#ugh there was one kind that was a dollar cheaper but still if I’m getting gelato I’m getting gelato

[curiouselleth]

$7 USD for a pint of gelato. On sale. Only a dollar off so usually eight freaking bucks

the economy’s in absolute shambles

[page-doctor-bekker]

Casa de las Flores (transfemme!sarah)

(A/N) so... there is no nsfw in here. nothing that wouldn't be allowed in a pg-13 film, which is typically my policy: if i can see it in a pg-13 film, i can write it and put it on my tumblr :) anyways, enjoy. this takes place right after this.

-

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Casa de las Flores looked small on the outside, a cute storefront with a few burnt out letters and a neon “OPEN” sign on the door, but the quaint look was merely a facade. On the inside, the dining room was large and lively, with a full-service bar and bright decorations. They were seated almost right away, sandwiched between an elderly couple and a family with a toddler and a baby.

“I’m Rosie, I’m going to be taking care of you two today,” The woman smiled, and set the menus down, “Can I get you started with some drinks?”

Ava glanced over the drink menu, skipping right down to the margaritas section.

“Yeah, can I get a strawberry margarita, frozen?” Ava requested, and Rosie nodded, scribbling down on her pad.

“And for you?”

“Uh…”

Crap, is she paying? Or am I? I should get something cheap, just play it safe… Wait, she said she was going to buy me dinner. She’s definitely paying. God, I don’t want to cost her too much…

“A uh… Err… Sparkling watermelon margarita on the rocks, hold the salt,” She blurted out, and Ava smiled at her, which was totally not helping the nerves.

“I’ll get those right out,” Rosie flipped her pad closed, and left the table.

“Really? No salt?” Ava queried, giving a slight chuckle.

“I always wipe it off when I get the salt,” Sarah admitted, “It just… I don’t know. It’s supposed to enhance the lime or something, but I’m just not into it. The bitterness just ruins the drink for me.”

“Huh,” Ava flipped the page on the menu, “I never knew that about you.”

“I mean, it’s not like I advertise my margarita preferences everywhere I go.”

Ava laughed, “Really? That’s my favorite activity!” She taunted, looking up at the other woman.

“Maybe I should give it a try,” Sarah remarked.

“What are you going to get?” Ava suddenly changed the subject, still flipping through the pages of the laminated menu, “I was looking at that baja grilled fish tacos but…” She winked, “I’m not sure if fish is the right choice on a first date.”

What the fuck. WHAT the fuck. What the FUCK.

Sarah laughed, although the comment took her off guard, “I was thinking of the enchiladas de espinaca, but I haven’t entirely ruled out the al pastor either.”

“Spinach? You’re bolder than I am,” Ava chuckled.

“I’ll only get it if you promise to let me know if I have some on my teeth.”

“Deal.”

A few quiet minutes later, Rosie was back, “How are we doing, ladies? Need another minute?” She asked, as she set the drinks down, “Frozen strawberry margarita, Watermelon margarita on the rocks, no salt.”

“I think we’re all set,” Ava raised an eyebrow at Sarah, who nodded.

Enchiladas de espinaca is cheaper.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

“Ladies first,” Ava winked.

“Uh…” Sarah gave a nervous laugh, “I will get the enchiladas de espinaca.”

“Great choice,” Rosie scribbled her order down, “And for you?”

“I will get the steak fajitas with flour tortillas, please,” She closed her menu, “Oh, and can we get a round of Mexican candy shots and a round of tequila shots?”

“Of course, I’ll have that right out.”

“Shots?” Sarah inquired.

“Shots.”

Is she trying to get me drunk? Ava did call an uber to get here, maybe she just wanted a drinking friend…

At the table next to them, the baby started crying. Sarah watched as the mother cooed and shushed, and eventually apologized to her party and left the restaurant with the baby. Ava sipped her drink, before speaking.

“Would you ever have kids?”

Sarah’s heart just about stopped.

She stammered, “I- uh… I don’t know, maybe. I always wanted to be a mom when I was younger,” She smiled, “I even tried to breastfeed my babydolls.”

Ava gave a hearty laugh, the kind of laugh that makes you feel like the lights have just been turned on, and you could finally see in a dark room.

“Didn’t every little girl?” She laughed some more, and Sarah joined in.

Yeah, but little boys didn’t.

“I don’t know,” Ava continued, “Giving birth sounds so painful,” She mused, “I had a pregnancy scare in high school, a false positive from a cheap piece of shit test, and all I could think about was how much it was going to hurt.”

“Oh my God,” Sarah chuckled, “Not even about what you were going to do, how your parents would react?”

“Not even a little bit.”

It was Sarah’s turn to let out a big laugh, imagining the strong, confident surgeon stress over pain, rather than the practical side of a teenage pregnancy.

“How DID your parents find out?”

She snorted, “They didn’t!”

Sarah laughed even harder, and a couple near them turned their heads to stare.

Rosie brought both rounds of shots; The tequila, and whatever a Mexican candy shot was. The tequila shot was a yellow-y caramel color, with salt and a lime on the rim. The Mexican candy shot was a pinkish red shot with what seemed to be Tajin salt around the rim, and a lime as well.

Ava nodded at the shots, “Which first?”

“The pink one,” Sarah reached for it, “What’s in it?” She gave it a sniff.

“It’s watermelon-y,” Ava grinned, “Bottoms up?”

Sarah clinked her shot against Ava’s, and threw it back. The Tajin shocked her taste buds, and the first taste of the actual shot was sweet, like biting into a cool, crisp watermelon on a warm summer day. Almost as soon as she tasted the watermelon, she tasted what seemed like hot sauce, and tart lime juice.

“Ugh, I love those,” Ava dramatically rolled her eyes back, before grinning at Sarah, who gave a smile in return.

“I’m a little scared of the tequila,” Sarah admitted.

“What? Bad night in college?” Ava teased, and Sarah blushed with embarrassment.

“I’ve… Actually never had tequila.”

“So why are you scared? You can wipe the salt off, you know.”

The tequila shot didn’t necessarily disgust her, but she didn’t enjoy it. The salt made her stick her tongue out in disgust, and the alcohol burned on her tongue. She looked up at Ava through watery eyes, and Ava was looking at her with an expression that Sarah couldn’t quite understand.

Ava clapped, and Sarah coughed, and their food arrived. Sarah went tunnel-vision on her food, and Ava’s laughter through their conversations was almost more intoxicating than the alcohol. By the time they finished dinner, Sarah was on her third, maybe fourth margarita. Ava coerced her into another tequila shot, and they shared a plate of churros. Sarah had even tried Ava’s, wiping off the salt from her rim.

The bill was well over a hundred dollars, most of it being alcohol, and Ava paid it with eight twenty-dollar bills without a second thought, and dragged Sarah out by the elbow.

“Y’know,” Sarah slurred, “I thought you hated me.”

Ava’s face fell, “I know.”

“I thau’ you’d neva’ talk t’ me again,” She mumbled, leaning into Ava.

“I know.”

“I was so so sad.”

“I know.”

They were quiet. The only sounds were the Chicago streets. The sounds melted together in Sarah’s head, and she felt miles taller than she was, and miles shorter at the same time. She felt like she might float away, like Ava’s arm was the only thing keeping her on Earth. Sarah was a balloon, but Ava was the string.

“Wanna go back to my place?” Ava whispered, seeming stone cold sober even though they had had the same amount to drink. Sarah was infatuated with her - Everything she did seemed to make her more and more attractive.

Sarah had half a mind to say no, but nodded eagerly.

“You bought me dinner,” Sarah sighed happily, “You’re so nice to me.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Mmhmm…” Sarah agreed, “Because surgeons make more than psychiatrists.”

Ava laughed loudly, stumbling a bit herself, “How are you going to pay off all your debt if you buy dinner, miss fresh-out-of-medical-school?”

“Maybe I don’t hate the salt,” Sarah blurted out, ignoring Ava’s joke.

The two walked arm in arm, each of them letting out a giggle every few steps. Ava’s sober front slowly fell, leaving her just as messy as Sarah. They each did their fair share of holding each other up, until the doorsteps of the apartment building Ava lived in.

They stopped.

Ava stared into Sarah’s eyes, as if trying to puncture her soul with an IV needle. Ava had brown eyes - The kind that filled your heart with warmth like you’d just downed a hot cup of coffee between patients - And Sarah knew she had noticed it before, but she couldn’t remember when she realized how beautiful they were.

Ava’s breath, that once smelled like her chapstick and chewing gum, now smelled of strawberry margaritas, tequila shots, and salsa. Her mascara was mildly smeared, not from crying, but from God knows what antics the two had gotten up to. Her teeth were starkly white when she smiled, and made Sarah wonder if they were naturally that white, or if she had treated them to get there.

Ava’s lips made contact with Sarah’s before Sarah even knew they were heading that direction, and she simultaneously tensed her whole body and felt like she was melting to the floor.

Someone’s going to see, someone’s going to see us and hurt me, someone’s going to know-

Ava pulled off with a smack, and smiled coyly, “Wanna head upstairs?”

Sarah nodded, eyes wide. She felt short of breath, and anxiety bubbled in her stomach. Does she mean what I think she means?

She tripped twice heading up the stairs - The elevator was out of order. Ava held on to her, drunk but still more coordinated than Sarah could ever hope to be. Sarah saw stars, and a halo around Ava’s head, convincing her drunk mind that the blonde woman beside her was truly an angel.

When they got to Ava’s apartment, they were kissing before they even closed the door. Ava pushed Sarah against the wall, tearing her jacket off first and then Sarah’s. Somehow, with her eyes closed, she still managed to hang them up on the coat hooks beside their heads.

Ava pulled Sarah’s hair tie out, and tangled her hands in the woman’s curly locks. She needed her lips like she needed oxygen to breathe, and neither of them wanted to let go. Sarah felt things shift between her legs, making her attraction to Ava apparent to her, but even in her intoxicated state she still managed to feel the pang of dysphoria, which made her nauseous. Regardless, she didn’t falter, no matter the discomfort deep in the pit of her stomach.

“I’ve never kissed a girl before,” Sarah breathed out between kisses.

Oh God.

“Honored to be your first,” Ava responded, equally as preoccupied.

Ava rested her hands on Sarah’s waist, hiking her shirt up slightly in the process. She shivered as Ava’s cold hands made contact with her skin, and her southern equipment stirred, making her dysphoric yet again and only contributing to the nausea. At this point, she couldn’t tell if she was truly nauseous from the alcohol, or just so dysphoric and anxious that her stomach couldn’t tell the difference. She powered through, distracting herself in the warmth of Ava’s mouth and the light touch from her fingertips.

Ava creeped up Sarah’s ribcage until she could feel the underwire of her bra, and then slipped her hands under. Sarah was suddenly very aware of her lower regions, her gaff, and how thin her scrubs were. She would be screwed if something slipped out.

Note to self:

Ava kissed down her neck.

Write a good review for this gaff later.

Ava started unbuttoning her shirt, kissing the newly bare areas as she went. Once she reached the bottom, her lips darted back up to her collarbone, sucking a hickey into the sensitive area.

Sarah’s job was to keep breathing, and not let the panic get the better of her.

This is fine. Adults do this. I’m an adult. She doesn’t know, and she wont find out because I won’t let this go that far.

Ava’s lips captured Sarah’s again.

I won’t let this go far enough to be a problem.

Ava’s hands trickled down to the button on her pants, and Sarah took in a sharp breath.

Ava looked up quizzically, “Do you want this?”

Yes, but I can’t.

Sarah didn’t respond, hoping her fear was not evident in her eyes.

The surgeon put one hand on Sarah’s cheek, and relaxed her other hand from her waistband, “You don’t have to. I won’t be mad.”

Sarah nodded, then shook her head, “I- uh, I don’t want to.”

The anxiety in her chest fizzled out as Ava stepped away, and as much as she craved intimacy, Sarah knew this was better. Ava gave her a warm smile, and held out her hand.

Sarah took it, receiving a squeeze from her, “I can get an Uber or a Lyft…”

Ava looked taken aback, “Why? You can stay, you know. You think I’m going to kick a drunk girl out at,” She glanced at her phone, “Eleven o’ clock at night?”

Sarah smiled sheepishly, and stood awkwardly for a second, “Uh… Where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh! That door right there,” She pointed to a modern white door, with silver fixtures. Sarah stumbled towards the bathroom, and practically fell into the room.

She closed the door behind her, and leaned against it. She slumped down, pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead against them.

After a few minutes of deep breathing exercises, she opened the door and hollered, “Ava?!”

“Yes?” The aforementioned woman looked up from the couch, where she was sipping a glass of water and playing a game on her phone.

“Is it okay if I shower?”

“Yeah! Let me get you something to sleep in, I think we’re similar in size.”

Sarah closed the door as Ava got up, and a few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Sarah opened it, and Ava handed her a stack of folded clothes, with two towels on the bottom, “I didn’t know if there were any towels in there, so if there are, just leave any extras under the sink.”

Sarah nodded, and Ava gave her a tight-lipped smile, and left.

Sarah closed the door.

It seemed that Sarah was given a bright pink muscle tee, with the words “Cardiac care is a work of heart” in all caps, with an anatomical heart image, and a pair of loose black sweatpants. She rolled her eyes at the shirt, surprised that Ava would own it. It seemed silly.

Sarah stripped, turned the water on as cold as it could go, and jumped in.

-

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(A/N) thx for reading ! lmk what you thought <3

[umi-tama]

2 backlogs and & new post

Good Care, played a lot of games, only gave one or two snacks overall, 3h in the cocoon - Israfel

Good care, snacks only, 3h in the cocoon - Sachiel

Mediocre care, snacks only, 3h in cocoon - Sachiel

Bad care, snacks only, 3h in cocoon - Sachiel

Pretty ok/good care, first game only (all perfect), 8h in cocoon bc that fucker went into its cocoon in the middle of the night while I was asleep - Ramiel

I don’t have words for how much I miss TamaZone and ppl coming together to figure out the growth rules you guys UGH. Now I have to google such stuff and comb the whole internet only to find nothing bc everyone is scattered and probably hiding in FB groups and Discords and whatnot. Yes I’ve seen there’s a chart on the wikia. Getting Sachiel 3 times in a row is where I ended up by following it.

*

There’s really not much to say about my first run of my On.

It’s the same as the Meets and the M!x after all. Cute - vERY cute, in fact - but. Not much else. The most exciting thing is literally making these elouai dolls for my update posts here lol

*

The newest addition to my little collection!

I never had a GigaPet as a kid (I think i babysat a friend’s GigaPet cat once tho?) so when I saw these Pixies popping up on the internet, I decided to get one because why not.

eBay prices are WILD these days tho, also shipping from the US is around 20-30ish dollars atm????? did this happen bc of/during the pandemic? anyway, thankfully I could order my Pixie from the official GigaPets website where both the vpet and the shipping was much much cheaper

I was pretty surprised by the wings being soft rubber. I hope they’ll hold up over the years. Also it was... a little... not weird, but... I’m not used to ordering a brand-new as in in-stock-and-still-getting-produced vpet with a classic black-and-white screen anymore. It’s so oldschool but also so new. Kinda funny.

Anyway, I’m still mostly in home office and from how I understand the manual I should be able to pause it by setting/pausing the time, should the need arise, so... let’s give it a try?

oooh! the sounds are so soft! .... there are a lot of sounds tho even when you don’t do anything..... this is gonna get annoying, won’t it :D’

Ok so here’s the good news: after a while of ignoring it, the sounds will stop

the bad news: the screen will also go blank, just like it does on color tamagotchis, probably to save batteries

which... kind of defeats the purpose imo?

bc one of the things about oldschool vpets i prefer over color tamas is that the oldschool ones are always visible on their screen. you prop them up next to you and they’ll just hang out with you and it just needs a quick glance to see if they need something or to just watch them do their cute little animations.

also it doesn’t make a noise when it needs something. it doesn’t when it poops and it doesn’t when one of his needs scores drops below 60 and the attention icon lights up (which you btw won’t see if it happens after the screen went blank!). so like. what is the point even.

i mean, sure, the sounds accompanying the animations are rly rly cute and varied, but imo the main purpose of having sound on a vpet in the first place is so you can hear when it needs something :/ hmpf

figuring out the potions takes a bit of trial and error which... idk, is a little stressful when you need to find out the luck potion recipe so you can make luck potion which you will need to get enough luck to, well, be able to brew potions XD’‘

i got by now and will make another post with all the recipes as soon as i figured out the rest as well!

c ya then!

*

EDIT: ah! it just hungrily beeped at me for the first time! weird that it didn’t do that earlier as well, maybe the scores need to drop even lower than <60... huh

[waveridden]

FIC: dreams of you and mistletoe

Ephrim makes a face despite himself. Throndir catches it immediately. “You’re not a Christmas person?”

A Hallmark movie AU. Ephrim/Throndir, some Ephrim/Maelgwyn, 2.2k.

Happy anniversary, @leonstamatis!

AUcember || read on Ao3

#

1.

The engine of Ephrim’s car is smoking. Not lightly smoking, not the kind of smoke that he can deal with or ignore for a little while longer, but smoking thick and black and heavy. It’s getting hard to breathe, actually, and he wraps his scarf over his face as he stares at his car.

He fumbles with his cell phone. It takes a lot of effort to tear his eyes away from his car, so at first he doesn’t understand why his insurance app isn’t working. But when he finally manages to look at the screen, his stomach drops.

“No service, of course,” he mutters. For a second he considers kicking the car, but it’s not the car’s fault that today is going… like this.

Really, he thinks, it’s Maelgwyn’s fault. He’d been so understanding about Ephrim having to work over the holidays; he’s always been so understanding that Ephrim doesn’t want to make a big deal out of Christmas. But as the actual holidays had gotten closer and closer, he’d started being snarkier and sharper and more rude. When Ephrim’s flight across the country had been canceled, Maelgwyn had laughed at him. Laughed.

So Ephrim did what anyone would do. He decided to drive. Without taking his car to a mechanic first. Given that his car is now smoking heavily on the side of a one-lane highway in the middle of nowhere without cell service, he’s willing to admit that this wasn’t the right choice to make.

He takes a deep breath. He thinks there’s supposed to be a town, not far ahead - a couple miles, and that’s not ideal, but still something that’s walkable. He takes a minute to breathe deep and steel himself for the longest walk he’s ever had to take. God, he hopes nobody tries to steal his car or something while he’s gone, then he’s really going to be up a creek without a paddle.

He’s so focused on trying to talk himself into the walk that he doesn’t notice the truck until it’s already pulled over on the other side of the highway. His heart leaps into his throat. Don’t bad things happen in the middle of nowhere like this? Is he about to become an episode of one of those shitty small town true crime TV shows?

“Wow, your engine’s fucked,” says the guy driving the truck. He hops out and goes over to the hood of Ephrim’s car without asking first, and normally Ephrim would be annoyed, but the guy at least seems to know a thing or two about engines. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s attractive, bright green eyes, a little chubby. “You alright?”

Ephrim blinks. “Uh, fine,” he says slowly. “It just… started doing this.”

“Yeah, I can see.” He waves a hand and dispels some of the smoke, which is dissipating anyways now that the car is turned off. “Well, I have good news and bad news.”

“Bad news first, I can take it.”

“I don’t know a thing about cars,” truck guy says cheerfully. “But the good news is I’m friends with the mechanic in town, and she has a tow truck. Need a lift?”

“Yes,” Ephrim says, before he can think about consequences at all. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Hey, it’s no problem.” He sticks a hand out - his left, because he’s apparently pretty observant. “I’m Throndir.”

“Ephrim.”

“I’ve already got someone in shotgun, but you’re welcome to hop in the backseat.”

Ephrim looks in the passenger seat. There is, at first glance, what appears to be a bear.

“What the fuck,” he says. Then the bear barks, and he blinks, and oh, it’s not a bear, it’s just a massive dog. “That’s… wow.”

Throndir laughs. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

  #

  2.

“Two days, tops,” Hella says. “Hope you don’t mind being stuck here till Christmas Eve.”

Ephrim lets out a slow, measured breath. Two days. With any luck he can get out of here early on the 24th, and if he drives like hell then he has plenty of time to get where he needs to go. He doesn’t have to miss the meeting after all.

Slowly, he nods. “Is there a hotel in town?” He pauses, considering. “Or is it, like, an inn or a bed and breakfast or something?”

Hella’s eyebrows rise. “Wow, okay, city boy. Small towns can have hotels, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Why’s that?”

She turns to the door just as Throndir comes back through, smiling cheerfully. “I don’t know how you take your coffee, so I just got you hot chocolate,” he says, and holds out a cup to Ephrim. He takes it, too surprised to say thank you, and Throndir hands the other cup to Hella. “What’s the verdict?”

Hella is one of the scariest people Ephrim has ever met in real life. She’s tall as fuck, and her arms are about the size of Ephrim’s torso. But when she smiles at Throndir, she looks like a completely different person, fonder and softer. She takes a sip of her coffee and says, “Two days.”

Throndir makes a face and glances at Ephrim. “Are you still going to be able to get to your work thing?”

“I’ve got it under control,” Ephrim says automatically. “I’ll make some calls, it’ll be okay.”

“Good,” Throndir says sympathetically. Ephrim likes Throndir, although it’s hard to say why. Normally people like Throndir drive him insane, people who are gracious for grace’s sake and so completely guileless. Maybe he’s just relieved that Throndir actually stopped for him when he needed help.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Ephrim says, for lack of anything else to say.”

