#that is sarcasm in the parentheses for anyone who is bad with sarcasm

[greenglasslov3]

Hello! I love your fanfic and hope you'll continue on with Forget Me Not! I read some of the comments recently posted along with your note, and I am genuinely seeking to understand your perspective. Did you view these comments as mean spirited? How would you like to interact with your readers? Is constructive criticism welcome, or not preferred? (Continued in next post)

Part 2: I know as a maker of greeting cards, hearing, "this sucks" will piss me off, but ways to balance my design (even if I don't agree) will be received differently. I also know that I have a tendency to make flippant comments about characters, especially if they are stock baddies, but this is by know means a criticism on the writing. It just means I'm sucked into the story. I am grateful for all the awesome stuff I have to read - hopefully we can arrive towards making this mutually beneficial.

Hi there! Thank you - I’m thrilled you enjoy my stories.

I wasn’t exactly clear where and when I was receiving the disrespectful commentary on my stories. By in large, the Tumblr fanfic community has been wonderful (minus a few bad eggs who like to steal stories from people and get away with it but that’s a story for another day). It’s a friendly, personable community. I’ve gotten to know my readers and other writers very well. I can leave commentary in my author’s notes about my personal life, and people have reached out to me with genuine kindness. We’re a close-knit bunch, and we’ve got each other’s backs. I love that about this group.

AO3 is a different story entirely. It’s cold. The readers there act as if they’re owed something by the authors. They act as if their words don’t affect anyone. AO3 is where I’m receiving the negative feedback, and it’s where I’ve always received negative feedback. It’s more than “slagging baddies” - which I’m totally okay with. I’ve gone back through my e-mails to unearth some more colorful commentary readers felt comfortable leaving on my stories:

“After reading this chapter, I'm not sure if I really like Claire. If she needs more timed to think on who she wants to be with, then she obviously doesn't love Jamie enough to ask him to stay with her. Poor Jamie, in love with someone who can't even decide if she wants to be with him.” (In response to Taghadh)

“10 chapters in, and there's hardly been any Jamie and Claire time together. Getting kind of boring. Claire better make a decision soon.” (In response to Taghadh)

“I didn't really like it” (In response to Taghadh)

“I love how Claire has all this back and forth.. -_- (sarcasm) I know it's only been when what 6 months as opposed to the 3 years? but all she's done has been complain about Frank and suddenly it's who do I choose....” (In response to Taghadh)

“Sorry but why would anyone be attracted to this Jamie? No matter what’s behind his behavior the fact that he acted lovingly towards Geneva before he saw it was Claire is evidence she needs to tell them to take their wedding and cram it. Then go get drunk and find a real man who isn’t a disloyal dickhead? 🙄” (In response to Forget Me Not)

I don’t understand. At all. And since you’re moderating comments, and don’t have to publish this comment, I feel you should know that the overuse of parentheses makes this very difficult to read. (In response to Forget Me Not)

“Oh Jamie take your fiancée and go away. Yuck” (In response to Forget Me Not)

This is just a sampling of comments. Many more that were far worse than this were deleted before they could see the light of day.

You ask how I’d like my readers to interact with me? I ask for respect and kindness. Nothing more, nothing less. As you can see by the comments I tend to get on AO3, that is not always the case. I could always turn off the comments, which I don’t feel is fair to the several other readers who’ve left me lovely feedback. I could also just post to Tumblr, but according to one of the serial plagiarists in the fandom “if it’s not on AO3 it doesn’t exist” (that was her excuse for why she was able to steal from my one story that isn’t on AO3).

I should also mention that fellow writers get way worse than this. AO3 readers went for two of my fellow writers earlier this week, the once instance lead to such repetitive attacks on her story that it made me physically ill. Other writers also receive nasty anons in spades and I don’t. I am very lucky.

And yet, these comments still hurt. They still make me want to delete everything and stop writing all together because that’s the only way they will stop - is if I stop. How fair is that? That I should stop because a couple of trolls don’t have any manners or decency?

It’s not fair. I won’t stop writing. Check back with me to see the sparkling jems of comments I’ll get when Hello My Auld Heart really gets going - because that story makes Taghadh look like fluff.

