#normally watching ANYTHING competitive stresses me the heck out

[thewanderingmask]

congrats to these lovely folks!

[starrulet]

THE MILLION DOLLAR PENTAGRAM

I am actually a Magic Kaito fan disguised as a Detective Conan fan and when I found out they were showing the new DC film in my local cinema, I grabbed a friend and watched it.

This will contain spoilers of varying degrees, so read at your own peril.

It starts all anime and then you see your classic Det Conan character and you realize you really did spend 15 bucks on a movie with THAT style.

"It'S fOr KiDs" someone has decided, as a swordsman violently kills a gang of thugs onscreen, blood splattering everywhere.

Wow, Heiji takes "no homo" very seriously, huh?

I guess I'd be peeved too if my first kiss got almost taken by a no-good thief who doesn't even have the decency to be traumatized by it too.

I see the stained window and think "Someone's gonna crash through that".

I'm expecting it to be KID.

It's not.

It's Heiji on a motorcycle.

KID, Heiji is showing you up in terms of dramatics, you gotta up your game.

I don't remember Kaito having any skills in swordsmanship, did he pick it up specifically so he could at least somewhat defend himself against Heiji?

Good for Heiji, realizing Kaito looks a heck of a lot like Kudo. After Ran, I think he's the only other person to have seen Kaito's bare face. Please let Kaito Kuroba be a main character in one of these movies, WITH HEIJI AND RAN.

They really do nothing with this revelation, huh?

This is my first proper exposure to Okita. I like him. I can't remember much about him, but I think he helps it feel like Heiji does have a life outside of Shinichi.

Heiji and new swordsman boy almost have a competition over who gets to date Kazuha. My friend groans and complains about cringe. If I were Kazuha, I honestly would have grabbed Ran and left them both in the dust.

Listen, our detective boys gasped when they saw the cuts to KID's suit, I'm taking it for concern, not surprise at the style of the cut.

Conan: We saved your life. Will you give us exposition?

KID: Usually no, but this time, sure.

Heiji: Really?

KID: Sike! The exposition is an obligatory fetch quest, see ya suckers!

"Hi, lemme telegraph super easily to E V E R Y O N E that I am actually a disguised Kaitou Kid"

Either they've nerfed him, he exchanged competence as a kaitou for combat skills or he's trolling everyone, including the audience.

Or he can't copy a Kyoto accent to save his life. His one weakness outside of iceskating and fish.

This is my first proper exposure to Momiji, and honestly this rich girl is delulu.

I love delulu and I love her.

My friend is just confused by her. She hasn't interacted with Detective Conan in 15+ years. She doesn't know who half these characters are.

Y'all sleeping on Heiji and Ran's friendship, it's so cute.

My friend is right, the soundtrack is bizarrely good.

She agrees with me that Kaitou Kid is kinda the highlight of the film.

I bet if the Sniper had still been on the roof when Kaito got there, the boy would have been F E R A L.

Pretty sure Kaito has tamed those seagulls, the way he tamed his doves, i.e. they're his informants.

Why are you trying to snipe during rain? Are you stupid?

Mmmh, KID angst. Not on the level of Nightmare, but I'll take the crumbs over nothing.

THERE SHE IS. AOKO IN GLORIOUS 4K.

After seeing Aoko in fandom with fanon portrayals for a long time, it's weird to see her being so... normal.

Like no short temper or anything. Just a nice girl, having to act twice her age in a highly stressful situation.

um hello? Where's her mother who - it turns out - is still happily married to Ginzo???

After talking and interacting with Conan, Aoko says he reminds her of her friend as a child (Kaito as a kid- no not that KID). I think it's supposed to be just by appearance, but considering how she's interacted with Conan previously and is only staring at him as he rambles his long deduction, I feel like it's personality as well.

Basically, I consider it canon that Kaito Kuroba's childhood personality wasn't just cute and bubbly, but also absolutely terrifying, similar to "Conan"'s personality to a horrific degree.

And maybe without his horrible troll of a dad, Kaito wouldn't just have been a normal teen, but also become a detective, if Conan's ramblings really did remind Aoko of child!Kaito

I've somehow lost the plot, why is there suddenly a plane.

Conan: "You killed that dude, right? But more importantly, yoU TRIED TO KILL KID-" (This is exaggerated)

Good news for all Kidnichi nay-sayers: There is no Kidnichi in this film. I know. Amazing. Miracles do happen.

Why y'all complaining about the treasure? Isn't this the fictional Japanese equivalent to the Enigma Machine? You can't put a price on that! It's cultural heritage, not outdated junk!!! Put it in a museum!!!

Ah yes. Kaitou Kid's old little caricature - one with a moustache. I'm sure no one ever questioned why KID changed his signature charicature to something more childish.

Heiji confessed! But after a bomb exploded nearby, so I tell my friend there's no way Kazuha heard him (I'm right btw).

WAIT, STAR ISLAND IS REAL?

Man, I wish I could read what Kaito and Aoko are texting each other. I can't :(

"Why yes, my wife of 20 years, I DO have a brother I NEVER told you about. Why am I bringing him up now? Oh, just felt like it."

My friend thinks Yukiko's laughter in response is obnoxiously fake. It is now an insider joke.

I forgot Toichi's canonically alive and when Yukiko asked if the brothers were still in contact, and Yusaku was like "Yeah, we still are :3", I thought "DUDE, YOUR BROTHER'S BEEN DEAD FOR LIKE EIGHT YEARS DON'T LIE"

This means Yusaku has known for YEARS that his brother faked his death. Great.

No, Shinichi and Kaito don't know they're cousins. Their dads are doing amazing at keeping information from their boys. And wives, apparently.

WAIT. THE CLUMSY DETECTIVE WAS TOICHI??? I thought it was KID, and all the obvious "KIDs" were actually innocent...

Well, we now know Toichi does not shy away from violence. But I'm so disappointed that that wasn't KID. You know, protecting Conan AND avenging Nakamori...

As far as I'm concerned, the movies are canon from now on. This may not be news to fans, but it is to me

Ah yes, there he is, the new title holder of "Worst Dad In DCMK", Toichi Kuroba himself.

Or as my friend, someone with no idea of who Kaitou Corbeau is, called him: "KAITOU ADULT??"

Something something about winter, I am a Magic Kaito fan I do not care unless my boy is in it. So I will not watch the next movie, thanks.

My last complaint for the night: "It was good... But not enough Kaitou Kid" (to which my friend responded, he was in it plenty).

I think the sentiment stems more from not really getting much from Kaito's POV. The emotional focus was almost entirely Heiji's and weirdly, Ran.

Well, at least Ran did have something to do, I guess (poor girl was mostly sidelined :( )

Absolute last comment from friend: "Everyone is so normal, why is HE the only one wearing a CAPE?"

[shibalen]

(1/4)I’d like to request a matchup for Kuroshitsuji, OHSHC,&Free please. I’m an INTP bisexual female with slightly above shoulder-length black hair and a fringe. (Although, I do have an undercut as well so it’s a bit “odd” to most people. Basically, with my hair normally, I look like a young Japanese school girl but with my hair tied-up, I look like “a delinquent.”) I also need glasses however, I tend to avoid using them unless I’m on a device of sorts or reading for a prolonged period of time.

(2/4) I’m a 5’1 Capricorn and as such, I am known to be a very independent person who gets what they want done. The downside to this is if I’m forced to do something, my efficiency drops dramatically and so I’d think it’s quite useless to tell me to do something I have no interest in. Also, people who have met me for the first time tend not to take me seriously when I speak straightforwardly or pointedly because of my short stature. English is my 2nd language and Japanese is my 3rd.

(3/4) My hobbies include reading, writing, painting, drawing, and anything within the field of arts. Because of this, I’ve been told that I’m quite smart as I can ace an important exam without having studied seriously prior. Most of my time goes to my hobbies and so I don’t really bother with academics so as long as I don’t fail nor let my grades fall too low, I don’t put for much effort in school. I prefer to be alone or with another individual rather than in groups when it comes to working.

(4/4) or simply conversing as I tend to get overwhelmed with too much company (which, sadly, makes me more irritable and snappy at people.) I’m a classic(?)introvert case and because of my disorganized emotional nature, people tend to think I’m bi-polar. Sometimes, I’d like to be left alone since I prefer working seriously but I also like being affectionate towards people I like or cherish. Thank you for entertaining this long ask and I do apologize for it as well. Have a nice day!

♡ matchup for @vincent0kirishima

hello! i'm glad to have gotten to your matchup at last! i once again apologise for the delay °~°

future requests keep in mind that i only accept two fandoms per request. also, remember to send max three asks. i made this an exception because i forgot about the rule myself for a moment.

|| Kuroshitsuji: i match you with . . .

Beast

You give me such a strong vibe that I think matches incredibly with Beast's intense personality

A badass and beautiful woman with a smaller but just as powerful and independent woman ♡

Beast has quite an ill temper but I think your nature can balance it out well – your presence naturally soothes her fits

Then, during the times you're snappy she'll be the calm one to help you feel better

If you ever start feeling overwhelmed by crowds (or anything really) you know she will be there for you. Beast is an extremely devoted lover and cannot bear seeing you in any type of distress

She couldn't honestly care less about many other people but for you she'll be soft in a heartbeat

"Are you feeling all right?"

"This crowd is making me tired."

"That's all right, we can leave . . . Hey, bastards, you'd better shut your traps! y/n and I are going!"

A D O R E S your intelligence

Beast herself is quite smart as well but is used to working hard to get what she wants

She won't tell you what to do but will be stern when it comes to keeping your grades where you want them

But please don't get her wrong! She's there to remind you of your deadlines and homework, knowing it will save you from unnecessary stress later on

Also keeps and eye out whenever you need to wear your glasses

She just wants the best for you ♡

Arts are straight up Beast's alley! She'd be more than happy to watch to you indulge in your interests. Even more she'd love to take part in them with you

Quality time is extremely important to her so if you spend your day painting or drawing together she'd be over the moon ♡(> ਊ <)♡

Writes a lot of poems and lets you read them any time you want. If another person dares to sneak a peek though they might as well be dead

Some of the poems she creates are especially for you. She puts them into an envelope scented with her perfume and leaves them by your bedside in the mornings ♡

Imagine showing you her preforming act before the big show and asking for your opinion on improvements. Beast values your ideas and accepts your constructive criticism

Betty likes you too, and, unless you're afraid of her, she will nuzzle up to you ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

May whatever force out there have mercy on the poor soul that doesn't take you seriously because Beast certainly won't

She'll tear them to shreads if they dare to belittle you

She knows well how much you're capable of and won't allow anyone to think any less of you

Although I think she would prefer parties, I also believe that it's fine, seeing as you need your alone time. While Beast is out socalising you're usually at home recharging or working

At the end of the day you'll be affectionate in private – holding each other, talking about your day and just enjoying each other's presence

Loves holding you late at night

She still takes you out from time to time though. Amusement parks and carnivals at night are a favorite of hers: there aren't many people around to bother you but at the same time there are lots of fun activities for you to emerge yourselves in

Your appearance was a bonus that drew Beast in! It's cool af the way you can look sweet or more like a "delinquent" depending on your hairstyle

She loves adding touches of makeup to match whichever look you decide to go with (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

Overall this is a more balanced relationship than what it may appear at first. You have just the right amount differences and similarities

I still can't get over the badass aura y'all would emit

So here, good folks, we have a couple you do not mess with

runner up: Sebastian Michaelis

|| OHSHC: i match you with . . .

Kyoya Ootori

Smart couple™ that everyone goes to for homework answers

It was definitely your go-getter attitude that made me pick Kyo for ya (ba dum tss). You're smart and driven just like him, which is great trait to share

You're both goal-oriented, knowing better than to let small problems in your relationship cause conflict

This strengthens your bond, proving to be something that brings you closer ♡

He helps keeping your emotional state in check

Probably didn't take you seriously either the first time you met I'm sorry it was too amusing for him to watch as you explained something from all the way down there

But in the end you proved him wrong and how so

Next time his smile was different, finding you interesting in a much better light

Never again fails to acknowledge your smarts. He doesn't need to tell you what to do or how to do it because you know those things for yourself

Finds it hot attractive as heck

Still, he wants you to see that you're able to achieve much more in academics and encourages you to bring out the best in yourself

Will talk to you in whichever language you'd like. He's an educated boy and has no problem speaking English (or probably any widely-spoken language)

Supports you wholeheartedly should you want to learn Japanese more in depth, and loves it when you speak it

Respects your introverted nature. Kyoya isn't a party person either so rest assured he won't be dragging you around to socialise. He understands well how being around a crowd can effect your mood

If you must make an appearance along side Kyoya, he makes sure your stay is as short as possible to ensure you wouldn't be overwhelmed by the mass

You gradually grow used to the rest of the funky members of the host club so you still hang out with them on your free time

Cue you and Kyoya silently watching their shenanigans unfold and making profit from them

Kyoya doesn't get jealous easily but it does internally annoy him a great deal if Tamaki along with Hikaru and Kaoru gather around you to ask all sorts of questions. Yep that's definitely not jealously.

But if the two of you are alone together you either choose to paint or read together (seriously, he could go about it for hours with you) or possibly study for an upcoming exam

This is where Kyoya encourages you to read the textbook just a little longer, solve another question, using, of course, bribing

Tickets to a theatre, writing utensils – anything you have wanted for a while

Kyoya naturally knows all the right strings to pull to motivate you, it might get a bit annoying every time he pulls that sly smirk

You get him back by putting ridiculous theme ideas into Tamaki's head, that are fun for everyone else except Kyoya

Just, you two could con 2 million out of a casino and no one would be surprised

There is overall a lot of playful competition between the two of ya

Plenty of witty and sarcastic remarks – everyone can see you're made for each other ♡

"Full marks yet again? I must say I'm impressed."

"It's only a natural talent. What, is the great Kyoya Ootori in need of a tutor?"

"Only if the session is private and you're my teacher."

Just kiss already

And get a room

Because Kyoya isn't a morning person, it's up to you to gently wake him up with some coffee and sweets and a smooch

He may grumble underneath the covers but it's one of those rare moments he's actually flustered

So soft (*´ω｀*)

runner up: (sorry, i was bribed to erase this part. tehe c(⑅ ◔ڼ◔)っ)

thank you for requesting! i'm sorry i didn't draw a clear conclusion with the second match but i felt ending it like that was fine (please agree) ^^ i truly hope you liked it! have a good day, dear ♡

[aweebwrites]

Consequences

Warning: like one swear word.

