

58. Last thing you ate? 8 hours slow cooked ribs

59. First thing you ate this morning? Coffee

60. Ever won a competition? For what? Probably & Idr

61. Been suspended/expelled? Started a food fight in the science lab and they suspended the wrong Angela ~Womp womp...I did get detention a lot cause my shirt was too low in the front tho.

62. Been arrested? No

63. Ever been in love? Yea I think so

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? No. ☺️

65. Are you hungry right now? I could eat.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? Meh

67. Facebook or Twitter? Fb

68. Twitter or Tumblr? Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now?yes

70. Names of your bestfriends? Stephanie Lauren Rayza Kat Christina

71. Craving something? A simple hand hold...😔.... compliment here or there . To not have to do everything myself... I crave the help I constantly ask for and never get. I crave dick, I just don’t understand this shit anymore.... damnit tumblr u struck a nerve .

72. What colour are your towels? Mixed

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? 1

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? No

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?idk

75. Favourite animal? So many..... tigers maybe? & Lynx. Sharks.

76. What colour is your underwear? Not wearing any 😬

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? Mint chocolate chip

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? Olive green

80. What colour pants? None on.

81. Favourite tv show? In the dark

82. Favourite movie? All 50 shades.

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? First one

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? How do these compare

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? The Lebanese chick

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Turtles

87. First person you talked to today? Gage

88. Last person you talked to today? Myself

89. Name a person you hate? Hate is a strong word.

90. Name a person you love? Gage

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? Lol Geoff

92. In a fight with someone? No

93. How many sweatpants do you have? No idea

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?Too many

95. Last movie you watched? “What if”

96. Favourite actress? Perry Mattfeld

97. Favourite actor? Hmmmm

98. Do you tan a lot?yassss

99. Have any pets? A zoo

100. How are you feeling? Confused, tired burning out ..

101. Do you type fast? I try

102. Do you regret anything from your past? Yes

103. Can you spell well? Eh

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? Yes

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yes

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? Yes

107. Have you ever been on a horse? Yes

108. What should you be doing? Listing stuff on Etsy

109. Is something irritating you right now? No

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? Absolutely

111. Do you have trust issues? No, just don’t give me a reason too.

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? Ohhhh I don’t cry in front of ppl,cause then there’s a witness... did cry today tho, but you couldn’t see me.

113. What was your childhood nickname? Angiefur

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? Yes

115. Do you play the Wii?not really

116. Are you listening to music right now? No

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? Yes

118. Do you like Chinese food? Yes

119. Favourite book? Crank

120. Are you afraid of the dark?some times

121. Are you mean? Don’t cross me 😘

122. Do you believe in “the one that got away”? Yes.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? I try

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? Idk

125. Do you believe in true love? Yes

126. Are you currently bored? Yes

127. What makes you happy? Attention lol romance? I think romance is dead tho...

128. Would you change your name? My last name? If I were getting married, yes

129. What your zodiac sign? Leo

130. Do you like subway? Food yes, smelly train no....

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? All my besties have vaginas, nothing to worry about.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? Steve

133. Favourite lyrics right now? Brand new : Jesus Christ

134. Can you count to one million? Yea but why

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? I don’t lie so I don’t have that problem

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? Closed Cause only 1 Of my 4 asshole cats I allowed in my room

137. How tall are you? Oh how short am I? 5’1

138. Curly or Straight hair? Straight

139. Brunette or Blonde? Right now black

140. Summer or Winter?summer

141. Night or Day? Summer nights

142. Favourite month? August

143. Are you a vegetarian? Keto

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? Dark

145. Tea or Coffee? Coffee

146. Was today a good day? I think so

147. Mars or Snickers? Dark chocolate Milky Way

148. What’s your favourite quote? I’d have to think about it

149. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

“His thumb brushes my lower lip, and his breath hitches. He’s staring into my eyes, and I hold his anxious, burning gaze for a moment, or maybe it’s forever…but eventually, my attention is drawn to his beautiful mouth. And for the first time in twenty-one years, I want to be kissed.”

Excerpt From

Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed

E L James

This material may be protected by copyright.

[designsfromtime]

A Frank Conversation About Selling on Etsy:

So, you have a hobby. Your friends and family LOVE your work and advise: “You should sell your stuff!” Maybe you need some extra income and you hope you can supplement your bank account with a side hustle. So you open an Etsy store, spend hours wording your “About Me” page, upload some pictures, and then you wait for that first sale…annnd…crickets.

This is a scenario that is repeated thousands of times every day.  I hear it constantly from disappointed and angry Etsy shop owners. So what do you do?  Blame Etsy? Pay money for one of those “opportunists” who promise more sales if you buy in and follow their model with little to no success? Get angry and give up?

This isn’t a post telling you “how to be successful” on Etsy. Rather, it’s a very frank conversation to help with your “expectations” and, yeah, maybe give you a little advice.

Before you open your store answer some very frank questions:  Did you do your homework? - Did you go on Etsy and search for items similar to yours?  Is the market already saturated? – or do you have a unique item that isn’t available? If there are items similar to yours are they of better quality and workmanship? - or poorer quality than your work?  Answering these questions is ESSENTIAL and it will take total HONESTY and objectivity on your part, as well as from your friends and family who are advising you.

The first step is to self-assess your quality of work and your business model, as well as your expectations. The raw truth is, I don’t know ANYONE who has quit their day job and is supporting themselves through their Etsy store – Including ME!!

So let’s talk about each of these topics individually.

DID YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK:

Whether it’s bath bombs or historical gowns, you have to research your target market. You cannot skip this step!

For example, my daughter recently started a side-hustle making all-natural stain-free bath bombs, sugar scrubs, body butter, and whipped soaps to help with her Bachelor’s degree. Before she began, she purchased items from the most successful company offering bath bombs and tried them out. Turns out, they weren’t the same quality as hers – just mass produced. She researched the pros and cons of bath bombs using the feedback from those in her inner circle. What did they like or dislike about the competitor’s product. The biggest complaint - - they stain the bathtub and they weren’t hydrating! So, taking that feedback she played with her recipe and came up with bath bombs that are not only moisturizing, but DON’T stain the bathtub. She also offers themes and scents inspired by books or movies such as Harry Potter. That’s her hook! That’s what makes HER product stand out.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NightMareBathandBody?ref=pr2018_faveshops

It’s essential that you do your research before you open an Etsy store - or move to the on-line market in general.

To use historical costuming as an example. Let’s say you bought a slanted riding hat pattern and made yourself a ridding hat to wear at renfaire. You got lots of compliments on your hat and some of your fellow Rennies asked, “Where did you get your hat?” You tell them you made it, and they ask you to make them one. In consequence you decide if “so-and-so” liked my work, maybe I can parlay this into a side hustle?  But before you make that leap, have you researched how many 16th Century riding hats are available on Etsy?

Let’s say there are quite a few listings already on Etsy. Let’s say you look up the seller who has the most sales of that particular item. So, how does your work compare?  Is your fabric smooth on the base, or are their visible puckers? How is their hand-stitching? – are your stitches as small and even as your competitor? How much are they asking?  Be objective! It can be painful to compare your work, but it’s important if you want to be competitive.

