#weirdly settled with myself as a person but I’m thinking that cost is probably an isolating one

[vampiremourning]

ngl. unconsciously disengaging from this website has been hdjfkg kinda good for my mental health overall? like yes im still dhdjfjf left out of a lot of stuff BUT i see it less so that means my feelings don’t get as hurt lmao. functionally that’s more or less the same thing probably?

going recluse isn’t what i ever want to do (& I didn’t even do it on purpose, just got busy and had a low social battery because of it) but aside from me being overall comfortable by myself, it just kind of seems like it’s where people are content to leave me. doesn’t feel great but it is what it is.

[rrickgrrimes8]

I’ve Got You ~ Mitch Rapp

Mitch marched into the room - masculinity shrouding every inch of his toned body. Unknowingly to him her attention immediately switched to his presence as soon as he entered. Her eyes lingered and mismerised his entire body - from his chocolate orbs to his flexed bicep - awe and arousal oozed off of her.

If she wasn't in the midst of her own conversation believe me she would be drooling a river over him. "So, (y/n), I would like you to train with someone else - perhaps one of the higher tiers. I don't think that it is working out between you and I. I think you need more of a challenge." Her trainer, Daniel, informed wearing a friendly childlike smile.

Since she started this training program at her gym the employees there which also happen to be all men underestimated her abilities and strength. So because of their ignorance and blatant misogyny they paired her with the - said in the nicest way possible - weakest dude in the whole place. Don't get me wrong Daniel is a good guy and is now a great friend to (y/n) but they clearly aren't the best pair due to the clear superiority of (y/n).

"Yeah... yeah sure who?" She muttered kind of dreading the fact that she would have to leave the only friend she made in this place for probably a disgusting sexist pig. "Ugh well I have no clue who it is but you're meeting him in..." Daniel paused checking his watch, "right now." He smiled sweepingly but the nerves in (y/n) just stared to settle in and a hurricane of anxiety bombarded her. She had never been good with new people let alone people that already see her as a inferior.

"What?! I-I can't do it now. I should have time to prepare -you know like about two weeks and I'll be ready." She informed hopefully but was met with the familiar sound of Daniels chuckle. "Oh c'mon you'll be okay. You need to get out of your comfort zone anyways then maybe you'll get up enough courage to ask out walking muscle man." She shook her head ferociously before breaking out into a burst of laughter at the nickname 'walking muscle man.'

"Excuse me what the hell is a walking muscle man?" (Y/n) chuckled into the palm of her hand while Daniel gave her an amused look. "You know who I am mean (y/n)." He insisted but she shook her head. Daniel leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Mitch." Her face immediately darkened at the mention of him.

How did Daniel know about my obsession? Is it that obvious? Who else knows? Does everyone know? These thoughts swam around her head like fishes in a tank. Her cheeks were basically inflamed and the nervous tick she had adapted from her childhood of tapping her foot has returned.

"W-what are you talking about?" She whispers back fear evident in her question. "Oh don't act dumb I know you like him. It's pretty obvious." She groaned. "It is?"

"So you admit him?" Daniel clapped back causing (y/n) to fall into a deeper pit of embarrassment. "Oh god." She said burying her head into her hands. "Oh yes." Daniel smiled content with the fact he finally got it out of her.

Daniel had caught on to the fact whenever Mitch ever entered a room her attention was drawn to him regardless of what she is doing at the time - which includes them being in the middle of a boxing match which happened many times and believe him never ends well. He also caught on to the many times she attempted to go up to him and introduce herself but quickly ran away before he noticed.

"Is it really that obvious?" She complained. "Not to anyone but me. You see sweetheart I know you very well indeed and I know for a fact that you cannot take your eyes off of him." Daniel paused looking around the room. "And from the looks of it neither can he." (Y/n)'s head shot up at his comment and furrowed her eyebrows.

"W-what?" Daniel laughed at her like he had been doing for the entirety of their conversation. To say the least it seemed that he was enjoying this little matching making session a little to much for (y/n)'s liking. "Don't look now but a certain Mitchy moo is looking right at you." He said nodding over to where Mitch was stood.

(Y/n) didn't hesitate to shoot her head over to where he pointed and as soon as she did she was met with Mitchs familiar pair of dreamy eyes. As soon as (y/n)'s gaze hit his his head instantly pulled down avoiding her at all cost. "And you looked anyway." Daniel sang. "Shut up." She replied sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oi (y/l/n) aren't you supposed to be training right now?!" Someone bellowed from the other end of the room. "Shit." The (y/h/c) girl collected all of her stuff recklessly and ran off to where she usually had her training sessions but obviously now she wouldn't be so kindly blessed with his presence but now instead she is going to have to do the worst thing imaginable- socialise.

She entered her little room of the gym and placed her stuff down ordering it as best as she can. "Finally I didn't think you'd show up." A deep almost intimidating voice acknowledged her. Usually she wouldn't be so panicked just by one voice but now it panicked her beyond belief knowing who that voice belonged to. Mitch. "I-oh right oh s-sorry was caught with...-"

"With chatting with your boyfriend?" Mitch interrupted coldly while strapping the straps in his boxing gloves. "W-what? Boyfriend? Never!" She spluttered still not facing Mitchs way scared of what kind of shade of red her face had formed this time. "You know very well who I am talking about (y/l/n). I went out there and saw the two of you so don't act dumb. It's not a good look on you or at least I would say that if I could actually see your face but alas it seems that you have lost the ability to face someone other than the guy your fucking." He spat causing (y/n)'s jaw to drop and her eyes slightly water at the tone of his voice - which may I add reminded her of the trauma she came her to overcome.

"T-the guy I'm fucking? I don't understand M-Mitch." She heard Mitch let out a heavy stressful sigh which she guessed was probably accompanied with an eye roll or two. "God you can't be serious." He laughed humourlessly as if it was obvious who he was talking about.

(Y/n) stayed silent waiting for him to actually form a sentence that didn't ask for more questions than answers. "Daniel." He muttered causing (y/n) to spin around a little to fast causing her to begin to fall down. The girl closed her eyes preparing for the hard impact of the ground but instead was embraced by  a pair of toned arms.

"I've got you." He whispered as she opened her (y/e/c) eyes. "I'm not dating, fucking or even thinking about Daniel in that way. I never have and certainly never will. He's just a friend." She reassured him despite not understanding why it mattered so much to him that he need some reassurance.

The words brought a small curve to his plump lips as he held the (y/b/t) girl softly. "Why do you care, Mitch?" (Y/n) finally said breaking the silence that had formed between the pair. "B-because I think I like you." She smiled at him disregarding the feeling that this might be a trick or some sort of weirdly realistic dream and she started to lean in. As their lips inched closer and closer she could tell Mitch was become more anxious by the second.

Just when their lips were about to join Mitch let go. (Y/n) fell back first onto the flooring and surprisingly Mitch accidentally fell too - on top of her. "What the actual fuck, Mitch?" She snapped feeling as if the dream that she was about to experience was completely ripped away. (Y/n) pushed Mitch off of her and sat up waiting for some sort of explanation.

"I-I'm s-sorry." Mitch said not even making a move of getting up but instead completely giving up and just laid there - heart broken. "I thought you said you liked me." The now sat upright girl spoke timidly the tears building up rapidly. "I do." The broken man admitted. "Then why did you let go?"

"I'm scared." (Y/n) was shocked with his confession clearly not expecting the great Mitch Rapp to admit when he's scared of something but now the question is - what? "Scared of what Mitch? Of me?" She asked fear dripping from every syllable.

"Yes! No! Maybe! Kinda! I don't know (y/n). I don't know anything except that I like you and I'm scared." Mitch bursted his hands subconsciously running through his dark hair. (Y/n)'s eyes narrowed in on me hoping for a better explanation than what he had shown so far.

"I-i lost someone. Someone really important to me- someone I loved. A-and now I have to figure out a way to understand how to get by without her. Looking at what am I now compared to three months back I'm better, yes, but not fixed. And with you despite not even having a conversation I feel at peace and sometimes when I just watch you train or eat lunch or anything I sometimes forget about that person. And that makes me hate myself. Then when I almost kissed you that made the hate I have inside overflow." Mitch paused looking over at the teary eyed girl.

"I-it just feels like I'm falling. Like I'm falling from the tallest building I've ever seen and no matter how long I fall for I never hit the ground and you have no idea how much I wanna hit the ground. But I also know if I do hit the ground then I'll lose myself and all the steps I have taken to change from that broken person I was. I want to hit the ground because I want to stop falling but maybe instead of meeting the ground maybe I need someone to catch me. I know I need someone to catch me. So I'm scared hell im petrified b-because I think that person might be you." Mitch concluded his voice cracking at different points and his eyes wouldn't dare to look at her anymore not after the amount of over sharing he just did.

He closed his eyes ready to attempt to settle his thoughts thinking that maybe (y/n) had just left due to the shock bomb he had just dropped on her until a pair of soft perfect lips landed on his. He immediately kissed back grabbing the sides of her face deepening the kiss of that was possible. (Y/n) pulled away causing him to reluctantly open his eyes to see her red and puffy ones.

"I've got you."

[angelikook]

Pas de Deux

Pairing(s): Dance teacher!Hoseok x reader

Genre: Hurt/comfort, fluff

Word Count: 6.7k

Warning(s): Profanity

Summary: Your dance teacher, Hoseok, might teach you a bit more than just dancing.

A/n Moral of the story, never seek validation from anyone. You can do whatever you want as long as you're happy and you're not doing anything wrong.

There will be a mention about Blue Side and its meanings. Check this link for the complete analysis (it's in Indonesian). Shout out to the writer for the in-depth analysis.

There were days when you wished you were more flexible. Or athletic. Or both.

Like today for instance.

Your weekly Friday-night private dance class didn’t look too good as usual. First of all, you had a literal dance God stood in front of you as your dance teacher. In front of him, you looked like a baby giraffe learning how to stand on four wobbly legs.

During the past few months you’ve been his student, through ups and downs that had more downs, his smile never faltered, his energy never died out, and his patience never ran out.

Every time you fell on your bruising butt, he only held out his hand to you and put on that million-dollar smile of his. Sometimes- Scratch that- Most of the times, you felt bad when you fell for the nth time in the span of an hour. Other times, you felt bad after your first fall. You definitely didn’t want him to think you were unworthy of his time and attention. That was the worst way a person can embarrass themself.

Your teacher, who went with the name Hoseok, and stage name j-hope, once again danced real slow in hope you could follow him. You both moved at a snail’s pace, but of course, your lack of athleticism wouldn’t let you go for 10 minutes without falling.

Out of nowhere, one of your feet caught up in the other one and made you stumble. And with that, your body unceremoniously collapsed. It was like any other times you had fallen, but unlike those times, you heard a loud crack coming from your foot.

“Oh, shit! Are you alright?” Hoseok stopped instantly and squatted beside you. “Of course you’re not fine. Why did I even ask that?” He mumbled more to himself.

“Which foot was fractured? Can you try moving them?”

You, ever so carefully, tried to move each of your feet. Weirdly enough, you were pretty sure your left one was the one fractured, but you felt a sharp pain when you moved your right one.

You voiced your thoughts, “Umm… I’m not sure which one is fractured. I think it’s the left one, but the right one is more painful.”

Hoseok sighed. “We need to go to the hospital. Here, let me carry you.”

“Wait, I-”

Like you weighed nothing, he heaved you and carried you bridal style. Instinctively, you circled your arms around his neck, his very sweaty and veiny neck. But during this critical moment, a sweaty neck wasn’t on the top of your priorities.

“I don’t think this is necessary,” you said even though the pain on your feet had subsided a bit from being lifted off the ground.

“Absolutely.” He grabbed your bag and turned off the lights. “It would be better if we can use the stretcher, but since I’m alone, we have to settle with this. Sorry if this is uncomfortable.” He walked out of the studio and locked it before walking off to the parking lot.

You estimated that the entire walk from the studio to the parking lot must’ve taken around 10 minutes. At this point, you were 100% sure you felt like a dead weight for him. Yet, he still kept walking while holding you as if it was nothing. It was either you overestimated your weight, or he was stronger than you thought. Your bet was on the second one.

During the ride to the hospital, you racked your brain for a way to say thank you while actually sounding like you were grateful instead of just for formality. But after minutes had passed, you came up with nothing so you just settled with the old “thank you so much”. You just prayed he could see your sincerity through you.

“Don’t mention it. This is what I always do every time someone is injured.”

True to his words, when he entered the emergency room with you in his arms, a nurse yelled his name and directed you two to an empty bed.

“What happened?” the nurse asked as Hoseok carefully lowered you on the bed.

In an instant, the comforting heat radiating off of him disappeared. In exchange for his warmth, you felt the cold mattress and the typical freezing hospital room.

“The usual. But she said that both her feet hurt.” He gestured to you.

“I’m going to call a doctor, okay?” Without waiting for an answer from you, the nurse left.

Once the doctor came, you explained in detail what happened with Hoseok butting in sometimes to add completely unnecessary details. He said things like, “we were almost done with the class”, or, “we were alone there.” Lucky for him, your pain stopped you from wanting to strangle him.

You talked more about possible treatments, how long it would take, and most importantly, how much it would cost. In the end, it was decided that you needed an x-ray.

“You can leave now if you want. I’ll be alright,” you told him right after the doctor told you to wait for the x-ray. The guilt of making him do all of these was starting to eat you inside out.

You had felt guilty from falling multiple times, and now you fell to the point you broke your ankle. If it was possible, you felt ten thousand times more guilty. And the fact that he wasn’t even complaining at least once made you feel like a disappointment.

Maybe it was better if the earth swallowed you whole right now.

He shook his head as he sat on the chair beside the bed. “No way. How will you get home?”

Crap, he was right. There was no way you could walk by yourself after all this. Or call a taxi. Just imagining you had to wear a cast and a crutch already made you shudder. This was going to be a long month, or months, for you.

“You must feel tired now. You’ve been here for-” You glanced at the clock behind his head. “-around an hour now.”

“Do you have a friend you can call over?”

The question hit you more than it should’ve. Your friends, the same people who indirectly forced you to try dancing, all lived across the city. You knew there was no way they would be willing to spend their Friday night at the hospital with you. In your mind, you could already imagine them going out on a fancy dinner, cuddling with their partner, or watching a movie.

Your lack of response was an answer in itself.

“It’s okay. I don’t have anything to do anyways.”

“You don’t have any more students? Tonight? Tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “You’re my last student for the week.” He stopped for a while before continuing, “And my most interesting one.”

You cocked your head to the side. “Interesting? How?”

“You made me think of… things, basically, clearly.”

“Like what?”

He took a deep breath before answering, “I’ve been the best dancer, performer, whatever you wanna call it. And after I started teaching too, I became the best dance teacher in the city. Like, you must’ve already known that from the tariffs of my classes.”

You nodded.

“But since you came to my class a few months ago, things have changed. I just lost… my confidence in my teaching. Maybe my methods are wrong or I need a different approach or maybe-” His words caught in his throat. “-I don’t cut it to be a teacher.”

Your eyes widened at his words. He had mistaken your inability to do athletic stuff for his bad teaching.

“I think you got it all wrong,” you said urgently.

You didn’t want him to think he was a bad teacher. He was, in fact, far from that. So far, you’ve never met a teacher even half as nice as him or half as understanding as him.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “How?”

You hesitated for a moment. Were you really going to out yourself? Your heart screamed, “yes!” at that.

“Well, you see, I’m not the best at, you know, physical stuff. I was actually setting myself up for failure by trying out dancing.” You saw him frowning even further. You let out a nervous giggle. This was a bad idea, but you were already in too deep anyways. “I know this is confusing. My friends have told me that a lot of times.”

A few seconds of silence passed. Hoseok just stared at you, probably trying to figure you out, who knew. You were just weird like that.

Finally he broke the silence. “Can you drive?”

The question caught you off guard. “What?”

“Driving?”

“Of course I can.” You looked down on your injured feet. “Well, not for a while, I guess.”

“And I take it you never accidentally kill someone, right? Or else you wouldn’t be here, you’d be in jail.”

This time, you were the one frowning. Where was this conversation heading? Nonetheless, you nodded your head, answering his question silently.

He, for the first time after you broke your ankle, broke into a grin. “Then you’ll be fine. And I don’t think you set yourself up for failure.” He pouted. “Don’t ever say that again.”

You smiled back at him. “Okay.”

A few moments later, you were called to do an x-ray.

Wordlessly, Hoseok hoisted you up and put you on a wheelchair he found nearby. With that, he pushed you towards the x-ray room. You weren't going to lie for the fact that it kinda felt nice to be pushed by a handsome guy. On the other side, it only made you feel even more guilty.

Once you arrived in front of said room, a nurse took you in and told Hoseok to wait outside.

With your clumsiness, this obviously wasn’t your first time getting x-rayed. So you didn’t really feel nervous, not at all. Plus, you were significantly older than the last time you got x-rayed. There was nothing to be scared of, right?

Who were you kidding? Of course you’d be scared. Your heart thumped loudly against your chest, you wondered if the nurse could hear it. Probably she could, but even if she could, she didn’t say anything.

Okay, then. Maybe you should focus on something else. What about something to tell Hoseok about his fear? You didn’t do a great job of comforting him. Instead, he was the one comforting you. The hell was that about, Y/n?

Without you even realizing, since you were so focused on Hoseok’s fear, the x-ray was over and you were pushed out of the room. Phew… Wasn’t that easy? But you still haven’t thought of something to tell Hoseok, though. Nevermind, you’d probably be better off improvising.

Hoseok sat on the long bench in front of the x-ray room with a small plastic bag in his hand. You were sure he didn’t have that before. Beside him, sat the nurse who accepted you into the emergency room who now was talking animatedly to him.

For the first time since you entered the hospital, you got the chance to take a good look at the nurse.

Her outfit hugged her curves perfectly, no weird bumps or creases. It was as if the fit was tailored just for her. Her hair was up and away from her face in a tight and neat bun. Her makeup faded here and there from the long hours of working, no surprise there. And her glasses only complemented her whole look, making her look beautiful yet strong at the same time.

Looking at her made you wonder about how you looked in comparison.

You were still in your work out clothes that you designated for dancing. They were saggy in weird places as a sign of old age and definitely had been left forgotten in your wardrobe for a long time because you didn’t work out. The leather in your shoes also flaked in some places, indicating that you needed to buy a new pair. You knew not to buy them, though, remembering you weren’t athletic.

As you looked down on your clothes, you realized there was a giant blob of sauce stain just in between your boobs. Where- What? How did you get that? And why hadn’t you realized it until now?

You abruptly stopped yourself from self pity as the nurse pushed you closer to them. If you didn't have beauty or grace or sexiness, at least you had confidence.

The nurse Hoseok was talking to was the first to notice your arrival.

She stood up and asked you, “Are you alright? Do you need a painkiller?”

She was nice, too. No wonder Hoseok would be interested in her.

For a second you imagined what it felt like for someone to be interested in you. You haven’t felt that in a long time. Not that you missed the feeling, you were content with being single and had no intention to date anyone. At least not while your ankles still hurt.

You shook your head. “It’s not that painful.” You turned to the nurse who pushed your wheelchair. “When will the result come out?”

“In a few minutes. For now, you can wait here or in the emergency room.”

You looked at Hoseok, expecting him to answer for you.

He immediately took the cue. “We’ll wait here. Thank you.”

“Alright. I’ll direct you to the doctor’s office once the results are out.”

You mumbled a “thank you” before the nurse left.

The other nurse, who talked to Hoseok earlier, though, didn’t leave as much as you wanted her to. Instead, she sat back beside him and continued the conversation like nothing happened. Like you weren’t even there.

“When I get off my shift later, do you want to grab supper?” she asked while batting her thick lashes. Were nurses allowed to wear fake lashes, you wondered.

Just like the Hoseok you knew, he turned down the offer politely. “Sorry, I don’t really eat supper.”

She pouted in an attempt to look cute. But honestly, with the makeup and sexy clothes, her cuteness was uncalled for.

Gosh you wished you were as sexy or pretty as her, surely you could get any man you want. Nope, you were still happy with being single.

“What about tomorrow? I get bored on Saturdays.”

“I-” His eyes flicked around the room. “I need to check my schedule first.”

Her face lit up. “Text me, okay?” And just like how she didn’t wait for your answer earlier, she left without waiting for his.

You grimaced at their awkward conversation. “She seems… nice.” It came out more like a question.

He exhaled long and hard as if he held his breath the entire time. “And too much.”

“What-?” you sputtered. “She was blatantly asking you out.”

“Yeah, I know that. That’s why she’s too much.”

A question crossed your mind. “Have you known each other for a long time?”

“Not really. But since the number of my students blew up, injuries became more common, so...”

“Oh.” You nodded understandingly.

You suddenly remembered that you had to comfort him.

“You’re actually a great teacher, you know. At least that’s the review from Google. You have 4.8 stars! That’s awesome.” At this point you just blurted out anything nice to him. “My favorite restaurant only has 3.6 stars.” And by anything, you meant everything.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Thanks?"

“No problem.”

“What about you, though? What do you think of my teaching skills?”

Once again, his questions caught you off guard.

It was still fresh in your mind about the day you signed up for a class with him. How he answered all your questions with his smile never leaving his face. The day of your first class with him, he explained the basics with so much patience. He never said no whenever you asked him to show the moves again and again and again. And today, he took you to the hospital and even waited with you through all the procedures.

He was an extraordinary teacher. And person.

But there was no way you could say all that. It would only embarrass you more.

“I think you’re… nice.”

He furrowed his eyebrows deeper at your words. He surely would get wrinkles early if he kept frowning like that. And that would be so bad for his handsome face.

Okay, maybe it was better if you said all that in the first place.

