#to handle THEIR feelings and THEIR emotions and just take it all with humility and acceptance and kindness and never snap and bite back

[widevibratobitch]

.

[aventurineswife]

Hello :D! Can I request how Aventurine, Sunday, and Ratio would handle accidentally taking a joke too far/saying something that hurt the reader?

A Joke Too Far

Tags: Aventurine x Reader, Sunday x Reader, Ratio x Reader, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Miscommunication, Emotional Hurt/Healing, Fluff and Angst, Apologies and Redemption, Vulnerable Moments.

Warnings: Emotional Hurt, Minor Self-Deprecation, Angst and Tension, Characters may exhibit self-blame, Fluff resolution (Happy Ending), Sensitive themes of guilt and emotional wounds.

The usually unflappable Aventurine had made a misstep. What had started as light teasing about your supposed inability to bluff during a game of cards had spiraled into a sharp comment about your naivety in real life. Though it had been meant as a jest, your sudden silence spoke volumes. The flicker of pain in your eyes wasn’t something Aventurine could easily brush off.

He leaned back in his chair, feigning his usual relaxed demeanor as the cards slipped through his fingers, but his mind raced. His charm and wit had saved him countless times, yet here, it felt inadequate.

Standing, he made his way to your side, dropping to a crouch so he could meet your eyes. The air of playfulness softened, replaced by genuine contrition. “Well,” he said, voice quieter than usual, “it seems even I can misread the stakes. I didn’t mean to draw blood.”

You glanced at him, unsure how to respond.

“Let me make it up to you,” he continued, his lips twitching into a softer smile. “How about I put my pride on the table? A gamble just for you—I’ll let you choose the terms.” He tilted his head, his eyes catching the light. “All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll pay my dues.”

His sincerity shone through the offer, and you couldn’t help but let the tension in your shoulders ease. Aventurine had a way of making you feel seen, even when he stumbled.

Sunday was known for his eloquence and composed nature, but even he could falter. His comment, a teasing remark about how you seemed too attached to fleeting, mundane pleasures, was meant to be harmless. Instead, it struck a nerve, and you turned away sharply.

The halo behind him dimmed slightly, as though reflecting his own self-reproach. Sunday didn’t immediately speak; he knew words hastily given were often meaningless. Instead, he stepped closer, his presence warm yet unintrusive, like sunlight filtering through clouds.

“I have erred,” he began gently, his eyes searching for yours. “I did not intend to undermine what brings you joy. If I have caused you pain, it is my failure, not yours.”

His voice, calm and steady, carried the weight of sincerity. Sunday placed a hand over his heart, bowing his head slightly—a gesture of respect, almost reverent. “Your happiness, fleeting or eternal, is yours to cherish. I would never wish to diminish it.”

You glanced at him, finding it hard to hold onto your frustration in the face of his humility. Sunday smiled softly, the light behind him glowing a little brighter. “Perhaps I could learn from you, rather than judge. Show me the beauty you see—I would be honored.”

Ratio had been in the middle of one of his characteristically blunt tirades, critiquing a decision you had made during a project. His comment—that it was “hardly a surprise given your level of experience”—was not meant to wound, but the sharp edge of his tone had cut deeper than he realized.

When he noticed your silence, the shift in your posture, he paused. It wasn’t often that Ratio miscalculated, but when he did, he took it seriously. For a moment, he considered doubling down, justifying his words with logic, but the pang of guilt in his chest stopped him.

He took a breath, stepping closer. “I was careless,” he admitted, his voice softer than usual. His eyes, so often piercing, held a rare vulnerability. “My intent was to challenge, not to insult. But it seems I failed to consider how my words might be received.”

You glanced at him, surprised by the uncharacteristic apology.

Ratio removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose in a rare display of frustration. “The truth is, I respect your contributions more than I expressed. I let my standards obscure my appreciation.” He hesitated, then added, “I may not always convey it well, but your perspective is valuable to me.”

His straightforward approach made it clear he wasn’t just placating you, and slowly, the sting of his words began to fade. Ratio replaced his glasses and straightened, a small but genuine smile touching his lips. “Shall we try again? Together, this time.”

[fandomworld9728]

(These two were similar so I'm doing them together! ☺️

Hope you don't mind that I didn't go into a full-on story. It would take too long to do. So, I just did headcanons)

(Also, I made Sera & Seraphina the same person. I did a lot of research to try and get these right)

The Sins:

Asmodeus:

The most supportive of The Sins

Makes all sort of jokes but tells them how happy he is for them

Gifts them fun toys to use together

Gives the three, especially Adam, a stern talking to about not toying with Lucifer's emotions

Makes sure the understand that if they hurt Lucifer in any way that he would be their worst nightmare

Tell them that they're always welcome to Lust, especially for date nights

~

Beelzebub:

Super excited that Lucifer found not just one partner, but three

Acts nice and bubbly while Lucifer is in the room but as soon as he leaves her smile drops, and she gets serious

Lets them know about her empathic taste so she'd be able to tell if they fucked up

Threatens them while growing in size to get her point across before going back to her normal size and usually self

Alastor is her favorite (the feeling is mutual)

Offers to throw or carter any parties they wanted

~

Mammon:

Didn't really care to meet them

Questions Lucifer right in front of the three why he chose Sinners of all people to be with (is very classist like most of Hell)

Gave a half-ass apology after Lucifer had a word with him in private

Asked for a picture of the four together to sell, said it was a joke after most of them bristled up about it (he wasn't joking)

Gave a vague warning about making sure they kept lucifer happy (he was still his family after all)

Bonded easily with Vox

~

Belphegor:

Threatened them from the get-go knowing how much of a wreck Lucifer was after losing not only Lilith but also Alastor when he had still been alive

Flexed her medical knowledge to let them know how serious she was about this and how easily she could not only kill them without using her powers but also how easily she could get rid of their bodies if necessary

Honestly didn't care for them at all (she takes a bit to warm up to people) 

~

Satan:

Thinks the three are a riot and gives them his blessing

Makes sure they know in the most passive aggressive way that he is the most protective of Lucifer out of The Sins and not so subtly hints at them becoming food for the wildlife of Wrath if they make Lucifer cry

Likes to poke fun at Vox about not being able to handle life in Wrath, has a good laugh with Adam and Alastor about it

~

Leviathan:

Hates it

Hates them

Gets over it and tries to get to know the three

Threatens to throw them to the natives of his ring if they fuck up in any sort of way

The Virtues + Emily:

Emily:

Doesn't know Lucifer all that well but as Charlie's friend and hearing stories about Lucifer from the past is very happy for him

Mostly there to support Sera & Adam

Congratulates them all and gives them her best wishes, wishes Adam good luck with a smile 

~

Michael (Humility):

Glaring daggers at the three the whole time

Sharpening his sword during the whole conversation

When shaking their hands squeezes a bit too hard

Tries to talk Lucifer out of it

~

Gabriel (Diligence):

Honestly saw it coming

Had been keeping an eye on Lucifer with Azrael even if they couldn't interfere too much in his life after he fell

Welcomes the three into the family with a tight grip on their shoulders and a smile that didn't reach his eyes

~

Sera/Seraphina (Chastity):

Welcomed Adam back but questioned why he was with Lucifer after all the talk about how much he hated him

Very wary of Alastor and Vox (especially Alastor)

Tries her best to be polite 

Had a huge headache after they left

~

Uriel (Patience)/Raphael (Charity)/Auriel (Temperance)/Azrael (Kindness):

Sat back and watched the others threaten the three

Overall was happy for Lucifer and had their own secret plans for if the three messed up with Lucifer

The Partners:

Adam:

Has never been more scared in his life or afterlife 

Almost peed himself several times (especially when talking to Michael

~

Alastor:

Found it all amusing and a waste of time

Would never admit it but felt true fear when meeting Michael and Gabriel

Tried his best to play nice for Lucifer

~

Vox:

Tried to keep the peace between everyone

Had to stop a couple fights between Alastor and Satan

Couldn't help but feel annoyed and endeared when Lucifer laughed at them floundering around with his siblings

[thatgentlewife]

Here are some Christ-centered ways a husband can create a joyful, loving marriage by serving, honoring, and leading his wife:

1. Pray with Her and for Her

• Pray together daily and seek God’s guidance for both your lives. Pray individually for her needs, spiritual growth, and protection.

2. Show Selfless Love and Compassion

• Embrace Christ’s sacrificial love by putting her needs above your own. Show compassion through kind words and actions, always seeking her good.

3. Be a Spiritual Leader

• Lead by example in faith and integrity, prioritizing God’s Word in daily life. Encourage her spiritual growth by reading the Bible together, praying, and fostering a faith-filled home.

4. Encourage and Affirm Her Daily

• Encourage her strengths, dreams, and growth. Affirm her beauty, intelligence, and kindness to make her feel valued and appreciated.

5. Serve Her in Practical Ways

• Help with chores or errands, or surprise her with small acts like preparing breakfast or helping with her daily tasks. These gestures show you’re mindful of her comfort and happiness.

6. Listen to Her with Patience and Empathy

• Give her your full attention and listen without judgment, whether she’s sharing concerns, dreams, or everyday stories. Listening with empathy builds intimacy and trust.

7. Show Physical Affection and Care

• Make her feel cherished with physical affection: holding her hand, hugging, and gentle touches. Physical closeness helps deepen emotional bonds.

8. Take Initiative in Planning Date Nights

• Make time for romance by planning thoughtful dates, even if they’re simple, like a movie night or a walk. This strengthens your connection and keeps the romance alive.

9. Be Quick to Forgive and Slow to Anger

• Approach conflicts with patience and grace. Be willing to forgive quickly, prioritizing unity over being “right.”

10. Express Gratitude for Her Efforts

• Regularly thank her for all she does, whether at home or in other aspects of life. Recognizing her efforts and saying thank you makes her feel valued and loved.

11. Lead with Humility and Gentleness

• Embrace Christlike humility and lead gently, respecting her voice in all decisions. Seek her opinions and consider her needs with a servant’s heart.

12. Protect and Provide for Her

• Prioritize her safety and well-being, both physically and emotionally. Provide stability and reassurance, especially during challenging times.

13. Be Open and Honest with Your Feelings

• Build trust through honest, open communication. Share your dreams, struggles, and hopes, letting her into your heart and life.

14. Encourage Her Talents and Passions

• Support her gifts and encourage her pursuits. Whether she’s pursuing a career, hobbies, or ministry, let her know you’re her biggest cheerleader.

15. Handle Finances Responsibly

• Make financial decisions that honor your family’s needs and goals. Plan wisely, budget, and invest in your shared future with her in mind.

16. Make Her Feel Beautiful and Cherished

• Regularly compliment her beauty, both inner and outer. Leave notes, send sweet messages, or surprise her with small gifts to remind her she’s special.

17. Offer to Pray for Her Specific Needs

• Ask her if there’s anything she’d like prayer for, and take time daily to lift her needs up. This shows genuine care for her well-being.

18. Honor Her in Front of Others

• Speak kindly about her to family, friends, and others, showing respect and pride. Honoring her publicly reinforces her value in your life.

19. Make Time for Quality Moments Together

• Set aside time just for the two of you, free from distractions. Whether it’s a quiet conversation or a shared activity, being present strengthens your bond.

20. Be Patient with Her Imperfections

• Extend grace and patience when she makes mistakes. Recognize that marriage is a journey of growth, and love her through every step.

21. Express Love and Appreciation with Little Gestures

• Surprise her with flowers, a note, or her favorite treat. These thoughtful gestures can make her feel adored and cherished.

22. Be a Safe Place for Her Emotions

• Create an emotionally safe space for her to share her feelings without fear of judgment. Be gentle, compassionate, and understanding.

23. Pursue Personal Growth for Her Sake

• Work on personal development, whether it’s growing spiritually, improving health, or managing emotions. Becoming a better man makes you a better husband.

24. Prioritize Her Needs and Happiness

• Consider her needs when making decisions, both big and small. Showing that her well-being matters builds trust and deepens love.

When a husband loves, serves, and leads in this Christ-centered way, he honors his marriage, builds his wife up, and lays a foundation for a joyful and fulfilling partnership. ❤️

[ihavenothingtodo10220]

Hi, I was wondering if u could do Felix (skz) ideal type 🫶🏻 ty

Of course!

Quick disclaimer: His exact birth time is entirely unknown, so I calculated his natal chart with that in consideration. As such, this is not going to be as accurate as it could be, but as accurate as it can be with what I have to work with. This is all for fun, and not confirmed. I can be entirely off, as astrology isn't...An exact art when it comes to these things, but this is just based on astrology. This is not meant to be malicious, and take this with a grain of salt. With all that out of the way, please enjoy! Also i'm so sorry for how long this took it took me forever to start this then I had to rewrite it in my new format so...yeah.

Placements

First off, with his Virgo Sun. A Virgo Sun looks for a partner who possesses a strong sense of responsibility and reliability. They are attracted to people who can match their level of commitment and dedication. Someone with a well-organized life and a structured approach to their goals and aspirations will catch their attention. He appreciates a partner who can handle their own affairs with efficiency and precision. Intelligence and intellectual compatibility are highly valued by him. He wants a partner who can engage him in deep and meaningful conversations, stimulating his mind and inspiring his analytical thinking. Wit, a thirst for knowledge, and a rational mindset will captivate Felix's heart. He can appreciate a partner who can challenge their intellect and offer new perspectives.

In matters of emotions, Felix looks for someone who can provide stability and emotional security. He is drawn to individuals who are emotionally mature, grounded, and have a good handle on their feelings. A partner who can navigate through life's challenges with a level-headed approach and a calm demeanor will be deeply appreciated by the Virgo Sun.

Attention to health and well-being is paramount to him, and he seeks a partner who shares this value. A physically fit and health-conscious individual will be highly attractive to him. He appreciates someone who takes care of their body and mind, and who understands the importance of a balanced lifestyle. Felix also values humility and a certain level of modesty. He is not fond of big displays of ego or arrogance. Instead, he is drawn to people who have quiet confidence, understated achievements, and genuine humility. A partner who can appreciate the little things in life and find joy in simplicity will resonate with Lixie's practical and down-to-earth nature. He seeks a partner who shares his desire for personal growth and self-improvement. He is attracted to individuals who are constantly striving to better themselves, both intellectually and emotionally. A partner who is open to self-reflection, willing to work on their flaws, and constantly evolving.

Now with his Aries Moon, he wants a partner who exudes confidence and assertiveness. He is attracted to individuals who are not afraid to take charge and pursue their desires with unwavering determination. Someone who can stand their ground and meet their passionate energy head-on will definitely win his heart. Independence and a strong sense of individuality are highly valued by Felix. He wants a partner who can maintain their own identity and pursue their own interests, while still being able to come together and create a dynamic and exciting partnership. Freedom and autonomy are important to him, and he appreciates a partner who can respect and support his need for personal space and self-expression.

In matters of emotions, Felix looks for someone who can match his intensity and enthusiasm. He craves a partner who can keep up with his emotions and engage in passionate exchanges. An adventurous and spontaneous spirit will bring out that fire in him, and someone who can meet his emotional needs with equal fervor will earn his admiration. Felix is drawn to individuals who embrace challenges and are not afraid to take risks. He looks for a partner who can share his thirst for excitement and novelty. Someone who can push his boundaries, encourage him to step out of his comfort zone, and embark on thrilling adventures will win the Aries Moon's heart.

Honesty and directness are highly valued by the Aries Moon. He appreciates a partner who can communicate openly and transparently, without beating around the bush. He wants someone who can match his straightforward approach to life and relationships, as he has no patience for hidden agendas or manipulative behavior. Felix also values loyalty and commitment. He wants a partner who can be his rock, someone he can rely on through thick and thin. A steadfast and devoted person who is willing to stand by his side and support his ambitions will earn his respect and admiration.

Furthermore, Felix is attracted to individuals who possess a strong sense of self-belief and are not easily swayed by others' opinions. He wants a partner who can inspire and challenge him, someone who can match his fierce determination and encourage him to reach for the stars. He looks for a partner who can handle his occasional bursts of anger or impatience with grace and understanding. He appreciates someone who can diffuse tense situations and help him find balance when his emotions run high. A partner who can provide a calming influence and support his emotional growth will be deeply cherished by him.

