#this assignment thing was online and we had days to do it but i kept putting it off and i figured that i’d have enough time to finish it

[hongjoshuaz]

I JUST GOT A 52 ON AN ASSIGNMENT IN CALCULUS THAT WE HAD DAYS TO DO IM SO UPSET

[gothcarmelasoprano]

maw why are these troll accounts linked through my ex best friends STILL following me

[just-jordie-things]

ik you literally JUST reblogged this but i was online so 😭 kiss prompt 52 w megumi 🫣🫣 -🌿

YES and ur not the only one it appears i've opened the floodgates for smooches

52: Accidentally Witnessed Kiss

**aged up characters!!** ___

you and megumi are good at hiding your relationship. very good, in fact, you're quite surprised that your nosey friends haven't caught on yet. just last week nobara tried to set you up with a salesman at a boutique you frequented. sure, megumi was a little annoyed by the notion, but you claimed it was only a testament to how well you'd kept your relationship hidden.

and of course hiding it was the right thing to do. your friends, and your sensei, were a pestering group, and you both agreed you didn't need any added stressors in your life. your relationship was yours, and it was meant to be a form of relaxation. after taxing assignments and grueling training sessions, it was comforting to know you could sneak into each other's rooms and hide away in each other's presence, forgetting about the rest of the world as you enjoyed being wrapped up in each other's arms.

it had been nearly six months of this. the sneaking around, the hidden gifts and love letters, the subtle brushes of his knuckles against the back of your hand as you walked side by side but at a safe, platonic distance from one another. you often didn't even sit by one another during movie nights, or shared lunches. you were so damn good at hiding your development out of friendship that your friends didn't even know how well you got along, if at all.

they didn't know that the sound of megumi's giggles when you asked him if he'd love you if you were a worm was the cutest sound in the world to you. they didn't know that megumi had your favorite drink memorized to order it for you. they didn't know you kept a special necklace around your neck at all times, tucked under the collar of your uniform. it's closer to my heart that way, you'd said cheerily when megumi had put it on for you for the first time. they didn't know you were each other's first love, and you very much intended for it to be your only love.

but everything comes to an end at some point, and the secrecy among such a close group of individuals could only last so long.

you were sitting on the counter in the small kitchenette that was a shared space in the hall of dormitories. your laughter was stifled behind your hand as megumi dumped out the leftovers he'd planned on eating for a late night snack. he wasn't as amused as you were, grumbling as he reached into the cabinet to eat cup noodles, yet again.

"i told you that they wouldn't stay good for that long," you scold, although your voice is soft and your eyes hold nothing but adoration. "you should've had them yesterday"

"yesterday was the only day we could go on a proper date with no one wondering where we were," megumi reminds you.

it had been a rare occasion, yuuji and nobara were partnered up for an assignment for the evening, giving you both just enough time to go to dinner and rush back before anyone could notice your absence.

"would you have rathered we stay here instead?" megumi asks, expecting you to pout and admit that going out was worth it.

instead you sit up a little straighter, reaching your arms around his neck to draw him closer to you. sitting on the counter gave you enough of a height advantage that you could be eye to eye with him.

"maybe," you muse thoughtfully, still tugging him close until he's slotted in the space between your legs.

his palms are warm as they rest on your thighs, and he too slides you closer to the edge of the counter in an attempt to draw you near enough that there wasn't a centimeter of space between you both. you smile at the action, nudging your nose against his.

"i do quite like staying in, with you" you hum, lashes fluttering as your eyes travel from his lips up to his own hooded gaze. he's smiling rather lazily at you, amused by the sudden affection.

normally he'd banter with you a bit more, just enough to tease and annoy you, before giving into what you so obviously really wanted.

but it was almost two in the morning now, there was no chance of anyone being around at this hour, and your hands were just so warm at the nape of his neck that he craved the rest of your warmth.

so his executive decision to give in completely, closing the small space left between your lips and sealing them with a kiss that had you humming in delight. he could feel you smiling in your victory.

the microwave is beeping with his finished noodles, but you're both far too melted into one another to care about the ringing sound by that point. your hands are too busy messing up his hair, carding through the soft locks until their nearly falling flat from how much you teased them. his own hands are having a hard time staying firmly on your hips, as the hem of your shirt moves and your warm skin is literally right at his finger tips. his movements are calculated as he carefully works his palms over your skin. somehow his hands are hot to the touch and yet leave goosebumps in their wake as they slide from your hips, to the small of your back, to your hips again. his fingers are splayed out wide, wanting to feel as much of you as he could.

you're lost in time, lost in him, you have no idea how long it's been since he'd started kissing you, and you don't know how long it'll be until one of you realize you should probably stop, but you push the thought away. why you'd ever stop kissing megumi, you don't know.

but the answer provides itself in the sound of plastic clattering to the linoleum floor.

your lips are off each other with an exaggerated smack, but no other noise fills the room as you and megumi turn your heads to the sound, only to find yuuji standing in the entryway of the kitchenette. his eyes are unblinking, and wide, and there's a plastic spider-man cup rolling on the ground at his feet.

unfortunately, your shared shock leaves you so frozen, that there's no chance of explaining yourselves to the pink haired boy. megumi's hands are still clearly under your shirt, while your hands are in loose fists in his hair. both of your mouths are swollen, hanging open slightly, both to say something that wasn't coming to mind, and also to pant for air seeing as you'd been rather... occupied.

would he believe you if you said friends just make out sometimes? probably not.

"you- you're-" yuuji raises a shaky, pointing at you both to gesture to what he didn't know how to explain.

he felt like he just walked in on santa claus placing gifts under the christmas tree. or seen bigfoot dash between trees. or caught nobara's roots growing in. this was such an unbelievable sight, his brain was hardly processing.

"you're kissing!" it finally comes out, so loud it stirs you and megumi out of your compromising position.

he quickly removes his hands from under your shirt, tugging down the hem for good measure, and you're scooting back on the countertop to put as much space between you both as you could. anxiously, megumi's running his hands through his hair to make it look as untouched as possible. it was all in vain, your nervous movements to make it seem like yuuji hadn't caught anything, because he most certainly had.

"we- we were just-" you start, but look to megumi for help.

"yeah- we- i mean- nothing- well-" he tries to help you finish an excuse but you're both gaping at each other and shaking your heads, not knowing what you could say to make yuuji forget what he saw.

megumi sighs.

you give your friend a wince of a smile.

"any chance you won't tell everyone?"

yuuji simply shakes his head, his expression unwavering.

didn't think so, you thought.

"no one will believe you" megumi tries, but yuuji shrugs.

"i dunno. you have a hickey" yuuji replies, calmly, as though in a state of shock.

megumi's hand smacks over his neck before he's turning to glare at you. however, realizing there was no coming back from this, you burst into a fit of giggles, much to his dismay.

"a hickey?" he hisses in annoyance. "what are you, fifteen?"

"what!? you liked it!" you say through your giggles.

with your mini argument taking place, yuuji had plenty of time to race off towards the dorms to wake up nobara first. then they would certainly call their sensei to deliver the news. ___

xoxo ~ jordie

[captain-mj]

Bro you cannot just drop prep/jock soap and goth ghost and dip. We need you to give us your brain worms so we can analyze it like a science project

When you have time of course

I will put my worms in a petri dish for you

Soap was an artist! He liked sketching and painting and the act of making art. But he didn't like art essays. The explaining over and over again each detail. Breaking down everything until it felt like a bunch of paint strokes instead of art.

But part of an art degree is a ton of art essays. So Soap went to the museum to write what he needed. He preferred museums to finding art online. A big part of art for him was texture. His preference would've been to touch the art, to feel the paint underneath his fingers. But the assignment specified art from the Baroque period and therefore they had to be older and no museum was going to allow his grubby hands to touch the art.

Soap glanced down one of halls to see if there was anything interesting there when he faltered.

Oh lord.

The man was big. His shoulders. His height. The thighs he had that looked like tree trunks. It was all covered in tight black fabric and silver chains. A work of bloody art himself.

Soap had to hold himself back from wolf whistling.

Once he was done objectifying admiring the man's body, he looked higher up. There was a mask covering the bottom of his face, the only thing visible being his eyes which had heavy eyeliner on them. He could still see the locs of bleached blond hair that surrounded him like a halo.

Soap wanted to paint him.

"You gonna stare all day?" Someone snarked at him and he jumped, glancing at a slightly smaller blond man. He looked at him like he was gross and for a brief moment, he worried he might be about to be hate crimed. The man looked a lot the other one actually now that he was looking closer. Dressed the same way too.

"Aye, what's your fucking problem with it?"

The man's face scrunched. "Ew." He walked away, leaving Soap rather confused but now a bit determined to talk to mystery man.

Pretending to be looking through the paintings, he got closer to him.

Dark brown eyes quickly glanced over at him before glancing back at the paintings.

"Hey. My name is Soap."

"Ghost."

Ooh, he's from Manchester and sticks with his aesthetic. Nice. He'd prefer a not British person, but as far as British people go, he could do worse than Manchester. He glanced at the painting Simon had been admiring.

The Raising of Lazarus by Rembrandt.

