#which gets very tedious after you've done it a few times

[antirepurp]

it's weird that while digimon world next order is like mechanically a better dw game and lets you have more control over how you raise your digimon, digimon world redigitize decode has a better gameplay loop to me anyway. like in next order after a few generations and lifespan upgrades the digimon just Don't Fucking Die which is a real ordeal when it comes to actually completing the beastiary, and it makes it really difficult to estimate when to do important story fights and when to fuck around bc your fellas are about to die anyway. redigitize seems to have a set lifespan for your digimon that doesn't increase with generations, it's just base stats that do, and it gives you this neat about 15 in-game day cycle of raising your dude up (which can be done entirely in the gym) and exploring in-between if you need to adjust your stats carefully for specific evolutions. if redigitize had the evolution control of next order i think i'd say it's the ultimately better experience just for that tbh

[torukmaktoskxawng]

Sleeping Beauty - Lo'ak & Neteyam

Part of the Sleeping Beauty Series (all stand-alone)

inspo

Pairing: Lo'ak/Fem!Avatar Reader, Neteyam/Fem!Avatar Reader

Word Count: 3k+

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, minors dni, aged-up characters, somnophilia, mate bites, spitting, cussing, unprotected p in v (wrap it, skxawngs), orgasm denial, jacking off, praise, dirty talk, nipple play, squirting, edging, surprise threesome (but they're only into you, not each other), mentions of creampie, cumming on external places, after care, creative use of Na'vi words to avoid saying Y/n, etc.

A/n: Adult Lo'ak & Neteyam done by the one and only @ cinetrix 💕

It was a long day for the both of you, with Lo'ak coming back from a tedious hunt while you were out-- essentially running a bunch of errands for Max with a grocery list of plant samples he wanted you to go find. You hadn't had any time to stop and see Lo'ak as it was running late and Max needed help labeling and taking stock of said samples. Unable to properly fit in the lab in your avatar, you decide to lay her down for the night in your marui and break the connection, opening your eyes to find yourself in your human form, lying on your back in a soft-glowing link bay.  

You eagerly got to work on the samples alongside Max, hoping to get it all done before the day got too late. Day quickly turned to night and you heard the Omatikaya going about their evening outside the lab, preparing and then partaking in their communal feast. It disheartened you to know that you already missed dinner with Lo'ak, knowing that by the time you were finally done with your work, he'd likely be so tired and cuddling your unconscious avatar form. Normally, you don't sleep in your avatar, no matter how much Lo'ak begs you. It's easier to refuse him when he's away from the clan and you have the marui to yourself, but other times, well, he's very persuasive. But Max and even Norm have warned you time and time again that you shouldn't make that a habit and it's required of you to return to your human body at night, or else it'll eventually be just a husk-- a shell of your former self. So far, you've been pretty stern with Lo'ak about this and only gave into him a few very rare times, which usually start with him wanting to take you somewhere private at night so the two of you could be alone. Usually, that then leads to several rounds of orgasms that make you too tired, and oh no, suddenly you can't break your link and you're forced to sleep soundly on Lo'ak's chest. What a shame.

Sleeping beside him, especially in your avatar, is like a reward of its own, and it's so comforting. Sleeping beside him as a human is nice, sure, but with your avatar, you don't have glass obstructing your view or any kisses Lo'ak might want to sneak you. Tonight, after not seeing him all day, was something you really needed.

As much as you knew that linking for long periods of time could be harmful to your human body, you really wanted to be able to sleep alongside your mate tonight. So, with quick feet, you return to your link bay and lie down, barely letting the lid close over you before closing your eyes and forcing your mind to relax. The link connected successfully, and you were whisked away to your avatar, led by a light at the end of that familiar tunnel. 

Waking up was slow, your avatar's eyes too heavy to open just yet, but a different sensation you were unfamiliar with waking up was happening between your legs. A brutal force that was slowly going faster, shoving its way into your gummy, and surprisingly wet pussy, feeling your thighs sticky with clear liquid. Your ears finally hear through the thick fog of your mind, catching the sounds of grunts, in sync with the loud sound of skin slapping together. One brutal push had your body moving up the mat an inch, and it felt as though it pierced the roof of your cervix, causing a quiet whimper to leave your lips. Now you are finally aware of a hot, growing coil, tightening at the bottom of your stomach, threatening to snap at any moment. There was no build-up or foreplay involved for you, just immediately waking to your orgasm ready to flood your entire system.

You gasp as the coil snaps and you leak around the thick cock shoving its way inside of you, some of your juices even splashing on both yours and the abdomen nestled between your legs every time they thrust in and out, prolonging your climax and making your thighs shake around what you assumed was hips. Still bullying their way into your body even as your orgasm finally cools down, you're more aware of how hard and twitchy the cock inside you felt, hitting your sweet spot each time and punching a gasp from your lungs with each thrust.

Finally opening your eyes, you look around and find your mate sitting off to the side, leaning against the foundation of your shared marui while his fist slowly runs up and down his hard, leaking dick, the tip tinged a dull purple color, indicating oversensitivity. Your lips are dry as you try to form words, "Lo... Lo'ak?"

"Hey, mamas," he grins wolfishly, his hand's pace on his cock remaining the same speed as he casually spoke to you, "I hope you don't mind, but I thought Neteyam could spend the night."

Between your orgasm and your sleepy mind, everything was still foggy, and it took a moment before you finally processed his words. Something clicked inside your head when you finally registered that Lo'ak wasn't the one who made you cum, sitting much too far away. Lo'ak wasn't the one currently shoving his way inside your body like he wanted to permanently blend your bodies together into one being. When you turn your head to look up at whoever is currently above you, rearranging your guts, you're met with none other than your mate's older brother. And despite the sweat and crease on his brow, Neteyam has a brash smile etched on his lips when your eyes meet.

"Kaltxì," he huffs out, the word rushed and followed by a rough grunt that escapes his mouth when his hips press flush against yours, your wet walls still occasionally pulsing around his cock in a welcoming embrace, making him dizzy with euphoria.

Your head was spiraling with so many questions, unable to voice them as Neteyam fucks you dumb, too cock drunk to form the words. Over the past year, you would periodically wake in your avatar form, sore and leaking with whatever mess Lo'ak left in between your legs, and when you eventually confront him about it, you both came to the agreement that he's more than welcome to use your avatar for whatever pleasure he has while you're not linked to it... just as long as he makes it up to you later on. You want a little bit of fun of your own, after all.

Lo'ak shuffles closer to you, his cock forgotten for the moment as he reaches you and plants quick and warm kisses all over your face before moving to whisper in your ear, "I wanted to show him all the... advantages of having a dreamwalker as my mate."

Even with Lo'ak's words currently distracting you, you couldn't ignore the way your body slowly began to grow warm and tight again, Neteyam angling his hips and hitting your sweet spot each time so that you were ready for another climax. You gasp at the sensation, reaching up to hang onto something, which ends up being the back of Lo'ak's neck.

Your mate grins before kissing your ear, "I'm so proud of you, mamas. You managed to take my cock before taking Neteyam's and waking up."

That explains why your body felt so sore and sticky, feeling more full than you would imagine with just Neteyam inside you. It felt as though you had run a marathon, but there were no physical signs of Lo'ak on your body until your free hand reached up and grazed his bite scar on your neck. There's a fresh bruise forming over the mate mark, confirming Lo'ak's lewd words.

Neteyam groaned and plunged deep and frantic into you when he watched the dawning realization cross your features. You make an identical sound, the thought of the older Sully brother currently fucking both his cock and Lo'ak's seed further into your womb sending you into a frenzy of soft moans, throwing your head back and arching up into Neteyam's thrusts.

"Great Mother," Neteyam hissed, "She just gripped me tighter."

"Aw, do you like that, baby?" Lo'ak purs into your ear, his lips grazing the shell of it, making it twitch, "Do you like it when I use your holes while you're unconscious? Or do you like it when I invite someone over to use your body without your knowledge?"

You groan loudly as your answer, and the sound spurs Neteyam to reach down and lightly pinch your already abused clit to the same rhythm of his thrusts. Lo'ak moves one of his hands to fondle one of your exposed breasts, and you faintly note that you are completely naked, remembering you had fallen asleep wearing a worn-out RDA shirt meant for avatars. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see that same shirt torn to pieces on the floor a few feet from your head.

Lo'ak pinches your nipple, watching it harden before moving to the other one to do the same thing. It leaves you moaning and writhing, practically impaling yourself on Neteyam's cock, your hips rising to meet his own thrusts, much to his delight. His tail unconsciously curls around your thigh, coiling tighter and tighter with each sound you make. Meanwhile, Lo'ak's tail had found your ankle and used it to keep you spread for his brother while he took one of your nipples in his mouth and the other in his hand, switching once or twice to lather both of your hardened buds in his saliva.

"Lo'ak, please..." you whine, feeling your body begin to tighten with anticipation. Neteyam felt light-headed with how hard you were gripping his length. He can barely even pull out you were so tight, holding his cock captive in your dark, wet cavern.

"What is it, mamas?" Lo'ak asks innocently, though one look at his grinning smile, and you know it was just a facade.

"N-Need to cum," you stammer.

"Hm," his yellow eyes twinkle with mischief, leaning down to mutter his reply into your lips, "That's not up to me, baby. Neteyam is taking your pleasure right now. Only he gets to decide if you cum again or not."

He takes advantage of your mouth opening in shock, spitting on your tongue, forcing you to inhale a soft gasp of surprise. His eyes dart back up to meet yours and you can't help the moan that escapes you at the heat you see in his gaze. Lo'ak leans down to kiss your lips in a dirty, sensual display of affection, exploring your mouth with his tongue while purring into your lips, your body proven affected by his actions as you unexpectedly slam your hips against Neteyam's.

The older brother's hand quickly grabs a hold of your waist to stop your movements, spewing out a song of Na'vi curses as he suddenly stops thrusting. He huffs and wheezes, any more movement from you would've led to him cumming too fast, let alone inside your pussy, which wasn't on his agenda, no matter how tempting it was. As pussy drunk as he was in this moment, he still had some sliver of respect for his brother and his wishes. Neteyam could fuck you as much as he wanted tonight, but he wasn't allowed to finish inside you.

"Stay still, yawne," Neteyam whispers breathlessly, trying to think of unpleasant things to keep himself from cumming. A small burst of confidence takes over as a smirk begins to play on his lips as his fingers slow down over your clit, "Or you won't get to cum at all."

He looks down at you, though it was hard to see your eyes with Lo'ak in the way, making out with you as your lips make vulgar sounds as they slide together, strings of saliva connecting you to your mate every time the need for air takes over. Neteyam forces himself to look away, the sight of your kiss-bitten lips, so swollen and wet, made his cock twitch inside of you.

Lo'ak gasps quietly for air before leaning down to kiss your cheek and whisper in your ear, "Go on, baby. I want you to. You can beg for my brother, it's okay... We used to share a lot of things growing up. This is hardly any different. So go ahead. Beg for Neteyam to let you cum. I don't mind."

You whimper as you feel Lo'ak's hot breath fan over the side of your neck, squeezing your eyes shut as your thighs clench around Neteyam's waist. With your mate's permission, you don't waste time opening your mouth and shamelessly begging, "Please, Neteyam. Please make me cum! Oh, fuck--"

The whine that escapes you will haunt you later with a less foggy head, but it's the only thing you could do in protest when you feel Neteyam completely slide out of your pussy, tip and all. He waits until you finally open your pretty eyes to look up at him, then he smiles.

"There you are. Keep your eyes on me, yawne, and I'll let you cum."

You nod obediently, parting your lips to moan as Neteyam gently smacks his tip over your clit and then easily slips between your wet folds. It's so hard to keep your eyes open when his cock slowly and painstakingly slides into you, shoving the tip deep inside until he's sure he's pressing against your sweet spot, then pulls out and repeats the same motion, as slowly as before.

Lo'ak moves out of your space and sits back on his feet, taking his aching cock back in hand and jerking off to the same motions Neteyam makes when entering your pussy, the younger Sully biting his lip when the motion only relieved a small bit of the torture he put himself through by trying to cum again after already doing so inside you. Lo'ak watches your face as you're brought back over the edge of ecstasy, eyelashes fluttering, cheeks flushing, and swollen mouth open agape. You keep your eyes on Neteyam, but you can see Lo'ak just in the corner of your peripheral and you know what he's doing. Without warning, you reach a hand out to wrap around Lo'ak's cock and his hips jolt as if he'd been shocked.

"Shit-!" Lo'ak gasped as you continued to pump his dick, up and down at the same pace as Neteyam's thrusts. Your mate moans loudly, thrusting into your hand to try and urge you to go faster, "That's it, baby... don't stop."

You obey, even going a little faster and smiling between moans when Lo'ak starts to whimper, just the way you like him, knowing he was close. His whimpers are quickly forgotten, even if only for a moment, when Neteyam starts to thrust harder, forcing your eyes to roll back as you feel your body burning up from the inside out, the coil unbearably tight as your toes curl.

Neteyam's hips stop, flush against yours as he growls, "Eyes."

Your gaze immediately snaps back to him, and he chuckles under his breath, "Good girl."

His fingers move side to side against your clit, then in circles. He repeats this pattern when he noticed the way your pussy clenches around his cock, a deep growl vibrating from the back of his throat at the sensation. He can't keep edging himself like this or else he'll really lose control and then he won't pull out, no matter how much he knows he has to. So, he decides not to torture you for long as he finally nods.

"Now, yawne. You can cum."

Lo'ak whines at the feel of your hand squeezing him a little tighter, his precum leaking down your knuckles, "That's it, baby, you heard him. Cum for us, mamas, that's it. Cum on Neteyam's cock. Show him what you can do."