[duckling-duck-duck]

Midnight Sun Review, Chapter 1: First Sight (Why am I doing this?)

Hello people and welcome to my side blog specifically dedicated to my thoughts, feeling and opinions on Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. It’s not like I have anything better to do at the moment (studying for exams, a semester to prepare for, friendships to cultivate) so let’s get to it!

Before I get started on informing you of said thoughts, feelings and opinions, here are a few disclaimers and other things you should probably know to follow my thought process and that will likely have an influence both on my reading experience and view of this book. For my inspiration for this undertaking, you all can thank both Hannah Lee Kidder for her excellent rewrites of the first book on YouTube (she is awesome, go check her out) and Strange Aeons for her video review of Midnight Sun, which I would also highly recommend.

When I heard that Stephenie Meyer (from now on referred to as SM, yes) finally was going to publish this mysterious thing that was circulating when I was barely a teenager and just starting my Twilight phase, and still seriously interested in the books, I was both over the moon and very apprehensive. And I knew immediately that I was going to buy and read it, no matter how bad or good it was going to be.

This YA fiction series was a huge part of my early formative years. At the time when I first read it, I was still too young to thoroughly grasp some of the more problematic concepts of the story, which has since changed. It got me into vampires, to an obsessive and, frankly, unhealthy amount. I subsequently read literature that was NOT for the eyes of a thirteen-year-old at the time and at the same time much worse fanfiction.

Another probably important thing is that I did not read the original Twilight series in English, but rather in German, which means that some things I may remember differently due to translation. I included this because the way Germans translate English in books is atrocious. I have never re-read the books after I read them for the first time, only watched the movies a couple of times since, mostly to make fun of them, this time in English. When the fourth movie came out, I was already mostly over Twilight again and just went to the theatre with my best friend for the hell of it. The only characters I was invested in at this point were the side characters, like Jasper, Rosalie, Leah Clearwater and, basically, anyone and everyone that wasn’t Edward, Bella and Jacob (mostly because everyone else had a much more compelling storyline). So please bear that in mind when I rip into this book. I will also probably be biased in favour of these characters.

This brings me to my last but probably the most important point: I had no interest in Edward and Bella and mostly wanted to know what kind of mess they ended up in this time. I made fun of them a lot. The older I got, the more of the unhealthy tendencies I recognized. So, this is my official warning for everyone who is genuinely interested in this book and wants to read it for fun and came across this post by accident: It will not be nice. I will probably not be kind. I like sarcasm and am not afraid to utilize it to get across exactly how dumb, deranged or practically pointless I think something is. I like to think I can give credit where it is due, but this is probably not the blog or post for you.

I will include trigger warnings if necessary, but if I miss anything please do not hesitate to let me know and/or stop reading immediately if it makes you uncomfortable. I am open to discussion and criticism, but please remain civil. And now that introduction has gone on for far too long, so please enjoy.

Chapter Summary: What happened?

We start with Edward in class having an existential crisis which seems to be his default state. He comments on his siblings, reducing them to absolute tropes which anyone who has read the original series later knows is not at all what and/or who they are. Practically anyone is more interesting than him, though that is not a high bar. Then we have lunch period (still wild you have that) where everyone else is thinking of the new girl who is still nothing amazing to him. Edward spews some vapid comments about everyone else in school (the word “children” comes to mind and is frequently used) and is very amused that particularly the female population, except for Angela, seems to be interested in him. After that, we get the famous biology scene from a whole other point of view and boy is it enjoyable! We end the chapter with Edward going to Alaska because otherwise he may or may not break into Charlie’s house to kill the daughter of the chief of police. (I rewrote this summary like, five times and still cannot make it less sarcastic. I apologize.) (#sorrynotsorry)

Warnings: Swearing, a lot. Explicit language. Too many parentheses. Slight description of violence. A lot of talk about murder.

It took me two evenings getting through this first chapter (25 pages total) and I am not going to lie: On the first one, I barely managed to make it 5 pages in before I had to stop and lie down and mentally prepare myself for the things that were to come. And lord, did they come!