"It's a lovely painting." Soap put on his normal charm, acting suave and polite.

"Aye." Ghost gruffed and went quiet again, staring in simple contemplation. His arms were crossed, making already large arms flex.

Soap started to take notes for his assignment. Although he was definitely hoping to score well in more than one ways, he did need to take notes for his assignment.

Ghost glanced over at what he was writing quizzically and Soap answered the unasked question. "I'm doing a project."

"Fun." He huffed and looked back at the painting.

Soap looked down at his chest and licked his hips. "Yeah, it's a good one." He kept writing stuff. "You a college student?"

"Yeah."

"What do you study?"

"Forensics. I'm assuming you're art?"

"Chemistry with a minor in art!" Right as Soap went to mention how funny it was that they didn't share any classes, Ghost interrupted him.

"Wait. Johnny? Johnny MacTavish? We share several classes."

Soap brightened. "Do you dress like this all the time?" There was zero chance he did or Soap would already know his name, address and dick size.

"We have morning classes together. I don't dress up for morning classes." Ghost said decisively. He stretched and shook his head.

How did he manage to not notice the shoulders though at least? The man was huge. He was also several inches taller than Soap and therefore the majority of the class. Maybe if he sat in the back and left later than everyone?

Soap nodded. "Understandable. You look nice."

"Nice huh?" Ghost smiled at him. He could tell cause his eyes scrunched slightly.

"Yeah. Nice." Soap said softly, his chest doing something weird.

They stared at the painting a while before Ghost pulled away to start exploring the rest of the exhibit.

Soap finished up the notes he needed to write his paper and then started to walk with him. He tried to find his opening during all of this.

Ghost stopped at a very specific painting.

ARTEMESIA GENTILESCHI, JUDITH SLAYING HOLOFERNES, C. 1612–1613

The art was... stunning. The red, faded from time and wear, was still beautiful against the white of the blankets.

The women held him down and there was a movement to it that Soap wanted in his own work. His fingers trembled with the want to touch it. To feel the texture of the paint under his fingers. Ridges and bumps and smooth layers of the different strokes.

Ghost hummed. "I don't really get art. It's pretty but some people look at it and it... gives them something. An epiphany."

Soap hummed. "I find touching it helps."

Ghost looked at him, raking his eyes over him. "I see. Do you want to head out then?"

Soap frowned. "Why?"

"You're a piece of art and I'm looking for an epiphany."

[bambifornia]

huuUOOoLRgGghh fiinnne I can't stay away from you all

i bring more autobot!swindle. plus my attempt at writing his backstory

disclaimer : most of the stuff below isn't canon i just wrote this for fun. if u guys wanna make ur own swindle backstories i invite yall to do so :D we will make our own swindle content

swindle came online during cybertron's early years of the age of expansion. the autobots (with their goal to expand cybertron's empire) engineered a set of bots who would serve cybertron as its intergalactic merchants, programmed to be ambitious bots who sought profit. they also came with bigger processors (for storing transactions and whatnot) and versatile frames (so they could withstand organic climates)

shortly after coming online, swindle was assigned a teacher (another merchant) who'd pass down the knowledge of the trade. swindle did his best to keep up with his lessons

as a student, swindle was determined and clever. as a bot, though...eughh...

- he had less of a filter, and didn't know how to keep a poker face

- his little new England accent used to be a lot thicker (think earthspark swindle)

- very friendly, had a lot of amicas back in the day (he was definitely the "I know a bot" guy). it was a struggle for him to keep quiet

- loved hands on activities, hated sitting still

- kept a journal detailing his intergalactic trips. tried to doodle any organics he found interesting

- LOVED shiny stuff. he was like a crow lmao

- his sharp glossa would sometimes get his aft beat

- despite being a chatterbox, he wasn't as suave back then. he'd often get himself in awkward situations, which he'd try to talk himself out of the embarrassment but he'd end up digging a deeper hole for himself

- petty king. also kinda nosy and had a thing for gossip

- loved pranking, and teased the bots he liked

once he was ready, swindle was given a ship and assigned a trading post (as a starting point). from that point, swindle was a rootin tootin merchant and nothing bad ever happened to him again :D...

...

until the quintessa skirmishes

the age of expansion ended with border disputes between cybertron and quintessa. multiple skirmishes sproutted along the border, and while swindle didn't fight in them, he was certainly caught in the crossfire. swindle ended up with a broken ship, a looted inventory, and a bungled up frame. he had to return to cybertron for repairs

back on cybertron, swindle finds a planet wildly different from the one he knows. tensions between autobots and decepticons are rising, and the banks aren't holding up that great. swindle finds himself in a tight spot (financially speaking) since he still has to deal with his losses from quintessa. unable to go back to his actual merchant job, swindle resorts to taking odd jobs to keep himself afloat (yes, even stealing)

when the war breaks out, swindle gets drafted into the front lines (a decision that still baffles him to this day). since he's not much of a fighter, the autobots have swindle work as a spy, ordering him to smuggle weapons out of decepticon servos...

in future hindsight, that was a poor decision

---

wrapping it up here because i don't want this post to get too long LMAO but I still have more ideas for him if yall are interested. just know that this is not the end of swindle lore

ALSO I finally came up with autobot!swindle designations :D I've narrowed it down to 3 and I need help deciding. it's either between

quickdime - cuz. you know. he's always looking to make a quick buck

treasury - his subspace acts like a treasury if you kinda think about it

fortune - idk it sounds cute. besides fortune tends to "favor the bold and clever"

if u made it this far then congrats. thank u for listening to me yap. have a bonus doodle

[differenteagletragedy]

Cove isn't the stepdad, he's the dad who stepped up, Part 2

A second part to this story in which Baxter impregnates you during Step 3 and then ghosts you. Cove saves the day, you fall in love and make a family, and then you decide to get married and hire a wedding planner. You will never ever guess who the wedding planner turns out to be.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe it."

You chucked at your adorable soon-to-be husband -- Cove had been repeating the same phrase in countless different inflections ever since you got engaged, but now that you were on the way to meet with your wedding planner, it was pretty much all he'd been able to say.

"Can you believe it, Dylan?" you asked, turning back in the passenger seat to talk to your four-year-old son.

"I can't believe it," he said, throwing his little arms in the air to make his point.

As you turned back around, you saw Cove smiling warmly at the little boy in his mirror. Dylan may not be his biological son, but he was most definitely his boy.

It had been five years since you learned you were pregnant after a summer fling with Baxter Ward, the strange man who entered your life in full force then disappeared off the face of the planet. You'd tried getting in touch with him, especially after you found out you were pregnant, but when it became clear that he had no interest in speaking with you, you dropped it.

You'd planned on easing into the life of a single teen mother, but Cove of course wouldn't allow that. You'd kept the apartment you'd rented right when you began college, he took care of you throughout your pregnancy, and not too long after your son was born, you both acknowledged that your feelings had become deeper.

And that's it. You were a happy little family.

"Is Uncle Derek gonna have candy this time?" Dylan asked, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"He better," Cove told him, "but if he doesn't we can get some ice cream before we head home."

"I think he might survive an afternoon without sweets," you said.

"Boo, Mommy!" Dylan cried.

"Boo, Mommy!" Cove echoed.

It might have been annoying if it wasn't so damn precious.

When you got to Derek's apartment, your old friend was, as always, raring to have a go at being Uncle Derek. He did have a small selection of candy, knowing that Dylan took after Cove in that he had a massive sweet tooth.

Once the boy had a little snack and the soccer ball that Derek had brought out for him to play with, he was fine with you and Cove leaving him. You thanked your old friend who, as always, waved you off with a smile.

Then it was time to get the wedding planning process underway.

Neither of you knew the first thing about event planning, let alone where to find or hire a wedding planner, so Cove had found some agency online that did that part of the job for you. So all you had to do was go to their office, meet the planner that had been assigned to you, and they would do the rest of the job.

It sounded simple enough, but when you and Cove were sitting in an empty office, holding hands and idly chatting about some things you might want for your big day, there was a knock at the door. And then things got a whole, whole lot harder.

Baxter entered the office after knocking, wearing a tailored purple suit. The white streaks were out of his hair, which was odd to see, but he was instantly recognizable to you. Of course he was -- those warm brown eyes were a perfect match for your son's.

He'd had a smile on when he entered the room, but it quickly faltered when he saw you there. Cove hadn't seemed to realize yet who he was, so he glanced between the two of you in confusion.

Finally, Baxter ran shaky hands down the front of his jacket, straightening wrinkles that weren't there, and managed to say, "Well, I can't say I'm entirely shocked that you two ended up together. What a delightful turn of events, hm?"

"... Baxter?!" Cove exclaimed.

"Ah. You remember," he replied, not sounding entirely pleased that that was the case.

He snuck a glance at you, and you met his eyes, still not sure how to feel. It was bizarre seeing him after all this time and under all these circumstances. Thoughts of how much fun you'd had together that summer flitted through your mind, along with thoughts of how deeply he'd hurt you. All the while, your eyes kept finding little similarities between Baxter and your son -- they had the same eyelashes. You hadn't remembered that.

You felt a hand on your leg, and looked over to see Cove leaning in, whispering about how you could leave if you wanted, that it wouldn't be a big deal to find someone else.

