#then i took a creative writing class in college in the knee

[hirazuki]

Me, writing a bit of poetry after literal decades: omg the options of phrases and rhymes, the choices, all the different possibilities that color the sentiment in ever so slightly different shades of nuance -- I had forgotten how absolutely annoying this is.

[munson-blurbs]

Eddie Munson x Reader (hurt/no comfort)

Summary: While visiting your friend from college, you meet her neighbor across the hall and begin a fling with him. But how long can these good times last?

WC: 2.3k

Warnings: smut (18+ only, minors DNI), handjob, oral (m! receiving), unprotected p in v, hurt/no comfort, cheating, mention of weight shaming (not towards Reader)

A/N: y'all asked for it and I have delivered. Sorry, there won't be a part 2 fix-it because I like to put the "hurt" in "hurt/no comfort."

--

Hawkins, Indiana didn’t have too much to offer. It was a tiny blip on a map that you could drive through and barely notice if you weren’t paying close attention. 

It also happened to be the hometown of your best friend from college. You and Nancy became fast friends after you both got lost on your first day at Emerson. It turned out that you were going to the same class, and the room number had been a misprint that led to a nonexistent room. 

Now, fresh on the heels of graduation, Nancy had secured a full-time position at the Hawkins Post and just moved into her own apartment. It gave you the perfect excuse to spend a few days crashing at her place like you’d never left the dorms. 

At least, that had been the original plan, until Nancy got a call about a biohazard leak from Hawkins Lab that had begun infiltrating an area affectionately dubbed “Lovers Lake,” which could be her first big story if she played her cards right. Why a miniscule town had a whole lab, you had no idea. What you did know was that you would be spending most of your time here by yourself, rather than with Nancy. 

Long days alone left you bored, occasionally working on the draft of your novel. While Nancy took to the structure of journalism, you preferred creative writing. She was the logician to your dreamer. Sometimes you loved that about her; other times, her straightforward line of thinking was the bane of your existence. 

Words swam on the page as you scanned each line, adding details and crossing out any superfluous information that added nothing to the plot. You pinched the bridge of your nose and massaged it, hoping to settle your vision enough to keep editing. 

Knock knock knock. 

“Wheeler, you in there?”

A man’s voice drifted from the other side of the door. Nancy had briefly mentioned knowing some of her neighbors, but you had never actually met them. 

“Wheeler?”

You padded over to the door. When you peered through the peephole, you saw the fish-eye version of a man. You first noticed his frizzy curls escaping the rubberband attempting to hold back his hair—well, that and his biceps, fully on display in his black tank top. 

Opening the door, you willed yourself to keep your composure.  

His brown eyes widened and his full lips turned upwards into a small smile. “You’re not Wheeler.”

“What gave it away?”

The man leaned one muscular arm against the doorframe. He smelled of tobacco and cologne. “Cute and sarcastic. A winning combination.” His smirk nearly brought you to your knees. “I ran out of paper towels and figured Wheeler probably keeps ‘em stockpiled. She has that ‘doomsday prepper’ energy.”

You laughed, crossing your arms as you let your eyes meet his. How did Nancy live in the same building as this guy and not constantly jump his bones? “I think she’d prefer to call it ‘emergency preparedness.’”

“Tomato, to-mah-to.” His gaze flicked over to the roll of paper towels Nancy kept by the sink. “May I?”

Nodding, you stepped aside to let him in. “I’m Eddie, by the way,” he said over his shoulder.

You introduced yourself with as much confidence as you could muster. “I’m supposed to be visiting Nancy for the week, but she’s been at work twenty-four seven.” 

Eddie’s ears pricked at the information. “I live across the hall in 6B if you ever need anything. Snacks, music recommendations, someone to keep you entertained since Wheeler selfishly ditched you.” His eyes twinkled at the joke, but there was a mischievous air in his tone. An insinuation of the type of entertainment he might provide. 

It wasn’t until the next day that you took Eddie up on his offer, knocking on his door three times. Your heart pounded in your chest the moment you heard him slide the chain lock off of its track, its beating surely still audible even as he cracked open the metal door. 

“Well, look who it is.” An unlit cigarette dangled between his lips and he’d pulled his curls back into a bun at the nape of his neck. “How can I be of service, sweetheart?”

“I was hoping we could hang out?” You winced at the inflection that made your statement into a question. 

Eddie cocked his head in contemplation. “Yeah?” He chuckled and shoved the cigarette back into its pack. “All right. Let’s go to yours then.”

His fingers brushed against the small of your back as you led him to Nancy’s apartment. Your pulse thrummed in your ears. Were you really doing this? Were you really inviting a stranger over to hang out?

This was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea—

“Does Wheeler have a guest room? Or does she make you crash on the couch?”

Shaking off your nerves, you summoned a smile. “No guest room, unfortunately.”

“Such a shame.” Eddie clicked his tongue. “Was hoping for a little privacy.” Head tilted to the side, his gaze devoured you whole. 

“I mean…” You wracked your brain for a solution. “We could just talk. Get to know each other.”

He exhaled, his breath laced with frustration. “Sweetheart, we only have a week. Six days now, actually, and then you go back home. ‘S not a lot of time.”

With that, Eddie stepped forward and placed a gentle kiss on your neck, letting his lips linger for a moment as he whispered, “is this okay?”

“Mhm.” Your hands readily found his waist, fingertips digging into the skin as you pulled him in closer. Hardness pressed against the fly of his jeans, and you could feel it even through the thick fabric. 

“Gotta admit, sweetheart,” Eddie tugged your shirt up over your head and tossed it aside haphazardly. “I was thinking about you when you knocked. Was about to take matters into my own hands.” 

He grinned at the double entendre, one hand snaking to your back to unhook your bra. “Goddamn.” He positioned his lips around one nipple, then the other, sucking until they were pert and sensitive. 

Desire pooled between your thighs and a whimper escaped you, your breath hitching as you tried to regain some semblance of control. No one had ever made you feel so wanted, so needed, with only a few kisses. 

“‘S a pretty noise,” Eddie mumbled. He unbuttoned your jeans with the dexterity of a musician, and you wondered if he played any instruments. 

You didn’t know a lot about him: his job, his hobbies, his favorite color. There was no time to consider that now, not while he had sat himself on the sofa and was already unbuckling his own belt. 

Eddie pulled his pants and boxers just low enough to free his erection, the head of his cock already slick with pre-cum. He leaned his head back, his hand reaching out to yours. 

Naively, you threaded your fingers with his, like it was some intimate gesture. Embarrassment flooded your bloodstream when Eddie laughed under his breath and wrapped your hand around his length. 

“There ya go, sweetheart.” He inhaled sharply as you moved your hand up and down. 

You worked him, swiping your thumb over the tip and feeling him shudder at your touch. Each reaction grew your confidence until you were straddling him, the thin fabric of your panties serving as the only barrier between the two of you. 

Eddie’s palm pressed against the back of your head, a wordless plea for you to use your mouth. You obliged, pulling his pants down to his ankles and trying not to outwardly wince when your knees dug into the thin carpet.

You relished the sound of each moan that you drew from him, knowing that you were making him feel that way. Your lips wrapped around the head, tongue swirling around it to further heighten his sensitivity. One hand cupped his balls, carefully kneading them in the same rhythm that your mouth took with his shaft. 

As if on instinct, he pushed your head farther down his shaft. You weren’t expecting it, tears pricking at your eyes as you coughed around him. 

“Shit, sorry.” Eddie let go of you so you could readjust. You were all too grateful that he didn’t turn the moment into a chance to pity you, saving you from further humiliation. 

Wordlessly, you went back to sucking him off. His thighs trembled; for a moment, you expected to feel him spilling onto your tongue. But Eddie only pulled back, his finger wiping away the saliva that dribbled from the corner of your mouth. 

“Ride me.” He patted his lap, eyes shining as you obeyed without hesitation. “Fuck, wish you were gonna be around longer. I could get used to this.”

Eddie watched you as you sank down, taking him inch by glorious inch until you were full of him. Your own gaze stayed fixed on his lips, so plush and begging to be kissed. 

You let lust guide you. Despite an initial shock, Eddie parted your lips with his tongue until your shuddering breath mixed with his. Had no one ever kissed him with such passion? Had no one ever shown him how wanted he was? Is that why he had seemed so surprised when you displayed that kind of intimacy?

There was no time to further ponder these notions, not when he gripped your ass and bucked his hips upward. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. He was so good, it was too easy for all of your thoughts to only focus on him. The way his mouth tasted of tobacco, the way he held you like he couldn’t bear to let you go, the way each thrust filled you deliciously…

“You close?”

Were you? Not really; it had been just a few minutes, but you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Men got insecure if they finished before their partner, especially someone new. 

So you just nodded, your eyes locking onto him in hopes he’d believe the lie. Eddie didn’t meet your look; he leaned forward and dug his teeth into your shoulder as he came.

“Oh, God. Fucking Christ–holy shit.”

Giddiness and a twinge of pride fluttered within you, almost as good as an orgasm itself. Maybe you’d get yours next time.

As though reading your mind, Eddie tucked his forefinger under your chin and his thumb atop it. “We should do this again sometime.”

 And so you did. Every day that week while Nancy was at work, Eddie came over to her apartment. The couch became your sex spot, so much that you joked about Eddie’s ass leaving an imprint in the fabric. 

“Maybe we could go to your place?” You suggested on Thursday when Eddie practically mauled you the moment he stepped through the doorway.

He just shook his head. “Nah. I wouldn’t want you to see all of my shit, sweetheart.”

You didn’t even want to imagine the bachelor pad that you might find across the hall, empty pizza boxes cluttering the trash can, beer bottles strewn everywhere, ashtrays full of cigarette butts. 

You did find out a little more about Eddie: He worked nights at the plant, which was why he was home during the day. He played guitar and sang lead vocals in his band, Corroded Coffin. And once you moved his hand down to your clit, he could definitely make you come.

That Friday, before Eddie pulled out, he ran his thumb along your lower lip.

“Wish you didn’t have to leave tomorrow morning,” he murmured. “If you were sticking around, I might have had to ask you on a date.”

It was almost enough. The thought of being a real couple, someday even making love instead of simply having sex, brought a smile to your face. Maybe you could make these visits to Nancy more often than you’d originally anticipated.

You decided it must be fate when rain poured down in sheets and lightning zigzagged across the sky, delaying your flight for twelve hours. The cab driver crawled at a snail’s pace as he drove you back to Nancy’s, and you kept reminding yourself that he was doing it for your safety. 

Eddie would be so excited to have another day with you. Another afternoon to spend together, to draw pleasure from one another…possibly even discuss the potential of a long-distance relationship.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.

His name echoed with each step you took up the stairwell. You would just knock on his door, fling yourself into his arms, and–

“Hey, babe. Looks like you made it back just in time.”

Eddie. 

Your stomach was a leaden weight when you reached the sixth floor and saw Eddie taking a suitcase from a blonde woman and kissing her until her baby pink lipstick smudged on his mouth. And if that wasn’t enough, there was a thin gold band on his ring finger that hadn’t been there the whole week.

“I would’ve walked if it meant getting home,” the woman said softly. “My mom is still awful, by the way. She kept asking if I was pregnant because, and I quote, ‘you look like you’ve been gaining weight, Chrissy.’”

There was no hiding the smirk on Eddie’s face. “We could make it happen, if you want.”

Chrissy swatted at him and walked into the apartment, and then it was just you and Eddie.

“You’re married.”

You barely recognized your own voice, thick with tears that you were willing back until you were alone. 

Surprise flashed across his face for only a second before he composed himself. He looked right through you, mumbling sorry under his breath as he tugged his wife’s–his wife’s–luggage over the threshold and disappeared to be with her.

--

[thetravelingtyper]

On The Same Page pt4 (Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Reader Bookshop! AU)

Taking the day to go to the beach you meet someone new...

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Masterlist!

Warning! James is a dick, use of language

“Oh, Flo, where did you go?

Where did you go? Where did you go?”

The song was expected at this point as you ran along the beach. You huffed begrudging, humming along. The song reminded you of America.

The fights kept coming in the few months before you left.

It happened one day, after a day of talking with Sam about trying to start your next book. You had returned home to an upset James. He had met you at the door with a dark look, something storming in his mind that immediately had you asking. Despite your questioning, he remained silent, pacing back and forth before heading to the bedroom and slamming the door shut. 

“You're falling about

You took a left off Last Laugh Lane

Just sounding it out

But you're not coming back again

You're falling about

You took a left off Last Laugh Lane

You were just sounding it out

But you're not coming back again”

You just stood stunned in the hallway before turning with a frown to make dinner.

A few minutes later James sauntered out, a mean smirk on his face,

“You’re fucking him aren't you?”

The question came out of nowhere and you dropped the spoon, 

At first, you thought he was joking and you cracked a smile.

“Yea, me and an aroace man!”

His eyes sharpened,

“I am not joking you little bitch,”

At the term you froze, anger tightening your muscles as you turned off the stove.

“You will not speak to me that way.”

James huffed and then chuckled, he approached you, running a hand down your hair and the back of your head, then resting on your neck. The next gleam in his eyes frightened you and you pushed at his chest but against his height, you had no power. He gripped the back of your neck and pulled you closer, his mouth brushing close to your ear.

“I will say anything I want.”