If you thought being stuck in Bella’s mind was exhausting, welcome to a new level of it. Because Edward is even more self-deprecating than she is. He literally describes his basically vegetative state as purgatory because high school is just that boring. Granted, it sometimes is, but why even is he in high school then? As mentioned later he has 2 doctorate degrees. Could you just not go to university and study something that you haven’t learned yet? If Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper can pass as seniors (and you have to excuse me, but I know practically nothing of the American school system) then I am sure you can pull some kind of ‘gifted’ scheme to put Edward in either advanced classes or have him skip a few years. And fake a High School diploma. Another question: if he has two doctorates, why doesn’t he do something with them? You could apply your mind and focus on other things, like research, furthering humanity, curing cancer! (On that note: why has Carlisle not tried to do that? Just because you need to fly under the radar? There has got to be something you can do, both with your excessive money and apparently brilliant mind, that would benefit all of humanity that you so desperately try not to hurt. And if not personally, you can damn-well fund it or nudge someone in the right direction.)

But this doesn’t just tell us that Edward is bored out of his mind, it also tells us that he is probably unhappy with his non-life as well. In the first four sentences, we have already set the tone for the entire novel and I am contemplating a descent into alcoholism. It is gonna be excruciating to follow this dude’s mind for 756 pages because that is 755 pages too long. His entire existence revolves around making Carlisle proud and proving he still retains some of his humanity. While he sometimes talks about the love he has for his siblings, that seems more of a farce he upholds for his adoptive father (read: god) and mother, which in her case is more of a ‘can’t deal with her disappointed look’ (we all know the one), because besides Alice his opinion of them is basically ‘couldn’t be bothered to give a shit’.

(I wanted to use a gif of her but this was the first thing that popped up when I searched "rosalie" and ngl, it fits his perception of her perfectly)

Rosalie, in his opinion, is shallow, self-obsessed, and superior the everyone (“her mind was a stagnant pool with few surprises”). These two do not get along whatsoever and while this may have been my initial impression of her in Twilight it changed over time. She is more than that and it is baffling that Edward thinks of her that way even after all this time. They are familiar with each other’s stories and I find it hard to believe that he would do anything nice for her based on the initial impression we are presented within this book. Or maybe she now has almost everything she wants: a loving partner, a family, a comfortable life. Why is it so bad? She seems to be comfortable and even happy. Can Edward just not accept that other people might not despise this life as much as he does?

Emmett gets away slightly better than Rosalie, but not much. The impression I got of him from reading his paragraph is that he is an overgrown, glorified child. He has no problem with Edward reading his thoughts, specifically because he carries his heart on his sleeve and if he has something to say, he will say it to your face. He seems to be Edwards second favourite of his siblings.

His absolute favourite is Alice, because “it wasn’t easy, being the freaks among those who were already freaks.” If Bella and Jasper weren’t in the picture, those two would be a couple, I swear! They are the extra special snowflakes (derogatory) among the already special snowflakes (derogatory) (So sorry!). They look out for each other; I can already tell you that they will present a united front concerning anything and everything and ask each other favours (like Alice wanting Edward to keep an eye on Jasper to make sure he doesn’t go on a murdering spree because he’s hungry).

Coincidentally, Edward is pretty mad at her for focusing on her husband/boyfriend/SO and his trip down the serial killer lane in a public high school that she, later on, doesn’t catch a glimpse of Edwards violent fantasies and his possible future with his fangs in Bella’s neck. He seems to be pretty salty about that. I get that for Edward this is probably pretty damning, especially since this is not a regular occurrence, but has the thought crossed his mind that, right now, she has other priorities? Or that this future simply will not come to pass and that is the reason she hasn’t seen it? I am not familiar with how it works in the books (like I said, ages) but in the movies sometimes she gets the visions automatically without focusing and they are dependent on a person’s intent.

Back to Jasper then. And oh, Jasper. They did my boy dirty.

