#rather than in class and my coordinator agreed and told me to assign the class to this teacher and let him know - which I did!

[somuchstrdst]

i think i just caught a colleague doing something wrong with a class i assigned him a couple of hours ago just so he could avoid teaching it and i'm shooketh with his audacity but i don't want to rat him out because the class will go back to me but really i'm completely baffled that he did it

[raibebe]

Of needles and seduction

Genre: Fluff and smut Words: 15.2k Prompt: Johnny tattoo shop AU featuring best friends Yangyang and Jaemin Warnings: contains smut, Daddy-kink, size-kink, mentions of mirror-sex

A/N: This is very self-indulgent, I’m sorry. While I do have piercings myself, I know next to nothing about tattoos, so I’m sorry if anything is inaccurate. Also I don’t advise what some characters in this are doing for yourself. Just a quick special thanks to @burtonized​ who has listened to me ramble about this story and Johnny and helped me write this by giving me ideas and support. Thank you darling! This fic is a beast, I have never written anything this long,it’s insane. If smut isn’t for you, you can stop reading after the phone call and still have a pretty decent story. If you feel like, you’ve seen this post before, you might have. I deleted the original one because tumblr decided to delete it from the tags.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” You asked for what you felt was the tenth time in the past five minutes. “It’s going to be fine. The shop is clean and sanitary,” your friend Yangyang groaned while running his hands through his messy, blonde hair. It was getting way too long, hanging low into his eyes. “I’m just saying that this doesn’t seem like a safe place,” you mumbled but followed your hyper friend through a more than dubious looking side street of Itaewon. “Jaemin got his piercings done in the same shop and those healed just fine, stop being a baby,” the blonde said while rolling his eyes. He quickly checked his phone for the address of the (probably illegal) piercing and tattoo shop and took a sharp turn into an even shadier looking street. “I still don’t get while you need me to come with you when you want to get your nipples pierced for god knows what of a stupid reason.” “It’s easy,” Yangyang grinned at you, “Ten said I wouldn’t dare to do it. And I’m going to prove him wrong and you’re going to document the progress.” “Do you ever listen to yourself talk? You’re literally paying someone to stab you into your nipples to shove a piece of metal through it just to prove a point.” “It’s just one nipple though.�� “How does that make it any better, Yangyang?” You deadpanned. Your friend groaned again. “I knew I should have taken Guanheng with me. He would have been supportive.” “He would also be supportive of getting ‘I love Tacos’ tattooed on your ass.” “He would,” Yangyang agreed with an exaggerated dreamy look on his face. “What a madlad.”

You sighed but couldn’t help smiling at his antics. You had befriended the hyper exchange student when you had been assigned to be partners for a group project for your mandarin class. Yangyang had only taken the class for extra credit and easy good grades while you were struggling like crazy and had seriously questioned all your life choices that had let to you taking the class. (But mostly you regretted listening to Renjun who had convinced you it would be an easy class.) The group project turned out to be rather easy when you had a native speaker as your partner and you had become fond of the younger student, staying in touch with him and helping him find his way around the big campus. If you had known that he was a package deal with a bunch of other equally hyper and questionably crazy exchange students, you might have thought a little longer about keeping in touch after the project was over. But who were you kidding, the other boys and Yangyang were incredibly dear to you and if Kun had his regular morning coffee, the others weren’t even that chaotic.

“That’s it,” Yangyang suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a small beat up looking wooden door that looked like it was ready to fall out of the doorway any second. But a little green neon sign that hang next to it flashed the word “open” onto the street indicating that a shop must be hiding behind it. Your arguably best friend quickly grabbed your hand as if he had been sensing that you were about to complain again and dragged you into the shop. A little bell jingled quietly when Yangyang closed the door behind you two. You took a deep breath to calm your nerves (hell you weren’t even the one to get stabbed with a needle) and took a look around the small room. It was small and poorly lit and every free space on the walls was plastered with drawings and photos of both freshly done and healed tattoos. You had to admit that whoever had done those had done a good job, they looked really neat. You guessed that at least two artists must be working in the shop. A good portion of the art were very neat black and white works (some looking freakishly realistic) while others were very vibrant and artistic.

With a confident bounce in his step, Yangyang went up to the counter to a man with wild bubblegum pink hair wearing a black tank top that showed off the ink on his arms and torso, all kept in black except for a deep red rose on the side of his neck. His eyes were lined with dark eyeliner, making them seem like dark bottomless orbs, and they were fixed to the screen of a laptop that was covered in stickers that were a wild mixture of cute characters and various rock and hip-hop bands. “And what brings you here?” The man asked with a surprisingly deep voice, turning his head towards your friend. “A friend of mine told me I could get pierced here,” Yangyang spoke, his hands fumbling with the loose threads of his sweater. “And if that was the case, what would you want to get pierced?” “My nipple.” At that the other man raised one of his perfectly arched eyebrows. “People usually start off with getting an earring or something.” “Go hard or go home,” Yangyang grinned, making the other man snort. “If you have 70.000 Won in cash, I can look if one of the piercers is free.” When your friend got out his worn wallet and put a couple of bills onto the counter, the other man smiled for the first time. It didn’t quite fit his whole dark punk aesthetic but you couldn’t deny that he was really good looking.

“Don’t run away now kiddo, I’ll see if someone is free,” he grinned, “I’m Taeyong by the way.” When he disappeared behind a curtain made out of pearls into the back, Yangyang turned towards you with the biggest smile on his face. “I told you it was going to be fine.” You just hummed nonchalantly, still not entirely supportive of the whole idea. “One of the guys is ready in a bit,” Taeyong said when he came back to the main room. “Are you getting anything?” He asked, looking at you. “Oh no, she’s a scaredy-cat, just here for moral support and to document that I actually did it,” your friend answered for you. Your face immediately heated up under the intense gaze of the pink haired tattoo artist. “Too bad,” he just shrugged. “So technically you need to sign stuff for legal issues and whatnot. But since this place doesn’t exactly exist on records, we’re skipping that part. You’re not on drugs or any meds, right?” “I’m not,” Yangyang shook his head, making his hair flop back into his face. “Any issues with fainting or other medical conditions?”   “Nope.”   “Great. Had a good meal before coming here?” “I had breakfast,” Yangyang shrugged. “You had a slice of cold pizza from yesterday,” you groaned. “That I ate in the morning, therefore it’s breakfast,” he argued. “Well in that case,” Taeyong interrupted your bickering and threw a granola bar into Yangyang’s hands, “Eat that and let your girlfriend treat you to some proper food afterwards.” Before the blonde could deny anything, you had already opened your mouth to tell the other man that in fact you weren’t dating.

“Sure, sorry for assuming,” he shrugged and sat back behind the counter, taking out an iPad and began drawing something, probably a tattoo design. “Nervous yet?” You asked Yangyang who was uncharacteristically quiet while munching on the granola bar. “Shit, I’m really doing this,” he replied, exhaling shakily. “You don’t actually have to, Yangyang,” you tried to comfort him. “And let Ten just get away like that? No way. I am doing this. I’m not his little baby Yangyang anymore,” he said like the stubborn child he was. You could just sigh and roll your eyes at him. “He might have just been joking, you know?” “One does not simply challenge Liu Yangyang like that and not expect consequences.” “Kun is going to actually flip and pop a vein,” you tried to reason with your friend for a last time. Kun was doing a lot of coordination work for the exchange students with a Chinese background and had taken on almost a fatherly role for the younger students that hadn’t been in Korea for long. And even though Ten wasn’t even that much younger than Kun, he almost lost his otherwise calm composure when the Thai boy had announced that he successfully had pierced his ear by himself yet again after he had convinced a poor med student to smuggle some equipment for him. And from there the situation had somehow escalated into Ten daring Yangyang to get a nipple piercing. “Well he can’t do anything about it once it’s done. We’ll just make sure he’s with someone who can call an ambulance if he ends up having an aneurism.”

“Someone still wants their nipple pierced?” A new voice interrupted your conversation and a tall man with dark inky hair came into the room, making the pearls of the curtain clink against each other. One side of his head was shaved while the longer hair on the other side framed his handsome face beautifully. He was wearing a loose black T-shirt paired with ripped jeans with almost as many holes as there was fabric that hugged his long legs perfectly, showing that he had also ink on his legs. From his lobe dangled a little silver chain and of course his arms were covered in intricate designs, one arm strictly black ink while the other sported some colorful pieces as well. In the center of his plush lower lip sat a black ring and just beneath his left eye two little silver balls were reflecting the low light. You couldn’t deny that the man looked absolutely stunning despite his unusual appearance.

“Yes, me,” Yangyang eagerly answered the man’s question and walked towards him, tugging you with him. “Too bad,” the piercer grinned cheekily and winked in your direction, making your heart flutter in your chest and heat rise to your face, before he extended a big hand to shake Yangyang’s much smaller one. “I’m Johnny,” he introduced himself before leading you both into a smaller room in the back with a simple black padded bench in the middle of the room and a desk tucked into a corner. The walls were plastered with art and photos like the main room, showing that Johnny apparently was able to pull off a bunch of different tattoo styles. He seemed to have a thing for florals and roses though. The only free space was taken up by a full body mirror at the opposite wall. Johnny sat down on the little stool that was standing by the desk and motioned for Yangyang to sit on the bench while you sat down in the only other chair in the room, made of worn looking black leather.

“Let me see your chest before we start this whole thing,” Johnny spoke to your friend after he had grabbed a pair of silver framed glasses that sat low on his elegant nose and slipped on a fresh pair of black gloves. With only slightly trembling hands, Yangyang pulled his sweater over his head, keeping his hands buried in the fabric. “Looks good to me. Left or right one?” “Ehrm, I haven’t really thought about it,” he confessed. Johnny chuckled. “Spontaneous decision to get your nipple pierced?” “He does it to prove a point to a friend,” you supplied before Yangyang had the chance to answer. “Seems like a valid reason,” the tattoo artist grinned, “You play guitar or anything where the strap could irritate the new piercing?” “Just the violin,” Yangyang supplied, demonstrating how he would hold his instrument. “Then I’d suggest we go for the left one,” Johnny concluded, grabbing a bunch of stuff he needed. “Is it going to hurt badly?” “No idea, mine aren’t pierced.” “The first one is fine,” another voice chimed into the conversation and a pink mess of hair appeared in the doorway. “My client is there and Jaehyun isn’t back from his break yet, have an open ear for the door.” Johnny just hummed but it seemed enough to satisfy Taeyong who disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared.

“You ready?” Johnny asked one last time. Yangyang took a deep but shaky breath and nodded. “You better film this so Ten knows it’s real,” he said, holding out his phone towards you. Rolling your eyes, you got up from your actually really comfortable chair and took the phone from your best friend’s hands while Johnny disinfected Yangyang’s nipple and drew two little circles where the bar would go through it before grabbing a small mirror to show him. “Let’s do this,” your best friend nodded and you pressed record. “It’ll be quick,” Johnny promised, disinfecting one last time before he grabbed a pair of tongs to hold the nipple in place and freed a needle from a foil package. “I’ll count to three and then I’ll start, alright?” “A-Alright.” “Last time to chicken out.” “No, I’m doing this,” Yangyang gritted out, closing his eyes. After that everything happened really fast: Johnny counted to three and steadily pushed the needle through Yangyang’s nipple, who bit his lip hard. He then let the needle dangle from the nipple while freeing a little barbell from another foil package to insert it through the canal he just had made. “And that’s it,” he announced when he secured the little balls on either side of the barbell. You ended the recording when Yangyang left out the breath he had been holding in. “Now no sports, especially no swimming or sexual activities for a while. Clean it well and don’t worry if it gets sore, that’s normal. It can take a while to heal, so be patient and don’t let it get infected. You can get a smaller barbell or a ring once it’s healed. Just come back to get it changed to be safe.” “Fuck I really did that,” Yangyang cursed and looked down to his chest, “I think I need a minute before I can get up.”

“Take your time, I don’t have any clients for another half an hour,” Johnny reassured him, putting the used materials into the trash. “Just please don’t vomit all over the floor or hit your head while fainting.” “That has happened before?” You asked, eyes wide. “Not on me but it’s not unheard of. You sure you don’t want anything?” he asked, turning towards you. His silver framed glasses had slid down his nose a little and you couldn’t deny that the man looked really hot, looking at you from beneath his lashes. “She’s too scared,” Yangyang teased. He couldn’t feel too bad if he still could do that then. “Too bad, I think you would really suit a little conch or something,” the piercer motioned around his own ear to indicate what piercing he meant. “A conch?” You asked, turning towards the mirror to try to imagine it. “Wait let me show you.” Johnny quickly got up to search through the drawers of his desk before he pulled out a little box with a bunch of jewelry, grabbing a small hoop. He stood behind you in front of the mirror. “Hold still for me,” he breathed and bend down to push your hair behind your ear before he carefully put the fake piercing in place. For a moment you could swear that time had stopped. You felt his breath fanning over your skin gently and could smell the intoxicating smell of his cologne. You were so close to each other, you were sure that if you turned your head, your noses would brush against each other. But before you could do anything stupid, Johnny pulled back and gently turned your head so you could see the little silver ring. “I think I could put an even smaller one if you wanted,” he said, watching you through the mirror with an intense gaze from his dark eyes. “I’ve never thought about getting a piercing,” you admitted shyly. While you did get your lobes pierced when you were a child, you never thought of it much. “It looks good. Not so much like daddy’s good girl anymore,” the piercer grinned. You almost choked on air when the words left his plush lips, feeling the heat rush to your cheeks.

“How much?” “For you I’ll do it for free, darling,” he grinned, running a hand through his thick dark hair, making his muscles shift beneath his inked skin. While your brain was still short-circuiting from the nickname, Yangyang seemed to be back to 100%, destroying whatever the atmosphere between you and the tattoo artist just was. “Are you really going to say no to a free piercing, dude?” You could just groan and roll your eyes at your best friend. “Stop calling me dude, Yangyang.” “Only if you get that piercing.” “That’s blackmailing.” “Just do it, it won’t even hurt right?” “It’s just a bit of pressure,” Johnny assured you, his lips curled into a smile. “I can always take it out if I don’t end up liking it,” you thought out aloud. “The beauty of temporary body modifications,” Johnny sighed before he stepped in front of you to take the fake piercing off again. With his face so close to yours again, your eyes traveled over the little silver balls beneath his left eye, over his elegant nose down to the black ring in his lower lip and you briefly wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. “So what will it be?” You looked over to your best friend who had put his hoodie back on and nodded his head enthusiastically, making his fluffy hair flop into his eyes. He really needed a haircut.

“Alright, let’s do this,” you decided. “That’s what I like to hear,” Johnny grinned and moved to get his stuff ready. “Need me to hold your hand?” Yangyang grinned when you took his place on the bench. “I wouldn’t want to contaminate you with girl germs,” you teased, sticking your tongue out at him. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind some girl germs if they’re coming from such a pretty girl,” Johnny cut in when he rolled back over on his stool, his glasses pushed back up his nose again. You couldn’t even fight the heat that crept onto your face at his words, he sure could feel it radiating off your cheeks from where his gloved hands were touching your skin. “I’ll do it where I placed the fake one, just with a smaller ring, alright?” He spoke softly when he disinfected your ear. You could just nod, anxiety taking over, making your heart race and skin prickle. When you heard the plastic bag that held the sterile needle rip, you pressed your eyes shut and balled your hands to fists. “Take a deep breath for me, doll,” Johnny mumbled, gently caressing your skin where he had grabbed your face to stabilize you. “In and out.” You shakily did as he asked you, his low voice comforting and calming your anxiety a lot. “Now you breathe in and let me count to three, then you gently release that breath. Can you do that for me, darling?” “Yeah,” you breathed, eyes still closed so you missed the soft smile on Johnny’s face. “Alright, deep breath in. One, two, three,” the pain of the needle piercing through your skin made you clench your fists harder, “And breathe out.” You tried your best to release the breath evenly until the pressure of the needle was just a low thudding. “You’re doing great, darling,” the handsome piercer reassured you, “I’ll just push the ring through and we’re all done here. Take another breath for me.” This time the feeling wasn’t as painful, just a really uncomfortable feeling of pressure. “All done, pretty,” Johnny concluded, clicking the ring closed. “Open your eyes.”

When you did open your eyes again, he held the little hand mirror from before in his still gloved hands so you could see the little ring that sat against your ear now. The skin was a bright red and you could feel your pulse throb around the metal but it actually fit the shape of your ear really nicely. “Thank you,” you smiled at Johnny. “It’s been a pleasure,” he winked before gathering the used needle and tissues to throw them away. “Take good care of it and try to not sleep on that side for a couple of nights and it will be healed in no time.” “Let’s go home, big baby,” Yangyang chirped in, already on his feet to leave the room. “I’m starving.” “There’s a good ramen shop a little up the street, not too expensive either,” Johnny recommended.

“Thanks for the piercings, man,” your best friend thanked the artist when he took you back to the main room. “No big deal,” Johnny shrugged and sat down where Taeyong had sat before, putting his long legs up on the counter. “Well, have a nice day, maybe we’ll come back for more some time,” Yangyang grinned, opening the door to leave the shop. “Oh I’m sure you will,” the artist replied, locking eyes with you before winking. “Take good care of that piercing, doll. You know where you have to come to if you want more.” You nodded shyly before bowing to the man. “Thank you, Johnny.” “I’ll see you again,” it wasn’t a question. Somehow you and him both knew that this wouldn’t be the last time you would step into the shady tattoo shop.

The next time that you found yourself in the shady streets of Itaewon came faster than you had thought. This time you were accompanying Jaemin to his tattoo appointment after Jeno had ditched him because he had to take over a shift at the cat café he worked at. (That poor boy had to take antihistamines before every shift because of his allergies but couldn’t resist the charm of the kittens.)   “You’re a lifesaver seriously,” the hyper boy repeated while jumping up and down excitedly, “Sitting still for hours on end is really so boring if you have no one to talk to.” “Can’t you talk to your artist?” You asked confused. “He threatened to stab me with the tattoo gun the last time when I was trying to talk to him while he worked,” Jaemin pouted. You could only imagine how irritating Jaemin and his moods could be to someone who wasn’t used to him. Ever since he had decided that he wanted to commit to what he had dubbed a soft punk look, he had been going to the shop somewhat regularly to start a collection of tattoos and piercings. It had started a year ago when he first had dyed his hair to a light blue color. Shortly after that he had first gotten his ears and then his nose pierced. The two lip rings in his lower lip were his newest addition as far as piercings went. The tattoos came a little later. After much consideration he had made the decision to start a floral piece on his arm, the center would be a hummingbird, all with black ink for now.