Baxter was looking on, a serious expression on his face that looked somewhere between discomfort and pain. Before you had a chance to say anything to either of them, your phone rang.

Thankful for the time the call bought you, you took it out of your purse -- it was Derek.

"Hey," you answered, letting the awkward silence hang in the air for the moment. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah!" Derek answered quickly. "Well, mostly, yeah."

"What's wrong?"

"Ok, well, it's not a huge deal, but we were playing and the little man sort of had a little accident," he explained.

"What happened?" you asked, the concern in your voice making Cove raise his eyebrows and lean in.

Derek told you that he and Dylan had been playing and Dylan tripped and landed headfirst against a wall. He wasn't overly concerned, he kept saying that your son was fine and he didn't even cry that much, he'd just wanted to let you know, but it was an excuse, and you grabbed it.

"We need to go," you told Cove, putting your phone back in your bag and standing up.

"I do hope everything is all right," Baxter offered.

"It's just our ... our son, he had a little accident at our friend's house and we should probably take him to the doctor."

You smiled tightly at Cove, letting him know that your child wasn't seriously injured, then you turned back when you heard Baxter let out a short, sharp laugh.

"How darling, you have a son?" he said. "How old is the boy?"

"He just turned four a few months ago."

You hadn't meant to tell him, at least not then, not like that, but when Baxter's smile froze and he turned an even paler shade than normal, you knew he'd figured it out.

"Well, we better get going," Cove said suddenly, standing up and taking your hand. "We'll be in touch, Baxter."

Before your wedding planner could unglue himself from his chair, Cove had led you out the door and out of the building.

You didn't speak as you went back to Derek's, and when you got there, Dylan was as fine as he'd said, just with a little bump on his forehead.

"Can we get ice cream, Daddy?" he asked, holding up his arms so Cove would pick him, which, as always, he did immediately.

"I think we can swing that," he answered lovingly.

And that's how the rest of the afternoon went. Ice cream, play time, and absolutely no talk of the unbearably uncomfortable reunion with your kid's biological father.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day, you were home, doing some cleaning. Cove was at work, Dylan was down for a nap, so you were taking in the rare quiet moment.

As you were putting away laundry, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You hoped for a fun distraction from your chores, but instead you saw a number that wasn't saved in your contacts but that you recognized anyway.

"Hello?" you answered, bracing yourself.

"Hello," Baxter replied -- you could tell he was trying to sound pleasant but you could also tell he was struggling. All these years later and you could still read him like a book.

"I'm sorry we left like that yesterday," you started rambling, "but everything is fine. I'm still not sure when we'll be able to reschedule our appointment, if you still even want --"

"I actually wasn't calling about the wedding, if that's all right," he interjected.

"Oh."

You deflated. If he didn't want to talk about the wedding, then you were pretty sure you knew what he did want to talk about.

"Your son," he began, a strain in his voice popping up. "I believe you said that he had a birthday recently?"

"Yeah," you answered. "Three months ago, he's four now."

He paused, and you heard a swallow. "Is that ... does that mean ...?"

The silence hung in the air until you couldn't take it anymore.

"Yes," you told him. "I tried to tell you. i texted and called over and over and you never answered. I didn't find out until after you left, and by then you didn't want anything to do with me and I had to do it all by myself because you were too scared to even stay friends with me, you coward."

You ranted for a bit longer, and he let you -- you weren't sure if he'd have been able to speak even if you'd stayed silent. But by the time you were finished, he'd managed to prepare something.

"I'm sorry."

You laughed -- it was way too little, way too late. It was pitiful.

"I'm sorry," Baxter said again. "I'm not sure ... what would be the best thing to do in this situation. Should I meet him? Or I could give you money?"

"No and no. He's not your son, he's Cove's and we don't need money."

"... Can I see a photo of him?"

You sighed, annoyed and angry and a million other negative emotions, but you pulled your phone down and opened up your photos. You found one of Dylan swinging at the park, a huge, beautiful smile on his face, and sent it over to Baxter.

You knew he'd received the picture because he made the saddest, strangest little noise. He'd started crying, you were sure of that, but you weren't about to comfort him. Still, you weren't able to end the call either.

"He looks like me," he finally said shakily. He punctuated the thought with a choked sob.

"I know."

Baxter just kept crying, and you kept not knowing what to say. Finally you heard your son stirring in the other room.

"I have to go," you told him. "Dylan is waking up from his nap."

"His name is Dylan?"

"Yes. I ... I'll talk to you later, I guess."

As you greeted Dylan and prepared an afternoon snack for him, you couldn't help but be distracted. Even though you'd only known Baxter for a few months, he'd changed your life forever. You never thought you'd see him again, but now here he was. Planning your wedding with Cove.

"Are you ok, Mommy?" Dylan asked, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Yep!" you answered cheerily, smiling at him. Of course, that wasn't true.

*****NOTE: Apparently the name Dylan means "son of the sea," so, you know, that's the name of Cove's baby now.

[storiesforallfandoms]

happy birthday ~ javi gutierrez;the unbearable weight of massive talent

word count: 2841

request?: no

description: in which she gets her husband the best birthday gift of his life: nic cage

pairing: javi gutierrez x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two, three)

It felt almost impossible to come up with a good gift for Javi. What do you get the man who has everything? Literally everything. Javi had more money than most people could ever dream of, and he used that money to buy whatever he wanted. It was infuriating. I could never think of good birthday gifts for him because whatever I could think of, he got it for himself.

There was one gift I could possibly get him that would blow his mind. It was a long shot, but if I could pull it off then I would be giving him the best gift he’d ever receive in his entire life.

“Gabriela, I need your help,” I said to her one morning just after Javi had left with Lucas. “I want to try and get Nic Cage to come make an appearance at Javi’s birthday party.”

Gabriela’s eyes widened. “That’s...a huge deal, (Y/N).”

“I know, and I know it’s a long shot because he’s a big actor who is probably very busy, but I know Javi would lose his mind if we could make this happen. I’ll do whatever it takes. However much money he wants, free accommodations at the mansion, I’ll even try to pay for whatever his passion project is to be made. Anything he wants.” I took Gabriela’s hands in mine. “Please, Gabriela. Javi would love this.”

She thought for a few moments before squeezing my hands. “I’ll look for the contact info for his agent online.”

Turns out, it’s not that hard to find Nic Cage’s agent’s contact info online. Actually, it was the first thing that popped up when we Googled “Nicolas Cage agent contact info”. We wrote his agent a lengthy email, basically begging for Nic Cage to come to Javi’s birthday party. I even threw in an offer of one million dollars just to show up to the party. We hit send, waiting with baited breath for a response.

Of course, I knew we wouldn’t get a response right away. But as the days passed and still nothing, my anxiety began to grow. I was constantly refreshing my email, hoping that a new email would arrive already. I was trying not to be too obvious, but Javi noticed that I was distracted very quickly.

“Is everything alright, mi amor?” he asked me one morning when I checked my phone during breakfast. It was very unlike me to be on my phone at the table, but I wasn’t thinking about anything besides getting a response to this damn email. “You seem...distracted.”

“I’m sorry, honey. It’s just...something I’m planning for your birthday.”

His eyes brightened. “For my birthday, you say? Any hints?”

I smiled and leaned in close to him. “Absolutely not.”

He playfully groaned, but closed the small gap between us to kiss me.

A week had passed by and I started to give up hope. I had let go of the idea when my phone chimed, signaling an incoming email. When I opened it I had to refrain from screaming with joy.

The email read, “Dear Mrs. Gutierrez. Mr. Cage has accepted your offer to appear at your event. Please provide us with the details as well as location and travel details.”

It was hard to contain my excitement around Javi. I didn’t want to give away the surprise, but every time I looked at him I kept thinking about how excited he was going to be when he saw the Nic Cage at his birthday party. It was going to be the hardest secret I ever had to keep.

The time flew by, luckily, and before I knew it, I was on my way to the dock to meet Nicolas Cage. I had assigned one person to pick up Nic in the boat to try and minimize the chances of Javi finding out about the surprise. Besids me, only two people knew: Gabriela and Oscar, one of Javi’s men who I had escort Nic to our home. I watched as the boat came closer and closer. I could see Oscar driving while an unfamiliar figure was slumped in the back of the boat.

Nic fucking Cage.

I tried to keep myself composed as the boat docked and Oscar helped Nic to unload his luggage. He was so tall. He was almost intimidating in person.

“Mr. Cage,” I said. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to pass up a gig that’s offering a million dollars just to show up,” he responded. “What’s the deal with this party, anyways? Because if the couple is expecting me to engage in some form of voyeurism, or something along those lines, they are going to be very disappointed.”

I was taken back by his suggestion. He was looking at me, waiting for a response, while I stood there looking like an idiot with my mouth hanging open.

“N-No,” I finally said. “It’s nothing like that. My husband is a huge fan of your work. I wanted to surprise him with an appearance from you for his birthday. You just have to be there, talk to him, share some stories from the sets of your movies maybe.”

His face went pale. “You...you’re Mrs. Gutierrez?”

“Yes, I am.”