Let’s say, your work is passable. Maybe it’s not exactly the same quality as your competitor, but pretty darn good in your opinion, so you decide that your way “in” is to undercut all those who are selling similar items. This is a tactic I see ALL THE TIME. But have you actually calculated your costs?  How many hats can you get out of one yard of fabric?  How many hats can you make with a yard of trim?  Are you buying your bases ready-made, or making your own?  How much does it cost for you to make your base versus buying ready-made? How much is the millinery wire you need to use? How much wire do you need to use for one hat?

All these questions are essential to calculate your TRUE costs. In addition, have you factored in the fees Etsy will charge you once a sale is made – to include the actual listing fees, as well as the cost of shipping.

When you undercut your competitors you cheat yourself, and then wonder why you aren’t making a profit! I’m not talking a few dollars. I’m talking about setting your prices so low you are barely making a profit.  You say: “But, I’ll raise my prices later after people get to know my work!”  Yeah - - I actually did that. BIG MISTAKE! I started off at a competitive price and the orders came pouring in. It felt great! I felt validated. But when I factored in all the extras I was offering that made my work stand out, and was not charging for, guess what happened?  When I started charging what my hats and headdresses were actually worth, and factoring in my actual costs, I saw a drop off in sales. Did I lower my prices again? NO! Every bead, every piece of trim, every stitch has value. So does your time!!!! Value your work and value your time. If it is quality it will stand alone among the hundreds of others being sold.

When you value your time and price your items accordingly, you will attract a caliber of customers who recognize the quality of your work. But your work needs to hold up in terms of quality. This is where you will need to be objective. That process can be painful. Trust me, I know!

I randomly run searches on Etsy to gauge what’s selling and what’s not – what’s available, and how they are similar to mine, and how much they are selling it for. What I often find are sewists selling items at ridiculously low costs. So low, in fact, I often wonder how in the world they can justify selling a gown for $200 when fabric and supplies make up 75% or more of their total listing price. I know what fabric costs. I know how many hours it takes to construct that item, and when I see shop owners selling items at ridiculously low prices the first thing I do is check where they are located. Many times they are over-seas sellers. The US dollar is worth more in many countries, but there are HUGE risks buying from over-seas vendors. I’ve heard too many horror stories, and quite frankly their work just doesn’t stand up to my standards for historical accuracy. But that’s another story for another time.  

NEVER price your items based on the lowest prices! Figure out your costs, to include your Etsy fees, and pay yourself a FAIR wage. Ignore, the bargain basement over-seas sellers. What you need to be putting your energy toward is honing your skills and making your items truly competitive. If an item is of the highest quality, people will recognize it and they will remember you.

If you cannot self-assess your work honestly and be objective and see where you need to improve, chances are you will be disappointed in the outcome of your shop. Just as important is to VALUE your work. If your work is not the same quality as your biggest competitor, you are setting yourself up to fail. Yes, there is a market for everyone’s work, but here’s the honest truth:  Just like you “get what you pay for” you attract a certain caliber of customer by what you charge!

Here’s an example for you! I have a young friend who likes to sew. She made an Outlander costume for her mother for Halloween using the American Duchess pattern. At her mother’s encouragement, she decided to open an Etsy store and she listed the costume she had made for her mother, and set her price at a ridiculously low cost, at least in comparison to mine. A woman who “claimed” to be a reporter purchased an item in January 2019. She ordered a pair of stays and a bodice and skirt. She claimed she wanted to wear it because she was going to “interview” the cast of Outlander. (I called bullsh*t, and her behavior only validated my prediction). My friend followed the same procedure I do, making the stays first and sending them to her, because you need measurements wearing your stays in order to construct the gown and have it fit properly. After multiple messages to the buyer, in which she tried to get the buyer to give her correct measurements, the buyer wasn’t responding, or was avoiding it claiming she was “too busy.” I saw my friend the following AUGUST and the woman still had not complied with her request for proper measurements!! She sent her a picture wearing her stays and expected my friend to figure out her size by the picture!!

My friend asked me for advice on how to handle the situation. With my assistance, we wrote the buyer on Etsy and explained IN DETAIL what she needed and WHY, and informed her that because she had not complied with getting her the specific measurements needed to complete the commission she would place the order on hold until the woman had time to provide her with what she needed. The woman tried to wiggle her way out of the commission after nine months by stating how busy she was in her work, and how she didn’t have a measuring tape and how inconvenient it was for her to find someone to take her measurements, and that maybe my friend should just cancel the order and refund her deposit as she didn’t want to keep “her” waiting. Yeah – Nice try, right?

Well, my friend had used the deposit to purchase fabric and supplies! – Not to mention, after NINE months it was too late to issue a refund. After 60 days PayPal won’t issue a refund.

Come October, two months after she reached out to me for help, my friend was still battling with this woman for the measurements she needed, and the hateful snit complained to Etsy, and then tried to open a dispute with PayPal! She claimed she didn’t believe her deposit had been used for supplies! I instructed my friend to send the woman the unfinished gown and ALL the supplies she’d purchased, stand her ground and NOT issue a refund, and chalk it up as a lesson learned. Bottom line? If this gal really WAS scheduled to interview the Outlander cast, she would have made more of an effort I’m here to tell you! But this client more than likely saw a seller who was just starting out, had only a couple of items in her Etsy store, purchased the costume on the cheap, and then tried to get one over on my friend.

This example is something you need to be prepared to deal with. You will need to be comfortable setting boundaries and being assertive! You need to be able to intuit when someone is trying to scam you, and you also need to know PayPal and Etsy’s policies. One of the mistakes my friend made was taking her conversation off the Etsy site and emailing this client. Communication on Etsy is a pain in the arse, but you CANNOT take your discussion off site! Doing so is against Etsy’s policies. Why? You need a paper trail, so to speak, of your communication. You need to document your conversations in an Etsy thread so that if a dispute is raised, Etsy can review your conversation. In this instance, my friend had documented her difficulties through the Etsy thread and they saw the efforts she had made to gain the client’s compliance and they ruled in my friend’s favor. But this is not always the case!

The moral of the story: If you price your work at bargain basement prices, you will more than likely attract clients JUST like this person. Now that’s not always the case. There are shady people out there, and even if you charge what you’re worth you will find clients who test your patience.

For instance, I had a client order a riding hat from me a few years back. She had a short deadline, so I went to JoAnns and purchased the silk and began construction. After two weeks she tried to cancel the order stating she found a hat to borrow and didn’t need to buy one at this time. I told her it was too late to cancel as I had already purchased fabrics and started construction, so she opened a dispute with PayPal and told them it was a fraudulent purchase! – claiming someone used her PayPal account without her permission. I supplied PayPal with documentation of our conversations, but they ruled in her favor because it fell within their 60-day deadline! It turned out I had another client who wanted a hat in the same color and was the same size, so I went ahead and issued her refund, but I told her that because of her shady behavior I would not accept any commissions from her in the future. She actually had the audacity to become highly insulted that I would refuse any future commissions and actually made ME out to be the bad guy for setting boundaries with a client who had wiggled their way out of a commission by lying!! Yeah…There are some “special” people out there, and it’s all part of working with the public, so be prepared!