After a little bit of Instagram stalking you had easily identified the intricate flowers that adored Jaemin’s upper arm as Johnny’s work and the thought of seeing the handsome tattoo artist again had made your heart beat faster in your chest. Not that Jaemin needed to know that you weren’t coming with him for his sake but rather because of your desire to see the dark haired flirty man again.   You had been thinking about his dark eyes behind his silver framed glasses and how he scrunched his eyebrows when he was concentrating a lot for the last weeks. (Not that you had replayed the video of him piercing Yangyang an unhealthy amount of times or anything…) Every time you took care of your new piercing it reminded you of how his fingers felt on your skin and how his deep voice had gently guided you through everything. Not to forget how easily the pet names had rolled from his lips. And oh god his lips… His Instagram account featured a good amount of pictures of himself both casual and while working and the way his plush lips would curl into a confident smirk did things to your heart. His latest update had been the actual death of yours though. It had shown the new tattoo he had gotten recently: It was an intricate eagle that spread over his muscled chest, the feathers of the wings blending seamlessly into the other art covering his strong shoulders and biceps. Did you already mention that he was freaking shirtless in the picture? And that he was hiding a seriously ripped body beneath the wide T-Shirt he wore the last time you were at the shop? So to say that your thoughts had started to spiral after seeing that post was a little understated.

You still felt a little uneasy when you followed Jaemin through the backstreets of Itaewon but when the shabby door with the neon green ‘open’ sign came in sight, you felt the feeling disappear, only for it to be replaced with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Jaemin grinned widely when he pushed the door open and his good mood was always infectious, a smile creeping on your lips. This time a new man sat at the counter, lazily rocking back and forth on the chair with his phone in his hand. His hair was dark and hung into his eyes and he wore a dark, long sleeved hoodie, so you couldn’t see if he had as many tattoos as his colleagues but if the tattoos on his hands and neck were any indication, he must be pretty covered as well. You recognized the rose on the back of his hand from one of Johnny’s Instagram posts. When the man looked up, you saw that he didn’t only have tattoos but piercings as well: In his lower lip sat two rings right next to each other, a ring dangled from his nose and two little silver balls sat in the hollows of his dimples that showed when he smiled at Jaemin. “Back for more?” He asked with a deep, rumbling voice and got up to greet Jaemin properly, bumping their shoulders together. “Got an appointment with Johnny for my sleeve,” the blue haired boy replied. “I see the snake bites healed well.” “Done by the best piercer of the shop.” “You know it,” the man laughed, throwing an arm around Jaemin. “Brought your girlfriend?” “I’m just a friend,” you quickly corrected the piercer. (Why couldn’t you just platonically join a friend for his tattoo session?) “Alright, just a friend, I’m Jaehyun. Johnny should be ready by now. You know the way?” Jaemin nodded and pulled you with him to Johnny’s room.

When Jaemin pulled the curtain to the room open, you weren’t prepared for what you were seeing: Johnny was standing in front of the full length mirror with his black button up shirt unbuttoned, applying cream to his still tender looking eagle tattoo on his chest, making his beautiful sunkissed skin glisten. “You’re early, Jaem,” he spoke. “Jaehyun said you were already ready,” the blue haired boy shrugged and plopped down onto the black bench. “Oh you brought company,” Johnny turned around when he spotted you and grinned, “I knew you’d come back, doll. How’s your piercing healing?” You had to summon all your strength to rip your eyes from Johnny’s strong and glistening chest to meet his dark eyes. “It’s fine as far as I know, doesn’t hurt anymore,” you stumbled across your words. Couldn’t he just button his shirt back up? “Let me see.” Before you could protest he had made two big steps and was right in front of you, the intoxicating smell of his perfume filling your senses. He gently tucked your hair back to have a look at the piercing and you swore you could feel electricity buzz beneath your skin where he had touched you. “You took great care of it, darling. Not regretting it yet?” “No, I like it.” I like you. The words had laid on your tongue but you managed to swallow them back down.

“Stop flirting with her, I’m the one paying for your attention,” Jaemin whined from where he was sitting. You of course immediately felt all your blood rush to your head but Johnny just chuckled. “I haven’t seen any cash yet, boy.” The tattoo artist gave you a last wink before turning towards his actual client, buttoning his shirt back up but leaving the last two buttons unbuttoned, letting the head of the eagle just barely poke out. Taking a deep breath you sat down in the worn leather chair while Jaemin handed Johnny a bunch of bills that the taller quickly counted. “Alright, I’m all yours for the next five hours or so,” he grinned, “You saw the drafts I sent you?” Jaemin nodded while he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeve of his T-Shirt to expose the ink on his arm. It was already beautiful even though it wasn’t even halfway done. The hummingbird was still missing its shading and he hung in the air for now, the flowers and leaves stopping above its head. “Yeah, I’m still not sure about the color though. Can’t we just do more flowers instead?” “Sure but the inner arm and near the elbow is going to hurt like a bitch. So it’s either that or you let me color that hummingbird.” Jaemin groaned dramatically, turning his arm to look into the mirror. “He does look weird just half-finished like that.” “So color it is?” Johnny asked while rolling up the sleeves of his shirt a bit, exposing his own tattoos: A snake like dragon curled around his entire right arm, kept in all black ink. “I really liked that green-blue watercolor thing you sent,” Jaemin supplied when he turned to lie down. “Right, then I’ll do some flowers directly surrounding the bird and color that thing.” He snapped his black gloves on and turned to prepare his machine and the colors.

“Come closer with that stupid chair,” Jaemin whined, making grabby hands at you. After Johnny nodded, you pushed the chair closer with great effort. “Are you going to whine for the whole time?” You groaned but smiled fondly at your friend. “Most likely,” Johnny answered instead of Jaemin and rolled over on his little stool, his silver framed glasses back on his nose and a pen between his lips. “I’ll freehand a bunch of flowers first to make sure they fit around that little guy nicely.” “And I thought you liked putting others in pain,” Jaemin joked when Johnny adjusted a little lamp and began to draw flower after flower. It was really fascinating how quick his hand drew delicate petals and leaves, filling up the space around the hummingbird. “Oh if I put others in pain, they usually like it,” he grinned, his voice dropping an octave. You almost choked on plain air and had to try to mask it as coughing but if the way Johnny’s eyes twinkled was any indication, he had seen right through it and dared to be smug about it. “Wow my third appointment and we’re already talking about kinks?” “Sorry Jaem, not interested,” the artist laughed, “I’m more into cute girls.” He leaned back to examine his drawing, throwing you another quick wink. You barely held in a squeak. He really wasn’t even trying to be subtle about his flirting anymore. “Ready for the big gun?” “Oh dick jokes now, nice,” Jaemin chuckled while you were sure your head was about to explode from how much blood was collecting in there. You covered your hot cheeks with your hands in a hopeless attempt to cool them. “Oh look Johnny, she’s getting shy already.” “I haven’t even started yet, baby.” That was it. This man was going to be the death of you. You really didn’t need to know what it sounded like when he spoke those words that were dripping with honey. “Why did I agree to come with you?” You groaned, hiding your face in your hands. “Because you missed me”, Johnny said at the same time as Jaemin said: “Because you’re a good friend.”

After a beat of silence in which Johnny arranged his actual tattoo gun and Jaemin stared at you while his smile grew bigger and bigger, he asked: “Now which one is it?” “I’m not answering that,” you mumbled from beneath your fingers. “No answer is an answer as well,” Jaemin singsang but luckily the low buzzing of the tattoo machine saved you from any further embarrassment… For now…   “Now hold still or I’ll actually stab you,” Johnny warned before he dipped the needle into black ink and began to trace the lines he had just drawn on with a fine needle. “Yessir,” Jaemin joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Johnny was unusually quiet while he worked, completely tuning out the chatter of you and Jaemin about shitty professors and assignments. You were absolutely fascinated by the confidence he radiated while dragging the needle over his client’s skin. He went back and forth between two different tattoo guns and rubbed Jaemin’s skin every now and then to get rid of excess ink. Soon Jaemin’s whole upper arm was decorated with delicate flowers and leaves and Johnny leaned back to both take a deep breath while stretching his back and to look at his work. “Let’s take a break before I do the color,” he proposed, wiping down the skin. “It looks great,” you complimented his work, taking a picture for Jaemin so he could see it himself. “Damn that pain really pays off,” your friend grinned, zooming in and out of the picture before posting it to his Instagram. “Does it hurt badly?” “You get used to it,” he shrugged, not taking his eyes from his feed, “It’s more like someone continuously scratching you.” “I can show you if you want,” Johnny chimed in from where he was cleaning his tattoo gun from the black ink. “I don’t think I’m spontaneous enough for a sudden tattoo.” “Not even if I offer it for free again?” He laughed. “I’m not mentally prepared for that,” you tried to reason. “I can still show you how it feels though. Without ink.” You shyly nodded and held out your arm for him that he quickly wiped down with disinfectant when he was done putting a fresh needle into the gun. “Just don’t flinch, darling,” he softly spoke before the buzzing of his tattoo gun filled the silence. You expected it to hurt a lot more when the needle touched your skin but it really wasn’t that bad. It was an odd kind of pain you couldn’t really describe. “It’s not that bad,” you told him, looking into his beautiful brown eyes behind his glasses. “It hurts more when it’s directly on the bone or at a more tender area,” Johnny explained and turned the gun off again, bending down to look at the slightly reddened skin of your arm before chucking the used needle into the nearby trashcan. “Let’s patch that up real quick, just treat it like any other scratch.” You nodded and let the handsome man put a band-aid over it. But before you could pull your arm back again, he leaned down to press a kiss on the cloth “For a good and quick healing,” he breathed and grinned smugly when you quickly turned your head away to hide your heated face.

“When you’re done flirting, will you finally put some color into me?” Jaemin interrupted, grinning widely. “That’s what she said,” you mumbled under your breath, making Johnny chuckle. “All you need to do is ask, darling.” Before you could even wrap your mind around what the tattoo artist had just implied, he had already rolled back over to your blue haired friend to take a look at the hummingbird. “Alright let’s do this,” he grinned before wiping down the skin once more. The buzzing of a new machine filled the room and Jaemin scrunched his eyes shut when the needle dipped in turquoise ink met his skin. “This is nasty,” he complained. “Don’t be a baby,” Johnny murmured, dragging the needle over your friend’s skin that accepted the ink quickly. “You want to hold my hand?” You giggled. What you didn’t expect was for Jaemin to actually reach out to you with his unoccupied arm, making a grabby hand. “Jeno always holds my hand,” he whined. “You’re such a big baby, Nana,” you sighed but still laced your fingers together, yelping loudly when Jaemin squeezed down hard. “You said it didn’t even hurt, you big liar,” you squeezed out between gritted teeth. “You’re not the one getting stabbed,” Jaemin argued, “That shit hurts different than the black.” “It’s a different needle,” Johnny explained, “People usually say it hurts less than outlines though.” “It’s not more or less, it’s just different.” “Well it’s going to hurt more if you keep seizing up like that, relax.” “You’re one to fucking talk,” Jaemin sounded upset. “Don’t curse at me for giving you a pretty tattoo,” Johnny just said, dipping his needle into the little pot that held the color again. “Talk him through it,” the artist said to you, looking up from behind his glasses that had slipped down his nose again.

“Hey, remember that time when Donghyuck was so drunk he wanted to jump from the roof into the pool at that frat house?” You quickly said, the silly story coming to mind first. The memory made Jaemin giggle. “Jeno and Mark had so much trouble holding him back once he managed to climb out of the window,” the blue haired boy chuckled. “They were lucky they didn’t fall off.” “That would have made for an even better story though,” Jaemin laughed. “They could have hurt themselves,” you said, scandalized, “You’re hanging out with Renjun too much.” Jaemin didn’t answer, instead he just hummed and wiggled his dark eyebrows.

“Did you ever go to college?” You asked Johnny out of curiosity even though Jaemin had said that the artist preferred to keep quiet and concentrate on his work. “Do I look like I went?” He just laughed, cocking one of his stupidly perfect eyebrows at you when he looked up. “Well, I didn’t want to assume,” you shied away under his gaze. “I dropped out of high school to learn tattooing,” Johnny shared while painting Jaemin’s skin as blue as his hair, “I wasn’t good in school anyways. So art school or something wasn’t an option either. Not that I would have had any money for that.” “What made you want to pick up tattooing then?” You asked curiously. “Art usually is very temporarily and if you make a mistake, you can just erase it or paint over it with another color. Not so much with tattoos. I like that. It’s immortal as long as you don’t start shooting lasers at it.” “I’ve never thought about it like that,” you confessed. Tattooing had never seemed like art to you but that was exactly what it was. Just not on a canvas but under your skin. “Thinking about getting one now?” Jaemin teased, squeezing your hand that he still held. “I haven’t even told my parents about the piercing,” you scoffed, “They would disown me.” “Well too bad, I know a pretty good tattoo artist,” he joked and poked his tongue out. “Do you now?” Johnny asked, a grin on his lips, wiping down Jaemin’s arm before going in with a lighter color. “Yeah, he works in this shady ass shop in Itaewon and I am pretty sure you can buy drugs there as well.” “Those are not for sale,” the artist chuckled when he saw your scandalized expression. “It’s just anesthetics for certain piercing procedures, calm down doll.” “So sadly, it turns out you can’t buy drugs at their shop but it still looks shady and I’m pretty sure they’re paying part of the mafia so the police won’t come to investigate.” “I know nothing of transactions of this sort,” Johnny commented before you could get an actual heart attack. Illegally tattooing and piercing was one thing but mingling with the mafia was a whole other thing. “Anyways, he does pretty cool tattoos and pierces as well,” Jaemin continued, a grin on his lips, “Also talking male to male here, he’s pretty ripped.” At that Johnny started grinning as well. “Wanna know his name?” Jaemin asked you when Johnny turned to clean his needle and you just rolled your eyes but nodded, wondering what he was getting out of all of this. “It’s Jaehyun.” “Excuse me?” Johnny exclaimed with wide eyes when both you and your blue haired friend started laughed at his stupid joke. “This kid,” he mumbled and shook his head before putting the needle back to Jaemin’s skin who seemed to have forgotten to whine about the pain.

The rest of the appointment was spend with you and Jaemin chatting about this and that and a short video call from a red eyed Jeno who had finished his shift at the cat café and wanted to apologize and promised to buy you two dinner after you were done. “I think that’s all I can do for today,” Johnny said after he had stared at the little hummingbird for a while, “Your skin took the color well but if I do any more, I’ll stress the skin too much. I can go in another time if I need to fix anything.” Jaemin nodded, sitting up so he could inspect the colorful hummingbird in the mirror. “Wow that looks sick,” he commented, his eyes going wide, “Totally worth the pain.” “That’s what I wanna hear,” the artist grinned, grabbing some paper towels to rub the tattoo down once more. “Let me snap a picture to post.”

After both men had taken about 20 photos each, Johnny quickly wrapped Jaemin’s arm in plastic wrap, reminding him how to take care of it. “Text me for the next session, I think we could fit some pretty roses at the bottom. Maybe add a dash of color here and there or other animals,” the artist smiled, slipping the glasses off his nose, gently placing them on the table. “I’ll think about it but first I gotta slave away behind the bar to make more money,” Jaemin sighed, shrugging his jacket back on. “And you darling?” Johnny asked, putting on his confident smile again. “When will I see you again?” You just stared at him, at a loss for an answer. Did he really want to see you again? But before you could even open your mouth, Jaemin had already pulled your phone from your grasp, unlocked it and shoved it towards Johnny. “Put your number in already,” he sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. Laughing, Johnny did as your friend had said. “Very smooth, Jaem.” “I- I guess I’ll text you,” you stuttered when Johnny gave your phone back, your fingers tingling where his touched yours. “I’ll be waiting, darling,” he winked, raking a hand through his inky strands. “Alright, time to leave, before you start drooling,” Jaemin destroyed the intense atmosphere and grabbed your arm to pull you back to the main room and out of the parlor, leaving a laughing Johnny behind in his room.

“I wasn’t even drooling, what the fuck Jaemin,” you argued when you were outside, your phone clutched to your chest. “Stop complaining, I got you his number, you should be thankful,” he just grinned, absolutely shameless, tugging you along through the little street. “I will not thank you for embarrassing me in front of him,” you pouted, unlocking your phone to confirm that Johnny had indeed put his number into the contacts with a little black heart behind his name.

“Is it too early to text him?” You asked when you and Jaemin sat in the subway on the way to his and Jeno’s dorm to take him up on his offer for food. Your friend just laughed at you, making an elderly man scowl at the two of you, who shook his head in disapproval. Well, Jaemin’s visuals didn’t help him when he acted like this in public. But as long as he didn’t care, you wouldn’t care either. “Text him after we’ve eaten,” he advised you. “Then you don’t seem as desperate as you are,” he added, which earned him a punch to his not tattooed arm.

All through dinner, Jaemin retold every embarrassing moment that happened at the tattoo parlor, making Jeno laugh so hard that he almost choked on his rice. You really needed to find new friends. These ones were just harassing you at this point. (Aside from the fact that Jaemin had indeed managed to get you Johnny’s number, you’d thank him later when he couldn’t make fun at you.)

Later that night, you laid in bed in your own dorm room, staring at the screen of your phone. Your fingers were hovering over the keyboard but you really couldn’t think of what you should text Johnny. You didn’t want to seem weird. With how confident he was, he probably did this a lot and you were too proud to make a fool of yourself. Groaning you tossed and turned in your bed for a while, still staring at the empty chat box that by now must be mocking you for your cowardice. Sighing you typed out another short message to immediately delete it again. Should you just send him a simple ‘Hi’ or ask him if he had eaten? How the rest of his day went? In moments like this you whished you were more confident in yourself.

The sound of an incoming message suddenly filled the room and made you jerk. When you saw Johnny’s name on the screen, your heart first stopped for a second before it started beating about three times as fast as it should. How did that happen? With shaking hands you unlocked the phone to see that you in fact didn’t delete the last message but accidentally send it. Luckily it wasn’t as embarrassing as it could have been and Johnny had just answered that he was glad that you had finally texted him. Before you could think of an answer he sent another text asking you why you were still awake this late when he expected you to be a ‘good girl’. You could practically hear his smirk and you couldn’t fight the heat that rose to your cheeks. You replied that you were already in bed and were about to sleep if he was concerned about your sleep pattern that honestly wasn’t the greatest ever since the semester had started. ‘Oh, sexting already’ he replied, making you shriek in embarrassment. Was this what your message had looked like? ‘You alone?’ He asked and with a furiously beating heart you answered with a simple yes.

