#we went to an art market and got some ice cream after!!! it was super cute gaaahdhdj

[chubsette]

not that it's any of y'all business (I just like to over share online) but I went on a very good date today and now I feel so happy and giddy that it's kind of embarrassing 🫣🫣

[oliviab-scstudyabroad]

So When Can I Go Back?

What you’ve all been waiting for, Part III!

We woke up early on Friday to catch a flight back to Buenos Aires. Once we arrived, we were starving, so my friend and I went to an Italian restaurant called Los Inmortales! My friend from Argentina recommended the restaurant to me, and it lived up to the hype. Argentina has a lot of Italian influence, so it’s known for its delicious pizzas and pastas. I ordered a pizza that was loaded with mozzarella and olives, and I devoured it in seconds.

Later, we caught up with some other exchange students who happened to be in Buenos Aires too! We stopped by the Floralis Generica, la Universidad de Buenos Aires, and el Museo de Bellas Artes. All the national museums are free in B.A. I was shocked to see several Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, and Jackson Pollack paintings in the museum! They weren’t even enclosed by glass or anything; I was scared that I would accidentally brush into them. That night, the girls and I had a relaxing night in watching Mafalda, a famous animated movie in Argentina, like Charlie Brown in the U.S.

The next day, I woke up and went to this super hip café called Café Martinez, one of the top-rated cafes in B.A. There, I got a waffle loaded with pecans, banana, and Nutella. I always like to order something on the menu that I’ve never tried before, so I got an orange cold brew, or coffee with a few splashes of orange juice. It sounds gross, but it hit the spot. I then decided to get my miles in and walk through the Teatro Colon, La Catedral Metropolitana, and the Casa Rosada where the president lives. It’s like the White House but it’s the Pink House! I also walked by the Obelisco, where everyone flooded the streets after Argentina won the World Cup. After, I stopped by Puerto Madero, a scenic and tranquil part of B.A. where boats used to come into port. There is the Puente de la Mujer which is shaped like the spine of a woman’s back when dancing tango! Fun fact: tango was born in Uruguay and Argentina at the same time. In Puerto Madero I got a choripan, which is like a hot dog but with grilled chorizo. Can you tell that I’m eating my way through Argentina?

Later, I went to the Cementerio de la Recoleta where I saw the mausoleum of former Argentine president Domingo Sarmiento. It was amazing to see how big the mausoleums are for these prominent Argentine families! After, I got dulce de leche ice cream at Luccianos. It was so delicious but so rich that I felt a little sick afterward :/

After another relaxing night chatting with family and friends, I woke up the next day to get breakfast and go shopping at the Feria Artesenal Intendente de Recoleta. The market was filled with local artists and their creations, including jewelry, hand-made clothing, and custom mate cups! could have spent a fortune there, everything was so unique and specific to Argentina. I especially loved anything to do with Lionel Messi. It’s clear that he’s a national figure in the country. Then, I checked in at a hostel because I spent one more day in Argentina than the girls, and I walked through Avenida Corrientes and got three empanadas: jamon y queso, carne picante, and humitas. They were so tasty and even better with a cold Coke-Zero. I later met up with some other international student friends and we walked through the Jardin Japones! It was a gorgeous little sanctuary that had ponds with koi fish and plants native to Japan. There was also a spot where you could make origami and write a message, so the four of us made penguins and wrote where we were from. There was also a spot where you could write a wish and hang it up on a tree. I saw one message in scribbly handwriting that said “quiero ser futbolista”, or “I want to be a soccer player.” How precious! After, we walked an hour to the Barrio Chino, like China Town in New York. I loved looking at all the different types of sweets and drinks they sold. I didn’t realize how diverse B.A. is in terms of food and culture; it’s incredible!

My friend, Cleo, had studied abroad in Buenos Aires a few years ago, so she knew of a spot where people meet up to dance tango! We went there and we watched several couples dance around the plaza. They would often change partners and chat with each other as they were dancing. I loved how free and serene they looked; now I want to take tango classes! After, we went to a Mexican restaurant because one of my other friends, Karen, is Mexican! We had some delicious tacos, although I will say, they weren’t nearly as spicy as they should’ve been. After that, I headed back to the hostel and slept like a baby.

On Sunday, I took the ferry back to Uruguay and conclude my whirlwind of a trip. I’m so proud of how independent I was and that I got to visit some touristy spots as well as experience the authentic Argentine culture! Now, I understand why everyone in Uruguay spends their weekends in B.A. I came back to Uruguay a few pounds heavier to be sure but also with a reminder of why I love traveling so much. Argentina, tenés mi corazón!

[bob-events]

Friendship Bonanza Prompt List!

International Friendship Day is right around the corner, and our AO3 collection is going out to our authors any minute! That means we are excited to announce the prompt list for the friendship bonanza - which we have hidden under the “keep reading” because it’s ridiculously long. If you’d like to make a “gift” for any of the prompters, you are welcome to, and we just ask that you either post it to the AO3 collection and tag them (but please mark it as a “gift fill”) or post it on Tumblr and tag them AND us so we can share it! Happy Friending

@nowinnablewar AO3: unseelieCollapsar Will Accept: Fanfic, Other types of media Prompt 1: Skip bounces ideas off Easy Company for the letter he wants to send to Faye. Prompt 2: Easy Company craft a plan to get back at Sobel without getting caught. Prompt 3: A Yank staff correspondent (Reader or OC) interviews the officers at the Eagle's Nest. Prompt 4: Three Musketeers AU with Toye, Luz, Guarnere, and Buck

@softspeirs AO3: sunlightdances Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: Speirs being soft (either gif moments from the show, art of your choice, or platonically with a canon character, or paired with an OC!) Prompt 2: Nixon + "I wish I didn't care about it" - gifs showing him caring about other characters canonically or fic with platonic friendship or background romance with an OC Prompt 3: Lipton being Easy's Mom and Dad. Fanart, a fic of a missing scene, or gifs from the show! (Post-war AU feat. a background romance is also ok too) Prompt 4: Any happy, smiley moments between Easy boys. Gifs of happy moments, fanart, or a fic of a moment we didn't see on the show! DNW: Character/character slash fic, modern AU

@serasvictoria AO3: Caren80 Will Accept: Fanfic, Other types of media Prompt 1: Chuck and Babe are supposed be doing guard duty at Membury airfield. Chuck takes Babe to a pub instead (this genuinely happened by the way). Prompt 2: It’s Christmas and since Easy is still stuck in Bois Jacques in Belgium, Joe Liebgott decides to share a Hershey bar with Chuck and Tab as a present. Prompt 3: We all know that Luz and Perconte ended up in a barn to steal eggs, but what happened before that scene? Who even came up with the idea to begin with? Prompt 4: It’s 1946 and word reaches Bill that Joe Toye is really struggling with the loss of his leg. He decides to show up at Joe’s place unannounced with Babe and together they will do their utmost to make sure that Joe cracks a smile. Prompt 5: After hearing Joe say that he could use some brass knuckles right before D-Day, Bill finds some for him.

@josephtoye AO3: corawrites Will Accept: Fanfic Prompt 1: Joe Liebgott & Floyd Talbert, one is trying to set the other up, or some other banter-y kind of situation Prompt 2: Johnny Martin & Bull Randleman, any historical AU Prompt 3: Buck Compton & Joe Toye, do with that what you will Prompt 4: Shifty Powers & Carwood Lipton, anything wholesome DNW: Any other characters, angst is okay provided it has a happy ending, no romantic pairings please

@churchkey AO3: churchkey Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Don Malarkey & Skip Muck. Canon-era. Don's not in love with Skip , he just wants to spend the rest of his life with him. Maybe the two of them talking about their plan for being "together" (as besties) after the war. Maybe some cute "I've never told anyone else this before" intimate self-revelations. Maybe Don's reaction to Winters splitting them into different platoons. Basically I just want any chapter in the epic love story of their friendship. Prompt 2: Don Malarkey & Skip Muck Post-War Fix-It. Don's the best man at Skip and Faye's wedding, wondering how this is going to change things and if anyone will over love him the way Skip loves Faye (bonus points for background Don/Joe [Toye that is]; pining, long-distance flirting, whatever) Prompt 3: Dick Winters & Harry Welsh. Post-VE Day. Dick is crestfallen after Nix leaves. Harry feels bad for him. He really does. He's also kind of like "now you know how it feels, don't ya?" Still, he hates to see his friend suffer. Just a couple of sad, lovelorn bastards being miserable together. Prompt 4: Dick Winters & Kitty Grogan/Welsh. Post-war or Modern AU (hence you decide if she takes Harry's name). Would super love these two just doing some GBF things together, shopping, getting coffee, complaining about their husbands and trading gardening tips. Maybe the convo gets a little spicy after dark. Maybe they've each got some private dilemma the other helps to solve. Or maybe they just wander around a flea market looking for good deals on Fiestaware. Prompt 5: Lewis Nixon & Harry Welsh. Post-War. ROADTRIP! (Bonus for background Winnix but it's not necessary). DNW: anything sci-fi/fantasy; OCs; xReader; Tab

@how-are-those-nuts-sarge AO3: whoahersheybars_3up3down Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: Historian AU - one character worked at a museum/was a historian before the war and geeks out over a few things while deployed to their friends = any character/s. Prompt 2: Penmanship - one character has lovely handwriting, but something/s hit them HARD during the war and they write much less pretty; with one of their friends' support, however, their hand steadies and they heal (lotsa metaphors there I know 😅) = any character/s. Prompt 3: Chess - one character teaches the other to play chess = any character/s. Prompt 4: Bicycle - one character finds a tandem bicycle in Austria and convinces the other to go on a ride with them = any character/s. Prompt 5: Anything with Bill & Babe, Malarkey & Skip & Penkala, or Dick & Nix, I love their friendship dynamics so much.

@speirstookmysoul AO3: speirstookmysoul Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: mentor/mentee bonding Prompt 2: shoulder clasps Prompt 3: overdramatic arguments about non-important subjects Prompt 4: "getting mistaken as family and not correcting whoever’s mistaken”

@kmorecoffee AO3: vintagelavenderskies Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: gene and renee: diasastrous, chaotic cookie decorating! the rest of the gang can be involved too for extra chaos because who doesn't love chaos. anyways: gene and renee try to make holiday cookies but something goes awry. too much salt and not enough sugar? distracted and accidentally burn the cookies? luz plays a practical joke and switches out sugar for salt? go crazy! Prompt 2: gene and renee: stargazing!!! all the stargazing :) just two friends, vibing, talking about life and whatever comes to mind Prompt 3: can be modern au: chaos in the coffee shop! just the gang's shenanigans at the local coffee shop. mayhaps there's an ongoing bet of how long it takes luz to get banned? DNW: speirs. i mean, i guess he can be like mentioned or featured. but not too much speirs.

AO3: Muccamukk Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Renee & Augusta/Anna: Any backstory about how/if they knew each other before, their different points of view on things. AU where Renee doesn't die and what they do after the war. Would prefer racism not be the focus of the story, though it can be an element. I like it when there's queer characters and romance isn't the focus. Prompt 2: Winters & Guarnere: Something with them getting to know/respect each other better set early in their relationship, especially between Day of Days and Bastogne. They have such different outlooks, but in the end very similar values, and I'd love to see that explored. Maybe they get stuck together and have to survive? Prompt 3: Randleman & Garcia: I'd love to see more of Bull mentoring the replacements, especially Garcia, and how their relationship changes as the replacements get combat experience and integrate with the company. Would love to see growing respect for each other. I like it when there's queer characters and romance isn't the focus. Prompt 4: Guarnere & Martin: They have matching tattoos! They got in so much trouble with each other and were so ride or die even post war! Bill went to Martin's wedding! Pat and Frannie wrote too each other during the war. I would love them getting to know each other, or small moments of affection. Or just write about Pat and Frannie. That's fun too. Or Bill & Bull & Johnny. Or Bill & Joe Toye. Basically any configuration of this is great! Prompt 5: Powers & McClung: Basically them chilling in the woods silently understanding each other? Healing through chilling in the woods? Comparing their experiences as country boys on opposite sides of the country? Post war stuff where Shifty's so badly hurt and Earl's PTSD? I like it when there's queer characters and romance isn't the focus. DNW: Focus on character death (mention of canon stuff is fine), graphic sexual violence, hopeless endings of utter sadness, character bashing, zombies, AUs that change the setting (turn left AUs fine, AUs that add magic etc fine). PoV characters having strong racist or homophoic views.

@papersergeant-pencilsoldier AO3: papersky_pencilstars Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: Airborne OT5 (Liebgott, Grant, Mcclung, Ramirez, Babe) missing scenes - can be fluffy or angsty (fallout from Chuck getting shot?), dealer's choice! Prompt 2: Mortar Trio - Early days at Camp Taccoa Prompt 3: Dukeman & Perconte & Tab (bonus Trigger?) teasing the replacements Prompt 4: Renée LeMaire  & Gene Roe- (everybody lives AU) connect postwar (I would die if this was a letter fic, but it absolutely does not have to be!) DNW: webgott (platonic or romantic background)

Prompter # 11 Will Accept: Fanfic Prompt 1: Dick, Nix, and Harry being involved in some shenanigans during their downtime in Mourmelon. Prompt 2: Bill and Babe reminiscing and sharing Philly stories. Prompt 3: The friendship between Smokey and Lip because I think it deserves more hype :) DNW: Nothing NSFW

@dansssks​ AO3: danesaber Prompt 1: Dick & Nix: The time they offered to protect Kitty for ice cream and Vat 69. Prompt 2: Spina/Babe/Gene: College AU? Prompt 3: Spina & anyone: They show Spina all their booboos Prompt 4: Mortar Squad: Any au, cannon or modern Prompt 5: Harry and Moose: Go sheep shopping as a present for Winnix on their new farm.

@anthrobrat AO3: anthrobrat Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Any of the Last Patrol OT5 (Chuck, Babe, Lieb, McClung, Ramirez) owning a business together - coffeshop, bar, accounting firm? Don't care. Can either be a post-war or modern AU setting. Prompt 2: Skinny Sisk and anyone being bros during the war. Maybe him and Frank deleted scenes in Bastogne fox holes Prompt 3: Shifty & McClung shenanigans during leave. The cat story is hilarious, and I'm sure there are more, and I just love these two because they are so calm and collected but McClung is a total wild card. I would also take a modern AU of them being besties. Prompt 4: Shifty and Popeye being best friends after the war maybe? I just imagine them at each other's weddings being disasters. I would also take the two of them as friends in a modern AU Prompt 5: Any friendship prompt that gives life to the lesser known characters would be awesome imo. DNW: Speirs or Lipton as main protagonists.

Prompter # 13 Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: shifty powers and floyd talbert - mermaid/fisher au Prompt 2: babe heffron x reader - ice hockey/team manager Prompt 3: dick winters x reader - college au! tutor au Prompt 4: easy company boarding school au DNW: pwp/smut

@mercurygray AO3: mercurygray Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: Harry + Nixon - marriage, divorce, and everything in between. Prompt 2: Shifty + Smokey - Guess we're not in Kansas anymore - or Mississippi, or Virginia. Prompt 3: Tab + Grant - Chuck's really just here to keep Tab out of trouble. Prompt 4: Bill + Babe - First jump's the hardest - and while the jump into Holland is easy, what comes after it is not. Prompt 5: Tipper + Luz -  Tipper's pretty good at impressions, too. DNW: Liebgott and Webster (as a unit; individually they're fine.)

@lyselkatz AO3: Lysel Will Accept: Fanfic Prompt 1: Any group shenanigans/friendship fluff including Skip, Smokey, Nix, Bull. Prompt 2: "The guys are stranded on base without pass (or requisitioned to work overtime to meet an important deadline/exams, if modern AU) Prompt 3: Smokey does his best to cheer his brothers up with his peculiar brand of silly (Valentine) gifts. Extra ❤ if Skip and George offer their help. Chaos and ensemble fluff ensue. (+ playing Cupid/background ships if you like)" Prompt 4: "Lieb and Hoobs are bored so they decide to troll Web. Since it's valentine's day soon they'll play crack!cupid for fun. Prompt 5: Web is a shark nerd and Pat has a great shark smile. Infallible logic, right? (Input from the other guys /ensemble shenanigans are welcome)" DNW: Nothing I can think of, since it's a friendship fest

Prompter #16 Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: found family taking care of each other (feat. liebgott being happy and content <3) domestic fluff Prompt 2: anything fluffy coffee shop AU or flower shop or tattoo parlour or bakery or anything along those lines Prompt 3: university AU but they are the professors! DNW: webgott, fantasy AUS, omegaverse, mpreg, anything mafia related, not too much angst

Prompter #17 Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Era switch: take the boys and put them in the Vietnam War. WWI? The Korean War? The American Revolution? Any conflict that you're comfortable with. Prompt 2: The Pacific AU? Put the BoB men in the Pacific. How they get there or why they are there is all up to you. Maybe their parachute infantry regiment was simply assigned to the PTO instead of the ETO after training. Maybe Japan didn't surrender as quickly as they did. Anything. Prompt 3: Supernatural AUs are my favorite. Preferably I'd love to keep them based in the WWII era, but you can switch it up if you'd like to -- I'd be fine with that! Any type of supernatural is cool with me. I'm aware this might be super vague but I really don't mind whatever you go with :) Prompt 4: Role-switching scenarios: putting men from within the series in each others' positions. DNW: Romantic shipping, characters (Cobb, Sobel, any higher ranking officers above Winters like Sink), modern-day AUs, aged-down AUs (high school/middle school/college with the purpose of aging down = no); a/b/o trope; nsfw (no sexual material; show-level gore okay).

@mariamegale AO3: mariamegale Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Babe and Julian being best friends. They are snarky, excited, happy and having a good time together. Bonus if their boyfriends are Eugene and Spina, accordingly! Prompt 2: Baberoe. They're dating, but they're dating their own best friends. With romantic feelings taking the back seats, I'd love to see a healthy relationship of two people in love but doing normal platonic things because they're also each others' best friends in the whole world! Prompt 3: Roe and Spina being tired doctor friends, meeting up in between shifts or calls, being tired and exasperated and just having their sandwiches and a moment of god damn peace. Prompt 4: George Luz and Babe Heffron being best friends. They'd be a disaster, but that disaster that also knows how to step the fuck up if shit gets serious. But mostly they're a disaster. Prompt 5: Joe Liebgott and Eugene Roe. They're roommates, they're pals, Joe likes smoking weed, playing mario kart and complaining about whatever dipshit he's gone out with now, Eugene is trying to make it through med school and enjoys the soothing background chatter of Joe blabbering on about this guy's shirt, or whatever. DNW: Canon era (Ambiguous era is fine if you don't like writing/drawing modern!), Carwood Lipton, OCs, xReader stuff

@mizunoir AO3: mizunoir (but I use 49thpersona for reblogging stuff) Will Accept: Fanfic, Other types of media Prompt 1: Hogwarts AU! Would be lovely if it would include Babe. I leave it up to the artist if they would like to portray one specific house endeavours or all 4 houses befriending. Prompt 2: Stargazing, can be set in modern times or in the original timeline. For angsty interpretation it would be nice to read/see some Eugene and Spina bonding. Prompt 3: Stargazing (original timeline or modern times). For more crack-ish one it could include for example: Luz, Toye, Guarnere, Babe etc. But I leave it absolutely open - include whoever you want! Boys share their music taste. Bickering and reminiscing of the good times free of war ensues. Can be platonic, can be slightly shippy, AU or modern - up to the artist. Preferably including Babe with Eugene.

@thrillingdetectivetales AO3: ThrillingDetectiveTales Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart, Other types of media Prompt 1: Bill & Babe: Bill talks Babe through gay panic about his extremely obvious crush on one John T. Julian, convinces him to ask Julian out, and demands to officiate their wedding (not necessarily in that order) Prompt 2: Harry & Nix (with bonus Buck?): commiserating about trying to keep Dick out of trouble Prompt 3: Blanche Nixon & Ann Winters: they know each other because their idiot brothers are """"friends"""" but they both know what's up and cover for Dick and Nix at various times throughout their lives Prompt 4: Kitty Grogan & Franny Guarnere & Pat Martin: they meet because their fellas are on the line together and keep each other sane throughout the war Prompt 5: Floyd Talbert is everyone's best buddy DNW: No mpreg/pregnancy in general, no rape/non-con (dub-con like drunk!sex or sex pollen or hatesex is fine), no modern AUs, no ABO/dynamics, no kidfic.

Prompter #21 Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Speirs & Shames: These stern, "unlikable" men are just not very social or nice, but they get each other. Outcast gay solidarity. Prompt 2: Kitty & Nixon/Winters: Nixon and/or Winters gets to meet Harry's special girl at last. Harry's made her sound like the romantic lead of a novel and really cool, and they are completely unprepared for the tall, awkward chess club captain. Prompt 3: Babe & Guarnere: Post-war readjusting of a friendship. Disability, marriage, kids on the way, Babe is gay. You know, the usual. DNW: xReader, OCs, hopeless angst, AUs, heavy focus on heterosexuality

@aloraundomiel AO3: ElfLadyArwen Will Accept: Fanfic, Fanart Prompt 1: Dick admires Eugene’s medical skill and always shows interest in learning from him while he’s on the job. Eugene uses it to his advantage, making sure Dick takes care of himself (because shaving doesn’t count) under the guise of ‘teachable moments.’ Any battlefield setting would work. Prompt 2: Nix and Harry are joined at the hip, two class clowns who wind each other up.  When one gets them into deep trouble, the other one is always there to get them out again. Prompt 3: Dick Winters is jealous of Ronald Spiers ruthlessness/ability to detach and athletic prowess. Ronald Spiers is jealous of Dick’s empathy and ability to earn loyalty through compassion. Each man agrees to give the other lessons in order to be more well rounded leaders. DNW: Please no Blithe. Never Blithe. You can leave out Compton too.