With his Libra Mercury, he is attracted to individuals who possess beauty, charm, and can have intellectual conversations. His ideal type would be someone who is not only physically attractive but also intellectually stimulating. He wants a partner who can engage in deep and meaningful conversations since communication is very important to him.

In terms of personality, Felix is drawn to individuals who are diplomatic, fair-minded, and cooperative. He wants someone who values harmony and believes in compromise rather than conflicts. He is attracted to someone who can bring balance and stability to his life.

Felix also values partnership and seeks a relationship that is built on equality and mutual respect. He desires a partner who understands his need for balance and supports his quest for harmony in all aspects of life.

In men, their Venus can show what they're attracted to. With his Libra Venus, Felix wants a partner who embodies beauty, grace, and elegance. Physical attractiveness plays a large role in catching his eye, as he appreciates refined aesthetics.

However, it's not just about appearances for him. He wants a partner who has inner beauty as well. Kindness, compassion, and a gentle nature are traits that he values deeply. He wants someone who can bring balance and harmony to his life, someone who can be his equal and complement his own harmonious nature.

Intellectual compatibility is also important to Felix. He is attracted to individuals who can engage him in stimulating conversations, and who have intelligence and wit. A partner who can challenge him intellectually and share his love for art, culture, and beauty will surely capture his heart.

In relationships, Felix looks for fairness, compromise, and mutual respect. He values a harmonious partnership where both partners have the freedom to express themselves and make decisions together. He wants a relationship where both parties feel heard and understood, and where conflicts can be resolved through open and honest communication.

Now with his Leo Mars, Leo Mars men are known for their fiery and confident nature. He wants a partner who can match his enthusiasm and share his zest for life. He wants someone who can ignite his passion and keep up with his energetic spirit.

Physical attractiveness plays a significant role in catching the attention of a Leo Mars man too. He is drawn to individuals who exude confidence, radiance, and a strong presence. A partner who can command attention and carry themselves with grace and style is likely to capture his attention.

Beyond physical appearance, Felix values a partner with a magnetic personality. He wants someone confident, charismatic, and has a strong sense of self. A partner who can stand beside him as an equal, supporting his ambitions and encouraging his creative pursuits, will truly win his heart.

In relationships, he wants loyalty, adoration, and unwavering support. He wants a partner who can appreciate his need for attention and admiration, someone who can shower him with praise and affection. However, it's important to note that he also values reciprocity and expects his partner to have their own passions and ambitions.

Intimacy is an important thing for him, both emotionally and physically. He wants a partner who can match his intensity in the bedroom, someone who is open-minded and willing to explore new experiences. Emotional connection and passion go hand in hand for a Leo Mars man.

Aspects

With Mercury sextile Chiron, Felix has a keen intellect that is both insightful and sensitive. He is drawn to deep conversations that touches the soul and wants a partner who can provide emotional support and understanding.

The Jupiter opposition Pluto aspect indicates a powerful magnetism to him. Felix is attracted to intensity and transformative experiences. He wants a partner who can match his passion, someone who is not afraid to explore the depths of their own desires and ambitions.

The Mercury sextile Pluto aspect further enhances his allure, as he has a magnetic charm and persuasive communication style. He is attracted to people who possess depth and a mysterious aura, someone who can engage him in stimulating intellectual exchanges.

The Sun sextile North Node aspect suggests a sense of purpose and destiny in his relationships. He is drawn to partners who inspire growth and help him fulfill his potential. A supportive and encouraging partner who shares his aspirations would be his ideal type.

The Mars trine Ascendant aspect gives him confidence and assertiveness. He is attracted to individuals who exude strength and independence. A partner who can stand alongside him as an equal, supporting his ambitions while pursuing their own, would be highly appealing to him.

The Venus trine Uranus aspect adds a touch of excitement and unpredictability to his love life. He is attracted to unique and unconventional people who challenge societal norms. A partner who embraces their individuality and is open to exploring new experiences would captivate his heart.

With the Moon sextile Neptune aspect, he has a sensitive and empathetic nature. He is drawn to partners who are emotionally attuned and can create a deep emotional connection. A compassionate and nurturing soul would be his ideal match.

[squwhims]

Joker Out Members Ranked on Their Ability To Aid Someone Bringing a Ring To Mordor

Very niche ranking, but I was cleaning out my google account and remembered that I made a google slide titled, "The List: Fictional Men Who Make Me Kick My Lil Feet Up & Giggle"...number one man on that list being Samwise Gamgee. In that, I made a compare and contrast section and one of the slides is ranking the fictional men on how good they would be at making the journey to Mordor.

Obviously, these guys here are not fictional, so take this with nuance since I am pulling these opinions out of my butt, but I love it when people post their thoughts on Joker Out as (blank), so I will too!

Number One: Nace

Nace definitely has it in him to get someone through this type of situation. This ranking is not based on "physically could he get you to and from Mordor" (because the whole premise of this trip is that a man under 120cm managed to do it), but I do think Nace's strength would be an added bonus. I think that Nace has the best emotional capabilities for this quest. Out of everyone in the band, I feel like he is the most grounded and down to earth member. I think he would have the patience to deal with the emotional toll of the quest, like, it would be difficult to get through, but I feel like he has a very persevering spirit and would be able to survive off of memories of the things he loves back home, and he'd always try his hardest not to make the situation worse with negativity. He's got humility and I don't think he would judge someone for breaking down on the quest. I have no lived proof of him being a safe man, but he seems very safe, you could trust him to guard you while you sleep. He would stay loyal through the whole trek to Mordor and he would tell wonderful stories at the campfire that comfort you and remind you of where you started.

Number Two: Jure

Now, this ranking is based more on "could he physically get you to and from Mordor" because although he doesn't capture the pure-of-heart, patience, down to earth, loyalty that Sam represents, by god...he would plop you down on his motorbike and the trip would take no more than a week. I raised myself the question, "how would he handle the emotional toll though?" and I raise myself the answer: I don't think you'd have time to dwell on the fear and homesickness and dread. I think Jure would be a busy-body on the quest. I think he'd be foraging, cooking, cleaning all the gear, putting unknown plants into his pipe and smoking it just to see what happens, and he'd be climbing EVERYTHING. I simply don't think there would be space in his quest to feel anything. Closer and closer to the doom of Mordor he would be speeding things up. He has the least amount of apparent Sam-like qualities, but this ranking is not called "Joker Out members ranked on their Sam-like qualities", this is based purely on COULD HE GET YOU THERE IN ONE PIECE?! Jure could simply walk into Mordor and that is enough.

Number Three: Bojan

This was a real toss up, because on one hand I feel like he has quite a bit of persevering, mental strength, he is a bit of a silly goose and would be a hoot to travel with...but on the other hand I feel like he is leaning closer to the Frodo side of the spectrum deep down. The quest would start off with high sprits, you know, he'd be leaving home with a smile on his face and pep in his step. He'd be so excited to see the elves and the world and meet new people...but then one bad thing would happen at the start of the second quarter of the quest and he would begin to crack. Gandalf/other mentor figure in this hypothetical situation would die and that would be his breaking point. Working through the emotional toll of the trek would be HARD. Physically, I think he could do it...but mentally...idk man. The guy already gets panic attacks on the regular and I don't think he would be of any help to someone who needed to dispose of a ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Maybe that would be beneficial to the team because he'd be down in the dumps with you despite the fact that YOU are carrying the weight of the world around YOUR neck. So idk, we're all in this together? I'm sure he'd have good moments. He would definitely try his best to stay positive.

Number Four: Jan

Too Frodo coded to aid someone on their quest to Mordor. I'm not saying this to wimpify Jan, because physically, I do think he would be capable— really, the quest is just a long walk in the woods, so I feel like he would start the quest off doing fine. Sight-seeing with a cane in his hand: delightful. It would be a very quiet quest, but he'd be present. However, I feel like the pressure of getting to Mordor would be weighing on him the whole time. I don't think he is built to carry that much weight in his heart all alone. The fate of the world resting on his shoulders? He's gotta get his buddy across the world and through countless dangers? Doesn't know if either of them will survive? Once you start, there is no going back? Yeah, no. I don't think Jan is built to play the Sam role on this quest. He is Frodo. Someone is gonna need to be there to pick him up when he falls face-first into a bog due to lack of will to live and cut him free from spiderwebs and shit.

Number Five: Kris

Gonna be honest, I don't think Kris would have went on this quest. If Gandalf told him he had to go with Frodo I think that Kris would have said no. He has assessed all the potential dangers of the quest, he doesn't have anything to prove, he doesn't even really like Frodo that much; he would say no to going. Of course, it is mandatory that he goes and he gets forced into going. I think that Kris would have a good time with the elves, his brothers and sisters in height. Yeah, he'd have a great time with them. You'd be on your deathbed getting healed after being stabbed and Kris would be getting philosophical with the elves, learning archery and shit. He'd be feeling pretty good after that and more at ease going on the quest, but I don't think he would really care about you. Like he doesn't want you to die (because that would mean that now he'd need to hold onto the ring) but he decided a long time ago that he is working through his emotions on his own, and you are working on yours alone. Not a bad quest buddy if you are stoic. This sounds really mean, I don't mean to be mean!! He'd make a really great Legolas!

[crash-and-cure]

If I Were You Part 5 (Yandere!Austin!Elvis x Reader)

Summary: Love is the only rational act. Call him crazy or unhinged all you want, that sounds just about right to Elvis. 

A/N: Well... it’s been a minute. Sorry y’all I’ve been having to deal with a move recently which set me back alot in terms of finding free time to write but I’d rather it be late and good than early and rushed. This chapter is going to be from Elvis POV so if it feels like there is a bit of a heel turn from reader know that that is why. We’ll also be getting insight as to how reader has been feeling these last few months and how she handles what happened in this chapter in the next.

Warnings: Yandere!Elvis so expect themes of obsessive, manipulative, jealous, and heavily delusional behavior as well as references to previous blackmail, emotional and otherwise, here too. Dubious consent in some areas. Inappropriate relationship with a Therapist (Though she is no longer one at the moment). Depictions of a therapy session. Explicit sexual content depicted that includes Penetrative sex (m/f), Daddy Kink, Praise kink, a bit of somnophilia (she does not stay asleep), vaginal fingering, and a tiny bit of anal play. Also mentions of Elvis' mommy issues, though he’ll never call them that and reader’s daddy issues because parallels. Period typical misogyny depicted and reflected by POV character’s attitude towards women in the orkplace. Finally depictions of a toxic relationship that include power imbalances, emotional manipulation, heavy use of coercion, grabbing that leads to bruising and deception. Please do not interact if you are under 18.

Word count: 14K

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Masterlist

Humility is something Elvis always tries to work towards. Even as his star grew to new heights he could never have dreamed of before, he always in the back of his head felt as though he was just a step away from losing it all. And he almost did, not in the sense of losing the fame or the money, but he did lose sight of what he loved, in who he loved and 

But people didn’t stop loving him. 

He’s been honest with you that this was a heavy burden he had to bear, that need to fix himself not for his own sake but for others. The idea that him running himself ragged into an early grave felt less like a fear, and more like an inevitability. 

And yet he beat the odds, and now he looks forward to all that life has to offer now.  

Elvis tries to be humble, but it’s hard to do so when every morning he gets to wake up next to the most beautiful, most intelligent, and most caring woman in the world, with the full knowledge that you’re his alone. 

He never thought it was possible to love someone so deeply like this. 

Sure at first you yourself used to see an issue in this kind of love, but he eventually brought you around. Sure it can be an awful thing when someone is vile, and taking advantage of the other, but he knows he never has to worry about that from you. 

You take care of each other, and ain’t that what it’s all about? 

Those other people don’t know what the two of you got, and have never experienced a love like yours. If they could even experience a fraction of the love he felt for you, they would understand why nothing could keep him away from you. How cruel it would in fact be to keep either of you apart. 

Now as he holds you in his arms he’s content in the knowledge that no one has any right to do so. 

Those first few months of your relationship, there would be times when he woke up and even seeing you he couldn’t entirely trust it was truly you. His mind had played tricks on him before with all those other women he had had right before you, and he would have to feel the devastating grief that these women weren’t you. 

He doesn’t even remember most of their names, considering how many of them left because of how often he would say your name when he wasn’t being careful, it was probably for the best. Part of him wonders if any of them ever figured out they were stand-ins for you, the other part worries that he doesn't feel particularly guilty even if they did. 

But these worries quickly die as he looks down on your beautiful face. 

He liked seeing you so sleepy, those early months, it’s when you were most honest he thinks. Too tired to think too hard about anything save for the feelings he knows he brings out in you. Just awake enough to know what you’re doing and more importantly to know how to enjoy yourself. When you’re soft and pliable just the way he likes you, but just as ravenous and willful as any wildcat to really make him work up an appetite. 

He lifts the covers off of the both of you and he gets to see how the hem of your baby doll had ridden up well past your hips, and he licks his lips seeing his breakfast. 

He knows that your body wanted him before your mind did. That on some deeper level you wanted him, long before you could think so, let alone admit it. And he sees it in these moments as you’re still dead asleep but you squirm under his touch. Breathy sighs fall from your plush lips as he lazily brushes his fingers along your inner thighs  

He wonders what you dream about these days. You once told him how dreams can have any meaning you assign them to have, and it’s within his power to decide. 

He once told Priscilla that he was “all outta dreams,” and he could safely say he feels the same way with you. Before those words meant how he felt hopeless in such a bleak situation, but now they mean the utter contentment he feels everyday when he’s with you. 

Something you gave him, and in spite of all that he’s done to get you here, he will happily spend the rest of his days paying you back. You’ve helped him in ways you probably couldn’t imagine, as now, he wants for nothing but you anymore. 

And when his hand finally reaches into that warm piece of heaven between your legs, there is no hiding the way he makes you feel. You squirm under his touch, not having even been anywhere close to waking up. He hopes that he now occupies your dream world now as you have done since he’s met you. 

Your eyes don’t immediately shoot open, but you jump a little as he starts to drag you back to the waking world. With a half-lidded unfocused stare, you’re all lazy smiles and breathy moans as you buck your hips against his hand all the while your ass rocks against him, stirring up little Elvis from his slumber. He wonders if you believe you’re still dreaming, after all in his mind everyday with you feels like one. 

You’ve become so compliant since you left your job for him. You don’t gotta worry about no office to be at or other patients you need to see. You don’t mind being seen with him out and about anymore. You especially don’t mind the marks he leaves on you, which is a good thing especially now as he’s in a mood to mark you where he can today. 

But you, in your half-asleep state, apparently have other plans. He feels as you blindly reach between your legs to grab a hold of him, catching him off-guard slightly as he starts to feels his cock part your folds. Then without a word of warning you close your thighs, and it’s like a punch to the gut it feels so good. You’re warm as all get out, and your thighs are still slick from last night, but the major difference between this and your little love cavern is your teasing fingers that gently bring the very tip of him up to continuously nudge at your clit. 

It’s enough to drive any man insane. 

It truly takes everything within him to pull away from you, and from the needy little whine you give, you feel the same. He turns you around and puts you right to straddle his lap. Your head lolls a bit at the swift motion, not entirely awake, but you practically jolt awake when he grabs your behind. 

“Now why you gotta go teasin’ like that Mama,” he growls relishing in the feel of your ass beneath his fingers. He wonders how hard he would need to squeeze to leave a couple marks down there. 

“‘M sorry daddy,” you mewl unconvincingly, lowering yourself to kiss him, something you’re no longer scared to initiate. A sharp slap on your ass has you realizing he meant business right now. But still you wait for him to tell you what to do. 

He’s taught you well.

“Well now you gotta fix it Sweetheart,” he purrs, and you shudder as his thumbs glide up your inner thighs, . “Can’t have your daddy goin’ out there lookin’ like this now can we?”

You shake your head no and the desire to just bend you over and take you like an animal grew but he wanted you to finish what you started. Granted you may not have started this specifically this morning but there ain’t no getting around the fact that this all started with you. 

He bites his lip to really focus on you in that moment; that little contented sigh that would fall from your lips feeling the fat head of his cock brush up against your eager clit, before turning into a lazy smile, as you slowly but surely guide him to that place he loves so much. That filthy moan that falls from your lips as he finally begins the descent into your entrance, before it turns into a needy little whine as he slowly retracts his hips and before he suddenly slams them back into you full force. 