A couple of seconds went by with no answer from him which definitely didn’t lower your anxiety before the loud sound of your ringtone tore through the silence, Johnny’s name on the display. You quickly answered it to not wake up anyone on your floor, pressing it tightly to your ear. “Hello?” “Good evening, miss,” you heard the rumble of Johnny’s voice, “Missed me already?” “You’re the one who called,” you argued, making the man on the other end of the line giggle. “That is true.” “Why did you call?” You asked curiously, shifting to lie down on your back, staring at the ceiling. “Just wanted some company. My last client just left and I’m cleaning up the shop for today, the others already left,” he explained. “Jaehyun and Taeyong?” “Yeah those two guys,” he sighed and you heard him rummaging in the background. “Is it just you three at the shop?” “Yeah, it was just me and Taeyong at first but Jaehyun is an incredibly quick learner once he had found someone who was willing to teach him a thing or two. So he quickly joined the two of us.” You just hummed, your fingers playing with your hair, unsure of what to say. It was somehow easier to talk to him like this when you couldn’t see his eyes twinkle in mischief or his lips curling up in that confident smirk. Like this he was just a boy who wanted company and not an insanely handsome, heavily tattooed man who flirted shamelessly. “Do you usually work this late?” You asked to fill the silence and out of curiosity as well. If the shop wasn’t legal there sure weren’t any laws regulating how long the artists were supposed to work. “I don’t,” Johnny laughed, “But thank you for your concern. I was just tattooing a friend for free after my last paying client left because he was in the area.” “You do that a lot? Offering up your services for free?” “Just for friends and special people, doll,” he chuckled, “Why? Are you considering getting inked after all?”

Well were you? You didn’t even know at this point. Whenever you had thought of tattoos you had only ever thought about big bold and very black lines, of skulls, names of exes on your skin forever and warped pictures of people’s faces. But never of delicate flowers, bright colors and intricate designs. Johnny had made it obvious that it was art that he was doing and that it wasn’t just some technical procedure to get color beneath your skin. “I- I don’t know,” you confessed, “I never thought much about tattoos until Jaemin started getting them.” “I thought so,” the artist chuckled, “But I bet I could design a pretty piece that would compliment you nicely.” “I don’t think I’m the type for it though,” you argued, thinking about the amount of ink on Johnny’s body and you hadn’t even seen half of it. (Not that you planned on doing so but you were curious to know if there was more hiding beneath his clothes.) “It doesn’t have to be an obvious one. Just something only you know about.” That really got you thinking. His tattoos were really delicate and you had seen that he could write in really pretty cursive. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything, darling. But if you ever want one, you know who to ask.”

“Yeah, thank you Johnny,” you murmured, lost in thought about how you would look like with multiple tattoos. “I like the way you say my name.” “You- what?” You stuttered when he caught you off guard like that, making him laugh. “You’re cute,” he said once he had calmed down. “Stop pouting,” he added when you weren’t answering. “How did you know I was?” Johnny chuckled again. “I just knew.” “Thank you for keeping me company,” he said when you hadn’t said anything in a while. “It’s alright. I like talking to you,” you confessed. You could hear a door closing and his deep chuckle on the other end of the line. “You probably hear that a lot…” you murmured, embarrassed at how the words had slipped past your lips. “I actually don’t,” Johnny said, “I appreciate the words, darling. I’m all done cleaning up now, thank you for keeping me company.” “It’s fine, no need to thank me.” “You should go sleep now, it’s already late. Sweet dreams, doll. Maybe I’ll even visit you.” “Goodnight, Johnny,” you squeaked. The last thing you heard before he ended the call was another chuckle and a hushed goodbye. Smiling widely you turned your face into your pillow to muffle the scream you let out. How could this man make your heart beat faster like that with just a few simple words? And why did this short phone call make you so happy? Sighing, you put your phone to your nightstand and cuddled tightly into your blanket, the thought of Johnny’s smooth voice guiding you to sleep where he indeed did visit you.

After that initial phone call, Johnny called you more and more often. Sometimes when he was on his lunch break and his colleagues were still working, sometimes later at night when your head was spinning from studying and he was cleaning up the shop. You two talked about your days, you complained about professors, deadlines and assignments and he told you about tattooing and his sometimes crazy clients. And every now and then Johnny would bring up his offer to tattoo you. Which made your thoughts spiral every single time. In class you would scroll through Johnny’s Instagram account, imagining what some of the intricate, more feminine designs would look like on your skin. After much consideration you definitely ruled out anything big or colorful. But something small wouldn’t hurt, right? Well it would, you would be giving him permission to stab you with an automated needle a bunch of times which in itself sounded really scary. But Jaemin’s tattoo looked nice. And after his skin had peeled, the hummingbird truly looked absolutely incredible and you couldn’t wait for him to visit the shop again to keep working on the sleeve.

So in a whim of bravery and with the help of the little glass of wine you had drank you told Johnny that he should tattoo you. “Are you for real?” He asked. “I am,” you giggled, “I’ve thought about it a lot the past weeks.” “I am honored, darling. What will it be?” “Something small and no colors please,” you told him. “That’s all you’re asking for?” “Yeah, I… I like the simple black stuff you do,” you stuttered, suddenly really nervous and unsure if this was actually a good idea. “I’ll design something that’ll match you perfectly,” Johnny promised, sounding very eager. You could hear some rummaging on his end of the line. “I could fit you in Friday evening after my last client. It won’t be too late and I need some time to come up with a design that’s worthy of being in your body.” You swallowed dryly. If you said yes, you couldn’t back out anymore. You would be getting inked. Secretly. Without telling anyone. Not to mention illegally. In a reasonably shady shop that was owned by the most gorgeous man you had ever met. Taking a deep breath, you nodded before you realized that he couldn’t see that. “I’ll be there,” you promised. “I’m looking forward to it, doll,” Johnny said before he wished you sweet dreams just like every time when he called you late at night.

The neon light in front of the door to the shop was already shut off when you arrived the next Friday late in the evening but the door gave away when you pushed it open with trembling hands after taking a deep breath. “I thought you weren’t going to come, darling, you left me waiting,” Johnny greeted you, jumping down from the counter he had sat on. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt with a little white rose design over his heart that fit him perfectly. His hair was elegantly swept back, exposing the freshly shaved part on the side. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled, fumbling with the sleeves of your hoodie. “Don’t be nervous, I’ll take good care of you,” he promised, quickly locking the front door before taking you to his room where he motioned for you to sit on the bench. “Do you trust me?” He asked, tipping your head up so you would look into his dark eyes. “I- I think I do,” you stuttered. “I won’t tell you what you’re getting,” Johnny grinned and your eyes widened in shock. “You will like it and it’s not that big.” “I’m not sure, Johnny,” you voiced your concerns but he just pressed his index finger to your lips before you could say any more. Your breath hitched and he could definitely feel your shaky exhale against his finger. “You said you trust me, doll.” Taking another shaky breath, you nodded and a smile spread over his plush lips. “I need you to take off your shirt and lie down on your left side,” he spoke, his voice casual but you could feel something shift in the air between you. At a loss for words you just nodded again and did as Johnny asked when he turned around to gather his stuff.

“Take a couple of deep breaths for me, darling,” he instructed you when he rolled over on his little stool, his glasses sitting low on his nose and his hands already gloved. “It’s going on your ribs,” he told you so you wouldn’t flinch when he quickly dragged a razor over the area before disinfecting it. “I’ll draw a quick sketch first. I don’t want to mess it up when it’s going on your beautiful skin.”  You felt the tip of his pen meet your skin in a gentle stroke, tickling your skin so you had to giggle. “Don’t make me mess this up, baby,” Johnny scolded, playfully slapping your back. “It tickles,” you pouted. “I’m trying to be gentle with you,” he said and you could hear the smile in his voice. While he was sketching, you closed your eyes, trying to figure out what he was drawing. But all you could figure out was that it was something rather small which calmed your nerves a bit.

“All done,” the tattoo artist announced after a while and quickly pulled his little side table with his tattoo gun and ink closer. When the low buzzing noise filled the air, you pressed your eyes shut even tighter, balling your hands into fists. Technically you knew it wouldn’t hurt badly, Johnny had shown you before. But you were still getting stabbed a bunch of times and fuck, you were really doing this. Letting this man put something on your body that was going to be there forever and you didn’t even know what it was going to be. “Relax, darling. I’ll be as gentle as I can be,” he promised, running a hand up and down your back. “It’s going to be on me forever,” you said. “It is. Your own personal piece of art on your body. Just for you to have.” That was a beautiful way to see it, you thought. It’s not just some pigment stabbed into your skin but art. Something unique no one else had. And Johnny would be painting it on just you for you and you alone. “Okay, let’s do this,” you breathed. “That’s my good girl,” Johnny praised and the words made your stomach twist with a feeling you didn’t want to further explore.

The pain was bearable. It was weird at first and the ribs sure hurt more than it had on your arm and the bones somehow seemed to amplify the buzzing, making it travel through your body. You had to grit your teeth when Johnny went over what seemed to be the middle part of the tattoo, where he grazed the skin in quick successions. “That hurts.” “I know, baby. But you’re almost done. You’re doing so well for me,” he soothed and gave you a small break to breathe before he went back in.

“All done, darling,” Johnny announced a little later, turning off his machine and rubbing the tattoo down with a wet paper towel. “Can I see it now?” You asked. “In a bit, keep your eyes closed,” he spoke softly and took your hands in his now ungloved ones to first guide you into a sitting position and then off the bench and over to what you assumed to be the mirror. He turned you so your side was facing the glass and put one of his big hands on your waist. It felt hot on your exposed skin and made goosebumps break out on your skin. “Open your eyes, doll.” You did and looked directly into his dark chocolate brown eyes behind his glasses. “I’m too scared to look now, is that silly?” You asked, losing yourself in his eyes and leaning towards his body that just seemed to radiate heat. “It’s beautiful, just like you,” he assured you, squeezing your waist reassuringly. After taking a deep breath, you tore your gaze away from him and turned to look at yourself in the mirror where a delicate, black chrysanthemum was awaiting you on the skin over your ribs. It indeed looked beautiful, absolutely stunning. It was small but looked so delicate and realistic and fit well with the curves of your body. “It’s stunning,” you whispered.

“Thank you, Johnny.” “No need to thank me, darling,” he chuckled and when your eyes met again, his were dark and almost hungry. “But I think I should reward you for being so good while I tattooed you.” Before you could ask what kind of reward he was talking about, he had already connected your lips in a passionate kiss and pulled your body flush against his. You couldn’t help but sigh now that you finally knew what the metal of his lip piercing felt like against your lips. Johnny was a good kisser and you were boneless in his strong grip not long after he had slipped his tongue past your lips after you had moaned into the kiss when he had started to push you backwards to the bench again, hoisting you back up. “Let me make up for the pain I’ve caused you,” he breathed against your swollen lips when you broke apart to breathe.   “Just keep kissing me like that,” you demanded, burying your hands in his soft black locks to kiss him again. He chuckled and let you dominate the kiss for a while, toying with the black ring in his lip and exploring his mouth. Meanwhile Johnny’s hands started to wander from their place on your waist down to grope at your ass, pulling you forward against him, so you could feel his growing erection between your legs which made a spark of arousal shoot through you.

“Let me make you feel good, baby,” he breathed heavily while kissing down your neck, gently taking the skin between his teeth. “Please Johnny,” you begged, feeling the arousal simmer low in your stomach. Grinning he pulled back and raked his dark eyes over your figure before making quick work of your belt and sliding your jeans along with your panties from your legs, only shortly struggling with your shoes. “It’s not Johnny now, baby,” he rasped when he kneeled down in front of you, pulling you towards him roughly, so your glistening core was exposed to him. “It’s Daddy,” he added before licking a broad stripe through your folds and flicking his tongue at your clit. You could just mewl and throw your head back in pleasure. You didn’t know that this would be such a turn on for you. “Say it, baby,” Johnny demanded, lazily dragging his tongue over your sensitive bundle of nerves. “Please Daddy,” you whimpered and you could feel his low groan vibrating against your core. He wasted no time to attach his plush lips to your clit, gently sucking and grazing his teeth over the little nub, making you mewl and shiver in pleasure. He definitely knew what he was doing, altering between stimulating your clit to the point where it almost became too much before he focused on dragging his tongue through your folds, gently prodding against your entrance before it gave away. When Johnny moaned you could feel it travel straight through you, making your head swim with pleasure. Looking down to the man kneeling in front of you, you were met with his dark eyes, staring straight up into yours. Moaning, you threaded your fingers into his soft hair and pressed his face closer to your core, not even taking the chance that he could move back. “Feels so good, Daddy,” you moaned when he spread your labia with his fingers so his tongue could dive deeper into you, stimulating your velvety walls. When he hummed it send sweet vibrations through your core and you could feel your orgasm approach almost embarrassingly fast. “Mmmh, so close Daddy.” “You wanna cum, baby?” He rasped, his hot breath fanning over your clit that he was lazily rubbing with two fingers. You bit your lip and met his dark eyes, nodding furiously. “Then beg for it, doll. I could stay here for hours,” Johnny spoke before he turned his head to mouth at your thigh, gently biting and sucking at the sensitive skin until it bruised under his ministrations. “I would just keep you right on the edge for hours until you’re a shaking mess for me, begging for release.” His lips split into a wicked grin when he saw how his dirty words affected you and he slowed his fingers on your clit until it was just enough to keep you stimulated but not enough to make the knot in your stomach snap. “Please Daddy,” you whimpered. “Please what baby?” He rested his head on your thigh, looking up at you from innocent eyes as if he wasn’t driving you insane with just his fingers. “What is it beautiful?” He repeated the question, replacing his fingers with his tongue. “You wanna cum?” “Yes please,” you whined, grinding your hips against his tongue to get more friction. “Well if you ask so nicely…” Johnny immediately slipped two fingers inside you with almost no resistance from how ridiculously wet you were and began pumping them in and out of your core fast, crooking them to search for your sweet spot. “Come on baby,” he growled, locking eyes with you again when he closed his lips around your clit. Almost screaming his name, you came hard when his fingers finally found your sweet spot, rubbing at it mercilessly to help you ride out your orgasm. Your thighs were shaking and you fell back onto the bench, the leather sticking to your back where you just laid for a while, your head spinning, breathing heavily.

“You look gorgeous like that,” Johnny complimented you, when he got back up from the floor, raking his clean hand through the mess that was his hair before he shamelessly took his fingers that were covered in your essence into his mouth, sucking them clean. Through half lidded eyes you could see the way he was still straining against the fabric of his jeans and the sight made your mouth water. “You’re still hard,” you said breathless.   “I am,” he said matter of factly. You wordlessly let your thighs fall open for him, exposing your core to him. “Oh baby,” Johnny cursed, pressing the heel of his palm against his bulge, “As much as I want to fuck you right now, you still have a fresh tattoo, doll.” “Please, Johnny, I want it,” you begged. “Shh, baby,” he soothed you rubbing a hand over your thigh, “Let me dress that tattoo and then I’ll take you upstairs to fuck you on an actual bed like you deserve.” You nodded, amazed by his amount of self-control.

Johnny worked quickly and efficiently: Cleaning your tattoo one last time before putting some ointment on it to keep it moisturized. At last he gently taped down a small sheet of plastic foil to keep it safe. “All done, beautiful,” he spoke before pecking your lips, “You still want to come upstairs with me?” “Yes Daddy,” you answered and you swore you could see his eyes darken just from the word alone. “Hold on tightly,” he ordered before scooping you up into his arms, holding you up by your thighs. Squealing you quickly wrapped your arms and legs around him, holding on tightly. “I’ll get your clothes before we open up tomorrow,” he mumbled when he carried you through the back door of the shop that lead to a dusty staircase. You pressed your body closer to his, nuzzling your face into his neck where the smell of his cologne was the strongest, to have some of his warmth seep into your skin when you started to shiver from the cold air. Lazily you let your lips travel over his skin, sucking a mark next to a splash of ink.

Johnny quickly grabbed the keys to his apartment’s door from atop of the doorframe (not really safe) and unlocked his door while holding you up with just one of his arms, the display of strength making your head spin. With quick steps he crossed the way to his bed and gently laid you down on the soft sheets, immediately crawling on top of you, crowding you against the mattress. “I knew you would look good in my bed,” he rasped, kissing your neck while his hands made quick work of the bra that you were still wearing for some reason. “You’re gorgeous, doll,” he breathed after he had sat up on his knees, looking down at you with dark eyes, his big hands roaming your body. Feeling shy under all the attention and compliments he was giving you, you tried to hide your face behind your fingers but he wasn’t having any of it, quickly grabbing your wrists in one hand to pin them above your head. “Don’t hide from me baby. Daddy wants to see how much you’re enjoying yourself.” You could just nod, trying to force down the whimper that almost spilled past your lips, he hadn’t even done much yet and you were already feeling arousal pulse through your veins. “I couldn’t hear your answer,” Johnny teased, gently grabbing one of your boobs to massage the soft flesh. “Yes, Daddy.” “That’s my good girl,” he grinned, releasing your wrists to slip his T-Shirt over his head, revealing his strong chest where the eagle majestically spread its wings and the hard lines of his abs. “Like what you see?” He asked smugly, climbing off the bed to unbuckle his belt and slip his jeans off his narrow hips, revealing strong, muscled thighs. One of them was covered with the face of a growling panther while the other was decorated with a colorful koifish tattoo that disappeared beneath the fabric of his dark boxers that were doing very little to hide a prominent bulge. “Let me,” you breathed and crawled over to hook your thumbs into the waistband. But before you pulled them down, you pressed a couple of kisses to the cherry blossom branch tattoo that seemed to stretch from his back over his hipbone and further down, mingling with the koi tattoo further down. With every centimeter of skin you exposed, more ink from the blossoms became visible and you kissed every single one of the delicate flowers. When his length finally sprang free, you had to swallow dryly: His cock was huge and hung heavy between his legs. Licking your lips you looked up to him, to find him grinning down at you. “Go to town, baby.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice, you were itching to feel his heavy weight on your tongue. You pressed a sweet kiss to his tip before placing a hand at the base only to find him surprisingly soft as you experimentally pumped your hand once. “It takes a while for it to get fully hard,” he groaned when you moved your hand up and down his shaft a couple of times, feeling it pulse beneath your fingers. Damn if he wasn’t even fully hard, how big would he be if he was? Holding him at the base, you licked a broad stripe up the whole length before you swiped your tongue around the pink head, pulling another groan from Johnny’s lips. Taking a deep breath, you finally took him in your mouth and hollowed your cheeks, tasting his skin. The weight on your tongue felt just right and you couldn’t help but moan as you slowly started to take more and more of him until you felt him hit the back of your throat. Shit, you were barely able to fit half of his length in your mouth like this. “You’re so big,” you moaned when you pulled off of him with a wet pop, spreading your saliva down the shaft with both of your hands. Johnny just hummed and grabbed a handful of your hair to shove your mouth back onto his dick. He cursed when the velvety heat surrounded him again and gently began to thrust in and out your mouth. “Fuck you look so good with my cock in your mouth,” he breathed heavily. You could only moan where your lips were stretched around his length and hollow your cheeks when he pulled out, the grip he had on your hair keeping you in place while he snapped his hips. “Shit baby,” Johnny cursed when he pulled out, panting while he rested the head of his cock on your outstretched tongue. “I could cum like this.” You whined pathetically, looking up at him with pleading eyes. He chuckled and gently slapped his cock against your lips, smearing them with precum. “But you don’t want that, don’t you, baby? You want my cock inside you? Stretching you out?” “Yes Daddy, please. I need it so bad,” you blabbered, not even knowing where those words were coming from but you seemed to have said the right thing with how Johnny’s dick twitched in his hand.