“Of course,” Throndir says. Then he tilts his head, a strange look on his face. “But where are you going to stay?”

Ephrim opens his mouth to ask about hotels, because like hell is he committing that same gaffe in front of Throndir, but Hella cuts him off before he can. “I think that place uptown is full,” she says. It’s a careful, neutral statement, but something about it sets alarm bells off in Ephrim’s head.

Sure enough, Throndir’s brows furrow for a second, but then his face clears. “You can stay with me!”

“What,” Ephrim says.

“I have a guest room, and I’m not far from town, so you’re welcome to explore if you get bored on the farm.”

“Farm?”

“Throndir runs the local Christmas tree farm,” Hella explains. Ephrim gives Throndir a startled look, but he just shrugs. “It’s a nice place, and it’s probably cheaper than that place uptown.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t charge you,” Throndir says, surprised. “It’s just two days, right?”

“Right,” Ephrim says slowly. He genuinely can’t tell how much of a choice he has in this situation, but he can’t say that he minds the idea of spending a couple days with Throndir. Even if those few days are on a Christmas tree farm. Ugh, he hopes Throndir isn’t one of those people who’s super weird about Christmas.

“Great!” Throndir claps his hands together. “I’m going to go back home and make sure the guest room is set up. Hella, I’m assuming you need some time to go over invoices and stuff.”

Hella shrugs. “Sure, if you don’t mind coming back to pick him up.”

“Not at all. I’ll make sure Kodiak doesn’t drool on your pillows.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to pay?” Ephrim says, because it feels… polite. He certainly won’t say no to a free place to stay, especially now that he also has to consider paying for car repairs.

Throndir waves him off. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, with that same guileless sincerity. “I’ll be back in an hour or something, okay?”

“Go,” Hella says, exasperated and fond. Throndir shoots her a cheeky grin and heads out. She turns back to Ephrim, face dropping into something serious. “You’re going to pay him, right?”

“He said-”

“Ephrim,” Hella says, gratingly polite, and takes a step closer. She is much, much taller than him. “You’re going to pay Throndir for letting you stay in his house. Right?”

“Right,” Ephrim says.

Hella smiles. It doesn’t look nearly as friendly as before. “Great,” she says. “Let’s go over your bill.”

  #

  3.

“It’s just for one more day,” Ephrim snaps. He’s been trying so hard not to be annoyed about this, but he forgot how weird Maelgwyn gets about… about plans. “And then I’ll be driving to the meeting, and driving back.”

“Driving back,” Maelgwyn repeats. “Why do you have to do this? You could’ve just rescheduled your flight.”

“That costs an arm and a leg.”

“So does getting your car fixed. And thanks so much for waiting until the next morning to tell me that you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere.”

“Thanks for checking in to make sure I’m alive,” Ephrim says, because he’s more than willing to admit he’s an asshole. But he thinks he’s allowed to be annoyed that his boyfriend didn’t notice him going radio silent. He’s allowed to be annoyed about pretty much this whole situation.

The only part that isn’t annoying is Throndir. He’s been so generous with his time, constantly offering to take Ephrim into town in case he needs anything and make sure he’s settling in. Ephrim had tried to take him out to dinner as a thank you, and Throndir had still insisted on splitting the check. He doesn’t know why Hella thinks that he’s going to be able to pay Throndir; he’s pretty sure he could offer a literal million dollars and still get turned down.

Maelgwyn huffs loudly, drawing Ephrim’s attention back to him. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he says. It sounds like it’s being dragged out of him through gritted teeth. “But Jesus Christ, Eph, there’s no way you’re actually stuck here. Maybe you’re just not thinking clearly.”

Something angry sparks in Ephrim’s chest, white-hot. “Excuse me?”

“You’re obviously distracted by something-”

“By my car breaking down, Maelgwyn!”

“I’m just saying, you’re being dramatic about this.”

Ephrim takes a sharp breath. They’re both dramatic, and they both know it, but for some goddamn reason it’s always a weapon that Maelgwyn uses against him.

“I’ll let you know when I leave,” he says, short and sharp, and hangs up before Maelgwyn can get a word in edgewise. This is fucking exhausting, but at least he can shut his notifications off and ignore everything until he’s ready to deal with it.

He sighs and rolls his shoulders, trying to force himself to look casual. He wanders out of his bedroom and over to the kitchen, where, as suspected, Throndir is waiting with two bowls of cereal. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Throndir says, and grimaces. “So, uh, for transparency’s sake, I feel like I should tell you that I heard that whole thing.”

“Sounds right,” Ephrim sighs. He sits down across from Throndir. He can’t remember the last time he actually sat down to eat breakfast by himself, let alone with someone else. There’s something nice about it. “Sorry you had to hear that.”

“Sorry your brother’s an asshole.”

“Boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Throndir repeats incredulously. Ephrim arches an eyebrow, and for a second he swears that Throndir blushes. “I just mean- it didn’t sound like he was being particularly understanding, that’s all.”

Ephrim shrugs. Things have been on the rocks for a while now, and he can admit that to himself, but it’s something else entirely to say it out loud. He takes a bite of cereal and decides he needs a subject change, so he says, “How did you end up owning a Christmas tree farm?”

“Technically I don’t own it.” Throndir half-smiles. “I’m just maintaining it for a friend. His kid wanted to move to the city, so they’re living there for a few years. It’ll be his as soon as he comes back.”

“But not just anyone can own a farm.”

Throndir shrugs. “I used to live in a pretty small town, even smaller than this. And I did a lot of odd jobs, including farm work. And Jack’s a pretty good teacher, so…” he shrugs again, but he’s smiling now. “Christmas central.”

Ephrim makes a face despite himself. Throndir catches it immediately. “You’re not a Christmas person?”

“It’s annoying,” Ephrim says, which doesn’t even begin to encapsulate his feelings towards Christmas. “It���s just not for me.”

“You know you can celebrate a normal amount, right? You don’t have to put reindeer antlers on your car or listen to Blue Christmas on repeat or anything.” Throndir pauses. “Or just celebrate Hanukkah or something.”

Ephrim shrugs. “It’s not for me,” he says again.

Throndir just nods. “Well, the farm’s closed today, but I have some errands to run in town. You’re welcome to come with me, even if you don’t run the errands with me.”

“That’d be nice,” Ephrim says, then frowns. “Christmas is in two days. Don’t people want their Christmas trees?”

Throndir shakes his head. “Pretty much everyone who wants a tree has one at this point.”

“What about the people who want one but don’t have one?”

His eyes spark mischievously. “They come tomorrow. It’s the busiest day of the season.”

Ephrim laughs although he can’t exactly say what about that is so funny. But Throndir sits back, looking pleased with himself, and Ephrim kind of feels like he did the right thing by laughing. It’s a nice change of pace.

[bigskydreaming]

Btw, for those who’ve been asking, just a quick update on the jaw sitch:

I had that last appointment on Thursday and it went really, even surprisingly well? Like, better news than even she’d hoped for. We were crossing our fingers that the last CT scan (the one to map exact dimensions we’d need the prosthetic to be) would match up with a premade prosthetic so we wouldn’t have to wait to order a custom made and could jump straight to trying to expedite the surgery. 

Turns out I don’t actually need a prosthetic at all. The top of my jawbone, the condyle, which everyone thought was completely destroyed from all the previous scans and was part of what had to be replaced, its actually still there and largely intact. It wasn’t snapped off or eroded away like they’d been thinking, it actually just got bent enough at the top of it that somehow it slipped and got shoved up....underneath my skull, or behind my skull, I’m honestly not sure what the right word is to describe it, because of the angles/dimensions involved. The reason they could only see it with this last scan and not any of the others is this last scan like....looked through the back of my skull essentially, and showed the inside curvature of the side of the skull that’s where all the Drama is. And that’s where they saw, oh hey, he’s still got an intact condyle, its just been stuck inside/under/behind his skull this whole time instead of resting in the joint where its supposed to be and allowing for proper opening and closing. And as it got worse and worse this past year and a half, it wasn’t because I was constantly grinding down on what was left of the bone and wearing it more and more away....it was that it was actually constantly shoving up more inside my skull, day by day. So, still not fun, just a different kind of suck than they thought, lol.

I’m actually a little bit miffed by the reveal, not gonna lie, because like....it literally is EXACTLY what I’d been saying it felt like the problem was to me. For a year and a half. From the very start. From the very first time I went to the ER after it first snapped or slipped out of place or whateverthefuck, the very first doctor I met with, I literally described it as feeling like my jawbone got stuck up under or behind my skull and couldnt get loose or descend properly. And they were like nah, that’s not a thing, must be TMJ. And literally every other doctor I went to since then (including this one), I told each and every one of them the same exact thing but noooooooooo, why listen to the dude whose body it literally is lol why would he know what it feels like is the problem. Lmao. Ah well. Doesn’t change anything at this point and not worth souring my relationship with this doctor since at least she’s getting results for me and is easy enough to work with and way better than that other one I was going to before. But still. Annoying. It gives me no pleasure to be like ‘ugh I was right, I told you all’ because like, lol I don’t need the fucking ego boost, I would have much rather taken the ‘get started fixing all this a year earlier than it took to find the solution and thus spare myself a lot of time, money, aggravation and oh yeah pain’ option. BUT OH WELL.

Anyway. So this changes things a little but not a done. The general course of treatment is still the same. They still have to do the exact same surgery, only now instead of opening me up and putting in a new prosthetic joint, they’ll open me up, cut off the bottom part of my jaw so that they can then basically dig out the upper part from where its stuck behind/under/inside my skull, do something *mutters vague medical-ese in place of the details I glazed over here and didn’t totally catch look I am still very sleep deprived all the time*, then manually reset the condyle/top of the jawbone in the joint they restore via the vague medical-ese mumble mumble stuff, manually realign the whole rest of my lower jaw and then screw the bottom and top pieces of jawbone back together with like a plate or something. 

But now at least we don’t have to wait for a prosthetic, or pay for one, so that’s at least a couple thousand dollars cheaper though the rest of the surgery is still the same as before,like 20K out of pocket or thereabouts. And its always better when they can use/salvage your natural body instead of having to use prosthetics or insert foreign material - theoretically, this means I should heal faster, regain more or fuller function of my whole jaw, and there’s less risk of nerve damage since all the muscles and everything are still attached to the jaw and just unable to do their job because its literally just stuck, but again its always better if like, they don’t have to try and reattach or reintegrate muscles and all that around a brand new piece of bone or prosthetic that they place in there for the first time.

So its literally just a waiting game now? She sent off her updated notes and case file to my insurance company now to try and expedite getting a greenlight on the surgery. It only takes two weeks to book the surgery and get into an OR somewhere, and the only thing we’re waiting for now is payment, basically. As soon as I can afford the surgery, we can schedule it, and two weeks later, bam. So fingers crossed that my insurance company will approve it - she feels pretty confident they will, because she thinks she’s made more than enough argument and provided plenty of documentation to prove its an absolute medical necessity (hahahahaha just let them try and argue w/me about that, I WILL DEVOUR THEIR ENTIRE SOULS, MY JAW IS 90% UNHINGED ALREADY, IT’LL BE EASY).

So mostly its just a matter of how long it takes to get an answer from them, and if they’ll approve the whole thing or only part of it, and if the latter, how long it’ll take me to raise the rest. She said give it a week before I start calling the insurance company directly myself, to nag them, lol. But that her best guess is it’ll probably be around three weeks or so to hear back, for something like this.

So, fingers crossed that I get a quick answer and a good one in terms of paying at least most of the surgery. And then....blessed scalpel and morphine drip. *weeps in I Have Never Been So Excited To Be Cut Open On A Table Like A Fish, Seriously, What A Weird Thing To Have Be Like Christmas and My Birthday and Some Other Random Assortments of Holidays Used As An Excuse for Gift-Giving*

She’s planning on doing the surgery on a Saturday as its usually easier to book an OR on the weekend, and the surgery itself should only take a day and I shouldn’t need to stay overnight after all. BUT I still need to figure out finding some way to stay with someone for the ten days after the surgery though, which - no idea how to go about that just yet lol, working on it. But my jaw’ll have to be wired shut for the ten days post surgery, liquid diet only, so she was like “LOL yeah no, you should definitely not count on being able to talk for the first couple weeks of recovery. Or stand up really. Or like, get out of bed at all pretty much. As much as it sucks right now, its gonna suck even more then, you will definitely hate everything and it’ll hurt even more before it gets better, BUT then it’ll actually get better. Finally.” Like, I’m paraphrasing, but that was my takeaway, lol. Yay. Things to look forward, much excitement, can’t wait.

Nah but like, I will literally put up with anything at this point in order for it to be over, and after that, I shouldn’t need more than a month or two of physical therapy before I have full function of my jaw back. But she thinks it’ll be if not quite as good as new, at least close enough for there not to be much difference. She said she sees no reason for there to be any lingering or residual pain or nerve issues or vertigo once my recovery period is over, and my face should look pretty much the same as it did before all this started then. Said there’s a slight possibility, depending on certain things with how the surgery goes, that my chin might end up a little more recessed than it had been originally, but not enough that it’d be especially noticeable - if anything, it probably would only show as different from before when looked at in profile, from a side view. 

LOL, she was like, there is an additional procedure I can do right then and there while we already have you under, that’ll bring your chin forward and compensate for any differences there and its easiest to do it right at the same time as everything else. But that’s essentially just a cosmetic procedure, so your insurance likely wouldn’t pay for that. And I was like okay, well just so I know, how much is that procedure? And she’s like, oh, 8K. And I was all HAHAHAHAHAHA, doc, you funny. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m vain and shallow, but I’m cheaper and broker than I am vain and shallow, so that’s gonna be a hard pass from me. I’ll stick to just overcompensating with my wit and dazzling personality, mmkay.

LOL. Anyway, so that’s where things stand right now, just....waiting. And hoping. And crossing fingers. And trying not to fall into my usual trap of assuming this slight uptick of good or positive news means IMPENDING DOOM elsewhere. Like, there is still a slight risk of nerve damage with the surgery itself, not the potential for full face paralysis that the other doc was saying might happen, she’s not worried about that at all, but she did warn that in like 10-20% of cases with this surgery, there’s a chance of nicking a sensory nerve that means like, ending up with your face numb around the chin and above and around your mouth, where you basically can’t feel much in those areas. Sometimes that lasts for a month or two, and occasionally there are some people who never regain sensation there, but she stressed that its not a huge risk, again only 10-20% of the time, but she did want to make sure I was aware. Course, my cynical ass is like OKAY BUT YOU UNDERESTIMATE HOW MUCH THE UNIVERSE LIKES TO MAKE EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE LINE UP WITH EXTREMELY LONG ODDS AND UNLIKELY POSSIBILITIES, WHY WOULD YOU TEMPT FATE WITH A DIRECT CHALLENGE LIKE THAT, DO YOU HATE ME, DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE????

LOL. Look I’m a Melodramatic Melvin, this is canon. And in the immortal words of Ugh Stiles, I’m almost to the point of no longer being able to ‘milk this anymore’ so I gotta cram my last good angsts in while I still can, y’know? Nah, but srsly, I’m gonna try and not stress about that too much because she said there’s literally nothing I or she can do to minimize that risk, it just is what it is, and the one thing I do know is that my body/brain tends to be highly suggestible and psychosomatism tends to play a huge role in my health and how well or quickly or thoroughly I bounce back from stuff. So. Trying to do the whole positive thoughts, eyes on the prize, Speak Only Good Stuff Into Existence until I’m out the other side. Like, take it for granted that the odds aren’t gonna fuck me this time so I don’t end up accidentally stressing myself into the perfect position for my body to be like Screw You Baby, One More Time.

I mean, we’ll see how well that goes, lol, but you know. Goals.

[artificialqueens]

Everything is Better in My Ugly Christmas Sweater (Pearlet) - Sammy Indigo

A/N: This is a story about a sweater. I own a total of fourteen holiday sweaters/cardigans/tshirts, and therefore I cannot relate to those of you who do not enjoy the concept of an ugly holiday sweater. We’ve made it through the first week of December! Keep it up, loves xxx

November 28th

“It’s not even December, yet, Pearl.” Violet huffed slightly as a large man with two small children cut her off in their haste to cross through the ladies’ section of the department store to get to the toys. “And it’s irrelevant, anyway, because you know I wouldn’t be seen dead in one.”

“But all the good ones go so fast.” Pearl argued. 

Violet ignored her, focus remaining on the dark purple dress hanging on the rack next to them.

“And,” Pearl continued, everyone knows Christmas basically starts as soon as Halloween is over, so you don’t need to feel bad about buying a Christmas sweater in November. Even Thanksgiving is over, now.”

Violet abandoned her inspection of the dress and turned abruptly to Pearl. “I don’t care what day of the year it is, I will not be seendead in a fucking ugly Christmas sweater.”

“Even if the theme of the office party this year is ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater Chic’?”

“How can an ugly Christmas sweater be ‘chic’?”

Pearl shrugged, idling up to Violet and pouting, cuddling into her shoulder. “I dunno.” She said, batting her lashes. “But if anyone can figure it out, it’s you.” She cocked her head to one side in an attempt to look cute.

Violet’s face softened and she brushed some blonde hair away from Pearl’s cheek. “You really want me to wear a Christmas sweater?” She asked with a tiny smile.

Pearl nodded, pout remaining.

Violet wrapped both arms around her and hugged her close in the middle of the store. “Pearlie…” She kissed her ear and dropped her voice to a whisper, “the day I put on a fucking Christmas sweater in public, is the day Michelle Visage wears a turtle neck.”

Pearl slowly pulled away from her. “You’re a party pooper, Chachki.”

“And I’ll look a million bucks doing it.”

  …….

  December 1st

Pearl burst in to the apartment, tripping over her own feet in her haste to get to the kitchen.

“Happy December!” 

Violet slowly turned from the stove, placing the spoon she was using to stir the pasta down onto the counter. “You told me that this morning, when we woke up.”

Pearl grinned. “I know, but-“

“And you told everyone in the office when we got to work.”

“Yes, I know, but this-,”

“And you screamed it at me as you left work and sprinted in the opposite direction to our home with zero explanation.”

“Right, yes, okay,” Pearl said, “sue me for being excited about Christmas.”

Violet rolled her eyes.

“But,” she said, holding up a bag, “I got us presents!”

Violet frowned. “It’s not Christmas, yet.”

“Early presents, then.” She said. “They’re to give us some holiday cheer. Get us in the spirit of the season.”

Pearl held out the bag and Violet eyed it suspiciously. “If you get anymore Christmas spirit in you, you’re going to start shitting glitter.”

“Just take the damn gift, Vi.”

For a mere half of a second, Violet thought she was about to be presented with some kind and thoughtful gift from her girlfriend of two years, although she berated herself for even entertaining that thought once she caught a glance of the bright and assaulting red and green inside the bag.

“Fuck you.” She said and dropped the bag on the kitchen floor. Violet stormed out of the room. “Cook your own fucking dinner.”

Pearl grabbed the bag and chased after her. “But I got us good ones!” She shouted.

Violet caught sight of the playful and amused grin on Pearls face before she slammed the bedroom door in it. 

“They were like forty dollars each.” Pearl told her through the door. “These are good ones.” She shook the bag. It jingled. “And they have bells on them!”

“I am not wearing a Fucking. Christmas. Sweater.”

Pearl looked down at the bag. “We’ll see.”

  ………..

  December 6th

“Just try it on.”

“No.”

“I think you’ll like it once you try it on, Vi.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Please, Vi….for me.”

“No.”

“Ugh. Just hold it up against you. Look like this. Hold it up against you and you can see how cute the little pompoms look with the bells and the snowman-,”

“Get off me.”

“Violet, just-,”

“Now!”

“…Well, you don’t need to get so pissy about it. It’s just a sweater.”

  ………..

  December 12th

“I’m glad we decided to stay home for Christmas, this year.” Pearl mumbled sleepily into Violet’s hair. “S’too much effort to go see our families.”

Violet nodded, snuggling closer to Pearl on the couch. “We can go see them in the New Year. When everyone’s less stressed.”

“And when we can buy their gifts in the clearance section in January.”

Violet snorted. “You’re terrible. “

“Hey, my mom wants a new crockpot? Sure. But if I can get it fifteen dollars cheaper, then we’re both happy.”

They had been cuddled up on the living room couch since finishing dinner, channel hopping and chatting, making the most of their first free evening in over a week.  The holidays were a busy time for most; Violet and Pearl were no exception. 

The apartment was chilly, and Pearl had wrapped them both in a blanket from the bottom of their bed. It was actually warming up in the living room, or at least under the blanket, but Pearl didn’t have enough willpower in herself to pull away from Violet, not matter how sweaty her back was against the couch.

“You better not be buying my gift in clearance.” Violet muttered, eyes still on the screen. “I want my presents on Christmas day.”

“Don’t you worry, baby,” Pearl kissed her hair, “I’ve already got you covered.”

There was pause in the conversation as both women watched a celebrity chef attempt to convince the audience that the audacity on screen was worth buying their book for. 

“Pearl?” Violet asked as the show went to commercial.

“Mm?”

“Is my Christmas present that apocalypse of a holiday sweater?”

“…No?”