_________________

(Here you are anon! So sorry it’s late! Eternal thanks to my lovey beta @thelucariosfish! UwU)

________________

“Shit…” Kai says with a shaky exhale, looking down at his burnt arms once he was alone.

This was bad. Then again, he had been using his fire almost continuously for three hours. He may be resistant to fire but that doesn't mean he was completely fireproof. Fuck. He can't hide this. He jolts once he heard footsteps approaching, quickly hiding his arms.

“Kai.” Wu says then opened the door to see him sitting there.

“Uh- hey Sensei! What can I do for you?” He asked with a nervous, unconvincing grin.

Wu looked unimpressed.

“Just in case you have forgotten, I have fought alongside elemental masters before. I know what happens when any of them use their powers for too long.” He reminded Kai who frowned, looking away. “The doctors need to treat your burns right away. By how long it took to defeat this month's major villain, I know they are extensive.” He says and Kai nodded, standing up.

He was careful to not let his hands touch anything, the burns stretching up to his elbows. His palms suffered the worst of it, holding third degree burns. From his palm to the middle of his arm, as well as the back had second degree burns and everywhere else up to his elbows had first degree. Everywhere that was burnt and wasn't his palms hurt something fierce. The fact that he can't feel the burns on his palms worried him. What also worried him was the low glow both his hands held. Wu talked about this. Talked about what could happen if damage suffered from overuse of their elements was left unchecked. It would corrupt them, make them monsters. Was that happening to him? He should stop trying to hide the damages he suffered but when he looked at Zane who went offline because of the frost in his systems or Nya who fainted from dehydration or Jay who was blacked out with electrical burns all over his back and hands or Cole who was too weak to even breathe right or Lloyd who was so exhausted, he had slipped into a fucking coma… his measly burns seemed insignificant.

He followed Wu into the doctor's office where elemental master after elemental master was hospitalized. While Sensei Wu oversaw their treatment to help reduce their elemental energies to normal levels, they will need medical care for the damage sustained. It's just… The bad guy commanded mythical creatures of all types. It was when he pulled out Hydras did they had trouble. Fucking Hydras. He never even heard of them before today. He and Skylor had to use fire to cauterize the wounds on the things after they figured out that cutting off the heads didn't work. He ended up doing most of it since Skylor was stretched thin as is. She was suffering from overstimulation. The slightest breeze sent her into utter agony.

And the other elemental masters… They wouldn't have asked them to help if they hadn't desperately needed it. The wendigos were definitely a problem they needed help with. But in the end of it all, Neuro had pushed his powers as hard as they did but lost the ability to isolate his thoughts from everyone else's and couldn't turn it off. It was quite literally driving him mad but the hospital has been treating them for awhile now. They had the soundproof vengestone-lined room ready for him with dim lights and soft music.

Tox was out of it and will have to stay on dialysis for a while to remove the excess toxins from her blood stream. Chamille can't return to her original looks, trapped somewhere between two different appearances. It was an uncomfortable situation for her but Misako is already speaking with her, reminding her of herself. Gravis had a serious case if motion sickness. Everything has to remain completely still for a while so he was left to recover with nurses watching from afar. Karlof was suffering from iron poisoning and was now resting with an IV in to lower his iron levels. Ash was still trying to form half of his body that was nothing but smoke lingering close by resting and thinking if himself as whole constantly. Shade was stuck on the shadows. He couldn't free himself and had no choice but to calm himself and wait. Griffin's adrenaline levels were sky high and his body felt like a giant sore. They had to sedate him to get him to rest but they predicted that he would be significantly better when he wakes up. Paleman was usually always invisible- at least skin wise but it was an entirely different thing to make everything on your person invisible. He's been invisible so long, his powers seem to have stalled and he was now very visible- which he hated to the point where he requests no visitors. All he needed to do was rest at least.

“Kai.” He jolted back to reality and blinked to find himself laying back in a hospital bed.

When the heck did that happen? When did they take off his gi? When did they put in an IV?

“The others will be fine. Do not worry.” Wu told him and he blinked up at him.

“How can you say that?” Kai whispered, looking at him in disbelief. “Lloyd's in a coma. Zane is offline. Cole is on a respirator. Nya nearly died from dehydration. Jay has spinal damage plus burn damage. Of course I'll worry. Especially when all I got was-”

“Third degree burns to your palms. Which means that the skin there is irreversibly damaged and it's why your palms look so yellow.” Wu pointed out, cutting Kai off. “You need to have surgery to remove all the dead skin from your palms and have grafting done to replace the skin that won't grow back.” Kai looked surprised.

Surgery?

“This is not a competition of who is hurt the most Kai. The fact that you were all hurt is terrible enough.” Wu says quietly. “You won't be able to use your powers the longest. Your palms need time to heal or else you may have to go without. Another situation like this may cause more damage than doctors are able to repair.” He told him and Kai could read between the lines.

If he uses his powers to this extent again, the damage might lead to him losing his hands. He looked up once the door opened.

“It's time for the surgery.” A nurse says as she and two others entered.

“I will be there once it is over.” Wu assured, stepping aside so they could wheel him away.

Wu watched him go with a sigh. He slipped off his hat and rubbed his face, looking obviously stressed.

“You've done everything you could.” He looked up once Misako walked in.

“Misako. How is Chamille?” He asked her, slipping his hat on.

“Resting. She won't be able to revert to her own form for a long time.” She told him then placed a hand on his shoulder. “They are all recovering. Signs look promising. Even Lloyd is showing signs of waking up soon. He will still need a lot of rest but things are looking up.” She says with a smile and he nodded with a soft sigh.

“I just wish there was more to be done to prevent the effects of using their powers for too long.” He spoke quietly.

“We're doing everything we-”

“Teacher Wu!” They whirled around to see the panicked nurse who was holding the door open, panting heavily from running it seems.

“What is it?” Wu asked, walking over to her, feeling dread filling him.

“We-” The nurse took a breath. “We have a big problem. It's Neuro.” He says, looking at them terrified.

Misako and Wu look at each other horrified before they ran out, the nurse leading the way.

“We should have seen it coming. He wasn't recovering like he used to! In fact, he began to slowly get worse! We were going to call either of you but we heard you were busy with the others so we hadn't wanted to bother you! We should have! The fault is ours! Oh only-”

“Tell us what happened.” Misako says, cutting him off as they rushed down a short flight of stairs towards where they were holding Neuro.

“We- the vengestone around the holding area. It was cracked. We hadn't known until just moments ago. The thoughts of everyone in the nearby vicinity still reached him. When we realised, it was too late.” He says as they rushed into the monitoring room, Wu all but pushing the doctor looking at the screens in horror aside.

Wu gasped as he saw Neuro inside, screaming as he clawed at his head that was growing at a rate that was almost visible to the human eye, gray fluids leaking from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth, his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Oh no.” Wu whispered as he stepped back.

The corruption was too advanced. He never treated corruption this far along before. Puri-Tea won't work on this. Neither will Sereni-Tea. He turned to the doctors.

“Run.” He told them and they looked at each other, eyes wide in our and fear.

Neuro screamed again but this time, his powers were unleashed, making them all grip their heads as a feeling of rusty nails tearing into their minds over them.

“Run!” He yelled at them again, gritting his teeth against the assault.

They didn't need to be told a third time. They all rushed out, holding their heads still, setting of the fire alarm along the way.

“Wu! We have to go to!” Misako gritted out, her head throbbing.

“No. I have to stop him. Look after the Ninja.” He ordered her.

“No! I- I won't leave you!” She yelled as blood began to run from her ears and nose.

“If you stay, you'll die! Go!” He yelled at her and she looked at him, wanting to protest further but knowing he was right.

He's not like her. Human. He had a far better chance of survival than she did. She swallowed then nodded before taking off. Wu breathed out then pressed the button to open the door then rushed in, staff held firm. Neuro turned to look at him, the gray matter oozing out of his mouth in an endless stream.

“Forgive me Neuro. I wish there was another way.” Wu whispered, ignoring the headache increasing in pain.

Neuro wasn't there anymore. Only this creature he was forced to become. Was still becoming. It gurgled out a growl then screaming as he pounced. Wu steeled himself, staff held in front of him. A twist of the middle segment made a lengthy, sharp point of vengestone appear at the tip.

Forgive me.

__________________________

(Ok laptop. Don’t fail me now. I had a lot of fun writing this! Again, sorry it’s so late! I did tweak your prompt a little. The motion sickness thing seemed to suit Gravis better so I got a little creative. I hope its ok though!)

[musubiki]

Can we have more details about why Lime and Mochi hated each other for the first 5 years and what were they like to one another during that time period? ^u^

YEAH!!!!! (ill put it under the cut)

➞

- mochi and lime first met when they were like. 5-ish, on the day when mochi and her mama (tiramisu) were moving/finished moving into their shop across the street, and limes family brought them over some welcome-to-the-district gifts

- so of course tiramisu and limes grandparents are chatting it up, mochi is kind of hiding behind her mom and lime is standing there holding kiwis hand and theyre just kinda looking at each other

- and this first meeting is the most hilarious moment of their whole relationship, because lime, an idiot boy, sticks his tongue out and does a “bleh!” at mochi

- mochi, an equally stupid kid, starts crying ghibli tears, and deadass just FLIPS HIM OFF!!!!🖕🖕🖕🖕

- AND HER MOM PUSHES HER HAND DOWN LIKE “MOCHI THATS NOT NICE!! Oh my god im so sorry idont know where she learned that haha-” (mochi learned it from her. shes secretly proud of her baby), and limes grandfather just kind of “oh no no its fine, he was being mean to her”

- and so they say goodnight and go back to their shops, but from that point lime just kinda picked on mochi a lot. (im thinking he had a crush on her first but didnt understand feelings that young so he just picks on her a lot????/ and then just kinda buries and internalizes those feelings for the rest of his life so it gets brushed under the rug????) 

- so he would pull her hair, push her, call her names, steal her food, all this weird shit. but then he would also like sneakily like peer out of his window at night to see if she was there in her room (and slam the curtains closed when she looked over and pretended like he wasnt looking) and like spy on her when she was in the shop (and run away when kiwi asks what hes looking at)

- and of course, mochi, being the badass in training, wouldnt take his shit half the time, and im pretty sure she like punched him in the face once?? or body slammed him or something??? and her mom is like “MOCHI OH MY GOD NO!! THATS NOT GOOD!!! [internally] (i love you so much that’s my girl)”

- and then when school starts they have to go to school together with kiwi because mochis mom has to run the shop, the whole way there these two idiot kids are either fighting or lime is picking on mochi again (tiramisu tells mochi its because he likes her and shes like idont care!! hes mean!!!)(she will care later)

- and from when lime was about ??? 5-7 he was friends with oscar, but when they were 7 oscar moved away to the big city with his family, and so limes only ‘friend’ left was mochi

- im pretty sure lime has put a frog in her backpack before

- and has probably thrown mud on her

- and every christmas they never get each other anything because “why should i, idont care!!”

- SO THEN. WHEN SCHOOL COMES AROUND, THEY BOTH GET COMPETITIVE, AND FOR THE NEXT LIKE 4 YEARS ALL THEY DO IS ANNOY EACH OTHER ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL, COMPETE IN SPORTS, COMPETE OVER GRADES, LIMES THROWING PAPER WADS AT THE BACK OF HER HEAD (he sits behind her) THEM BOTH GETTING SENT TO DETENTION, MAKING THEM SPEND MORE TIME TOGETHER LMFAO

- but also theyre kind of getting to know each other, and the fighting dies down into a more kind of rivalry with some making fun of each other, but push comes to shove most of their time is actually spent with each other, between running neighboring shops, sharing classes and sports, the commerce back and forth from school (especially since kiwi starts going to high school and they have to walk home alone together)

- (and this is also during the time when mochi is spending her weekends with her grandma training)

- and im thinking when theyre like….11-12 ish maybe?? (theyre still in the rivalry thing) theres this part in one of their normal school days where mochi is ACTUALLY being bullied by some older boys. like knock the books out of her hand and steal her money kind of bullying

- and lime sees this and he’s yeah, no. so he goes over and tells them to back the FUCK off, and of course they don't, and lime gets PISSED because IM THE ONLY ONE WHO’S ALLOWED TO BULLY HER ALRIGHT which actually leads to an actual fistfight, and this is also hilarious because lime is her hero for like 2 seconds before she mcfuckin  kicks one of the guys in the shin and/or balls and lime is all “???????!!!/!?!? you can fight???” and mochi, sweating, just kinda nervously looks away like “uuu.h.h.hhhhh….n……..no…” 

- so after the fight theyre just awkwardly sitting in the principals office, lime has a black eye, theyre both all stressed out hoping the school doesn’t call their parents, but the principal is cool about it and tells them “you were just defending yourselves, just go home and dont get in anymore trouble okay”

- and on the way home theyre both pretty quiet, mochi is kind of flustered because that was..pretty cool of him to stick up for me like that and lime is stressed out like fuck oh no oh god because hes SUPPOSED to NOT like her so why should i care??? if she gets bullied??? I don't!! but he does and it nags at him

- mochi keeps glancing over at him waiting at the bus stop, and he notices, (his face is red too) so hes like “what? why do you keep looking at me for??” and she hesitantly asks “hows your eye?” 

- lime, nervously, just kind of babbles out “pft- its fine. doesnt affect how handsome my face is so-” to which she kind of gives him a flat look, but laughs at it a bit anyway. he stares at her for a bit before laughing for a while too. she asks if it hurts, and he just kind goes “eh” and mentions it would feel a lot better if he had like an ice pack or something

- so mochi notices a small convince shop nearby, and tells him to wait there. she comes back with a little ice pack thing and like. a popsicle or something for him. he blushes and thanks her and they just kinda go back to sitting in silence at the bus stop, before mochi says a quiet “…thank you for- sticking up for me back there-” and gives him this sweet cute lil smile

- and he, an idiot, just like rubs the back of the neck, and has to physically stop himself from blurting out some “whatever” or “yeah it wont happen again” or some other shit like that, so after about 30 seconds of silence he just kind of mumbles out a “you're welcome”

- and from this point their relationship is a little different. like they both kinda go home and realize they were just jerks to each other for no real reason, especially lime who now thinks shes not so bad and he didn't even know how or why they got off on the wrong foot in the first place

- meanwhile mochi is at home struggling with feelings because “gosh that actually was really cool of him to stick up for me. he really actually is cool what the heck. oh no”

- and they start being less idiotic and mean to each other (besides the occasional joking) and actually spend more time together, and eventually they like bring each other food for lunch and talk to each other about their interests and stuff, and lime invites mochi to come todont watch his baseball games, and mochi supports him at all his sports events and stuff. 