“Then get on your hands and knees for me, baby. Ass up.” It was almost comically how fast you complied, baring yourself to him. “Such a good girl,” he praised, grabbing your asscheeks to knead and pull them apart. “Beautiful.” “Please Daddy,” you begged him, arching your back further. “Patience baby,” he chuckled. A frustrated groan got stuck in your throat and turned into a drawn out whine when he pushed two of his fingers inside you, pumping them quickly and curling them to find your sweet spot again. Soon two fingers became three and he had reduced you to a moaning mess with how he abused your sweet spot once he had found it again. “You think you’re ready for my cock, baby?” “Yes. Oh god, yes please,” you begged while shamelessly grinding back on his fingers that he had stilled inside of you. “Spread your cheeks for me,” he ordered while quickly grabbing a condom from his bedside table and rolling it onto his cock. Balancing your weight on your knees and shoulders, you reached around yourself to pull your asscheeks apart so Johnny could see your core clenching around nothing. “You’re such a good girl for me,” he rasped, running his palm along the curve of your body while lazily thrusting his cock through your folds, making it glisten with your essence. Finally you could feel him nudging at your entrance with the thick head of his cock. “You want it, baby?” “Yes please Daddy,” you gasped, trying hard to be good and not grind back against him. “You’re such a good girl for me,” he chuckled, “And good girls get what they want if they ask so politely.” With that he finally sank into you in one agonizingly slow thrust until you could feel his hip bones press against your skin. You had to screw your eyes shut and bite your lip to suppress a whimper. You had never felt so full before.

“Fuck baby, you’re so tight,” Johnny groaned, grabbing you by the dip of your waist with his big hands, grinding you on his cock. “I’m so full, Daddy,” you gasped when he slowly pulled out until only the head of his cock was inside you before he languidly thrust back in. “Yeah? You like that? Being stuffed full of my cock?” You could only moan and nod where your head was pressed into the sheets. His cock was so big that it seemed to press against every good spot that was inside you, setting your nerve endings on fire, the pain from being stretched like that only adding to your pleasure. “You‘re sucking me right back in baby,” he cursed and gripped your waist harder, pulling you back on his cock as he picked up the pace, low groans falling from his lips. Your moans got progressively louder and louder the faster Johnny snapped his hips. “Hands behind your back, baby,” he ordered panting and immediately grabbed both your wrists in his hands to use them as leverage so he could fuck into you faster, the change of angle and pace making you moan his name. Your head was swimming with pleasure and you could only moan and mewl beneath him, imagining how he would bite his lip while watching his dick disappear inside you over and over again, stretching out the delicate skin of your sex. “God baby, your ass looks amazing,” Johnny groaned, praise after praise falling from his lips that reduced you to a moaning mess.

With one particularly hard thrust he buried himself to the hilt inside you and draped his body over yours, his hot breath fanning over your face when he spoke, a deep rumble in his chest while grinding his dick right against your sweet spot that had you seeing colors behind your closed eyes. “Wanna see you bounce on my dick, doll. Can you do that for me?” Taking a deep breath, you nodded. Your ability to form coherent sentences had left you as soon as he had begun to fuck you in earnest. “You’re such a good girl,” he purred and gently pulled out, making you whimper from the loss. You felt the bed dip next to you and when you opened your eyes, you were met with Johnny’s pleased smirk as he leaned against the headboard of the bed, his cock resting against his hip, too heavy to properly stand up and you couldn’t stop another whimper. “Come on baby, I know you want it,” he grinned, crooking a finger in a ‘come closer’ motion. Dragging your limbs from beneath you with great effort, you climbed onto his lap, immediately claiming his lips in a messy kiss. You buried your hands in his stupidly perfect hair to mess it up and tug at the inky strands, causing Johnny to moan into the kiss. “Hmm, my baby is feisty,” he chuckled when he broke the kiss, the pupils of his dark eyes blown so wide that they seemed almost black. “But you promised me to ride my dick,” he reminded you. “And I’m gonna,” you slurred, reaching between your bodies to grab his cock, giving it a couple of strokes. “But turn around for me baby. Wanna see how much my fat cock is going to stretch you out,” he rasped, playfully biting your lips. “But I want to see you too,” you complained. “Oh you can,” he grinned and pointed over your shoulder. You reluctantly turned around before you saw what he meant. Right across from the bed was a big mirror and you gasped because of how fucked out you already looked. A couple of tears had rolled down your cheeks and messed up your makeup and your lipstick was smeared around your lips.

You carefully grabbed Johnny’s cock again and held it steady so you could sink down on him, watching yourself in the mirror until you sat snug on his lap and had to close your eyes because the feeling was so overwhelming. He felt even bigger like that. “You okay, baby?” He asked, grabbing your hips tightly to help you swivel them on his cock, making it press into your walls just how you liked it. “How does your cock feel even bigger like this?” You gasped as you leaned forward and slowly started to ride him at first to get used to his size and figure out the best angle for you. Your legs shook with the effort to keep your rhythm but the look Johnny had on his face, his eyes glued to where you two were connected, made it worth it. Suddenly a wicked grin spread on his lips and he snapped his hips up when you lowered yourself again, tearing loud moans from both of you. “Fuck, do that again,” you demanded when you raised your hips again. “What’s the magic word?” Johnny teased, holding you up so you wouldn’t drop down again. “Please, Daddy.” Groaning he started to snap his hips up every time you ground down on him, making your skin slap together with an obscene noise.

God you wanted to die on his dick. “Do you now?” Johnny laughed. Shit did you say that out loud? “Want to feel how deep it goes inside you?” He rasped, wrapping his strong arms around your waist. You went lax in his hold and mewled helplessly. Who knew that a little display of strength and a big dick were such turn ons for you that your brain was reduced to mush. Grinning he carefully pulled you up and against his chest and draped your legs over his after he had planted his feet firmly onto the mattress. “Watch, baby,” he ordered as he lifted you off of him until only the tip was barely inside you anymore before letting you drop down again. You mewled and thrashed in his hold, the feeling just on the edge of too much. Feeling him deep inside you was one thing but actually seeing it was a whole other thing and it messed with your head. Curiously you pressed your hand down on your lower stomach when Johnny had started to piston his hips up into you instead of dropping you down onto his cock every time and you swore you could feel him move inside you. A drawn out curse left your lips and you threw your head back onto his shoulder.

With the way he was snapping his hips up you could feel your orgasm approach at lightning speed and you were so far gone that you shamelessly reached between your legs to stimulate your clit. “Fuck baby, you’re so hot like this,” Johnny groaned, grinding his dick inside you as you quickly rubbed your clit, toeing right on the edge. “Please Daddy,” you cried out, not sure what you were even begging for. “You gonna cum on my cock?” He rasped, snapping his hips harshly, “Wrapped around my big cock stretching you out like this?” You nodded your head furiously, your eyes screwed shut. You were so close that you could already feel your toes curling. “Show me baby. Show Daddy how good his cock makes you feel.” That’s what pushed you over the edge, the way he was panting in your ear, his voice strained from how he was drilling into you. The coil in your stomach snapped and you almost screamed his name, your body curling inwards and thighs shivering as your orgasm washed over you, making a bunch of colors explode behind your lids. In the back of your mind you registered Johnny’s curses and how he was grinding his cock inside you to help you ride out your orgasm. “Such a good girl,” he praised when your body went lax on top of him, your chest heaving with heavy breaths. You briefly wondered if you had ever cum this hard and you couldn’t think of any other time. “Thank you Daddy,” you panted, turning your face to press a messy kiss to his plush lips that were bitten raw. He chuckled lowly when you whimpered when his still hard cock shifted when you tried to turn around.

“Will you let me fuck you for a little longer, baby?” He asked, running a hand through your sweaty hair. Instead of answering him, you lifted yourself off his dick to turn around on his lap, capturing his lips again. “Want you to ruin me,” you whispered between kisses, “Want you to ruin me for any other men. Want to only remember how you feel inside of me.” Johnny growled deep in his chest before he pushed you down onto the bed, hungrily licking into your mouth. “You’re the one who is ruining me,” he panted, rising to his knees. He quickly grabbed your legs and threw them over his shoulders before he sank into you again with a low groan. This time he didn’t waste any time with building up the pace and immediately snapped his hips harshly, chasing his own orgasm. “You’re taking me so well, baby,” he panted, folding your thighs to your chest so he could push into you even deeper, making you see stars with how he was nailing your sweet spot with the new angle. And even though you had just cum, you felt another orgasm build inside your stomach. A row of curses left Johnny’s lips when he could watch his dick slide in and out of you again and he gripped your thighs so hard you were sure you’d have bruises there tomorrow. But that was something you’d worry about later, right now your world was only made up of the handsome man with his huge cock that was currently rearranging your guts with how vigorously he was snapping his hips, making your skin slap together with lewd sounds.

“I’m gonna cum baby,” Johnny grunted, his hips losing their rhythm. “On me,” you managed to choke out, still lost in your own pleasure. Another groan left his bitten lips before he quickly pulled out and ripped the condom off, jerking his cock with quick strokes, his eyes fixed to yours. All it took was a couple of jerks before he threw his head back and you could see his abdominal muscles contract before the first burst of white hot cum spurted from his dick and covered your chest and stomach. With parted lips he stroked himself through his orgasm, milking rope after rope from his cock until he hissed with overstimulation. “Fuck,” he cursed before giggling when he saw the mess he had made of you, his cum dripping from your boobs and running down your stomach. He cursed again before claiming your lips. “You want to cum one last time, baby?” “Please Daddy,” you whined, spreading your legs further for him. “My good girl,” he sighed, sinking two fingers into your heat, quickly crooking them to stimulate your sweet spot while his thumb was putting sweet pressure on your clit, making you thrash beneath him. “You look so good covered in my cum,” he rasped before he kissed you harshly to swallow your moans and cries of pleasure. You desperately held on to his shoulders, breaking the kiss when your head was spinning from the lack of oxygen. While speeding up his fingers, Johnny began sucking bruises low on your neck and over the soft skin of your cleavage. “Shit, I’m gonna-“ you didn’t get to finish your sentence because right that moment he had sucked one of your nipples into his mouth which was just enough to send you over the edge for a third time that night, your lips parted in a silent scream of his name and your thighs shaking and closing around the handsome man kneeling between them. “That’s my good girl,” he praised breathily and gently rocked his fingers to help you ride out your orgasm before he pulled them out, instead winding his strong arms around your body, holding you to his inked chest.

For a while he just held you close, not caring that his cum was now also stuck to his chest. “Fuck that was a lot,” you chuckled, burying your face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his calming scent. “Not what you thought would happen when you get a free tattoo?” Johnny softly spoke, carding his hand through your messy hair. “Not at all.” Another question was burning inside your head but you were too scared to ask it. You didn’t want to push him and ruin the mood. “I should clean you up and see if that tattoo is still okay. Then we can cuddle, alright?” The tattoo artist said before he detangled your bodies from one another to get up from the bed. He looked around on the floor for a cloth and you could finally see where the cherry blossoms on his hip were coming from. A big samurai was stretched over half his back, surrounded by the pinkish blossoms. It seemed like it wasn’t a complete piece yet, the samurai staring at the still untouched skin of Johnny’s left shoulderblade. “Your back tattoo is really pretty,” you mumbled to fill the silence while Johnny was wiping his chest clean before he gently did the same to you, taking extra caution when looking at your still fresh tattoo. “Thank you,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to your forehead, the metal of his piercing feeling warm on your skin, “We should change that foil real quick.” You just nodded and let him do his work, exhaustion settling into your bones.

“Do you do this with all your clients?” Shit. You hadn’t meant to ask that, the question had just slipped your lips and you could feel Johnny freeze where he was dressing your tattoo again before he secured the last piece of tape. He sighed and slipped beneath the covers, pulling you against his chest, so you could listen to his heartbeat. “Not all of them,” he answered eventually, “I haven’t slept with a client in a while. It happens sometimes but usually I don’t think much about it.” “And now you do?” He just hummed nonchalantly, playing with your hair. “They usually don’t come back after I fuck them.” He paused, holding his breath. “Will you come back?” Your heart started to race and you could feel a bright smile spreading over your lips. “For more free tattoos and piercings?” “Oh, yeah, I guess,” he sounded so deflated, the confident tattoo artist suddenly gone. “You idiot,” you giggled, pillowing your head on his sternum so he could see the smile on your lips, “I like you Johnny. I’ll come back if you want me to.” Now he was also smiling, his features softening. “Don’t make jokes like that, my heart is fragile,” he joked, wrapping you up in his strong arms.  

“Which one was your first one?” You asked him when the silence between you stretched while you traced the scales of the dragon that wound around his arm. “My first tattoo?” Johnny shifted around for a while before he showed you his other arm that had all kinds of different designs on it, some in bright colors, some strictly black. “That little guy over here,” he said with a smile on his lips and pointed to a little sunflower at the bend of his elbow, “To remind me to always look at the sun, at the bright side of life.” “It’s cute,” you breathed, touching the yellow petals. “And then it went downhill from there,” he chuckled, “It’s addicting.” “Let’s hope I can stay abstinent.” “What a shame, I’d love to cover you in my art,” Johnny confessed, tilting your face up so he could claim your lips in a kiss. “Maybe one or two more,” you breathed in between kisses, making him chuckle against your lips.

[ayatosmlktea]

A/N: The things you think of while cutting tomatoes. @bakugoustanaccount​ this is for you because you deserve some Bakugou fluff. Sorry if it’s kinda shit. Getting back into writing was way harder than I thought. Culinary School Bakugou AU

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: None, fluff

Pairings: Bakugou x reader

Disclaimer: I know nothing about culinary school. So don’t roast me. I tried my best!

Tags: @babybabydoki​, @thesecretnerd27​

Bakugou was not a man of words, at least not when it came to expressing his feelings. Sure he had no problem giving people a piece of his mind when they pissed him off or when things were not up to his standards. But talking about his actual feelings, like the crush he’d harboured on you for a little over a year? Not a chance in hell were the words coming out of his mouth.

In all honesty, Bakugou wasn’t sure why you stuck around him. He had been such an ass to you the first month of classes, constantly ragging on you for your lack of coordination and time management in the kitchen. In his defense, you were amateur at best and probably shouldn’t have wasted all that money to get into one of the finest culinary schools Japan had to offer.

‘It looked like fun’ was all you had to say. Your reasoning had shook the blond to his core, and he had been certain that you’d drop out within the first week or two if he was being generous. However, much to his surprise you’d been persistent in trying to succeed.

You eventually got fed up with his incessant criticisms and had bit the bullet to ask for his help. Bakugou wasn’t sure what to say, the image of you clearly distressed and face slick with sweat, chef’s coat covered in stains tugged on heartstrings he didn’t know existed. Begrudgingly he agreed, after all it was a boost to his ego.

 He held it over your head ever since, constantly bringing up the cause for your sudden improvement due to his culinary genius. The two of you somehow grew closer after that, more often than not you found yourself over at his apartment until almost four in the morning coming up with new recipes, trying out different flavour combinations and inevitably eating way too much.

“I think this is the best one so far” you manage to get out in between bites of cake.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, dumbass.” He grumbles, flicking your forehead roughly. Sticking your cake clad tongue at you burst into a fit of laughter as Bakugou cringes.

“That’s disgusting,” he muttered carrying empty plates to the sink and running hot water over them.

“Seriously Bakugou, I think you’ll get an A plus with that cake.” Scoffing loudly Bakugou is grateful his back is turned so you can’t see the huge blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Shut up and help me clean up, brat”

“Always so eloquent Katsuki” you grin unaware of the way the sound of his name rolling off your tongue sent his heart into cardiac arrest.

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·

You were always clumsy, something that Bakugou knew all too well. The amount of times you’d almost cut yourself trying to catch your knife that was about to slide off the counter was enough to guarantee early heart failure in the explosive blond. 

You shared the same workstation as Bakugou and while he was always one to throw himself head first into their assignments for the day; he was finding it harder and harder not to get lost in watching you bite your bottom lip while you read the day’s recipe.

 The dark circles under your eyes a testament to how hard you’d been working to catch up with the rest of the class. Bakugou probably wouldn’t directly tell you but your pairing skills had drastically improved since the first month of classes.

Your knife work was becoming more seamless and uniform and the smile you’d flashed him when your instructor had complimented you on it made his stomach clench with butterflies.

“Thanks I guess” you smirked later that evening. It was now routine for the two of you to hangout after class, going back to either of your apartments to try and get ahead for the next lesson. Plus it helped that you always managed to whip up dinners that rivaled any pricey restaurant you’d ever been taken out to.

“You guess? If it wasn’t for me your ass would be failing” Bakugou retorts hottily, his gaze watching your fingers as they glide a potato across the madalin a little too carelessly for this liking. Your eyes were focused on him, attention not on the extremely sharp blade that was capable of slicing your fingers in half.

“Watch your fingers dumba-” before he can even finish his sentence you yelp in pain pulling your hand back dropping the potato and cradling your fingers against your chest.

“Fuckfuckfuck”  you hiss repeatedly squeezing your fingers together to try and stop the blood from seeping out.

“I fucking told you to be careful!” Bakugou growls grabbing a paper towel and running it under water before wrapping it around your fingers.

“I was being careful!” You shot back through gritted teeth. It was obviously a lie, but you were in pain and your pride was hurt at being called out on your bullshit.

“Tch you’re bleeding all over my floor dumbass, this is careful to you?” Your recklessness annoyed him, and the fact that you weren’t taking it seriously made him even more angry.

“Okay whatever! I’m an idiot, glad we worked that out” you snapped back, the painful throbbing of your fingers was making it hard to match Bakugou’s sarcastic energy like you usually did.

You didn’t want to look at your fingers as he unwrapped the soaked towel from around them, the sight of all that blood was making you light headed and before you knew it you were hyperventilating.

“Oi, stop freaking out! It doesn’t look that bad! I don’t think you need stitches.” He shouts and while it would have made anyone else freak out more it helped you calm down. If Bakugou was calm, something was definitely wrong.

“Hold this tightly” he grumbled before disappearing into the bathroom.

Against your better judgement you looked at the gash across your pinky and ring finger. They were fairly large cuts but at least you couldn’t see your bone...right?

“Didn’t I tell you to hold it?” Bakugou’s voice makes your shoulders jump, a guilty smile on your face as you press the wet towel over your fingers. It made you squeamish but you knew that bleeding out was far less appealing than a few minutes of pain.

“Since when did you get a first aid kit?”

“Since I became friends with your clumsy ass” he muttered under his breath.

“Did you just call us friends? Wow, I truly have peaked. Thank you God”

“Shut up or I’ll kick you out”

“You wouldn’t dare” you were right, he wouldn’t have. But you didn’t need to know that.

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·

Throughout the next year your friendship with the blond only grew. You had met his close group of friends who he would never call his family, but you had learned to read between the lines with Bakugou. Mina often commented on you being the only other girl he’d managed to get close to in his life, and while you blew her off every single time it made your stomach flutter with butterflies at the possibility of something more.