And with a final warning, he stepped back fingers slightly digging into your hair before he released. 

“You’ll do well to remember that.”

“You used to get it in your fishnets

Now you only get it in your nightdress

Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness

Landed in a very common crisis

Everything's in order in a black hole

Everything was pretty as the past though

That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco

Remember when you used to be a rascal?”

The song finally finished out and you slowed then paused in your running. A sudden weight on your shoulders and in your chest you sank into the sand, not caring about the mess. How could years go to waste? You put your head on your knees. What had you lost?

A love, yes but a vibrant career in one of the best publishing firms in the US. But what of your family, your friends? You disappeared within a week, leaving the only world you knew behind. Despite the state of America, you missed it. You had grown up in your childhood home, worn walls and height lines scribbled into the door frames. You made your first stories in those rooms. 

You close your eyes. After a messy relationship in your late teens and early 20s, you left your hometown. Leaving to a liberal arts college on the East Coast you pursued your masters in creative writing. One faithful day in your first year of your masters you met Sam. He was in an engineering program online but was taking a few classes in the college. You had heard his distress over an essay in the campus cafe. And, as a new 23-year-old master's student eager to make friends on campus. You had approached him, explained your position and he nearly grabbed you and threw his essay at you. What followed was the closest friend you had ever found and 6 years of friendship followed. At 25 you graduated with Sam following and entered the publishing business. A few months in you met James and the rest, 

Well, the rest is history.  

You stare out into the clear skyed ocean. Sighing, you turn your music back on and just stretch out your legs. Turning the music down you zone out. It was a couple of days after getting Simon’s number, Thursday to be exact, and you had driven out to the coast hoping to get some inspiration. But nothing came up. 

You watch the ocean. Now that was something you missed, the sealife along the East Coast. You remember always loving the sea, during the evening taking the boats out to spot blue whales and others. 

You soon became lost in thought and as time passed, the sun grew high towards noon. As your thoughts traced the bottom of the sea a shadow overtook your form and you blinked. A body, you notice, a man standing over you, he was speaking. You pull an earbud out to be met with waves and a deep voice pulls your eyes to a handsome face, and a fishing hat?

“You alright down there?”

You look at him unsure, the combination of casual clothes and a camo fishing hat humors you, and you work to pull yourself up. He offers a hand, and with a good spirit, you take it. He pulls you up effortlessly, muscle flexing in the bright sunlight.

“I’m sorry I was lost in thought.”

He gives you an honest smile that doesn't fully reach his eyes making you wonder.

“Quite alright I understand the feeling. Seems to be a lot.” 

It’s a strong statement that takes you aback for a moment as the man stares out into the endless blue. You take a moment to observe, something in your writer's mind buzzing. The man is a bit older than you, he carried himself well, shoulders back in proper form but there was a weight there. He wasn’t as tall as Simon but nearly there. His blue eyes meet yours again and there is a depth you try to understand. You brush some sand off your legs to break the weight of his gaze. 

You return to his face with a small, shared smile, wondering what he had been through. Holding out a hand you introduce yourself standing a little straighter. Seeing this he nods and grabs your hand.

“Johnathan Price” 

His hands are rough, worn after years of work as the name sparks a flame of recognition. Price sees it in your eyes. 

“Captain John Price?”

He chuckles and releases your hand but you see the change in his form, subtle but tense. 

“Was, retired now. Now how did a lady like you know that?”

You expect the question, and you grin pointing to the hat.

“Johnny goes on and on about you.”

Price relaxes instantly, his smile now reaching his eyes and he chuckles again. 

“Soap, a good man. I haven't checked in on the lad in a while. How do you know him?”

You continue to explain your bookstore and meeting Johnny. As you speak Price relaxes and he mentions to a bench a little across the way, towards the end of the beach. Taking a seat you finish up.

“Sounds like John alright. He not giving you any trouble is he?”

You grin,

“Not at all, I've gotten quite used to him dropping by. He and Simon stop in a lot.”

That catches Price’s ear,

“Simon? Now that is interesting. How is he?”

You find his interest understandable, and you answer the best you can. 

“He pulled quite a stunt to help me, but I've enjoyed him so far.”

“He certainly has a presence, no worries though at heart he is a good man. He left an impact I assume?” 

He says it with a familiar grin, one that tells a history, there is also curiosity there. He raises a brow in expectation which makes you giggle. He looked like a dad, the image of Soap and Simon running around coming to mind for a moment before Price catches the look and raises another brow. 

There is respect for the man in Price's tone and you question how long he’d know the quiet man. 

“A while, a long while. He served as my lieutenant for years. He and Johnny are close. Been through a lot.” 

“I like that about Johnny, he has a lot of stories.” You lean back on the bench to stare up at the sky. Gathering clouds hint at a coming rain blowing in from the sea. You deal in stories but you can’t seem to catch a break, your eyes return to Price to see him observing you with keen eyes.

“Something troubling you?” he asks it honestly and you sigh, feeling the light shine upon you to share. 

“Yea. I am an author without ideas currently.”

Price hums, 

“I see, that's quite the predicament indeed. What’s causing it?”

You sigh again and the weight of the past few months falls upon your shoulders.

Price sees the change in you instantly and you just crack and break down the situation for him. It starts with your masters, to meeting Sam and James, the company, and your first books. You had started with children’s books following your interest in childhood literacy. As you explain the premise of the books, a fond smile lights up your face. 

Of three books, your second was your favorite: It followed the story of a fox kit lost amongst wolves. He was smaller than the rest of the other cubs but soon grew to love his own identity. The Fox’s Den pulled its name from this book. You had based the story on the forest around your childhood home and roaming through the woods while your parents were always too busy to keep you entertained.

With the success of your first books, your manager had insisted on middle-grade fiction and you wholeheartedly agreed. But your old boss at the publisher had dropped the expectation of a young adult or new adult book and you had started brainstorming, but that was when your world came crashing, well, tearing down. You explain this to him. 

“Everything was torn out from underneath you, there was nothing you could do. Your heart was, and I believe, still is in your writing, but everything that has happened has tainted your worldview,”

He pauses to regard the ocean for a moment, the winds blowing in cause choppy waves. 

“Often when things turn against us, or we have our backs against the wall is when we find it from within ourselves to overcome. Be it from within, or I believe in your case, around you. Perhaps you are just looking in the wrong place. Your past consuming you and tarnishing how you are experiencing the present.”

Price seems to be talking from within himself and it makes you wonder. You look out into the gathering storm. The waves cut like sapphire and the distant rumble of thunder. The close wildness of the ocean engulfs you in the moment. You take in the smell of the sea and exhale. Price was right, you had come here for a new life anyway, and you meant to make the best of it. 

Price watches you for a moment,

“I just feel like I am missing something in all of this. Why did it happen?”

Price sets a friendly hand on your shoulder,

“You may never know, but don’t let it consume you, instead revisit your old passions. Take what you remember of home and try to find something here to spark your interest. Besides James sounds like a right nasty bloke.”

Hearing someone older say it makes you feel a lot better. While your friends of course had been on your side it seemed like the entire company had turned against you. All except your manager who had followed you to Sam’s family company. While the boss held no power over you anymore your manager agreed with the sentiment of increasing your output to an older audience. She felt it would be good to expand into that market. 

“You're right.” 

Price’s advice comes at a good time, and he was right. Maybe you were looking too often into the past. Your phone buzzes, and you look and find a message from Simon. You smile, he was asking to take you up on the offer of tea. Price notices and smiles himself. 

“Well, you better get in before the rain hits, dear.”

You put your phone away and nod to the man.

“Thanks, John.” 

He stands up and nods.

“Until next time then.” This is all he offers before returning to his original route. Despite there not being an exchange of numbers you couldn't help but feel you would meet the man again. 

You sit for a moment longer, lingering on the feeling of being understood and the wildness of the sea. But as the wind picks up you receive a text from Sam. He calls a moment later.

“Where are you?”

“At the beach Mom, what's wrong?”

“I’ve got some interesting news. Besides the news says there's a storm brewing and I think you should head home. Your boyfriend is looking for you, he’s been in twice already.”

At that you are at a loss for words, a slight blush coming over your face,

“Come home buttercup before he haunts the place-” there's a pause on the other line, “and Soap says hi.”

You laugh at that, getting up and starting the run back to the car.

“Alright, I’m on my way, see you in a bit Sam, I'll be in a little late.”

“Drive safe. Bye”

With that you hang up and run, feelings of excitement building.

Taglist: @ghostlythots, @tapioca-milktea1978, @cmbghost

End chapter 4

[justatypicalwizard]

Wants Within | S. Shinazugawa | Chapter 8

✦ Sanemi Shinazugawa x femReader!, college au, reader is adult

✦ Synopsis: You're a college student taking classes with a very strict lecturer- professor Shinazugawa. Because of an unfortunate even you got on his bad side so now you're trying everything to regain in his eyes. Well, you most certainely didn't expect that kind of attention.

✦ Word count: 1,6k

18+, minors do not interact

''Damn, I should probably try this one.'' You pointed your finger at a piece of paper hung on the information board, gaining Ann's attention.

''Hm?'' She mumbled, chewing on a sandwich.

''It's a competition. If I would win inside the university then I could represent us higher.'' You started to explain what you just read.

''Isn't that like... hard to get out of the university level?'' She gave you an open eye look.

''It is. Yet, if I don't try I won't know. What bad could happen from trying?'' You shrugged.

''And what do you need to study?''

''Oh, I'm thinking about this one because it had okay requirements. You don't need to write any test, you actually have to do some research and present the results of something that they called 'an interesting, creative and innovative view of an existing academic work'.''

''So you'll have to rewrite the work?'' Ann questioned you.

''I don't know.''

✦

After filing a form to participate in the competition, you waited to be assigned to a competition group. You were supposed to complete your work with the help of a professor. Looking at the piles of forms that other people brought, you spotted that it was very small. Just a few of them lying sadly on the desk. This was good for you, not many people got interested in this.

What you wanted to achieve is representing the university. This would nearly grant you a scholarship for the next year.Grinning to yourself at your sneaky plan, you took off for your next lecture, feeling that the day would be good.

✦

After a week, you got an answer. Looking at the email you received, you bit your lower lip. You got assigned to the group led by professor Shinazugawa. Group members: 1

So, yet again you may have some alone time with the white haired man. Were you happy? Somehow yes, but on the other hand, crushing on him from your comfortable seat in the classroom was one thing. Spending time alone with him and having those types of thoughts felt uneasy. Will you be able to get rid of them, or will you rub your thumbs together and stutter, thinking about dirty things rather than about science.

Well, one way or the other, you will still proceed with the competition, your horniness can't get in the way of your career.

Finding him sitting in one of the empty lecture rooms, you knocked on the door lightly, only to hear a mumble. He was deep in thoughts, looking at his laptop. These freaking two buttons were unmade. You swear to god, you would grab them and either button them up so that it doesn't distract you or tear them all the way down to finally get what you want to see.

See girl? That's the thought I was telling you about. And you know what? You can't get rid of them no matter how hard you try in front of him.

''Good morning. I'm here to talk with you about the competition on the academic paper interpretation.'' You greeted him with a small smile, walking up to his desk.

He gave you a glance. After recognising you, his face lightened a bit.

''Mhm. Give me a moment, I need to do one thing.'' He went back to his computer, pulling a chair standing next to him and shoving it next to his.

You took the place. Putting your hands on your knees, you realised your legs were just next to his. Of course he was sitting like a king on his throne, claiming his space. Squeezing yourself into the chair, you begged that he would not shift and touch you by chance.

As if the gods were laughing at you, the man put one of his legs on the other one, nearly brushing you. You swiftly dodged that, not wanting to get a critical hit just at the beginning of the battle.

-10 hp

The white haired man put his head on his palm, his hand comfortable on the desk as he bit his lip ever so lightly, focused on the task he was completing.

-50 hp (the enemy was able to distract you)

Shinazugawa bounced his fingers on his chin. You followed his movement with your eyes, realising how well carved his jaw was.

-20 hp (enemie's distraction was unsuccessful)

Groaning quietly he let his hand through the messy, white hair. His voice low and somehow harsh.

-20 hp

Typing something and making the last few clicks, he finally completed whatever he was doing. Pushing his chest into the chairs back, he stretched slightly. The buttons on his white shirt also started to move, tightening up, just as if they wanted to pop out. Shinazugawa took a sip of his black coffee, which made his fully exposed Adam's apple move.

-100 hp

You have died!

Letting out a shaky breath you looked down, fumbling with your fingers. Why is it so hard to keep a hold of your mind sometimes?

''Is something wrong?'' The man's voice tore you out of your dirty thoughts.

''No.'' Back on earth.

''Okay. Then, let's talk about the competition.'' He turned fully your way. ''I've seen your application and I must say I'm impressed. You're really trying at this university.''

His compliment made you smile a little, looking to the side, past him.

''First we need to find an academic paper that covers the required topics and is short enough to be good for this work. That is your first task. I'll tell you where you can look for such things in the library. Pick up a few that you like and we will choose something. Then we will discuss what the paper is about, find the key topics and start to work on them. We will need a bunch of meetings.'' He looked at a piece of paper he had printed out. ''It will mostly be your work, I'm here to coordinate you.''

Nodding your head you took a look at the paper he handed you. It was a plan, everything that he just said plus some details about the topics, requirements and other stuff.