Well, technically not, because he has a much harder time living among humans than the others. But SM did not have to write Edward so dismissive of his struggles. To quote: “And Jasper was … suffering. I suppressed a sigh.” If this is so hard for him, why does he have to be there at all? They can’t always count on Edward and Alice to monitor him like a toddler. It would be far more efficient to just keep him away from humans. Also, and this is something that I have snapchatted to my friends several times and no one has yet come up with a concrete answer for me: You know how half the population is female? And how there are art-classes and PE and probably a school nurse? Accidents happen (I cannot tell you how often my friend had a spontaneous nosebleed in the middle of history class) and PMS is a thing. There will be a girl on her period when Jasper hasn’t fed in a long time. He’s not gonna avoid it by any stretch of the world by being in school. Have him stay home with Esme and work more in smaller steps.

“Why flirt with disaster?” If you can say that in response to Jasper having fantasies about drinking the blood of one of his classmates which starts with what is an exhibitionist-inclined make-out, why can’t you stay away from Bella? Because let me tell you: the best scene in this chapter was Edwards’s mind working out how to best kill his entire biology class just so he can rip open the new student and afterwards he doesn’t take his advice and cannot stay the fuck away. To his credit though, he tries. For like, half a chapter.

Until that point, where he smelled her, Bella was entirely mundane and uninteresting. He’s seen her in the minds of other students and the cafeteria and the most remarkable thing about her is that he can’t read her mind. He is very dismissive of it: “Not that I would find anything worth listening to.” So yeah, she doesn’t particularly strike his fancy or frankly, his interest.

But then she steps into the airflow that full-on blows her scent into his face and I have no words, except damn! And from that on we get the seven and a half most enjoyable pages of this chapter (dare I say the whole book?), the murder fantasies. What does it say about this book that this is the best scene so far? I found it quite well written to be honest. How he changes his second plan midway through the first because there are too many instances of the others screaming for help or alerting everyone else and, most importantly, Bellas body would grow cold while he snaps about 19 necks in 5 seconds. He is, for a monster without control, very methodical in his imaginary attempts to murder his class. Him thinking he has to destroy evidence, figuring out how he could best and most efficiently go about it, ultimately not relishing the killing but seeing it as the removal of an obstacle – I am getting some serious Hannibal vibes.

Of course, the thing holding him back is Carlisle and how Edward knows that his adoptive father would forgive him for this, because “he thought I was better than I was”. Only Edward being a stubborn bitch and wanting to prove something to Carlisle keeps around 20 people alive that day.

While I think the scene is incredible, it still rubs me the wrong way in a particular aspect: Edward has a raging fang-boner (pardon my French) for Bella and has the gall to judge Jasper simply because for him that is a permanent state of being. If anything, it makes me have a lot more respect for Jasper (and we can get into the confederate army major thing another time, I am aware of that) because he hasn’t ripped open someone’s bowels. But that isn’t where I was going with this. Edward only takes an interest in Bella because she smells like ecstasy to him. Because his instincts attract him to a meal so scrumptious, he’s never gonna forget it again. What a great start for a relationship! Also, he hates her because of her scent and this somehow keeps him sane. I either do not get boys in general or Edward Cullen specifically. Probably both.

It also takes him waaay too long to stop breathing. (And I know that he uses the phrase “sinking my teeth through that fine, thin, see-through skin to the hot, wet, pulsing-” to describe her neck, but I have read too much horribly/well-written E-rated fanfics on AO3 to not think of a vagina when I read this.)

And even after he has resolved to not abduct and kill the new student, he still fantasizes about doing it. Like I said, reading his fantasies is pretty enjoyable, but why did SM have to give them to us in the first chapter? Nothing in this book is gonna compare to this description ever again and I am sad about it. I know, who’d have thought?

Then we get to the part where he thinks about following her to her house because to kill her there is “the responsible way to deal with this”. Excuse me? Oh man, still really enjoyable to read, but now I am genuinely scared for Bella!