A long series of moans and soft screams tumble from your mouth as you throw your head back and chase after your high. Slamming your hips down on Neteyam's cock and using him, you make sure he hits your sweet spot every time before your coil snaps and your liquid spews everywhere, your whole body twitching as your juices leak out from around Neteyam's cock and splashes over his abs and bioluminescent freckles, slowly dripping down his delicious blue skin.

You're still cumming when Lo'ak follows suit, gently batting your hand away so he could take his cock in hand and finish over your tits, moaning and whimpering unapologetically as his cum splatters over your chest, pearly white droplets sliding over your nipples and down the curves of your breasts. Lo'ak gasps and groans at the sight, so whiny and desperate, continuously fisting his cock and painfully holding the tip so he squeezes out every last drop onto your tits.

Neteyam's less vocal than his brother, but you still manage to catch his climax as well, feeling not one but two different spurts of cum on your body, mixed with Lo'ak's loud whines and a soft growl you were less familiar with. As you're coming down from your high, you peer down between your legs to see Neteyam gripping tightly onto his cock, slowly softening beneath his fingertips as long strings of his seed dance and paint over your stomach, collecting in your belly button. Looking up, Neteyam's face is an absolute wreck, flushed in a darker shade of color, the color of his eyes now reverting to small, tiny rings, shrouded with lust. He's clenching his teeth, keeping himself quiet, much to your disappointment, but you don't complain since he has yet to stop circling your clit, drawing out the last of your orgasm until it becomes too sensitive. Once you whine in discomfort, he immediately stops his movements. 

The marui is filled with huffing and panting, all three of you clawing for air as your bodies cool down, turning into jello and unable to properly form words yet. You have to lick your lips as they've dried, but Lo'ak takes it a step further and kisses you, slowly, passionately, and less desperate. While kissing Lo'ak you feel Neteyam's hands in the crook of your knees, untangling them from around his waist and setting them on the floor while his body heat vanishes from your skin. You're about to whine into Lo'ak's mouth in protest when a warm, wet cloth meets your raw and fluttering pussy, gently cleaning you of any fluids before moving onto your stomach and breasts. You don't miss the way Neteyam kisses both of your knees as he works at cleaning you up, making your tail bat gently against the ground. Lo'ak softly groans into your lips before pulling away, his smile lopsided and boyish before he kisses your nose.

"You did so good for us, mamas. You've never woken up when I'm in the middle of fucking you before. Neteyam must feel awfully lucky."

Both you and Neteyam hum in response, but otherwise say nothing as your lust gives way to exhaustion. Lo'ak lays down beside you and wraps you in his arms, pressing your back against his front and kissing the base of your kuru, smiling to himself when your tail gently slaps his hip. Neteyam sighs and lays down on the other side of you, the two of you facing each other but at a more respectable distance, even though you both wish for him to move closer. You settle by holding his hand in yours while relaxing into Lo'ak's embrace, smiling to yourself over what just happened as you close your eyes to sleep.

While it's true that you've never connected to your avatar when Lo'ak was in the middle of using you, after tonight, you definitely need to be able to time this better for next time. 

Taglist: @pandoraslxna @inolaphoenix @neteyamsoare @mooniequeen @avatar-lover @taronyuhunter @neteyamsyawntu @neteyamsl0ver @ikeyniofthetayrangi @neteyamssyulang

[captainsophiestark]

Witches Get Stitches

Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Day 11 Prompt: "You lost it. Well, we lost it."

Summary: Klaus and his girlfriend have been together since they were humans, surviving together for a thousand years. They don't intend to let anything tear them apart.

Word Count: 1,352

Category: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, not descriptive

A/N: This doesn't even follow the Originals timeline/canon a little bit lol

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I groaned as I slowly came back to consciousness, my head throbbing. The last thing I remembered, I'd been talking to Genevieve, a resurrected New Orleans with who'd been dancing on the line between ally and enemy.

She took a great, giant leap into the enemy category when I forced my eyes open to find her smiling at me, looking immensely satisfied with herself. I tried to stand, maybe make a move to rip her head off, but my wrists were chained to the walls on either side of me. I was trapped.

"I'm going to kill you," I spat, not bothering with pleasantries or pretending. Genevieve smiled like she'd expected me to say that.

"I know you think we're the bad guys here," she said, giving me a sympathetic expression that made me want to rip her head off. Literally. "But we're not. You've been dating the bad guy, and you've been so blind you haven't been able to realize it."

I rolled my eyes so far back in my head that I could see the wall behind me. I'd heard this same nonsense a thousand times from a thousand different people, and it never got any less irritating or boring.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Y/N," Genevieve said, walking towards me with a very menacing swagger in her step. "I'm just going to make you see the truth."

Before I could hit back with a retort, she raised her hands to the side of my head, and I went spiraling back through my own memories.

For a witch who'd managed to catch me, one of the oldest vampires in creation, in the home of my boyfriend, one of the other oldest vampires in creation, I'd expected more, honestly. But her plan wasn't particularly creative.

She forced me to relive some of my worst moments in my thousand years with Nik. We'd been together as humans, and he'd turned me not long after Esther turned the rest of them, so there was plenty of material for her to work with. Nik and I had been through hell and back, mostly due to enemies, but sometimes due to each other.

Genevieve made me sit through a few particularly bad moments, then pulled me out of her little trance, staring into my eyes like she expected some kind of connection.

"For a thousand years, he's lied, cheated, and backstabbed," she said, her voice low and grave. "He's left a trail of blood, pain, and suffering in his wake. You haven't been spared from his list of victims, even if you've convinced yourself you have."

I closed my eyes, taking a long breath in through my nose. This was getting tedious.

"We've decided to put an end to his reign of terror. We'd like you to join us. So what do you say?"

I fixed her with my best 'really?' stare, which I'd perfected using on Nik.

"Genevieve, let me explain something to you." My voice was quiet, faux-patient, with an undertone of promised violence the way I'd perfected from hearing Nik do so many times. "For more than one thousand years, Niklaus Mikaelson and I have had each others' backs, through everything. We're partners, best friends, and the loves of each others lives. One thousand years of a relationship does not come without bumps, and problems, and things we have to spend a long time working through. Every single time, we have done so successfully.

"One thousand years as a Mikaelson has also come with hundreds of people just like you, Genevieve. They've tried to get to Nik through me, or they've tried to turn me against him, or a thousand other attempts at causing us problems by breaking us apart. And not one of them, in all that time, has succeeded. And do you know what else, Genevieve?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me and gave a little snort, but I could see the way her shoulders tensed and the flicker of fear in the back of her eyes.

"Every single one of those people who tried to come at me and Nik? They're dead. And we're still standing."

Genevieve snorted, louder this time, shaking her head as she straightened and backed away from me. I stared her down, letting a feral smile slowly drag its way onto my face.

"Fine. If you won't help us, then I have no more use for you. So-"

"Oh dear. I hope that sentence isn't going to end in a threat against my lovely partner over there."

Genevieve whipped around, and I smiled at the sight we both found over her shoulder. Nik had arrived, covered in blood and grinning in the way that made my heart race. Clearly, he'd worked his way through at least some of the witches outside to get here. I grinned back at him.

"Your hold over this place, this world, is coming to an end, Klaus," said Genevieve, standing her ground remarkably well. "The two of you have terrorized this place long enough."

"Now you're bringing my girlfriend into it?" asked Nik, raising one eyebrow, a teasing tone in his voice. "Well, I really can't let that stand, now can I?"

"You're not going to have a choice," Genevieve growled. With that, she flung her arms out, whipping up a witchy storm to throw at Nik just as two more witches came into the room. Nik held his own alright—he was the Original Hybrid after all—but he couldn't stand on his own against three powers like this forever.

He needed help. And I was going to give it to him.

I closed my eyes, getting into the headspace I'd had to reach more times than I'd ever wanted to, but that had gotten Nik and I out of more than a few hard spots. Pure rage and a desire to protect the man I loved washed over me, and I pulled against my restraints with all my strength. I dislocated my thumbs to get them out of the cuffs, stifling a scream, then got to my feet and rushed Genevieve before she could realize I was free.

The next minutes were a blur. They always were, whenever Nik and I were in a fight like this. After landing a few hits and killing both of Genevieve's little helpers, I saw Nik go down. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, and I saw red as I whirled on Genevieve.

A few moments later, Genevieve followed Nik to the ground, although she was a little more dead. I stayed standing, trying to recover from the adrenaline. After I'd had a few moments, I crouched down next to Nik.

"Hey. Nik, wake up," I said, gently shaking his shoulder to try to rouse him. After a moment, thankfully, his eyelids fluttered. A second later, he sat into a seating position, looking ready for a fight. I quickly reached out to calm him, to reassure him that we were fine.

"What happened?" he asked, eyes still a little wild, even as he saw the bodies around us and started calming down.

"You lost it. Well, we lost it. Genevieve kidnapped me to get to you, you lost it on her and her little followers over that. She seriously hurt you, so I lost it and helped you finish them off. Same thing we've been running for a thousand years. We're alright."

Nik nodded, letting out a sigh and sagging a little. Then, he looked at me with a grin.

"You'd think after a thousand years they'd learn, wouldn't you?"

I sighed. "No kidding. Maybe this'll be the one that sticks."

Nik and I shared a smile as I leaned into him, kissing him softly before standing and offering a hand to help him up. No matter where we went or how much time passed, people would probably always try to come after me and Nik. But together, we were completely unstoppable. We'd spent the last thousand years proving it, and we'd spend the next thousand doing the same.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21

[windvexer]

I'm still looking for good astral projection techniques and readings. Doing it at night doesn't seem to work because I end up falling asleep and lucid dreaming. I can't even tell if I'm in the astral or in my imagination when I try it because all I see is darkness, yet I can kind of describe certain locations I often frequent in my mind. I've discerned two of them as inner temple spaces but some I'm not even sure if it's astral or just making up scenarios in my head. I think two of them are actual locations where I've met dragons but I'm having trouble with visions since all I see is darkness even though I can give a physical description, if that makes sense?

The rope technique doesn't work and counting backwards doesn't work. Unless I need more practice? Lucid dreaming I have down easy at least. Any recommended techniques or readings?

Howdy;

It's hard to say if you need more practice. Personally, some people pick it up very quickly, and others take a lot longer at it. Generally I find that most people I talk to about it are traveling, they just aren't sure if they are or not because they tend to have unrealistic expectations.

One of those expectations is vividness; obtaining a very high level of vivid immersion is IMO difficult, must more difficult than obtaining valid travel experiences in general.

Obtaining vivid immersion also isn't linear; I used to have very vivid experiences, but now I don't. I also have spent I suppose thousands of hours traveling, but after spiritual growth I lost the ability to travel at all for a while (a few years I think, but I haven't put thought into the timeline). After many years of practice and traveling, I still sometimes have "blackout" sessions where I can recount experiences, but I see nothing.

So although you haven't said as much, it's not something that you just unlock and then you get the skill forever; it's a living skill, like all magic (in my opinion).

Anyway, it's totally possible to need plenty of practice, but also possible to pick it up quickly. The question is how do you know when you've done it correctly, and IMO the best solution is to just try and do whatever it is you want to do in the astral and see if it works.

I mean, astral travel can be purely entertainment, in which case you never need to verify anything because it's like playing a video game; the experience is what matters. But if your goal is to do something, like say meet and commune with dragon spirits, then go ahead doing that and carry on as if you really have met them, and see what happens.

What's the end goal? To learn special names of dragons, and gain one as a familiar or a teacher? To learn how to do new kinds of magic? Set out to do those things and see where it gets you; see if you learn new kinds of magic you can do in dreams, or in the waking world. See if you learn how to call these spirits in and out of trance states.

See if what you do in these practice sessions is making your life better, or bringing you closer to goals - or not.

The benefit to this approach is that it can bring structure to practice; practice is no longer open-ended, but becomes, "how do I find this certain spirit?" and then "...next I'll explore his home" and "now I'm going to learn to make astral offerings to leave at the shrine," and so on. So it's less tedious, in my opinion.

Yes, try more techniques; have fun experimenting with a lot of them. Give them all an honest go. I recommend trying any particular technique a solid twenty times or so, just to gain the experience of it. Even attempts which do not appear to result in travel will bring experience and development.

I favor any technique which involves going downwards, especially through the trunk of a tree, or down through a well. As a relaxing method before sleep, I sometimes like to swim down through an endless ocean and look for a trap door, or a glowing crevice or something; then I go down through that. Or sometimes I don't.

If we can say that there's a pre-astral state, like existing in the space with the rope before you climb the rope, then that space in and of itself can be lovely and fun to play with, and you don't have to try to 'astral' at all.

Maybe you want to climb down through the trunk of a tree via a hollow; you can practice immersion skills by wandering around an imaginary forest, without actually trying to bridge the gap into the astral. And it's alright if it's just your imagination, because of course it is.

Another technique you may find to be very effective is to begin in a memory, especially a memory that positions you near to a convenient loci of travel (such as a favored childhood tree), and at first recall the memory with clarity, but then begin moving differently in it and seek out the astral doorway.

Also in general practicing trance is helpful.

Also, practicing calming and relaxation techniques before trying to travel.

Alright, I think that's enough novel. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by astral readings, but I hope the above is helpful.