''We need to decide on the first meeting date.'' He took out his phone and swiped through his calendar. ''When are you free.''

Whenever you want.

But you didn't say that. Opening your plan on your own phone, you put it on his desk. Shinazugawa took a quick glance and decided.

''Is Wednesday, six p.m. okay for you?''

''Yes professor.''

''Great. Until then, look through the requirements and find those academic papers.''

✦

Wednesday came far too quick. You found a few interesting works and picked them out of the library. Making your way to Shinazugawas office in the university, you also wanted to stop at the cafe you work in to pick up your charger that you left the other day.

Retrieving it from one of your coworkers you looked at the coffee machine.

''Can I get two coffees? One [your favourite] and one black.'' The girl at the counter nodded and soon you had two coffees in your hands.

Going back to the university, you found his office. It was dark outside the vast windows. Fall would soon merge into winter.

Knocking on his door, you heard a faint 'come in'. Pushing the door, you greeted Shinazugawa and put the coffees on his desk. The white haired man looked at them, a bit shocked, but not too much for it to change his stoic face expression. Not explaining anything, you just took your cup and started to sip on it, taking out all your materials. He also didn't say anything, taking the coffee for himself, which made you smile lightly.

After he took a look at all the works you brought in, the two of you started to discuss them.

''This one may be too hard. Look, it starts off easy but the further you get, the more specific the author is. It may be hard to come up with anything giving the amount of details in this. Here, you have a few topics that you'll have next year and we don;t have enough time to teach you them. This one looks good, you already had all the topics and it leaves a lot of space for further explanation...'' As he was judging the academic papers, he slid his finger on them, showing you the places he was talking about.

''And what about this part, won't it be problematic? The author crealry points out that he sees no further interpretation of this fragment.'' You tried to show him the place where you saw an obstacle but you had to turn the paper around and then around once more, losing the sentence from under your finger.

Shinazugawa looked at you in a bored manner and stretched his hand for a chair. Sliding it closer, he put it on the same side of the large desk that he was sitting at and gave you a meaningful look. Nodding, you stood up and changed places. Only now you spotted how bigger his shoulders were compared to your own. He could tower over you easily.

''Here.'' You pointed out once more.

''Mhm, good suggestion. This might be a problem. We can look for another one.''

Finally, after some time you found the paper that fitted you the best.

''Are you fed up for today?'' The white haired asked you after picking up the rest of the work lying on the desk.

''Not really, I can still do something.'' You answered but at the same time a yawn escaped your lips.

You heard a small laugh out of Shinazugawas lips.

''Yeah, you really look ready to work.'' He gave you a yeastioning look, returning to his usual, judging glare.

''Sorry, that was nothing. I'm serious.''

He took a minute to glance all around your face which made you anxious. Why was he eying you so much?

''Okay then. We can make a rough plan of the work we are going to present.'' he shifted back to the papers like nothing ever happened. 

SERIES MASTERLIST

[dancingtotuyo]

The Life We Built (Joel Miller)

Part 5 of Build You The World Joel X Reader Rating: PG-13 (Language) Warnings: fluff, that's it. Tags: no outbreak, fluff, craftsman!Joel, Time jump, it's 2023 folks, no mentions of COVID, you decide if it happened Notes: So we've reached the end of this little adventure that was only supposed to be a one shot, but never fear! I have another Joel Miller idea in the works. Check out my Masterlist for some Javier Peña works as well! Thank you everyone for your support! Words: 1998

Series Master List | Author Master list

Joel eased into the chair next to you under the pergola he built 25 years ago. It was still sturdy and spoke to Joel’s craftsmanship. The sun was beginning to set, granting some relief to the spring heat as you watched your three grown children clean up the backyard. They’d insisted the two of you relax. 

Emma graduated from Duke last weekend with honors in Pre-med. Which meant traveling to North Carolina for the ceremony. Joel has insisted on driving up. He hated flying. With a 20-hour car ride one way, you caught up on a lot of reading and almost booked yourself a plane ticket home. The two of you had been gone for almost a week. So her graduation party took place this weekend at home. She’d been accepted into UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine and would be going back to Durham in a couple of weeks. She was officially moving out, boxes already stacked high in her room. You and Joel both chose not to think about your baby leaving the nest for good.  

Emma laughed at something Asher said. You couldn’t see Sarah roll her eyes, but you knew by her body language. Joel chuckled next to you. He sensed it too, both in tune with your children. 

Asher graduated with a Bachelor's in Engineering from UT-Austin a few years ago, choosing to stay close to home. He had a small apartment in town working at Miller Construction since graduation. Joel joked that if he didn’t put his degree to use soon, he was gonna have to rebrand as Miller and Son. You had a sneaking suspicion that’s what Asher wanted. He and Joel shared the same love of building things with their hands. 

“Grandpa!” Sarah’s 3-year-old daughter, Jessie bounded across the yard, dark curls bouncing like springs behind her. You could see the brightly colored book in her grasp.

She panted heavily as she reached the two of you. Her small hands rested on Joel’s knees. She looked up through dark lashes. “Will you read this to me?”

Joel smiled. She reminded you so much of Sarah at her age. “Don’t you want grandma to do it? She’s a much better reader than me.”

“No, you!”

“Okay, Okay.” Joel chuckled, pulling the child onto his lap. You closed your eyes as you listened to Joel read. His drawl had only deepened with age but it still flowed like honey. It soothed your weary bones and often brought you through time, making you feel 25 again. 

Sarah had started college at the University of Georgia but transferred to UT-Austin after her freshman year. She loved Georgia, but she missed being close to her family more. She’d earned her Bachelor's in Journalism and Creative Writing (also with Honors). Working across all aspects of journalism, she went back to get her MFA several years later. She worked freelance for several publications and taught a creative writing class at the community college in town. She’d married Mike 6 years ago. They’d been together since senior year of college aside from a one-year gap. They’d bought a house just down the street from you and Joel soon after their wedding. Jessie’s 4th birthday was next week, and aside from her husband, you were the only other person to know that Sarah was 8 weeks pregnant. They were planning to reveal it next on Father’s Day.

You and Sarah were convinced Joel didn’t have a clue. The two of you were desperate to surprise him. Other than his 45th birthday party, you and Sarah hadn’t been able to surprise Joel in the 31 years you’d loved him. He’d even figured out Sarah’s first pregnancy before they’d told anyone. 

Joel continued to read. The world drifted further away only anchored by the sound of his voice. Sometimes a bird’s song drifted in and out. The warm breeze floated across your skin. Joel’s voice stayed constant. 

“Grandpa… Shhhhh, grandma is sleepin.”

Joel looked up from the book. He smiled. The wrinkles around his eyes were well-defined now. “I think she’s just restin her eyes, kiddo.”

“That’s what you say when you’re sleeping!” Jessie giggled. 

“Keep reading,” you said, keeping your eyes closed. “The story was just getting good.” 

He looked at Jessie who nodded her head, and he continued. 

The construction business had been good to Joel. Miller Construction kept its outstanding reputation throughout the years, something Joel worried about as the number of crews grew and his ability to check up on every job decreased. Joel spent most of his days on job sites in a supervisory capacity. He trained the new hires to meet his rigid standards, and his body took less wear and tear. He was able to spend more quiet morning moments with you. At 56 years old, he was still the best pitcher in the men’s rec softball league. He took every Thursday morning off to hang out with Jessie while Sarah taught her class at the Community College. He piddled in the garage on weekends, working on the next project. He’d just redone the kitchen cabinets. Tommy joked that Joel lived in partial retirement, but there was some truth to it. You liked seeing him take time 

Joel finished the book as Sarah and Mike walked over. You slowly opened your eyes, letting the world envelope you once again. 

“It’s time for us to go home, Bear,” Mike said. 

Before Jessie could issue a complaint, Joel pulled her into a back-breaking squeeze. She laughed. He tickled her sides. “Grandpa!” 

“I gotta make sure you meet your tickle quota.” 

“I have! I have!” Jessie laughed, her cheeks turning red. 

“Okay,” Joel let out a deep breath. “I think that’s enough for today.” 

Jessie wrapped her arms around Joel’s neck, kissing his cheek. “Love you, Grandpa!”

“I love you too.” He kissed her cheek, patting her back. “I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Jessie slid off his lap, rushing to you. A chorus of goodbyes between parties rose in the corner of your backyard in hugs and handshakes. Jessie nestled into her father’s arms, eyes already beginning to droop. 

Joel wrapped his arms around you. You leaned into him. His hands traveled down your back, lips finding yours. You grinned feeling warm and giddy. Even after all these years, he still had the same effect on you. 

Gagging noises interrupted your moment. Asher and Emma stood on the porch directing said sounds at you. 

“Get a room!”

“We don’t want to see that!”

Joel flipped them off before firmly grabbing your ass making a show of the steamy kiss he planted on you. You laughed. He kissed your neck softly. 

“You’re gonna traumatize the kids.”

“They’re grown adults. They can leave.” He nuzzled into your neck. “I want to kiss my wife in our backyard.”  

“Y’all are gross.” Asher chided. 

“If it weren’t for us, you two wouldn’t be here,” Joel shouted back. 

“You say that like it’s a good thing!” Emma responded. “Have you seen the world?”

“Hey,” You laughed. “You’re the saving grace of this family, Miss I’m going to be a doctor.” 

Asher scowled. “Don’t say that. Her head will get bigger than it already is.” He ruffled Emma’s hair. 

Emma rolled her eyes. “We’re done cleaning up. We’ll leave you two to do… that.” She motioned toward you and Joel. “Asher’s gonna take me out on the town.”

“Make smart decisions,” Joel called.

“Always!” Emma smiled. 

The duo filed out of the backyard leaving you and Joel alone. Joel kissed your forehead as you swayed to a nonexistent tune. 

When you finally stopped, you and Joel sought the respite of AC inside. Joel prepared a plate of leftovers for the two of you to share on the couch. You read as Joel watched the Baseball game on low volume. You propped your feet on his lap. His thumbs found the soles of your feet applying pressure. You hummed. 

You had stepped down from your position at Miller Construction after Emma started high school. As much as you loved working with Joel and helping him build and expand the business, desires drew you elsewhere. You started working part-time at the public library. When their head librarian announced plans to retire, the city had offered to pay for you to get your Masters in Library Science providing you could give them a 10-year commitment. Daunting at first, you’d managed to complete the courses in 2 years via an online program. You work at the library full-time now. Joel often brought Jessie in on Thursday mornings along with a coffee for you. You tended to the garden on weekends. Joel replaced your raised beds a few years ago. You had the kids over for dinner once a week. You and Sarah walked the block on pleasant evenings. You spent lazy evenings on the couch with Joel, something that had rarely been a part of your marriage until the past few years. 

“I’ve been thinking…”

You looked up from your book. “Uh oh, that’s never good.”

He tickled the bottom of your foot earning a squeal. Everyone talked about growing out of being ticklish. That had never happened to you. “I think it’s probably time to refinish the book nook.”

You glanced behind you, eyes trailing over the bookshelves Joel had built you more than 25 years ago. They’d been through it. The finish was peeling in a few places. The cabinet doors that lined the bottom were dented and scratched from a number of things bumping and running into it while raising 3 kids. You glanced at the farthest one, still stained with faint marks from Emma taking Sharpies to it when she was 3. Residue from stickers marked other areas. 

“Sounds like a big project.”

“I’ve got the time.” Joel smiled. 

He reached down beside him, revealing a gift bag. A simple brown paper bag with a gold ribbon neatly tied and curled. Sarah’s trademark. He handed it to you with a smile.

“This from you or Sarah?”

“Me.” Joel crinkled his nose. “Just asked Sarah to wrap it for you.”

You lifted the bag up and down. It felt like it was probably a book. It rarely wasn’t. “And what is this for?” You smiled at him.

“Just fulfilling my husbandly duties.”

You laughed as you untied the ribbon. Joel had taken your first line to him like an oath over the course of your relationship. He’d surprised you with a new book at random times. Sometimes you came home to one on the kitchen counter or your nightstand. Other times, wrapped or handed to you, each with an inscription detailing something he loved about you and how “Pretty” didn’t cut it. 

You smiled at him, pulling a hardcover book out of the bag. You opened the front cover. A piece of paper slipped out. Before you could investigate, Joel’s handwriting caught your attention. 

I don’t know if you’ve been counting, darling, but this is the 100th book I’ve given you. When I met you in that bar, I knew if I had the chance to give you just one, I’d be the luckiest man alive. 

We always talked about going on a big trip for our 25th wedding anniversary. I know it’s a little bit late, but I booked us on that trip to Italy you were eying last year. 

I’m sure it’ll be beautiful, but I still think the best view is you. 

I love you, Darling. 

You picked up the slip of paper: the booking confirmation set for mid-September. You looked up at Joel, tears blurring your vision. 

He chuckled. “Surprise.”

You set the book carefully on the end table, moving onto Joel’s lap. “You hate flying.”

“But I love new places.” He kissed your nose. He still looked at you like you hung the galaxy. You imagined you looked at him the same. “And you.”  

You kissed him, the words whispered for just the two of you. “I love you too.”

