#there is probably more content to come let me scavenge by camera roll

[ggigigoode]

move, baby, move, baby, i’m in love

❤️‍🔥 daya betty performing west coast by lana del rey @ heaven, london [07/01/23] ❤️‍🔥

[kook-tae]

A/N: Thank you for your prompt! This became longer than I planned and unfortunately I really didn’t include smut, but it’s super fluffy, hope you enjoy it! :)

Taehyung was a man on a mission, a very detailed and complicated mission in which he had to succeed no matter what. And like every other mission he’s had to do, this should be a piece of cake but unfortunately it’s the total opposite. 

It’s not like Taehyung didn’t know what to do (because he had that very clear, thank you very much) but the problem arose when he was out of ideas in how to go about accomplishing his mission. 

“Hyung, I really really can’t think of anything that’s simple but meaningful enough.” whined Taehyung as he sipped from his milkshake. 

Young rolled his eyes at the younger, pretty used to his antics by now but still exasperated anyway. “You know that whatever you do he’s going to love it, right?”

Taehyung sighed, “I know, but I don’t want it to be just whatever you know. It has to be something that he’s always going to remember.” 

Jungkook, who up until then had been silently watching them bicker back and fort decided to speak up. “What are your ides anyway, hyung?”

Taehyung brightened up upon the question, “Well for starters, I kinda wanted to bring him on a hike, you know. And once we made it at the top I would just pop the question. I mean, I even prepared my drone camera, so it would be perfect.” Jungkook’s mouth opened little by little as Taehyung droned on and on while Yoongi just rolled his eyes again. 

“And, I also kinda had a scavenger hunt idea too. I even had the places he would go for clues in mind, and everything that I could write on the cards he would be given. And most importantly, I found the perfect place for the last destination, a really beautiful little corner I found in one of my walks around the city.” Taehyung paused for a moment then, a small smile playing on his lips as he sighed contently just thinking about the idea. 

Jungkook was kind of shocked by then, and Yoongi looked as bored as when he had first entered the coffee shop they were currently in. 

Yoongi’s voice snapped Taehyung out of his daydream, “That’s a little way over the top, don’t you think, Tae? Don’t get me wrong, it would be really amazing, and I’m sure he would love it, but do you want to tire him out or propose? Because you know he gets cranky when he’s tired.” 

Taehyung pouted, but he knew Yoongi was right. Jimin had been working extra hard lately for one of his showcases and he would probably be too tired for a whole excursion day no matter how much he liked to indulge Taehyung in his eccentric ideas. 

“Then what do you propose, hyung? I really can’t think of simple ideas. All the ones I have are pretty grand...” 

Yoongi smirked, “Leave it to me, kid.” 

Taehyung and Jungkook shared a confused look at Yoongi’s antics. 

☃

“But really, why do I also have to help?” whined Jungkook as he helped to move the furniture in Jimin and Taehyung’s shared apartment. Taehyung smiled and petted Jungkook’s hair as he walked by, “Obviously because you are one of my best friends and what kind of best friend doesn’t help a bro in need?” 

Jungkook was about to retort with a sarcastic comment but Yoongi spoke up just then. “Well that, and anyway kid, who would we make move the heaviest shit around here if not for you?” Jungkook’s betrayed face had Taehyung doubling over in laughter, while Yoongi looked smug as hell while smirking at the youngest. 

“See if I ever help you out again, hyung!” cried Jungkook as he stomped away to another room, but he never stopped helping them out so it counted as a victory. 

It’s not until hours later, after having moved about every single thing in the apartment that the three men looked upon the newly arranged living room with satisfied smiles on their faces. 

“You guys think Jimin will like it?” asked Taehyung, his eyes sparkling in excitement as he couldn’t stop looking over their finished work. 

Yoongi and Jungkook were in very similar states, ranking their eyes over the wall, looking as excited and proud as Taehyung. 

“He damn better do, or I swear I will smoother him in his sleep.”

“Hyung! Don’t threaten to kill my boyfriend when I haven’t even proposed to him yet.”

Jungkook laughed, casting one last glance over the living room before looking at his hyungs. “Jiminie will love it!”

☃ 

The first think Jimin was going to do when he arrived home was dive into the couch which was just a few feet away from the entrance and never, ever move from there. Though he was pretty sure that the moment he face dived into it, even if he wanted to get up, it would be a pretty impossible mission as his feet could barely hold himself up anymore. 

Being a dancer, Jimin mused, was pretty great but he was sure that if the showcase he had soon didn’t come fast enough he would probably never be able to move again with how exhausted he was. He really needed to sleep for a week straight. 

He snapped out of his thoughts as he arrived in front of his apartment door, taking out his key to open the damn thing and finally have a very sweet moment with his couch (Taheyung would argue that it’s their couch, but in that moment Jimin really couldn’t careless).

As soon as the door opened, he walked in, putting his keys in the little bowl they had by the entrance above their shoe rack. He let his bag fall on the floor without a care (he will think about that later) and proceed to move forward to finally, finally get on that damn couch. 

It’s not until he walked a few steps forward that he noticed that there was something amiss with the interior of their apartment. He blinked his eyes open and took everything in, or more like what was not in.

