#no I had to chose nursing and now I have to write not fun essays

[hellsbellssinclub]

I did over 600 words for my 1.5k essay and now am taking a break to write fanfiction.

Because fuck reading anymore legislation acts.

I don’t like reading through legislation it’s boring 😭 and confusing. And I hate referencing the Acts too because APA7 makes me wanna cry.

This essay is due next week and I have work over the weekend so I gotta get it done asap cause I have other essays to do to but 🥺🥺🥺 legislation hard

[yellowocaballero]

please tell me about untitled document gravity falls transcendence au. what?

The minute I saw this from Ami I was like "omfg of course you can have it queen <3" and the minute I saw it from you I was like "wouldn't you like to know, weatherboy."

Anyway, I really loved the Transcendence AU when I was younger and looking back it really was (and still is! people still write for it!) a beautiful thing to exist. The setting itself was so expansive and ripe for worldbuilding. The basic rules of the universe were so simple - 'the near future, with supernatural creatures and demons and magic!' - and opened up so much room for creativity and fun. The timeline was on such an expansive scale literally everybody could have an OC and they didn't even need to rub shoulders. Reincarnation topics meant that everybody got to write their favorite character AND make them an OC. The big creators made such great OCs that they became part of the universe and lore of the series. And for me, specifically, it was SO GEN and very family and worldbuilding oriented with almost NO shipping. I think at least some of the mods were ace and it was just the most ace-friendly fandom I'd ever seen. Haven't found that again lately.

I reread 'Return Rebirth Rewrite' and got nostalgic. I always had a mental image of how Lionel's deal with Alcor went, and then I decided to experience the absolute joy of finally having the skill to put to paper something that's always been in your head.

If you HAVE read RRR it's been a while, so TL;DR in a way that preserves the fun of the story underneath- RRR is about a normal twelve year old kid Dipper living with his reincarnated sister and loving father and discovering that he was actually a demon named Alcor in a past life.

Very short transcendentally self-indulgent fic under the cut. Hey, as it turns out, Alcor is FUCKING HARD to write.

Was it fate?

One class taken to satisfy a college requirement, chosen because it didn’t conflict with his Book-Binding class, spiraled into a certification. A high school ex-boyfriend that bought her cigarettes and induced a lifelong habit. Parents were dead - nobody to talk him out of it. Maybe it was a storm of factors that blew one decision into motion, a decision that would have stayed unmoving and silent if he’d taken the nurse’s advice and gotten some rest. Or maybe Lionel was just the sort of person who would always end up here, crouched in a motel room far from home, summoning a demon. Maybe he was weak.

Maya would have said that the love was too strong. But Maya was gone, and an oak tree grown too large collapsed under its own weight.

Lionel bought the supplies from the occult store in a daze. The past two hours had been a blur - he barely even remembered making the decision. A certification to archive the occult meant that he’d read dozens of books on demon summoning. He could do it in his sleep, and was practically doing so. He chose the best demon for the job with a distant, unaffected logic, and borrowed the motel office printer to print out a reference picture for a summoning circle. 

This was the stupidest possible thing to do, but he wasn’t stupid. It was a good summoning. He chose the best demon. An informed insanity. The only thing he didn’t do was write down his script for the deal. No need. It wasn’t exactly complicated. And writing it down would have made it real, and he couldn’t afford for anything to be real right now, so the resolution would have to stay in the making.

The summoning circle was drawn with a steady hand. The candles were lit with a decisive lighter tab. The summoning invocation was recited in a clear, firm tone. Passive voice. Dr. Gomez would have taken points off this essay. Would have taken points from his brain. Was he insane? Was he going insane? Was this insanity?

Lionel only really snapped back to reality once he was confronted with it. The candles flickered, then extinguished. Shadows bubbled and rose, snapping free of their outlines and leaking forward in pure blackness. Sulfur blew into the room on a gust of cold wind, as if standing by the shores of the sea. Lionel opened a portal and brought a demon into reality, and brought his own mind with it. 

He only properly realized what he had done once Alcor the Dreambender loomed before him. Maybe that was the first cruelty of a demon. Now he was going to bargain away his soul knowing exactly what he was doing.

Alcor was black and gold, a humanoid figure of shadow latticed with blocks of gold thread. Imprints of wings patterned the motel wall behind him, extending his presence in the room until he was almost crowding out Lionel. The top hat floating above his head was, incongruously, a regular top hat. Maybe? Lionel had only read about the top hat. Was that what top hats looked like? Why not a powdered wig? 

“Who dares summon Alcor the Dreambender?”

A desperate man, Lionel thought frantically. But he couldn’t exactly say that. 

Power stances, seem in control, take a stand. But Lionel wasn’t in the mood to pretend he was fooling everybody. His legs gave out from under him, and he slumped to his knees. Alcor angled his head downwards, somehow visibly unimpressed and bored. 

He should have prepared a script, but he would have forgotten it instantly. Lionel ended up speaking from the heart. The books said Alcor liked that sort of thing, but it wasn’t really a calculated move. He didn’t know how to do anything differently.

“Maya’s dead,” Lionel said plainly. “Maya’s - she’s my wife. Dead. Um - the baby.” 

Alcor’s unimpressed air tripled. Lionel couldn’t even muster shame. 

“The baby’s not going to make it. Respiratory distress syndrome and pulmonary hemorrhage. Respiratory failure, soon. I need - I need your help. Alcor. Please save my baby, Alcor.”

Alcor was unmoved. He crossed his arms and sighed, like a particularly exhausted doctor who had seen one too many desperate patients that day and honestly couldn’t give a shit anymore. “Another day, another little sob story. Let me guess, you’ll do anything?” His tone turned a little nasally and mocking. “You’ll even sell your soul, Mister Demon, just save my special little baby?”

The pointless mockery jolted Lionel back down to earth. Every piece of literature warned about demonic games and cruelty. Was this cruelty? It just sounded like somebody who didn’t even care. 

“Yes,” Lionel said. He wasn’t the kind of person who took the bait. Used to drive Maya mad during arguments. “Heal my baby. Make her strong and healthy and never sick. And - let me live the rest of my natural life, then take my soul. That’s my terms.”

Bored, Alcor said, “I can give you ten years of life before taking your soul.”

Lionel’s head snapped up, and he met Alcor’s eyes for the first time. At a certain point, the demon had crossed his legs and began floating in midair, one elbow propped on a folded knee and chin buried in his hand. His shadows had lightened somewhat, and now he appeared only like a man covered in shadow. “I can’t do that. Ten is too young to lose a father.”

“That’s your issue?” Alcor tilted his head, dark eyebrows arching upwards. “Not ‘thirty five is too young to die?’”

“Am I here because I give a shit about myself?” Lionel cried. Wasn’t that obvious? If the worst moment of Lionel’s life was tedious to Alcor, shouldn’t this be obvious? “I can’t leave her without anybody to love her. She won’t have anybody else. Please, come on - I know you don’t - don’t understand, but I can’t leave her alone.”

“Trust me,” Alcor said, flat and bored, “if there’s one thing I understand, it’s parents abandoning their kids. See it all the time. Your little girl would get along fine without a father.”

Demonic negotiations weren’t supposed to go like this. Lionel was too emotional, too confused. And despite Alcor’s boredom and distance, the topic seemed oddly - personal? Could that possibly be correct?

“That’s not what I want for her! I’m giving up my soul for her life, I want - I want it to be perfect. I want to tell her how much we wanted her every day. I want her to grow up with a dog. I want swimming lessons and birthday parties and vacations and - and all of it, Alcor. I have to be there.” Lionel took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Thirty years. That’s the maximum I’ll give. The life I want for her needs me in it. It’s already missing Maya. I won’t take any more from her.”

Alcor was silent for a second, long enough to make Lionel’s heart leap in his chest, before he finally sighed. “You’re one of those people who loves too much, aren’t you? People like you always lead unhappy lives.” He straightened, dropping down onto the floor and walking forward. The shadows slowly receded, and a man’s face began to emerge within Alcor. “Fine. Let me see the baby first before we shake on anything. An angelic act like this takes up a lot of energy. I’m not being hard on the price just to be mean, you know.”

Lionel stepped backwards. He knew that binding circles didn’t work on Alcor, but it was another thing to see him casually step outside of it. He was wearing the same antiquated clothing as in the illustrations, like a mannequin from a museum come to life. Like a haunted piece of the history Lionel loved so much, pulled from its rightful place by his sheer desperation.

He looked like anybody else. A complexion like Lionel’s own, mud brown hair gravity defying and framing a young face. He looked as old as Lionel. It put his exhaustion into sharp perspective - not an ancient demon wearing the form of a human, but just an old man seeming much younger. Or a young man grown too old.

It was even worse to look up at him now, and Lionel scrambled to his feet. He looked around the hotel room, as if the baby was about to roll out from underneath a bed. “She’s not here. She’s in the NICU. Please don’t teleport into the NICU, you’ll cause a panic.” 

“Bossy. Don’t worry, this is perfectly safe.” Alcor held out his hands in front of him, like a child waiting for a treat. “And…tah-dah!”

Lionel’s baby dropped from midair into Alcor’s arms. He almost screamed.

They said she’d die without intubation. Her tiny presence in Alcor’s arms should kill her. But Alcor quickly pressed a blunt finger onto her forehead, and a warm blue glow wrapped itself around her body. She slept soundly, swaddled in thin blankets, so tiny and skinny and red that she could barely be mistaken for a human baby at all. Lionel looked at her and saw a premature animal that would never grow up and become a person - a life form that would never even wake up. Seeing her in Alcor’s arms was stressful, but in a sideways way she seemed to fit.

“Let’s see the damage,” Alcor muttered to her. Bizarrely, he held her carefully and well. “You’re like a can of beans, you know that? Few hundred years ago you would have been DOA. Now look at you. Wrinkly cutie -”

Alcor halted. The last of his shadows fell away, and his eyes widened.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alcor whispered.

The only thing worse than a premature baby at death’s door was a premature baby at death’s door that surprised a demon. Lionel stepped forward, hand half-outreached. “What? What’s wrong?”

Alcor didn’t respond. He just stared at the baby, eyes wide and frozen still. His lips mouthed something, but Lionel couldn’t make it out.

“Alcor?” Lionel asked hesitantly. “Is there something wrong with her?”

That jolted Alcor back into awareness. He looked between Lionel and the baby several times, shoulders drawn back, almost with new eyes. Suddenly and strangely, he seemed a lot more human. “Do you believe in fate, Lionel Sterling?”’

There was only one way to answer that question truthfully - with any sort of certainty. “If this is fate, I must have done something horrible in my past life.”

“Not how that works.” Alcor’s eyes were locked on the baby, as if he couldn’t tear himself away. He seemed almost dizzy. “Lionel. You really want her to live a long and healthy life?”

“I - of course.” 

“You’ll be the best father you can?” Alcor held the baby a little closer to his chest. “She’ll be the happiest kid in the world?”

“That’s what I want,” Lionel said helplessly. “I want that more than anything.”

“How nice.” Something heavy and frantic was churning in Alcor, and Lionel began to have the worst possible feeling. “I’ve been bored, you know. So bored. So bored I’ve been pretty depressed. Things just seem meaningless, you know? My last friend died years ago. I’m not really close with anybody right now, not even family. I’ve been wondering what to do about it. When I get bored I get a little weird. Maybe I’m a little weird right now.” Alcor looked up at Lionel for the first time, and Lionel realized with a cold shock that his eyes were just as wild as Lionel’s. “I feel so far beyond weird right now it’s almost funny. But it’s not boring, so it feels like a good idea.”

“Can you give me back my baby?” Lionel asked quietly.

“New deal.” Alcor’s face split into a grin, wild and insane and light. “I’ll heal your baby. Perfect health guaranteed. And! She will have certified, bona-fide Alcor protection her entire life. Nothing lethally unfortunate will ever happen to her or to you. Protection for both of you and good luck for all. Double and! You’ll keep your soul. Hell, you’ll definitely live longer.” 

For a second of complete stupidity, the deal seemed fantastic. The deal sounded amazing. Any deal that didn’t include losing his life or his soul was better than their first arrangement. But Lionel was desperate, not stupid. “What’s the catch?”

Alcor looked down at the baby, rubbing his thumb against her forehead. Quietly, he said, “I’m going to reinvent reality to give her a twin brother. Your end of the deal is to take care of him like you take care of her. Raise him as if he was your own son. That’s it. Easy.” Alcor paused a beat. “Well, not that taking care of kids is easy, and I can guarantee that this one will be a bit of a brat, but probably easier than dying. Dying’s pretty easy too, actually -”

“Like a changeling?” Lionel asked, alarmed. “You’re not taking her away, you’re just - adding a child?”

“Yup. Like a buy one, get one free sort of thing. I guess it’s like a changeling!”

“That’s it?” That still sounded too good to be true. “Will the child be evil or anything? Will it hurt the baby? What species will it be?”

“Who cares! This is a sweet deal and you know it. You can’t afford to say no and we both know that too.” Alcor shifted the baby into one arm and extended his other hand, wreathing it in blue flames. “So do we have a deal?”

Alcor was right. The extra child situation was bizarre, but two sets of diapers was infinitely better than a ten year lifespan. This was probably the best deal anybody had ever gotten for such a big favor. He couldn’t afford to press it.

“Is this going to fuck me over?”

“Lionel,” Alcor said, and for some reason he seemed dead serious, “I’m trusting you here. More than I’ve trusted anybody in hundreds of years. You’re a good person. I promise you’ll only regret this a little.”

And Lionel knew that was the best he was ever going to get, so he reached out and shook on it.

The blue flames enveloped him, a brief second of white-hot chill, before they extinguished. Lionel shuddered, and he felt something strange deep in his soul - as if something and hooked a chain around it, or bolted it to a surface and let it squirm. 

Alcor unceremoniously tossed the baby in the air, letting her blink out of existence and hopefully back into the NICU. He clapped his sparking hands, grinning maniacally and remarkably human. 

“Time to wrap up my affairs! Better write a goodbye note to Mike, leave a few emergency charms for little Alice - oh, give them Lucy Ann’s contact information for emergencies, let her know where I’m going too. She hovers. The Flock bleat and bitch if I don’t tell them where I am, so I better elect a president or something and let them self-govern. This is going to be fun! And bizarre! Don’t worry about a thing on your end, Lionel. Get some rest, and your reality and memories should be completely rewritten by the time you wake up in the morning.” Alcor reached out and clapped a reassuring hand on Lionel’s shoulder, as if the reassurance would actually make him feel better instead of a lot worse. “Trust me, you don’t want to remember this. It’ll make your life a living hell. Unless you like that sort of thing?”

Inanely, Lionel could only say, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight.” 