@bandofmorons AO3: bandofmorons (pseud for sonsofmahal) Will Accept: Fanfic Prompt 1: Babe & Lieb friendship!! I don't have a ton of specifics for this, I just want them being friends and getting into shenanigans but also being supportive of each other... like they're just guys bein' dudes but they're also pretty close ya know! They take care of each other when they need to! Ideally this would be a modern AU, maybe they're college roommates or something? Prompt 2: But mostly I just want to see them goofing off but also being helpful when shit goes down or something, because that's what friends are for. Prompt 3: Some kind of traveling AU with the 5 officers (Winters, Nix, Harry, Lip and Speirs) all as friends and how going on a big trip like that can strain a friendship when something goes wrong or just from people being tired from traveling so much... maybe it's a cross-county roadtrip, maybe it's spring break in Europe, maybe they're going backpacking in New Zealand or something.. I just wanna see how all those 5 boys' different personalities interact on a big logistical venture! Prompt 4: I'm not picky about who necessarily but I want to see Webster getting close to & forming a close friendship with someone in Easy! I feel like in the show/fandom he gets a bad rap for being pretentious (which, fair) but I think it would be awesome to see him becoming good friends with someone and feeling more accepted among the company bc of it. This could be a canon-compliant thing or it could be a modern AU where the boys are all friends. Background Webgott would also be cool as long as Lieb is supportive of Web befriending more people. DNW: explicit sex

[kickthecan-revolution]

My friend S came to SF for a couple of days. She’s so careful about COVID, I felt totally comfortable, and she’s also been vaccinated since January because she volunteers with the elderly. We also wore masks a lot of the time but I definitely came in contact with her without them which I feel super weird about. She stayed at my new place because she’s allergic to cats and it’s peaceful there.

She’s so easy to be around. We went to Bixby Bridge in Carmel, then hung out in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the cutest coastal town that I can’t believe I have t been to. We had lunch, look at some art and chatted up the lead singer of Hayley and the Primates whose semi-famous on the east coast. She owns a shop there. We couldn’t stop laughing at all of these poetic whimsical drawings with cat faces in them in her shop - she also has a little sanctuary in the back that was lovely. She and I both love talking to strangers - in a gallery, I kept staring at a painting where the coastline looked like a dolphin - I pointed it out to the wizened little artist - he giggled and said “in my 50 years of painting a variation of that piece, I’ve never seen that until now”.

After that, we took the 17 mile drive back. Then home. Driving is weird after a year of not, and driving in the dark freaked me out a little.

S is obsessed with ice cream so we tried Marianne’s in Santa Cruz (I had Spumoni like an old lady), Revival in Monterey (I had eucalyptus chip) Bi-Rite in the city (ricanelas) and finally Humphrey Slocombe (I abstained). She broke each flavor and texture down and it was hilarious.

Today, we got up and walked to ferry terminal farmers market where we looked at all of the gluten “conscious” stuff, a descriptor that makes me die inside. Calm down, San Francisco. We drove to Sausalito and then had lunch in Tiburon, then I dropped her at the airport.

She is my friend of over 25 years. Family. We spoke of some deep things, we speak into one another’s lives and did so again this weekend. I have literally not been around anyone except my neighbors next door and even that is sporadic so at times it was weird and overwhelming.

It is going to be a long, weird thaw back into life again.

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

It’s The Avengers (03x10)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

Season 3 Episode 10: Safehouse

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline   Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

Warnings: soft moments

Word Count: It is an achievement to get this chapter out. Imma celebrate it. Oh fanfic Gods! Give me the power!

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

The camera only had space made up with the galactic beauty swirling in deepest green that can put the stars to shame. The black hole seemed to become bigger as the camera has decided to use a snail's pace to zoom out, giving the audience quite the treat into the pool seems to disappear and reappear under the pale lids with unsurprisingly long lashes. Those veritable brows are wrinkled- enough to make one concerned but not enough to force someone to come and sit next to him with an ice-cream sundae as Peter did once- as if wondering something under their hypothetical breaths. The camera panned out more to show those thin lips going thinner, almost into one nearly invisible line. A long breath is drawn in and those long white fingers are made to rest on his chin as he looks up into an endless void and even Javier- who is being recorded by the other tiny drone- is thinking some stuff. The camera panned out further to show him half lying on the pilot seat while his legs rested on the cargo box behind, away from the controls. A true piece of art.

Javier: *signs as he points to his tablet with Loki's live feed* this God could be a fucking model. *fans himself*

It wasn't long before his voice broke the silence. "Maybe it is the food," he contemplates for the room where his only audience is a busy fur-baby licking his nethers. "Or maybe it was the people on Knowhere. Or it was just that...dingy old-" Loki's casually furry brows were now carrying a full frown- "lair. I don't know." The sigh the left his lungs was loud enough to reach to the back while he lifted his legs to ground himself and droop into his own lap, running his hands through his nearly greasy hair. When was the last time he washed them? "Why is she mad, Lulu?" Loki groans, trying to massage his head to get something out of it. Lulu, on the other hand, decided this was the best time to lie upside down and play with the one blue firefly that got stuck in their ship while they were leaving Knowhere. "Why has she locked herself back there?" He raised his head and asked some invisible force before looking at Javier's camera.

Loki: I'm not concerned for her *pretends to shrug* I just *blinks* don't want my ship to be flooded with her tears. Humans just have the tendency to go all out with their hurt and pain unlike some of us. *camera zooms in to his face* *resting bitch face on* Tell a word about this to her and I will cut you.

A click of something in the back immediately heightened Loki's senses to make his elbow slip from the chair, making him look for support long enough to pose in the chair with the nearest piece of reading material like a man lost in a completely different world, doing an award-worthy job of pretending to not see you come in. "Do we have some sort of digestive tablets on board?" Your hoarse voice asked while barely looking around the space. "I feel bloated. It's fucking disgusting." The groan you let out made Lulu sit up and tilt his head in your direction with his fur standing straight on his back. Loki tsked, still not looking up from the catalogue of the best sex robots on the market in Knowhere. "I told you not to eat those Cheese Puffs on Know-" "OH MY FUCKING GOD!!" Your rage-filled outburst caught the god by surprise, making him jolt up enough to be caught by the camera for the amusement of a certain group of people hungry for entertainment. "THosE FUckING chEEse puFFs wOn'T do me as much damage as your BICKERING!!!" The painful frustration that left your lungs made Javier's eyes go wide. Loki turned to look at the camera in pure confusion.

Loki: *a glorious frown on his face* *arms crossed* *bites lower lip* *inhales* *raises finger* maybe she is sexually frustrated? Space can no human touch can do that to you. And she clearly hasn't watched porn since we teleported *scoffs lightly* *rolls eyes* thank Valhalla for that. I no longer have to hear those filthy noises from across the wa- *stops mid-sentence when a mug comes flying to hit him in the head* "Pervert," you call from out of the frame while Loki ruffles his hair to remove the shards of ceramic caught in there. Loki: Okay *stares at the camera* maybe she's not sexually frustrated. *pauses with his lips still apart* *camera pans in* unless this tantrum is a human way of getting my atten- *another mug comes flying*

"Okay," Loki spun around in his chair to put the ship in full throttle for a destination only he knew about, "that's it. I did not want it to come to this but we are landing here." The camera spun to you and your crinkled brows. "We are supposed to get back your juice, man. Stop making unwanted pit-stops." Lulu's camera caught the disgust on Loki's face as he closed his eyes and shook his head lightly. "Stop saying that." "What?" You crossed your arms across your chest, narrowing your eyes while glaring at the back of his head. "Your juice?" "It's my essence." "But it is your juice. You took it out and now you want to put it back in." "The essence was extracted out of me and I need to consume it-" "You know that sounds worse, right?" "..." "Don't worry, baby, we'll get your bad bitch juice." "It's NOT a ju-why am I even arguing." "Because it's a turn on," you muttered under your breath before sitting down with Lulu in your lap and tying your seat belt. "What?" Loki turned his head around. "Nothing." Innocent as ever.

Loki: I think she's forgetting I have good ears. *narrows eyes and puckers his lips*

You: Oh I know he has super-hearing. That's why I leave my laptop on a decent volume with some classic porno on whenever I'm mad at him. *shrugs and leans back in the chair* *camera pans in on your smirk*

On a Planet Unknown The cameras took in the expanse of the barren planet the group had landed on. The ground seemed to have been hit with a drought. There were small hills in the distance and a few craters scattered all over. The star of this solar system shone too far, bright with pink hues on its tails, making everything drown in a tinge of blush. It was hard to miss this strange sentiment on Loki's face. A mixture of nostalgia with a side of something sour. He breathed in this atmosphere, closing his eyes to reminisce something the others did not have a clue about. A serene smile painted on his lips while his skin reflected the baby pink hues with delicate softness. Javier, talented with his work, used his hovering little drone cam to slowly and cautiously pan in on Loki's face, being really patient on the controls in his hands. "So this is where your juice is?" The zooming in stopped as Loki's eyes opened, blinked twice and sighed some of his internal frustration out. "My-" you could see the boiling lines of frustration on his face while Javier caught the suppressed delight on yours- "juice...is not here." "Then why are we here?" "To get rid of you-" You whipped your head faster than he could finish. "-r grey clouds."  Suspicion fresh on your face, you waited for him to continue. "When I'd fallen into the wormhole after my... alleged demise, this was the first place I discovered after a series of misfortunes," Loki exhaled, looking at clean nothingness in front of them. It was not much but Javier zoomed in your face that did a slow shift from the barren view to the sharp face that reflected nothing but a painful softness in those melodramatic hues. "This-" your voice was softer than you wanted it to be- "was your...safehouse?" Loki inhaled and turned to give you a thoughtful look. "In some ways, yes." The hints of smile that were on Loki's face seemed to question the expression on your face as your lips parted in slight horror before he was witnessing you jump away from something and right into his arms with a scream. "Something touched my foot!!!" No one really told Javier to focus on a specific genre yet there he was, letting his camera do a slow-mo on the way Loki's arm came to the rescue of your waist, holding you steady. And close to him. Javier neither missed the frantic grasp of Loki's black shirt under his overcoat by your hands as you turned around to watch what menace had bothered to make you their next victim.

Javier: *signing* I do not know how to activate Lulu's stomach music otherwise I would have added a cheesy track too. *smiles* *somewhere on Earth a boy forgets to breathe*

"Relax," Loki soothed you as he looked down at the familiar purple and pink light crawling up through the cracks in the ground, "here. Look." He did not push you away, in fact, he held you just as he did while you followed his gaze to look at seedling sprouting through the ground and growing leaves and a bud right in front of you in real-time; the bonus being the glow-in-the-dark veins and petals that shone purple and pink. A muted 'Woah' left your lungs while Lulu examined the little plant, tapping at it with his paw to be amused by the ripple he created in the bioluminescent flora.  Loki leaned a little closer to your ear while you were still gawking at the plant next to your feet. "Look up," he whispered. "Huh?" Your eyes instantly went away from the plant towards the field that now had an abundance of these flowers while trees grew at a distance carrying the same effect in their leaves- with purple fire trapped inside them. "What the hell is this place?!" You could barely breathe. Loki, on the other hand, was having a gala time at the expense of your expressions. "There was once a...lets say a conscious planet that went by the name Ego. Ego created an ecosystem that would survive in the absence of a star and when in the presence of it, it would camouflage itself to keep the biome intact, because, you know, greedy neighbours, bad rocks, invading aliens, yada yada." You look at the camera to shake your head. "What you are standing on right now is a chunk of that ecosystem." You looked around once again. "So, this thing was bigger than what it is now?" Loki was delighted by your interest. "Yes. It was ten times the size of the earth. And-" he added with such a gush of stress that you were scared he was going to burst any moment- "it had dinosaurs."

You: *guffaws* Haha! Nerd!

Loki: *suspiciously stared at the camera* What. I have interests too, you judgy clots. *somewhere outside the frame you softly shout 'It's thots!'* Yes. *does not waver his gaze from the camera* That.

"Damn! I could live in this place forever!" Loki narrowed his eyes in slight discomfort. "Weeeellll-" The camera cut to you looking like you saw a ghost. "EGO WAS PETER QUILL'S DAD????!!!!!" You shout right into the frame before your body freezes and the shock disappears into a blank slate. "Wait a second..." The camera was already turning to Loki who was shaking his head and whispering to himself, "She went there."

You: *confusion level: the white guy who went to India instead of Indiana* How did Quill's parent even have sex?!! *camera pans in on the gasp that escapes you* Tentacles! *the camera pans out to show Loki standing next to you with he arms crossed across his chest* Loki: *tired* Pervert.

"This is a dead rock with the remnant prints of Ego," he continued, "Come, let's go inside." Saying that he started to walk in some random direction according to you while bringing his hand for you to take. Your eyes went from those long fingers open and waiting for you before looking at the back of his head. A step more from him and you rushed your hand to take his, wrapping your fingers carefully around his palm. The camera was quick to catch your free hand going for the back of your ear, scratching some itch while silently walking some distance with the God. "Wh-" you cleared the vibrating disturbance in your throat- "where are we going?" "Just a few more steps." And true to his words, a few steps later, Loki stopped, making you pause right next to him. Letting go of your hand- something that made you grip those fingers in the other hand, trying to wring them dry of secrets only you knew- to feel something in the space in front of him with his palm. And when he did, he grabbed the space and yanked it back, revealing the space to give way to a cottage. A small, dark, probably comfy cottage. In the middle of nowhere. Covered in glowing purple moss. While you stood there gaping at the incomprehensible science happening in front of you, Loki undid the padlock on the front door to open and enter first. "Stay outside till I tell you to come in," he ordered, not realising you were too engrossed in the exterior architecture of this little house to listen to him. Javier sent one of his drones inside while waiting outside with you. "Dude!" You exhaled while punching Javier on his arm, "this is heaven!!!" Turning the camera to face him, Javier looked at it and signed 'is it though?'. "Alright, come in," Loki's voice called for you from inside.  "Hiding your porn stash, Loki?" you stated quite rhetorically before the camera found you frozen at the entrance of what looked like a living room. And your eyes stuck on Loki's face softly illuminated by the blue-ish purple flames captured inside a foot long lamp in the shape of a cuboid. You stood there in a ten-second daze, your eyes stuck on the face that worked meticulously with four more similar lamps before turning to look at you, immediately making you throw your gaze at the lamps. "Nice lights," you stated, a little louder than usual, clearly confused by your own pitch. Loki walked around the place, hanging the lamps to help light up the cottage, allowing you, the cameras and Lulu to explore the place more freely. The cottage felt more spacious on the inside. There was a sofa facing a window where you stood, a small but decent workstation behind it next to the wall with small tools stacked by the size and category. The walls were decorated with a league of tools that only Loki knew about. "Is that a Ghili suit?" you had to ask. "Yes," Loki answered without looking from the kitchen, "and no, you cannot try it on." You tsked and Loki smiled. "So-" you clapped your hands and walked around casually, letting your legs stretch with each step- "where the beds at." Loki turned to face you, taking a step towards you, holding his arm up to take the support of the ceiling as he leaned in to get his face close to yours. Javier- clever as ever- zoomed in at the bulge of Loki's bicep wanting to get free of the lone t-shirt that barely got to see the light of the day with that unexplainably fashionable overcoat. There was a split second where the camera looked at Lulu scratching away at the sofa in the living room, drawing his attention with a click and gesturing something out of the frame to make the little furball pause the massacre for a few seconds before pressing his stomach.

Can't Keep My Eyes Off You Lo-Fi version starts playing through Lulu's stomach.

"There are no beds here, darling," Loki cooed with his signature smirk right in your face. "There is only a bed." Your composure might have slipped for a second with his model-like posture but you had seen enough fuckboys in your life to deal with the God's sense of play. "Oh," you stressed sullenly while taking off your jacket and throwing it on the couch over Lulu, "guess we'll have to make do with what we have." You knew your puppy dog eyes won't do much on this creature but that slight distortion in his gaze when he blinked to look down at your sweaty tank top before coming back to your face was worth it all.

You: *chuckling* no matter where they come from they are all horny at some point under it all, aren't they?! *looks away from the lens at Javier* Hmm? *mocking a laugh* What? I was just joking with him. That's how friends joke with each other. *glares at Javier with the smile still smacked on your face* Don't read into it. *camera swerves to show Javier sign* Javier: Will Mr Stark think this as a joke? Just asking? *camera swerves back to the one-eighty your expression does* You: Oh, he'll kill him.

Back On Earth "Ooooh, Tony's gonna murder that punk." Sam's crackling whisper was followed by nods and hums from Peter, Scott and Wanda. Vision was the only one who tilted his head in deep thought. "Is it because Loki held Y/N's hand and holding one's hand shows a sign of affection?" "Yes, our big robot baby," Scott sang while feeding Vision another popcorn.  "But Wanda and Natasha hold hands too. But it seems absurd for me to get mad at that," the AI continued while Wanda chuckled. "Wanda and Natasha holding hands is akin to two sisters holding hands," Scott explained, "and that's the only concept we will go with if we all like our necks intact." All the boys agreed. "Now Loki, on the other hand, is seen as a threat by Tony because Y/N, his daughter, is young and still a baby in his eyes whom he wants to protect at all costs. While Loki- thanks to his chiselled looks and accurately hot manners- seems like the boy no father would want their daughter to date. Because a man like that takes seconds to make a girl fall in love with him. Look at the dude. Look at the bod. And that's when he is wearing clothes on clothes on clothes. No wonder Tony wouldn't want him within a hundred feet of his daughter." Now, everyone was looking at a sighing Scott giving heart eyes to Loki on the screen. The camera turned to show a previously busy-with-her-nails Natasha pausing to look at the Ant-Man and wonder. "You are in love with Loki." "Head over heels, woman," Scott smiled without looking away from the screen.  "Tell me one thing," Peter asked out of curiosity while chewing on the popcorn, "you learned the word 'akin' today, didn't you?" "It was the word of the day on dictionary.com," he replied without missing a beat.

Space Farm Safehouse One of Javier's camera had followed you up the attic, while you went looking for a place to hang your wet clothes. Unlike the eerie space shown in the movies, this one was spacious, had an entire wall with a window and a sofa set in the direction to enjoy the view of the flora sparkling outside.  Putting your clothes on what looked like a wooden chair in the corner, you sat down on the sofa, eyes stuck on the view outside. The camera rotated to capture the wave of purple embers riding the plants and the cracks of the ground. The camera watched you inhale when steps were heard coming up the stairs, a figure out of focus walking behind you, disappearing to let you feel the cushion dip next to you. "Feels one hell of a place hide from the world," you whispered, never blinking for the fear of missing it all. La vie en rose Louis Armstrong but it's raining Loki chuckled. "Who hurt you?" The playful grin on Loki's face turned to ash when he turned and watched you sniffle while huge tears fell from your eyes. The God's face knew a new type of fear when he turned to the camera.

Loki: *raises his hands in defence* I swear upon my own self I meant it as a joke. *looks at the camera* Tony, if you are seeing this, it was a joke. 

"Why does it hurt so much?" You sobbed while your eyes never once stopped the tap that had been set free. "Even after so many years, why do all those old memories hurt so much?" Loki did open his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He brought his hand forward to keep it on your shoulder but stopped short, taking it up to your head before receding his hand back to himself. "W-" "I am having a good day and suddenly I cannot stop thinking about the time my mom ripped all my drawing because she wanted me to do something more 'productive'. It's been, what, twelve years and that stupid memory is fucking me up today." By this time you were ugly crying, trying to stop your snot from coming out of your nose. Loki shuffled where he sat, finally bringing his hand up to let his fingers touch your head. "There, there," he sputtered, the pain of embarrassment bright on his face. "Loki I-uh-I am sooo sorry!" You bawled, clearly confusing the God even more. "You don't have to be s-" "I met Frigga on Knowhere," you stated between your tears and jerks, making him pause where he sat. "And obviously she was supposed to meet you but got stuck with me for some reason. And then before we could come to you, I asked her if she was the good guy, you know. To make sure she was not going to hurt you. And she was super sweet and she smiled at me and then disappeared and I am so sorry you were not able to meet her because of me." It felt like ages passed when Loki blinked and brought himself to the current space and time. His brows furrowed and his iris seemed to open wide in some heavy revelation. "Is that why you have been struggling since we left Knowhere?" You sniffled and took the white rag that came out of frame, making the camera pan out to watch Lulu sitting by your feet ready with another rag for you. No one knew where he got them from. "Is this why you did not talk to me the entire trip?" You nodded before blowing your nose into the rag and tossing it into the basket kept in the corner. Loki sighed. "Y/N." He scooched closer to you, taking your shoulders to turn you towards him."Look at me."  You did. "My mother disappearing on you is not your fault." You whimpered, forcing him to move each of his hand from your shoulder to your face, his fingers running the length, allowing his palm to anchor itself over your jaw. "Frigga was a Witch. And she was no ordinary Witch. If she found a way to meet you even after her death then I am confident that she will find a way to meet me too. Okay?" He waited for an answer. The camera panned in to look at your tear-smeared face nod in between his hands. "Now I want you to tell me something-" he sang soothingly being as gentle with his words as with those hands still stuck on your face- "did these old memories come up after you met her?" That guilty puppy look you gave him confirmed some fear of his. He said something under his breath that sounded like an alien curse. Almost drooping with his eyes closed, he pulled himself back to face you. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Y/N." He let his thumb stroke your cheek, neither of you realising how you leaned into his touch. "I think there is something else that made me go through it," you muttered through your hoarse throat. Loki simply nodded. "I think I'm about to start my-" "Period," Loki finished your sentence, sighing and taking his hands away from your face to let one arm move around your shoulder. "I know. I could hear your uterus howling on the ship." You adjusted yourself on the couch to bring your legs up and rest your head on his shoulder. "That must be quite scary for you, hearing my insides like that." "Ehh," Loki answered, looking at the scenery outside while meteors passed through the sky, lighting up when entering the atmosphere, "not as scary when your intestines growling before you let all the air out of your syste-ow!" "It's gas! It's normal. Get over it, you twat!" The sound of his chuckle reverberated throughout the cottage. Lulu slept at the foot of the couch while the two of you talked some more till sleep took over one and the other found a blanket to cover you and let your rest. "Let's find some cure for this bloody situation in the morning," Loki whispered to your snoring figure; finding himself sitting the foot of the sofa for a few more minutes before letting his hand pat your head a few times. Two pats and he moved his hand away, watching the camera entering the space. "What are you looking at?" he softly threw in Javier's direction, getting up and walking past him. "Go to sleep. I'll wake you up just with the first rays."