Violet curled herself into Pearl’s chest, closing her eyes and pulling up the blanket. “If you dare present me with that sweater as a gift on Christmas morning, I will not hesitate to divorce you.”

“But we’re not married.”

“Not yet.”

Pearl looked down at Violet curled up in her lap. “I’m not too sure what the threat was in there, but I can just sense it was there.”

Violet yawned. “Oh, believe me, it was there.”

  ……….

  December 20th– Party Day!

The weather outside was frightful, and a fire would have been so delightful for Pearl to come home to, but alas, the apartment only provided a shitty gas heating system that was more difficult to control than a starving pit-bull in a butcher shop. Pearl was cold. 

She shrugged off her winter coat, shaking the few snowflakes off that hadn’t had the time to melt into the fabric, and hung it over the seldom-used chair in the living room. Her boots left wet marks in a trail from the front door, and Pearl quickly kicked them off and pushed them onto their shoe rack. She mopped up the wet footprints with her socks as Violet stepped through the bedroom door.

“That seemed to take you fucking ages.” Violet said. She eyed the floor by Pearl’s feet a little suspiciously as she fastened her earring, but said no more.

“Sorry.” Pearl said. “Post office was insane. But I got my Mom’s fake gift posted, and got the gift she sent for me.” She held up the opened package she had run home with tucked under her coat. “I already told her it’s just a token gift though. I still have plans to buy that Crock Pot half off in two weeks.”

“Did you open your gift, already?”

Pearl nodded, grinning. “Not that she knows that.”

Violet laughed, crossing the room to inspect the parcel. “It’s not even Christmas, yet.”

“Yeah, but it’s Hanukkah.”

Violet frowned. “No, it isn’t.”

“Oh.”

“And you’re not Jewish.” She said, holding out her hand. “Like at all.”

Pearl handed her the small package and Violet took it, moving to sit on the couch. “Well, anyways, I opened it, and I love my Mom.” She grinned. “And she sent you some stuff too!”

Violet emptied the contents of the bubble wrap envelope onto the couch cushion next to her. There was a Christmas card addressed to the both of them, with half of the envelope ripped down the middle in pure Pearl fashion. Pearl’s Mom’s handwriting wished them both a ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’ and expressed her hope to see them both in the New Year. That made Violet’s tummy feel warm.

There was also a little golden envelope, also ripped to shreds, which contained a gift card for Brooklyn Fox, addressed to Pearl.

“It’s weird that your mom gives you money for sexy lingerie.” Violet said, holding up the envelope. “You know that, right?”

Pearl shrugged her shoulders, wrapping one arm around Violet as she sat next to her on the arm of the couch. “Mom just wants my boobs to be well supported.” She said. “S’not weird. She got you one, too.”

Violet flicked her eyes down to the othergolden envelope and quickly slit it open with her nail. Sure enough, she too, was a proud recipient of a Brooklyn Fox gift card from Pearl’s mom. “I think this makes it more weird.”

“Maybe she just wants us to get new swimsuits. Y’know, in case we wanna go visit her and go swimming?”

“But mine says ‘To Violet, have a lovely Christmas. Hope you and Pearl have fun with these gift cards.’”

“That’s not weird.”

“Then she drew a wink face emoji.”

“Okay,” Pearl frowned, “so Mom’s a little weird. Calm your tits.”

Violet snickered. “I actually fucking love your Mom.” She picked up the final two items on the couch and held them out in front of them both. “These are cute.”

They were two key chains, both with little dangling green beads and a single neon yellow alligator. A further charm hung from each, a flat piece of metal in the shape of Florida that featured the names ‘Pearl’ and ‘Violet’ stamped into them, respectively. Violet inspected hers with a small smile and eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 

“This is cute.” She said, again, running a thumb over the alligator.

Pearl took hers. “Right? I love key chains!”

“When did your mom visit Florida?”

“She didn’t.”

Violet looked up at Pearl. “Where did she get these from, then?”

“Internet, probably.” Pearl smiled. 

“Then why choose Florida?”

“I dunno.” Pearl said. “She likes orange juice.”

Violet stared at her girlfriend for a few moments longer, if only to confirm the fact that she was not going to expand on her explanation that made entirely no sense. When Pearl only continued to happily fiddle with the little beaded charm, Violet picked up the bubble wrap envelope she had discarded earlier. A sliver of card caught her eye, still inside the package, the edge catching on the ripped corner of the envelope.

“What’s this?”

Pearl looked over. “Oh, Mom sent me an old photo she found.” She said, as Violet pulled out the picture. “She wrote something on the back about reminding her of the good times. It’s cute.”

The photograph was creased down the middle, but it didn’t take away from the pure joy radiating from the family smiling in the picture. Pearl’s mom looked almost the same as she did the last time Violet saw her in the summer, although her hair screamed late nineties. She wore blue eye shadow that clashed horrifically with the bright red and green knitted sweater she was sporting.

Pearl pointed to her mom. “You thought the sweaters I bought for us were bad?” She chuckled to herself. “At least I’m not asking you to wear that.”

The children in the image were also sporting matching horrific Christmas sweaters. Violet could almost feel her skin pricking with the feeling of itchy wool, in empathy with the smiling kiddies. Pearl’s brother, somewhere around ten in the photo, was holding up a shining soccer ball. The little girl, on their mother’s other side, held a half eaten cookie.

“Even as a child,” Pearl said, wistfully, “I knew, that food was life.” She laughed. “No but seriously, Mom told us to hold up are favourite gift, and I was like ‘oh, cookie, obviously’.”

Violet traced a finger over the tiny Pearl in the photo. “How old were you here?”

“Um, I don’t know. Like five or six? No more than six.”

“You were so cute.” 

“Were?”

Violet looked up to her and grinned. “Are.” She corrected, pouting until Pearl kissed her. “My Pearlie.” She looked back at the Pearl in the picture. “Is this photograph the reason you’re so obsessed with hideous holiday fashions?”

“Well,” Pearl smiled, “maybe a little, but it was something we always did. Y’know?” She wrapped an arm around Violet’s shoulders, looking down at the photo, too. “From my very first Christmas my grandma made us sweaters to wear on Christmas day, and it was so exciting to be allowed to open that one gift on Christmas Eve, and know it was gonna be the sweater but still being so excited about it.”

“I never knew that.”

Pearl shrugged. “I guess it never came up. We stopped doing it after she died, and then we moved out and went to college.” She explained. “It wasn’t until a few years later that I kinda felt nostalgic about it, and got myself a sweater. And I realised I missed it.” She grinned and squeezed Violet’s shoulder. “I like the whole fashion faux pas of the Christmas sweater. It’s like everyone’s in agreement that at this one time of year, we’re allowed to dress ugly.” She smirked at Violet. “Well, almost, everyone is in agreement.”

Violet frowned. “I just don’t get it.” She sighed. “In our house on Christmas we had to wear dresses, suits, have our hair perfect, be pristine. My dad would have thrown a fit if I had tried to get him to let me wear a sweater to Christmas dinner.”

“The benefits of being too poor to eat out were that I literally didn’t take off my pyjamas for like two whole days over Christmas when I was a kid.”

“That sounds like luxury, to be honest.”

“Yeah, well, I guess it was fun.” Pearl kissed her head. “You don’t have to wear the sweater, Vi. I want you to be comfortable in whatever you wear, but I can’t wait to wear my sweater at the party.” 

………….

December 20th, 6pm, Party Night

“Vi, the Uber’s gonna be here in like two minutes.” Pearl called from the living room couch. “Hurry that little perky ass up.”

“Coming.” Violet shouted back. “Just, give me a second.” She took a moment to stare at herself in their bedroom full-length mirror. “For Pearl.” Violet muttered, closing her eyes to gather some confidence. “You’re doing this for Pearlie, because you love her.”

“Come on, baby, car’s here.”

Violet shook herself, ran a hand through her long dark hair, and turned to grab her clutch from the bed. Before she could change her mind, Violet stepped out into the living room.

Pearl was buttoning up her coat, with Violet’s slung over her arm. She looked up, holding the coat out for Violet to step in to, when she caught sight of the outfit Violet had settled on for the evening. 

“Wow.” Pearl breathed. “I genuinely never thought I’d see the day.”

“Well, take it all in, because after tonight I swear to God, Pearl, I’m burning it.”

Pearl laughed. She walked over to Violet, holding open the faux fur coat for her. Violet put her arms in, and let Pearl wrap it around her body, bringing it closed over the bright red and green sweater. As her fingers brushed the front of it, the little bells jingled. Pearl was beaming.

“People would never believe it if I told them you’re a softie, Vi.”

Violet huffed. “And you wont go around telling people that.”

Pearl pulled her into a hug, holding Violet tightly and pressing a kiss into her hair. “I can’t believe that you love me enough to wear something so awful in front of all of our colleagues.”

“So you admit that the sweaters are gross?”

“Of course I do.”

Violet pulled away to glare at her. “Then why are we wearing them?”

“Because I’m nostalgic and you’re in love.”

“Fucking hell.”

“And just for the record, Vi,” Pearl said, “I love you, too.”

“Yeah, well,” Violet fastened the coat up higher, until no part of the sweater was showing, “you owe me a good fucking Christmas gift. A great fucking gift.” She led them out of the apartment, allowing Pearl to pull the door closed behind them.

“Can I interest you in a discount crock pot, that will be available for redemption sometimes in the New Year?”

“I will hurt you.”

[nickrbockr]

Simon Vs Fan Fic: Chapter 3 - Weeds

Ao3

I can’t stop thinking of our night together.

It was the most perfect thing. We both woke a few hours later, hungry. Mom, Dad, and Nora had returned while we were asleep and already ate. Nora talked to Bram briefly before going to her room and shutting her door. Mom (and Dad) decided to scrapbook in their bedroom, much to the laments of Dad. He knew, though, Mom was being nice and giving Bram and me full reign of the living room. We ordered pizza and watched bad movies on Netflix. We were both still awake when Alice came home around 2:00 AM, sloshing her words around.

“Aww,” she started in a drunk accent. “You two are so adorable. How was – hic – your night?”

Bram pulled me in closer with a hug. “The best. I’m going to miss your brother.”

I beamed, and it made Alice roll her eyes much like Dad. “Ugh, I take back my compliment.”

Alice didn’t return after she hobbled upstairs. When we walked back to my room, I saw her light was on under the door. In all her glory, Alice passed out, fully clothed (thank god), on her bed. Bram smiled and helped me tuck her in and we returned to our bed to sleep.

I couldn’t fall asleep right away, my mind was racing. Bram curled up next to me and slept as well as he looked. I stared and played with his hair. He liked when I deeply rubbed his head with my fingertips and often asked me to help him fall asleep. A soft, happy purr came from him as he shifted on my chest.

Seeing him gave me all the energy I need in life. It gives me the energy and confidence to speak with his parents. I know I’ll still be worried, but I want to know that his parents approve to him when I get down on one knee. Then I can see the glisten in his eye that makes me melt.

The next day was not sad as it could have been. Bram kissed me before he left to finish the two things he needed to pack and was back at my house two hours later, all ready to head back up to school in Baltimore. He was driving to his Dad’s new place in Charleston and then flying to Baltimore. Tickets are cheaper and he’ll see his Dad once more before the year begins.

“Nick texted me,” Bram laughed. He showed me the phone.

 Did you end up doing it?? Maaaan, I can’t wait to see you. Summer has been too long, I miss ya!

Bram’s Nick had turned out to be a great ally. As soon as him and Bram were good friends, he called me saying that I had nothing to worry about, he would make sure to keep an eye out on Bram for me. Many drunk calls from those two and their group of friends proved otherwise, but he kept his promise and always got Bram to their dorm and later apartment.

“You talked about it with him!” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah, I had to, he’s my Garret up there.”

“I know, but talking about it openly. I’m proud of your Greenfeld.” I say, jokingly.

“Coming from the guy who inspired me to come out in the first place. I’ve grown up since high school, Spier.”

We had this habit of calling each other by our last names when we’re getting ready to leave each other for a long time. His million-dollar smile flashed at me and it tugged at my heart, knowing it’s the last I’ll see of it in awhile. “This is the last time we’ll have to do this, Si,” he added, knowing where my mind went. “After this, it’s us.”

“The last time, that makes it easier,” I say, kind of lying, but also loving how considerate he is.

“Yeah, we got this,” Bram said, smiling with squinted eyes and shaking his head.

I grab Bram’s hand and he squeezes it back. Then he pulls me to him and we share a great kiss. His tender lips still so soft as he takes a small nibble on my bottom lip.

“I’m glad we did that last night,” I start.

“Me too,” Bram replied, warmingly, drinking me in with eyes. “Sorry I’m staring.”

“Never be sorry and always be staring.” I smile. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more,” Bram started. “And I hate that I have to go.”

When Bram began to get emotional in public, I knew it meant a lot to him. I hugged him deeply and rubbed the small of his back.

“I promise you,” I started, gaining courage and hope and love, “that this will be year to remember. Let’s bust through it and I guarantee you’ll have something great when it’s over.”

“My degree?” Bram joked, laughing at himself. He’s so cute when he does that.

“Exactly, plus, us, the unit,” I exclaim, making him smile wider.

“I love you, have I told you that?” Bram mentioned.

“You’ve let it slip a few times,” I say right before I kiss him. “I love you, too.”

Then he was in his car, headed into the sunrise. No tears this time. Knowing what I want from the future has somehow strengthened me.

Bzzz.

Text from Bram’s Nick?

 Hey dude, Bram told me he was leavin’ today, I know it must suck, but this is the last year I’ll have to babysit Brammy. Hope you come up soon again, final hurrah as college students!!

I can see why Bram likes him. Very supportive and good friend…be at the proposal kind of friend?

 Thanks, means a lot. Yes! Once I start I’ll know what kind of schedule I have and we can plan. Bram said he has a killer schedule this year :(

. .. …

 Yeah, man, he showed me. Bummer. BUT you know I’ll convince him to make time for you, I’ll wingman you up.

I chuckled at his enthusiasm.

 When I come into town next, you and I will need to talk.

. .. … Sounds ominous :o But I can dig it. Can you tell me if it’s good or bad news?

 Good news, definitely good news.

. .. … Good! Whew! Okay, keep your chin up, Spier. You’ll see Brammy again before you know it.

I put my phone away and saw my family watching from the house who then mysteriously found themselves busy as I walked back up to the house. Mom had breakfast ready at the table and her, Nora, and Alice were discussing proposal options. Dad was reading the paper with a steaming cup of coffee at the kitchen counter.

“Please don’t do anything lame like a flash mob. I mean, bring people if you want, but don’t do some tacky dance,” Nora offered.

“Like the Forever wedding dance thing?”

“Exactly.”

“Never in a million years, He’d hate that.” I replied.

“The first question is who will you want there? Who’s making the cut?” Mom asked, knowing she’d be there, confident-like.

That was a good question. I wanted the important people in Bram’s life, but outside of Leah, Nick, Abby, my family, his family and Garrett, who would Bram want there? Maybe his Nick too?

“I’m not sure yet, definitely Bram and I.” I joked. Nora ate a smile as mom glared at me. “I’m not sure yet, it’s only been a week since I knew I was doing this.

“Bram used to be quite quiet,” Dad started, “But the more he comfortable he gets, the more talkative he becomes. Seems to me he might like a nice dinner and a fun proposal. I dunno, that’s what I’d do if I were proposing to Bram.”

Ugh, an image I could have gone without.

“You know who you need to ask, Leah and Nick,” Alice suggested as she typed away on her phone.

“About Leah and Nick, I haven’t told them yet.”

Nora and Alice lifted their eyebrow.

“What? I wanted to tell Mom and Dad first, then I wanted to ask Bram’s Parents for permission, then Leah and Nick. And Abby.”

That was the plan at least. But maybe Alice was right and I should tell them so they can help me. No one would be better to help me out with this than Leah, but she was already up at Yale because she was going to be a TA this year for the Sociology 101 and 102 classes. She worked there the entire summer and we all only saw her a few times. We went over on data so many times, Dad put our family on the unlimited plan. Oops.

That said, she’s the one friend I know would drop everything to help me. She did it when she could all through middle and high school, what could be different now?

“Ugh, you’re right. Maybe I should tell her.”

“Get ideas before Mom tries to take over!” Alice yells.

 Bzzz

Bram Getting gas at the same old station where the attendant looks like you. Not a good trip to see him. <3

Will my heart flutter for the rest of our lives when he talks to me?

 I could put glasses on a stick and you would see me in it.

. .. … True! Come to think of it, I think of you every time I see Mr. Peanut. ;)

 Not fair! He has a monocle.

. .. … And a top hat like you wore in Sweeny Todd. Boom. I win!

My junior year I beat out Patrick Petersen to play Antony in Sweeny Todd. He ate sour grapes and I drank liquid grapes to celebrate (Wine. I drank wine, not grape juice. To be clear). I called Bram immediately and said all the right things a boyfriend says. He made sure to come opening night with Leah, Nick, and Abby and he also brought a family size pack of Oreos for me to discover in my dressing room.

 Awww, now I have to get a bag of peanuts at this gas station.

 I love you

 I love you too. Getting back on the road, I’ll text ya later.

Even in texts, he’s so grammatically correct. I excuse myself from breakfast and head to my room to FaceTime Leah.

“Si, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Leah is the greatest. Always has been, always was.

“Hey Leah, how’s the TA training?”

“Oh, you know, love to prep syllabi for a class most freshman will take only cause they have to.” Classic Leah. “Teachers are great, they’ll write me a good letter of recommendation if needed. Plus they’re weirdly sucking up to me cause of my BuzzFeed job. It’s a weird dichotomy.”

“I made sure to pay attention in my Intro to Sociology class, promise.” I joke with her.

“So you’re coming up, like, tomorrow? What can’t wait? It’s about Bram isn’t it?”

Not everything I talk about with my friends is just Bram, but when we talk, Bram always seems to come up, but can you blame me?

“It is, actually, but not any of the normal things.”

Leah’s eyes bugged out.

“So you mean you’re not calling to tell me how sad you are that he left today?”

I started to reply but,

“And yes, I know he left today. You didn’t answer any of my texts last night, I can only imagine what you two were – and now I’m going to puke.”

“Sorry about that, I need to get better, you’re right.” I put my hand on the back of my neck.

“Okay, then what’s up?

“I have been thinking lately and I’ve decided to propose to Bram.”

Leah goes quiet as a closed mouth smile grows across her face as he hands planted on her cheeks.

“Simon, that is so fucking wonderful I could cry!”

“Please don’t, one of us has to always be stable! You can’t count on me to do that.”

“Simon, Simon, Simon, I just can’t believe it. Yes! YES! AH! Who have you told?”

“Only my family, and now you.” I place my head on my hand.

“Wow!” Leah is waving her hand against her eyes.

“Yes, I wanted to tell you next because I want to get your opinion on how to propose as well.”

Her smile quickly disappeared. “Do you know who’s going to be your Best Person?”

Simon tilted his head and smiled.

“Isn’t that a little far ahead? I need to know he says yes first.”

“Si, come on, you honestly believe he’d say no?”

No. But hey, neither of believed we’d come out or find each other.

“Anything is possible, you taught me that Ms BuzzFeed.”

Heavy Leah eye roll, “Whatever. Look, you have any ideas or are you scraping the bottom of your barrel?”

“Hey, listen, I have a few. I just don’t know if Bram will like any of them.”

“Lay one on me.”

“I was thinking of maybe going back to Creekwood-”

“Ugh, no. Please. I have to be there soon for some weird five-year high school reunion planning meeting.”

“Okay…well, location can be discussed.” I cleared my throat. “I was thinking of making it not private though…like having a couple of people there, family, close friends, maybe. I don’t know, do you think Bram would like that?”

“You guys aren’t in high school anymore and, unfortunately, neither of you are hiding your feeling for one another. I miss when you both were emailing. Kidding, of course, as you kept us all out of the loop for so long.”

“Focus.” I appeal.

“So I think Bram will like what you like Simon. He came to the Farris Wheel and you know how nauseous he gets.”

Nauseated you mean.

“He geeks out when you’re geeking out on sweeping romantic gestures. Simon, he’ll love whatever you decide. I’m here to bounce the terrible ideas from your repertoire, but you’ll have good ideas too. Trust your gut. When are you going to do it in case I end up on your short list of invited people?”

I wasn’t really listening at the moment because I started thinking about how Bram would like to be proposed to and less about how I want to do it. If he did it, he’d probably take me out on a very gorgeous dinner and do a traditional proposal and I would eat it up!

“Si?”

“Sorry, time. I want to do it on the night of our firth anniversary.”

“Ugh, that’s perfect.”

“Yeah?” I said, feeling more confident.

“Yeah. Okay, so I have time if I’m a part of that group, if you do the group. Skipping classes? I think your anniversary will land on the weekend before classes start.”

“I’ll figure that out later. My second semester this year will be light so I can handle missing a few days if needed.”

“Well Si, I’ll try to think of some fun places and ideas and we can talk tomorrow. I gotta get back to stapling ten million packets.”

“Bye, love you, bye.”

“Bye, love you, bye.”

I hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. It was still unmade from last night and Bram drifted back into my brain. This proposal needs to sum up five years of love and happiness and the most Bram-Simonesque way possible. Would emailing him as Jacques to propose to the Blue address be romantic? I daydream Leah coming through my phone to slap me for that thought. Time to go back to brainstorming.