“Really? I’m a Dream Demon, I can help! I want to be nice to you.” Nobody who actually wanted to be nice to somebody said that. “Here, close your eyes. I’ll knock you out. You’ll sleep right through the restructuring of the universe, promise!”

“Wait,” Lionel said, “on second thought, I really -”

“Night night!”

A soft index finger pressed against Lionel’s forehead, and all went dark.

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Unrequited?

A/N: Here is my entry for @hufflefluff-writer ‘s writing challenge! Sorry it’s so late!! I’ve bolded the prompts I chose. This was originally super angsty but I changed my entire plot at the last minute so now its *hopefully* a mix of everything. It isn't very long but nevertheless, I hope you all enjoy! 

Summary: Parties are always the catalyst for confessions.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Fem!Reader

Warnings: unrequited feelings, a lil bit of angst

Word count: 1.5k

The library is silent as you finish the conclusion to your Charms essay. Your quill scratches against the parchment; a comforting sound to your ears.

“Why is it, whenever I look for you, you have your nose stuck in a book or you are finishing school work?” A familiar voice drawls; your heart beginning to race at the sound of it.

You look up from your work, meeting the bright blue eyes of Draco Malfoy. “I’m not sure, you only ever seem to seek me out when you want something.”

He puts a hand on his chest, “Now you wound me.”

“Oh please,” You say, rolling your eyes with a smile.

He grins at you, and you’re pretty sure he can hear how loud the beating of your heart has become. You curse yourself internally for letting him affect you this way.

“What do you want, Draco?”

He sits down across from you; his fingers tracing the age-old ink doodles on the table. “What makes you think I want something? Why can’t I just want to spend time with you?”

You feel your face flush, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Now I know you want something.”

He rolls his eyes playfully, giving in. “Alright, you caught me. We’re having a party in the common room tonight and I want you to come.”

You frown, “I don’t do parties, Draco, you know that.”

“I do, but still I’d like you to come… please?”

You stare at him, wondering whether you would ever have the strength to turn him down, “Have I ever told you no?”

Draco smiles; it’s his special smile that he only reserves for a couple of people – one of them being you. “I hope I’m not around for the day. You’re the best.”

“I know I am. I’ll see you tonight then?”

He nods, standing from his place at the table. “You will.”

Draco presses a quick kiss to your cheek before leaving. You watch him in shock as he saunters away.

You hold your hand to your cheek; feeling that all-too recognisable pang in your chest. You couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment you had fallen in love with your best friend; just that you had. It must have been happening over some time as it didn’t feel like some world-changing revelation to you, but rather, something simmering deep within your bones. As if loving him was part of your very being. You couldn’t tell him your feelings for him for the fear of being rejected and losing him from your life altogether. A life without Draco Malfoy involved seemed like a pretty poor life in your opinion. He presented such a hard exterior to keep up the Malfoy reputation but the man behind the mask was much softer. It seemed almost inevitable that you fell in love with him.

You couldn’t help the small part of you that wished he felt the same way too.

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

Slytherin didn’t have parties that often; tending to think themselves above such rowdiness, but on the rare occasion they did – it was big.

Bodies were crushed in the centre of the common room where a makeshift dance floor had been set up. A radio had been found; volume turned all the way up as the latest wizard music charts played.

You sit on one of the many black leather couches that decorate the common room; a small glass of firewhisky in your hands that you nurse quietly as the party progresses.

Your eyes seek him out; they always do, as if they’re drawn to him, needing to see him to know that it’s okay.

You find him leaning against the further wall; dressed head to toe in his usual all-black outfit. A brunette girl leans in close to him, whispering something only he can hear. He smiles at her and you can feel your heart break.

The moment he leans in to kiss her, you have to leave the room. You can’t go through that again; you can’t watch him kiss another girl who isn’t you. It isn’t fair; you won’t do that to yourself.

You brush yourself down as you stand from the leather couch, handing your drink to your friend, “Here, you finish this. I’m done for the night.”

“Are you sure?” She asks, concern lining her features, “I can come with you.”

You shake your head, “Don’t worry about it, you have fun okay? Blaise has had his eye on you all night.”

She grins, flicking her eyes to where Blaise stands, “He has?”

You nod, patting her shoulder, “He’s over by the drinks. Go get him. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

You leave the common room; wanting fresh air more than anything in the world, including the blonde-haired teenager you had left behind.

The night air is cold, but it cools your overheated skin courtesy of the small amount of alcohol running through your veins. You felt downright awful; jealousy was rearing its ugly head within you, having you despise the girl on the receiving end of Draco’s kiss. It wasn’t her fault; she had done nothing wrong.

You sit down in the entrance to the courtyard; releasing a breath and wishing you had grabbed your jacket before leaving the common room. The pale light of the moon has washed the courtyard in a pale grey hue – as if all the colour had been leeched from the world. It was oddly comforting. You sit there moving your eyes around the courtyard, focusing on different spots; breathing through the emotions raging inside you.

You hear his footsteps before his voice. You have the sudden urge to cry.

“There you are,” Draco greets, voice filled with relief, “I was looking for you.”

“Really? You looked to be too busy to notice my absence.” You cringe at the blatant jealous lacing your tone.

“I always notice you.”

“Don’t do this, Draco. I don’t think I can take it.”

“Do what?”

“This,” You say, gesturing between your bodies, “Where you act like this and I have to pretend that I’m not in love with you.”

He’s silent; sitting down next to you on the cold ground. “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending they’re you.” He confesses to the night air.

“For how long. How long have you bottled this up?” You demand.

“I didn’t realise my feelings for you until a few months ago.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Your voice breaking as you question him; so many thoughts running through your mind.

Draco remains silent; picking at invisible loose threads of his trousers. You sigh, placing your hand on top of his, rubbing your thumb across his hand in a comforting motion.

“Draco, why didn’t you say anything?”

He refuses to meet your eyes as he whispers, “I was scared.”

“What were you scared of?”

He gestures between your bodies, just as you did moments ago. “I didn’t want to ruin what we have. Our friendship means so much to me; I didn’t want to ruin it with my feelings.”

“Draco, I’ve just told you I’m in love with you.”

He nods, “It’s why I can’t keep kissing strangers anymore. I thought if I kissed someone else I wouldn’t have feelings for you anymore. And our friendship wouldn't be ruined.” He groans, “I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid. Did it work? Kissing someone else?”

Draco shakes his head, “If anything it made them stronger. I’d think about what you would feel like to kiss – how you would respond, and I’d pull away more lovesick than ever.”

“Why don’t you find out?” You ask, raising an eyebrow in challenge. Daring him to make the first move.

“What?”

You shift slight, angling your body towards him, “Kiss me, Draco.”

His hands cradle your face as he leans in. He pauses slightly, checking for permission despite you verbalising it. You respond by titling your face to his, brushing your lips against his ever so lightly.

The feel of your lips is what spurs him on to kiss you more firmly. It’s too much and too little all at once. Your arms wrap around his neck, to pull yourself closer to him. To feel even more of him against you. Every single emotion you had ever felt for the other is being poured into this kiss; unrelenting emotion and passion shared between the two of you as you take Draco’s bottom lip between your teeth and bite down. His answering moan sends shivers from your head to your toes.

He’s addicting; he’s a drug and you’ve craved him for months.

So much is defined by this kiss; it’s the shift from friendship to love. To letting those feelings that you’ve had for Draco encompass you entirely. Letting yourself be consumed by the love you feel for the blonde-haired teenager.

You pull away first, “Well?”

Draco grins wickedly, “I think we’re going to have to try again.”

You laugh, pushing his shoulder lightly, “Smooth, Malfoy.”

His face softens; his eyes filling with the love he feels for you, “I do love you; you know? The girl at the party meant nothing.”

“Really?”

He nods, “I only want you. You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say you feel the same way. What would you say to us giving this a try? Let me take you on a date to Hogsmeade so we can start this properly?”

You smile at him, “I’m still not able to tell you no.”

His answering smile is mesmerising. The grin lighting up his whole face as leans in to kiss you again. Kissing you deeply, lovingly. All doubts about his feelings for you are scattered from your mind as his arms wrap around you, holding you tight against him.

************************

General (HP) taglist: @the-hufflefluffwriter @obsessedwithrandomthings @kalimagik @summer-writes @lupins-sweater @slytherinprincess03 @mischiefsemimanaged @soleil-amaryllis @masterofthedarkness @bforbroadway @chaotic-fae-queen @peachesandpinks @nebulablakemurphy @haphazardhufflepuff @siriusly-addicted-to-writing @firewhisky-kisses @deafgirltingz @kylosleftbuttcheek @heloisedaphnebrightmore

 Draco Malfoy taglist: @cheapglitter @the--queen-of-hell

[rosie-26]

The Beginnings of a New Blog

Hey there!

My name is Rosie and I’m a qualified cardiac nurse working in Wales, UK. Welcome to my blog :)

This blog is going to be a mismatch of all the different things that I enjoy including; my work in the medical field, my specialism in cardiology, my studies to become a medical student, my love of literature, travel (now that the world seems to be opening back up again) and my plan to improve my lifestyle and fitness!

Last week I turned the grand old age of 22 and I’ve come up with a ‘bucket list’ of all of the things I would like to achieve by the time I turn 23. So here are my 22 goals:

1. Read 30 books (I love reading but I don’t make enough time to get stuck into my enormous ‘To Be Read’ list, so this year I’m tackling most of them!)

2. Get a tattoo (This will be my second tattoo but I am planning to get more- I actually have a tattoo booked for in a weeks time!)

3. Donate blood (I’ve already donated blood twice before but I’m definitely going to keep on donating as much as I can)

4. Apply for medical school (A large part of my blog is going to be centred on studying and documenting my journey to get into medical school. Even though I have a career as a qualified nurse, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor but not taking college seriously and below excellent grades which are needed to apply meant that I had to chose a different degree. Luckily many universities in the UK have alternative routes into medicine for students who have already obtained a undergraduate degree).

5. Sit the GAMSAT exam (a key entry requirement for all graduates to sit before they apply for medical school is the dreaded GAMSAT exam. My aim is to sit in 2022 but I’ve got a lot of studying to do in the meantime to prepare myself)

6. Lose 5 stone ( lockdown and the stresses of university and working during the covid pandemic has definitely resulted in me binge eating and using food as a comfort. I’ve joined a gym, started swimming and eating a more balanced diet)

7. Travel abroad alone (even though I’ve been lucky enough to travel to a lot of places, I’ve never plucked up the courage to fly somewhere by myself, this will be the year!)

8. Travel to a new city every month (whether this is abroad or just simply exploring new cities around the UK and closer to home)

9. Start a Tumblr blog ( Tick! )

10. Try 10 different cocktail recipes (I do have a bit of a weak spot for cocktails, I feel as though I’ve tried several but would love to actually make my own!)

11. Try 10 different baking recipes (Something that I used to love doing before I moved out and started university was baking. Shared kitchens at university and lack of funds for ingredients stopped all of that but I would love to start up again. There’s something so satisfying and calming about baking!)

12. Go to a comedy show (I’ve always wanted to go to a comedy show! The atmosphere seems amazing and it’s just been on my list of to-dos for a while now)

13. Book a dentist appointment (I know this one is a little bit gross but it’s something I haven't done in a while, I get scared very easily going to the dentist and I’ve been putting it off for ages!)

14. Write 3 medical essays (Is it weird that I actually really enjoyed writing my dissertation?! Well, I did. It’s a goal of mine to eventually have work that is published in medical journals but for now I’m happy just writing for fun and practicing my academic writing)

15. Sort out my wardrobe and give to charity (I’m guilty of buying too many clothes which eventually just end up in the back of my wardrobe, unworn and collecting dust. Last year before I finished university I managed to sort out 3x black bin bags full of clothes and shoes and donate them to charity)

16. Save at least £100 a month ( I know it doesn’t sound a lot but because I rent by myself and I’m paying my car loan, I don’t have a lot of spare money each month)

17. Go to 10 different museums and/or art galleries (one of my favourite pastimes during my days off or when I’m visiting a new city is to explore the local museum and art gallery! There’s just something so relaxing about walking through all of the exhibitions)

18. Grow my fingernails (I have a horrible habit of biting my fingernails when I’m stressed or anxious. The past year has been particularly bad so I’m going to try and make a bit more of an effort to grow them!)

19. Fit into my size large scrubs (the size I started with when I started University which I now can’t physically get past my thighs! I’d love to be able to fit back into them!)

20. Be able to run 5k (I love the couch to 5k app but I’ve never actually managed to complete it)

21. Go on a hike every month (living in Wales there are plenty of walks/hikes that I haven't managed to explore but I’d love to see a bit more of what Wales has to offer).

22. Buy a new MacBook ( I know this one seems strange but I’ve had my MacBook for 6 years now and I’d love an upgrade! Whenever I save up enough money something always happens like car insurance, MOT that I need to use the money on)

So there it is! My list of 22 things I want to achieve by the time I turn 23. I’ll update you along the way :)

I’m really looking forward to starting this blog and hopefully you guys enjoy the content!

See you soon,

Rosie x

[loissehilario]

A Glimpse of Nanay Corazon’s Life In A Pandemic

Nanay Corazon listening attentively while her son, Desi Dee, talks about celebrity gossips during the afternoon.

Being a woman in her 80’s does not stop Corazon G. Hilario on living her life to the fullest. She likes to travel, explore and try activities, and just live in the moment. But when the pandemic hit the Philippines, her life turned into a cycle, like there is a schedule that needs to be followed. This is a glimpse of Nanay Corazon’s day in the life. 

Nanay Corazon being injected by Apidra, a fast-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar by Cristina, her daughter-in-law at 8 in the morning.

Although her life does not sound interesting to some, I chose her as my subject for this photo essay. Nanay Corazon is my grandmother from my father’s side. My grandmother from my mother’s side died before I had the chance to meet her, so she is my one and only, literally. My siblings and I are very close to her, she is one of those people that really influenced me while growing up. Even though she does not have an interesting profession, an awesome life, or an influential person, I decided to pick her. I wanted to show people the view of being with my grandmother. I wanted to show a glimpse of what happens to an 81-year-old grandmother who has an 86-year-old husband, 5 kids, and 11 grandchildren. I wanted to tell her story.

Nanay Corazon readying to take Ketosteril, a medicine tablet that is commonly used as dietary supplements with kidney problems which is one out of her eleven medicines to take.

Nanay starts her day by getting pricked by a needle. Since she was hospitalized last year, our family took precautions on her health. Her food intake, medicines, blood sugar, and blood pressure are needed to be written down for her doctors to see every check-up. Every morning, Cristina, her daughter-in-law who is taking the role of her nurse, gets her blood sugar and blood pressure before breakfast. Today, her blood sugar was above normal, so she needed to be injected by Apidra, an insulin to control the blood sugar.