The Lounge "Oof! These idiots 'bout to fall in love." The camera zoomed out to show Rhodey sipping his morning coffee while Peter and Scott slept over each other on the couch, snoring quite loud while Zuko licked Peter's face while standing on the armrest. Rhodey looked at the duo, judging them and their will to sit there for more than twenty-four hours. "You guys are lucky Tony has another daughter to think about right now." He tsked and turned back to the TV, muttering 'fangirls' under his breath before walking away to get a refill.

[mizufae]

4, 9, 21, 30, 48, 68

SO MANY ASKS, MY BOREDOM RECEDES

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

ugh. I was the super smart but smelly kid, basically. I got placed in a GT core program in 4th grade (gifted and talented) and even there I was immediately shuffled to the second to last rung on the social ladder, I was the most normal one of the kids who ate erasers and were obviously autistic. Like also, I guess I was described as “an old soul” and “rude” because I used bad words. Before the GT program I was a bookworm and before that I was “extremely shy” but in 2nd grade I woke up one morning and was suddenly obnoxious. I suspect that my teachers didn’t know what the hell to do with me most of the time, but I always got really good grades despite refusing to do a lot of homework so it was kind of hard to crack my nut, I guess. One time in fifth grade I was called “tactless”.

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Honeysuckle on a warm clear night.

The town I moved to when I was seven years old has a big festival every year with craft booths and outdoor concerts and lots of food and carnival stuff and they have fireworks! It was within walking distance of our house, so every summer we’d walk there in the afternoon and spend a couple evenings there. This was how I saw Carbonleaf for free about a month before they made it really big! Anyway, here is the memory:

Walking home at night, sticky leather sandals on my feet. My friend met up with me while at the festival and she peels off to get to her neighborhood a few blocks along. My mom and dad are meandering about half a block ahead of me. I have a cracked glowstick around my neck, it’s a soft green and pink. The firework smoke has mostly cleared and the nearly full moon washes the dark streets with enough light to navigate without the flashlight my mom had tucked in her purse. The streets on this block don’t have sidewalks so we have to be careful, but everyone is walking home around this time so it’s not too dangerous. The breeze passes through and any lingering smoke is blown away, replaced with a floral waft. I don’t understand what it is until I bump into my parents who have stopped. My dad is picking at a bush that’s grown over a chainlink fence. “What are you doing?”

“Eating honeysuckle,” my dad responds. I make an incredulous noise. “You can eat it, see? You pick a flower, like this, without any leaves on the bottom, and then pinch off the bottom. The stamen will come through and pull the nectar down... Then you suck it like the bottom of an ice cream cone. It’s sweet. Here, try it.”

After I try one and mangle it, my dad prepares one for me. I’m surprised. I’d only eaten pansies before, and those tasted like mint and parsley had a baby, not sweet at all. “Can you eat the petals?”

“Yeah, but they don’t taste like anything. Here, you want more?”

“I can do it this time.”

“Okay, be careful though, don’t pick any too low down, dogs can pee on it.”

“Ew, Dad!”

At this point my mother chides us on back home, but I pulled off a big tendril to pick at the rest of the way.

21. obsession from childhood?

When I was little I was terrified of most things, but a big thing that really freaked me out was clowns and also people in mascot costumes. As an adult I have made some uh... progress on this (am I a furry? am I a clownfucker? I not NOT those things...) but anyway in an attempt to get me to maintain my chill if I accidentally found a clown or mascot at one of a million children friendly places where such characters appear without warning (the zoo, a baseball game, the mommy and daughter beauty pageant my mom idiotically signed us up for when I was like, three... every halloween ever... the library...) they rented this movie that was like, a behind the scenes clown circus documentary.

I have spent a solid 20 minutes trying to look it up just now and it is ungoogleable because of all the trendy murderous clown bullshit these days, thanks a lot stephen king, but anyway. My older brother had to watch it with me the first time but it was like... the clown showed how he went from just a guy through every step of putting on the makeup and costume, and some juggling stuff and some other tricks, and what makes a funny physical joke, and some other circus things... And then he took off the clown outfit and became a regular guy again. I WAS OBSESSED. Apparently, I requested we rent this movie from blockbuster EVERY TIME for MONTHS to the point where blockbuster offered to sell us the VHS. I still remained scared of clowns for years after this but it helped me out a lot and also it’s connected to my whole thing about practical effects. I also watched the jim hensons secrets of the muppets thing about twenty bajillion times, it all exists in the same space in my brain.

30. places that you find sacred?

Gazebos and thresholds, mostly. Also I once had a religious experience staring at a Van Gogh in the National Gallery of London. It was Wheatfield with Crows. I don’t think I saw god, because I dont particularly believe in god much, but I do feel like... some part of me cracked open and was able to connect with some part of a person who had painted it a hundred years ago. I only learned that it was possibly the last thing he ever painted like, a year later. I was in London visiting a friend who had moved there a year before, we were in our senior year of high school, I was 17 and applying to art schools at the time, so maybe it was just a thing about, like, the right time and mental space for it, but also... me and Vincent are like... yeah. This is what I hope I see when I die, etc.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

I hope that I would be an apricot but that’s just cuz I really like them. Maybe I am a coconut, hairy on the outside and a hard nut to crack.

When I started to grow boobs, my mom told me a funny story about how in college she walked in on her roommate standing in front of the mirror in just her underwear, cupping her breasts. And when my mom was like “uh... what are you... doing?” her roommate was like “sigh... do you think I have oranges? Or are they more like tangerines... I wish I had grapefruits like you!” and from then on the citrus system of breast classification was set. Hippies, amirite?

Anyway my boobs kept growing and growing and growing. I am currently a K cup??? But anyway one day as a teenager I was in the grocery store and they had these fruits that were EVEN BIGGER than a grapefruit. They were pale green and smelled really nice! And when we sliced it open it had SO MUCH PITH, but the fruit inside was a pretty pink... It’s a pomelo! The precursor to grapefruits. My breasts are now bigger than even pomelos, but whenever I see them in the market I’m like “my boob fruit!”

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

I try my best to taste foods I’ve disliked over and over again throughout the years to get myself to become okay with them because I find the enjoyment of food to be vitally important to my willingness to continue existing. But one thing I will NEVER force myself to eat again is natto. I tried it about four different times, once the cheap conbini kind, once at an extremely swanky japanese hotel breakfast, one in a really nice sustainable sushi restaurant with my favorite fish mackerel, once from a friend’s fridge, and UGH, every time, I just wanna spit it back out immediately. Sorry, fam.

In terms of things that come in different flavors I think the grossest soda is the grapefuit favorito which is like drinking bubbly soap.

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 16

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 6,227

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"No joke, you can for real get us the stuff?"

Rayne grinned over at Anna as the three of us walked side by side. "For real. I got a girl on the inside who can hook us up."

Her gaze narrowed dubiously, "Don't play me. I've been friggin' jonesing for a fix since March."

"You know I'm good for it, sweetpea," she slung an arm around her shoulders. "Trust me. My word is my bond, ya dig?"

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I puffed out a heavy sigh and grumbled, "You two are ridiculous."

A scoff from Rayne, "You'll be singing a different tune once that sweet, sweet ambrosia is warming your belly."

Rolling my eyes, I took another quick glance around the food court as we crossed it.

Still no Lea.

Boy couldn't get here fast enough.

Also, boy better hurry, seeing as how there was less than an hour left before my shift started.

My thumb absently rubbed the spot where his phone number still branded my palm as we finished crossing the sea of plastic tables and chairs, coming to a stop in front of the Lucky Cat. Working behind the register today was someone I hadn't seen before. A boy with a bandaid on one cheek and short, choppy brown hair sticking out from beneath the baseball cap he was wearing backwards.

Wait…

I squinted.

…or maybe he was actually a she. Hard to say. They were really quite androgynous, whoever they were.

Rayne smiled at us and held up a finger, indicating for us to just watch and wait. Then she stepped forward, approaching the counter. "Sup, Miharu! We're here to see…" she paused, looking around to make sure there were no eyes on her that shouldn't be, then she hunched forward and lowered her voice to a whisper, "...Spellweaver."

The coffee purveyor of indeterminate gender said nothing for several seconds, just fixed her with a dull stare. "...she's in the back, just a sec," they at last huffed before turning and disappearing through the door behind them.

"Spellweaver…?" Anna arched an eyebrow at Rayne.

She nodded solemnly, "The street name she goes by for all of her shady backdoor dealings."

"Oh good grief," I massaged one temple with my fingertips.

Deciding to steer this conversation towards something a little less silly while we waited for… ugh, Spellweaver to show up, I asked Anna, "So you really have no clue what Mother and Father are planning for this whole weekend family outing thing they're inviting us to?"

"Zip," she popped the P as she shrugged. But then she was crinkling her nose with a frown, "Weaseltown's gonna be there though."

I hugged myself, shuddering. "Thanks, that does not reassure me."

"Relax! Dad's probably just gonna be all, " she gave a lofty sniff, raised her pinkie and deepened her tone in what I had to admit was a pretty good impression of our father, "let's just put this nasty bit of business behind us, bygones and whatnot, chip chip cheerio."

"You are aware he's not British, right?" my eyelids drooped at her. I couldn't resist a tiny grin though and exhaled slowly, "...you really think he'll be that forgiving?"

"Of course! Well... that or he'll be all," up that pinkie went again as she scowled, "how dare you throw your life away like this, young lady, disgracing the family name thusly! I will not stand for it, pish posh!"

"...not helping."

Rayne shushed us as the back door behind the counter swung open again and that Miharu person returned. "Your weirdo friends are here to feed their disgusting habit," they deadpanned, speaking to their coworker that'd also come striding out behind them, presumably none other than the infamous Spellweaver.

Aka Aqua.

I should have guessed.

Gaze darting about again to ensure the coast was still clear, Rayne rapped her knuckles against the countertop, tapping out the beginning of "shave and a haircut." Aqua gave a good natured snort before responding with two knocks herself, delivering the punchline to the tune.

Seriously? What was that supposed to be, some sort of code? This was just getting more absurd by the second.

"What're you ladies in the market for today?" Aqua asked, propping an elbow onto the counter.

"We're here for… the Spice," Rayne put heavy emphasis on the word, giving her a wink that was the very antithesis of subtle. "You still got your super special secret stash?"

"Maybe," she inspected her fingernails, casually bouncing one shoulder. "You know I only stock the primo kind too. But stuff's not easy to come by this time of year. If I did have it, supplies would be getting pretty low. It'll cost ya. You got the munny?"

Anna suddenly pushed forward, grabbing Aqua by the front of her apron and yanking her down to her eye level, "Yeah yeah, you got the goods or what, bitch?!"

"Anna!" I snapped, horrified.

"What?! I was just playing along with the bit!" she defended, immediately releasing her grip.

Aqua gingerly smoothed the wrinkles out of her apron and fixed her crooked visor, "Normally just the munny and a please would suffice."

"Was your sister seriously just about to straight up shank Aqua over some coffee?" a low, amused voice said right next to my ear, making me jump. I spun around, discovering Lea snerking behind me as he straightened back up. Xion and Roxas were with him too, looking dressed to be on the clock shortly.

There was a tiny harrumph from Anna, "Everyone knows you don't get between a white girl and her pumpkin spice latte!"

That's right.

That's what this whole foolishness had been over.

Pumpkin frigging spice.

"Three please," Rayne asked sheepishly, handing Aqua the munny and shoving a hefty tip into the jar for good measure. Then she sighed at Anna, "We can't take you anywhere."

"It was a friggin' bit!"

"Hey, so," Roxas piped up, drawing my attention to him as he smirked. Xion bounced on the balls of her feet beside him, looking positively ready to burst with giddiness as Roxas leaned forward, "...are you like our new mommy?"

I blinked, "Wha-?" Then yelped as Xion, apparently no longer able to contain her excitement, threw herself at me with a squeal and squeezed me in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Her death grip tightened and I wheezed, looking to Lea for help. He just grinned wider at me and shrugged. The useless punk. Thankfully, Xion pulled back, seizing me by the shoulders instead. "Tell me everything! How did it happen? When did it happen? Was it love at first sight? Gah, I still can't believe you two kept it a secret for so long and even guilt tripped me over that harmless lil car prank, you jerk!" she punched Lea in the arm, forcing him to hiss out a pained "ow."

Served him right.

The abrupt sound of someone noisily clearing their throat cut through the air. We turned to find a lanky guy with wavy, ash blonde hair down to his shoulders standing nearby, his lavender eyes giving us a pointed look. "Pardon me, if you would…?"

Apparently we were blocking his path to the Lucky Cat register where Miharu was currently stationed at.

"Oh!" realization struck Xion and she hurried out of the way, dragging me with her.

"Thank you," he bowed his head to us before sauntering up to the cash register with a sly grin, "Well well, don't you look absolutely ravishing today, my fiesty little barista of love."

"Bite me, Joshua," Miharu ground out flatly.

"Only if you insist," he purred.

I was distracted from that exchange by a steaming to-go cup suddenly popping up barely an inch in front of my nose, making me stagger back a step. "Here ya go, sweetie!" Rayne chirped from behind the latte she was offering me.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I took it, giving her a tiny and somewhat dazed smile as I struggled to keep up with the whirlwind of activity going on around me. Too many different things were going on at once and it was all just a lot, okay?

"Ah!" Anna sighed loudly and happily after taking a long, deep swig from her pumpkin spiced beverage. "Pure heaven!"

"Amen, sister!" Rayne cried, chugging some of her own. Then she gasped, snagging Anna's arm and gesturing towards the Ice Palace. "Look! Kristoff's on shift! Think you can work your feminine wiles and score us some free sundaes?"

"Ray-Ray, please. You worked your magic, now watch me work mine. Hold my drink." She handed her cup to my roomie, cracked her knuckles and skipped off, singsonging, "Yoohoo, Kristoff!"

That poor boy was about to get played like a fiddle.

Rayne spared a look my way, grinned and elbowed my arm before casting a significant glance towards Lea. "Have fun," she half whispered, half giggled to me before running off after Anna.

"We should probably get going too, Xion. Gotta punch in," Roxas said as he eyed the massive overhead clock on the other end of the food court.

"Aw man," she whined, looking from him to me. "Fine. But you and me? We're gonna talk more later, got it?" she brightened, giving my arm a squeeze before joining Roxas who waved goodbye to us as the two of them walked off towards Pizza Planet.

Lea shook his head with a soft chuckle as he watched them go, saying to me, "Ignore them. The kiddos are just super happy for us lovebirds."

"Oh." I looked down at my to-go cup, fingers fidgeting with the lid. "So you got a chance to talk to them about it."

"Didn't really have to. I think that bit of theatrics between Anna and your crazy uncle the other day spoke for itself. Whole food court's been abuzz." He flashed me a big smile, shrugging, "Face it, El. We're the new hot topic."

"R-really?" I stammered, doing my best to stop the blush I felt creeping up my neck dead in its tracks. I'd nearly forgotten about that whole embarrassing scene. I think I'd been subconsciously trying to block it out, pretend it'd all been a bad dream.

"Don't worry. It'll become old news pretty quick and chatter'll die down."

"I hope so," I frowned, taking a careful sip of my warm latte. I hated being the center of attention and having people talk about me.

"So…" his eyes crinkled as he took a step closer to me now, plucking the cup from my grasp and depositing it onto a nearby table so he could take both my hands in his. Tracing his thumbs in light circles along my knuckles, he murmured, "Hi."

That blush I'd been keeping at bay? Just called in reinforcements and broke through the bloody barricades. "...hi."

His eyes briefly flicked to our right, discreetly calling attention to the fact that Aqua was grinning at us as she prepared a mocha order. Ah, message received. We had an audience. And an audience demanded a show, one which Lea seemed only too glad to put on as he now brought my hands to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of each one. "Didja miss me?"

My stomach flip-flopped. No, scratch that, it was doing goddamn somersaults like a gold medal gymnast on a set of uneven bars at the Olympics. Panicking a little, I hastily looked away and blurted out, "Miss you? Please, I just saw you yesterday. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet, I haven't had time to miss you."

What? I didn't know how to do the whole lovey-dovey thing, real, pretend or otherwise! Honestly, I was beginning to think it just wasn't genetically coded into my DNA.

He tsked. "That's not what you were supposed to say."

I gave him some side-eye. "What was I supposed to say?"

"Hm, I dunno… something like," he transferred his grip to my wrists, pulling my hands up to cup his cheeks, "how much you longed to see this gorgeous face again and how you cried yourself to sleep just counting the seconds until you could look upon its beauty once more."

"...I am not saying that."

"Huh," he smirked down at me. "Funny how ya didn't deny it though. Don't worry, we can work our way up to it."

I snorted. "Don't count on it."

A tiny laugh came from the Lucky Cat. With him still holding my hands to his face, we both looked over to see Aqua hiding a smile behind her fingers. She shook her head, "Sorry, pretend I'm not here. You two are just very cute."

I jerked my wrists free of his grasp and opened my mouth to say we most certainly were not. However, Lea was faster with a chipper, "We know!" With that, he picked up my drink once more, slipping his free hand into mine and cooed, "Let's go, shnookums," before walking off with me in tow.

Stumbling a few steps before matching his stride, I glanced back to make sure we were out of earshot. Then I looked at him. "No."

He cocked an eyebrow. "No what?"

My nose scrunched up. "Shnookums."

"Yes, sugarplum?"

I blanched. "No, that's not- I wasn't calling you-" I sighed, recomposing myself. "I was saying no to that pet name. Sugarplum's out too."

Lea pouted, "Aw, but they're classics. You sure you want to keep vetoing all of these? Pretty soon I'll have to start thinking outside the box."

"I'll take my chances."

"Suit yourself, don't say I didn't warn ya though." He then nodded to my cup, lifting it up slightly, "May I?"

"Uh…" I blinked. "...sure, go for it."

He took a sip then abruptly stopped us in the middle of the food court tables. "Shit, that's actually pumpkin spice. I thought your sister was only joking. October is still months away, how'd you guys manage to get your hands on this?"

My mouth pursed to one side. I can't believe I was about to say this. "...I know a gal who knows a gal."

A snerk huffed out through his nostrils. "Aren't you legally required to be wearing a trench coat and in a dark alley to say something like that?"

One corner of my lips twitched up despite myself as I took the latte back from him, "Was fresh out of trench coats."

"Well then, guess we'll just have to settle for this instead," he gripped the bill of my Ice Palace cap, twisting it sideways.

"Hey!" I swatted his hand away and spun my hat forward again. "I've got connections, I'm not a rapper. There's a difference."

"I know. I just really wanted to do that." His hand snaked up again, tweaking my cap to the left now. "Boyfriend privileges. Sorry, I don't make the rules."

Sighing, I straightened it again. "I've given you too much power. You're having way too much fun with this."

"No such thing." He went for the hat yet again but I caught his hand this time, narrowing my eyes at him. He grinned, shifting the hold so our fingers interlocked together instead, causing my heart to give a little flitter.

Then he used his other hand to turn the cap to sit sideways once more.

I drooped my eyelids at him. "I'm going to throw this drink in your face."

"And waste perfectly good pumpkin spice? For shame!" he chided playfully, thankfully having the common decency now to correct my hat back to the way it was supposed to be.

Ugh, this guy. Of all the people Anna could have shoved me into the arms of in front of the Duke on that fateful day, why'd it have to be him? I'm sure she'd only picked the nearest testosterone toting individual who just so happened to be strolling by in that exact moment but jeez, why couldn't it have been, oh I don't even know… Kristoff perhaps? Kristoff would have taken this more seriously. Kristoff I didn't have a maybe sorta crush on. Kristoff wouldn't have had my face toasting every ten stupid seconds. Seriously, I swear Lea had made me blush more in the past several weeks that I'd known him than I'd ever done in the rest of my entire life combined. I'm not sure who that said more about - Lea or my ex.

Shaking my head at him, I prompted, "So you said something yesterday about coming here to do some couple-watching?"

"Oh, right. Almost forgot." Lea glanced about at the shoppers enjoying their meals all around us. "Lessee here, who do we got…?"

"Why not Riku and Rayne? I mean, I live with them and they're in on the secret, I'm sure they'd be happy to coach us or whatever." I began to lift my drink towards my mouth but stopped it a few inches short, staring down at it with a tiny frown.

"Nah, they're not just a couple, they're married. Married is a whole different animal from dating. Trust me, what we're looking for is a cutesy-wootsy boyfriend-girlfriend dynamic duo." He took a break from scanning the area to focus on me once more, noticing the look I was now giving my cup. He quirked an eyebrow, "Problem?"

My eyes flicked to his lips, then returned to my latte. Then back and forth once, twice more.

...oh grow up! It's not like the boy had cooties!

"Not at all," I muttered, hiding my small scowl behind the cup as I finally took a sip, telling myself that the slight warmth I felt in my cheeks was only due to the heat of the beverage, nothing more. "What about them?" I asked hastily, gesturing back towards the Lucky Cat where... Joshua, was it? Was still talking to Miharu. "They're a couple." He was leaning across the countertop with a devilish little smirk, bringing their faces really close. Miharu, on the other hand, looked about ready to grab the nearest banana walnut muffin from their display case and shove it up his nose. I furrowed my brow, "...aren't they?"