[jayesprite]

ok since i'm all done with college. here are "some" alpha kid college hcs

DIRK (Computer Science):

either did everything a month before during an insomnia episode when the syllabus got released or the night before it's due. he had a habit of pre-doing the coding projects and only when he learned the professor wanted them to be done a certain way he'd go back in and edit them (sometimes. sometimes he'd just turn it in stone-faced and still get good grades).

type of student to show up and turn in his work via canvas but then skip class regularly. the main thing that tanked his gpa was a lack of attendance because he'd go through several insomnia episodes and then pass out for three days straight.

has dropped class out of impulse before and because of that took multiple winter and summer classes.

well also his overall gpa was horrible freshman year because he hated gen ed classes. the only class he liked was an ethics class that counted towards a social studies credit. he did not shut up in that class because he'd go on tangents and just keep going.

otherwise he doesn't participate in classes. his classmates know him solely by his projects. when they make a class discord a classmate will post about a coding issue, dirk will ask for the raw code, come back half and hour later with corrections that ALWAYS worked, then never spoke again. repeat cycle. they're too scared to dm him.

sometimes hal would use dirk's nitro that d is paying for to super react to classmates' messages but that's about it

JAKE (Biology major who got on his knees and begged for a Film minor)

he doesn't have aesthetic notes but otherwise he is the picture perfect example of studytok. he spends a lot of his time studying/researching/etc, and almost never pulls an all-nighter because he loves his sleep so much. goes to bed at 11 wakes up at 7 on the dot.

has only had two late homeworks his entire college career and both times he thought he was going to pass out from anxiety emailing his professors explaining he had gotten sick and was unable to finish it on time.

generally very quiet in class but will speak when called on. he typically sends his discussion responses to jaye/jane first to look over to make sure they make sense. he hasn't told his professors this but he gets really good grades because of that and goes "aw shucks" whenever a classmate compliments them.

his participation grade is usually B-range because he won't go out of his way to talk because of anxiety. he tends to get in detailed discussions with classmates via email or discord, especially the film classes that he's taking. his film advisor is still confused why he didn't just pick it as a major because it's something he's incredibly passionate about.

lives at the school library because of his major, uses the school computers most of the time just for convenience sake. when asked he says it's because his laptop offers "too many distractions".

JAYE/JANE (English with a Creative Writing minor):

"Why English. She would be a business majo-" SHUT UP!!! I KNOW MORE THAN YOU. He knows that he has a job at Crocker Corp if he chooses to take it and his freshman year he was undeclared and was looking at the business classes for the major and thought he was going to die and all the other business majors he kept meeting hated him. After his breakdown his dad patted him on the back and told him that he could choose a major that made him happy, that he can always go back and get a business degree later on. So he picked english and accidentally fell down the creative writing pathway.

He writes a lot of detective noir and stories that explore the duality of the gilded age vs great depression and exploring capitalism as a way to cope with growing up as the heiress for this huge company. There are always lgbt+ characters.

Extremely active in discussions and is well-known by both his professors and his classmates for never shutting up but his contributions are interesting. Because of the media he grew up enjoying he pulls a lot of older references that his professors enjoy.

Does not do his homework in a timely manner. It always is done ON TIME, sure, but he pushes things to last minute or spends so much energy making sure everything is worked on properly that it's done early by accident.

forgets to check class discord servers but frequently in dms when he can get over his anxiety. he mostly has all of his friends read his drafts before he turns them in to class, and they all love his little OCs that he is constantly thinking about. he also has written essays for all of them that they've turned in as their own work. they never got caught.

ROXY (Initially also Computer Science, dropped out, took a gap year, now doing Architecture)

Went into Computer Science because she was undecided but went with what Dirk was doing. She joined a sorority her freshman year for the social aspect and it accidentally really fucked up her career pathway. Her teachers knew she was incredibly smart but she could not keep up the lifestyle she was living, and she failed out of her classes even with her friends' help.

Took a gap year and realized that she was not going to be able to do Computer Science based on Dirk's sophomore year work. her mom gave very similar advice to what jaye got, except it was more like "You don't need to take the obvious pathway, think about what you enjoy most and go with that." and she realized she really loves building and construction. That was her favorite part of building her robots. So after a gap year she started an architecture major.

Extremely hardworking in her major but struggles with deadlines. Her charisma helps her out a lot (plus accommodations) that lets her explain her way out of missing project check-ins. Her stuff is always done in time for critiques but she frequently misses in-progress ones because of how she works.

She's EXTREMELY popular in her major. She has a ton of friends and they frequently camp out in the architecture building working on projects together. She uses her college dollars to get snacks for everyone and shows up with them. She tends to stay in the building until 4am and Dirk comes to pick her up. He doesn't mind because he's happy she's working so hard.

She's on track to graduate the year after everyone else does!! (She doesn't know that one of her professors is ready to give her an entry-level job at his firm when she does)

[modestvm]

PENNY, 24, GMT; SHE/HER. | if you’re hearing VIENNA by BILLY JOEL playing, you have to know GABRIEL MOORE (HE/HIM; CIS MAN) is near by! the THIRTY-FOUR year old HISTORY PROFESSOR has been in denver for, like, THREE YEARS. they’re known to be quite OBSTINATE, but being ALLOCENTRIC seems to balance that out. or maybe it’s the fact that they resemble JACOB ANDERSON. personally, i’d love to know more about them seeing as how they’ve got those WANDERING EMPTY MUSEUMS, THE GLOW FROM A LAPTOP SCREEN and ROLLED-UP SHIRT SLEEVES AND V-NECK JUMPERS vibes. and maybe i’ll get my chance if i hang out around the DOWNTOWN DISTRICT long enough! 

full name: gabriel isaac moore. nicknames: gabe, abe. gender and pronouns: cis man, he/him. age: thirty-four. sexuality: bisexual. date of birth: july 15th. zodiac sign: cancer ( loyal, creative, sensitive, insecure. ) place of birth:  bristol, england. occupation: assistant professor of history, university of denver.

born and raised in bristol, the youngest of three with two older sisters. as a diplomatic service officer their father was away more often than not, so gabe was raised by his mother and sisters.

his interest in writing, reading and history was a curveball. aside from his father, the rest of the family's interests were firmly rooted in stem. they were ( perhaps justifiably ) worried that gabriel's interests would not give him much success in life. but he was determined to pursue his passion and after graduating top of his class at bristol uni for undergrad, went on to get his master's and phd in history at st andrew's.

moved to london after graduation wondering what to do with himself and fell into teaching. completed his teaching qual and sought out a role teaching history whilst continuing to research and publish occasionally on the side to keep up with developments in the academic world.

( tw: car accident, injury, depression & ptsd ) was cycling to work as per usual one day when he was hit by a drunk driver at a crossing. he woke up just short of a week later to a shock. gabe had been lucky, really. at least, that's what everyone said -- at the time he couldn't only think that was a cruel thing to say. his right leg had been amputated, originally below the knee but complications did not go his way and so shortly after he became an above knee amputee. otherwise, he was pretty much unscathed - scars here and there the only thing to show of his ordeal now.

slightly reeling and with nothing to really do during his recovery, gabriel turned back to the work he loved. this was something of a relief to friends and family as, not unexpectedly, gabe was diagnosed with ptsd and depression immediately following the accident and suffered during much of his recovery. by no means have either of those things become a non-issue in his life, but they have dissipated and significantly and well, when all else fails… there’s always throwing yourself into work or looking after someone else. he wrote a monograph, a social history of black africans in renaissance england that was eventually published just under five years ago now.

riding on the back of the book's success, a desire to return to academia and for a change of scenery he began applying for jobs. the offer from the university of denver came through and he took it and uprooted to denver. this was where his family’s relief was dampened; they thought it was a rash decision ( they weren’t wrong, but gabe was never one to change his mind once it was set and they knew it ) 

gabe has been in denver for three years now, comfortable in his position at the university but also keen to engage with as many people as possible. he runs a sort of 'history 101' evening class at the community college for anyone to attend.

wanted connections page ! gimme literally everything pls.

[blackestnight]

<Get to know the mun!>

1. Are you named after anyone?: nope. my middle name does come from my great-grandmothers on both sides of my family, though!

2. When was the last time you cried?: tuesday night when i was clearing the new panda raids with @nuclearanomaly and @karoiseka, we all three wound up sitting in voice as we finished up the epilogue quests/cutscenes, in total silence but for increasingly loud sniffles. what the fuck. (we of course immediately turned around and joined other friends for their story clears tuesday and wednesday and delighted in the agony.)

3. Do you have kids?: nope. no desire, no plans. 

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?: not as much as i used to, but yes.

5. What sports do you play/have you played?: i bounced around a lot of different sports when i was in school! mostly swimming, but also soccer and marching band/color guard. did some dance for a while, took a stab at track and field until i royally jacked up my knee. joint problems and other health issues have mostly meant i couldn’t continue, but i do want to get back to swimming, at least.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?: oh gosh, i don’t even really know. hair? clothes? despite all the sports my proprioception is not the best, so i tend to be watching my feet rather than passersby when i’m out walking.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?: happy endings, i’m a total wuss about horror movies.

8. Any special talents?: i am really exceptionally good at tongue twisters. blame the competitive speech competitions.

9. Where were you born?: maryland!

10. What are your hobbies?: i’m going to put in a broad ‘gaming’ here, for things like ffxiv and gpose, as well as other video games (been playing a lot of zelda lately, as well as monster hunter) and tabletop rpgs (i’m in a couple long-term campaigns right now, and do local organized play, plus i’m running a campaign for a system called—and i cannot make this up—thirsty sword lesbians). writing, too, when i have the braincells for it, although i’ve been a bit burned out on that/directing my writing energy towards tabletop things. and of course reading! i’m making my way through the dresden files currently.

11. Do you have any pets?: my sweet baby panther kitty! her name is misty, she’s the sweetest cat i’ve ever known. (currently she is taking a nap on top of my feet.) we also have two other cats named london and camilla, as well as a jack russell named jojo, although they’re family pets and not mine specifically. (i voted for naming london palamedes instead but was shot down.)

12. How tall are you?: 5'10″! although my favorite shoes have heels so if i have to exist in public it’s closer to 5′11″.

13. Fave subject in school?: always a toss-up between english and social sciences, depending on the teacher. i also really enjoyed foreign language classes! in college i took a really good class on creative nonfiction essay writing that i still go back and browse my notes from.

14. Dream job?: my first job was working a circulation desk at the local library, and honestly being able to work organizing community events for a library would be the ideal. the one nearby hasn’t had any open positions for a long time, though.

15. Eye colour?: blue!

Tagged by: @dragonsongmakhali! thank you so much!

Tagging: YOU. 

[bibliophilea]

I wrote this several months ago. My stance has not changed. Calling people “questionable” or “freaks” or [other words to make people othered] because they enjoy fictional content that you find disgusting is another way of drawing lines in the sand. Ships between fictional characters have no moral valence: they cannot be morally corrupt, and they cannot be morally pure. They are just taking your dolls and making them kiss.

Fiction does affect reality, but not in the ways people think they do. Jaws, for example, was not supposed to be anti-shark propaganda. That was not the intent of the creators - they just wanted to create a horror story about a huge shark and the little town besieged by it. It’s not their fault that the general public saw a horror story that’s as much about the reaction of the town as it is about the shark, took it to mean “all sharks are evil,” and did nothing to evaluate that initial, knee-jerk reaction.

Another famous example is Lolita: this book doesn’t turn people into pedophiles. Rather, it forces us to examine up close an uncomfortable, even triggering, story about American culture, told by an immigrant who observed 1950’s McCarthyism as an outsider. This article does a great overview on why Lolita is important to teach in a class on the author, Nabokov; and it touches on why studying Nabokov at a college level is an important study in context and critical thinking.

In the case of “questionable” ships in fandom: shipping ships that make you uncomfortable does not make the people doing the shipping pedophiles/abusers/incestuous/etc. There is nothing inherently evil about people who ship things that would be unhealthy in real life. Just as writing a dissection phic and enjoying it doesn’t mean we want to vivisect a 14 year old irl, creating content depicting a “questionable” ship and enjoying it doesn’t mean the shipper wants that for other people irl.

On the other hand, making a ship taboo because it elicits a reaction of disgust, or because it’d be an unhealthy dynamic irl, creates an environment where we can’t talk about these things, or think critically about these things. In this Phandom, we largely have no trouble torturing Danny in creative ways. Those who are uncomfortable with how we treat the boy in fiction tend to block and move on. They do not call into question our morality. They do not call us names, or use derogatory adjectives to other us. And because of that, we have room to talk about and enjoy nuanced ways we can take a kernel of real life, and stretch and expand it to something horrific that we enjoy in a fictional setting. Why is it, then, when it comes to shipping, everything is so taboo? Why is it, when someone ships The Big Ship That Everyone Is Supposed To Hate, that hatred and casual cruelty get folded back onto the shipper?

It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. These people are just people who enjoy fictional content that you don’t like. Acting like they’re somehow worse than you or “questionable” for shipping something that makes you uncomfortable is a terrible moral stance. As I said in the above post, once you start drawing lines in the sand, especially if those lines are measured by personal disgust, you enable someone else to shove you on the other side of that line and call you disgusting.