- and they don't really realize or say it yet but they're best friends already. they're closest to each other and spend like almost all their time together

- (and im VERY sure theres gonna be some HORRIBLY embarrassing incident for lime that will have no details, but throughout the story it will be mentioned a few times by lime, something like “Mochi will NEVER think I’m cool!! She’s already seen me with that whole thing with the monk seal, and the shampoo bottle, there is no coming back from that!!” and everyone is just kinda “?????? what??” but it never gets unpacked. all we know is that is was REALLY embarrassing and uncool)

- but she does. she thinks hes cool. she thinks he is SO cool. she lays awake at night thinking about him

- and during this whole time mochi is getting to know the actual lime, and shes slowly developing a huge crush on him, which she first excuses as “noo its just a summer crush thing ill get over it” but she never does

- basically they were really idiot kids but i like the growing up dynamic

[neshabeingchildish]

Lady and the Tramp

I do not know why the chapters of this story suddenly got so long! I’ve just been unable to stop writing lately. Stress writing, mostly, which I hate to do because sometimes, that can send the story off track. Of course, it can also ignite some of my greatest ideas. Unfortunately, I never know until after y’all tell me what my stress writing came through with. 😭 At any rate, I definitely will cover the conversation later. I didn’t have the place in this chapter to do so. Your reviews are keeping me sane.

Lady and the Tramp

After the sophomore summer, Charlotte knew that she wasn’t going to be able to make anymore trips home. The amount of lab work that she would be doing, the conferences and a lot of the other workshops and stuff she had to do would pull most of her time and being Jasper’s #1 Fan would take the rest. He had several competitions, matches, and games. She was skipping every boxing match, because she didn’t want him doing it in the first place and had even told him that he should go back to kite disc, but without him, the school’s team dissipated and he didn’t have the time to commit to the league again. 

Whenever it was Dodge-a-leen time, though, Charlotte was in the stands in brightly colored high waisted leggings with a Big Dog T-shirt, tied up in the back, and dog makeup on her face. She could do that deep voice barking that the fans often did, but she gave it a shot. With her tiny voice, it always stood out and everybody began calling her “Little Dog,” which Jasper loved, because that was his girl. She… had mixed feelings about it. She didn’t know that she cared for the nickname “Big Dog.” Henry used to call him that sometimes, but this was different. This nickname had come about from something that she still found embarrassing, though Jasper never had taken it as such. And also, she felt like Little Dog was a hop, skip and jump from being his bitch, and well… She guessed as long as nobody ever said THAT, she was fine. 

Besides, he still called her Chef’s Kiss and she now called him F Sized. She didn’t explain it to other people, as it started out as a little inside joke during one of her sexy study sessions with Jasper. He couldn’t get the answers right, therefore wasn’t allowed to touch the parts. That was how it worked. A was her backside, B was her chest, C was down there, and D - he was able to take her hand and put on his down there. But, if he wasn’t getting the answers correct, there wasn’t touching. She moved or stopped his hand if it was going to the wrong spot. He was struggling with the mock test and began grumbling about how he’d “cockblocked himself with stupidity.” 

While stupidity definitely was a turn off, Charlotte hadn’t viewed Jasper as stupid in a long time and she certainly hadn’t called him that ever since finding out that his stepdad did. Whenever he called himself that, she verbally redirected him. This particular study session, he said, “I have a humongous head with a stupid tiny brain in it.”

“You’re not stupid and if you were, your brain wouldn’t be smaller.”

“It is though. You know brains develop differently when kids have trauma, remember?”

“Yeah, but…” She fumbled over her words and managed to say, “I love your fun sized brain!” He loved that compliment. Fun Sized Brain was his new handle on Twitflash because of it.

“I appreciate that you said fun sized, because that is actually exactly what I think of your cute little body as!” She frowned. He smiled and explained, “Because you’re petite.”

“I got it.”

“You have a full sized heart, though!”

She smiled and shook her head, “See, I would have called yours friend sized, but I dig that full sized still fits the alliteration scheme.” 

He took her hand and placed it on himself, “Mm hmm, and what is this sized?”

“Fuck sized,” she said, without a pause and they both started laughing. “By the way, the answer is D, so I’ll count that as correct.”

“I don’t remember the question…” 

The only person she told the meaning of Jasper’s  F Sized nickname was Henry, and she’d said, “Because his brain is fun sized, his heart is friend sized and his manhood is fu…”

“Let me stop you there, Champ,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. “I’m glad that you two fixed everything. You’re not worried that it might go off track again?”

“No, we’ve done a lot of work together to make sure that we’re actually on the same page and have the same goals for us. PLUS, I got us affirmation journals. We decorated each other’s and we keep them, filling them up with greatness as we see it - like the good things we notice about each other, the positives that we see and the accomplishments made by one another. If we have negative times, one can invoke the affirmation journal and either read in it to reaffirm ourselves OR, if we’re that much in our feelings, the one of us that hurt the other will read affirmations to the hurt party. We haven’t had to use them… much, and we’ve both written a whole lot inside of them.”

“So, you two just carry around paper books and write every good thing in it that you can think about each other, so that if you argue, you’ll have the positives on record already to counter the bad feelings?”

“Bingo!”

“That’s… brilliant. Your idea?”

“Sort of. It was my idea to make it into this type of practice, but that was motivated by how Jasper got me not to break up with him. He let me see his life goals journal and I saw these really beautiful things that he’d written about me and it changed my heart. So, I thought of this idea for us to make a part of our love culture.”

“This is so stinkin’ cute. I can’t even bear it!” Henry said with heart eyes. “Ugh. I gotta find myself a lil’ nerd girl.”

“Find a lovable jock,” she advised.

“Jasper’s considered a jock, now?”

“I mean… he’s involved in the athletics program. Let me show you something, I think you’ll appreciate this..”  She dug around for a book then showed it to the video call she had open with Henry. It was a red leather bound book with various rocks attached to it, kinda like it was bedazzled, but not with sparkly rocks, and the title was scripted on in some of Charlotte’s nice scripting: Jasffirmation Journal. 

Henry gasped, “You did a fun pun!” “I did!” she cheered. 

“That’s a nice journal. What are all those rocks?”

“Those are various forms of jasper that I procured myself on an excavation assignment.”

“You’re freakin’ awesome, Char.”

“I definitely agree with that, but thank you!” 

“I gotta see what his looks like,” Henry said and texted Jasper to ask him to send him a pic of the affirmation journal he kept for Char. Within minutes, he received it. “OH MY GOD!” Henry said. Charlotte just smiled as Henry fawned over the realistic sketch of Charlotte with stars in her hair and coils that spelled: I’m Charstruck. “He did a fun pun too!”

“We worked with you and Ray for way too long,” she said. 

“You’re welcome,” he said, putting his phone aside. “Man, Jasper’s drawing is amazing. Is he taking art classes?”

“No. He’s a tattoo artist, though. Remember?”

“OH! He finished his apprenticeship. That’s cool. Will tattoos money put him through school?”

“One of his accounting major frat bros has helped him with his budget, which I used to do but hadn’t had the time to try to reorganize it, so this guy did. Jasper gets some funds from his fanbase, and he gets free stuff from local businesses and companies - like he’s got all this merch that he basically is a walking ad for and I keep telling him to see about talking to someone about sponsorship, but he’s just happy to get free stuff just for being popular and likable. I’m like, you can get paid to get free stuff for the same thing, Dude! So, he is doing just fine.”

“Does he have any tattoos? I’m not gonna get a tattoo from somebody who doesn’t have a tattoo, just on principle.”

“He’s got a few little ones,” she said.

“Really? What of?”

She smiled and sent Henry texts. She had photos of Jasper’s tats. The one on his arm, which was a blend of a lion and a bull with touching faces (because those were the animals of their zodiac signs and he’d designed the drawing), a Captain Man symbol on his left wrist, small enough to cover with a watch, if he had to for work or something, and the back shoulder that had Lady and the Tramp characters. “Dude… what?” Henry said, “Two of these are kind of big and why in the world did he get Lady and the Tramp tattooed on his body? Does Jasper realize that these are permanent?” “Yes, he does. He’s not an idiot. He got Lady and the Tramp because of the whole Big Dog, Little Dog thing. Lady and the Tramp is us.” She blushed.

“Awwww, well then it’s cute. I thought that he just liked the cartoon or something.” It’s shocking that he doesn’t have your name or something on him.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Does he and you just didn’t show me?”

“No. But… he’s mentioned wanting to get a tattoo of me over his heart. I don’t know how he can. His chest is an erogenous zone for him.”

“His… OK! That makes all those hickies on his chest make more sense now!”

“Those what?” Her eyes were wide. How the heck did Henry know that she’d put hickies on Jasper’s chest? They DID discuss their sex life!

“I saw hickies all over him one time, senior week and he wouldn’t say anything about it to me. And scratches on his back. Is his back an erogenous zone too?”

“No. I just used to have a real problem keeping control of myself when I was finishing. But, he actually likes that kind of stuff, so win-win, I guess. Why are we so casually discussing this?” she wondered.

“We’re friends and it’s normal.” She nodded. She hadn’t really thought to discuss stuff like this before outside of Jasper, but it came out surprisingly smoothly when talking to Henry. She was able to talk a little more about things with him. But, they wouldn’t be able to see each other in person for a while. Their schedules were simply too demanding. She hated it, but it was one of the things that she’d mentally prepared for whenever she first left home.

.

Women make up 56% of the college population. 25% of college seniors are virgins. 32.5% of college relationships are long distance. 1 in 4 college students have an STD. 63% of college women hope to meet their spouse in college. By senior year, 72% of college students have hooked up. ⅓ college students have been on fewer than 2 dates. Quick Facts: One of the top reasons college students break up is cheating. College students prefer short-term, casual relationships over long-term relationships because it allows them to focus on their academic and career goals. Most college couples break up around spring break, summer vacation, and right before winter break. 28 % of married college graduates attended the same school, but only 2% of North American marriages are comprised of high school sweethearts.

With numbers like that, it was really easy for me to believe that with Jasper’s personality and follow through that we couldn’t possibly be a part of that 2%. And even if we had been, what about those other stats? How much of it would be applicable. Wouldn’t one of us hook up with someone? Wouldn’t someone cheat? Wouldn’t we break up? For a first time relationship to be the last one that you’ll ever have, these possibilities become more or less likely dependent upon what stage in the relationship I was in. It was a fluctuating scale, to be honest. But, by junior year, I definitely felt like I was in a confident place.

Jasper makes me proud, all of the time, His thinking has become much more critical. His plans make more sense. His ability to manage his time has improved. He’s been calling himself a “Textbook Leo,” which has been annoying, because the traits that you didn’t see before, it’s like he tries to make sure that he has them now. That’s fine for some things. Silly for others. But, he’s very focused and he’s going to be a very accomplished man. I believe that with all of my heart. 

One of the last times that Henry was able to visit was whenever Charlotte first moved into her new apartment after Rush Week. Jasper helped her to pack, but got the pledges to move all of her things. The apartment that she found was closer to Jasper, in a nice sized townhouse style apartment within walking distance of the frat house, but of course, the guys had to go to another side of town to grab her things from her previous dormitory. Jasper’s little brother was responsible for overseeing - making sure nobody damaged or tried to steal anything, holding on to the keys of her dorm, and personally handing them to her after her things were cleared out and he’d locked up. Charlotte liked him. She was the reason that Jasper had selected him and he was closer to her than to Jasper, but only because it was hard to get close to Jasper, especially now that he believed himself to be a king.

Henry helped Charlotte to unpack, wishing that he still had that hypermotility. Dang, that would have made this a breeze. Charlotte had a lot of stuff and she was very particular with how she set things up. One area that he was intrigued by looked like a shrine of sorts, with a shelf in the middle, and she hung a photo of her and Jasper above it. “What is that?” 

“My gift center,” she said, setting things there from a box marked Gifts From Jasper. “I keep stuff that Jasper gives me in an exposed and visible area. It helps the room to have a good attitude.” He made a confused face, but didn’t want to even ask. “I can feel the energy in these gifts, because I know the motivations and the emotions behind them,” she explained.

“You becoming all metaphysical on me?”

“Not all, but I definitely feel like… energy is something that can be manipulated by certain objects and intentions. Like, you ever meet someone and you can just feel that something is off about them? That’s how I was with Casper and I was absolutely correct about her, even though for a whole year she was nothing but pleasant to me, I knew that there was some negative vibrations there.”

“You do like tarot cards and stuff?” He asked.

“No. I don’t know enough about that area of spirituality and I honestly don’t feel like committing the time to learn.”

“Dang. I was gonna ask you to do a reading for me,” Henry joked.

“We can go to one. There’s a girl in the BSU that does them. I feel like she’s the real deal. She grew up in Louisiana in this matriarchal witch family. Though… I don’t know if witch is the right word. I can’t remember what she said. Jasper might, though. He’s fascinated by that stuff. They have an entire segment on the radio show for African spirituality and diaspora practices.”

“I… we should get a reading, just as a gag.”

“You don’t do it as a gag!” She complained, shaking her head. 

“Okay, we can do it for real, then.”

“Well, I’ll have to see if she’s available. She has an online business, where she prepares spells and herbal roots and oils and jewelry and stuff. I’ll check her prices for the readings.” She grabbed her phone and Henry kept unpacking. They were bringing the empty, broken down boxes to the recycling bin whenever Jasper’s truck pulled up. They heard him before they saw him. The truck was always so loud, but it was old and cheap, so that was why he had it. He didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something that he only planned on driving for now. Charlotte began buying her reliable but affordable car in high school. She made regular payments on it to try to help build her credit and by the time she was ready to leave for college, it was paid off. It was a metallic gold hatchback and had horse decals on it. Jasper’s big orange truck had all kinds of bumper stickers and window stickers that he’d peppered it with. Henry turned up his nose, “Why is it orange?”

“That was the cheapest thing that he could find when he was looking, and he loves it. He says that he’s always gonna have orange vehicles, now.”