He followed my gaze. "Who, them? Those two are… complicated. What they got going on seems to work for them, but it's not exactly the type of Hallmark romance we want to be emulating in front of your folks. No, we want too adorable and precious for this world. We want pure, unadulterated wholesome on a stick. We want cavity-inducing sweetness. We want…" once more, his eyes were darting from one table of mall-goers to the next until at last his face lit up and he pointed, "...them! Perfect!" And off he went again, dragging me with him.

We wove our way past several tables before coming to a halt at one in particular, seated at which was-

"Kairi? Sora?" I blinked at them and they both looked up at the sound of their names.

"Oh, hey guys!" Sora hit us with the full force of that blinding smile of his.

"Hiya!" Lea chirped, pulling out a chair for me. "Mind if we join you two?"

"Please," Kairi nodded enthusiastically, twisting her chopsticks into her chow mein that looked to be from Mushu's Kingdom. "Be our guest!"

I'm sorry, but couple-watching and couple-interacting were two completely different things. This is not what I'd signed up for. Still, I took the seat with only the barest hint of hesitation, feeling Lea push it in behind me before he grabbed the one next to me, spinning it one-eighty on one leg so he could plop down into it backwards.

Eyes dancing, Kairi spoke up again, "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of being joined by the Dusk Town Center's newest It Couple?"

"...It Couple?" I echoed, arching an eyebrow as I put my drink down in front of me, fingers fidgeting with the coffee sleeve.

"Told ya, El!" Lea chuckled, folding his arms atop the table, his elbow coming to rest against mine. "Everyone's talking about us. Can you blame them though? We did have a rather dramatic debut."

"Oh gosh," I smothered my face in my hands.

"Nothing to be embarrassed over, you're fine!" Kairi giggled, then glanced smugly over at Sora. "Plus, I got to tell this loser here that I'd told him so!"

He rolled his eyes, grin never wavering. "Lucky guess. You had no way of knowing they were already dating."

"Woman's intuition," she razzed her tongue at him, tapping her chopsticks to her temple. "It's never wrong."

Welp. It was wrong this time. Lucky for her, Lea and I had a cover to maintain. Good thing too, I don't know if I'd have had the heart to tell her otherwise and burst her bubble.

"Besides," she tacked on, slurping up a noodle, "it's always been plain as day for anyone to see on Lea's face. He has that whole lost puppy look going on whenever she's around."

"I don't have a lost puppy look," Lea scratched the back of his head with a sheepish laugh before glancing my way and insisting, "I don't."

Sora sniggered, "Yeah, Kai, I think that's just the way his dopey face always loo- ow!" That last part was in response to Lea reaching across the table to flick him in the forehead.

Ignoring the boys, Kairi sighed dreamily, "It's all just so sweet! Like some sort of modern day, food court, Shakespearian romance! One from House Pizza, the other from House Ice Cream, two star-crossed lovers defying all odds to be together!"

...okay, why were we here again?

"It's not like we're from two warring families locked in a blood feud." Lea snorted and muttered, "House Ice Cream and House Pizza… what even?"

"Shush, I was being poetic!" Kairi harrumphed before lightly slapping Sora's hand away as he tried to steal some of her chow mein.

Rubbing his sore knuckles, he whined, "Aw c'mon, Kai, all this food talk is making me hungry!"

"You've already eaten twice your weight in orange chicken, you big goob!" she shot back. But when he gave her the saddest pout in the history of all mankind - nay, the history of all existence - her shoulders slumped and she relented, stabbing her chopsticks into the noodles and twirling them, "Fine, open up, doofus."

He immediately perked up and parted his lips wide. Having wrapped a sizable portion around her sticks now, she gently eased it into his awaiting mouth. For all the care she took though, some sauce still managed to get on the corner of his lips as he started to chew. Kairi gave a soft tch and told him, "Hold still." Then she took his chin between her fingers, bent forward and kissed the smudged side of his mouth, leaving it clean by the time she'd pulled back, licking her lips with a tiny smirk.

Sora swallowed his food. "Thanks, bae!" he beamed, bowing his head towards hers and nuzzling the tips of their noses together, eliciting a titter from her.

Oh. Right. That's why we were here.

These two were cavity-inducing alright. I think I was already feeling my teeth begin to rot just by being within a five foot radius of them. Dear lord, I don't think I could ever be like that, especially not where people could see us.

...was Lea suggesting I act this way?

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching as he stretched a hand across the table towards Kairi's tray and dipped a finger into some of the excess chow mein sauce on one side of her plate. Lea then proceeded to dab the goo onto his nose, plant his elbow on the table, prop his chin in his palm and lean towards me with a cheshire grin, eyes hooded and eyebrows bouncing.

Apparently, yes. That's exactly what he was suggesting.

I stared blankly at him.

Yeah, no. Not happening, pal.

"Worth a shot," Lea snerked as he reached for a napkin to scrub the smear off with.

Kairi bit back a smile, "D'aww, she's shy! That's adorable!"

"That's my baby! Wouldn't have her any other way!" he tweaked my nose with a wink.

"Oh! I just had a great idea!" Kairi clapped her hands together. "Tomorrow night, Sora and I were gonna go out with Riku and Ray. Nothing fancy, just dinner and a movie. But what if you two joined us as well and turned our double date into a triple? How fun would that be?"

I don't know… dinner and a movie? She was asking a lot of little ol' hermit me. Maybe too much.

Lea looked to me, pressing his shoulder into mine. "How 'bout it, El?"

...well… I guess… for the sake of practice…

I gave the couple across from us a shy smile. "What time were you thinking?"

Taking that as a yes, Kairi cried out in delight. "Awesome! We're all meeting up at six. You can get the deets from your roomies!" She then picked up her phone to check the time. "Crap," she hissed, jumping up to her feet, "gotta run! Selphie's gonna murder me for taking too long on my lunch break!"

"Wait up, I'll walk you back," Sora called, taking the opportunity to snatch up the chopsticks she'd dropped and shovel what was left of the chow mein down his throat faster than should have been humanly possible. Then he grabbed the tray and hopped up as well, cheeks bulging with food as he muffled out, "See ya guys tomorrow!" before taking off after his girlfriend.

"So…?" Lea asked, one side of his mouth turning up as he stole another sip from my pumpkin spice latte.

I gave a small, incredulous laugh, "No. Also? No. No, no, no. No. Did I mention no? Because just in case I didn't… no. And just for good measure: no. So in conclusion? No."

"Pfft," he rubbed a hand over his lips. "Well I understand if they may seem a bit… advanced to you…"

"Advanced?" I scoffed. "Try critical mode. I had no idea such couples existed outside of children's storybooks starring princesses and prince charmings. Do they even know they're in the real world and not some fairytale?"

Lea's head tipped to one side. "...you do realize that was some pretty basic boyfriend-girlfriend stuff… right?"

A crease formed between my eyebrows. "You mean that was normal?"

"Well," he averted his gaze, scratching his cheek, "...all couples vary and do things differently. But I wouldn't say Kairi and Sora are abnormal. There's a lotta couples out there that are just as disgustingly cute as they are, if not more so."

I bit down on my lower lip and hunched forward onto my elbows, clasping my hands in front of my face just beneath my nose. How was it I'd been in a relationship for five years and was just now figuring out that I didn't have the first clue when it came to dating? "...my ex and I were never anything like that. Not even close."

"And that," he struck up a finger, "works out in our favor. After all, you dumped his sorry ass, one, cuz you weren't in love with him and two, to be with yours truly," his fingers splayed across his chest as he grinned, "a hunky dreamboat you are in love with, or so the story goes. Now it shouldn't be too hard to sell that to your folks, given your former beau has set the bar so pathetically low for us."

"But I don't know if I have it in me to…" I trailed off, my hands clenching to each other more tightly. "...if I'm even wired to be such an absolute… googly-eyed, twitterpated… mess like those two were." My insides squirmed at the very idea.

"No problemo!" Lea jabbed a thumb into his collarbone, "I can be enough of a googly-eyed, twitterpated mess for the both of us!" He stiffened, then coughed into his fist, "That is, I mean… ya know, for the sake of appearances. If that'd be okay with you, of course."

He was talking about him being, erm… how had he put it the other day? Ah yes… touchy-feely. My eyes darted to the right. "I suppose… for appearances… as long as I have time to get used to it all and there are no more surprises."

"Speaking of, we never really did get around to going over those PDA guidelines for what gets a green light and what's a big fat no-no."

I stared down at the cup, my finger idly circling the rim of the lid. "...what did you have in mind?"

"Maybe we should start by knocking out the most obvious one." I glanced up at him now, waiting for him to elaborate. His grin faltered almost imperceptibly, "You know, the big K?" I merely quirked an eyebrow at him. Eyes shifting about, Lea cleared his throat, "...kissing?"

"Not on the lips." The words sprung from my mouth faster than I could think them, causing me to clamp a hand over it in embarrassment.

But come on now, my brain had had a full system hard crash when the guy had planted an innocent little peck on just my forehead yesterday! I couldn't even begin to fathom what a real, honest-to-god kiss on the lips might do to me. Let's not forget how poorly I'd handled the Kissident and I hadn't even known the guy yet, much less potentially had feelings for him!

He blinked, then snorted and shook his head at me. "Nah, I'd already figured that would be a total no-go. Which is no biggie, lotsa couples out there aren't comfortable sucking face in front of prying eyes. But uh…" he rubbed at the nape of his neck, "What I have been doing… back of the hand, forehead… pretty much any other exposed bit of skin, that all fair game?"

Gosh, this was a weird conversation to be part of. Not to mention awkward. I could already feel my blush from earlier waiting backstage, eager to make an encore performance. Looking away, I said, "That, uh… y-yeah, okay."

It should be fine.

If I allowed myself to get used to it, of course.

Though that was kind of a big if.

"Okay…" A slow smile was breaking out across his face and he repeated, "Okay, good. Onto the next item of business then: hugs. Yea or nay?"

Jeez, this suddenly felt so official. And yet, slightly silly at the same time somehow. I ventured, "...y-yea?"

"You sure?" his finger tapped the tip of my nose. "You don't sound too confident there."

"No, it'll be fine," I said quickly. With proper mental and emotional fortifying, I hopefully could and would survive this. Hopefully.

"Alright," his eyes crinkled as he studied me for a beat. Then, "What about this?" He reached a hand for where mine lay palm down against the table, his touch grazing along my knuckles before softly tracing down the lengths of my fingers. "...kinda like hand holding, but a lil fancier," he murmured, lifting my hand up so he could brush his fingertips to mine for a few seconds before gently flattening our palms together, lazily weaving and unweaving our fingers. "Something for idle hands to be doing when we're just hanging out. That okay?" he asked, still lightly toying with my fingers.

This had no right to be spiking my heart rate the way it was. Not trusting myself to talk as it would probably come out more of a squeak right now, I settled on a tiny nod.

He smirked as he eased my hand back down to rest atop the table once more. "...and this?" Lea gripped one of my chair legs, pulling me closer to him. Then his arm stretched out past my cheek, reaching behind my head so he could sweep my ponytail forward over my shoulder. There, he wasted no time twisting the end of a lock around one finger, playing with the pale strands of hair. "...yea or nay?" he prompted again somewhat distractedly, green eyes locked on his hand as it slowly ensnared itself further.

Was there less oxygen in the room? I swear there had to be less oxygen. Why else was it getting so hard to breathe all of a sudden? Must be all that damn deforestation going on out in the world. Curse all those big evil corporations and their blatant disregard for the environment!

Licking my dry lips, I nodded again, hesitantly at first, then putting more force behind it. "Mm… mm-hm! T-that should be… sh-shouldn't be a problem." I withdrew my hands into my lap, folding and unfolding them only to fold them again. "After all, we ah… must maintain appearances, of course."

"Of course," his grin twitched wider. "So then, what about this?" Carefully disentangling his fingers, he lifted his hand to tuck my bangs behind my ear as he started to lean forward, his face closing in towards mine.

Conceal, don't feel!

Remember, this? This was just… just an act. We were in the middle of a very busy food court. He was merely putting on a show for the masses. Just playing the role that had been given to him.

...but honestly, did he have to be playing it so goddamn friggin' well?!

I swear I could feel every last drop of blood in my body dogpiling up into my face as he closed the distance. The tip of his nose brushed mine and he shifted over to the right at the last second, positioning his mouth next to my ear. My heart hammered wildly, threatening to punch a hole through my ribcage as he inhaled, preparing to whisper something, his lips grazing against my earlobe and-

"Fwunkle-munkle."

My eyebrows twitched and I blinked.

"Splubbet. Squippo."

...were my eardrums broken?

"Flerple. Mubble-whoomp."

I spluttered and snorted. "What are you even doing?"

Lea pulled back just enough to look me in the eye with a cheeky grin. "What's it look like I'm doing? Whispering sweet nothings into your ear, duh!"

My fingers went to my mouth and I choked back a laugh, "More like sweet nonsense."

"Eh, same diff. Now if you'll excuse me, I wasn't quite finished." He bent towards my ear once more, his voice low and breathy as he continued, "Yuppet. Smoorple."

"Stop, that tickles," I was cracking up now, putting a hand to his chest so I could push him away.

He didn't budge, just moved his own hand to cover mine. "Fleegget-smeegget. Kronkle. Pixie Petal."

That last one caught my notice. "As in the ice cream flavor?"

"Mm-hm!" he straightened up now, exiting my personal bubble and crossing his arms atop the back of his reversed chair. His eyes squinted at me and he pursed his lips in thought. "...but no, that's not your fave either. It's all sparkle, no substance. You need quality. Nothing but the best for you."

Fighting a grin, I shook my head at him, "You think you know me so well."

His face softened a little as he looked at me. "...I think I'm starting to."

My breath hitched.

Oh dear. Remember that maybe sorta crush I had? I think we could now safely drop the "maybe sorta" part of it.

It was official. I'd gone and caught feelings.

For a man who was totally unavailable at the moment. A man who'd made it clear he was only doing this favor for me as a friend.

This was a dangerous game I was playing. And with someone who was much better at the game than I was, especially when you considered that he didn't even know he was playing it.

My eyes shifted about, alighting on everything and anything that wasn't him before finally landing on the food court clock. "Oh!" I took note of the time and shot up to my feet, the chair scraping along the tiled floor as it pushed out. "My shift's starting soon, I need to get going. Tomorrow then? Yeah, I'll text you once I get the specifics from Rayne. Right. So… until then."

I turned to book it but hadn't gotten more than a step before I felt his hand close around my wrist. I glanced back at him to see him standing now as well, a crooked curve to his lips. "Leaving without a proper goodbye? I don't think so."

He then pulled me back towards him, taking hold of my other wrist as well and bringing both my hands up to cup behind his neck. There he left them, moving his arms down to snake around my waist, hugging me tightly against him as he once more bowed his head down next to my ear. His breath was warm, making me shiver slightly as he whispered, "Wear my jacket for our big date tomorrow. For appearances."

Then he tipped my hat up and smooched my forehead before releasing me, shooting me a wink and walking away with a whistle.

Leaving me a blushing mess leaning against a chair for support, feeling just about ready to go supernova and obliterate all buildings within a ten block radius of me.

Oh yeah. I'd caught feelings all right.

And I didn't like it.

How the hell do I get rid of them?!

Author's Note: The whispering sweet nothings bit I wrote is one of my most favorite things ever. And at the same time, I hate it. It's so stupid. And yet, I love it so much xD Also, here, have some silliness with Aqua aka Spellweaver aka Command Style or Best Street Name For Shady Backdoor Deals Ever? You decide! And if you didn't recognize where the name came from that I used for the ice cream flavor this chapter, it's the name of a keyblade - the one you get from clearing Neverland in BBS, to be exact! That's right, I've resorted to keyblade names. I think I picked a few good ones too in the chapters ahead! That's all I use for the ice cream flavors from here on out in the story except for ONE of them, and there's a reason behind that one… which I'll only be too happy to explain when we get to it xD Anyhoo, if you were looking at the ice cream menu board, the description for Pixie Petal would probably go something like: "This lime soft serve in a green cone, garnished with white chocolate wings and gold edible glitter is sure to get you thinking happy thoughts!" Annnnnd side note: in case you're wondering, no, Miharu is not a character that appears in any of the KH games that you may have forgotten about - she's another OC belonging to my beloved bestie who I'm borrowing Rayne from xD She ships Miharu hard with Joshua from KH:DDD (or more specifically, TWEWY) so I just wanted to throw in a brief nod this chapter to that endearingly oddball lil ship!

Next chapter, how will this lil date night go? Will Elsa learn a thing or two about how to act like a sickeningly sweet couple? Now that she for sure knows she is in fact crushing on our dear fire boi, will she be able to keep her cool in front of him? Will Anna be checked into rehab for her unhealthy addiction to white girl pumpkin spice lattes? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[gloriousprofessorhan]

muffin

in which you’re bestfriend with Kyungsoo, and he called you muffin

(re-upload, ‘Muffin’, on AFF 2018)

“Have a nice day.” You said.

“I won’t.” he coldly replied.

You rolled your eyes and left his side to walk with Chen. “If only he could be nicer.” You mumbled and Chen chuckling beside you.

“Then what? You gonna date him if he’s nicer to you, muffin?” Chen teased you with the nickname you got from him.

“Shut up.”

“Ah, sorry, you have a boyfriend.”

Chen continue laughing while you grumbling. You’re waving your hand to your friend, “Wendy! Wait!”

You semi run towards Wendy leaving Chen and your grumpy childhood bestfriend, Kyungsoo.

“How’s the exam?” Wendy asked while sipping her slushie.

“Surprisingly good!” you grabbed her slushie and sip it. “Can’t believe I answered all the question.”

“Hey, ladies.” Wendy’s classmate, Suji greet you and her. You’re not very close to Suji but she’s a pretty and nice girl, “wanna go grab lunch?”

You remember you promised Kyungsoo to have lunch with him after he handed the paper, “I’ll skip, I’m going to have lunch with Kyungsoo later.”

“He’s your boyfriend? I’m in the same science class with him.” Suji said.

“No, no,” you gestured your hands like an X, “we’re just childhood friends.”

“She has a boyfriend.” Wendy pointed at you, “Lay, from Art major.”

“Oh, I see… and Lay’s gonna join you for lunch later?” Suji asked.

“Uhm, no… he got another paperworks… so…”

“And he’s fine with your relationship with Kyungsoo?” 

“Of course,” you laughs, “they’re friends… I know Lay from Kyungsoo.”

-

You’re waiting for Kyungsoo at the College park and you saw him walking with Chen and Kai, “Dyo!” you called him by the nickname you gave him, it’s from his surename, Doh.

He turned to see you and nod, “what?”

“So what are we having for lunch?”

He raised his eyebrows a bit, “lunch? I just had lunch with them.” He pointed the two other boys.

“What???”

“Well, I’m hungry after finishing the paper.” He said it calmly, “you haven’t eat? It’s almost 3 pm.” 

“Because you—“ you harshly inhaled air and finally said, “yeah I haven’t eat, I’m just gonna grab whatever in the convinience store and eat it while walking home.”

You turned around and fished your cellphone from your bag and call your boyfriend.

“Hey, babe.” He answered.

“Where are you? I’m hungry, wanna go grab lunch?”

“I had one, you haven’t eat?”

“Not yet…” you sighs.

“I can’t go anywhere now, I’m still working on my final project.” He said. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… bye…” you hung up and walking towards your house, it’s not close from the Campus but you feel like enjoying the nice weather.

“Muffin!!”

You knew who’s voice it was but you keep walking.

“Where’s your lunch?” Kyungsoo jabbed your shoulders while panting after he ran after you.

“I haven’t buy one.”

“Let’s go.”

“Huh?” he pull you to a small market and next thing you know you’re sitting in front of bibimbap stall and Kyungsoo already order one for you.

“Even tho I told you to have lunch with me, if you’re hungry then go eat by yourself first.” He said while mixing the rice for you.

“I’m unlike you,” you said, “if I promised something to someone, I’ll keep it.”

He laughs, showing his cute gummy, “good girl,” he patted you head, “now eat.” 

You shove the spoon to your mouth and you know he’s watching you.

“Where’s Lay?” he asked.

“Busy with final project.” You shortly replied.

“Neglected again~” he sang the last part just to make you pout.

You scoffed while busy chewing your food.

“Hey, I saw you talked to Suji before.”

You turned to see him with squinting eyes. Kyungsoo never asked about a girl like this before. “Yeah.”

“She’s pretty like cupcakes.” He said.

You rolled your eyes, you have a history about you nickname that related to Kyungsoo and cupcake.

“We’re at a same class.” He murmured.

“Yeah, she told me that—“

“What if you set me up with her?’

You almost choked on your food, “you… w-what? You like her??”

“Well,” he shrugged his shoulders, “she’s cute.”

“You don’t like cute girls!”

“And who are you deciding what kind of girls I like?” he mocked.

You munch your food slower, “so… you like Suji?”

“I don’t know yet… but I think she’s cute.” Kyungsoo chuckles.

-

it wasn’t a double date since you were on a date with Lay and you told Suji if she wants to join, and you saw a brighter smile when you mentioned that Kyungsoo might be there too.

Lay and Kyungsoo talked about games they were playing and Suji seems to enjoying the conversation and you can’t help but observing how Kyungsoo being gentle to Suji. He likes the girl. You knew.

Moreover when Kyungsoo offering to walk her home.

He likes her.

You knew.

-

“How is it with her?” you asked Kyungsoo when you met him in front of your Campus gate.

“Huh?”

“Come onn… you know whom I was talking about.” You took the cola from his hand.

“We talked a lot on the way home.”

“And?”

He’s turning to see you, “I like her.”

You stop walking.

“Muffin?” he stopped and turned his heels and stretched his arms out, “my cola.”

-

The following week you saw Suji’s social media when he posted her picture with Kyungsoo and the caption was: love.

“Oohh~ my Kyungsoo have a girlfriend~” you teased him when you met him later on at the subway station.

He smiles widely, something he rarely done. “we went out just us few more times before I told her if she wants to be my girl.”

“Tell me the details!!” you asked when he pull you to the train and he found you both seats.