Crispy pandesal stuffed with coco jam held by Nanay Corazon for her breakfast.

After her morning check-up, Nanay proceeds on taking her breakfast. Since her food choices are limited, her breakfast is mainly pandesal with either coco jam or anchor as her palaman. Every morning, she needs to take 11 medicines. Most of the time, she eats breakfast in peace, just like today.

Every Tuesday and Friday, Nanay burns laurel, a bay leaf, that has her dreams and wishes written on it. Today, she performs this activity. Her dreams often have topics. Today, it is her dreams about her one and only daughter, Grace. Since the leaf is small, she needs 10-15 leaves. After writing, she burns all the leaves on a candle and compiles all the ashes. She puts all the ashes inside a tissue and lets someone discard it outside. For it to work, she says that it should be discarded while facing the sun. Sometimes, she is the one who throws it during her morning walk, but most of the time, she lets someone do it.

Nanay Corazon burning leaves of laurel, a bay leaf, which were written with her dreams, then compile the ashes inside a tissue, and throw them while facing the sun. She believes that this act will make her dreams come true.

To kill time before tanghalian, Nanay likes to watch Youtube. Her current favorite Youtuber is Mahal, a Filipino actress and entertainer. When I asked her why she likes her content, she said that it brings her joy. “Ayoko kasi ng mga nakakatakot, yung mga nakakagulat na palabas. Gusto ko yung masaya lang.” Her son, Desi Dee, likes to watch movies on Netflix which are mostly vampire and zombie movies. Since they live together, Nanay has no choice but to watch what her son watches even though most of the time, she hates this genre. Fun fact though, Nanay is a huge AlDub fan. When there is no new content from Mahal, she likes to watch clips or gossip about the love team, and everything related to Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza.

Just like her breakfast, her food during tanghalian is also limited. You often see her with the same meal every day. Today, her meal consists of daing na bangus paired with soup. During the afternoon, she needs to take three medicines and get her eye drops because she tends to have a red eye, just like Kaneki Ken from Tokyo Ghoul. She says it does not hurt though. Most of the time, she watches Eat Bulaga, a noontime show, while eating. Watching this show is a daily occurrence for her since she is a fan of Maine Mendoza. Her favorite segment is, “Bawal Judgmental”.

Nanay Corazon eating her meal for the afternoon which consists of: daing na bangus, one and a half cup of rice, soup, and three medicines.

Before going to bed for the afternoon, Nanay makes sure to do her business in the bathroom. Since she has trouble doing everything by herself, her son, Desi Dee, helps her when she goes into the bathroom. Today, she needed to wash her body to freshen up. She only washes her body 2-3 times a week. After that, she goes upstairs and kills time, again watching Mahal on her tablet.

Nanay always says she is not allowed to sleep during the afternoon. Whenever she sleeps, it affects the result of her blood sugar or blood pressure, so she tries not to sleep in the afternoon. Watching Youtube on the television keeps her awake till Cristina comes before the evening. Since Mahal is her favorite content creator now, she is indeed awake the whole afternoon.

After washing her body, Nanay Corazon goes to her room and watches her favorite vlogger, Mahal, in her tablet to kill time in the afternoon.

Cristina often goes every 5:30PM to conduct her “afternoon check-up” in Nanay. Just like what she did every morning, she gets the blood sugar and blood pressure of Nanay. They often talk to each other about everything, really. Their topics revolve on gossip, news, politics, and food. 

Killing time again before her evening meal, she watches Youtube. Sometimes, I do encourage her to watch other content. Nanay is also a fan of volleyball. Before discovering Mahal, she watched volleyball matches of different leagues from Premier Volleyball League (PVL) and UAAP. One time, I recommended to her a match between France and Brazil in Volleyball Nation’s League (VNL). She spent her whole afternoon watching matches in VNL and Olympics after that. Her favorite women volleyball player is Alyssa Valdez. She watches her live matches on television during her UAAP era, even when she graduated and played in other leagues.

Nanay Corazon getting her blood pressure and sugar by Cristina, her daughter-in-law, who will determine if she needs Apidra and her meal for the night.

For her evening meal, one food was added to the group. Chicharap, a food from Chowking, together with daing na bangus, and the same soup from the afternoon, was her meal for the night. Every night, she takes three medicines. She eats in her room every night since it takes too much of her strength to go downstairs. I observed that her meal consists of the same food throughout the day. I asked if she was getting tired on eating the same meal every day and she said, “Wala akong choice eh, kailangan ayan ang mga kainin ko. Marami kasi akong bawal kainin.” She spent the rest of the night watching Youtube till she felt sleepy.

Nanay Corazon sitting at her arinola, or chamber pots, while watching the television in the evening.

One of Nanay’s hobbies is gambling. She plays the card game which they call “kuwaho”. Before the pandemic, they gamble most of the time. When they are on a roll, it continues up to 2-3 days, none of them having any sleep. Nanay switches with whoever is available in the family though, since she is too old. Playing “kuwaho” is normal in the family, even us kids know it. They taught us how to play in case no one is available to play now, or someone has an emergency.

Nanay also likes to travel. She often goes to Tagaytay to buy and eat food with the family. Before eating though, we pray in the Pink Sisters Convent. Sometimes, I think the sisters know her already.

Nanay Corazon watching television while eating her meal that consists of: daing na bangus, one cup of rice, soup, chicharap, and 3 medicines for the evening.

These are the two hobbies entertaining her before the pandemic. When the COVID-19 started and she was hospitalized, things drastically changed. Everything is limited for her. She has this schedule that needs to be followed every day. She cannot do the things she loved before anymore.

Nanay Corazon is just one of the millions of lives that suddenly changed because of the pandemic. Although she has no choice but to stick to her daily routine and drink 17 tablets per day, she said that she is still thankful that she is alive and healthy at 81 years old. “Nagpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon dahil wala na akong nararamdaman na sakit. Kahit ang dami kong iniinom na malalaking gamot, maigi na ito dahil para din naman sa akin.” 

[sad-boy-mono]

High School Casualties 

Chapter 3/?

Word Count- 1,719

Master Post with Ao3 link

After Shayne quickly re-filled his water bottle at a water fountain outside the bathroom, the two boys made their way to the nurses office. Shayne glancing to Damien every so often to make sure he wouldn’t pass out again.

“So, how’re you feeling?” Shayne asked not to long into their walk.

“Kinda better, I don’t think I’m gonna take another spill just yet.”

Ok good. I mean he looks fine. Well not exactly fine. I don’t think he’s looked fine all day, but getting shit sleep will do that to you.

“Well I guess I do look kinda rough but damn dude!” Damien exclaimed with faux offense. “I mean you’re not wrong, but damn!”

Shayne’s face contorted into a look of shock and confusion. “W-what are you talking about?”

“Did you not just speak?” Damien laughed, thinking that Shayne was messing with him.

“No... I didn’t...” Shayne stuttered, shaking his head no. 

“Strange, I could’ve sworn you said something!” Damien insisted.

“But I didn’t. At least not aloud.” Shayne said, mumbling his last sentence.

“What was that last part? You kinda trailed off at the end.”

“What? Oh nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Ok then...”

They two continued their walk in silence. Shayne glancing at Damien now with confusion added to the concern. 

Can Damien read minds? No, no I’m just thinking to much into this. You probably just said it aloud without realizing it. But wait didn’t something like this happen earlier? It happened a few times- No, Shayne chill the fuck out. It’s all in your head. You probably said it out loud and didn’t realize it. Maybe you need to get more sleep too.

How did I- I could’ve sworn I heard him say something! Heh, maybe those jokes about me being psychic are true! HAH if only. That would be cool. Being psychic. But how did I hear Shayne! He’s messing with me, he HAS to be! Shayne is one hell of an actor after all so that could’ve be-

“-amien we’re here.” Shayne said, causing Damien to jump. “Woah, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you there.” Shayne chuckled.

“Naha it’s fine,” Damien laughed along. “Let’s head in.”

Shayne opened up the door for his friend, giving an exaggerated bow as he did so. Damien snorted and bowed back at his friend before walking in.

“Sorry, I’ll be with you in one second kiddos!” exclaimed a voice coming from behind the large desk on the other side of the room. “A picture frame fell of my desk and broke so I gotta clean up the glass real quick.”

“Ok yeah, no problem.” Damien called back with a thumbs up. 

“She can’t see the thumbs up, I don’t know why I did that.” Damien mumbled just loud enough that Shayne could hear, making him let out a wheezy laugh.

“You’re so stupid.” Shayne whispered through his laugh.

“Alright boys, sorry about that.” The nurse said coming out from behind the desk. “What can I do for you?”

“Uh yeah, my friend here-” Shayne pointed over to a now very anxious looking Damien, “-hasn’t really been feeling well today. He almost passed out in the halls.”

“Oh dear! Well, why don’t you- what’s your name hun?” The woman asked sweetly.

“Oh um, Damien.” Damien answered, fidgeting with the cuff of his hoodie.

“Alright Damien, why don’t you go lay down in that room right down there.”She pointed to a small hallway with 6 rooms, 3 on each side. “First door on your right, no way you can miss it!”

Damien mumbled a quick thanks to her as he slowly made his way to the room, glancing at Shayne before he went in.

“Ok and now for you...”

“Shayne.”

“Ok and now for you Shayne, let’s get you a hall pass written up so your teacher will know you weren’t skipping class.” The nurse dug through her desk and pulled out a small slip of yellow paper. “Which teacher do you have next?”

“Mr. Moss for PE.”

“Oh well please tell him I say hi! David such a nice guy. He’s so fun. Oh but I’m rambling-” She handed Shayne the hall pass, “-here you go hun, have a nice day!” 

“Thanks, you too.” Shayne took the slip and walked out of the room with a wave.

===

Damien had taken one more glance at Shayne before he walked into the room. 

He never really like going to the nurse. It just made him uneasy. He never had a bad experience really, other than dealing with a rude nurse that obviously hated children and teenagers despite the fact that they chose to work with children and teenagers. But he had no real reason other than that. 

Damien sat down on the bright red-orange sofa-like bed in the room. It wasn’t very comfortable and your skin would stick to it when it was hot. And it made a deep groan anytime there was any sort of movement, but it beats laying on a shitty cot.

He looked around the beige room. It had what you’d expect there to be in a nurses office plus some more stuff. Some basic first aid kits on the wall, a desk, a sink with a stack of small paper cups next to it, and a small freezer for ice packs. Then there were cupboards that lined the wall that were littered with photos of children and drawings made most likely by said children. It put his mind at ease, no one would have a child if they hated children. 

“Alright dear-” Damien, once deep in though, jumped at the nurses sudden appearance, “-ope sorry dear didn’t mean to scare ya! Probably should’ve knocked first.” The nurse laughed sitting down at the desk. 

“Oh i-it’s fine.” Damien said through a forced chuckle. 

“Alright but anyways, what seems to be the problem dear?” The nurse pulled out a piece of paper along with a pen from the desk. “Your friends told me that you almost fainted? Do you know what might of caused that?”

“Um well, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night so I’ve been pretty tired all day.” Damien rambled, fidgeting with the, weirdly sharp, corner of the bed.

“Hmm, ok anything else that you can think of?” The nurse asked, standing up to grab smomething from the cupboard.

“I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning, was in a bit of a rush.” The nurse nodded, and grabbed another thing from the cupboard.

“Alright, Damien I’m just gonna take your temp real quick. It’s just gonna roll over your forehead. It’s cleaner that way.” she took the thermometer and had the ball at the end roll across Damien’s forehead, exactly like she said. 

The nurse took a close look at the screen before writing something down on the paper she grabbed.

“Alright Damien, you don’t seem to have any sort of fever. So if you want you can rest hear until your next class and we can see how you feel then, or I can call one of your parents to come pick you up now if you think that’s gonna be a better option.” 

Damien spent a few moment debating his options. 

Going home would be nice, but mom and dad are at work. Well she could just call up my sister instead. But if you go home, then you’d have worked on you essay all night for nothing! Ugh ok

“I’ll just stay here and rest for a bit.” Damien concluded.

“Ok that totally works! In the mean time you have these,” she said and handed Damien a few packets of crackers, “and if you need to there’s cups for water by the sink, you can go ahead and grab some if you need it! I’ll just email your teacher, let them know where you are and you can rest up a bit!” The nurse grabbed the piece of paper on her desk and began to walk out of the room before quickly coming to a stop.

“Shoot, I should probably get the name of your teacher shouldn’t I? Who’s your teacher for this period?”

“Oh uh Mr. Ovenshire for physical science.”

“All righty, and what’s your last name hun?”

“Haas, H-A-A-S.”

“Ok perfect, have a nice rest kiddo!” The nurse said, closing the door so it was only open a crack.

Damien laid down onto the bed to face the wall. He opened on of the packets of crackers and ate them.

Well that didn’t go so bad! You got some crackers, there’s water and you get to sleep. I should tell Shayne I’m not dead. Damien though to himself, grabbing his phone from his pocket. 

Damien

Not dead gonna nap :) See you at lunch probably

Damien slid his phone back into his pocket and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he fell asleep.

===

How?

How did that happen?

Oh god what did I do?

FUCK 

I didn’t think that would happen!

How the fuck did that happen?!

Oh god is he bleeding?

He was so far away from the wall! 

How did he-

I didn’t even throw the ball that hard!

Oh god he’s gonna hate me.

Everyone’s gonna hate me!

But it was an accident!

I SWEAR

FUCK

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!

===

The sound of the bell yanked Damien from his, somewhat peaceful, sleep. 

Was that a dream? That felt to real to be a dream. And who was speaking? It sounded like Shayne? Damien thought to himself, before being interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Hey hun, just checking in on ya. How are you feeling?” The nurse asked, peeking her head in through the door.

“Much better actually, thanks.” 

“Oh it’s just my job! If you’re feeling better, feel free to head to your next class and have a nice day!”

“Thanks, you too.” Damien said, grabbing his bag off the floor and walked out of the office, waving to the nurse when he walked out the door. 

Gotta find Shayne. Shit no you should call him first.

Damien pulled his phone out of his pocket and ducked into the nearest bathroom as he dialed up Shayne’s number

“Come on, pick up baby boy.” Damien whispered impatiently as his phone rang, waiting for the other line to pick up.