He was left just as speechless as I felt. We looked at each other for a long time, an awkward feeling in the air. Finally, I gestured for him to follow me and Oscar to the car that was waiting to take us back to the house. I got into the front seat as Oscar loaded Nic’s luggage into the trunk as Nic got into the back seat.

The ride was silent for a while. I was still more nervous over the fact that I was in the same car as Nic Cage than I was upset over what Nic had said. But I could tell he was embarrassed. I just wasn’t sure how to put his mind as ease when I was too starstruck to string a sentence together.

“Listen,” he said, finally breaking the awkward silence. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. You have to understand that this was a bizarre request I got to come to a birthday party, for a large sum of money. I had no idea what to expect.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I understand. Honestly, I didn’t even think your agent would respond, so I didn’t plan out your appearance much until you said yes.”

“So, what is the plan?”

“The party isn’t until tomorrow evening, so we have the guest house set up for you to stay in. Gabriela, mine and Javi’s assistant, will come and get you, and usher you to the party without Javi noticing. I have a speech planned, that will be your entrance.”

Nic was nodding along as I spoke. When I finished, he said, “You must really love this Javi to go through so much effort for a birthday gift.”

I smiled. “Well, I married him for a reason.”

~~~~~~

The next night, I was stood in front of one of the full length mirrors in mine and Javi’s room. I had changed into the dress I had found on our bed that afternoon, with a note attached to it that said, “Wear this tonight, mi amor xo”.

Typical of Javi to buy me something to wear on his birthday.

I had to admit, Javi’s taste in dresses was always phenomenal. I had one closet dedicated to all the dresses he has bought me in the past. They had never been wore more than once, but they were too beautiful to let go of. This one was no different. It was a long, off the shoulder, velvet dress in a deep red color. I pulled a pair of champagne colored heels from the closet to wear with it, and a gold necklace Javi had gotten for me won our first anniversary.

Two arms wrapped around my waist as a head of curly brown hair buried itself against my neck.

“You look beautiful, mi amor,” Javi said as he pressed a light kiss on the nape of my neck.

“Thank you,” I said. “Helps that I seem to have a husband with the best fashion sense in the world.”

I turned my head to look up at him. He kissed my lips as I leaned back against him. His hands ran over the soft material of my dress, exploring my body as his tongue ran across my bottom lip.

“What if we ditch the party and stay up here so I can take this dress off of you instead?” he suggested.

I giggled. “Ditch your own birthday party?” He nodded and began kissing my neck again. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

I turned in his arms to look up at him. “Because there are nearly a hundred people down in our courtyard waiting to celebrate you. You can’t just ditch them.”

Javi groaned, burying his head in the crook of my neck. It felt nearly impossible to reject his offer when he was kissing me in the right spot, touching me in the right spots, and in general just looked so fucking handsome. I just wanted to let him take the dress off of me and do whatever he wanted to me.

But my mind drifted back to the special guest I had waiting to make an appearance, and that was enough for me to push Javi away.

“We can’t miss your party,” I told him. “Besides, I have an amazing present for you.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “One that requires us going to the party?” I nodded. “Well, now you’ve managed to convince me.”

I kissed his nose and took his hands in mine, pulling him out of our room and to the party that was kicking off down below.

We were met with cheers and a chorus of “Happy Birthday!”s. Lucas passed both of us a glass of champagne and made a quick toast in Javi’s honor. There was more cheering. I looked up to see Javi was positively glowing with happiness. I smiled at him, knowing that his gift was going to up this happiness even more.

I let Javi socialize for nearly an hour. Actually, it was hard to get him away from someone once he had started talking, but I figured it was his party so he deserved to talk to whoever he wanted for however long he wanted. But, the more time ticked on, the more anxious I grew. I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation, but I didn’t want to leave Nic waiting too long to make his entrance.

Luckily, Gabriela was the one to finally draw everyone’s attention as she got on stage and tapped a fork against her champagne glass. The crowd went silent and turned towards her.

“Ladies and gentlemen, before we continue with the festivities tonight, there was someone who wanted to say a few words in honor of the birthday boy,” she said. “Everybody, please give it up for (Y/N) Gutierrez.”

The crowd cheered as I made my way towards the stage. I put my arms out to Gabriela to pull her into a hug, and she whispered in my ear, “He’s ready.”

I mouthed “Thank you” to her as we pulled away before turning to the crowd of people who were looking at me.

“Hello everyone,” I started. “I don’t usually make a spectacle like this at Javi’s birthdays, but this year is different. For one, I believe that a man as incredible as Javi deserves the spectacle of his wife giving a super sappy speech about how much she loves him and how amazing he is. He deserves it, but that’s not the speech you’re getting tonight, so don’t hold your breath.” The audience chuckled. “Although, I will say that Javi is one of the most kindhearted men I have ever known. Getting to share my life with him has been the greatest privilege for me.”

I met Javi’s eyes in the crowd. He was smiling, admiration showing on his face. When I first started dating Javi, Lucas would say that Javi looked at me the way Disney princes looked at their princesses. I used to laugh it off, until I actually noticed it one day. I think that was the moment I knew Javi was in love with me, and the moment I realized I was in love with him, too.

“And all of that brings me to the second reason I decided to make a speech tonight,” I continued. “Because Javi is such an amazing person, I often try to give him the best gifts I can think of. That’s not exactly easy when you’re husband is richer than God and tends to like buying things for himself. But, tonight, I think I have finally figured out what the best gift in the world for Javi would be. And it’s definitely something I knew he has never tried to purchase for himself.”

I looked behind me. Nic was stood far enough away from the stage that no one would notice him unless they were actually looking, but close enough that he could hear me talking and knew when he would come in. He met my eyes and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back at him before turning back to the awaiting crowd.

“Javi, here is my gift for you.” I made a grand gesture with my arms and said, “Nicolas Cage!”

A collective gasp floated through the crowd as Nic stepped up onto the stage. I looked back at Javi to see that his eyes were so wide they were nearly popping out of his head. He was paralyzed in place. I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. I stepped off the stage and extended a hand to him.

“Come meet your hero,” I said.

“You got Nicolas Cage?” he questioned, his voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear him. “You got the actual Nicolas Cage to come to my birthday party? This is what you’ve been planning for all this time?”

“I said I wanted to get you the best gift ever,” I reminded him. “Happy birthday, my love.”

He was finally spurred into movement. He took my hand and let me lead him towards the stage, where his hero was stood waiting. Nic smiled and extended a hand to Javi. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Javi. Your wife told me all about you.”

Javi shook his hand, but didn’t speak. I lightly nudged him, which snapped him out of his starstruck trance and got him to start talking.

The rest of the night was spent with basically everyone wanting to talk to Nic. Eventually, Javi was able to pull himself away so that Nic could speak to the crowd about whatever they wanted to hear. Javi found his way back to my side and pulled me close to him. I leaned into his embrace, watching his child-like wonder towards the man he had loved and admired for so long. I knew this whole thing was a success, and that’s all that mattered to me.

The night finally came to an end as the crowd, still also starstruck by the sudden appearance of a celebrity, reluctantly began to leave. Javi offered Nic one of the spare rooms in our mansions and called for one of his men to collect Nic’s things to bring up. I thanked the actor again for coming before leaving the two men so I could get ready for bed. As much as I loved seeing Javi’s happiness, the heels were starting to hurt my feet and I was started to grow tired.

I didn’t expect to see Javi before I fell asleep, so when he came into our room just as I was getting into bed, I was a little shocked.

“You mujer hermosa,” he said, crossing the room to stand next to me. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”

“Was it the best gift ever?” I asked.

“Better than the best gift ever. I don’t know how anyone will ever top what you gave me tonight,” he said.

I beamed with pride. “Well, that’s all that matters to me then. I’ve finally figured out something to give you that you haven’t gotten for yourself yet.”

He cupped my face in his hands and pulled me in for a kiss. It was sweet and passionate, and his hands found their way to the small of my back to pull me as close against him as I could. I started to giggle against his lips as he backed us up towards the bed, then we both toppled over onto the soft mattress.

“I love you so much,” he said. “I’m the luckiest man in the world to have such an incredible wife.”

“I love you, too,” I said. “And you are very lucky to have me.”

He chuckled and kissed me again so feverishly that I completely forgot about being tired.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the AH for refusing to be friends with someone who flat out hated me?