“I mean,” you spoke up again, trying to redeem yourself. “You’re the best teacher I’ve ever met. You’re nice, understanding, and patient. Something I rarely see in other teachers.” And handsome, you wanted to add, but it was a story for another day.

He finally no longer furrowed his eyebrows.

“May I ask you a question?” he asked quietly.

Another question from him wouldn't hurt, right? “Sure.”

“Why did you decide to try dancing if you knew you weren’t good with ‘physical stuff’?” He did the airquote thing. “Sorry if it’s too personal.”

“No, it’s alright.” You chuckled. “Remember the friends that kept telling me I’m clumsy?”

He nodded.

“Well, they were kinda the reason.”

“Okay…”

You took a deep inhale. “We’ve been friends since the third grade of primary school. We’re basically inseparable. But as close as we are, we have different lives.”

“I understand.”

“One is an athlete. She’s a swimmer and takes part in a lot of national championships. The second one is not as athletic, but she does golf in her free time. She’s extremely good, though. The last one is a pole dancer and she really takes pride in it. So far, I’m the only one who doesn’t really do physical things. In fact, I’m not into physical activities at all.”

“That’s alright. Everyone is different. What do you do?”

“I loved studying.”

“Loved?”

You took multiple deep breaths to prepare yourself to come with the truth. “They always make fun of me for liking reading over physical activities. Until one point I can’t even look at books anymore.” You bit your bottom lip. “They even made a different pact and left me out.”

Books were an important part of your life. And reading was the only time when you could let yourself go from the harshness of the world. The time when you could forget your problems, or even who you were, for a little while. Knowing your friends didn’t like that made you question yourself.

“I think studying is important.” He commented. “If no one is studying, no one will get to be anything.”

“I know that. And I wanted to learn how to be more physically active. That’s why I took this dancing class.” Then you added, ”It’s actually my last resort. I’ve tried and failed other activities.”

“I don’t think you should listen to them. Even your oldest friends can’t be right all the time.” He smiled reassuringly. “Thanks for sharing your problem with me. I’m gonna show you just how amazing non-physical activities can be.”

He looked down on his lap and immediately handed you the plastic bag he'd been holding. "The nurse gave it to me, but you can have it instead."

You accepted the bag and peered inside. There was a loaf of bread, still looking fresh and warm.

After that, everything just flew by. Maybe because you were tired and the day was almost over, or maybe because you had Hoseok beside you, who made waiting felt fun. Or maybe both, who knew.

Soon the results came out and the nurse took you to the doctor’s office with Hoseok following in tow. The doctor explained everything and helped you, along with Hoseok, to get used to walking with crutches. You were also given some pills to ease the pain. And after all that, off you go.

You were back in Hoseok’s car, heading home. Somehow, the smell of his obnoxious orange car freshener smelt comforting compared to the hospital’s disinfectant.

“You really shouldn’t have waited for me.” You glanced at the time on your phone. It was almost midnight. “It’s really late now. I’ll have to give you a big tip later.”

He laughed. It sounded like heaven in your ears. “There’s no need for that. I’m just concerned with your health. Plus, I do this to all of my students. Think of it like part of my service.”

You giggled. “Alright, if you say so.”

He snorted. “One time, a student was even left all day in the hospital by their parents so I had to wait overnight until they came.”

“That’s horrible. Don’t they care about their kid?”

"They do. But they care more about their alcohol."

"I take it they were drunk while their kid was injured?"

"Apparently their stress response is getting drunk."

"Oh my…"

"When I say you're not even half bad as my other students, you have to believe it."

Proving to you one more time about how much of a gentleman he was, once you arrived at your apartment building, he parked his car and helped you out of the car. He guided you all the way to your apartment, making sure you weren't hurt on the way. Maybe you really should find a man like him. Or maybe… him himself?

Nah, you weren’t looking for a partner, remember?

He helped you settle down and was about to leave when he stopped in the middle of the doorway.

He turned around. “Wait. Do you live here alone?”

“Why?”

Instead of answering your question, he blurted another question. “Does your family live nearby?”

“They live outside of the city. Why?”

He looked like he was deep in thought before shaking his head. “Nothing. I’ll just come back tomorrow to help you since you’re alone.”

You weren’t one to stop a handsome guy from helping you, but you already owed so many favours for him.

“You have a date with the nurse, remember?”

He scoffed. “I told her I need to check my schedule. Looks like it’ll be full.”

Okay…

A question suddenly came out of your mouth, "Why do you keep helping me? I have no use for you. I can't attend your classes anymore."

It was true. You wouldn’t be able to do any physical activities, including dancing, for a few months. Not to mention your lack of athletic abilities that would demotivate you from trying to dance again even after you recovered.

At first, he looked startled. His eyes widened and mouth agape. But then he quickly regained his composure before answering, "Is it wrong if I think of us as… friends? Are we not friends after all of this?" He gestured to your leg.

You gestured to your surroundings. "But friends don't do this. My friends don’t do this.”

"Don’t base your understanding on them. They're not good friends, Y/n. I'm sorry.”

“But-” You really wanted to counter his argument, defend your oldest friends. But you knew deep down that he was right and there was nothing you could do.

“Let me be a good friend for you, okay?" he said as he linked his pinky to yours. Marking his promise and the start of your friendship.

He wasn’t one to break promises and you knew it firsthand. Had you known him before, you would’ve tossed your friends long ago.

Over the course of a week, he’d shown you care more than what you’ve gotten from your friends your entire friendship.

He cooked you breakfast, because he said that you had to stop eating junk food if you wanted to recover fast.

“Athletic or not, health is very important,” he said.

“Yes.”

“That means you need to eat healthy, Y/n.” He rolled his eyes. “And don’t even try to give me the puppy eyes, it won’t work on me.”

He force fed you your meds when you intentionally forgot about them.

“I put your meds directly beside your glass and you still managed to forget?” he yelled. “Drink it, or I’ll leave this instant.”

At his threat, you immediately took them. You enjoyed his company and weren’t ready to have him leaving you.

Because he noticed how sullen you looked when you realized you couldn’t go out, he tried to cheer you up by dancing crazily to a song playing on the TV. He waved his arms randomly and went around you while yelling incomprehensibly.

“Can you feel the energy, Y/n?” he asked in between his yells.

“No. Stop before the neighbors complain! You’re too loud!” You cupped both ears with your hands.

“Tell me you feel the energy then I’ll stop.”

You chuckled. “Fine. Yes, I feel the energy. Now, stop!”

He abruptly stopped and threw himself beside you on the couch.

“Ew, you’re sweaty. Get off of my couch!”

Among everything that Hoseok had to help you with, adulting was the hardest. In particular, the working part of adulting. Obviously, you needed to take a leave for a month and in order to do that, you first had to go through your boss’ wrath. Fortunately, a certain man with the stage name j-hope was ready to help you.

“It’s gonna be easy. I mean, how scary can bosses be.” He dismissed your worries with a wave of his hand.

“Very scary, I warn you.”

Contrary to his belief, after the phone call with your boss ended, Hoseok was scarred for life. Bosses were indeed scary, especially your boss.

With wide eyes, he whispered, “Never ask me to call your boss again. He’s literally a devil in disguise.”

“But did I get permission to take a leave?”

“Oh, shit! I forgot about that.”

“Hoseok!”

When he had a class to teach, you tried to fill the void by texting your older friends. But as expected, they instead made you even worse.

One said, "Hope you get well soon. We'll come back once we're not too busy."

What about the two others? Well, they only read and liked your messages.

That was alright, right? They all had their own lives and were probably busy. It wasn’t like your injury was a big deal anyways… right? There was no need for them to be worried about you or shower you with attention or visit you. Yeah, that was absolutely normal… not.

There was no need for moping around, though. The next day, your old friends and your knight in hypebeast clothes came over. Yes, said knight was Hoseok. Yes, they came at the same time. It was okay to have a handsome man and your way-past-hormonal-stage friends to be in the same place at the same time. Or at least that was what you initially thought.

"Y/n," one of your friends said with a frown on her face. "What happened? We were so worried."

You almost wanted to roll your eyes. They didn't seem that worried when you texted them yesterday.

“And who’s this?” another friend asked while staring at Hoseok. And it wasn’t a nice stare either, more like a judging stare.

You scowled, but still tried to keep some decency. “This is my friend slash dance teacher, Hoseok. Hoseok, these are my friends that I told you about.”

The last one of your friends was the first to shake his hand. “Wow. Is that so? I hope you only hear nice things.”

At that, both you and Hoseok faked a laugh. Your friends didn’t seem to realize though.

“Yeah, nice things indeed,” you commented once your laugh died down.

You were in the middle of talking and catching up with your friends while Hoseok interjected here and there when you needed to go to the restroom. Both to relieve yourself and to hide from the awkwardness for a while. It always felt weird to merge two friend groups.

“Guys, Imma go pee for a bit, okay?”

Hoseok instinctively stood up to help you, but you gestured to him to sit back down. “I got this, don’t worry.” You gave him a small smile and went to the bathroom.

Sure it did take longer for you to just pee compared to when you weren’t injured, but it still didn’t take too long in your opinion. The cast made everything more complicated, but not particularly harder. However, when you were flushing down the toilet, you heard some talking noises, way louder than usual. It sounded more like angry yellings. And as you were washing your hands, you heard a slam of a door. What was happening?

Couldn’t stand to not know what just happened any longer, you quickly finished your business and went out, only to find your once full-of-guests living room now bare with just Hoseok in it. All the while, Hoseok was cleaning up the coffee table while humming a tune.

“Where-?"

You didn’t even get to finish your question when he answered, “Your friends left.“

“So soon?”

He shrugged as he tossed away the cloth he used to clean. “They probably have things to do.”

“And they didn’t even say goodbye to me.” You sighed and plopped yourself on the couch. “I only heard loud noises and a door closing. They didn’t say anything to you?”

“Nope. But, I told them to get their life together before criticising people.”

Your eyes widened in surprise. Never in your friendship with your friends had you ever told them off like that. Sure they weren’t that nice, but you didn’t feel it was right to do that. Yeah, you were pretty much a coward. You scared your friends would leave you.

But to have Hoseok said that? Sure it was nice for your friends to know they were jerks, but you were surely going to lose your friends now.

You huffed and your shoulders sagged.

“What did they even do?” you asked as you watched him taking a seat beside you.

“You’ll find out. It’s better if you know it first from them.”

His answer only made you more curious and mull over what could have happened. What did they do that made a nice person like Hoseok say such a thing? Why did they leave abruptly? Would they end your friendship because of that? Would they ever explain to you what happened? So many questions were running through your head, but you couldn’t even guess the answer for any of them.

Hoseok knew how much you were distraught by what happened, so he, being the sunshine that he was, took you to watch him teaching dance to little kids.

“I’d be the oldest student there,” you whined.

“You come not as a student.” He laughed. “You come as my friend.”

“They’d be embarrassed if I watch along.”

“No way. They’re cool with it.” Then he added, “And cute.”

He wasn’t one to lie. The kids were indeed adorable. And their parents were also nice. While you were talking to the parents, the kids occasionally went to you to show you or ask you something. Mostly to ask you what happened to your foot. But one asked you a question that made your cheek heat up for the rest of the class.

“Are you Uncle Hobi’s girlfriend?”

“Oh- Umm…” you stuttered. “I-”

The parent quickly cut it before you could answer. “Don’t ask a question like that!”

“But I’m curious since he said he likes someone.”

You wondered who he liked, but you knew better than to gossip about romance with a kid. So in the end, you refrained yourself from asking.

Once the class finished, Hoseok came up to you with a proud grin and a sweaty body.

“How was it?”

“You were right. They were cute. But one little birdie told me something.” You smirk.

“Oh, no. I don’t want to see that face.”

“C’mon. Just answer me. Who are you crushing on, Hobi?”

He groaned. “You knew about my crush and the nickname. I shouldn’t have brought you here. This was a bad idea.”

“I think it’s fun,” you teased. “Now, entertain me.”

He sighed. “It’s a girl I know from one of my classes.”

“Not the nurse, huh?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Never the nurse. Did that answer your question?”

“Not really. But I’ll take it for now since you’re stinky. Go take a shower!”

“Yes, ma’am.” He laughed.

His Friday schedule, that used to be filled with a class with you, was now empty. He was a high-demand teacher, his empty classes were almost instantly filled, but no one really wanted to have a class on a Friday evening. That was reserved for laying in bed and nothing else.

So, instead of letting you mope around during the time which you should have been having a class, Hoseok took you to his secret space on the other side of the dance studio. Secret space because no one in the world knew what was inside aside from him and one curious student that accidentally found it.

Hope World was the name. Such a fitting name for a place with a warm atmosphere, two huge speakers, several smaller speakers, and two giant monitors. There were also a lot of hypebeast plushies and decorations. On the couch, on the table, even on the floor, covering most of the surface in the room.

You took a seat on the couch while feeling its soft surface beneath your hand. “What is this place?”

“This is where I make music. I’m a dance teacher by day and a music producer by night.” He grinned.

“Why did you decide to show me this? This seems… personal.”

“Because I want you to know that there’s nothing wrong with doing the things you like.” He turned on the computer and played a song.

“The song is called Blue Side. For a long time, I have had problems finishing this song. But then I found the final piece.”

“What was it?”

“I needed to let go of my past happiness for a greater happiness,” he answered without hesitation, as if he already rehearsed that. “That’s kinda the gist of the song, too. And I think you need that advice right now.”

He was right. Sacrificing your past happiness that was your old friends would probably change your life drastically. You needn't seek their validation in anything you do. Only you mattered because you were the one living your life. Question was, were you ready to let them go?

You looked at him in his eyes. A small smile played on your lips. “Thank you.”

He smiled back before going back to his computer to change the song.

“Okay enough of depressing shit. Let’s dance!” He carefully took your hands in his and pulled you up on your feet.

“I can’t dance,” you whined. “With or without the cast.”

“We’re not doing that kind of dance, you doofus. We’re just swaying along to the song.” He wrapped an arm around your waist so you could follow his sways easier. On instinct, you wrapped your arms around his neck.

He swayed ever so slightly, following along the rhythm of the song. The melody filled around the room, into your ears, and out of it again. Hoseok’s strong hands held you, making sure you were steady and wouldn’t topple over. The smell of the room that was so Hoseok, you were pretty sure he used his own perfume to freshen his room. Yet, among all of these foreign things, you felt just right. You felt home.

Once you got the hang of it, you laughed. “This is the easiest dance move you’ve ever taught me.”

“Glad you think this is the easiest because I don’t know any other easier moves.”

“Well, I’m sorry for being unathletic,” you defended yourself. “I didn’t ask to be born like this.”

“What? Born naturally gorgeous?” Soon after those words left his mouth, he looked anywhere else but you, totally pretending like nothing happened.

With cheeks burning, you complained, “You can’t say that and pretend nothing happened.”

He looked back at you and laughed. “Why? Are you shy?”

You punched his chest in a joking manner.

It was when the song stopped when you realized how close you were to Hoseok. You could even smell his cologne, see his tiny freckles scattered on his face, and feel his breath that smelled like mint, a sure sign he ate too many mints. If he was handsome from a distance, he was mesmerizing up close.

Your eyes found his and you saw how captivating his eyes were. Pools of warm brown eyes, deep enough to drown and hypnotize you. And when he smiled, they turned into crescents with wrinkles at the side. Simply put, he had the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen.

Your mind snapped back into reality and you immediately let go of him in a panic. Just as you let him go, he also let you go on instinct, making you unable to keep your balance and struggle to find your footing.

“Oh, shit!” He steadied you again with his hands on your waist. “Are you alright?”

Your eyes widened at the event that just unfolded. “Yeah. Thanks for saving my life again.”

“Just so you know, I don’t mind saving you repeatedly if that’s what I need to do to keep you alright.”

It was safe to say that his words echoed in your mind for the rest of the day.

The next day, your questions from the previous days were answered.

“We’re very sorry about what we did,” one of your friends said as soon as they entered your apartment.

“Is this about when you guys left a few days ago?”

“Yes. But we have a reason for that,” another friend answered.

“And the reason being?” You raised an eyebrow, anticipating what was coming next.

You were no longer sure if you wanted to hear it.

“We-”

“We talked shit about you to Hoseok,” the last one interjected. Always to the point, that one.

“We’re very sorry. I know it was wrong and stupid of us to do that. We get it if you don’t want to befriend us anymore,” the first one spoke up again.

Sure you felt sad, but a part of you knew that this had been happening long before. It was more like you waited for them to finally come clean and confess to them, so you weren’t surprised at all. And with them coming clean, you were relieved. You could finally let them go in peace. Just like what Hoseok had said.

You nodded your head slowly. You didn’t have the strength to even look at them in their eyes. “Thanks for being honest with me and for being my best friends all this time. But everything has an end and I think this is ours.”

“I assume they have apologized?” Hoseok asked after looking at your bright smile. The smile of a person who could finally let go of their burdens.

It was Sunday, the day after your friends confessed, and you were stuck in the library with him. While you wanted to listen more to his songs, he wanted to take you to the library. It took a bit of bickering, but he won in the end since you both had never been to a library together before.

“Yes. Thanks for defending me. You didn’t need to do that.” You reached for a book that was too high.

Hoseok came behind you and grabbed the book before handing it to you. “Hadn’t I done that, they’d still walk all over you.”

Oh how true his words were, but you weren’t going to admit that.

“Whatever. I’m still grateful, though.”

“You’re very welcome.”

You sat at a corner and he followed suit, sitting right beside you.

“And what did you say to them?” he asked.

You shrugged. “I don’t remember, but what’s important is that I cut ties with them. I did exactly what you had taught me.”

“I know you’re a good student. Always diligent and curious. And a fast learner, too.”

“Aren’t you proud of me?” You grinned at him.

“I’m always proud of you, ever since the first day you joined my class.”

Sure, there were days in which you wished you were more athletic, but if it weren’t for your lack of athleticism, you wouldn’t have been this close with Hoseok. Or ending your toxic friendship. So you gotta give the credits where it was due.

“Last lesson, enjoy the things you love to do unapologetically.”

“One question, what was your past happiness?”

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[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 45 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Aiden’s jealousy worsened, and Bianca invited Courtney to lunch.

This Chapter: Courtney, Adore and Violet all receive unexpected invitations.

***

It was kind of amazing. How Courtney could be sitting across from one of the most influential, powerful women in New York and feel so...well, comfortable. She knew that any sane person would feel horribly intimidated in this situation, but Bianca just kept on making her laugh so much, it was like she forgot to be nervous. Or...well, she wasn’t exactly not nervous, but it was a fluttery kind of excited nervous, curling pleasantly in her abdomen as they bantered back and forth.

“So...what class are you taking later?” Bianca asked, stirring her latte.

“It’s a street jazz class at BDC,” Courtney replied.

“BDC?” Bianca raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it stands for Broadway Dance Cen-”

“Yeah, I know what BDC is, I’m not a moron,” Bianca interrupted, and Courtney bit back a laugh, finding her abrasive style somehow endearing. “I just didn’t realize you were a dancer.”

“Oh. I’m not really. I just uh...want to get into music. Eventually. Like, pop music. When I got to New York, I went on a bunch of auditions, and I realized that my dance background was nowhere near strong enough to be competitive-” Courtney stopped abruptly. Was she saying too much? As nice as Bianca was, she was also one of Fame’s best friends.

Bianca didn’t seem concerned though, simply listening, nodding, a soft smile on her face. She really was so beautiful. Courtney’s heart hammered a bit faster.

“Do you mind...um...not telling Miss Fame about that? I don’t want her to think I’m not committed. I just, feel like she’d disapprove, and I really need that job, so-”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” Bianca’s smile deepened, dark eyes shining.

“Thanks.” Courtney smiled back as the waitress set down their food, relieved.

“So how’d you end up at Galactica, anyway? It’s not exactly a direct path from there to being a pop star.”

“Uh, it’s kind of a long story. I was applying for like, any job that would let me stay in the country, and when I saw the opening with Miss Fame, I was thrilled. And then Adore and I were at this club, and we ran into Violet, and...I guess she kind of put in a good word for me.”

“Huh. I wouldn’t have expected that,” Bianca mused.

“Why not?”

“Well, it’s just… Violet’s always seemed a bit...uptight as fuck?”

Courtney had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud, explaining, “She takes her work very seriously.”

“Oh yeah?” One of Bianca’s brows raised a little, challenging. “Do you?”

“Of course! I’m so lucky to have that job, a million girls would kill to be in my shoes. And Miss Fame, you know, she’s a great boss.” Courtney blinked at Bianca, watching her muffle a laugh with her hand. “What?”

“No, nothing. You’re just cute when you lie.”

That fluttery feeling was back in Courtney’s belly, stronger than ever, as she insisted, “I’m not lying! She’s great! You’re her best friend, you should know-”

“Exactly. I’m her best friend. That’s how I know you’re lying.” Bianca bit down on a sweet potato fry, eyes twinkling.

“Okay, maybe she’s a little…”

“Yes?”

“Well, she’s not the easiest boss, or the most predictable, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a good one.” Courtney crossed her arms, a pretend little pout on her lips.

“Fair enough.”

And with that particular landmine safely side-stepped, Courtney let out a relieved sigh.

“Hey, uh, here’s a question. Do you have any Thanksgiving plans? I know you’re not American, so-”

“Really, what gave that away?” Courtney asked, lashes fluttering.

“Lucky guess,” Bianca laughed. “Anyway, Adore and I usually go home to New Orleans. But my sister Liz is going through a divorce and she’s apparently just an absolute cunt to anyone who dares even look at her. So we decided to stay in town and avoid that nightmare altogether.”

“That’s nice. Very supportive.”