===

A/N- Surprise! I got this out much quicker than expected! But y'all deserve it since chapter 2 took so long for me to get out! Also if you're thinking "Wow that nurse is really over the top," good cuz that's how I pictured her to be! Kinda based on the nurse at my old school but like times 10. Anyways stay tuned for the next chapter and thanks for reading :D

[tobashiarg-blog-archive]

Turns Out Being a Super Hero Is Actually Really Gay! - Chapter 5

Hey kiddos, I’m back! Your main bitch here has NOT been in the best mental health as of late :) My boss at my current job is driving me up a wall and I may need to find a new one since he might not be able to pay me for the hours I do, my depression is kicking my ass, and my dog was going to have puppies but then had a miscarriage and it turns out she can never have puppies again or risk dying next time. Soooo yeah, I’m probably not okay, but that’s okay because we are back with another chapter of your fav spiderbois! Again, huge thanks to @sugarglider9603 and @ask-spiderverse-virgil for their wonderful au! Also shout out to @khadij-al-kubra for helping me appropriately write Logan and his family! They gave me some awesome advice and insight into Muslim culture and you should totally check out their blog and read their Thomas In Wonderland fan fic, it’s super cute! Anyways, now with that out of the way please ENJOY!!!!

Master Post

Beginning

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

The boys collapsed on to the couch in Thomas’s living room in one heaping pile of uncoordinated limbs and groans. They were absolutely exhausted, aching joints and sore muscles which they were careful to move slowly. Thomas, meanwhile, leaned over the back of the couch, suit still intact but mask off, smiling amusingly at the tired teens.

“So, third day of training went well,” Thomas snickered, the boys groaned in response causing the older man to laugh again “yeah, you’ll get use to it eventually. Just because your muscles are stronger doesn’t mean they aren’t prone to getting tired when worked out.”

“I take back every nice thing I said about you,” Virgil murmured, face down across the couch “you are the absolute worst and I’d rather take Ms. Green’s Saturday day classes.”

“I ache all over.” Patton whined.

“The body takes about a week or so to get used to routine work out,” Logan groaned out “but as you do you adjust it so that you don’t get used to it and extend your bodies limit. But even so this training fucking sucks!”

“Agreed,” Roman grunted “I have so many regrets.”

“Toughen up boys, you all wanted to be super heroes,” Thomas tutted “besides, we haven’t even gotten to the hard parts yet.”

“The worst!” Virgil hissed “Terrible mentor! Zero out of ten!”

Thomas chuckled, “If it helps, you all are doing great. I’m really proud off all the effort and hard work you’ve been putting into this. Now, weather that’ll stay throughout the entirety of your training is to be determined but I have faith in you all.”

The boys stayed quiet for a long while, faces flushed red though it wasn’t from the intense work out they just had, mostly. They’ve all been doing their damnedest to show how serious they were about becoming heroes, wanting to prove to Thomas and everyone else that they weren’t messing around. And even if it’s only been a short while it was nice to know that Thomas had faith in them and wanted to see them succeed. It was pretty fucking sweet to know that your hero and now mentor had your back.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too sappy, you still suck.” Virgil grumbled, but the blush on his cheeks plus the smile he kept trying to hide told a different tale.

“Oh well, if I’m the worse them I guess you guys wouldn’t be interested in any of the ‘after work out’ sandwiches I made,” Thomas said innocently, turning to walk towards the kitchen “plus, a banana and strawberry milkshake but it’s probably not that great cause, you know, I’m the worst and all.”

The boys were silent once more before suddenly jumping off the couch and racing after Thomas towards the kitchen.

“Best teacher! Twelve out of ten gold stars!” Virgil called out.

“I’m not all that achey!” Patton said, a slight wince in his step.

“Well really the body shouldn’t ever get used to a work out too much,” Logan informed “and the routines you’ve set up for us will really balance out our bodies.”

“Best decision of my life! Absolutely, no regrets!” Roman cheered.

---

The boys lazed around in the kitchen, chatting as they ate their mountain of sandwiches and delicious milkshakes and Thomas couldn’t help but feel kind of domestic. He didn’t usually have much company besides Joan and Talyn and even then, he was sometimes too busy to properly hang out with them. But they understood, even before they found out about him being Rainbow Weaver Joan and Talyn were always supporting him and Thomas will forever be grateful for that. But there was just something about having a room full of people, chatting and laughing, with a mutual understanding of each other’s situation that made Thomas feel…less alone.

‘Welcome to parenthood fucker!’ A voice in Thomas’s head, that suspiciously sounded a lot like Joan, cackled.

“Shush.” Thomas mumbled quietly as he shook his head to silence the voice before returning to the conversation at hand.

“The whole movie is basically a promotion on Stockholm syndrome!” Virgil exclaimed.

“She stayed on her own accord so she could save her father!” Roman shot back “Plus he did let her go after she went into the forbidden room only SAVE her when she was in danger! She could have left after he passed out but no, she went back again WILLINGLY to nurse him back to health!”

Roman and Virgil had been arguing about the story line of various Disney movies for the better part of an hour now. Thomas, Logan, and Patton sat as the audience, occasionally throwing in their own opinions but staying out of it for the most part. Even if the debate seemed intense it kind of looked like the two were having fun in their own strange way. Currently they were discussing the elements of Beauty and the Beast.

“Yeah, because it’s either get mauled to death and freeze in the woods or be trapped in solitude!” Virgil quipped “She just chose the better half of a bad situation that would provide her with food and shelter!”

“But they fell in love!” Roman cried.

“Yes, because a prisoner falling in love with their capture is totally healthy and cool if you add bunch of dancing silverware!” Virgil snarked.

“Ugh! You are impossible!” Roman groaned “How is it you claim to like Disney but have all this bad to say about it?”

“Because it’s literally the whole reason I like it in the first place,” Virgil snorted “there are so many dark elements to it that people over look. Especially if you read the original fairy tales that inspired them.”

“You just want to make everything dark and edgy,” Roman grumbled “not everything has to have a dark side.”

“Everything does have a dark side, Sir Sing-A-Lot.” Virgil smirked.

“Ha, I like that nickname and I’m gunna use it!” Roman huffed.

“Not that it isn’t great that you two are getting along,” Logan said sarcastically, finishing his milkshake and grabbing another sandwich “but me and Virgil got to get going or we’ll be late for dinner and I would rather not endure my mother’s wrath.”

“Oh shit, that’s today?” Virgil asked as he began to pack his stuff.

“What’s today?” Patton asked curiously.

“My brother is coming over for dinner,” Logan replied dryly “we haven’t seen him in a while.”

“You don’t seem too excited.” Thomas said.

“It’s not that I’m not excited to see him after so long it’s just…” Logan paused, fidgeting over uncomfortable feel of emotion running through his brain, wondering if he should even bother discussing this any further. Eventually, he chose not to, “Nothing, it’s just, you know, tired from all the training and…stuff.”

Thomas knew there was something more to the whole situation, as did Patton and Roman, but out of politeness nobody said anything. They instead looked to Virgil to see if he could clue them in on something, they were missing but the purple clad teen only shrugged and shook his head. So, they were quick to change the subject.

“What are the rest of you doing this evening?” Thomas asked.

“My brother Alex said he was gunna take me and Georgie, my other brother, out somewhere,” Patton sighed, rolling his eyes “that’s usually code for he wants to impress a girl by showing what a ‘cool and caring’ brother he is and will fail miserably. But hey, I’m not gunna look a gift horse in the mouth, usually he takes us to cool places.”

“My mom and sister are working late again so I have to pick up and babysit the twins,” Roman replied before suddenly remembering something and turned to Virgil “Virgil what are you doing?”

Virgil paused, giving Roman an odd look, “Uh, besides dinner at the Quinn’s, nothing much afterwards. Why?”

“Good, because you need to come over so we can finish up that stupid essay due on Monday and I can’t have you over on Sunday because we have church and a baby shower to go to.” Roman said as he casually munched on another sandwich.

“Shit, that’s still a thing,” Virgil groaned, looking to Logan for help “have you even started on that?”

“Oh yes, me and Patton finished it recently.” Logan replied coolly.

“We video chatted since me and Lo had other stuff to attend to and couldn’t come over to each other’s houses.” Patton added.

“That’s why you flaked out on movie night yesterday,” Roman said in a moment of realization before pouting “you chose a study date with your boyfriend over me?”

Logan choked on the sandwich he was still munching on whole Patton squeaked and flushed a dark red. Virgil snickered as he went over to pat Logan’s back until he stopped coughing while Patton blubbered and waved his hands around, shrieking how “it’s not like that Roman, you know that! We just- we study a-and – we aren’t, uh…” Logan was soon to join in once he got the proper amount of air in his lungs, face just and red and sputtering just as embarrassed.

Thomas bit back a laugh while Roman and Virgil, the little shits, out right smirked in that smug way all best friends do when they see each other suffering. It was painfully obvious that Logan and Patton a “thing” for each other but were just too shy and awkward to acknowledge it. It was easy to push their buttons and was also extremely entertaining to watch. Still, Thomas was merciful and kindly decided to redirect the subject again.

“Well, while you kids enjoy your evening plans, I’ll be out on patrol,” Thomas said, stretching out a bit “so if you need to contact me and I’m a little slow to respond you’ll know why.”

“Might pass by that ally way again while patrolling?” Virgil asked innocently, though the devious smirk on his face was a dead giveaway “You know, just to make sure there’s no one in danger?”

“Yeah, like a certain cute barista?” Roman snickered.

Thomas’s cheeks colored pink and he regretted his previous act of mercy because those little vipers turn head so fast it’s as if they planed it. “You know we could just spend a whole day doing laps next training day?”

“We could, but that still wouldn’t erase the fact that you’re too gay to function around attractive males.” Logan smirked.

“Aw, but wouldn’t it be cute if they went out on a date?” Patton gushed, his comment was genuine but that didn’t make Thomas any less flustered. “You should try and talk to him, like for reals. Maybe ask him out on a cute little coffee date?”

“I am like flashing back to so many Coffee Shop Au fics it’s not even funny,” Virgil laughed breathlessly “anyway, Roman, text me your address and I’ll swing by after dinner. See ya gays later.”

“Don’t you mean guys?” Patton asked.

“I know what I said.” Virgil replied as he and Logan made their way out of the kitchen.

Roman shrugged, “He isn’t wrong though.”

---

They arrived at their apartment building in record time, Vigil having informed his parents before hand that he’d be at Logan’s for dinner before heading out to Roman’s to finish up the essay. Though at the moment neither of them were in any hurry to get to where they were going, taking a dramatically long time climbing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to tag along with you and Morgan after dinner?” Virgil asked for the tenth time that day “I really, really don’t mind flaking out on Roman.”

“As much as I would like that you really do need to finish your essay,” Logan sighed “it counts as a major grade for your science class.”

It wasn’t that Logan’s brother was a bad guy, on the contrary he was actually really cool and easy to talk too, but the constant comparisons made between them by their parents made Logan kind of resent him, just a little. Don’t get him wrong, Logan loved his older brother and wouldn’t mind spending more time with him but as of late the closer Logan got to graduation the more his parents…“pushed” him to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He couldn’t even mention about applying for colleges around them because then they’d go into a spiral about all the colleges Morgan got excepted to at his age and how he should apply for those and go for this program that Morgan did and maybe he could study abroad like Morgan did. It’s not like they did it on purpose, Logan knew his parents loved him and were proud of him, they only wanted what’s best for him so that he could succeed and gain opportunities that they couldn’t when they were young. But sometimes it just…got a bit much.

“Come on, let me procrastinate,” Virgil whined, though it was more to make Logan laugh then being serious “I don’t want to spend my whole afternoon with Roman.”

“It’s not my fault the teachers chose him as a partner for you,” Logan chuckled “at least he’s willing to do work and not slack off like others. Plus, better him then Dolion.”

“Mmh, true,” Virgil grumbled “but stiiiill! The only reason you’re not complaining is because you got to be all buddy-buddy with Patton and make heart eyes at him all day.”

As expected, Logan was a blushing, sputtering mess, “I-it’s not like that!”

Vigil continued to tease his best friend all the way up until their destination, then everything got tense again. Logan took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he went over the most likely scenarios that would happen during dinner, none of them were good. But Logan just had to get through dinner then an awkward night out with his brother and after he could just sulk in his room the rest of the night. His train of thought was broken by a gentle hand squeezing his own and he turned to find Virgil smiling at him sympathetically.

“I got your back if that means anything?” Virgil shrugged.

Logan gave him a tiny, appreciative smile, “It means everything.”

“Great,” Virgil turned towards the awaiting door in front of them “let’s face Hades together.”

“You know, Hades wasn’t an evil god,” Logan began to explain “he was just god of the Underworld and-”

“You know what I mean.” Virgil scoffed as he opened the door to Logan’s apartment.

Inside, Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were in the living room enthusiastically entertaining their special guest of the evening, Morgan Quinn. Looks wise, Morgan and Logan looked pretty similar, tall lanky build, neat trimmed hair, and thick square glasses. Personality wise, they couldn’t be more different, Logan was always the more serious of the two while Morgan tended to be the more goofy, social butterfly. Despite being polar opposites, they got along pretty great, Morgan was the one that introduced Logan to his love of space and it was that mutual love that formed an incredible bond between them. They’d always go up to the roof and look at the stars through their telescope, read up on NASA’s latest discoveries and plans, or just binge watch a bunch of space documentaries. But lately, Logan’s been looking at the stars less, it’s been moths since he’s looked into what NASA’s been up too, and he’s kind of been avoiding space documentaries all together if he’s honest.

“Lolo!” Morgan exclaimed excitedly as he rushed to hug his brother “Salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Logan replied, a small smile appearing on his face despite his internal conflict “welcome home.”

“Geez, you sprouted up like a bean stalk,” Morgan laughed as he pulled back to look over his little brother “what are Ummi and Babá feeding you?”

“All required nutrition regiments,” Logan quipped “though I can only assume your stunted growth is due to the college dietary restrictions of coffee and instant noodles.”

“Quit exposing me,” Morgan chided playfully before turning to Virgil with his arms open wide for a hug “Virge, salaam alekum!”

“Waalekum salaam,” Virgil replied, tentatively accepting the hug though Morgan knew he wasn’t one for physical affection so he didn’t linger long “how you’ve been?”

“I’ve been great, tired but great,” Morgan chuckled “and you still haven’t grown? I though Ummi was stuffing you down with the same thing she’s been feeding Logan?”

“Gunna take a lot more then forced self-care to make me into a functioning human being.” Virgil smirked.

“Speaking of eating,” Mrs. Quinn cut through the chatter as she made her way to the kitchen “I made your favorite Morgan, kufta and rice. Shall we eat now?”

“Please,” Morgan half begged “I’m a starving college student.”

They family plus Virgil gathered around the table, filling their plates with the lamb meat balls, rice and side salad put in place. It was all pleasantries at first, catching up on each other’s lives and reminiscing on the past and how it compared to the present. It was nice, laughter and chatter filled the room as other’s ate to think of more conversation topics.