“What details? We went out for a meal and on the way home I told her that I like her, she said yes.” He plug the earphones on his phone and scroll the music directory, press play to a song and offer the other end of the earphone to you.

You took it without saying anything, “you happy?”

He nodded, “told you, I like her.”

-

“Valentine’s coming, do we have plans?” you asked Lay.

“Of course.” He kissed your hair, “dinner?”

You nodded while looking at him designing something on his computer tablet, “I hate your projects.” You murmured.

Lay laughing, “why?”

“I’m jealous that you put more attention to them than to me.”

Lay clicked ‘save’ and put it down on the table, then he joined you on the bed, his bed, “you missed me, aren’t you?”

“I’ve told you that million times but you always said: my final project this, my final project that.” You pouts and he kiss the pout away.

“Let’s go on a date on val’s day. I’ll book a place for us.”

-

He said that but he was the one coming to you asking, “have you book a restaurant for us?”

You can’t  help but furrowing your eyebrows.

“Hey, Soo.” Lay greets Kyungsoo who walks with you towards your class together.

“Me? Do I have to book it for us?” You raised your voice.

Lay looks confused, “yeah, no?”

“No.” You replied, “you said you’re gonna book a place for us, you told me that! Oh my God, Lay, I can’t believe—“

“You guys can join me and Suji.” Kyungso cuts you before you explode.

“Why would us??” you shout at him.

“Hey, babe, come on, we can join Kyungsoo and Suji… come on…” Lay tried to hug you.

“Yeah, me and Suji is gonna celebrate val’s day at the french restaurant down the street, it’s new, the place’s nice and the price is good, not gonna robbed us as student.” Kyungsoo explained.

“Let me go!” you escaped yourself from Lay and left them.

“Book another table for us, please.” Lay said to Kyungsoo and go after you.

-

You know you should’ve been mad to your boyfriend when he called you saying that he couldn’t make it to the val’s day dinner, but you really can’t because he said he’s stuck on train from Seokchon to Seoul due to heavy snow.

Then Kyungsoo came to your house. Alone.

“Where’s Suji?”

“She has to go to the hospital.” He said.

“Everything’s okay??”

He nods, “her little sister fell from bike and she has to be with her mom because her father is out of town.”

“Why don’t you come with her?” you asked.

Kyungsoo shook his head, “I haven’t being introduced formally to her parents.”

“Isn’t it the good time to be introduced to her mom at least?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “she said otherwise.”

You didn’t say anything for a while, looking at the bright winter afternoon, you two just sitting side by side on your house’s patio.

“Cold.” Kyungsoo murmured.

“Let’s get inside.” 

“Let’s just go to the restaurant.” Kyungsoo suggested, “I already made reservation, my reputation is at stake.”

You crinkle your nose, “you made two reservations, right?”

“Yeah, but the other one is under Lay’s name… just let the restaurant thinks that guy is irresponsible.”

-

It’s a set menu you got, pretty appetizers for each, steaks as the main course and one nice vanilla cake and ice cream as dessert for both of you to share.

Kyungsoo read a table tent that said something about special menu.

“Have you ever tried caviar?” he asked.

“Not yet, but I really want to try one… people said it’s amazing.”

“Who’s that people?” Kyungsoo raised one eyebrow.

“Uhm, some people on TV.”

He scoffed, “they give it for free as special val’s day menu.”

“Realllyy??”

Kyungsoo showed you the promotion then you raised your hand to call a waiter.

“Can I help you, miss?”

“Yes, uhm, can I have one sweet potato crème fraiche caviar?” you said, and Kyungsoo silently cooing at how you pronounce a hard name.

“Oh that special menu?”

“Yes,” You said, “it’s free, right?”

“Correct! It only have one super easy requirement to get that menu.”

You both raised your eyebrows, “requirement?”

“Just kiss your partner.”

“You don’t really want that caviar…” he said.

“I’m curious, and this actually a good chance I can taste that expensive shit…” you murmured, “but… well, damn you Lay Zhang!!” you cursed your MIA boyfriend, “where are you when I need you.”

“Okay let’s call that waiter and claim the caviar.” Kyungsoo said.

“What??” You saw him staring at you. “but the req—“

“Don’t act like we’re not each other’s first kiss.” He said just above whispers, and you’ll lie to yourself if you said you didn’t feel that bubble inside your chest.

“But that was…” you didn’t continue because hell, you were friends for ever with him and there’s no way you feel this way, and there’s no way he’s involving any extended feeling when he pick up that first kiss topic again.

Yes, you were each other’s first kiss, but that was because the 12 years old you and him were curious about how it feels when lips meet other lips, and it happened after you two watching a foreign TV series where the heroine kissing the love of her life.

“Have you ever kissed someone?” Kyungsoo asked one day when you both walked home after a piano lesson.

“Yeah.” You murmured.

“Liar.”

“Okay, never, but I know how to kiss.” You said.

Kyungsoo scoffed. “how?”

You gestured your fingers, putting it together, “pout your lips and go forward and stick it to—“

“Stick it???” Kyungsoo flinched, “stick??”

You sulked and walked away while he was laughing.

“Muffin!”

“Stop calling me that!” you walked faster.

He ran after you and pull your shoulder, “let’s try.”

“Try what?”

“Kissing.” He said.

“Gross!!”

“Okay then be a lip-virgin forever.” Kyungsoo walked passing you.

“Huh?” you started to worry, will someone kissed you later? or you will be a lip-virgin forever. “Dyo! Wait!”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Kiss me!”

he turned around, “huh…?”

you stood right in front of him, and your height was similar to him, it was years before he suddenly grew much taller than you. 

He was staring at you, and you can’t help but lowering your gaze. And when you’re looking at him again, he immediately avoiding you.

“So, w-what should I do first?” he asked.

“Just… uh…” you really can’t lift your gaze, suddenly he put his palm on your shoulder, and his feet move forward.

“look at me…” he said.

You lift your face and realised how close you were. Then you saw him started to close his eyes, and so do you, and after a long excruciating second, you’re finally feel something soft touching your lips.

His lips stayed there for another few second before detached them from yours. It was just a long innocent peck. But you and him were walking home in silence after that.

And no one talking about it again.

Until today.

“Are we really… gonna…” you search for Kyungsoo’s ‘I’m just kidding’ but you saw his flat face.

“Yeah, why not.” He shrugged, “I never had caviar, you too, and the requirement is only kissing you… easy.”

“Easy?” you scoffed, “kissing me is easy?”

“Lay knew better I bet, but, come on, nothing to lose, we would only gain two crème fraiche caviar in roasted sweet potato.” He made a yummy gesture by kissing his thumb and index finger together.

Yeah, what would be so hard with kissing him, right?

“Okay.” You said and Kyungsoo casually raised his hand to call a waiter.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Can we get the caviar?”

“Of course, just show me your love to your girl, sir.” The waiter smiles.

And Kyungsoo reached out to palmed your jaw, briefly caressing your cheek before lift his gaze to meet yours, and your brain start telling you that this isn’t right. You should stop him, you shouls say no, you should—

His face is getting closer, and closer, and he tilt his head.

You hold your breath.

He stop for one milisecond before capture your lips.

You gulp when he touches your lips.

And he kissed you.

And you kissed him back.

And he move his lips between yours.

And you don’t know when and how but your hand is on his nape.

Shit.

You pulled away and he’s startled. The waiter didn’t seem to notice because he’s smiling happily while preparing the caviar for both of you.

You couldn’t focus on whatever happened after the kiss. And the caviar that served tasted bland.

-

“You haven’t forgive me.” Lay sat across you in a fast food stall near your college.

“For?”

“For stuck inside the train in the middle of the snow storm that made me unable to spent val’s day with you.”

“That was two weeks a go.” You continue your meal.

“Yeah, and you act so cold since then.” He tried to get you feed him.

“I’m fine, I’m always fine… even if you’re never there for me, I’m fine.” You fake a smile.

“See… you’re mad at me.” He sighs.

“Do you love me?” you stopped eating.

“Uh-hum.”

“Uh-hum?”

Lay stop trying to steal your food and looking at you instead, “that’s another way to say yes.”

“A lazy way to say yes.” You corrected him.

Lay shrugged his shoulder.

“You never said you love me, you choose lazy way to answer me when I asked if you ever love me. God…”

“Are you on period?”

“This has nothing to do with my period, Lay, you’ve been so insensitive and deserting me a lot! And I’m tired of trying to understand you!”

“Whoa-whoa… wait, babe, when did I—“

“When? When, huh? It was when you always put you final project whatsoever first.”

“But that’s for my future!” he said.

You stopped.

“You’re being selfish.” Lay said.

“Oh…” you paused, “am I?”

Lay nodded.

“Okay, let’s put your future first…” you said, “go focus on your future first… and if we meant to be together, let’s meet in the future.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Let’s not see each other again as couple… let’s just be friends.”

“You break up with me?”

You nodded, “I’m sorry for disturbing you from focusing on your future.”

“But babe…”

“Stop calling me that.”

“You’re just mad, babe…”

You stood up and Lay also standing up, “I’m not kidding, Lay, I’m tired of this relationship where I was the only one trying to hold on the thin thread that connect us… I’m sorry, but I really can’t continue this.”

-

You didn’t cry on the first day you broke up with him, but cried the day after. However, it was a year full of him. Something is definitely missing.

And Kyungsoo, someone who suppose to be your bestfriend is busy with his girl, you knew they’re get along well when Wendy told you that Suji introduced Kyungsoo to her family.

“So… now the family already know you?” you match Kyungsoo’s pace on the way to subway station.

He was a little startled but then he look straight ahead again without giving you any answer.

“I texted you yesterday.” You said.

“Oh, I haven’t replied?”

he hasn’t even read it.

“I called you few days a go.”

“I saw the missed call but I was out with Suji.”

You just nodded while glue your lips together. There was stung in your heart to find out that Kyungsoo doesn’t even know that you broke up with Lay. He didn’t even give you a chance to tell him.

He stepped inside the train. Without pulling you in.

He stand in the corner, the train wasn’t packed but he didn’t go finding a seat either. So you stand beside him.

“Sit there if you want.” He said pointing at an empty seat.

“No, i—uh, I wanna talk to you.”

He pull out his cellphone and plug the earphone. You were lowkey waiting for him to give you one earphone but the hope crumbled when he said,

“Hello, hey, I’m at the train right now… you’re already at campus?”

He’s calling Suji and left you awkwardly standing next to him.

Two stops later you find an empty seat near you, and you left Kyungsoo to sit down, didn’t realised that Kyungsoo finished the phonecall and staring at your sad face.

Next day kyungsoo waited for the subway but he didn’t find you, and the next day, also the day after. You weren’t avoiding him, you just went to Pohang because one of your older cousin’s getting married.

At the fourth day, you were already at the station waiting for the train when Kyungsoo appear beside you.

“Where were you?” he asked but the train coming and the pulled you inside and found seats for you, then he pulled his cellphone, you looked away, trying not to care if he’s going to call Suji again, but then you feel him slip the earphone into your ear.

“Listen, new song I discovered.” He said.

You didn’t say anything, keep your face away of him, and slowly release took the earphone off and give it back to him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.” You stood up and standing near the door even tho your destination is still three stops away.

Somehow you couldn’t understand what you feel about him, is it about the kiss? Or your disappointment towards him because he wasn’t there when you’re down after broke up with Lay.

“Why you’re sulking?” he asked when you both get off at your stop and walking towards the campus.

“Me? When?”

“Now.” He said.

“Oh, since when you know me that well till you know that I’m sulking?”

“Well, it doesn’t need to be genius to see how you fold that face into an ugly frown.” He shrugged.

“Don’t talk to me as if we’re close.” You walk faster.

“Huh? What do you mean? We are close.”

“You think so?” you turned to him, “are we still close now? Because as far as I remember, I didn’t neglect you when I have a boyfriend but look at you! You didn’t even reply my messages, you didn’t pick up my calls, you didn’t talk to me!”

“I didn’t ask you to do all of that to me while you have boyfriend.”

“Oh, so you think if you’re dating someone, you could just throw away your friends??” you raised your voice.

“I never threw you away! I’m just being a normal me, and I’m sorry if my girlfriend is actually paying attention to me, unlike your—“

“I broke up with Lay.” You said, “more than a week a go. And I’m trying to tell you this, I need you but you’re busy with your life!”

Kyungsoo called you but you runaway.

-

“Muffin…” 

you murmured the nickname he gave you. Muffin. It was from the incident of your birthday years a go, when you had your 11 birthday, when you specifically asking for a cupcake for your birthday and Kyungsoo gave you muffin instead, telling you that they looked similar. You sulked for day and he teased you by calling you that, until now.

And as the courtesy of how Kyungsoo love to get you on the edge, he always giving you muffin in your birthday and told you to eat the cupcake.

You told him it’s a fake cupcake, muffin is not pretty like cupcake, muffin is ugly and by him calling you muffin, you knew he lowkey telling you that you’re ugly like muffin.

“Kyungsoo’s here.” Your mom knocked on your door.

You sat on your bed when he’s get into your room.

“Hey muffin…” he said.

“Stop calling me that!”

he smiles and gave you a cute box.

“If you dare buying me another dozen of muffin, I’m gonna hit y—“ you opened the box and found cupcakes inside.

He sat beside you and took one of the prettiest cupcake and feed you.

“How’s it?” he asked while you munch.

You only responds with a hum.

“Do you like this better?”

you never care about how it taste but actually it tastes like a birthday cake, a classic vanilla with overly sweet icing.

“Do you know why I prefer to call you muffin than cupcake?” he asked.

“Because I’m not pretty enough like cupcake?”

He shook his head, “because muffin tastes a lot better than cupcake.”

You didn’t say anything, just let him continue.

“muffins has various flavour inside, could be banana muffin, choco chips mufin, blueberry… and all flavour is inside the cake… unlike cupcake, cupcake is just a vanilla cake with icing. A plain cake with over decorating outside. And for me, you’re pretty inside, not outside.”

“So, I’m not pretty?”

“Hm, of course you’re gonna take it wrong.” He sighs, “who says muffin is not pretty? Muffin is honest… do you think cupcake is pretty without all the icings?”

“You mean cupcake is like girls with thick make up?”

“Exactly.”

You tried to hold your smile. “I’m gonna tell Suji you said her make up is too thick.”

“When did I said that?”

“Hey! Remember you told me Suji is cute like cupcake?”

“When did I??”

“You did!”

Kyungsoo waved at you in dismissal. “Anyway, I’m sorry about you and Lay…” he caress your back.

“It’s fine… it’s time… I’ve been very patient for too long.” You said, “and you’re right, my boyfriend is not paying attention to me like your girl…”

He chuckled, “you’ll find someone who deserves you soon, muffin.”

You talked to him for another hour before he bid himself goodbye, and when you walked him outside, you realised you want to see him longer.

“Kyungsoo.”

 He startled when he heard you calling him with that name, not Dyo.

“Have you ever think of not being friends with me anymore?” you asked.

He shook his head, “when you were mad at me yesterday, I thought I lost you as my friend, and I don’t want that.”

And that brought you back to your place. He doesn’t want you and him to be more than this. “w-what about something else… other than being enemy.”

He stopped, but his gaze linger, he was staring at you and from his eyes, you knew he get what you mean. You saw the complication in his eyes.

“Sorry, I mean—“

“I have a girlfriend.” He said.

-

And so time flies, spring’s here, the flowers bloom and the weather getting warmer. Kyungsoo still remind friends with you, only he’s few feet farther than before. Many things changed after the whole blurry confession you told him, and you never blame him.

Lay finished his final project and he called you, he even went to see you several times, telling you that he’s sorry and if there’s another chance for him but you haven’t give him answer.

It’s still breezy but you decided to drive yourself to the beach at the city side. Suddenly you saw someone walked towards you, someone very familiar.

“Muffin…” he smiles.

“How did you know I’m here?”

“Your mom.”

You made an ‘O’ with your mouth.

“All good?” he asked.

“Lay wants to reconcile.” You told him.

“Oh…” he walks beside you, “and?”

You just shrugged your shoulders.

“You don’t love him anymore?” he asked.

“I don’t know if I could love him again when I have someone else occupied my mind…” at this point, you don’t care. You knew you like Kyungsoo and if he can’t like you back, and he feels disturbed by your confession, he can leave and you two can stop being friends.

“Oh…” he still walking beside you. “I broke up with Suji.”

You stops, letting him leaving you behind. But after few steps he turned around, “I can’t stay being his boyfriend while my mind is occupied by someone else.”

You can’t help but asking, “who?”

“A friend a kissed on valentine’s day.” He murmured.

“You choose a muffin instead of a cupcake?”

He nodded, “always choose a muffin, because it tastes better.” He smiles.

You scoffed.

“Soo…” he stepped closer, “instead of just thinking about each other… why don’t we date each other?”

“Since when did you like me?” you asked when he come even closer to you.

“Since I called you muffin for the first time.” He put a strain of your hair behind your ear.

“That long?”

“Hmm… but I’m afraid to ruin what we had…” he whispers.

“What about now? You’re not afraid to ruin what we have?”

Kyungsoo pull you into a hug, “being with or without you ruining me in different ways, and I choose to live the present, to show you how much I want you more than a friends do…” he kissed your hair, “muffin… I want to be with you for the longest time.”

You snugged deeper in his chest, “me too…”

He pull away a bit just to tild his head, “be my girl…” he said before leaned down to kiss you before you could say yes.

But you knew, he knew you’d say yes, because you kissed him back.

-end-

[lilytcyip]

December 31st, 2019

1.3 tera v w/ rjin & ggao

1.4 cactus & la foret w/ jng

1.8 talked it out with jng ; tried to understand that if i were happy, what more could you ask for

1.11 cyns bday dinner

1.11 craft beer w/ aleung & lwong

1.13 arisu & standing egg with efeng & aleung ; drove on highway for the first time

1.18 west dineout w/ annie pkp

1.19 glass w/ fifi

2.10 first snow of the year

2.3 cny lunch at home with the fam - tong yuen & poon choi

2.4 mooseknuckles - grateful

2.5 lunar new year

2.16 hangiout with mamayip & sis: beta 5, fixing the parka, meetfresh, miku sushi dindin

2.17 mom leaving for 2 months, wandering earth with the yips

2.19 happy hour cactus w/ fifi

2.20 kokoro lunch & shopping w/ rjin

2.20 so hyang w/ veda & nwu

2.21 black been noodles & tonkatsu lunch & usagi matcha sweets w/ ewong

2.22 green leaf sushi & grounds for coffee w/ vtan

2.25 sushi mura w/ acao ; larry berg planes and kisses for the first time

3.13 mental health talk w/ nwu & tchiu + jamjar

3.15 virtuous pie & nanas green tea w/ rjin

3.16 wine night w/ claw, aleung & fsyal

3.17 tabom & stanely park w/ jerpilla

3.23 pool & rc shopping with jyang

4.3 studying with jyang on campus & langara bye

4.9 studying with jyang at my house

4.18 ramen danbo & official date 

4.20 so hyang & off the grid waffles w/ ayip

4.26 sci ning off w/ aleung, claw, fsyal, lwong & mcheung

4.27 clay llama terra pot class

4.29 so hyang budae jjigae & yifang w/ ewong

4.30 rc shopping & sushi lover with the yips 

5.1 maenam, kits beach & rain or shiine ice cream w/ rjin

5.2 our first little tiff & being called chubby by mlo

5.3 shopping w/ vchan, aleung & fsyal

5.7-5.11 LA trip

5.8 LACMA & melrose & century city field

5.9 warner bros tour

5.10 malibu

5.28-6.1 hokkaido, japan

5.29 a 2-floor hotel with own onsen

5.31 otaru food adventures

6.1 doraemon painting & royce airport

6.2 macau: got scammed by taxi & lost luggage

6.7-6.15 inner mongolia & beijing

6.18 first co op offer 

6.21 fire port party at fifis house

6.29 pottery painting w lwong, aleung, vchan, fsyal

7.5 brunch w/ rjin at jethro’s fine grub, baker & table

7.6 nwu’s birthday dindin at coast, hangout with aleung & nwu at nightingale

7.14 leavenworth cherries

7.17 brunch w/ rjin at OEB

7.19 nightmarket w/ jyang, mlaw, rjin

7.21 beach day w/ aleung, fsyal & lwong; hy’s with fam

7.24 chau veggies w/ acao

7.27 shiok & icy bar w/ ewong

8.3 first day of work at doctors office

8.4 escape room w/ vchan, fsyal & jyang; bowling & anh and chi

8.17 dindin w/ fsyal, aleung & tlim; double date walks at olympic village with ancas