“Hey, I’m paying for her attorney,” Bianca defended herself, and Courtney laughed. Of course she was paying for her sister’s divorce attorney; she was quickly proving to be one of the most generous people Courtney’d ever met. “But yeah, so...would you have any interest in joining us?”

“Really?”

“Sure. I know Adore would love to have you there,” Bianca said quickly, and after a moment of hesitation, added, “And hey, I’d like to encourage her to hang out with people who read. So, you know, win win.”

Courtney bit her lip, Bianca’s sarcastic deflection as she folded up a napkin in her hands making the whole thing painfully cute.

“No pressure, I just, uh...wanted you to know you’re welcome.”

“I would love to,” Courtney said, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the invite, knowing that this was a holiday people spent with family. “I should warn you though, I just went vegan.”

“Oh shit, invite rescinded.”

Courtney giggled, twirling a lock of her hair. “I know, I've already lost 3 friends over it. And I think I’m on very thin ice with Adore. Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s no big deal. I actually eat a lot of vegan food, even tried it myself for a few years,” Bianca said. “I am a lesbian, after all.”

Courtney leaned forward, intrigued. “Is that like a thing?”

“Oh yeah,” Bianca nodded.

“Why do you think that is?” Courtney asked, lifting her glass to her lips, trying to find the straw without looking.

Bianca thought for a moment and then said, “Well...part of it is probably just lefty-feminist politics. And then of course there’s the purely unscientific belief that a plant-based diet makes your pussy taste amazing.”

Courtney choked, spitting out some of her smoothie, cheeks flushing hotly.

A mischievous smile spread across Bianca’s face as she handed over some napkins. She looked both terribly amused and a bit proud of herself.

“Sorry,” Courtney sputtered, wiping up the mess. “I was...not prepared for that.”

“I hope I didn’t destroy your innocence,” Bianca said, voice soft and teasing.

“I’m not that fragile. I’ve been Adore’s best friend for 4 years, remember?” Courtney reminded her.

“Right.”

As Courtney set down the napkins, she looked up and caught Bianca’s eyes again, both of them breaking out into matching grins. She couldn’t quite explain the way her heart thumped faster every time they looked at each other--all she knew was that looking into Bianca’s warm brown eyes, she felt better than she had in months.

***

“Fame?”

Patrick toed his shoes off, resisting the urge to dump his tennis bag by the door. He played tennis every other Saturday morning, tennis and his occasional swims the only form of exercise he had ever found bearable, even though Fame had tried to get him turned into yoga more times than he could count.

Patrick waited for a second, either expecting his wife or his dog to come down to greet him, but neither happened, instead,  all he could hear was the faint sound of the TV.

“Fame? Darling?”

Patrick put his bag down, vowing to himself that he’d remember to come back and pick it up, before he made his way into their townhouse.

He found her in the living room. Fame was sitting on the couch in a silk robe, the TV on, the curtains drawn, Charles' head resting on her lap.

“Did you have fun?”

“We finished 5 sets.” Patrick smiled, Fame not actually asking how he had done at tennis, the rules of the game on the long list of things she didn’t care about, though she had shown up to watch him play, the shorts apparently making it worth it. He walked over to the couch, sitting down and leaning in to give his wife a kiss on the cheek, when he felt Fame’s hand on his face, blocking him.

“Don’t-” Fame turned her head, pulling herself away from her show as she looked at Patrick through her fingers. “I just had my skin done, and I refuse to let you mess up my microneedling.”

“Ah. Glad it’s not a chemical peel month.” Fame always looked absolutely insane after those, her skin flaking off. It was rather disgusting, and he tried not to be around for those, seeing your wife shed like a lizard weirdly enough rarely doing wonders for a sex life.

“Shut up.”

Patrick grinned, and Fame smiled as she pushed him back, Patrick settling in on the couch so Fame could snuggle up against him, her head resting on his shoulder. “And what are we watching?”

“Snapped.”

Patrick had to hide a snort, Fame absolutely devouring any and all true crime media. When she’d first gotten addicted to that particular show, all about women who murdered their partners, he’d wonder if she was trying to tell him something. Her response when he’d asked, “Keep asking questions like that and you’ll find out,” had made him burst out laughing, his wife’s sardonic, grisly sense of humor one of the things he loved the most about her, only coming out in rare instances but always a delightful surprise. Almost as surprising as her porcelain chicken collection.

“Your bag better not be flung anywhere.”

Ah.

Busted.

***

Katya hummed to herself as she was setting the table, a bottle of wine for Trixie and sparkling water for her chilling in the fridge.

Trixie was locked up in their bedroom, working away on the cost predictions for the Spring prêt-à-porter collection, sweating over numbers and doing everything he could to make sure everything was running smoothly.

He had promised her to come out for dinner, so Katya had arranged a surprise, a gigantic order of Chipotle on its way.

“Hey Katya?”

Katya looked up from where she had been folding the napkin, to see Pearl leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed. She was wearing a pair of drop-crotch sweats and a sleeveless jersey tied up around her midriff, certainly not her typical going-out clothes. Was it possible that she was staying in? On a Saturday?

“Everything okay?”

Pearl gave a slow, unconvincing nod, walking forward a few steps.

“Are you sure about that?”

“How did you know that you wanted to be with Trixie forever?”

Katya paused, the napkin still in her hand as she considered Pearl’s question. Normally, she would have made a joke about Trixie’s luscious butt, but judging from Pearl’s face, this wasn’t the time.

“I honestly…still don’t know.”

“Please,” Pearl sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Katya smiled. Pearl and Trixie had been friends for forever, but they didn’t become best friends until after Katya and Trixie had started dating, Pearl moving in with Trixie while she was in rehab for that final time. “I liked being single. I liked having little whirlwind romantic flings and then going back to starfishing across the bed when they were over.”

Pearl laughed, shaking her head, and Katya declared a small victory for making her crack a smile.

“If I’d been single forever, I’d have been perfectly fine.”

Maybe not perfectly fine, but Pearl didn’t need to know that, the things Katya had done before Trixie came into her life not really things she was particularly proud of.

“I liked being free.” Katya shrugged, trying it out.

“Mmmh?”

Bingo.

Katya hid a smirk, Pearl straightening up the moment freedom had been mentioned.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Pearl was struggling in her relationship with Adore, that her friend was probably freaking out about being with someone for any extended amount of time, since Katya had never seen Pearl do anything like what she doing now, long-term relationships not really the Liaison brand.

“But I met Trix, and I like him more than freedom. Or, well, that’s not really accurate. Actually…” Katya sat down beside Pearl. “The truth is, I feel my freest when I’m with him. Knowing that he’s in my corner. But I mean, knowing for sure? I just don’t think certainty is in my nature. Luckily, it’s in his. That’s why we’re a good team.”

“Yeah. That makes sense. You guys are a good team.” Pearl sighed.

“Do you feel like you guys are a good team?” Katya asked carefully.

“Sometimes. I mean...we’re a lot alike. Maybe too much alike. I dunno.” Pearl avoided Katya’s gaze.

“Here’s a question...are you happier with her, or without her?” Katya asked.

“I...don’t know.”

Katya reached for Pearl’s hand. “Pearl, listen. I like Adore, a lot actually. I think she’s sweet and beautiful and funny and she obviously cares about you so much. But I also think that stringing her along when you’re feeling like this...it’s not fair to either of you.”

“I just don’t want to give up so fast!” Pearl exclaimed. “I always do that. I promised myself that I would actually try this time.”

“Well, then maybe you just need to be reminded of why you got together in the first place.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Also...now I don’t want to sound like I’m preaching here,” Katya began.

“No, it’s fine. I asked for your opinion,” Pearl said.

“Well...in my experience...it’s really hard to maintain any kind of real relationship--friendship, romantic, whatever--if you prioritize your ego over the other person’s feelings.”

Pearl blinked at her for a few seconds, letting the comment sink in, before dropping her head to the table with a soft, “fuck…”

Katya chuckled and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. “You’ll be alright.”

***

“Drink drink drink drink drink drink drink drink YEAHHHHHHH!” The girls cheered as Adore finished her beer and slammed the empty glass down on the table.

Adore laughed, wiping her mouth, looking around at the group. Originally, when Courtney had introduced her to these girls years ago as “my sorority sisters,” she was picturing stuck-up, prissy little spoiled brats, who would judge her and never accept her - the punk rock lesbian who walked around in bare feet and no bra most of the time.

She was pleasantly surprised when they ended up being fun, and mostly turned their Mean Girls Judgement on others, or each other. Somehow Adore became the untouchable and beloved mascot of the group, the cool, alternative one who gave them all street cred. Tyra loved her because they were both from the South, both from big families and both of them possessed deeply developed bullshit detectors. Tati enjoyed doing shots with her and wreaking havoc (and was good for a sloppy drunken makeout session at least a few times a year) and Morgan - well, Morgan was kind of a cunt, but in the very best way. It was part of her charm, and, as she explained it, part of her Scottish heritage.

This night out with her friends was exactly what she needed to take her mind off her current relationship drama. She’d only spoken to Pearl once since their fight the other day, and it was tense, Pearl claiming to be running into a meeting. After that, nothing. No messages, no calls--she still wasn’t 100% sure where things stood between them.

Adore turned to Courtney, who absentmindedly stirred her drink with a straw, staring into space. She’d already noticed a bit of a change in her mood from a week ago - there was definitely something lighter about her. Still, quiet wistfulness wasn’t her general M.O. in a club - usually she was the first one on the dance floor. Adore nudged her gently with a hip.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” Courtney turned to her with a little smile, green eyes soft.

“Are you having fun?”

“Of course! I always have fun with you,” she said, wrapping her arms around Adore’s waist and cuddling closer, laying a head on her shoulder.

Adore pressed the kiss to the top of her head before asking the other question on her mind, “So...um...what’s going on with you and my sister?”

Courtney’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I heard you hung out today…and that you’re joining us for Thanksgiving?”

“Oh. Right. No, I just ran into her by chance.”

“Where the hell are you hanging out, where you run into someone like that?” Morgan asked. “The fuckin’ SoHo house?”

“It was a bookstore.”

“Ugh, smart bitch.”

“And like…she bought me lunch because she knows I’m poor,” Courtney explained, “and since you guys will be in town and I don’t have family here, she just asked if I wanted to come.”

“Oh yeah, no big deal,” Tyra cut in, “She just took you on a date and then invited you to a family holiday…”

“It wasn’t a date!” Courtney said, laughing. “It was really all just very casual. She was just being nice.”

“Being nice for no reason. Sounds like Bianca alright,” Adore said, one eyebrow raised, and Courtney giggled again, shrugging.

“Maybe she’s nicer than you think.”

“Listen, Courtney, I’m glad you’re gonna be there because I love you. But just...you know, my sister is very...uh…”

“Yeah?”

“No, she’s great. Like, she’s the best. But…” Adore trailed off, grabbing a shot from the round Morgan was setting on the table and tossing it back.

It felt weird to be having this conversation. Did she really need to warn Courtney about Bianca? After all, B had joked about hitting on her before but never actually done anything. And what would she even say? ‘My sister is very good at charming the pants off every girl who catches her attention--especially the blondes’? ‘Beware the dimples’? She was certain that Bianca would never make a move on someone who didn’t want it, so...why not just leave it alone?

“You know what? Nevermind. Whose phone is that?” Adore felt her pocket, realizing that the out of control buzzing was her own phone--hopefully not her sister being an impatient cunt about Courtney’s number.

PEARL: Hey. I’m sorry about how I acted on Thursday.

PEARL: And yesterday

PEARL: There’s a warehouse party in Brooklyn tomorrow

PEARL: At the navy yard. Wanna go?

PEARL: It’s right by Grimaldi’s…

PEARL: Best pizza in NY

PEARL: My treat

ADORE: So you like pizza again, huh?

PEARL: It’s my favorite ;)

ADORE: Lol, okay, I’m in. <3

Adore looked back up at her friends, grinning at the group. “Let’s go dance!”

***

Sutan wasn’t nervous.

He wasn’t, because that would be ridiculous.

Sutan took a sip of his coffee, watching people walk by the cafe he was sitting at. It was a surprisingly sunny Saturday for October, the air crisp and fresh. He had already waited for 20 minutes, Violet once again late, but Sutan had asked for a chocolate croissant with his first cup of coffee, his girlfriend's time management skills surprisingly terrible.

Sutan was planning to invite Violet to Aspen with him, Raja and Raven for their annual ski trip. It was a tradition of theirs, Raja and he owning a cabin together that they visited every year. He wasn’t a brilliant skier, but he liked the mountain air, the sense of freedom, and of being disconnected while out on the slopes.

He had thought about inviting Violet along for weeks, Raven needling him about whether or not Violet would be coming with him.

Sutan wanted Violet to join them. Wanted to see her all dressed up in winter wear, wanted to teach her how to ski and have drinks by the fire in the evening.

There was just the teeny tiny insignificant detail, that the last time he had asked someone to come with him and Raja to Aspen, it had been a terrible time.

He didn’t hate Kahmora, at least not any more, their divorce lasting longer than their marriage, but he still felt a sense of dread every time he visited L.A. - which was why he avoided the city as much as he could, Kahmora thankfully relocating once they severed ties.

Violet wasn’t Kahmora though, actually, they were as different as day and night.

“Hey.”

Sutan turned his head to see Violet come walking towards him, her coat closely around her, her new bag in hand, and Sutan was glad he had splurged for the largest model Dior made, the purse already stuffed.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Violet pressed a kiss against his cheek, sliding in on the other side of the table, her dress brushing against him. “Have you eaten?”

“I was waiting for you.”

Violet didn’t need to know that he already finished a chocolate croissant, that sin between him and his trainer.

“Ah,” Violet looked guilty for a second, brushing a bit of her hair behind her ear, her earring of the day a tiny golden hook. “Sorry, I was at work and time just flew by-”

“Work?” Sutan twisted his wrist, taking a peek at his Rolex. “It’s 10:33 on a Saturday?”

“I went in at 6.” Violet picked the menu up, the fact that she tried to pretend that she wasn’t going to order avocado on rye kind of cute. “I know I have to turn my dress over to tailoring sooner or later-”

“But you want to finish as much as you can?” Sutan smiled, emptying his coffee cup. “Of course.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not,” Sutan held up his hands in defense. “Promise.” He couldn’t help but sneak a peek at Violet’s right hand, her fingertips thankfully not the raw red points he had helped wrap and put ice on. “It’s just very dedicated-”

“This is my first chance to get an actual piece on the runway. It has to be perfect-” Violet was cut off as the waiter came over, Sutan hiding a grin as she ordered avocado on rye, his second breakfast a plate of scrambled eggs and salmon.

“Speaking of perfect.” Sutan moved his chair while the waiter walked away, his stomach tied up in a knot. “I was wondering, if…”

“Yes?” Violet tilted her head, clearly listening, her brow eyes resting on his face.

“If you’d like...” Sutan had no idea why this was so hard, “to come to Aspen with Raja, Raven and I in January?”

“What?” Violet looked genuinely confused.

“Raja and I own a cabin, and-”

“Like, in Colorado? Like Aspen Aspen? Like posh skiing Aspen?”

“Yes?” Sutan lifted a brow. “Do you know any other Aspen?”

“No, but I-” Violet bit her lip, her white teeth sinking into it. “I don’t know how to ski?”

“Oh,” Sutan laughed, the admission not at all what he had expected. “Well, lovely eyes.” Sutan smiled. “I can promise you, that that is not a problem.”

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 1

@taiyuu-oct

Yukino stretched, appraising her teammate for the hero vs. villain exercise they were doing. She guessed that they had some sort of slime body Quirk. Mostly because their body appeared to be made entirely out of blue slime. "So I'm guessing your Quirk is being made out of slime, Rimuru-chan?"

"Yup!" they said, despite the fact that they didn't seem to have a mouth. Or lungs. "I can basically turn myself into a liquid, or make myself super sticky. I'm weak to water and fire, so look out for those. What's your Quirk."

"Cryomancy." Yukino showed off with a small puff of white mist that didn't really do much aside from look cool. "I can freeze things, and then I get psychokinetic control over whatever I freeze. I can actually absorb fire, though I also don't like getting wet."

"Good to know. What should we do for the exercise, then?"

Yukino knelt down and started giving the Lumin they were supposed to escort to the other side of the forest pets. "Right, I'm... kinda acrophobic, so it's probably for the best if we go for the low route. That cool with you?"

"That's fine," they nodded.

"Thanks. I should probably stay with Inu-chan because my Quirk is great for defense. What do you think?"

"Sounds good, I can scout out ahead, try to see if I can find who we're supposed to be fighting."

"Sounds like a plan."

As they waited for the okay to start, Yukino pulled out her staff with a twirling flourish. Unlike the entrance exam, this time they let the students bring some basic equipment with them. Yukino had also tried to ask for a bow, but the teachers denied it when she explained that she could make arrows from ice... Though to be fair, that probably could've gotten pretty dangerous if she didn't have practice with it. Like the entrance exam, she was wearing a nice, warm hoodie, though this time she had her P.E. uniform under it.

"You two can start now," Aura-sensei told them. Rimuru-chan melted into a puddle of blue ooze, then flowed ahead of Yukino.

"C'mon," Yukino told the plant wolf. She started walking, and the wolf followed her. Yukino hummed to herself as she walked down the dirt path in the middle of the forest. One hand was on Inu-chan's head, both rubbing behind his ears and making sure neither of the villains pulled some sort of teleport surprise. She didn't think anyone in Taiyuu had a teleporting Quirk, but better to be safe than sorry, right? Her other hand was holding her staff, obviously. Yukino tried to act like she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, but in truth she was scanning the forest. She glanced around the trees. Occasionally she heard some rustling leaves in the distance, but nothing closer. Still, she didn't let her guard down.

Some time down the path, Yukino saw a rope in the middle of the path. It looked like it might have been a snare or something. Of course, the rope was almost the same color as the dirt path, so if her eyes weren't so good. "Stop," Yukino said, pushing down on Inu-chan to make him stop. She calmly held out her hand. A small blade of ice condensed from the air in front of her hand amid a puff of mist. The clear knife floated over to the rope, then dropped, propelled by her Quirk as well as gravity. The blade went clean through the rope and sunk into the ground. Half of the rope zipped off, and a second later a large rock tied to a rope fell by the side of the path.

"Right, let's go," she told the dog. Just in case, she cleaved the half of the ice knife that was still sticking out of the ground off of the rest of the knife, then shot it forward in a bit of a sweeping motion. It didn't hit anything, so she figured the path was clear for a bit. A little bit later, she heard a loud popping noise. Ball bearings spilled from a tree above the two. Yukino managed to react in time to make a hexagonal shield of ice above them. Her shield prevented them from getting hailed on by the small metal pellets, but there was still the problem of there now being ball bearings scattered on all sides of them.

Yukino growled. "That's annoying..." She snapped her fingers, and as she did her ice shield snapped into long, thin segments. Yukino floated the segments down to the ground and used them to brush the ball bearings off the path. "Is this all it's going to be?" she asked as she started walking again.

It didn't take long for Yukino to get accosted again. This time, Rimuru-chan jumped out of the foliage. "They're coming!" they shouted, then hid back in the bushes. "The girl who uses balloons and another girl with space hair! I'll try to surprise them, you hold them off!"

Yukino got into a ready stance, but couldn't help but snicker. "Balloons, huh? What's she gonna do, amuse me to death?"

"You'd be surprised," a voice said from the treetops. A spherical object fell in front of Yukino, and before she could smack it away a plume of thick smoke erupted from it.

"Smoke bomb!" Yukino shouted, then swung her staff. Frost crept along it as she swung, and as she hit the smoke bomb she generated more wind than should have been possible by swinging a staff. The smoke bomb was launched into the woods and the smoke it released was dispersed. Just in time for Yukino to see a purplish balloon heading straight for Inu-chan, as well as the clown-looking girl that threw it. Acting quickly, she swung her staff in front of Inu-chan, using telekinesis to speed it up a little. An ice shield condensed just off the staff, between Inu-chan and the balloon. The balloon hit the shield with a dull thump. Yukino snorted.

And then the balloon exploded. Technically it was probably just the balloon popping, but it exploded with so much force that it shattered the shield. Luckily Yukino regained control over the large shards before they hit Inu-chan, though it was close... Yukino threw the shards at the girl as she threw another balloon. The shards hit the balloon, exploding it with enough force to pulverize most of the ice.

"Okay, so 'balloons' is a much better power than I gave it credit for, that's on me," Yukino conceded as the diamond dust settled. She saw some blue ooze move behind the clown girl, but kept a neutral face. "Doesn't mean you're gonna win, Makku-chan."

Makku-chan giggled. "Like MacDonald's! You're funny, but I've gotta run now. Toodle-loo!" She turned and ran.

Right into Rimuru-chan. "What the heck?" she shouted as her shoes got stuck.

Rimuru-chan rose up, wrapping around her legs. "Now!" they shouted.

"You activated our trap card!" Yukino quipped as she dropped to one knee, slamming her hand into the ground. White vapor spread from her hand as a line of frost streaked to Makku-chan and Rimuru-chan. The line split just before them, flowing past them and converging on the other side as a circle. Ice froze up from the circle as it formed, forming itself into a clear dome of thick ice. The dome wasn't quite solid, though. There were small airholes out of the bottom, though rather flat and not nearly large enough for a person to squeeze through.

A normal person, anyway. Rimuru-chan seeped out from one of the holes easily. "Good," Yukino said. "I was hoping I made the holes big enough."

"Hey, you've got a dog on you," Rimuru-chan said.

"Well yeah, isn't that kinda the thing of this excercise?" Yukino said.

"No, another one." They made a pseudopod to point at something below Yukino's waist, then made an annoyed sound and changed their aim slightly.