[hippiegoth97]

Into the Fire: An Eddie Munson x Reader Story Pt. 9

Collage by me :)

Master List

Part 8

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Content Warning 18+ Only, Minors DNI: Swearing, mentions of smut, smoking, fluff, light anxiety, teasing, LGBTQ+ themes, struggles with sexuality, violation of privacy

Word Count: 12.1k

Divider by @strangergraphics

Part 9.1: Walking on Sunshine

Wednesday, April 5th, 1989

The remaining days of you and Eddie having the house to yourselves have been pure bliss. He wakes you up with kisses every morning, which usually leads to amazing morning sex. After that, you share a shower and some breakfast before Eddie leaves for work or a few deals. You study until he comes back home, and he goes down on you as a reward for working so hard. The rest of the day is spent either trying a new page from the book he gave you, or snuggling up to him while he continues crafting the new campaign, or both. You've occasionally distracted Eddie from his tedious planning by giving him head, earning a few utterances of 'slut' and 'good girl' from his lips as you do so.There's a perfect balance of connection and intimacy in your relationship, you cherish every minute you get to spend together. 

Mom and the kids are coming back today, she called this morning before they got on the road. Eddie doesn't have to work, so you've just been cuddled up on the couch watching TV. You’re laying between his legs, his large hands massaging your shoulders as The Price is Right plays on a low volume. "You excited for everyone to come home, love?" Eddie speaks softly to you, working your tired muscles between his fingers.

"Yeah, I've missed them a lot. But it's also been really nice having some time alone, just the two of us." You reply, eyes fluttering closed as you melt in his touch. It's innocent enough, but everything he does is like magic.

"I know, sweetheart. I've definitely enjoyed being here with you too. Although, I think Wayne has been missing me. He waits up for me to go change for work so he can chat with me. I feel kinda bad for leaving him all alone. He doesn't exactly have a lot of friends." He sounds sad, guilty even. Wayne's done so much for him, the least he can do is be around to spend a little time with him.

"Baby, I'm sorry. Why didn't you say so? I know he's important to you, I feel selfish for having you here instead of the trailer every day." You lean your head upside down to look at him, gazing in his eyes. He just smiles at you, finding your position a bit silly.

"It's not a huge deal, Y/N. I told him why I haven't been around as much, he understands. He said we should have dinner with him some night before he heads off to the plant. He'd like to get to know you better. But only if that's something you wanna do." Your eyes widen at this suggestion, dinner with Eddie's effective parent? That's a big step, but it's one you’re very eager to take.

"I'd love to! Did you have a particular day in mind?" You scramble to face him, straddling his lap. He chuckles at your enthusiasm, putting his arms around your waist.

"Well, I was thinking…Friday?" He knows it's a bit short notice, but there's another reason for the particular day he's chosen.

"Sure!" You lean in to kiss him, and he gladly meets you in the middle. You pull away a second later, realizing what day next Friday is. "Wait a minute." You raise an eyebrow at him, and he just smirks at you.

"What?" He asks, playing dumb.

"Isn't Friday our one-month anniversary?" You don't really expect him to hold milestones like that in high regard, but then again, he always seems to blow expectations out of the water.

"Why, yes it is, I'm so glad you remembered!" He laughs, speaking sarcastically. You smack his chest playfully, he's such a cheeky little shit sometimes. It's crazy to think you've almost been together for a whole month. It feels like just yesterday that Eddie accidentally hit you with his van and graciously bandaged you up. "So, what'd you get me?" He asks, sneakily trying to figure out what kind of gift you'd give him.

"You'll just have to wait and see, baby. Can't ruin the surprise." You say in a sultry tone, though in reality you've got nothing planned. You're sure you can figure it out, finding time to take a secret shopping trip tomorrow.

"Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it, babydoll" His lips meet yours again, warm and slow. You begin to put together a plan for the perfect gift for Eddie, but you're gonna need some help. You make a mental note to visit Robin at Family Video to see if she'll assist you.

"I suppose I can't get a hint about what you're getting for me either, hm?" You ask, keeping your face very close to his as you speak.

"Nope. My lips are sealed, princess." He smiles slyly at you, his tongue playing at the edge of his mouth. He's very excited to give you your present, he just knows you're going to love it. "Hey, how long do we have until your mom and the kids come back?" He squeezes your hips, sending you a very clear message. You glance at the clock behind you, before turning back to Eddie.

"About three hours. You wanna go to the bedroom?" You ask coyly, batting your eyelashes as you play with his necklace between your fingers. Your hips grind into his lap once, making him groan.

"Anything for my sexy girl." He replies, snatching you into his arms so he can run down the hall and toss you onto the bed. You laugh at his antics, he's always up for a round with you. The two of you take your time, savoring every kiss, every touch. You're in no rush at all, your only goal is to enjoy each other in every way you can before everyone comes home.

Hours later, you hear the front door opening. The sounds of Mom calling out to you and all the kiddos running around stirs you from your post-fucking nap. Eddie's arms are holding you tightly, and he's snoring while drool forms a wet spot on his pillow. "Baby, wake up. They’re home." You try to wriggle from his grasp, but he just grumbles and tightens his grip. "Eds, come on." You carefully nudge him with your elbow, and his eyes squint open.

"What is it, sweetheart?" He asks, sleep staining his voice. He's so adorable like this, his hair lays over his face a little, and you can feel the muscles flexing in his arms as they cradle your naked body.

"Everyone's home. We gotta get up." You give him a quick kiss, bringing him into the waking world. He attempts to deepen it, but you stop him.

"No fair." Eddie whines, but you continue to make your way out of bed to redress. He sits up to look at you, his hair a frizzy mess. You giggle at him as he rubs his eyes, earning a glare from him. "What's so funny?" He asks in annoyance.

"You're just so cute when you're sleepy, but you can also be quite the grump." You turn away, reaching down to pick your discarded clothing from the floor. You hear him hop out of bed, running over to you.

"I'll show you a grump!" He shouts, trapping you in his grasp as he starts tickling you. You shriek in surprise, dropping your pajamas back on the carpet.

"Eddie! Quit it! We gotta get dressed!" You try to plead with him, but he refuses to heed your words.

"Who says we need clothes? I've always preferred being naked anyways, and I definitely prefer you naked." He cackles maniacally as he relentlessly wrestles you to the ground. You're laughing so hard, gasping for air, when there's a knock on the door.

"Sugarpuff? Is everything alright in there?" You hear Mom on the other side of the door, concern lacing her tone.

"We're fine, Ms. Henderson. Be out in a minute!" Eddie calls to her, still tickling you ruthlessly. Your stomach hurts from your laughter, and your face has gone beet red.

"Oh! Sorry, kiddos! I'll leave you to it!" She replies with a chuckle, walking back down the hall to help unload the car.

"Alright, you better get off me now. I feel like I'm suffocating." You struggle to speak, and Eddie thankfully yields this time. He helps you off the floor, gathering both your clothes to put back on. Once you're dressed, you walk down the hall to greet everyone while holding hands.

"Y/N! Eddie!" Dustin exclaims as you enter the livingroom. He runs to you, capturing you together in a tight hug. The other kids immediately join in, huddling around the two of you in a large cluster. Mom, Nancy, and Jonathan stand awkwardly, exchanging sympathetic looks with you and Eddie as the children continue to smother you.

"Well, I see the little demons missed us." Eddie quips, trying his best to return every hug as the kids shuffle around to take turns.

"It's really sweet. We missed you guys a lot. too." You squeeze each one of them real tight, your heart lighting up with affection.

"I'm sure you two found plenty of ways to keep busy." Erica says, giving her usual attitude.

"You know it!" Eddie replies, giving you a wink as your cheeks turn red. The room erupts in laughter, leave it to those two to always bring the humor. The hugs stop a little later, and the kids pile back into the cars to be driven back to their homes. Dustin rides along to see them off, and you and Eddie are left alone yet again. "We've gotta stop meeting like this." He jokes, wrapping his arms around you once you hear the vehicles pull away from the house.

"Oh, I don't know. I think I quite like meeting you, in every way." You say just as goofily, giggling as you go in for a kiss. You place your hands on his chest, his heartbeat thrumming into your right palm through his shirt. You keep the kiss brief, resisting the temptation to shove your tongue into his mouth. Your head lays against his shoulder, contentment blooming inside you. You just stand here, listening to each other's low breathing in your simple embrace. A mental picture develops in your mind, filing this moment away to keep for whenever you're apart. He kisses the top of your head, stroking your back with his fingers. "I love you, Eds."

"I love you too, sweetheart." He hugs you a bit tighter, and your arms snake around his torso to deepen the hold. Warmth radiates from Eddie, which always makes you feel safe. You nuzzle against him, trying to get even closer.

"You're so cozy, darling. I love being close to you. Can we take another nap? I'm still tired from earlier."

"Of course, baby. You want the bed, or the couch?" He asks quietly, not wanting to disturb the calm energy between you.

"Couch, please." You reply, loosening your grip on him so he can lay down. He gets comfortable, holding his arms out for you to join him.

"C'mere, sleepyhead." He coos, and you lay on your side between his legs, resting your head on his chest. He puts his arms over you again, and your eyes flutter closed as you lose a fight with a yawn. Eddie smiles at your cute noises, listening to you sigh and fuss as you try to get in a perfect position. When you stop adjusting, he notices your breathing slow down. You look so serene, eyes closed as your chest rises and falls steadily. He settles his head against the arm of the couch, closing his eyes to drift off to sleep.

Later on, Eddie's carefully nudging you awake as Mom brought home some KFC for dinner. "What is it, love?" You ask groggily, the words muffled against his chest. You lift your head, noticing Mom and Dustin taking out plates and forks to dish out the food. The smell of chicken fills the room, and your mouth waters. Your stomach growls at the scent, making Eddie chuckle.

"Sounds like you need some food, princess." He grins at you, patting your back to prompt you to stand up. You feel a little unstable as you get on your feet, almost stumbling as spots fill your vision. "You okay?" He asks, always concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little dizzy, I just need some water." The spots dissipate, and you go to the kitchen to grab a glass. You fill it at the sink, gulping down the whole thing in one go. You refill it before turning off the tap, walking over to the dining table to have a seat. Eddie sits in the chair next to you, taking your hand in his. You gaze at him, smiling kindly. He returns the look, bringing your hand up to his lips to press a gentle kiss to it. You can't help blushing whenever he does this. It's so simple, yet very effective at driving you crazy. He lets you go as Claudia and Dustin bring the food over to the table.

"Hope you're hungry, kiddos!" Mom says cheerily, glancing at the romantic exchange between you two. It's like you're a whole new person in her eyes, finally experiencing the happiness she knows you deserve. She's spent so many nights praying for you to find a way out of that tough shell you hid yourself inside when your father left, though she never let the true amount of worry she's felt show outwardly. Ultimately, she knew you had to find your own way out, and luckily Eddie’s come along to assist you. "Aw, you two are so darn cute."

"Mooooooom." You groan, pleading with your eyes for her to lay off. She puts her hands up defensively, focusing on dishing out the mashed potatoes and macaroni.

"Sorry, sugarpuff. I'm just happy to see you happy. Is that a crime?" She asks in jest, and you feel a bit bad for acting like a child about it.

"No, it isn't. Sorry." You almost mumble, reaching for the biscuits. You take one for your plate, gesturing the box of them at Eddie to see if he wants one.

"Ooh, yes, please!" He smiles, grabbing one for his own plate. He holds your gaze, noting your agitation. He leans in to you, speaking quietly. "Relax, angel. You realize things will go similarly at dinner with Wayne, right?" You just nod, forcing yourself to soften up. You can't help it, the walls still have a habit of trying to spring up every now and again. Your goal now is to eventually smash them to pieces, but that won't come as easy as you'd like. "How was the trip, Dustin?" Eddie asks, thankfully changing the subject.

Dusty perks up, practically bursting at the seams to tell you all about it. "It was amazing! We went fishing, and hiking on that old trail to look for wild berries. And of course we made tons of s'mores, but Jane kept burning her marshmallows!" He laughs at that last part, and you can't help sharing his joy. He proceeds to tell you every little detail of their vacation, and you listen intently. Sure, it kinda sucks that you missed out on the trip. But the way Dustin speaks about it, it’s almost like you were right there with them. The remainder of dinner goes smoothly, the four of you exchanging light conversation as you devour the food.

When you're thoroughly stuffed, you help Mom clear the table. Leftovers are put in the fridge, and dishes are rinsed and set aside for the morning. You exchange 'good night's with Mom and Dustin, before heading off to your room with Eddie. You plop onto the bed lazily, with your boyfriend following suit. "You tired, love?" You ask, feeling much more awake than you did earlier this afternoon.

"Not really. Why?" Eddie replies, reaching for the book on your nightstand. He'd started reading it to you before bed the last few days, Stephen King's Carrie.

"I'm not either, I think we napped too much today. But you can read to me if you like. I love hearing your voice." You sit up against the pillow, letting your head rest on his shoulder.

"And I love reading to you, princess. You always watch me so intently, hanging on my every word. It's really cute." He pokes your nose with his finger, making you giggle. He opens the book to the marked page, snuggling closer to you before he starts reading. "Billy popped the headlights off as they breasted the next hill, dropped the gearshift into neutral, and killed the ignition." His velvet voice sways into your ears, feeding you a tale of empowerment and revenge. He makes it through almost the entire book before you're struggling to keep your eyes open. You insist he can continue, but he knows better than to let you miss anything. "Baby, it's okay. We can finish it another night, but you need to rest. And I've gotta work again tomorrow."

"Fine. I’ve got errands to run tomorrow anyway." You grumble, not wanting to surrender to sleep just yet. You've heeded its siren's call too many times already, but you can't find the energy to fight against it.

"Oh, is that so? Do you need a ride?" He asks, hoping he'll be able to sneak a peek at your shopping. He knows you've got nothing as of yet, you've been too busy spending time with him at home.

"No, no. I'll bike, I don't need you snooping around. I may be half-asleep at this point, but I'm not falling for your trickery." You lethargically wave a finger at him, a goofy look spreading on your face. "You're a sneaky little weasel, Eddie. And I can't have you ruining the surprise."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Y/N." He chuckles quietly, trying not to shake you too much as he laughs. He helps you sit upright again, slipping out of bed temporarily to flick off the light. You cling to him the second he lays back down, getting as close as you possibly can. He lets you get comfortable, laying his arms over you once you stop wiggling. "Goodnight, love." He whispers to you, unsure you've even heard him.