I went downstairs and Mom was waiting patiently. I bounced ideas off of the girls and none of them liked the idea of going back to Creekwood either, so that choice was officially off the table (which is a shame because I thought it’d be super romantic).

“I mean, I get it, but it’s too on the nose,” Alice stated and the others agreed. “Think in the same vein, but maybe something more recent. Any significant places since college?”

So many. There were so many places around the country Bram and I met: halfway points, weekend get-aways, pretty much every major city and attraction up the eastern sea board. The problem with all of those places was they were always fleeting. They were never together for more than a day or two before one of them had to return to school. The place that was always constant and longer than a weekend was Shady Creek Summers.

“No…You guys, it has to be here.”

“As in the house?” Mom exclaimed, eyes wide.

“Here in Shady Creek…I’ll have to figure out where, but yes, it has to be here. It’s where we fell in love.”

Mom welled up at the word love and Nora had another smile escape, but she allowed it to. Alice gave me a thumbs up.

“Good thinking, son.” Dad chimed in from the counter. I don’t think he’s moved since I went upstairs. “But now it’s my turn. Come on, Si, let’s go outside, you wearing something comfortable?”

“Yes?” I answered suspiciously.

“Good, good. Come on.” We go out the back door to our long driveway. “Have a seat.”

Dad pointed to the concrete.

“On the ground?”

“Yeah, help me pull up these weeds in the cracks.”

Of course, how did I not see this coming? We pull weeds for a few minutes in silence until he started talking.

“Si, I just. I want you to know that your Mom and I are super proud of you, and we’re so happy and glad you found Bram when you did.”

“Thanks Dad.” I say, pulling at an ornery dandelion.

“I’m glad you figured out to do it here too, Si. I was about to suggest it myself had you not thought of it.” Dad pulled out a big weed and threw it to the side. “You’ve really grown into quite the man, Si. You’ve gone through a lot more than I did when I was your age, yet you’re coming out on top.”

It must be custom for fathers to only be able to talk to their sons without Dad jokes during some sort of manual labor.

“It’s thanks to you, Dad. I had a good guy to look up to.”

“So this proposal,” Dad started. “You sure you want people there?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I reply, staring at small weed I couldn’t reach with my fingers.

“Proposing is a hell of a heart race, let me tell you that. When I proposed to your mom, WOW.”

I stopped picking at the small, untouchable weed.

“Really?”

“Sure Si! It’s a scary experience.”

“Even if you’re almost positive they’ll say yes?”

“ESPECIALLY if you’re almost positive. If you’re not sure, you expect a no, so you can prepare for it. If you’re almost positive, you’re going all in on your emotional ante. And that’s hard to allow yourself to do, especially when you’ve been hurt before.”

Have I been hurt before? I was outed by Martin, but that was Martin, not Bram. When Bram ghosted me, I was hurt, but not because of him, it was because of the situation. And it ended up working out in the end. I just now remembered Dad and I were shooting the shit over some beers last summer and I told him a good portion of when Blue and I started talking. So maybe he’s being a Dad to his son.

“Dad, do you think Bram hurt me when he stopped talking to me?”

Dad had moved his attention back to the weeds after his speech, and he didn’t look at me to respond.

“Si, all I know is that you the best son I could have asked for, and maybe I just felt a little territorial of how someone could have treated you. I just want to let you know that it may be scary because of the possibility of hurt and that’s perfectly normal.”

Super Dad lands his super lessons again. All through the façade of weed picking the driveway.

“I appreciate it Dad, but Bram has done so much more for me that part of our history can burn.”

“Good to know, Si.”

“So you were scared with Mom?”

“SO scared with your Mom.”

We silently continued until I remembered one of the most important things about proposals.

“Oh my god, Dad, how could I forget this part?! Are there any ring place you’d recommend for a low income college student?”

Dad laughed until his mind clicked and became silent for a while. Uh no, I broke Dad.

“Simon, do you trust me?”

“Are you quoting Titanic on purpose?”

“Can it be both? Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“You still have your old laptop from high school, right”

“Yeah, I mean, it died but it’s hanging out in my room in the closet I think. And no closet joke!”

Dad bites his lip.

“Okay, that’s all.”

“…that’s all huh?”

“Trust me, son, trust me.”

Dad and I finished a chunk of the driveway before he let us go back into the house. I think he may still feel a little guilty about the jokes in the past, but that can burn as well. Dad was just being Dad, I know it wasn’t malicious at all. To be honest, that would have been a funny joke had I let Dad say it. Probably not, but he would have liked it.

The rest of the day was great. Nora, Alice, and I sibilinged out and talked and talked until dinner when Mom and Dad joined us. We ordered Chinese and watched the most recent season of the Bachelor and argued over it. Nora always sided with Mom, Alice with me, and Dad always a solid sole survivor of opinion.

“It’s about that time, Si,” Mom said after the credits started on our third episode. “You’re all packed for the plane?”

“You know it. That part of Bram has rubbed off on me. I was packed for the plane two nights ago. Do you still recognize me even though I’m planning in advance so much?”

“Not at all/It’s like you’re not even our brother anymore,” Nora and Alice said at the same time.

“I like it,” Dad included.

Nora hugged me goodbye and ran upstairs before anyone saw her cry. Alice hugged me and said she was going to get packed herself for the next leg of her trip. Mom and Dad drove me to the airport for my red-eye to Connecticut. Bram suggested to always take red-eyes to maximize time, traffic is almost non-existent to the airport, and that by the time you land in your destination, a friend can pick you up before they may have class or work. By god, that boy was right. And I’m going to ask him to give me advice like that the rest of my life.

[justsomebucky]

The Friendly Wager (Part 4)

Summary: AU. Reader and Bucky Barnes are neighbors and best friends. After yet another bad date, reader comes home to find Bucky with his typical weekend target. They decide to make a wager about dating, but is there more on the line than reader cares to admit?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 2,578

Warnings: language, fluff, sarcasm, unrealized romantic tension, drinking

A/N: This is my submission for the lovely Kait’s ( @bionic-buckyb) 5k AU Challenge. Congrats on the followers, friend! My prompt was “Can you please come over so I don’t feel so alone?”

I’m really behind on posting my parts for this challenge, I’ve got a long weekend, I wanna move this along because I’m dumb and entered another challenge, and I don’t wanna be a PIA for Kait, so I’m posting more frequently. Tags are closed.

Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

“So, are you nervous?” Wanda asked, adjusting her sunglasses.

The two of you had decided to wander across the street to a food truck, and were now eating lunch on the bench outside of Stark Tower. The sun was bright again today, but you forced yourself to work and catch up on everything you missed yesterday while you were out having fun with Bucky.

“Me? Nervous about something really trivial? Never,” you deadpanned, scanning the busy street for nothing in particular. You didn’t have your sunglasses with you, so you couldn’t hide your expression from your coworker.

“You know, squinting causes wrinkles.”

“And worrying causes inflammation, but here we are.”

Wanda laughed, shaking her head once. “I can’t believe the two of you did this, anyways. Let me see this Peter guy again?”

You dug into your bag and found the picture that Bucky had texted you on your phone, then handed it over. “He’s very handsome.”

“He is,” she agreed, eyeing the stranger’s face. “But what’s he like?”

“I imagine that’s why I’m going on the date, Wanda, to find out what Peter is really like.” You stared straight ahead as something red caught your eye.

Oh, of course, the world’s most perfect woman would choose to make an appearance today.

“Is that Natasha?”

Wanda lowered her sunglasses just enough to have a look. “Yep. And she’s spotted us now. Aaaannd she’s coming this way.”

“Great,” you muttered, sinking a little lower on the bench, but keeping your eyes averted.

You had been giving yourself little pep talks all day about your own date, so hyper-focused on Peter and trying to win, that you’d sort of forgotten that Natasha was the prize for Bucky.

“Hey guys, I see you’ve found a way to avoid the cafeteria for lunch now?” Natasha smiled brightly at you both.

See this was another thing…you couldn’t hate Natasha if you tried. She was so nice, so smart, so helpful, so funny…so utterly, annoyingly perfect for Bucky…ugh.

“We’re trying out some of the new food trucks,” you explained, gesturing to your delicious Thai food.

“Any good?” Her eyes flickered to your tray, and a new feeling crept into your brain.

Why was she always encroaching on what was yours? First Bucky, now your lunch?

Could she let you live?

You blinked up at her, knowing full well that your attitude needed to be fixed, that she wasn’t purposefully trying to be an obnoxious thief. 

Anyways, Bucky wasn’t yours, and the food trucks were for everyone.

“Very.”

“How about that?” Nat nodded to Wanda’s food.

“This was pretty good,” Wanda told her, holding up the plate of what was left of her falafel. “I think you’d like it.”

What was she going to talk about next, the nice weather you’ve been having? Small talk made your skin crawl. Everything was so forced, so awkward, and hardly ever sincere. It was one of the reasons why you hated first dates. Being polite and kind to others was one thing, but this?

Natasha nodded, then looked back at you curiously. “Is your mother okay?”

Wanda didn’t know this part, so she looked at you in utter confusion.

You knew she’d see right through this, because you were a terrible liar. “Uh…she’s fine. Just had a little scare.”

“Glad to hear that she’s doing well. I know that about half the floor was very concerned, since you almost never leave early. When I heard about what happened, I felt so bad.”

“Well,” you shrugged sheepishly. “When it’s your family, ya gotta…ya know…” Your voice trailed off as you realized you had no clue what to say.

Natasha didn’t seem to mind. Of course she didn’t.

“Right. Well, I actually came over here to ask about another rumor? My friend Peter says he’s taking you out tonight?”

You cringed, immediately feeling that same dread you had yesterday. What the hell? Does she know everybody? “That’s right. Just a first date. Just seeing how things go.”

“I thought you and Bucky were together for the longest time, you know, but Peter said that Bucky’s the one that fixed you two up. And then I heard from Rosie that she’s going out with Bucky tonight, and that you set it up?”

“Yep.” You didn’t know what else to say about that. Talking about Bucky with his perfect connection made you uncomfortable. “We’re best friends, just looking out for each other.”

“Well in that case, Bucky’s best friend, make sure you add me to the list, okay?” Natasha winked at you. “I’m single again, and I’ve had my eye on him for a while.”

“Will do,” you said, standing up with your tray of half-eaten Thai food. “I have to get back to work, I’ll see you girls later.”

You made your way to the nearest garbage can to throw the tray away, then with one last smile at the two women, you headed back inside.  

“Text me about tonight,” Wanda called out as you made your quick getaway.

Once you were back in your neighborhood after work, you decided to stop at a shop that you pass on your way from the subway station every day.

It wasn’t one of those fancy stores with dresses that are more expensive than your rent, and frankly, you wouldn’t have bothered to look in one of those anyways. Not until some of your student loan debt was paid down, at least.

No, this was sort of like a vintage shop, and the lady that owned it would travel someplace new once a month to restock by personally selecting items she’s found at other shops or yard sales or the like. You wandered in there a lot, sometimes buying something small for yourself, and had gotten to know her pretty well.

Everything was cheaper there than it would be in Manhattan, but it was still expensive, because let’s face it, it’s Brooklyn. Hipsters made everything expensive.

This little venture was to try to find something that was new to you to wear tonight, as long as it was in your budget.

“Can I help you, Y/N?”

You whirled around and came face-to-face with Christine, the shop’s owner. “Hi, Chris. Actually I think you might be able to help me. I have a first date tonight with a guy I’ve never met, and I don’t know his personality, so I’m not sure if he’s conservative or not.”

Christine nodded, her eyes flitting around the room. “First date dresses are usually better if you go with a normal black dress, in my opinion. I think I have a couple options that would work for you, let me go dig them out. You wait right here, okay?” She smiled at you before heading toward the back of the room.

With a small sigh, you turned to the jewelry display. A silver necklace with a tiny red star caught your eye, and you moved over to get a closer look, letting your fingers brush the chain gently.

“Ah, that’s new as of yesterday,” Christine told you, coming back into the room. “I found it at an estate sale in Montauk. Isn’t it pretty?”

“It is,” you agreed, flinching at the price tag. “But not for eighty-five dollars.”

“Tell you what? I’ll sell it to you for five bucks if you end up buying a dress here today, just because I know you and like you.”

You looked up at her in surprise. “Really? Well, hell, now I’m definitely getting one. Let’s see what you got there.”

Christine motioned for you to follow her, and the two of you went to the dressing room in the back. She laid out three black dresses on the sofa, then gestured to the mirrors. “Now, try each one on, and whichever makes you feel the best is the one you should go with. Don’t even worry about what your date will think. If you’re feeling good, the date will be much better, okay? I’ll leave you to it.”

“Thanks, Chris,” you called to her retreating back.

The first dress had long sleeves, and a puffy skirt that went mid-thigh. It would have looked perfect on someone built like Florence Welch, but not you.

Dress number two was a little prettier, with a halter top and a belt, but it was a little too old-fashioned looking for tonight.

The third option was by far your favorite. This had an A-line skirt and three-quarter length sleeves, with a V-neck that wasn’t too scandalous, but let everyone know you meant business. Plus, it wouldn’t look overdone with a certain star necklace.

You couldn’t help but smile at your reflection.

Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad after all, with the right outfit and the right attitude.

Forget what you thought earlier.

This was bad, this was so so bad.

You were freaking out. Your face and palms were sweaty, and your hair was trying to do its own thing, and your makeup was just not the way you wanted it to be (because of all the sweat). Nothing was going right so far.

A loud knock sounded on your door. You knew it was way too early for Peter to be at your place, so you rushed out into the hall. “Who is it?”

“It’s Bucky!” The muffled voice was unmistakably his, but you didn’t have time to wonder why he would want to come over when the two of you were in wager mode.

“Door’s open!” You scurried back into your bathroom to try to make sense of your hair.

The only thing that was working out for you was your outfit.

You found yourself staring at your reflection for the second time that day, but this time you weren’t smiling. Why the hell were you putting so much effort into a date with a probable douchebag, one you didn’t even pick for yourself?

Why should you worry so much?

Who cares?

Slowly, you fixed your hair and makeup, and then wandered into the kitchen to put your head in the freezer for a second. Surely, that would cool you down.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m sweaty and nervous, so I’m trying to cool down.” Your tone let him know that it should be fairly obvious to him, since your freakin’ head was in the freezer.

“No, I meant, why are you sweaty and nervous?”

You moved away from the freezer and closed the door before turning to Bucky. The second you laid eyes on him, you froze.

Bucky must have had the same idea as you, to try a little harder with this date for the wager, because he looked so damn handsome. He was also wearing black on black, right down to his dress shirt and tie, and his hair was slicked back but somehow still fluffy.

Your stomach fluttered a little at the sight.

He, too, looked a little stunned at your appearance. You tended to wear comfy clothes around him. “I’ve never seen you dress up so much for a date before, Y/N.”

“Well, I’ve never seen you dress up ever for a date before, Bucky. You look great! If I knew you were so competitive, I might have made the terms a little crazier!”

Bucky moved to stand in front of you, a small smile playing on his lips. “You look really pretty. Actually, that word seems a little inadequate to describe you in this moment.” He reached for the star necklace that was around your neck, inspecting it carefully. “Is this new? I like it.”

“Yeah, Christine down at the shop on Bayard sold it to me for five bucks. She’s unreal.”

He nodded, and his fingers carefully set the necklace back down, brushing your skin so gently in the process that it sent shivers down your spine.

You figured you were finally, thankfully, at room temperature instead of a sweaty mess.

Bucky always did have a calming presence, after all.

“So,” he said with a small grin. “Any last tips for trying to woo your pal Rosie?”

“I got nothin’,” you replied, turning away to your fridge. “She’s a coworker, not really a pal. Wanna have a drink with me for good luck?” You reached in for your bottle of cheap moscato, sighing in relief that you’d remembered to stock up.

“No, I’m good. I’m more on my game when I’m sober.”

“Funny, I’ve got much more of a personality when drinking,” you quipped, using the corkscrew to open the bottle. You poured some of the light liquid into a wine glass.

Bucky frowned as he watched you down half a glass in seconds. “Don’t drink too much tonight.”

“Yes, Dad.” You rolled your eyes at him. “I’m just trying to stay loose. I don’t want to have that anxious feeling where I leave the table in five minutes because of something douchey. Not when your cooking is on the line.”

“Not too loose, though,” he muttered, pushing the wine bottle out of your reach.

You let that one slide. “So are we supposed to text updates to each other during the date?”

Bucky shrugged. “It might make it more entertaining.”

“Right, well I’ll be sure to-“

Another knock at your front door made you stop mid-sentence and stare at Bucky with wide eyes. “That’ll be Peter, then.”

“I’ll get it,” he offered, backing away from you slowly. “I have to get going, anyways.”

“Okay.” You stared at him as he opened the door and greeted the man outside, before you hesitantly walked over.

When your eyes met Peter’s, you were pleasantly surprised to find he didn’t seem douchey at all.

Bucky introduced you both, and you gave him a look that clearly said what the hell?

He merely shrugged at you, clearly catching your drift, his blue eyes unreadable. “Go have a nice time, you guys. I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N.”

“Have fun on your date, Bucky.” You offered him one last smile, before closing your door, accepting Peter’s arm, and heading down the staircase.

“So, Y/N, I thought we could go to this little place downtown tonight. I know the owner, and…”

Peter’s voice trailed off as your thoughts strayed back to your best friend.

The deal had been for him to set you up with a douchebag to see if you could make it an entire date without freaking out and leaving. But now, you couldn’t help but wonder: did Bucky just throw the competition again?

What did this mean?

Maybe he just really wanted to you meet and date a nice guy. He was always looking out for you like that, after all, and he even said he hated that you kept going after the same kind of guy over and over. You always brushed off his concerns, telling him that you’d listen to his romance advice when he stopped sleeping around so much.

Your heart sank a little; there was no way you could keep Nat’s number from him now. He deserved to be happy, too, and what kind of friend withholds that information, knowing that Nat was perfect for him?

Peter stopped and looked at you expectantly, and you realized that you hadn’t heard anything else he said. “That all sounds great, Peter. I’m looking forward to it,” you said quickly, trying to make your tone of voice sound convincing.

It worked, because he smiled happily. “Great. We’re definitely gonna have fun tonight, Y/N!”

As you were getting into a taxi with Peter, you turned and spotted Bucky heading out to hail his own cab.

He waved at you, his expression blank. As the taxi pulled away, you lifted your hand to wave back, with a small smile on your face and a nervous feeling in your stomach.

Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

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[honestgrins]

Bad Idea || Klaroline

So, this was a mix of a bunch of ideas that I just couldn't let go. Initially, it started with American Gods and the scene where Laura and Shadow first met, then it spiraled from there. 

Caroline knows trouble when she sees it in the casino, and Klaus is nothing but trouble for her.

She knew he was trouble the second he sat at her table, with that cocky smirk on an unfairly attractive smile. He had come in on his own, eyes immediately latching on her blonde hair and sauntering over. Having worked at the casino for a good eight months, Caroline had learned to recognize bad news when she saw it, the kind that drew attention from the eyes in the sky. The owner was a slick son of a bitch who didn't hesitate to have his goons beat someone to a pulp.

Sometimes, they didn't even bother to accuse the sucker of cheating; if the win was big enough, it was far cheaper to bribe the hospital to quietly treat the bloody mess they dropped off with a warning not to mess with Damon Salvatore's profit margins.

With an easy charm and sharp eyes, though, Caroline would bet anything that the guy sitting across from her wasn't one to care for rules. He probably wouldn't cheat outright, male pride and all. Counting cards was more likely his game; stacking the odds in his favor without technically breaking the law.

Her lip curled at the thought of Damon breaking such a pretty face. "Are you sure this is the way to spend a Friday night?" she asked quietly while shuffling her cards. "D.C. has some better entertainment options than a seedy, underground casino."

He arched an eyebrow, taking a sip of his bourbon. "I've never met a dealer warning away a willing pile of chips," he noted with a shrewd once-over of her gaudy, gold-sequined vest. She tried not to react to the attention or the smooth British accent. "Caroline, is it?"

"You can put the flirt away." Giving an icy smile, Caroline winked at the plainclothes security sitting at the next table. "There are at least three men watching your every move right now, praying you give them the slightest excuse for violence if only to liven up their incredibly dull lives. One's right over your shoulder, examining my face for any sign of distress or suspicion."

Shrugging, the guy tossed back the rest of his drink. "That sounds more like a problem for me than for you. I'm touched you're so concerned."

"Right," she scoffed, making sure to keep her voice low, "like I won't be next on their hit list if you don't manage to lose half your chips." Dealing the cards quickly with her practiced hand, Caroline pinned him with an unimpressed glare. "Trust me, you don't want to cause trouble tonight. You're going to play this hand, maybe the next if you win, but then you're leaving."

His wicked smile cut dimples deep into his cheeks, and his tongue peeked out to wet his lips. "I do like a woman who takes charge," he murmured. "And you're beautiful, which means the house expects men to linger at the expense of their pockets. If I promise to lose, may I stay and keep you company?"

Rolling her eyes, Caroline flipped the cards with more force than necessary. "Be still, my heart," she deadpanned. "Look, buddy-

"Klaus," he offered.