That little wiggle your ass does as you give a breathy “daddy” is all the encouragement he needs before he presses upward. One hand threads through his own right on your hip, while the other . The whiny little noises you make each time he even nudges that precious little spot you bashfully admitted only he was ever able to reach. 

The material of your nightie by now has fully slipped off your shoulders, now leaving it only as a useless ring of fabric around your waist. You don’t seem to mind a single bit as you eagerly bounce up and down his cock, your gorgeous tits on full display and, to his chagrin, offensively clear of any bruises. In fact a quick once over of your body shows that the marks he’s left on you before were already healing up. 

He’s really gotta do something about that soon. Afterall for as smart as you can be, you’re often liable to forgetting who you belong to. 

But for as tempting as your nipples can be, he actively has to stave off his own desires, just to fully appreciate the image before him. That of the good doctor fucking herself stupid on his cock as she shamelessly licks her own juices right off his fingers, and begs for more from her daddy while the early morning rays give an almost angelic appearance. But that image of purity is swiftly done away with as he reaches around you and with his still wet fingers he lightly presses on that tight ring of muscle you’re far too demure to ever ask him about but he knew you loved when he did this. And with tears in your eyes and unrestrained cries flying from your lips, you seemingly fall apart and your walls clamp down on him like a vice.

Truly there ain’t ever gonna be a more perfect woman, he thinks as feels euphoria rocket through him and he proceeds to paint your inner walls white. Your hips stutter as you try to catch your breath, still quivering through some aftershocks, and you try to catch yourself on your hand from fully collapsing into him. Well he ain’t having none of that, and he wraps his arms around you to bring you as close as possible to him, never wanting to let you go.

Though the absolute best part for him is that you no longer get that left over guilty look afterward. The shy act was cute the first few months but as time went on it lost its appeal and he wished you would stop treating him like something you had to feel ashamed of. But now when you open your eyes to look at him all he sees are equal parts adoration and hunger. And it’s all for him.

Thanks to you he’s gotten far better in terms of communicating what he wants from people and it’s probably the worst kept secret in all of Graceland how much he wants and needs you at any given moment. You're able to ignite him in ways no girl has ever been able to do, and he doubts there will ever be another like you.

Though he thinks he most especially loves mornings like these because it’s all the proof he needs that that old job of yours wasn’t worth all the trouble it was causing in your head. After all, how can anything that doesn’t hurt no one and makes you feel this good be bad?

He ain’t one to talk though, he remembers those early months when he did try to fight off his feelings for you.

It’s wild to think he ever had doubts about therapy. Dr. Wilson was fine so far in that he was able to help him through his addiction without making him feel awful about it while also helping him realize that there was a lot more going on in his need for the drugs that he wasn’t even aware of. He was always able to remain coolly neutral no matter what ever fucked up thing the rockstar had told him. Elvis got the sense that he had been at this so long and with so many different celebrities that hardly anything phased him at this point. Which was good in a way, didn’t make him feel so outta place there but it also felt so…impersonal. As though the person that came right before him or right after him would get the same advice and insights as he did. 

Overall he was fine in terms of easing him into therapy and being able to express his thoughts and feelings with someone without having to be afraid of being judged. But he will admit that Wilson did do right by him by recommending you in the first place. 

He still remembers that day, there was an odd sense of euphoria to not only have a name for what he had but also that there were specialists who could handle this sort of thing professionally. But at the same time it clashed with his hope of his life going back to the way it was any time soon.

“Co-dependency is a relatively new term within the psychology community, so there aren’t many who are equipped to handle this condition.” Wilson says, eyes firmly on his notes. “But you’re in luck as I believe there is a specialist located in the Memphis area last I checked.”

“Doc, you sure I even need this?” he would question, as he fidgeted with the sleeve of his robe, the material having become a tad bit scratchier than when he had arrived. “I mean I don’t, even get cravin’s for them pills no more.” 

“Yes Elvis, we’ve treated the more overt and life-threatening symptoms of your addiction, but we’ve yet to truly tap into the underlying cause. Without doing that you would be liable to fall right back into old habits all over again. Maybe not with the pills, but some other vice.” he says calmly. “It’s why we enforce rules as to moderation within the facility as oftentimes getting rid of one addiction will lead to seeking solace in another. You’ve done better than most in abstaining from the more overt addictions and in order to keep up with this, I think it would be best if you continue treatment with Dr. Y/L/N.”

Elvis has a long sigh at this but he does genuinely want to get better, yet he still holds doubt as to whether more of this is necessary. He thinks at best you will be able to show him what to look out for in people that could take advantage of him again and you could go your separate ways after a few sessions. After all he did at least want to show Priscilla that he was actually making an effort to get better, and what better way than to keep going to therapy. 

He hesitated a bit during that first call, when he found out you were a woman. He knows it’s a whole new era and women can work outside the home if they want and all that, but he still wasn’t too sure about it. And he ain’t never met a woman who called herself a doctor, so there was that. 

But he also knew himself well enough to know that any excuse he could get to get out of going he would take, and having to drive all the way from Memphis to Nashville was a pretty good one. Besides women are naturally good with talking and feelings and shit, so it kinda makes sense in a way to see a woman about this kind of stuff. So it was worth a shot. 

That all changed when he met you in person for the first time. What he almost immediately noticed about you was how warm your eyes were. Not necessarily in color, but how you looked genuinely happy to see him. And not just in the way he’s used to from women who want him, but more… something he can’t quite put his finger on. But when you looked at him for the first time he felt as though he was being seen as Elvis, not just as The Elvis Presely. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Presley, it’s nice to meet you.” You said to him with a friendly smile on your face and a firm handshake.

“Same here, Dr. Y/L/N,” he would say, as all of his doubts seemed to melt away. You were beautiful in a way he wasn’t used to, all professional and button-upped like a secretary yet also comforting and very approachable like a librarian. It was an odd combination no doubt but you pulled it off well. 

There’s something about you that just puts his mind at ease, not only as you talk but as you listen. He felt like he was being heard instead of just listened to, which isn’t something he ever realized was lacking in his life. When you sat there you looked as though you could listen to him talk for hours, not the slightest bit of impatience to be seen. And the way you looked at him as he talked, as much as you may have been trying to hide it, he saw that you felt what he felt when talking about these things, his joy in performing, his sadness over the state of his family, his anger at Colonel. 

That was another thing, the little tidbits of advice you gave, that in retrospect seem so obvious, but hearing it from you that Parker didn't have any control over him anymore and he didn’t have to call him something that made it look like that. It’s hard to believe you're younger than him and yet so much wiser.

There was one thing you said to him toward the end of that first session and you were talking about his goals overall. 

“There’s a lotta things I want Doc,” he says. “I want my family back. I want to get back with ‘Cilla. I want to get back into music and perform again. I… want to know what to look out for so I don’t make the same mistake again.”

That last one apparently peaks your interest, as you say with a gentle smile on your lips, “Mr. Presley, many people when they walk into my office expect to be given answers as to their conditions or the issues ongoing in their lives. But the reality is that I don’t have the answers but what I can do is act as a guide so that you may be able to find what you may be looking for in a healthy and effective manner.” 

”I-I think I see what you’re sayin’ Doc,” he says. “A-and you can call me Elvis,” he states, ifa bit shyer this time around.

“Of course Elvis,” you say with a smile radiating warmth. “Now, as we’re getting towards the end of our session, I would like to express my goals for you.” 

He’s very curious as to what you have to say, so he leans forward eager to listen.

“Elvis, contrary to what it may sound like, my goal is not to espouse total self-reliance and to never trust anyone again. Nor is it for you to simply find ‘better’ people to rely on totally,” you say. “My goal for you, as it is for all of my patients, is to trust yourself most of all to know what’s best for you. Good or bad, regardless of another's opinions, these are your choices to make.” 

Those are simple words but they have a monumental impact on his perspective of things. And for the first time in a long time he looks at you and sees someone he can trust to do right by him. 

And now the first thing he’s gonna trust himself about, it’s that you’re gonna be good for him overall.

It was a bit difficult to get into the whole routine of seeing you, especially as he didn’t want certain people in his circle knowing that he was even still going to therapy. Not even necessarily because he feared it would somehow get back to the papers but because most of them were all under the same belief that therapy was just a crock of shit and all he needed to do was man up. So he just simply didn’t bring it up to them specifically and let only a few people really know what he was doing. And only they know just so they can sufficiently cover his ass when he’s out with you. 

None of them seemed to mind his scheduled “alone times” too much since he always came back and nothing newsworthy would happen so they let him be. 

Over the next few weeks he found himself looking forward to sessions with you. He’s taking his health seriously, he’s getting to see Lisa more and more, he’s sleeping better, everything in his life is slowly but surely improving thanks to you. Though the better sleep had its flaws as he had been having some weird dreams for awhile. Not so much nightmares, but they definitely left him with some odd feelings in the morning. 

They almost always started off the same way, he was back on that couch in Dr. Wilson’s office and the way he was being spoken to, it felt less like therapy and more like an interrogation. He would never remember what he was being asked, but the longer it went on the worse he would feel. 

And then you walk into the office and Wilson disappears. In the beginning you would simply take Wilson’s seat, and he feels himself start to relax. Something about you just made it easy to do so. You could even be asking the same questions Wilson was asking, but you’re far gentler in your delivery, and it helps ease the answers out.

A lot of his dreams have been going this way but recently you’ve been getting closer and closer, and now you sit beside him on the sofa. You would rub his back, play with his hair and even sometimes hold his hand all the while listening to what he had to say. Which then progressed to him even laying his head in your lap.

He vividly remembers how he would nuzzle into your chest as you continuously ran your nails through his hair. Neither of you speak but he can’t recall ever feeling so at peace than in those imaginary moments with you. 

Of course there were also less than wholesome dreams where he the ones where you ride him right into the couch or he takes you on your desk. Though arguably the most memorable had to be when he rested his head on your lap as he’d done in his dreams a million times before and you would slowly unbutton your blouse. 

Undoubtedly one of the most fucked up things he’s ever dreamt as you proceeded to jerk him off as he sucked on those gorgeous tits of yours. But still he couldn’t get out of his head that look of utter adoration in your eyes as you threaded your fingers in his hair and whispered how he was a good boy.

He woke up that morning needing to literally peel his pants off of him. 

He’s not an idiot. He has a daughter and so he knows what that could only look like from the outside. He has a pretty good idea what it may mean, seeing you in such a motherly role, but he’s also seen Psycho and knows he’s far from dressing up as his Mama to stab women in the shower. So really it doesn’t mean anything.

“Doc?” he asks, and you look up from your notes. He knows he should probably bring up the dreams, as you’ll definitely have something to say about it. But seeing you in that Turtleneck that made your tits look phenomenal made his brain short circuit a bit, and he worries even hinting at anything like this may scare you off and have you believing he’s a Norman Bates type. So instead he asks, “Why don’t you got one a them couches?”

Your brow furrows at that. “A… fainting couch?” You ask tentatively.

“That’s the one,” he snaps his fingers. “Why don’tcha got one of those?”

“Oh, well…” you say, pausing to bite your lip, looking for the right words. This simple act causes him to swallow hard, and he prays you don’t notice as you continue. “Given the patients I work with, I find that keeping us on the same level is far more beneficial than the alternative. It acts as a good reminder that we’re equals in this environment,” you explain with a gentle smile.

“Same level huh?” he questions. “So if I sat down on the floor you would follow?”

“If that’s where you feel most comfortable,” you say amused.

He doesn’t exactly know why, but part of his brain took that as a challenge, while the other part wanted to really test as to whether or not you would follow through. In either case he gets off his chair only to lie flat on his back on the shag carpet of your office. He looks back up and sees you raise an eyebrow at his antics, with a look of “seriously?” on your face. There is a bit of a stare down before you let out a small defeated sigh before you make motions to follow suit. 

“Don’t say I’m not a woman of my word,” you would explain as you lay down on the floor parallel to him, though the table kept a good distance between the two of you. Not an easy feat for you considering you were wearing a skirt that day, but in spite of that you were somehow able to make the act look as dignified as possible. Though that doesn’t prevent a brief but very dangerous image of you hiking up your skirt and taking a seat over his face. 

Woah… Where did that come from? he would ask himself as he ripped his eyes away from you and looked up at the ceiling. 

“Comfortable?” Both real and fantasy you would question. 

“Very,” he would answer, lying only slightly.

You give a mirthful smile before you get right back to business. “Now that we’re down here, I would like to discuss some of your risk-taking behavior upon your return from Germany,” 

“I wouldn’t say layin’ down on the floor is risky,” he quips. He’s trying hard to not focus on the gap that’s appeared between the buttons of your shirt nor the way that your notebook keeps your skirt from sliding down further. But at the same time focusing on your face right now feels dangerous for some reason he can’t quite place.

Something blooms in his chest when he hears you huff in amusement at him. “I’ll admit not my most graceful of transitions, but my point still stands. When you look back on your time after your return stateside, do you believe you were doing things that were considered far more risky?”

“I mean… I guess,” he would admit. “Aside from the drugs, nothin’ too wild, really. Just pushin’ each other down… and drivin’ around real fast… and shootin’ fireworks at each other… I see what your sayin’.” It’s funny that he only now realizes just by talking to you about them. 

“And nobody ever protested to you doing these things?” 

“Well my daddy did at first, but then stopped once he figured I wouldn’t stop. Most times it was The Colo-shit! Parker… he was the one who always made big stink ‘bout what I was doin’ if it was dangerous or made me look bad.” 

You bring your pen to your mouth, simply resting it on your lips, mulling over his words before you say, “Elvis correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds to me that Parker occupied a very… parental role in your life?”

“I guess,” he says, unsure of it until a long dormant memory comes barreling to mind as he recalls his own words to that man from what felt a lifetime ago. “I even said as much to him at my own Mama’s funeral.” He says covering his eyes, and taking a deep breath, willing no tears to fall right in front of you. “I feel like such a fool.”

And then he feels something on his palm. He looks to his side to see that your hand now holds his. It’s such a simple gesture, one that anybody could have done, but coming from you it feels like everything.

“Elvis…” you start off slowly, your thumb rubbing soothing lines onto the back of his hand. “Grief is a terrible thing to experience. It can knock out your knees and snatch the breath right out of your lungs. And it’s certainly not uncommon for people like that to take advantage of those in such a vulnerable position.” you say in your most soothing voice. 

“Don’t think less of yourself for staying as long as you did. Instead I ask you to think of it as you left when you were ready to do so.”

He has to pause to contemplate your words for a second there, because it’s such a simple twist of perspective but it seems to make all the difference as he feels a long present weight of guilt lift. “Yeah… yeah you’re right,” he says, his chest filling with a sense of warmth he hadn’t realized he’s been missing for a while now. “I-I took all of the rat bastards shit for years, because I could take it… a-and I left when I didn’t want to do that no more.” 

“Exactly,” you say, slipping out of his grasp and giving a friendly pat on his hands as you return to your side of the table. 

The rest of the session is pretty light, all things considered, talking about Music, something he can do at literally any given moment and he left your office that day with a newfound appreciation for women’s office wear. He gets the sense that it’s very intentional on your part. The way you can steer a conversation is so fucking impressive and it served you well when you were dodging something.

But he eventually learned your ways. And he was able to get you to open up about yourself like when you learned his favorite hero growing up was Captain Marvel Jr. and you confided in him your favorite was Wonder Woman, and how you learned to appreciate her even more when you learned she was created by a Psychologist. Or when he told you about his sleep troubles and you taught him your trick to falling asleep was to eat Pancakes, something that came as a bit of a routine from your waitressing days since that was your usual order at the end of your shift. Little things that made you more than just his shrink to him. 

He swears he didn’t realize what he was doing at first, and it wasn’t until Jerry pointed it out to him that same night. He and the rest were at some show that he doesn’t really remember, and he sees you walk past the table he was at. He’s so caught off guard that he even turns his head fully around as you walk away.

Jerry knows about his therapy and tends to cover for him when he goes to see you, but has never actually met you, so it surprised him when Jerry asked if he wanted him to go get you for him. 