"Goodnight, baby. I love you." You say faintly, drifting off soon after. A contented smile grows on his lips, and he follows close behind you into a deep slumber.

Part 9.2: Photograph

Thursday, April 6th, 1989

"Princess, I gotta get up. We slept too long, I'm gonna be late unless I leave, like, right now." Panic laces his voice, which jolts you into the waking world. You rush out of bed, helping him gather his things and get dressed. The clock reads 10:30am, and his shift starts at 11:15. He'll be lucky to make it on time, you hope his boss won't be too hard on him. A few minutes later, he's practically running out the door after giving you a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later, sweetheart." He barely gets the words out before the front door shuts behind him. You won’t actually see him tomorrow for dinner. But that gives you plenty of time to start getting his gifts together.

"Hey, Mom? Can I borrow the Polaroid camera?" You ask, looking to find her eating leftover fried chicken for breakfast.

"Of course, sugarpuff! It'll need more film, though. We're almost out."

"Cool. I'm going shopping today. I'll make sure to pick some up." You reply, going to the pantry to get a poptart. You put it in the toaster, leaning against the counter as you wait for your pastry.

"What do you need it for? If you don't mind me asking." Mom's curiosity always gets the best of her.

"Just working on a present for Eddie. It's our one-month anniversary tomorrow. And we're gonna have dinner with his uncle at the trailer." You explain casually.

"Oh, Y/N! I'm so happy for you! Has it really been a month already? It seems like just yesterday you came home with all those bandages!" She gives you a big hug, overjoyed on your behalf. You return the embrace, smiling at the thought of your first night with Eddie. It was so special, and every time you've been together, it only gets better.

"Thanks, Mom. I'm really excited for tomorrow!" You can't contain your joy, you've never been so happy in your life before. It's an intoxicating feeling, and you hope it never ends.

"You really love him, huh?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, I do. He's so amazing, Mom. He's kind, and sweet, and funny. He listens to me, and spending time with him is always so much fun. No matter what we're doing, it's like the world disappears and it’s just the two of us. You know what I mean?" You look at her, hoping she understands what you're saying.

"I do, kiddo. Your father and I used to be like that." Her face is smiling, but her eyes read as sad, almost bitter. Your expression falls a little, wondering if you and Eddie are doomed to end similarly. "Oh, Y/N. I don't mean it like that. Eddie's different, I can tell. He truly cares about you, more than anything in the world. There's no way you'll end up like us, I promise." She takes your hand, trying to reassure you.

"I know, Mom. I feel kinda bad, though. I'm not meaning to rub it in your face." You say guiltily.

"You're doing no such thing, sugarpuff. A mother should always be happy when her child finds love, okay? And I swear I'm so goddamn happy, I could just explode!" She laughs, bringing a small smile back to your face. "You picked a good one, sweetie. Everyone can see it, his love for you is written all over him."

"You really think so?" You question giddily, biting your lip.

"I know so! I'm your mother, aren't I? Where do you think you get your brains from? I'm a smart cookie, you know!" She laughs again, and you can't help joining in with her.

"Of course you are, Mom. You raised me and Dusty on your own, and you've done a damn good job at it. And I'm forever thankful for that." You squeeze her hand, exchanging a look of mutual love and respect. The toaster pops, signaling your breakfast is ready. You put the tarts on a paper towel, standing at the counter to eat with Mom. You don't say much else, just quietly munching in each other's presence. When you finish, you excuse yourself to your room to get dressed. "I better get ready if I'm gonna have time to get everything I need for tomorrow. But I enjoyed this little talk, Mom. We should do it more often." You give her another hug.

"Any time, sugarpuff. I take it you're biking today?" She asks, before letting you out of her embrace.

"Yeah, first time since the day it got wrecked. It's been gathering dust out there." You haven't really thought about it, but Eddie has managed to drive you to school every single day since that fateful Friday. You haven't even tested the bike to make sure it’s repaired to your liking, you've honestly been a bit scared to get back on it.

"Well, just be extra careful, okay? I doubt everyone is as patient and kind as Eddie is, especially in this town." She warns, worry plaguing her features again.

"No, I know. I'm in no rush today. I’ll be careful.." You reply, walking down the hall to your room. You throw on some jeans and the Hellfire shirt Eddie gave you, wanting to have an extra piece of him with you today. You tuck the hem into your pants, mimicking the way he wears it. You dump out your backpack, leaving your books and studying materials on the bed. You put your wallet and cigarettes inside the bag, before slinging it over your shoulder. You head for the entryway, slipping into your shoes.

"Have a good day, sugarpuff! And be safe!" Mom says from the couch, waving goodbye.

"I will, Mom. See you later." You walk outside, strolling across the yard to your bicycle. You look it over, ensuring there's enough air in the tires, that they rotate properly. The front one is a little mismatched, you guess Eddie's friend didn't have the exact replacement for it. You don't mind, it's just a slight color difference. As long as it's functional, that's all that matters. You bring it to the edge of the road, letting it dip off the curb to the pavement. You apprehensively take a seat, staring at the empty road ahead of you. You're anxious about riding again, last time ended with you getting all scraped up. You can do it, sweetheart. Just take it slow. Eddie's voice soothes you inside your head, putting your anxiety at ease. "I can do this." You speak aloud as you exhale deeply, putting your feet on the pedals to get moving.

Your ride goes smoothly. once you get over the initial fear. It’s like the accident never happened. You make your way downtown, easily navigating the busy streets until you reach the department store. You park your bike outside, walking in with a newfound confidence. There's a decent amount of people inside. Moms helping their kids pick out new shoes, husbands looking for anniversary and birthday gifts, and plenty of teenagers browsing the aisles aimlessly. You locate some Polaroid film first, which is easy enough. Next stop, the kitchen section, in search of a cookbook. You figure it like this, Eddie makes amazing French toast and spaghetti. So, a book of recipes could help him develop his skills. He positively lights up in the kitchen, cooking is clearly an expression of love for him.

"Something I can help you with, Miss?" An employee asks as she walks up to you. She can't be much older than you, though she acts very mature. She has a white plastic tag on her blazer, naming her as 'Liz'.

"Um, yes. I was wondering if you could help me find a good cookbook for beginners? It's a gift for my boyfriend." You speak awkwardly, you're not one to ask employees for help in stores. But it would be rather  rude to deny the help if it's offered to you. Plus, you don't exactly want to end up purchasing too complex of a book.

"Of course! Follow me." Liz is more than happy to assist you, and not just because it's her job. You follow behind her, zoning out to the sound of her heels clicking on the tile floor as she leads the way to the item you're in search of. When you reach the shelf, she quickly picks out a couple choices. "These are best for when you're starting out, you can never go wrong with a Betty Crocker!" She hands them over to you, and you briefly look them over before deciding to buy them both. "Wise decision. I'm guessing he needs all the help he can get."

"Oh, no. The things he does know how to make are amazing. I think these will broaden his horizons. Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it." You smile at her, hoping she'll leave you alone now. She's nice enough, but the next thing you're shopping for isn't something you really want her help with.

"Any time. Is there anything else I can assist you with?" Liz asks, smiling wide.

"No, but thanks again!" You politely dismiss her. She nods, turning on her heels to find a new customer to help. You walk around the corner, locating the section you've always dreaded looking at in a department store. Lingerie. You've never really had a reason to shop in this part of the store before, and you don't find yourself to be particularly sexy either. Eddie calls you that all the time, and when you're with him, you almost believe it. Using this logic, you decide that even if you're not super confident about this, he'll enjoy it anyway. You look around at the displays, your eyes nearly boggling inside your head. Quadriplegic mannequins showing off lacy bras and panties, neatly organized tables and racks practically bursting with choices, almost every color of the rainbow on show.

"Hi! Is there something I can help you find?" You're startled as yet another employee accosts you while your eyes scan over the forest of intimates you've lost yourself in. You turn around to find an even younger woman than Liz, with teased hair and an obnoxious gum-chewing habit smiling at you. Her name tag reads 'Mandy'. "You look a little lost, girl. Are you looking for something as everyday wear? Or for someone special?" There's no judgment in her voice, she appears eager to help you find something you'll feel comfortable in.

"Um, it's my one-month anniversary with my boyfriend tomorrow. I need something that'll blow his mind." Your voice trembles as you speak, you don't mean to confess such a thing. Her face doesn't change much, except for a slightly warmer smile.

"Well, I can already see he's a very lucky guy." She says, taking in your figure for a moment. It's not suggestive or anything, more like she's checking your measurements with her eyes. "I think I have just the thing." Mandy walks away, leaving you standing frozen in place. A few minutes later, she brings back a beautiful black lace set that makes your lungs deflate. "This also comes in red, white, pink, nude, and navy. But, the black is most complimentary to your skin tone. And if it interests you to know, the panties are crotchless." You almost laugh when she says that, you've never even considered that as an option.

"Wow, um, he'll definitely love it." Is all you can manage to say, unable to make eye contact with the woman.

"Oh, you'll also need some pantyhose, let me grab those for you." Mandy hands you the set on the hanger, and you check the sizing while she's away. Your eyes widen, she got your exact measurement without even asking you. Seems like Mandy deserves a raise. She returns with the stockings, placing them on top of the small stack of items you've accumulated in your arms. "I also recommend wearing matching heels with this, if you have them. But that's up to you. Did you need anything else?"

"No, thank you, Mandy. I appreciate the help, truly. You're really good at this, by the way." You reply sheepishly, and she just laughs.

"Why, thank you! I hope your man appreciates the effort you're putting in for him." She gives you a wink.

"Oh, believe me he does!" You giggle, blushing at the thought of him. You seriously cannot wait for Eddie to see you in this, his eyes might just pop out of his skull. You mosey over to the checkout, trying to ignore the old crone at the register giving you a disapproving look for purchasing the lingerie set. She begrudgingly hands you your shopping bag once you’ve paid, and you stroll out the front door. You carefully put the items into your backpack, hopping on your bike to ride over to. Family Video.

Once you arrive, you've managed to catch Robin leaving her shift. You get her attention, waving to her. She comes over, unsure what you're doing here. "Hey, Y/N! It's been a while. What brings you here?"

"Well, um. I actually have something to ask you." You're very nervous to ask for her assistance with your little project, you don't exactly know her super well. You might end up freaking her out.

"Sure! What's up?" She says cheerily, very eager to assist you. Shit, everyone is ridiculously helpful today.

"So, me and Eddie have been dating for a month now." You start slowly, easing Robin into it.

"Oh, right! He came in to rent movies to watch with you that one time!" She pipes up, before realizing she's interrupted you. "Oh, sorry. Go on." She gestures at you, bowing her head slightly.

"Right, well, I bought something to wear as a present for him tomorrow. But, I wanted to take some...photos in it. Would you mind helping me out?" You're almost flinching as you await her answer, this whole thing is so strange. You're sure she'll say no, or that it's weird to ask. You just want to run and hide at this point.

"No fucking way!" Robin exclaims, before clarifying. "I mean, of course, I'll do it! I'm just surprised you're doing all that for him! I mean, he's nice and everything. I never took you as the kind of girl to do that. Not- not that there's anything wrong with it. I一" She continues to babble, but you stop her before she makes herself lightheaded.

"Robin, calm down." You grab her arms, trying to get her to slow down. She can really go on a rant if you let her, and God help you if you do.

"Sorry, I haven't really had anything interesting to do in a while. It's all shifts at the video store, and listening to Steve complain about having too much sex." You both laugh at that, and Steve leans out the door to wave at you. You wave back, and he looks worried that you're talking about him. Robin turns to you again. "So, you wanna do this right now?"

"Uh, yeah. You think my bike’ll fit in your trunk?" You ask, glancing at the car Robin was heading towards before you caught her attention.

"Oh, yeah! Bring it on over, I'll pop the trunk." You wheel the bicycle to the car, helping her place it inside. "Perfect fit. You still live with your mom, right?" She asks, slipping into the driver’s side. You go around to the passenger side, getting in next to her.

"Yeah, you know the address?" You ask, surprised that she remembers after all this time.

"Oh yeah, me and Steve have dropped Dustin off many times. I know the route like the back of my hand." She grins at you, clearly she's been in need of some girl-time. Her demeanor puts your nerves at ease, you've always found her to be a trustworthy person. You couldn't have asked a better friend for help.

She pulls into your driveway a little while later, and you notice Mom's car is gone. She's at work and won't be home for hours, which is good. You definitely don't want her to interrupt your little photoshoot. Robin parks awkwardly, causing the car to jolt. "Sorry, I'm still mastering the art of driving."

"I can tell." You wince, the ride over has been quite nauseating. You aren't one to get car-sick, but the way she kept going and stopping was like a boat riding the waves. She gives you an apologetic glance, clearly embarrassed at her lack of skills on the road. "It's okay, Robin. I don't mean to be rude." Her mood lightens, and you lead her inside the house and to your room.

"Nice place. I don't think I've ever been inside before." Robin says, taking in the family photos and shag carpet as you walk down the hall. You open the bedroom door, and she giggles at the sight. "Wow, it's very girly in here." She spins around to look at everything, oddly intrigued by your living space. "It's really cute." She says as she meets your eyes.

"Thanks!" You smile kindly at her, she seems a little out of her element. Robin's always been a little odd, but you admire that about her. You set your bag down on the floor. "Wait here, I gotta grab the camera." You say, and she plops down onto the edge of your bed. You retrieve the camera from Mom's room, checking to see how much film is left. Not much, good thing you picked some up. You walk back in, closing the door. Robin seems to have located the D20 and booklet from your nightstand in your absence, flipping through the pages with widened eyes. "Oh, my God! What are you doing!" You shriek, cheeks going red as she's found something very private and personal to you. You snatch the items from her hands, putting them inside the nearest drawer and out of sight.