Bakugou paid attention to a lot of things, even if it didn’t seem like it. Small pieces of yourself that you revealed in passing casual conversations stuck to his brain like glue. 

The longer you stuck around him, the harder it was becoming to push down the growing feelings he had for you. There were only so many times he could watch you bite your lip without imagining tugging it between his own teeth. It was the last class before you would have two weeks of in between semesters. Two weeks where Bakugou wouldn’t see you on a daily basis, he wasn’t even sure if you wanted to keep practicing together although he hoped you’d ask him to rather than having to bring it up himself.

“My fingers are about to cramp in this position forever” you huff, adjusting the grip around your knife before continuing to peel potatoes. A stray piece of your hair had fallen from your bun and without thinking Bakugou reached out and tucked it behind your ear. 

You stopped mid-sentence as the tips of your ears turned bright red. When his brain finally caught up to his actions Bakugou didn’t speak to you for the rest of the class, the pounding in his chest was almost painful. He had left before you had finished cleaning up your station.

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·

He ignored your texts and calls, he needed to sort out his feelings. He hadn’t expected to let you this close to him, to worm your way into his heart and become a part of his routine. He didn’t want to fall in love with you, but everything about you that he had found annoying quickly turned into everything he loved about you. 

The crinkle of your nose when you didn't understand something, the way you wandered over to his station to steal extra pastries off of him. Your compliments always made his heart skip a beat, it shouldn’t have been so important to him but Bakugou found himself craving your praise more than your instructor.

Slamming the door closed a little harder than was necessary he dumped his bag on the floor and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. He needed to get your smell off of him, his fingers still tingled with electricity if he thought back to the feeling of skin under his touch.

Bakugou couldn’t deny that he had more fun with you than when he was working alone. Even if you did get distracted every five seconds. It was stupid, you occupied every waking thought he had. He couldn’t even cook without turning to you to get your opinion on a recipe before realizing you weren’t there.

 The empty pit that dropped in his stomach every time he thought about messaging you only grew as the days dragged on. You hadn’t messaged him since last week and it was a little pathetic to admit that every notification ping had his heart racing, hoping that it was you. 

But why would you do that when it was him who had started this war. Bakugou’s pride was going to be the death of him, he would have rather died than admit that he was in love with you. His stubbornness wouldn’t allow himself to admit that he needed you more than he had wanted to believe. So what if time passed slower without you, he’d find things to fill the void. So what if he missed the sound of your laugh, it didn’t matter. He had other friends.

Nothing tasted good anymore, there was always something missing in everything he cooked. He couldn’t be bothered to try anymore, most of his nights ended with the kitchen in a mess and him cursing loudly in frustration. You were missing. He couldn’t fight it anymore, he needed to apologize. Everything felt incomplete without you. Classes were starting in a few days and he knew he needed to fix things before then.

Come over for dinner. At 8. If you’re late I’m not letting you in.

Wow, not even a hello.

It’s free food, dumbass.

Fine.

Bakugou’s hands trembled slightly as he put his phone down, it was far from perfect but it was a start. Throwing on his jacket he felt a surge of excitement and passion that he hadn’t felt for nearly two weeks.

He would make it up to you.

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·

Your stomach growled as you stepped foot into Bakugou’s apartment. You were still mad at him for ignoring you but God if his cooking wasn’t enough to make your resolve crumble.

“7:59, you’re really cutting it close huh?”

“I was debating whether to come or not” you replied smoothly, hanging your jacket on the coat rack. Your answer felt like little needles poking him in the chest, this was going to be much more difficult than he had anticipated. 

Bakugou noticed that you looked more put together than one the days he’d invited you to come over and cook before and he couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with your feelings towards him. Not that he was complaining, the outfit you had chosen hugged your body in all the right places, not to mention your lips were looking extra kissa-snap out of it. If he messed it up now there would be no going back.

It’s not a date. You repeatedly told yourself, and yet you had still put in more effort than you should have. Maybe you had worn your sheer lacy black top on purpose, it was just a confidence boost after all. And most definitely not because you were trying to give him a sneak peek of what was under it.

It had been far too long since you had invaded his personal space and the smell of his cologne had your body buzzing with nervous energy. You had hoped that after the hair incident something would have happened between the two of you. But you hadn’t expected him to ignore you. You shouldn’t have been surprised, it shouldn’t have hurt, but all the nights you had spent at his place had you feeling like maybe there was room for something more.

“Whatcha making?” You asked peering over his shoulder.

“It’s a surprise” he muttered, turning around to push you out of the kitchen.

“Well I can still smell it” you retort, swerving around him to turn on the oven light but before you could reach it Bakugou grabbed your waist and tugged you backwards.

“I said it’s a surprise! Don’t go and ruin it”

“You’re no fun Katsuki” you sigh, trying to act as nonchalant as possible while his palms burn their imprint against your skin.

“Trust me Y/N! Stop making this harder than it needs to be!” There was no winning against Bakugou when he was in a stubborn mood. Pouting you make your way back to the couch because you weren’t allowed to be in the kitchen until it was time to eat.

 It felt oddly comfortable being in his apartment, you’d never really been left to entertain yourself before. If you closed your eyes it almost felt like he was your boyfr-nope. You were not going to go down that road. Every rational thought was screaming at you that it was stupid to believe he harboured any feelings for you, especially after what had happened two weeks ago.

“Oi Y/N! If you wanna eat, get your ass up” Bakugou shouted from the kitchen and you snapped out of your daydream. Definitely not your boyfriend…

You were ready to whip out a snarky comment but the words caught in your throat at the sight before you. It was...dare you say romantic. Bakugou’s eyes were watching you intently while you struggled to gather your thoughts. The room was dimly lit with a few candles, your eyes glued to the dish of pasta in front of you.

“Are you just gonna stare or are you actually going to eat?” Bakugou pulls out your chair and the cage that were guarding your butterflies was threatening to break open.

“I’ve never seen anyone make lasagna look so...romantic” You laugh, letting him push your seat in for you.

“It’s your favourite isn’t it?” He asks with a smirk tugging on the corner of his lips. Your heart is hammering forcefully against your ribcage, in the entire year you’d been friends with Bakugou you’d only mentioned it a handful of times. To be honest you weren’t even sure he had been listening to you, the reasons behind  his motives for making your favourite dish had your cheeks heating up.

“I didn’t think you’d remember that” you mumbled.

“I remember a lot of things” For some reason the way he says it has you clinging onto a hope you know you shouldn’t. Bakugou was not in love with you, it was purely coincidence that he’d made your favourite meal.

It didn’t mean anything.

At least that’s what you tried telling yourself, until he brought desert out. Conversation had eventually begun to flow easier than it had in the beginning, probably due to the two glasses of wine that you’d consumed. You weren’t tipsy but you were definitely feeling bolder than before.

“Is that what I think it is?” you gasp as Bakugou sets down a pie tin. The surge of pride he feels at your wide eyed stare was comparable to nothing else. You can feel your mouth watering as he cuts you a piece of cheesecake.

“Ohmygod Katsuki this is so good!” you moan as you take a bite of cheesecake. It’s salted caramel, your favourite.  Something weird was happening, something you might not have had the balls to pursue under normal circumstances. Liquid courage igniting your veins, you force yourself to make eye contact with crimson orbs and ask the question you weren’t sure you wanted an answer to.

“Why did you ignore me?” You can almost see the wheels turning in his head, and for a second you wish you could melt into the floor and disappear. The silence was suffocating and you seriously considered just grabbing your coat and dashing out of his apartment.

“It’s okay if you do-”

“I have feelings for you”

His words shock you and for a moment you can’t tell if what you had heard was a figment of your imagination.

“What?” every nerve in your body is on edge, fight or flight system ready to bolt the hell out of his apartment if things go wrong.

“I have feelings for you, dumbass! For a whole year, and I didn’t want to deal with it because I’m scared to fuck it up! I’m not good with words, the only way I can express myself is through cooking.” It takes a moment for it to click in your mind but his amused scoff and eye roll when your eyes light up with recognition are almost endearing.

“Wait, so you did all this...to confess?”

“Isn’t that just what I said?”

“So, what if I said I liked you too?” Your voice was barely above a whisper, your throat suddenly felt way too dry.

“Then I’d kiss you” Your stomach was doing somersaults and you were sure that under normal circumstances the nerves alone would have made you puke.

“I like you too Katsuki” the look Bakugou gives you is almost feral and before you can react he’s already moved to cup your face in his hands. The second his lips touch yours, the cage inside your stomach breaks open and butterflies are spreading throughout your body. Your hands tangle themselves in soft blond locks, angling your face to deepen the kiss. His tongue swipes along your bottom lip and you respond without hesitation. You can taste salted caramel on his tongue and it has your head spinning. Who knew Bakugou Katsuki was such a good kisser. Maybe he was boyfriend material after all.

[quicksilversquared]

The Substitute Ladybug: Chapter 2

After Lila takes things too far and Marinette ends up with a broken leg, Paris is going to have to deal with a different superhero arrangement for a bit. Having to share her superhero identity with her parents before Hawkmoth can be defeated isn’t something that Marinette had planned on doing, but- well, it might end up being a bit of a blessing in disguise.

links in the reblog

Going back to school with a broken leg- well, it was pretty intimidating.

After all, their classrooms at school were divided between two levels. There was a lot of bustle and unintentional pushing as students moved between rooms when they were switching classes, and some of the doors- like the bathroom doors- weren't exactly going to be easy to push open with crutches. Then there was the worry of Chloe trying to take advantage of Marinette's hindrance to try to do something to her. Getting to her seat, slipping away unnoticed if an akuma attacked, being able to do any quality focusing when she was on her pain meds...

Well, she would have to take the day as it came. And as it turned out, it wasn't so bad after all.

Mr. Damocles pointed out a fairly hidden elevator that she could use. Kim and Ivan offered their services to piggyback-carry Marinette up and down the stairs at school if she didn't want to bother with finding the elevator between classes. As soon as he heard what was going on, Adrien offered the same thing, clearly eager to be of help. Everyone had heard what Lila had done and was horrified about ever doubting Marinette, so everything there was back to normal. Alya had even made a post on the Ladyblog apologizing for posting Lila's lies and calling her out for Marinette's injury, so all of Paris- or at least everyone who followed Alya's blog- knew how terrible of a person Lila was.

And Hawkmoth didn't attack until after school, which meant that Marinette didn't have to bother with slipping away. She could follow the fight from the comfort of her temporary bedroom, surrounded by pillows and blankets.

"Okay, I've managed to get into the city's video feeds," Vipera commented, watching her screen. All she had needed to get the screen on the lyre was to want it, and then she had noticed a little button to push. It expanded across the middle of the instrument, large enough for her to easily follow. "And it should hop from feed to feed, whatever will get me the best view."

"Fantastic!" Coccinelle told her. "I think we've got the hang of this right now, it seems a very standard-issue akuma. We've seen far worse."

Vipera nodded. She had to agree. As far as first akumas for her mom to face, this was a pretty good one to start on. It would involve a bit of fighting, but there had been far more complicated and difficult akumas before.

For the most part, she was going to stay out of things. If she talked too much, that was just one more thing for Coccinelle to keep track of. If they needed help or if she spotted an opening or a trap, then she would speak up. And of course, if she needed to use Second Chance, then she would tell them what they needed to do instead.

The fight raged on, and Vipera followed it carefully. She needed to be hugely on top of things to be able to figure out when to activate Second Chance, if it was needed. It would be harder to do now, when she wasn't physically at the fight, so lapses in concentration were not allowed.

(Oddly enough, Vipera liked that. It was a challenge, something that kept her mind on the top of its game. It wasn't the usual physical challenge, maybe, but the mental challenge...)

It wasn't long at all before the akuma fight wrapped up, with only a few helpful suggestion from Vipera. The two superheroes on the scene fled before reporters could get close and ask any questions, and Vipera sat back with a hum, considering that.

On one hand, holding off could be a good thing. The less information Hawkmoth got, the better. The longer they could hold off making any statements- well, then Hawkmoth would be kept in the dark.

On the other hand- well, Hawkmoth had eyes. He could see that Coccinelle was different than Ladybug. He wouldn't know what that meant, maybe, but he might try to send out more akumas until he got the answers that he wanted.

Vipera leaned forward, tapping her chin in thought. More akumas would definitely not be a good thing, so they would want to discourage that somehow. Even though Coccinelle had put on a good show with the first akuma and her martial arts training had shown through, inexperience was inexperience and Hawkmoth would try to take advantage of that with a difficult akuma that would put a strain on all of them. So if they could make the battles harder for Hawkmoth and his akumas...

Well, there had been some times where Vipera thought that maybe she could activate Second Chance and shorten the fight a bit. It would have required a bit more coordination- maybe Chat Noir should have an earpiece in, too, so she could talk directly to him- but that was a possibility, something that they could explore to maybe make Hawkmoth step back and reconsider sending out more akumas.

"Almost back!" Coccinelle said in Vipera's ear. "I'm going to use your balcony. That seems the safest. I'll mix it up in the future so that I don't get tracked back."

"That seems like a good idea," Vipera agreed. She waited for a confirmation that her mom was back, then detransformed. A check of the clock revealed that she was due for pain meds, and so she took one before maneuvering to sit at her desk, wincing when her cast bumped into the desk's side and sent a spike of pain up her leg.

Superheroes had to keep up with their homework, after all. Since she was going to keep being involved in the battles, even with her broken leg, that meant that she had to keep on top of her assignments and not spend too much time loitering around.

Planning for future battles would have to wait. For now, Marinette had homework to do.

  Four days in, and Paris was apparently worried about their missing superhero, even with Chat Noir's announcement about Coccinelle just being a short-term temporary replacement while Ladybug got some much-needed rest. They had seen temporary heroes before, of course, but rarely without both of the other superheroes- and never without Ladybug.

It took everything in Marinette not to laugh, really. She wasn't missing from the fights, not really. There had been three battles so far, and she had been overseeing all of them, watching, waiting for a sign that she needed to step in.

Vipera had used Second Chance exactly once, and that was to warn Coccinelle and Chat Noir about a sentimonster rearing its head. She seemed to have a fifth sense about when it would be a good idea to activate her power, even if there was nothing that was obviously off yet. And nothing had gone seriously wrong in that instance, but Coccinelle and Chat Noir were able to respond and take out the sentimonster without a problem before it even got a chance to get going and interfere with their battle with the akuma.

Marinette had spent a lot of time talking with Sass to figure out how to get full use of her powers, tapping in to that fifth sense and being able to manipulate the fight more effectively. While her parents could deal with her mom being gone for fights- they had enough seasoned staff in the back kitchens of the bakery that her dad could cover the counter for a while- it was better not to have to be short-staffed for long. If she could shorten fights with her use of the Snake, then Marinette wanted to do that.

For now, though, things were going well.

"Chat Noir and I sometimes did patrols, back when we were starting out," Marinette told her mom as they worked on dinner together. Marinette could sit at a tall chair at the counter and chop veggies, facing her mom as they worked. "We haven't done that a lot recently, because we've been so busy with school and it's hard to keep up with everything sometimes, but it was fun to hang out." She made a face. "Except when we were just patrolling to keep Mr. Damocles from hurting himself. That was just frustrating, because it was every. single. day."

"Chat Noir has suggested that we do some patrols over the weekend," Mrs. Cheng told her. "Or, rather, run some loops around the city so that I can get some practice in with your yo-yo. I thought it was a good idea, because that's definitely an area that I'm struggling with. And then he's suggested some fighting practice, too, just to make sure that I'm on the top of my game."

"I think it's a really good idea!" Tikki piped up. "Since Chat Noir is used to a certain level of fighting ability at his back, and he might automatically do something that doesn't work as well when he doesn't have Ladybug next to him. The two of you have been fighting alongside each other for so long, you can practically read each other's minds, it seems. Coccinelle might be temporary, but she'll be doing enough fights that it's important to have some of that teamwork and training there."

Mrs. Cheng nodded as she dumped a cutting board of chopped veggies into her frying pan. "Exactly! And Chat Noir seems like such a nice boy, so it'll be nice to get to know him better," she added. "I want to know the boy that my daughter's been spending so much time with!"

"Maman!" Marinette complained, immediately embarrassed. "We're just friends, you know that!"

Her mom laughed, giving the sizzling veggies a stir. "I know, but I like knowing your friends, too! And you can't deny that Ladybug and Chat Noir seem quite close," she added with an impish smile. "I mean, I think all of Paris saw those photos of you two kissing-"

Marinette yelped. Loudly. Tikki was giggling, the little traitor. "It was because he got hit by Dark Cupid and I was trying to break him out from under the spell, because that's what works in fairy tales!" She pouted at her still-giggling mom. "And it did work, because he snapped out of it, so there!"

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Cheng said. There was still an amused edge to her voice, not entirely convinced, but Marinette wasn't going to keep on arguing. It wouldn't get her much anywhere, after all.

"I do worry about him, though," Mrs. Cheng added after a minute of silence. "Besides just the hero thing. He said that he was homeschooled for most of his life-"

Marinette was pretty sure that her jaw had hit the floor. "Mama! He's- you're not supposed to talk about civilian lives! It's too dangerous, we could find out each other's identities before the kwamis say it's okay!"

"I've not given away anything that would give me away, Marinette," Mrs. Cheng told her. "Which- well, would be where you go to school and the bakery, really. Anything else I would think wouldn't be specific enough to give anything away. There's two million people in Paris, Marinette. The chances of you two knowing each other enough that me saying anything else would result in a reveal surely can't be that high-"

"Chat Noir has had brunch with us, Mama!" Marinette protested. "He knows civilian-me! It's not like I've never interacted with him on this side of the mask before!"

Her mom considered that. "Oh. Hmm."

"Exactly!"

Instead of promising that they would never talk about their civilian lives again, Mrs. Cheng smiled. "Speaking of that brunch- what was that all about, dear? Your dad was under the impression that you had confessed your love for Chat Noir!"

...Marinette had admittedly temporarily forgotten about that bit.

"He spotted me on my balcony pretty much right after I detransformed," Marinette hastened to explain, before her mom could get any more ideas. "And wanted to know why I was there. So I had to distract him, and come up with a reasonable explanation for why I was there-"

"Because 'I live here' wasn't good enough?"

Marinette froze. She...hadn't thought of that. "Oh. But it was late, and I was really, really tired!" she added on hastily when both her mom and Tikki started to giggle. "So I just blurted the first thing that came to mind and it doesn't mean anything I just thought that playing fangirl was a good idea!"

"I suppose we should stop teasing her before she explodes," Mrs. Cheng told Tikki, amusement lacing through her words. "I feel like Chat Noir might be upset if she did, since he's already looking forward to her return so much."

Marinette pouted.