I’ve also had people contact me to request I sell them one of my headdresses, but they only wanted the base. They didn’t want me to cover it and decorate it. I’m highly intuitive and I smelled a rat. I knew instinctively that what they wanted was to take my base and replicate my pattern, because I have created my pattern and it’s not for sale - anywhere! Working with the public can make you question the future of mankind, because there are some shady creeps out there with zero integrity. You will need to be prepared to bite the bullet and deal with them if you plan to work in customer service.

IS THE MARKET FLOODED:

There are a TON of historical costumes listed on Etsy.  Your first step is to evaluate what’s being offered and judge whether or not you are offering something that is actually needed. When I have an idea or find an item I want to make, the first thing I do is run a search for that item. If there are tons of the same item, here’s where you need to be objective and realistic. What’s going to attract sales to your store if there are dozens and dozens of shops offering the same thing?

I participate in some of the groups Etsy offers just for sellers. We try out new functions offered on Etsy and discuss our experiences as a seller. I hear people complain ALL the time about their items not selling. But let’s get honest. How can you expect to be competitive if your product doesn’t stand out from all the others? What makes yours unique when dozens of sellers are offering the same thing? Lowering the price isn’t a strategy that is recommended. Running sales and promotions are fine, but as we’ve already discussed selling yourself short may only be a temporary boon. It’s just not a sustainable business model. Not when you are selling your items for less than what your supplies and labor costs.  Find your niche!

If the market is already flooded, perhaps you might reconsider offering that item or reconsider opening a store all together. Chances are, if you ignore that advice, you will not see any activity in your store. That’s probably not the advice you want to hear, but wouldn’t you rather someone be honest with you?

Also, and you’re gonna hate this one as well – Your family and friends are NOT objective! It’s human nature. What might look great to them, might not attract attention in a larger market. That’s a painful truth.

ARE THE ITEMS SIMILAR TO YOURS BETTER QUALITY?

Being objective is painful, but it’s necessary.

If you’ve decided to press forward and offer items that are already being sold on Etsy, the essential next step is to assess the quality of your work. Before you enter the retail arena, take the necessary time to hone your craft. Quality is the ONLY way you will attract attention when you are offering items that are already flooding the Etsy or on-line market.  Again, undercutting costs is not a sustainable business model, so take the time – however long it takes – until your products are comparable and marketable. If your workmanship isn’t on par, then work for the next year or so to hone your skills and find people who can be kindly objective that can counsel you on where or what needs improvement. Don’t take that criticism personally. We all start somewhere.  I wish you could see some of my first corsets!  God, they were BAD. I mean – REALLY BAD!

One of the things you can do to hone your craft is to AVOID commercial patterns! These commercial patterns are not always historically based – In fact, most are not even close! Some are pretty good but DO YOUR RESEARCH. Read books on costuming. Invest and develop your reference library. Participate in historical groups on social media – hopefully you find those who are inclusive rather than snits who pick apart others’ work, and admins who DON’T participate in the petty drama. Unfortunately, that has not been my experience, so I avoid these groups. But for those who are just starting out, they can be helpful to lurk and absorb information. Ask questions if you participate in groups. BUT be prepared to deal with the costume nazis who hide behind the anonymity of the internet and are hateful and judgmental.

Rather than commercial patterns like Simplicity or McCalls, I recommend you purchase patterns that are more historical. Yes, they are expensive, but you need to invest in your craft and having the proper patterns are just as essential as your equipment. If you cannot tell the difference between Medieval, Elizabethan, Tudor, Rococo, Colonial, Regency, Victorian or Edwardian – You need to start studying! – Starting with underpinnings! There are subtle and not so subtle clothing style differences in each era. Nothing drives me more crazy than Etsy sellers or those on Ebay who buy a commercial pattern that isn’t fit for anything but a Halloween costume, and label it, “Renaissance” when it’s a mish-mosh of colonial and medieval eras.  PLEASE, take the time to read and study. Do your due diligence. I have been creating historical costumes professionally since 2012 when I retired early, but I’ve been studying historical clothing since 2001 and I learn something new ALL THE TIME! I push myself and tackle new eras to hone my craft. There will always be someone who knows more than you do. Just keep learning!

I am always available to give feedback, but actually teaching construction techniques over the internet is a challenge for me because I’m generally pressed for time. Watch You Tube tutorials, take sewing lessons, learn how to drape and draft patterns, but along with all of that…Practice…Practice…Practice. I learn something new every time I tackle a new project or venture into a different era.

MANAGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS:

I am busy all year long with commissions, but most of the time we don’t get paid until a commission is complete. I also have expenses such as fees for an upgraded Etsy store, Etsy fees to list items – plus the percentage they take from each sale, as well as website fees – all of which are necessary to get your brand out there.

Aside from operating fees, I have equipment payments – because just ONE of my embroidery machines cost me over $5,000! But you see, my niche is historical embroidery and highly embellished work. I also have material fees, and repair fees on my equipment. You will need a quality sewing machine that is gear driven, rather than belt driven in order to make corsetry and to sew through layers of heavy fabric that you use in historical costuming. I have two embroidery machines, an air threading Serge/overlock machine, and a Juki semi-professional straight stitch sewing machine, as well as a smaller Brother sewing machine that we use for shirts and thinner fabrics when we both need to do machine work. I also have a cutting table with fold out eaves and cabinets that cost me $1200!! All of these tools of the trade costs MONEY.  You will also need dress forms in various sizes for both men and women. The cheap ones that are adjustable are too flimsy to hold up to these heavy costumes. Dress forms can cost anywhere from $300 to $1000. If you plan to compete, you need the tools of the trade.

There are hundreds and hundreds of hobbyists who are attempting to use Etsy as a platform to sell historical clothing to supplement their income, but there are VERY few shops that offer quality items with quality workmanship. If your work isn’t a cut above, you will find yourself disappointed when your expectations fall short of reality.

Even though we stay busy all year long, I don’t make enough to support myself just on my costume commissions alone. After my husband passed away in 2009, I was fortunate enough that he left me and the kids financially stable. Without his retirement income (he was a police officer who died as a consequence of his job) I could not pay my monthly bills on my commission income alone. Lalana works three days a week doing hair and works three days a week with me in my design studio. We do this more for the passion and the creative outlet, than we do for the money. Neither of us are rolling in it!

I have had young mothers approach me about advising them on how to do costuming so they can stay home with their kids. First of all, costuming is production work. When you have a deadline to meet your clients aren’t going to understand when your kids are sick or when your husband wants to spend quality time with you, or your house is filthy. Self-employment is NOT the answer to staying at home and earning an income. Unless you have extra household money to invest every month to keep you afloat and purchase supplies while you’re waiting to be paid for a commission, you’ll be working at a deficit.