Then Mrs. Quinn asked, “How has your internship been at Oscorps?”

And so it began.

“Oh, it’s been amazing,” Morgan gushed “I’ve been learning so much about bioengineering and genetic research. There’s been so many advances made in the medical field and it’s just fascinating to see the behind the scenes of everything.”

“You know, Logan and Virgil went on a field trip to Oscorps this week,” Mr. Quinn said, unknown to him that Logan’s eye began to twitch waiting for the inevitable “I would have hoped they’d see you there in action.”

“Oh no, I’m usually in the back with the researchers,” Morgan explained before looking to his brother “but if you would have texted me earlier, I could have given you and Virge a secret tour of the latest project we’ve been working on. It’s awesome, you would have loved it Lo.”

“I, um…” Logan began, fiddling with the food on his plate.

“Logan, I thought we told you to call your brother and ask about the internship requirements?” Mrs. Quinn asked.

“I forgot.” Logan said lamely.

“Babá you can’t afford to be forgetting these things,” Mr. Quinn scolded gently “you have to build up a good college resume and a company like Oscorps will get you accepted into any school you want.”

“Yeah, I know.” Logan mumbled, having stopped eating all together and was now just staring at his plate.

“Well, he’s still just a junior in high school,” Morgan cut in before more could be said by either of his parents “an internship like this is not easy to come by. Some people are on a waiting list for years and even then, they might not get accepted.”

“But didn’t they offer you a position when you were in high school?” Mrs. Quinn asked “Surely if Logan took an extra class or two, he could have one too.”

“What they offered me was an errand boy that made print outs and got coffee,” Morgan explained, secretly watching as the tension in his brother’s shoulders relaxed just a bit “they’re not gunna let a high schooler into a research lab no matter how smart he is. Maybe once he hits college but even then, he could get a much better offer from somewhere else. I hear the robotic engineering program in Carnegie and Brown are real buddy-buddy with Stark Industries.”

Logan smiled, just a little, tentative and quiet, “Really?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Quinn butted in, and just like that the tension in Logan’s shoulders returned “Stark Industries is sketchy at best, especially with all that Avengers mumbo-jumbo going on. Besides, wouldn’t a job in the medical field be more secure financial wise? All I ever see that Tony Stark do on the news is make new toys for him to play with and destroy the city.”

“Saving the world from an alien invasion and government corruption,” Morgan explained “pretty sure that’s kind of important Ummi.”

Mrs. Quinn shrugged, “I guess so.”

“But what about that whole mess with the Avengers?” Mr. Quinn asked “Or whatever’s going on there? There’s always some kind of conflict with them.”

“It’s been cleared up now,” Morgan informed them “plus I hear Stark Industries are partnering up with a famed research facility in Wakanda. They’re supposed to have technological advances years beyond us. I’m sure Logan will be snatched up in an instant.”

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn seemed sort of swayed but they surely still had more questions and probing statements to say. Thankfully, Morgan was quick to jump in and change the conversation. “So Logan, Ummi and Babá were telling me how you, Virge and some friends made a club together, how’s that been going?”

Not a topic Logan wished to discuss in great detail but he’d chose that over the previous one. “Uh, great, we’ve been making excellent progress.”

“And what of the other guys in your group?” Morgan asked, genuinely curious “How are they like?”

“They’re…great,” Logan chuckled awkwardly “just two classmates from our school, Patton and Roman, we all head a group project together and we got discussing on some issues and of course one thing led to another.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool,” Virgil added “and we’re getting…stuff and things done. It’s small but nice.”

“That’s good,” Morgan smiled “I hope to meet these new friends someday, I’m getting kind of tired of just Virgil at our house all the time.”

“You know we all thought the same thing with you,” Virgil rolled his eyes but gave an easy smirked “thank god you left for college.”

Morgan laughed, “Geez, Virge, tell me how you really feel. Also, I heard you guys were being sponsored by Thomas Sanders, unless Ummi and Babá got the name mixed up?”

“Yeah, we didn’t believe it either at first,” Logan chuckled nervously, him and Virgil sharing a knowing look “but the school district recommended him and he accepted so it was only logical of us to accept as well.”

“How hard did you and Virgil fan girl? Be honest.” Morgan teased.

Logan pouted (though he’d deny it till his dying day) and promptly returned to his dinner, “Suddenly, I don’t remember the details.”

“It’s like it never even happened,” Virgil added dramatically “Thomas Sanders who? What club?”

“Aw, come on guys!” Morgan chuckled, playfully shoving his brother’s shoulder “I’m only kidding…mildly, though seriously how hard did you fan girl? Cause I’m pretty sure Virge has a fan about him that’s just as big as Rainbow Weaver.”

“You know what, go back to your internship and shove your head in a toxic waste tank,” Virgil quipped with flushed cheeks “nobody wanted you here anyway.”

“Hey, you never know, I might gain powers like Rainbow Weaver,” Morgan smirked triumphantly “then I’ll be the one meeting him.”

Logan smirked mysteriously, “Doubtful.”

---

Roman had just finished cleaning the last of the dishes when a buzz was heard throughout the apartment. He was quick to wipe his hands as he moved pasted the kitchen table where the twins were doing homework, ruffling Marco’s hair in the process. The younger gave off an annoyed whine as he swatted his older brother’s hand away who chuckled to himself as he reached the buzzer box and pressed the call button.

“Who is it?” Roman asked.

“It’s Virgil, buzz me in.” The voice responded.

“Sure, give me a minute,” Roman replied, pressing another button before heading off towards his room to retrieve his backpack and set up in the living room. He did not for the life of him trust the twins by themselves, little demons could get into loads of trouble the second you look away from them.

“Who’s that?” Jenni asked, inspecting over her macaroni art project.

“A…friend?” Roman said tentatively “We’re gunna do homework, that’s all you need to know so keep the noise down to a minimum when you guys are done, okay?”

“Is it Patton?” Marco asked excitingly, he always liked when Patton came over, Patton usually spoiled the two with homemade treats.

“No, it’s not Patton.” Roman said, rummaging through his back for the notes Logan gave him.

“Then who is he?” Jenni asked, curiosity finally pulling her away from her glittery macaroni art disaster. Roman groaned at the thought of having to clean that up later.

“Just, uh, guy from a club I’m in,” Roman explained begrudgingly “we have to do a project together, that’s all.”

“Why didn’t you pick Patton as your partner?” Marco asked, half disappointed he would be getting sweets but also curious as to who this new person was.

“Because the teacher chose them for us.” Roman responded bluntly.

“Why?” Jenni asked.

“Because the school system is a dumb-dumb.” Roman said tiredly.

“Why?” Marco asked.

“Why are you guys so invested in this?” Roman snapped, he didn’t mean to but he was already on edge as it was. Virgil and him had a rocky relationship as it was, they were co-workers at best after the whole spider power thing, but even so he had no idea where he stood with him. He knew exactly where he stood with everybody else; Patton was his best friend, Thomas was his mentor and Logan was a nuisance though still fun to poke at. Virgil was just a wild card, sometimes they got along and sometimes they didn’t, it was a weird line they walked and Roman had no idea what step was the wrong step and which one was the right.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Jenni sang, Marco giggling beside her as Roman’s face lit up in red hot flames. “Absolutely not!”

---

Vigil found himself once more taking his time climbing up the stairs when there was a perfectly functioning elevator. The realization of what he was doing and where he was going finally hit him after seeing Morgan and Logan out after dinner. He was going to Roman Marigold’s apartment, Roman Marigold, quite possibly the most annoying human being in the entire school next to Dolion.

It’s not that Roman seemed like a bad guy, he was actually pretty decent when his giant ego was in check and wasn’t jumping off buildings unexpectedly. But for some reason he just got under Virgil’s skin and knew what buttons to press to get a reaction out of him. Though he had no ide if he was doing it to be mean or it was just this weird thing between them. When Roman fought with Logan you always kind of got this vibe that they…not liked each other though it seems like they had mutual respect. But when he and Roman fought it varied on what the situation was, sometimes it could be Disney banters, playful bickering, full on heated debates, or just poking insults. It was weird and Virgil had no idea what to do with it.

He finally reached the door and just as he was about to knock, he heard giggling and a high pitch screech. “Absolutely not!”

Maybe this was bad time, he should probably go back, Virgil didn’t want to be caught in the middle of any family disputes if this was what it was. But he didn’t move to leave, nor did he move to knock again, he just stood there frozen in perpetual confusion and panic, listening to the conversation beyond the door.

Tiny voices sang in a jumpy school yard tune, “Roman’s got a boyfriend! Roman’s got a boyfriend!”

“I do not!” Came the embarrassed reply that Virgil could only guess was Roman.

Virgil clasped a hand over his mouth so as to repress the giggle threatening to slip. It was absolutely hilarious to hear the pristine ego maniac that is Roman Marigold get flustered and loss his cool due to, what sounded like, a bunch of little kids taunting him. Even so it wasn’t very appropriate of him to be eavesdropping on people’s conversations, no matter how hilarious or ridiculous they may seem, so he made quick work of knocking on the door.

It opened almost immediately, a red cheeked Roman staring intently at him, “Oh, you’re here.”

“Yeah, I buzzed you like five minutes ago, remember?” Virgil smirked “We’re you talking to someone?”

“No! No, just…you know,” The flamboyant teen made a vague gesture with his hands “things?”

“Things?” Virgil echoed with an odd look.

Roman nodded and it was suddenly quiet for a long time. Virgil awkwardly standing in the hallway while Roman fidgeted against the door frame, both staring intently at each other without blinking. Finally, a cough from behind Roman snapped them both out of their stupor. They turned to find two smirking children peeking out from behind the living room couch, no doubt Roman’s siblings, they were practically mini carbon copies.

Roman glared at them while Virgil gave a shy wave before asking, “Can I come in now?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Roman stuttered, quickly stepping aside to let Virgil in.

---

Morgan had gotten them tickets to the planetarium viewing of Dark Universe at the American Museum of National History as well as general passes for the rest of the museum. Logan was admittingly excited to go, it’s been a long time since he’s been to a planetarium especially one as grand as the Hayden Planetarium. But on the other hand, the awkward silence between Logan and his brother during the entire taxi ride here was very heavy and uncomfortable. Not that Morgan wasn’t trying to make conversation it’s just that Logan was snubbing them out as quickly as he was thinking them.

Dinner with other people was one thing, an outing by themselves was another. There weren’t other people to buffer out the awkward when things got slow or stale. They use to go on outings together all the time, talking endlessly for hours and hour far into the night, discussing the universe, life, and anything else they could think of. But that was then, this was now, and as of now they haven’t hung out properly in a long time plus Logan’s parents weren’t really helping him warm up to the whole situation. Regardless if Morgan was able to diverge the conversation near the end or not there was still that…tension.

“So…have you ever seen Dark Universe before?” Morgan asked as the lazily walked inside the building, the display of planets across the outside of the planetarium quiet distracting. There were two entrance into the museum, at the front where the famed t-rex statue was displayed and the back where the Earth and Science exhibits were.

“They were going to take us last year for a school field trip but the bus broke down and we missed the showing.” Logan shrugged, looking around at all the displays of planets, stars and solar systems.

“Ah, well that means it’ll be a first viewing for both of us,” Morgan said cheerily, dramatically raising a fist in the air “a bonding experience we shall never forget!”

Logan raised an eyebrow at his brother’s weird display who in turn shyly put his hand down, “Uh, anyway, how’s life? How’s school? How’s that club you got going?”

“It’s fine,” Logan said simply “everything is functioning as it should, it’s only the beginning of the first semester so nothing much has happened. Well, except for…a complication.”

“Yeah, mom and dad told me what happened,” Morgan sighed, a bitter sneer on his face “I still can’t believe there’s jerks like that out there.”

“Indeed,” Logan nodded “but it’s nothing to get worked up over, it’s not like it was the root of the whole ordeal. I was merely…defending a friend from certain public humiliation.”

“Who were they anyway?” Morgan asked before clarifying “The friend you helped out, are they in that club you made?”

“Uh, yes,” Logan said bashfully, a light pink dusking his cheeks “his name is – Patton?”

Logan froze in his tracks, his brother taking a second to notice, because there near a display of Halley’s comet was Patton Foster. He was wearing a stunning high waist space print skirt, black leggings, a soft looking baby blue crop top sweater, and black boots. He also wore sparkly silver star droop earrings and a matching moon neckless, as well as glittery silver clips in his hair. Patton had yet to notice Logan staring, too enraptured in reading over the little facts beside the display, and the genus will forever be grateful for that.

“Who’s that?” Morgan asked, snapping Logan out of his daze.

“Uh, no one,” Logan said much too quickly “l-let’s take a short cut another direction, I think I saw a map that showed the way.”

Morgan smirked deviously, “They don’t look like no one, you obviously know their name.”

Logan was screwed.

“H-he’s just a friend from school, I don’t want to bother him,” Logan sputtered nervously “let’s just go somewhere else so we won’t disturb his evening.”

“Hey, there’s no harm in saying hi,” Morgan chuckled, grabbing onto his brother’s arm so he wouldn’t scurry way “plus, he’s looking this way already.”

“What?” Logan squeaked.

True to his word, Patton had seen them and was now waving at them with that big, bright, beautiful smile of his. Morgan, the devil, waved back just as enthusiastically as he dragged Logan along with him because he’s was half certain Logan was frozen stiff. As they got closer Patton seemingly decided to meet them half way, bright eyed and springy as ever.

“Hey Lo, I didn’t think I’d see you here,” Patton smiled, he looked to Morgan curiously “is this your brother?”

“So, he does talk about me,” Morgan joked and Logan died “all good things I hope.”

Patton giggled, a pleasant bell to Logan’s ears, “Only in passing conversation but being that your brothers I can only assume you’re just as smart and amazing as he is.”

Morgan smiled big and wide, leaning down near Logan in an exaggerated whisper, “I like him, keep him around.”

Logan wasn’t a violent man by nature but annoying sibling could just so easily get under your skin and drive you to murder. “What brings you to the museum Patton? It was my assumption you were on an outing with your brothers.”

Patton pouted, blowing out a huff of air, “Yeah, Alex went to flirt with receptionist lady and Georgie left to drag him back. Alex won a raffle at work and won tickets to this show at the planetarium called Dark Universe. I’m honestly kind of nervous, I don’t really know what it’s about and the title doesn’t seem too pleasant.”

“No need to worry Patton,” Logan assured “it’s simply a documentary displaying the wonders of our universe while providing commentary. Nothing scary or abnormal, I promise.”

“Oh good,” Patton sighed in relief “I was worried that-”

“Ahk, Georgie! Put me down!”

“Stop behaving like a child and I’ll think about it. Where’s Patton?”