"Anyway, as I was saying before- just because Chat Noir knows you doesn't mean that you know him, Marinette- he's been homeschooled, and I get the impression that he's not had great adult role models in his life," Mrs. Cheng continued over Marinette's spluttered objections. "He's been asking me about things that have happened with his friends that he hasn't understood, since he hasn't had many good friends growing up and learned pretty much everything about social interactions from anime, of all things. So I think having more time to properly discuss things and have some adult guidance during our training sessions will be good for him. Akuma battles aren't the most ideal for giving a good dose of parental advice."

Seriously, Marinette couldn't believe her ears. Her mom had apparently decided to mother her partner. What was next, inviting him over for dinner?

...she wasn't going to suggest that. Her parents would probably decide that they should all transform and go out to eat together, or maybe have a picnic in the park.

"I think Chat Noir will benefit from it," Tikki agreed happily. "And clearly he knows that something is off with some of his social interactions if he's asking about them. Really, it's a compliment, Marinette!" Tikki added when Marinette looked dubious. "He's decided that whoever raised you must have given good advice, because he sees you as well-adjusted."

Marinette gave a short nod. Maybe Tikki had a point, but- well, she was still adjusting to the idea of Chat Noir telling her mom more about his personal life, because maybe there were two million people in Paris, but how many people were close enough to their area of Paris to be able to respond to akuma attacks in the same window of time that Chat Noir did? And out of those people, how many of them were teenaged boys?

(Blond teenaged boys who had been homeschooled for at least part of their life. That- that was getting uncomfortably specific.)

(Maybe there were more of them than Marinette thought. Maybe Chat Noir wasn't actually blond. Maybe she shouldn't think about it too much.)

"Anyway, I think I'll be spending a little more time transformed than initially planned," Mrs. Cheng finished, giving her pan on the stove a little shake before checking to see how cooked the vegetables were getting. "Just to take advantage of the ability to dole out a bit more parental advice. And to train, of course. We want to have the best possible chance of getting the Ladybug Miraculous back to you safe and sound!"

"Of course, Maman," Marinette agreed. She paused, considering, then looked over at her mom again. "Do you want to hear about some of our past akuma battles? I mean, I know all of Paris sees news coverage of most of the fights anyway, but..."

Mrs. Cheng beamed at her. "Would I like to hear about the battles from Ladybug herself, who was in the thick of things? Of course!"

Marinette beamed, her mind racing to come up with a good fight to start with. "Well, a couple months ago..."

  "Marinette, dear, wake up."

Marinette groaned at the voice disturbing her sleep, automatically trying to roll over to bury her face in her pillow before the blanket rolls that she had set up to keep herself from disturbing her leg too much stopped her. Another tap at her shoulder made her frown again, and then her eyes slowly fluttered open to see her mom standing next to her bed, carrying a flashlight in one hand. She frowned.

"Mom? What's going on?"

"There's an akuma attack and I need to borrow the earrings," Mrs. Cheng told her as she helped Marinette sit upright. "You don't have to stay up for this one, Chat Noir and I will be careful."

"No, I want to help," Marinette insisted, the fog already clearing away from her brain as adrenaline rushed through her system. She pulled out the earrings, passing them to her mom before digging in her dresser drawer for the Snake's bracelet. Aside from Tikki's healing abilities being stronger when she was with Marinette instead of with her mom, this was why she always took back the Ladybug overnight, so that Coccinelle wouldn't sneak off without the Snake's backup. "So both you and Chat Noir should have your earpieces in, okay?"

"If you insist, dear. But remember, if you get tired, just let us know and go back to bed. Rest will help your body heal faster, and I know you've been tired." Mrs. Cheng slid the earrings into her own ears before smiling at her daughter. "We'll be safe, I promise."

With that, she went out the door. Marinette looked to Sass.

"Tonight?"

"I think that you're ready," Sass agreed. "You're tuned in enough to the fights to be able to really use Second Chance to its full extent. And a late-night fight...I don't doubt that both Coccinelle and Chat Noir would welcome the opportunity to have a much-shortened fight and go back to bed."

Marinette nodded. Still, the idea of using Second Chance so many times in a row- well, it was a little worrying. But she had been practicing, she hadn't just been thrown into the deep end during a battle, so in theory things shouldn't be too bad. "Okay. Sass, transform me!"

Green light filled the room, and Vipera settled her lyre on her lap with the screen pulled out. She could already get feed of the akuma near the Kidz+ TV station, even though the other superheroes hadn't gotten there yet, which meant that she got an early look at the akuma's powers.

An early look at the akuma's powers, plus a good view of which way the akuma was facing, what the corrupted object was, and how much attention the akuma was paying to its surroundings at any given moment.

Perfect.

"Okay, I have a visual on the akuma," Vipera said into her earpiece, noticing the icons at the top of the screen that told her that both Coccinelle and Chat Noir were out and both had their earpieces in, so both would be able to hear her. "And I want to try something new tonight with Second Chance, to direct the battle from here. I'll know what the akuma is planning on doing before it does it, and we can have the shortest fight ever." She paused and rethought that statement. "Well, aside from the battles with Mr. Pigeon and Mr. Rat. I don't think that those take more than a couple minutes now."

Chat Noir snorted in amusement at that last bit. Her mom was unconvinced.

"I don't think that two in the morning is the best time to be trying new strategies, dear," she told Vipera. "Perhaps we could try it during the day sometime?"

"Sass said that tonight would be perfect," Vipera told her teammates. "Because I'm tuned in enough to the sort of fifth sense I was telling you about and familiar with all of the uses of the Snake's powers. It should shorten up the fight."

"I'm all for trying it," Chat Noir said at once. "If you think it'll work, then I bet it will. Worst-case scenario, it doesn't go nearly as well as you think it will and you need to re-power and we have to fight like we normally do, without the Snake's back-up. Just don't- don't use Second Chance too many times, like Aspek did."

"I don't plan on it," Vipera told him, because she didn't. Adrien hadn't been nearly as tuned in to the Snake's powers as she was now, and he hadn't had the preparations she had had, either. "And I'll be careful, promise. So for this to work, you have to listen to me and do what I say, or else there'll be no point."

"Okay!" Chat Noir agreed at once. "You know you can be my puppeteer any time you want, my Lady."

Coccinelle sighed, like she was going to say something about that, then decided not to. "I'll go along with it as well. Just let us know if the plan changes."

Vipera nodded. Obviously. "Of course! So, how close to the Kidz+ building are you?"

"One block," Chat Noir reported. "And I can see Coccinelle, she's coming at my two o'clock."

"Okay," Vipera said, her mind already whirring as she watched the akuma onscreen. "The akuma is near the TV station and moving north, but not very fast. The butterfly is in his belt, I think. Watch out for the wand, he's using it to turn people into statues. I don't see a sentimonster yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one shows up. It would be easiest to do an ambush attack from behind, but make sure that you wait for an opening. He likes swinging around periodically."

"Got it!"

Vipera nodded, eyes intent on the screen and occasionally swapping out for other cameras to track her mom and Chat Noir as they drew closer and to scan the rooftops for any signs of a sentimonster or the supervillains. There was no sign of them yet, but there had been a delay in the superheroes' response.

"Dropping in in three, two, one-" Chat Noir murmured in her ear, and Vipera set the time.

There was no going back now.

The next- well, it was four and a half minutes for the superheroes, but closer to an hour for Vipera- were tense as Vipera followed the fight from all angles, resetting often and directing the superheroes' almost every move. It was a mental exercise as she had to remember all of the previous instructions that she had given plus a new one or two on top, in the correct order and with the right timing.

She wasn't Ladybug for nothing, though, and years of childhood games where she and her parents played the add-on story-telling game came in handy. There were maybe two times when she had nearly flubbed up the order of her commands, but she hadn't and so Coccinelle and Chat Noir had been able to wrap up the fight in practically no time.

"That was fantastic, Vipera!" Chat Noir said breathlessly as the akuma fluttered away. "Great job! I hope you didn't have to cycle too many times!"

"I kept it under control," Vipera said, because really, all things considered, she had. She glanced at her Miraculous. "I'm going to detransform soon. Be careful going home, in case Hawkmoth decided to come out."

"Got it, my Lady!" Chat Noir said cheerfully. Seconds later, Vipera's Miraculous beeped one more time and the transformation released. She grinned at Sass, exchanging a fist bump.

That had been amazing.

"You'd make a good full-time Snake," Sass said appreciatively as Marinette wriggled back down into a lying position. Her mom probably wasn't going to bother returning the earrings now, since it was only going to be a few hours until it was time to get up, so she might as well go to sleep. "Not everyone figures out how to- well, how to weaponize Second Chance like that. Though that's what makes you a great Ladybug as well, because you can turn anything into a tool to get an advantage."

Marinette grinned, pink staining her cheeks. "Thanks."

"It's only the truth." Sass yawned, floating over to her dresser and inhaling the snack that she had left out for him there. "You did really well tonight, and you'll only get better with practice. But for now- you've been up longer than your partners. It's time to rest. Good-night, Marinette."

Marinette smiled back, reaching over to flick off the light. "Good night, Sass."

[atinykidult]

His Stupidly Tall Self - Kim Mingyu

[fluff full-length] - 2247 words

[summary] - highschool!au, his pov, song inspiration I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber (doesn’t really connect to the story, but the key and beat suits its pace), featuring some of SVT, super fluffy

[author’s note] I’m trying a playful style - I hope you like it! Also, I typed “look” intending this to be under 500 words... so, uh, yeah. That happened. Also, I know the reader is assumed to be short — tbh, as a short girl, it was my default. Super sorry, my tall friends! I love you and hope you still can enjoy this? The reader’s height isn’t that prominent.

[thanks for reading! your support means the world to me, always!]

Look.

Being the tallest boy in class had its perks; Mingyu wouldn’t argue with that. In fact, his height was how he first talked to Y/N. Shorter than him, his crush had asked him for help reaching a basket of supplies on a too-tall shelf.

He’d remembered feeling awed, wondering if this was some alternate universe where everything was cliche and perfect and just right. 

Even two years after that first contact, he could vividly recall the flush that had run through his entire top half when you’d met his eyes. Smiled. And told him that you appreciated him.

Yes, you’d said it jokingly.

Yes, it wasn’t that deep.

But Mingyu had nurtured that exchange like a gardener fussing over their, well, garden. (So he wasn’t that great with metaphors.)

But he was great with pine trees...

Or, rather... You know...

Pining.

Yipee.

Back to his height.

Although it certainly brought him some perks, it generally caused him more pain than help. Physical pain, in that he spent too many trips down the stairs a little faster than intended... with a little less foot-to-step contact than desired, too. (Sometimes this would happen when he planned to travel up rather than down, too. Thinking about that, his ribs throbbed in sympathy.)

And emotional pain, too.

Exhibit A: When he let his friends — a terrible, thirteen man group which eternally abused Mingyu with jokes about his height and personality in general (really, Mingyu didn’t know why he kept sitting with them for lunch) — choose his Freshman-year Halloween outfit. A giraffe. Really.

Exhibit B: When Mingyu had magically been paired up with you during Sophomore year for an English assignment... Only for you to hesitantly ask him if you could request to change partners, because there was this new kid, and your mom was friends with the parents, and you had the same interests... Of course, Mingyu agreed, falling in love with you slightly more. (The stupid, lovable compassion! he later moaned as he vented to Jeonghan.) And at a larger distance. (Okay, so height wasn’t really in the equation here, except for the fact that you were the same height as your partner, which really hurt his heart when you performed a reenactment of Titanic’s pose and he knew, knew he would be a better Jack).

(So he needed to vent about it, years later. Problem?)

Exhibit C: When against all odds, Mingyu and you ended up at the same table for some school function where there happened to be a dance floor. He’d found enough courage to ask you to dance the last slow jam with him, and nearly screeched when you easily agreed. As he led you to the floor, he decided that he would have lived a full life as long as he didn’t step on your toes during the four minutes — he’d die kiss-less and dateless, true... but he’d die fulfilled.

He didn’t step on your toes, and he felt like this could, just maybe, if he was lucky, just possibly could turn romantic (Ed Sheeran worked miracles) —

Then you burst out giggling.

“It’s just!” You heaved a breath. “It’s just that!” Mingyu’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as you gripped his forearms for support. “You’re so tall — I feel like I’m dancing with your bowtie more than you!”

Well.

He had felt like crying.

His twelve abusers had found the entire event hilarious, but Mingyu most certainly disagreed.

The next time he ran into you, you’d casually caught his wrist as he began to walk away from what had been a stilted, though perfectly lovely, exchange. (He’d moved past the teasing and near-crying, heading back to school with his best foot forward. [Neither foot was the best foot, but that was beside the point.])

“Hey, Mingyu,” you had said, somewhat redundantly because your hand on his wrist said plenty. 

Mingyu was nearly sweating (read: sweating buckets) and feeling very impressed by your hand-eye coordination (read: Mingyu’s arms were too long and ever-changing for him to romantically slam you against a wall, casually catch your hair in his fingers, or anything actually useful for his life, such as, in this case, catching his wrist and staring up at him with thoughtful eyes).

Yeah. His blood pressure was in a rough place.

“Are you listening?” you’d asked.

“Uh,” was all he could say, eyes dropping to your lips as though he could look back into the last few minutes to understand your speech. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Exactly.” At this moment, he doubted his entire existence. What did that mean? Was it sass? Anger? Disgust? Rejection? “That is exactly what I’m telling you: I am very sorry for not being a kind person when we danced. I thought you’d find my shortness funny — but Seungkwan told me how it really made you feel.”

Sincerity!!! it dawned on him.

“I didn’t mean to laugh at you. In fact, I think your height is very attractive.”

His voice was hoarse the next day from screaming into his pillow.

Emotional and physical pain all in one (yipee!) thanks to his height.

“I’m confessing to her today,” Mingyu told his reflection. “Today. Before three. I’m doing it. For real.”

He ran his hand over his carefully selected shirt, looking for wrinkles, and reassessed his appearance for the thousandth time.

Senior year.

Exhibit D wouldn’t get to happen (really, though, he’d passed Z long, long ago).

At lunch, his now smaller group was all support and gentle teasing. Now one of the hyungs, Mingyu received much less abuse. (He repeated that with enthusiasm whenever Vernon or Seungkwan, or both, stumbled into the spotlight instead.)

“Just... be romantic,” Vernon suggested.

“What does that even mean?” scoffed Seungkwan. He sat up straighter, mimicking their self-important History teacher. “Go for genuine. All the girls like how you’re a human puppy. Exploit that.”

“Maybe have flowers?” offered Chan.

“We’re at school, our dear maknae.” Seungkwan squinted at the rest of his table, disappointment dripping in his tone. “We don’t want ‘Gyu suspended before he can confess. You’d think I’m the only reasonable one.”

Minghao raised an eyebrow at that, although he wisely kept quiet.

The silence stretched out until Vernon piped up again.

“Be poetic, hyung. You aren’t bad at speaking unless you’re nervous. So, just... Don’t be nervous and pour out your feels, y’know?”

Seungkwan beamed at Vernon.

“Finally someone else contributes useful advice.”

You’re kind.

You’re beautiful.

I’ve loved you since you asked me to get a basket down for you.

All too generic, and even creepy.

You, a highly attractive person, called me attractive, which really means the world to me.

You can do it all — laugh recklessly and fix any damage right after.

I think you actually complimented my giraffe costume way back? It’s blurry, but I think that happened. As a gangly freshman, that meant a ton.

Mingyu banged his head on his desk, only to realize he was sitting in math class and... now everyone was looking at him. He loved that. Totally.

No! No! No! he was screeching internally.

“The brain’s just struggling a little bit,” he was saying externally. “You know how with laptops, how you just slam it shut and it usually works after that? Just...”

From in front of him, you had turned around to watch him, looking at him dare-he-say... fondly?

“Um,” he choked. He looked away from your lips, curved upwards, and met the teacher’s amused but tired eyes. “Sorry. Reboot complete. Loading... and good. I’m back.”

Hearing you laugh, he melted into his seat with a wide, satisfied grin.

Embarrassment aside, he’d do that all over again if you’d watch him like that again.

Then a note slid onto his desk.

Are you saying you’re as smart as a computer? ;)

His brain needed to shut down and restart after staring at your handwritten wink face.

NOOO! he furiously scribbled back. I’m just I I would never imagine to be so intelligent.

As he waited for your response, if he would get one, he winced at his wording. That alone was judge-worthy.

Don’t sell yourself short. Sell yourself worth your full, lovely height!!! xD

You’re someone who makes me feel like I’m worth something, he writes in tiny letters — a draft and guide for himself to use very, very soon. You’re the type of person I’d want with me, stranded on an island. You’d say something funny, then meaningful, then sweet, then magic us off the island because you’re amazing like that. I take that back, because I don’t want to expect the impossible from you as your boyfriend. I’d want you with me, and I hope you’d want me with you, too.

When I’m with you, I don’t care that I’m 187 cm of hopeless energy. All I care about is making you smile because I’m already smiling. Although, I take that back, too, because whenever we’re near each other, my friends have told me that we both smile a lot.

So I change this to, when I’m with you, I know we make each other happy. And I want you to be mine. And I would die if you’d let me be yours. I want to just do life with you — the ordinary, domestic things, the cute dates, the casual ones, the couple’s outfits, the whatever you picture as us being us (just... in love).

So, Y/N Y/L/N, be mine?

By the time he asked you to wait for him after school, he had already internalized a neater version of what was essentially his love letter to you.

As he snuck up behind you, covered your eyes and cheesily asked, “Guess who?” he’d been mentally reciting the first sentence of the second paragraph.

While you rattled off a list of idols and turned around to beam at him, his mind echoed unhelpfully, You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful.

“So what’s up?” you asked.

He inhaled deeply and dove in.

“You’re someone who I —”

WAY OFF, KIM MINGYU, he thought, mentally hearing Seungkwan tsk sadly.

You’re beautiful.

I don’t care if the height difference is weird and makes slow dancing awkward. I can get a bowtie with my face on it, if it helps.

I want you to be mine.

He took another deep breath, thankful that you hadn’t tried to speak. (In fact, your heart was racing as you watched him chew on his lip and cast glances at you like a driver might steal glances at the sunset on a commute home.)

Mingyu let the flood out:

“I want you to don’t care if you’re beautiful, mine!!!”

As he blurted the last word, Mingyu decided that he truly, really, unequivocally wanted to die. Right then and there, satisfied or not, kiss-less or not.

Just... let it be immediate.

Humiliation followed his stupidly tall self everywhere, so why not let it rest with him in the grave?

Just end it all.

“Hey, I’m getting worried about your health over here,” he distantly heard you laugh. Laughs weren’t elegant things, but he swore that if he could see it, it would be all his favorite colors mixed in a perfect arrangement.

“Can you at least open your eyes?”

Your voice was soft this time, and he complied. (He hadn’t realized he’d squeezed them shut to begin with.)

“I like you, too,” you murmured.

His stomach? Electrocuted.

His eyes? Eternally lost in yours like a cat in a newly found box.

His heart? Approximately the same heat as one of those 200,000 K stars.