There is also the issue of taxes. Etsy collects sales taxes on your behalf, but they don’t collect your federal income taxes or state income taxes, if you live in a state like California. Working under the table is a risky endeavor! Do you really want to risk being audited for income you didn’t report? My advice: Just don’t do it!! It’s not worth the risk. So, be prepared to hire a tax specialist to do your taxes every year. You will need to keep good records of all your expenses and income. Every spool of thread, every yard of fabric needs to be accounted for in order for you to have a REAL picture of your profit and loss. The purchase of equipment will help, but there again, you need to be able to afford to pay the monthly payments on equipment loans.

In conclusion, there are more CONS than pros to self-employment and opening an on-line business, not just on Etsy. For me, I found Etsy to provide me more traffic in my store than a high-priced website. Unless you have a website manager that constantly monitors your Search Engine Optimization and other such tech stuff that is beyond my comprehension and skills, you won’t get enough traffic to your website to make the expense worthwhile. This is exactly why I switched my fancy-schmancy website to a “Pattern” website via Etsy. It allows me to keep my domain name, while using Etsy’s platform to funnel traffic through my page. I get about 10,000 hits per month in my Etsy store alone.

The bottom line is that Etsy has worked for me, but it may not be a platform that works for you. There are tons of variables – as I’ve addressed above.

So, before you jump into the pond, make sure you know the temperature and depth of the water! Trust me, you’ll thank me for being honest with you.

[foggedgrief]

so noemi and nicky were in part one but this is part two and y’all are going to get the loves of my life, poppy finnegan ( click here to find some quick facts about my boy ) and sebastian lazzaro ( click here to find some quick facts about my girl ) ! wanted connections can be found here.

be warned ! before you click that handy dandy little read more, the following triggers will be discussed : death ( multiple deaths due to the fog, not explicit : poppy ), divorce ( not traumatic, amenable divorce : laz ) !

writing  letters  to  your  mother  even  though  she’ll  never  read  them,  praying  for  forgiveness  when  you  press  flowers  between  pages  when  you  play  god  with  life  and  death,  staring  at  the  fog  from  your  perch  on  your  window  sill  wondering  what  it  might  be  like  to  stay  for  a  while,  the  ever  dawning  realization  that  you  are  less  than  you  could  be  but  more  than  you  were,  the  desire  to  wear  masks  more  interesting  than  your  own  (  what  would  your  mother  say  that  you  wish  to  be  someone  other  than  your  own  self  ?  )

penelope jean finnegan is the eldest child of the finnegan family and is like a de facto rory gilmore with just how often she’s seen around town and i mean that in the best kind of way. 

it’s mostly thanks to her mama, the late dottie finnegan. if you only knew one person in town, it was probably dottie. she owned the mad batter, has made almost every confectionary sold at the school’s bake sake, has made every birthday cake for most people in town since she was fourteen, and just radiated the best kind of mom energy that you would look for in another person. 

poppy was relatively popular in high school and was an active member of the thespian troupe. she won a superior and second place in the state level thespian competition in costume design and she’s been designing and sewing her own clothes since then. she also worked at the bakery from the time she was sixteen until she went off to college and was prom queen her senior year. 

also in high school, poppy and her parents converted one of the rooms in the house into an artistically inviting space and sometimes poppy treated it more like her bedroom than her actual bedroom when she was in school. while dottie expressed most of her art through paints, sketches, and cakes, poppy has always had a desire to design her own clothes and make them. she does take commissions around prom season for a little extra pocket money and opens her etsy store as early as january and runs through june for prom and graduation. 

she met her now boyfriend ( ex ? maybe ! ) in college and dual majored in two business degrees, one in entrepreneurship and one in marketing. she did so with the explicit of interest in going back to her family business and expanding it into a franchise across the state and eventually into a generational empire of baked goods and love. 

for legal reasons that’s mostly a joke but with her degrees and moving back to town, though, she did begin cultivating their social media presence and started nationally shipping orders about two years ago. the company has a large following, especially on tiktok, where poppy maintains her own account, the mad batter’s, and the finnefam account for the finnegan family. they are those people. 

poppy was always especially close to her mother and the loss of dottie has been horrifically detrimental to her stability and the additional loss of one of her best friends, max, only sent a downward turn into a spiral. all she wants is for the world to straighten out again but she doesn’t really even know what that means. 

when poppy came home from college, her arm was linked with marcus’ and they moved into the one bedroom mother in law apartment behind the family’s home. it’s cute as fuck and dottie helped her design it but it’s suffocatingly familiar with all of these losses that she’s found herself staying in her childhood bedroom instead of with marcus. ser maxibald, their corgi, is staying with marcus. 

when she took the job at the tower, it was under the excuse of wanting to make sure that august stayed safe. and maybe one day she’ll believe her own lie but if she had to choose between sitting up in a tower amongst the fog that took her mother and going to work at the bakery like her mother did every day for as long as she could remember... well the forest starts to look good after a while.

literally will fight anyone, including the fog, for the safety of her siblings and father. is 10/10 taking her anger, frustration, and sadness out on her father and boyfriend and honestly that’s not healthy and she knows it but we all do strange things in the fog of grief. 

the  desperate  feeling  that  sits  on  your  chest  when  you  feel  the  need  to  drown  out  the  silence,  the  walk  of  shame  when  you  have  to  collect  your  bowls  and  dishes  from  your  room  and  bring  them  to  the  kitchen,  happier  days  filled  with  love  and  laughter  polluted  by  sixty  hour  work  weeks  and  fifty  too  many  missed  recitals,  appointments,  holidays,  vibrant  dreams  of  better  days  and  waking  up  alone,  still  reaching  to  fidget  with  a  ring  that  isn’t  there  anymore.

sebastian isaac lazzaro, known as bash by his family, laz by everyone else in the world, grew up in pine haven and had that all american kind of boy small towns love to publish articles about when they get into a major state school on a scholarship for their athletic prowess and talk about that one time they rescued a cat from a tree. 

his sport was soccer and he got a full ride to umaine for it. he pursued a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and law. he went to law school and spent a few years at a practice in massachusetts before deciding to apply to the fbi. your man passed through training with flying colors and was assigned to his first choice, the behavioral analysis unit. 

laz married the sister of one of his closest friends in high school, rory finnegan. they didn’t start dating until they were at university of maine together and he was absolutely head over heels for her. she showed up a year later and it felt like a better time than any to ask her out properly without the prying eyes of the town trying to figure out what their relationship was and if it was more than friendly. 

they were married for about twelve years and dated for another five on top of that. they were married about a year after she graduated from college and divorced a little over a year ago. though their divorce didn’t end back of a lack of love, laz didn’t know how to appropriately prioritize his family over his work and watched the best people in his life slip through his fingers. 

they did have a daughter, sophia. she’s twelve now. she was named after laz’s mother and she’s the light of his life. when his wife first served him with papers, he agreed that she should take primary custody of sophia because of the unpredictable nature of his schedule and a desire to devote himself to a schedule he wouldn’t fuck up. he bought them a house in pine haven so his wife could be close to her brother and sophia be close to her cousins. the town isn’t the safest because of the fog but he knew that crime wasn’t going to be an issue. 

he’s incredibly consistent with his support payments and adheres almost rigidly to the custody agreement. now that he’s back in town because of the disappearances, though, things a little awkward. they haven’t had to see each other for this long before and laz is conflicted on how to approach something very obvious to him and his team: his love for his wife and the fact that every time he leaves pine haven, he leaves his heart behind too. 

but on to lighter notes: murder. laz hunts down serial killers for a living and helps construct the profiles that bring them to justice. it was in his office that he got the notification of death for his former sister in law, dorothy finnegan. laz had to leave the room when he saw her face among the missing and returned a few minutes later to tell the team to get together and they were flying out the same day. he didn’t really tell anyone he was coming back to town and has been here for two weeks. the last time he was in town was for whatever the most recent major holiday was because he spends his holidays with the finnegans, usually. 

over all good man. gives good hugs but not as good as nicky. 7.5 / 10.