And ultimately, those lines don’t keep people safe. There will always be people on either side of the line who will do something to harm someone else. Trying to root out those people by vetting their ships does nothing, because irl harm is not associated with what people ship. Fiction affects reality, but not in the ways you think it does. By drawing lines in the sand and making everything on the other side of that line taboo, you are creating an environment where we can’t speak freely about nuance. When everything on the other side of the line is a ship that makes you uncomfortable and the people who ship it, the space you have left has no room for genuine, nuanced conversation. Only knee-jerk reactions of disgust, and the self-soothing choice to reassure yourself and those around you that you’re not “one of those freaks” on the other side of the line you drew. How can there be any conversation besides “the ship and those who ship it are bad because [triggering buzzword]”? How can anyone safely navigate the actual gray and blurry areas of real life that are explored in a fictional setting, when that fictional setting and those who explore it are considered taboo?

And to be clear: it’s okay to find a ship disgusting, and to block mentions of the ship. It’s okay to block blogs that put the ship on your dash. That is your own personal reaction, and your own personal way of dealing with that reaction.

But a lot of what I’ve been seeing in Phandom is the knee-jerk reaction of drawing lines in the sand due to disgust at a ship (we all know the Big One), and then blaming that disgust on those who ship it, rather than recognizing that your own emotional reaction is yours to own and handle.

We as a Phandom can do better than this. We in the Phandom need to evaluate our own biases. This includes me. We need to think beyond “ship bad because [triggering buzzword]”. Ships depicting things that make you uncomfortable do not cause the thing they are depicting to manifest irl. There’s a lot of conversation about nuance and how to handle unhealthy, blurry, gray situations on the other side of that line you drew in the sand. Maybe, if you learn to look past your own knee-jerk reactions, and if you approach people who like ships that make you uncomfortable with an open mind and with grace, you’ll get to see some of those conversations. Maybe you’ll find friends in people on the other side of that line. Maybe you’ll see that there was never a line to begin with.

TLDR: uncomfortable fandom content does not cause the uncomfortable content to manifest irl. When we make a ship and the people who ship it taboo because [insert triggering buzzword here], we create an environment where we can’t speak openly about nuance and gray areas, and where we’re more worried about separating ourselves from the taboo than we are about having real conversations about real things that make us uncomfortable. When we draw a line in the sand based on disgust at seeing fictional content that makes us uncomfortable, we enable others to shove us on the other side of that line and declare us disgusting.

Phandom folks who enjoy the Big Ship that people like to hate on are just as valid in their enjoyment as Phandom folks who like to dissect Danny in their fictional works. Neither of these things manifest what they depict irl; rather, in an environment where they’re not taboo, they spur nuanced, genuine conversation about what they depict. When we draw a line in the sand and throw these things on the other side of that line, we don’t get to see those conversations. If we we stop drawing lines in the sand, and start owning our own emotional reactions as our own, we might get to see and be a part of those conversations.

So... this isn't the first time I've seen people being incredibly mean to a whole section of the phandom. It's the first time in a while I've seen a post this bad in the main "danny phantom" tag, though. I have Thoughts™ that have been stewing for a while. Thoughts™ that shouldn't be put in the tags of someone else's post.

I'm not going to link anything. These are just my thoughts, raised to the forefront by recent posts in the main tag.

TLDR: I have two main Thoughts™:

No matter what you ship, I welcome you to this phandom. The folks who openly despise real people for shipping fictional things do not represent all of phandom. Y'all deserve better than being called shitty names. Your ships do not make you a bad person, and I personally welcome you.

To y'all who keep trying to draw a line in the sand to define who is "degenerate" or whose work is "degenerate": the moment you draw that line, you create a way for others to shove people behind that line. And the folks who usually get shoved behind that line and called "degenerate" are lgbtqia+ folks, and sa/csa survivors. It's happened before on LiveJournal and FFN, and it's happening now, irl, with book bannings across the USA (and especially in Florida). The only way to protect lgbtqia+ folks and sa/csa survivors from this abuse is to not draw a line in the sand at all. Don't call folks "degenerate" for any reason, unless you're ready to have that finger pointed back at you by a larger and more negative movement.

If you desire fuller context, it's below the cut.

First: no matter what you ship, I welcome you to this phandom.

The views of hatred and disgust that pop up in this phandom don't represent all of phandom. No fandom is perfect, and we'll always see some form of the "logic of disgust" from some folks in any fandom. But no matter what you ship, and whether or not I personally ship it, I welcome you. You will find no disgust from me as I am now.

If you dig backwards into my blog, you might find some anti sentiment. My introduction to fandom was first FFN, and then tumblr, back when I was more of a black-and-white thinker. I'm pretty sure I experienced some form of shock when I really started digging in to the Wild West that is fandom. I don't know if I ever expressed this shock online. But none of you deserve to be called "degenerates" over liking whatever fictional content you like. Y'all are a part of phandom, too, and any attempts to erase you or deride you are wrong.

We shouldn't be drawing lines in the sand and throwing people behind those lines. That's dangerous.

Second: to y'all who keep drawing lines in the sand, please consider the broader context around you.

The moment you draw a line in the sand to delineate between you and your group of people, and "them" and their group of "degenerates", people find ways to shove other folks, including you and your folks, behind that line. Historically, both in fandom and outside of fandom, the folks who get shoved ALWAYS include lgbtqia+ folks, and sa/csa survivors. We saw this with the purging of LiveJournal. We saw this with the multiple purges of FanFiction.Net. We haven't seen this with ao3, as far as I know; but their stance seems to be very anti-censorship for fandom-historical reasons.

Outside of fandom, we are seeing this now. I'm doing my senior capstone project on book bans. According to PEN America's data, over the past school year alone, 154 counties in 34 states have banned 1557 books 3362 times overall. Over 40% of those bans come from Florida counties. And much of the "reasoning" behind these bans is the same logic of disgust that fandom applies to "problematic ships": They call it pornographic and pedophilia. They call it harmful and age-inappropriate. They largely target books about lgbtqia+ people and people of color. And this year, they've also targeted "books on physical abuse, health and well-being, and themes of grief and death" - expanding their censorship to "protect the children".

Censorship doesn't protect anyone. Instead, it prevents people from holding genuine conversations with real people about the censored material.

And if you're not ready to have that conversation, that's fine! You do you! But don't create an environment where other people can't have that conversation. That only breeds the sort of black-and-white thinking that leads to 1406 book bannings in the state of Florida.

This is just speculation on my part: but I reckon every single person who supports those bans would love to ban the same content you want censored. And they'd call for you and the content you love to be lumped in with them.

We all deserve better than that. So please stop drawing lines in the sand.

[herpoetryshelf]

Letter from the Editor

Hey there fellow poetry lover! I’m Debbie Pierre, a nostalgic, whimsical, and pop culture-based poet. If you’re reading this between 2022 and 2024, you’re able to follow my creative writing MFA student journey in real time at William Paterson University.

During high school, I did not think much of creative writing as a profession, so my poems were just quick scribbles on the page for a grade. Fortunately, that all changed during my junior year at Bloomfield College. Even though I took Intro to Creative Writing as an elective, it soon became a turning point for me. My creative writing professor always stressed how poetry acts as a representation of the writer. 

He was right.

These poems were less like grades and more like me in a stanza. I would spend hours revising: looking for the perfect descriptions, phrases, metaphors, and similes. It was a personal mission for me to describe someone or something without explicitly saying its name — an equivalent no one else has thought of. 

In 2022, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Creative Writing and was class recipient of the Joyce Carol Oates Award in Creative Writing.

As of now, I’ve sat on the rough pavement while eating street food at the Dodge Poetry Festival, watched a man get down on one knee in front of his girlfriend at the Nuyorican Poets Café, and stuttered through my first in-person performance at the Montclair Public Library. And, I hope to have and share many more of my poetic learning experiences in this blog.

Now leave your shoes at the door and follow me to my poetry shelf. We have to study the past to become the future!

[nothere-notthere-nowhere]

Studying

Word count: 1704

Pairing: Natasha x Reader (platonic)

Warnings: panic attack, let me know if I missed any

Summary: Studying for an exam is overwhelming. Nat helps.

A/N: Hi! So, this is very much just me projecting my own thoughts and feelings onto the reader lol. There’s no real romance here, just Nat being a good friend. I also did not edit this, so I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes. 

It was late, you realized as you closed your textbook. You’d been studying for some stupid math final the next day and time had clearly gotten away from you.

Balancing avenger work with being a full-time student was difficult but you enjoyed it, for the most part. Thankfully, it was online schooling so you were able to complete work on your own time, but it was still difficult. Deciding to go back to school in your mid twenties had been a big step for you. 

You’d always hated school. It never came easy, despite being a science genius. You were what most people called brilliant. You thought it was just being creative. You thought in a different way than most people. Tony Stark had sought you out when you were fresh out of high school right before the invasion of New York. 

But, despite having a secure job working for the avengers in the compound, you had decided it wouldn’t be a bad thing to go back to school. Just because you were good at making supersuits and other technological advancement-esque stuff didn’t mean you were that smart.

For example, calc two was kicking your ass right now. Making new impact resistant polymer suits for the gang was a hell of a lot easier for you than whatever the fuck this textbook was trying to explain. 

“Stupid math,” you groaned, rubbing a hand over your face as you looked back down at the problem you’d already tried to solve four times. There was no way in hell you were going to pass this class. 

Fighting back tears of frustration as you crumpled up the paper, you stood from your desk. It was near three in the morning and you were exhausted. But you would not let yourself fail this exam. Your grade in the class was already less than acceptable and failing your final would definitely leave you with an F.

You walked to the kitchen quietly, not wanting to wake anyone. Coffee would surely settle you down and give you enough energy to make it until the morning. You had to figure this out.

“I told you to ask Tony or Bruce for help,” Natasha’s voice startled you.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” You asked, drying your eyes before you turned to her.

“No, don’t worry.” She had an amused look on her face. “You’re still on calc, right?”

“Yeah,” your shoulders slumped. “But I have to be able to do this on my own. I shouldn’t have to annoy them with questions about basic math all the time.”

“Calculus is not basic math.” Natasha snorts at you.

“To them it is.”

“Well, make sure you go to sleep at some point, okay?” The concern in her eyes was evident and you just nodded, grabbing the cup of coffee you’d just brewed.

You took a sip before making your way back to your room. The textbook sat right where you’d left it and the sight of it bright a fresh wave of tears. 

You were a scientist for the avengers, damn it. Why were you crying over math? But your parents words flashed through your brain, reminding you that you were just a stupid kid. 

The relationship between you and your parents had always been rocky. They had held you to unachievable standards and no matter how much effort you put into school, they were never satisfied. And they always made sure you knew that.

“You think you’ll get anywhere in life with grades like these?” your father had shouted at you many times. “You’re just lazy. Do you know how much money we pay for you to go to this school? And this is how you repay us? You’re embarrassing.”

Your hand shook as you picked up your pencil once again, trying to figure out that stupid problem. There were so many rules and steps and none of them made sense to you! 

When the answer you got still didn’t match the one in the textbook, you slammed your pencil down with a scoff.

“You’re so stupid!” You said to yourself, tears leaking from your eyes. You started to erase your own writing again, when you glanced at the time, half past three. You were never going to figure this out.

It was becoming hard to read the problems through your watery eyes as you fought back the tears. You had to figure this out! But it was no use, you dropped your head onto the desk, holding in sobs. 

Your thoughts began to run with your father’s words. Embarrassing, lazy, stupid. You felt that familiar sense of self-loathing begin to rise within you and you were helpless. This wasn’t even the last unit you had to learn before your final. 

You were overwhelmed and you didn’t realize that your chest was tightening or your breath was becoming short. But when you lost feeling in your hands, and your face was tense and tingling, it was obvious.

You were having a panic attack. 

You were no stranger to these, of course. But, that didn’t make it any easier. It had been quite some time since you’d had a panic attack this severe, too, which made it that much scarier. 

You slid off your chair, pressing your back against the wall and pulling your knees up to your chest. You screwed your eyes shut, the heels of your shaking hands pressing into your eyes. If you had more control over the situation, you’d have tried to quiet your hyperventilation.

A soft touch to your hand brought you somewhat back to reality.

“Y/N,” a soft voice called. Your fingers instinctively clutched at the hand that pulled yours away from your face. 

“Y/N, you’re okay. I’m right here.” Nat’s voice was softer than you may have ever heard it before. 

“Nat, I-I,” you choked out, trying to say anything.

“No, don’t talk. It’s okay, I’ve got you.” Her free hand rested on your knee, squeezing lightly. “Can you breathe with me?”

You tried to follow her soft ‘In’ and ‘out’ over and over. Your breaths were forced, almost painful as the panic refused to let up.

“Good job, dorogoy,” You felt the redhead scoot next to you, her arm wrapping around your shaking frame. “You’re doing amazing, I’ve got you.”

She pulled you into her gently. You were starting to gain the feeling back into your hands, and your facial muscles seemed to loosen just slightly. But, you were still shaking violently as you tried to stop yourself from sobbing.

“You’re okay,” Nat soothed, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “I’m here.”

You leaned into her, balling your fist up in her shirt. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked after you had nearly stopped crying. 

“I’m gonna fail,” you whimpered. You felt pathetic.

“You know,” Nat sighed, “who cares?”

“What?” Her words confuse you.

“You are smart, Y/N. You already have a job, and after working for Stark, you could get in anywhere if you decided to leave. This is one class and regardless of how you do on the final, no one will think any less of you.”