“I think he’s over there? Hey! Hey, Pat! Yhoohoo! We’re over here!”

Patton’s face morphed into something between embarrassment and annoyance as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He seemed to be actively avoiding making eye contact with the two squabbling giants heading towards them. They looked to be the perfect size for professional football players or basketball players or both, point is they were huge compared to petite Patton who landed just under Logan’s nose. Then again, Logan was pretty tall though not as tall as those two…where were they?

---

Out of all the places and times to run into Logan outside of school and/or hero training this would have been the perfect place but it was simply just the WORST time. Patton didn’t mind evenings out with his brothers, he liked spending time with them and the outings were usually fun. Their antics, specifically Alex being troubling making dork while Georgie forcefully drags him out of trouble and Patton watches helplessly by the sidelines, were amusing at best but annoying most of the time.

Don’t get Patton wrong, he loved his brothers with all his heart but sometimes they (*cough*Alex*cough*) had no shame what-so-ever. Great for Georgie who wasn’t afraid of a few staring eyes when pulling his brothers out of trouble, not great for Alex who is such a drama queen he makes Roman look tame. Outing with his brothers were not meant to be witnessed by anyone but the strangers of Manhattan who they’ll never see again, NOT cute boys that Patton kind of sort of had a crush on.

Patton gave Logan and his brother his best smile, though it was very obviously forced, “Excuse me.”

He quickly whizzed around to face his brothers, forced smile still displayed on his face, “I heard you the first time Alex, everyone could.”

Alex, who was hazardously draped over Georgie’s shoulder like a sack of flour, simply pouted as he wiggled out of his elder brother’s grip, “Just making sure, you seemed distracted. Who’re the nerds?”

Georgie smacked Alex across the head, “Be polite.”

“Ow, geez,” Alex whined, rubbing his sore skull “you can kill someone with those hands Georgie. Like in that movie Green House!”

“Green Mile.” Georgie corrected cooly.

Alex snapped his fingers, “That’s the one, anyway, back to the nerds.” Another smack “Ow, hey! I didn’t mean it, it was a joke! See they ain’t bothered!”

Patton took a deep and steady breath as he turned back to the Quinn brothers with an embarrassed smile, “Logan, Morgan, these are my older brothers: Georgie and Alex. Georgie and Alex, this is my friend Logan and his older brother, Morgan. They came to watch the space show too.”

Georgie nodded while Alex gave a false salute, “Sup.”

“How do you do?” Logan said politely as he and his brother stuck out their hands to shake.

Georgie was quick to shake both their hands as was Alex but he paused when he got to Logan, leaning down to intensely stare at him. Patton wanted to scream, truly he did, but that would just let Alex figure everything out that much quicker as well as cause a scene.

“Logan, huh,” Alex hummed as he leaned forward and Logan visibly gulped as he leaned back “where have I heard that name before? I know you ain’t related to that Paul guy from YouTube because you actually look respectable.”

Patton slapped a hand over his face, “Oh my god…”

“He’s one of the boys in the club Pat’s help make.” Georgie said helpfully, not at all fazed by his brother’s borderline interrogation on poor Logan.

“Oh yeah,” Alex nodded, finally letting go of Logan’s hand and giving him proper personal space “you guys made that, uh…what’s the politically correct term for this? I don’t wanna offend anyone.”

“To late.” Patton mumbled grimly.

“LGBTQ+ Youth Group.” Georgie provided.

“Jesus that’s a mouth full,” Alex sighed before pondering once more “nah, but other then that I swear I heard Patton mention that name before just…can’t remember.”

Patton sighed in relief, Thank god!

“Wait I know!” Alex exclaimed.

Shit!

Alex became giddy with excitement, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that just spelled doom for Patton. “He’s that bo – mmhf!”

Georgie was swift yet casual as he slapped a large hand over Alex’s mouth and began to drag him away, “The show is starting soon, we should grab seats together.”

Internally Patton was crying, Georgie was a saint and he definitely deserved a special cake baked in his honor. Externally Patton sighed tiredly once more, giving Logan and Morgan an apologetic smile. “Sorry about them, well, mainly Alex. He’s…a lot sometimes.”

Morgan shrugged, “Brothers, what can you do about them? This guy was a terror when he was younger, he would use his diapers as – oof!” Morgan groaned in pain as Logan elbowed him in the stomach, eyes shut in annoyance and left brow twitching.

Patton giggled, glad not to be the only one being teased by his older brothers, “Older brothers huh?”

“Quite unfortunate are we, huh?” Logan chuckled breathlessly.

“Seriously, what are mom and dad feeding you? I almost puked my guts out!” Morgan wheezed.

---

This was a terrible idea! This was a terrible, awful idea! Why did Thomas think this was a good idea? Why was he even listening to Patton’s advice, he was pretty sure the kid was mostly joking? But here her was at that same damn alley way, in civilian clothes, looking across the street into a familiar little coffee shop with a familiar red headed barista taking down orders behind the register. Thomas groaned, scrubbing his heads over his face, he looked like a fucking stalker, seriously!

He had convinced himself to take a quick brake before heading out on patrol again, maybe grab a cup of coffee to wake him up a bit. It wasn’t his fault the shop just so happened to be near by and hey if that cute guy just so happened to be working there at this time it wasn’t like a big deal. It wasn’t like he knew who Thomas was so he could just be casual, order a coffee, strike up a conversation, nothing big. But now he was here across the street and he saw the guy smile and laugh at something his co-worker said and Thomas just got weak in the knees.

“Why am I here?” Thomas groaned, leaning back against the grimy alley wall “I don’t even know his name! All I know is that he can’t seem to stay out of trouble!”

He looked back into the coffee shop, it seemed to be a slow day, only three or so customs lounging around in the sitting area as cute red head wiped down the counter. Okay, so the good news was there wasn’t much people so Thomas didn’t have to rush when he inevitably stuttered out his order. Bad news was he still had to muster up the courage to go in and talk to him and that was never gunna happen.

It was then he noticed a shady looking guy walk past him and across the street, his hood flipped up and shoulders scrunched in. He looked like the typical grumpy New Yorker that only seemed threatening but Thomas is spidy sense told him otherwise. Plus, he was definitely not hiding that gun, which was tucked in the back of his jeans like some stupid idiot wanna-be gang member, very well.

Thomas was quick to sprint across the street without the hoodlum seeing him, just beating him to the door by a moment. Thomas swung the door open at about half strength smacking the criminal right in the face. An audible crack was heard sending the criminal falling backwards with a bloody nose and maybe a minor concussion. Thomas made sure to ham up his clumsy civilian act.

“Oh gosh man! I’m so, so sorry!” Thomas gasped, helping the man up right with the intention of sneaking a hand around to disarm the gun “Are you alright?”

“Do I fucking look alright you stupid idiot!” The man snapped, much to distracted with the pain of his face to notice the faint clicking noises behind him. Talyn had shown Thomas how to dismantle a gun with one hand their freshman year of college, he doesn’t know why they know that but he’s thankful for it because it makes his job so much easier.

“Sorry dude, can I do anything to help?” Thomas asked in an artificially sweet voice.

“No, fuck off!” The man growled, quick to turn head with his tail between his legs, embarrassed by job never done.

Thomas watched him leave down the alley way, depositing the bullet clip he swiped into a nearby trash bin before heading inside. He noticed the speckles of blood on the glass door as he entered and grimaced with guilt. Once fully through Thomas finally noticed that the red head was staring at him and it dawned on him that he probably witnessed the whole ordeal and though he was a clumsy oaf.

“Uh, sorry about the door,” Thomas said, rubbing a hand behind his neck “If you got some paper towels, I’ll, uh, clean it up for you guys if you want?”

The red head’s eyes were wide with shock, steel blue eyes piercing into Thomas is soul, “That guy was gunna mug us.”

Thomas sputtered in response, “Uh, he – um…”

“I saw him across the street openly stalking the café all day today,” The red head scoffed “he wasn’t really subtle about it. He was probably waiting for us to wind down for the night.”

“Wait,” Thomas squinted suspiciously “if you knew he was gunna rob the place why didn’t you call the police?”

The red head rolled his eyes, “We did, but to them he wasn’t doing anything wrong until now. Stupid cops…” He smiled charmingly “but you came down here pretty quick and practically bashed his skull in. What are you, some sort of vigilante?”

“N-no!” Thomas gulped “I-it’s just I…I saw his gun and I couldn’t just stand there!”

“Well, you could have gotten yourself hurt too.” The red head countered.

Thomas gave a breathless chuckle, “Trust me, I’m not as defenseless as most people think I am.”

The red head giggled, placing his chin to the palm of his hand, “Oh yeah?”

“If it helps, I disarmed his gun before anything?” Thomas said bashfully, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket.

The red head’s eyes went wide again, “What, did you do it with one hand?”

“Yeah?” Thomas said hesitantly, this guy was way more observant then Thomas previously thought “If you wanna check, the gun clip is still in the trash bin.”

The red head laughed joyously, a beautiful melody to Thomas is ears, “You really are something! So, what can I get my hero tonight? On the house of course.”

“Oh no, I don’t want to bother-” Thomas began only to get cut off by another joyful laugh “Bother all you want, you just saved my ass from being mugged.”

“It was no trouble,” Thomas shrugged, a goofy smile surely on his face “it-it really wasn’t a big deal.”

“Well it was a big deal to me, practically saved my life,” The red head smiled, grabbing a large cup and a sharpie “so what’s your name Tiger?”

Thomas’s stomach filled with a million butterflies at the mention of the familiar nickname before clearing his extremely dry throat, “Uh…Thomas…Sanders.”

The red head paused a moment, sharpie delicately poised over the edge of the coffee cup as he chewed over his bottom lip in thought. A ghost of a smile formed across his face, that seemed very familiar now that Thomas thought about it, giving out a breathless laugh. “Thomas Sanders, huh?”

“Uh, yeah?” Thomas knew that he got recognized often but by fans but it was usually by his face not by his name. Not to sound vain or anything but a lot of times he didn’t need to tell people who he was for them to recognize him. But this guy didn’t seem like he was a fan…still, he looked vaguely familiar.

“Well, I’m MJ, in case you didn’t notice.” He pointed to the name tag on his chest that Thomas was now just recognizing because he was too gay to look at anything else but this guys cute face.

“What does that stand for?” Thomas asked curiously.

He paused again before that same smile returned to his face, “Matthew Jones…Watson.”

“Matthew Jones Watson,” Thomas said aloud, rolling the words of his tongue as if testing out how they sound in his voice “MJ…I like it.”

And obviously that was a stupid thing to say aloud because it made him sound like some sort of weirdo who goes around judging names. But MJ giggled, light and airy, with a smile that could light up all of Manhattan. “Thanks…I’m glad.”

Tags: (sorry if it doesn’t work, Tumblr is stupid)

@immortaldystopia @metaphoricalpluto2 @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @misunderstood-shadow @fairytailtwists @0callmevirge0 @blenderkit17 @galaxy-lilies-main @lumi-1 @paint-in-flames @i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing @superwholocked-for-life @generalfandomfabulousness @oakskull@scarletnoiryt @softnic @asiagotea3890 @enteryourfandomhere @saltwithrandomfandoms @ninjago2020 @average-human @hecksupremeart @teepee-honesty @perfectly-precautiously-gay @a-weirdo-with-a-computer @itsashtronomy @khadij-al-kubra @maryjanewolf @icequeenoriginal @ocs-and-chapters @lilyfond @palepanfandomtrash @always-in-a-fandom @boxofsushi

[withlovekth]

Darkroom (Part Two)

Part One

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader Genre: artist! taehyung, best friend! jimin, college au, fluff, smut, light angst Contains: swearing, self-toxicity Word Count: 2.3k

English? Do I major in English? All I really want to do is write for fun. Maybe get a book published or something. I’m not trying to be a teacher. And I don’t want to write more essays than I already need to. I guess English is off the list.

“Y/N...”

Nursing? Do I want to be a nurse? Blood doesn’t make me squeamish. I think I can stick a needle into someone. But can I take care of people? I can’t really take care of myself. And I’m bad at science anyway.

“Hey Y/N.”

Psychology? That’s a big field. But what would I do with it? I don’t want to be a school counselor or anything. Maybe I should talk to a counselor to figure out what I should major in.

“Y/N!”

Is someone calling me? I don’t think so. No one ever needs me anyway. Just let me fade away.

“Hey!”

I feel someone grab me by the shoulder. I sit up in my seat, yanking out the earbud from my right ear.

“Were you asleep with that loud ass music blaring in your ears?” Taehyung looks down at me.

“Oh, Taehyung.” I take the left earbud out and pause my music.

“Kim Taehyung, the one and only.” He smiles.

“I wasn’t sleeping.” I frown. “I was thinking.”

“About?” He places his messenger bag on the table and takes the seat next to me.

We were alone in the classroom. Everyone was developing pictures in the darkroom and our professor was in his office.

“Stuff.” I lie my head back onto the table.

Taehyung rummages through his bag. “Were you thinking about me?” He quickly looks at me to see how I’d react.

“I’d rather be thinking about you.” I grin at him.

He gasps. “Wah, thanks!”

I roll my eyes at him. “Anyways. What are you looking for?”

He pulls out a folder and slides it to me. “These.”

I open it up. It was filled with photos of Jimin.

“Taehyung, these look great! When did you take them?” I cycle through the black and white photos of Jimin in different poses and places.

“The earliest photos are from like two weeks ago.”

“Are these for the storytelling assignment?”

“Yes and no. I need to choose which ones to use for the project and find an order for them to see if they even tell a story. And some of them are just for my own personal portfolio.”

“These are so good.” I’m legitimately amazed. The camera work plus the way he chose to develop everything works so well for each photo.

“Ah. Thanks.” He bows his head in embarrassment.

I silently continue to flip through the photos. My favourite one is probably the one of Jimin chilling outside of his balcony with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, most likely shot from Taehyung’s balcony. The cigarette was probably Taehyung’s too, but with sitting this close to him, it doesn’t smell like Taehyung smokes. He actually smells pretty good.

There was a photo of Jimin standing outside his house. It doesn’t seem like he actually knows his picture is being taken. He’s laughing while talking to a girl whose back is turned to the camera.

“Is that...” I flip to the next photo. It’s me. “When did you take this?” I look good in the photo, so it doesn’t bother me too much that he took my picture without my knowledge. But I have to admit it was a bit creepy.

“I don’t really remember. Maybe sometime last week?”

“Mm.”

There weren’t anymore photos of me until I reach the end. The last photo is the one from the day I met him. The one where I’m holding Jimin’s hand to my face.

“You guys look good together,” he leans closer to me to get a better look at the picture.

“You think so?” I laugh.

“Are you guys more than just best friend?” We make eye contact. There was something so loaded about that question.