From ages 22-26 I was friends with R 29-33. R had only worked once in her life which was mcdonalds for 3 months to buy anime merchandise her grandma didn't want to buy her. R's grandma is in her late 80's now just for reference. R's granny had married a rich military dude who was on his 3rd marriage or so then died, so she got all his assets which included like 5 houses, 3 were being rented out which is how she'd get her income. So R never worked and just sat at home getting into internet fights. My friend had invited her into our discord and I'd be civil with her despite knowing how shes been with others. I was working full time for shit pay and going to school full time too. R was very, idk how else to say it, but she always demanded our attention. The other people in the server were 5 from ages from 16-22, we never used how much older she was against her, but she really didn't acknowledge or respect alot of us were in school. Many times we'd had to tell her to step back and set boundaries with us. It did result in people leaving the server. So, in summer of 2019 R decided to go to college. She got alot of financial aid and said her goal was to become a therapist cause she was everyone's "mom". That stuff wasn't even remotely true, she was always a total bitch to everyone. R unfortunately didn't understand that going to school means having to put the work in. She was more interested in spending the financial aid on gacha, anime merch, and other stuff. She lost her financial aid after the spring semester of 2020, and refused to talk to her school about the pandemic stress and other shit. During this time, she tried making me do her assignments and I kept saying no or only helped a little. I had my own assignments, school, and I was stressed. Well, when she lost her financial aid due to academic probation, she blamed me. When the pandemic hit my school did this thing where you'd get partially refunded your semester depending on how you did. I was so thankful for that since I barely scraped by to pay for school. R was so fucking nasty about it. I didn't tell my friends that to gloat, I actually said that before she lost her financial aid. She said I didn't deserve it, cause people like her struggled more. Which is fucking weird since I'm a first gen POC and made a few bucks above minimum wage where I live. I didn't even enjoy my time at school cause of the stress and never having money. So she kept harassing me for getting government aid. I wasn't eligible for financial aid! My parents weren't even eligible for food stamps and we always fucking struggled. But I didn't deserve help, who cares if R is a cis white woman in her 30's that only worked once for a few months, she has it harder. Then R left our server when the pandemic started getting nastier, alot of us struggled but we stayed close in the discord. Then one day I reached out to R in late 2021 to say happy birthday and she said "whose this? New phone." I was hurt she didn't keep my number, but whatever. In 2022 she reached out to me for gossip cause I broke up with someone. Then now in 2023 she reached out cause she wants resources to be a vtuber. I'm sorry, she was shitty to me, I've been struggling, and she reaches out for that? Idk even know how I'd be able to help her with that. I told a friend from our old server and she told me how she had been doing R's assignments for school, but stopped cause she was getting stressed cause she had her capstone class that semester. So wow. R basically didn't do shit for school and gets pissy i get some financial relief. I then had another mutual friend tell me how R had told them she sent me a gift and I didn't send her one, one year. Uh? I tried. I ordered something online for her, and the company sold out, but kept my shit on back order. So R got it like a month late, it was a Christmas gift and I explained it to her, sent her screenshot of when i placed the order and sent her an Amazon gift card as an apology. So she bad mouths me for something out of my control?

I've been getting "hey" messages from R lately, and idk. I'm so done with her.

What are these acronyms?

[niuniente]

I have multiple favorite characters. They're all equally beloved. I don't get to choose which one of them is on the spotlight - they come and go on their own.

Because of this, I have assigned a personal meaning to each character: this character means have more fun; this character means that keep your eyes on the price; this character means a time of transition; this character asks to rest more. Always works!

A month ago, Dragunov from Tekken appeared on the spotlight (this didn't happen with Tekken 7 so we can't blame the new Tekken being out).

Now, the first time he was on a spotlight was 15 years ago. I was in a horrible place back then. There was a legal mess which, if the shit hit the fan, would ruin the rest of my life. Literally. I wouldn't be able to get a rental apartment, make any new contracts like electricity, phone, internet, buy anything with monthly payments, get subscription services, I would lose part of my income. I was THIS CLOSE to lose it all and the worst thing was that there was nothing I could. I hadn't caused the mess but I had no way out of it either. I even went to a lawyer to ask for a legal help but he couldn't help.

I feared for my life and future, hoping it would turn out OK. What kept me sane was playing Tekken 6. I played it hours every day and always as Dragunov. I even did my art school final thesis of fan culture and Dragunov (I had much fun with a Russian fan who drew really pretty pics of Dragunov and gave me an access to her screencapture collection of Tekken 6 for my thesis)

Then, one day I figured what was Dragunov's assigned meaning; you will survive. No matter what the odds, even if it was the 3rd world war, you will survive and come out alive without any harm.

That's exactly what happened. Took 2 more years but I got out alive, unharmed. It was horrible time. I'm glad it's over.

So, when Dragunov NOW suddenly appeared on the spotlight after 15 years, my initial thought was "WHAT WHAT, WHAT'S THE BAD NEWS??? WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ODDS ARE HORRIBLE BUT I'LL SURVIVE????! "

Two weeks later, in a span of a week, without any prior warnings:

I got laid off because the company bankruptcy and fell on a social welfare

this happened while the current right-wing government made big cuts to social welfare and housing benefits (so I don't know if I can keep my current home)

while at the same time prices keep getting higher due to inflation

The IUD for anemia treatment came out on its own

Because of that I'm without any help to my iron anemia and the only solution will be hysterectomy in my case; doctors aren't giving those easily (even when needed)

I lost my workplace healthcare which would have been the easiest and the best way to get to hysterectomy

the sudden removal of IUD is causing me horrible withdrawal symptoms

my Japanese friend told me that she's unable to come to Finland this year and has to postpone her trip till 2025 :(((

(which also means I won't get my favorite cigarettes I smoke for fancy treats a few times a year because I can only get it from Japan - ordering tobacco online is illegal here)

noticed that wasps had made a nest to my balcony (that's being taken care off)

couldn't attend a free(!) ice-cream tasting for a feedback and for a free 15€ gift card because of the IUD withdrawal symptoms

found out that trains aren't operating normally and my home station is under construction and causes some issues

So yeah. He wasn't lying. It's been so bad that the first thing this morning when waking up was to take stomach medicine and have a smoke. And I'm not a smoker.

Horrible times are up ahead but I trust that I'll survive out of this phase just like I did 15 year ago.

(:::з」∠)

[bad268]

Hii could i please request an Robert shwartzman x reader where the reader has a bad day and Robert tries to hype her up and yeah just much fluff.🫶

My Priority (Robert Shwartzman X Reader)

Fandom: RPF/Formula 1

Requested: Clearly (thank you for being patient <3)

Warnings: none.

Pronouns: First person (I/me)

W.C. 840

Summary: After a bad day, the reader just needs some reassurance (and cuddles)

A/n: I may or may not have been channeling this from losing my parent three years ago today, but I didn't actually give a reason for why the reader is upset <3

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Pinterest)

It was not just a bad day. It was a bad week, a bad month, and it felt like everything was piling up on me. There was some online hate that seemed never ending, work was falling apart, and my assignments just kept coming. I saw no end in sight.

I sluggishly walked into the apartment I shared with my boyfriend, Robert, who was out traveling with Ferrari for the next two weeks. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks since our schedules hadn’t aligned for so long. Today, specifically, was rough, and all I wanted was to quit everything and collapse in Robert’s arms.

I set all of my stuff down on the kitchen counter as I leaned down to rest my head against my forearms. I took a few deep breaths as I tried to hold back the tears already pooling in my eyes. It felt like I had been holding my feelings back for so long that I had no control over it anymore as I let out the first sob.

I came to an immediate stop as I felt a hand on my back, causing me to snap up and furiously wipe the tears from my face. When I moved my hands away, my eyes locked with a concerned Robert. I could tell he was saying something, but I couldn’t hear any of it as I felt my walls crumbling in his presence. I collapsed in his chest as I let everything out.

“Hey, hey, I’m here,” He whispered as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and ran his hands through my hair. I held onto him like a lifeline as I struggled to catch my breath, trying to stop the flow of tears. He noticed immediately, so he reassured me, “I’m not leaving for a while. I’ve got you. Let it all out, and we can talk when you’re ready.”

He moved us over to the couch without letting me go. He pulled me onto his lap as he continued to whisper encouragement in my ear as he wrapped one arm around my waist and ran the other across my shoulders. It took a while, but when I felt like I had gotten it all out, I pulled back a little bit.

“What are you doing here?” Was the first thing I said after pulling back, grabbing onto his forearms to stabilize myself. Robert dropped his hands from my shoulder to wrap around my waist as he started laughing. “There’s a race this week.”

“That’s the first thing you say?” He chuckled, pulling his hands back to hold my hands as he ran his thumbs over my knuckles. I just nodded in response, still kind of in shock that he was in the apartment. “Well, they said I could go home. I told Fred I had a bad feeling, and he let me come home between the races. I still have to go back Wednesday, but for now, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere without you. And before you say it, I’m talking to Fred about bringing you with me this week.”

“You came home for me? Because you felt something was wrong?” I clarified as more tears welled up in my eyes.  

“I will always come back to you,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. “I’ll always come back for you. I’m always here for you, whenever you need me.” He did not continue after that, but I knew he was implying that he was ready for whenever I wanted to tell him what was wrong. I took a deep breath as I figured out the words I wanted to start with.

“It’s just a lot,” I replied, barely audible as I closed my eyes, breathing him in. “Everything just seemed to crash down as soon as you left, and I couldn’t pick myself up.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve come home the second you said you needed me,” he mumbled as he lifted one of his hands to run through my hair.

“You have a job to do with Ferrari,” I mumbled, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. “I didn’t want to interrupt your work.”

“You will always come first,” Robert reassured me as he moved some strands of hair away from my eyes. “I don’t care where I am or where you are. You will always be my priority.” He stopped for a second, just letting his words sink in, and honestly, they were. Despite thinking that I was doing this because I did not want to bother him, he wanted to know my problems. 

“I love you, Robert,” I sighed with a smile. “What did I do to deserve you? Who do I need to thank?”

“You existed,” he laughed, squeezing my shoulders before deciding to make another joke. “If you really want to thank someone, I’m pretty sure you filled in for Paul during the track walk, and that’s how we met.”

“Of all people, I will never thank Paul for anything.”