8.18 - 8.19 kelowna

8.18 polar grove & penticton lazy river, mission hill

8.19 kayaking, quail’s gate

8.24 lit night at fifis house with the girls and boys

8.25 aleung’s bday harrison trip

8.27 work shopping & nuba w/ fsyal

8.28 sleepover w/ rjin

8.29 brunch w/ aleung, moii cafe chill with fsyal too

9.3 first day of co op work

9.7 grave of the fireflies & wildtale cuddles

9.14 eric chou meet & greet

9.19 amandarachlee neg comment and posted my encouragement on her story

10.5 maiko parfait & shopping w/ jyang, earls with the amigos

10.18 gmen & oncecake: melody, rillakuma, card & collage

10.24 dark table w/ rjin

11.7 moii after work 

12.15 baking custard souffle pancakes w/ ewong

12.18 office christmas party & bbt w/ slim

12.19 glow

12.21 fifi’s christmas party

12.22 christmas market w/ rjin: churros & chimney cake

12.23 psyc team secret santa & mahjong

12.25 christmas dindin at market by jean-georges

12.26 birthday dindin at zeferelli

12.27 ring & birthday dinner at brix and mortar w/ jyang

12.28 skated alone, worked out, baked & dindin at botanist

looking back at it now, i definitely went out a lot more compared to previous years LOL i had some struggles in january, and at multiple points in my life i blamed myself for being ungrateful, for seeking more when i already had so much in life compared to other people. my friends were there for me and i wouldnt have been able to live through it without them. then again, during reading break in february, i got myself into the same hot mess and i was sad about it for a week and i blamed myself for getting so attached so quickly. because of these experiences, my expectations were v low and i didnt really expect anything when i talked to jyang, what they say really is true, you get it the moment you stop seeking for it. it comes and find you (: the 3 most important that happened this year is burbur, co op job & me getting more comfortable around doggs; this is a big deal !! i actually like cuddling dogs and i feel less scared of them as long as i have some time to get used to them!! im proud of myself for making progress with my phobia! after i started my co op job, bc i didnt have a lot to do, i felt like i wasnt actively contributing to my workplace and that i was very useless. i still feel the same way now, but i think i am slowly getting used to it. thankfully, my coworkers are VERY nice and i enjoy working around them. while i did not get a different position for january, im still grateful that i got an extended placement. nonetheless, meeting with the different PIs and sumeet pointed me in the right direction of looking for nserc / volunteering opportunities when i do go back to school. AND ofc burbur! im grateful that we were able to be there for each other for the past 8 months, both the ups and downs and i am so so thankful that we’re understanding and patient with each other, as we help each other learn along the way and help each other become a better version of ourselves. this companionship is better than i have asked for and i always remind myself to focus on the important things rather than the minor inconveniences. this year, in terms of fitness goals, ive been doing really well before asia. but ever since i came back, it all went downhill and i gained back all the weight that i lost this year year LOL so in 2020, one of my biggest goal is to eat healthy again, and workout more consistently. getting a job in sept kinda interfered with my progress too, bc i was so tired after work, even when i wasnt doing anything and i stressed eat bc i felt terrible. a lot of diff factors made me feel super stressed, and the fact that i wasnt eating clean / exercising reguarly made me feel worse about the whole situation ): so in 2020, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will be one of my top priorities and gifting myself a healthy body is one of greatest things i can do for myself. this also contributed to the lack of journalling near the end of the year, it felt like bc i wasnt doing the things i was “supposed to do”, i just felt so bad whenever i couldnt tick off that particular habit whenever i fill in my trackers. but tonight, i watched this video and it talked about habits should be for awareness, not for self-hate or self-loathing. this is something that i need to keep in mind. ever since april really, the issue of leaving my house and meeting up with my friends have always stressed me in fear of dealing with passive aggressiveness with my mom lool everytime i get inviited to plans, i just get anxiety about having to tell her about it LOL and even when im out, having a msg/ call for her freaks me out in fear that she will get mad at me for being home late and etc and fifi really woke me up with her words, i should just care less LOL i need to stop caring so much about what she thinks, bc at the end of the day, this IS my life and if i never make any changes, i will never be able to grow and be independent. i think this pree much sums up all my events and emotions in 2019, the last year of the 2010s. in the next decade, a lot of things will happen as i will be in my 20s - 30s, where new opportunities will arise, and graduate uni, do my masters, find a job, maybe even marry and move out LOL the 2020s will definitely be an impt decade, but just for next year i want to:

1. understand that i am old enough to make choices, and in general, care less about what she thinks

2. at the same time, i want to appreciate and be grateful for what my mom, dad and annie have done for me; a lot of the times, i feel like i take them for granted just bc i know they will always be there for me and this is not how you should treat your biggest supporters

3. trust that everything will workout in the end, while you may not be able to envision what you career / life would be like when youre 30, you can definitely take small steps and move towards your goal

4. be mindful of what i eat and exercise regularly (4x hiit & cardio a week) ; treats & sweets in moderation; use those habit trackers for awareness, not for self-loathing / self-hate

5. create art regularly, read more and at least do 5 duolingos every week! 

every year, time just seems to go by faster and faster and i feel scared at times. as i type this, theres only 8 minutes left of this decade LOL so in 2020, continue to live in the moment, be present, cherish those that are around you, and have faith that everything will come together, one piece at a time. at the same time, always rmb that you can make small changes to be a better version of yourself, whenever & however you want and this is the 1 thing that other people can’t stop you from doing! 

[beihonglin]

anyway i met bei honglin and he’s an actual angel and we don’t deserve him: a recap

also this is more than 5k words so like ! prepare yourselves!

fhdjjd okay so in april honglin’s hyh brought up his birthday party in his gc and I was like :——) that’s when spring sem ends I could actually make it

 fast forward through a lot of encouraging by summer miss @91percentchaoze​ (sobs I rly owe summer my life) and a lot of anxiety about flights and a lot of other stresses in between

and June 2nd I’m in shanghai with mirthe miss @honglinsmacaroni​ and meggi and summer ie three of the cutest people in the world!!!

when we get to banana there were already other fans there waiting at the event space and the hyh was giving out seat numbers and stuff

so meggi was 10, summer was 11, mirthe was 14 and I was 15

and we started giving out the slogans and stuff we printed until the staff chased us out so they could set up

and so we were chilling first in Starbucks w the other fans fhdjjfjf they’re rly so cute I was finally able to put faces to weibo handles & they finally realised they were talking to someone who’s actually shit at speaking Chinese lmao

then when it got to 2 o’clock we moved outside near the entrance of the event space (since the event space was supposed to be open to us at 2)

but they got the time wrong and we ended up only being able to go in at nearly 3

which isn’t important anyway bc !!! we saw tangram walking in !!!

okay so we saw this white blob coming out from the main banana building and walking towards one of the side buildings and we were like

whomst

and it wAS JINGZUO JSDKAHFKJDH

and summer or mirthe waved at him and he was like bitch wtf and squinted

like ??? who the heckity is waving at me but then eventually he connected the dots and was like o yah fans so he waved back fhdchdkhcjdjf

and he just walked on what a king ??????

summer was right I was surprisingly more chill than I thought I would be fhdjfjfjjf I thought I would cry but I didn’t

so we waited around a bit longer, got suntans and sunburns and slightly dehydrated

and then honglin walks out

my god y’all he’s a whole goddamn angel he’s not real I’m telling you he’s unreal

I KNOW I said the last time that yanjun is rly unphotogenic and all the photos don’t do him justice but leT ME TELL YOU

THE ENTIRE BANANA FAMILY IS LIKE THIS THEYRE UNREAL

THEYRE ALL BANANA PEELS IN HUMAN SUITS THEIR VISUALS ARE ??? NOT HUMAN

but yah at first I was like o he’s gonna go through the back exit to the event space he’s not gonna come this way

AND THEN HE CAME THIS WAY

fhdjfjfj i didn’t take a video but if I did u would probs hear me go “o shit he’s coming” fhdjfjfj

and mirthe was like I’M GONNA TELL HIM UR WEIBO HANDLE I’M GONNA TELL HIM YOU’RE ASTROFIREWORKS and I was like NO so then we had a little back and forth for a while tHAT HONGLIN SAW FBDJHFJF

I don’t rmb a lot of it bc I was mainly in shock that he was in front of me so I was mostly like :——) heckie!

but he went through the front entrance and the moment he made it inside I lost my shit fbdjfjjff

mirthe sent a picture of me just kneeling at the entrance contemplating my entire life to the group chat fhdjfhdj apparently I said that I wanted to go home fhdjfjfjjf

and then zhixie and jingzuo came out soBS

ZHIXIE IS SO BEAUTIFUL IRL U DONT UNDERSTAND HIS CHEEKBONES ARE INSANE

also he had black hair again and the cuTEST HAT ON and we promptly lost our shit

Jingzuo,,,,, in a plain white shirt and blue jeans and converse,,,, someone PLEASE stop him

but they went in and we cried

and waited outside bc ruotian and chaoze still hadn’t gone in but then someone came to tell us chaoze was off filming for his show so he wasn’t coming & somehow ruotian had alr made it into the building without us noticing so eventually we all went in

and the chairs were so comfortable o my god they swivelled and they were like super squishy I love chairs

and then the best two hours of my tgm stan life started :—(

my god the moment honglin stepped on stage my entire heart melted he rly looked so good sobs

you’re completely right I’m dedicating an entire portion to his visuals

his eyes :—-( are so sparkly my god

and when he smiles his eyesmile???? he gets those rly deep wrinkles around his eyes and they’re actually beautiful????? ;;;;

he Radiates joy like i know i say this so often but their debut song??? radiant??? written For him,,,

also when he smiles it’s so warm like you find yourself smiling along bc he rly and genuinely means it and is happy and your heart just warms up bc he’s happy and i just

man i l*ve him

okay so the first segment zhixie was like “what do y’all love about beibei”

and everyone was yelling different things like “he’s so handsome” and “so talented” and “his vocals” and someone also yelled “he can eat a lot” and zhixie was like ??? bro whAt

also someone said “he spoils his fans a lot” and my god y’all it’s so so true but more in that at the very end of this recap

I couldn’t even say anything rip bc my entire brain was set in English and I was like ???? my god i wrote an entire post about the reasons I l*ve him but my mind is blankity blank

but then he was like well beibei’s great at pick up lines

so he did pick up lines based on scenarios zhixie gave fhdjfjfand most of them were old tsk

but he made up this rly cute one that went like 看花开不如看着你发呆 ‘people like looking at flowers bloom, but i’d rather look at you daydreaming’ and i UWUED SO HARD

and I didn’t realise this until meggi pointed it out after but when they put the scenarios on screen, they used a gender neutral “TA” instead of the gendered 她/他 ;;;;;

then they did this segment where honglin was supposed to go against three fans and do a tongue twister in the shortest time and in order of time they got to choose foods under cloches

honglin did so badly fhdjfjfj he got last place but idk if he did it on purpose so his fans could win

one fan got wasabi disguised as ice cream and zhixie was like EAT IT and honglin was like DONT

and he offered to eat the wasabi for her I’m sobbing he rly is so sweet

but zhixie was like NO SHE HAS TO EAT IT and everyone laughed bc he was so adamant fhdjfjfj i love zhixie with my entire soul

and thEN honglin goes okay y’all know how I posted that picture last night

(this picture)

my god I died when he posted it bc

1) I love that shirt what an expensive look

2) he was baking ;A;

and he made a half-baked cheesecake s o b s

he was like: “since i’m always posting vlogs and y’all always watch me eat I thought I’d make food for y’all this time” and I WEPT

and he was like oh give me a theme and i’ll decorate the cake around that theme

so they pulled out the box again and he picked random numbers

and they called out 4 and 15 and 27 to go on stage and I was like

wow I wonder who they are omg

and suddenly summer’s in my ear going MY GOD 15 IT’S YOU

me:

me: what

zhixie: STOP DREAMING IT’S YOU

me: WHAT

hdsflgkjhdfkhgjdsfgkhksfgkdjhdfgkjhsdgjh

and the entire time i was mouthing to mirf and meggi like I CAN’T SPEAK CHINESE I’M GOING TO GO UP AND FORGET THAT I’M BILINGUAL I’M GOING TO BE BYELINGUAL I’M

and they were mouthing back sPEAK ENGLISH and i was like oK

and then it was my turn and i was shaking so so so hard ????

like i’m so so so bad in front of crowds i’ve shaken my way through every marketing presentation ever bc i hATE public speaking and now i have to go up in front of two angels?????

mirf and meggi were like THAT’S ASTROFIREWORKS and i didn’t realise until i checked the group chat after that zhixie said yAY KJDHSKSJAHKJA

and summer was like SHE FLEW IN FROM NEW YORK kjdshfkahdgjfhagjd

and zhixie was like wait do u speak chinese

and i blANKED OUT I WAS LIKE YES BUT FAM NO

but he only took the yes and was like ok thaNK GOD I DONT HAVE TO TRANSLATE

inside i was like fAM WHO THE HECKITY DO U THINK TRANSLATES YOUR VIDEOS I CAN DO IT FOR U KASJDHFLSKJDHKH but outside i was just ah yes :—)

and zhixie and honglin said something about english but my mind was blank all i could do was stare at honglin like

y’all

i know i said he was unreal but

up close

he’s literally ??? a whole angel like ????????????? his eyes sparkle so much when he laughs my heart STOPPED

and when they asked me to step closer i was like

actually i can translate for u i’m-

and zhixie was like NO THERE’S NO NEED like akdsfhkjkjdshJKASDHK OK

then honglin asked what theme i wanted and i was likE FAM IDK I’VE BEEN BLANKING THE ENTIRE TIME STARING AT YOU

so i was like okay i know u rly like one piece so something maybe one piece related

and he was like fam that’s difficult sadjkfhalsKJSDHLKJASD

but the moment i opened my mouth

zhixie: ARE YOU SINGAPOREAN OR MALAYSIAN

me: uh i’m singapor-

honglin: uwu i can hear it

me: about to die

zhixie (in english): ur accent !

and god yall my entire heart burst into flames like

i’ve said it before here but i’ve spent quite a bit of time being ashamed of my accent bc when i first got to america nobody could understand my singaporean accent and everyone kept asking me to repeat myself and eventually i was like ok u know what it’s better if i just shut up and not talk

and so the reason why i’m so so so proud of zhangjing (and jj) is bc there finally is ?? some south east asian representation and there are even people complimenting his accent and calling it cute and it ?? finally felt like i shouldn’t be embarrassed about the way i speak??

zhixie: when i heard you i was like eh? it’s almost like i heard you zhangjing

and i

Cried

and then zhixie turned to meggi and mirthe and were like yall come from beijing?

like fam what

and meggi was like no we come from belgium

zhixie: malaysian? you?

about ten people correcting him: belgium

zhixie, again: malaysian?

kajsdhflasjdkhfkj

and then zhixie said some other words but yall i was

just watching honglin

his hands are so so so so beautiful like his fingers are rly nice and

his nose ??? work of art

also his hands looked so soft like :—(

he was just bent over the cake and he :—( rly truly a goddamn angel

summer took photos of me that i’m never releasing ever sakdfhaksjdhfds i look so COMPLETELY WHIPPED FOR HIM LIKE

and at one point he started plucking cherries and one stalk fell on the floor and i was like o no so i went forward to pick it up and he

looked up

and said ‘oh it’s okay’ and smiled and

my heart stopped i think i left my soul on stage

O SHIT OKAY AND THEN ZHIXIE WALKED OVER AND WAS LIKE

CAN I ASK WHAT YOU’RE THINKING U LOOK LIKE YOU’RE LOSING UR MIND

AND I WAS LIKE FAM U DONT UNDERSTAND I A M

and i was like ‘idk i’m just ?? very shookt’

and zhixie was like what??? shy????

me: 很惊讶 (very shocked)

zhixie: shy? ? ??

me, thinking: fam this is how i feel when i translate yall captionless vlogs

zhixie (in eng): is this ur first time seeing honglin?

me: my first time seeing you also !!!!!

zhixie, suddenly shy: ah okay thank u

UWU!!!

and then honglin was done and looked up and i might have died inside again

AND HE WALKED OVER AND I WAS LIKE FAM NO DONT IF YOU COME CLOSER I’M LITERALLY GOING TO DI E??????

and he was like ‘oh this is zoro’

the sane part of me: oh wait ur favourite character is zoro???

bc liTERALLY TWO DAYS BEFORE HE POSTED ABOUT SANJI AND SO MY SISTER AND I WERE LIKE OH HE PROBS LIKES SANJI

BUT HE

LIKES ZORO

(my sister, afterwards: wtf i feel lied to)

but he was so heckin close to me like fam my heart

stopped

honglin: i hope u like it uwu

me: heck !

honglin: take one bite!

me: HECKITYHECK

zhixie (in eng): i wanna see ur facial expression

aND THEN THEY WERE BOTH LOOKGIN AT ME LIKE FUCABJS,BCD

FUCINADJCNSAKJDKJ

honglin: is it okay? ;;

me: FUCIJNSKCSADJ YES TAKE MY HEART TAKE MY SOUL

and i finally FINALLY FUNIAJKNSSK FINALLY GOT OFF THE GODDAMN STAGE

zhixie: WHERE’S HER APPLAUSE

anD EITHER RUOTIAN OR JINGZUO UPSTAIRS STARTED CLAPPING AGAINST THEIR MIC LIKE ASDFAHKSDHFAKSJD SHUT UP

 AND I WANTED TO DIE I WALKED ITNO A CARDBOARD CUTOUT RIGHT AFTER BC I WAS SO SHOOK

and honglin was like be careful! there’s a cardboard cutout right there! bc he’s a whoLE ANGEL

but also like GKASCKASHDHFAJDSHLFKJ PLS STOP LOOKIGN AT ME PLEAS E MY HEART IS WEAK I’M

my god

collapsed into summer’s arms right after thank god for summer !!!

okay then the next segment zhixie was like o yall know honglin’s position in the group is main vocal so next he can sing something for yall

honglin: actually i prepared an entire song for yall but music copyright means that i can’t sing it w a backing track

bc if he sings w a copyrighted backing track or if he sings more than half the song the livestream video would have to be taken down or something??

but it didn’t matter bc the moment he opened his mouth my entire heart STOPPED like

if he stabbed me in the stomach it would have hurt less his voice is so so sososos ososososososoosososo beautiful ????

and he sang without a backing track to like ????

i’m telling yall he’s a whole angel like he’s not real

and then honglin was like oh i also prepared another song but bc i now see there are overseas fans here i’m gonna sing an english song

and he sang when i was your man by bruno mars and when he hit the high note i think i ascended into the afterlife

about the 46 minute mark here i RLY AND TRULY RECOMMEND LISTENING TO IT SOBS HE SOUNDS LIKE THE PERFECT ANGEL HE IS

AND ZHIXIE HARMONISED AT THE BACK LIKE AHHHHH THAT’S MY BABE MAIN VOCAL TAGTEAM RIGHT THERE

and then zhixie asked if there was any other song we wanted and i was immediately like JJ!!

i’ve been ??? pleading for a jj cover forEVER ND HE

FINALLY PULLED THROUGH

honglin: i’m going to do Those Were The Days bc like the song says (那些你很冒险的梦 我陪你去疯 - all those adventurous dreams, i’ll chase them with you), i’ve been chasing my dream and yall have been here with me every step of the way

and i think the moment he said it i DIED like ???? jj is one of my favourite singers and nearly all my faves have covered his songs at least once, astro included???

and everyone who knows me knows i love jj like nini miss @tanqram​ has literally made a tangram singing jj compilation that i watch religiously ??? and this is one of my fave jj songs?????

and the moment he opened his mouth like ???? i KNOW i said that i died the last two times he sang but

firstly he sounds so much like jj?????

and secondly everything was ???? perfect??????

like i judge jj covers hard bc i’ve listened to the originals so many times everything is ingrained and the moment something is off i cringe but

yall

honglin’s perfect honglin is Actually Perfect

ALSO HE SOUNDS SO MUCH LIKE JJ LIKE HE RLY WASN’T LYING IN HIS IP INTRODUCTION

and afterwards honglin was like lol jj said before that whenever he sings high notes he starts sweating and immediately jingzuo (???) was like TAKE OFF UR CLOTHES LKAJDHSFKASJDHFK

jingzuo chaotic good!!!

also i didn’t know until afterwards when the fantakens were out but ruotian was eating chicken wings and slurping noodles the whole time upstairs aksjdflhaksdjfhaksj why is didi line chaos

and then zhixie was like yall know what other things beibei is good at?

like fam he’s good at everything we rly can’t

also someone in the back was like he’S GREAT AT DOING THE SPLITS and honglin’S FACE AJSDFHKSJDHF

but it was languages and so zhixie was like we’re gonna make him say i love u in many different languages

and i could FEEL marta miss @honeyforzhixie​ going ????? isn’t that ur thing zhixie jsdgflasjdhf

and so they started discussing languages and zhixie was like o i know u can speak a little japanese bc i know u memorised the entire one piece theme song

and i SCREAMED INSIDE bc we literally juST TALKED ABOUT IT THAT MORNING WHEN WE VIDEO CALLED NINI nkfhakjsdhf we were like uwu we hope he sings a jj song but then we were like o lol what if he ended up singing the one piece theme song instead bc we bet he knew the whoLE THING AND HE DOES KNOW IT AJSDFHLAK

but then zhixie made honglin imitate maotong and say ‘i love u’ the way maotong would and my heart ached a little i miss my baby boy so much ??

but JINGZUO CHAOTIC GOOD JSDHLAKJ ‘could u imitate chaoze too’ jaskdlfhkjd

and so he did a couple different versions like Japanese (he and jingzuo screamed lines from one piece at each other ajdkhflksd) and korean (he took a line out of some korean drama?????)

and someone suggested french (was it mirf?????) and i lAUGHED rip his french vlog sorry honglin i swear i love u !!

and then they were like ok time to play his fan video

okay listen i have to preface this by saying that when i got the brief from the hyh she told me ‘it’s best if we make him cry!’ and i was like ok! sure!

turns out it made ME cry i stressed out over the video for two entire weeks sobs the moment my finals were over i locked myself into nyu’s computer lab until moving out day but still couldn’t finish it so i had to work on it on the plane ride home too sobs my roommate connie miss @ynajun​ saw the worst of it bc every time i came home from the lab i’d stress about it ???

but my god it was worth ??? everything ????

he ?????? cried??????

and like on one hand i’m happy that i managed to fulfil the brief but also i feel bad bc he cried but also mostly i laughed bc he’s such a sweet emotional bub

BUT ALSO BC HE CRIED MEGGI GOT TO OFFER HIM HER TISSUES!!!!!!!!

like we specially bought tissues before we left for banana bc we were like we’re gonna need them bc we’re gonna cry

BUT IT TURNS OUT HONGLIN NEEDED HTEM MORE AJSDKFHLASJDHFKAJ

zhixie: he cries every year during his birthday

zhixie: but also even when it’s not his birthday he cries he cried at my birthday too

and afterwards in chaoze’s birthday post he called honglin a crybaby too UWUWUWUWU

tangent but on his birthday when he came into the group chat he thanked us again for the video and i Died

okay this next part is purely speculation bc i honestly might just be overinflating myself and he might have done this purely coincidentally but when he thanked us for his video he looked at me and i ?????

when the video was playing nini and marta were yelling in the gc that they knew the video was done by me bc i overuse cc particle world on after effects jasdhlfksjdh but in that moment i briefly entertained the thought that he was familiar enough with my edits to know that the only idiot who keeps using cc particle world was me ??

but also as i said purely speculation and probably coincidence so

anyway you can watch it here 

and then they played the birthday video messages from fans and i think i died from embarrassment let’s Not talk about it

but also i only realised it after they pointed it out in the gc but apparently zhixie and honglin were both singing along to the jj backing track i added to my video ajsdfhlaksjd

my god another tangent but on his birthday when he came into the group chat we were talking about the videos we recorded

and hh (one of honglin’s og fans she’s a whole angel too I love her !!!!) was like my gOD i rly am so unphotogenic (when she filmed her video she put a ‘FAT’ over her face sobs but like mood) and i was like yah same lol i had to record myself like ten times in times square bc i looked so bad in all the takes

and honglin was like HH WHY DID U CENSOR UR FACE UR CLEARLY SO CUTE and we collectively died for her uwu !!!!

then honglin rePLIED ME SAYING ‘OH BUT TIMES SQUARE HAS SUCH A GOOD VIBE’ and i died for the nth time ??? and then he followed up by saying ‘i rly want to go to times square i’ve gone to america a lot of times when i was younger but i’ve only ever been to the west coast’ jksadhlfkjshekj pls come i’ll bring u around east coast best coast

but back to the point he was like ‘i’ve said it before during ip (and he did!!! during the fanfan episode where he was talking to the rubbish bin he rly has said it before!!!!) but i rly try my best to remember every single person’s face and all my fan’s weibo IDs’ and my heART MELTED HE

and then it was his ending ment!!

he said something that rly threw my heart off a cliff he said that he’s so grateful for the hyh and fans for listening to him and donating to charities in his name instead of buying him extravagant gifts bc when he makes it big, if he makes it big, the thing he wants to do the most is to donate to children who come from a less privileged family background bc he knows what it’s like coming from a single parent family and ;n;

then they showed wishes from other idols!!!!!

there was wang ziyi, zhou rui, the twins my ip hEART

LISTEN I ??? when zuo qibo showed up my SWIN HEART EXPLODED I ??? MISS ??? MY SWIN ANGELS ????