His cheeks? Gently covered by a certain pair of hands.

“Can you please look at me?”

Mingyu realized that he’d been vacantly staring over your head.

“Yeah — uh, sure.”

He felt a tingle run through him when he found you nearly chest to chest with him, your hands slowly leading his face closer to yours.

“Mingyu, I’m going to kiss you, because I like you very, very much, too. And because you’re someone who makes me feel like I’m worth something, too.” Mingyu’s heart soared as you said this, eyes staring into his, blush on your cheeks. “But I’ll need you to lean down for me.”

As he complied, eyes drifting closed, he realized three things:

A. Without his height, he wouldn’t have this perfect, oh so perfect, view of your face — even the slightest change in either of your heights would be an indescribable loss.

B. Sure, he was gangly and uncoordinated, but he still got the beautiful girl who liked him as much as he liked her.

As he pulled away from the soft brush of lips, straightening and checking his pockets, he blurted C out loud.

“You found my rough draft, didn’t you?”

The brightest, most carefree grin spread over your features, and Mingyu felt himself fall deeper in love as you nodded like it weren’t a big deal.

Balanced on your toes, you slung your arms around his like you were about to slow dance. He smiled softly; you smiled right back at him.

“When I picture us just being us, but in love... I picture this,” you told him.

Then another playful grin spread over your features. “And by ‘this,’ I mean all 187 cm of you being a cutie.” Mingyu felt his cheeks heat up, but you weren’t finished. “Also, as I’m now yours, it’s good to finally know the exact height! It’ll help with the couple’s outfits!”

[for-a-better-life]

Our lifestyle during Covid-19

Yes. you, me and every single human being agree that the global pandemic is challenging. We struggled, but it fortunately made some positive impact around the world to a certain extent.

 However, since Covid-19 started to diffuse rapidly worldwide, people were overly pessimistic and were thinking about how boring and hard their life will be. In addition to the spread of social media rumors regarding Corona virus that made people get confused, stressed and anxious.

 Positive side of Coronavirus

 Individual’s lives has been transformed from the way they live to the daily tasks they accomplish. It spontaneously, took them out of their comfort zone. people started to rely more on themselves, rather than paying for some goods or services. In terms of hobbies, people spent their free time practicing their skills and abilities to improve them. Perhaps, to start their new business by taking advantage of their hobbies which will be their source of income.

Psychological and cognitive effect

Despite the ongoing threat that we face nowadays, exploring and learning odd things during corona virus lock down does not only help in acquiring more knowledge and new skills, but also relieve stress, boost self-esteem and energy level. Just like you strengthen your body by exercising, your mind can also be trained, particularly when learning a new skill or language, and disseminating what you learned to others flex your memory muscles. Research emphasized the importance of  keeping our mind active as we get older, as it can result in a better life satisfaction and optimism.

Practicing skills

 During my long vacation, lockdown was taking place from 6 AM to 8 AM. Personally I was at home all the time, scrolling through Instagram and I found many inspirational videos about Art which really encouraged me to buy acrylic colors and brushes via online store. I was really surprised by how amazing my drawing and painting was. I usually use only black pencils to sketch. But luckily Covid-19 persuaded me to use colors.

    Image credit:  Ohood

Cooking healthy food

These days, during Corona virus,  many people prefer to cook at home because it is  healthier, low in calories and safer. Whilst eating or ordering from outside food is not recommended , because some restaurant’s environment are contaminated while the staff may not adhere to preventive measures which will increase the spread of the virus and it will affect people’s health because fast food are high in calories and hydrogenated fats.

A student from University of Sharjah, Noora Hassan said:” It is very important to stay healthy during the global pandemic”. She added, “Pancakes is my favorite meal, but during lockdown I cooked it by replacing white flour with oats and banana it was healthy and tasty”.

Image credit:  Noora Hassan,UOS student 

CDC emphasized the importance of eating dark leafy greens, tomatoes and oranges because they are rich in vitamins, fiber and minerals. As a result, if someone catches the virus, his body will be able to fight against the virus efficiently and effectively.

However, since many private and public sectors were closed during the beginning of the global pandemic, some people, got affected negatively, where they stopped exercising because they only get motivated in the gym and thereby, they became extremely lazy and  obsessed with junk food ! which unfortunately, lead one in 3 individuals in the UAE to gain weight,whereas,38.5%  of residents claimed that they never exercised since the beginning of the global pandemic according to a survey conducted in April in the UAE.  

 Remote working

“Working from home was bittersweet , I love what I do and was ready to get back into it, so being told to work from home felt odd.” said Ms Jensen, 35.

 Although some people barely accepted and adapted to remote working, but it actually helped in boosting their skills and knowledge regarding technology. Thus, they will more likely to be confident in their technical abilities. Fortunately ,it has been found by Stanford study that employees who work from home are 13% more productive thereby, perform better than if they were in their work office.

Thanks to the global pandemic, it is saving the money of companies who shifted to remote working, where they don’t have to pay for office rent nor its resources or utilities. In addition, cleaning services and offering free snacks will not be required. In terms of taxes, the amount of money they will have to pay will significantly decline. 

Kids distance learning

When the global pandemic spread in the UAE in March 2020 , they implemented distance learning for all students in the UAE in private and public schools and  universities.For adults it may be easy for adults to use websites and applications for online classes.

However, kids in grade 1 or 2, might find it challenging at the beginning to use the computer or the application of their classes, because they are still young and their knowledge is limited. In addition, some of them not take it seriously and they barely focus . However, according to my observation, as the time goes by, children are capable of turning on the computer, tablet or iPad and sign in to the website or application they learn from like zoom and Microsoft teams.

Moreover, they are aware of their username, password and their class section, and able to turn on/off the microphone and the camera when needed, so they become independent and they don’t need any help anymore. As a result,covid-19 successfully left one choice for kids which is to use technology to achieve distance learning that positively affected their cognitive abilities.

Regarding concentration,some teachers,started to ask kids questions individually during online classes,to ensure that they understand the lesson.Moreover,they conduct short quizzes on Kahoot! website,to test kids knowldge about some topics.

A science and design teacher at Manila Xiamen International School in China, claims that he uses Kahoot at the begging and end of the lesson, because his students always want to play and learn using Kahoot , which is a great opportunity to refresh their mind and allow them to focus better since they are stuck at home.

Image Credit : Jessie Casson/getty images

However, UAE Ministry of Education applied some steps to guarantee that distance learning is successfully applied for school and students. Some of the procedures like  providing an online professional training for more than 25,000 government school teachers and administrators for one week. Also, train more than 9,200 private school teachers and principals. Furthermore, coordinating with Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, in providing a free online course called “be an online tutor in 24 hours” for teaching and academic personnel to acquire the skills that allow them to efficiently and effectively to teach in online classrooms.

Allow private schools to implement their own e-learning system, as well as assign teams and committees to supervise an make sure that distance learning process is being applied and followed successfully.In terms of the internet,the UAE coordinated with Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Du and Etisalat to offer free mobile internet package for UAE families who do not have internet connection.

References:

 Mary Gaul, success magnified, the benefits of learning new information.p,1,4,5,7.(2018).

Beyond blue, ways to reduce stress during the coronavirus pandemic, Ways to reduce stress,p,3.(2020) .

Joseph Jones,Health.mil, COVID-19: lifestyle tips to stay healthy during the pandemic,p,5.(2020).

Salam Al Amir, Thenational, Coronavirus ; one in three UAE residents gained weight since outbreak began, survey finds,p,1,5,10.(2020)

 David Dun, Thenational, how companies going remote-first amid signs working from home is here to stay,p,5,7.(2020).

 Business,Does working from home save companies money ?,cost saving for allowing employees to work from home,p,3,4,5,6.(2020)

 UAE government, Distance learning in times of COVID-19, Implementing distance learning.p,1,2,3,4,5,7,10.(2020).

[burssyyap]

E-Service Learning final planning

How the holiday flew past by and we all said goodbye to 2020. I have some fair shares of struggles and bad experience last year and pray that this year will be a good year for everyone. Now it is already January 2021 and the term are almost over. We are almost at our last stretch for the E-Service Learning and I feel like there are still a lot of things that I should be doing for the group and for our participants. Luckily despite our groups hectic schedule our coordination and communication never cease to amaze me. I would like to congratulate Grazzie, because she is one amazing person for always making sure our group and group B’s plan are aligned. She makes it a point to always coordinate with everyone especially to some of us who could not attend to the zoom meetings with MLALAF and sir Niku of COSCA. I am impressed of her capabilities and her sheer dedication to make sure that everyone is well inform so that we know what the things are we can do for the project.

I always try my best to attend the zoom meetings even when I found that I would be assigned in Pangasinan for a month, because we just launched a new Forest Lake branch situated in Bayambang. My role during the launched is to support the training needs of the branch and help orient the new Assistant Sales Director with regards to the presentation materials. One of my worries during this ordeal is my communication with my E-Service Learning group mates, because the hotel I will be staying does not have good internet connection. I prayed hard that at least my SMART internet data has a good reception, because if I do have a good signal, I will be able to coordinate with my groupmates and then worry about my bill shock next month lol. What is important is I can participate and try my best to contribute my service and knowledge with the group and to the participants. Funny thing about this scenario is that I was more worried about my E-Service Learning project rather than my safety, because I will be constantly expose to a lot of people in proximity and pray that we will not be penalized for the event.

For the past 2 weeks (1st and 2nd week of January) everyone is doing the final phase of the project which is preparing the training materials as well the training presentation for the beneficiaries on January 16, 2021. I am excited to participate in this event because I have always enjoyed conducting training session wherein it has the same atmosphere that I am constantly expose to in Forest Lake whenever I conduct my training session. One of the things I expect during the training session is seeing the beneficiaries listen intently, participate in the activities, and have an amazing time. We even scheduled a MOCK training session wherein me and my partner Diane Villanueva will be discussing on opening the online store in either Facebook or Shoppe. I was the one who is in charge with the shoppe training presentation, wherein I was thinking how I can simplify this training and make sure that the information I share is accurate. I even tried coordinating with the Shopee help center to clarify a lot of information such as the requirements and the registration. Me and Diane also coordinate on the style and theme of the presentation… Diane even showed me a few samples she had already made for the “putting up a store on the FB Market”. After seeing those samples, I simply aligned it and did a lot of screen shots on how I did the registration process so that everyone will be able to understand the process. I even watch some YouTube videos on people who made a blog guide on how registered in Shopee and sharing their experiences when they first started out. This proves to show how accessible the information is to everyone just by using your mobile device. Prior to our zoom meeting schedule for the MOCK-up training last January 14, 2021. I recently found out that our midterm exam for my OPSMAN class was scheduled on January 16, 2021, because originally our midterm was supposedly on January 9 and since it was a Holiday our midterm exam was postpone. It was moved the following week, which was January 16,2021 1:30pm to 5:30pm. Our training schedule for the beneficiaries was on the same day and about the same time. I was sad about it so immediately told my groupmates and Diane of my predicament. The group understood my situation and felt sad that I could not be there to help with the training presentation. I endorse my presentation materials to Diane and participated the mock training session so that I can share my inputs and knowledge to the group.

Surprisingly, I was still able to be part of the training session on January 16… and it was a form of an ice breaker. I wanted to help out Jayar as he was the host for the event, so I lend him a hand with the ice breaker part and when we did it during the mock training, everyone agreed that the best person to really do the ice breaker was me. So, what I did is I made video (nearly 3minutes long) of the ice breaker in a form of an exercise that eventually led to them dancing to one of the trends in Tiktok. It was such a fun experience making the video and what is even more amazing is watching the zoom clip of all the beneficiaries participating and enjoying the ice breaker.

What I learn from this experience is that no matter what challenges we suddenly face, its important to think of ways on how to come up with an alternative plan to be able to succeed in the task at hand rather than feel defeated. In the end if we admit defeat that means we have already lost the battle without trying to stand up and fight it. So, try to focus on the situation at hand and think of ways on how you can help manage it.

[222258-ihiwehi]

Why are universities such a magnet for sexual assaults?

By Jai Breitnauer

Research Article

Why are universities such as magnet for sexual assaults? The Spinoff

There’s something about universities that make entitled young men feel safe pushing the boundary between consensual sex and rape – and it has to change, writes Jai Breitnauer.

Admittedly, when I saw my old higher education institute, the University of Warwick, hit UK headlines earlier this year over a group rape chat scandal, I wasn’t surprised. It’s 20 years since I graduated, but apparently not much has changed. When I was there, sexual assault was much more common than anyone working for the university would’ve been comfortable admitting. What made this recent chapter so repulsive is that not only were the victims made to feel “on trial” (their own words), but that two students initially banned from campus for 10 years had their punishment reduced to one year, after Mummy and Daddy made a complaint. This meant that, theoretically, they could return to their studies almost immediately. In some cases, on the same course as the women they had been talking about harming.

Across the world, women are protesting about the inadequate way sexual assaults are handled by universities where the focus is often on minimising damage to the institutions’ reputations rather than caring for the victim. A recent UK survey suggested a quarter of female students had experienced some sort of sexual assault, but only 2% made a formal complaint through concern over how it would be handled. Institutions now need to take a stark look at their statistics and ask themselves, is this a monster of our own creation? The way that officials handle sexual violence within the cradle of university life sends a clear message – and unfortunately, that message in many cases is, “don’t worry, lads, we’ve got your back.”

Although I’m quite sure it’s unintentional, this seems to be the atmosphere created at the University of Otago’s Knox College. Knox has hit headlines after student magazine Critic published an exposé on the unforgivable way many sexual assault complaints had been handled there. Not only does Knox reportedly have a high incidence of sexual violence, but it also seems to have a leadership unwilling to admit the severity of the problem. The result is, at best, minimising of the issue. At worst, it’s directly damaging to the victims (making a student pay for bedding used as evidence? WTAF?)

This isn’t about Knox College alone: from 2016 to 2017, Otago University as a whole had 14 reported incidents of sexual misconduct in halls of residence. Victoria University in Wellington had eight, while AUT, Massey, Lincoln and the University of Auckland had just seven reports between them in the same period (although, in all honesty, even one is too many).

The difference is often in the way the offences are treated. If a university goes in for what I now like to call ‘The Warwick Method’ – minimising, victim blaming and generally arse-covering in an old boy style – then what they’re actually doing is creating a safe space for sexual violence to flourish. Universities and colleges need to take a harder, no-nonsense approach to foster an environment of respect and equity, a flat hierarchy where entitlement doesn’t play a role in how you’ll be treated if and when you fuck up.

This latter point is important because university is still a place of privilege, but it’s also a place of learning. The learning at university doesn’t just happen in lectures and seminars; the majority of enrolled students are very young, teenagers in many cases, and living away from home for the first time. Perhaps they’re learning how to make an omelette, balance their studies with a part-time job, or navigate a new public transport system.

They’re also learning who they are and how they relate to others in their new adult world, away from family and childhood friends. The university then is also acting in loco parentis. Halls of residence should be expected to be a safe cradle where minor to mid-range errors are rectified without being too harshly judged. But it should also be a place where duty of care has to be exercised in earnest. A place where a clear message needs to be sent that some mistakes lack a grey area (like sexual assault) and that they’re as unforgivable at university as they are in the “real” world.

Feminist author and journalism professor Barbara Kelley from Santa Clara University says that many universities give out a backward message about sexual assault that might unintentionally fuel that sense of male entitlement.

“On most campuses, the message is directed toward women; walk in groups, don’t leave your drink unattended, blah, blah, blah,” she told me over email. “The real message should be directed toward the males and it’s very simple – don’t rape. End of story.”

Emily Reynolds for the Guardian reported last year that a study had found 63% of British students are victims of sexual violence at university, with 8% of female respondents reporting they had been raped. Reynolds recommended that universities introduce an anonymous reporting system, like the one at Cambridge University, and that student counselling services are more adequately resourced to support victims. Crucially, she said that education around appropriate behaviour and conduct should start before students arrive at university, with higher education institutions partnering with schools to deliver this programme. All new students at Cambridge now have to attend a compulsory consent workshop, and Reynolds believes this work should be carried out among students while still in school. Apart from making sure that all students understand the rules when they arrive on campus, it sets the tone and sends an obvious message that sexual violence will not be forgiven.

Caitlin Barlow-Groome, national coordinator of New Zealand’s Thursday’s In Black (TIB) campaign agrees with Reynolds. TIB was launched in the mid-90’s by Green MP Jan Logie as a lobbying and support group around issues of sexual violence on campus. It was resurrected in 2016 and conducted research released as the ‘In Your Own Words’ report. It shows that 83% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment on campus, and 53% had experienced assault.

“It’s really disappointing many universities haven’t worked to rid campus of traditions that objectify women, that encourage a belief there is a place where sexual violence is OK,” says Barlow-Groome. “University College halls, which are owned by Otago University, now offer training around consent but it’s optional. The issue here is entitlement, how many of the people that need it are going to opt in? Being naive should not be an excuse.”

Barlow-Groome would like to see compulsory consent training rolled out across year 13 high school students, and supported by tertiary institutions.

“This training should be for all young people, not just those going on to university,” she says, noting that university is a place where support is on offer, but for many high school leavers who go straight into work that type of support is not readily available. “We also need to understand that no single route to education and support works for everyone, we need to provide options for those from different cultural backgrounds, for example.”

Barlow-Groome says that what is clear is that universities are so concerned with their reputation they’re not supporting victims or making change. In the case of the University of Warwick, a backlash from staff and graduates forced them to take a second look at their practices. As well as employing an independent team to review their outdated disciplinary procedures, they’re working towards improving student support and making their Independent Sexual Violence Counsellor a permanent role. The students who were allowed back now won’t be returning – not because the university said they couldn’t, but because the student community sent a clear message that their behaviour was unwelcome.

With that in mind, I would urge all New Zealand university graduates and staff not to wait for your institution to take the lead – send a clear message yourself. Sexual violence on campus is not OK, and the time for change is now.

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Reflection

When researching some initial thoughts towards Inequality in NZ, a huge portion wanted to focus on women's rights and a subject that in my Wehi I can respond to personally as a designer, In correspondence to this when researching how to narrow down my subject matter,  another big point of inequality in which we had discussed in class was that of Education.

This article focuses and highlights the issues of Sexual Assault and Harassment within New Zealand Education Providers. Both a powerful and concerning message can be seen here, with myself as a student and no previous knowledge of whom to speak to or ask for help for in this situation. Both impactful in its Ihi but also its emotional response in its Wehi has caused a reaction that I would like to further pursue in my assignment research.

[thoughtfulpaperback]

Television and White People problems I cant relate to

I might make people mad, but I am just gonna say it. A good half the time I cannot relate to the problems and motivations of white people on TV. But I am going to list some scenarios that I cannot relate to

1. Unaffectionate Parents/parents that arent around much/parents who are strict = bad parents who ruin thier children

Listen purposefully withholding affection from your child as a manipulation tactic does equal bad parent. Never allowing your child to make meaningful connections outside of the home as a way to control them = abusive parent. But like shows like Gilmore Girls have the main character and side characters acting as if she has been horribly scarred by thier parents not letting them listen to rock or run around and dirtying an expensive dress. Or they excuse or justify a characters bad behavior because thier parents aren't around (usually these are rich characters).