~~~~~

© BAD268 2023. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[theworldoffostering]

The director of special education did not show up to our IEP this week. It made the meeting a whole lot less contentious. It didn’t hurt that they assigned a much more experienced teacher to DS and our advocate showed up and kept everyone in line. Should it take that much work/effort/stress? Absolutely not! I will never understand how anyone is getting services if we cannot with all of the privileges we have personally been afforded.

DH and I talked to Ms. 6 this week. It could be worse, but it’s not great. She bought herself a car or someone else did, but it seems no one cares if she has insurance (legally required). I told her to call and get some quotes. She has not.

She has a boyfriend she met online that no one has vetted. He’s older (no idea how much older) as he has his own place. He lives three hours away in a neighboring state, but Ms. 6 couldn’t remember which city he lives in. She goes to see him on the weekends despite the fact that no one has met him or vetted him. It’s killing me! She was very vague on the details regarding what he does for a living.

Her car seems some basic repairs. Her grandpa has been a semi truck driver for decades. Hasn’t helped her with the repairs. Boyfriend is maybe some kind of mechanic but is unable to help with repairs. Mom is driving Ms. 6’s uninsured car and teaching Ms. 6 how to do donuts in it.

Ms. 6 said she applied to a PA program. When I pointed out that the PA program she applied for is a masters program (aren’t they all?) that cost $109k for the 28 month program, she seemed shocked and unimpressed. I did do a conference call with her and the high school this week to try to sort out her graduation.

Ms. 6 had knee surgery last week. I offered to be available and make the three hour drive to take her. She said her mom was taking her. The night before surgery her mom said she had to work and couldn’t take her. Grandma said she couldn’t take her because she had already take a sick day that week. Mom’s BF drove her, but apparently doesn’t like hospitals so he didn’t sit in the room and wait for Ms. 6 to be taken back to surgery. Surgery was pushed back several hours. Now mom doesn’t want to take her to the post-op appointment because the dogs have a vet appointment.

Post surgery, Ms. 6 was prescribed narcotics. Mom is an addict. Is she currently using? I have no idea but she used for at least a decade and has a conviction for cooking meth with the intent to sell. Kids were removed for many reasons including heroin use. Ms. 6 said the “oxy” isn’t managing her pain so she asked the nurse for something else AND an oxy refill. The pharmacist wouldn’t give both to mom. Mom told Ms. 6 it’s because they don’t have the same last name. I pointed out that I also don’t share the same last name as anyone in our family, and we were also recently denied a narcotic at the pharmacy. It is clear that no one that she has contact with lives in their thinking brains—they are all convinced that they are victims of one system or another.

Ms. 6 also quit her job. She said it was because they were making her do too much work.

Ms. 6 really wants contact with the other kids, particularly NB at this point. We have withheld that so far but can’t really articulate why. I think because it doesn’t feel healthy or good, and things don’t necessarily feel stable with her between DH and myself and her. I’ve talked to her a handful of times in the past month which are the first times I’ve spoken to her since she left in August. Anyone have experience in this area? Is it wrong for us to feel it out as parents before we open that relationship back up to siblings? It’s not my intention to use them as pawns, but it probably feels that way to Ms. 6. The kids here have not asked to see her, and DS and DD are actively continuing to say that they don’t want to have contact.

I’m trying to be something for her but that all feels very temporary and complicated right now. I sent her a small care package today via mail and am going to offer up some services for her like connecting her with colleges, but am trying to hold tight to a lot of boundaries at this point.

[tea-and-secrets]

When I was a minor I wanted to make mums for homecoming in highschool. I wanted to make one for me, my sister, my boyfriend, and my best friend. My bestie's dumb ass mentioned it to a friend of hers (keyword, hers not mine) and this bitch by force wanted to tag a long and make one too. I spoke with my bestie and told her no, that this was something I wanted to do for us only. However, it got to the point I had to by force allow this other person. They wouldn't shut the hell up and kept throwing tantrums! For reference, this person was a white bitch who was racist as shit and nothing but hatred came out of her mouth when she opened it. So we went over to that bitch's house and her mom was there braless in a see through shirt then that bitch I hate took her bra off in front of us. While I was trying to get the mums ready her mom started talking about her sex life in front of us minors and I kept asking her to stop that I was uncomfortable and she refused. Well, bitch throws a tantrum that I have too many things and I'm not sharing with her when I HAD 4 MUMS I NEEDED TO FUCKING MAKE. I only bought supplies for us, not her, she wasn't even suppose to be there! So we went to a craft store and I only bought her one set of ribbon and got my friend an accessory for her teddy bear. We got back and despite me saying "hey, hurry up I have my online class assignment (it was 5 assignments a day for that class) later" and I was flat out starving. Well, she made us ramen, the fucking cheap ass shit and talked about what a chef she was and blah blah. So while I'm trying to eat and hurry with the mums I only manage to make my boyfriends and mine and said sorry I'm leaving and for them to use the rest of the stuff for my sisters mum. Yeah, what they made my sister was pathetic and that bitch used up all the supplies even though I strictly said everything was for my sister. My sisters had a cat and like 3 ribbons on the mum and they fucked up the feather boa my sister wanted so badly. I told my bestie if she cared for the friendship she would never in her life make me hang out with a piece of crap that stole the shit I bought, wouldn't let me go home, gave me cheap ass ramen at 8pm when I was at her house since 10am, and her mother who wouldn't fuck off! Jesus, her mom was fucking something else! No I don't want to hear how you fucked a guy after his wife got hit by a car and was in a coma. I don't want to hear how you miss your ex husband's dick. Like JFC I am a minor I don't care, you are 54!

I'm not friends with that person anymore, but I should have seen that mum fiasco as the last nail on the coffin and ended the friendship. I didn't even get to properly glue on the teddy bear and hearts on my mum and I lost them in school, but someone was nice and returned it to me despite the teddy bear getting dirty. I'm still beyond pissed they ruined my sister's mum too. Like wow fucker, I wanted to do something nice for my little sister and you fucks ruined it.

.

[blackwolfstabs]

30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 24

CONFESSION

"He was responsible for this just as much as she was."

AU: Anika survived her attack in Scream VI :)

Tara spent hours pacing in her bedroom, watching time go by and fighting her fluctuating anxiety that had her fetching her inhaler more than she should, especially now, since… 

No, stop thinking about it. 

That was the problem, and she had two ways to handle it right now. She could either try to talk about it or try to sleep and forget about it. However, it was pretty fucking clear which one was promised to fail.

She didn’t want to do this… She really didn’t. She didn’t mean for it to happen anyway. Neither of them did. One thing just led to another and…

Fuck.

She pulled her phone up from clutching it at her side. The screen lit up to glow the time and a thread of unanswered text messages from Chad.

11:24 PM.

She couldn’t read through the texts. There were at least 20, and they had stopped around 7:00 that night. When she hadn’t answered, he had texted Sam, who’d told him that she was okay, home, and doing homework so her phone was on Do Not Disturb. Tara had been the one to tell her she was doing homework, but that wasn’t the truth. She lied. Because she couldn’t focus on anything but the thoughts running a thousand miles per minute in her head.

The ones she had to get out.

She navigated to the Discord app, where she could find an immediate answer if who she needed to talk to was still awake. Discord was where she and her classmates kept in touch with assignments and questions and whatnot. It was the quickest way to get a response from someone, because there was always someone online, no matter what time of day.

Luck was finally on her side tonight. She found the green status symbol alive next to Mindy’s icon, leading her to immediately go to her DMs.

‘hey are u busy? there’s something i need to talk to u about’

Her heart was pounding, as if it was already set-in-stone that she would be spilling her anxiety to someone else. It wasn’t. Mindy may not be available. She could easily change her mind and say ‘nevermind. it’s nothing. sorry for bothering u’. But something kept her staring at the screen long enough to see Mindy start typing a response and then it coming through, reading:

‘What’s up??’

For a moment, Tara felt nauseous, her legs shaking as she bit her lip. 

‘um i’d rather talk to u in person. . . can i come over? if not, it’s ok. it can wait’

She knew she shouldn’t, but she had to add that last part as a final attempt to possibly get herself out of it. If Mindy said no, then it technically wasn’t her decision and she’d be forced to not tell anyone right now… right? 

But her luck vanished in a second.

‘yeah sure. Chad’s already asleep so he won’t bother us, but Anika’s still here. We can go to my room to talk if you want.’

Now, there was no backing out. It was a relief that Chad was promised to stay out of the picture, but now that it was mentioned, she didn’t think having Anika there would be a problem. In fact, it might make things easier with how compassionate and easy-going she was. So, she quickly replied.

‘no it’s fine, she can stay. i don’t mind talking with both of u’

‘Cool then come on over. I’ll unlock the door.’