“WHY?”

“Probab;y because he’s an attention whore,” she said. 

Jasper had a pretty booming speaker system in the truck and was blasting music, because that helped him not to hear the troubling sounds that the truck made. He turned off the car and got out with a little box, “Hey, Henry!” he said and waved at him. “Chef’s Kiss…” He slid the box to Henry and wrapped his arms around Charlotte. “Did New Henry give you your keys?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Did who?” Henry asked.

“His little brother,” Charlotte said.

“His name is Henry too?” Henry asked.

“No,” Charlotte said, but left it at that and asked, “What’s that?”

“A homewarming present,” Jasper said and took the box back. It made tiny whimper sounds and she noticed it had holes in it. 

“Housewarming, and Jasper, is that a living creature?”

“You don’t have a house. You have an apartment, and no..” he opened the box and said, “It’s TWO living creatures!” She looked to see two very adorable puppies with collars and tags… “Lady and the Tramp!” 

“Wow. All I got you was a cake.”

“I prefer cake,” she said, then to Jasper, “Jasper, you cannot just give people responsibilities as a housewarming gift! I don’t have time to raise two dogs!”

“I’ll be here like everyday. All you’ll need to do is be happy to see them when you get home.” She bit her thumbnail and stared at him, displeased. That was what that face was. He knew that much. He handed the puppy box to Henry again, pulled out his life goals journal, unlocked it and made an X on the list, which made Charlotte smile, in spite of herself. “I am willing to take on all of the responsibilities parts of them. I’ll make sure they’re fed and clean and…”

“You need to make sure that they know how to use the bathroom before they are moving in here, Dude. I’m not cleaning up dog poo from any surface of my new apartment.”

“That’s fair,” he said. Henry was already petting the boxed puppies and taking photos when Jasper reached for the box. “I’m gonna let them run around in the back of the truck while I’m here. That’s where I got the dog house, anyway.”

“The…” Charlotte looked and saw the doghouse that she didn’t know where the heck he thought that he was putting in her apartment. She turned around and went into the apartment, leaving both dudes and both dogs outside.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell her that they’re both girls because I couldn’t find a male Schnauzer for Tramp. I don’t think she’ll like me naming a girl Tramp, but it’s symbolic.”

“I don’t think that Charlotte likes animals,” Henry said, climbing into the back of Jasper’s truck. “And, she seems more like a cat person, right?”

“She just doesn’t have the time to raise them, but she’s gonna love Lady and the Tramp, once they’re ready to be civilized.”

“She didn’t love Katelyn. She barely acknowledged that she was alive and Katelyn was effing adorable.”

“She took care of Katelyn all of the time! You just weren’t there to see it,” Jasper fussed.

“Why are you getting pissed?”

“I’m not. I’m just irritated that you’re acting like you still know her better than I do.”

“That’s not what I’m… I’m sorry. How are you doing? What season is it for your sports?”

“Wrestling season is October until March. Boxing events usually begin in March. I have Dodge-a-leen practices all year, but tournaments are late spring, usually. Thinking about reviving kite disc for good on campus and just having it be among frats and stuff. I miss it, but I had to give it up. I’d give up anything for Charlotte.”

“Is… that why you felt like you had to give me up?” Henry asked. Jasper gave him a look. “I just felt like we could all still be friends. Whenever you left for college, you were really on this ‘of course we’ll still be friends’ thing, but we haven’t talked out what happened.”

“What’s there to talk out? I apologized and you said, NBD.”

“I said NBD because you apologized, but that doesn’t mean it was resolved. Especially because you told me that I never reached out to you, then when I did, you weren’t available,”

“So, I was supposed to wait for you to decide that you had some need for me? I have things to do, too. Maybe I’m not saving Swellview, but I’m not sitting around waiting to mean something to you, either.”

Henry set The Tramp down and clasped his hands together, “I’m still the same dude who was willing to give up Kid Danger for you. I’m still the same person who took on a full shift at Cactus Con so you could be on a date! I’m still…”

“You’re still the dude who was having wet dreams about my girlfriend right before we got together and acted like I was being an asshole for not wanting you to sleep in the same bed anymore!”

“Okay. Okay. Well, I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable…” 

“Being friends means respecting boundaries. This is the woman that I plan to marry. Your friendship makes me uncomfortable, but that’s not why you and me fell out. You and me fell out because whenever I expressed to you how I felt about it, you talked to me like I was a dumbass, and you accused me of mistreating Charlotte!”

“You were mistreating Charlotte!”

“That wasn’t the way to say it! When I’m trying to tell you what I don’t like or don’t want to happen and you respond that way, it makes me feel like not only did you not care about my boundaries, but you used her pain to try to attack me because you didn’t like me setting those boundaries! And… That’s just fucked up to do to both of us, yet I’m the only person who apologized for my behavior that night. I’ve been apologizing to people for standing up for myself for too long. I know myself better and I deserved better.”

Henry nodded his head and collected Lady to pet her and help him feel better. “That is a lot to process. That makes sense. I think you’re right and I never realized any of that before now, because we didn’t talk about it. But, no matter what kind of dreams I had about Charlotte years ago, mind you… I’d never try to do anything with her and even if I had, she’d shoot me down and probably clobber me. She’s been dickmatized by you since Day 1.”

“I don’t like…”

“I mean, she’s been enamoured with you. Most of the time we talk, it’s about your relationship and how much she loves you. I envy that and I would love to have that with someone, but that someone would never even cross my mind to be Charlotte. And I will sleep in my van before I make you feel that uncomfortable again, or before I won’t hear you out when you’re telling me about boundaries, or before I go without just kickin’ it with my bro for all this time. I’ve got an empty spot where you’re supposed to be, in here, Dude.” He pointed all of his fingers to his heart.

Jasper smiled and said, “You know how she got into her whole energy/vibrations thing? She was researching what Jasper meant, because she had this idea to gift me some Jasper stones and she wanted to know more about them. So, she read somewhere that Jasper is the “Supreme Nurturer,” a stone of grounding and stability, providing comfort and security, strength and healing. Its presence balances the aura to a level of wholeness and peace, and acts as a reminder that one is not here on the physical plane simply for oneself, but to bring joy and substance to others… and she said, “Babe… That is SO you!” And I cried and I started looking for the perfect ring… and she started looking into stones and energy and all that stuff.”

“She’s right, though, That is so you. Why do you think I miss you so much?”

“I missed you too.. I just couldn’t let go of my pride until you seemed like you really cared about what I was trying to tell you that I cared about.” They smiled at each other, then hugged it out.

“So… Did you find it? The perfect ring?”

“No. I think I may have to have it made.”

“Does she know that you’re looking?”

“I haven’t confirmed anything, but she’s the smartest person I know, so maybe.”

“Well, I won’t say anything, but damn it, I’d better be included on however it happens… Unless it's a private just you and her typed thing.”

“I’m trying to find the perfect way too…” Jasper admitted. “When you’ve been doing great things for somebody for a while, it’s hard to outdo yourself.”

“Yeah, the stuff that she brags on you about, I honestly don’t know how you can possibly top them, but you keep doing so, so…” Henry shrugged and sniffed around, “What is…”

“LADY!” Jasper said and Henry looked down at the puppy who peed on him. 

“That’s awesome…” he said, sarcastically.

.

It was good for Jasper to have Henry back, The dynamics of their friendship had definitely changed, as Jasper was less determined to lay himself down for Henry, but he still loved him and having him and Charlotte around when it was time to meet his dad was encouraging. It was a 4 hour drive, so Charlotte drove the way to get to Henry and then Henry drove the rest of the way to Mr. Dunlop’s place. 

Whenever they pulled into the address that had been given to Jasper online, the first thing that Jasper did was take the dogs to make waste. Henry and Charlotte were going to take them for a walk while he met up with his dad and not be too far away, in case he had to call on them. 

Charlotte was carrying Lady because, “She gets excited and runs off too much,” but, they both had leashes, so Henry was confused, but didn’t bother. 

Charlotte kept looking at the house, no matter how far they got from it and checking her phone. Henry realized that she probably was in protective mode. Whenever she thought her Jasper was in trouble, she was one feisty little woman. “Hey! Remember that time that Ray punched Jasper out and you came in and on sight, beat him up with your backpack?” She gave him a blank stare, unsure of why he was bringing that up. He smiled awkwardly. “That was funny to me… Albeit, terrifying.” He shut up.

“Trample, where you goin,’ Sis?” Charlotte said and Tramp turned around and came rushing back to her. “Here,” He said, handing Lady off to Henry. 

“Last time I held her, she peed on me.”

“Dude, that was months ago.” Charlotte said, dismissively and picked up Tramp. 

“They can walk and we have leashes, why do you keep holding them?” He asked.

“The musty lady in the apartments let her dogs free run beside her and one of them got hit by the public bus!” Henry gasped in horror and cuddled Lady close to himself. “Yeah. That public bus near the apartments is scary. I don’t want them to get used to just running around, unless I live somewhere with an open area and minimal vehicles. A college town is kind busy for that.”

He nodded, “Okay, okay… But… We’re not in town right now and I haven’t seen any vehicles since we got here. Let’s just let them use these for now and if something happens, we pick them back up.” She nodded and let him put the leashes on the girls and walk them. “Are you worried about Jasper, Dude?” Whenever she was worried, she was a little more high strung. She nodded. “His dad seems like he wanted to meet him. I think it’s probably going well.”

“Yeah, but… Jasper just got to where he’s able to balance his issues out with his current situation and I just don’t want anybody shaking him up and throwing him off of his center.”

“That’s not gonna happen as long as he has you. From how I understand it, you’re his center.” She took a deep breath and looked at the house again. “Let’s go back and see if we can check on him,” Henry suggested. 

A dark skinned woman with a huge afro, in draping, colorful clothes and a lot of jewelry opened the door and smiled at them. Charlotte and Henry glanced at their car in the driveway, then the house, then the woman. Charlotte asked, “Is… Is Jasper Dunlop here?”

“Yeah, he’s here.” She said and opened up to let them inside. “They’re in the meditation room. Mind taking off your shoes? Also, we’ll bring the dogs out back. It’s fenced in and covered. Hawks won’t get to them.”

“Hawks???” Charlotte shrieked. 

“Hawks WON’T get to them,” Henry repeated. “Thank you,” he said. “She’s kind of an anxiety mom.”

The Black woman said, “Well, I can make you some relaxation tea. It was helpful for Jasper. Passionflower with a little lavender and chamomile. You’ll calm down and also sleep like a baby tonight.”

“I… Are you a witch?” Charlotte asked.

“You can say that. I’m a healer, a practitioner of Hoodoo herbalism, tribal holistic care and divination.”

“Oh! Like your friend from Louisiana,” Henry said to Charlotte.

“They have a deep history with spirituality and healing in Louisiana, but I’m from Oklahoma. Descendant of African slaves and Native American slave owners, if you can believe it.While we were recently expelled from tribes as members, you can’t illegalize blood, therefore the magic of all of my ancestors is within me,” the woman said, nodding her head as she released the dogs from their leashes and helped them through a doggie door. “I began to seek out the meanings of my dreams and found a mambo who connected me to my roots. I began practicing, only first to see if I really had a gift, then years later, as a believer. It’s how I met Jack Leigh. He wanted help from some things and a friend told him about me. But, then he saw me and forgot what he wanted help with and asked me on a date, instead.” She laughed.

“I can see why,” Henry said. 

Charlotte mumbled, “I can see why Jasper’s mom hates me.”

The woman shook her head, “Is there anybody that woman doesn’t hate?”

“Herself?” Henry tried to guess.

“I wish that were true. That’s where she has to begin her healing and until she does, none of her intentions will be corrected.”

“Are you Jack Leigh’s wife?” Henry wondered.

“I am so sorry! I never introduced myself. Adanna Blackfoot.” She shook both their hands and led them to a sink in the little side area of the kitchen that looked out into the backyard. Charlotte could see the doggie enclosure. There were all kinds of plants and flowers growing on the fence surrounding them. The three of them washed their hands and talked a little while. Charlotte was fascinated with Jasper’s stepmom, though she said she didn’t feel that was a fair title, because she only knew Jasper from afar and word of mouth. But, Charlotte still wished THIS was the woman who’d raised her man. He’d be so much more in love with himself, and not just faking it. They eventually made it to the meditation room and Jasper was happy to see them. “Sorry, was I taking too long?”

Charlotte met him with a hug and a kiss, “I was worried about you, but Adanna eased my mind.”

“She and Uncle Rox would be great friends,” Jasper said.

“Uncle Rocks?” Jack Leigh repeated, confused, because Jasper didn’t have any uncles by that name.

“My uncle Roscoe,” Charlotte said.

“Roscoe Bolton?” Jack Leigh asked. From their faces, he could tell that was who they meant. “Wait a minute… You mean to tell me that your fiance is The Bolt’s niece?”

“Uncle Rox just became infinitely cooler because he is known as The Bolt. Say more, right now!” Jasper said, excitedly. Charlotte was more on the we all just glazed by that F word, huh? 

“Hell, The Bolt introduced me and Adanna! What’s he up to? I haven’t heard from that fool in years.”

“Still a fool,” Charlotte and Henry said, but Jasper had said, “He’s the best!” Charlotte looked at Henry and said softly, “So… did you hear him say…”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Okay. Tell me something,” she said and laughed a little. Fiancee? Was that how Jasper had described her? Because… YEAH - they most definitely were most likely gonna get married. She certainly hoped so, but they hadn’t discussed it in a solid form yet. It was more like how kids discussed graduation… an event that you look forward to and you know it’s happening and even have certain elements and dreams about it that you must include. But, not knowing what college you’d attend, what your GPA will be, what major you would choose. It was like, sure marriage was a real possibility, but it wasn’t something he’d asked her to do or something she had started preparing for - things that she associated with being a fiancee… Everybody was looking at her and she rewinded her mind a little to try to recall what they’d said in the background while she was in her thoughts. Think he’d mind if I got his contact info? “Uh, no. I’ll give him a call and verify, though…”

“Small world,” Henry said.

“It’s a huge world, but everything is definitely connected,” Adanna said, pouring the new brew of tea for the additional guests.

.

At some point, after a lot of laughter and stuff, Henry said, “Hey… Adanna, do you do like readings?”

“Not professionally,” she said. “I’ve limited it to friends and family, loved ones, for personal reasons.”