“No, no.” I wave him off. “We’ve been best friends since like middle school. We tried to date once. When we first met. But we decided we’d be better off as friends. We were like thirteen anyway. Young and dumb.”

“Ah,” he nods his head. “I see.”

I nod my head. “Mhm.”

There was an awkward silence.

He coughs. “Were you going to go into the darkroom later?”

“Nah. Not today. I was just going to chill here then leave.”

“I wasn’t planning on to either. I just peaked into the room to see who was here and I found you.”

“Wanna go do something? I’m done with class for the day.” I ask him out before remembering Jimin’s warning.

“Yeah sure.” His stomach growls. “I’m starving. I didn’t get to eat breakfast.” He gathers his things.

“I never eat breakfast. It’s either eat breakfast or always be late to my morning classes.”

We get up and leave the room.

“I think it’d be better if you just stop taking morning classes. I can’t believe our professor never calls you out for being asleep.”

“He said himself he’s not a morning person and doesn’t get why the school schedules him for morning classes. I think he understands.”

We make our way to Taehyung’s car.

“Do you drive?” He asks as we get into his car.

“Yeah, but I didn’t drive today. I didn’t want to lose my street parking. My neighbors are assholes.”

Taehyung backs out of the spot and begins to drive.

“I feel it.” He nods his head.

“What. Are you referring to Jimin?” I giggle.

He chuckles. “Chim Chim can be so mean sometimes.”

“I totally feel that.” I lean against the window.

“I wonder why he kept you away from me for so long.”

I watch him as he nonchalantly drives with his left hand on the wheel and the right on the stick, despite driving an automatic car. Something about that made him look kinda cool.

“Maybe he wants me all for himself,” I joke.

His lips form a small smile. “Funny. That’s what I was thinking.”

Just what else are you thinking, Taehyung?

I can hear it now, Jimin scolding me for hanging out alone with Taehyung. I just want to see for myself how bad this guy Jimin says he can be.

“How long have you known about me?” I question, looking out the window.

I can feel him looking at me. “I guess since you guys ended up in the same classes in seventh grade. He told me about that time in P.E. where the guys in your class were making fun of him for being a dancer and you defended him. I thought you were so cool and he did too.”

“It was nothing. Kids can be so cruel.” I laugh.

“I heard one of the kids called him the f-slur and you pulled him by the collar and decked him in the face so fast, he really didn’t know what was coming to him. Was it worth getting suspended the first week of school?”

“I got a few bruises but it totally worth it.” I put up an ok-hand sign. “Jimin put in a good word for me anyway so I was only suspended for the rest of the week. The other kids were suspended longer for bullying.”

“I really wanted to meet you after hearing that story. I never got the chance to. It felt like coincidence that we kept missing each other. Well, until high school happened and it felt like Jimin was purposely timing it so that we don’t ever meet.” His stomach growls again. “Do you want to eat anywhere specifically? I think we still have leftovers from dinner last night that I can make into an omelette if you wanna come over,” he changes the subject.

“Yeah we can go to your place. I’m always down to save money.”

The second awkward silence of the day rolls in.

“So,” I start. “What makes you think Jimin doesn’t want us seeing each other?”

“We’re good friends. But sometimes I get the feeling that he thinks I’m a bad person.”

Looks like you’re not dumb, Kim Taehyung.

“I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

“Of course you don’t Y/N. We just met,” he puts it out there so flatly.

“Are you saying you are a bad person?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t mean it that way.” He pulls up into his driveway.

It’s strange to see Jimin’s house from this perspective, through Taehyung’s yard. This weird guilt forms over me. I try my best to calm down when I realize Jimin’s car isn’t in the driveway. What he doesn’t know, won’t get him upset with me.

We walk through the front door.

“My family isn’t home by the way. I hope that’s okay with you?”

We take off our shoes at the doorway and walk into the house. Taehyung’s place looks likes a mirrored version of Jimin’s house except for the different furniture. I strangely feel right at home.

We walk through a short hallway towards the kitchen. On the wall was a familiar framed photo. Jimin was smiling next to a shy boy, partially hiding behind a bouquet of flowers.

“Oh my God. Jimin has the same exact photo hanging in his house.” I point at him. “You? You’re the kid in the photo?”

“Yeah? Why do you sound so excited?”

I feel my face get warm from embarrassment. “The first time I visited Jimin was in the eighth grade. I asked about the kid in the photo. Jimin questioned why I was asking and I told him I thought he was cute. Jimin just brushed it off and said it was just a friend and the conversation ended there.”

Taehyung looks at the photo. “That was in seventh grade after one of Jimin’s dance performances. Me and my parents surprised him after and that’s when we took the picture. Then our families went to get some dinner to celebrate.”

“Maybe that’s why...”

“He didn’t want us to meet,” he finishes my sentence. His jaw drops. “You called me cute back then and maybe he got jealous.”

I let out a genuine surprised gasp. “That’s exactly what I was thinking! But is Jimin isn’t like that. He doesn’t really get jealous... Does he?”

“I mean he’d always argue with his brother because he wanted something his brother had. But I mean, they’re brothers and siblings fight all the time. Does that count?”

We go into the kitchen and he prepares to make us breakfast. I sit at the dining table.

“I don’t think so... That sounds kind of a dumb thing to be jealous about though. I mean I call him cute all the time.”

“Yeah, you’re right. That is kinda dumb. There’s probably more to it.” I watch him cut up some leftover steak from the fridge. He cracks a couple eggs into a bowl and scrambles them, adding some salt, pepper, and cheese. He pours the mixture into a preheated pan. “Maybe we should confront him about it.”

“Maybe...”

Maybe. But I know Jimin. He should have a good reason to not trust Taehyung around me. Was he lying about the art thing? Would Taehyung really use me and throw me away when he’s done with me? Jimin would never lie about anything like that.

“Hey, what are you thinking about now, daydreamer?” Taehyung places a plated omelette in front of me.

“Can we go to your room?”

“Woah. Let me dine you first.” He takes a bite of his food. “Moving a little too fast there, aren’t we?”

I feel my face get hot after realizing what I just said. “I-I didn’t mean it like that—”

“I know,” he chuckles. “I know you’re not like that. Jimin really has told me a lot about you.”

“That’s comforting that he talks so highly of me.” I take a fork full of food. “Okay, what the fuck Kim Taehyung. An a amazing photographer? And a great cook? That’s not fair, you can’t have multiple good traits.”

He covers his smile behind his hand. “Thanks. I try.”

We finish up our breakfast. I help him with the dishes.

“Has Jimin really not mention anything about me?” He asks while drying a plate.

I pause to think. “He has mentioned you a couple times, never by name but by ‘my neighbor.’ I don’t really remember what he said, but don’t worry, they were all good things... Unless he was talking about another neighbor.”

“I’m the only one he talks to in this neighborhood. I guess it kinda makes me glad he talks about me. We’ve been friends for so long. He wasn’t always so cold towards me. We used to have sleepovers all the time as kids. We’d stay up way past our bedtime to talk about everything.”

We walk up stairs to his room.

“Make yourself at home, since it seems like you already know my home.” He sits down at his desk. “You can take a seat on my bed.”

With his permission, I do as he says. “Of course I do, it’s exactly like Jimin’s house.”

I look around his room. It looks nothing like Jimin’s. Different works of art hang all over the painted grey walls. None of them look too personal, unlike Jimin’s walls which are full of polaroids of and art made by friends, and posters of his interests accompanied by clear stringed lights that go all around his room. Jimin’s room feels cozy while Taehyung’s room feels more like an art studio.

“So why did you want to come up here?” He swivels around in his chair.

“I just wanted to see how different your room was compared to Jimin’s.” I’m mostly honest. I wanted to see for myself these art pieces Jimin was talking about.

“Speaking of which, it looks like he’s home.” He smiles and waves.

I turn my head towards the balcony to lock eyes with Jimin. He walks over to his window and shuts the curtains.

Side Note: I never know when is the right time to update but I finally posted this even if I literally had this written out after posting part one. Leave me any feedback so I can be inspired to keep updating!

[seoulfulcity]

January 22, 2018: How it All Started

안녕하세요,

This is the first entry for my blog and I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself on how to begin writing about this adventure. I am not really the type to write blogs since it takes up so much time and, frankly, I am the laziest person you’ll ever come across.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of two people: you might know me personally and are interested on this adventure of mine, or you’re scouring through the internet looking for more information about studying abroad in Korea University.

Well, dear lost soul, I am in the same boat as you are. As I’m typing this, I have a window open of a blog by a great gal named Cass. Cass is from Singapore who started her adventures in Korea University six years before mine, back in the summer of 2012. Through her blog, I have learned what to expect, what to do, and what not to do while studying in Seoul; and I am very grateful for her sharing her experiences for someone like me to read. She also continued her international studies in the Fall of 2012 in Yonsei University. If you want to read up on her story, this is her blog: http://walkingup-korea.blogspot.com.

If you know me personally, then you may have known the struggles I’ve been facing through my 2017 and 2018 new year reflections. When I started the Nursing program in the Fall of 2016, I had to give up my linguistic endeavors due to the lack of time (and, boy, do I love my languages). Two semesters later, I was mentally drained by the never ending medical terms and human physiology; that’s when I found solace in learning a new language - my target being Korean.

I did my patient-care volunteer work as part of the prerequisites to get into the Nursing program in the Korean Pavilion at a hospital in the outskirts of Koreatown in downtown Los Angeles. All my patients, nurses, and secretaries were Korean; having to constantly engage with everybody, I subconsciously picked up on the language and cultural practices after six months of volunteering there. This was probably a big part of me finding Korean easier since there was already a decent amount of exposure which minimized my culture shock. Throughout my time in the Korean Pavilion, I have met the sweetest and best patients and nurses and it wasn’t until I got into Korean when I realized how much my time in the pavilion has helped me become a better nurse despite the language barrier. So, I made a promise to myself to be certified in Korean somehow so I could go back working there as a nurse in the future and making sure my patients are comfortable communicating with me.

It was also a great help that my Korean 1 professor was such a sweet lady who acted as our mother. She gave us advice and ways on how to learn Korean easier (and more fun) by introducing to us movies, dramas, and songs in the language. The entire class was very enthusiastic on learning the language so they could understand the words of what their favorite idols are singing or saying. Honestly, the daily conversations were about BTS and While You Were Sleeping. That class was great nonetheless, since we all shared the same interest in the Korean language and culture. Everybody was welcoming and understanding; and making mistakes in front of them during speaking exams weren’t nerve-wracking because they know it’s a tough language.

Come October 25, 2017. While I was on my way to my locker, I happened to pass by the International Studies Abroad booth next to the library. I stopped and pondered whether or not I should find out more about what they were offering. Since our Nursing class schedule is set until we graduate, I did not really have any time to study abroad anywhere. Even with this thought in mind, I went back to ask about the programs. That was when I found out about the summer programs offered in South Korea.

There were three university choices: Hanyang University, Korea University, and Pusan National University. Hanyang and Korea were a little on the expensive side, but PNU was very affordable for a 5-week summer course. This was when I realized I wanted it. I wanted it in 10th grade when my Spanish teacher told us we had the chance to study the language in Barcelona. I wanted it in 12th grade when my English teacher told us we could take summer courses in Melbourne. I still wanted it in my first few years in college when they offered seminars on studying abroad in Taipei and Tsukuba. I have had my eyes on University of Tsukuba the entire two years I’ve spent as a Pre-Nursing major. I have been wanting it, but I never had the chance to. And after four years burying my head in science books in the corners of the library, it registered to me that I needed a break from it all. Busan could be my perfect getaway.

I texted my dear mother about it excitedly. Now, she’s not really the one to just let us go anywhere alone, especially to a different country, so I half-expected for her to say no. I grabbed an extra booklet and prepared a mini-presentation about Pusan National University.

I had everything jotted down: financial estimates, the university and the city’s reputations, crime rate statistics, city life, you name it. And even after the presentation, she was still kind of iffy. No surprises there. Who was I going with? Where would I get the money to pay for it? How are the accommodations there? What about North Korea? Most of her worries were understandable - putting aside the North Korean comment; so, I told her to leave it up to me to do more research on them.

Months passed by as usual, and I didn’t find myself thinking heavily about PNU since application season doesn’t end until March. During winter break, my friend Terri, who I met in KCON LA 2017, messaged me about her abroad study in Yonsei University this upcoming spring semester (remember her since she might constantly show up in my future blogs). I recalled Yonsei being one of the top universities in South Korea, and upon further research, I found out about the SKY Universities - South Korea’s equivalent of Ivy League schools. SKY stands for Seoul National, Korea, and Yonsei. I was left thinking as to why I was settling for PNU when a SKY university was being offered in the summer? I mean, the total was twice the amount as PNU but this may be my first and only time studying abroad, and I felt like I would miss out on an amazing opportunity being educated in a prestigious university such as Korea University.

So, I met up with the International Studies adviser to ask her more about the program and Korea University itself. This was when I found out that the government of South Korea was paying for my entire summer tuition if I chose to go to Korea University. My entire tuition free… to study in a SKY university? Uhh???? YES, please? My Korean professors always praised the South Korean government for paying for all of our textbooks, workbooks, and cultural activities, and I’m always so thankful for not having to spend an extra $60 on the books; but an entire tuition being paid for by a country I have never been to? I suddenly consider myself a South Korean citizen!

Of course, I updated my dear mother about it and she was more than happy to let me go, mainly because the financial weight has been lifted off of my (and her) shoulders. And having Korea University be a SKY may have alleviated her worries somehow (although that North Korean comment never made a comeback even though Seoul is so much closer to Kim Jong Un than it is to Busan, but nobody remind her). So, having received the yes card from the queen of the household, I finished the application, wrote my essays on how this exchange program is going to be beneficial to me blah blah blah, and requested letters of recommendation from my Korean professors, in which they have generously given me.

Now, I am in the stage where I play the waiting game. I just need to persevere through the toughest semester of the program (we’re doing ICU, psychiatry, and EKG - please send your prayers my way). Expect me to update the status of my application and how this journey continues while I’m still in Los Angeles. Until then!

고마워요,

Chris 「크리스」

[twitterthots]

At this point in my life I’m starting to realize that I am not who I’ve been told my whole life, or rather I don’t have to be. It’s kind of a hard realization that I don’t even know myself right now. I’m still not sure what career I want to pursue and I’m in my fourth year of college. I’m still trying to figure out what will make me happy.