‘kk’

Tara took another breath through her inhaler, before shoving it in her pocket and leaving her room. She gave Sam’s door a look as she passed, making sure that no light was detected from beneath it, before continuing to the front door. All she could hope for now was that Sam was in a deep enough sleep to not recognize the unlocking and re-locking of the locks, nor wake up to find her gone before she could return. She didn’t intend to make this conversation very long, because she was exhausted and would rather be alone. She just hoped Mindy and Anika wouldn’t drag it out any more than need-be. Well… she was confident that Anika wouldn’t, but Mindy was unpredictable.

Once she got to the Meeks-Martins’ apartment and went inside, she became really nauseous. Mindy had left for a brief moment, but Anika had gotten them all some water and was setting the cups down on the table. Tara swayed a little, bringing a ginger hand up to her stomach with a small whimper.

She should’ve waited until the morning to do this, when nothing was in her stomach. She hadn’t even wanted to eat dinner but forced herself to anyway, so Sam wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong with her. After all, her appetite had increased, once she started going to therapy and had been on different anxiety and depression medication. Sam was sure to get suspicious if she didn’t eat anything at all.

Anika heard her weak noise and looked over to find her holding her stomach. “Are you okay, Tara?” she asked.

The younger took a deep breath. “Erm… I-I think I just wanna go home… my stomach’s upset…” she replied, her legs starting to tremble again.

But this only made the other more concerned as she came over to her. “Okay, well, why don’t you sit down for a minute first? See if it feels better?” She kept a soft hand on her back and guided her to the nearest chair, before pushing one of the water cups up to her. “Here, take a few sips.”

When Tara sat down, her leg immediately started bouncing in that infamously anxious way it did when she felt that staying still was like the calm before the storm. That was something she and and Sam had in common— 

Sam…

She swore she couldn’t tell Sam what was going on, but it was hard not to want her around when she was this anxious. Just her sister’s presence was comforting, and if she were able to trust her with the truth, then she knew she would be able to be comforted the way she liked. But she just didn’t know…

She took a small sip of her water and a deep breath. Sitting down after shaking and pacing for so long actually seemed to take the edge off of her nervousness. It was a relief that made her realize just how much her feet were tired of bearing the pressure too.

“Is Sam not home?” Anika asked, knowing that Tara’s older sister was the first to know everything going on with her, ever since they eradicated the Kirsch family. Plus, whenever she was anxious like this, she always stayed close to Sam for comfort and security.

Carpenter set her cup down, shaking her head, “No, she’s home, just asleep.”

Right then, Mindy came back in, interjecting her apologies for her delay. “Sorry, I was catching up on some instructions for that paper that’s due next week.”

While Tara stayed quiet, Anika mentioned, “It’s fine. She just got really nauseous, so we haven’t talked much.”

But this made Mindy’s expression immediately switch to showing concern with underlying suspicion. If someone said they needed to talk and then became nauseous when they were given the opportunity to share, it was usually something that was risky. “It’s alright, take your time,” she assured, while she took a seat next to her girlfriend. “Is this your first time talking about whatever it is you need to talk about?”

Tara nodded without hesitation. She really wanted to just get it over with, blurt it out, and get all of the questions and awkward, judging moments of silence over with. “I… I just…” She paused to sigh again, trying to calm the waves of anxiety teasing her queasy stomach. “I’m just scared, because I don’t even know how to process it…” she whimpered.

“Well, let’s not worry about processing right now.” Anika reached her hand out to place it on Tara’s fidgeting hands. She then ran her thumb soothingly over her skin, “You can say whatever you wanna say, when you wanna say it.”

Beside her, Meeks-Martin nodded, “Yeah, whatever it is, it’s safe with us. Ring of Fire.”

‘Yeah, for now,’ Tara thought. It would be impossible to keep things a secret in the next coming weeks. She was already starting to feel the differences, which almost scared her more than telling someone, because she knew she’d be facing it all alone. She shifted in her seat and shrugged her shoulders, while giving a nervous glance down the hall… where the bedrooms were.

“Chad’s not going to come in, trust me,” Mindy promised, “Besides, even if he did, we’ll just tell him it’s girl stuff and he’ll go away.”

“N-no, that’s…” She couldn’t help but avoid all eye contact as she dropped her eyes to her lap. “It, uh… involves him actually…” This was where it got real. Unexpected tears suddenly rushed into her eyes, her chest feeling hot, while her throat started to close up.

The couple observing exchanged a glance, noticing her change in demeanor instantly. However, the longer they sat there, the more emotional Tara seemed to get.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Tara,” Anika rushed to calm her, getting up from her seat, when she saw the youngest’s figure shudder with a small sob. She knelt down next to her and wiped the tears that had started to fall.

But this just made Tara feel even more helpless as she drew her arms away from resting on the table-top to hug her torso, spine curving outward to hang her head further. “N-no, it’s not okay!” she cried, her voice pitched and whimper-like in trying to keep quiet.

“Yes, it is, T,” Mindy instantly told her, moving away from the table as well to go help comfort her. She came around and took the chair right next to her. “It is okay. Whatever it is, we can fix it or we can help you through it,” she soothed, gently beginning to rub her back in small circles. “Is this a coming-out thing?” She asked this, on account that what she was hiding concerned Chad and she hadn’t discussed it with Sam first, which was very weird for her. With how emotional she was becoming, it might suggest her having to break his heart, if hers no longer beat in the same direction.

However, Carpenter shook her head. “Mm— No…” She loved Chad. She loved him so much, which was why this was so hard. She didn’t know how he’d take it, because she didn’t even know how she could take it. There were options, of course, but it wasn’t just up to her. 

He was responsible for this just as much as she was.

“Tara.”

She glanced up with watery eyes to find Anika’s calm and comforting ones blinking back at her. 

“Take a deep breath… and tell us what you need to say.”

This was it. The point of no return. Tara closed her eyes, swallowed back the accumulated drainage clogging her esophagus, and took a deep breath. She felt Anika’s touch on her leg begin to pet her in a similar motion that Mindy was performing on her upper back. Her stomach twinged, which made her loosen her arms’ tight hold on it. She didn’t dare open her eyes. 

“I’m pregnant.”

All my best! ♡ - parker

[insanitybl00m]

Heaven’s Not Close in a Place Like This

Chapter Two - Eggs and Secrets

Phil walked all the way down the hall to the only gender neutral bathroom on campus. He shut the door and locked it. Of course he was partnered with one of Bad’s new friends. He just needed to get through the stupid project.

Bad knew how to push his buttons and he had gotten himself much more involved than he intended to in this project. 

Phil eyed his reflection in the mirror and quickly pulled out eyeliner out of his pocket. He fixed the smudged wing before heading back to the classroom.

“Missa the egg doesn’t have to have hair.”

“But she looks adorable with it!” Phil sat back in his seat. 

Missa was cradling the one they had dubbed ‘Lullah’. He gave her black curls made out of pipecleaners and was in the process of trying to make a little flower. 

“She looks cute.”

“See!” Bad rolled his eyes and went back to working on what looked like… a top hat?

“I thought that since you liked sketching and since I like music that she’d be creative. She plays music and can draw cute things!”

“Cool.” Missa brushed his blue bangs out of his eyes. 

“For Chayanne I was thinking a chef, and maybe a little warrior because well…” he laughed and lowered his voice. “Anyone who fights Bad and only ends up with a black eye has got to be strong.”

Phil laughed. That black eye hurt like hell and he was grounded for weeks for getting into a fight.

“Sure.”

Missa wrote down the notes before trying to create the tiny flower for Lullah’s hair.

“Maybe she should have a purple hat.” Phil took some purple air dry clay and started to mold it into a small ball.

“Yes! And Chayanne can have um…” Missa  paused for a second. He pulled out his phone and started going through his camera roll. “Something like this!”

He showed Phil a picture of hand warmers with a pattern of little ducks in bright yellow. 

“Oh! That’s cool, I’ll finish making her hat then we can figure out how to incorporate that.”

The two worked in an almost comforting silence. Maybe working with Missa wouldn’t be terrible. Maybe he wouldn’t be like the rest of soulfire. He wasn’t like bad. 

“So how do you want to do Chayanne’s design?” Phil asked. 

“Well ducks have a beak we could do a thing where it’s almost like his beak is poking through the shell?” Missa suggested.

“Hmm, oh what about a little duck floatie. Like the ones kids wear to help them swim.”

“That’s better, this way he can have wings and a little tail!” 

Phil’s eyes shone slightly. “I’ll do the little head of the floatie if you want to do the actual ring.”

“Yeah that should work.” Phil grabbed the yellow air-dry clay and started working. Missa noticed how well his makeup was done. He couldn’t do elaborate eyeliner and he often just blended his messy mistakes into the final look.

With Phil on the other hand though it looked like any blended bits were intentional. Thick wings emphasized the almond shape of Phil’s eyes.

Missa’s mind was wandering but that was normal. He often had his music playing in the background to block out the random thoughts that filled his brain but it would be rude to start playing music while he was trying to be friendly with Phil.

“Does this look good?” Phil held up the little head of the duck.

“Great! Let me just add the tail and we can put it on him.”

Phil opened his notebook as Missa finished decorating the egg. “So you know the general concept of the project right?”