"Look, Klaus," she snapped, "do what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Coyly glancing at his cards, Klaus smirked. "So caring. What's a nice girl like you working in a place like this? Damon Salvatore's a bloody wanker on his best day."

"So are student loans. Hit or stay?"

He met her eyes with a playful glint. "Stay."

Straightening her posture, Caroline swallowed down a small grin. "And people think I'm stubborn. Dealer stays at nineteen, show your hand."

"Eighteen," he answered with a mournful cluck of the tongue. "I suppose I should try to recoup my loss."

Caroline just collected the cards to reshuffle. Never one to bear a silence, she couldn't stop her natural curiosity. "You know Damon, then? I always wonder how people find this place."

"Friends with his brother, actually," Klaus replied. He signaled to the passing waitress for another drink, a sure sign of his intent to get comfortable. "Stefan and I both did a semester at Oxford years back."

"Ex-boyfriend?"

"Nothing as official as all that," he winked. "Anyway, I'm in town for a few weeks, thought I should look up an old friend. We came together, but his brother stopped him for some urgent business, whatever that means."

Focusing on her shuffle tricks, Caroline's eyes narrowed. "It surprises me he mentioned this place," she said. "I thought he was the squeaky clean government worker. State Department, right?"

"I'd rather talk about you," he countered. "Your hopes, your dreams. Everything you want in life."

She let out a disbelieving laugh as she started the next deal. "God, does that line ever work on anyone?"

Klaus shrugged. "You tell me."

"I'm too smart to be seduced by you," she retorted. "Dealer has sixteen. Hit or stay?"

"Hit." His smile widened at the face card.

"Twenty-one," Caroline announced, moving his chips toward him. Her eyes darted over his shoulder, sweeping the rest of the floor. "Congratulations, sir. I suggest you cash out and enjoy your winnings elsewhere."

Looking at his meager pile of chips, Klaus's eyebrows fell in confusion. "I doubt the Salvatores care about losing fifty dollars."

"You're probably right," she said, "but they're not your biggest concern right now. You seem like a nice guy, if a little arrogant. It's a bad idea for you to stay much longer."

"I'm not that nice, love."

She let a dramatic shudder wrack her shoulders. "Ugh, that's just gross. Can you please just crawl back under whatever rock you came from? I don't want the extra paperwork."

"Paperwo-"

"Everybody FREEZE! FBI!"

Both their heads whipped to the crash of the front doors opening, people with guns and police badges barging into the casino. A waitress screamed as a tray dropped to the floor, and the security guys all drew their weapons on high alert.

Sighing, Caroline reached for his hand and pulled him around the table. "I'm sorry about this," she muttered before slipping a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket. "My name is Caroline Forbes, an agent with the FBI. You're not under arrest, the cuffs are just to make getting out a little easier. I'll take you in as a material witness, my bosses will especially want to hear about how involved Stefan Salvatore is in his brother's dealings."

To her surprise, Klaus chuckled in amusement. "Fair enough, sweetheart, I find I don't mind the idea of you restraining me. However, I should ask that you remove them before we step outside. For your sake more than mine."

"I've been deep undercover in a ruthless criminal organization to uncover ties to human trafficking," she explained with a snort. "My colleagues are everywhere, I'm the safest I've been in months. Why are you worried for my sake?"

As they reached the front doors of the casino, Klaus looked over his shoulder to smirk. "Because I have diplomatic immunity, and you'll likely cause an international incident by tying my name to this until and unless my status is revoked as a result. And it won't be, as a matter of experience."

Rearing back, Caroline turned him to face her fully. "What are you talking about?"

Klaus shrugged, somehow able to look nonchalant while in handcuffs. "It's notoriously difficult to charge a foreign prince with a crime of circumstance, love. If it makes you feel better, my brother has only gotten more insufferable since assuming the throne. He'll be sure to lecture me quite severely."

She was torn between disbelief and utter horror that her biggest case would be tainted if Klaus was telling the truth. "Trust," Caroline relented, releasing the cuffs. Still, she held a hand toward him. "But verify."

Clearly understanding her demand, he reached for his identification. "Klaus Mikaelson, heir in waiting until King Elijah can beget another. There are a few other titles in there, but that's the one people seem to care about."

Caroline squeezed her eyes shut, sheepishly handing it back. "Thanks for the warning, your highness. I guess I should apo-"

"No apologies, please," he said warmly. "But I'll let you make it up to me, with dinner."

Her mouth fell open in shock. "I- What?"

"I wasn't kidding about finding you beautiful." Klaus reached forward, brushing a blonde curl behind her ear. "And I was having fun before this excitement started. I'd like to continue our conversation, perhaps with new explanations, considering."

Shaking her head, Caroline couldn't tell if he was kidding. "This is a joke, right? You're just a con artist with a really good source for fake passports?"

"Would you like to talk to His Majesty?" he asked, pulling out his phone. "Maybe he'll save the lecture for skipping yet another meeting with your state officials if you convince him I'm an innocent bystander."

"No," she answered automatically. "Um, okay, I should get my boss. He'll want to handle your situation directly, and I really have to get back to work anyway."

Before she could leave, though, Klaus wrapped a hand around her wrist. "I'm happy to cooperate, Agent Forbes, and I'd very much like to see you again. Maybe after your boss is finished with his questions?"

"You just met me, and I arrested you," she pointed out.

He smirked. "Think of the story it makes."

Rolling her eyes, she turned away to find Agent Saltzman. Hopefully, her blush would lessen by the time she explained the freaking prince she left in the lobby. She would undoubtedly be too busy to watch his conversation with the boss, but she might be able to finish her initial debrief in time to take him up on his offer.

It wasn't every day a real life fairytale dropped at her feet, even if it's beginnings were less than magical.

[somethingaboutklance]

OKAY! This is my first fic of three for @lunana98 who is my VLD Secret Valentine! This one is centered around a crafting store! It’s pure Klance-y goodness so I hope you enjoy! 

Keith had never classified himself as an artsy person, it was more of a hobby than anything else. So every now and then he would find himself at the local craft store, gathering supplies for his doodles. Sure, he could’ve gone to Wal-Mart for pencils and paper cheaper than at Voltron’s Craft Shop, but what could he say? He liked quality. Then again, there was something else that encouraged him to go to the store whenever he could make up the excuse.

Or, better to say, someone else.

Lance had been working at Voltron’s for way too long. He started in the back, stacking boxes at four in the morning but had eventually made his way up in the world. He didn’t start working there for no reason, after all. Lance classified himself as an aspiring artist, and was going to do whatever he could to show it.

He had been taking classes at Voltron’s since he was but a toddler, and it was his goal to someday teach those classes. He wasn’t quite there yet, but at least he had gotten off the shelving business.

Lance recognized the guy with the mullet, he was a regular costumer. He would come in, walk around for at least fifteen minutes, and end up buying the same set of graphite pencils.

“Oh, wow,” Lance smirked, scanning the pack of erasers, “Feeling risky today?”

The boy blinked, “Huh?”

“You usually just buy the pencils, but looks like you felt like actually being able to erase.”

“You remember what I buy?”

“Of course, you’re my favorite customer,” Lance winked, and then said, “That’ll be 7 dollars and 14 cents, please.”

The continuing exchange was awkward at best, the boy avoiding eye contact as he handed in his card and signed the receipt.

“Have a nice day,” Lance grinned as he gave the boy his bag, deliberately brushing against his hand in doing so.

The next week, Keith had decided he needed a new sketchbook and went back to Voltron’s. His roommate was visiting his girlfriend at her work, a tech store called Altea, and offered to give Keith a ride. Which was nice of him, but that meant Keith had to actually spend a bit more time than usual. Attempting to not look as awkward as he felt, he took some time looking at some of the artwork hanging in the back, next to where they have the classes.

Keith had never taken an art class in his entire life. From the looks of it, it wasn’t just painting, there were quilts, sculptures, home-made clothing, which was typical for a craft store. Keith was intrigued by a modern art type piece. It was a colorful spiral on a blank canvas that seemed to be made up only of string and yarn. The bright blues, reds, and purples stood out dramatically on the stark white background. Simple, but intricate and stunning.

“It’s pretty good, isn’t it?” commented a voice suddenly close to him.

Lance had seen Keith from the moment he walked out of his class. He had over a hour to kill before he started his shift, and immediately canceled his plans with his buddy when he spotted that familiar mullet.

(“Really?” Hunk frowned, “I thought we were gonna go get burgers,”

“Hunk, my main dude, my man,” Lance had insisted, “You know I love you but-” he lowered his voice, “that’s the guy.”

“Mullet boy?” Hunk peeked over, and smirked, “Go get ‘em,”)

The boy looked surprised to see Lance, “What? Oh yeah, it’s really good.”

“You’re too kind,” Lance grinned.

“Is-is it yours?”

Lance laughed, “No, wish it was. Mine is over here,”

The two walk over and Lance gestures to a small painting hanging in the corner. It’s a watercolor sea scene, a view of the ocean from a bird’s perspective. A small boat can be made out, a orange speck in the middle of a vast blue. It’s a minimalist, geometrical painting. Speaks familiarity and nostalgia.

“You painted this?” The boy asked.

Lance nodded, “Not my best, but hey, it got on the wall.”

“It’s beautiful. I’m guessing you like the ocean?”

“Oh yeah, I used to live right next to the beach. I was there everyday. Surfing, making sand castles with my older sisters. I like it well enough up here, but I always look forward to visiting in the summer.”

“That’s…really nice.”

“Yeah,” Lance nodded, “Where are you from?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “I’m not completely sure. I was adopted, and my birth parents didn’t leave us much to work with.”

Lance bit his lip, then held out his hand, “Hey, I’m Lance by the way. Guess I should’ve introduced myself before we jumped into our life stories.”

The boy accepted it, “Yeah, I know, and I’m Keith.”

“Keith,” Lance tested, “So, were you looking for something, I can help you find it?”

Keith shoved his hands in his pockets, “No, not really. My roommate is at the store over, so I decided to stop by while I was waiting for him.”

“Oh, well, in that case, I could show you around? We can take advantage of my employee access.” Lance grinned.

“Oh yeah?” Keith raised an eyebrow, “What are you going to show me? The storage room?”

Lance glared, “I’ll have you know I worked in the storage room for six months and wanted to die each and every day, I am not going back there. We are going to go into one of the open classroom and paint to our hearts desire.”

“Uh, I don’t really paint-”

“Well, it’s a great time to start!”

Lance and Keith go into the back room, and Lance shows him how to make art with more than just pencils. Keith watches in amusement and the craft store employee starts pulling out the most random supplies from fabric to charcoal.

For the next two hours, they play with the supplies together. Lance focusing on watercolors, but watching Keith with a slight smile as he tried to think of something to make.

In the end, Keith simply drew with his pencils, it was more of his forte. Keith was a bit flustered with how quickly Lance rushed to him and acted like they have been friends forever, but he had just assumed he was a friendly person. After Lance had told Keith how much time he had, he texted Shiro, telling him that he actually might be the one needing more time. Shiro sent a winky face and nothing else.

“Done!” Lance shouted, standing up and holding his canvas in the air.

Keith looked up from his doodling and examined Lance’s painting, he squinted, “Is…what is that?”

“Right!” Lance ran out of the room for a moment. Keith shook his head, and went back to his drawings.

Keith hadn’t known what to draw at first. Lance had plugged his phone into the stereo, and was playing a playlist on shuffle. Some music was unfamiliar to Keith, but he recognized a few songs and was rather impressed with Lance’s music taste. So he had decided to focus his drawing around music.

“OKAY!” Lance walked into the room, a pack of googly eyes in his hand. He set his canvas down for a moment, sticking something on to it, “OKAY. Now, I am done.”

He held up his painting over his head, making a face of a proud artist and Keith stuttered as he said, “Wh-I still don’t know what that is.”

Lance groaned, “UGH. Look! It’s you!”

“That’s-wait, did you paint the back of my head?”

“YEAH! It’s your mullet!”

“Why does it have googly eyes?”

“Artistic creativity!”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s a MASTERPIECE.”

“No,”

“Well what did you draw, Boring McBoringhead.”

“What are you, twelve?”

“I’m at least thirteen.” Lance commented and then walked around to look over Keith’s paper.

Keith had started with doodling music notes, but then moved to draw a picture of someone wearing headphones, eyes closed, sitting on a bench. It was a simple, but realistic and professional doodle.

“Wow, this is really good,” Lance grinned, “Who is this?”

“Nobody, just a person,” Keith shrugged.

“Are you an art student?”

Keith shook his head, “Just a hobby. I’ve never taken an art class.”

“Well, I always go to the class here every Tuesday. You should join sometime. First class is free.” Lance handed him the mullet painting, “For you.”

Keith shook his head but accepted, “Thanks, I’ll hang it up on my wall.”

“You better. But, uh, I have to get to work now. Can I-can I get your number?”

“Uh,”

“Just! To give you more information on the class. Or, well, I guess you could get on the website, so uh,”

Keith had already written his number down on his drawing and was handing it to Lance, “Yeah.”

“Oh!” Lance grinned, “Cool! Well, I gotta go, but I’ll text you!”

“Okay.”

“Yeah, I’ll text you, and we can like, hang out sometime,” Lance rambled as he backed out of the room.

“Okay.”

“I can introduce to some more people around here. Who knows, maybe you could start working here.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah,” Lance blushed, “Uh, yeah. See you around,” then he walked out of the door.

Keith put his head in his hands for a minute to regroup, face warm and flustered, before cleaning up some of his mess, grabbing the canvas, and heading out the door.

By the time he got to the front of the store, Lance was at the cashier, waiting for a someone to stop by his registrar. When Keith walked past him, Lance grinned brightly and waved, as if he hadn’t seen him two minutes ago.

Keith shook his head but couldn't help but smile, holding the canvas tightly in his hands.

[asagimeta]

Teen Wolf 6x09- “Memory Found” - Observations And Predictions

(Clever title Teen Wolf)

Hello my dudes, welcome to meta night! I cannot tell you how glad I am that this episode had alot of filler in it and gave a bit of a break from the really heavy meta, most of what we have tonight is very charector-centric, not so much mythology, I'm glad for that because I know next week will give us more- ALOT more, a ton more even-  because it's the season finale' (for 6A atleast) and there's always alot of stuff to talk about for that reason alone, so we get a nice calm before the storm here, plus, as with most Tuesday nights, I'm recovering from a headache (I swear it isn't the meta, I have some kind of food allergy that keeps getting me because I usually bring food home on Tuesdays and I haven't yet distinguished exactly what's triggering me so I keep ending up afflicting myself :| ) so the fact that this one ISN'T going to keep me up until eight in the morning (I hope) is a very welcome change, and because I don't want this stretching out for six hours, let's get to it shall we?

You know, from a completely personal standpoint, I always get a little excited to see hypnossis in media, especially in places like Teen Wolf where it's handled pretty well, ofcourse when I went through MY hypnotic regressions I always got a comfy chair rather than a dangerous, freezing ice box... *cough*

Ok, who else noticed the sheriff's sudden intuition? He says "I'll consider asking Theo for help when I don't have a station full of armed deputies to back me up" and then IMMEDIATELY opens the doors to the station and finds every single deputy gone, that is some Stiles level intuitive work right there, we had talked last week about the sheriff being Something- the same Something that Stiles is- with how much strength he had to summon Claudia, now that she's no longer around to suppress him, his powers are flourishing, plus remember that Stiles' power relies on BELEIF, the sheriff himself is finally relying on that beleif too (in Stiles, he's finally believing and even stronger than that he's believing in the believer) wich has caused an obvious surge in his intuition- a really HUGE surge at that, from the description to the timing, everything about this is SCREAMING "Stiles", the only question is, how much of this is Stiles' power being influenced through the sheriff, and how much is the sheriff drawing on his own power?

Speaking of awesome sheriff stuff, the tease of Theo and that key card is the best thing I've seen in EONS!! I was teasingly telling my mom throughout the entire thing that the sheriff should make Theo dance before letting him out (a fun game we like to play on my dad when he gets locked out of the house) but forcing him to talk about Stiles was ///EVEN. BETTER.//// And we obviously see where Stiles gets those wits, I'm glad he tested Theo first, even moreso because he was such a tease about it~

As sad as I am that the sheriff got poofed early in the episode (because it would have been pretty great to see him actually in action against the riders with Theo and Liam for atleast more than five minutes) atleast he, hopefully, is with Stiles now, and that should make them both feel better

Liam and Theo having car trouble... sounds suspiciously similar to the issues Stiles usually has, and sure enough, when their conflict starts to resolve the car trouble does too...

Ok so I'm just going to be honest here, I find it odd that Scott's FIRST memory of Stiles is, of all things, one of the only times Stiles has ever called him out on anything- and, possibly, the FIRST time he's ever called him out on anything (and I mean a real call-out, not a "Dude you suck at math oh my God" kind of a thing) why is that? Of all the memories, all of the GREAT memories, why was Scott only remembering the bad ones until Lydia gave him direction? And why would that one be first? If he was going to have a bad Stiles memory first, why THAT one instead of him abandoning Stiles in the rain or Stiles shoving him in the hospital? Why that one specifically? The pessimist in me says it's Stydia related but that feels wrong too, there were plenty of other moments where there was clear Stydia wile also being related to Sciles- and even BAD moments like that, it just seemed like a really odd choice... and the thing with Scott remembering only the bad things first is a double-sided coin, on the one hand that's GOOD because he's getting a splash of cold water in the face about their relationship, a reflection from a very fresh point of veiw on things, one of those "You don't notice until it's gone" moments where he's seeing in his reflection of their time together just how *MUCH* Stiles reached for him in their relationship, Scott has always occupied the relationship high ground in that he's really very confident in his relationship with Stiles, Stiles could go off to Japan for three weeks and come back with a girlfreind and a billion dollars and Scott wouldn't have a moment of hesitation in reasserting himself as "The Best Freind" and feeling comfortable that Stiles still thought of him that way, Stiles, however, could never do that, if Scott went off to Little Japan in Ebcott for three hours and came back with a snowcone and three dollars he found on the sidewalk Stiles would still be timid about where he stands, reaching desperately for reassurance that nothing had changed, and these are exaggerations yes but they're not really far off, everytime we see Scott move in a direction away from Stiles in the series, we see Stiles scramble after him and reach as hard as he can to keep a hold on Scott so he doesn't get left behind, whereas Scott offers very limited reassurance throughout the series, whereas Stiles, on the other hand, can move three paces away from Scott and Scott not even notice it, he rarely needs reassurance but Stiles is always very quick to give it to him anyway, I think Scott is finally seeing that- especially with the reiteration of the Motel California scene (ugh my heart)- and that's FANTASTIC, it's a really great way to give us a nod to them closing the gap between their respective personal grounds in the relationship, on the other hand though (finally) I have the sneaking suspicion that if the roles were reversed Stiles' memories would start off with Scott's Greatest Hits, all of the BEST moments between them where Stiles felt closest to Scott, and it just.... confuses the hell out of me why Scott would go *completely to the negative* right up until Lydia actually instructs him to go for the positive- and even when he DOES what counts as "positive" isn't a happy memory t all, it's a necessary one, but there's no summoning a patronus from it, that's for sure

Speaking of positive Sciles however, Stiles was looking for a place for them to live together after graduation, BE. STILL. MY. HEART. Fun fact, before I actually got into Sterek I borderline shipped Sciles because- even though I OTP'd Stydia back then-  I thought if they were going to put Stiles with a guy it would be Scott hands down, so these little moments sort of make me really freaking happy, although I think this is news for Scott, I don't really know why but I got the vibe that he hadn't really been *helping* Stiles for that apartment search- or hadn't even known about it, possibly, and ofcourse as PRECIOUS as this entire thing is it does raise a few meta questions, mostly what Stiles plans on *doing* after highschool, because the way we left it in season five I thought he had grown past his Plan of "Everyone has to stick together no matter what and I'm going to punch my own brain to make it work", I thought he had found some resolution in that and settled with the idea that they could still all be close with eachother without being, you know, physically close with eachother, and it seemed to me like Scott's college of choice was one of the major kinks in Stiles' plan, did he decide to just roll with Scott and let there be more distance between them and the girls? Does he plan on following Scott to college? What about what his dad said with law enforcement? Is he going to do that or no? (I don't know how colleges work at all- and I honestly don't *care* either- but vet school and law school/the police academy are two different things right? Isn't Scott going to a vet school right away?) Are they actually going to live in/closer to Beacon Hills? Is Stiles going to live with Scott but still do his own thing career wise? That would be my first choice in how that plays out honestly, but then I'm shamelessly //severely picky// about my ideas for what Stiles does after highschool in terms of where he lives, his career, his romantic life... *cough* so I'm starting to sink more into fanon than meta so I'm gonna stop, but seriously though, on a meta standpoint, I'd like to know what his plan is for this, because I felt like there was alot of development in season five with him letting go of his Plan/letting go of his desperation to be near Scott and going his own way, so if I find out that that isn't actually true and he's just following Scott to school I'm actually going to be really sad about it, I had hoped Stiles had grown out of that- although he may have been pushed back in a little by the "Welcome to law enforcement" thing, wich I STILL think was more of a curse than a blesssing- so I'm just hoping that he's planning to live with Scott somewhere near enough to Scott's school and near enough to whatever Stiles is doing so that there's still a degree of seperation for him, there's still the maturity of letting go of his need to be glued to Scott's hip wile being able to say "We CAN live together and I WANT to live together so we should", there's a biiiiig difference between ///that/// and what Stiles was alluding to in 5x01, I guess the good thing is that he said an apartment, not a dorm, if they were sharing the same school they'd probably get a dorm right? Those have to be cheaper than apartments? (Again I wouldn't know so I'm shooting blind here) But I'm going to leave it for now because I could turn this into fanfic way too easily

*mutters quietly under my breath* I still hate Theo ok? I just feel like it's important that I say that

I also feel like it's important for me to point out that it gives me a personal shot of happiness that they actually mentioned the stairwell visualization because I'm not sure if that's the most common thing in hypnosis or what but that's always how my sessions started out so yay

My mom: "I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say it, there's something oddly attractive about them (the riders), if you block out the face" It isn't meta but I found it important anyway

What was the title of Malia's first memory book? The best I could see was that I thought it had "Wolffe" written on it but I could be mistaken

I do wonder why Scott's memory didn't do anything at all and I think it's just because they wasted so much time getting the formula right that he didn't have time for it to do anything, because if both Lydia and Malia triggered *something* and Scott got dead air just because Stiles is least important to him out of the three or some nonsense like that... then that really does suck, and I don't mean in a way of it sucks for Scott, I mean as a fan of the show it really sucks that Stiles' BROTHER couldn't conjure so much as a tremor when Malia and Lydia could, I know they want to push Stalia and Stydia (especially Stydia) but if you're honestly telling me that Scott's connection to Stiles is less than their's I'm very much done, I may not always agree with how Scott treats Stiles, and I think it's very clear that Stiles is the one who always clings to Scott rather than the other way around, and yes, Scott does take his sweet, sweet time //noticing things// but... none of that negates the fact that their relationship has been immensely close since before the series even started, even if it IS largely Stiles -> Scott, I refuse to believe that Scott's most emotional memory of Stiles was so weak in his heart that it did nothing, so I'm really hoping it's just because they spent so much time screwing around with the formula that it didn't have time to work

Real hypnosis, I'm here for that

I love Scott's little "You smoked when you were ten?" line, harkens back to "My mom does all the grocery shopping", but I also found it interesting that Lydia went to a hypnotist back then, it's very odd, Natalie I-Don't-Like-Anything-Not-Purely-Scientific Martin not only went to a hypnotist for herself, but for her daughter? And over a little thing like chewing her nails? Hypno-therapy is really expensive and is something that you usually require boosters for, it isn't a once-and-done thing, for her to go to that length... either Lydia's nail biting was REALLY bad, wich, to be fair, I can see.... or she only TOLD Lydia she went there for nail biting, after all, hypno-therapy may be mostly used for bringing back forgotten memories, but that doesn't mean it can't be used for forgetting unwanted memories, in theory atleast, maybe that memory she suppressed of her grandmother in Eichen was suppressed due to hypnotherapy, or maybe Lydia saw something ELSE back then that her mother wanted to hide... I'm getting a very Clary Fairchild vibe here....