Because this is not just very detailed, but also very thought out. I am not sure if SM decided to ramp up the fear-factor for Edward because while everyone theoretically knows that he could snap a neck with his pinkie, the thirst was very much real about a decade ago and everyone just kinda glossed over the fact that Edward is a killing-machine. Not sure if Bella wouldn’t take Jacobs concerns regarding sex with a vampire while she was still human a little more seriously if she knew that was how her husband thought about her when they met. Is this supposed to entice me or turn me on? Not that it ever could in general, because Edward, but after that description, I am very much turned off, actually, and not at all receptive to this dude and want to tell Bella to run for the hills or La Push and never come back. This is, good writing aside, disturbing!

After class, he heads out in his car and listens to calming music, which he does a lot. I’ll keep tabs on how often and keep you posted. And this is where he gets angry with Alice for focusing on Jasper instead of him. To quote: “Was she so absorbed with watching for trouble with Jasper that she’d missed this much more horrific possibility?” Well, maybe because her boyfriend has a much harder time with basically every student in the school rather than just one and is much more likely to flip his table in English and jump the teacher (and not in a fun way). And that her life doesn’t revolve around you!

As I said, the chapter ends with him speeding off into the night, because that is the only responsible choice. If you fell you it best to remove yourself from the situation, do it. But maybe stay consistent afterwards.

Good things: The description of Edwards methodical nature when planning the murders. Very well written, as well as his portrayal as a ruthless monster compared to the amped-up teenage-heartthrob-thing we got from Bellas point of view. The danger surrounding a vampire never really came through, but now it did. I actually fear for her. Very impressive writing.

Bad things: How easily and nonchalantly he tries to manipulate his way into a higher-level science class was very disturbing. How dismissive he is of almost all of his siblings and their problems or their happiness. The fact that the first feelings he had towards Bella are ambivalence and hatred.

This is gonna be unbearable, isn’t it?

[seventeen-scenarios-blog]

[SPECIAL] All Your Hate (and all your love) (G)

HEY GUYS GREAT NEWS, WE’VE GOT A NEW ADMIN!!

ADMIN HOSHIT, SAY HI!

A/N: Hi guys! as my name suggests, I’m soonyoung’s trash (even though jihoon is my bias). I write with lots of sarcasm, run-on sentences, parentheses, italics and dashes between words because that’s how i roll ;____: I’ll also sell my soul to the devil for seventeen, memes and The Gay Agenda so feel free to hit me up with any of those :) if anyone has any advice with regards to writing better, please dm/message us (i live for constructive criticism) 

HOSHIT ROLL OUT \0/

Prompt: Mingyu and Minghao as neighbours  Ship: Minghao x Mingyu  Genre: Crack, fluff Word count: 2,066 Warnings: None!

Minghao was not having a good day.

His cactus’ health has been on a steady decline for two weeks now, and it seems that it had finally decided to kick the metaphorical bucket overnight. Minghao had watched as his cactus had defied the florist’s instructions of “water every two weeks! It’s hardy.” Hardy, his ass. Ever since the cactus had been placed on his window sill to receive optimal levels of sunlight, it had begun its gradual descent into its current state, a withered yellow stick. The knowledge that he was less nurturing than the desert was more than slightly grating on his nerves, and the jaundiced stalk mocked him from its pedestal on the window sill, the bright sunlight at odds with his darkening mood.

What’s worse was that his neighbor, the bane of his existence, an overgrown muscle being, was silent. Suspiciously silent. He should have been listening to wall-shaking music at that time in the morning and generally making a nuisance of himself while working out, and yet there was nothing coming from the other side of the wall.

Strange. Minghao was not about to lower his guard. Ever since that walking accident named Kim Mingyu moved in next to him, his life had lost all semblance of peace. Oh it had started out simple enough, Minghao had a decently good impression of Mingyu when he knocked politely on the door to introduce himself, Mingyu’s good looks deceiving Minghao for the first few hours. Then the cookies that Mingyu brought over had given him a stomachache, which Minghao had (mistakenly!) written off as unsanitary Thai food he’d ordered for dinner. Then the plumbing for the whole floor had gotten clogged (Mingyu had dropped his toilet roll in the toilet and decided to flush, instead of fishing it out like a normal human being). Then Mingyu’s stove had caught on fire (how? HOW?) and caused a building-wide evacuation, which Minghao was certainly not pleased about, his daily dance practice ruined. Then the flu that started from Mingyu and contaminated the floor (in other words, Minghao, as the whole floor only had two apartments). Then the loud exercise music at 8am, a time Minghao considered illegal to wake up at. Then the squirrels. Oh God, the squirrels. Within a month, Mingyu had turned from the handsome-puppy-next-door to devil-incarnate-please-go-back-to-hell-and-stay-there.