AND THEN RUIBIN SHOWED UP IN ALL HIS UNKEMPT AND UNSHAVEN AND RAMBLING GLORY AND MY PRINCERUIBIN HEART WEPT I THINK I HELD SUMMER’S ARM SO HARD SHE GOT BRUISES AJKSDHFKSJD I’M SO SORRY SUMMER I LOVE U

and then cHAOZE APPEARED !!!! and everyone immediately melted he’s the softest leader alive i love my baby!!

and honglin was about to say something but ruOTIAN

ruotian showed up w a cake w sparklers???????? like fam???????

and eventually we had to say goodbye :—(

but honglin was like o i rly and truly thought that there would be lesser people at this birthday than there was last year and my heart ??? broke ????

bc the room they were in last year alr was so small and there were rly little roses but he ??? genuinely thought he had so little fans that he wouldn’t even fill up the room ;;;;;;;; bc there rly are v little active roses both on weibo like there are less than ten of us who actively post in his chaohua and at tgm events like they’re mostly lrt/jjz fans and there’s usually only one rose ;;;;

but listen honglin our entire gc would die for you we will never stop loving u until every last one of us is found dead in a ditch

and then we’ll love u into the next life

also after he said goodbye he was like sike!

he kept singing behind the cardboard cutouts and peeking around them to say hi again

at some point I poked my head over and went PLS COME TO NEW YORK and he said something back that I alas couldn’t hear rip

and then he started singing along to jj again sobs

but eventually at some point they left via the back door and I was like GOTTA GO THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT I’VE BEEN TRAINING FOR sobs going to the airport for yanjun and wenjun and jeffrey and ziyi and kunkun rly was to prepare me for one thing and one thing only and it was to practise getting good non-shaky fantakens without dying???

jingzuo rly truly looked AMAZING he rly rocks the white tee blue jeans and converse look jingzuo stans stay winning!!!

and honglin ;;;;;;; was holding my banner ;;;;;;;;

and he looked directly into my camera a couple times sobs and he shot hearts too I rly ???? Editing the photos made me cry so many times fbdjhfjf every time I got to those photos I lose my mind

ALSO ONLY AFTER EDITING THE PHOTOS I REALISED RUOTIAN WAS JUDGING ME SO HARD GHDJFJ my eyes were glued to honglin the entire time but looking at the photos again ruotian looked so unamused fhcjfhfbfhbf

speaking of ruotian my gOD editing photos with him in it is a nightmare y’all he’s either blinking or looks like he’s about to sneeze in nearly every picture fhdjfjfj summer and I generally make it a rule not to blur other members’ faces out of our fantakens but ruOTIAN RLY TESTING ME

but we made it to the banana lobby and I didn’t want to follow them and their fansites in so I stopped walking and honglin turned back to wave at me ;;;;;;;;;;;;;; and i think i died again

and so I went back to the event space where summer and mirthe and meggi were waiting and sat down and blanked out sobs

but it diDNT END THERE FHDJFJJF FOR SOME REASON HONGLIN DECIDED TO WALK OUT AGAIN A BIT AFTER

so mirthe and I were like omg gotta blAST so we speedwalked over

and he :—-( saw and shot signs at my camera again fhdjfjfjjf I ???

and then it was Actually Over god I was a shell of a person after that

still am tbh I’m not sure how I survived sorting through our 2000+ fantakens fhdjfjfj

but I’m so spoiled y’all I’m really truly so spoiled by him :—(

like I said earlier he rly spoils his fans so much????

that night he posted on Instagram and immediately summer and meggi and mirthe and I commented and he replied all four of us ;n;

earlier on in spring semester there was a third party event that Tangram was invited to but the organiser was a MESS and tgm wasn’t treated very well??? but honglin was worried that the fans who travelled to the event and didn’t get to see them were upset so he came into the group chat to console them ;;;;;

and I was talking to another fan and she said that even during other events he kept turning around to wave at the fans and acknowledge them and it’s ;;;;;; as someone who has ?? waited in the rain / stood for hours waiting for idols something as simple as a nod or a smile rly warms u up and makes the wind and cold worth it ;;;; and he makes sure to do it all the time ;;;;;;;;;

on his birthday !! his birthday !! when he was in Taiwan and should be resting and enjoying time w his mum and not thinking about us !!!! he still came into the group chat for an hour and talked to us ;;;;;;

and he named all his sort of more well known fans’ IDs, even the ones who weren’t online and sending messages at the time ;;;;; like he rly wasn’t lying when he said he remembers us ;;;;

also fhdjfjfjjf god I’m so spoiled he replied me so many times ?? like there was the times sq thing and the east coast thing ???

and when he said he was training for the next archery competition I was like “o are u shooting recurve or compound this time?” and he was like “o idk if I shot recurve or compound but it’s the one I shot the last time” and I fhdjfjfjfhfb

tangential but 1) my god y’all his form is beautiful my archery heart: exploded

2) his rhotics are so beautiful too my phonology heart: also exploded

also when he was about to leave the gc I was like “huh but u just got here, why are you leaving?” and he sent another voice message “astrofireworks, why are you becoming shameless too, when did I just get here, I’ve clearly been here for a long time already” fhdjfjdjfn fhdjjd

also my GOD He was reading some IDs and summer and lyla were like what about @astrofireworks and I was like fchjfbhjdf y’all it’s ok he’s alr said it in another voice message two months ago in the gc I’m alr so spoiled I ???? rly shouldn’t ask anything else of him or he’s going to hate me

but then he

sent

a whole

nine second message

“hey astrofireworks, I hope one day I can go to New York and maybe... I’ll meet you there, okay?”

and I ??,?? Sobbed

ndjdbfjvcchhxhdhfh

and then Connie went to send him off at the airport in Taiwan the next day and ????? 

I’m not gonna say much because it’s rly conno’s story to tell and I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say outside the gc but he rly spoils his fans so so so so much ????

anyway bei honglin rly and truly is the sweetest boy on earth we rly don’t deserve him ;;;;; this first week of June truly has been the best week of my cpop stan life and i ????? love mister bei honglin with my entire heart and soul ;;;;;;;;;;;;

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Welcome to Kiki’s Cat-fe!

Today we’re visiting Nekotown, also known as Kitty City because of its population. It’s also home to various cat villagers like Kiki, Kid Cat, Rosie, Merry, Punchy - pretty much all the cats have at least heard of Nekotown. 

Kiki, Kid Cat, and a few of their old friends got together to open a cat cafe in Kitty Town Square, the busiest part of the city. The business took a couple years to take off and it finally made its grand opening last year! Since it’s in Kitty Town Square, you have to make reservations far in advance - in this case the wait was about six months for a party of eighteen (eight at the campsite, eight at the cabin, then me and Isabelle). I’ve never been to a cat cafe before so it’s pretty exciting! 

The second I stepped into the cafe, I knew I was going to love it. The place feels so homey, like I’m in my room waiting for a home-cooked meal. Also the kitty themed decor is fabulous! I bet they had some help from Reese and Cyrus with the furniture and the Happy Room Academy helped with the interior design. Also there’s cute kittens roaming the place, which is a plus! 

First we were served their special Cat-fe House Blend lattes served in cute kitty mugs with personalized latte art that made me hesitant to take a sip. I’m a latte person so I like a lot of them, but this has to be one of the best lattes ever! It was so rich and flavorful without being too cloyingly sweet or heavy and full of coffee, hazelnut, and vanilla flavors perfectly complimenting each other. Kiki came up with the recipe by accident and it became a hit. 

Then came the appetizers. Cat shaped crostini topped with fresh butter seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Peach and pineapple caprese kebabs with the fruit and cheese cut into the shape of a cat’s head. Everything fresh out of the grill and oven. Again, they looked too cute to eat and are as good as they look! 

First course was seaweed veggie soup with veggies cut into cute shapes like cats and flowers. Fun fact, all the produce is from the farmer’s market so it’s local and super fresh! After that came the main courses like mini cat shaped seafood pot pies, colorful sushi rolls and spicy kimchi macaroni with the cute shaped pasta. It’s a lot - like we died and went to food heaven! I don’t know how, but we finished all of that with room for dessert! 

And for dessert we were streamed with fried ice cream in the shape of a cat obviously, topped off with caramel miso and dark chocolate drizzles. On the side were almond cookies and a mini fruit tart. To tie it all together, we were served fresh grape juice, a secret recipe by Brewster that takes desserts to the next level. We ate every last bite and drank every last sip! 

While enjoying the food, we were greeted by many cute kitties who wanted a cuddle. This is like the perfect place for a cat crazy foodie! I could be trapped in here and not mind at all! But I think the cuteness would probably kill me after a while, though death by cuteness overdose doesn’t sound so bad. 

Nekotown Cat-Fe gets 10 out of 5 stars because it’s in a league of its own!

junebug|previous|ao3|next

[clowngremlin]

it’s only 8:20, but im in a positive mood so its time for my good things list!!!! i will be combining saturday, sunday and today’s because i havent written one since friday!! under the cut because its very long!!!

saturday:

-a very obvious good thing is my top surgery assessment!! i have already made a post about it but it went very well and i am excited for the future!!! it was also nice to see my gender therapist!!! he’s a really nice and cool dude!!!

-going to the mall after gender therapy!!! i went to a mall i dont normally go to because its in a different city than the big city and the city i live in, it’s in more of a city/suburb sort of thing, but it’s a nice mall!!! they have a great food court with a sick arcade but i didnt go to the arcade, i just walked around the mall!!

-i got some really fun keychains for my backpack and phone!! i got a waluigi one for my phone, a jack-o-lantern one for my phone, a popplio one for my back pack as well as a gengar in a pumpkin for my backpack!!! they were all really reasonably priced, because im pretty sure they’re imported from japan!!! i also wanted to buy some love live merch for hope and i, but they didnt have any of hope’d favorite girl, and the love live stuff as a bit expensive and i really wanted the other ones more but its good to know they have them there!!!

-got some delightful bootleg garfs at the mall too!! and for only $2!!!! it was so excellent!!! they also had a big garf car sticker, but i didnt have enough to buy it because i wanted to save some money for going into the city to go to my favorite vintage stores and the flea market!! also i dont have a car, but i thought it might be a fun sticker for my skateboard or sketchbook!!!

-went to my favorite vintage stores and got some nice things!! i got a cowboy shirt, and a cool cardigan that matches one of my new shirts i got for my birthday!!

-the girl working at my favorite vintage store complimented my outfit again and we had a lovely conversation!! we also talked to this dude who was buying a really cool shirt that i wish i could have bought, but im glad he got it because i have too many shirts anyways and also he was wearing a shirt i had tried on a few weeks ago, but didnt buy because i wasnt super into it so im glad it got a nice home and his outfit was so good!!! it made me feel better about being a masc presenting person who wears funky clothing!!!

-talked to one of my best pals on video chat because i was having a panic attack about work and it helped me calm down and it was so nice to talk to him :>

-in the morning before gender therapy, i got some quality puppy time and eli was very good and did excellent on his walk and made many new friends and was very snuggly!!!

-i wore an excellent outfit that consisted of a rainbow checkered button down @delusionaljellyfish gave me for my birthday, my favorite jeans, a pair of cool dinosaur socks that went really well with the button down, my favorite jacket and my favorite vans!!

-it was nice and sunny and warm!!!

sunday:

sunday was a bad all for the most part and i cried at work like twice and once on the bus going to my friends house from work but there were some positives so we will focus on that!!!

-worked with one of my friends at work!! i actually worked with many friends, but this friend is like an actual friend outside of work too so it was nice to work with her 

-did a good job sampling at work even though i wanted to not be at work and felt upset the whole time, i tried to not let it show and did my best and people really liked the samples

-heard a weird cover of the jeepers creepers song at work

-after i got off work which was early because of shift was cut which isnt good and i got upset and got in trouble for being upset about it, i went to one of my best friend’s house and we watched the umbrella academy and had some tasty drinks!! we also snuggled with her cat and she listened to be vent about work

-this gets its own point, my best friend bought me a creme egg mcflurry!!!! this is a double whammy, because it one, means its creme egg mcflurry season again and that’s one of my favorite treats, and two, my best friend bought me ice cream, which is always nice!!!

-the umbrella academy gets another mention because its so fun and i love it

-had a discord call with @delusionaljellyfish !!! i always love talking to amanda and she was working on a really cool drawing while we were talking and i love seeing her art, she’s so talented and im not saying that because i’ve tagged her in the post, im saying that because i genuinely feel it and its the truth and she deserves recognition for all the hard work she puts into her art and she is one of the most talented people i know!!!!!!!!!!

-also had a video call with one of my other really good friends!!!! we talked until like 1:00 am and he listened to me vent about work as well and we also talked about other really interesting topics!!

-got gendered correctly at work and had multiple people call me sir, and one guy called me buddy in that way that older men call young men buddy, which was nice and gender affirming

monday (today):

-got to sleep in!!

-got to spend lots of quality time with baby boy eli!!!! and i got payed to do so!!!!! i would have done it for free, because i had nothing better to do today anyways, but extra money is always a bonus

-it was nice out when i took eli for his walks, and he made new friends as well!! he makes new friends where he goes and everyone is so delighted to see him!!

-got gendered correctly by the people in my building for once because i dont think my dad has told them im a guy, and often misgenders me to our neighbors, but i think these people are new and so they dont know im trans!

-worked on my comic for a bit and listened to some reel big fish and had such a nostalgic throwback to being in elementary school because i used to listen to a lot of ska dfghjhgjdfgj

-had a phone interview that im hoping went well!!

-realized that i need to stop stressing out about work and all this shit that in the grand scheme of things, isnt a big deal!!! i have been through worse things, and those things were only temporary, much like how these things are only temporary!! things will get better and be ok!!!

-talked to many friends today!!! im in a fun discord sever with some new pals and i talked to some of them about being transmasc, i also talked to one of my friends from work after she tagged me in a post about not stressing about things which was actually really solid advice and i needed to hear it, and she said some really nice things to me!!!! it made me feel really nice on the inside!!! someone im online friends with also sent me a really funny mgs video on discord!!! i also talked to @bruisedratboy today and i always love talking to josh, he’s one of my really close friends and he’s great!!! and im also not just saying that because i tagged him in this, i genuinely love josh and think he’s a great dude!!!

-had a nice conversation with my dad when he got home from work and we hung out with eli and ate dinner!! he also made bacon sandwiches is which si tasty.....

-my dad bought me my favorite pop, which is the blue mountain dew!!!

-my brother and i had a nice conversation before he left the house in the early afternoon, and i helped him pick out a jacket to go with his extremely good outfit!! he also made me coffee which was really nice of him!!

-i got that extremely wonderful anonymous ask today!!! anon, if ur reading this, i just want u to know how much that ask meant to me, like i genuinely mean that. it made me so happy, especially since i’ve had some really fucky days lately and have been feeling really upset and not very positive, but im trying and so im glad my positivity is being appreciated and that u like my posts!!! i hope ur having a good day, and u continue to have good times and such things because u must be a wonderful and kind individual to send someone such a delightful thing and u deserve good things and i appreciate u so much, whoever u are!!!! this is what the anon feature is for, babey!!! sending people delightful messages and leaving good feelings!!!!

-i got followed by someone on instagram who makes really cool pins and if i can save some extra money, i will see if i can buy one some day!!

-eli was extremely cute today!!!

[yourworldmyworldourworld-blog1]

Argentina - land of wine, of meat and of tango.

ARGENTINA - Land of wine, of meat, of tango

Day 1. (15/11). It took us half a day to cross the border between Chile and Argentina. Crossed the border and it was pretty fast. I then got into the bus terminal at Calafate, which I will warn you is a bit of a walk away from the city centre (about a 30 min walk). What you have to do to cross the terminal to the taxi side, cross the car park and stay on the road on your left all the way. You will cross a crossroads twice and eventually go downhill and arrive at a T junction. There you turn right and follow the road, cross a canal bridge and you will pretty much be on the Main Street. I would say the walk is safe during the day and fairy easy as its all downhill towars town. The hostal I stayed at was three parallel roads from the Main Street. Try and stay around there. At the hostal book a bus to Perito Moreno (800arg bus ride only; the entrance ticket price is not included) with Caltur.  Try to book the day before as in that case the company picks you up at the hostal unlike if you book on the day where you will have to show up at the bus terminal. I then headed out to the market which is on the main road but further out and headed to a butchery before the market on the same road called El Turco.The meat there is of great quality and cheaper than in the market. I advise you get the Bife de Chorizo cut.

Perito Moreno route options, you can do the whole thing in couple of hours

Day 2. (16.11). We were picked up around 8am ish and it took us 1.5hrs to get to Perito Moreno. You are dropped off at the car park but before you stop to pay the entrance to the park which you can pay by card or cash. Cash is faster. Once you get there you walk around in these platforms. There area few routes: black, blue, yellow and green. We did the blue, yellow then red. The green is through the forest so you can't see the glacier so we skipped it. The bus picks you up at 15:45. We took food into the walk so you can eat and enjoy the scenery on the benches dotted around. We were back for 5pm. Then I bought tickets for a day in Chalten (1,600 and 3hr drive). If I had more time I would have stayed around 3 days to a week in Chalten.

Perito Moreno

Day 3. (17/11). The bus to Chalten got there at 11am and got to the start of the Fitz Roy trek for 11:30am. Be warned that with only one day there (arriving at 11am and leaving at 6pm you can either do the loop that I did and see a bit of each trek or commit to a full trek). From 11:30am-1:10pm I managed to do the first third of the trek where I stopped to look at Fitz Roy for 10 minutes. At the cross section at the top for the second third of the tweak where I went left down towards Laguna Madre y Hija, I arrived at the bottom at 2:20pm. The way was mainly downhill. By 3:30pm I was on the end of the walk/sendero and got to Chalten town in another 10 minutes and before 4pm I was back at the bus station. This meant that I had to wait around 1.5hrs for the bus. This trek was estimated at 6hrs but I did it in 4hrs at a fast pace. As it was mainly downhill allowed for a quicker pace. I estimated 1.5 hours for each third of the trek. I would advise you did the same to give yourself enough time. Below is a picture of the route map...

The actual walk is super beautiful...

Fitz Roy, Chalten

Day 4. (18.11). On this day I woke up and took a transfer to the airport which I booked at the hostal. I paid the driver after the ride. Bag drop off in 19 mins so no need to arrive too early. The flight took 2.5hrs. As I landed I connected to the airport Wi-fi and ordered an Uber. Be warned that the Ubers cannot come into the pick up area of the airport so keep an eye out on the street for your Uber. As I arrived at the end of the afternoon at Benita Hostal I bought some food at the nearby shops, a nice bottle of wine and had a chilled evening. When booking your hostal look to stay in Palermo area. It’s safe and close to a lot of stuff.

Floralis at the United Nations Plaza

Day 5. (19.11) I headed out early to see the street art in Calle Serrano. Then in the pm I headed to Buenos Aires' Recoleta area. First I saw the the Floralis at the United Nations Plaza that works with solar energy and it opens and closes depending on the time of the day. It’s a very slow movement so you won't really see it happening. Followed by the Facultad de Derecho and the Centro Cultural and an exhibition on film and Freud. We saw also some music open air on the green near the bellas artes museum and cultural centre and walked around the market stalls. Then back and to Rapa Nui for ice cream. Yum.

Centro Cultural, Recoletta, Buenos Aires

Day 6. (20.11). Visiting Buenos Aires city center highlights. La Liberia El Atendo Grand Splendid  formerly a theatre; Palacio de Aguas Corrientes; the National Congress of Argentina; Casa Rosada former presidential house built in 1873; Puente de La Mujer designed to look like tango dancers; Plaza Dorrego in Monserrat and the San Telmo market up to the Kavanagh building being the tallest in Argentina in its time and lastly the Colon theatre and the Obelisk. From where I was based made sense. A bit of a zigzag but it worked. About 7 hours walk.