So shooting the Riders with their own guns DOES, in fact, kill them.... and yet neither Liam nor Theo thought to pick up the guns and take them with them...? Did either of them even pay attention to the fact that these unkillable hunters were, you know, DEAD? I can understand Liam but I really did expect more out of Theo here

Other than that I'm so excited for Stiles next week!!! He gets his bat back <3 <3 <3

Also, if you haven't heard via Melissa Ponzio, Teen Wolf started filming again yesterday, last I heard they had filmed episode four before doing 6x10 and then going on winter break, so they should be picking up at episode five right now, unfortunately, we don't know anything else besides that- and even that's guess work, they might be shooting out of order to use Dylan as much as they can before he goes back to Maze Runner next month, we don't know if he's filming right now but there's nothing to say he isn't, and they might very well be trying to milk him for all he's worth and just shooting all of his scenes in the next two or three weeks until he has to go back to TMR, sadly, we don't know

[nawafithme]

A Week In Austin, TX, On A $99,000 Joint Salary

Welcome toMoney Diaries , where we’re tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We’re asking millennials how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

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Today: an executive assistant working in manufacturing who makes $59,000 per year ($99,000 when combined with her husband) and spends some of her money this week on Cherry Coke Zero. We previously published a diary from this OP back in December 2017.

Occupation: Executive Assistant Industry: Manufacturing Age: 29 Location: Austin, TX My Salary: $59,000 My Husband’s Salary: $40,000 My Paycheck Amount (Biweekly): $1,660 (not including quarterly bonus) My Husband’s Paycheck Amount (Biweekly): $1,300

Monthly Expenses Mortgage: $1,550 (This includes property taxes and insurance.) Loans: $990 for two cars and one motorcycle and $100 for solar panels Electricity: $20 Gas: $15 Netflix: $12 (I share this with my BFF, and she shares her Hulu account with me.) Cell Phones: $100 Vivint Home Monitoring: $90 Car Insurance: $195 (Mine is $75, and my husband’s is $120.) Health Insurance: $32 (Through my work; covers me and my husband, plus a $20/paycheck contribution to HSA. My company puts $1,000/year in our HSA as well.) Husband’s Pension: This is awful but I don’t actually know how much they take from his check. He’s a firefighter and has no say in what gets taken out. I don’t contribute to my company’s 401(k) anymore. I previously did, but once my husband became a firefighter and gained the pension, I stopped. Savings: We have ~$20,000 in direct savings and ~$350,000 invested. The investment money came directly from an inheritance I received.

8:15 a.m. — Got to sleep in this morning because I have a doctor’s appointment. Normally I am onsite at work from 8 to 5, so I’ve low-key enjoyed having morning appointments during my pregnancy because I’ve gotten to sleep in. My husband hasn’t attended the majority of my appointments, but after a bit of arguing, he’s requested I schedule them when he isn’t working. So we get up and let the dogs out, I make myself a small breakfast of two turkey sausage links and a Babybel cheese, and then we head out. We drive separately because my doctor’s office is just down the road from my work.

9:30 a.m. — I check in at the doctor, and they ask if I’d like to make a payment. I know our HSA is basically empty since my company contribution has not yet hit, so I decide to just pay $125 today out of pocket. I know the $1,000 my company contributes to my HSA won’t cover these last two months of my pregnancy or the birth, so it makes no real difference if we pay out of pocket now or later. Luckily, my insurance has a $3,000 deductible and a $6,000 max out of pocket. So no matter what, these visits and the birth will be cheaper than my gallbladder surgery a few years ago. (I had horrific insurance then.) $125

10:30 a.m. — All done! This doctor is a MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) specialist, because I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 23 weeks. My husband had never even been to her office yet, so this was a first for him. They do a full ultrasound every visit, and he very much enjoyed getting a glimpse of our baby girl. I’m 31 weeks as of today, so there was a lot to see compared to the last scan he saw at 20 weeks.

11 a.m. — I arrive at work just in time for lunch. I get to my desk, check to make sure I don’t have any urgent emails or IMs, and then head to the cafeteria. My company gives us $30 for lunch per month and then matches an additional $30, so my lunch doesn’t cost me anything. I haven’t had to pay $30 yet this month because last month was so full of catering that I had a significant amount of rollover. Today, the options are carbs, carbs, and more carbs. So, bunless burger and side salad for me. People have a ton of different opinions and advice on how to manage gestational diabetes. My specialist told me that if the only way I can manage during the day without meds is to eat minimal carbs, I should do that. As long as I’m eating and getting nutrients, the baby and I will be fine. I find my body can handle certain carbs (rice, corn, potatoes) way better than bread or pasta. If I have any bread, my levels are through the roof. ($5.75 expensed)

12:15 p.m. — I finally waddle my way back to my desk. I’ve started waddling over the last week or so, and it’s made me move even slower. My office is almost a quarter mile from the cafeteria. It’s good exercise for me and baby girl, but also UGH, I’m exhausted. I plop down in my chair, turn on my heater because pregnant me is always cold, and start checking my email.

5 p.m. — I’M OUT! I used to spend a lot of money randomly online shopping, but ever since I got pregnant, I haven’t had much to stuff to buy. We don’t want to buy too much before our shower next month.

5:30 p.m. — I need gas. I absolutely hate getting gas. I’m one of those people who is literally zero miles from empty before filling up. I’m almost home and want to just get gas in the morning, but I also don’t want to be out of gas and pregnant at 7 a.m. when my husband is an hour away at work. So I opt to not push my luck. $32.18

9 p.m. — After getting home, cooking dinner (carnitas in the Instant Pot), and watching a couple episodes of The Magicians with my husband, we start our bedtime routine. I got bangs a while back so I can no longer wash my hair at night, so I opt for just a body shower to make tomorrow morning go faster, wash my face with an H-E-B makeup remover wipe, and then slap on some random moisturizer. My skin is wicked dry always, so I’m currently using some random lotion from LUSH on my face. It was a gift, and all I know is my face isn’t super flakey. Luckily I haven’t had to deal with any hormonal acne *knock on wood*. Lights are out by 9:30.

Daily Total: $157.18

5:15 a.m. — My husband’s alarm goes off. Since my last Money Diary, he went through the Fire Academy and became a firefighter/EMT in a city about an hour away. I’m incredibly proud of him, but his schedule has been tough to get used to. He works 24 hours and then has 48 hours off. He has to be at the station by 6:45, which means he is always there no later than 6:35. He gets up and tries his best to get ready quietly, but I always wake up to give him a hug and a kiss and to say I love you and to tell him to be safe. He’s been working on shift for seven months and hasn’t seen a fire yet, but I always want him to stay safe out there. The problem is I can never fall asleep after he leaves. I used to, but this far along in pregnancy, as soon as I wake up I become harshly aware of all the pain in my hips and just lie there snuggling the dog until 6 when I get up and get ready.

8:15 a.m. — Nothing I had at home for breakfast sounded good, so I waddle over to the cafeteria for breakfast. I opt for a scoop of eggs, a sausage patty, and a Cherry Coke Zero. People have lots of opinions on diet soda to begin with, and it gets super extra if you’re pregnant. Step off world, pregnancy is hard enough as it is. ($2.75 expensed)

11 a.m. — Lunchtime. I waddle over to the cafeteria. Taco Tuesday, FTW! I get mine in a bowl with rice, chicken, pico, pickled red onions, and sour cream. Delicious. ($7.52 expensed)

2 p.m. — My baby shower is coming up, and I would ideally like to wear a new dress. I browse the internet’s pathetic selection of maternity clothes and find a dress that miiight work. $14.12

5:45 p.m. — Get home and let the dogs out. We have two rescue dogs, and they are our everything. They used to spend every day in their crates, but since my husband’s schedule has him home quite a bit, they only spend a max of two days a week in their crates. They are both crate-trained and have no issues in them — they are loved, spoiled, and very content with their lives.

8 p.m. — I let the dogs out, clean up from my dinner (meatballs and marinara), and within five minutes they’re both at the door like MOM IT’S BEDTIME LET’S GOOOO. We all head upstairs. I turn on the TV in our room, do some general cleaning, and then crawl in bed by 8:45. I call my husband to tell him goodnight, and we are all one big snuggle puddle all night long.

Daily Total: $14.12

6:30 a.m. — I get up, get ready, and let the dogs out. Then I heat up the last of the low-carb pumpkin muffins I made last week for breakfast. I let the dogs in and let them roam instead of putting them in their crates, since my husband will be home by 8 a.m. This is mostly because it’s still so early for them that they will just go upstairs and get back in bed. They can’t be trusted alone for more than about 45 minutes, though.

11 a.m. — My morning flies by. Out CEO is coming in a few days, and this morning my boss asked me to create some slides for a presentation for him. It’s kind of wild to know that you’re creating something that will be shown to the CEO. It is also a great confidence booster that he trusts me to create this content. I finish by lunchtime and then waddle over to the cafeteria. Options look bleh, so I just do salad bar. Spring mix, mushrooms, hard-boiled egg, and ranch. It’s fine. ($4.18 expensed)

5 p.m. — I try to not take the toll road very often because I discovered the hard way how much the bill can add up. But I miss my husband and want to get home ASAP, so here I come toll road and 80 mph speed limit. $2.07

5:25 p.m. — I get home in 25 minutes, and my husband immediately asks if I took the toll because I’m so early. He then asks what’s for dinner, because he’s been hungry for the last hour but didn’t want to ruin dinner by snacking. Dinner is chicken thighs stuffed with cheese and bacon, plus Brussels sprouts for me and broccoli cheddar pasta for him. It’s easy, and he helps make it all, so I don’t have to stand for 30 minutes. I normally do 95% of the cooking, because when we met, his philosophy about food was that he only cooked things that took less time to cook than to eat. He’s a big fan of Chef Mic(rowave).

9 p.m. — BEDTIME! Yes, even when neither of us has to get up before 6:30, we go to bed at 9 p.m. I don’t function well on less than eight hours of sleep. Having a newborn is gonna be awesome.

Daily Total: $2.07

7:30 a.m. — Sausage links and a Cherry Coke Zero on the drive to work this morning. There’s a ton of fog, and it takes longer than normal to get to work. Feeling grateful no one actually cares/notices if I’m 10 minutes late.

9:30 a.m. — Breakfast did not cut it this morning, and I’m desperate for a snack. I grab a mini Kind bar.

11 a.m. — Y’all know what time it is. Waddle over. Beef and broccoli it is. I want another Coke Zero, but I opt for water. I normally drink four bottles (20 ounces) of water a day at work plus random amounts at home, but I’ve found this hasn’t been enough and need to start drinking more. Have I mentioned I’m pregnant, and that it’s a pure joy? Ugh. ($6.86 expensed)

2 p.m. — The baby has decided to stretch in a way that genuinely feels like her tiny hand might pop out down there. This is wildly uncomfortable as you might imagine, so I get up and waddle around the office hoping she changes positions. It works, kind of. She moves but only to a mildly less uncomfortable position. I try to stretch a little, and my boss notices. He asks how I’m doing and asks if there’s anything I need to help make working less of a pain. He’s a nice guy.

5 p.m. — Headed home. I don’t have to cook tonight because we are having steak, the one thing I trust my husband to cook completely with no supervision. I get home, love on dogs, love on husband, and plop my ass on the couch. He lets me know when they’re almost done so I can get up and prep my salad. I have a steak Caesar, and it hits the spot. It’s also low enough in carbs and sugar and all that so I can have a spoonful of peanut butter for "dessert." In case you were wondering, one of my Christmas gifts was literally a full cheesecake that is waiting patiently in my freezer for my return from giving birth.

9 p.m. — Bedtime routine. Husband works tomorrow, and I feel like I’ve barely seen him. I get pouty and hormonal and proceed to cry in bed for a bit. It’s unproductive since there’s literally nothing we can do about it, but he snuggles me until I fall asleep.

Daily Total: $0

7:30 a.m. — TGIF! Drive to work, settle in, check email, and do general admin work things.

11 a.m. — Waddle waddle. Pork loin, salad, green beans for lunch. ($7.35 expensed)

3:30 p.m. — My husband is off all weekend, which is GREAT and only happens like once a month, so I order groceries online for curbside pickup tomorrow because I don’t want to spend an hour shopping. I’d rather spend the time doing something together. I order chicken thighs, breakfast sausage, eggs, milk, cheese, produce, soda, chips, etc. It adds up to almost $90 somehow, but our soft grocery budget is $125/week, so whatever. I fight my impulse to add stuff I want but don’t need since I’m under budget. I remind myself that as soon as I can drink again, these savings will come in handy. $87.35

5 p.m. — My best friend is coming over for dinner and works closer to my house than I do, so I take the toll road home so I can beat her there. We eat pesto chicken and stuffed mushrooms, chat about nothing, and lounge around. She’s that awesome friend who is happy to come over and do nothing with me. She’s also that friend who understands that taking off your pants definitely means you aren’t leaving the house again. My husband texts that he’s jealous he’s missing out because even though he’s generally not very social, he really likes my best friend because she’s entertaining AF and always has stories to tell. $2.07

8:45 p.m. — I guess I yawned one too many times, and my friend insists on going home so I can go to bed. I keep saying I’m not tired, but I’m not fooling anyone. Say goodbye, let dogs out, and crawl in bed.

Daily Total: $89.42

7:58 a.m. — Our girl dog can hear my husband’s car when it enters the neighborhood, and she immediately jumps up in excitement. DAD’S HOME! He comes in, comes upstairs, and crawls in bed with me. We proceed to sleep for another hour or so.

9:30 a.m. — We finally get out of bed and decide since it’s nice out we’ll take the dogs for a walk instead of just letting them run in the backyard. We don’t walk them much because our yard is very large, and they get plenty of exercise. Also, one of them has severe anxiety and walks can be super fun until they are super not. We take the small loop around the neighborhood. It’s about a half mile and about all I can handle. Pups don’t encounter any other pups or people, so anxiety stays at bay.

1 p.m. — Neither of us feel like cooking, so when I suggest Chipotle my husband is super down. We get in the car and drive over there. My husband inhales his burrito in three minutes. $19.45

2:30 p.m. — I drag my husband to Target after we eat because we need new bedding. Well, we don’t actually NEED it, but I hate what we have and want all-white bedding because I can bleach it if the dogs make a mess and my husband agrees. Of course, one cannot simply go to Target and get only what one came for, so we leave with new sheets, new slippers, a bath mat, a dog toy, and a super cute onesie for baby girl. $185.22

5 p.m. — After a few hours doing absolutely nothing, I decide to start dinner. Lemon chicken in the Instant Pot. My mom got me an Instant Pot for Christmas. I didn’t ask for it, but she thought it would come in handy when the baby comes, and she was right. This thing is awesome, and I love it. Thanks, Mom! You da best.

9 p.m. — We take bedtime super seriously in my house. And by we, I mean me and the dogs. 9 p.m. rolls around and to bed we go. My husband is playing computer games and says he will join us after one more. I throw a fit because apparently that’s who I am now. I cry and cry about how I go to bed alone when he works and I don’t want to do it if I don’t have to. I surprise myself with valid points, but he apologizes and admits he didn’t even think about that. He crawls in bed for snuggles and that’s that.

Daily Total: $204.67

9:30 a.m. — And we’re up. I let the dogs out and start cleaning. When my husband has Sundays off, we have a group of friends over to play Dungeons & Dragons. I’m not that nerdy and was never interested, but after my husband asked me for literally years to give it a shot, I finally said yes. It’s fun. I don’t love it the way he does, but I enjoy it enough to spend my Sunday playing it. We literally play all day. Everyone brings their own lunch usually and then we provide dinner for the group.

8:30 p.m. — Everyone has left for the evening. It was a fun day — we recently added my sister-in-law’s husband to our group, and he’s proven to be an awesome addition. My husband and I do our bedtime routine and discuss how the game went today. Lights out by 9:30.

Daily Total: $0

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The post A Week In Austin, TX, On A $99,000 Joint Salary appeared first on A Basic Guide To Renting One Bedroom Apartments In Tallahassee.

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[adambstingus]

This Is What $1 Will Buy You To Eat Around the World

These days it seems like $1 really doesnt get you much. Maybe a pack of gum or a scratch-off lottery ticket you hope will net you at least $2. Profit!

Butthe people at BuzzFeed asked their communitywhat kind of food $1 can buy in their country for the equivalent of $1 in America currency. After all, it alwayscomes back to food, and you know if you had extra money you would totally buy the name brand cereal even when it wasnt on sale.

But if you have an extra dollar, check out what grub you could get around the world. Take it with a grain of saltsome of the choices are kind of weirdbut the differences are pretty staggering.

1

Hungary a whole bottle of wine

Then again, they say the cheaper the liquor, the cheaper the hangover…

2

Hong Kong one slice of plain bread

I would go broke in a week.

3

Netherlands 10 pancakes at the supermarket

1) That’s a ton of food for $1.

2) They sell pancake meals at the supermarket?

3) I’m packing my bags.

4

Norway one package of instant ramen

One package of your daily allowance of sodium will only cost you $1,so American college students have no idea how good they have it.

5

India six cups of chai

They’re obviously not from Starbucks.

6

Shanghai 8 vegetable dumplings from a food stand

Can you go back and fill up containers you bring yourself? That’s a pretty good deal.

7

Australia a McDonalds slushie

The most important question is, McDonald’s in Australia has slushies?

8

Egypt one can of tuna

We can get these in America too, but it doesn’t look like it’s been run over by a truck (the person who submitted this picture to them could have found a more flattering shot, no?).

9

Italy an espresso or cappuccino

Molto bene!

10

Nigeria a can of soda and a bag of chips

Get your sugar and your salt.

11

Czech Republic one and a half bottles of beer

Take one down, pass it around…

12

Malaysia 10 eggs

Even though it’s two shy of a dozen, that’s still a good deal. Just don’t put them all in one basket.

13

South Africa two McDonalds cheeseburgers

So do they have a 50-cent menu?

14

Philippines two cans of Cheez Whiz

Pretty random, but let’s be honest. Anything spelled “Cheez” that is shelf-stable isn’t going to exactly include high-quality, expensive ingredients.

15

France one baguette

Oui, oui, mon ami!

16

Colombia three empanadas

Three? That’s it? I think I’ll go with the eight dumplings over in Shanghai.

17

Vietnam a bowl of pho

Pho-sure! Sorry, it had to be said.