Minghao stirred from his half-asleep thoughts. It was time to throw out the cactus and get a new one, pretend nothing had happened and be content in his knowledge that he had a green thumb and all of his plants flourished and none of them have ever died on him yet (Minghao’s plants have never lasted beyond their third week, which, coincidentally, was the record that this cactus had set before its untimely death that morning). Maybe he would even do a Viking funeral for this one to celebrate its longevity and its part in the ongoing war that is Minghao’s attempts to cultivate a living being other than himself.

The boat prepared, the sink full of water, Minghao poured the cactus and its wet soil out of its vase and into the paper boat. It was time for the send-off. Wait, wet soil? Minghao never watered his plants. With a curse, Minghao lifted the boat out of the face of its impending watery doom and tossed it into the bin, Viking funeral be-damned. There was only one person who could have committed such a foul deed, and that person was Kim Mingyu.

Seething, Minghao wrenched open his apartment door, not even bothering to change out of his pink bunny slippers and hammered on Mingyu’s door.

“KIM MINGYU! OPEN UP! HOW DARE YOU! MISTER CACTUS NUMBER FIVE WAS MY FAVOURITE CACTUS! COME OUT AND OWN UP!”

The apartment remained silent. In a fit of anger, Minghao twisted the door knob, not expecting the door knob to actually turn and grant him access to the devil’s lair. That idiot… Minghao could hardly believe his eyes. He knew his neighbor was not exactly the smartest person but to leave his apartment unlocked was an act that was inconceivable. Unless this was part of Mingyu’s grand plan? To aggravate Minghao in the hopes that he would get angry, try the door knob, go into his house and wreck it, and Mingyu would be able to call the police and capture Minghao while Mingyu laughed evilly and watch as the police dragged Minghao-the-trespasser to jail where he would die old and alone? No, Mingyu was not capable of a plan that required an intelligence level higher than a seal.

Minghao giggled—no he laughed in a deep and manly way, as he entered the demon’s apartment, half expecting Mingyu to be lurking around exorcist-esque, where the main character would enter a seemingly empty room and be relieved, only to realise that the demon was behind him all the while. With this thought, Minghao whipped his head around and checked behind him just in case Mingyu was really there waiting in ambush. The empty umbrella stand gazed mournfully back at him. Embarrassed, Minghao turned to survey the apartment. It dawned on him that with the unexpected entry to the house, he actually had no idea what to do next.

He’d dreamt of getting back at Mingyu for weeks, but none of his plans actually involved going into Mingyu’s house because it was absurd that he would be able to. And yet, Minghao stands in Mingyu’s house, with no Mingyu in sight.

There was a thud from above, and Minghao jerked, because what if Mingyu came back. But it was just Chan from apartment 151, and unbidden, Chan’s story of how he pranked his brother rose to mind. Chan had moved all the furniture in his brother’s house one inch to the right, because “that big oaf wouldn’t be able to tell the difference”, and had a gleeful two hours of confusion from his brother before he was found out. That had sparked a whole chain of pranks that had required a whole month of dance classes with Minghao to recount in full.

Minghao blurred to action, moving all the furniture he could, just enough to throw Mingyu off, but not enough that Mingyu would find out for, he hoped, at least a day. In just a few moments, most of Mingyu’s furniture was sufficiently moved to his liking, and Minghao threw in a victorious door slam as he bounded back towards his apartment to wait for Mingyu to come back from wherever he went.

A mere half an hour later, a crash heralded Mingyu’s arrival, because of course even after twenty years of existence that tree of a man still hadn’t figured out how to navigate flat surfaces. Minghao almost felt bad.