Yukino looked down to see a dog circling around her. Not a wolf like Inu-chan; wolves are, usually, larger than dogs. Still, it was kind of on the big side. And weirdly enough, it was almost like... like the dog wasn't entirely there. Whenever Yukino tried to concentrate on where the dog was it was like it shifted and was suddenly a little to the left, or to the right. The dog walked over to Inu-chan, and Yukino decided that was probably a bad thing. She swung her staff, using her Quirk through it. The dog dodged, but Yukino was satisfied to note that it was only just barely. Yukino felt... something off when she nearly hit the dog, but she just chalked it up to whatever weird effect was around the dog. And as for where the dog came from...

Yukino looked up and saw the starry-haired girl. Except... logically she knew the girl was there somewhere, but for whatever reason Yukino couldn't tell where she was. It reminded her of the dog, just several times worse. The girl was trying to sneak up on her. Maybe. "I'm guessing the dog is yours, then?" Yukino asked.

"I suppose it's pretty obvious," she said, still walking in a direction that Yukino was only mostly sure was towards Inu-chan.

Yukino didn't bother trying to break through the effect through willpower alone. She planted her staff in the ground, letting go of it and making it stay upright with her telekinesis. She held her hands out in what she felt might be the girl's general direction, white vapor pouring from them as the air around them started to cool. The air she cooled, just barely cold enough for her telekinesis to work on it, was pulled to a point in front of her palms. A ball of white mist quickly formed from the compressed air. "That's a pretty annoying power you've got there, Lucy-chan, but I think I've got a workaround!"

Lucy-chan just barely had time to let out a confused "Wha-" before Yukino fired. The ball of compressed air decompressed in Lucy-chan's general direction. Violently. The annoying part of air control was how much Yukino had to concentrate on her air just to keep it from spreading out and becoming useless quickly even if she made it really cold. Her air blast didn't solve that problem at all, but by making it only barely below freezing she ended up with very little "cost" for what was effectively a one-use attack anyway. Of course, being just at the point where her bond broke with it also made it harder for her to feel the air with her bond, so that combined with Lucy-chan's aura of "vagueness" meant that Yukino only had a general idea of where she was.

Still, it was enough that she hopefully had her. Yukino didn't waste time as Lucy-chan reeled from the gale-force winds. She grabbed her staff and channeled her Quirk through it. She made another ice dome, this one a little bigger to make up for the fact that she wasn't entirely sure where Lucy-chan was. As soon as she saw that Lucy-chan was inside the dome, she turned back around to see Rimuru-chan grappling with Lucy-chan's dog.

"Run, I'll hold the dog off!" they said.

Yukino followed their order without complaining. "Inu-chan, come on!" she shouted. She ran as fast as she could... which admittedly wasn't that fast... Even aside from how short her strides were, Yukino was never the fastest runner. And she assumed Inu-chan was under orders to not to too fast, so when she noticed he was lagging behind she had to slow down and let him catch up. Still, she went as fast as Lumin would allow her to. Between Makku-chan's balloon having broken her ice shield and the fact that she thought she'd seen Lucy-chan summon things that weren't a disorienting dog at some point in the past month, Yukino wasn't entirely sure how long those ice domes would hold...

Speaking of... Yukino shook out her numb hands. "Ah, cold hands, cold hands!" She shoved them in her hoodie pocket to try and warm them up. "Still... I'm starting to get the feeling that I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of those ice domes."

"What are you doing, go faster!" Yukino heard Rimuru-chan shout behind her.

"Inu-chan won't go any faster!" she said.

"Can't you pick him up with your ice?"

"Oh yeah, good point." Yukino created a platform out of ice and set it down in front of Inu-chan. "C'mon, Inu-chan, get on!"

The plant wolf hesitated for a second, then got on. "Good boy!" Yukino said, petting him. "Now you get on Inu-chan," she told Rimuru-chan.

"What? Shouldn't I walk with you?"

"I have to focus on floating the platform if I want to go fast, so you should watch our backs. Now get on."

"Okay, if you say so." Rimuru-chan got on the wolf.

"Good slime!" Yukino said, petting them.

"Okay, now go!"

Yukino nodded and started running, having the ice platform float next to her. She was a little slower than she could've been because she still had to concentrate on the floating platform, but she still went a lot faster than she would've if she was just walking with Inu-chan.

They were already out of range of Yukino's ice, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good part was that that meant they were putting distance between themselves and the villains. The bad part was that Yukino couldn't tell if her ice was broken if she wasn't within range of it, so unless one of the villains picked up some of her ice after breaking their way out she had no way of telling if they were free...

"So I'm guessing I should work on restraining them so you can do that ice dome thing if they get to us again?" Rimuru-chan said after a bit.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Yukino agreed. "The only real problem with the ice domes is that they take a few seconds to form, unless I'm dealing with someone like you."

"Heh, we make a surprisingly good team, then!"

"I gues-"

"Behind us!" Rimuru-chan warned.

Yukino turned around, readying her staff. The villains were sneaking around the trees, but their stealth was pretty much ruined by the weird burning table floating near Lucy-chan... They jumped out of the bushes when Yukino turned around, ditching stealth. Yukino jammed her staff into the ground, activating her Quirk. Vapor rolled off her hands and horns as a line of frost extended from her staff in front of her, freezing up into a giant wall of ice.

"Ow, cold," Yukino said, shaking out her hands. She turned back around and started running. Hopefully that wall would...

Something weird happened to the wall. It felt like it was melting, but... not melting? Yukino looked back at the wall, seeing the remains of a giant ball of fire that had pretty much instantly melted a large hole through the wall. But... Yukino could still feel her control over... something. It was... cold air? Yukino didn't get it, but she didn't complain. She grabbed as much of the air as she could and compressed it into a ball of misty air floating in the middle of the hole. Yukino let the air loose as the villains approached the hole, blasting them back.

As they reeled from the blast Yukino flung her hands to the side, forming ice crystals with her Quirk. She noticed that that one weird table had disappeared. Maybe it had limited charges or something? Good. Though Yukino didn't like that cloud of green fog starting to grow around Lucy-chan... By the time the duo had recovered Yukino threw the two chunks of ice at them. Two icosahedrons of pure, perfect ice with numbers carved in them hurtled at the two villains. "Roll for initiative!" Yukino yelled.

The green fog around Lucy-chan formed into claws around her hands. "Draco!" she yelled, then smashed both with her claws.

"Nat 20, crud..." Yukino muttered.

"Get them!" Rimuru-chan shouted, jumping off Inu-chan.

Yukino grinned and made the large shards of ice left from the giant dice fly at the villains. "Ice knife!"

Lucy-chan deflected the shards with more speed and force than Yukino thought she was capable of. Yukino winced, forming more chunks of ice to throw. Makku-chan darted out from behind Lucy-chan, carrying a rather large balloon, and threw it at Yukino. Yukino quickly splintered a needle of ice off of one of her crystals and shot it at the balloon. The balloon popped, and even from a few meters away Yukino had to brace herself from the force of the explosion. Rimuru-chan, who was a little closer at that point, was flung back.

Yukino growled and threw her ice at Makku-chan. Like before, Lucy-chan deflected it all with clearly enhanced speed, smashing the ice into shards. Yukino just barely suppressed the urge to grin as she made more ice, and only then because of the sting of the cold on her hands. The shards from the ice that Lucy-chan broke hadn't fallen. Instead, they started to fly at Makku-chan as Yukino drew Lucy-chan's attention with more ice.

Makku-chan shouted as the ice flew towards her. Lucy-chan turned on a dime, swinging at the ice that was now dangerously close to Makku-chan.

Just as Yukino planned. She snapped her fingers, the ice darting away from Makku-chan. Unable to fully stop herself in time, Lucy-chan accidentally punched Makku-chan in the chest. She had greater control than Yukino thought, because her hit didn't look like it hurt Makku-chan too much. Of course, the next few would hopefully throw them off a bit...

The ice shards that Yukino had feinted Lucy-chan with looped around and slammed into her back, blunt sides first. Just for good measure, she threw the ice she'd just made at the villains too. It didn't look like it hit Lucy-chan too bad, but the heavy hits in rapid succession still knocked Lucy-chan and Makku-chan over into the puddle that was made when Lucy-chan melted Yukino's ice wall. Yukino grinned. While they were still trying to disentangle themselves and get up, Yukino drove her staff into the line of frost Cryomancy had already made when she made the ice wall. Her Quirk's freezing effect chained through the frost, letting her create an ice dome anchored to her existing ice wall just a bit faster and for less "cost."

"Okay, back on the dog, Rimuru-chan," Yukino said. "Before they bust out of that again." Yukino thought it'd probably take them a bit, what with how whatever power Lucy-chan was using actually seemed to be more defense-oriented, but Yukino wasn't taking any chances.

"Dang, that was awesome!" the slime cheered.

Yukino gave them a toothy grin. "You know it. Now, let's go!"

Rimuru-chan nodded and hopped on Inu-chan. Yukino picked the floating disk of ice back up and went as fast as she could. She let her staff go, keeping it from falling with her telekinesis, and started rubbing her hands together. Those attacks might've been awesome, but it was cold, too...

SLAM!

There wasn't even enough time to get out of range, this time. If Yukino had to guess, it was less than a minute before she felt a heavy blow put cracks in her ice dome. Yukino turned around to see a giant green snake slamming its head into her ice a second time.

SLAM!

"Oh, come on!" she shouted. The ice wasn't going to take more than a hit or two, even if she put everything she could into reinforcing it.

"That's a big snake!" Rimuru-chan said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know!" Yukino said, picking up her pace as much as she could.

SLAM!

That was the last hit the dome could take, next one would burst a hole right through it. "RUN!" Rimuru-chan screamed.

"I KNOW!" Yukino screamed back.

SLACRASH!

The dome broke. Yukino grabbed her staff back and sent Rimuru-chan and Inu-chan up above the trees and away from her. There was no way she was outrunning that thing, so she could at least try to make sure those two got away. Then she turned around and readied herself to at least try to defend herself from the giant snake. It slithered toward her, though Yukino noted that it looked like it floated just a bit over the ground. She gritted her teeth and readied her Quirk, white vapor curling from her fingers and frost starting to spread on her staff.

The serpent roared and lunged at Yukino. She held her ground, forming a shield of ice in front of her with her staff. The snake bit down on the shield. It tried to throw the ice away, but Yukino resisted telekinetically. She took a few steps to the side and swung at the snake with her Quirk-affected staff. Instead of frost blooming from the blow, though, the serpent roared as part of its body dissolved into some form of luminous green fog.

Yukino blinked. "Huh." That did not taste like normal body heat. It was... weirdly fruity?

"What did you just do to Ophiuchus?" Lucy-chan asked, a mix of curiosity and horror tinging her voice.

Yukino noticed that the two villains were running over to her, Makku-chan already making another balloon. Yukino sighed and drove the butt of her staff into the dirt. A small wall of ice erupted from the ground between herself and the villains, circling around to trap the snake with her. Unless it could float over the wall, anyway...

Her hands were starting to get cold again, but if she was right about what just happened that wouldn't be too much of a problem. She bared her teeth at the serpent, a predatory grin that showed off her sharpened teeth. The snake certainly looked unnerved, at least, as Yukino lashed out at the snake with a Quirk-enhanced palm strike. Instead of bouncing ineffectually off of the snake's thick hide, her hand passed through the snake with little resistance and a roar of pain and terror from the serpent. As with before, the summon's body deformed into a luminous lime green cloud that her Quirk sucked up as greedily as it did anything else it deemed thermal energy.

Yukino dropped her staff and plunged her other hand into the snake. It roared in terror. Yukino winced, but continued eating the snake with her Quirk. The mixed fruity taste it left on her Quirk's metaphorical tongue reminded her of... "Rainbow sorbet," she realized. "I could go for some of the real stuff, actually..." The serpent spat out the chunk of ice it was gripping and tried to escape, but Yukino managed to block it with the ice before it could. "I guess my name for Lucy-chan was pretty spot-on, then..." Yukino muttered to herself, moving her arms around to suck up more of the snake. "I've never tasted a star Quirk before, but between the combination of flavors and the fact that Lucy-chan called you Ophiuchus earlier... You're a constellation, aren't you?" she asked the snake. It was just scraps and green starfog at that point, and just a few moments later it dissipated entirely.

Yukino sighed like she'd just eaten a big meal, her arms feeling nice and hot. While using her Quirk to chill objects to below her body temperature made her body just a bit colder due to the fact that she wasn't completely immune to her own Quirk, sucking up an excess of heat, like a fireball or, apparently, a giant snake made of star matter(?), always left her feeling pleasantly warm. And because of that, Yukino felt almost as good as she did before they'd started the exercise. Maybe a little tired, still, but she felt like she could do something really big with her Quirk. And she knew just what.

Yukino idly noted that Makku-chan had cracked her ice wall a little, though she wasn't too worried. She grinned at the two. "Hey, wanna see something cool?" Yukino dropped to all fours, digging her claws into the dirt a little. Her horns and claws seemed to turn to ice as she readied her Quirk for something big, white vapor streaming from her arms. "Special move!" she shouted as the villains panicked and started to run away. Not that it'd help them...

Frost spread from the ground beneath Yukino's hands, permeating even below the surface of the ground. The frost expanded in a wave, going under Yukino's ice wall and spreading across the forest. It even climbed up the trees. "SUNDERING CLAWS OF THE ICE DRAGON!" The frost quickly overtook her opponents, but they blinked in surprise as nothing bad happened to them. No ice spread up from the ground to trap them, their feet didn't even freeze to the ground. It wasn't even slippery.

"That was anticlimactic..." Makku-chan said, turning back around. She started blowing up another balloon.

Yukino hissed in discomfort. She hadn't cooled the ground as much as she normally cooled things, but her arms were still starting to go numb from the cold... She planted her staff into the dirt and used to to pull herself onto her feet.

"Oh, and look at that," Makku-chan rolled her eyes at Yukino. "All that bluster, and in the end all she accomplished was frosting the ground over and taking herself out. Should we even bother with her?"

Lucy-chan frowned. "I... don't think she's done quite yet."

Yukino laughed as she shook her hands off, trying to return some semblance of feeling to them. "Yeah, she's right." She wasn't freezing again anytime soon, but the thing about Yukino's Quirk was that it was two-step. Even though she could feel the drawback of the first part of her Quirk in full force, the warm, full feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that the energy pool her telekinesis drew from was filled to the brim, almost demanding to be released.

She obliged, spreading out her legs into a wide stance and dropping her clawed hands into a position like she was about to throw something underhanded. Yukino never really needed to physically move to use her telekinesis, but sometimes for bigger things like this it felt like it helped. "Know what 'sundering' means?" She made a slow clawing motion, her hands shaking from the cold as she brought them upwards. As she clawed at the air, the ground started to rip itself apart. Small chunks of ground rose at first, but they slowly grew in size.

Makku-chan and Lucy-chan, quickly realizing that this was not a good sign, scrambled for the sides of the frost-covered ground. Yukino snapped the ground up, blocking them from fleeing with walls of earth.

"Cryokinesis, air blasts, energy absorption, and now geokinesis?" Makku-chan listed... incorrectly. "What kind of Quirk does she have?"

Yukino smirked, drawing more on her telekinetic energy. The ground cracked apart, lifting up in giant chunks. The villains slipped down the suddenly-uneven ground, though Yukino took care that they didn't get too battered from the fall. Once they were stuck in the bottom of a steep-walled crater, Yukino stacked the earth she'd pulled from the ground into a makeshift wall around the hole, trying her best to compact it into something that they'd have trouble climbing or breaking through.

The problem with having a general telekinesis-type Quirk instead of one of its more specialized cousins, Yukino was well aware of, was the fact that it was harder to perform the same sort of fine manipulation that was usually easier with specialization. Yukino could only make her perfect ice because she shaped the water as it was freezing, and even then it took a lot of practice and concentration. Still, Yukino was hopeful that her patch job would make do until her team won. It didn't feel like it'd collapse and bury the villains in dirt, at least.

She hissed again, shivering and rubbing her hands together. Her arms were still super cold, and she was starting to notice that her Quirk's energy reserves were already pretty low just from that one special move. Yyyeah, it was probably back to the drawing board for that one... Yukino almost fell as her legs turned to jelly, only just barely managing to grab her staff before she did. She winced, it was still freezing cold. "Well, at leas' they're probably not gettin' out of there anytime soon..." Yukino muttered to herself. She turned around to walk away and hopefully rejoin with Inu-chan and Rimuru-chan-

And banged her head into something cold and hard. "Ah, what the-" Yukino rubbed her head and looked in front her her face. Oh. Right. Ice wall. "Been a long time since I ran into my own ice..." she muttered to herself. It'd be hard to break out with her energy so low, and forget about climbing over. Yukino sighed, then remembered the part of the wall that Makku-chan cracked. Probably the best place to try...

Yukino walked over to the cracks in the wall. She leaned on her staff and kicked at the crack, trying to enhance her weakened telekinetic force with her weakened physical force.

Crack!

The ice cracked under her foot, but didn't break. Yukino sighed and kicked it again.

Snap!

It broke. Good, Yukino didn't think she had enough energy in her for a third one... She used her staff to knock out a few bits of ice that were only just hanging in there. The hole still wasn't that big, but it looked wide enough for her to climb through, at least. She pushed her staff through, then carefully pulled herself through. She tried not to touch the sides; without enough energy for finer telekinesis, she hadn't been able to smooth out the jagged edges of her hole. She managed, though her hoodie was torn up a little. Shame, Yukino liked that hoodie...

Yukino sighed in relief once she was out of her accidental trap. She slowly picked herself back up and dusted herself off. She looked back at the earth wall, thinking. Should she wait by the wall, in case the villains managed to get out?

She heard a pop, then a voice shouting, "Oh, come on!"

Yeah, they probably weren't getting out of there anytime soon. Not that Yukino would put up much of a fight if they did, come to think of it. Lucy-chan probably wouldn't put any more of her summons in a position where she could eat them again, and without her Quirk Makku-chan would probably take her out easily. Accepting that, Yukino turned around and started walking down the path to where she threw Rimuru-chan and Inu-chan. She was starting to feel pretty sluggish, though... She always felt really tired when her energy reserves dipped too low. The fact that it made her feel colder as well didn't help.

Yukino felt herself nodding off as she walked down the path. She shook herself off, trying to keep herself awake and get her blood pumping. She slapped her cheeks lightly, balancing her staff in the crook of her arm. Just for extra measure she pinched her cheeks, accidentally drawing a little blood because her claws were sharp. At least it woke her up a little.

After what felt like an hour, Yukino managed to shamble over to Inu-chan and Rimuru-chan. Rimuru-chan, who was currently in their more humanoid form, was trying to push Inu-chan faster than he was willing to go, but it didn't look like it was going that good. "Hey," Yukino said.

"You're back!" They harrumphed at her, making cheeks just to puff them up. "You're lucky I managed to catch Lumin, that could've gone a lot worse!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's jus' get to the finish line before the villains get back out again," Yukino waved them off. "Unless you can set things on fire I'm probably not gonna be much use if they fight us again."

"Wow, that snake must've really done a number on you, huh?"

Yukino shrugged. "Th' snake was actually the easy part, I kinda wiped m'self out dealin' with the villains. Shouldn' be too easy for 'em to get outta the hole I dug for 'em without some help, though."

They nodded. "Well that's good, at least. I think we're almost done, hang in there."

True to what they said, Wolfy-sensei was waiting for them at the other side of the next turn in the path. "You two won, good job," he told them. "Take a break, we'll have to get Laccadaisy to repair the course anyway." He was definitely glaring at Yukino when he said that. "Speaking of which, Takeda-chan." Yukino sighed to herself. She knew that stern tone of voice, Ryuji just loved using it on her. Lecture time... "I don't want to see you doing something like that again. It doesn't matter how many villains you take out if it takes you out with it."

Yukino sighed, but nodded. "Yeah, I know, I know. Won' do it again."

He nodded. "Good. Now do you need anything?"

Yukino shivered again. She dropped her staff and leaned against one of the trees. "Need to warm up."

Wolfy-sensei nodded again. "I'll call Laccadaisy, then see about setting up a bonfire or something. You gonna be fine if I leave you here for a bit?"

"Yeah, thanks."

[justheretobreakthings]

Kings Over Aces - Chapter 2

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Word Count: 3,114 (Total Word Count: 6,290) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

The Voltron Coalition has an alliance in the works with the resource-rich planet of Yuipra, and it’s the paladins’ job to keep on the king’s good side while the deal is made. That shouldn’t shouldn’t be too great a challenge; after all, they’ve courted plenty of planets before for the sake of alliances.

Unfortunately, things are made much more complicated when the king takes a special interest in Keith.

Fic content warnings for attempted rape/non-con.

“I’m telling you, he wants me,” Lance said, for what was probably the dozenth time since breakfast.

Pidge rolled her eyes, stretching her leg out along the couch to kick Lance where he was seated on the opposite cushion without moving from where she’d comfortably settled with her tablet. The paladins were spending their downtime after training this morning in the lounge, all having claimed their usual spots to relax, but Lance harping on about last night’s dinner was making it even more difficult than usual - which was saying something, as the weirdly translated Altean books Keith tried to pass time with were hard enough to focus on anyway. “He does not ‘want’ you,” she said. “You think every person we ever meet at these coalition things ‘wants’ you, and how many times has that been the case?”

“Plenty of times,” Lance answered. “I’m not gonna be able to keep track exactly.”

“It’s sort of a numbers game by this point, isn’t it?” Hunk asked, tilting his head back from where he was seated cross-legged on the floor in front of the other two to join the conversation. “You flirt with basically every single person you find attractive - ”

“ - And your standards for that aren’t exactly sky-high,” said Pidge, “So you’ve probably hit on like five hundred people since we got shot out into space. Which would make your success rate - ”

“All right, I see where this math is going,” Lance groaned. “For your information, I do not flirt with nearly that many people.”