“Yeah, a partnership raising eggs.”

“We have to do tasks with them, three times a week.” 

“The assignment list is posted online.” Missa opened his phone but turned it off when Phil kept talking.

“We’re also meant to have a little journal of how we work together as partners,”

“Yeah, how do you want to do that?”

“I have a few extra notebooks in my locker. I can make it look good.”

Missa paused. “Ok so we need to do the tasks together.” He reviewed the assignment.

“Three days a week, yep. I have to work certain days but I can figure out how to get the schedule to work.”

“I’m free most of the week.”

“Cool, I’ll make sure to message you. Do you want to take care of the eggs until we meet up or should I do it?”

“Whatever works better for you!”

Phil paused. “I’ll take them, that way if I can’t meet up for a bit because of work you won’t have to be stuck with two eggs.”

“It’s really not an issue—“

The bell rang, cutting Missa off. “I’ve got it!” Phil said, placing the eggs in the small cushioned box they had gotten. “I’ll message you if I can meet up, we’ll make plans later.”

“Do you two know each other?” Bad glared at Missa. 

“No. He’s the leader of Bolas. That’s how I know him. He’s the leader of our enemies.”

“Bad do we really have to be rival groups? They seem nice.”

“They’re a bunch of backstabbers, don’t trust him Missa.”

“I kind of have to trust him for the project.”

“You know what I mean. Don’t spend any more time with him then you need to.”

“I get it.”

“No I don’t think you do, he’s the reason I’m at this school Missa.”

Missa paused to process what he just heard. 

Phil had gotten Bad expelled?

[pathologicalreid]

fuckass criminal minds plotlines is so true actually like in the same vein why is Emily a spy and why is that IMMEDIATELY forgotten after she comes back from the dead like not even a mention later on. But yeah lmao they kept telling us that JJ was spending more time at home but also she's in the middle east but also she's being tortured except wait she's flying right now to help out with the Emily thing all in one day, like what are we doing

you make so many great points.

why do they drop spencer's addiction plotline so suddenly? why are the cm writers so bad at writing romance? (i will never get over the loss of you, beth clemmons). why was gideon a double agent? how can emily just leave london to "help out hotch" (don't even get me started) when she is literally in charge of interpol's london office? clyde easter rein your girl in!!!

you're telling me that jj is off on this super secret assignment and she can just fly to the states on a whim to help find emily? that makes no sense especially considering the urgency of the situation - there had to be so many security checkpoints involved and the timeline doesn't make sense.

so jj is in the middle of the desert but she somehow has the ability to play ONLINE SCRABBLE WITH EMILY??? fucking cheeto breath mf

AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE THEN CHOSE TO NAME HER SECOND BORN AFTER THE MAN WHO KIDNAPPED HER??????????? WHAT ARE WE DOING CRIMINAL MINDS WRITERS????????????????

please i have so many thoughts this is so cathartic

[ox1-lovesick]

★ — stargazer. kth

pairing. astronomy major!kang taehyun x gn!reader genre. fluff, college au warnings. none (?) wc. 1.3k

synopsis. there are two things that taehyun loves most in this world. stargazing, and you. although stargazing with you, might just climb it's way to the top

a/n. HAPPY TAEHYUN DAY !??!! (ignore how late this is) in my solomon era. FIRST WORK OF 2023 WOOHOO (i forced myself to write this) she's not online rn but this is simultaneously for my day 1 @lsrfmxt i miss you sosososo much and i hope you enjoy this when you see it 😔 also mind you i am in no way an astronomy expert all information is from google and bing LMAO

you've always been fascinated with the stars ever since you were younger.

the only way your parents could get you to calm down from a tantrum was to take you outside and sit you down in front of the sky, letting the stars soothe your worries. most kids your age would prefer dinosaurs, or hello kitty, finding your interest with the planets a bit much for their little heads. it was a bit much for anyone since you could go on about them for hours on end.

"i've seen it a thousand times but it's still just as breathtaking" taehyun said, making you hum in agreement. it took a while to find someone who was as enamored with the sky as you were, and it didn't help that your fascination only grew as you did. the highlight of your day was climbing up to the rooftop at night and watching them twinkle in all their glory, tracing constellations with your fingertips. for most of your life it was just you and the stars, not really having anyone to share your love for them with. but then you found him, in your second year of highschool

you were so similar to each other that it almost scared you. your professor had assigned you as partners for a research project and you bonded instantly. your love of the night sky stemming from childhood, being the only thing that kept little you entertained. the way you both would stay up until the early hours of the morning trying to find every constellation and zodiac you could, even forcing your parents to get a national geographic subscription to watch documentaries about the planets and other galaxies. you were practically the same person down to the T.

"we should get going soon, we have to be up early" you reminded him. it was 3 am on a thursday, meaning the two of you had an early morning of classes to get to "5 more minutes, i haven't seen it yet" his tired eyes still trained above you

it was promised (by earthsky.org) that venus would be most visible today. of course, you both are busy college students so you didn't sacrifice hours of sleep on a website alone. with some research of your own using stolen lab equipment, you and taehyun had figured out that it would in fact, be visible from earth throughout the course of this month. so here you were, sitting on your campus grounds staring at sky

the both of you had planned this morning for weeks. figuring out what day would have the most promise of you seeing the planet without the use of a telescope, how you were going to sneak out of your dorms and what you would do should you get caught, and most importantly what snacks you were bringing. although with no sight of venus for the past hour and a half, the whole thing was proving to be quite a bust.

"i don't think it's going to show, tae" you sighed.

"we'll see it, i promise. just have some patience" he asks, fingers tugging at your sleeve. "i've had patience, for 2 hours now. besides, venus isn't going to disappear, we can come back tomorrow"

"no, we can't" he breathed, almost soft enough that you didn't hear.

taehyun never liked staying up late, despite that being exactly what his major needed him to do. every time you went stargazing with him you were on a time limit. two in the morning was the most he could take before getting sleepy, so you'd usually head back to your dorms by now, but today he was adamant

"something up? you hate staying out late"

he sucked in a breath. squinting his eyes at the sky. why was it being so cruel to him the moment he needed it most "i wanted to impress you. so, if venus doesn't show in all it's bright red glory that would mean all the calculations i did were wrong. also, kai hates sleeping alone so i had to pay beomgyu to stay with him for the night."

he runs a hand through his hair, moving his fringe away from his eyes. it had completely slipped your mind until now, he'd been researching so diligently you'd almost forgotten just how much he hated doing things like this, despite how many nights he'd spent complaining to you.

his fingers still playing with the hem of your sleeve. "you wanted to impress me?" taehyun looked to you with wide eyes "no- i mean, you're the top of our class and always calling me useless so i had to prove myself or something..." you stifled your laugh to save him some face, but you couldn't help the smile tugging at your lips as he shied away from your gaze.

taehyun had always hated star tracking, because like most things within your major — at least right now without the proper equipment — you could never be on point. he craved precision, and that's what kept him ahead until now. you on the other hand loved it for that exact reason, knowing you could never guess 110% was the best part of it, and your professor agreed with you. he loved giving you assignments with no definite answer, seeing how far you were willing to go. it frustrated taehyun, and made his grades drop significantly, while you stayed at the top of your class

he spent hours- no, days doing something he hated just to impress you.

"you don't need to impress me" you chuckled. "it wasn't to impress you, i needed some practice in that field anyway.." he mumbled. "is that so?" "can we just keep looking for venus please" he cleared his throat, allowing his gaze to shift back to the sky. you chuckle, allowing yourself to do the same.

you sat in a comfortable silence for a little bit. lying under the stars. the sun would rise soon, and then you'd have to get ready for another day of endless work, there was a possibility beomgyu would tease the two of you for having 'alone time' together like he always did. but you weren't going to think about that for now, taking in the morning breeze against your skin, and basking in the feeling of taehyun's hand tightly wrapped in yours

"why work so hard, taehyun?"

his face scrunched in confusion. "what do you mean?" "it seems a bit useless, no? giving it your all when you'll never be able to see how far your research will go" he makes an 'o' shape with his mouth. you've talked about this before, whether it was all worth it or not in the end. he obviously had to work hard, he needed to get good grades, get his degree, and eventually get a good-paying job, that was the end goal, no matter what job you had

but that wasn't the answer you were looking for, it wasn't the answer he wanted to give you in any case.

"I work hard for you" he starts

"I work hard so that one day you can say "my husband is an astronomer""

he didn't dare to look at you just yet, afraid your silence was a rejection. he took a leap of faith, hoping that everything wasn't just in his head, and all the lingering gazes and touches did mean something.

"astronomy does seem like quite useless as a profession. but that's what makes it fun, isn't it? knowing there's so much out there that you couldn't possibly see it through to the end within your lifetime. it's intriguing. and besides, i can't be second best forever. i'll have to surpass you someday"

he catches the grin spreading across your face in the corner of his eye. breathing a shaky exhale in relief

"are you saying you want to marry me?" he feigned annoyance "out of everything i just said that's all you caught?" you didn't reply, looking at him expectantly. he shrugs in response "maybe"

"okay, deal. if we spot venus in the next 10 minutes, you have to take me on a date"