“But-”

“No,” Nat cut you off. “Your grades in some stupid college class don’t matter. I promise, even if you do fail, we’ve all seen how hard you’ve worked in each of your classes. That’s what matters. Your work ethic and your commitment to your studies is worth so much more than sacrificing your wellbeing to secure a passing grade.”

“I feel so stupid.”

“You shouldn't. It’s a tough class. You should be proud of yourself for trying, even if you don’t get the results you wanted.”

“I just wanted to prove them wrong. Even if they wouldn’t know. I wanted to prove to them I was smart.  But they were right, I’m just stupid.”

Your words hang in the air for a moment. Natasha knows you’re talking about your parents. They’d all heard about the verbal abuse you’d suffered through at the hands of the people who’d raised you.

“You are not stupid.” She tells you firmly. “You are brilliant. You’ve created a new polymer that is even better at stopping bullets than vibranium while also working as a material for clothing. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Yeah, but…”

“This is just one subject. I sure as hell can’t do calculus! You’re good at what you’re good at. I’m good at kicking ass, Clint’s good with a bow, Wanda’s good at… well magic. You’re good at science shit.”

You were silent. You knew she had a point.

“I know that won’t make you feel better about this.” Natasha explains. “But you can’t beat yourself up for this. You need to take care of yourself. Let’s go to bed, now, and we can ask Tony or Bruce for help in the morning.”

“I need to study,” you start.

“No, you need sleep.” Natasha’s voice is firm again. “You can’t sacrifice your health or your sanity for a test. You are more important than a test.”

“Okay.” You weren’t entirely convinced but, for now, your parent’s words were fading away.

Natasha helps you up before wrapping her arms around you in a tight hug. You savor the comfort of her embrace, before realizing just how exhausted you are.

“Get in bed,” Natasha nudges you towards the bed. You lay down, eyes closing as soon as your head hits the pillow. 

Nat pulls the blanket up before turning towards the door.

“Wait,” you call, hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“Stay?” You bite the inside of your cheek. “Please?”

“Of course, dorogoy,” Natasha smiles at you as she slides into bed next to you.

“Thank you,” you mutter, laying your head on her chest as her arms wrap around you tightly. She presses a gentle kiss to your head.

You know you’ll freak in the morning when you have to think about the final again. But Natasha was here now, and Bruce and Tony would be there in the morning. It would be okay. One failed exam, one failed class-- hell, even every class failed-- was no indication of your worth. And Nat would be there to remind you if you ever forgot. 

[writhingcreature]

I LOVE the idea of jock/nerd Mericcup and cheerleader/jock Rapunstrid, do you have any more headcanons for that au?

I tried writing this and got distracted and now O have to start from the beginning so... let’s try this again

- Hiccup keeps trying to ask Merida out but his awkwardness and self Doubt keep tying his tongue and hands and feet and he fails again and again. Merida knows what he’s trying to say but she wants to give him the chance to do it since she knows it might hurt his pride if she asks him. Eventually she does anyway though and Hiccup is so relieved he’s been put out of his misery he kisses her right then and there and everyone’s like OoO

- Hiccup and Astrid are neighbors and they grew up right next door to each other. Like, saw each other through the window and climbed onto each other’s roofs and such. They did that thing where they opened their windows and just... talked if they were too lazy to climb up onto the roof. So they’re like actually really close friends. As kids Astrid always found Hiccup annoying and it was like “your mom is friend with my mom” but eventually he started tutoring her and she thought she was doing fine at school but suddenly she was acing everything and it all made sense and after that she thought Hiccup was cool

- Merida and Rapunzel live quite a bit from each other but Merida skateboards and Rapunzel goes on morning bike rides and walks and jogs and skates (on rollerblades) and really ANYTHING that gets her out in the morning. They end up meeting when Merida falls off her skateboard and busting her knee - Rapunzel took care of it with the med kit she always takes with her everywhere. After that they were best friends and upon hitting middle school, joined sports together to figure out what they liked. Rapunzel was good at cheerleading, being very petite and acrobatic, and Merida was better at the classic sports (soccer, hockey, baseball, football, etc.). They do figure skating together. When Merida had to fight to be on the guys’ team, or just. Create a girls’ sports team, Rapunzel was there to support her every step of the way.

- Astrid and Merida are on a team together. Astrid does either hockey or soccer (or maybe both Idk which seasons they are but it feels like they’d be in different ones) but eventually Merida talks her into joining every one that Merida is in too. They get each other SO much and eventually develop like a secret language. No one knows if that’s true for sure, but these two girls can communicate without moving their body or saying a single word and it’s so effortless and perfect a system that people thought they were dating for the longest time. When someone finally brought it up (it was Snotlout) the two laughed so hard and so long that he blushed, and they NEVER let him live it down. It was just so absurd to them....

- Astrid and Rapunzel actually happened pretty fast. Everyone thought Astrid would take charge, and normally she does. She’s confident and sure of herself and has fingers in SO many pies, and she doesn’t ever shrink from any competition. Everything seems very easy for her and she never falters off fumbles... that is until she tries to talk to Rapunzel. Because Astrid can affectionately bulky Hiccup and Merida already gets her so well that she doesn’t have to try to communicate with her. But Rapunzel is... her opposite in a lot of ways. She’s small and soft spoken and artistic. Her mind is creative and her hands are gentle and her eyes are huge and her smile is warm. Rapunzel is this golden stream in a fairytale and Astrid is.... probably a rock. Of some kind. Anyway, the point is Rapunzel approaches her with that pretty smile and those large eyes and very clearly asks her out and Astrid’s lucky that Merida’s there to say yes for her because her mouth forgets how to move

- Rapunzel cheers SO LOUD for Astrid every game, and they start to sit on the bench together if there’s any free time. During the half time show, Astrid cheers just as loud for Rapunzel and the phrase “THATS MY GIRLFRIEND” gets thrown around a. Lot. They get super competitive all the time and end up having so much fun. Rapunzel is a bit of a softie and let Astrid win a lot in the beginning until Astrid called her out and called her a loser (affectionate) and from then it was ON. No one thought anyone could beat Astrid at anything until Rapunzel came around.

- Hiccup tries to follow what’s happening in the games but he often gets really distracted and confused and ends up analyzing the plays and bombarding everyone with questions afterward. Astrid and Merida eventually directed him to Rapunzel, who actually listened to him and realized how genius his ideas and observations were. They started to talk with the coach about ways to make the team better, and Hiccup eventually starts to just. Help the coaches in general and no one even asks anymore.

- Hiccup has a cat named Toothless and he and Rapunzel are the BEST of friends. Astrid didn’t like him at first but softened upon seeing Rapunzel and Hiccup be so adorable with the little creature. Toothless HATED Merida for the longest time no matter what she tried and it made everyone laugh constantly. Eventually the little thing warmed up to her but for a while there Merida stayed by Astrid “where it’s safe” as she said.

- Rapunzel also has a pet chameleon and she DOTES on that thing. She knows everything about them and anytime anyone asks about Pascal she just wants and rants and rants about fun facts. It’s the only time Astrid will without complaint Listen to someone just talk facts and knowledge. Astrid usually finds it so boring but Rapunzel is so adorable when she goes off about this thing she’s so passionate about that Astrid doesn’t even mind.

- After watching Hiccup with Toothless for a while, Astrid gets her own cat named Stormfly and they are a DYNAMIC duo. Stormfly is almost as well trained as Toothless a lot sooner, and they just have this very clear understanding. Stormfly doesn’t hate Merida, so the red head prefers this cat, and Toothless often glares at her for hours for it. Rapunzel and Stormfly take to each other even faster than Rapunzel and Toothless did. Rapunzel smells like Astrid and Stormfly is HERE for it

- Rapunzel and Merida take riding lessons on the weekends. It was something they looked into when they were really young and when they finally convinced their parents to let them it was the single best thing to ever happen to either of them. Riding Maxmimus and Angus are the best parts of their week in most cases (unless something special happens) and the horses are considered as much their pets as the cats or chameleon. They end up buying them after they get out of college and securing a house for all four of them with a big enough back yard to keep the horses in. It’s a good time.

- Hiccup works as a mechanic, fixing mostly cars but also small stuff like bikes and the such in his free time. Toothless came to him missing a leg, so Hiccup comes up with a lot of really clever contraptions and systems to help Toothless move around the house without Hiccup’s help. He still prefers to be lifted into bed, but anywhere else is free game.

- Rapunzel gets a job at first at a diner, where she spends her highschool and college career working her butt off. It wasn’t the best experience but it achieved the goals Rapunzel needed to so she could go to college and become an art teacher instead. It wasn’t the best paying job, but it allowed her to show others why she valued painting so much, and left plenty time in the year to also go traveling if she wished. She’s very good at saving money so she makes it work.

- Astrid works a lot of fast food at first and even takes a stint at the diner with Rapunzel, but her short temper ends up getting her into a lot of situations where she hates her job and ends up leaving after six to eight months. Nowhere was very good for her until she finally got a job at a gym where she ended up learning a lot of really fun skills like self defense and axe throwing. She did it for so many years and got so good that she was hired on as the instructor, and she’s never been happier than in a position where if a man pushes the limits or a Karen tries her patience, all she has to do is sink an axe into a target and turn to them with a raised eyebrow and ask, “What was that again?” It works every time and unless someone has an actual problem they don’t bother her.

- Merida struggles with work. She gets every job under the sun, taking stints at the diner with Rapunzel and the mechanic’s shop with Hiccup and even eventually at the gym and fun enter with Astrid. She gets bored very easily and doesn’t keep a job more than like four or fives months at Max. Ever. She doesn’t think she’s good at anything and might have peaked in high school... until she discovers archery. In an attempt to help her out, Astrid pitches to the fun center to add archery as an activity, and Merida begins to come to it. Unfortunately they can’t really find a teacher who knows what they’re doing and Merida is the only one who shows up so for a while it’s threatening to shut down. But then Merida teaches herself via the internet and insane amounts of practice, and tries out for the job. They give her the position, but tell her that without customers it’s still going to go down.

- the four gather ALL of their friends and begin mass sharing any and all information they can get out there about the fun center and Merida’s growing skills and how helpful she’ll be as the teacher. They just spread the news and encourage people to at least try it out. Through sheer force of Will and hard work, they get enough people with interests peaked who end up coming. Merida’s classes are full of all kinds of people of all kinds of ages, and she loves it.

- none of them get paid a LOT, but Rapunzel and Hiccup are very good at saving money and slowly, Astrid learns as well and between the three of them they can get things figured out even if Merida doesn’t want to waste energy on budgeting and planning everything out and such. When the fun center is out for winter time, and school is out for Summer, they start taking temporary jobs that pay a lot more money. These jobs end up being labor intensive, but they always try and work together and combined, they can find the fun in even the most annoying jobs. Sometimes Hiccup will join them if he’s having a slow time at work, but he never lasts long and the girls tease him a lot about it.

- Yes the hall live together and yes they have “family nights” where they all go out and do something fun once every month, and they eat dinner and breakfast together as much as they can and they’re all very close and mean a lot to each other god I love them.

There are obviously a ton of other characters in this little world I’ve built so if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[here4theheartbreak]

An Erudite Brick Wall (myg + knj)

AO3 Link Here!

Relationships: Namjoon x Yoongi Genre: fluff, slice of life Rating: General Audiences Word Count: ~1.9k

Tags: Fluff, Slice of Life, College Professors, Drabble

Summary: Yoongi is a brick wall professor. His spouse, on the other hand, is a blabbermouth.

A/N: This fic is for @aroseforyoongi who asked for a NamGi college professor au based on this twitter post and this one, and this tumblr post

“Professor Min?” 

Yoongi looked back from the board he was writing on, searching a moment to find the source of the voice that called for him. He spotted Jimin looking at him, hand partly raised. “What’s up, Mr. Park?”

“I had a question.” Jimin hesitated, chewing his bottom lip.

Yoongi lowered his marker, waiting. “Something wrong?” He asked. 

“Well, no… I just…” Jimin sighed. “Look, I like this person.”

Yoongi cocked a brow, his mouth curving up into a confused smile before he hid it. “That’s very nice for you, Mr. Park. Now, if we can get back to the lesson…”

“No, it’s… Well I wanna get him something. But we’ve been talking so much about needless spending and the capitalization of romance, I don’t want to just buy him a new headset or flowers. How did you impress your husband when you two were starting? Did you make things, or did you end up buying things?”

“I would buy when I had to, from small shops or independent places, and then just spend more time creating. He—” Yoongi paused. He looked at Jimin, narrowing his gaze. “How’d you know I had a husband?” He asked. 

Jimin’s brows furrowed. “Well, he told me.”

Yoongi nodded slowly, confusion still written on his face. “Anyways, you bring up a very good point. Because romance has become such a target of capitalism, we really do have to be creative when we’re thinking of ways to combat it.” He turned back to the board, continuing to write as he spoke.

Yoongi didn’t think much about the incident for the next few days. His husband was a professor in the university – maybe he’d let it slip to a student or two that he was married to Yoongi. Though, the likelihood of said student taking any of Yoongi’s courses was slim – they were in such different departments that overlap was nearly impossible. 

“Hey, Professor Min.” 

Yoongi glanced up. He smiled softly at Jungkook, a bright student that he thoroughly enjoyed teaching. “What’s up, Jungkook?”

Jungkook entered, smiling sheepishly. “I know it’s a few minutes before your office hours, but I wanted to bring you this.” He set a small jar on Yoongi’s desk. 