“Good point,” Pidge said. “Just winking and making finger guns probably doesn’t count. Or at least only counts as, like, half a flirt.”

“It’s not - you know what, whatever. We’re not talking about my overall track record, just last night. And that king was totally into me. Basically talked just to me the entire night. You saw, right, Keith?” He turned to Keith, who silently cursed his inability to turn invisible. “Back me up here.”

“Um,” Keith said. “Well, you certainly talked to him a lot.”

“I was replying to him, that’s how conversations work. But he was totally flirting with me, right?”

“Uh…”

Lance huffed and crossed his arms. “Okay, that doesn’t count for anything. Keith probably wouldn’t recognize flirting if his life depended on it.” Keith let out a little harrumph of indignation. Sure, that was true, but there was no need to just announce it like that.

“Nah, I’m gonna go ahead and take his testimony as gospel,” Pidge said. “Sorry, Lance. You bombed.”

“Need me to get Kaltenecker to make you some ice cream?” Hunk asked, reaching up to pat Lance on the leg.

“I’m like two seconds away from slapping all of you.”

“The bitter sting of rejection is such an ugly look on you,” Pidge said drily. A small beep sounded from her tablet, and a moment later, she sat up. “Allura just messaged. They’re getting an incoming signal from Yuipra, we’re probably gonna solidify alliance terms. Gotta go join ‘em in the bridge.”

Lance groaned. “Why do we all have to go? Shiro and Allura are in charge of all of that.”

“I dunno, to make a good impression?” Pidge stretched as she stood from the couch. “Besides, you should be excited. Get another chance to talk to the love of your life.”

“At no point did I ever say anything about him being the ‘love of my life’,” Lance said as he and Hunk reluctantly stood too. “All I said was that he wants me. Which I still maintain is one hundred percent true.”

“If you say so. You coming, Keith?”

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Keith said. He shut off his electric reader and dropped it onto the seat to come back to later before joining the others, shuffling in behind them for the short walk to the bridge.

When they arrived, joining Allura and Shiro on the deck, the holoscreen was already on and tuned to an image of King Olren, the arms of two of his ever-present guards just on the edges of the frame. The discussion was already in motion, but Olren paused mid-sentence as the door to the bridge slid open.

“Ah, the rest of your paladins have arrived, I see,” he said, smiling down at them as they took their places on the bridge. “It is a delight to see you all again.”

“You too, your majesty,” Hunk said.

Allura smiled as she looked back over her shoulder at the others. “King Olren was just telling us that he was quite impressed by our performance yesterday, as well as our engagement with his people at the banquet.”

“Quite so,” Olren said with a nod. “Your presence went over very well amongst my nobility. And, of course, I was just as enamored by Voltron as anyone in my court. Your knowledge and passion are obvious. Now, I’ve spent the morning reviewing the terms of our potential alliance with my advisors. Yuipra’s stance on interplanetary relations is perfectly in line with your current mission statement of resistance against the Galra empire and liberation of those under its control. However, I must confess slight apprehension over how the citizenry would respond to engaging in a conflict in which we are currently not directly involved. As your proposed terms are outlined right now, the use of our resources versus the coalition benefits that you would grant us in return seem rather unbalanced.”

“That’s only in the short term,” Shiro spoke up. “We may currently be thin on benefits, but that’s entirely due to past Galra occupation that we are working to wipe out. Already we’re seeing the signs of environmental improvements and economic growth from planets that have been liberated and are being helped by the Coalition now. The trade agreements and political relations we build now will yield positive growth over time, and in the long run it’ll more than offset the costs of your involvement.”

“And you have evidence to back your claims of long-term benefits?”

“I would be more than happy to send you any details about the Coalition’s fiscal plans and projections of resource growth that you need,” said Allura. “You will find that we have been nothing but meticulous.”

Olren nodded. “That would do nicely, Princess, if you would be so kind. I must admit, your confidence alone is quite the sales pitch.” Allura lifted her chin, a proud smile on her lips, and Olren grinned back. “The rapid creation and propagation of the Voltron coalition makes ever more sense. It’s certainly likely that Yuipra will have its part in it as you make history.”

“We thank you, your majesty,” Allura said.

“I am still not, however, quite ready yet to solidify an alliance with your coalition,” Olren continued, and Allura deflated. “Not due to problems with any stipulations we’ve laid out as yet, but because I like to know those with whom I ally on a more… personal level, you see. It is one thing to be able to ally with someone politically, but such bonds are far more meaningful, not to mention harder to break, when they are personalized to a nigh emotional level. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Allura paused a moment before answering, “Well - well, yes, of course. I completely understand where you are coming from.”

“Excellent. Now, I’ve gotten a bit of a chance to gain some familiarity during our banquet, but if Voltron would be so willing to indulge me, I really prefer to do so more privately. One-on-one, actually.”

“All right,” Allura said slowly. “So, erm, what, exactly, are you proposing?”

“Suppose I’ll get right down to it,” Olren said through a little breath of a laugh. “I wish to host an intimate dinner in my private dining room tomorrow evening. And I would like your red paladin to accompany me as my date.”

Lance cast the others a grin - a smirk that seemed to say, I told you so - before he stepped forward and bowed grandly. “Your majesty,” he said as he straightened up, “It would be an honor to - ”

“No, no, not him,” Olren said, waving a hand dismissively. “The red paladin.”

“I am the red - ” Lance started, before his face fell and his eyes widened. “Wait, do you mean - are you - are you talking about Keith?!” he spluttered, gesturing with his thumb toward Keith, who stood in stunned silence as all the eyes in the room spun toward him.

“Yes. Keith,” Olren said with a smile. “I do hope you will accept my invitation?”

“Uh - I - I - ” Keith stammered out.

“Is, ah, is that really necessary?” Shiro asked. “Voltron functions as a unit, you see, and there’s no need to have only one of us to dinner rather than the whole group.”

“If you function as a unit, then your red paladin’s character should reflect that of all of you,” Olren said. “You need not worry, really, over the effect on our potential alliance. I must admit, I’ve found myself quite taken with his disposition already. But you do understand why I may want to take the time to personally assure myself that we will be a good match, yes?”

“Understandable, yes,” Allura said. “I’m sure that we can arrange - ” She paused as she glanced back over her shoulder at Keith, whose knees were growing shaky and who had long since felt his face heating into a bright red.

Allura furrowed her brow and turned back toward Olren. “Could you please grant us a few doboshes to discuss our availability?” she asked. “We will be happy to resume this conversation shortly.”

“Of course,” Olren said. “I look forward to a call. And I must admit, I do expect to like what I hear. I’m not in the habit of taking ‘no’ for an answer.” He cast them all one last smile before his holoscreen went dark and then disappeared.

Allura let out a breath before turning around toward Keith. “Keith,” she said. “Are you ill?”

Keith blinked at her. “Am I… what?”

“You look ill.”

Slowly he shook his head. “No, I’m - I’m not sick.”

“Because if you have any sort of bug that the king might catch, that would certainly not reflect well, nor be ideal for you and your state of mind during a dinner. Or if something in their meal disagreed with you - ”

“It’s just, um - this is - he said.” Keith took a deep breath. “He said - he said he wanted me to be his date.”

“Yes?” Allura said. “And?”

“And, well, I, uh - I don’t - I don’t really have - ” Allura tilted her head, and Keith took a deep breath before finishing, “I don’t date.”

“Oh for the love of - ” Lance groaned. “Of course. Of course Mullet’s never been on a date before. We should’ve known.”

“Is that all?” Allura asked. “Keith, I’m sure it won’t be much of a problem. Everyone gets nervous the first time they go on a date. We could always go through some etiquette with you, some conversation starters. We’ll no doubt have to brief you on a number of courting customs anyway, seeing as nobility is rather more particular in how they go about it, but I’m certain that - ”

“No, look, that’s not it,” Keith interrupted. “It’s - it’s not that I haven’t dated. I mean, I, um, I haven’t, but it isn’t - it’s just that, I don’t date.”

“I’m… not sure I follow,” Allura said.

With a grunt of frustration, Keith brought a hand up to card his fingers through his hair as he searched for the words to explain it in a way she’d understand. “I just - I don’t do that, I - I don’t feel the things that people are supposed to feel when - when they’re on dates, like, the romance and all, they - they don’t - ”

“Hang on,” Pidge interrupted, lifting a hand and peering at him with narrowed eyes through her glasses. “Keith, are you aro?”

Keith felt his voice halt in his throat, and he crossed his arms and took a step back, ducking his head a little as he closed in on himself and avoided looking at his teammates’ faces. It wasn’t that he thought they’d react badly to it, or judge him for it - at least, he sure hoped they wouldn’t. It was just that this was personal, and he much would’ve preferred to come out when he was actually ready to, not just… like this.

But, of course, now that it was out there, it was out there. Not like there was any point in denying it. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Um, aroace, to be specific, but, uh, yeah. Yeah.”

He dared a glance up beneath his lashes. Pidge was nodding slowly in understanding, and Shiro was more or less expressionless - he’d already known, after all. The others all just appeared to be confused.

“I’m sorry, arrow?” Allura said. “Pidge, what is that?”

“Aro. Short for aromantic,” Pidge answered. “Means he doesn’t feel romantic attraction.”

“Wait, for real?” Lance said, his brow wrinkling and his eyes scanning Keith up and down as if looking for some sort of clue on his clothes to verify it.

“Yes, for real,” Keith snapped. “Why the fuck would I lie about something like that?”

Lance lifted his hands innocently. “Shit, man, I wasn’t accusing you of lying. Just, you know, processing the new information. Guess that kinda clears up some of the rumors that were going around the Garrison…”

For a moment Keith was about to demand some follow-up about these rumors, but decided to let it go for now. He’d overheard plenty of gossip about himself as a student on every other subject - whether he cheated on the sims and how he did it, how he got into the Garrison, his juvie history, his relationship to Shiro, his family. A couple rumors about his sexuality were a mere drop in the bucket. It wasn’t important now.

What was important was the matter at hand: the dinner date with King Olren. “Look, the point is, I don’t do the whole ‘dating’ thing. It’s - it’s not my thing. I wouldn’t be able to pull it off.”

Allura crossed her arms, tapping her finger pensively against her elbow. “Well, what if we trained you on it?”

Keith frowned at her. “What?”

“On dating. I’m sure we’d be able to give you sufficient instruction to handle a single dinner date. If we trained you, do you think you’d be able to manage?”

Keith took a step back. “Allura, I told you, I don’t feel - ”

“I know, I understand. I’m not asking you to be attracted to him. I know you can’t control that. But I also know that this could be a very advantageous alliance for Voltron, and a date with you seems to be the deciding factor. Would it be at all possible for you to, er… fake it?”

“Fake it?” Keith repeated incredulously.

“Yeah, yeah, that could work,” Lance said, nodding. “I mean, that’s not exactly hard to pull off, right? I’ve faked my way through dates before. You know, I meet someone online, but when I show up to the restaurant for a date it turns out they’re a total weirdo, so I smile through the dinner and make small talk and just sorta, like, humor them. Let them have a nice evening then get the fuck outta there.”

“What, you can’t just be up front about not liking them?”

“It’s called manners, Mullet.”

“Look, I’m not going to - ”

“They do kind of have a point, Keith,” Shiro interrupted.

Keith turned to him, taken aback. If anyone knew how uncomfortable Keith was over the concept of dating, it would be Shiro. Keith had only even learned about aromanticism and asexuality because Shiro had explained them to him, back in their Galaxy Garrison days, and his surrogate brother had held his hand tightly through the process of coming out for the first time. So him saying that Allura and Lance ‘had a point’ about sending him on a date… it was unexpected, to say the very least. “Shiro?” he said. “You - you think I should…”

“Keith, I’m not saying you need to, uh, take it very far,” Shiro said slowly. “I know you’ve got your boundaries, and I respect them. It’s just, well, it isn’t as though Olren is asking for your hand in marriage or anything. All he’s requested is a dinner date. I realize that it wouldn’t be a comfortable experience, but one awkward evening in exchange for all the resources Yuipra can offer… It would be a shame to have to pass it up.”

“Exactly,” said Allura, giving Shiro a grateful nod. “There’s no need to make it a bigger deal than it is. One dinner date. That’s all.”

“I mean, Olren’s certainly not my type either,” Shiro said with a shrug. “But if it was me he’d asked after, well, I wouldn’t love it, but I’d take one for the team, you know?”

Something rolled in Keith’s stomach and he swallowed down a lump in his throat. That was true. Shiro would do this without hesitation. Hell, even if it had been a woman asking, which would definitely leave Shiro uncomfortable to all get out, he would take the fall. Because that’s what he does - he makes sacrifices for his team. That’s what a leader does. And Keith was the leader now.

One date, he repeated mentally. He could handle just one date, surely. For Voltron’s sake.

“All right,” he said, his voice coming out sounding quieter and dryer than he would have liked. “All right, I’ll, uh, I’ll do it. You can let him know.”

Allura let out a breath of relief and smiled at him. “Thank you, Keith. I’ll get a missive off to him at once, and we can start training.”

“You know what I still don’t understand?” Lance said as Allura turned away toward her podium.

“What?” asked Keith.

“This guy had a dinner with our whole team,” Lance said. “He was sitting at the same table as Shiro and Allura and, well, me… and he goes for Keith. I just don’t get it.”

“Lance,” Shiro said with a frown.

“Look, I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. It’s not like he didn’t have options. He actually chose to thirst after the mullet. Out of everyone there. This was a conscious decision on his part.”

“Everyone has their own tastes.”

“It’s like if he’d gone to an art museum and decided that his favorite exhibit was the bathroom door.”

“That’s enough, Lance,” Shiro scolded.

Lance shook his head. “I dunno, man. Just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Keith could only shrug in reply. It didn’t make any sense to him either.

[joonsgalaxy]

are you still with him

pairing: yoongi x reader (gender neutral)

genre: angsty fluff, friends to lovers au, roommate au

word count: 1,7k

this is from the way you said 'i love you' prompts, requested by @eris0330: 23. Through a song. ((It's really simple n short, but i hope u like it!))

You‘re quite used to hearing Yoongi say I told you so. Most of the time it doesn‘t even bug you anymore, but at times it‘s the last thing on earth you want to hear. Like tonight.

It’s 1 am when you text him to come pick you up. Unfortunately, there are no buses going at this hour, and taxi costs triple the sum you afford to spend a day. Yoongi is the only person you can ask such a favour at such a time of the night. Though, you’re sure he won’t be too happy about it. He’ll probably comment on your breath that smells like alcohol and he’ll point out the yellow spot on your shirt. Stupid Jimin had to spill orange juice all over you. No matter how upset you are about it, you won’t let Yoongi notice that. Even if the party completely sucked. You won’t be complaining about anything. As far as he knows, you were at the best party of the year.

The beams of his car blind you for 5 whole seconds before he slams on the break and stops his car right beside you. Is he angry with you? You hope he’s not. He’s threateningly silent when he’s mad, which admittedly is much scarier than to be yelled at for as much as two minutes.

You’re 99% sure he wasn’t asleep yet, so hopefully he isn’t that vexed by your need for his help.

‘Hey,’ you breath, climbing into his toyota clumsily. ‘Thanks for coming.’

‘Couldn’t really let you freeze to death on your way home, could I?’ He says in a raspy voice, as cold as the wind outside.

‘Sorry,’ you mumble over the Kanye West’s song playing in his car.

Hand gripping your seat near your shoulder, Yoongi backs up into a driveway, ‘For what?’

‘For missing the last bus.’

‘Sometimes I think you do it on purpose.’

‘Why? Because I just love getting butt cramps from the old seats in your car?’

‘Ha ha,’ Yoongi speaks in monotone. He carefully turns out of the driveway and to the left, then speeds up.

‘No, but seriously, why would I miss it on purpose?’

He shrugs. ‘You enjoy pissing me off.’

‘I said I was sorry. I know you don’t like to be interrupted while writing those songs for the imaginary crush of yours.’

Yoongi lets out a sigh. ‘I was in fact in the middle of something when you texted me.’

‘Jerking off to that fantasy person?’

‘I fucking hate you.’

You chuckle. ‘Sorry, I’m drunk.’

‘Yeah, no shit.’

You pout; you were hoping he wouldn’t say anything about it. Pointless. He’s too observant not to notice.

‘I just broke up with my boyfriend. I’m allowed to have some fun, you know.’

‘He ran out of the apartment crying 29 days ago.’

‘Pft, so? People need time to move on. But you wouldn’t know that since you never really loved anyone. And why the hell are you counting?’

Yoongi scoffs, seemingly offended. ‘I’m not. I just made a rough assumption.’

‘Uh-ha.’

A new song comes on. It sounds comforting and beautiful like the night sky full of stars. The beat is rather slow; the one that makes driving at night a magical experience. Then you hear someone clearing their throat. You’d recognize that sound anywhere anytime. It’s him. It’s Yoongi.

He abruptly punches the button to change the song.

‘Hey! I’ve never heard this one. Go back!’

Staring straight ahead at the road, Yoongi thinks it over.

‘Please?’ You plead softly. As much you like teasing him for his songs and lyrics about some imaginary crush, you have to admit he’s talented.

Yoongi, after sighing and mumbling a oh what the hell presses a back button and lets the song play from the beginning.

You listen attentively, trying to get into the mood of the song. There comes the little cough again.

You remember the first time

That I showed you my room?

You laughed at the mess,

But still kicked off your shoes.

You almost said “thank you, but no”

But then moved in anyways.

Now I write cheesy lines that make me

Bang my head against the wall.

A mess in his room? Moving in? Kind of reminds you of yourself two years ago, when you first met Min Yoongi. He was looking for a flatmate and coincidentally you were in a search of a place to live. Were you the inspiration for the song? Was he using the story of how you two met when writing his lyrics about someone else?

On one hand, you felt flattered that he remembers it well. On the other hand, it felt like somebody entered your safety bubble containing your memories as if Yoongi was exposing a part of you to anyone willing to listen.

However, perhaps it isn’t about you and him at all. Maybe you want it to be.

If truth be told, at some point of starting to get Yoongi better you found yourself wanting to be the muse of his creations. You love his music and it would be a huge honour to be the inspiration of it.

I know I'm not the best, but I will change

I made many mistakes I regret

Trying to be the perfect one for you

But it seems that you aren't ready to

The words are distinct, clear and fitting for the melody. He always had a great flow.

Yoongi’s voice is husky, but weirdly comforting; soft in a way and full of emotion as in every song of his.

Can i still try?

Or am i to give back?

Or i should try hard?

 Throwing myself into this darkness

I've been so fucked up in my own head

Trying to face all my fears

 Reach into my soul, come where you belong

Are you still with him?

I don't wanna know

Not quite realizing it, you furrow your brows, feeling a certain heaviness settling in your chest. The pain in Yoongi’s voice laces every syllable. You’ve been always wondering if that imaginary person was actually a person from his life; real and alive. Hurting him. But now more than ever you feel like his rap is directed toward someone particular.

Well, perhaps he’s just that good of an artist.

You're building a family

I'm alone at the car

Your friends are lawyers

Mine are passed out on the floor

I hope you're having fun

I sure am

With a loaded gun

A list of regrets in my hand

I still dream of you (and I don't want to)

I still dream every night (every night)

Still, still, still, still, still

Either your subconsciousness wants this song to be about you really bad, or Yoongi actually did write the lyrics having you in mind.

On more than a few occasions he has mentioned that your major at the university is quite a prestigious one. You had a feeling he didn’t feel comfortable being around your friends. He has said that making music wasn’t something to be bragging about to medics and lawyers.

I wish I could make the time stop

So we could forget everything and everyone

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in to what we want

'Cause when I got somebody, you don't

And when you got somebody, I don't

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in

You have thought about this, too. You find yourself relating to the song as if it were truly about your life.

Before meeting your ex you were about to confess to Yoongi about your feelings for him, but that didn’t go as planned to say the least. Right before you uttered ‘I think I like you as more than a friend’, Yoongi’s phone rang and he wasted no time in picking it up. During the conversation between him and the caller, you realized he had met someone.

You didn’t confess.

You gave me a shoulder when I needed it

You showed the love when I wasn't feeling it

You helped me fight when I was giving in

You made laugh when I was losing it

You are you are

The reason why I’m still hanging on

You are you are

The reason why my head is still above water

And if I could get you the moon I’d give it to you

And if death was coming for you I’d give my life for you

 I'm caught on your coat again.

You said, "Oh, no, it's fine."

I read between the lines

And touched your leg again, again.

I'll take it one day at a time.

Soon you will be mine.

Oh, but I want you now, I want you now

When the smoke is in your eyes,

You look so alive.

Do you fancy sitting down with me?

Maybe?

 If you're all I need

According to your heart,

My place is not deliberate,

Feeling of your arms

I don't wanna be your friend,

I wanna kiss your neck

 Don't you see me? Y/N

I love you

At the last words you almost choke on air. You can feel tears well up in your eyes, but you’re not sure why. You’re not sure about anything at all. Was this a confession? A real one? Are you hallucinating? You can’t trust anyone at parties; perhaps someone spiked your drink when you decided to drink only juice after midnight.

You glance at your roommate behind the wheel. He looks tense.

Only a second passes before Yoongi slows down and pulls over.

What’s happening?

He kills the engine and turns the radio off.

You bite your lip as he does the same. The silence feels suffocating.

Your heart is pounding; your head is spinning, and you have no idea of how to act or what to say.