He’s glad for the low lighting of this place as he doubts he would otherwise be able to hide his inflamed face right now. “What? No… No. Wh-why’d ya’ think I want her?”

“Well she’s your type ain’t she?” he asks, glancing at the bar behind Elvis’ shoulder where you’re standing. Elvis is trying hard not to look back because the dress you’re wearing is far more revealing than he’s ever seen you wear, and he doubts if he keeps looking he’ll be able to stop, still that question eats at him. 

“The hell are you on Jer?” 

“EP, you’re a lot a things,” Jerry says as he gets up, patting him on the back. “Subtle ain’t one a them.” 

He knows one more word and Jerry will stop and not approach you, but something stops him from doing so. He figures you’re going to say no anyway, as you made it clear in your first session that you were never going to approach a patient in public, and that’ll be the end of that. Still the thought of you saying no does leave a sour taste in his mouth that the whiskey can’t quite chase away. He steals a glance over his shoulder and with the better lighting at the bar he realizes that that girl ain’t you. Her nose is a different shape, hair color is not quite right in the new light, and this girl doesn’t have quite the same dignified posture that you’ve got.

He shakes his head at these thoughts. It’s ridiculous that he even thought that was you for even a second. You work everyday and he doubts this would be your scene on a Thursday night. He imagines you would be in bed by now or at least settling by this time. You have the look of a good girl who reads at night to fall asleep and he can just about picture the way you would look lounging against a headboard that looks suspiciously familiar. This line of thought leads to him idly wondering what you wear to bed at night, which is quickly broken when Jerry approaches with the girl. 

The girl has a face-splitting grin and in her eyes, he finds that star-struck look he’s seen in hundreds of other women's eyes before her. Despite her eyes being similar in color he can’t help but be reminded of the stark difference in your eyes when he met you for the first time. She’s seeing a god where you saw a man.

Still he tries to give the girl, Jackie, a fair shake, but the longer the night goes on the more he has to pick apart. Her voice is a little too high-pitched to be yours. Her make-up, not as pristine as yours usually is. Even her nails seem to annoy him as they are a little longer than how you usually keep them, and they only really drew his attention while she was drumming them along the table as he spoke. The girl is practically shaking in her seat, itching to get out of here with him. 

Well at least this one knows what she wants, he thinks to himself as he asks if she would mind a more quiet place to talk. 

It’s wrong on so many levels what he’s doing, and he recognizes that as he puts his arm around her shoulders and leads her out of the place. Jane gushes about how big of a fan she’s been since she was a kid and how this is a dream come true. All Elvis could really focus on is if he squints just hard enough he can almost see you saying that to him, and that’s just enough to get him going, as he buries his face into the girl's neck, and he hears sweet moans he wishes came from you. 

Jenna was gone come morning, and Elvis is glad for that small mercy. And in the early morning rays, Elvis is left alone with his thoughts, and he gets to truly think about the women he’s been with recently. He thinks of Shannon who drew his eye when he got a whiff of her perfume, and it happened to be the same one he knows you’ve worn before, and he would bury his face in her neck as he pounded into her. Amy whose hair was almost the exact same color as yours and whom he really only liked taking from the behind without truly looking at her face. Carol whose voice sounded eerily close to yours and in the dark he was able to imagine someone else entirely as she moaned his name over and over again. And finally there was Jamie who was almost the spitting image of you save for a few things here and there.

It’s nothing, he tries to lie to himself. 

It doesn’t matter.

They don’t matter. 

They shouldn’t matter really, they were all gone before the morning came, so obviously none of them weren’t interested in anything serious. Which is good…

…Right?

It fucks with his head something fierce, that he ends up bringing it up the next time he sees you. “I think I lost my way with women.” he would say as soon as he sat down, before you even got a chance to crack open your little notebook. 

You quickly put the pen between your lips, in that cute way he likes, to hold while you open your notebook, and ask “in what regard Elvis?” This has got to be a sign as to how comfortable he’s gotten with you. He would never have dared to talk about something like this with anyone else, not so much because he feared that he would be laughed at, but because more than likely he would be plastered with denials and reassurances as to how much of a ladies man he still is, without ever even getting into detail why he felt like that. 

Still he finds himself clamming up, wishing to take the words back, shame burning in his belly over these thoughts. You were having none of it, as you put down your notebook and pen on the table between the two of you and lean forward. “Elvis you can talk about this with me,” you coax in your softest voice, something he’s come to expect look forward to. 

He smiles at this as he’s come to appreciate this about you. You get right to work and listen as he expresses his fears about his romantic life. You’re a great listener, though he supposes that comes with the job, but in the way you move and watch him, he never doubts that you are. You’re always watching him, you rarely if ever glance at the clock, and nothing about your body language ever says that you’re getting tired of hearing him talk. Even Wilson had that annoying leg bounce thing toward the end of sessions with him. 

The only thing he could really complain about was how often you touched your lips while listening. Whether it was simply resting a fist to your mouth or pinching your bottom lip, you’re almost always doing something of the like when you’re concentrating he’s noticed. He doubts you’re doing it on purpose, but he still finds it very distracting. That being said he was never about to tell you to stop. 

“Elvis as I understand this dilemma you’re having,” you say. “You’re worried that the only type of women you attract these days are women who are not seeking long-term relationships.” 

“I don’t know Doc, it might be nothin’,” he says, still trying to downplay how uncomfortable the concept makes him. “

“If it bothers you Elvis, then it’s not nothing,” you gently encourage. “People thrive on connections to one another, and I’m glad to see that you’re taking steps to establish new connections after all that you’ve faced before. Perhaps these women aren’t all opposed to a romantic relationship, but they may perhaps be under the impression that you are, given your fame.” 

“So my reputations workin’ against me on this,” he asks solemnly. 

“In a sense, yes. Reputation is a bit of a funny thing like that,” you say. “It’s not so much your actions that make it up, but other’s perceptions of said actions. And if you feel you’re ready to embark on a new long-term relationship, then I would encourage you to start on a solid foundation of honesty.”

“What do you mean? Tell them I’m lookin’ to get married again?”

This gets a small huff of laughter out of you, “Perhaps not that strong in the beginning,” you say. “But something along the lines of… ‘when can we meet up again?’ just a little something like that to establish that you are at the very least interested in a long-term relationship.”

“Doc, would you wanna be with me,” he says, and he would be lying if he says he didn’t enjoy the way your eyes practically bugged out of your head before he recovered with a “or someone with a reputation like me?”

You try to pass off your sigh of relief as simply a deep breath before you answer with, “I personally try not to let others' perceptions of potential partners affect my own feelings toward them. And I reassure you that there are others of the same mind and should you signal that you want something more… permanent, you’ll find someone.” you say with a reassuring smile on your face. “While we’re still on this topic as to your romantic life…” you trail off slightly. “You stated one of your goals in therapy was to rekindle your relationship with your Ex-Wife. Is she the one you’re talking about trying to have a relationship with?”

“... no,” he sighs, as he eyes you sitting directly across from him. “I-I love her and all but… I-I don’t know if I want her in the same way I did before. And… I-I think I want someone else.” He thinks this is the first time he’s been able to say this out loud, but it admittedly does feel like a weight lifted off his shoulders as he admits to it. You give a soft, reassuring smile at his words, and while he knows that it’s probably because you’re happy to see him moving forward with his life, a small part of him wants to believe it’s because you want him to be available.

“I understand, Elvis,” you reassure him. “And rest assured that should you at any point choose otherwise you’re, of course, free to do so.”

He leaves later on reassured in his worth as a partner, but the thought that you had been approached by men before leaves an otherwise good meeting with a sour note. That’s the first time he realizes that you have a life outside of your office and somehow worse, you have other patients you talk to. It’s like seeing a teacher at a grocery store and realizing they don’t live at school.

He knows it ain’t right to feel this way, that you’re a person too, who has more to offer than just what you do for your job. But he can’t help the way he feels. Saddest part is the person he would go to talk about these feelings with is the person he has to talk about. 

And so rather than actually dealing with it, head on he tried to satisfy these feelings for you in other ways, but he promised himself he would never act on them. 

At least… not yet.

It was working for a time, he would see you twice a week, he would bear his soul to you alone, and slowly but surely you also opened up to him as well. There were small comments here and there about simple preferences which eventually gave way to you talking a bit about your time and school and your friends, and to his relief you never brought up any sort of boyfriend. But outside of your office he accepted that he did in fact have a “type” and most of his boys made it their mission to find girls that look even a little bit like you. 

And yet the more he saw you, the more he fell for you. 

After the wine incident he knew he couldn’t deny himself what he wanted anymore and he gradually started to lay the groundwork in order to make that happen. 

When he would casually slip in pet names for you, kiss the back of your hand, or even when he would linger a little too long after a session you never said anything about it. And he always took that as an opportunity to go further and further each time. 

He even started reading up on Psychology, and to his surprise some of it was down right fascinating, especially learning how it stems from Physiology meeting Philosophy. Sure the dog studies and the Milgram experiment ended up being very useful to him later on, but he does believe Freud was onto something there. But he can’t wrap his head around why you tend to get very skittish when you do on occasion bring up his Mama.

He likes to think she would’ve liked you very much for how smart and responsible you are. She maybe wouldn’t have loved the whole working outside of home thing, but he eventually fixed that. 

The same way he taught himself to play music was the same way  he got you to fall in love with him: laser-sharp focus and unwavering persistence.

But then you had to go and almost throw that all away. You spat in the face of his gift and tried to reprimand him for doing a nice thing for you. So he had to play it cool for a while after that. You seemed to retreat a bit from him, but you were no less warm and caring for him. You even stopped really remarking when he would “accidentally” bump into you when you’re out and about. 

But no dice the next time he tried. It was only as Jerry returned with a guilty look on his face did he realize his mistake in A. sending someone else and B. not framing it as a part of his therapy, which he knows you wouldn’t have refused. 

“EP…” Jerry says lightly. “Y-your shrink…”

“What ‘bout her Jerry,” Elvis asks in no mood after your refusal.  

“I-I noticed that she-she kinda looks like some a the girls you been seein’,” he swallows a bit. Seemingly praying to god he’s wrong about this.

“No,” the rockstar says simply, not really caring to beat around the bush anymore, and Jerry seems almost relieved until he continues. “They look like her,” and for as callous as it sounds he can’t even muster an ounce of sympathy for them, as though it’s their fault that they’re not you. But the reality is, none of them could hold a candle to you, and they only matter so far in preventing him from getting too frustrated with how slow you're taking things. 

“Elvis… I-I don’t think it-it’s such a good idea to get so… involved with your doctor again,” Jerry would say tentatively, unsure how he would react. 

“Jerry,” he says, trying to control his temper, and remembering those breathing exercises you went over with him. “I think my business is my business.”

“I-I know but-”

“But nothin’ Jerry!” he yells. “Y’all had fuck all to say when I was runnin’ myself in the grave! And now that I’m gettin back on track, now you wanna step in?!” Jerry gaped at him, before quickly shutting his mouth, a guilty look taking over his face as he looked down at the ground, having nothing to say. “Get the fuck outta my face Jerry.”

Jerry and the rest that knew about you since the beginning would eventually come around on you, seeing hat you did for him and how much he needed you. It served him all the better later on. Though now that all feels like ancient history now, especially now that you’re together in private, in public, and pretty soon under the eyes of the lord.

As far as you know Elvis didn’t want to acknowledge the “blackmail” and simply announced your engagement. He didn’t even want to acknowledge Parker, as that would imply there’s anything wrong with your relationship that he could have exploited.

The way he tells the story is that a couple months after rehab, he was out and about in Memphis when you caught his eye from across the room. He described it as nothing short of love at first sight, but the problem was he had no idea how to approach a woman as sophisticated as you. It was made all the worse when he did approach and you introduced yourself as Dr. Y/L/N, you weren’t so awestruck by him, and in fact talked to him like a normal person. He was so caught off guard that when you had revealed that you were a therapist he jumped at the chance and said he had been looking for one in the area after rehab and you had given him your business card.

How the next few months were about how you became his therapist, and how he was more or less scheming to sweep you off your feet the moment he could. How you tried your best to keep things professional until you could no longer deny your feelings nor could he deny his. None of which was a lie, but he did have to clean up the story for the reporters (didn’t stop Penthouse from begging for the dirtier details).

The story was simple, almost the ideal story of the recovery of a troubled man and how it was the love of a good woman that helped him heal from all of it (Say what you will, he knows you’ve loved him longer than you’re willing to admit). And the people ate it up. 

Everybody could see how good you were for him, how he’s back and better than ever because of your efforts. 

He wishes you wouldn’t focus so much on the others who want to make this out as a bad thing for either of you. They don’t know you and they especially don't know him, so how can they judge what either of you do. That board of therapists may say that the two of you being together is wrong, and for a time you may even have believed that but he knows in his heart of hearts that this was meant to be. 

Afterall you yourself showed him how other people’s perceptions of you shouldn’t affect your own perception of yourself. 

As far as days in Graceland it’s a pretty typical and quiet one, Mary makes the two of you breakfast, you both practice tai chi while it’s still early, you sit with him at the piano as he worked on music, and later he would bend you over the piano so you could make some music for him, you have lunch. It’s looking to be a perfect day. 

You’re never too far from him anymore but he doesn’t think he’ll ever have enough of you. He wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Sometime after lunch, Jerry comes around with those books you ordered. As much as you tried to hide it at first, he could see you were excited for the world tour. Studying up on the history of practically every city he was going to be performing in, trying to learn a couple languages, sharing almost everything with him. 

You look so in your element when you’re reading, and he can’t help but intrude and make his dreams into a reality. You're startled at first as he rests his head in your lap, but you quickly adjust and ease into the new position.

He’s close to purring with the way you run your nails along his scalp, so familiar and comforting a gesture that it’s not long before his eyelids go heavy and he finds himself drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face. 

With you around, sleep is coming easier and easier these days. You worry about this, fearing that he would become too dependent on you for sleep. 

He can’t help it that you’re such a dependable person. 

He would wake up later, only the slightest bit distressed that you were gone, but he knows that you wouldn’t have gone too far. And he didn’t have to look too hard to find you, as you stepped out of your dressing room, and sees you wearing something very familiar.

He doesn’t think he'll ever forget that night.

He thought at the time that nothing could happen between you two. He had accepted that at first, tried to content himself to having you in his life in whatever way he could, even if only platonically. He admits he may have stalled some days, especially the sessions after you would remark how far he’s come in therapy, all in order to drag out his time with you. 

It truly felt like the stars had aligned for the both of you that night. He wasn’t really one for fancy places like this, any other day he would have taken a cheap little diner, but he had been craving a real good steak for a while and figured some fancy place like this would be his best bet. Imagine his surprise when he just idly glanced down at the reservation book and saw your name.

He had been hoping to build something between the two of you outside of your office for a while by that point, but that day you just so happened to have ended up at the same restaurant as him. This just solidified in his head that the two of you were meant to be, because it couldn’t be just a coincidence that the two of you ended up at the same place that night. He gathered up the nerve to approach you that night, thinking about what you said as to how you would like to be approached by a man, ready to put himself out there. 

His breath hitches as he sees the little white dress you’re wearing and his palms sweat a bit when he approaches. Overall he feels like a kid trying to ask the prettiest girl for a dance, terrifying yet exhilarating all the same.

“Dr. Y/L/N, funny meeting you here,” Elvis would say in his best attempt to sound casual. 

“Mr. Presley, how are you?” you would say, surprise evident in your eyes but the small smile on your face genuine as any. 

“I’m doin’ just fine.” 

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad.”

“Are you here alone?” he gently probes, trying to figure out a way to get the rest to leave the table if he can get you to join him. 

“No, my date is just in the restroom.” you say pointing in the general direction of the bathroom.

Something almost akin to betrayal flashes through him in that moment, but he quickly tries to stamp it down as even he realizes that he had no right to feel that way. “Well, have a good night.” he says, trying to be as amiable as possible. 

“You too,” you say with an uneasy look in your eyes. 

Gorgeous girl like her, it’d be crazy for her not to have a date, he thinks, sitting back down with his buddies. Not a single one of them acknowledges what just happened and somehow it feels all the worse. Still it doesn’t sit right with him, the idea of you being out of your office and looking so beautiful and only to waste it on some undeserving mook. 