“What is this?”

“It’s a salve that I use after games.”

Yoongi’s brows furrowed. Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck. “Namjoon—Ah, Professor Kim. He mentioned you went pretty hard a couple of days ago, playing basketball and your knees were hurting a lot still. I—Uh, He too, uh… We thought this might help.”

Yoongi nodded in understanding, picking up the jar. “Thank you, Jungkook. That’s very thoughtful. It will certainly make standing for lessons less painful.”

Jungkook smiled brightly. He turned to go. 

“Oh, wait—” Yoongi called him back. He steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them. “You have a class with Kim Namjoon?”

“Yeah, I take his water ecology course.”

“Aren’t you a social justice major?”

Jungkook chuckled. “I am, yeah. My um… My roommate is an environmental science major. We wanted to learn more about each other’s majors so he took a class in my degree field and I’m taking one in his.”

“Ah, okay. And… Just how much does Namjoon talk about his marriage in your class?”

Jungkook laughed brightly. “Oh he loves talking about you two.”

“Does he?” Yoongi laughed without much humor.

“I mean, it’s not like it’s a secret or anything,” Jungkook said, waving his hand. His smile drooped when he realized that Yoongi wasn’t smiling. “It’s… Not a secret, right?” He asked.

“Apparently not,” Yoongi said. He smiled. “Thank you for the salve, Jungkook. I’ll see you in class this evening.”

Jungkook smiled nervously, his eyes wide as he backed out of the office. 

*** 

A knock sounded at Yoongi’s door late in the evening. He glanced at the clock on his computer; it was well past office hours. If he wasn’t mistaken, the doors were mostly closed to students at this hour. “Yes?” He called.

“It’s me,” Namjoon’s voice echoed through the thick glass.

“Ah, it’s open.”

Namjoon pushed open the door and slipped inside, shutting it. “I’m finished up with my office work for the day. Are you about ready?”

“Just about,” Yoongi said, looking back to his computer. Namjoon settled into the couch he had in the corner of his office (not for midday naps at all, nope), and pulled a book from his bag. 

Yoongi glanced up, his interaction with Jungkook drifting back into his mind. 

“So I learned you have Jeon Jungkook as a student, I had no idea.”

Namjoon looked up over his book, his glasses slipping a little down his nose. His brows furrowed in thought, then widened. “Ah! Yes, he’s a great student. Promising young man when he’s not distracted by that boy he likes.”

Yoongi smirked. “His roommate?” He asked, making air quotes around the word. 

Namjoon chuckled. “The very same. I’m quite confused as to how they haven’t gotten the picture yet.”

“If I recall it took you a good year to ask me out,” Yoongi said casually, sipping his coffee as he looked back at the computer.

“In my defense, I assumed you were taken for a good portion of that time.”

“Hm,” Yoongi pacified. “But you also didn’t bother to ask.”

Namjoon grinned, his dimples carving into his cheeks. Yoongi smiled helplessly. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“What do you mean?” Namjoon asked. 

“I should be mad at you.”

“Me? Why?”

Yoongi clicked out of the document he was finishing up and shut down the computer. He spun in his chair to the center of the desk, beginning to gather his things up and tuck them into his own backpack. 

“You have been a bit indiscrete lately.”

“Regarding…” Namjoon questioned. 

“Us. I heard you love to talk about our marriage. Namjoon, we decided early on that we would do our best to prevent bavadarge about our relationship.”

“B—Bavadarge?” Namjoon laughed as he spoke. “Pulling out the big guns.”

“Joon,” Yoongi pleaded.

“I get it, Yoongi. But seriously, it doesn’t matter. We’re not… I mean – We’re definitely not closeted by any means.”

“No, of course not. I just…” Yoongi shrugged. “You know how private I am.”

Namjoon smiled softly. He rose and went to Yoongi, circling around the desk and crouching beside the chair. “I know. And I’d never do anything to make you uncomfortable on purpose, you know that. We don’t usually have overlapping students. Most of the time my talk about our marriage and home life is irrelevant.”

“I know. We just happen to this time, so it’s… Come to my attention. Makes me wonder what you’ve told your classes about us.” He shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t want to become the dunce around here because you’ve said something accidentally incriminating.”

Namjoon chuckled. “The only incriminating thing I’ve let slip about you is that you’re a total softie with our dogs.”

Yoongi laughed a little at that. “Fair enough… But still.”

Namjoon nodded. “I’m sorry I violated your trust. I didn’t mean to, Yoongi. I love you so deeply. And sometimes I just want to shout from the rooftop how perfect we are together, how perfect you are for me. We’ve been lovers for a decade now, marriage was just a formality and we both know it. I’ve always been wholly dedicated to you. I’d never hurt you.”

“You haven’t,” Yoongi assured him, taking his hands. “I was just taken aback. I speak so little about my personal life to students, let alone the ins and outs of my marriage… I had just assumed that you were the same. I should have considered that you wouldn’t be. You’re so open and honest about everything.”

“And you’re a bit of a brick wall,” Namjoon joked. Yoongi laughed and nodded. 

“Yeah, a little bit. I’m not upset. We don’t usually have student overlap, like you’d said. It isn’t normally even a point of discussion.”

“The boys are good students,” Namjoon said. “They both adore you – I know they’d never violate your trust or do anything offensive.”

“Both? Ah… Jimin as well, right?”

Namjoon nodded. “Yes, he’s the object of our Mr. Jeon’s affections it seems.”

Yoongi chuckled. “He asked me a while ago how to best get a gift for a crush without falling prey to the capitalism of romance. I assume he was likely talking about Jungkook.”

“Probably.” Namjoon leaned forward, kissing Yoongi’s mouth. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was open about us in my classes.”

“No need,” Yoongi said, squeezing his hand. “It just took me by surprise. I’m fine with it.”

“I’ll be more discrete, if you’d prefer.”

“No, it’s fine. Share away. Just keep the gory and graphic details between us… No need for your students to learn how amazing my oral sex skills are.”

Namjoon snorted, laughing a little. “Your ego is as big as this campus.”

“Rightfully so.” Yoongi rose, helping Namjoon stand. “We’ll go home… I’ll prove those skills once again, if you’d prefer.”

“Never going to turn that down,” Namjoon rumbled. The two left the office. On the way to their car, Yoongi slid an arm around Namjoon’s middle, pulling him closer. “Don’t be so tense,” he murmured. “You’re acting like a shy Freshman again.”

“You’ve never held me on campus in public like this,” Namjoon said. He leaned into him a little, relaxing. “It’s nice.”

“It is.” Yoongi agreed, slowing their walk to a leisurely pace. The night was cool, but not uncomfortably so, the stars were visible over the buildings and trees of the campus.

“I meant to mention,” Namjoon began. “The pride club is having a fundraiser next month for Halloween. It’s a costume party. They’ll be putting on a contest for best costume and having a drag show, as well as screening some cheesy horror movies.”

“That sounds nice. Any particular cause?”

“A local queer youth center in the city. They’re always in need of funding and volunteers. They’ve helped a lot of the students, I guess. Jimin… Is one of the leaders of the club.”

“Ah, I see.”

“And he’s inquired… About having some professor support there.”

Yoongi chuckled. “Why do I feel a question coming?”

“He asked if we’d be willing to make an appearance together. It would do wonders for the students to see two of their professors out and happy. I’m going to be going anyways and will be speaking. You’d be under no obligation to speak, of course, but…”

Yoongi smiled. He pressed a kiss to Namjoon’s cheek. “Do you have an idea for costumes?”

Namjoon looked over, his brows rising in surprise. 

“What? You expect me to go to a costume party with my husband not wearing a costume? What sort of saturnine jerk do you take me to be?”

Namjoon chuckled. “Fair enough. How about a brick wall?” He suggested. Yoongi glared over at him playfully. “Well, then you’ll need to find a way to dress as a blabbermouth, won’t you? A giant mouth, perhaps. You can dress in red and be the tongue.”

Namjoon glared, wrinkling his nose. He stuck his tongue out. Yoongi scoffed.

“Juvenile.”

“You started it.”

“I will withhold sex tonight, Kim Namjoon – don’t test me.”

Namjoon grinned then, and Yoongi broke as well. They began to laugh together, a bright sound in the quiet night.

“You’ll really go with me?” Namjoon asked as they separated to go to the appropriate sides of their car. 

Yoongi nodded. “I will. It’s for a good cause, and Jimin’s a sweet kid. We’ll of costumes for us.”

Namjoon nodded. They got into the car and headed back to their home, throwing out costume ideas that ranged from obscene to absurd, and laughing the entire time.

[lunar-writings-love]

College!AU - Hongjoong (ateez)

ahaha so i’m baaaack ;; super sorry for all the inactivity babes life has been weighing down on all of us i’m sure and i needed some time! This is the next installment of the college!au ateez series, and although i had planned to have hongjoong last, y’all requested him so much i wrote him next and changed the order around! 

Author’s note: Bullet fic, 

Warnings: like a drop of angst if u squint ?? the word sh!t appears one time i think

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hongjoong:

he’s so cute i’m Sad

ok so Joongie is just so loved, so treasured by everyone ,, every time he enters into a room everyone just 🥺

he’ll walk into a room looking all sleepy in overalls or something and literally everyone’s parental instincts awaken from the depths of college emotional indifference and suddenly ,, 

there’s world peace it’s a sight to see 

so, our Hongjoongie is actually a double major!! 

he’s a world lit major, and he’s minoring in gender studies so his emphasis is on analyzing feminist texts 

more often than not, the best way to find hongjoong is to just go to the library on the south side of campus at odd hours at night and you’ll usually find him buried underneath a pile of books ;; (and more often than not he’ll also be sleeping because baby can’t stay awake to save his life ://) 

But he really does love his major ,, and If u let him ,  he’ll rave hours and hours about literature; analyzing them through historical context, societal reflection, the role of women, writing style..... 

....he just loves what he does and it makes everyone around him love him for it too!! 

He always has extensive talks with Yeosang (an english major who took a lot of lit classes with hongjoong hint go read the yeosang!au) on american 19th century feminist writings

they started their own book club and it’s literally just them two, no other members allowed, and all they do is eat finger sandwiches and shit on misogynistic men we sTAN

HoWEVer, although hongjoong’s work in literature is impressive and respected, he’s probably better known for his second major: 

music composition!

music is the love of his life ,,, no buts there’s nothing he’ll love more than his art (except maybe you aha ha ha ;)

and people knew him around campus becaaaauseeeeee ,,,,, he would usually ,,, dj at frat parties... 

it wasn’t something he particularly liked, but hey money is money.

in all seriousness though, when hongjoong wasn’t reading or writing papers, he was glued to his mac producing tracks and writing lyrics 

the only thing was ,,, he didn’t actually sing any of what he wrote 

he never thought his own voice suited his songs, and would much rather sit on the sidelines moving along the creative direction 

and although the boys usually are the ones to sing his demos,, joongie always felt like something was still ,,, missing 

this is where u come in wink wonk 

you’re just a lowly econ major who surprisingly !! doesn’t !! want !! to start your own fortune 500 company :DD !! wow so rare :) 

anYWaYS,, you’re just doing it cuz your parents pressured you into pursuing a career with stable job opportunities and you’re kinda good at math and graphs soooo 

....why not 

but to be honest, you always felt trapped 

you were never able to stop that feeling of impending doom when you’d open your macro-econ textbooks ,,,

or how your heart hurt when you think about the fact that your life is headed straight to an incredibly mundane future :

a desk job, an overpriced apartment that barely has enough room for you, living in constant air pollution from the city’s high carbon emissions, never finding true love, dying alone with 50 cats,  taxes...you get the drift

you usually pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind, negativity isn’t productive and right now you had a world economics midterm to study for

but..

not that you’d ever admit it, your true passion had always been music 

you weren’t the best composer, you knew just enough piano to get you but; but you had a set of PIPES dAmN

your friends could usually find you at the dorm’s music rooms ,, and whenever you felt stress or needed to unwind, you’d usually head over to those rooms

now ,,, these rooms are soundproof // but the trick is you actually have to close the door cuz if u don’t......

everyone can hear you 

and by everyone I mean the entire floor

you were doing your usual thing at the music room one night when one of your friends came in to let you know everyone would be heading over to dinner soon,, u promised only one more song before meeting them upstairs on your dorm floor 

hoWEVeR, U DIDN’T REALIZE THAT WHEN YOUR FRIEND WALKED AWAY THEY LEFT THE DOOR OPEN 

and soo ,, when u started singing again  //// everyone heard 

and by everyone i mean ???!?

hongjoong :))

and it was love at first sight ,,, or rather 

,, love at first listen??

he won’t ponder over the semantics, all Hongjoong knew was that he had been looking for a voice like yours and needed you on his tracks 

this man barged into the room and begged you to lend your voice for his songs 

...on his knees :00

you were in shock like what were you supposed to do?

this random man stormed in and got on his knees ,, 

what was next ??

marriage ????

u didn’t really say anything for a while just kinda looked him in his eyes 

but then your uwu instincts kicked in--u don’t know what it is about this dude but u just wanna like give him candy or something 

and so you hesitantly asked for his name 

and that’s when hongjoong realized he was an IDIOT 

because not only was your voice heavenly, but of course you were cute too and he just presented himself like a complete and utter maniac and He Didn’T eVEN bOTHER To TelL You hIS NAme!