Yoongi clears his throat, fiddling with the keychain of his car keys. ‘We need to talk,’ he says.

some of the lyrics are written by me, but the others are from:

kina - get you the moon

the 1975 - fallingforyou

kina - are you still with him

kina - i still dream of you

lauv - there’s no way

[thetravellingvagrant]

Day 12: Cusco - In Which I Do Not Kill Us Both

We had been messaged, late last night, by the purveyors of the ATV tour we were due to embark upon today, informing us that our meeting time had been amended from 6:45, to 7:00am. This extra fifteen minutes of sleep, you'd imagine, should have come as something of a boon to us, though given that until the point at which we received that message, we had believed, with full conviction that we were supposed to meet at 9, it actually came as something of a withering blow. Regardless, we pulled ourselves out of bed at six in the bastard morning, like the heroes we are and some time later, after a very sad breakfast, left our apartment to endure the twenty minute walk to the office, in the freezing morning mountain air.

We didn't have to wait long before our minibus arrived, to whisk us away to the other, higher mountains to begin our day. Or we wouldn't have done, at least if we had boarded the correct bus. Somehow, despite confirming with the driver that we were indeed going on an ATV tour with the correct company at the correct time for us to be picked up, we (they) had managed to beef the situation pretty hard, leaving us bound for the incorrect place, on the incorrect bus. Fortunately, the mistake was rectified after only a couple of blocks and we were unceremoniously dumped back on the street, left to trudge unhappily back to the offices. A good start, I think we can all agree.

Not long after that, we were picked up by the actually correct driver (at least we thought so; he called me by name, so he was either the right guy, or it was the most sophisticated scam I've ever been targeted by) and, after whizzing around the city to pick up some fellow quadders, none of whom were particularly interesting enough to mention, we were finally embarking on our adventure, on the right bus, to the right place and everything.

The bus ride was longer than expected, clocking in at just over an hour, winding through bumpy, uneven country paths, up into the even-more-mountainous bit of Cusco. Sam, who suffers quite badly from travel sickness, strangely did not enjoy the journey as much as me, and was left feeling rather peaky, to put it as crudely as I have been permitted to, by the end of it. Now all pale and shaky and one sad breakfast lighter, Sam no longer felt comfortable riding her own ATV and so, instead opted to jump into the passenger seat of mine and cling onto me like a sloth, for the duration, as demonstrated in this not at all terrible selfie.

#clout

Now having been given the added stress of having an additional person to try not to kill, we were instructed to try out a few practice laps along an empty stretch of road, which I did expertly, only Austin-Powersing the ATV at a particularly narrow turning point once, in the process.

Now a bonafide quad-bike expert and none of you can say otherwise, we set off for our first destination of the day; the Maras Salt Flats.

I found myself paying very, very little attention to the, frankly quite impressive scenery on the way

This is nothing to me

Instead opting to focus mostly on not running our bike into a ditch or crashing into a bush. Though, generally, despite my initial nervousness, I settled into the driving fairly quickly, only filling my pants once or twice, when passed by huge, speeding buses, travelling the opposite way along the narrow, dusty road, which we shared Somehow not dead, though, we arrived at the salt flats and disembarked our bikes for a quick look around, down ten soles which we had to pay for the entrance fee, even though you'd definitely expect that to be covered by the agency under almost any other circumstance.

The flats were, however, pretty cool and probably well worth the entrance fee, despite the relatively little time we were given to gawk at them

Kind of.

though after around fifteen minutes of staring out at this bizarre and genuinely quite impressive alien landscape,

Spooky. And salty.

we were quickly ushered away to the a series of market stalls, essentially operating as the gift shop, where we were left to mill around for substantially more time than we were given to look at the actual flats themselves - in a move which I felt was perhaps a little crass and inorganic. I still bought myself some salty chocolate, though, so I guess I'm a capitalist pig, too.

Back at the bikes, our group was given a choice, we could either go with Moses, our guide, to see Moray; an impressive, sprawling set of Inca ruins, set deep in the heart of the sacred valley, or...we could side with the other guide, whose name I never got, and go to a big splashy lake, yaaaay. Entrance to Moray costing seventy extra soles which we frankly, could not spare and also my disproportionate love of having a bit of a paddle coming into play, we opted to go to the lagoon.

We quadded there without issue and soon arrived at a genuinely pretty lovely little lake

Moist.

where we were given another (woefully inadequate) fifteen minutes to explore, nearly all of which I spend knee deep in weirdly freezing lake-water

After what must have been actually closer to ten minutes, we were called back to the ATVs and so, with a heavy heart, I dredged myself out of the water and, now with the added bonus of having cold, wet feet, popped myself back on the bike.

We drove back to base-camp, again without incident, meaning that I had completed the entire day without crashing the bike and/or horribly injuring either myself or my girlfriend – which I'd call an unexpected win – and, with the package now complete, we were loaded back onto the minibus to Cusco, with almost negative fanfare, if such a thing is even possible, and fucked back to the city, like a bag of shitty nappies.

We were dropped off...almost at the main square – pretty much as close to it as the driver could be bothered going, I think – and headed to the first place we could find, for some much needed lunch. The first place we could find, as it turned out, was actually quite a fancy hotel, right in the middle of the tourist-zone. This meant not only that we were basically paying UK prices for, admittedly very nice, sandwiches, but also, given that we were dressed for ATVing (a difference from the norm which much more noticeably effected Sam, than I) and covered from head to toe in dust, from our earlier efforts, meant we stood out like sore, dirty, tired, scummy thumbs. Regardless, we endured the stares and tuts from the other eatery patrons- an act at which, by now, I am an expert – munched through our food and paid in full, like we were in Pretty Woman, or something. I don't know, I haven't seen it, but that sounds about right.

After our lunch, we were left with little in the way of plans. It was only around mid-day and we didn't fancy going back to the apartment, quite yet, as good as going back to sleep definitely sounded to both of us. We had read of some Inca Ruins just a little bit outside the city centre called Saqsaywaman (very amusingly pronounced “sexy woman”). At just a fifteen minute walk from the Plaza Del Armas, we thought we'd be foolish not to go and have a look. Sure entrance, much like Moray, cost seventy soles, but apparently you could get a genuinely good-enough view of them from outside, peering over the fence, like some nonce from the 80s, and that sentence, as frequent readers of my blog will know, is like catnip to me. Looking at things from the outside, without paying, that is. Not the nonce part...

As it turned out, Google Map's estimation of the walk taking fifteen minutes was optimistic at best and a flat out lie at worst. It may have taken that long if it were at sea level, and the entirety of the trek wasn't straight up and I could breathe properly and didn't have to take a five minute break after every flight of stairs, but all of those things were the case and, as it stood, it actually took closer to forty. That forty minute walk, incidentally, was to Saqsaywaman's first entrance; the one from which you could peer over no fences and see no ruins, and so we had to keep walking, for close to an hour, also uphill, to get to the auxiliary peeping entrance. A walk which, by the way, shouldn't have taken that long, even at high altitude, though we had to stop every few seconds, so Sam could  have a right good complain, and, honestly? that really tacked on some travel time, if I'm being real.

After a very wearying amount of both walking and snipping, we finally arrived at entrance two, which we milled about, genuinely suspiciously, attempting to figure out the best way to steal a glimpse of the ruins. As it turned out, that would be by walking another two or so minutes along the road to a gap in the hedge. Sam, being the Lawful Good sort she is, was very concerned that we would be stopped, fined and/or get in trouble from the Saqsay tour guides, though I, being somehow the more relaxed of us two, was less concerned about this, given that ten feet away from where we had parked up, a double decker tour bus had stopped to lets its passengers take as many pictures of the ruins as they liked, over the hedge.

Having had our fill of sexy women, we made the significantly easier walk back downhill, taking a clever shortcut, sort of, to get back to our flat, without having to endure too many stairs. If I'm totally honest, the end result of all the walking to the ruins, probably wasn't really worth the energy expended in getting there, but don't tell Sam, though. She'll think it means she wins.

After an early start and close to twenty thousand steps, most of which were at a frankly silly incline, by the time we were home, I was absolutely ruined, as I seem to be every evening on this trip, except far, far worse. I made us dinner, because I am a hero and clambered back into bed- the only warm(ish) part of the entire flat – to eat it while watching a terrible film, expecting my shortness of breath, tightness in my chest and heart palpitations to abate after a short while. They did not, which was quite worrying, to be honest. I briefly considered that I might be having a stroke or something, but didn't voice my concerns for fear that it might have made Sam thought that she had won, and so, bravely soldiered on in silence, until I managed to fall asleep, instead. I wasn't having a stroke, by the way. Or if I was, I dealt with it incredibly well and can't see what the big deal is about, really...

[randomishnickname]

Fav fanfic authors rec list!

In honor of fanfic writer appreciation day, here’s me gushing about some of my favorite fanfic authors of different fandoms. So much amazing talent out there, I feel so awed and honored to have discovered such good writers!! A lot of the fics I came across put published best-sellers to shame.

Here we go!

Marvel Cinematic Universe

I read an incredible amount of Stony (Tony Stark/Steve Rogers) fanfiction a while back, and it’s the gift that keeps on giving, super talented writers that produce metric tons of content without it growing boring. Some favorites:

FestiveFerret (@festiveferret): Steadily working their way through every gorgeous trope, and producing an impressive amount of high-quality fics of all length and kind as a result - fun, hot, brilliant stories that are compulsively readable and full of vibrant details. Hard to chose favorites, but Lost Together and Deafening Quiet, Silent Roar are frankly so excellent I can’t not name them here.

OrbingArrow (@orbingarrow): While their stories have a great style, awesome characterization, super cool sense of detail and of humor, the reason I particularly love Arrow is their focus on hope and recovery. Stories that helped me in rough times, and genuinely make me want to get better. For example, Good for you! So grateful for these fics.

sabrecmc (@sabrecmc): I will make the bold assumption that everyone in the Stony fandom has heard of sabrecmc; they are one of the Big, Big Name Fans. And there’s a reason for that: extremely unique, rich, deep, gorgeous fics that make you weep or scream into your pillow, or melt into a puddle at the glorious smut. Just...wow. (Also, genuinely awesome kind person online!)

AvocadoLove (@awesomeavocadolove): writes quick paced, thrilling, extremely readable fics with fantastic plots and characterization. Doesn’t get boring a single second. Some of my favorites include Enemy at the Gates and Prisoner’s Dilemma

Then comes Write_Like_An_American (@write-like-an-american), who writes for the Guardians of the Galaxy fandom, centered around Yondu Udonta. I have the BIGGEST CRUSH on their writing, it’s just...so fun, so real and fleshed-out! I love sci-fi and pirates, so it’s obviously my kind of content, but seriously, they would make me love everything they write. Lots of mature themes and reflections around abuse and recovery, + doesn’t shy away from nasty and gross aspects (fair warning, big amount of kink and gore). I love pretty much everything they write, but Blame It On The Stars and No Son of Mine seriously blew me away.

Harry Potter

Considering that I read more fanfics for Harry Potter than for any other fandom, this list is painfully short; but back then I was a completely passive consumer and barely took notice of the writers behind the stories I devoured. Also didn’t bookmark those I liked :/

justonemorefic (@oddhour) is thankfully an exception. etc. etc. (and life goes on) is one of my favorite stories in general, a next-gen fic centered around an incredible OC - hilarious, heart-breaking, analytical, lyrical writing that seriously blew my mind. I still catch myself giggling when I remember some scenes.

Soul Eater

aka the fandom I write for :D again there’s so many great authors and fics I didn’t bookmark, but I pledge to do better in the future.

tastewithouttalent (@tastewithouttalent): has an incredible, absolutely unique style of writing. In their capable hands, words are woven to an amazingly sensual, intense tapestry of sensations. Writes mostly PWPs, but seriously, it’s pure poetry (and also HOT, damn). Got me started on my trashy OTP, Giriko/Justin Law, and I reread all of their work for them on a truly embarassing basis, but Air and Capable are two of my favorites (and I would give a limb for a prequel to that one Psycho-Pass AU).

adulter_clavis (@adulterclavis): champion of crazy AUs, this author made me laugh so hard I cried. Several times. Has the baffling ability to twist the characters into something slightly more weird and dark and still keep them absolutely IC. Absolutely hilarious banter and situations, genuine comedy gold; Heistception is probably my favorite.

raining-down-hearts (on fanfiction.net) has written a SoMa fic I remember devouring at incredible speed, The Cost of Lamentations. Sad and brainy and well-tought through.

LueurdeLaube (@i-am-thesenate) has a very fun, elegant writing style. Writes SoMa, Red Silk is a big favorite.

Black Sails

I am absolutely obsessed with Black Sails as of late, but still weirdly reluctant to read fanfic for it. Maybe a part of me thinks I have to rewatch it and let it settle a bit more before fully exploring possibilities. Still, I’ve read a fair amount of shippy stuff and of smut, here are some favs:

arbitrarily (@widespindriftgaze) has written two EXCELLENT Flint/Billy hatesex fics (the men are called horsemen there and skeleton tree) that feel like a punch of the gut on each reread. Very painful, much good.

youatemytailor (@annevbonny) has...such a powerful style...and writes Silver with almost frightening accuracy. lost on you made my heart clench and ache

urcadelimabean (@urcadelimabean) writes super sweet, smutty fics and has written the pegging fics this fandom desperately needs (yours, always and anything for your queen)!

Vorkosigan Saga (book series by Lois McMaster Bujold)

Since I’m only halfway through the saga, there’s a lot of fanfics I can’t read in order not to spoiler myself, but luckily for me, there’s tons of amazing stories on the earlier timelines while I wait to get the other books.

Phylomytha is ... probably McMaster Bujold in disguise. At least that would explain why their style aligns so flawlessly with that of the author, and why every! single! fic!!! feels like a deleted chapter/scene from the books. Writes a lot of short one-shots which flesh out the universe and make me appreciate it so much more. Just...wow. Aral Vorkosigan’s Dog is a longer one exploring the POV of a minor character, and I loved it so much.

Dira Sudis (@dsudis) writes heart-achingly tender fics, while staying wonderfully true to the characters. A big favorite is Frequently Suggested Sexual Practices: An Aid to Communication.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ah, I remember the good innocent times when the only things I associated with A:TLA were cute gen fics. But alas, the kink always finds me (maybe because I’m always searching for it, heh).

DracoMaleficium (@dracze) writes awesome, kinky stuff around Jee/Zuko, mostly AUs. Incredibly rich, sensory, readable writing style.

Nele (@fanjapanologist) also writes Jeeko, and adds tons of super elegant and good worldbuilding. I absolutely adore the fics they wrote.

attackfish (@attackfish) writes very psychological, often very dark gen fics which have super competent worldbuilding (and prominently feature Mai, which - GOOD). Until the Walls Break Like Waves had me gripping my seat - a very unsettling, extremely well-written fic.

and finally:

Brokeback Mountain

I absolutely had to include cathalin ( @cathalins) since they wrote Dreaming, a fanfic that made me genuinely bawl my eyes out. All of their fics are incredible though, just feel TRUE and IMPORTANT and I’m already half-crying just thinking about that fic (crying in the good ways, btw, it’s a fix-it). Can’t possibly recommend that fic enough.

Hope you will find something to like in my rec list!!

(all those authors are, unless specified otherwise, on AO3)

[doomfisthero]

Initial Contact

Another RP between me and @grampa-lion​, one with some self-insert elements to it. With Matty’s permission, I’m planning on writing some more occasional forays into the Nebula Nine universe as myself and not merely through Keaton; I’m working on one now, so I figured I’d upload this as a prologue of sorts. Edited slightly for narrative consistency, and to indicate direct communication between me and Matty.

Keaton takes a deep breath next to me, grinning ear to ear, as the elevator descends from the front deck of the Asclepius into her inner quarters. From what I’ve seen of the ship so far (Keaton promised me a full tour after we’ve met the others), she’s a beautiful and majestic vessel. I can only imagine standing on the surface of a planet ravaged by chaos and disarray, and looking up to see salvation coming in the form of a graceful ship, filled with heroes of justice and light.

What’s it like, soaring through the universe on a craft like this? I can watch Star Wars and Kyuranger all I want, but I can only hope that the Rangers will let me experience it for myself. Maybe if I get along with them…

I forcefully set it aside. It’s a thought for later. I have a more pressing matter waiting for me at the bottom of this elevator.

As if by magic (but probably not), the door opens at that moment into a short hallway with a door at the end. I’ve read and written enough stories in this universe to know that door opens onto the bridge of the ship, where Keaton claims that everyone awaits us. My stomach does a few more turns.

“You ready, Jake?” Keaton asks, walking out of the elevator with me shortly in tow.

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” I say, failing to keep the tremble out of my voice.

Keaton turns back to me. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, buddy,” he says, giving me a look of gentle concern. “Trust me, everyone’s overjoyed to finally meet you – the Rangers and Matty both. You’re a great guy, Jacob, and I know they’re going to love you as much as you love them. By the end of today, you’ll all be amazing friends.”

We stop right in front of the bridge door. Keaton puts his hand on my shoulder – normally that would bother me, but Keaton gives me a sense of comfort that few people do. “This doesn’t have to go like any of your fantasies, no matter how much time you’ve spent on them. It can go better. It will.”

“They don’t all go that badly, Keaton,” I say, but I have to concede his point. Angst is one of those things that always comes easily to me. It permeates a great deal of what I write, especially for Nebula Nine, even if a happy ending is rarely far behind. “I wouldn’t mind skipping past the rough stuff this time, though,” I admit.

Keaton pats my shoulder. “And you will.” His face lights up, and he brings his fists to his chest. “This is going to be great, Jacob. I’m so, so happy you’re finally here. I can’t wait for you to meet my family.”

Looking into the eyes of my creation, those joyous, gleaming gems, I can’t help but get excited too. A warm smile creeps across my face, and a warm feeling settle into my stomach, vanquishing the evil butterflies. I’m going to meet the Rangers – not only that, I’m going to meet Matty. Has it really been only seven months since our friendship begun? It feels like I’ve known him for so much longer. Seven months have created a brother, someone I love like my own blood relatives. And finally, we’re going to meet in flesh and blood! (Or paper and ink, rather, but we’re meeting.)

I’ve been waiting quite a while for this – how can I not be stoked? “I’m happy to be here too, Keaton. Let’s do this.”

Keaton pumps his fists and reaches for the door access panel, then pulls back. “Uh, sorry, one last thing,” he begins, looking sheepish. “The rest of the Rangers are really excited to meet you, and I’m sure you know they can be…affectionate. I’m pretty sure a few of them will be eager to hug you. I’m certain Matty will be. I know you aren’t crazy about touching…is that okay?”

Weirdly, it feels just fine. It’s true that physical contact is something I shy away from even among those I love, but the thought about getting and giving an embrace from the people on the other side of the door feels…right. How can I not want a hug from any of them?

“Yeah,” I say. “Yeah, that sounds pretty good.”

A joyful laugh bubbles up from Keaton’s throat as he taps the panel and the door slides open, giving me my first glimpse at the bridge of the Asclepius. Almost immediately, my eyes are drawn to the large round booth surrounded by soft, squishy-looking seats – the one the Rangers sat around whilst talking to Thuban about his nightmares quite a while ago.

I’ve seen the people seated around that table many times before, through ink on paper or words on a page, but seeing them in person is a sight to behold. As I peer through the door at them, the Rangers peer back at me, and their eyes shine like stars as they placed me.

And there’s one more with them, who I recognize from his pictures. His eyes shine brightest of all.

Keaton leaps through the door and bounds down the steps. “Hey, everybody! I brought him! He’s here! Jacob, get down here and say hi! We’re dying to meet you!”

I laugh and step down the stairs myself. What to say? “Hey, how’s it going?” It’s my usual, and a versatile greeting, but they deserve better, more. I reach the bottom in a heartbeat, and I just talk.

“Hey, everyone,” I say, giving the Rangers and Matty a small wave. I’m beaming – I can feel it on my face. “I’m…I’m so happy to be here. I—you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to meet you all. This…this is gonna be great.”

Upon seeing you my eyes practically go supernova with glee, and I suck in a small gasp of delighted surprise. Seven months in the making and finally, I get to meet my brother! Even if it's only virtual rather than in person, I couldn't be happier! The more talkative among the Rangers all break out into excited chatter ("It's Jacob! He's finally here! Wow his glasses look cool!" -that last one was Lizbeth), and I stand up, approaching with glee and the biggest smile I can possibly muster. A brief whirl of anxiety over my appearance breaks out- being self-conscious about your personal attributes is no fun- but I suppress it with the knowledge that I've prepared for this, that I've wanted this for sweet holy moly who knows how long.

"Jacob- Jake!" I manage to get out, barely able to speak at first. "I... Howdy, big bro! You have no idea how glad I am to see you! Did you get here okay? How do you like the Asclepius? Everyone's been so hyped to meet you, especially me!"

"JACOOOOOOB!" Champ practically roars, opening his arms wide. "THERE'S the guy who gave me the sweetest zarkin' baby bro in the universe! C'mere and gimme a hug once you're done with Matty!"

The sound of the Rangers' chatter hits my ears, and I try to move it into the background and focus on my little brother. He looks good, hair slicked back, a small beard, and glasses of his own. It's different seeing him in full - he's so much taller than I realized, taller than me by a few inches. 'Little' brother may be a bit of a misnomer. That thought makes me laugh, clears away some of my doubt. I walk forward and give my little bro a hug. I worry myself that I'm a little awkward at it, but if he notices, he doesn't say anything.

"Hey, Matty. It's great to meet you," I say, my own voice brimming with joy. "Keaton picked me up in his Voyager - I'm so happy to finally see this place with my own eyes. It's already amazing, and I've barely seen any of it yet." I look up at him a bit. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. I kinda figured I'd be flying out to California or something after I graduate. I think I like this better - doesn't cost me anything either."

"You should have seen him while we were flying here," Keaton chimes in from behind. "I thought he was gonna faint when he saw the ship. He couldn't put two words together." He's smiling, despite his words.