“Oh,” he said, sadly. “Char and I have been trying to make an appointment with her friend, but our schedules never line up with her available spots.”

“Well, for the two of you, of course, I would.” She said and smiled, getting up to retrieve her cards. Charlotte was staring at Jasper, still thinking about the F word and wondering what happened before they made it in. He’d definitely been crying at some point. He had his ‘crying bags’ under his eyes. He was in good spirits now, but she wanted to know what went on when she wasn’t there to protect and comfort him. He looked back at her and made a confused face. He was wondering what she was thinking about. She mouthed ‘I love you,’ to him and watched the smile on his face beam. “I’m so lucky,” he said out loud. Jack Leigh smiled at the two of them. Beautiful couple. Wonderful boy. He’d really messed up missing out on shaping him.

[lanthimo]

Here I am again! Second part of this fic, written for @chataclysmes ’ comic (which is adorable *heart eyes*). I must warn you; English isn’t my first language and this fic is a mess. Anyway, gotta give my girl Kagami the love she deserves, right?

Word Count: 1423

Kagami was good with words. She grew up listening to her mother’s long, eloquent speeches behind closed doors. Her grandmother never spoke to her like a child, always treating her 5 years old grandchild like an adult. This, combining with her sharp tongue, boldness and direct personality, gave her some kind of superiority over her peers when it came to speeches.  

However, she didn’t choose to have a serious and direct conversation this time. No, for this kind of accusation, words weren’t enough. She needed the surprise element for this confrontation. She needed to confuse him, she wanted to shock him to the point that he would do nothing but blurt it out.  

All she needed was an akuma attack.

Luckily, that happened almost 3 times a week in the City of Lights.  

Ladybug probably rubbed off some of her luck on Kagami when she carried her away from the Scarecrow akuma because when the next attack happened, she was in the middle of a training session with Adrien. The tip of her sabre barely touched Adrien’s chest when they heard the Akuma Alert. They both froze for a second. Adrien, because he knew it was his cue to leave and Kagami, because it was secretly what she was waiting for.

They both took off their masks, eyes meeting each other for a brief second. Now that she knew (or suspecting, at least) it was so clear to see the change in Adrien’s eyes. His wide eyes hardened slightly, looking older than he actually was and more serious than she’s ever seen him. He took a hesitant step back, eyes never leaving Kagami’s.  

“I... It’s an akuma.”

“Yes.” Kagami raised an eyebrow. “That’s what the alert says.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, breaking the eye contact. Kagami almost felt bad for him, looking so guilty because he was about to leave her here.

“We better hide.” He said, forcing a soft smile on his face.  

“Okay.” She answered as she kept a blank expression on purpose. “Where should we hide?”

“Umm.” Adrien looked around him nervously, eyes tracing every corner of the room. “Why don’t you go back into the locker room?” He said finally.

“And what about you?” She frowned at him. Adrien’s cheek reddened due to the major effort he was putting in.

“I... I am going to make sure others are safe, too.” Kagami decided to let him go easily. Mostly because she didn’t want to cause a problem by keeping Chat Noir away from the fight and leaving Ladybug alone to face the villain of the day.  

“Okay.” She said simply before way too slowly making her way to locker room while mumbling “Seriously? He’s miserable” under her breath. She spent maximum 10 minutes in the locker room, washing her face and calling her mother’s assistant to let them know she was safe. Then she took her training sabre and made her way to the rooftop. She brought her phone along to follow the fight on Ladyblog. Alya was seriously one heck of a reporter despite her young age. She was brave, bold and she was able to keep her cool under stress and danger. Her commentary was on point as well.

Kagami placed her sabre on the floor and sat down cross-legged. If she was right, Chat Noir was going to end up on this rooftop after the battle. If she was wrong, then she’ll be wasting the next 30 minutes.  

Kagami could definitely give Ladybug a run for her money when it came to luck. Because here he was, Chat Noir standing 3 metres away from her. He barely recognized her as he landed on his feet, breathing heavily. She didn’t say anything but slowly got back on her feet. As she took this very moment to appreciate his absent-mindedness and eyed him carefully, she wondered why she liked this boy in the first place. Her ‘crush’ (that’s what Alya called it) on Chat Noir was simple. Something that she never had to think about too much. He was like a celebrity but even more unreachable than one. Why would she even consider her feelings for the black clad hero? She liked to watch him fight. It was definitely attractive to her (which made Marinette groan when she admitted it and the discussion ended with Alya blaming Marinette for kink-shaming Kagami). She liked his silly attitude, he was definitely a dork but again, she was surrounded by dorks in this new city. Adrien and Nino were definitely the co-founders of Dorks Club. Also, black suit did wonders on his body. Her reasons were pretty shallow, one could say. And she was totally okay with that. The last thing she needed was a serious romantic feeling toward a random guy she could never get to know in the first place. But, putting a name on that black suited hero changed everything. He became a human suddenly, not a public figure, not a comic book character, not an object of desire or lust. He was a person. A person who put his life in danger almost every day to protect this city. And she knew this person.

Kagami felt like an idiot for not recognizing him right away. But again, Marinette knew him longer than Kagami and she actually had a huge crush on him yet she failed to recognize him. Or maybe, she knew and just like Kagami did back then in the cafeteria, she was trying to protect Adrien.  

This was definitely Adrien. This person, who was wearing a black cat suit and running around the city, pulling dangerous stunts and diving head first into fights recklessly, was her friend. Her friend that she liked very much. Kagami never denied her attraction to Adrien when they first met (well, she didn’t see his face at first and they’ve had a rocky start but after that...). When Adrien laughed about Nino thinking that Kagami had a crush on him, she simply explained him that it was normal for her to like a guy like him. They were from the same social class, he was a great fencer, he was polite, kind and good looking. There was no reason for her to not like Adrien. But it slowly turned into friendship as her gaze shifted to one of the heroes of Paris.  

How stupid she was? They were the same freaking person!

“What are you doing here?” Chat’s cat-like eyes widened as he finally noticed her presence. Kagami noticed that his eyes were different when he was Chat. And she didn’t mean the complete green sclera or the more cat-like shape of his eyes. His eyes, Adrien’s eyes, were more like classic bright green while Chat had, strangely, lime or chartreuse green coloured sclera with pear coloured iris.  

“Waiting for you, actually.” She smirked at his shocked expression. Chat Noir was all bark but no bite. He pretended like a huge flirt but his flirting consisted bad puns and pet names. And knowing that it was Adrien made it even funnier. She could probably make him blush so easily. “Chat Noir?” She raised a challenging brow at him. Chat shook his head slightly, eyes focusing on Kagami again like he just woke up from a very confusing dream.  

“Hmm?” He mumbled perplexedly. Her hand tightened around the handle of her sabre. Her grin widened as she positioned her body in basic en garde stance.

“EN GARDE!” Chat’s eyes grew even wider with the surprise of her sudden offensive attitude. His hand touched his baton by instinct, muscles stiffed as he took a step back. He wasn’t afraid of Kagami. Yes, she could kick ass but she was a competitive fencer. She wasn’t a villain. She wasn’t an akuma. She was her friend and she was a good person. There was no reason to get defensive all of a sudden, reaching for his baton as a reflex. But he’s been fighting against akumas that wanted to skin him alive, burn him alive, bury him alive and take his ring that Kagami’s sudden challenge brought his survival instinct on surface for a second.  

“W-What?” He stuttered confusedly.  

“Je te défie en duel.” She winked at him, taking his breath away by how gorgeous and scary she looked in that moment. He almost missed what she said.

“You want to... duel with me?” She nodded, never breaking her stance. “But, why?”

“To prove a point.” She answered to his question calmly. “Now, duel with me, kitty. Then we will talk.”

[yanyan-chen]

COLLEGE AUーDING ZEREN pt.1

•have you seen this boy dance??

•because WOW

•did i fall for him the second he started dancing???? yes

•ok on with the story

•zeren has been dancing for as long as he could remember,,

•boy was probably dancing in his mother’s womb lol

•whenever he heard music, his body couldn’t help but move along to the beats no matter where he was. like he’d tap his feet,, or bop his head,, or do little arm movements,,,sometimes he forgets about his surroundings,,,,like once,,, he was at a cafe w his friends right

•and he started grooving to the song,,,and as the song went on, his movements got wider,,,and then his elbow hit quanzhe’s drink

•let’s just say that zeren spent almost the entire day trying to remove the stain from the poor kid’s shirt

•only to have to spend $30 buying a new shirt

•and have quanzhe swear that he’ll never sit next to zeren again

•anyways,,

•he’s been in various dance competitions and either won first or second place, never anything less

•dancing was something that meant a lot to him. whenever he was stressed or overwhelmed, he would dance to relax his mind

•so when he got to college, he obviously chose to be a dance major

•he even became one of the leaders of the university’s dance team and always performed at festivals

•dance team also consisted of zhengting, jieqiong, and chengxiao

•so speaking of the dance team

•they were holding auditions soon to recruit two more members to fill in for the members that just graduated

•guess who decided to try out!!!

•if you guessed that it was you

•ding ding ding zeren you’re correct

•dancing was also something that you loved ever since you were a kid

•you loved how dancing allowed you to freely express yourself through all sorts of movements and there were no restrictions on what you had to do

•contrary to your life

•your parents expected you to become a doctor or just anything in the medical field. nothing else was allowed. they always disregarded your dreams and forced you to live the way they wanted you to. they’re always comparing you to their friends’ children too. like “so-and-so got accepted to one of the top universities. why aren’t you putting in more effort to be like him?” “so-and-so got all 100s on her report card, why aren’t you putting in more effort to be like her?”

•”why aren’t you putting in more effort to” was a phrase that you constantly heard throughout your life. they were never satisfied with your accomplishments. whenever you get high 90s on anything, they ask why didn’t you get 100s. they always say you don’t put in enough effort or you’re doing things half-heartedly when you really work as hard, if not harder, than the highest achievers. even when you get academic awards, they say “that’s how it should be”

•all you want is for them to acknowledge your achievements even if it’s just ONCE

•so when you got to college, you decided to go to one that was far from your home

•it also so happened to be the one your best friend, chengcheng, was going to, so you were more than content. you chose to be a pharmaceutical sciences major to satisfy your parents’ wish, but chose to try out for the dance team so you had something you were interested in in college. you wanted to join in your first year of college, but it was full ///:

•but not anymore !!

•so! onto auditions

•it was set to be in the afternoon exactly a week after the first semester began, and chengcheng went with you for support, but also because another good friend of his would be there

•you sat in one of the seats as you waited for your turn, and everyone was really talented so you were lowkey Shook™ and wanted to run away bc there’s no way that you can win against them?? but chengcheng wouldn’t let you

•when it was finally your turn, you were like !!!! the whole time you walked onto the stage. it’s not like you lacked confidence or anything, you were just nervous........cause y’kno......one of the judges was none other than THE ding zeren

•you’ve always watched him dance at festivals and you admired him a lot. not only did he have good as hECK looks, but he was such a skilled dancer

•but hey, you weren’t the only one admiring him. bc at one of the festivals, he was walking around w the dance team when he noticed you at your group’s stand selling snacks and his heart skipped a beat bc ?? you’re so beautiful ??? who are you ??? and before he could go to you, zzt pulled him away saying that they needed to prepare to perform soon. so today, he was determined to find out who you are and talk to you. but then he looked at your application form and was surprised bc ?? a pharmaceutical major?? joining the dance team???? everyone that auditioned so far were dance majors or fine arts majors. so as cute as you were, he was ready to complain to ting about how they’re gonna waste their time by watching your performance bc he really wasn’t expecting you to know how to dance, but no he froze the second you started moving. you were so graceful ??? and you controlled all of your movements so well. you hit every beat of the song and you gained more confidence as you danced

•soon, it was over and zeren over here was like :O

•so were all the other dance team members tbh

•cause, as yixing would’ve said, you had the balance

•they all unanimously agreed to recruit you

•after a couple more people performed, the dance members got together to choose the last person to join. then, zhengting came up on the stage. “thank you to all of you for showing your interest in joining our dance team!! you all are very talented, but sadly, we can only choose two members” he proceeded to give a little speech about how they shouldn’t give up even if they aren’t selected and that they should try again next time. when he finally announced the names, you were on the edge of your seat with your hand tightly holding chengcheng’s. “the first member we are accepting is.......zhou yanchen!” the auditorium erupted in applauds, and it took a few minutes for it to die down. “and the last member is....” you could only vaguely hear your name bc chengcheng immediately started screaming and jumped out of his seat. “I TOLD YOU THAT YOU’D MAKE IT I’M SO PROUD OF YOU” he’s such a precious kid i love him. lots of people were applauding for you too. you were still in shock when chengcheng shook you and nodded his head towards the stage, indicating you were supposed to be going up. you quickly stood up and nearly tripped as you made your way to the stage. you and yanchen bowed to the audience and judges before thanking them. the whole time, zeren couldn’t take his eyes off of you. he was awestruck by your talent and on top of that, you were gorgeous bro

•after auditions, chengcheng ran up onto the stage where you still stood, talking to yanchen. you saw him running up and expected him to go to you,, but nope he turned the opposite way and went up to zeren

•was he the friend that chengcheng was talking about??? THE ding zeren is friends with your idiot chengcheng?????? you were frozen as you stood there, staring at chengcheng and zeren speaking

•you only snapped out of it when zhengting came and started to tell you and yanchen more details about practice

•fast forward to a week later

•spring was coming !!! meaning that the spring festival was coming soon!! fun activities !!! cool performances !!!! gOoD fOoD !!!!!!!!

•so it’s been a decent amount of time since you were accepted, so you became fairly close with all of the members, especially yanchen and chengxiao. you and zeren only had small talk every now and then about the choreography, when practices were, or something stupid that chengcheng did recently

•anw back to the festival! the committee in charge of getting the festival ready decided bring back the romance concept. cause y’kno like flowers, love blossoms during the spring. i’m so poetic

•for the acts, you guys decided to send three groups to perform a medley of couple dances

•the pairings were chengxiao and zhengting, jieqiong and yanchen, and............you and zeren

•you were surprised when zhengting announced the pairings.........bc omg you were gonna dance with ding zeren..........to a couple song !!!!!!!!