he wanted the ground to swallow him up but alas 

he got off his knees and shyly stuck out his hand and told you his name 

you looked at him once again ,, and surprisingly 

you took his hand with a small smile on your face 

you ended up totally forgetting about dinner with your friends at the dining hall 

because hongjoong sat beside you on the piano bench and showed you his songs and lyrics, and you....fell in love <3

you’d never connected with anyone on this type of emotional level before and it was almost sort of overwhelming 

it also kinda gave you hope too ,, because here was Hongjoong ,, someone who managed to get the best of both worlds : a music and a lit degree

and you thought that maybe ,, you could do something with music too 

you guys exchanged numbers and scheduled to meet at the university’s recording studio that weekend 

Hongjoong composed a track and you added your own lyrics with his help--after two weeks of mixing, mastering, producing, and recording ,,, you guys officially released a single!!

you really weren’t expecting it, but hongjoong was a bit of a social butterfly and so the song became a hit on campus 

people were uploading it to their social media, sharing it with friends, playing it while they worked out, it was kinda ridiculous to you 

the student paper even wrote an article about it (and later you found out that the journalist was one of hongjoong’s friend’s girlfriend ,, (hint go read the yunho!au)

And when the song reached 10,000 streams, that gave you the confidence to do what you had always wanted to do 

you called your parents up on a Saturday morning to tell them you were picking up a vocal performance major 

you were extremely anxious for this conversation, so Hongjoong decided to stay by your side for moral support 

As both of you waited with baited breath for your parents’ response, Hongjoong was also right there just ,, holding your hand so sweetly,, and that was driving YOU INSANE 

(because in these past couple of months you had gotten to know Hongjoong you had mostly definitely, absolutely, completely fallen head over heels for him)  

after a long moment of silence, your parents agreed 

they weren’t too happy about it, but they also weren’t as against it as you thought they’d be--the only condition was that you’d continue with econ and instead double major 

it would honestly be hard considering the amount of mandatory classes and performances required of the vocal performance major, but you were too happy to care 

after your goodbyes with your parents, you looked over to Hongjoong with the biggest smile on your face 

and it just,, absolutely melted his heart 

before he could stop himself he just wrapped his arms around you and twirled you around

and then :) he gave you the softest kiss on your cheek 

of course, after it dawned on him what he had done, he instantly turned red and started chucking nervously as he stuttered his words 

but for you, the newfound confidence and ADRENALINE after your successful phone call with your parents, you grabbed both sides of his face and asked him if you could kiss him 

Hongjoong was wide-eyed but LIKE HELL he would pass up this up 

so after muttering out a shy yes, y’all kissed awwww :))

and after that, you guys became a couple! 

you’d show up to the frat parties he would DJ at and would always dance like an idiot with wooyoung in the corner of the room 

and you and hongjoong would always partner up for music composition and performance projects: Hongjoong would write the tracks and you’d sing for them

you guys were honestly such a soft couple 

you also picked up the habit of studying sleeping at the library with hongjoong because double majoring was hard and it required a lot of work

and it just, now became a thing for people to always find you along with Hongjoong sleeping under a pile of books 

you guys kept on releasing more singles after that, and are currently working on an EP!

and honestly, you were so incredibly happy 

you had the most amazing boyfriend, and you were pursuing your passion 

and you felt just a little bit better knowing that your future was unclear

you no longer pictured yourself at a desk job, living out an absolutely dreadful life 

instead, you finally realized the multitude of opportunities at your disposal

and with Hongjoong by your side, you just knew everything in life would work out in the end!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEEL FREE TO REQUEST!

Love you guys! Stay safe and healthy!!

- Luna

[hanemiso]

If you get this, answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not! Let's get to know the person behind the blog!

thank you for sending me this! although, i’m not very interesting…

1. i’d love to get my septum pierced someday

2. although i’m very unathletic now, i used to play soccer. i played for 13 years, and quit because of a knee injury. if you were to ask me if i enjoyed it, it was fun at the start, but because i played competitively, it started to not be fun.

3. i took a creative writing class in college, and a lot of my work was inspired by japanese culture/anime (obviously lol). there were two instances, among the many, and flustered me as a writer. the first one was when one of my peer readers (someone in your small group that would read the rough draft of your story and give feedback) told me they had their brother read my story because it resembled much of a fight scene from an anime. the second one was an exit interview with my professor, and she told me to email her when i publish my first book. she also wrote me a nice little message about what she thought of my writing and i still have it saved on my laptop :) best professor i’ve ever had 10/10

[johnsamericano]

“Stay PT. 1” j.j.h

Pairing: professor!jaehyun x prostitute!reader.

Genre: Angst, smut, fluff.

Warnings: Explicit sex, age gap, slight mention of violence.

Summary: y/n was a prostitute in the most expensive hotel of Seoul, not because she liked to have sex with strangers, but because she needed the money. Jaehyun was her college professor, he needed to “get laid” according to his friends, but he would’ve never imagined that the girl he hired was one of his students. His favorite student.

a/n: I’m sorry if this is shit. If you don’t like this kind of topics, please keep scrolling. I know that prostitution is illegal in Korea, but let’s imagine it’s not. Thank you for reading.

Part 2 | Part 3

“Alright, that’s it for today’s lesson. See you tomorrow.” Your creative writing professor dismissed the class. “Oh, wait. Before you go, leave your essays on my desk.”

Everyone groaned, specially those students who hadn’t done the assignment. You collected your stuff and pulled the essay out of your backpack.

“I’m really looking forward to read your essay.” Mr. Jung smiled warmly. “Your writing is impecable, maybe even better than mine.” You could feel the eyes of your classmates staring at you. It wasn’t common for your professor to compliment anyone.

“I’m nothing compared to you, but anyways, thank you, Mr. Jung. See you on Monday.” His dimples showed as he waved you goodbye.

You walked to your next class while Jaehyun left the building to meet his friends.

“Dude it’s been like forever since the last time we were all together.” Johnny hugged his friend tightly.

All the boys went to a restaurant near the school.

“So, how’s your love life?” Ten asked with curiosity.

“I don’t have time for that.” Jaehyun remembered all the essays he had to grade and felt the urge to go home. “Guys, I need to go.”

“But the fun hasn’t even started, we were gonna go to the club tonight.” All the boys whined.

“I have a lot of work to do, sorry.” Jaehyun picked up his coat while listening to his friends’ complaints.

“You know what? You need to get laid.” Johnny looked dead serious.

“What the fuck, John?” Jaehyun didn’t even know how to answer.

“When was the last time you had sex?”

“A year.” Jaehyun thought.

“Here.” Johnny placed a card in Jaehyun’s hand. “The place is a little bit expensive, but believe me, the service is amazing.”

Jae checked the card.

“You want me to pay for sex? I’ll pass.”

“As you wish bro, but that place is awesome.” Jaehyun left after hearing Johnny.

While he was checking the essays, the idea of going to that hotel wouldn’t leave his mind. “Maybe it would take some stress off.” He kept thinking.

After a lot of meditation, he decided to give it a try, if he didn’t like it, he could just leave.

He felt his hands shaking as he entered the hotel. Jaehyun walked towards the reception. Everything was so shiny, it was like being inside of a castle.

“Hello, how can I help you sir?” Jaehyun placed the card over the desk. “Follow me please.”

The walked towards the stairs that guided to the first floor.

“You just need to go up and turn to the left, there’s only one door so I don’t think you’ll get lost. Excuse me.” She bowed and went back to her place in the reception.

The stairs were made from quartz, the material was a little slippery, but Jaehyun managed to go all the way up without tripping. The lady was right, there was only one door with the inscription “Eden”. Soft music could be heard from behind the door.

A man welcomed him as he entered. He guided Jaehyun to a desk.

“Right now there are only two ladies and a man available.” He checked a book.

“I think I’ll stick with the ladies.” Jaehyun started fidgeting with his fingers.

“Very well.” He turned the page of his book. “One of them is 22, B cup, 1.60 meters tall. The other one is 30, C cup and 1.73 meters tall.” Jaehyun felt as if he was buying something. “The first one is submissive and basically accepts any kink the client wants to try, the other one is a switch and prefers vanilla sex.” The man directed his gaze to Jaehyun. “In my opinion, the first option is much better.”

“I think I’ll go with her.” The insecurity in Jaehyun’s voice made the man laugh.

“I’ll read the rules for you.” He cleared his throat. “Marking is strictly forbidden and so is any action that will affect our worker’s wellbeing. You’ll have an hour and a half to do what you need to do, in case of wanting more time, we’ll charge you $50 for every extra hour. No raw sex, you’ll have to wear protection, this is mostly to prevent a STD. And that’s all.” He pulled out a box from under his desk. “We also sell toys in case you’d like to purchase anything to make your experience better.”

“I think I’m good, thank you.” He put the box back in it’s original place. “How much will it be?” Jaehyun pulled out his wallet.

“$500.” Well, Johnny wasn’t exagerating when he said the place was expensive.

Still, Jaehyun handed his card to the employee. Once the payment was done, the man made a call.

“This way, sir.” He guided Jaehyun down the hall, the velvety walls gave the place a sexy vibe. “She’s inside.” He stopped in front of a room. “If you need anything I’ll be in my desk.” He bowed and left Jaehyun in front of the door.

He gathered all the courage inside of him and opened the door. The room was dark, so he turned on the lights.

“Hello, sir.” He froze when that familiar voice called him.

When you realized who it was you felt like dying from embarassment.

“Y/n?” He couldn’t believe his sweet student was a hooker.

“Mr. Jung.” You bowed a little too low, attempting to cover the blush on your face. “If you’d like, we can make a change. My coworker is free.” You were facing the floor.

“I...” Jaehyun couldn’t find any appropriate words. The view of you in a black lace lingerie set had stollen his breath. “I don’t care, but if you want to change then we can change.” He scratched his neck awkwardly.

“I don’t mind either.” To be completely honest, no one in their right mind would reject a man as handsome as Jung Jaehyun.

He stepped closer to you. With his pointer finger, he lifted up your chin. Those warm eyes made you feel somehow less nervous.

“I’m supposed to ask you about your preferences so...” Your words caught him off guard.

Would you still respect him after this?

“Sir?” Your soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Please don’t think I’m weird.” You giggled. “First of all... I like to be called master.” His ears started to turn red. “I like my partner to be completely submissive. I also have a thing for bondage, but if you feel uncomfortable you can forget I ever said something.” He was talking to fast.

“Mr. Jung, please calm down. It’s not my first time doing this. We can try whatever you want.” You smiled to comfort him, but on the inside, you were just as nervous as Jaehyun. “Shall we get started?” He nodded.

His hands cupped your cheeks as he leaned down to kiss you. It was soft, until he slipped his tongue in your mouth. You moaned into the kiss.

Both of you started walking towards the bed without breaking the kiss. He pushed you down and you fell in the soft bed.

“Mr. Jung.” You moaned his name when he started touching one of your barely covered breasts.

“Master.” He corrected.

His hands started to undo your bra.

“I’ll just...” He lifted your back to remove it completely. “So gorgeous.”

His hands cupped both of your breasts. Your hips tried to grind on his crotch.

“You want my cock? Such a dirty little slut.” He lowered his body and grinded harder on you. “Do you want my cock inside your tight pussy?”

“Yes, master.” You whimpered. None of your clients had turned you on as much as Jaehyun did.

One of his hands reached for your cunt. His fingers went over the wet patch in your panties.

“So wet for me.” He got up and pulled you to the edge of the bed. Jaehyun unbottoned his shirt and pulled down his jeans. He kneeled in front of you and slowly slipped your panties off your legs. “So pretty.” His thumb slightly touched your wet pussy.

He finally got rid of his boxers and hovered over you. “That’s huge.” You thought when you saw his length.

“Condom.” You reminded him. With a groan, he got up from the bed and pulled one out of the pocket of his jeans.

He quickly opened it and rolled it down his dick. He went back to his previous position and aligned his tip with your entrance.

You felt his length slowly entering you. It hurt a lot, but the pleasure started to overcome the pain.

“Please move, master.” His pace was inhumane.

You were turned into a moaning mess. No one had ever made you feel so good. He pulled one of your knees to your chest. The pleasure just increased.

“My slut is having such a good time, isn’t she?” You wanted to answer, but your orgasm took over your mind.

You clenched your hole around him. Jaehyun came with a low groan.

Your breathing was erratic, that was the best orgasm you’ve ever had. Jaehyun got rid of the condom and laid down beside you. His arms wrapped around your body.

“That was so good.” He laughed slightly. “You’re amazing.” His nose started rubbing against your neck.

“Thank you, Mr. Jung.”

“Oh please, I think you can call me Jaehyun now.” He softly kisses your cheek.

“Okay, Jaehyun.” You both laughed.

An alarm rang, meaning your service was over.

“I need to go.” You got up from the bed and started collecting your clothes.

“Maybe I can pay an extra hour. We can cuddle and watch Tv. Sounds fun, right?” His smile was so sweet that you almost considered his proposal.

But you couldn’t jeopardize your job because of a pretty smile.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” You got dressed and grabbed a robe from the closet. “See you on Monday.”

“Oh, come on y/n. Stay, I really don’t mind paying fifty bucks.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Jung.” With that being said, you left the room.