18

Honduras 11 bananas

Good luck eating all of them before they get ripe, which will be approximately .02 seconds after they’re not quite ripe enough yet.

19

Indonesia 67 pieces of gum

And look how excited the kid is on the package! Chances are he’s on a sugar high from chewing 67 pieces of gum.

20

Croatia a large coffee

That looks a lot fancier than just regular black drip java, so it seems legit.

21

Poland one shot at a bar

$1: This is a nice place.

$2: I should dance. We should dance, right?

$3: Look! You can do a polka on the table andit won’t even collapse!

$4: I’m never drinking again.

22

Cairo a falafel or shawarma pita

Eat like an Egyptian…

23

Holland six apples

The price of the fruit is great, but they might want to work on the name.

24

Finland a whole pack of hot dogs

Is that a good thing, though?

25

Switzerland three pieces of gum

Sure, you only get three pieces, but as you can see it’s legenderry…

26

Uruguay one liter of bagged milk

Ugh. We have to do conversions here? That would be about 2 pints or .26 gallons.

27

United States a huge can of Arizona iced tea

Via: BuzzFeed

And while there are tons of foodsyou can get in America for $1, some of them are a bit questionable in nature, so they chose this giant iced tea. Do with that what you will.

What would you spend your $1 on if we created our own list?

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/this-is-what-1-will-buy-you-to-eat-around-the-world/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/181454270217

[allofbeercom]

This Is What $1 Will Buy You To Eat Around the World

These days it seems like $1 really doesnt get you much. Maybe a pack of gum or a scratch-off lottery ticket you hope will net you at least $2. Profit!

Butthe people at BuzzFeed asked their communitywhat kind of food $1 can buy in their country for the equivalent of $1 in America currency. After all, it alwayscomes back to food, and you know if you had extra money you would totally buy the name brand cereal even when it wasnt on sale.

But if you have an extra dollar, check out what grub you could get around the world. Take it with a grain of saltsome of the choices are kind of weirdbut the differences are pretty staggering.

1

Hungary a whole bottle of wine

Then again, they say the cheaper the liquor, the cheaper the hangover…

2

Hong Kong one slice of plain bread

I would go broke in a week.

3

Netherlands 10 pancakes at the supermarket

1) That’s a ton of food for $1.

2) They sell pancake meals at the supermarket?

3) I’m packing my bags.

4

Norway one package of instant ramen

One package of your daily allowance of sodium will only cost you $1,so American college students have no idea how good they have it.

5

India six cups of chai

They’re obviously not from Starbucks.

6

Shanghai 8 vegetable dumplings from a food stand

Can you go back and fill up containers you bring yourself? That’s a pretty good deal.

7

Australia a McDonalds slushie

The most important question is, McDonald’s in Australia has slushies?

8

Egypt one can of tuna

We can get these in America too, but it doesn’t look like it’s been run over by a truck (the person who submitted this picture to them could have found a more flattering shot, no?).

9

Italy an espresso or cappuccino

Molto bene!

10

Nigeria a can of soda and a bag of chips

Get your sugar and your salt.

11

Czech Republic one and a half bottles of beer

Take one down, pass it around…

12

Malaysia 10 eggs

Even though it’s two shy of a dozen, that’s still a good deal. Just don’t put them all in one basket.

13

South Africa two McDonalds cheeseburgers

So do they have a 50-cent menu?

14

Philippines two cans of Cheez Whiz

Pretty random, but let’s be honest. Anything spelled “Cheez” that is shelf-stable isn’t going to exactly include high-quality, expensive ingredients.

15

France one baguette

Oui, oui, mon ami!

16

Colombia three empanadas

Three? That’s it? I think I’ll go with the eight dumplings over in Shanghai.

17

Vietnam a bowl of pho

Pho-sure! Sorry, it had to be said.

18

Honduras 11 bananas

Good luck eating all of them before they get ripe, which will be approximately .02 seconds after they’re not quite ripe enough yet.

19

Indonesia 67 pieces of gum

And look how excited the kid is on the package! Chances are he’s on a sugar high from chewing 67 pieces of gum.

20

Croatia a large coffee

That looks a lot fancier than just regular black drip java, so it seems legit.

21

Poland one shot at a bar

$1: This is a nice place.

$2: I should dance. We should dance, right?

$3: Look! You can do a polka on the table andit won’t even collapse!

$4: I’m never drinking again.

22

Cairo a falafel or shawarma pita

Eat like an Egyptian…

23

Holland six apples

The price of the fruit is great, but they might want to work on the name.

24

Finland a whole pack of hot dogs

Is that a good thing, though?

25

Switzerland three pieces of gum

Sure, you only get three pieces, but as you can see it’s legenderry…

26

Uruguay one liter of bagged milk

Ugh. We have to do conversions here? That would be about 2 pints or .26 gallons.

27

United States a huge can of Arizona iced tea

Via: BuzzFeed

And while there are tons of foodsyou can get in America for $1, some of them are a bit questionable in nature, so they chose this giant iced tea. Do with that what you will.

What would you spend your $1 on if we created our own list?

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/this-is-what-1-will-buy-you-to-eat-around-the-world/

[sassyhottubstrawberry-blog]

toyota yaris insurance cost

"toyota yaris insurance cost

toyota yaris insurance cost

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://salecarinsurance.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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toyota yaris insurance cost

toyota yaris insurance cost

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toyota yaris insurance cost

toyota yaris insurance cost

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toyota yaris insurance cost

toyota yaris insurance cost

Can you receive medicaid if your employer offers insurance at an unaffordable rate for a low income family?

My employer offers health insurance but it is not affordable compared to my income. Can I receive Medicaid and opt out of their insurance until my wages increase? It is a financial hardship to pay $115 every 2 weeks when I make less than $12/hr and a single parent of 2 children. I cannot find information on this anywhere.....

Whos the cheapest u found car insurance thru?

ive checked all state geico progressive state farm aig 21 century liberty mutual and esurance. r there any out there that ive missed? im a student and on a very strict budget so i need the best deal possible. thanks!

Do any insurance companies do insurance on two cars uk only?

Why is it that if a person has two cars you can not get insurance for two cars on one policy If like me you have more than 9 years no claims bonus you must put your no claims on to one policy and start a new policy for the other car. but you can only drive one car at a time Is this just another insurance rip off

Question about Car Insurance?

I'm 17 and going for my driver's test. My parents said that they were going to put my name under all three cars we own for insurance. That didn't make sense to me though. When I went to All State's website, and did an estimated quote, it would only let me pick one car for each person. Like just one primary driver for each car. My question is, how does this insurance thing work? Thanks!""

What to do when not involving car insurance in car accident?

Ok so I hit someones bumper, my fault. I don't have insurance but they do. Her car insurance called me the next day asking for basic info. A couple days later the car owner called me and said she didn't want to go through the insurance company because it would take her too long to receive her deductible back. She said she was going to pay the deductible to allstate and get the car fixed but not go after me I guess, I don't really get it, as long as I pay her back for the deductible. Would I still owe something to allstate afterwards or would I actually be able to walk away from something like this?""

What should I expect in car insurance?

Right now, I am seriously considering sharing a car with my boyfriend, so the insurance is lower than it would be for two cars. He is perfectly okay with the idea, but I would still like a truck to haul my horse (his Taurus SE can't do that long distance) for when I move, so it would be more convenient for me to have my own vehicle. I am a 17 year old female. My grades are a B average. I don't have a credit score, i pay with cash or my debit card. I want a truck (preferably an old cheap one that runs). I've heard insurance can be higher if you have a red vehicle, so I am going to avoid that. What else do you need to know to estimate my insurance? Thanks.""

How much my insurance will go up?

How much my insurance will go up? I had an accident which totaled my car. I am 100% at fault for that accident and my car worth 15000$. I have clear driving record and no tickets in past two years. How much will my insurance go up I am paying 900$ for six months

How far back in your driving record do insurance agents look when determining your car insurance rate?

How far back in your driving record do insurance agents look when determining your car insurance rate?

Car insurance needed to fix car?

I got a scratch on my car and I think I just need a paint job and for them to sand it. Do I need to inform my car insurance or anything to get it fixed and will they inform my car insurance if i went to get it fixed? The problem is my car is under my mom's name as well as the insurance if she found out i scratched the car she might flip.

Companies that provide comprehensive health insurance packages?

Which are good, and why (maybe)?""

Car insurance?

what company is the best to get car insurance from? I want to fill out the progressive direct (as they show you online) but I am nervous about my credit score going down. Help.

Can I get car insurance in my cousins name and my name?

My cousin lives in Luton and I live in London so can I get car insurance with his name as first driver and me as second driver? Also how will it work because we're going to have different addresses? How will road tax and permit work? My cousin is 21 years old and I'm 18. I will tell the insurance the truth about everything where I live and where my cousin lives.

Need new car insurance?

im with nationwide paying 3,400 per 6-months and im looking to pay less than that for 3 vehicles. what insurance companies can i look at for a cheaper rate?""

Will the Affordable care health insurance start from tomorrow itself?

I am planning to buy health insurance since I am going through a medical condition and cannot wait for the treatment. Can I buy Obamacare insurance? I heard it will be effective from Jan 1 2014. I know its kind of stupid question but is there a provision in the ACT that if I buy the insurance today (11/21/2013) will it be effective tomorrow or can the expenses be claimed after Jan 1 2014. Also, if I am not able to cover myself from now till dec 31 2013 then what insurance do you suggest? Thanks..""

Is a moped or motorcycle better for a college student?

I am currently a junior in college and contemplating whether to get a moped or motorcycle. I know a few pros to both. They both have high fuel economy and don't emit dangerous gases like cars do. They don't cost most insurance wise. The cons is that a moped can't go on interstates and a motorcycle is pricier and mechanics for motorcycles are pricey as well. Luckily, I can get to school and work with and without the interstate if I wanted to. Thing is that I don't want to spend over a thousand dollars on a motorcycle and deal with the maintenance. So which is better price wise? Is a moped or motorcycle more beneficial?""

What about of 200% my current rates is supposed to be affordable?

The only way the Affordable Health Care Act can be affordable is if Bernanke works those printers even harder then they are now.

I have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and no insurance?

Is there any doctor of Rheumatologists in Las Vegas that accept cash payments for people who have no insurance?

Should i get insurance for my first car? Where can i get CHEAP car insurance? I live in Aus.?

Should i get insurance for my first car? Where can i get CHEAP car insurance? I live in Aus. I am looking at buying a s13 non turbo at 11k. when i looked for a quote the minimum was like 5k which i do not have the money seeing as i am going to have to get a loan for my car.

Whats cheaper honda or toyota insurance?

honda civic or toyota corolla

""What agency will investigate fraud, abuse or illegal activity in government medical insurance programs?

And how will the Judicial system be made affordable for persons who are living in poverty?

Is Obamacare really the first mandatory insurance?

Isn't Social Security a mandatory fee/tax/insurance on all working people? Isn't unemployment insurance a mandatory insurance unless you are an independent contractor? Isn't car insurance a mandatory insurance for any driving person?

Should i keep my health insurance?

I make 30,000 a year for a family of 4. I have an 80/20 High deductible health plan with a deductible of 10k, that costs about $4,000 a year. My yearly health expenses are about $1,200. Should I keep my current insurance or apply for medicaid where only my children would be covered? I don't have any extra money to put in a health savings account.""

How do you apply for health insurance?

How does health insurance work?

Car insurance cost and car's cost?

I'm 28 years old and I'm girl. I would like to buy a smart. First: Do you know approximately the cost for insurance car (this is my first time). Second: What are the other annual car's cost? and how much approximately they are? Thanks.

Nevada/or California car insurance cheaper?

I just moved to Las Vegas from California and learning car insurance is more in the silver state. When I go to purchase new car insurance can I lie and say I live in California still. What are the cons to keeping my insurance registered in Cal?

toyota yaris insurance cost

toyota yaris insurance cost

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tampa-florida-cheap-car-insurance-quotes-zip-33631-robert-porter/"

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householders insurance quotes

"householders insurance quotes

householders insurance quotes

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://howmuchisinsurance.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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CAR INSURANCE FOR A 16 YEAR OLD?

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Insurance for penis ?

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I have AAA auto insurance and had minor 1st at fault accident. Will my rates go up?

I rear ended someone this weekend. Just a minor fender bender. My first ever accident!! UGH! Both cars with minor damage. There are a few scratches on their car. I have liability insurance through AAA, I've had my US license for a year and a half and am f/29yrs old. Have had a UK license for 10 yrs. What are the chances my rates will go up? I am insured on my husbands insurance and we have 2 cars so will insurance go up for both? I just want to hear people who might've been in the same kind of circumstances and if their rates went up and by how much! Thanks!""

Best car insurance in NYC?

i live in NYC, BX and its' really crazy how much money they are charging me for car insurance. about 3000 for 6 months...:-( cause i have never owned a car...i am 35 now and still it's not going down...:-( any suggestions? and please don't say walk! :-)""

How can i get someones car insurance info if they wont give it to me? They wouldnt give it to the cops either.

The cops wouldnt let me speak with the other driver and he would not show them proof of insurance. His guardian said he had insurance but she would not give it to me. She wouldnt even give me her name. I have the license plate number but I cant find out who they are insured under. The police report stated that the other driver was at fault for the accident but the police say that they can't make them give upt hat information. I know that by law they have to give me that info. please help i have no idea how to get this information

Where can i get the cheapest car insurance if im 18?

93 prelude

How much will my insurance go up? D=?

There was a misunderstanding and my car skidded against a 2009 Cadillac i unno what and left a mark. It wasnt even my fault but i kinda afraid of the man so... D=

I got a citation for no proof of insurance and have a couple questions..?

so my first citation, annnd i was wondering if i take traffic school do i still have to pay the $1,000 fine for not having insurance at the time? also if i sell me car before the court date does that help ? if not what can i do to not pay because im broke no job and no money , willing to do community service.. can i do that for this kinda thing?""

Motorcycle insurance in Guam?

Individual has military orders to Guam and is ONLY shipping a motorcycle (no POV). Most company's I've called will only cover auto insurance and let you add a motorcycle policy to make a combo. Does anyone know of independent motorcyce insurance policies covering overseas (particularly Guam) without having to insure a vehicle along with it? (I've tried most big named companies and even the independent companies on the island, and so far no luck!)""

Are there any car insurance companies that wont force me to be on my parent's insurance policy?

I got my license 4 months ago and I have NEVER driven since getting it. Not even once. I don't drive. I ride the bus or my bicycle everywhere I go. I don't need car insurance. I don't want car insurance. I live with my parents and their insurance requires that they add me to their coverage simply because I have a license. Are there any insurance companies that don't require me to be on my parents' plan like this?

What is the most affordable car insurance in Boise /Idaho?

What is the most affordable car insurance in Boise /Idaho?

What is the cheapest insurance company?

What is the cheapest insurance company?

2-door and 4-door car insurance?

I'm considering about buying a new honda civic car . I heard somebody say that 2-door car's insurance is always more expensive than the 4-door one. is that right ? (remember that the 2-door car and the 4-door car have the same features,machines) And how they calculate the amount of my car insurance? What do they depend on?""

Health insurance question?

I would like to go to the doctor but i don't want my parents to know about it. i have an insurance from my father's work. Will they know about me going to the doctor, since i will use the family's insurance?""

Car insurance questions - with regards to cancelling due to cheaper quote?

I have a couple of questions with regards to my car insurance. First of all, if I do a search on moneysupermarket.com/gocompare.com etc, will it record a search on my credit file? I turn 25 fairly soon, and I have a feeling my insurance should probably reduce accordingly, and want to know if it's worth my while shopping around. My current insurance policy ends in October. Also, if I do decide to shop around, and find a policy cheaper than what I'm currently paying, can I cancel my existing policy before it's due to end? I'm not sure how it works with car insurance - i.e. I know, if you wanted to cancel your phone contract early, you would be liable to pay the price for the whole contract - is it the same with car insurance? or can I just cancel it whenever I like?""

Car insurance for a 21 yr old living in ny?!?

Approx how much does car insurance, per month, cost for a 21 yr old college student from abroad in ny? My sister who lives in the country pays about 130 dollars per month in MA.""

Any suggestions on affordable utah health insurance?

Well, im working on moving back to Utah, after a near 9 year stay in PA, and i don't remember what insurance i had when i lived in Utah so i cant go back to that, and when i move away from PA, my current Health Insurance will be deactivated and shut down, so i need to find some new affordable health insurance in Utah. Anyone got in any suggestions? For now my budget is $669.00 a month if that helps at all, but it may change after i move.""

Can you please tell me of a insurance company that will give me insurance even if i have?

a pre existing medical condition i need critical illness insurance with a 6 months waiting can you give a link please to some insurance company's

What car companies have the highest insurance rates?

Highest to lowest would be a good way to list them for me.

What do you do if you cant afford car insurance?

Im a sinlge mother and my bills are more than my income. I seriously have to choose between food or car insurance. i cant take the bus to work the schedule doesnt work out....Im scared Im going to get pulled over. What do I do?

IS THERE A LISTING OF CAR INSURANCE COMPNANIES?

IS THERE A LISTING OF CAR INSURANCE COMPNANIES?

How much does it cost to run your car per month?

Including tax, insurance, petrol etc. What car do you drive? And how many miles do you do a week? Just trying to work out what kind of figures I'd be looking at.""

How much does speeding ticket cost in California?

I got pulled over going 92 on a 55 mph because I went by to pass a slow car in front of me. I switched to the passing lane and sped up to pass. I was just wondering how much the ticket cost me. Does age matter? I am 18, and I'm wondering if that adds up the cost too.""

About a car insurance..?

I've just got an instruction permit and wanna take a spin for the first time. But I'm concerned if it's ok to drive a car without my own insurance. The car is my mom's and I'm not sure the car itself is insured or she is.

householders insurance quotes

householders insurance quotes

Will the eclipse GSX make my insurance more than the GS?

Ive been trying to to see if the insurance is cheaper on the GS than the GSX because i dont want to get ripped just because it has a turbo. But i also dont want to buy the GS and then have to buy a whole bunch of new stuff just to put a turbo on it.

How do speeding tickets affect your insurance?

i received a 81 dollar ticket and lost 2 points last friday. im 16 and i was driving my moms car. the car is in her name and so is the insurance so since I got the ticket how will it affect my mom's insurance? i am not on the insurance nor on the title for the car.

Should I Get a Motorcycle or Moped?

Me and my parents are having an argument about what i should get. There is a motorcycle that i can buy for 750 dollars and it is a 93 Honda Shadow or i can get a new moped. The only thing that i need for the motorcycle is a new batter and i know this is true b/c i took it to a trusted shop and have them inspect and clean everything out (the owner payed for that) and it came back clean. I think that the motorcycle would be the better buy but my parents say that a moped would b/c i wouldnt have to pay insurance (the state i live in doesnt require insurance for mopeds). I was just wondering if the cost for a moped would be more upfront than the motorcycle would be and if it would be a better buy. And yes i do have a motorcycle license.

Motorcycle insurance is so expensive?

Basically I'll be doing my cbt test this Wednesday so I can ride my 125cc supermoto which I use for dirt biking. Checked insurance on my Yamaha WR125X and it's 1400 for comprehensive, da fk is this? After seeing that I was physically sick. So I thought I'll just check on the most cheapest moped and it's 700 which is still expensive.. How the fk do these kids I see with mini coopers afford insurance and all I wAnt is to ride a small 2 wheel sht face. I'm 18, 19 this march, work full time. Can I find it any cheaper anywhere? Should I go for third party insurance? I just hate my life""

Insurance related question to a 1987 5.7L IROCZ?

Hello I am 17 years old and have saved up enough money to buy a 1987 IROC-Z with 350TPI, 140K. Now when I purchased the vehicle a year ago I could afford to insure it but was to young to drive. I was supposed to get my G2 permit in August. I've already prepared it for the road for the but I am in Ontario and the driving strike is still going on. And to top that off, insurance companies raised their prices! I can no long afford to insure the car when spring rolls around. My mom made a good good...why not insure the car under HER name at a DIFFERENT insurance company, and put me as a secondary driver? That way I can enjoy the great prices and hell I bet she can have some fun driving this car. The car would not be insured itself, it will only be insured incase I hit someone and damage them. Would this affect her insurance rate at her other main company( 2 cars,house,boat)? Thanks!""

I just got into a car accident and whats going to happen if i dont have insurance for that car?

Okay so on Monday, I was parked on one side of the street and because of street cleaning I uturned across the street into two other cars that were parked and some lady backed up trying to park in thee space that i was in. she did not look back i guess. It's clearly her fault but the thing is that that car does not have insurance. My other 3 cars are insured just that one is not because my brother gave it to me to sell. I am wondering what is going to happen because she reported to insurance. Wiill i get in trouble? ( I'm under 18) Do i get money from her insurance company? Will I have to pay for her damages even though it was 100% her fault? and what do i do now? Her insurance agent called me but i called back and cannot get a hold of her. Thanks for the help""

Who has the best insurance quotes?

Who has the best insurance quotes?

How much will my car insurance cost me?

I am 18 years old, and live in Northern BC. I have had my N license for just over a year, I have had NO accidents or tickets. I have a 1995 Honda Civic 4 Door. I am a very safe driver and I have been unlucky to find a good quote. Do you think it would be around $100/month?""

How do I prove auto insurance to MN DMV?