•zhengting said the names were randomly chosen but he’s a liar he lowkey thought you two would look cute together but he totally wasn’t planning on telling anyone that. zeren was hoping you’d be his partner too tbh so the boy was thrilled to hear his name being called with yours. he’d been wanting to get to know you more but he never knew what to say or was too shy. but he managed to muster up the courage to ask if you were free that weekend to come up with a choreography

•you were super excited bro

•but had to come off chill so you were like oh,,,, yeah sure

•but on the inside you were screaming with joy

•when the weekend came, zeren knocked on your door. taking a deep breath, you checked your reflection in the mirror quickly before opening the door. you smiled and greeted him as he greeted you back, flashing a grin that exposed his dimples. your heart almost jumped out of your chest because wow he’s so adorable and good-looking??? he was dressed in sweatpants and a normal t-shirt.......but still....how can someone look so good???? you probably looked like a bum

•that’s not what zeren thought though. he thought you looked pretty with your hair tied up, a couple of loose strands framing your face. his gaze went down to your lips and noticed the shade of lipstick you applied was slightly lighter than what you usually had on before they quickly went back up to your eyes. neither of you realized you were just staring at each other until your roommate coughed, making you both flustered before zeren spoke up

•��oh, uh, ready to go?”

•“yeah! let’s go”

•so you both headed over to the practice room. it was kind of an awkward walk bc neither of you knew what to say nor have you been alone together. but halfway there, zeren decided to ask you something he’s been curious about

•“so...how come you’re not a dance major?”

•”ah...my parents didn’t want me to choose that. they wanted me to have a medical profession. it’s fine though, as long as they’re happy.”

•he noticed the hint of sadness in your voice as you said the last sentence, so he chose not to question you further. upon arriving at the practice room, you guys jumped right into it. first, you needed to choose a song. you and zeren looked through a list of songs prepared by ting and didn’t take long to settle with say you won’t let go by james arthur. as you listened to the song, your bodies flowed with the melody. but since this is a love song...........you had to be fairly intimate......and the thing is....... you were both flustered messes. you were either tripping over your own feet or you stepped onto each other’s feet. but overall, you guys were doing well, like you got most of what you needed down. so, you decided to call it a day and head back to your dorm rooms. as you were going back, you debated whether you should ask zeren to join you for dinner since it was already 7pm, but before you opened your mouth, zeren invited you to go to a restaurant with him. the restaurant that he took you to was relatively small and close to campus. as soon as you walked in, you were greeted by a warm aroma of freshly cooked noodles. an elderly woman, whom you assumed was the owner, cheerfully welcomed you in and led you to a table. she took your orders and before she left, she commented that this was the first time zeren came in with a girl and not his rowdy friends, causing zeren to groan and usher her to go away. she only smiled innocently before disappearing into the kitchen. shortly after, she came out with two bowls of noodles

•and it was love at first sight because they looked SO GOOD and after you finished drooling over the food, you tasted it and the taste was even better than its appearance like omg where has this restaurant been all my life. and as you ate your food, zeren started to ask you questions like “when did you start to dance?” and “why do you like to dance?” and once you gave your answers, he’d share his own answers before you asked him some questions

•and this went back and forth until both your bowls were empty. you could feel yourself opening up more with each question and the same thing goes for zeren. zeren hasn’t been able to feel this comfortable around someone that he wasn’t close to before. he really enjoyed being in your company and wished he had talked to you sooner afterwards, he walked you to your dorm before going to his own

•during the next couple of days, you and zeren spent more time together in the practice room (and quickly finished the choreo) and inevitably grew closer. as that happened, you started to notice that you’d see him around campus more often. one morning, you walked by his lecture room and saw him standing outside. you asked him why he didn’t go in and he answered that his teacher was late so he just waited outside. this continued every morning though like you’d see him just standing there on his phone or looking through a notebook, and when you walked by he’d always greet you with a smile and ask if you slept well or make some kind of small talk

•and you’d be lying if you said that wasn’t your favorite way to start your mornings

•he gave you coffee once saying that they messed up his order so he got another coffee for free but for some reason the “messed up” coffee was exactly how you liked your coffee so you were like ???

•other times, you’d pass by him on campus and he’d always wave enthusiastically with both hands no matter how far he was from you and honestly that’s just the cutest thing ever. or he would end the conversation with whoever he was talking to and then run over to you and ask where you were going next and he’d walk with you to your next class

•one morning, you walked by zeren’s class and didn’t see him. you thought that he must’ve just overslept, so you continued to your class. but afterwards, you still didn’t see him at the usual spots that he’d be hanging around, so you decided to call him, but he didn’t pick up. when you saw one of his friends walk by, you asked if he’s seen zeren but he said he hasn’t seen him since yesterday afternoon. worried, you decided to head over to his dorm to see if he was there. as you were walking to his dorm, it started to rain. you cursed under your breath as you began to run to the dormitory, but you still ended up getting soaked. upon arriving, you walked down the hallway, unsure which room was his. probably should’ve thought of that before coming but anw. as you continued down the hall, chengcheng came out of one of the rooms and saw you. “HEY, IT’S Y/N! wait, are you okay? you might catch a cold like that”

•”i’m fine! don’t worry. have you seen zeren? i haven’t seen him all morning and he wasn’t picking up my calls so i wanted to check if he was okay”

•”have you checked the library? he was having trouble sleeping last night so he went there”

•”oh, i’ll go there now. thanks” and you turned to leave but then started sneezing continuously. chengcheng took off his hoodie and threw it over your head

•”put that on. you’re already getting sick” and you thanked him again before pulling it over your head and going to the library. chengcheng just watched you leave and sighed. “they obviously like each other but they’re too dumb to realize it”

•when you got to the library, you went all around it but couldn’t find him. as you were leaving, you bumped into zhengting. you asked if he’s seen zeren, and he replied that zeren just woke up and is heading over to his class now. you were relieved to hear that he was okay, but now you were concerned about yourself because you were shivering and constantly sneezing. zhengting offered to take you to the infirmary or get some medicine for you bc he’s an angel but you declined and said that you should head to class now. anyways after all your classes were over, you went over to the practice room to rehearse. zeren came slightly later than the planned time, and you noticed that he wasn’t his usual upbeat self. like he greeted you half-heartedly and there was just a negative aura surrounding him. and you would’ve tried to cheer him up but you honestly had no stamina left like you really should’ve taken some medicine before coming

•and because of your lack of stamina, you began getting frustrated because you were constantly half a beat off. you could tell zeren was feeling frustrated too but he was trying to hold it in. but as soon as you stepped on his foot for the third time that day, he couldn’t control it anymore. “what’s wrong with you? why aren’t you putting any effort into this? is it because it’s not your major so you don’t care?” you would’ve been fine if he had only said the last sentence. but no his first sentences hit you hard, because memories of all the times that your parents said that to you came rushing back. you immediately grabbed your things and rushed out of the practice room, leaving zeren there alone. his frustration dissipated when he saw the upset expression on your face as you left. he let out a sigh as he went to the back of the room and sat down, leaning against the wall. not too long after you left, chengcheng came running in looking for you

•”where’s y/n??”

•“oh...she just left. why?”

•“i have some medicine for her cold. she was running all over the place looking for you even though it was pouring outside”

•and that’s when it hit him. you got sick while you were worrying about him, and yet you were trying your best to practice

•and he even yelled at you. feeling guilty, he grabbed the medicine from chengcheng and ran out of the practice room

•chengcheng just froze there and stared at his hand

•like bro what just happened

•zeren ran out of the performing arts building but then stopped. where could you have gone?? he contemplated calling you but he doubted you’d pick up. then, he remembered about the place you’d always go to when something upset you

•the rooftop

•the boy nearly flew up the stairs at the speed that he was running at. when he opened the door, he found you sitting with your back against the wall, one earbud in your ear, and your eyes closed. he took in a deep breath as he slowly approached you. you were slightly startled when you felt something nudge you, but relaxed when you saw it was zeren. “uh...hey. here’s your medicine”

•“oh, thanks”

•you were quiet as he explained, slowly starting to feel bad for storming out on him after how badly his day was going. you forgave him, saying that you understood why he acted that way after all that he went through before explaining exactly why you were upset by what he said. he listened attentively as you talked about your parents and all the expectations they had for you, and how they always dismissed it when you met those expectations, and how they were never supportive of you. he apologized again before pulling you into a hug, mumbling how he never meant to hurt you like that, or at all for that matter. you were surprised at first, but quickly returned the hug. zeren decided that there was no way that you could practice in this condition, so he took you back to your dorm. he came back not too long after leaving and brought you a bowl of noodle soup. you expected him to leave afterwards because you were more than thankful that he was that thoughtful, but no he invited himself in saying “my mom said that you should never leave a sick person alone so here i am. let’s watch a movie”

•and that’s how your roommate walked in to a sleeping you and zeren wrapped in a blanket and snuggling on the couch with hercules still playing and an empty bowl on the table

•she def took pictures for future references, and you were both embarrassed messes when she woke you up

•a couple days before the festival, you were completely well again and the three groups practiced together. everything went smoothly and you were all satisfied with how it went. on d-day, you were slightly nervous because this was the first time that you would be performing in front of such a hUGE crowd. but everyone in the dance team especially zeren reassured you that you would do great. after watching a couple of the performances, it was finally your group’s turn. the performance went so much better than you expected. like as soon as you stepped onto the stage, your nervousness melted away. the crowd loved the performance too like they were cheering louder than they did for the other ones

•so yeah!! spring fest performance was a big success, and zeren decided to ask you to go to disney to celebrate with him

•and of course you agreed

•and yanchen overheard him inviting you and he was like wow we used to be best buddies how could u leave me out

•unofficial date at disney!

part two

[lebilliam]

Hey sirmcartney asked me to do this

I’d rather be doing this over my school ish anyways :’)

Ask me some questions!

3 Fears: Ghosts :((( , fat insects , failing stuff 

3 things I love: i fukin love talking to my friends and hanging out , listening to music that i havent heard in forever, and that post workout glow 

2 turns on: i can send them memes :) , i can laugh and not give a heck with them

2 turns off: i cant send them memes :( , being mean to me (im sensitive af)

My best friend: zoo wee this is a hard one but id prob say logan or brian or adam or morgan or alex. take ur pick. (morgan and logan tbh)

Sexual orientation: str8 

How tall am I: 5′9″ according to my ID

What do I miss right now: intimacy

Favourite color: orange!!!!!

Do I have a crush: ;)

Favourite place: currently ive been digging the imagination room

What am I listening to right now: affection // Cigarettes After Sex

Shoe size: it varies on the brand but normally 9.5 or 10? idk im bad

Eye color: brown

Hair color: black 

Meaning behind my URL: its bc i wanted a recognizable alias that i could use across platforms 

Favourite song: i always say liztomania by phoenix

Favourite band: Maroon 5 fanboy here but ive been a fan of Cigarettes after Sex for a while now

How I feel right now: STRESSED and ANGERY

Someone I love: myself (kinda)

My current relationship status: 

My relationship with my parents: we dont really talk that much but good i think?

Favourite season: oof i like the heat but im gonna say winter bc i get to be emo and i can go walk on fresh snow 

Tattoos and piercing i have: none atm

Tattoos and piercing i want: hmmm idk if i want anything big but i always thought the track shoe/wing thing would be nice

The reasons I joined Tumblr: all my friends had it so i thought i would be cool if i made one

Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?: i have gotten some before and i appreciate them 

Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?: the last person i texted? surprisingly no

How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?: depends if i shower but i can get going in ~4-5 minutes

Have you shaved your legs in the past three days?: nope!

Where am I right now?: imagination room!

Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? hell yea who doesnt

Do I live with my Mom and Dad? not atm im chillin #dormlife

Am I excited for anything?: excited for the weekend

Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? hell to the yea of course

How often do I wear a fake smile?: everytime i feel weird around people idk usually i wouldnt say i smile that much unless im gooning 

If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?: I believe that the world will introduce me to people when i need it (lame answer: idk anyone but maybe like my friends’ friends)

What do I think about most? this week it’s been the french essay i had to write but overall i think about being appreciated 

Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? id be on both sides if i could but if i had to pick one id totally be in front

What was the last lie I told? oh haha i dont know (but i do know)

Do I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online? PHONE CALLS

Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Hell yea what else am i supposed to be afraid of. aliens are super cool man of course i think theyre real

Do I believe in magic? NOPE! but theres been some crazy magic tricks where i almost believe but then i see the “how it’s done” video for it

Do I believe in luck? hell yea of course! why would it not exist? 

What’s the weather like right now? ughgh it’s disappointingly hot 

What was the last book I’ve read? Huis Clos by Jean Paul Sartre (i had to read it for class but it really is a great work of art)

Do I have any nicknames? B, Lil B(ones i have heard the most) Billiam, Broletariate Biu (my mom calls me that), (billy bear is an old one and i dont know why they ever used it in the first place), goomph, toad, frog, ugly ass, nerd, dork, dingus

Do I spend money or save it? i spend it haha kms i really need to save more efficiently

Can I touch my nose with a tounge?: nope just tried and looked like a fool

Favourite animal? oof i want to say dogs but thats basic but dogs are so loving like i dont get it how do they do it

What was I doing last night at 12 AM?: i was up and i was emo. jk i was hanging out and watching bad Freshman xxl cyphers

What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? Get Low by lil Jon or Faded (the remix) or change your mind by the killers. im gonna go ahead and say that change your mind gets my shit hyped UP

What is my favorite word? satiation

My top 5 blogs on tumblr: idk if im going to be honest i dont really use tumblr that much for personal blogs but i do love foodporn, til, ruined childhood

If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? love each other. 

Do I have any relatives in jail? i dont think so? oh jk theyre not really a relative but they’re a close family friend’s relative

What is my current desktop picture? FUKIN FUNCTIONAL GROUPS THAT I DONT EVER KNOW OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD EVEN THOUGH THERES A TEST IN 10.25 HOURS

Had sex? ye

Bought condoms? ye

Gotten pregnant? cant really say that i have :p

Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? yes

Had job? yep! summer job at the zoo which was cool af

Smoked weed? once or twice 

Smoked cigarettes? never.nope.disgusting

Drank alcohol? yes

Am I a vegetarian/vegan? i tried being vegetarian for a bit but then i wasnt eating enough red meat

Been overweight? as a kid i feel like i was overly big but now that i think about it i dont think i was fat

Been underweight? definitely

Gotten my heart broken? homeboy who hasnt?

Been to prom? yeep

Been in airplane? yeep

Learned another language? heck yes! english kek and im in the process of learning french. i tried learning lithuanian after a life changing experience. 