Almost everything from their living room was gone. The couch (the one that Jimin was even now crying desperately for), the coffee table, the dinning table, the armchairs, the television, and every single thing was gone, with the exception of a few other items that still lingered around but that were pushed on one side or another. 

For a moment Jimin thought that they had been robbed, that someone had entered their apartment and taken every single thing they had worked so hard for. He was about to panic and fumble with himself in search of his phone to call the police because Jimin couldn’t believe this had happened. But it’s then, in that moment when he was about to downright start crying while he took out his phone from his back pocket that something on the wall caught this attention. 

He paused for a moment, turned his head towards it and read what was written there in big letters. 

And Jimin did start crying, but for an entirely different reason. 

Right there, on the opposite wall of him, was written the words that he would probably love the most until the day he died. It said “Jiminie will you make me the happiest man alive by taking my hand in marriage? Will you marry me?”.

It’s also then that he noticed that in the middle of the room there was a really fluffy cushion with a blue velvet ring box sitting on it. 

He hadn’t notice that he had walked forward, tracing the paint on the wall, the beautiful intricate words adorned by Taehyung’s gorgeous art or that Taehyung was also there with him, until he felt his boyfriend’s arms circle around him to bring Jimin in his embrace. Jimin turned around and hugged him back, burying his face in Taehyung’s neck and fisting Taehyung’s sweater in his hands, trying to bring him closer. 

“I hope you’re crying because you like my surprise.” said Taehyung, while rubbing his hands up and down Jimin’s back comfortingly. 

“You idiot, I thought we were robbed.” Taehyung laughed, taking Jimin’s face into his hands and bringing his face close to him, close enough that their foreheads were touching. He wiped Jimin’s tears away and smiled, before he let him go for a moment to retrieve the ring box. He got back in front of Jimin a second later, smile still in place before he lowered himself on one knee. 

“So what do you say, Jiminie? Will you marry me?”

Jimin wheezed out a laugh before he grabbed his boyfriend to bring him up. He mirrored Taehyung’s smile, and with a firm, “Of course, you dummy.”, he planted a big smooch right on Taehyung’s lips. 

Both started to laugh right after, stealing pecks now and then from each other. 

That night, in Taehyung’s strong yet gentle hold, he found himself having the best night he’s had in months. 

☃

“So did he like your proposal?”

“He thought we were robbed.”

Yoongi chuckled and he could hear Jungkook snicker in the background.

However, their amusement died soon enough when with a cry, Taehyung shouted on the small device, “HE SAID YES!”

He heard Jungkook yell a “Fuck yeah!” before Yoongi was speaking again. 

“I guess I won’t have to smoother him in his sleep anymore. What a shame.”

“HYUNG!”

☃

They never really managed to paint over Taehyung’s proposal, and ever after years upon years, it was still there, as beautiful as the first day. 

[cathrynstreich]

Tips for Your Next Virtual Happy Hour or Party

(TNS)—We have all suddenly and somewhat unwillingly been ushered into the age of the social video call.

Yes, we’ve all been on a few video conferences for work here and there—a necessary evil of remote teams and global businesses. But this is the first time we’ve all found ourselves celebrating birthdays, baby showers, engagements and even weddings with our friends and family compacted into boxes on a screen. The ink was barely dry on the shutdown orders last month before people started organizing happy hours, game nights, book clubs, watch parties, brunches and other gatherings online.

The age of social distancing has proved to be remarkably social. But there’s a bit of a learning curve to using video conferencing, even if you’ve done it for work before. The etiquette and expectations are a little different when you’re just vibing with your friends— but they still exist.

There’s a lot of overlap between pro tips for using Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts for work and with your friends.

If you’ve never joined or set up a video call before, our ultimate guide to hanging out with your friends online has instructions. Once you’re ready to attain the next level of video-conferencing capabilities, come back here.

Using your laptop is better than your phone. You’ll quickly discover that holding a phone up at face height for an extended period of time is no fun. The video and sound quality tend to be lower coming from your phone. Also, if you have your laptop set up on a table in front of you, it’s easier to eat and drink. It also makes it feel a little more natural if you need to get up—like you’re just pushing your chair back from the table at a dinner party instead of making everyone else stare at your ceiling as your phone sits face-up while you refill your drink.

With Zoom, gallery view is better than speaker video. With speaker video, the person who’s making the most noise is a big picture, while everyone else is in a little bar at the side or along the top. Speaker view makes sense when you’re watching a work presentation but feels less natural in a group setting. Sometimes, more than one person is talking, or some other noise prompts the camera to switch over, like sirens outside or a dog barking. Gallery view gives you the “Brady Bunch”-style grid where you’re all in the same sized window. To change which view you’re seeing, go to the top right of the screen and click “Gallery View.”

Muting yourself still applies. In a get-together with a couple of other friends, sure, leave yourself unmuted. But when five or more people are joining the video call, it’s polite to mute yourself when you aren’t speaking. Laptop and phone microphones pick up sound differently than our ears do. What sounds to you like the normal hustle and bustle of making dinner in the background while you listen to your friends talk might be a magnified banging and clashing to them.