"Sorry, they were just...out. I wasn't meaning to pry, I got curious." She looks down at her hands, ashamed for embarrassing you. You sigh, plopping down beside her.

"It's fine, really. But if you breathe a word about it to Steve, or anyone for that matter, I’ll have to kill you. Slowly and painfully." You warn, cracking into a smile to show her you're not that serious about it. She laughs at your words, glad that you're not too upset.

"Can I ask something, though?" Robin says quietly, meeting your eyes again.

"Yeah, anything." You reply, unsure what her question might be.

"Exactly how many of those pages have you and Eddie tested already?" She inquires, cocking an eyebrow at you.

"Um, about half of them. We've gotten a few repeats, you know, with the die leaving it up to chance and all. He made it for my birthday, actually." You recall, cheeks heating up a little as you speak.

"Way to go, Y/N!" She gives you a high five, further lightening the mood as you share another laugh. "And I figured it was his doing, I'd recognize his artistic style anywhere. Dustin's always showing Steve all the cool stuff Eddie draws for D&D, and I just so happen to be around to look over his shoulder."

"Eddie is very talented. He made me this, too." You hold up the guitar pick around your neck, and Robin leans in close to read it.

She gasps at how adorable it is, truly surprised. "Oh, my God, that is so sweet! I never took him for such a romantic."

"Me neither, but he's always had an affinity for turning expectation on its head." You can't help your gaze drifting as you think about him, your cheeks blushing deeper. Robin takes notice, quickly getting excited.

"You love him, don't you?!" She slaps your arm playfully, drawing your attention.

"I really do!" You give an ecstatic nod, meeting her eyes. "You wanna know a secret?" A sly smile plays on your lips, and Robin can't resist a juicy detail to save her life. She nods silently, eyes sparkling with glee. "He said 'I love you' first."

"No fucking way!" She cries ecstatically, jumping off the bed to pace as she soaks this information in. "When did he say it? Was it really romantic? Does he mean it?" Her mouth spits out a long stream of questions at you, desperately needing to know everything about that day.

"I'll tell you all the details, but please, sit down! You look like you're gonna explode." You chuckle, patting the bed again. She lets out a deep breath, taking a seat once more. Her head rests in her palms as she sits cross-legged to patiently listen to you. "Okay, so we'd only been seeing each other for about five days. Eddie was picking me up from school, and he was in his cute little work uniform. I'd been thinking about him all day, so we did it right there in the parking lot, where anyone could see. We looked into each other's eyes the whole time, it was sooooo intense. And then afterwards, he said it. Of course, he got all adorably flustered and almost talked himself out of it!"

"That is insane! For him to say 'I love you', and so soon? Damn, you must be something really special to him." She marvels.

Your smile falls when the word 'special' leaves her lips. "I sure hope so."

Robin catches on to your uncertainty, digging a little deeper. "What do you mean?" She puts her hand on yours, which takes you aback. You tense up, relaxing once you realize she's just trying to comfort you.

"I mean, he tells me how 'special' I am all the time. And he's so sweet, and kind. I'm sure he means it. I just wonder if I'm really worth all that. You know?" You keep your eyes trained on your lap, slipping towards the deep dark pool of self-doubt again.

"Look, I may not know you super well or anything. But from what Dustin tells me, you're pretty fucking amazing! Plus, Eddie isn't the kind of guy to waste time on people or things that he doesn't deem worthy. So, quit sulking, and let's take some sexy pictures!" She squeezes your hand, pulling you back to sunshiney reality.

"Thanks, Robin. You're a good friend." You speak softly, smiling again. "I just have to change first, a lovely saleswoman named Mandy helped me find the perfect thing to wear. Oh, can you dig around in my closet for the black strappy heels? She recommended I wear them with it." You go for your bag, unzipping it to pull out the lingerie and Polaroid film.

"Uh, sure. But don't get mad if I'm lost. I've never been too savvy on women's fashion." She replies, reluctantly sliding your closet door open. Luckily, there's only one pair of shoes in there that match your description. She lets out a relieved sigh, grabbing the heels and bringing them back to the bed. Robin catches a glimpse of the black lace, eyes bugging out. "Yowza! You're really going all out, aren't you?"

"I suppose.” You shrug. “It's not the only thing I got for him. He's actually a pretty good cook, but he doesn't know how to make a lot of things. So, I got him a couple cookbooks. I think he'll like them. Although, I'm sure he'll enjoy this a hell of a lot more." You joke, closing your bag again. You stand upright to start undressing, and Robin awkwardly turns away from you. "You don't have to look away. It's just us girls here." You chuckle, there she goes being strange again.

"No I- I know. Just uh....naked people make me uncomfortable." She stutters, and you feel bad for laughing.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think about that, but do what you need to do." You try to let her know it's okay, not wanting to be yet another person who treats her differently.

"Thanks. Most people don't get it." You can hear a smile in her voice, giving you one too. You remove your day clothes, taking the lacey set off the hanger. You hold it in your hands a moment, running the soft material through your fingers. You can't wait for Eddie to feel it 一feel you一 for himself tomorrow. You start with the bra, slipping your arms through the straps and closing the clasp. You're facing your vanity, watching yourself become clothed in the beautiful fabric. You admire your reflection as you put on the crotchless panties, the garter belt, the pantyhose. Once the stockings are secured to the belt, you turn around.

"You can look now." Robin shuffles to face you again, taking in the sight before her.

"Holy shit! You're so hot, you just might kill him!" Her jaw falls open, unable to believe how gorgeous you are.

"Well, I certainly want to knock him dead, but not literally." You giggle as you come over to the bed. You slip on the heels, boosting your height by a couple inches. You turn on the balls of your feet, checking the mirror again. "Hmm, I feel like I'm missing something. I think this look needs makeup." You sit at your vanity again, applying some light foundation and rosy blush. You line your eyes, adding a dark shadow to your lids. You finish it off with a cherry red lip. Perfect. You leave your hair down, tousling it with your hands a little to give it a sexed-up appearance. You make one last inspection in the mirror, nodding in satisfaction. "Okay. I'm ready now. The camera is a little low on film, but I bought more while I was out. So, shall we?" Robin seems to have spaced out, her eyes glued to your torso. She notices you looking at her, averting her gaze immediately.

"Sorry, yeah. Let's get to it!" She laughs nervously, taking the camera in her hands. Robin stands as you climb onto the bed, tentatively holding the viewfinder to her eye as you figure out your posing. You start simple, sitting at the edge with your legs spread wide and feet planted on the floor. You grip your shoulders, letting your elbows rest against your tits. "Ooh, that's a nice start." Robin comments, getting ready to take the shot. "Don't forget to give a sexy smile." She adds, and you happily accept her suggestion, tilting your head to the side. The camera snaps, and the picture spits out the front of it.

You quickly move into a new pose, laying sideways with your head propped up on your elbow. Your other arm runs down your leg, stopping at your lower thigh. You spread your fingers apart, slightly pressing into your flesh. Another click of the camera goes off, signaling for you to move again. "You know, I wasn't so sure about this before. I was so nervous even being in the lingerie section in the store. But, actually wearing it now? I feel amazing." You marvel at your sudden burst of confidence, unable to believe wearing sexy underwear is enough to make you feel this good about yourself.

"Well, you seem like a natural to me." Robin replies, focusing on aiming the camera to keep herself from staring at your beautiful figure.

"Thanks." You're on your hands and knees now, giving the illusion of you crawling across the mattress. You arch your back, and lay the tip of your tongue on your upper lip to suggest that you're licking it. Robin captures it, and that's the end of the old film. You retrieve the new pack for her, and she quickly loads it in. "Hey, you wanna come closer? I'd like to get some of me laying down." You ask as nicely as you can, not wanting to order her around.

"O-okay." Robin replies, slowly inching her way over. She refuses to bring the camera away from her eye, keeping the other one tightly closed. You lay back, splaying your hair around the pillows. Your arms reach straight out across the bed, and you slightly bend your knees with your legs held together. *click* You bring a hand to your breast, squeezing it. And you playfully bite the index finger of your other hand, keeping your legs in the same place. *click* You position your arms lazily by your head, and arch your back off the bed. You let your mouth sit slightly agape, letting out a small sigh. *click*

"That's probably enough for this position." You say, noticing Robin's shaking a little from leaning over so far to hold the camera above you. She moves to the side of the bed, and you lay down on your stomach. You bend your knees so your feet are in the air, ankles crossed. Your chin rests on your fist, giving a playful look. *click* You sit up on your knees, back turned to Robin. You turn to look over your shoulder at her, another sultry smile displayed on your red lips. *click*

"Can I make a suggestion?" Robin pipes up, which almost startles you as she's been pretty quiet this whole time.

"Sure."

"Can you lay your head upside down over the edge?" You do as she asks, which lets your hair hang almost to the floor. "And then hold your legs in the air, knees bent like the other pose you did while laying down." Again, you imitate her request. "And...I dunno, hold your hands out to the sides, gripping the edge of the mattress." You do. "And let your mouth fall open, like wide but not too much. You know?" She really seems to have an eye for this stuff, you make a note to tell her she should pursue photography. *click* “Amazing.” She comments.

"I think one more should do it, but what I have in mind is probably a bit vulgar. Are you okay with that?" You ask, not wanting to make Robin any more uncomfortable than she already is. Even when she was leading you for a moment, her voice was trembling.

"That's fine." She replies, still aiming the camera. You get in your final position, sitting on your knees again but facing her this time. You're giving a three-quarter profile, and you slip one hand between your legs. You don't actually touch yourself, that wouldn't be appropriate. But you pretend you are, bringing your other hand to your chest again. You gently cup your breast, and let your head fall slightly back and to the side as you let out an exaggerated moan. *click* Robin almost drops the camera after the last photo is taken, she's shaking like a leaf now.

"Are you okay, Robin? Was that too much? I swear, I was just pretending." You get off the bed, going to her. You take the camera from her grasp, helping her sit down. She avoids looking at you, still trembling.

"I-I know. It's okay, I'm just..." She tries to form the words, but they won't bring themselves forward. She didn't expect to be so attracted to you, and she doesn't want you to find out and think she’s creeping on you.

"Robin, whatever it is, you can tell me. Here, let me put on a robe." You pull your robe from the closet, slipping it on to cover up. You sit back down beside her, taking her hands in yours. "What happened?" You ask, unable to figure out what exactly went wrong here. Her eyes are glistening, almost like she's going to cry. She looks at you, realizing how close your face is to hers. Her eyes flick to your lips, breath stuttering as she stares at their inviting red hue. She turns her head away, ashamed for thinking about you like that. You're straight, and have a boyfriend. There's nothing coming from your end, she doesn't want to make a big deal out of this. You noticed her looking at your mouth, the same way Eddie looks at your mouth before kissing you. "Oh." You say simply, understanding what's going on here.

"What?" Her eyes snap to you again, brows furrowed as she's confused.

"I think I know why you've been so nervous. I don't want to assume anything, but I want you to tell me. And if I'm right, I just want you to know that it doesn't bother me." You say calmly, putting a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Okay, but please, don't tell anyone. Only Steve knows, and I can't have everyone in town knowing this information." She pleads with her eyes, and you comprehend just how important it is to keep her secret.

"I understand. My lips are sealed, okay?" You mime locking your lips and throwing away the key, making her crack a smile.

"So, I....like girls. And I didn't really think about it when you asked me to help you, I just wanted to be a good friend. But seeing you, in that, and that last pose. It was a bit much for me. I'm...very attracted to you." She winces at the last sentence, afraid that you'll freak out. But you have nothing but a kind look on your face, unphased by her words. "But I know you're straight, and with Eddie. I totally respect that. I can just be friends, if you're okay with that." She looks down again, waiting for you to throw her out or something.

"It's more than okay. Friends get feelings about friends all the time, but they usually pass. It's a natural thing to be attracted to people, Robin. I'm not weirded out by it. You haven't done or said anything out of line, alright?" You do your best to reassure her, but you understand something like this must be terrifying for Robin. If she tells even one wrong person, the whole town knows what she is and judges her for it. You pull her into a hug, and she softens into it. A few tears fall from her eyes to soak through your robe, but you don't mind.

"Thank you, Y/N." She says, barely above a whisper as she tries to contain her sobs. It's so frustrating for her to have to go through this process with someone any time she wants to come out. Her anxiety kicks in, there's always the possibility of the person rejecting her or telling other people. Sure, she's only told you and Steve, but she has to repeat this awful process every single time for the rest of her life. Always worrying about rejection, hoping for acceptance. It's not fair, but in a time like this, and a town like Hawkins, that's the way it is.

"You're welcome, although I feel like I'm doing the bare minimum here." You laugh, causing her to giggle through her tears. "Thank you for sharing yourself with me. That can't be an easy thing to do."

"It isn't. But so far, it's been worth it. Now I have two friends who know, that's twice as many as I had before. I dream of a day where everyone I know knows, though it's not very likely in our lifetime." Her voice is hopeful, but also tinged with melancholy.

"I'd like to think that day will come much sooner than expected. That's the optimist in me, I suppose." You joke again, which she finds amusing. You pull away from the hug, craving a cigarette. "Hey, you want a smoke? Figure you could use one after all that." You offer, standing up to retrieve the pack from your bag.

"Oh, no thanks. I don't smoke." She scrunches her nose, finding smoking to be utterly disgusting. She wipes her eyes, getting up to grab her things.