[figmentforms]

Loooong overdue Q&A,and Announcements!

Lots of the questions are from many many months ago. Sorry about that! I’m super behind on everything because my life got so crazy for a while there and I’m still catching up! If interested in details about my life, I wrote more in depth about it at the bottom of this post!

Announcements:

❄ Comic updates should start to be weekly again now that things are finally settling down in my life! :D

❄ I found some copies of my comics to sell! If interested in a printed copy of AToTR Volume 1 or Volume 2, Check out my Etsy store here! https://www.etsy.com/shop/GildedPixel

***From the last round of comic selling, a few got sent back to me because something went wrong with the address. Unfortunately i have no idea who didn’t get theirs because of the aforementioned chaos. If you still haven’t gotten your order from like... half a year ago, please just let me know and I’ll send you your order again.

❄ Apparently tumblr is having some uh… “serious technical difficulties”. If it goes belly up, all my comics are free to see on my Patreon. Only the newest comic each week is locked for only patrons to view, but it unlocks when the next one comes out each week. https://www.patreon.com/LorIllustration

❄ A new update to the Youtube dub of my comic is up on Starbot Dubs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZuLjHvERxA

If you haven’t see the previous 5 parts, they’re all here as one video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTAEM9PFPVY

And Now for Q&A!!!

I am so grateful for this letter and for the many other letters of support I was sent over the past couple months. It really helped me get through the low times and I’ll always appreciate it that you and many others took the time to send me words of encouragement, empathy, and advice. Thank you so much! 

---

Thank you! AND I WOULD BE SO HONORED PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Thank you! My best advice for anatomy would be to focus on two things: look  online for skeletal and muscle anatomy illustrations. Knowing the hardware under the skin helps SO much! Also do lots of life drawings. Draw anyone willing to sit still long enough for you! The more you do it, the easier it will get and the more you will develop your own style!

---

For the most part, I draw around the word bubbles! Then the next priority is to draw what needs to be shown to communicate the point of the panels. Usually in the super early stages it’s just characters that are sketched in, but sometimes elements of the setting are just as important, like a doorway or establishing the setting for a new scene! I hope that helps!

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LOL she would be SO tempted, but wouldn’t resort to anything like that unless it was over something extremely important that also happened to be an emergency. Ganondorf however would have no problem with it because he has a different, much more Direct, style of governing. XD

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Rinku is indeed Link!

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Absolutely the second one. XD

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TaDaaa!!!! XD

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Super good question! For the most part all the rooms are just laid out as I need them to communicate a comic clearly. The exception is if I already have drawn a room, I try to keep it the same. The throne room, Specific bedrooms, ect. But I don’t have a castle layout set in stone or anything. lol I will eventually have to do that at some point though.

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I strongly considered having this be a story arc at one point but it got dropped! Short answer is, Yes. He would eventually try to do that. But would find that Impa had already secretly killed him years ago and never told Zelda.

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Oh he totally does that all the time!!!  Just not important to the story so it’s not shown!

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YUP!!! XD

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Someday, totally, but I haven’t even caught up with the ones I started last spring!!! *I suddenly experience a mighty wave of shame*

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Awww! That’s a really sweet idea!!!! She would totally take his name and he would be so darn proud!

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Oh HECK YEAH!!!!

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Possibly! But if so, it will be in the next reincarnation arc!

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At a later point, I think! if I have time to develop it and not stagnate the story too terribly much!

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Thank you! And Tingle? At some point, YES. Mask salesman? Not sure yet! maybe!

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That's beautiful!!! Was it a fic??? That’s an incredibly cool idea!

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That’s adorable. Eventually they would have to dance together at a royal ball. Ganondorf is a bit more graceful than Zelda, but they would manage. Would be cute as heck too because Zelda would be a little shy and Ganondorf would urge her to be more confident... and maybe rile up her competitive nature by saying he’s better at it than her.

---

Update on my life!

Leaving my old life and my ex last August was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was the right choice and I’m so much happier now. Things are finally getting stable now! I was only planning to stay with my aunt Jan in Ohio for a short while, but she recently got some serious health problems so I’ll be staying with her for several months more to help take care of her. And even though I wasn’t looking for a new relationship so soon after leaving my troubled marriage, I randomly met someone a few weeks ago that just amazed me with how universally kind he is and with how much we have in common! His name is Mark and he works as an army nurse with a forward surgical team attached to a special operations joint task force. He just got deployed to Afghanistan to go and patch people up, and if all goes well he will be back home in late summer. I never thought soul mates were really a thing, but if they are, I think he’s mine! As for my dog Oscar, he’s continued to grow and be a happy giant puppy! He’s going to be a full year old at the end of December! He’s almost 60 pounds now!!!

On the less than great side, I’ve had no luck finding an art-related job, so I’m going to be switching my career goals over to becoming an art teacher. But honestly, I think teaching will be a much more emotionally fulfilling career, so even though that wasn’t my original plan, I’m excited to start to chase that new dream!

Thank you all so much for your continued kindness and support for both for my work and for me as a human. You all are a big part of why I had the confidence and self worth to leave a bad situation and I will always be grateful to you all for that. Thank you for helping me reach this new better life! 

[neuroqueercrafting]

Hi! I just found this blog now bc of the amazing goose thing you made and i saw that you sell stuff on etsy: I've literally just set up my own etsy shop today selling some embroidered patches among other things, and i was just wondering how much you usually sell yours for/how much time roughly they take to make? Getting real insecure about pricing stuff correctly :// Your embroidery looks great! I've only just started embroidering and it's cool to see other people's stuff for inspo!

Hi there, anon! buckle up for a longer answer than you probably actually want haha because i have a tendency to over-talk whoops

It’s so cool you’ve started up your own shop and are getting into embroidery!! Sewing is such a fun thing to do and as someone who can’t draw/paint/etc. very well at all there’s something really special about embroidery; like, it’s so nice having a creative outlet that i’m able to keep improving at, and sharing it with others makes it even more rewarding!

As to figuring out how much to sell your work for: that is the question, isn’t it. My etsy store has actually been on “vacation” since….gosh, since early May or something. But i intend to start it up again very soon, by the end of November at the latest, and i plan on increasing my prices from what they were before i went on hiatus.