A flurry of self-censored curses flew from next door as Minghao listened on in bliss. It seemed like Mingyu had found the slightly rearranged shoe rack. “FLYING FISHCAKES!” and the couch, if Minghao could be so bold as to hazard a guess. “MOTHER FATHER!” and maybe the lamp. Minghao was in heaven.  

Two days of life interjected with strangely creative curses later, Minghao found himself re-evaluating Mingyu’s intelligence level. It seemed that Mingyu had an IQ that was less comparable to a dog, which was what Minghao had originally thought, and more comparable to a tree. That insufferable man emulated them in height after all, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to say that he also had brains similar to the foliage that Minghao was incapable of growing.

Minghao despaired. The overgrown child that was his neighbor did not even swear properly, instead resorting to substitute words that made even less sense as time went on. Lately, he’d been on a bug phase, and Minghao was tired of hearing different species of insects being shouted at him through a wall.

“DUNGBEETLE!”

Aggravated and yet somewhat sorry, Minghao ran next door, ready to confess to Mingyu what he had done. It seemed like he was growing soft in old age, having already forgiven Mingyu for all the wrongs that he had committed after only two days of, admittedly, pain-filled revenge.

Mingyu’s doorbell was an oddly cute ring unbefitting of a man in his twenties, but Mingyu emerged quickly, looking like a kicked puppy as he rubbed his knee. The man brightened up instantly at the sight of Minghao, a smile curving across his face as he greeted “Minghao! What brings you over? Would you like some tea?”

As Mingyu rambled on, Minghao stood still in shock over how adorable Mingyu looked when he opened the door oh my God what is going on Xu Minghao get a grip. When Mingyu’s string of random phrases finally came to an end, Minghao blurted “I moved all your furniture a little when you were out two days ago, it’s why you’ve been bumping into your stuff a lot more these few days, but it’s only because you watered my cactus and it died! We’re even now so don’t bump into your furniture anymore!” He made to run off, but Mingyu’s hand on his bicep stopped him.

Sheepishly, Minghao turned to meet Mingyu’s eyes, only to see that Mingyu’s face was pink and ashamed.

“I’m sorry about your cactus. You told me the first time we met that your plants always died because you didn’t water them enough, so I watered your cactus for you since I can reach your pot from the window, but I’m also a bad gardener so your cactus died anyway. It’s my fault, I’ll buy you a new cactus.”

Minghao was incredulous. He remembered that I don’t water plants so he watered them for me?

“How about you come in, and we can sit down and you can tell me what kind of cactus you want? Or we can go to the florist to pick one out?”

The situation was changing too quick for Minghao to even understand what was going on. It was almost as if he was just a bystander watching events unfold, but with no context whatsoever.  

“So why did you start watering my plants?” Minghao decided to change the topic and get at least one answer to the list of questions that he had for Mingyu.

Mingyu visibly startled, before taking a deep breath and ushering Minghao to the couch.

“I suppose I might as well say it. I like you, Minghao. Ever since I moved next door, I’ve been trying to ask you out but there’s never been a right moment. You’ve avoided me like the plague as well, so I just wanted to have some sort of contact with your life, however indirect.”

Speechless, Minghao sat. He had never encountered someone willing to do so much for a guy who “avoided him like the plague”, and frankly, it was flattering. He’d thought about Mingyu before too, before Mingyu started wreaking havoc on his life.  Speaking of which…

“How did your stove catch on fire two weeks ago?”

Mingyu immediately covered his face and mumbled “I was trying to cook but I heard music from your house and went over to see what was going on. You were dancing and it looked so cool that I forgot about my pancakes. And then the fire alarm started.”

“Huh.” Was all Minghao could say. They sat in silence for a while, each mulling over what had just transpired. The sharp whistle of the kettle prompted Mingyu to make the tea, and while he was gone, Minghao considered his options.

Clearly, Mingyu was interested. And cute. And Minghao wasn’t opposed to getting to know Mingyu better, the clumsy attempts of Mingyu to win him over strangely endearing. The cons were that Mingyu awoke at ungodly hours, but Minghao supposed that it could be trained out of Mingyu quickly.

Mingyu sat the mugs down, and Minghao, cradling his mug, said “I’m willing to give you—or us, a chance. Let’s get to know each other better first.”