But… in all the months he’s been seeing you, he ain’t ever seen a ring on your finger, so he doubts it’s that serious. He can’t see your table, which he’s thankful for, because it at least removes the temptation to keep looking your way. But with how sparsely populated the restaurant is at this point he can just barely make out your voice, and he can clearly hear your laugh. It’s such a beautiful thing to hear, and it takes him fully out of the conversation he’s having with Sonny, which pretty much makes all of them take notice of how weird he’s acting but they won’t say anything about it. 

But quickly bitterness takes over in his mouth when he hears the accompanying chuckle from your faceless companion. Especially when he’s only ever awarded small huffs of amusement in your office while that motherfucker can get you to laugh like that.

… He really shouldn’t be thinking like this… 

It practically spits in the face of all you’ve been doing for him to go back to his old jealous ways. He drinks some of the wine to calm himself down and earnestly tries to go back to the talk he was having. 

He does try, but by the third glass in, he becomes a bit distracted by the wine. He’s not usually much of a fan of the stuff, but even he can appreciate a good bottle when he has it. Not too sweet but just enough to mask the burn of alcohol, while pairing well with his steak.

All he’s really thinking at that moment is how much you would probably appreciate it too. So he flags down the stuffy waiter and insists that a similar bottle be brought to your table, on him of course. 

He doesn’t really think too much of it, and later as Charlie’s doing his best impression of Parker to a host of hoots and hollers from the rest, does the waiter return. “Your friends send their thanks for the wine,” he says simply walking away. 

So you took it… he finds it very interesting. 

If there was nothing there, you could have said no and he would’ve put it behind him. But you accepted the wine… there had to be something more to it. Especially since you were on a “date” with another man, and what woman accepts a drink from another man if she wasn’t at the very least interested. 

As he leaves, there is a part of him that aches leaving you behind, especially with another man, and the only solace he takes is that you accepting that bottle of wine had to mean something. 

His home feels achingly empty as he walks in, even as he’s surrounded by his buddies. He’s trying to follow your advice with the whole set sleep schedule thing so it’s only midnight by the time he walks through his front door. 

Even if come Monday you flat out reject him, he tries to content himself to have you just be his therapist. How maybe even after you graduate him out you can still continue being friends outside of your office and he won’t have to lose you as well.

Still all of that rings hollow that night as he recalls furiously jerking himself off in his bed, tears streaming down his face and your name on his lips, as he thought of you in that dress. What’s worse is that the fantasy he has of you is not even necessarily erotic, and by most standards, it’s practically mundane. But it’s precisely because of how normal it is that it feels so foreign yet nonetheless attractive to him, and thus far more dangerous than any wet dream he’s had of you before. 

He imagines bringing you to Graceland from the restaurant. How you would strip yourself of that dress, effortlessly seductive as you swap it for a nightie, and how you would get a little bashful as you notice him staring before crawling into bed beside him. But unlike other dreams he has of you, you simply lay back and allow him to bury his face in your chest. “What’s on your mind Elvis?” you would ask him. 

He can almost feel the scrape of your nails on his scalp, as you listen to his woes. The slight rise and fall of your chest as he rests his head on it. How all of your ministrations are comforting and relaxing rather than teasing or playful, like your content to simply sit and be with him alone rather than doing anything else. Like you’re there for him, not for Elvis Presley.

He wanted that. He wanted you. 

And now he has you.

And nothing will ever take you away.

“Mmm, I remember this,” he hums to you while wrapping his arms around your waist as you put the finishing touches to your face. You preen under his attention, and wriggle a little as his fingers brush the hem of your skirt, both of you practically itching for a repeat of that first concert. 

While in general he would have preferred you wore something he gave you, he has no doubt that the dress is not gonna survive the night once you get home. 

“Where you headin’ lookin’ this good?” he asks, trying not to sound too sore about it. 

You sigh as you put down your brush, squaring your shoulders as though you’re about to step into a battlefield. “Ma’s throwing me a Bridal shower remember,” you answer. 

Yeah he does remember, but he honestly wishes you hadn’t. Though he can hardly begrudge you for being less than ecstatic about your party, as he also doesn’t want you to go but for very different reasons. Try as he might, he couldn’t justify going with you, and just the idea of you being out of reach made his stomach uneasy. His only solace in the situation was that he was able to convince your Mama to not invite any of your old college girlfriends, as the last thing he needs is for any of them to be putting ideas in your head again. 

Besides, it marks the first time in awhile since he’s gotten all of his buddies together at once, so he’s determined to enjoy the night as much as he can without you. He thinks he’s had his fill of the bachelor life, so his party ain’t nothing too crazy all things considered. 

For as much as he did clean house once he booted Parker out, there were still those in his circle he could do without personally but still served their purposes well. 

He’s made it clear he won’t stand for any of them talking any kind of nonsense about you, but that doesn’t stop them from bemoaning the “life” he’s giving up all in order to get hitched yet again. The partying, the girls, the drugs he would give up ten times over for you. 

By midnight he’s even close to calling it for the night hoping that you’ll be home soon.

For as much as they rag on him for becoming so domesticated he’s well aware of the fact that they are nonetheless happy for your presence in his life. He knows that while some of them are genuinely glad that he’s now better for his own sake, he’s all too aware that some of them only “care” because their very livelihoods depend on him.

Not you though. What you gave up when you thought you were protecting him, you proved yourself to be far more caring and loyal than anyone he’s ever met. And he rests easier knowing you’re watching out for him, even at a great cost to yourself. 

It almost makes him feel guilty for what he had to do.

Almost.

And, as though summoned, you make your way through the front door. The second you walk in, he loses interest in just about everything else in the room. You look like you just got through twelve rounds with Muhammad Ali.

He already knows you don’t got the best relationship with your folks but understands you couldn’t get out of going without raising questions. But if it went bad it saves him the trouble from having to talk you out of visiting them too often. 

Truly it makes his heart soar the way you light up a bit upon seeing him and he hopes 

And then it goes to shit. 

He sees you lazily look around the room, probably trying to figure out a tactful way to get rid of them all. But then your brow furrows, and you give the entire room a once over again, and then you seem to look intently at every single person in the room as though you’re tallying them up. And once you finish that, it only seems to distress you more. 

You’ve got that same look in your eye when you’re reading your mysteries, with your brow furrowed and your hands to your lips. He’s confused as to what may be going on in that pretty little head of yours, until he looks around and remembers that ALL of his buddies are here now.

Something that shouldn’t be if he had really handled the ones that had apparently squealed the two of you out to Parker.

Huh… you figured it out just like that, he thinks. This is honestly what he gets for choosing a smart one like you, but he can't say he’s not a little proud that you were able to do so. Besides it’s not much of a choice when it’s meant to be. 

He takes one last puff off his cigar before stamping it out into the accompanying ashtray, after all no use in trying to pretend anymore. You're cracking a case wide open in your head and he figures there ain’t no point in drawing it out for much longer. 

“Hey Charlie,” he draws out, and your eyes snap back to him, apparently terrified to be proven right. 

“Yeah EP?” he answers, always the good friend who would go along with any plan regardless of how he personally felt about it if it meant getting him back on track. 

“Why don’tcha do that voice,” he says smiling a bit as his friends goes a bit ashen at the request. “Always gets a good laugh.”

Charlie thinks he’s subtle when he steals a glance your way. He is not. 

“You sure ‘bout that EP,” he asks, nervously swallowing, his eyes begging to not have to do this. Which gets the attention of all of them, and some of them shift uncomfortably at what’s about to go down, downing the last of their drinks and nervously gathering their things hoping to make a quick getaway. The ones who don’t know are looking at Charlie anticipating a good laugh but they quickly pick up on how worried he looks and quickly follow suit, figuring nothing good would come of this. 

Elvis only has eyes for you though, morbidly curious as to how you’re going to react, the same way your eyes are firmly fixed on him, no doubt fearing that you’re right. He almost calls it off at that point, but call it what you want he believes that once this secret is over and done with, the two of you will be all the stronger for it and there will be absolutely nothing to hold you back.  

“Who am I talkin’ to?” Elvis asks Charlie all the while making full eye contact with you. Contrary to what you may believe he doesn’t in fact enjoy hurting you with these hard truths, he’s just not as skilled as you in breaking them to you in a more delicate manner.

Charlie lets out a deep, tired sigh before, without any more preamble, he says, “You’re talking to the man that gave the world Elvis Presley,” in his most perfect Parker impression. 

Your face fully falls. 

Once upon a time you had told him how sometimes people need to be guided by another to get what they wanted. And he knows for a fact that you wanted him, it was only your damn job and it’s rules that held you back. That’s where his head was at after that fucking anniversary party.

You are the only woman alive who can proudly say she’s broken his heart not once, not twice, but three times. The first time being when you threatened to switch him to another therapist, but luckily he saw right through that ploy. 

The next time when you had the gall to lie to his face about where you were going. When you started speaking about Saturday, he could feel his heart flutter a bit, truly believing you were gonna invite him to meet your folks. Even now he could imagine how it would have felt to be offered such a thing, to be brought home and be introduced as your boyfriend proper. Even after you brought up your friends he could have dealed with that if only it would bring him much more into your life. Only for you to bring him back down to Earth with your refusal to bring him.

The last time was when you couldn’t say you loved him back. God was that a kick to the chest because he may not be the smartest man, but even he knew that it meant one of two things. Either you wanted to say it and you couldn’t for whatever reason… or you didn’t love him and you were just feeling particularly guilty about it that day. ‘

He couldn’t accept that though. Something in your life was preventing you from saying it back and really he knew there could only be one thing. Was it really so monstrous to remove it if it left you feeling like this?

You love him, he knows that you do and you only need a push in the right direction in order to admit it.  

And if you didn’t… he couldn’t afford to think like that. 

So he had to push through. Had to do what was necessary. Had to believe you love him. 

Had to believe he was still worth loving.

He knew words meant nothing at the end of the day (you taught him as much) he had to find a way to prove you did love him and that you weren’t in it for yourself. 

The only question was how.

After he sees you leave that place, looking devastated, it takes everything within him to not take you in his arms. But he has a goal in mind and he has to figure out where exactly you're at mentally in order to push through. 

For all he knows you’re on your way to pack up your office right now, but he has to be sure. 

Red tries to stop him before he gets out of the car, but ends up backing off, with a single glare his way. He waits for a bit before approaching the modest looking house after you had left, and knocks on the door, and once it opens he has to remind himself who he’s doing this for, and knock that fucker’s lights out. 

Even when he has never met them before, people weirdly enough have a lot of trust in him. And Mark Whatever his last name is, proves to be no different. Elvis greets him with his first name and a quick hug as though they were old friends and lets himself into the house as Mark still gapes at the doorway. 

He finds a den with two identical mugs on a coffee table, and he finds a very familiar lipstick color on one of them (how could he not there’s still a ring of it around his cock). Mark shuffles his way into the sitting room, absolutely struck dumb by Elvis' presence, and Elvis finds it hard to believe that he ever saw him as a rival for your love. 

Mark notices the mugs still on the coffee table and makes a motion to grab them, stammering out an apology about the mess. Before he could do so, Elvis notices the light color from your mug and hides a self satisfied smirk at that. Where once you only took your coffee black, your tastes have now become closer aligned to his own. 

Elvis puts a hand down on the mug as he says, “Why dontcha take a seat right down there Mark?” It’s kind of pathetic really seeing a man take orders from a stranger in his own house, but it serves Elvis’ purposes all the better. And with the way Mark awkwardly takes a seat it’s apparent that he is still flustered at Elvis’ presence in his den. 

Good, he thinks. Should keep him honest.

“Wh-what’s this about?” Mark asks, uneasily.

“It’s about our good friend, Y/N of course,” he says as though it were so obvious.

“O-Oh, uh, she was over here not too long ago,” he stammered out, before his brows furrowed even more confused. “How do you know her?” 

“Through her daddy,” Elvis lies coolly. “I don’t know if you noticed but she’s been a bit outta sorts recently. And I’m hopin’ you could help me figure out what’s been botherin’ her.”

“I-I don’t think it’s my place to say,” Mark sputters out.

“C’mon Matt,” he says, leaning forward just a little bit to really sell the concern. “You can talk to me ‘bout this,” echoing your own words from way back when. 

If he noticed the wrong name he didn’t say anything as he nervously looks down at his own hands, before muttering out a soft “she’s been having some trouble with a patient of hers.”

“Huh…” he says, raising his brows a bit at this. “She tell you who?”

“She would never tell me anything like that,” he quickly defends and Elvis relaxes a bit. “But ummm… she-she just needed some advice as to how to handle this patient. And I-I let her know that whatever consequences she imagines would happen, are not as bad as the reality. So it would be better to act now as opposed to later.”

“Hmmm…” he hums, and just like that he can already feel you slipping through his fingers. But he holds on to that look you had leaving. How distressed you looked at the idea of having to drop him all together, but he also knows you’re a tough one that can make the right decisions, even when they’re hard, and that’s why he loves you so. “Tell me Max, what would you do if you were in her situation?” he asks even though he already figures the answer.

“Personally… I would’ve dropped the patient a long time ago,” he says without any remorse. He says this next part so coldly that he finds it hard to imagine that you have ever had anything in common with him save for your chosen field. “Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because, for as little information as I have about the situation, this patient is simply not worth all the grief they’re causing her.” 

But it’s not me, Elvis wanted to defend. It’s her work, if it weren’t for that gettin’ in the way she wouldn’t have to be so goddamn worried all the time. 

“And did you tell her that?” Elvis asks, worried as to what may be brewing in that little head of yours if this son of a bitch has been whispering in your ear.

“God no,” the professor says. “I told her to do what she can live with. But I know her,” he says leaning back, sure in his opinion, though unaware that these words perhaps just saved his life. “She’s gonna make the right choice on her own or it won’t mean much.”

For all his degrees, he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about, is all Elvis can really think in that moment. He can’t possibly even begin to understand the kind of relationship you have with him, and how in fact he is the right choice for you, as you’re his. 

If a baby was about to walk into a pool, would he just let it happen because it was it’s choice? That’s downright evil in his book. Sometimes you need to make the decision for others and step in when they’re about to make the wrong ones. And if that’s what he has to do to for you then goddamnit he will. 

“Well, I think I best get going,” Elvis would say after contemplating this man's words. He knew how impressionable you can be, so he needs to act fast to undo whatever poison this asshole put in your head.

“O-oh of course,” he stutters. “Umm.. thank you for stopping by today.” 

“Now Mark, that fancy title you got, tells me you’re a smart man, right?” Elvis says a hand on his shoulder as he makes his way to the door. 

“...yes?” he answers tentatively.

“Now this story, I think it best you keep it to yourself.” he says, and he watches the man's brow furrowed in confusion. “Afterall I don’t think you wanna be known in your field for blabbin’ anything to anyone who just walks in your door.” 

“Of course not,” he says uneasily. “Thank you for your concern for Y/N, Elvis. Hopefully she’ll be back to normal soon.”

“Course,” Elvis would reply, holding out his hand for the professor, which Mark takes. “And please, call me Mr. Presley,” and on that confusing note he turns around and heads back to the car. 

He stews on that asshole’s words the whole way home, no one daring to talk about it until he did. He wants to trust 

But he knows if he lets this stand and doesn’t interfere, you’re going to make the wrong choice. Ultimately he decides to make the choice for you for your own good. He’s let chance rule his life for far too long, so he’s gotta make his own luck.

He cycles through just about everything he knows about you and tries to figure out how it could possibly help him.

And then he remembers how you once told him how your worst fear is seeing your patients fall back to their old ways, especially with those who abused them. 

Just the thought of going back to Parker makes him sick to his stomach. For as much as he loves you, he’s not willing to do anything that will bring that bastard back into the fold, and he doubts you would want that either. But he almost resolves himself to do it until he’s pulling into the driveway and sees Charlie’s car. 

And then he’s reminded that Charlie always did do a pretty spot on Parker impression. Especially if you ain’t ever heard that old toad talk before. And finally an awful plan began to form in his head.