So many of us who sell homemade products tend to underprice, with the worry that if we actually calculate a more “fair” price people will claim it’s way too expensive. The kind of complaint i fear would be something like: “A patch that got mass produced by a machine is 5 bucks; why would i pay 30 bucks for your patch where the text isn’t even perfectly centered?”

i personally sew really slowly, so like, that goose hoop art? took me probably at least 10 hours total, and it’s not even that detailed! So if i were to want to pay myself, say, 8 bucks per hour of work put in + include the price of the hoop and fabric and stuff, i’d have to sell that thing for over $85. …which i doubt anyone would be willing to pay.

@bawdyembroidery​ put it better than i can in this post:

“…Let’s say this whole process took me 10 hours from start to finish… If I charge a minimum of $35 for a piece at this rate, I’m getting paid $3.50 an hour. If I charged per hour at a rate which I think I deserve based on my skill, I would never sell anything because the cost would be astronomical…”

Bawdyembroidery is at a skill level i’ve yet to reach, so if they can’t get customers to buy their stuff at a price high enough for them to be making even minimum wage profit, i have no hope! Alas!

_________

What i’m hoping this conveys to you is that it can be really hard to figure out that somewhat-happy medium between:

charging an amount that’s fair to you based on the time and resources your poured into the piece, and

charging an amount that customers are willing to pay.

Different artists determine different prices for their art, with different reasons behind those prices -- and that’s legitimate! We don’t all have to come to the same conclusions about how we want to price our stuff.

i hope that in reading this you can let go of some of your insecurity about pricing stuff correctly because the thing is, there is no one “correct price” for a handmade piece. It’s about finding a price that works for you, a price that leaves you feeling like your time and skill are being respected while still succeeding in getting you the number of customers you’re hoping to get.

________

i recommend asking other sellers their reasoning behind their prices too so you’re not only getting one viewpoint! But below i’ll talk a little about the reasoning behind my own work’s prices.

Before taking a break from selling, i was selling patches at a roughly “$2 or $3 per hour of work” price. That’s really low. My personal reasoning for keeping the prices low:

my patches aren’t perfect. That’s okay because they’re homemade; they’re not meant to be uniform or pristine! But even with that being true, i’m not at a skill level yet where i’m churning out pieces i’m completely content with very often; if i were charging higher prices i have a feeling i’d end up throwing out any patches i deemed “not good enough” and starting over because “the customer paid so much, i can’t give them this garbage!!” …and then i’d be pouring like 20 hours into a single patch instead of like 3 or 4. So that just would not be sustainable haha. Does that make sense sorta? i think this reason is probably more a me thing than a real legitimate concern aha

my patches are mostly focused around pride in being part of a marginalized group or around solidarity for that group (examples: “protect and celebrate trans women,” “proudly autistic,” “God is queer”). Keeping these patches at a lower price means that as many folks as possible can afford them, which is important to me because i love the idea that i’m giving people a chance to show off pride that not many other products out there give them!

i don’t personally sell my embroidery to survive. the money i make by selling my stuff goes into my “donations + fun” money – it’s money i use to occasionally treat myself and/or donate to people’s gofundmes. i’m not using the money i make on etsy to afford my groceries or gas money, and therefore i can afford to sell at lower prices than other artists might. i know that’s a privilege over the sellers who rely on the money they make to pay rent and the like.

when working on an item someone ordered, i’m usually watching a tv show or listening to a lecture or podcast at the same time. i’m not pouring 100% of my focus into making the item, so i don’t mind earning less per hour than i would working at, say, a restaurant where i wouldn’t be able to watch tv while doing my work.

Again, the above are my personal reasons for how i’ve calculated item prices in the past; you may find some of those reasons also ring true for you, and some don’t. It’s subjective.

And as i mentioned earlier, i plan on raising my prices when i reopen my etsy. i used to sell my work at a price that amounts to roughly $2.50-$3.50 per hour it takes; i plan on seeing whether folks will still buy the patches if i raise that to around $6 per hour of my labor. And if the answer is no, perhaps i’ll lower them again.

After all, your prices don’t have to be set in stone. You can experiment a bit, and tweak the prices over your first couple months based on how much folks seem willing to pay, you know?

Also, you don’t have to explain to the customer what algorithm you used to calculate price! The various patches i sell are not all priced equally -- the ones i kinda get sick of making i’ll price a little higher than the ones i really like making.It’s your art! You get to decide! :)

i’m not sure any of this actually helps you all the much. But what i want to say is that you have a right to set whatever prices seem good to you. You have to weigh various positives and negatives while knowing that unfortunately, in our current culture where most customers don’t realize that handmade stuff does and should cost more than they might expect, you’re probably not going to land on a price that perfectly reflects both how much your work is worth and how much a customer will realistically pay. 

Best of luck to you!

__________

If anyone else who sells their own sewing/knitting/art wants to weigh in, that would be great! I think we all come to different conclusions about how to price our stuff and multiple views are worth hearing.

[solei28]

Painting in the Park- Bucky/Reader One-Shot

You absolutely adore the Springtime in NYC. Trees are full green again, teeming with wildlife. Flowers of all kinds and colors littered the strangest of places, like between cracks in walls and n the sidewalk. People have an extra pep in their step and add to the array of colors from Mother Nature.

It is the perfect time to grab your canvas, easel, paints, brushes, and head out to the park. You love to set up in the middle of the lush greenery and just let your mind and hand wonder. More than a few of your successful paintings were created with this method.

Today was pleasantly warm with a soft breeze passing through every so often. Perfect. You gathered your art supplies and headed out the door. You had decided sometime last week that you would go to Sakura Park to create your first painting for Spring.

The park wasn’t far from your little apartment on 129th street, so you walked there. It was too beautiful of a day to deal with the stuffy MTA busses. Besides, you knew the scenery would help inspire your creative whimsy.

You made a quick stop at a corner store to grab some snacks and a drink before you got to Sakura Park. You were delighted to see that the park was mostly empty. There shouldn’t be too many distractions while you worked. You set up by a bench so you could sit when you needed a break. Once you were all set up, you looked around at the lush beauty surrounding you.

The trees are a must for this painting. Maybe, I’ll add some fantastical elements as well. You picked up a brush and let your hand move across the canvas. You were so consumed, that you didn’t even notice the stranger watching you in complete awe.

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After yet another sleepless night, Bucky had made his way to the kitchen, hoping to find something to ease his stomach. He found Steve in the kitchen making sandwiches.

“I woke you up again,” Bucky said gruffly. “Sorry.”

Steve looked at him with a soft smile. “You don’t have to apologize. This is exactly why I’m here, Buck.”

Bucky felt terrible that he would wake Steve up with his nightmares. Sometimes, Steve would have to come in and hold him down because his thrashing around would destroy his bed. Those nights were the worst. He would always attack Steve thinking he was from Hydra. If it wasn’t for the super soldier serum, he was sure he would’ve killed Steve by now.

Steve could see the pain in his friend's eyes. “Come on. Eat, it will help you feel better.”

Bucky wasn’t exactly hungry, but he wouldn’t refuse Steve’s offer. The man was up at 3 in the morning because of him. It was the least he could do. He nodded and sat down at the kitchen table after taking the plate Steve held out for him.