"I'm just happy to be here, Keaton." I pull back from Matty after a brief period and turn first to Champ. He's even bigger-than-life in person than he is on a page, and he towers over even Matty with arms outstretched. I don't even consider not rushing over to him and giving him a hug of his own, and before I know it, I'm doing just that. "Champ, I've waited a while to see you, too," I say, laughing. "It's great to finally see you in person, you big cowpuncher. You were always one of my favorites."

As I wipe a few stray tears of joy from my eyes, cherishing your embrace, Champ hugs you back firmly, laughing. "Gahahahaha! Cowpuncher- you took that from Keaton, didn't ya!?" he accuses lightheartedly. "Oh Taurus, I'm happy to meet you, buddy. Everyone has been."

"I can verify that," adds Rasalhague, bowing to you gently in the tradition of Ophiuchus Gamma and extending a hand for a handshake once Champ lets you go. Up close, his eyes- silvery pupils with black irises- don't look as eerie as they did in the early stages of his character arc, because of how much quiet kindness fills them now.

"Matty's been in a bit of a writing block on Nebula Nine lately, to be honest." Seph shrugs and reclines in their space in the booth, making the water in their oxygenation collar swish. "But he's been really excited to finally get the story out thanks to all the support you've been giving him. His main problem right now is making a suitable character arc for me, something to do with my issues regarding trust and loyalty- but I'll spare you that for now, heh." The Exelcian youth chuckles easily. "I've read some of your works in my downtime, by the way- dunno what all that Five Nights At Freddy's stuff is about, never played it, but I liked the Bonnie character. I feel like he'd get along famously with me."

I wrestle an arm from Champ's iron (in more ways than one) embrace and shake Rasalhague's hand firmly, greeting him. He does have fascinating eyes.

"Yeah, Five Nights at Freddy's, survive a week with killer animatronics in a pizza place," I tell Seph. "I was big on it a while back, and couldn't find any really good fics for it, so I thought I'd roll up my sleeves and make one. I'm really proud of how it turned out." I chuckle. "And yeah, I had fun with Bonnie too. And Matty, I can help you out sometime. I've already got an idea or two that might work."

"Involving me and my big reveal?" Keaton asks, non-judgmentally.

"Maybe a bit."

I nod and smile at the offer of assistance. "Geez, bro, thanks!" I say gratefully. "I've been tearing my hair out over it- uh, figuratively, I assure you, don't worry. So knowing you'd offer to help is really great!"

Quiet Felipe chooses this moment to pipe up. "Hey, uh... Jacob?" he asks in a tone stilted by nerves, averting his eyes in shyness. Lizbeth puts a comforting hand on his back, and it bolsters him to continue. "Um... Thanks," the healer manages. "For. Y'know. Sending in all those asks and stuff about us all. And for allowing Keaton to be my little brother too."

I smile - it's reassuring to know that they didn't mind my occasional barrage of questions. "Hey, it was nothing, Felipe. Thank you for being so open to talking every now and then," I say. "You're a cool guy, Felipe. No matter what you may think."

"...thanks again..." Felipe's face darkens with a flattered blush, and he buries his face in his hands, letting out a low noise that can only be described as a fanboy's squee. Lizbeth chuckles and pats him again.

"Felipe's a big fan of you," she says with a wink. "Really, though, it's great to meet you, especially because you're autistic too! I was so happy you thought it was great that Felipe and I are autie. That aside you wrote with me and Keaton talking about "libra" was hilarious!" She chuckles a little. "I hope you'll really like the story itself once it releases, I've got a big role in the first chapter!"

"Don't forget about me or Seph, we're the other two Rangers who appear before Felipe gets his Power Sphere!" Raptor scolds lightly. "Anyway, Jacob, can I say one thing? You're an amazing writer, and... we've all honestly admired your work a lot. When I heard from Keaton that you'd ended up with Nebula Nine as a special interest of sorts, it... filled me with pride, really, because I'm the team leader. I hope we all can continue to meet and surpass your expectations."

"I know you will. I've never thought anything else," I tell her. "And I'm...really happy you guys enjoy my work, too. I'm not...really working on any of my big projects right now, so it's nice to hear that - that people, uh, enjoy my work anyway. Makes me feel good." Indeed, I feel warm inside, knowing that the freaking Nebula Nine enjoy what I've done, and hopefully what I one day do.

Ze'ev catches on and chuckles a little. "Starstruck?" he asks with the slightest hint of a mischievous giggle. "We are too!" Coming over to you, he gives you a big, soft hug of his own, his tail wagging just like a normal dog's, and his ears splay back. "You probably already know how I feel about you, big guy, but... I'm so grateful for you coming into Matty's life! You've helped him develop us all way beyond our initial character concepts, and he always tells us how much he cares about you and loves you. You make him so happy!" He looks up into your eyes, his eyes big and loving.

"Easy, don't smother 'im!" Solomon jokes. "Seriously, yer gonna drown him in all that fluff of yours!"

"I'm five feet tall, you shush!" Ze'ev replies, shooting Solomon a quick glare. "Ignore Jerk Cobain over there, Jacob, he's as happy to see you as the rest of us."

"Darn right! I swear I'll compose a song in your name!" Solomon holds up his lute and strums a bright-sounding chord.

"Ah, fluff sounds pretty good right now," I reply, giving Ze'ev a hug of my own. His fur is soft and fluffy, and the temptation to revel in it is strong, but that feels a little too much like making a move on him. I rub him softly, just a bit. "You make Keaton really happy, you know?" I tell Ze'ev. "Even I can tell. He gushes about you every chance he gets when we talk. It's honestly a little overwhelming."

"No regrets," Keaton declares from behind me. People chuckle, and I'm one of them.

"My point is, I was really looking forward to meeting you, Ze'ev. See a little bit of what Keaton sees. I'm really happy you two are so happy together." I shoot Matty a grateful look.

"Wheee~" he coos a little bit at your rub, before breaking from the hug. "That's so nice to hear- C'mere, honeybear!" He embraces Keaton next, kissing his cheek and giggling, and while the Forever Blue duo are occupied, I smile softly at my big brother.

"I'm happy too," I say, holding my hands behind my back and sighing in contentment.

Finally, Shaula and Thuban make their presence known. Shaula has been sizing you up this whole time, looking you up and down, and she rewards you with a confident smile. "You are just as Matty says," the warrior princess declares, her own tail bobbing slightly. "A capable and kind young man who is worthy of admiration! Were you a member of the Scorpian court I have it on good authority that you would be treated with honor and many accolades."

Thuban strokes his beard, looking deep in concentration. "Ahh... There's much I wish to say myself," he admits. "How to condense it... Jacob, you are a wonderful young man. You've brightened the lives of my charges immeasurably, both through your work and you being yourself. And I cannot thank you enough for inspiring Matthew to declare that my family will grow beyond myself and Raptor." He puts a hand on Raptor's shoulder, and the two of them smile at one another, then at you. "It is my fond hope that you will always shine bright, good sir."

As I'm not much of a fighter, I'm not sure how I'd actually fare in the Scorpian court, but I take Shaula's words for what they are and thank her graciously. I turn to Thuban, the ever admirable dragon, and take a breath. "Thank you, Thuban. I, um, hope you're right about me. There's...stuff I want to do, and well, it doesn't always seem surmountable. But I hope I can do it, too. I think I can, if I try. I'm really grateful that you believe in me." The butterflies in my belly start to flutter again, even though I'm certain that I've nothing to fear. "Uh, I don't usually...ask this, but...Thuban, I really want to hug you...can I, please?"

Shaula nods and crosses her arms, evidently approving of you, and Thuban's whiskers twitch, his gentle red eyes widening at the request.

"My, my," he says softly. "You truly desire an embrace from this old man? If you wish it, then of course you can have it, Jacob." Stretching out his arms, the dragon takes a step closer to you, greatcoat swishing at his feet, and pulls you into a firm, warm hug, one that can't be called anything less than paternal. "I do believe in you, Jacob, as do we all. Know this: that even in the depths of your darkest fears and worries, you may look to us, and know that we all support you- that we love you, I dare say."

I embrace Thuban as he embraces me, wrapping my arms as far around his greatcoat as I can and pressing my face into his chest. "Thank you," I say. My voice twists on the words, and I can feel nascent tears in my eyes, but I don't cry; I don't think they'd mind, but I don't feel comfortable crying about this in front of them. Maybe someday.

"I...I love you guys, too. All of you. I've wanted to meet you guys for a long time," I admit. "I'm so, so happy that you guys like me. It usually takes a while in my fantasies to get to this point, but we just skipped right to it. Thank you, for caring about me, for supporting me, loving me, even. I love you all too, so much."

Not a Dark Matter or Antimatter Power Sphere in sight, and yet we reached this point so quickly, all on our own. It feels wonderful.

I approach once more, embracing gently from the side. "I don't think any of them could ever bear a grudge towards you for anything. We talk about you a lot," I remind, tilting my head a little. "I'm really glad I got to do this for you- I love your characters like you love mine, and... this feels amazing, being able to introduce you to them after all this time..." My own voice chokes up slightly, and before I know it, I'm blinking back tears of my own. "Gah, zarkit... there I go, being a crybaby..." I wipe my tears away and offer a big, wobbly grin. "Jake, I'm so happy right now..."

I gently pull away from Thuban and wrap my arms around you, Matty. "Yeah, I get that. And I'm sure we'll feel this way plenty more in the future. I certainly hope so. I love you, little bro."

"I love you too, big bro." I hug you back, breaking down into open tears of joy that I got to do something like this for someone I cherish so dearly.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," I murmur. "I'm just glad you're glad, Matty."

"Eheh..." I look into your eyes and nod, still overwhelmed with happiness. "So... Let's have some fun, eh? Maybe sit down, have a meal, play some video games, talk about writing a little more? Whatever you wanna do, bro, you're the guest of honor!"

"Ah..." I pinch a lock of hair between my fingers and twist it around. "I...kinda want to see more of the ship right now, to start. It's just...incredible, really."

"Oh yeah!" Keaton exclaims. "I promised you a tour of the place! There's plenty to see, and I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Yeah, yeah!" I nod. "Can we start with that and then...go from there? I'd love to do more with you guys when we're done!"

"Hey, that's perfect!" Lizbeth says, standing. "You've gotta check out the library, it's filled with all the classics!"

"Library nothing, the training gym's where it's at," Seph replies with a grin. "It's great that the Asclepius is so darn big, we can fit a lot of stuff in here! Come on, Jacob, it's gonna be amazing!"

"I don't doubt it!" I laugh. "Lead on, and I'll faithfully follow!"

"Sir yes sir!" all of the Rangers chorus, getting up and striding towards the elevator, all cheerfully bickering about where to show him first. The deciding vote seems to be Thuban, and I take your hand in mine as we follow the colorful crew we've created.

"Matty?" I say quietly, drawing your attention. I look your way. "Thanks for bringing me here. I love you."

And then I walk into the doorframe and hit the side of my head, stumbling back. "I'm okay! I'm fine!" I shake my head. "Let's go, everyone!"

"Ack!" Ze'ev yelps, shocked.

"He's okay, peeps!" I shout, looking at you with worry, but I can't help a quick laugh because I know exactly what that kind of mishap is like. Everyone clamors around you briefly, but their worries are assuaged when they see that you're okay, and they sigh in relief, Champ patting your back and trailing behind you to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[hellooogaynow]

1-100

omg ok tbh i forgot that i reblogged that ask thing but thank u fren here u go

1. spotify, soundcloud, or pandora? 

spotify

2. is your room messy or clean?

um ok so my room at my mom’s is technically the office and just full of mine and everyone else’s storage so it isn’t really my room i guess and my room at my dad’s is nearly empty and i haven’t been there more than a couple times in a while and i’ve been crashing at friend’s and family’s houses and living out of a suitcase for weeks so i’m just gonna say i don’t really have a room

3. what color are your eyes?

dark brown

4. do you like your name? why?

alright well this is complicated because i hate the name emily and lately i’ve been going by emmitt for a while and it’s just weird because i feel so disconnected from emily and not super connected to emmitt either and i feel like i should just be a nameless person because i hate being referred to as anything tbh

5. what is your relationship status?

happily in a relationship with someone i really care about

6. describe your personality in 3 words or less

a detached mess

7. what color hair do you have?

my natural dark brown color

8. what kind of car do you drive? color?

ah it’s a purple mini van that’s rusting and dying

9. where do you shop?

target lol

10. how would you describe your style?

almost exclusively button ups and baseball shirts

11. favorite social media account?

tumblr probably i use this the most out of all of them

12. what size bed do you have?

queen

13. any siblings?

i have 2 sisters

14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?

i honestly have no idea how to answer this question i don’t have a dream destination or anything

15. favorite snapchat filter?

omg probably the cute cat one that changes ur voice cuz my friends look so cute when they use it

16. favorite makeup brand(s)?

i don’t know anything about makeup

17. how many times a week do you shower?

every day sometimes multiple times a day

18. favorite tv show?

buffy the vampire slayer and dollhouse kill me

19. shoe size?

idk i’m pretty sure i’m a 6

20. how tall are you?

5’1

21. sandals or sneakers?

sneakers

22. do you go to the gym?

no lol but i do plan to start going once i actually move in to my new place and get settled

23. describe your dream date

i want to spend a day in chicago with emily doing whatever we want just walking and wandering into stores and go to a zoo or a museum or navy pier or honestly just anything at this point i miss her so much i don’t care what we do as long as we’re together

24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?

$6

25. what color socks are you wearing?

they’re both different variations of black white and light blue

26. how many pillows do you sleep with?

at least 2

27. do you have a job? what do you do?

yeah i recently got a job in the mental health field and i work primarily with adults with various mental illnesses in a 24/7 supervised living area at the moment it’s mostly individuals dealing with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder and i help them with symptom management, building the skills they have chosen to work on in their treatment plans, and help them carry activities of daily living so they can become self-sufficient and can transition out and live on their own

28. how many friends do you have?

ah i mean i know i have a lot of friends but as far as really close friends i know i can count on and will most likely always have around i’d say i have about 8

29. whats the worst thing you have ever done?

ah fuck well i went through a really destructive phase in my recent past where i was just in a bad place and i withdrew and lashed out a lot and was super emotionally unstable and i hurt a lot of people and i regret it

30. whats your favorite candle scent?

omg i have no idea i usually just smell all the blue ones and go from there

31. 3 favorite boy names

elliot (this is my favorite name in the world probably)

max

derrick

32. 3 favorite girl names

bennett

caroline

sara

33. favorite actor?

i thought about this for a solid 5 minutes and no one is coming to mind i’m gonna leave this blank

34. favorite actress?

eliza dushku and alyson hannigan kill me every time i watch dollhouse or buffy i’m in love with her

35. who is your celebrity crush?

amber liu

36. favorite movie?

selena

37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?

i used to read a lot when i was a kid and the music of dolphins by karen hesse has always stuck with me for some reason idk if it’s my favorite but when i was a kid i checked it out at least once a month on our elementary library visits and even now i always find myself thinking about it

38. money or brains?

well if u don’t have money u can’t survive in this capitalist society so i mean

but if this question is asking what i want in a person i’d want the smart

39. do you have a nickname? what is it?

my family calls me mimi and tbh it’s the only thing i actually feel comfortable with weirdly

40. how many times have you been to the hospital?

i’ve been to the hospital multiple times to visit people but i don’t remember actually needing to be there myself besides when i burned my hands as a child

41. top 10 favorite songs

this is def subject to change depending on my mood at any given moment but for right now:

hold me tight by bts

house of cards by bts

lie by bts

all mine by one ok rock

deeper deeper by one ok rock

we are by one ok rock

decision by one ok rock

clock strikes by one ok rock

como la flor by selena

moon river waltz by shinee

42. do you take any medications daily?

no i had issues with family and insurance so i had to stop seeing my psych and taking meds

43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)

dry

44. what is your biggest fear?

my mom having anything else bad happen to her

45. how many kids do you want?

this is most likely not going to be my choice lol i don’t have a number in mind if i do have kids

46. whats your go to hair style?

short and whatever it wants to do when i get out of the shower

47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)

well i don’t really live in a house rn but my mom’s house is huge she just moved in and it’s crazy big i’m so happy for her also the house i’m gonna move into soon is p small but still cute

48. who is your role model?

idk probably my mom she’s been through a lot and is still going strong

49. what was the last compliment you received?

“you’re so sweet, you know that?” from a client

50. what was the last text you sent?

“nini

51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?

tbh i have no idea i was probably in elementary school

52. what is your dream car?

something that runs, is either blue or grey, and magically doesn’t cost me anything to drive it

53. opinion on smoking?

it smells terrible and i don’t like to be around people who smoke

54. do you go to college?

yeah i just graduated

55. what is your dream job?

i have no idea i don’t know what i want i haven’t really thought that far ahead but i love my job so far so i’m alright with where i’m at

56. would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?

i don’t really have a preference as long as i’m with and near people i care about

57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?

i don’t think i’ve ever personally done that

58. do you have freckles?

yeah i have a couple scattered around

59. do you smile for pictures?

i make this weird stupid half smile face and i can’t stop

60. how many pictures do you have on your phone?

761

61. have you ever peed in the woods?

i have not

62. do you still watch cartoons?

i never want to not watch cartoons

63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from wendy’s or mcdonalds?

i don’t like chicken nuggets from anywhere

64. favorite dipping sauce?

wait for what

i like soy sauce for potstickers

65. what do you wear to bed?

usually shorts and a t shirt

66. have you ever won a spelling bee?

no i’m terrible at spelling out loud

67. what are your hobbies?

i like to dance idk not much else tho i guess

68. can you draw?

nooooo

69. do you play an instrument?

i played guitar once but i forgot everything smh

70. what was the last concert you saw?

the bts wings tour

71. tea or coffee?

tea

72. starbucks or dunkin donuts?

dunkin donuts

73. do you want to get married?

yes

74. what is your crush’s first and last initial?

e g

75. are you going to change your last name when you get married?

i’ve thought about this actually and i’m mostly just hesitant about how difficult it would be to change my name on like all the legal paperwork and like bills and work things and it just sounds super complicated but i wish it could be easier because i hate where my last name comes from and if i married my current gf we would literally have the exact same name and we would be able to confuse people even more and i just think it would be funny

76. what color looks best on you?

black i think

77. do you miss anyone right now?

yes oh my god

78. do you sleep with your door open or closed?

closed always closed

79. do you believe in ghosts?

yeah i do

80. what is your biggest pet peeve?

ok i get so mad when i go to a friend’s place who has long hair and i’m walking barefoot through their house or i’m sleeping over or i’m under a blanket or something and it just makes me so mad when i feel dumb long single strands of hair in my toes i hate it so much it makes me so mad idk man but this happened to me last night and i’ve been thinking about it ever since

81. last person you called?

ah well the last phone call that i was on was with the director of all the residential living things at my work

82. favorite ice cream flavor?

idk probably chocolate and vanilla with caramel

83. regular oreos or golden oreos?

regular oreos

84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?

no sprinkles pls

85. what shirt are you wearing?

black and grey v neck t shirt

86. what is your phone background?

a picture of my gf i took a while back of her from a distance with the river and sunset in the background

87. are you outgoing or shy?

shy with everyone besides my friends

88. do you like it when people play with your hair?

only like a very specific like 2 people but when it’s anyone else i get really uncomfortable with being touched and you’d think that people wouldn’t just come up to you and start touching your hair and telling you how soft it is but it’s more common than you think and it makes me want to d ie

89. do you like your neighbors?

my nonexistent neighbors r gr8

90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?

i always wash it in the morning but sometimes i wash it at night too if i feel gross from the day

91. have you ever been high?

nope never

92. have you ever been drunk?

yes

93. last thing you ate?

a blizzard from dairy queen with pieces of brownies in it

94. favorite lyrics right now

ok i’m gonna be honest and just say i’m not in a place to listen to music rn i’ve been listening to exclusively podcasts and i have not listened to a song and not zoned out completely during it in a very long time and no lyrics are coming to mind

95. summer or winter?

summer

96. day or night?

night

97. dark, milk, or white chocolate?

ah milk or white i guess i’m not a super big fan tho

98. favorite month?

june cuz my birthday also gay

99. what is your zodiac sign

gemini

100. who was the last person you cried in front of?

my dad

[beardedwinnerobject-blog]

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What are the minimum legal requirements for auto insurance in california ?

What is the cheapest car insurance company?

Ok, so I just want to know, as far as getting insurance for your Car goes....do you guys know like what Car Insurance COMPANY has the cheapest insurance you can buy for your car? Thanks, it would help out alot.""

Car Insurance In Virginia?

I'm 19, First time driver, 1 Child, Car paid in full, Live in the 22031 area (fairfax), Had a seatbelt ticket before I obtained my license, Female. I want to know which insurance would be best suited for me, I dont need the quotes, I just want advice (from expierience) on where to get quotes from first. I have my permit, and will have my license in 25 days. I'm looking into cars right now, and should have one chosen in the next 2 weeks. I know the car will change what the insurance is, but I have not chosen it. I know I want an automatic 4 door sedan Used. Not sure on mileage yet. Leaning towards Nissan Altima. Any advice???""

Insurance for first time male driver (16 years old almost 17)?

I'm two months away from being 17 and I'm looking at getting a 2001 E46 BMW 325i. Does anyone have a guesstimate or actual cost to insure myself? Would there be anyway I could insure myself under my parents name to lessen the price?

How do you find affordable health insurance?

I have a friend of mine who lives in Florida. He had open heart surgery a few years ago. After the surgery was done, the Dr walked in the room and told my friend he really never needed the surgery to begin with. He is trying to find health insurance and he is having trouble finding it because of his heart condition even though now he doesn't have one. Most of the health insurance companies want more then $1500 a month to insure him. How does he find affordable insurance in the US?""