It’s sneaky and underhanded, and it literally leaves a bad taste in his mouth that could only be chased away by that Wine. That sweet taste on his tongue reminds him of that first night in your office. He remembers how you cried so sweetly for him. How you pushed him away so overwhelmed with what you felt for him. How excited you got when he called you by your name. How you called him daddy for the first time. 

What he remembers most of all is how he had to apply some pressure to you in order to break through that tough professional wall you’ve set between the two of you. But it was worth that sweet sweet outcome. 

And if he gets the answer he wants from you, it would be worth it yet again. 

You wanted him to take charge then, and you want him to take charge now. 

So this is something he has to do and this is his cross to bear.

Ideally you never had to know. 

Once the call was over Charlie could hardly look him in the eye, and practically scrambles to get the hell out of there once given the signal. He feels a twinge of guilt and hopes that this be the last morally bad thing he asks of the man. But with the way you’ve been able to keep him on the straight and narrow since you’ve met him, he thinks it will be. 

Still he welcomes the solitude, knowing that this is undoubtedly going to be the worst minutes of his life, and the only one he could even fathom spending them with is the one he’s currently waiting on. He knows you well enough that you wouldn’t be one to sit on this for too long, so tonight he’s going to learn one of two things about you: either you tell him about “Parker” and try to help save him from the rat bastard… or you say yes to “Parker” and you prove yourself to be like the rest.  

He tries to chase that nasty feeling out of his head with the wine, and the sweet taste of it reminds him of that first night with you. How for all of your fighting and protesting you still gave in, how you kept coming back even as he knowingly put you through the wringer. How you would settle just as easily in his arms as he did in yours. 

If that ain't love, then I guess I don’t know what the hell is, he remembers thinking. You’re the last hope he has to believe that he can be loved for him, not for Elvis Presley. To love him through his fears, his hopes, his anxiousness, his temper, his jealousy, his dreams, all of it. 

And his faith in you is rewarded as you as his phone rings within minutes.

Where most people would blow up in a rage and scream and curse till their hoarse about something like this, you’re not like most people. No you’re far too composed to ever do that. Growing up in a house where your wants and feelings were second to everything will do that to you he guesses. 

You’re like that with everyone… except for him. You freely express all your thoughts and opinions with him, never afraid to give him the business when necessary but always honest in a way few people in his life are these days. 

You’re at your most vulnerable with him. You’re so used to hiding how you feel for others' benefits, and he’s glad you don’t have to do that with him. It was a long hard road to get to this point but goddamn if it wasn't worth every moment.  

He’s almost… giddy knowing that you’re going to be mad and he’s gonna be the only witness to it.

But for all your anger and fury, righteous or not. Ain’t none of it will change the fact that at the end of the day you still chose him. 

And even as you wordlessly turn and walk almost robotically up the stairs he’s confident that you’re going to choose him again. 

He barely has time to get the words out before the rest of them are in a frenzy to get out of the house, apparently unwilling to stick around for the fireworks. He doesn’t know what they're so squeamish about, he knows for a fact that they would’ve done worse if he asked them to. 

He trots up the stairs, maybe going a little slower, wanting to really rile you up. When he gets to your shared bedroom, you’re packing up a storm. 

It’s honestly cute that you think you’re going anywhere. 

A part of him knows he should feel more guilty about it. He does feel some guilt of course he’s not a monster, but it does feel roughly the same amount of guilt if he had broken a vase or something. It felt bad in the moment, and he tried his damndest to hide it, but ultimately it didn’t mean much. 

Sure you had been upset those first few weeks after the story dropped but eventually you did get over it and finally learned to enjoy your newfound life as his girl. Yes it cost you your job, but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t matter much. 

And if he’s being honest it only really mattered in getting you to meet him.

Most people would be either on their knees begging for forgiveness from you or continuing to feign ignorance to all of it.

But he’s not most people. He knows what he did and he knows he ain’t got nothing to be sorry over. 

“Can you believe them Hollywood producers ain’t never wanted me in no serious movies?” he says casually, now that there are no more secrets between either of you. 

You throw a bottle of wine at him. 

-------------------------

Ending Note: As Battie as my witness I’ve had this twist planned since the beginning. It’s up to you if I did enough to justify this choice but I am happy with the results. 

Taglist

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[zodiactalks]

EXPLOSIVE Zodiac COMBINATIONS who Rarely See Eye to Eye

Some people just can't get along, no matter how hard they try. While you can't choose your family or your coworkers, you certainly can choose your friends and romantic partners.

Looking at a person's Zodiac sign can tell you all you need to know about a person before you get too invested in your relationship with them.

If you want to live free from drama, you better steer clear from these Zodiac signs, as you'll just end up fighting pointlessly and endlessly.

Sagittarius and Taurus

Sagittarius can't wrap their heads around Taurus's fixed mindset. They can't understand how someone as reasonable and logical as Taurus can have so little desire to expand their mind.

They also can't comprehend why it takes so much and so long for Taurus to change their mind, even if all evidence is against them. Taurus, on the other hand, thinks Sagittarius is too irresponsible because they avoid settling down at all costs.

They think they are rather childish because they avoid various commitments. They see their insatiable thirst for adventure as a sign of emotional immaturity. They'll rarely see eye to eye, except perhaps for a shared appreciation of exotic cuisine.

Aquarius and Cancer

Aquarius and Cancer can't be more opposite from each other. Aquarius hates people depending on them, whereas Cancer loves for people to depend on them and need them.

Aquarius needs endless freedom, while Cancer understands the things that truly fulfill them require a commitment. Aquarius is often too logical and forgets that it's important to be kind, while Cancer is mostly emotional and kind at all times.

They just don't understand where the other is coming from. Aquarius doesn't understand why Cancer doesn't feel trapped by their choices, and Cancer doesn't understand how Aquarius can be okay without committing themselves to the people, jobs and places that are good for them. It's very rare that they agree on anything.

Gemini and Capricorn

Both of these signs are very intelligent. And that's where the similarities end. Capricorn is not the best multitasker, and Gemini can't handle the hours of concentration that Capricorn can put in when they think something is worth their attention.

Capricorn has an old soul, and Gemini seems to remain twenty years old even when they're well into their sixties. Gemini is an eternal student, whereas Capricorn loves working way more than they love studying.

I'll give them this: they can be great coworkers because of their complementary approaches, but that's pretty much it. As friends or lovers, their interactions are like a comedy of errors where two people speak two different languages and keep misunderstanding each other.

Leo and Virgo

Virgo can be a pretty judgmental sign, and Leo is so easy to judge. One of the main values of Virgo is humility. They will think that Leo is too self-centered, self-indulgent, selfish and other not-so-nice words starting with self.

On the other hand, Leo will poke fun at Virgo because of how uptight and neurotic they are. It's easy to see how that will end up in a heated argument that will make everyone else around them very uncomfortable.

Virgo will think that Leo is annoying and loud, and what's even worse, they'll criticize them, thinking they are doing it in a constructive manner, but Leo's ego has to be handled with care. They'll find Virgo's bluntness as the exact opposite of caring. Leo can learn a lesson on humility from Virgo, and Virgo can learn a thing or two on how to set boundaries from Leo.

Libra and Taurus

They both have impeccable taste. But things will start to get complicated pretty soon. Taurus is very decisive, and will find Libra's indecisiveness simply… confusing. How can someone with such good taste not know what they want? Libra, in turn, will resent Taurus's stubbornness.

How can someone have such a hard time letting go when changing your mind is the easiest thing in the world? Taurus will think Libra is wasting valuable time with their indirect style of communication, and Libra will think Taurus is too brusque in their approach to conversation.

Taurus will disapprove of Libra's inconsistency, and Libra will think poorly of Taurus's inability to think on their feet. While they both have a great sense of style, they can't see eye to eye.

Aries and Scorpio

It never goes well when two people with anger issues try to form any kind of meaningful relationship, be it platonic or romantic. The moment one of them triggers the other, it's suddenly the outbreak of World War Three, and the one who throws the biggest tantrum wins (apparently).

They both have a quick temper and, when they are mad, they like to throw salt in the other's wounds. Once they are blinded by their emotions, these two signs will have no mercy on their opponent.

Not only will interacting with each other stress them, it will also make their friends and onlookers very anxious indeed. Neither know when to stop, when to agree to disagree, or when to apologize. These two together are just a recipe for disaster.

Pisces and Gemini

Pisces is the most emotional sign of the Zodiac, and Gemini is the most rational. Talk about opposing points of view! Gemini cares about being right, not about making others feel good. Pisces, on the other hand, will utter the most false of phrases if it makes their interlocutor feel good.

The last thing they need is a Gemini behind them interjecting with “Well, actually...” An interaction between these two can easily end up in Gemini losing their very limited patience and Pisces crying in a corner and accusing Gemini of being mean. They just bring out the worst in each other.

Scorpio and Libra

Scorpio's favorite hobby is sparking up controversy, whereas Libra is an expert at being well-liked by everyone. What can't go wrong between these two? Scorpio will think Libra is weak for not sticking up to their beliefs, and Libra will think that Scorpio likes conflict a little bit too much.

If there's a sign that can anger unflappable Libra, that sign is definitely Scorpio. They will show Libra their much-feared Shadow Self, and they'll get angry at this toxic person that dares to insinuate they might be unlikable. The one thing they can find common ground in is in their tendency to play Devil's advocate.

Pisces and Aries

Pisces is all about compassion and keeping things flowing smoothly. They love it when there is a sense of peace in their interpersonal relationships. Aries, on the other hand, is not afraid of healthy confrontation when it's necessary.

They may even need to be constantly arguing and debating things to avoid boredom. They often resort to rather aggressive approaches that would make Pisces cry. Aries can also be a bit brusque and forget all about compassion and empathy, both a must in Pisces's book.

Not everything is love and light and sometimes a confrontation is necessary, so Pisces isn't always objectively right, and Aries will end up frustrated. These two signs will just inevitably keep butting heads.

Have you ever had such a turbulent relationship? What's your sign? What was the other person's sign? What signs do you usually get along with? What signs do you disagree with on everything? Tell us in the comments!

[tadpolesonalgae]

aight, we back and we're goin in tabbatha, brace urself.

(i reread the latest chapters because a full absorption was required)

as someone who adores psychology and analyzing literature as well as having dealt with depression, you really hit the nail on the head with chapters 15 and 16.

it was super healing to read readers experience through the beginning of the chapter, with the sisters comforting each other in a very vulnerable way and then taking that comfort away. i ADORE you as an writer for making that choice, even if it sucks in the moment. i think it really shows how much youve grown as an author and i would so sososososo happily read a published novel by you. your humility regarding angst drives me a lil insane with how visceral of emotions you put your readers through tho 😂

you show SO much expertise imo with how you eased us into chapter 16 and the overall tone by beginning with feyre and rhys. by showing us how devastated she was over this and rhys' reaction being just to care for his mate, not truly caring about readers own wellbeing.

moving into readers pov and showing us just HOW bad her depression has gotten since the accident with azriel. cassian sitting outside of her door, and idk about anyone else but he came off as a little abrasive when he addressed reader? but i digress, it took literal days for her sisters to be able to get through to her and to get reader to open up to them about 💫why💫. and then the sisters curling up in bed how they used to and just holding tight, because like one of the other anons mentioned, that the born fae will NEVER truly understand the archeron sisters. and then you nail that point in AGAIN by having rhys interact alone with reader. her terror and her spiralling thoughts, and his disregard for how SHE truly is? his hasty departure where you can feel him disregard her as a loose cannon that he now has to handle the fallout of and Nesta's rescue. because she of all people know how he is with anyone but those he deems important in the moment :(

(the paragraph detailing what reader would have said to each sister respectively made me BAWL, like end of kingdom of ash kinda bawl, so massive respect for that alone.)

the ending with mor has got to be my favorite representation of her post ACOSF, just because ive always believed sjm wanted the focus of this series to be how massively flawed her characters are (and purposely so). you showed the courtier, the commander, AND the ruler of the hewn city very well in her reaction to readers actions and her newly uncovered involvements with eris. because ultimately mor has every reason to be upset with reader regarding eris, but she took her words too far because of her love for the IC. which is a massive flaw all of them possess, that you show BEAUTIFULLY throughout the series.

i also really love the decisions youve made with creating reader's character in general. it makes sense that she would be pushed to the side for so long, its been years that weve been waiting for nesta and elain to heal and so imagining a world where there are four sisters? Perfection, truly. the angst is 🥰🥰🥰

as a chronic lurker on tumblr, ao3, and wattpad respectively for the past decade. You are one of the few writers ive found that makes me want to reread ACOTAR after finding it a lil disappointing at times compared to sjm's other series (no hate, im just a tog and cc ride or die 😂) so when i felt as emotional and inspired as i did, it only makes sense that you hear just how amazing of a writer you are💖 I hope that this brings you some joy while plotting how to torture your readers next.

Respectfully foaming at the mouth waiting for the next chapter.

-🤠

‘as someone who adores psychology and analyzing literature as well as having dealt with depression, you really hit the nail on the head with chapters 15 and 16.’

Okay, I don’t want to get super personal and kind of blabber and waffle all over the place since we’re literally just starting, but hearing people say that they can relate to reader—whether through her anxiety, how introverted she is, or through the moments when she spirals—it kind of bittersweet? As a writer, I feel rewarded that you’re experiencing a connection of some sort with reader, but at the same time it’s hard knowing that those experiences are real emotions for so many people?

‘it was super healing to read readers experience through the beginning of the chapter, with the sisters comforting each other in a very vulnerable way and then taking that comfort away. i ADORE you as an writer for making that choice, even if it sucks in the moment.’

This is so interesting because I know I was quite stressed about uploading chapter 16 since I was worried the calm at the beginning would be too much of a 180° after the intensity of chapter 15? I thought it might be too slow-paced and that perhaps I should have tried to keep that tension going, but at the same time chapter 15 was written intended to be either the first or second highest tension point?

I’m flattered though that you think it was a good choice to have those sweet moments at the beginning and then to end on the angst? Personally I think that’s just a habit now to keep people engaged? 😅

‘i think it really shows how much youve grown as an author and i would so sososososo happily read a published novel by you.’

Is this payback for the angst of cbmthy? Are you trying to make me cry in return? I think it would be fun to write a book but at the same time very draining? I suppose I don’t have to write it now 😅 maybe if I make it to fifty I can sit down and give writing a go, but I’m not sure how realistic it is for me to consider writing a book at the moment :/

Still, thank you so much for such a high compliment—it kind of blows my mind that you’d be interested in an actual physical book 🧡💛

‘your humility regarding angst drives me a lil insane with how visceral of emotions you put your readers through tho 😂’

I genuinely think it might be a case of some of the stuff that pops up in cbmthy/other fics happens to hit specific emotional soft spots? I still don’t think of cbmthy as being particularly sad—it has angsty parts definitely—but to be fair I know the full story whereas you’re still coming out of one of the lowest parts? I’m sure that makes a difference :)

‘you show SO much expertise imo with how you eased us into chapter 16 and the overall tone by beginning with feyre and rhys. by showing us how devastated she was over this and rhys' reaction being just to care for his mate, not truly caring about readers own wellbeing.’

Oh my gosh please I feel like you’re assigning me way too much credit 😭

Honestly it just felt like it made sense to start with Rhys and Feyre since we haven’t really seen them at all it would be a good way to possibly catch some people off guard!! I also just couldn’t figure out how to start it from reader’s perspective since it felt too ‘noisy’(?)—a lot of the choices are heavily influenced by whether or not I feel I can make a scene work, so if I can’t I have to switch it to a different one!! I wouldn’t say it’s anything near expertise 😭 (but I appreciate it nonetheless)

‘cassian sitting outside of her door, and idk about anyone else but he came off as a little abrasive when he addressed reader?’

I think that’s a mix between me genuinely being a little unsure how to write his character and the circumstances? Cassian knows that reader tried to kill herself, that Nesta has had thoughts like those, and that Nesta cares for reader—that plus it being around the middle of the night I guess it was kind of a shift between him being unsure how to approach her since she might still be spiralling, and not wanting to overwhelm her which is why the talking was so minimal? He’s torn between worrying for Azriel who’s his brother and also reader who’s his mate’s younger sister—I think he might have it the most difficult besides reader if I’m honest in terms of conflicting feelings? It was supposed to be a little weird though, since reader doesn’t know what going on, and isn’t particularly familiar with Cassian? Comparatively with her sisters or Bas, I mean :)

‘and then the sisters curling up in bed how they used to and just holding tight’

This was such an enjoyable scene to write and probably one of my favourites so far 🧡💛 I hope it was as pleasant to read as it was to write

‘by having rhys interact alone with reader. her terror and her spiralling thoughts, and his disregard for how SHE truly is?’