I am a working class Latina and I always felt this was total BS. My grandparents were not affectionate people. There were no hugs or I love yous after the age of 5. Both worked long days and I was constantly left in charge of my siblings. I wasnt allowed to wear makeup until after I was 15 (I didnt start wearing it until I was 18) and when I did my grandpa constantly made comments like "what do you have on you face?" "Only ugly women have to wear makeup!" "If God wanted your nails to change color every month he would have made it so they could without that junk (nail polish)!". I wasnt allowed to listen to rap music. If my grandma bought me an outfit I wasnt allowed to do anything to get it dirty

I wasnt allowed to stay the night at a friends house until I was in high school and even then my grandparents preferred people stayed the night at our house versus me going to someone elses.

Guess what...I am fine. I never was rebellious. I knew they loved me. I knew they cared. I wasnt a teen parent. I can tell people I love them. I am affectionate with people I am close to. I graduated college. I was a good, friendly, well adjusted kid. All of my Latina friends were too. But like every other white "bad kid" or "jerk" is that way because of thier parents supposed lack of interest.

Listen I get the validity of loneliness or even anger at feeling as if your parents are not interested in you. I am just saying it is something that is not in my experience, so I have a hard time relating to it even though it is a very common troupe.

2. Cutting out family members/estranged family.

Ok so my Latina self has never, ever understood this movie plotline. Like I have extended family who may not even be related to me that are big idiots, which everyone recognizes, but I still see them at all the family events because it is rude not to invite them when they are family. Like we do not stand physically abusive people in my family. But that is what you have to be in order to be cut off from us. Stupid? A Mooch? Toxic? Prejudiced? A very annoying drunk? All those things are okay warrant toleration because you are family. And again this is extended family. In movies or shows where the child has cut off the parents from thier life or that make snide remarks or talk back to them...OMG not only can I not relate but I cannot even process.

Again I am not saying that people should have to tolerate any behavior which causes them anxiety or makes them uncomfortable. But like the idea of ever cutting out my grandparents or even my mother completely out of my life is unimaginable. Right not agree with the things they do or say, and I may not make an effort to reach out to my mom, but I will never purposefully avoid or talk bad about them to any one. And believe me my mom is pretty toxic but I would never hinder her ability to reach me if she needs me. I will no longer go out of my way to please her, but moving away having children and not letting her be part of thier lives. Nope not doing it.

Most of my latino friends live in multi-generational homes (grandparent, great-parents, parents, self and thier children). So just the idea that your grandparents or parents live in a different home than you was hard enough to wrap my mind around while watching TV. The idea that you moved across the country to get away from your family unimaginable.

Again not condemning any one who does that just explaining why minded just cant relate.

3. 18=Adult and going crazy

I am 25 (I think, I forget) years old. I am a virgin, I didnt have a sip of alcohol until I was 23 or right when I turned 24 (again I forget). I've never had a boyfriend. I have only been on like 3 dates with 1 person. I still ask my grandparents permission to go places, I tell them my plans and who I am with. I do this unprompted. My grandparents dont demand that I do it. I just do.

Dont get the wrong idea, I have had lots of fun. I lived on the dorms as a college freshman, I made lots of friends and was in multiple clubs, played intramural sports, worked as an activities coordinator at the college and hung out with friends. I've gone to concerts, I've traveled to multiple countries and studied abroad. I vacation with friends.

Like I could never relate to teenagers or college kids on television as a teen and I still can't as an adult. Dont get me wrong freshman year of college I met the Wild kids all testing thier boundaries and exploring thier sexuality now that they were out of the house.

But that just wasnt me. I didnt feel the need to. I didnt want to drink (my house wasnt anti alcohol or anything like that). I didnt want to experience getting drunk or trying drugs. I didnt have the need or urge to do anything sexual with anyone. It wasnt because I was ashamed of my body, saving myself for marriage, or emotionally scarred by my grandparents about the subject. I just didnt want to. My grandma always tells people when they ask her how she raised me to be such a good kid (although thinking on it I should resent being called a kid at age 25) that my brother and just came out perfect or the closest thing to perfect. Like I am not saying that to claim that I am, but just to give y'all the idea of how non wild I am.

18 was a wierd age for me. I was exploring mostly myself as an individual seperate from my family. Figuring out what I liked because when you live with so many people you kind of blend interests. Sometimes I dont know if I actually like an activities that I frequently do or if I frequently do it because one of my siblings likes it.

Making friends outside of family. I always had friends growing up but my closest friends were my siblings and cousins. College was the beginning of meeting people from different backgrounds and becoming friends based on common interests rather than out of convenience. A great transition to my next unrelateable troupe.

3. Peer Pressure and letting bullies get away with it.

So like for the longest time, TV made it seem like it was hard to stand up to bullies, like it was Big deal and hard decision to stand up for someone else. Like to an extent some more recent shows still do it (Glee for one). And I just cant relate.

I never cared what other kids thought of me. I was always secure in who I was and happy with myself. While I wanted to please my family, i never felt pressured to please anyone else to to follow the mass consensus on what is cool or not. I also could never stand a bully.

In elementary school I flipped over my shared desk when my desk mate called the new girl (who was on medications that made her fall asleep during class a re***d) and told him that if him and the entire class that if they have a problem with her then they can fight me and I am obviously not kidding. (My very first outburst and threat of violence). In the 7th grade a couple of girls were harassing a girl in the bathroom for telling thier secrets. Even though it wasnt any of my business and these girls were known for actually fighting other girls, I still told them that they were being stupid and to leave her alone. Which earned me a shove against the wall and a "you want to fight me?". To which I stupidly responded "I am not afraid of you" which was a huge lie.

My childhood friends who werent related to me were usually the people who nobody wanted to be friends with. Mostly kids werent considered "able" or were too "annoying". I hated the idea of people being shunned because they werent "able" or because they didnt have a concept of volume control, personal space, or the ability to read a room) or because we were related. I straight up yelled at a guy in the middle school lunch room because he was saying that I was so nice for hanging out with the special kids especialky Bob (not his real name) because everyone hated him for not being able to shut up or go away. Bob has asperger's syndrome or was adhd I honestly dont remember. He had an assigned aid and would get too close to people and once he started talking he wouldnt stop so classes were hard for him and making friends was hard to.

In 9th grade band class I stood up and called out the drum section for laughing and calling the drum majors (a Male and a female) a f*g, ugly crack baby, and other slurs while they were conducting and then told the substitute that I refused to continue playing until they were sent to the principles and dealt with accordingly. I then walked out and put my instrument away very loudly in front of the band and pulled a chair up behind the drum majors so I could glare the entire class down while they played.

In 10th grade a made a huge scene when a guy thought he'd be cute by saying that the only reason my friends and i were doing well in Spanish class was because we were "sucking mr.------ balls". I stood up and shredded into him about how that accusation was basically calling mr.----- a pedophile and that it showed how much of a sexist pig he was that he has to basically accuse successful ladies of having to used sex to be successful because that is easier for his ego than admitting his laziness inattentiveness, and bad attitude are the reason he is failing a class about his first Language.

I also yelled at a girl in the middle of the school grounds for saying there should be a holocaust for gay people.

Apparently I am the queen of making a scene. I list these things not a bragging thing, but because they werent hard for me. Most of were just reactive. I never understood why TV made doing the right thing seem like it was so hard and that you were being a freaking martyr.

I was never bullied. I knew that kids didnt like me but no one every messed with me or harrassed me the way they did other people. Doing the right thing did not make my life harder. Standing up for people wasnt some herculean task that took like two days of thinking and emotional preparation. The "majority" of people allowing mean spirited people to harrassed others never swayed me to let it go. Indifference was never an option in my mind.

So I was always really frustrated by characters who didnt automatically help a person who was being harrased. It is my least favorite TV or movie plotline. And again I can't relate.

Again this isnt to bash on anyone or to suggest that making a scene or putting yourself at risk are the only ways of helping others and standing up for others.

[rosaharrisonlma32]

Health and Safety

Fire

It is extremely important to follow the correct health and safety protocol as if you do not follow the guidelines properly you can end up extremely injured. In every group there should be a Health and Safety Officer. The appointee mostly needs to have an administrative background, an analytical mind and the ability and tenacity to work to a tight timetable in the preparation, elaboration and fulfillment of the agreed health and safety programme. (Reference) One of the biggest safety hazards is Fire, and it is important to know the fire drill and what to do in the case of a Fire. In the event of a fire the person responsible for the outbreak location shall raise the alarm. Evacuation from each area is the responsibility of each appointed member. Points of evacuation are to be decided by each appointed members subject to location of fire. No attempt to fight the fire should be made unless it is safe to do so. Danger is not only from flames but also from heat, smoke, harmful gases and lack of oxygen.

Clothing

Although these are the extreme health hazards, there are also smaller ones that are just as important and can prevent injury. It is vital to have a clean tidy rehearsal room without bags or items of clothing spread around on the floor, as someone could trip on a bag or shoe and injure themselves. Another important aspect with safety is the clothing worn whilst participating in physical activity. It is to be all black, body hugging clothing stretchy to not only show the shape of your body and allow you to be flexible while rehearsing, but also to stop from getting caught in anything or obstructing anyone in any way. No jewellery is allowed as it can get caught on your own or someone else clothing and jazz shoes are the only footwear allowed in the studio, to protect your feet whilst dancing at the same time as protecting the spring floor from being damaged. The reason behind the all black clothing is to strip away anything that could possibly pull focus on anyone, we want to be represented by our skills not by what we are wearing. 

Importance of Warming Up

Physical - 

It is important for dancers to warm up before any dance activity in order to prepare the body for longer and global movements and help to decrease tension in the muscles and joints. Through this preparation you can ensure you are able to move without stress and strain during activity. A safe warm up gradually increases the body temperature to a optimal working level and helps to avoid injuries. (HealthTl, 2014) https://trinitylaban.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/warm-up-and-cool-down-for-dancers/

Approximately 639 muscles make up the human body.  There are technically two ways one could gain muscle: Increase the number of muscle cells you have or increase the size (length, width, or both) of the ones you’ve already got.Unfortunately, we stop growing new muscles cells soon after birth, so if you are old enough to read this article, your only option is to increase their size—that’s what people mean when they say ‘build muscle.’“Resistance training (lifting weights) is the most common way of rapidly building more muscle, but all exercise will build muscle,” says David Putrino, a physical therapist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. (Chodosh, S. 2019) https://www.popsci.com/build-muscle-faq-exercise-experts

Our warm ups include a stretch and physical warm up, the stretch being to stretch our muscles to prevent any injuries in pulling, spraining muscles etc and to also gain more flexibility by practising the stretches. The physical being to gradually increase our heart rate and circulation, preparing our bodies for physical activity. These warm ups need to be completed properly as without the correct posture, strength or engaging the core muscles, they are not efficient and are not worth doing, only with proper techniques can results be achieved, For example, we need to remember to keep our pelvis tucked under, engage our core muscles and whilst doing Tendus it is extremely important to point the toes properly and squeeze the muscles in the legs keeping them straight, whilst also remembering to shift balance to each leg without lifting up the hips. 

(The Ballet Blog, 2019)

An effective warm up should:

Prepare dancers both mentally and physically

Improve performance and reduce prevalence of injuries

Increase coordination and proprioception

Increase heart rate and blood circulation gradually

Increase body temperature

Permits freer movement of the joints

Improves the effective muscles actions

Reduce the risk of injury

Improves the transmission of nerve impulses

Should mobilise all the joints that are to be used during the dance class/performance. (HealthTl, 2014)

The cool down is just as important after dancing as this can help to reduce muscle soreness and speed up the recovery process after the activity. 

(The Ballet Blog, 2019)

Without cooling down your body can be affected in many ways:

If the activity stops suddenly the blood will pool within the muscles rather than return the blood to the brain, this will cause dizziness.

Dancing increases adrenaline and endorphins (hormones) in circulations which can lead to restlessness and sleep.

Increase in waste products such as Lactic Acid can cause stiffness and soreness as well as cramps and muscle spasms. (HealthTl, 2014)

Vocal - 

Vocal warm ups are also extremely necessary in keeping the voice healthy and being able to sing properly without causing any injury. Vocal warm ups can  make your lungs stronger to build stamina which then helps to be able to sing longer. They also help to just maintain the voice in general, keeping your voice healthy and prepared to sing all the time, and strengthening the larynx, the muscle that controls the vocal chords.

“Warmups prepare you for the intense vibrations that come along with singing. Controlled, steady vocal exercises will increase acid in the muscles surrounding your vocal folds, which helps those muscles do their jobs more effectively.One of these jobs includes interacting with a tendon in your throat. When that tendon is properly engaged, it’ll stretch, giving you more flexibility and control over your voice.When you properly and regularly exercise your voice, you build upon your abilities and become a much more effective singer.” (Spencer, S. 2017)

In an "ideal world vocal warm up," you should begin with gentle exercises that put as little pressure on the muscles as possible, release any tension in the throat and neck and allow only a small amount of air to pass through the vocal cords. Humming and using lip trills are two great ways to do this. As you progress through your warm up you can introduce more air flow and produce sounds that are closer to the normal singing of words and phrases that you are used to. They don't all have to be short, simple and repetitive, some exercises tend to be longer and more complex - training you for more complicated phrases in songs. (Inspired To Sing, 2019) https://inspiredtosing.com/blog/why-are-vocal-warm-ups-important

Vocal exercises in the morning are of great value as during the night, mucus builds up in our sleep inside our mouths, nose and throats. Warming the voice up gets rid of this mucus by lubricating the throat and adding moisture, therefore loosening the mucus. If you were to go on stage and sing without warming up, the likelihood is you will damage your voice whilst singing. “The benefit of singing exercises is not only physical but also in your projection and pronunciation.  It does not matter how good your voice is, if it is not maintained sooner or later you will lose the projection and power, and when you try hitting those top notes they will not sound so confident if you gracelessly struggle up to them.” (Swatson, 2013) http://borntosingmusic.com/singing-vocal-exercises/ 

A great way to prevent mucus and an acidic throat is to assign a time that you will lie down to sleep, and don’t consume anything other than water for at least an hour before you do so. This will prevent any acidic properties in any drinks or foods from coming back up into your throat whilst you lie down flat as they will have not been digested properly. I was taught this by my singing coach outside of uni as I told him how I would wake up of a morning with a really sore, dry throat. I was eating fruits as a late night snack and drinking flavoured water in bed, which was the absolute worst combination of things to do to create acid sitting in my throat of a night. Once I cut out these things before bed and stuck to plain water I found that I was waking up with my throat at more ease, of course still needing to be warmed up before being vocally ready. 

Some of best daily vocal exercises for singers include: 

1. Lip Buzz

To do this vocal warm up, simply vibrate your lips together without pitch, at first. This will help build up your breath support and stamina while singing.

Next, try adding a pitch to your lip buzz, and hold it anywhere from 3-5 seconds. Pitch can go up, down, or stay on one note. There should be a funny, tickling sensation in your nose and other resonators (the forehead, cheeks, etc.). If you do not feel this, try harder!

2. Solfege

We all should be familiar with “Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do” from the The Sound of Music. Starting on middle C, sing through the solfege up and down the scale, taking your time and really listening to each pitch.

See if you can try this vocal warm up without a piano (acapella), as this will help with ear training! Practicing solfege is not only a great tool for your ears, but it will also help you with sight reading.

3. “Mah-May-Me-Mo-Moo”

This is another one of our favorite vocal warm ups that will help you sing better. Remaining on one note (monotone), sing “mah-may-me-mo-moo” nice and slow, really pronouncing the Ms. It should sound like the first exercise in the video below.

Start low, perhaps at A3, and sing up the scale to an octave above. Take your time and see if you can sing this exercise all in one breath. While you don’t have to sing the warm up well, focus on your intonation to create the best vocal sound. Don’t push – this exercise should be nice and relaxed.

4. The Siren

This is the easiest vocal exercise of all the vocal warm ups on this list. Think of the sound of a fire engine passing by, and imitate it with your voice. Start at the lowest note in your range, and slide through every note to the top of your range. If you can sing the low notes and high notes, then you know you are in good vocal shape!

There are the basic vocal warm ups which will benefit any singer, however there are also more specific warm ups based on certain vocal techniques. For the show Heathers my vocal technique is mainly belt with sob quality for my actual role of Martha, and then while I am ensemble it ranges from mostly twang and speech quality. Therefore I must complete vocal exercises specific to each quality to make sure I can change and warm my voice efficiently to suit the song.  For example, a great warm up for twang is to make a ‘Nya’ sound up and down the scale. (Liz, T. 2014) https://takelessons.com/blog/daily-vocal-exercises 

(Pinterest: Abigail, 2019)

Posture

Posture is the position in which we hold our bodies while standing, sitting, or lying down. Good posture is the correct alignment of body parts supported by the right amount of muscle tension against gravity. Without posture and the muscles that control it, we would simply fall to the ground. Normally, we do not consciously maintain normal posture. Instead, certain muscles do it for us, and we don't even have to think about it. Several muscle groups, including the hamstrings and large back muscles, are critically important in maintaining good posture. While the ligaments help to hold the skeleton together, these postural muscles, when functioning properly, prevent the forces of gravity from pushing us over forward. Postural muscles also maintain our posture and balance during movement. 

Correct posture will:

Helps us keep bones and joints in correct alignment so that our muscles are used correctly, decreasing the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that could result in degenerative arthritis and joint pain.

Reduce the stress on the ligaments holding the spinal joints together, minimising the likelihood of injury.

Allow muscles to work more efficiently, allowing the body to use less energy and, therefore, preventing muscle fatigue.

Helps prevent muscle strain, overuse disorders, and even back and muscular pain. (American Chiropractic Association)

The key to correct posture whilst standing is: 

Bear your weight primarily on the balls of your feet.

Keep your knees slightly bent.

Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart.

Let your arms hang naturally down the sides of the body.

Stand straight and tall with your shoulders pulled backward.

Tuck your stomach in.

Keep your head level-your earlobes should be in line with your shoulders. Do not push your head forward, backward, or to the side.

Shift your weight from your toes to your heels, or one foot to the other, if you have to stand for a long time. (American Chiropractic Association) 

Poor posture can lead to excessive strain on our postural muscles and may even cause them to relax, when held in certain positions for long periods of time. For example, you can typically see this in people who bend forward at the waist for a prolonged time in the workplace. Their postural muscles are more prone to injury and back pain.

Several factors contribute to poor posture--most commonly, stress, obesity, pregnancy, weak postural muscles, abnormally tight muscles, and high-heeled shoes.  In addition, decreased flexibility, a poor work environment, incorrect working posture, and unhealthy sitting and standing habits can also contribute to poor body positioning. (American Chiropractic Association)