Purchasing an aircraft with no licenses? Insurance costs?

Hi guys my friend is selling his Piper Warrior and I'm interested in purchasing it with no licenses. Obviously I would have my friends who are CFI qualified with me every time I am in the aircraft until I do acquire the license. Anybody have an idea for insurance costs for owning an aircraft without a license as well as renting the aircraft to others?

Van insurance young driver?

im 20 years old, been driving for 3 years with 1 year no claims, im a qualified tiler but i cant find van insurance cheaper than 6 grand anywhere its a joke, so i cant work cause i need a van wtf can i do""

Good Driver Insurance Discount?

Okay, so this is the deal. I have a 3.3 G.P.A. Not bad, right? Well, for one of my classes I actually have an F in for ONE of my Spring 2011 classes. Although I can get the discount, my parents keep hounding me for my transcript and I don't want them to see that F or I'm screwed. Can I still get the discount if I send the car insurance company my trancript from the previous semesters and not my most recent one?""

Low income insurance for a 24 years old student who live in VA?

I am a full time student who live in VA. I am looking for some low income health insurance for myself. Currently, I got some illness and I really need to see the doctor; however, I dont have any health insurance. Is anyone know any health insurance would be providing for a person like me? My family is low income family. Is any way I can get a health insurance from the government? Thank you!""

What should i do about car insurance?

In my last question i mentioned that i am no longer insured. I do not have a car, so i cannot just go out and buy car insurance. so they said i need to be covered under one of my parents policy or something... My mom refuses to do it, Because i missed one month payment while i was on hers before.. And i have no one else who wants to... Is there a no car insurance that i can get that covers me regardless of what i drive, so im not uninsured. I cant drive without insurance.""

The cheapest auto insurance in Fl?

Port orange fl

Do motorbike insurance count towards my no claims?

i have 2 years no claims on my car insurance and am looking to geta motorbike. will my motorbike insurance go towards my no claims in total

Do I Need Auto Insurance if I don't have a car?

Ok, well i just got my liscense [ i`m 16 ] ... i don't have a car, so do i need auto insurance? i don't know if this is a dumb question, but people are telling me i need to be added to my mom's insurance and stuff. i`m trying to under stnad the whole car insurance thing so hopefully somebody can help.""

How much is car insurance for a 16 year old?

How much is car insurance for a 16 year old?

How does Driver's License affect insurance in Washington State?

I'm 18 and just recently moved in with my grandparents so I can go to school. I would like to get my driver's license, but they are telling me I can't because it would make their insurance rates go up. I don't think that makes any sense because I don't have a car, and I don't drive theirs. Would me getting a driver's license affect them at all actually?""

Insurance help when modifying a car?

hi im thinking about doing my vauxhall corsa c up its a 03 plate. at the moment im insured on my uncles buisness fleet. which is very cheap for me as im 17 nearly 18. question.. will i need to tell my insurance about modifiying my car. and will it go up?

I am looking for an affordable holiday abroad ?

can anyone reccommend any good web sites with exellent deals please as i have never been on holiday abroad and is there any extras like do you have to have travel insurance and is it affordable?thankyou

Pay Per Mile Car Insurance - have you tried it?

I've heard from a friend about a pay per mile car insurance - as I only use my car on a Saturday it sounds ideal. Anyone have any links or recommendations?

If information on your insurance is wrong.?

if there is a mistake on your insurance say for the length of time you have passed your test or if you have penalty points what will happen if you gave false information will you be found out when applying for a quote or will the insurance company say nothing until you try to claim? Will they take your word for it until you try to claim? or will they pull you there on the spot or will they give to u then ring the police?

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

Do you think I need insurance?

I have to have insurance on my car for 3 years because I got a ticket for no insurance and suspended license. I just recently go rid of my car...do I still need the insurance. People have told me to at least keep liability non-owners insurance, but that's $266 a month for me...!!! Can I just forget the insurance and ride the bus?""

Car Insurance Quote - Looking for afford auto insurance?

Car Insurance Quote does some one know a cheap auto insurance that is dependable I am a good driver please advise.

""I have a company car, who should pay for the car insurance?

I have a year contract with this company and they are giving me a car for the duration of my employment. they told me i can use it for personal as well as work use. they told me i have to pay for my insurance though. is that fair?

How much would car insurance be for me?

I am a 16 year old boy and am looking at 95-99 Honda civic coupes manual transmission. I believe the insurance company is AAA and I'm in southern California

A question about state farm auto insurance?

If I plan on buying a car with two seats, I'm male and get ok grades, what would be the difference in insurance costs if I got a car with 4 seats?""

Car insurance for sport car?

I have 2005 Mazda RX8, want to give it to my teenager. My question is if it count as sport car or 4 doors sedan( it has 4 doors called suicide door). Can someone help?""

How can you find out how much your car was when it was new?

My insurance company needs to know how much my car cost when it was brand new so they can give me coverage quotes. I did not buy it new, and it is a 1999. Anyone know the best way to find this out? It is a Chevy Silverado 4500 extended cab. Thanks!""

Question about Scion Tc insurance?

So I figured it couldn't hurt to ask about the insurance on a Scion Tc. I'm 16 and looking into getting a scion as my first car. My family and I have state farm insurance, and I would co-sign with them. It would be a used scion with about under 50000 miles and probably a year 2006 or 2005. I live in new york if it helps and am a new driver, no tickets or points. So I was just basically wondering how much other people pay a month or year for a scion tc, their age, the year of their car, and the state they live in. Also and more importantly is a scion tc considered a sports car, or is it under sports car insurance. If it is how much extra monthly is that. I would also be eligible for a steer clear program reduction, good grades reduction, and the reduction for taking drivers ed if anyone has any idea how much that would save. Thanks for anyone who can help!""

Will lifting my Jeep affect my insurance rates?

I have a Jeep Cherokee, which is my daily driver, but I'm lookin into making it alot bigger, putting a 6 lift kit on and putting 35 tires. I dont know whether or not I need to notify my insurance company about this. I dont expect them to insure the lift or anything, but can I be dropped by them if I do not tell them? I'm not actually going to be taking the truck offroad (stupid I know, but its just for looks).""

How can I get health insurance?

Hi! So my situation is a little complicated......I am twenty and a full time college student living at home. Both my parents are older and on medicare which does not cover me. I only work part time so I really cant even afford to pay for insurance and my college offers an insurance plan but it's really crappy. I really need to find some type of health insurance that is affordable. Not being able to go to the doctor or dentist is not fun. Any advice please?

Can i go on someones insurance but drive a different car to them?

well i know i can be put on some kind of car insurance with someone like a family member but i herd that's only if i just drive there car. is there a way i can be put onto there insurance but Drive my own car. Or does anyone know a cheap car insurance company for young new drivers??? I've tried hundreds and there all saying around 2,500ish!!! which is ridiculous i might be young but i have a one year old and a new born child it is highly unlikely that i will be racing with friends, and putting myself in unsafe situations!!! my cars only Worth like 1000 so i refuse to pay for insurance that's costs more than my car!!!! Any kind of help would be nice!! Thank you :)""

What is a cheap auto insurance company?

Please be specific.

Can you get insurance in IL if the car is registered in NJ?

I have a car that is registered to my father in NJ but I'll be moving to IL. I'm the primary driver. It's a newer car so if I tried to just buy it off of him the interest rate would *skyrocket*. So, being the primary driver, and living in IL, would I be able to keep the car registered in NJ but get IL insurance? If not, any other options?""

""Car wreck, how much is the insurance going to give me?""

I got into a car wreck sometime this month of May. It wasn't my fault, the guy made an early turn and hit me. My car and his car are now totaled. I was wondering how much money the insurance will give me on the newer car...? By the way, I have a 1995 Honda Accord Ex and its now totaled. I just wanna know how much they will pay me back? And I have insurace, but not full coverage.""

""Dealt with car accident outside of insurance company, how can I chase up the receipt?""

On Christmas Day I went out in the car to pick up some drinks from the petrol station and on the way out of the station I bumped someones car. I stopped and got out to give them my details (name, address and phone number) and then went home. In the panic of the moment I think I just wanted to get home as it was Christmas Day and I didn't hang around to take photos, ask for witnesses or discuss options with the other driver, which in hindsight I regret and realise was stupid. When I got home, the guy called me up and, again with the stupid mistakes, I said that I would rather settle outside of insurance; the driver wasn't keen on the idea at first and wanted to settle through the insurance company but I couldn't call them until the next week as they were closed for Christmas. He texted me the next day saying that he was going to get a quote from a garage and got back to me later with a quote for 400 through a 'friend of a friend's garage'. At this point I was a bit suspicious and the amount seemed very high for what I thought was not a lot of damage but at the same time he said that he either wanted to do it like that or through the insurance and I really didn't want to loose my no-claims discount as insurance for young male drivers is very high without the no-claims. In the end I decided to pay him, not without a certain bitterness owing to the fact that he was pressuring me for an immediate decision, which also made me suspicious. Having sent the cheque for 400, he kept up communications initially and let me know that he'd received it. He said that he would send me a copy of the receipt from the garage for my records but once he received the cheque I never heard back and now cannot get a reply. Bit long-winded for a question but that's the background story, my question is two-fold: 1. Can I do anything about it? It's more the principle than the money that bothers me, I know that I caused damage to his car but I now suspect it wasn't as much as he claimed. 2. Does 400 sound like too much or should I stop worrying about it? I hit the back corner of his car with the back corner of mine, and he later told me that I had cracked the rear bumper, which needed replacing. I'm not sure of the make of the car but I think it may have been a Ford Fiesta or something similar. I would really appreciate any help as it's weighing on my mind... I don't like people walking over me. At least if the amount he claimed sounds reasonable I can put it down to him being a wanker but the amount claimed being fair and forget about the whole thing.""

Car insurance question (just turned 16)?

So I just turned 16, and am about to purchase a car after saving up for the past year or so. I just have 2 questions. 1- Im planning to get a 1991 Nissan 300zx, there's a 2 seater-2door and a 4 seater- 2 door version of this car. Planning to get the 4 seater, and from what I've heard, insurance will be a tad bit cheaper with the 4 seater, is this true ? And for the more important question - Im underage obviously, so I have to go under my parents for insurance. Thing is, my dad has a HORRIBLE driving record, 1 accident that was his fault and a heaping amount of tickets. And my parents' insurance has gone up from that.. But is his driving record going to affect my insurance? Like will I have to pay more than expected due to his bad record ? Sorry for such the long question..""

Is there a car insurance company in the UK that offers competitive quotes to drivers with penalty points?

My husband has 9 points on his license which are all from Dec 08. We are looking into getting a second car but most insurance quotes are shocking, just wondered if there was a particular insurance company who specialises in insuring such drivers? Thanks.""

Car insurance for young UK drivers and fronting? Whats Best?

I've just passed my test. But, the next thing is a car, but the main problem is the insurance... I've looked at companies that offer a smart box which supposedly lowers the insurance, but i'm going to have to be the main driver on the policy and with a box through co-op I was quoted 5000! And as i'm under 18 they wanted it all in one lump sum!! The reason it was so high was because I have absolutely 0 years claims and i'm the main driver. I've spoken to my mum and dad about them being the main driver and me the named, but they both have a car each and are being very stubborn and keep saying they won't be the main driver as they wouldn't be the person driving it the most (I would be). They keep saying this is illegal and called fronting and if anything happened the insurance companies would look for anyway to not pay up. Everyone one at college that I know does exactly what i'm proposing to my parents... They keep saying if something was to happen then they would be the ones not able to get insurance again and therefore would loose their job as they need their car for their job. If I crashed, or the police pulled me for some reason then I would be insured, so what could they do? Do you think my parents are being awkward about it, and what can I say to make them think otherwise? (Someone I know has a dad as a taxi driver and he is the main driver on his car, as well as his own!) If anything unfortunate happens whilst i'm driving, like a crash, how will the insurance company know who's been driving it the most? What would they do? Should i persevere with my parents (what can I say to them)? And who else is good to try and insure with? I'm thinking of a 1999 Polo or Corsa, just a cheap 750 run around for college Thanks :)""

Will my car insurance go up?

I was recently in a car accident. A car was wrecklessly driving onto my lane and i swerved off to the right so that they would not hit me on my drivers side and i ended up hitting a pole on the passenger side (i left the accident no harm done onto me but my car is totaled). There was no other party so my insurance co (State Farm) had to pay for damages. Will my car insurance go up?

Re Insurance?

I took out an insurance policy with swinton Insurance they quoted me 250.00 I agreed to this amount. I have been driving for over 12 years with no claim made against my policy. Due to the way my previous insurer only counted 5 years no claims bonus insurance that is all they have a record plus three years I was with them. Because the new insurer uses 9 years no claims they now want me to pay an extra 22.00 I know on the one hand this is not a lot of money on the other hand I don't see why I should have to pay it. They are saying If I don't pay it they will cancel it and charge a cancellation charge does anyone know the legal situation whether I have to pay by law or not.

List of cheap auto insurance in Georgia $40-$50 a month?

cheap auto insurance in Georgia .looking for where I can pay btw $40-$50 a month

Why is the health care bill being compared to car insurance?

No one is forced to drive, but we are forced to buy health insurance?""

How much would insurance be on a Nissan 350z?

Hi guys!! Ok so I'm soon to get a 2003-2006 Nissan 350z Touring or Enthusiast. Maybe around 9000$ to 15000. I'm almost 18 and what would insurance be like for me??? Allstate, State Farm, ect. I just need a basic monthly quote! Thanks!!""

Cancel Car Insurance in Florida-How?

It's my dad's car and everything is under his name. Currently his out of the country and won't be back for a month or two. He got two cars insured with Progressive, one I want to cancel because it's broken down. Told the insurance agent about it and he told me to go down to the tag(building, whatever it call) and turn in the tag to get a paper? My dad is not in the country so will I be able to turn the tag in for him without problem? and what tag is the agent talking about(registration tag?) Also will there be any other document needed? (Going down tomorrow but gathering some information first) Thank You.""

How can i compare all life insurance products of all companies?

How can i compare all life insurance products of all companies?

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

""I am leaving for Mexico, what type of auto insurance do I need and where can i get it?

going to mexico for my birthday. i have a 2004 toyota corola and my insurance provider won't cover me down there...any help would be great

Where can I find affordable auto insurance with a bad driving record?

I have a bad driving record and the convictions don't come off my driving record until december 2010. I feel like I've searched everywhere for a decent rate. Does anyone know where I can find a good rate for a person who has a bad record? Or know a way around getitng insurance. My parents can't insure it for me. So that's not an option. Thanks!

Car insurance...?

When you get a quote online for car insurance you get asked so many question like deductible, collision... etc etc.. so many numbers to choose from.. Can anyone explain them to me? i'm just used to liability or full coverage.. right now i have liability on my car and i pay 135 a month. When i got a quote from allstate it turned out to be only 38 a month??? i'm sure i didn't pick the right numbers....""

Change something in my Progressive insurance?

so when i got my insurance with Progressive, i was keeping my motorcycle outside, but now i keep it in a garage. Is there any way i can change the part of my policy where it asks where i keep my motorcycle? I was hoping me keeping it inside would get me a lower rate. Thanks!""

Affordable Health Insurance in California?

We're TTC and having a bit of trouble so I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good health plan that covers maternity and possibly specialists.

How much does Acrft Maint insurance cost for mechanics and owners on cessnas from 172's and up?

Insurance For light aircraft like private aircraft from small cessna 172's to a gulfstream 1 or 2.

Car insurance: Hybrid or conventional?

For a vehicle that is available in hybrid HEV and conventional drive train, which one costs more in vehicle insurance? and what is the difference?""

""My car was totaled, can I haggle with the insurance company?""

My car was totaled and the insurance is only offering me $11,500, but the same car (year/make/model) with same mileage on it ranges from $13,500 - $15,000 in my area. Can I haggle with them to give me more? I have not yet accepted the $11,500, I tried to tell them, but they keep saying they won't give me more, shall I ask for a supervisor, I don't know if insurance companies are starting off low and you can drive it up a bit?""

Small business insurance?

This is for hw, any info would be helpful I'm opening a salon in hollywood california. (5,000 square feet) How much would I pay in insurance a year? what kind of insurance would i need? Example: i think i would need product liability insurance, professional liability insurance, there are so many different kinds! Which one/ones should I use? and how much would it be? I've been googling and researching for a long time if you can help thank you!!""

How does rbs insurance differentiate itself from it's competitors?

Hi, I'm filling out an internship form, and I'm stuck on this question.. Please help me! Thank you""

Who does cheap moped insurance in the uk?

im 16 and just got a moped, im just looking for my cheapest option. any suggestions?""

""After car insurance expires, how many days do you have to renew it?""

My friend just got his car towed for no insurance, I thought you have 30 days after the effective date. Can someone please tell me so I can help him get his car back. SERIOUS ANSWERS ONLY!""

Is my Car Insurance Valid?

If i use my Aunty name (dose not live with me and lives one mile away from my home) as the Main Driver and my name as the second driver on our car insurance policy (as it saves me some money and even i will be the main driver) will my insurance is valid? Please help me. If it is not, please tell me how can i save money by using her name as she is an experienced driver. Many thanks.""

Advice on cheap car insurance ? UK?

hello i am a 17 year old who is currently learning to drive and hoping to buy a car afterwards, however insurance is very expensive and am seeking advice on how to get cheap car insurance, E.G. what car to buy, where to look etc.""

Where can I get a cheap insurance for a new bussines?

Im about starting cleaning houses but i need an insurance

Does any one knows if a time requirement exist that you have to notify your car insurance co. if you're hit?

My car was hit in a parking lot. the other driver told me to get an estimate for the damages and he will write a check. if the cost is too high, his insurance co will pay. do I have to tell mey insureance co. about this? is there a minimum time that I have to tell my insureance co? thank you.""

What is insurance? Detailed answers please :]?

Can someone tell me the detailed purposes and steps of insurance... how it works, costs, etc. Anything you have would be helpful! Thank you.""

California motorcycle/moped laws?

Hello, I'm moving to california from florida in a month to start college, and I intend to sell my car here and get a moped or a motorcycle over there instead to save a little money. I don't know the laws on motorcycles there? i know in florida if its less than 50cc you don't need a motorcycle license or insurance. what about california? if you need insurance how much $/year are we talking? I don't know squat about motorcycles and I've never even rode one or understood the whole gears thing. if someone could recommend a few brands or even whether to get a motorcycle or a moped/scooter (is there a diff?) i have a tight budget (1-1.5K) any advice would be awesome!!!! <3""

Do I need condo insurance in Florida?

As of Jan 1st 2009, our HOA requires us to show proof of insurance. I believe it is statue Section 718.111 (11). Anyways, I really don't have the money for condo insurance right now. I have read online that the HOA can purchase this insurance for me and then assess me for the balance. I recently moved to Port St Lucie, Fl where everyone is unemployed and foreclosures are so common. Anyways, can they place a lien if I do not provide them with proof of the insurance or will they just lay off for awhile? I appreciate any feedback right now as I am so worried. Thanks.""

What is the cheapest car insurance for an 18 year old girl?

I am learning to drive and have my provisional. I want to get a car and have looked at many and the insurance is 3000 or more. I don't mind what first car I get but it has to have 5 doors. Can anyone suggest any cars which have cheap insurance. Thanks in advance

How much is car insurance for a 16 year old living in southern Cali?

Lets say he has good grades. Lets also say the parents of this child have great credit scores. I cant get online qoutes because he is not over 18. Any estimates? Anthing would help. Thank you.

Should I cancel my life insurance?

I am late 30s, single, no children,not going to have children. I have home equity to cover any outstanding bills. I got the policy as a life/retirement/disability policy combo. I became disabled. I am still paying $100/for the life insurance. Metlife guaranteed cash value $2100 reduced paid up insurance $12500 if I cancel now do I get the cash value? what is reduced paid up insurance mean? i want an opinion from someone other than metlife before I contact them. the life insurance value is 110k if i keep the insurance it looks like I get back my investment plus $5000 when I am 65 if I live to 98, i get the full life insurance amount. The disability policy is only 5 years. I am currently 10,000 in debt as a result of months without income until I got SSDI and metlife disability..and having to pay a lot of credit card interest--just to stay in my 3 room run down apartment... I can put that $2100 toward the debt and pay less interest....and also stop paying the $100/month premium and put that toward the debt too...that's another $1200/year.. is this how it works...if i cancel do I get the $2100 now... or is it better to stick with the insurance....""

""How to lower my car insurance, young driver.?""

I am 18 going 19 this year, and i want to know how i can possibly make my insurance cheaper, legally. I took my pass plus which is meant to cut the price down by a bit, but I've found most internet comparison websites don't ask if you have achieved pass plus, so would it be ideal to get a quote online THEN ring up and try knock the price down? Also what else can i do to cut the cost down, legally?""

How much would car insurance be in boca raton fl?

i am a 21 female, toyota corolla s 2006, 31,000 miles ... how much would insurance be? i have a clean driving record... also my car is currently registered in PA .. how do i transfer my car and license to florida ?? ...""

Ho much for my car insurance? How do I add to moms plan?

I am turning 16 and need to know about the cost of car insurance. Can anyone give me an estimate 2,000 a year??? here is some info: *16 years old * Male *Live in Tampa * Sedan few years old * Good grades * Summer Job *Student *car fully paid *has alarm ant ABS Also my mom cannot add me to hers because she gets a special insurance from her company and you have to be 21 to be added to her plan. So I would have to do my own? I thought legally you have to be 18 to have your own insurance. So does she cancel her company insurance and do different company and then add me under her? Sorry if this doesn't really make sense I am confused.""

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

Franklin Louisiana Cheap car insurance quotes zip 70538

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