"That's alright, if you wanted to stick around though there's beer in the fridge." You'd like to hang out with her a bit longer, but she seems ready to leave right about now.

"Nah, I better get home. Thanks, though. We should hang out again sometime. You can bring Eddie and I'll drag Steve along." Robin offers.

"Sure thing!" You bring her in for another hug, before letting her go. "Oh, do you mind putting my bike on the side of the house? I meant to take it out before coming inside. I guess I got ahead of myself."

"No problem at all. I got it. I'd hate for the neighbors to see you in your underwear." She teases. "Bye, Y/N. I'll give you a call to hang out sometime, okay?"

"Sounds great, Robin. I'll see you around." You smile at her as she leaves the room, closing the door behind her. You hear the front door open and close, and you take your cigarettes over to the window. It slides open easily, and you pull a cig from the pack, bringing it to your lips. Flicking the lighter, you breathe the smoke in deeply. You hold the box loosely in your hand, brushing over the cute message written on it with your thumb. You're still on the same pack Eddie left in your bag a couple weeks ago, as he usually offers you one of his own whenever he's around.

You set your cigarette on the windowsill for a moment, walking toward your dresser to look over the photos Robin took. You bring the stack over to the window, continuing smoking as you inspect them. Fuck, they are gorgeous. They're a tad amateurish, since you've never done this before, but Robin is a decent photographer. Eddie is going to absolutely lose his shit over these. When you see the final shot with your fake moan, your eyes widen as you look at yourself. It's like you're seeing a completely different person, but it's just... you.

You finish your smoke, flicking the spent butt into the grass. You shut the window, drawing the curtain and putting the photos in your bedside drawer. You change back into your clothes, hiding the lingerie away for safe keeping to wear tomorrow night. The next hour or so is spent digging around the junk closet in the hallway to locate an envelope for the pictures, and either a gift bag or some wrapping paper for Eddie's cookbooks. There's fishing poles, board games, old photo albums, and various items scrambled inside the closet. You eventually locate the bin for gift-giving supplies, pulling it out. You sit on the floor, sifting through the mass of paper and bows in the thick plastic container. The front door opens again, with Mom strolling inside. "Hey sugarpuff, how'd your shopping trip go?" She calls to you, placing her purse on the hook by the door while glancing in your direction.

"It went very well. Eddie's gonna love his presents." You call back, finally finding some wrapping paper that isn't for Christmas or a birthday. You also find a red envelope that’s the perfect size for the Polaroids. You put the bin back in its place, shoving the random items that fell in your excavation back into the closet haphazardly. You meet her in the kitchen, setting the things you retrieved on the counter. You go to the pantry, taking out a snack-size bag of Lay's to reward yourself for your hard work.

"What’d you get him?" She asks, cracking open a Diet Coke and taking a big gulp.

"Well, he's a pretty good cook. I got some books of recipes for him to try." You answer before popping a potato chip in your mouth.

"Is that so? What does he make for you?" Mom questions curiously. She's quite eager to hear you talk about Eddie, she's his biggest fan at this point.

"Um, French toast, and spaghetti. I know that's not a lot, but when he makes them, it's the best I've ever had." You smile at the thought, the mention of French toast reminds you of how Eddie licks the stray syrup from your chin when you inevitably make a mess.

"Ooh, look at you! You always blush when you talk about him! It's so cute!" She squeals in delight. You can't help rolling your eyes, focusing on your snack to avoid her gaze.

"Yeah, I guess I do. Been hearing a lot of that lately." You can't help it, Eddie can make you so weak in the knees with just a look. Every word he says to you is kind and loving, every touch so warm and adoring. Even during the short periods where you have to be apart, he plays around in your mind all day. The mere mention of his name is enough to drive you wild.

"That's a good thing, Y/N. Everyone sees how much you care for one another. I'm sure Eddie gets an earful from his uncle about it, too. You're not the only person in the world with an 'overbearing' guardian, ya know." She chuckles, taking another sip of her soda.

"I suppose you're right. Apparently, Eddie tells Wayne all about me. It made him blush when his uncle brought it up one time." You giggle, remembering how red his face got. It was so devastatingly cute.

"I'm happy to hear it, sugarpuff. Are you all studied up for your final exams?" Mom's really kicking into high gear today, touching all the bases.

"Oh yeah, I crammed almost every day you guys were away while Eddie was at work. I'm anxious as always, but I'm definitely ready for it."

"Good to hear, I'm sure you'll ace everything. You always do, my little brainiac." She pulls you into a hug. "Well, I'll leave you to wrap your presents. You excited for tomorrow?"

"Yes, but also kinda nervous." You bite your lip, unsure how tomorrow will go. You've thought about it nonstop, agonizing over every potential answer to every potential question.

"What's there to be nervous about? It sounds like Wayne really likes you, and it's not like Eddie's proposing or something. Right?" She raises an eyebrow, wondering if that's even a future possibility.

"No, no. It's waaaay too soon for that." Marriage has never really crossed your mind before, and you doubt Eddie has thought about it either. The word itself sounds so final, scary, even. "Living together came up in conversation last week, actually. And we both want that someday, just not right now. I've got school, Eddie has Wayne. Plus, we have, like, no money for an apartment." Mom just looks at you as you list the many reasons as to why you can't move further in the relationship just yet.

"Is that really all that's stopping you? Money?" She asks seriously. Your eyes widen, her phrasing making you suspicious.

"Mostly, yeah. Everything else can be worked around I guess, why?" You give her an odd look.

“I'm just thinking, maybe I can help you out. Is this something you really want?" She knows you've never really asked her for anything, even as a child you didn't care to ask for extravagant things. As gifts, or otherwise. Maybe this can be her way to give you something you truly want, to reward you for all your hard work. You've made her so very proud, never backing down to a single obstacle that stands in your way in the pursuit of success.

"Mom, be serious! It's too early for that! And you don't exactly have extra money to throw around." There's no way in hell you're letting her pay for your rent. If anything, you should be paying her for letting you live at home for so long.

"Hey, now. We do alright. And...I may or may not have been squirreling away a few extra bucks here and there to give to you when you need it."

"Mom, no way! I can't ask you to do that!" You shake your head, coming up with every excuse in the book to shut down the idea.

"But you aren't asking, sugarpuff. I'm offering. And look, if it's still too soon for you, I understand. How about this? When you and Eddie have been together for six months, revisit the conversation with him. And if you both still want this, I'll pay for the first couple months, okay?" Your mouth tries and fails to form a response. Mom has always been so supportive of you, but this? She's already done so much over the years, this is overdoing it. "You don't have to say anything. Just...don't say no, for now at least. Think it over for a bit. When the time is right, come back to me. Deal?"

"Deal." You manage to squeak out the word, quickly embracing her again. You squeeze her so tight, this is the best gift she's ever given you. "Thank you so much, Mom. I love you."

"Love you too, kiddo. Now, go on! You've got some wrapping to do!" She pats your shoulder, shooing you away to return to your task.

"That I do." You beam at her, still flabbergasted at what she's offered you. "You're the best mom in the world." You say gratefully, heading back to your room with your things.

"You're damn right I am!" She laughs as she calls after you. You close the door, breaking out into a happy dance once you're all alone. You know this isn't a sure thing, but it's exciting to have some semblance of a plan in place. You debate telling Eddie, though maybe it's best to not get his hopes up. As much as you love each other, you're still in the 'honeymoon' stage. You could tell Robin though, she can keep a secret. You'll tell her all about this and your date as soon as you find the time.

You set the paper on the bed, pulling the books out of your bag. You hold them in your hands, feeling how thick and hefty they are. You really hope Eddie likes them, though you could probably give him a carton of cigarettes and he'd be happy. He's relatively easy to please, especially when it comes to you. You can't wait for tomorrow, your talk with Mom has definitely put your mind at ease. You have no reason to worry, it's just dinner. Wayne adores you, and Eddie loves you more than anything. You proceed to wrap the books together as one gift, it just seems easier that way. You've always been an expert at wrapping gifts, a skill you've graciously accepted from your mother. There's nary a wrinkle, tear, or sloppily placed piece of tape to be found.

Once the books are perfectly encased in the dark blue paper you dug from the closet, you put them on your vanity for tomorrow. You pull out the photos, looking through them once more before sealing them in the envelope. You locate a pen, writing 'Eddie, My Love' on the envelope in perfect cursive. It goes on top of the books, and you sit on your bed to look at the sealed presents. You wish it was tomorrow already, time never moves fast enough when you need it most. You hear the phone ring in the living room, and Mom picks it up.

"Eddie's on the phone for you, Y/N!" She shouts to you. That's odd, hopefully he's not calling to cancel or something. You leave your room, skipping down the hall to the phone. Mom hands it off to you, walking into the kitchen to nonchalantly eavesdrop on your conversation.

"Eddie?" You ask, curious as to what he's calling you for.

"Hey, angel. I've missed you today." Eddie speaks sweetly.

"I've missed you too, baby. What's up?"

"Well, I've got some bad news. Wayne isn't feelin’ so hot, so we'll have to do dinner another time." He sounds genuinely disappointed, he was so looking forward to sharing a meal with you and his uncle.

"Oh, okay. Do you need to stay home and take care of him?" Your heart sinks, you were really looking forward to this. But you know health comes first, and you can always celebrate another day.

"I actually offered to do that, but you know Wayne. Always a stubborn bastard, and he doesn't want me getting sick and potentially giving it to you. I was thinking we could go out somewhere. It's also occurred to me that I've been an improper gentleman, as I haven't taken you on an actual date before." He chuckles, making you giggle. He's so funny when he speaks formally.

"That would be great!” You chirp. “Not that I mind how we've done things so far. We're both not really ones for crowds." You add, so he won’t think you find the time spent together thus far as less than you expect from a relationship.

"Very true. But every girl deserves to go on nice dates, especially when they're you." God, he's such a charmer. You don't know where he gets it from, but it's so amazingly sweet.

"Well, far be it from me to say no. Where were you thinking of going?" There's not exactly a lot of options in Hawkins, but you'll have a candlelit dinner in an alley behind a fish market if it means you get to be with Eddie.

"I was thinking...a picnic in the park? I've heard those are very romantic." You can hear the smirk on his face, visualizing it in your mind.

"Oh, are they now?” You tease.

“I’d like to think so, sweetheart.” Eddie jests back.

“Well, I'm looking forward to it. Any notes on what I should wear?" You ask, your tongue poking into your cheek. You just can't help yourself sometimes.

"Something comfortable, and easy to get out of. You know I think you look gorgeous in anything...and nothing at all." His voice has darkened a little, sending a chill down your spine as he speaks directly in your ear.

"Naughty boy." You reply with a sultry tone, looking behind you to make sure Mom's minding her P's and Q's. You continue once the coast is clear, she must have gone to her room. "I might just have to punish you if you keep that up." You hear him gasp on the other end, wishing you could see the bulge growing in his pants right now.

"Oh, I'm counting on it, darling. You have noooo idea." He nearly purrs through the phone. You almost whimper at his words, he really knows how to push your buttons. Apparently Eddie can hear your breathing change on the other end, wasting no time in pushing you further. "What's wrong, princess? You feelin' a little hot under the collar?" He's teasing you ruthlessly now. If only it were possible to pull him through the phone so you could pounce on him. But you know better than to give in so easily, two can play at this game. 

"Oh, you know what? I am feeling a bit anxious, I may just have to go to my room and relax." You emphasize certain words, hoping he catches your drift. You take it a step further when he stays silent. "It's too bad you're not here to help me, I guess I'll just have to do it myself." He tries to stifle a groan, but the end of it still slips out. "What's the matter, Eds? Did you light a fire you can't put out?" You flirt back, licking your lips. This is fun.

"God, you're so lucky I'm not home alone right now. Otherwise, this would be a much more detailed conversation. I better go, something has come...up." He clears his throat, swallowing hard. You both laugh at that, and you'd be lying if you didn't want to have some private time of your own after how you've been speaking to him. "But I love you, and I'll pick you up around five. I'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Eds. And tell Wayne I said to get well soon. See you later." You hang up the phone, turning to find Mom standing right behind you. "Jesus Christ! Mom, what the hell are you doing?" You shriek.

"I'm guessing your conversation went well?" She asks with one of her signature knowing looks.

"Mom! Please tell me you weren't spying on me! I thought you went to your room!" You groan, any arousal you had running for the goddamn hills. Your cheeks burn red, and you sit on the couch with your face buried in your hands.

"I was, but I needed something from my purse. I wasn't meaning to hear anything. You're not exactly subtle." Claudia chuckles, not really finding this to be a big deal. She remembers being your age and talking to your dad like that when they were in high school. It's only natural to be playful with one another. She wishes you weren't so upset over it. "Y/N. It's really not an issue. You're not a kid anymore, I can't expect you to be innocent forever."

"Oh my god, just stop it! I could just about die from embarrassment right now. I'm going to bed." You rush off to your room, not wanting to speak another word about this. You retreat to the one space that's all your own, slamming and locking the door. Five more months can't go by soon enough, you need to get out of this fucking house. You fall head first onto your bed, screaming into the pillows. You stay like this for a moment, wondering what Eddie's up to right now. If the end of your call was any indication, he's probably laying in bed, thinking about you while pleasing himself. You envy him, there's absolutely no way you're doing anything remotely arousing tonight. Not after Mom listened to you talk dirty over the phone. You'd cry about it if you weren't so tired. You haven't even bothered to turn the light off when you unexpectedly pass out for the night.

To be continued…

[nikibogwater]

Niki Blethers: Echoes of Wisdom gameplay (spoiler free)

I've only been posting about EoW's story/characters/aesthetic so far. I think it's time to gush about the gameplay itself for a while. Honestly, I would've done this sooner, but I've had the hardest time finding the words to describe just how GOOD this game feels when you're playing it. Like the title says, there's no spoilers in here, just discussion of raw gameplay, but I've gone ahead and put most of it under the cut to avoid clogging everyone's dashes.