After a few moments of silence, Steve spoke. “We should head out in the morning. Some fresh air will do us both some good.”

Bucky thought about it as he chewed. He had been cooped up in their apartment for a few weeks now. He only went out when it was absolutely necessary to replenish food and toiletries. He didn’t feel comfortable out in the public.

“I don't know, Steve,” he began just to be cut off.

Steve knew he was going to try and find an excuse to stay home. “Bucky, you need to get out and get some sun. Staying locked away day in and day out is not helping you. In fact, I think it’s doing more damage than good. Besides, you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you.”

Bucky pouted knowing the blond was right and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Reluctantly, he nodded. “Fine.”

Steve beamed at him. “That’s the spirit, Buck. We’re going to Sakura Park.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow at him. “Where’s that and why do I feel like you’ve been planning this for a while now?”

“It’s on Riverside and I have been planning to get you outside. I was looking for a park we could go to and Sakura stood out. With Spring in full effect, I’m sure the cherry blossoms are a must see,” Steve said simply and took the last bite of his sandwich.

“You’re taking your sketchbook, right?” Bucky asked with a grin. He knew Steve really did want to get him out of the apartment, but he also knew that the artist needed a change of scenery.

“You know me so well.” Steve got up and took his plate over to the sink. “Try and get some rest, Buck. We are in for a long day.”

Bucky shook his head and groaned. What did this man have in store for him?

⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝⇝

When Bucky and Steve got to Sakura Park, they were surprised to see how empty it was on such a beautiful day. Bucky was glad it was empty. The fewer people he had to be around the better. Steve was in awe at the beautiful trees that were surrounding them.

They walked around, trying to find the perfect spot that inspired Steve. They finally did at a bench under a tree that faced Riverside Church. Steve didn’t waste any time breaking out his sketchbook.

Bucky sat back on the bench and scanned the area. He took in the trees, full of cherry blossoms, the flowers sprouting from the lush green grass around them. He watched squirrels dart out from behind trees and garbage cans looking for their next meal. There was a couple a few feet from them, walking their beagle.

“So, whatcha think, Buck?” Steve asked.

Bucky shrugged. “It’s quite.”

Steve shook his head and sighed. “Yeah, it is. The cherry blossoms are beautiful.”

Bucky looked around again and was stunned by the beauty that had just walked into the park. She had a large black tote bag on her shoulder, an easel under the same arm and a plastic bag in her other hand. “Beautiful,” he murmured.

Steve looked at Bucky curiously. Upon following his friend's gaze, he noticed what-no, who had grabbed his attention suddenly. He smiled fondly at Bucky but said nothing. He was happy to see him take an interest in another human that wasn’t him.

Bucky watched as she set up her easel and secured the canvas onto it. She pulled out some tubes of paint, brushes and a wooden palette from her tote bag. He admired the care she took setting her palette and the way she looked around at the trees. It reminded him of Steve and a smile tugged at his lips.

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You took a step back to get a better look at what you had on the canvas. You studied it intently, tilting your head from side to side. There was something missing, but you couldn’t figure out what. You frowned with a groan and took another step back.

“You’re really talented,” a soft voice said from behind you.

You yelped in surprise and spun around to see who was there. You could’ve sworn you were there alone. Now, there were 2 men sitting on the other end of the bench. And, not just any 2 men. Your eyes went wide as you stared at Captian America and the Winter Soldier.

“Holy, shit! You’re Captain Rogers and Sergent Barnes!” you squeaked.

Steve laughed at how flushed you were. Bucky felt the heat rise up his neck and face. You knew who they were. Who he was.  

“Yes, we are,” Steve said an got up. He went over to you with his hand out. “And, you are?” he asked when you shook his hand.

Your mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to figure out how words worked. Finally, you managed to tell them your name.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” Steve looked at the painting again.

Bucky came up behind and smiled shyly at you. You stuck your hand out and after a moment of hesitation, he shook it. Your hands were so soft and slender in his. Your eyes were still wide and he felt like he could lose himself in them forever. He felt the blush creeping back and let go of your hand with a grunt and turned his attention to your painting.

“Seriously, speaking. This is amazing. How long have you been painting, Y/N?” Steve asked you.

You blushed at the compliment and looked down. “Thank you. I’ve been painting since I was 4.”

Bucky was fascinated by the painting. The harmonious colors blended so beautifully together. He knew this should be in a museum so everyone could experience it. Because that’s what it was. An experience. He noticed you were staring at him and when he looked at you, you averted your gaze quickly. Maybe you wanted to know his thoughts on it.

“This should be up in a museum. It’s exquisite,” he said in a quiet voice. Why was he so flustered around you?

You looked back at him, eyes shining. “You really think so?”

He felt his pulse quicken at the look you were giving him. Your eyes are bright and you’re smiling shyly. God, she’s beautiful.

You were trying to figure out how the hell you ended up standing here with heroes who actually enjoyed your work. Then, you noticed you were starring again and looked back to the painting. Get it together, Y/N. You felt those steel blue eyes on you. Damn it, he noticed I was staring again. You couldn’t help it, though. He was so handsome and those eyes just pulled you in.

Steve, who was enjoying the tension between you 2, spoke trying to ease the air. “So, is this how you make a living?”

You looked up at the blond and nodded. “Yeah, I have an online Etsy shop that I sell my paintings on. I also do commission pieces once in a while.”

“That’s awesome.” Steve gestured to Bucky. “Buck’s right. This should be in a museum.”

You would love to have your art displayed in a museum, but didn’t feel confident enough in pursuing it. “I don’t how I would even begin trying to get into one.” You chuckled, trying to hide your self-doubt.

Bucky sensed there was more to it than what you were saying. He felt an eagerness to find out what was bothering you. Just this morning he was dreading being around people. Now, he wanted to know everything about you.

“I’m pretty sure if you put a portfolio together any curator would be interested in displaying your work,” Bucky heard himself say. “Anyone with eyeballs can see how talented you are.”

His words struck a cord and you felt your chest swell with pride. You smiled at him. “I guess I should put one together, then.”

Steve reached into his pocket and took out his phone. “Oh, I better take this. Excuse me.” He walked away, but not before smirking at Bucky.

What is this punk up to? Bucky’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and raised an eyebrow.

Steve: Ask her out to lunch

Bucky: What??

Steve: Do it

Bucky felt your eyes on him. He looked at you and swallowed. You blinked at him owlishly. He felt himself slipping deep into your e/c eyes. Just ask her, you dumbass.

“So, uh, do you have any plans for lunch? I thought, maybe, we could grab a bite to eat.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously but kept his eyes on yours.

You felt the crimson creep up your face and bit your bottom lip. “Um, yeah, sure. I’d like that.”

Bucky let out a sigh of relief. Then, he realized that this area was foreign to him and he had no idea where to go. “Is there a place around here you like?”

You thought about it for a moment. There were a few restaurants in the area. You had tried them out and didn’t have any complaints. “Well, there are a few places around that are good. Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

“Not really. You pick a place, doll. Steve is paying for it, so don’t worry about prices,” Bucky said with a wicked smirk as Steve made his way back over to you both.