To look your best, put your laptop on a stack of books and check your background before you go live. I covered this in my complete guide to working from home, but it all still applies here. Put your laptop on top of a stack of books so the camera is at about eye level while you’re sitting down. Otherwise, you risk incurring the dreaded down-facing double chin.

Your friends are going to care less about what your house looks like than your boss might, but it’s still good to tidy up before guests come over, even if they’re only in attendance virtually.

“In a sense we’ve all become set designers,” said Mark Marino, who says he’d used Zoom a handful of times before coronavirus but now uses it regularly in his job as a professor who teaches writing at USC.

Just double-check that people aren’t staring at a mountain of dirty laundry or empty cans before you click “join meeting.” An alternative: Queue up some good virtual backgrounds.

Be the host with the most.

If you’re hosting the meeting with Zoom, you’ll need to upgrade to a Pro account or have to restart the meeting every 40 minutes when the free version runs out. Google Hangouts and Skype don’t set time limits. Try to start your gatherings on time so people aren’t left hanging on the hold screen.

Also, if you’re setting it up, plan some games that take advantage of the technology instead of trying to work around it. For more on that, keep reading. OK, we’re on the call. Now what?

Social events via video conference require a bit more planning and finesse than a casual hang.

Plan things to do other things than just talking.

In a normal party setting, you’d split off and have side conversations among a few people and migrate around to different groups. Here, you have to keep a conversation going among everyone at once. That’s challenging. If you’re hosting, it might be more helpful to set an agenda so people know what to expect: “We’ll chat from 6 to 6:30-ish, then I was thinking we could (play some games / do a scavenger hunt / watch the new season of “Nailed It!” on Netflix / work on our separate crafting projects simultaneously.)”

We have a ton of ideas for that in our ultimate online hangout guide. A few to get your started: Jackbox games, virtual card and board games on Playingcards.io, or tabletop RPGs—either standbys like Dungeons and Dragons, or ones designed specifically to be played virtually, like the #ZoomJam games Mark Marino’s students have been challenged to make. Party classics like Charades, Pictionary and Bingo are easily transferable to a video call.

Another idea: Be apart, together.

Pull out your Nintendo Switches and play Animal Crossing (the ultimate game for this moment in history) at the same time. Do crafts or a DIY project. You don’t have to be actively engaging with one another the entire time to feel together. Jennifer Peepas, who writes the advice blog Captain Awkward, called it “parallel socializing.” She and her friends have logged onto Zoom to knit together.

Scavenger hunts can take advantage of your separate locations and be a fun opportunity to move around a bit. The host names an object and everyone else has a certain amount of time (say, 30 seconds) to find it in their own house. A coffee mug with writing on it. A twist tie. A sock in a color other than white. A roll of toilet paper. (Credit where credit is due: I first heard of this idea on Twitter and vowed to steal it. Mission accomplished.)

PowerPoint Parties take advantage of digital screen-sharing technology. Everyone prepares a short presentation on a topic they’re enthusiastic about, whether it’s sourdough discard recipes or obscure unsolved mysteries or reality TV contestants. Then you take turns sharing.

Know when to say goodnight.

You aren’t the only person who feels totally worn out by these. A video call requires you to be “on” and maintaining conversation and eye contact in a way you don’t have to if you’re all meeting up at a bar. Marino likened the psychic exhaustion to “encountering a dementor in Harry Potter”—it’s just a weird, soul-sucking experience. And the fact that you can see your own face all the time is frankly perturbing. Feel free to have a sticky note on hand to keep yourself out of your line of sight.

So don’t plan an all-nighter. The general rule of thumb is that the more people on the call, the shorter it should be. I have found that the one-hour-to-90-minute range tends to be the sweet spot for most online gatherings that involve more than one or two other people.

Excusing yourself from the call can be a little tricky. Most of the reasons we give to leave a social situation no longer apply. You don’t need to beat traffic. You don’t have to get home to let the dog out. You probably don’t have somewhere else you need to be (though more and more people are finding themselves double-booked for Zoom hangouts these days).

“Just say, ‘it’s time for me to take off,’ ‘time for me to go,’ that’s it,” said Lizzie Post, the president of the Emily Post Institute. She said to resist the urge to pretend you’re having technical difficulties or the WiFi is going out. Your friends will get it and probably be relieved to have an excuse to say, “You know, I’m gonna get going too.”

“Most people are going through waves of being in weird headspace of wanting to connect or not wanting to connect or needing to get things done,” Post said. “Have confidence saying things like, ‘Hey, guys, I’m gonna take off, it’s been really fun chatting with you all, see you soon.”

Peepas, the Captain Awkward advice writer, said if you don’t feel comfortable being that assertive, use some outside help: an oven timer.

“If you’re trying to keep in touch with people, you do want to talk to them but you know you don’t want to do it for an hour, set a timer in another room (for however long you’d like to talk), and then enjoy your call,” she said, “and when the oven timer goes off, just say, ‘Oh, that’s my timer! I’ll talk to you next week.'”

It creates an invisible external force that the person you’re talking to likely won’t question. Up to you whether you decide to put something delicious in the oven to bake first.

©2020 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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