First thing I noticed right off the bat is the movement and controls. I don't know what voodoo witchcraft the devs used to make this, but just moving around in the world feels so silky smooth. Which is excellent, because it turns out a surprising chunk of the gameplay involves rudimentary platforming.

You can jump in this game. Just, right off the bat, no items required, that's a thing you can do. And it's not like Link's little hops in Breath of the Wild either. These are proper jumps.

Outside of combat (which I'll get to in a minute), you mainly use the Echoes to explore. Building bridges, getting up on high ledges--stuff like that. There's no weird collision or confusing perspective that makes placing Echoes difficult. When you move, you move in the way you actually WANT to, and when you interact with an object, it goes the way you'd expect. I know this shouldn't surprise me--this is Nintendo after all--but janky platforming is one of my pet peeves when it comes to gaming, so I deeply appreciate how polished EoW's is.

EoW draws a lot of inspiration from Breath of the Wild when it comes to puzzle-solving. Once again, there are multiple different solutions to any given challenge, and progress isn't locked behind acquiring specific pieces of equipment. But unlike BotW, EoW doesn't give you all the puzzle-solving mechanics you will ever need at the start of the game. Instead, it merely provides you with the means to acquire those abilities for yourself.

Once you've made it through the tutorial section, you will only have a handful of basic object Echoes, plus a couple of weak monsters to help you fight. At this point, the world opens up for you, and you can go just about anywhere you want (though the story can only be progressed by completing Main Quest objectives, which are a bit more linear than they were in BotW). There's a real incentive to explore Hyrule here, because discovering new objects and creatures is the only way to expand your arsenal of Echoes.

Case in point, I've mostly just been focusing on the main quest storyline, and haven't spent as much time exploring all the different areas. As a result, I ended up finding myself encountering a puzzle in the main quest that I wasn't able to solve with my current collection of Echoes. I had to leave and go find new ones. If that sounds like a tedious backtracking nightmare to you, don't worry. This game is very generous with Waypoints that you can warp to at any time and from anywhere. Getting back to where I was after I'd found the Echo I needed took roughly 30 seconds.

Now, while I love the Echoes as a gameplay mechanic, they are also the source of my one and only complaint with this game: namely, the inventory system. Throughout the game, you will inevitably collect dozens, if not more than a hundred individual Echoes to choose from, and finding the specific one you want quickly becomes a chore after a few hours of gameplay. I've said this in another post, but Nintendo really needs to figure out a way to give us a customizable quick-select function--some way to equip just a handful of Echoes to a scroll wheel so that you don't have to bring up the pause menu to avoid cycling through your entire collection of Echoes. Coincidentally, this was also my biggest complaint for Tears of the Kingdom. I guess someone over at Nintendo just really enjoys scrolling through long lists of items. Anyways, it's not a huge issue, it's just one of those annoying things that feels like it should've been ironed out at some point during beta testing.

While EoW feels very comfortably Zelda-ish in all other aspects, the combat is radically different from what series fans are used to. I think that more than anything is going to be what makes or breaks this game for people.

Outside of Swordfighter Mode (which I will also get to in a minute), Zelda cannot do any direct damage to enemies by herself. If a monster gets close enough to hit you, you don't have any immediate defense or counter-attacks. This means that every encounter with an enemy has to be approached from a small distance. You have to think about how you're going to defeat enemies before you actually fight them, otherwise you will get overwhelmed.

While you are given plenty of objects to hurl at your foes, a lot of the combat will be fought by your own monster Echoes. There's a large variety of creatures to collect Echoes of, and they all have different abilities and fighting styles, which means certain monsters will fare better against one kind than another. But the game doesn't tell you about any of those advantageous monster match-ups. You have to figure those out for yourself.

Creature Echoes can be directed to attack anything you're currently Z-targeting, or they can be let loose to attack according to the whims of their AI. Echoes can also be directly moved around with the Bind ability, which is handy for repositioning any monsters who might've gotten stuck on some terrain or what have you.

You have a limited amount of energy to spend on Echoes, which means you can only have so many out at once. That energy is immediately replenished once an Echo is defeated or recalled, which allows for some pretty hectic swapping strategies that are a lot of fun to pull off. Individual Echoes have their own energy costs, based on how strong they are. So you can't just sic 3 copies of the same mini-boss on every Moblin who is unfortunate enough to cross you.

The best way I can sum it up is that the combat is like a turn-based strategy game set in real time. And as someone who has played an ungodly number of hours of Fire Emblem, I really enjoy it. I downright revel in strategically summoning minions to fight for me (my favorite attack is spawning in a bunch of crows like a malevolent little witch). However, if you're someone who prefers the more direct style of fighting from past Zelda games, this might end up being a deal-breaker for you.

Swordfighter Form is your other major weapon in combat. For a limited amount of time, Zelda can assume Link's abilities and weapons, allowing her to attack enemies directly and do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. But since this ability has limited duration, and the energy guage has to be manually refilled by collecting a specific item, it cannot be your go-to default way of handling every fight. Swordfighter Form can be upgraded as you progress through the game, allowing you to extend its duration and increase its moveset and damage output. But it's always going to be something that you use sparingly, mostly just to get yourself out of overwhelming combat scenarios.

So yeah, I think that just about covers the major gameplay mechanics. In conclusion, Echoes of Wisdom is not only its super cute aesthetic, banger soundtrack, and engaging story. Ignoring all of the more superficial stuff, at its core, this is a really good game, that feels really good to experience. If you've enjoyed any of the past 2D Zelda titles, or even just want to see what all the fuss is about, I genuinely cannot recommend this game enough. Regardless of its differences in presentation, Echoes of Wisdom was made with the same level of care and craftsmanship as any of the other entries in the Zelda series, and I've adored every moment of it so far.

[lonelywanderingflower]

The Sera Cardigan has been a labor of love for me. Maybe I got a little too ambitious with my first cabled project, especially since I've never done a charted pattern before. After doing a lot of basic stockinette patterns, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and this pattern caught my eye. Even though I started out strong only to kinda lose interest in the end when it got tedious, I'm happy with how this project turned out despite its flaws - which are all on me, by the way.

So my first mistake was the yarn choice, which probably wasn't the best since it didn't grow as much as I'd hoped. The size I chose was my second mistake. Since I only had a limited quantity of yarn, which I bought while traveling abroad. Since the cardigan is meant to be very oversized, I figured an XS should be ok since it would still give me some positive ease. I failed to put into account that the yarn I used did not grow much when blocking compared to wool, and the fact that my tension tends to be tighter, which means my fabric will be smaller. As a result, I opted to omit buttons since I wouldn't be able to wear it closed, which is fine with me since I tend to wear cardigans open anyway. But if I didn't have to worry about running out of yarn, I would've definitely sized up to my usual medium, or even a large just to get the intended ease on this design.

The cables wasn't too hard to get into once you've done it a few times since it'll be straightforward and somewhat easy to memorize after a while. It was satisfying seeing the cables come together, so that part wasn't tedious.

The brioche, however, is another story. On the body it wasn't too bad because it's a couple short sections at the shoulders. But the sleeves where it's all brioche? That was so tedious. After dragging myself through one sleeve, I jumped to the buttonband and collar before starting the second one. Then that took me over 2 months to finally complete.

Now, for the pros of this project. I'd say if you're ambitious like me, and have a substantial amount of knitting experience under your belt, I'd say go for it. I went for the top-down version as it's my preferred method since you can try it on and easily customize the length, which was helpful when trying to figure out how much yarn to use. The pattern does come with bottom-up instructions if that's your preferred construction.

So the pattern, like I said, isn't too daunting once you repeat the cables a couple times and really see it come together. While it can get tedious after a while, especially with the sleeves, I think the final product is worth if if that's the kind of cables design you want to add to your wardrobe.

[writingquestionsanswered]

How do I actually finish a final draft? I'm working completely independently on a comic book and I'm at the point where I know what needs to be fixed, but it just feels so tedious to go in and edit once again because I feel like if I don't reread it completely, I'll miss something. I feel like I've reread it so many times I'm bored by it and can't actually finish the final draft, especially for *just* issue 1. I've tried writing other issues but it just feels like procrastination. help what do

Struggling to Complete Final Edit

Final edits can be the toughest, because you're SO CLOSE to being finished, and you've been through it so many times, you just want to be done with it.

First, I think you have to take a step back and really consider whether one more read through is really that necessary. Unfortunately, that's a game you can play until the end of time, so at some point you have say enough is enough. I've you've already read through it a few times and know what needs to be fixed, I think you have to give yourself permission to just go in and make the necessary changes without completely re-reading. Another thing you can try is making the changes, then going back and re-reading and doing any final touch-ups as you go.

Some things to try to make another read-through bearable: -- Step away for a bit. It sounds like you've already done this, but it's worth repeating for others. Even if it's just for a day or two, setting it aside can give you a much-needed breather and help you come back to it with fresh eyes.

-- Read it out loud. This can actually be very helpful in allowing you to spot issues you didn't catch in previous reads. Try pretending you're doing a reading for fans or performing the audiobook.

-- Change the font color. This is another trick that can help errors stand out more, but like reading it out loud, it's also just an easy way to make it feel new and fresh to your eyes which can cut back on the tedium a bit.

-- Read it in an unusual place. It's best to find someplace that's comfortable and reasonably free from distractions, but also not someplace where you'll feel too cozy and feel sleepy. Just moving to another room in your home can help, or you might try sitting outside (such as a porch, patio, or backyard--just watch out for rain!) If you're able to, try a library, bookstore, or cafe. Public areas like parks, picnic areas, scenic views/trailheads, etc. are good options--just be sure to be safe.

-- Take turns reading it with a trusted friend or family member. If there's someone you trust to read it, who would enjoy reading it and has the time/ability to help out, try making a little party of it and taking turns reading it. If you can get together, you can put out some fun food and drink, sit at a table or on the couch and take turns reading pages or scenes. If you can't get together, you can encourage them to get some snacks and do it as a video call or phone call--just don't forget to send them a copy to read from.

-- Last but not least, if none of these work for you, you'll just have to brute force it. As with all jobs we don't want to do, remember that the thought of doing the work is always worse than actually doing it. Once you get going and find a rhythm, you'll probably find it's not nearly as bad as you expected. Try setting up rewards for yourself along the way, like allowing yourself to have a favorite meal when you get to the halfway point, and going to see a movie you're looking forward to once you get to the end. You can even do smaller rewards like having a bowl of ice cream after you've worked on it for an hour each night. Whatever works! In the end, you just have to remember you've put a lot of work into this project, and you're so close to being done, it's worth it to keep going!

I hope something her will work for you!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[peacerisendove]

Big Ethel Energy S2 Episode 25 and 26

The best thing this comic has done so far is focus on Veronica and her blooming love life because I love to see it. It's interesting , it gets away from our annoying protagonist, it gives this comic life that doesn't seem insular.

And honestly that's what you want in a comic that is about life! You want to see the surrounding environment and what's going on because when the focus is solely on your protagonist and their problems it does get tedious especially when that protagonist appears self centered, never recognizes their own faults/wrongs, and bad mouths the people around her amongst other things.

For once something that feels extraneous and separate to Ethel and her main character life! And that is a good thing as I've mentioned!

I love something that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Ronnie is out living her life and getting interested in another man. It's very cute and wholesome how she's very into this guy without him even realizing. They're very different and it's super cute. Especially with how she genuinely wants to learn more about being more eco-friendly and not wasting.

I feel like these bit are trying to maker Veronica come off as rude, but I don't see it that way. She feels professional and focused, even though she really wants to get to know more about Gilbert.

Aaaaaand back to Big Ethel Drama we are.

Honestly, Betty's reaction is exaggerated. Someone else has a crush on the guy you like and said guy said no to you before? You deal with that kind of thing.

You don't own Seth.

Ethel is in a relationship and isn't going after Seth. She has a crush, but she's not going to currently act on it.

The only person Betty can be reasonably upset with is either Seth for rejecting (because it always hurts when the guy you like doesn't like you back) or herself. It's unreasonably to be mad at Ethel for something she can't control, but also isn't even a thing. She's making a mountain out of molehill and her response is exaggerated.

Though honestly, lets look at the comic, Betty has had a lot of time to be upset over Seth not liking her back, so her being mad even now is ridiculous in my opinion. She is rejected by Seth in S1 Episode Episode 50. I'm assuming it is around fall because Ethel states she was away on Holiday at the start of Season 2, so I think Betty's had more than a few months to process. The last time we heard about her opinion of Seth was S2 Episode 15, where she said: "I'm not angry at him anymore for not wanting to date me, but I'm still hurting a bit from his rejection".

Above Image: Season 2 Episode 15

SO which is it Betty? Why do you feel so goddamn attached and possessive of a man who has no interest in dating you and who we barely see you interacting with??

And even if it's just the rejection hurting her, that gives you not right or reason to bite your friend's head off for JUST HAVING A CRUSH when she is ALREADY IN A RELATIONSHIP AND PROBABLY WON'T ACT ON IT. Betty is fueling her own fears and anxieties and that's her own fault. It's honestly just ridiculous to watch as well.

This little reaction makes her seem really entitled and childish overall, which are aspects I don't associate with the general idea of Betty's character in the Archie Universe (essentially the concept of Betty over all as someone who's read the old comics).

-sigh- Man, I know this misunderstanding is going to blow up in Ethel's face and I genuinely feel bad for her in this instance.

Episode 26

OKAY NOW I CAN GET INTO THIS.

GIRL NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU. YOU'VE HAD SO LONG TO PROCESS YOUR FEELINGS. This is only your issue no one else's. It's truly so embarrassing and ridiculous to watch this go down.