The Kavanagh building

Day 7. (21.11). Woke up went to get a subte card which costs 65 arg plus 35 arg charge. You can either get one by an underground station or, as in my case, right in front of the hostal there was a shop that sold it; just ask at reception. I then headed back to the corner of my hostel and got the 29 bus towards Boca (make sure it says Boca at the front as there are two 29s). Around 45 mins later I was getting off at Caminitos. Just keep an eye on mapsme or your offline Google to know when to get off or ask the driver. Caminitos is a small street and the Boca stadium in only a 2 min walk north. Maybe consider a tour which will last you around 3 hours I reckon. Just walk around and enjoy some free tango, lots of souvenir shops and awesome picture spots. From there we walked north to San Telmo for a photo with Matilda on her bench at Chile with Defensa street. From there to the CCK (a cultural centre by the Casa Rosada) then back home on the green tube line for an easy night.

BOCA stadium

Day 8. (22.11). Woke up and the weather wasn't too great but headed north past Bulnes to do a park route. Past the Las Heras Park then to the Botanical Park. Then north past eco Park and then across to the Paseo El Rosedal - this stunning rose park! Then back towards the planetarium, past the Japanese garden and then the floralis cultural centre and back. Short pit stop at the Buffala Heladeria - yum! Spent most afternoon chilling and packing as wel as buying last minute things.

Day 9. (23.11). Wake up at 6:30am and left the hostal at 8am and made it to the airport for 8:30am. I checked in and dropped bags off. The duty free section of the AEP airport is tiny and no Havana inside so buy outside or better yet in the city as it's cheaper. Flight on time, 2.5 hours I was in Brasil.

—————————

ARGENTINA CRIBSHEET

Hostals:

Calafate: Hostel Cambalache (its clean and the guys there super attentive, not the biggest but I liked it. You also get a discount on the restaurant next door).

Buenos Aires: Benita Hostal (or anywhere in Palermo really)

Restaurants:

Ice cream: Rapa Nui; Buffala Heladeria

Cafeterias: Cafe Tortoni; Florida Garden Cafe.

Things to do:

Calafate: Perito Moreno

Chalten: various walks

Buenos Aires: Recolletta area; Palermo; Liberia El Atendo Grand Splendid  formerly a theatre; Palacio de Aguas Corrientes; the National Congress of Argentina; Casa Rosada former presidential house built in 1873; Puente de La Mujer designed to look like tango dancers; Plaza Dorrego in Monserrat and the San Telmo market (and Matilda bench); Kavanagh building; Caminitos/ BOCA stadium.

—————————

[postcards-fromafar]

Portland

Dan and I decided to head to Portland for a long weekend to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. We had been to Portland once before, but only for a day (and it had been in January so not the best weather). We were excited to get back and do more exploring, go on some hikes, drink lots of beer, and eat some delicious food. Portland definitely did not disappoint! 

Highlights

-Staying at The Nines- Dan and I decided to stay in a fancier hotel than usual for this trip since we were celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. And it was luxurious! Lots of pretty blue accents in the room, a super comfy bed, robes, gentle music, and great housekeeping...I’ve never stayed in a hotel before where they come back a second time to make sure your blankets are turned down and slippers are waiting next to the bed for you at night! The hotel was also centrally located in downtown Portland, which made it fairly easy to get to all of the neighborhoods we wanted to check out within a 15 minute drive. 

The hotel left us some fancy chocolates and a nice note for our anniversary...

-Hiking at Council Crest Park- We got up early our first morning and hiked for a couple of hours to the top of Council Crest Park and then back down towards the Portland Zoo. Turns out the hike we did is one “T” of the 4T trail (trail, train, tram, trolley). We took the train back to our hotel at the end to get a second “T” in. It was perfect hiking weather and made for a lovely walk through the woods and up to the top, where we had a nice view of some of the mountains. 

Below is one of the fancy houses we glimpsed through the trees as we hiked. 

-Exploring different neighborhoods: Portland is definitely a city of neighborhoods, and we made it our mission to check out as many as we could in our three short days there. On Friday, we went up to the Alberta Arts District, an artsy area packed with delicious food spots, beer, coffee, tea, and fancy boutiques. On Saturday, we checked out 23rd street (Northwest Portland), where there was more shopping (some independent spots, some more mainstream). That evening, we briefly wandered down Division St and Hawthorne St (definitely need to spend more time in those areas if we go back!). On Sunday, we did a little more wandering on Hawthorne St before heading to another brewery.  

-Oregon Brewers Festival- As luck would have it, we landed in Portland just in time for a massive craft beer festival (Dan was in heaven). They had 80 beers from 80 different breweries, 2 ciders, and 4 wines. For just $20, you could get a plastic tasting mug and 13 tokens (1 3oz sample per token, or a full glass for 4 tokens). We didn’t end up using all our tokens but were able to try a bunch of delicious different beers from various breweries. I’ve recently stumbled into liking sour beers, and they had an amazing selection there! Among the ones I tried were a Framboise Rose Gose and a Belmont Street Bramble sour (sour blond ales aged in oak wine barrels with red raspberries and tangerine peel). We were also able to hang with friends (more on that to come), which always makes things more enjoyable!

-Portland Farmers Market at PSU- This is the most INSANE farmers market we have ever been to. It takes place on the campus at Portland State University and is a hodgepodge of people selling delicious food (hello, biscuit sandwiches), exquisite produce (I so badly wished we could have taken some home!), gorgeous bouquets of flowers, and things like cheese and jam. There were lots of families strolling around, including a couple with sets of twins (Portlanders seem to be a fertile bunch). 

-Finishing up the Africa video- After being inspired by Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s music video take on the classic Toto song, Dan and I filmed a lot of footage while in South Africa and Morocco on our trip last year. We decided our 5 year anniversary would be a perfect time to release the video, so we (meaning Dan- I was moral support), spent a lot of time on Saturday at a brewery finishing it up. 

-Hiking at Mount Tabor- A relatively easy but beautiful 3 mile hike. We went early in the day before it got too hot and were treated to the sight of three beautiful red-tailed hawks up close.

Bummers

-Portland was AMAZING. We could not think of any bummers other than not having enough time... we will definitely need to come back.

Eats

-Fancy brunch fare at Proud Mary- Recommended as a favorite brunch spot by my coworker, Peggy, this definitely lived up to expectations! I got fancy grilled cheese, and Dan got a yummy potato hash dish.

Reba was not a fan of the fancy juice I got at brunch. (”Like old asthma medicine!”)

-Salt & Straw- This is hands down our favorite ice cream in the whole world. While we usually visit in LA (sometimes more than once in a trip) it started in Portland and has since expanded to California (LA, San Francisco, and San Diego) and Washington (Seattle). Dan and I had a Fresh Cheese and Strawberries flavor, which tasted like strawberry cheesecake! One of our favorite flavors is an LA classic- salted, malted, chocolate chip cookie dough (to die for- but unfortunately not available in Portland). 

-Tusk- Another recommendation from Peggy that totally paid off. We went here for our anniversary dinner to get yummy middle eastern food. We ended up over ordering and stuffing ourselves, but it was so worth it! Among the highlights were chickpea fries, man’oushe (a Lebanese flatbread), Albacore tuna, and delicious greens.

-Biscuit sandwiches at the Farmers Market from Pine State Biscuits- Fresh made biscuits, fried chicken, bacon, and cheese, slathered in apple butter (me) or gravy (Dan). 

-Food trucks- So Portland is known for its food trucks, which we have experienced before, but sadly we did not get to take advantage of this time- so many awesome food spots that we never got around to. Next time!

Drinks

-Kombucha from Townshend’s Tea House- Kombucha is a fermented tea that is apparently a popular thing in Portland. The strawberry one we tried was decent, but in general kombucha is a bit funky for me. 

-So. Much. Beer. In addition to the Brewers Festival, we checked out a few different breweries: Great Notion, Cascade, Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery, and Breakside. My personal favorite spot was Cascade- they had an extensive list of sour beers on tap, and all were delicious. Among the ones we tried were an apricot sour and an barrel-aged wild ale called Ingmeyer Bergman that Dan loved.

-Wine at Southeast Collective- We barely dipped our toe in with the Oregon wine scene but did squeeze one wine tasting in. Next time we come back, we are hoping to rent a car and drive out into wine country to do more exploring. 

People

-Dan’s aunt Reba and her friend Lisa- Reba lives just over the state border in Vancouver, Washington, and she’s known Lisa for a really long time (they used to work together). The two of them were on their way to a weekend camping trip with friends but met us for brunch in the Alberta Arts District on their way. We enjoyed a lovely brunch with good conversation and lots of laughter. 

-Larissa, Kevin, and Lauralyn- Larissa is a good friend of ours from college, and we had not seen her in about four years! She has been living in Portland for the past few years, so we met up with her, her boyfriend, Kevin, and her little sister, Lauralyn at the Brewers Festival. It was great catching up with her, and we are looking forward to her upcoming return to the Midwest!

Observations & Insights

-All of the ride share drivers seem more friendly and chatty than we are used to- it felt like we had the same conversation about the humidity in Chicago about 14 or 15 times. 

-Style is very different than back home- there are many more tattoos and more people with fun colored hair.

-There are lots of homeless people in Portland.

Tips

-Carry cash- it seems to be king around the many eateries, markets and watering holes of Portland. 

-Samples are the way to go- there are so many beers at each brewery so no sense in getting a full glass. We recommend getting flights instead so you can try more options!

-If you are able to, try to spend a week or two in Portland! There is so much to do, and we just scratched the surface. We are definitely hoping to be back sometime soon!

[will-squill-blog]

11 Questions

hey y’all!! so i was tagged in this thing by @libtertysir (thank you for tagging me!! i’m sorry i took so long to get to this) and i’ve never done one of these before, so i really hope i did it right!! i tried to not make myself overthink the answers but there were a couple times when i did, so sorry about that,, anyways I’m gonna put my answers and all of that shit under the cut BUT the people I’m tagging in this next are:  @georgiapeaches-n-cream, @linquenelsprite, @eldritch-queen, @theradicalace, @afantasticmess, @alexfuckingdies, @introverts-unite, @fowl-play-blue-jay y’all don’t have to feel obligated to do this if you’d rather not, but yeah!! if you are, you should at least read the bottom of the posts bc the questions for y’all to answer are down there,, anyways-

What is your earliest memory of school?

Before elementary school, I went to this school/daycare place called “the young school”. I have multiple specific memories from there, (including being taught how to yo-yo and not at ALL figuring it out, getting very concerned over the words to “ring around the rosie”, and not at all understanding the point of nap-time) but the very earliest is from the first day there, when I realized I had to be separated from my brother and was absolutely terrified. 

What is your favorite candy bar, and describe everything good about it!

Kit Kats! It’s probably a pretty typical answer, but it’s always the first one that comes to mind. I love that they break into two, and they’re so crunchy! My favorite part has to be the flavors, though. We have this asian market a little while away from my house that sells a bunch of flavor variations, and they’re so good! Most places just have chocolate and vanilla (which is seasonal), but this place has cookies and cream, matcha green tea, strawberry, peach, mango, and some others! I’ve seen pictures online of the amount of flavors they offer in Japan, and they look so good!! My only problems with them are that I can’t try all the flavors ‘cause they aren’t here, and, of course, that they have milk (I’m lactose intolerant).

What 3 songs would you use to introduce someone to your favorite band? 

I don’t really think I have a favorite band? I usually don’t, I just listen to whatever music I’m feeling at that point. Although if I did have to pick a favorite right now, it’d be NSP, and the songs I pick would vary GREATLY depending on the person. However, I actually was going to introduce them to someone I know, and was going with “take on me”, “peppermint creams”, and “6969”!

What was one weird thing you did with your friends in high school that you’re not afraid to admit? 

I’m gonna be real, y’all, I’m still in high school! I don’t think I’ve done anything weird enough yet that it would fit here, so I guess I can’t answer this one.

What musical instrument do you hate hearing the most, and why? 

This might be very obscure, but a “crank-style ratchet”? We were doing an activity in music class and someone chose that for their instrument and let me tell you, this thing sounds HORRIBLE. I couldn’t think of an actual instrument, it’s more of a noisemaker, so I’m sorry if my answer technically doesn’t count!

If you could, what personality trait of yours would you give to everyone else in the world?

I’m pretty sure “acceptance” is a personality trait, so it’d be that one. Just so people can be less bigoted, you know?

If you could learn any skill, what would it be, why, and how would you use that skill to make at least 5 friends? 

Assuming we mean skills that are physically possible, I’d want to learn art. Not regular art, I mean that next level shit. I’d want to learn how to flawlessly make art using any medium in any art style and it would always look exactly how I wanted. Every time I make any type of art- drawing, painting, sculptures, ANYTHING- it’s never quite right. I would love to be able to always make it look exactly how I wanted. I’d make friends by then being the best fucking artist to exist ever. Just make art of anything and everything, give art to people I meet, make friends.

Bees?

Honestly, I love bees but whenever I’m near them, I’m absolutely terrified of them. Fuck yeah, though, bees.

What is your favorite thing about your face? (Positive Answers Only, y’all are beautiful people)

My eyes! How they look, I mean- I have absolutely horrid vision, but that is a long and complex story for another time. Here’s a fun fact: they’re so bad I had to write this post in another software before copy-pasting it here since this format has so many words so close together that I can’t read this. I’m trying to make the format a bit easier by adding more spaces, but still. My eyes suck.

Do you have any ghost stories?

The one I remember the best is the time when I was younger that I was convinced there was a ghost since I kept hearing scratching noises on the walls and I was upstairs. There were also some strange whistling noises, but that was just the wind. Apparently the scratching was a raccoon, but I still don’t know why it sounded so close? Did it climb up the side of the house or something? Plus, it was really windy out, so how would that thing even get up there? I know it’s not that great, but it’s the first one that came to mind.

A door appears in front of you, and takes you to a room with someone who you want to forgive, and someone who you want to be forgiven by. Who are they, and what happened to between you?

Oh boy, this is a heavy question. Like, a really fucking heavy question. The person I want to be forgiven by would probably be someone who was actually best friends with my shitty, abusive ex boyfriend. We’ll call him L. He was horrible, so fucking horrible, and I still have SO MUCH trauma from that relationship, but that’s for another time. His best friend, however, knew that the things L was doing were bad, but stayed friends with him- for reasons I don’t know. I think, after things got really fucking shitty between me and L, that his best friend started to get angry at me. L’s best friend was an extremely sweet and caring person who I sometimes really, truly miss. I will never, ever understand why they stayed friends, or how you could even stay friends with someone after knowing about how badly they abused other people. Now, on the other hand, the person I want to forgive. This is a lot harder to think of. If I’m being honest, the answer I really want to give is myself? I know that’s probably kinda dumb, but there’s a lot of shit I’ve done and never fully forgiven myself for and I really, really wish I could. That shit, however, is too personal for this post.

WOW i hope i didn’t bring everyone down with that last bit hskjhfdgh

anyways !!as for the people i tagged earlier!

Your questions are:

1: If you had to pick an instrument and a color to describe yourself, what would they be? 2: Describe your favorite outfit and/or what you wore today! 3: What’s the last song you had stuck in your head? 4: Do you have a dream job, and what is it? It doesn’t have to be realistic!
5: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? 6: Tell the story of the last time you cried from laughter! 7: What’s your favorite superhero / superpower? 8: Do you know that you’re so fucking valid and important? 9: What’s your favorite movie / video game / series of any kind that’s super obscure? 10: Do you have any stories that are actually true, but sound unbelievable? 11: What are your thoughts on birds?


[lotsofdogs]

Dinosaurs, Doughnuts and Lake Nights

Hey, hey, hey! How are things going with all of you today!? I hope you had a great weekend.

With sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s both Saturday and Sunday, it felt like the first official weekend of summer in Charlotte!

Saturday

Early Friday morning I wasn’t sure what the weekend would look like for us since Chase was sick on Thursday but by late Friday morning he was fever-free, energetic and back to acting like his normal self. I’m not sure what was up last week but the 24-hour fever that kicked in on Thursday seemed to pass quickly and our two days of rest at home seemed to do the trick. When Chase woke up on Saturday morning (at 5:45 a.m. – phew!), he seemed 100 percent normal and after double checking his temperature, we figured we were in the clear to commence with weekend fun!

We really wanted to take Chase  to see the new Tyrannosaurus exhibition that opened last weekend at Discovery Place Uptown and after reserving tickets for the 9:15 a.m. slot, we drove into the city to begin our dinosaur adventure.

I am one of the biggest fans of Discovery Place and Discovery Place Kids (we’ve been members of both since Chase was a baby and plan to be for years to come) but this exhibition was unfortunately a bit disappointing. I admittedly think a lot of this had to do with Chase’s age, but the exhibit wasn’t very extensive and we were in and out in about 15 minutes. Chase is SUPER into dinosaurs and the T-Rex is by far his favorite so we had really high hopes but I think the dark lights and growling dinosaur noises put him on edge from the beginning.

Chase thought the excavation station was pretty neat and we spent some time using tools to look for dinosaur bones but all in all, Chase was waaay more into the usual Discovery Place museum attractions than this exhibit.

One thing that did impress us was the way Discovery Place included dinosaur fun throughout the museum to go along with the temporary exhibition. Chase loved flipping through dinosaur books and playing with the giant dinosaur toys in the children’s area!

We spent a solid two hours at Discovery Place before breaking away and driving to NoDa, Charlotte’s historic arts and entertainment district, to walk around and grab doughnuts at Reigning Donuts, one of our local favorites.

Ryan and I were both victims of social media jealousy and felt left out when we realized we missed National Donut Day on Friday so we celebrated a day late with half a dozen doughnuts. Since doughnuts are one of Chase’s favorite foods, he was more than excited to join in our sugarfest!

We arrived home just before 1 p.m. and while Ryan settled Chase down for his nap, I immediately headed back out and drove up to Epic Chophouse in Mooresville for my friend Jess’ baby sprinkle. Jess is due with a baby girl at the end of July and it was so much fun to celebrate her little one on the way, dig into delicious food and chat with some of my friends. It was quite dark in the restaurant so I didn’t snap any pictures that turned out well but it was a beautiful sprinkle!

By the time I made it back home, Chase was up from his nap and Ryan, Chase and I did a little dinner prep for the birthday dinner we were hosting for our friend Ben. We made a big spread that included marinated flank steak with chimichurri (both recipes are go-tos for us when we host friends and come from Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook), roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli, pico de gallo salad and berries with coconut cream. Plus ice cream for dessert because that’s a nightly necessity for me right now. It was great to catch up with Ben and celebrate his special day!

Sunday

Sunday morning began bright and early and I kicked things off with a little meal planning while a batch of peanut butter baked steel cut oatmeal baked away in the oven. Once everyone was up and fed, we headed out on a family walk before church. I made sure to bring my favorite basketball along on the trek!

Sunday was one of those random days of pregnancy where I just felt really GOOD. It was so nice and a welcomed reprieve from how I’ve been feeling lately! I wasn’t too tired, no nausea kicked in and I wasn’t overly uncomfortable until I tried to go to sleep at night. It was awesome! (That is NOT a hint for our baby to stay in there for too much longer. I definitely don’t envy late deliveries at all and can totally see myself looking back at this post at 41 weeks pregnant wanting to smack myself! Sunday was just one of those surprisingly good pregnancy days where I didn’t feel as much physical discomfort as usual so it was pretty sweet.)

We made it to the early morning church service and of course I cried when we sang “Reckless Love” because that’s what I do whenever I hear that song. Phew!

(I think the above not-so-great pic was the first pic Ryan, Chase and I have together with my belly. Yeesh!)

After church, I dropped Ryan off at Ben’s house because they had plans to work out together and then Chase and I drove to ALDI to pick up groceries for the week ahead. Meal planning made the trip a breeze and we arrived back home with a bunch of goodies!

Here’s a glimpse at our meal plan for the week:

Monday: Chicken Taco Skillet (served with tortillas, diced tomatoes and guacamole)

Tuesday: Perfect Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Onions (and possibly creamy mashed cauliflower if I’m feelin’ it)

Wednesday: Winter Chopped Salad

Thursday: Frittata and Blueberry Banana Protein Pancakes (Breakfast for dinner!)

Friday: Wing it!

Ryan made it home from the gym right before Chase went down for his nap and while he read him some books, I got a jump start on typing up this blog post and responded to a few work-related emails that were nagging me in the back of my mind.

Once Chase was awake, we took advantage of the gorgeous sunny weather and made our way onto the lake for some early evening swimming and boating.

The lake water is slowly warming up and it felt so good to splash around and swim with my crew!

We docked briefly at Hello, Sailor where we filled our boat up with gas and ordered burgers, fries and watermelon to go to eat on the boat as we made our way to a little beach to drop anchor for a swim.

(Can you tell I was on a mission for a better family photo after realizing the church pic from earlier in the day was the only one I have of us with my bump? Ha!)

This was actually the first time Ryan got to witness the glory that is Chase’s new puddle jumper and he was just as psyched as I was the first time I saw Chase have a ball in that thing!

I swear Chase could swim for hours and hours in his puddle jumper and would have had we not needed to get him home to unwind a bit before bed.

Chase ended up going to bed on the later side of the evening so Ryan and I followed suit and climbed into our bed right after we put him down for the night. I continued reading The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand which I’m 99 percent sure is my first novel by the incredibly popular author. I was in the market for a quintessential summer beach read and based on the Amazon reviews, this one seemed to check all the boxes. So far it’s light and easy and entertaining but some parts make me want to say, “Okay, get on with it already…” I’m about a third of the way through it and am enjoying it enough that I find myself looking forward to reading it at the end of the day, so I’ll keep on keepin’ on.

I hope  you all had a great weekend and enjoy an even better week ahead! Thanks for stopping by PBF today!

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