I have actually had three different majors since I’ve been in college. First, I was psychology but I got bored and couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life. I don’t think I would’ve been happy if I stuck with it. Second, I was nursing (or rather pre-nursing since I didn’t go to nursing school). I loved the idea of it because I wanted to help people and since my minor is disability studies I figured I’d work with developmentally disabled people. But as I got deeper into the classes, I realized that it was too hard (not that I’m lazy and didn’t try because believe me I fucking tried my hardest), and I was no longer excited about learning. I dreaded going to classes and I was miserable still. Third, and hopefully final, I’m an English major. Ever since I was little I loved reading. Hell, I practically have a library in my room with all the books I’ve gathered throughout the years. When I got older, I found myself drawn to writing. I was always good (or decent) at writing essays and I enjoyed it more than most people in my English classes. 

As I got further in high school I had my heart set on doing something with English, but unfortunately, my parents (specifically my dad), discouraged me from pursuing a career in English so I dropped it. Next, I set my sights on psychology (hence, my first major) because I thought it would be better for me money-wise in the future and appease my dad. It didn’t. He kept pushing me to go get my PhD or something and become a psychiatrist so I could make more money for prescribing medication. That’s why I originally chose psychology. It was interesting and it seemed to make my dad a little proud of me, but as I said I got bored.

As for nursing, once again it was interesting and I thought it would make my dad happy. I could see myself doing it long-term and making a good living for myself. But, alas, I was still unhappy.

Now, as a budding English major (I start my classes next Spring), I’m so excited for school. This semester (Fall 2018), I took a creative writing class just for fun and I loved it so much I knew it was something that would make me happy for a long time. Even though my dad still discourages my major change, I don’t think I care that much anymore. With my English degree, I want to work in librairies to begin with and my ultimate goal is to be an editor. I love love love editing things. It make me so happy to read things in their early drafts and help the writer develop and help make better something they’re proud of.

[bestforlessmove]

Meet Buildium's spring 2018 STEM scholarship winners

Each fall and spring, as we close our Build U. and Women in Technology scholarships for the season, we are always inspired by the hundreds of applications we receive. It reinvigorates our team to hear directly from students who are passionate about their areas of study in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)-and we can relate 100%!

With our most recent STEM scholarships, we were excited to see even more applications come in from students all across North America. In fact, our two most recent winners are both from Canada! This is the first time we've had two winners from our northern neighbor.

After we closed the application window, an internal reading committee reviewed each essay and video, and chose a winner based on how clearly and thoughtfully the entrant articulated themselves. The winning applicants each receive $2500 to put toward their education. Applicants are limited to STEM students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs in the U.S. and Canada.

On behalf of the Reading Committee and our team at Buildium, we want to thank all of the wonderful applicants for sharing their stories, passions, and personalities with us.

We are proud to highlight our winners of the Spring 2018 Scholarship Cycle: Janat Nansubuga, the winner of the Buildium Women in Technology Scholarship and Meghan Chen, the winner of the Build U. Scholarship!

-

Women in Technology Spring 2018 Winner:

Janat Nansubuga Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (class of 2019) Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Women in Technology applicants were asked, “Which female leader in STEM most inspires you to pursue your dreams, and why?”

In her essay, Janat wrote a tribute to Kimberly Bryant, the electrical engineer who founded “Black Girls Code” (BGC): a training course that teaches basic programming concepts to black girls to help make technology careers more accessible in pursuit of diversifying the workforce in the industry. Bryant has been listed as one of the “25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology” by Business Insider and her organization has already trained 3,000 girls across 7 chapters in U.S. cities. Janat explains her admiration for Bryant: “She is inspiring future generations of female STEM leaders while also bringing together emerging talent to ideate around solving for real-world challenges through a STEM lens.”

Janat explains how she strives to do the same: “One of the many things that drives me as a female engineering student is my aspiration to be an example and an inspiration not only to black women, but also to all women and girls out there hoping to pursue a career in STEM.”

“Being from a third world country (Uganda), I came to Canada to pursue a better-quality education leaving my family, friends and all I ever knew behind. I have never once regretted that decision. In my country, there is a countless number of girls who are avidly interested in STEM programs-but have neither the funds nor the access to these programs. When I graduate, I hope to join the troops to increase the number and diversity of women in STEM, and also increase awareness in the field. According to the data coming from the Center for Women's Business Research, women make up less than 20% of professional engineers in the U.S. and Canada.”

When we asked about what excites her as a student of STEM, she replies, “The most exciting aspect of studying and working in STEM is the fact that the real-life applications and the number of ways it could help people and improve life in general are limitless, and it's so humbling but incredibly thrilling to be a part of that.”

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Build U. Spring 2018 Winner:

Meghan Chen University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (class of 2020) Major: Biology

  Build U. scholarship applicants answered the question, “Which company do you admire that exemplifies one or more of Buildium's six core values?” Our company values are:

Focus on customers first

Be helpful and supportive

Communicate openly and honestly

Be nimble and flexible

Take initiative and work hard

Be passionate and have fun

Meghan chose to write about Lupii Cafe, Vancouver's first zero-waste coffee purveyor. Lupii Cafe boasts that everything within its four walls is made from recycled material. Meghan explains, “Innovative waste-reducing solutions include cloth hand towels in the washrooms, coffee filters and tea bags made from washable cotton, and tables repurposed from old gym floors. Lupii has also partnered with various local supermarkets to reduce food waste; their cooking makes use of “seconds”, which are blemished or very ripe produce items that are still safe for consumption, but can no longer be sold on store shelves.”

Lupii Cafe also hosts community dinners and healthy meals at a discount for families in need, bi-monthly craft classes, free tutoring sessions in partnership with the previous store owner, and “coffee times” for families with special needs children.

Meghan explains, “Lupii Café's innovative approach to community eating masterfully demonstrates Buildium's core values of passion, initiative, and helpfulness. The team's commitment to waste reduction influences every aspect of their business practices, and their community outreach initiatives and affordable offerings further expand their network of positive influence. Lupii consistently exercises environmental and social stewardship in its day-to-day operations, showing that companies can be run with integrity and transparency. This business is living proof that with clear priorities and a little innovation, there are no limits to what an organization can accomplish.”

When we asked Meghan how she will use the scholarship money, she said, “I plan to apply the scholarship money to the final semesters of my undergraduate degree in biology. This award will allow me to pursue a nursing degree or postgraduate studies in a healthcare-related field. I hope to go on to further studies, so the financial assistance is very much appreciated!”

We again congratulate Janat and Meghan, and wish them continued success in their careers!

-

You can apply for Buildium's next round of scholarships now until November 1, 2018. Be sure to watch the Build U. and Women in Technology pages for more information as the application period approaches.

The post Meet Buildium's spring 2018 STEM scholarship winners appeared first on Buildium.

[simplymindedgirl-blog]

2 months & 2 days-

2 months and 2 days ago today, we lost a great man. a man who would advocate for everyone. a man who only wanted to see everyone he loved become the best version of themselves. a man who I could never repay- for coming into my life and showing me the purest form of unconditional love for no good reason at all. he has done so much for me in the simplest of ways; and I will never understand why he had to leave so soon. I wish he could see me now; he would be so proud of the young woman he’s helped me to become. I’ve known him for 10 years, I met him when I was 9 years old. since that day- he had always gone out of his way to improve my life in the smallest of aspects. we spent a lot of time together, and even when we barley spoke there was always something about the silence; that man always knew how I was feeling. Even when I was too young to understand or appreciate the things he was doing- he didn’t care. he didn’t want any recognition for the things he’d given up. he just wanted me to be happy; despite where that happiness may have come from.  For the first Christmas that I knew him; he bought me a blanket. later that year at school, we had to write an essay on something we loved and bring it to school. I chose that blanket. When I was 11 years old; kids at school made fun of me for not always having the same things as them. the next summer, he gave my mom money for school clothes and told me to get whatever the hell I wanted. When I started 6th grade- there was this boy. and he told me he liked my sweater, and I never got to thank wayne for that. when I think about it, If I had never bought that sweater, the next few years of my life would’ve been a little different. When I was 13, my mom couldn’t afford school supplies, so wayne brought me to the store and told me to forget about the list the school had sent us; to get whatever the hell I wanted. that was the first year I ever got to decorate my locker. When I was 14, I started 8th grade and somewhere along the lines of long school days I lost interest. It was the last place I wanted to be. I would miss the bus and walk to wayne’s garage. he would set me up on his computer and make sure that I had food and his big black jacket, it was winter and the garage was always cold. sometimes, he would put me on these educational websites and make me read them and then answer his questions. he taught me that conventional learning wasn’t for everybody, and he wanted me to learn even though he helped me skip school. we never did tell mom about how many days I’d actually spent there. and when my first day of high school came around, wayne stayed consistent. My luck, I threw up all over myself 20 minutes into my first block. I went to the nurse, she refused to call anybody and she insisted I stayed and finish my first day of high school. I called wayne right in front of her and told him what happened, his response was “I’m on my way, and tell that nurse I said oh well, bitch.” After that day, I was only in high school for 47 more days, and for more than half of those days I was with wayne. He used to say he was “giving me a ride to school” or I’d just miss the bus and then call him; and we’d go for a drive. We went for lots of long car rides filled with good conversation and too many walks to count. He always brought me the the most beautiful places, some days I wouldn’t even get to school until noon, we never told mom that either. When I was 18; he helped me paint my first apartment and he made fun of me for every second of it. After that day- I never really saw him again. If I did, it was because he was outside working on cars or yard work or making all kinds of noise from the shed. occasionally he’d give me a heart attack. I’d just be walking down my driveway and hear “hey young lady!” and when I’d turn to look at him I’d get a “love the bun!” and I’d just respond “thanks wayne!” and go about my day. You never know when the last time is the last time; and I wonder if everything would be a little easier if we did. we lost him 2 months & 2 days ago today. and exactly 1 month & 2 days ago today; I met somebody. ONE MONTH after we’d lost him; I was working at the station when I met someone who made me think about him for the rest of the day that day. I was smoking a cigarette outside when a man who was sitting at the pumps got out of the car and started throwing a fit about the day he was having. My first thought was “this guy is batshit crazy!″ but then I immediately saw a resemblance. I cashed him out and we talked for about 5 minutes, and by talked I mean he talked and I just stared. I could not believe that the man in front of me was not wayne. He left, and I continued smoking and a friend just looked at my blank face and said “what’s wrong?” and I just said “that guy reminded me of wayne, alot.” and then we didn’t talk for awhile. In that moment it became real. that this man who had a huge impact on who I was right then, was gone and that I was never going to see him again. oh the things I would give just to hear him ask me if I want a fat lip just one last time. I could never repay this man; for always living in my good memories. He has succeeded in his lifetime; for the simple fact that he will live in all of our good memories. We love and miss you wayne.

Rest in peace, from July 25th, 1966 - September 8th, 2017

[p0cah0ntas-in-pastel420-blog]

2 months & 2 days-

2 months and 2 days ago today, we lost a great man. a man who would advocate for everyone. a man who only wanted to see everyone he loved become the best version of themselves. a man who I could never repay- for coming into my life and showing me the purest form of unconditional love for no good reason at all. he has done so much for me in the simplest of ways; and I will never understand why he had to leave so soon. I wish he could see me now; he would be so proud of the young woman he’s helped me to become. I’ve known him for 10 years, I met him when I was 9 years old. since that day- he had always gone out of his way to improve my life in the smallest of aspects. we spent a lot of time together, and even when we barley spoke there was always something about the silence; that man always knew how I was feeling. Even when I was too young to understand or appreciate the things he was doing- he didn’t care. he didn’t want any recognition for the things he’d given up. he just wanted me to be happy; despite where that happiness may have come from.  For the first Christmas that I knew him; he bought me a blanket. later that year at school, we had to write an essay on something we loved and bring it to school. I chose that blanket. When I was 11 years old; kids at school made fun of me for not always having the same things as them. the next summer, he gave my mom money for school clothes and told me to get whatever the hell I wanted. When I started 6th grade- there was this boy. and he told me he liked my sweater, and I never got to thank wayne for that. when I think about it, If I had never bought that sweater, the next few years of my life would’ve been a little different. When I was 13, my mom couldn’t afford school supplies, so wayne brought me to the store and told me to forget about the list the school had sent us; to get whatever the hell I wanted. that was the first year I ever got to decorate my locker. When I was 14, I started 8th grade and somewhere along the lines of long school days I lost interest. It was the last place I wanted to be. I would miss the bus and walk to wayne’s garage. he would set me up on his computer and make sure that I had food and his big black jacket, it was winter and the garage was always cold. sometimes, he would put me on these educational websites and make me read them and then answer his questions. he taught me that conventional learning wasn’t for everybody, and he wanted me to learn even though he helped me skip school. we never did tell mom about how many days I’d actually spent there. and when my first day of high school came around, wayne stayed consistent. My luck, I threw up all over myself 20 minutes into my first block. I went to the nurse, she refused to call anybody and she insisted I stayed and finish my first day of high school. I called wayne right in front of her and told him what happened, his response was “I’m on my way, and tell that nurse I said oh well, bitch.” After that day, I was only in high school for 47 more days, and for more than half of those days I was with wayne. He used to say he was “giving me a ride to school” or I’d just miss the bus and then call him; and we’d go for a drive. We went for lots of long car rides filled with good conversation and too many walks to count. He always brought me the the most beautiful places, some days I wouldn't even get to school until noon, we never told mom that either. When I was 18; he helped me paint my first apartment and he made fun of me for every second of it. After that day- I never really saw him again. If I did, it was because he was outside working on cars or yard work or making all kinds of noise from the shed. occasionally he’d give me a heart attack. I’d just be walking down my driveway and hear “hey young lady!” and when I’d turn to look at him I’d get a “love the bun!” and I’d just respond “thanks wayne!” and go about my day. You never know when the last time is the last time; and I wonder if everything would be a little easier if we did. we lost him 2 months & 2 days ago today. and exactly 1 month & 2 days ago today; I met somebody. ONE MONTH after we’d lost him; I was working at the station when I met someone who made me think about him for the rest of the day that day. I was smoking a cigarette outside when a man who was sitting at the pumps got out of the car and started throwing a fit about the day he was having. My first thought was “this guy is batshit crazy!″ but then I immediately saw a resemblance. I cashed him out and we talked for about 5 minutes, and by talked I mean he talked and I just stared. I could not believe that the man in front of me was not wayne. He left, and I continued smoking and a friend just looked at my blank face and said “what’s wrong?” and I just said “that guy reminded me of wayne, alot.” and then we didn’t talk for awhile. In that moment it became real. that this man who had a huge impact on who I was right then, was gone and that I was never going to see him again. oh the things I would give just to hear him ask me if I want a fat lip just one last time. I could never repay this man; for always living in my good memories. He has succeeded in his lifetime; for the simple fact that he will live in all of our good memories. We love and miss you wayne. 

Rest in peace, from July 25th, 1966 - September 8th, 2017