I’m glad that this kind of showed? I don’t want Rhys to appear totally insensitive to reader because I think that would be too ooc for him, but he cares for her because she’s his mate’s sister, not because of her. And he still has to think as High Lord, and even putting Mor’s history with Eris aside, Eris’s a dangerous opponent because of how manipulative he can be, and that paired with reader’s more naive side that’s searching for affection from someone isn’t a promising combination?

Even then though, he’s still lost his own sister, so I feel that impedes his ability to be entirely impartial to reader’s situation, hence the mention at the end of the conversation where he tells reader to rest and that she gave them all a scare.

But yeah, he’s a little cold I suppose to her

‘(the paragraph detailing what reader would have said to each sister respectively made me BAWL, like end of kingdom of ash kinda bawl, so massive respect for that alone.)’

I’m incredibly sorry 😔 KoA level of tears shed? 🫢 I feel awful, I’m so sorry 😭🧡💛 (I did enjoy writing that paragraph and the one after it, so I guess it kind of succeeded in its assigned task 😬😭)

‘because ultimately mor has every reason to be upset with reader regarding eris, but she took her words too far because of her love for the IC.’

This is such a nice take that I hadn’t thought of in these specific terms?

I think the born-fae ones of the IC will naturally have a different kind of bond than the sisters do just due to history and experience, but I hadn’t really considered Mor’s reaction to be one that might be fuelled by love for her family because the scene was written from reader’s perspective?

On a slight side note, I find it so enjoyable to see this different take on Mor’s actions since so far I think most people have been somewhat agitated with Mor’s behaviour (and I kind of agree it wasn’t the best way to go about it) so it’s interesting that you’re speculating over her reasons and actually considering her position? 🧡💛

‘the angst is 🥰🥰🥰’

Thank you very much 🧡💛

A year ago I probably would have been concerned to hear something like this, but I guess with the majority of cbmthy supposing to be angsty, it’s good to know it’s having the desired effect? 🫣🧡💛

‘(no hate, im just a tog and cc ride or die 😂)’

We could have an entire conversation about this because I adore Throne of Glass but have struggled so much with Crescent City (I think the modern setting really throws me off?)

‘so when i felt as emotional and inspired as i did, it only makes sense that you hear just how amazing of a writer you are💖 I hope that this brings you some joy while plotting how to torture your readers next.’

Being completely transparent with you I read through your ask multiple times and took a pause in between each one because I kept getting so overwhelmed (in a good way)

I’m so flattered that you wanted to write in this level of detail about the events of ch. 16 of your own accord??? It blows my mind and I want to say just how much I sincerely appreciate you coming into my asks to chat about this story that was by no means planned or supposed to happen but I’m so glad it did 🫂🧡💛

[joju-but-trek]

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 20: Ouroboros, Part 2

I'm so glad no one got erased on Solum. Or did they?

With this episode, we close the door on Prodigy season 2. What a ride it's been. I loved this season and all the successful swings it took, and I am still overwhelmingly impressed by how much they crammed into 20 episodes while still making it entirely coherent. Hats off to the whole team for that. 10/10 for the episode, 9/10 for the season

This review has to be in three parts because of the absolute bombshell that happens halfway through the episode and because we need to talk about the season as a whole.

For the first half of the episode, I loved the escape sequence. It felt a bit like they'd handled too much of the plot in the last episode and didn't have much to fill out the finale, which does make sense with the twist halfway through. I feel like if I were going to make this part a little more exciting, I would have had the Loom creatures get onto the ship and cause some chaos, or maybe have Dal and Ma'jel flying outside with cover fire, but what we got was excellent. And it caps off with the montage of the whole show so far, which was pretty emotional.

And with that, the episode and season 2 end, except HAHA SUCKERS YOU THOUGHT WE FORGOT ABOUT CONTINUITY.

I'm still in shock that they actually followed through and did the Mars attack in this episode. I didn't think they'd show it, and I actually had to pause the episode when it happened. Aaron, if you're reading this, first of all thank you so much for this amazing show and for engaging with the community, and second of all, I'm fascinated by why you did this. What was the reasoning? Because there's so much loaded into having it happen and disrupt everything that it feels like it can't just be setup for getting the new ship together, it feels deliberate to have a paradigm-shattering event break everything you know and love right at the last minute. It's handled well but holy shit it's a massive gut punch.

Janeway's mini-retirement only works in the context of keeping the twist, and it does make sense that way, and I'm glad she got a scene to object to Starfleet's reprioritization. I think it would have been better if she'd explicitly argued against abandoning the Romulans - I don't think anyone brings it up at that meeting - but at least she's still putting up a fight. Her strategy of getting the main cast onto a new ship and back to exploring is fine, but I do hope that if/when we get a season 3 they go to Romulus and get involved there.

Aesthetically, I love the new uniforms. The flashback uniform from Picard is one of my favorite designs, and all the senior officers were wearing it at the end. The Prodigy crew gets a variant of it that I'm not as fond of, but it's more in that style and I appreciate it. I also love that Murf is in one now too. They let him get away with dress code violations for way too long.

We also get the conclusion of Dal's arc, which is excellent. One of the problems with setting someone up to be First Officer is that eventually, they're going to take command. And having Dal accept the FO position because he wants to grow before taking command is a great way to balance the humility and patience arcs that he's been developing.

For the season as a whole, we've been gifted some of the best Star Trek has to offer. It's a serialized narrative that still has time for fun individual beats, while also focusing heavily on building out a cast of very real characters and giving them space to grow. It gets weird in the ways Trek is supposed to, but it never forgets about the people the show is supposed to be about, and I love that. Great job, Prodigy. Go Fast. Hopefully we meet again for season 3.

Also, next time around please put Dal in a room with Tom Paris.

[synthshenanigans]

Ik its been said multiple times before but Vol. 1 is so interesting to me & its suck sm with how often the actual real parts of it get mischaracterized or just ignored

[theres a LOT of text here i apologize i just rlly like the album]

Gonna rant more about the way ppl characterize HMS more even just specific events people end up misinterpreting. Just using the "tines stabbed through eyes" line as an example, that line is usually given or seen as being about Heart when its not him who says the even says the line, it's Soul. The sides he's talking about IS Heart & Mind, its even in the { } marks to show that.

But aside from that, even just HMS as characters/concepts is misrepresented as well. Op already went into it very well but a major point of the album is showing that the each of the sides aren't perfect & that neither of them are the victim nor the villain of it. [mention of depression & suicide cos yk its CCCC]

Heart isn't some overly emotional child that is willing to kill Mind at any chance he gets. He's the part of Whole that gets so overwhelmed with everything that he lashes out & is pushed to shooting himself [Heart shooting Mind is just Whole shooting at himself, as stated in Mucka Blucka]. You cant just say "Oh well Hearts evil cos he tried to kill Mind" when it also would've just gotten Heart/all of them killed as well.

Good Day & Just Apathy is Heart getting tired of everything to the point where, in Heart Acoustic, he gives up and lies in the hole. Not caring about what happens to himself/Whole anymore.

Mind also isn't the smart one that is just "dealing" with Heart & the things he says and he isn't the villain trying to push Heart down or get rid of him at any point. He's just trying to get out of the depression dip just as much as the other two. But seeing Heart almost get them killed, he views that part of Whole the "wrong" half that will only make things worse. But then shown by Be Born & StAAS, he cant run it all on his own which is what pushes him the the point of Mind Electric where he's also just overwhelmed with everything & panics on the fact he has no idea how to stop it.

[Which speaking of THA & TME, THA is Heart giving a logical outlook on his actions & why he does things his certain way. While TME is Mind emotionally lashing out not knowing how to fix everything. Clearly showing Heart can be logical & Mind can be emotional]

All that just goes into Light. Where the both of then ask the other for help. Mind asking Heart for help on how to understand the things in life & how to get through them ["Languish in the numbers, falling under, drowning in the code. The questions we have pondered, time we've squandered. Don't you feel we're owed? Please, help decipher this life that we lead, for each step that we take the answer takes three].

Heart asking Mind to help him become more stable, not to spiral down so fast and violently. ["Humility's a virtue; pride, a sin or so it has been said. But every time I've hurt you or at least tried to, you've laughed and smiled instead. Kicked, scorned and damned by the forces that be not ever once did you fall to your knees"]

Both need the other to actually get out of the depression pit they've all been in [Which is what Soul tries to tell them before too]. Neither of them are actually evil or good or anything, just struggling to not feel so depressed all the time & just need the other to do that.

Now going into Soul, he main part into it isn't just "i hate my sides i want them dead". its a mixture of Heart & Minds worst answers/ideas that they get to in THA/TME. He can't handle how worse everything keeps getting & gives up on trying to fix it at a certain point, but he has no idea how to actually stop it so he's spiraling just as much as they are. So, as shown in the end of TSE, he decides that its all too much to deal with & decides Tridential Regicide is the only way to "solve" it. The Bidding being him giving them both one last chance to prove death isnt the best way out. He isn't an unstable madman trying to get the other 2 killed, he's just given up on trying to go another day & ends up with the idea that dying is better for them all/Whole ["We will be combined whether that be dead or alive"]

Main thing im also getting to here is that the three of them are just different ways that Whole is dealing with depression. Giving up on doing anything in life so either having something happen like the "Juno Incident" or just lying down, giving up & being unable to do anything [Heart]. Trying to stop it by just trying to push though the days and end up shoving your emotions deep down & spiraling even more downwards, confused and frustrated on how to stop it [Mind]. Then ultimately giving up on it ever getting better & thinking "Tridential Regicide" is the only way to stop it.

You can't really label HMS as wrong or right when its just about Whole's inner struggles & trying to stay out of that depression spiral [the loop that gets mentioned]. It's just complicated since its all about the brain & it dealing with mental health. Which is the ENTIRE reason Whole's line in Light, one of the very few he has in all of Cacophony, is "Sitting in the sight of every eye I believe in you. Open the window, look out and see me. That sad, sulking mess; this human you're being".

Whole is even telling his parts that none of its really their fault, its just something thats very hard to deal with. I went more into it before but that line is just telling them that despite everything before they're still human & are just trying to get out of the depression spike they're in.

This is getting to be 12 paragraphs too many so ill stop here but, the album & HMS are not just some story about 3 guys fighting & hating each other. Its one guy trying to deal with depression & how complicated the brain can be when personified and struggling with everything. The way said characters are shown & made mean a lot to me & it's one of the few things ive seen that deal with it in an interesting way. so i just wish that was known & spread around more than it actually is

Mischaracterization in the CCCC fandom: a yapsesh (alternative title: Erm... What the Gore is Going On?)

Hi. Woaw. I'm actually making that post I talked about.

So. One thing I've noticed in the CCCC fandom is this weird fixation on gore, torture, violence, etc. Usually a level of graphic content that makes your average horror flick look... pretty tame!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy horror! I even think a horror story based around psychological conflict similar to CCCC could work well!

But is it just me, or has this fandom COMPLETELY lost track of what the characters are like in the source material?

Like. Let's be real. Nowhere in the album does Soul do gruesome surgeries on Mind, nowhere does Mind go ripping people to shreds like Doomguy, et cetera. The closest thing we have to an implication of violence is what most of us call the "Juno incident"- as even "tines stabbed through eyes" is clearly a metaphor with the next line: "that the sides have condemned."

Im gonna talk ab the characters themselves under the cut

I feel the biggest victim of this mischaracterization is Soul. In the album he's... kind of a victim, really. He toughs out being dismissed and fought over and pushed aside and outright dehumanized for so, so long. Are we seriously just... going to characterize him based solely on his lowest point in TSE? Spring and a Storm and Mucka Blucka are also songs where he's present- along with his presence in Just Apathy that the fandom seems to outright deny to keep their characterization of him as some violent, abusive monster. (Which, again, is quite literally never alluded to! He's honestly kind of a victim, if anything!)

Ohhkay. Next topic. Mind. Oh boy I have thoughts on how people characterize Mind.

He's not emotionless. If you believe this, you've fallen for his stoic facade. All of his songs are just. So full of so much rage. Maybe even a little bit of grief and sadness and fear, masked by said rage. He isn't some emotionless robot- (Heart calls him an automaton as an insult, but that's another rant.) and honestly it feels like such a disservice to such an interesting character with so much unexplored depth to portray him as such.

Heart. Oh boy. Where do I start. Heart what did they do to you.

Heart is the emotional side, yes, but that isn't just some... smol innocent uwu baby who cries all the time. Emotions aren't small and cute and timid. They're INTENSE and PASSIONATE and EXHAUSTING. Strong emotions leave you so, so drained, good OR bad. This is so much more interesting than portraying him as some "uwu hai dere!!" type of character. Which is nowhere in the album.

Whole is hardly even a character. Soul worshipping and praying to whole is fanon.

This fandom's weird obsession with creating shock gore and one-upping each other in a violence competition has spiraled pretty far out of control, and it's honestly crazy. How do you go from an album about internal conflict to violence that would make even the cast of Resident Evil cringe? Brah.

Final notes uhhh. Soul is a victim who got pushed to his limit, not an evil heartless abuser. Mind is angry and unstable and hurt, not some emotionless robot. Heart is the entire emotional spectrum, not some innocent baby. Ok i . I think that's all. Have a good one

[testajuliejane]

20 Something Woes

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how common it is for people in their late 20s, like myself, and early 30s, to feel overwhelmed by criticisms. I often wonder: am I too reactive, or maybe even overreacting, when people criticize me? One memory that stands out is when I was maligned and slandered by a coworker, someone much older, who seemed to take a particular disliking to me. She was a middle-aged, single woman, and for some reasons including a very low emotional intelligence, low self-esteem, and extreme insecurities, treated me with disdain when I was just starting out at 23.

That hateful, envious spirit propagated among the members of her like-minded circle. Before long, the jealous sentiments of other disgruntled co-workers began to surface, each expressing their own frustrations in countless undesirable ways like maligning and ostracizing me, or attempting to block any learning opportunities for me. And it appears that they do these things probably for these reasons: not having lived their best lives in their 20s, feeling threatened by outdated or insufficient credentials, fearing that their younger counterparts are more equipped, living with regret, worrying that their children may not fulfill the dreams they once had for themselves, or dealing with a troubled family life.

Looking back, it felt like my age and potential success made people uncomfortable, especially those older than me. There seemed to be a fear that I might achieve something they hadn’t. It wasn't just my perception—many of my peers, especially those who perform at a high level, have shared the same sentiments and similar experiences in their respective workplace. It’s strange to think that my accomplishments, like graduating cum laude and earning the highest licensure exam rating among my coworkers, would make me a target, even though I’ve always tried to stay low-key. I never bragged about anything nor paraded any of my achievements. In fact, those are things of the past -- something that no longer weighs heavily in my present life. But ironically, my quiet nature, my tendency to stay reserved, has also been a point of criticism, as if my silence is something people don’t know how to handle. The more I tried to stay private, the more they craved for information as if I am more than worthy of their energy and attention.

These people even dig relentlessly into my personal life and personal whereabouts when I take vacation leaves and eavesdrop through private conversations, making me even more cautious with what I share. (If one of those people came across this page and this particular post, Wow! That person has a different level of obsession that he/she even found his/her way here. Whew!)

🎶...you wanna piece of me...🎶

But, what can I be grateful for in all this?