Wore make up? surprisingly no

Dyed my hair? nope! i dont want to bleach my hair

Had a surgery? uhhh does laser surgery count? bc ive had 3 so far and i might have more

Met someone famous? every time i walk by a mirror ;) jk i met the senator of WA and the mayor of Tacoma a couple times

Stalked someone on a social network? pfft hell yes

Been fishing? yep! it’s always an experience

Been rejected by a crush? rip me yes

What do I want for birthday? i want to have a nice get together with friends where we do stuff that i dont have to pay for (but i dont think thats how life works anymore)

Do I like my handwriting? I love it in pen and when i hit my ecrivain stride, but otherwise when my hands get sweaty its just a fkin mess 

Where do I want to live when older? i’ve always said paris, but zaragoza spain wouldnt be too bad!

Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? yea boi

What I’m really bad at: believing in myself 

What my greatest achievments are: i was a smart kid in elementary! i got some awards for getting good grades and i went to a competitive thing for piano once and i placed a couple times in some random races ive run

The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me: oof i dont want to really relive that experience

What I’d do if I won in a lottery: id ask /r/personalfinance 

What do I like about myself: id like to think im gaining/losing healthy weight

My closest Tumblr friend: on tumblr?? idk i said i dont really use tumblr for friends but i’d probably say memequeen or sirmccartney

Any question you’d like? when am i going to meet up with my RA? no one knows idk i forgot about our meeting and hes really cool about rescheduling so i might do it this saturday

Are you outgoing or shy? it really depends on how im feeling but id like to think im pretty outgoing!

What kind of people are you attracted to? NICE FRIENDly people who can laugh. laughing is important to me

Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? personally i think yes

Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? nope!

Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? @thoseloverseyes most def

What does the most recent text that you sent say? “haha and then what ;)” jk it says” thank”

What are your 5 favorite songs right now? boy oh boy am i not ready for this question. Id think “this love, maroon 5″, humble (its a bop), “the air that i breathe, “open - rhye”, and rollin by calvin harris or this house by japaense breakfast idk the last one always changes

Do you like it when people play with your hair? i had a weird experience once but idk i think im willing to let other people touch my hair? not a fan 

Do you think there is life on other planets?of course. this topic is not up for debate. just bc our defition of life has not been found that does not mean that there is not life in other places where we are either 1) not looking or 2) life that we cant recognize due to our weird weird obsession with water like life does not have to use water as a conduit for essential functions

well that was fun and id say it took some time. it def got me feeling better about life. 7.8/10 i would do it again but im sweaty af from this hot ass room

peace!

[theclaravoyant]

Huntingbird for the ship ask

lol these two… (send me a ship)

who hogs the duvet

Hunter. He moves around a lot more when he sleeps than Bobbi does. Plus, what can he say, he’s a fan of not freezing his ass off.

who texts/rings to check how their day is going

Bobbi sometimes contacts Hunter to see if he’s alive, but Hunter has always been the more forward of the two when it comes to general expressions of love. Of course they often end up bickering and being annoyed (sometimes pretend, sometimes less pretend) but at least they know everything’s normal that way :)

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts

Bobbi. Hunter claims he’s tried but she’s too picky, to which Bobbi rolls her eyes, but yes, she is better than him at creative & impressive gifts. She listens to him more than he thinks she does.

who gets up first in the morning

Bobbi, because she believes in routine and exercise. Hunter can function in the morning when necessary, heck he’s a trained army man, but if he’s not being called to task by a drill sergeant the morning can pretty much get bent most of the time.

who suggests new things in bed

Hm, I think they have pretty even footing on this one. They’ve both lived some pretty adventurous lifestyles that might incline them to try ~new things~. I do feel like Bobbi initiates a lot of it though; I feel like she likes to challenge herself and experiment (ba dum tsh) while Hunter’s more of the “I’ll try anything once” kinda guy

who cries at movies

Neither of them are particularly comfortable with doing it and I think they can both shut themselves off if they’re getting too emotional, but if they’re feeling particularly safe and raw at the same time I think both or either of them could have a bit of a cry. They’ve been through some shit those two.

who gives unprompted massages

Hunter. He has nearly had his hand broken a couple of times so now he tries to make sure they’re not too unprompted, but he knows Bob is a stressed little bean and doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it, so he does what he can.

who fusses over the other when they’re sick

Bobbi. She likes the bragging rights of claiming that Hunter’s a whiny baby, but also, it’s something she ‘knows how to do’ where she feels she struggles with other displays of affection.

who gets jealous easiest

Ooh, that’s interesting. I think they both get jealous in different ways. Hunter knows their relationship has been unstable in the past so if Bobbi’s flirting/being flirted with or being secretive he can get a bit angry and insecure. Meanwhile, Bobbi knows she’s not as emotionally available as she feels like she should be, so if Hunter’s getting close to someone she sometimes struggles with that. I think Hunter’s comes out as more visibly jealous though.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music

Bobbi, probably? Hunter probably has a stable favourite collection of like, classic rock or something, while Bobbi’s music tastes are all over the place. That’s not to say she’s embarassed by it, but Hunter definitely is. Although they do both enjoy picking super cringeworthy songs for karaoke and cringing it up.

who collects something unusual

Neither of them collect much, but Hunter has a few pieces of religious iconography that nobody expects him to have.

who takes the longest to get ready

Bobbi. Lookin that fine while also being 500% ready to kick ass at all times takes some mad skill

who is the most tidy and organised

Bobbi. Neither of them have that much stuff, but Bobbi is also a scientist whose career has depended on her organisational skills. Hunter can make a bed in like 1 minute but in terms of general life skills, Bobbi.

who gets most excited about the holidays

Hunter. He’s always been a big fan of relaxing, and much better at it than Bobbi, so the holidays actually mean something to him whereas she carries her stress around so she doesn’t have as much fun sometimes.

who is the big spoon/little spoon

Bobbi’s usually the big spoon, bc she’s a squillion ft tall, but sometimes if she’s having a super hard time, Hunter’s the big spoon. He usually takes it seriously and everyone’s super soft and it’s great.

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports

BOBBI. OH MY GOD. I mean they both have a pretty strong competitive streak but Hunter also has major heart-eyes which can make him vulnerable to being distracted. Bobbi is on top of her game and she will kick whosever’s ass is necessary

who starts the most arguments

Hunter. Bobbi’s more of an “ugh, whatever” kind of person whereas Hunter has a strong sense of justice, a loud voice, and a sense of irritability like nobody’s business.

who suggests that they buy a pet

Hunter, and it’s a dog, and it’s a PTSD therapy dog, bc therapy dogs are awesome and they could totally both use one. As could their squad of pstd suffering friends.

what couple traditions they have

They always ‘celebrate’ their birthdays, even if they’re not together. If they’re especially pissed at each other, or on a mission, they may not actually contact the other person, but they always do a little something. On the other hand, they don’t celebrate anniversaries, bc their relationship is a mess and it’s impossible to keep track of.

Plus ofc “don’t die out there.”

what tv shows they watch together

Pretty much anything, it depends what they’re in the mood for. They’re a big fan of criticising stuff they watch though. And I don’t think Bobbi’s a huge fan of football/soccer.

what other couple they hang out with

FitzSimmons probably.

how they spend time together as a couple

Mostly trying not to die? They’re also big fans of sex, arguments (including the good kind, coz those do exist), cooking together and complaining about/false commentating/etc. movies.

who made the first move

Hmmmm Bobbi probably?

who brings flowers home

Hunter, mostly so that he can make “honey I’m home” jokes even when they live in super dangerous or otherwise non-domestic scenarios like say a secret military base underground

who is the best cook

Neither of them are amazing, they’re both pretty functional, but Hunter can make a few dishes really well, so I’d go with him.

[jae-bummer]

My Idol: Part Thirteen

My Idol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Idol is a South Korean competitive reality dating game show. It currently airs on Wednesday nights on Jae-bummer’s blog. First broadcast in 2016, the show offers the opportunity for a lucky fan to go on seven blind dates with seven idols. The idol plans the date with the show throwing in specific missions to complete during the day. At the end of the initial dates, the show opens up an audience vote to decide what three idols will move on to the second date.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22

A shiver ran down your spine as you exited the large SUV. Winter and spring argued in the air before you, smacking a vicious wind against your cheeks, and causing your eyes to water. Similar to the battle going on between your mind and heart. the weather around you was filled with turmoil, unsure of what it really wanted. It was supposed to be the beginnings of spring, but winter seemed to carelessly inhibit it’s attempt at growing. The cherry blossom trees lining the street you had parked on made a desperate attempt at blooming, but they seemed stunted. You knew the feeling.

Gnawing on your bottom lip, you wiped your moist palms against your jeans. You didn’t bother to turn as Sweaty and Armpit huffed out of the vehicle behind you, considering they were now a constant fixture in your life. It was strange, having two grotesquely large men follow you around with cameras...and having it becoming a normalized situation. 

Then again, the whole concept of the past few weeks was strange, and you were just as desensitized to that. You remembered the initial feeling of joy, panic, and nausea as you stood waiting for your first idol. At this point you almost felt guilty as you stood, waiting for the seventh man of this journey to greet you, feeling a sense of relief. The initial dates would be complete soon, and you wouldn’t be burdened with first impressions and shy hellos. The six idols you had met thus far made you feel things you weren’t aware you were capable of feeling. You had become all too familiar with fear, with distain, with confusion, with surprise, with joy. Your brain had been processing so many emotions, no wonder it was in a constant argument with your heart. 

You stood before a building comprised of glass windows and doors. You shifted your weight, crossed your arms, and tried to be patient. Searching each small window for any sign of a face, you finally gave up and began to look at your shoes again, allowing yourself to dive back into your thoughts. 

Your mind launched from fragment to fragment, attempting to relive each date until this point. It seemed like it had been an eternity since your first, since you were greeted by the sight of Im Jaebum. Closing your eyes, if you focused hard enough, you could almost smell his cologne as if you were once again enclosed in his coat. You had felt warm and nervous, pressed tightly to his body and your lips still hot from your accidental kiss. They weren’t nearly as hot as your face though, when it had been inches from Taehyung’s on your second date. Your lips nearly touching as you both nibbled on a churro after your first and only failure at a mission. Dating Taehyung had felt like spending time with an old friend you had rekindled a romance with. This was the complete opposite when reflecting on your date with Jay, the meddling ex-idol rapper who had completely enticed you by his actions following his date. You had initially felt something similar to disgust after your first exchange, but even up until Sehun’s date, he couldn’t seem to leave you alone...and you weren’t necessary upset by it. 

Jooheon’s date was a welcomed relaxation following the roller coaster that was your time with Jay. You had never felt so relaxed with an idol than you had with Jooheon. He felt comfortable, like a sweater you had bought at the end of winter season and rediscovered again the following fall. And speaking of fall...fall you did during Seunghyun’s date, but not nearly in the way you had ever expected. You had made a complete fool of yourself, allowing your thoughts to scream louder than your words as you fled from what could have been the most connected you had ever felt to another human being in something as short as a day. And then you were left to clean up the initial impression of yourself as you met Sehun, your sixth idol. You had both been awkward initially, but the feeling melted away as time passed. It was the epitome of first date, down to the anxious butterflies and flirting. You thought back to Sehun dropping you off on your doorstep shortly after you had enjoyed coffee with a couple nearly twice your age...

“I don’t want to stress you,” Sehun sighed, reaching your doorstep. “So I won’t ask for a kiss...or for you to wait for me for an extended period of time while I join the military.”

“Sehun,” you groaned, closing your eyes as a nauseous feeling swept your stomach. 

“What? I’m not talking about the show,” Sehun smiled with a shit-eating grin. “I’m simply citing an example of things men have asked women. This isn’t The Notebook, Y/N. This is My Idol.”

“What is your point Sehunnie,” you sighed, crossing your arms. 

“My point is, if the audience picks me, I will be so incredibly excited,” Sehun whispered, pulling you into his arms and setting his chin on your head. “But if they don’t, I’ll be okay. And you’ll be okay. And this will be an experience we both had and can laugh about someday...just don’t worry so much.”

“Sehun-” you sighed, attempting to look up at him, but he pulled you closer. 

“I’m not done,” he chuckled. You felt him shift to look at one of the cameras. “Did I say I was done speaking? Aigoo, this kid.”

You groaned into his sweater, stomping your foot as you accepted your wool prison. 

“This is completely out of your hands,” he continued. “And my hands. Did I mention how capable my hands are?” 

You groaned again, trying to urge the man before you to finish his point. 

“Alright, alright,” he laughed. He kissed your forehead lightly before retreating, his long fingers intertwining in yours as he pulled away. “Just don’t stress too much. Your face is too pretty for wrinkles.” 

You heaved a sigh as you opened your eyes again, still alone in front of the mirrored windows that made up the large building before you. You looked cautiously over your shoulder to Sweaty and Armpit who were speaking quietly to each other. Sehun was right. You shouldn’t stress. 

Which was easy enough to say when you were alone. 

Your head snapped forward as you heard the spring of a door activate, launching open and outward from the mirrored building. A handsome man hustled out of it and toward you, a beautiful grin placed on his perfectly proportioned face. 

“I’m late,” he admitted, standing before you with a sad smile. “Well...I mean, technically I’m Mingyu, but I’m also late.”

You chuckled at his corny joke, nodding as he spoke. His voice was pleasant, his words falling from his lips with little thought or concern. You couldn’t help yourself as you looked up and down the man, from his perfectly styled hair to his perfectly coordinated clothing. He exuded a confidence you hadn’t quite experienced before. He was the youngest idol you had dated thus far, so his self-assurance was endearing. 

“You ready?” he hummed, directing his chin toward the building behind him. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” you sighed, nodding to yourself again. Mingyu smiled warmly at you before taking your hand into his. You were surprised by his action so early on, but he took it in stride. He didn’t seem to have any reservations as he moved forward, tugging you toward the door he had just emerged from. 

“Not to make this completely awkward,” he sighed, pulling open the door and motioning for you to enter. “But do you know what group I’m a member of?”

“Well, I didn’t know this was going to be a pop quiz...Ming-goop was it?” you chuckled, shooting a wink at him. “You’re a rapper in Seventeen, but don’t think I’m a fan or anything.”

MIngyu laughed loudly, his happiness radiating down the empty hallways he led you through. “Of course you’re a fan. More specifically, I’d like to think your my fan. Am I your favorite?”