Steve let out a huff. “Oh, am I?

“Yeah, you are punk,” Bucky confirmed.

You found their friendship adorable. “Hmm, do you guys like seafood?” They both nodded at you. “Great! There’s a fish market that makes the best stuffed clams not far from here. Let me just pack up.”

“Sounds good, Doll,” Bucky said. He looked at your painting again. “Is it safe to move this?”

“Yeah, it’s already dry. Acrylic paint dries fast in warm weather like this,” You assured him. You took the canvas off of the easel and handed it to him. “Can you hold this for a moment?”

“Of course.” He took the painting and watched you as he did before. In awe, while you put everything away. He was relishing the fact he could spend some more time with you. He was looking forward to getting to know you better.

Steve was surprised at how today was turning out, but he was happy about it. A simple day out was turning into something special. His best friend seemed to be coming out of his shell, finally. He was talking to a beautiful, talented woman and they were all going to have lunch together. He knew this was the start of something great.

He wasn’t wrong, either. Neither you or Bucky knew that this marked the first day of a long life together. How a simple day painting in the park led you to find the love of your lives.

[seasonofthegeek]

Ladynoir July, Day 5: Addictive

Take Two on the When I See You Again AU :)

Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:

“This is perfect for you,” Chat Noir smiled, running his gloved hand along the tidy kitchen counter. “It feels just like your room above the bakery did.”

Ladybug shrugged and ducked her head to hide her blush. “It’s kind of small.”

“But it’s just you, right?”

She nodded and watched him make his way to the refrigerator, studying the pictures held up with colorful magnets. She held her breath as he went from photo to photo. Some of the people he would recognize, but others...

“Is this him?” he asked quietly.

Ladybug stepped up behind him to see him pointing to the photo she knew he would pick out. “Yeah, David. He’s a really nice guy.”

“But it isn’t serious?”

She swallowed thickly when Chat Noir turned around to look down at her. He’d grown so much taller in his time away. She hadn’t noticed it as much when they were outside but in her small kitchen, he seemed almost too large. “He’s not you,” she said softly.

The air between them was charged and they stared at each other, years of unspoken words piling up between them.

“Why does it feel like this?” Ladybug whispered. “We were never together like that.”

“We should’ve been.” Chat Noir rubbed his thumb along her cheek. “I wish we’d been.”

“I think we need to detransform.”

He blinked in surprise. “What?”

“This is feeling like a lot and I think us being like this isn’t helping.”

“Oh, um, okay.” Chat Noir was silent for a moment and then frowned. “Claws in. Plagg?” He looked up nervously. “I don’t know if I can.”

“There’s no reason to be nervous,” she assured him as she straightened her shoulders, ready to drop her own transformation.

“It’s not that. I mean, I don’t think it’s that.” His brow furrowed beneath his mask. “I mean I literally can’t detransform.”

“Oh,” Ladybug breathed. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the memory of what it felt like to shed Ladybug but the sensation stayed dormant. She blinked down at her gloved hands. “This might be a problem.”

“Maybe it’s because their power isn’t worn out yet or something? I didn’t use Cataclysm.”

“I did use Lucky Charm though,” she replied, worrying her lip. “Now that I think about it, I should’ve changed back a while ago.”

“So we’re stuck like this?”

Ladybug shot him a helpless look. “Maybe? I know as much as you do at this point, Kitty. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to put the earrings back on when Tikki didn’t show up.”

“I was already wearing my ring.” Chat Noir flexed his hand, watching the green paw print glint in the light, all five parts still bright. “I could never bring myself to take it off.”

“I wore mine for a while but it started to feel more painful than comforting,” she sighed, sitting on the stool by the counter. 

“I think I made it two days without it,” he chuckled but there was no humor in the sound. “It felt like an addiction I could kick if I could just hold out but I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, I guess.”

“An addiction?”

“The hope,” he clarified. “Hope that maybe it was all a bad dream and I’d wake up one day and be Chat again.”

“It looks like you got your wish.”

Chat Noir sagged against the counter. “What do you think we should do?”

“We can try hiding and waiting it out for a bit, I guess. I’ll email my boss to say I’m taking a sick day. Eventually they’ll have to power down, right?”

“I want to say yes but I feel like we’re in unknown territory here,” he admitted. 

She pursed her lips and nodded, moving past him into her small kitchen. “Coffee or tea?”

“What?”

“Well, we were planning on catching up tonight anyway. We may as well still do that while we wait. Coffee or tea?”

Chat Noir felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips. “Coffee sounds great. I don’t want to miss another minute with you.”

Ladybug blushed and busied herself with her task.

“What are you doing for work now?” Chat Noir moved around the outer counter to give her space and took up the stool she’d vacated. “That feels so weird to ask. We were just getting out of school last time I saw you.”

She smiled at him over her shoulder. “I got a marketing job at this engineering company. It’s nothing fancy but it pays enough for me to have my own place and I get the nights and weekends off.”

“I was sure you would go into fashion.”

“I do have an Etsy store. I mostly do cosplay pieces but it’s nice to be able to work on some other stuff sometimes.” She shrugged as she pulled a plastic container out of the pantry. “I sent my portfolio around after graduation but couldn’t get any offers. Alya had an internship at the place I’m at now and was able to put in a good word for me.”

“So you guys work together now?”

“Nah, she got bored after a year or so and moved onto something else. It works fine for me though.”

“I need to make sure to visit her while I’m here. Nino too obviously.”

“Good luck. He stays busier than anyone.” Ladybug pulled three scones out from the metallic pink bread box and put them on a plate. “He’s mixing the soundtrack for a big action movie right now. I’m sure he can make time for you though. Want to go sit in the living room?”

“Yeah, sure.”

_____________________________

“It’s late or early, I guess,” Chat Noir yawned as the sky lightened outside the balcony doors. “Sorry I stayed so long.”

“Don’t be. I’m really glad we were able to do this.” Ladybug stood and stretched. “I’m still not sure what to do about our problem though.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to be able to attend any of my meetings today like this,” he frowned, looking down at his suit.

“And people might see you go into your hotel room,” she added. “After the attack last night, I have a feeling more people will be looking out for us.”

“You have a point.”

“Just stay here,” Ladybug offered, proud of how nonchalant her voice sounded. “The couch is really comfortable. I’ve fallen asleep on it more than a few times.”

“Really, you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I’m taking the day off work anyway. You may want to let someone know though so there isn’t an Adrien Agreste manhunt going on while we sleep.”

He grinned. “I can do that. I’ll say I ran into an old friend and couldn’t tear myself away.”

She ducked her head so he couldn’t see her reddening cheeks and reached for the ottoman in front of her armchair. The lid opened and she produced a pillow and blanket. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

He took them from her reverently. “This will be perfect, my Lady. Thank you.”

Following her impulse, Ladybug quickly kissed him on the cheek before turning on her heel toward her bedroom. “Goodnight, Chaton, sleep well.”

“Sweet dreams, Marinette.”

Buy me a cherry coke?