Despite the negativity, these experiences have taught me valuable lessons. I’ve learned to stay resilient, to keep striving for excellence despite the noise around me. Perhaps, some people in this life stage have to go through this phase. These are character-refining situations. The criticisms have forced me to reflect, to grow, and ultimately, to practice humility. These experiences give me an opportunity to be forgiving and to show love as Jesus commands me as a Christian to love my enemies. It's difficult to do these things but my situation provides me an avenue to practice this radical approach of Christianity in dealing with earthly life. I’m learning that I don’t have to react to every unkind word, that being misunderstood or criticized doesn’t diminish my worth or potential. I can be grateful that these challenges are shaping my character and helping me to become more compassionate toward others who face similar struggles and even toward my offenders who may be going through silent struggles. It has been said, "Hurt people hurt people." But as a healed child of God, I can be a person who could bring healing. After all, we all need grace. In this situation, I am being trained to trust in God's protection and to trust that He will fight my battles on my behalf. I am also learning the principle of The Audience of One -- to only seek the approval of my God Who is my Ultimate Master. I am being grounded in my identity as a Child of God the Most High. I am grateful that I have never been the same. Above all, these experiences remind me to keep my eyes on the bigger picture—my purpose, my growth, and my faith.

[angelicheather44]

Embracing your divine design: Living in alignment with your true self!

What is the core self? Who does God say we are? God made man in his image. God says that he knew us before we were born. “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” God knows our emotions and feelings fully. Jesus cried because we cried. Two passages in the Gospels and one in the Epistles (Hebrews 5:7) teach that Jesus wept. In the Gospels our Lord wept as He looked on man’s misery, and both instances demonstrate our Lord’s (loving) human nature, His compassion for people, and the life He offers to those who believe. When Jesus wept, He showed all these things. God is in tune with our hearts, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. God feels what we feel.  He can feel in his own spirit our suffering.  Look at scripture,  Isaiah 53:4 it was certainly our sickness that he carried and our sufferings that he bore, but we thought he afflicted, struck down by compassion, and healed the sick. He knows the heart of a man. What moves you moves him.

We can take this with us. God sees and knows your pain, sorrow, sickness, depression, oppression, despair, fear, anxiety, headaches, and all other. Emotions are a gift from God. Our wise creator embedded emotions in our humanity to serve a useful purpose in our lives. Just as our minds enable us to think and our wills enable us to choose, so our emotions enable us to respond. To appreciate the gift of emotions, imagine what life would be like if you could not feel. So if emotions are a good gift from God, we should embrace our design as feeling creatures, right? Sadly, many of us try to suppress our feelings. We don’t know how to handle our feelings or express them appropriately, so we shove them into a corner of our lives. Maybe you grew up in a family where nobody showed emotion, or maybe you were made fun of for crying in front of others. Maybe you worry that emotion will hinder your career advancement or hurt your image of control. Whatever the reason, suppressing your emotions may seem like the best way to handle them. When we can feel and see other people’s pain we have compassion and we pray for them. So, we know that God knows our cellular level, brain chemistry, hormone level, knows the exact number of hair on our head, collects every tear that we cry, and our memories. God says any emotion should be brought into prayer by doing so allows his peace and guidance to come to us.

God has given us the knowledge and understanding to understand ourselves so that we can be true to self. First, reflect on what you need across your life to make you feel safe, loved, cared for, and fulfilled. Consider both what you are already getting from others or your environment, and what is missing. To be true to yourself means you don’t worry about pleasing other people; living by someone else’s standards or rules. You don’t care what people think of you. You live as your natural self. Without compromise. Starts with knowing who you are and accepting yourself; knowing your strengths, passions, limitations, and purpose in life and then living that way all the time. You come to know yourself only by living life. Finding what works for you. What defines you and makes you whole. Honoring our emotions isn’t about being self-absorbed or arrogant it’s really about being true to ourselves, honest with how we feel, and willing to engage in authentic conversations with other people even, and especially, when we don’t feel or want the same things that they do.

Explore and educate yourself on emotional intimacy, emotional connectivity, emotional humility, emotional body language, and how it affects every feeling, which causes us to think of things that then cause our reactions. Learn how to control your emotions and feelings with emotional intelligence. Our core self is emotions and feelings. Wrote by Heather Climer

[badmintoncourtetiquette]

The Art of Sportsmanship: Respecting Opponents and Officials in Badminton

Sportsmanship is the hallmark of any great athlete. It involves respecting opponents, officials, and the spirit of fair play. In the fast-paced game of badminton where emotions run high, displaying sportsmanship can be challenging. However, the best players know how crucial it is for upholding the integrity of the sport.

In this article, we'll explore what exemplary sportsmanship looks like in badminton. We'll discuss ways to show respect for opponents and officials, handle disputes gracefully, and model decorum for fellow players. Mastering the art of sportsmanship is key to becoming an inspirational athlete.

Respect Your Opponent In the spirit of sportsmanship, recognizing the value of respectful interactions extends beyond individual play to include the dynamics of doubles matches. Embracing etiquette not only with opponents but also within a team fosters a positive atmosphere, crucial for successful partnerships in badminton. This respect and camaraderie are fundamental for thriving in any competitive setting.

You are fierce competitors on court, but off court treat them with the dignity they deserve as fellow athletes. Display humility in victory and grace in defeat. Using gamesmanship to antagonize opponents reflects poorly on you, not them. Upholding respect for competitors showcases your strength of character.

Accept Officials' Decisions Umpires and line judges have a difficult task. Accept their decisions without argument or dramatic protests. If you genuinely believe a clear mistake occurred, politely ask for an explanation at the next interval. Avoid hostile body language like shouting, equipment abuse or sarcastic applause that questions their competence.

Don't waste energy lamenting perceived bad calls - stay focused on your game. Officials are doing their best, just like you. Treating them with respect, even when disagreeing, displays maturity beyond your years.

Use Disputes as Teaching Moments Inevitably, disputes over calls will occur. Handle them with poise by defusing tension and turning them into learning moments. If opponents lose their cool, respond gently and give them space to reset.

If you made the disputed call, be open to their perspective. Consider apologizing for any accidental hindrance you may have caused. When emotions cool, politely discuss how to avoid similar issues going forward. Handled maturely, disputes present opportunities for growth, not resentment.

Take Pauses to Reset Yourself When feeling frustrated during a match, take brief pauses to regain composure before reacting. Take deep breaths, adjust your attitude, and remind yourself to have fun playing the sport you love. Use breaks between games to do mindfulness exercises that clear your head of negativity.

Come back to the court refreshed and ready to give your best effort. Don't let anger or disappointment affect your performance or behavior towards others. Be mentally tough but also kind - to both yourself and your opponent.

Encourage Fellow Players As an experienced player, set a positive example for others. Compliment teammates and fellow competitors when they hit great shots or demonstrate good sportsmanship.

Provide constructive feedback to new players you train with. Build up their confidence and celebrate their improvements. Share your passion for the sport by making it a welcoming community for all.

Sportsmanship requires elevating the way you approach competition - play hard but with respect, integrity and compassion. Victory feels hollow without it. Stay humble in success, gracious in defeat, and lead by example for younger players. By embodying the spirit of fair play, you honor yourself, your opponent and the sport of badminton.

[leonbloder]

Don't Fake Perfection

The pressure to project an image of ourselves to the world as put-together, successful, happy, and confident is nothing new to our culture. People have been doing this for centuries.

There were other messages even when there wasn't the constant thrum of image-conscious drivel of social media to remind us that we ought to show the world how absolutely fine we are.

Some of us grew up with parents or teachers in our ears telling us to stand up straight, put a smile on our faces, stop crying, suck it up, rub some dirt on it, pull ourselves together, and a host of other helpful tips on hiding our emotions.

Or we may have had to listen to friends and relatives drone on and on about their kids' accomplishments, or the new car they just purchased, or the raise they got that enabled them to go to Fiji on a whim for a weekend.

And we had to sit there with a fake smile, saying things like, "Wow, that's wonderful." or "You must be so proud." Meanwhile, we thought, "There's no way I can measure up. I'm obviously a failure."

Not to mention all of the ads and commercials that stereotyped what it means to be calm, cool, collected, well-dressed, and perfectly capable of handling anything life might throw our way.

There's a reason why all of these messages have been beaming into our brains for years and years. We all feel a little inadequate. Maybe a lot inadequate.

And now, those messages beam even more so because of the little doorways into the world that we carry around with us, scrolling constantly and occasionally clicking to buy our way to happiness or register for the next program that will enable us to figure out who we really are.

I mean smartphones, if you were wondering.

So we do our darndest to project an image to the world of a successful, happy, centered kind of person, even when we feel like we're falling apart.

The great philosopher and psychologist William James wrote this in the late 19th century:

Take the happiest man, the one most envied by the world, and in nine cases out of ten his inmost consciousness is one of failure.

This relevant bit of wisdom was penned back in the late 1800s. The fact that it has stayed relevant all the years since is nothing short of sobering. We still haven't figured this out.

There's a reason why Jesus told his followers to leave off the kind of pretentions that the overly religious and powerful people of his day seemed to be known for.

He told them to let their "Yes be yes" and "No be no."

In other words, "Be exactly who you are. Don't overpromise and underdeliver like those who put on airs." He also wanted them to live with integrity, act with vulnerability and humility, and make their inside match their outside.

For Jesus, this is how people best lived in true community with one another.

Author and speaker Bob Goff puts it like this:

Don't fake perfection. Go for broke instead. The hidden cost of faking it is isolation, but the payoff of vulnerability is community.

May we let those words of wisdom land upon us and leave us transformed. May we all learn what it means to live authentically. May we draw others to us with our honesty and integrity.

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us now and always. Amen.

[jibberjabberjay]

Life is short, but here is some personal beliefs I’ve been trying to integrate in my 20’s.

1. It’s good to regret some choices — the limiting belief of looking back at your actions and seeing no faults of yourself is strange behaviour. If you don’t bleed, you don’t grow. Acknowledging your contribution to chaos shows humility — your growth is more important than changing the past though. However, you hiding from taking accountability is not doing anyone justice, not even yourself.

2. Discipline is more important than motivation, motivation is fleeting. The concoction of both, is what will take you far.

3. Do yourself poetic justice and take up space for yourself to reserve your individuality. It is a free world, succumbing yourself into the noise and doing things to only please people is self-harm. Conforming to people’s wants isn’t giving yourself any peace, power or control, you can’t sustain that mask for too long anyways.

4. Being harsh on yourself is not going to solve your problems, being headstrong will — there is a fine line between the two. The self sabotaging prerogative you have about demolishing your identity is not a quick fix to mend your life. Being kind and loving yourself is the only way you get better.

5. You’re not above anybody because you have been handed privilege or even worked hard to attain it. You are not above people who earns less than you, who speak less eloquently, who posses less talent. Human contribution is far beyond excellence. Your medium of superiority may be different than your peers, but that does not mean they’re doing life wrong.

6. No one owes you anything. Generosity, reciprocity, care or support. But if they aren’t providing you what you bring to the table & you’re unsatisfied with that reality, you’re better off leaving than trying to balance the scales before you grow resentment. Some people are just okay not be reciprocated with 100% of the energy they provide, that is okay too. If it bothers them enough, they will either speak up, or call it quits. However do not villianize anyone who doesn’t have the same heart as you.

7. Everyone has their own wounds, understanding them may not be your responsibility, but giving them space to heal is. But if they bleed onto you, don’t let that impact your self reflection — it is crucial to understand “hurt people hurt people”, and it’s in most cases truly not about you. Learn how and when to walk away before you continue the hurt onto people who don’t deserve it.

8. “Oversharing your lores to your friends is ridiculous” is strange. Your community is your strongest support system, if you trust yourself that you will not be wronged by them, they will not let you be wronged by others. Talk about what matters to you in excess, give yourself power to see things from different perspective until it makes sense to you. The isolation process from life events isn’t going to diminish its existence, it’s only going to fester into inwards disgust or absolution that is not deserved.

9. We are all broken in ways we don’t admit to. That broken shards isn’t an excuse to harm others feelings.

10. Words stick, even years down the line. The way you handle other people (especially regarding their feelings) is something that should be met with a lot of softness. Even if you don’t align with the other’s vision, let them down with your honesty, straightforwardness but grace and kindness. It is imperative that vulnerability is met with vulnerability. No matter how emotionally attuned the other person may seem in hindsight, human emotions works in strange ways — do not be the reason of another man’s self destruction but rather make them see it’s the circumstance that separates you. The concoction of logic and emotion is the only way you can work out dissonance. It is your responsibility in your interpersonal relationships to convey your intentions in a way to make sure you aren’t here to hurt someone’s heart. It is your responsibility to make it heard and known through your actions.

11. Don’t be quick to judgments and labelling (bad person, good person, etc, etc). Humans are more complex than the narrative you are subjecting them to. E.g. No one is a party animal just because you see them enjoying it time to time. We all navigate life at different paces. Reducing others to labels is limiting their abilities that might later surprise you. We are constantly evolving and enjoying multitudes of outlets to be ourselves in. Let people live their lives and figure out their lore, it is not your place to critic.

12. Arrogance is the ugliest suit a man can wear & conceit spoils the finest genius. We are so deeply emerged in our own lives, that we fail to look into considerations of others. If one is ought to feel the grandiose of love; one must surrender ego. It is the only way. You cannot love, appreciate or fully understand humans, objects, institutes, knowledge, etc etc, if you think you’re far above it. You will always be hovering over the surface of its potential no matter how much you research in the field. It is important you work on how to be confident rather than cocky — being smug to the point of reducing other’s importance is merely an easier outlet to project one’s deep internalized insecurities.

13. Absorb the world as much as you can. Drown yourself in art. We are a part of the human race and nothing ever really makes sense. Read books with plots you cannot relate to, listen to music that materializes your emotions in sweet melody, read books that you see yourself in, give tribute to artists that have different origins, watch movies that evoke epiphanies. In the modern age, we have instantaneous access to tremendous knowledge, but what is more important is that we understand human emotions. Empathy is the strongest indicator of intelligence.

14. Your brain is your supercomputer, it will only work on things you ask it to operate on. If you tell yourself you are not good enough, your actions will follow. Limiting beliefs will limit your potentials.

15. Humans are not disposable, do not make anyone feel that way by your actions or the lack thereof. No matter how sour the interpersonal relationship goes, you have no right to dim other’s spirit.

16. We all are very weird, there are quirks about us that will not make sense to most. Never make others feel tiny for what brings them joy as long as they’re not harming you.

17. If you’re uncomfortable, speak. If you miss someone 5 years down the line, call, if you want to be understood, speak up, if you love someone, be honest to yourself and them. Waiting around the “right time” or when the dust is settled in crevices you can’t reach, to pick up the call, is a life that isn’t worth living. When we are young, we fail to comphrehend how short our existence is. It is easy to see how regret is stronger than gratitude for most.

18. Humans are inherently good (except the chances you are wound up with a straight up evil human being). Their actions may be unsavoury at times but no one wants to wake up and be the bad guy. But unless someone is actively always bypassing moral conducts with no remorse, you need to stop providing them your absolution, time and time again.

19. Make mistakes but grow from it. Subjecting yourself to circumstances that teaches you how to better yourself is necessary, but learning nothing is going to be your biggest human flaw. You will repeat the cycle in every step of your life even if the subject matter is not the same. Acknowledge your flaws, and the root of your unhappiness. Be open to constructive criticism and really learn how to meaningfully engage so you can integrate a better you.

20. Do not ever critic the way people deal with grief. We all deal with it, differently. There is no set timeline and the process is not linear. You might not understand it, but you don’t have the right to poke your opinion.

21. Mental health issues are just as crucial to cater to as much as physical health. Never ever belittle someone else’s struggle or use their state of mind against them just because the pain is not visible to most. It is difficult for a lot of people who are struggling with immense mental health issues to be themselves and constantly be radiating with optimism — if you care, show compassion but even if you don’t care, please don’t disregard their being. Most of us become a shell of a human being when we are succumbed by the alteration of the brain chemistry, coping looks different for all.

22. Vanity is temporary, generosity is forever. Never prioritize or monetize your appearance or talents just so you can “get away” the person that imposes hurt on others. There are many conventionally attractive and disgustingly intelligent human beings amongst the mass, distinguish yourself by being genuine. We are all very easily replaceable.

23. Expand your horizons and be intrigued by cultures that are foreign to you. Learn hobbies, different languages, histories and gifts of the world.

24. Everything has its own divine timing; practice the art of patience and you will be rewarded with it’s fruitful outcomes. A person who believes in religion calls it prayer, a spiritual person calls it manifestation, all and all, have divine faith in the universe that everything is set in stone to work out for you. Romanticize your life as much as you can.