Mingyu’s despondent face (God why is that so cute?) immediately changed, a wide smile taking the place of the pout.

“Really?”

“Yes, Mingyu. So where do we go from here?” Minghao would be damned if he ever told anyone about how adorable Mingyu looked if he smiled. Perhaps if he hadn’t avoided Mingyu all the time he would have had a better impression of Mingyu and become friends with him earlier.

“How about a coffee?”

“Lead the way.”

[n1cklybear]

Q&A because I’m bored

(Answers are in parentheses) Are you named after anyone? (Yes. My great grand-father was “Sylvester” but hated that name so much he made everyone call him by his middle-name “Earl.” Therefore, I was given the middle-name “Earl.” Now, in terms of my chosen name, my naming myself after someone was completely accidental (I swear it was accidental!). My mom’s middle name is “Ann,” and I chose the first name “Anna.” So, accidentally, I named myself after my mom) When was the last time you cried? (Last night) Do you have kids? If no, how many do you want? (No, and no idea in all honesty. A few at least) If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? (Heck no) Do you use sarcasm a lot? (Me? Nooooooooo… Ok, yes. It’s pretty much my love language) What’s the first thing you notice about people? (Um, honestly, don’t know) What is your eye color? (Blue) Scary movie or happy endings? (Hate both, but give me happy endings any day of the week) Favorite smells? (What?) What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? (When I lived in Toledo, OH, the furthest I was away from there was Nashville, TN) Do you have any special talents? (No) Where were you born? (St. Luke’s Hospital, Maumee, OH) What’s your zodiac sign? Do you believe in it? (No idea and no) What are your hobbies? (Um, playing “The Elder Scrolls” and first-person shooter games I guess) Do you have any pets? (No) Do you have any siblings? (Unfortunately) What did you want to be when you grow up? (A mom) Who was your first best friend? (Never really had one that lasted all that long) How tall are you? (5’7”, and haven’t grown at all since I was 10) What is the least favourite thing about yourself? (Everything) Funniest moment throughout School? (None) How many countries have you visited? (None) What was your favorite/worst subject in High School? (Favorite: history, Worst: math) What is your Favorite drink? Animal? Perfume? (Water, cats, none) What would you (or have you) name your children? (No idea) What Sports do you play/Have you played? (Does foosball count?) Who are some of your favorite YouTubers? (Optimus, SomeOrdinaryGamers, TGX Game Reviews, Kalvin Garrah, Hunter Avallone, Daniel Mackler) How many Girlfriends/Boyfriends have you had? (None) Favorite memory from childhood? (None) How would you describe your fashion sense? (None) What phone do you have? (iOS v Android?) (Android, but will be moving over to /e/ once I get my hands on the Fairphone 3 hopefully soon) Tell us one of your bad habits! (Spending too much money on phone icon packs, constantly changing default dialers and SMS app, basically changing up my phone and spending too much money on changing my phone) 3 things that upset you? (Not being listened to, almost never getting hugged, people asking you to do something for them at the last minute) 3 things that make you happy? (NF, Twenty One Pilots, Penguins of Madagascar) How is your relationship with parents? (Non-existent) What’s on your mind? (Lots of things. Things people don’t want to hear about) What’s your talent? (None) One word that describes you? (Wreck) What’s your favorite quotes? (“Yeah, I'd probably grab your hand and tell you life is hard, If you got questions or you need advice, then talk to God, 'Cause He's the only one that listens even when you think He isn't” - NF) Are you an extrovert or introvert? (Introvert. Very much an introvert) Are you left or right handed? (Right handed) Do you consider yourself a good cook? (Yes) Does your name have a special meaning? (My birth name: Victorious, chosen name: grace) If money were no object what would you get for your next birthday? (I don’t think people want to know) If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? (Greenland) What’s your favourite thing to have for breakfast? (Hashbrowns) What’s your favourite gadget? (What?) What’s your longest relationship so far? (Um, don’t really know, never had one that lasted all that long)

Feel free to ask me questions as well. I’ve got nothing better to do.