My license is revoked and I need to prove to the state of Minnesota that I am insurable. I do not have a vehicle to insure right now, and don't understand why it would be necessary to get insurance for any period of time since I don't have a vehicle, but it is mandated by the state that I prove I have insurance. All the insurance companies I have talked to say that I need to have insurance for a year or the state will take my license again. Is there a way around this or is there an easier way to prove I am insurable without having to pay $1200 for a year of insurance when I don't even have a car?""

Insurance on newly bought car?

When you buy a car, you kind of have to drive it home without insurance. What happens if you get in an accident or get pulled over? I'm talking about buying a used car, if that makes any difference.""

Will my insurance go up after receiving3 points on my license?

I got careless driving and the cop told me it would be 3 points on my license. I took traffic school to remove previous points 6 months ago so I cannot do that. Will these 3 points raise my insurance rate? Also, I was pulled over by an unmarked detective, and he called in a motor cop to write the ticket. Would it be worth taking to court, and if I take it to court, what are the benefits vs. the losses I can face?""

Can i get a bought car with someone elses insurance?

So i bought a car but it needs to be fixed so i need to tow it to my house. I dont have insurance on it yet until i fix it. My parents have triple A and are real good customers. Can triple a tow the vehicle to my house even of its not insured yet?

Why is it that car insurance is Mandatory ?

why is it that if you crash you just can't pay for the damage and not have car insurance ?

How much auto coverage should I have in Wisconsin?

I own a 2008 Scion tc, and a 1990 Honda Accord LX. The Scion still has a lien against the title, and I have full coverage for this reason. I use my Honda as a primary car to drive to and from work with liability coverage only. What I have for coverage now is: Bodily Injury: 500,000/person 1,000,000/accident Property damage: 500,000/accident Underinsured and uninsured: 500,000/person 1,000,000/accident Medical Payments: 10,000 Comprehensive & Collision: 500 deductible Is this too much? My agent said something about a new law in Wisconsin making it stack for each car, so technically, I have double that coverage, and my premiums just went up. I'm looking for a way to get some cheaper premiums without exposing myself to too much risk. How much insurance do I really need?""

How much would it cost for me to get put on my parents insurance?

I'm 18 and looking to get my licence soon. My mom, her boyfriend, and his daughter are all on the same insurance. They have Nationwide. But I don't have a car yet, so I'd be driving my mom & stepdads car. ABOUT how much do you think it would cost?""

Sports car insurance... Wil it be cheaper if...?

Well im 18 years old and still live with my rentz. I have a job and i make 1400-1600$ a month. I have only a few minor bills. Here in about 3 weeks im buying a 1996 pontiac firebird v6 coupe from a dealership. Before i buy the car i need some insurance info. Iv been to over 10 of the leading insurance companies and gotten rate quotes and there all 400$+ a month.. This is suprising because i only payed 120$ a month for my old car ( f150). So im wondering if my insurance will go down if my parents add me and my car to there insurance? If so how would i go about this? And how much of a price difference would it be? All answers are appriciated.. **No Spam Please**

Insurance brokers?

Y do insurance brokers force u to join bt whn its time for the insurance to pay up they tell u all sorts of stories Even though ur account was never on arreas!!! please help guys........

""If healthy foods were more affordable, would health insurance be cheaper?""

It irritates me beyond words that people these days are almost forced to have a poor diet because junk food is more affordable. Then, the health risks associated with eating junk food cause more people in the hospital, more money being shucked at pharmaceutical companies for medicine to treat the diseases cause by poor diets, and health insurance and taxes we all have to pay for regardless of how healthy we try to be. I mean, if a packet of Ramen noodles is 50 cents and an apple is $1.50, the majority of the financially stressed nation is going to reach for the Ramen. I would love to eat mostly raw fruits and veggies all day long, but I simply can't afford that and it makes me feel like the government is forcing me to eat crappy foods in order to survive. Why are healthy foods so expensive? And wouldn't it factor out in the end to reduce the price of healthy foods knowing a lot of money would no longer have to be forked out for doctor's visits?""

AAA driving insurance questions?

my cousin is 16 and he wants to know how much driving insurance cost if you have AAA. he's a high school student, good grades, and etc... how many discounts will he get and how much does he have to pay each month?""

Where do I buy car insurance online?

Need to buy car insurance online and do not know how to go about it.

How much would motorcycle insurance cost for a 23 yr old?

Impeccable driving record, no tickets, felonies etc... Have a car and I've been driving for 6 1/2 years. My premium with Geico is only $80/mo. I just need a general figure for something with over 600ccs. Thanks.""

Cheapest car insurance in ontario?

Cheapest car insurance in ontario?

Which auto insurance carrier is best?

I want to find a reliable company. I've looked into Geico and Allstate... just don't know how they handle claims and things. Any input?

Question about buying a car without insurance?

Hey everyone, I need answers without criticism as Im new to this and know as much as you did when you bought your first car. I live in Texas and I have my learners permit but will get my license in around a month or so. We found a great deal on a car I love, and my parents want to buy it. However, as I said, I dont have my license yet, therfore, I dont have insurance. I was wondering, if my parents want to buy the car and keep it at home in the garage until i get my license and can get insurance, how would it work from the moment I buy the car until I drive it home. My parents have full-cover insurance with State Farm in both their cars, each pays their own insurance, would their insurance cover a second (technically third) car? What would be the step to take? How can I drive the car in peace without being nervous about getting pulled over or something? Please no rude answers, im trying to do things right, thus im here asking, Thanks""

Geiko car insurance?

I want to know from someone who has Geiko car insurance if they like it. I currently have Nationwide, and though I love them, I can get car insurance from Geiko for $40 cheaper a month. I am a college student and with only being able to work certain hours and the expense of college $40 is a lot of money to be. At the same time I want to make sure I get insurance from a company I can get in touch with if I have problems. Thanks for any help!""

householders insurance quotes

householders insurance quotes

How do I enforce my rights according to Ca Auto Ins. Law without an attorney.?

Their insurance accepted fault immediately. I have rights according to CA Auto Ins. Law, but Geico acts like they do not have to adhere to my rights under California Insurance law. The CA Ins board is watching, but they will not answer this and other questions.""

Why do women get cheaper car insurance?

Ive noticed all my guy friends pay a lot more for car insurance then i do why is that?

Which state has the most affordable health insurance?

Which state has the most affordable health insurance?

How much auto insurance do I need?

How much auto insurance should I get for a 1999 Ford Escort that is already paid for. I have insurance now but it is 660 dollars a year and that sounds like way too much for an 11-year-old car.

I need to know if there is any College to learn Insurance in the World.?

any Insurance Instituet or College in the World

How much is your car insurance?

around how much would it be for a teen lets say?

Insurance for renting a home?

I'm renting a home from a friend, and she says that she has to cancel her home insurance. Is there rental insurance, or any more suggestions.""

Car insurance for a 1969 Camaro?

I'm 20 and was wondering about how much a 69 camaro would cost me a month under my insurance.

How to lower my auto insurance?

Ok so I bought my 2004 volvo S60 2.5T AWD on 05/11/2011 and the insurance is killing me. I'm 20 years old and had my license for 2 years. I know it goes down when you've had your license for 3 years but that won't help right now. I'm with GEICO right now paying 371.00 a month! I know and this is actually the cheapest insurance company I was able to get!! My last payment will be on 10/11/2011 and then I will have to start a new policy. However I called them and asked them if my rate will go down once I renew with them, and they said no...... Well I did a new quote online and my rate would be $318 a month so I don't know why they keep telling me it won't change!!!!! So my question is can my mom get the insurance even though it's my car?""

Do Americans really believe democrats & Obama want to give affordable insurance and not socialist medicine?

affordable insurance for 50 mil more people doesn't just grow on trees, or does it? in Canada too, the gov in the 60s and 70s first fooled people in as only an INSURER, then within 20 years, it grew to become the monopoly MANAGER, to the point where ALL PRIVATE CARE IS NOW ILLEGAL IN CANADA. Should we be fooled by this cheap attempt? Sources: http://www.brianday.ca/canada-health-act.html http://www.theadvocates.org/freeman/8903lemi.html""

""How much will my insurance premium go up after a speeding ticket, I'm 17?""

I am a 17 year old male whose car insurance is roughly $200 a month from Travelers. My parents (unlike me, haha) are perfect drives and have had no recent violations. On the other hand, I got pulled over in MASS for doing 86 in a 65. It won't happen again. I live in CT. How much do you think this will increase by? and when I renew could my insurance company decide to not run my DMV record?""

How much money does it cost for insurance if you're a surgeon?

I did research and how much school would cost and how much I could make a year but I know you need insurance too. How much would that cost?

I can help with affordable health insurance in Las Vegas?

I can help with affordable health insurance in Las Vegas?

Best & cheapest car insurance?

Who is the cheapest but still good car insurance that you think...

What effect will Obamacare have on U.S. per capita health insurance costs? . [SEE BELOW]?

What effect will Obamacare have on U.S. per capita health insurance costs? Note that my question is per capita -- If you take the total payments toward health insurance in the U.S., and divide by the total number of people covered by health insurance... How has that average per capita cost of health insurance changed in the past five or ten years, and how is it likely to change over the next 5 or 10 years? thanks for your answers""

Life insurance policy on live in boyfriend?

my boyfriend and i have lived together for 7 years and have a daughter together. he is alot older and if something happens i get scared of what would happen to me and the kids. ive already talked to him and he agrees that i should get a life insurance policy on him. just in case. is this possible? and can u reccomend anywhere i could get one? thanx

Is there a cheap car insurance place in New Jersey for a 17 year old girl to get insurance?

Im 17 and I turn 18 in July and I bought my own car, its a 1992 toyota and I want my own insurance, I know it's going to be pricey a lot but I don't want to be under my parents insurance. I don't mind only getting liability but I need some help finding a cheaper insurance place in New Jersey on the upper east coast. Thanks!!""

What kind of car insurance covers takeaway deliveries?

Hi, I am soon starting a (very) part-time job delivering chinese food one day a week, 5 hours. I have been trying to find out what sort of insurance I need for my car as I am only covered for SD&P. I got a quote for one company who insured for business use, but they wouldn't cover takeaway deliveries! And my current insurer doesn't do anything like it. I know that places like Domino's and Pizza Hut provide supplemental insurance for their drivers, but this place doesn't do anything of the sort and I don't want to get caught out, especially for something like this? Thanks :)""

Does the color actually make your insurance higher??

I have heard this is true...red cars make your insurance higher...I don't think it is true but my husband does. What do you all think? I have looked up quotes and none of them ask for the color of the vehicle just make/model/year...

What would be the average price of car insurance for me?

- Full Time student with decent grades (will be better when my latest semester grades are recorded) got - a Honda Accord 2 dr coupe - I got a ticket before that was failure to observe signal - I only want to insure this one, and its only me T""

Car insurance for a non working vehicle?

My car needed a major repair last fall. I work from home and have been trying to pay off student loans so I decided to do without a car for 6 months since I live in a convenient location- I just received my tax return and can afford the major repair. I stopped my car insurance while I wasn't driving since it was $125/mo and I now need to start it back up. I am switching companies since I really didn't like mine- I just got to the questions about insurance lapse does this apply to me since my car wasn't working? I haven't returned my form yet. I hope I didn't screw this up, a friend just told me I should have possibly kept a storage coverage that my rates might skyrocket. It's an older car with no loan attached. I live in MN, perfect driving record, was with the same company for 25 years and had never missed a payment. If it is considered a lapse is there a way to get around it legally like giving/selling my car to my boyfriend and then listing me as a driver so I can use it when needed? We don't live together but he did most of the driving when we did use it- it's not worth much, maybe a few thousand dollars at most- maybe I'd be better off selling my car and getting a new (used) one so I don't have to explain a gap? Thanks.""

Will my car insurance price increase with my mother as an additional driver?

Hey guys, My mother has had two accidents in the past, one of which was her fault.""

Health insurance for baby and me?

We just moved to Illinois ( near St Louis) from California and I'm having a hard time finding insurance. I was on medi-cal in California due to pregnancy being a pre existing condition and my husband's insurance wouldn't do anything about it. I keep getting the run around when I call the state insurance out here. I'm just wondering if any of you live out here or have any good information on where I can go or what insurance I can get on for cheap. I'm almost 29 weeks and I need to get into the doctor ASAP! Any information would be extremely helpful!

What are we paying for when we buy car Insurance?

Does any one notice that we shell out thousands of dollars from our income for car insurance, and the insurance company gives us nothing back? Sure, if we get into a car accident, they cover the costs, but then they raise your rate. And you are paying far more than the cost of the accident anyway. And then if you don't get into an accident, what is all that money for? They don't give it back. I just think its odd that we are required by law to pay for nothing, after we already have paid for the car. And then if you don't, you are penalized and punished, so you are given no choice. But really, you're paying all this money and getting nothing back. WTF""

Do group health insurance plans provide for covering costs of auto insurance?

Do group health insurance plans provide for covering costs of auto insurance?

householders insurance quotes

householders insurance quotes

How much does motorcycle insurance cost in California?

Im 18 and i live in california, On average how much would insurace cost for me? . Also lets say i do get my license without purchasing a motorcycle, will my insurace rates still go down throughout the years even though i do not own or currently riding one?""

2003 Honda S2000 insurance rate?

Hi, i'm a 16 year old male. I'm planning on getting an S2000 when I turn 17 and was wondering if someone could give me a ballpark answer on how much, liability only, insurance would cost me per month. Ballpark as in $100-$150, $150-$200, $200-$250... Any help would be very appreciated. Also, just take into fact that I have a perfect driving record and that stuff since I would just recently have gotten my license by then.""

How to bring Car Insurance down?

Here's the lowdown: Been driving for over 20 years on a Full UK Licence, apart from a few prangs 20 years ago have been driving without incident. Was a chauffeur for a few years, no traffic accidents. Was a delivery driver for a few years with no traffic accidents (the only one in the firm) Have also been driving a motorbike which 2 years ago I had to re-take my tests for. I scored 100% in all areas, theory, the section I called 'stunt' driving and road test. I have kind of got fed up with using company cars, hire vehicles and the motorbike to get everywhere, so decided to purchase a cheap Audi A3 (I'm talking an ancient one here). 3PFT insurance works out at over 1000 per year...about the same as the car is worth. This is too expensive for me (considering my bike insurance is 150 a year) how can I bring it down?""

Can I afford motorcycle insurance?

So here is my situation: I currently own a 2003 Toyota Matrix that I make payments on. In between the payments and the insurance and gas, it costs about $350 a month to have that car. For the last couple years I've been really interested in getting a motorcycle, specifically a newer Kawasaki. According to my research, I could find a Kawasaki Ninja 250cc for somewhere around $3000. My question is basically how much insurance do I need? Right now I have comprehensive coverage for my car so that if I'm in a wreck and it's totaled I can replace it. If I had a bike AND my car though, I don't want replacement coverage for a secondary vehicle (even one as cool as a motorcycle). I got quotes from Geico and State Farm that put my minimum amount of insurance a month in the neighborhood of around $30. Does this sound accurate to anyone? Also, can anyone just give me some sound advice about owning both vehicles and whether it's worth it?""

How can I take out life insurance on another person?

My father owes me money and I owe alot of money because of him. I'd like to be able to take out life insurance on him incase he dies before he pays me back. How would I go about doing this? I'm trying to figure out how to take the insurance out on him (since he owes me). Not have him get life insurance and then make me the benifactor himself.

Should i get a '94-'2000 toyota camry for my first car?

I'm trying to be reasonable, i know i need an older car so my insurance is cheap (i cant be on my parents). and i know toyotas are good cars, i like the look of the camry 4-door. and ive seen alot for under 7,000.. any other ideas for good cars that are cheap?""

How would I insure my drivers license?

Hi, I live in Maine and was wondering if its possible (if at all) to insure my drivers license. I don't have a car but live with people who do, it would cost to much to be put on their insurance. So is there insurance out there for just a drivers license so I can drive someone else car.""

Who Have The Best Insurance Rates?

I Hope Im Calling It Right, I Just Got My Drivers License In August, I Dont Have A Car Yet. I Just Wanted To Know For The People Who Have Cars, What The Best Company To Get, When I Do Get A Car. People Tell Me Car Insurance Compnays Go By Age To. Im Only 21 So I Know Is Gonna Be High. But I Juat Wanna Know Whats The Best One To Get And Why For Car Insurance. Thank You To All Who Answers""

State Farm Renters Insurance: Explain Replacement Cost Coverage to me?

From what I understand, if a claim had to be filed, I would receive the current value of an item. For instance, I have a pair of $500 shoes. They are currently priced at $450, so the pay-out would be $450 and $500, correct?. Okay, so here are my two questions: 1) Would I be bound to REPLACE the lost item? Or would they give you the current cash value to buy whatever it is that you wanted to buy? 2) Are there no such policies that exists out there: a policy that would pay you what you INITIALLY paid for an item? So that one wouldn't lost out financially in the event that an item depreciates? If I'm wrong about any of the above, or if you think I need to be sure to clarify certain things with my agent, please let me know. Thanks.""

""How do i find car insurance for my 55 Chevy Bel Air, in Australia?

we have recently bought a 55 chevy (left hand drive) but i cant seem to find any insurance companies on the net to get a quote on how much the insurance will be...can anyone out there from Australia in particular help me out? thanks :)

Whats wrong with affordable healthcare?

republicans are ruining this country with their fear mongering. The healthcare is optional, you can still use anthem or whoever you have. Plus this creates competition for the insurance companies to start lowering their prices. republicans are obviously being paid off by the big insurance companies to stop affordable healthcare""

How much would car Insurance be for a 16 year old guy?

My parents want me to start picking what car I want to get. I was wondering how much insurance would cost for each of these cars for a 16 year old guy. I am interested in a BMW E36 323is Coupe, BMW E36 325is Coupe, BMW E36 328is Coupe, 1997-2001 Honda Prelude, and a 2000 VW Golf GTi. Please help me because I need to know the cost to insure each of these cars before I pick.""

Anybody know of any car insurance co's that will give auto insurance policies to 17 year olds??

I have a 17 yr old that has already gotten 2 tickets so I want him off my policy - as he is making it too expensive for me to afford - I told him he needs to get his own insurance. I already called my insurance and tried taking him off my policy (as I took away his driving privelages) but they told me I HAVE TO keep him on my policy even if he doesn't drive - He has a license and has to be covered under my policy because he lives with me - so I can't take him off til he gets his own insurance. My problem - most co's will not issue a policy to anyone under 18 (PS - we live in New Jersey)

Insurance rates????

my insurance is way too high...I have insurance with a nationwide company....and I have to have full coverage because I'm financing the vehicle. My question is..where can I go to find some cheaper insurance? I heard that smaller companies around where you live usually offer cheaper rates? Is this true?

What's the average insurance cost of a 17 year old just strating to drive?

1.) In a 1.0 engine car 2.) In a 1.5 engine car 2.) In a 2.0 engine car

Car insurance Michigan?

Im 23 i will be trying to buy a car. I have the down payment but its the insurance that the dealers are scaring me with. One dealer told me it would be about 400 to start a policy. My question is do i havr to pay that whole 400 to get my car off the lot or will it be like half and then the other half later that month

I need help getting coverage for an infected wisdom tooth. Does anyone know of an affordable dental insurance?

I have a wisdom tooth that is close to a facial nerve so I have to have a specialist pull it. Does anyone know of a dentist insurance plan that is affordable that doesn't have a wait list and that covers oral surgery? Or does anyone know of a dental office that will take payments? I have called around everywhere and seem to keep hitting dead ends

Any body employed at Walmart have their health insurance?

My son just got Walmarts health insurance policy after I told him to get some insurance. He says he signed up, but their health insurance is a bad one. I just wanted him to be insured because a trip to the ER for any kind of accident or illness could financially ruin him. Wages at Walmart aren't exactly great. He is so inexperienced, I don't know whether he knows a good insurance from a bad one. Any one know anything about Walmarts health care insurance?""

How much  is a few lessons + cbt & motorcycle test for a 125cc moped ?

also how much would be tax and insurance and hidden costs of running a moped if passed the test ?

Anyone know about car insurance?

I have always wondered about this.... say you were in a car accident with canceled insurance/ no insurance....but the next day you pay it. Then you reprt the accident, will they cover you?""

Affordable medical plan for newborns?

i know there is WIC to cover if dont make enough money to pay for alot of food besides the bills, and the childs shots are covered through the pregnancy medicaid (if you have it) for ...show more""

Can i get braces free from insurance?

I reallllly need braces and I've been looking for any dentists in chicago that accept insurance in chicago. I live around cook county and anywhere around irving park or places near there would be fine but i really want to get braces that my insurance will cover. I am 13 years old.......thx!

Why didn't GW make an effort toward affordable health insurance for the Americans w/o any?

Why didn't GW make an effort toward affordable health insurance for the Americans w/o any?

Insurance for 250 Ninja?

I will be buying a new 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 250. I'm 18 yrs old. We will pay the bike in full..... How much will be my insurance on this bike? thanks

Does anyone have knowledge of supplemental insurance that helps pay for Maternity cost?

My daughter is pregnant and needs a supplemental insurance policy. I know of Affordable HealthCare Options (AHCO) but don't know anyone that has used them. She lives in Norman, OK. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank You""

householders insurance quotes

householders insurance quotes

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