“Sure,” you nodded with a grin. 

“That was convincing,” he chuckled. “Even if I wasn’t your favorite, you’re kind of forced into telling me I am.”

“Am not,” you argued. “Matter of fact, I have no reservations about letting you know that The8 is my favorite.”

“Pfft, okay,” Mingyu laughed, looking over his shoulder at you. “I’m everyone’s favorite.”

Your eyes grew wide as you watched the boy before you continue to navigate the building. “Oh?”

“Don’t lie, you have my poster taped to your ceiling,” MIngyu teased. “Right above your bed so I’m the last thing you see at night.”

“Is that why you’re so tall?” you gasped. “To fit all of that ego?”

You were enjoying your banter with MIngyu as you continued down hallway after hallway, each one more grey and dimly lit than the next. You had no idea where you were or where you were going, but with your ease of interaction with MIngyu, you didn’t really care. 

“I just seem tall to those that are vertically challenged,” he nodded. “Such as yourself.”

“Vertically challenged?” you croaked. “I’m not even that short...”

“But I’ll admit,” he smiled. “You are pretty cute.”

“Of course I’m pretty cute,” you grumbled, pouting a bit from his previous comment. “I had to be pretty cute if they were sending me off to get kidnapped by idols. Where the heck are we going by the way?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Mingyu laughed. 

“Well yes, I would like to know,” you nodded. “That’s why I’ve asked.”

“Patience,” MIngyu sighed, finally reaching another door. He kept his hand hovering over the doorknob before turning to you dramatically. “Are you ready to find out our date location?”

“I don’t understand where the mental block is coming from, I literally just asked-” you muttered, but MIngyu cut you off. 

“I took you in through the back way for dramatic effect...but we’re...” he pulled open the small wooden door with entirely too much force, causing it to slam into the wall behind it. A crowd of people stood on the opposite side, shooting wary looks to the tall boy before going about their business. You looked around quickly, trying to identify your surroundings before Mingyu spoke the words. 

“The aquarium!” 

Your face broke out into an instant grin as you looked from the brightly colored fish banners back to the boy beside you. Pride glowed from his face as he looked back down at you. “How do you feel about really large fish and aquatic mammals?”

“Positively,” you nodded, nearly skipping out of the door. 

“They have sixteen different themed zones,” Mingyu nodded, the electricity of excitement emitting from his body. His fingers squeezed yours as he spoke, the smile never leaving his face. “But before that, I advise we get a fish ice cream. Snacks are very important on a first date.”

If you were an anime character, your eyes would have transformed into hearts as you stared up at him. “I couldn’t agree more.”

In the past couple of weeks, you had forgotten how fun simple experiences could be if you let your guard down from time to time. Maybe it was because you were on your last first date of the season, or maybe it was Mingyu’s laid back attitude, but you felt completely at ease as you strolled between the tanks. 

You bit at the fish shaped ice cream Mingyu had bought you, your free hand still encased in Mingyu’s fingers. He wasn’t afraid to keep ahold of you, making sure everyone in the nearby vicinity knew you were together, and were indeed on a date. 

“My date’s cute, isn’t she?” Mingyu had asked the aquarium worker selling the ice creams. Your face had grown hot from the sudden comment. The worker nodded politely, reaching deep into the freezer to attain the food before MIngyu could make the situation anymore awkward. “But I’m cute too, right?”

You had lost it at that point, dissolving into a fit of giggles as you stood beside the young man. The freezer worker, a young man himself, immediately looked up at Mingyu, his cheeks growing red. Even simply thinking of the story caused you to chuckle quietly to yourself. 

“They’re funny looking, aren’t they?” MIngyu sighed, standing behind you and placing his arm lightly around your shoulder. Unlike other dates where you had felt overtly aware of any sort of body contact with your date, Mingyu’s motions felt right. His arm around you wasn’t a surprise that caused anxiousness in your stomach, but a welcomed sign of affection you didn’t know you had craved. You were unsure as to why you were feeling this way, but you weren’t going to begin to question it. You hadn’t found solace in weeks, and if being at an aquarium with Mingyu calmed you, who were you to ruin the experience for yourself? As you stood in front of building that morning, you had nearly ruled MIngyu out before he even had the chance to begin. 

“You can’t say that about yourself. I know the glass is reflective, but-” you began, speaking slowly for optimum annoyance. He pursed his lips before taking a large bite of his ice cream. 

“I could do with less sass,” Mingyu finally grumbled after swallowing. 

“Mission,” Sweaty sighed, pushing a red envelope in you and Mingyu’s direction. You sighed to yourself, suddenly being brought to an awareness you wanted to ignore. You were on a reality television dating show. 

Mingyu cautiously took the envelope from Sweaty’s hand and shoved the rest of his fish ice cream into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully before wiping his fingers on his jeans and taking the envelope into both hands. 

“Not to jump to conclusions,” he sighed, looking at you warily. “But we’re at an aquarium. This could get bad.”

“I’m not swimming with sharks,” you said bluntly, looking to the two camera men. 

“I agree,” MIngyu nodded. “No matter how good I look in a wetsuit.”

You rolled your eyes, snatching the unopened envelope from Mingyu. You slid your finger beneath the seal and pulled the mission card out, only to have him pluck the piece of paper from your hands. 

“Under the Sea! Venture to the Deep Blue Sea Tunnel. Once there, count the number of sharks swimming above your head. Finish in three guesses and escape the penalty.”

“Mingyu...” you sighed, tilting your head. “How big is the deep blue sea tunnel?”

Mingyu groaned, looking up from the mission card and to your face. “Big.” 

“Is that the scientific measurement?” you chuckled, shaking your head. 

“What did you want me to say?” Mingyu sighed. “Millions of gallons of sea water, Y/N. So much sea water that there is no way we’re going to find all of those sharks.”

“Well at least we’re not swimming with them...” you grumbled, shuffling toward the arrows directing you to the next area. 

“Until we don’t finish in three attempts and suffer the penalty,” Mingyu groaned, taking your hand once again. “At least-”

“Yeah, yeah, you look good in a wetsuit.” 

To be continued...

PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6 - PART 7 - PART 8 - PART 9 - PART 10 - PART 11 - PART 12 - PART 13 - PART 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22

[eurolinguiste]

The following post is a guest post from fellow language learner and musician Fiel Sahir. He came to me with this excellent idea on how to apply music study techniques to language learning and I just love what he came up with. 

So take it away, Fiel!

This is it.

Lots of crazy things going on in the world, so it’s time to bring in some positive energy. Let’s make 2017 something worth looking back on.

Losing weight is good, hiking up Everest is always prospect, as is finally getting to those cooking classes. There are always more ideas floating around than we realistically have time for. It’s hard to know what to choose.

Already, it’s February. There’s a pretty good chance that so far, you’re not quite where you want to be with your goals for the new year. Kinda frustrating, isn’t it?

Maybe trying to tackle Mandarin from scratch was too difficult, and now it’s crunch time at work. All those characters! UGH! If only the boss was more lenient so that you’d have a bit more free time. Or maybe you were still just wishing you had a better plan or strategy.

As humans we often tend to think too big. We love to dream about end results as if they were as easy as picking an apple off a tree. It’s easy to forget that there’s work that needs to go on behind the scenes to make those end results a reality.

I’m not saying goals and resolutions are bad. Not at all. It’s a sign that you are a responsible individual and that you want to take charge of your life! The world needs people like you.

The problem is that these goals are often too big.

As the days roll by, life happens. You’ve find your progress up that mountain has halted and you’re frustrated about why you aren’t at the peak yet. You start to wonder if you’ll ever arrive.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy way to learn languages?

What makes ordinary people do great things is not because they themselves were great. Rather, it’s all about how normal people tackle great adversity.

If you’re short on time, and want to get to the specifics there’s a detailed video explaining how things work in this post.

What in the world is chunking?

I’ll let you in on a secret: Just doing something repetitively won’t solve your problems.

Instead, you need to be more mindful of how you spend your study time and develop a series of tactics that work for you. Chunking is a technique that musicians use and I’ve also found it useful in language learning and it may be the right choice for you.

For those of you unfamiliar with chunking, it is the practice of breaking things down into bitesize pieces. Whether you like it or not, your brain can only process a limited amount of information. You cannot absorb everything at once. But if you give it breathing room, the brain can absorb more effectively.

Let’s say you want to go to the US for college. It’s tempting to throw up your hands in desperation exclaiming, “OH MY GOD. I HAVE TO LEARN ENGLISH!!” While that may be your current mountain, take a breath. Do what Benny Lewis the Irish Polyglot does instead:

“Today I need to learn how to introduce myself. Tomorrow I’d like to order a coffee. Hmm… maybe I’d like to talk with a waitress at a café today.”

See how much less pressure that carries? You can even go further still!

You might find something similar to the following dialogue in your course book: Jack: Hey! My name’s Jack. Where are you from? Ann: Oh, hi! I’m Ann. Nice to meet you! I’m from Seattle. Jack: Nice… I’m from Nebraska. It’s a pretty cold place. I hear Seattle gets TONS of rain!

Let’s say this is your first ever English dialogue. What the heck is Nebraska? After looking it up, you breathe a sigh of relief. It’s just a place name.

You naturally read it over and over again from beginning to end and soon find the rhythm in your voice. After having done that multiple times, you realize it’s not sinking in as well as you hoped. You look at it and shake your head thinking, “How can I learn this in the most efficient way possible?”

Spending a lot of time on something doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get anything done…. Click To Tweet

Simple Repetition isn’t the Answer

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Unknown but falsely attributed to Einstein

I recently sat down with a polyglot friend over Skype who wanted some guitar advice before he recorded a video for YouTube.

One of his enduring questions was, “Do you ever get stuck in a song and then have to play from the beginning all over again? I never seem able to just pick up where I messed up!“

I then asked him how he was practicing, and therein lay the answer.

For anyone who’s studied music (particularly classical), this is a problematic reality. Many people look at sheet music and “practice” by playing from beginning to end.

While a Freshman at the New England Conservatory, that was my routine. I thought, as long as I spent two hours on this piece everyday, it would get better. Two hours of putting something on repeat and stopping to fix mistakes only once as you plow through doesn’t do much. Why? Because you’ll only make them again. You’re not giving your brain enough time to process and reprogram what you’ve learned.

Just as you can learn to play the right notes, you can also program yourself to play mistakes. And…

Mistakes don’t fix themselves. If they do, it’s never at the speed you need or want. This problem plagues everyone from the amateur to the seasoned professional. Music is enjoyable and it’s easy to get lost in it.

“Playing is simply intoxicating!” – Adam Holzman, Classical Guitarist and Pedagogue

One of the problems many musicians face is relying too much on muscle memory. On the other hand, language learners focus too much on the script in front of them. After spending a good amount of time with the music or text you begin to feel pretty great.

The reason is, no one is there to judge but ourselves.

Then comes the moment when you have to practice in front of our language partner or tutor. Half a sentence leaves our lips, and then our nerves kick in and you forget the rest. This happens multiple times within one session. It’s pretty embarrassing!

Everyone has problems and challenges. Nothing new. How you address them, especially through chunking will change everything.

Building better “practice” habits.

“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” – Doug Yeo former BSO Bass Trombonist

Being a Classical Guitarist by trade, these are techniques I’ve learned over the years that push me in the right direction. I’m in the business of having to learn music for concerts and competitions. Without these ideas, I’d end up just playing my pieces over and over again.

What I’m about to describe is invaluable information. It’s the behind-the-scenes work of professional musicians and actors. It’s how they perfect their craft. I’m sure Shannon can attest to having used these techniques herself.

1. Take it slow, phrase by phrase.

Ignore the temptation is to take it in all at once. Don’t forget the brain can only process a certain amount of information.

As you look at a dialogue, feel the words in your mouth, and the weird shapes and sounds of this new language. Give your body time to adjust. It’s like stretching into a new yoga pose.

Maybe your accent is really bothering you and you’re not sure how to fix it. There is hope!

I highly recommend Idahosa Ness’ MimicMethod or Gabriel Wyner’s Pronunciation-Trainers. What makes them work is the musical philosophy behind their methods.

“If you can’t hear it you can’t imitate (pronounce) it.”

2. Prioritize.

Scratch out words you do know and circle ones you don’t.

Take charge by deciding what is priority and work with that. Knowing how to say “Nice to meet you” is much more important than knowing what Nebraska is.

Sorry Nebraskans…

3. Drill it again and again.

Although it may sound like it, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do repetitions.

What makes musicians learn music quickly is by changing how you repeat! Artists make it fun and useful. Keeping it varied also helps avoid burn-out.

Try the following options:

Read a phrase syllable by syllable.

Again, but this time In different rhythms or speeds.

Use what opera singers and actors call “back-chaining.” Back-chaining is the practice of going backwards and building up a word one syllable at a time. (More on this in the video.)

4. Record yourself at normal speed to listen to and identify problems.

After practicing something for awhile it’s easy to feel proud of yourself. Sometimes you might even feel as though you can take on the world.

The fix for that is recording yourself. Why?

Once you hit the record button, something clicks. You’ll be making mistakes you’ve never made before and it’ll show you what to improve. Being under stress no matter how small, produces changes in performance.

Speaking of which, Lindsay Does Languages is doing what’s called the Instagram Language Challenge (#IGLC). I can tell you from personal experience that it’s nerve wracking. So why do I still do it? Because afterwards, I can evaluate my mistakes and fix them! The other participants are also quite helpful in correcting any mistakes. And best of all, it’s FREE.

5. Practice again with these new ideas

Review the various points as well as the video. As you wrestle with the ideas I’ve shared with you, adjust them to how you learn best. Our goal is to turn you into a highly effective independent learner.

6. Go public!

Assuming you haven’t already done this step, going public sets you up for accountability. When people are watching what you’re doing, you’re less likely to slack off.

One last idea. Never be afraid to keep asking for a second opinion. When you let others check your progress, you’ll find that their insight is priceless.

Now, enough theory. Go practice!

There’s a lot of information here in this post, so feel free to come back to it whenever you’re feeling stuck.

For now, get out there and apply what you’ve learnt today. Whether it be language learning, cooking, music practice, it’s time to do things better.

Here’s to a productive 2017!

Want more tips on language learning from a musical perspective? Be sure to check out Fiel’s presentation at the Polyglot Gathering in 2016.

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