Why is almost everyone in in this comic is so terrible? It's not even a reasonable sort of terrible you know? Yeah people get angry but it feels like drama for drama's sake.

NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T DUMBASS. I HAVE THE RECEIPTS. FUCKING SETH POINTED THAT OUT TO YOU, YOU CALLED IT MANSPLAINING AFTER HE REJECTED YOU.

Above: Season 1 Episode 50 (read left to right)

Betty: "I'm sure he knew."

GIRL. Do not put the blame on him. Even if he knew. He also clearly knew it was inappropriate, so he politely ignored or dissuaded you from it. This is not about feelings. It's about what is proper. He didn't want to take advantage of you and so he didn't.

UGH SHE'S BEING BITCHY AND SHALLOW AND POKING AT ETHEL'S RELATIONSHIP, WHICH SHE KNOWS AS HE FRIEND IS A GENERAL SORE POINT, BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE ONE. How shallow can you get? Even as a friend I wouldn't do that.

I'm rolling my eyes ya'll. The pettiness. The idiocy of her reaction. Please go read a better comic than this.

Why do we keep blaming people who don't deserve it? First it's Jughead now it's Seth. When and where will it end? Also crying? Seriously? How are you not pissed the fuck off? I'm pissed the fuck off and I barely like you as a protagonist. Where are the actual fights in these friendships??? All it is is crying and yelling.

Seth didn't drive a wedge between you two. You continue to not want to take responsibility or accountability, and honestly neither does Betty now that I think about it. That and what drove a wedge between you two is Betty's stupid reaction to something should have dealt with months ago. It's probably been a whole season! It's spring right now I think! Get over it! He doesn't like you!

Goddammit. We almost have a voice of reason. He's right on the first part. It's not her fault, but we really need to stop propping up Ethel on a goddam pedestal. It's infuriating.

She's not right!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD.

YOU CAN SETH'S NAME A THOUSAND TIMES BUT IT'S LITERALLY NOT HIS FAULT. I am begging the author to get an editor or something. I'm begging. This is ridiculous.

(I am so upset that I hit the image limit of 30 I want you guys to see my upset Jughead reactions.)

Me too Seth. Me too. I know she's over correcting and being so FUCKING STUPID.

...

WHAT THE UTTER FUCK!!!!! YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID. I HATE YOU. YOU LITERALLY DID THIS WITH JUGHEAD!

GROW THE FUCK UP.

TAKE SOME GODDAMN ACCOUNTABILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS IN YOU GODDAMN LIFE.

YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE ON A PEDESTAL. YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE A FUCKING PROTAGONIST OF A SERIES WITH THIS KIND OF WRITING.

SETH DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG. YOU'RE MAD!!!

[gingernut1314]

Songbird Pt. 6

Summary: You've been a member of the Buggy Pirates for a month now and your Captain is not so happy about the chores you have been assigned.

Tags: Smut (dom!reader, sub!Buggy, oral m. and f. receiving, fingering), fluff??

Word Count: 4.0K

A/N: I am soooo sorry it's been such a long time. It's almost the end of the semester and my professors have taken that as their queue to kill me with every assignment known to man 😭 I'm going on Thanksgiving break next week so hopefully I'll have more time to write. I hope you all enjoy this part!!

Requested by: @srgtjamesbarnes

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You’ve been a part of the Buggy Pirates for a month now. A month full of scrubbing toilets, mopping floors, and washing dishes. You didn’t mind the work, it was similar to what you had done on Luffy’s crew. It gave you time to think up new lyrics and rhythms for your songs. 

You had expected to do the chores no one else wanted to do, knowing that you were the newbie here. That you would have to work your way up to less tedious chores if you wished it. 

What you hadn’t expected was Cabaji, the Chief of Staff, having some sort of vendetta against you. A vendetta he wielded against you like one of his throwing knives, sharp and quick. 

He watched you like a hawk, waiting for you to make a mistake--to miss a spot in your cleaning.

Oh, you thought that toilet had been scrubbed so clean you could eat off it? Wrong. Scrub it again. Had just finished mopping and was about to throw the dirty water overboard. Nope. Cabaji had just walked through the hallway and you needed to mop it again. 

You took it with grace, trying your hardest to never lose your head over his demands. It had been expected, such roughness. You had expected to receive more from the rest of the crew, but they seemed to be slowly getting used to you. Hell--the other girls on the crew had become your friends in a matter of a few days. 

But Cabaji was not one of them. He seemed to want to make your life a living hell with all the chores he assigned. And a true living hell he made it when he assigned you a new chore. 

Cleaning out the lion's room. The lion who had just as much of a vendetta against you as Cabaji due to the fact you had beat his master to a pulp. 

“Richie is very particular about how his room is cleaned.” Cabaji had said to you as he tossed you a shovel, which you had caught with ease. You had tried to keep the snarl off your face, Cabaji being higher up in rank than you, but had utterly failed. 

The acrobat had leaned in close, a wicked shit-eating grin on his face. “You mess up, he’ll tear your arm off. Maybe your head. The last guy was hardly recognizable.” And he had left without another word, leaving you in Richie's room, which he had all to himself. A room that rivaled every room you had ever had yourself, the lion basically living in luxury.

You had just started to shovel when Richie came scrolling in and plopped himself down on his bed, watching your every move just as Cabaji would. Except he wouldn’t tell you to do it again, he would eat you. 

Richie had just growled at you for the hundredth time after you dropped a bit of his shit when he froze, looking almost wide-eyed and terrified, if a fearsome lion could look as such, at something behind you. 

“What the hell are you doing in here?” The sound of your captain's voice had your heart fluttering in absolute excitement. You hardly ever saw him during the day, you too busy with your chores, which kept you in the belly of the ship, and he busy with his captain duties. 

But night after night you would steal away to his quarters and fuck each other silly before falling into some of the best sleep you had ever had in your life. Just the mere thought of his arms around you, his soft lips kissing you, had you gravitating over to be closer to him. 

“Captian.” You said, your voice showing off your excitement to see him with little embarrassment. In the past, you might have scoffed at yourself for being this excited over a man, but it was Buggy--he made you all warm and gooey on the inside. 

“I’m doing my chores.” Buggy narrowed his eyes dangerously at this, a danger he directed the lion's way who gave a low, mournful sound. You placed a hand on his arm, directing those green-blue eyes back onto you. “Have you gotten much work done today?” You asked, filling your voice with low, sweet tones as you pulled yourself to your tippy toes to give him a kiss on his cheek. 

To your almost hurt surprise, he stopped you with a tight grip around your arm, holding you away. 

“Hey--” You started, wanting to complain sharply about his denial of your affections. 

“Did Cabaji tell you to scoop this overgrown cat's kitty litter?” Buggy asked, that harshness never once leaving his voice. Richie gave another pathetic little whine from behind you. 

“Um…he gives out the chores doesn’t he?” Buggy gave a dramatically angered growl, his hand falling from your arm as he stormed out of Richie’s room. You looked towards the lion, who was all but pressed against the wall, looking like he might pass out, before rushing after your captain. 

“Captain--wait. What’s wrong?” You called, doing a little jog to catch up to the fuming man. 

“What’s wrong is that string bean is going to get thrown overboard with a rock tied around his ankles.” You huffed at his dramatics, quickly stepping in front of him. 

“Buggy. Stop.” You said, placing a hand on his chest to keep him from moving around you. He did as you said, though that danger never left those beautiful eyes of his. It was a danger that always pulled you in whenever it shone in his eyes. 

“Y/N. Move.” He said like he had meant to snap it at you, but it fell short. 

“Why the sudden bloodlust?” You asked, fingers moving over the stitching of his elaborate shirt in, hopefully, a calming touch. Buggy moved only so he was closer to you. “I love it,” You teased, “but why?” Buggy gave another little growl. One that vibrated through your hand and down your arm, making your excited nature shift. Shift to something that much more exciting. 

“You shouldn’t be shoveling shit.” That was what this was all about. Buggy not wanting you to do the dirty work. It had your heart doing a little dance. 

“Sure…but who would do it then?” Buggy blinked down at you for a second, as if stunned you were okay with this. “I’m okay with my chores. It’s nothing I haven’t done before. I’ll be fine as long as Richie doesn’t tear my arm off.” You tried to joke but it only seemed to make that bloodlust towards his second mate deepen. 

“Well, I’m not.” He snapped, grabbing hold of you again only so he could move you out of his way. 

You were not having it, not one bit. Not when you hardly got to see Buggy in the daylight like this. All illuminated and looking so pretty and murderous. And as much as you would love to watch Buggy rip into someone for you, you couldn’t have that person be Cabaji. You were too close to getting on the guy's good side--too close to winning him over. 

With all the strength you could muster up, you grabbed Buggy around the waist and all but slammed him into the wall beside you. A small, startled yelp escaped his lips at the action. A yelp that turned into a low whimper on his lips as you fit your leg between his, pinning him in place. 

Gods--he looked so flustered and passive against you. That shifted excitement nestled deeper within you as you watched a rich blush spread over his cheeks, his green-blue eyes wide looking down at you. 

“If you step in, Captain, none of the crew is going to learn to accept me.” You said lowly, running your hands slowly downward from their spot on his waist, another little noise you loved to hear spilling from his lips. “I’ll be the butt of the joke.” And through his passive fog, you saw that danger spike again. 

“That’s what Cabaji is making you out to be right--” You shushed him, pressing your body that much closer to his. His blush only seemed to deepen. 

“He’s testing the newbie. That’s all. No biggy.” You said calmly, running your hands down his lower back to find their home cupping his ass. You gave the bits of flesh a tight squeeze and that little noise came spilling out of him again, his gloved hands coming up to take hold of your arms. 

“Songbird--” He grit out lowly. “You’re--you’re not just any old newbie.” You hummed with a nod. Pulling a hand back, you brushed a finger over his red-painted lips. Paint you had watched him apply this morning with skillful precision while laying in his bed. Buggy leaned into the touch, silently asking for more. You did so without a second thought, cupping his face so you could rub his painted cheek. His eyes fluttered closed. 

“I’m your newbie. And I’m willing to prove myself to you--serve you.” An airy groan escaped his lips, those green-blue eyes lully back open. It brought a smirk to your face. A smirk that turned near devious when you felt his cock begin to harden against your hip. 

“How does that sound, Captain?” You asked, running your hand down that sharp, stubble-covered jaw of his. Down the column on his throat, which bobbed on a swallow. Your hand continued its travel downward, coming to a stop at his belt which you gave a teasing tug on. 

He grit his teeth at the action, his hand brushing up your arm as he grabbed your chin in a loose hold. His thumb ran over your bottom lip, tugging at it lightly to see teeth. 

“Fuck, songbird--you are all mine, aren’t you?” He said, his grip tightening the slightest bit on your chin. 

“Yours and only yours, Captain.” You lulled, beginning to unbuckle his belt. Buggy cursed as he crashed his lips to yours, claiming your mouth with that fiery passion that made your head spin and body melt into his.

Your hands found their way back around his waist, pulling him flush against your needy body. A body that nearly had a mind of its own as you directed Buggy off the wall and down the hall. Buggy followed, his hands leaving your face to grab your ass in a tight squeeze, keeping you against him. A stumble and the stepping on toes was what finally had Buggy’s lips pulling away from your own. You huffed at their absence, rising up on your tippy toes to find them again. 

“Song-” You kissed him, silencing his words, “bird.” He finished his little pet name for you. One that continued to drive you crazy. “Where are we--” You cut him off once more with another kiss, your hand fumbling with a door knob. Once opened, you all but shoved Buggy into the dark room, closing the door behind you both. 

The smallest sliver of light dimly illuminated the cluttered space you were in. Light that had been dim to begin with, so it truly did nothing for viability. Not that you needed it to know where you were--to know where most everything was. 

You had spent too much time in and out of this little supply closet thanks to Cabaji. A closet you were very thankful for in that moment when your body buzzed and ached to have your captain all to yourself. 

You grabbed hold of Buggy again, all but shoving him into the cleaning supplies-filled shelf behind him, said supplies rattling upon impact. He huffed out a breath before his lips claimed yours again, burning them away with every needy movement. 

“It smells like--” Buggy breathed between kisses, “shit and bleach in here.” 

“This is the supply closet.” You said, brushing your lips against his and pulling away quick enough to avoid him claiming them once more. Buggy gave a huffy little growl, his grip on your waist tightening. It brought a wicked little smirk to your face. “I think a family of rats is living in here.” You spoke lowly, your fingers finishing unlooping his belt. 

Buggy gave another little growl that was full of frustration and anger. The same anger you had dragged him in here to forget about. 

“Why the hell do I allow that useless, overgrown kitten to stay if he can’t even keep away a few rats,” Buggy growled against your lips before meshing them together, an action you had half a mind to keep doing, your head spinning the way it was--how your lips burned and buzzed and needed more, more, more. 

“He’s just a big old baby. Probably scared of them.” You murmured, kissing his cheek and jaw before sinking to your knees, hands dragging downwards over his body as you went. Buggy’s breath hitched in his throat.

“I-I wanted a bloodthirsty man-eater, not some lion scared of his own shadow.” 

“He did eat Esmeralda’s horse.” Esmeralda, once Buggy’s equestrian stunts act, now merely a flashy gymnast that talks relentlessly in her sleep. It was a fact she still teared up over whenever it was brought up. “And gnawed on someone so bad he was unrecognizable. I would say that’s pretty bloodthirsty.” Buggy gave an annoyed huff that only lodged itself in his throat as you began tugging his pants lower. 

“And that is exactly why you shouldn’t be shoveling his shit. I’ll make that tuff of grass do it.” Buggy gave that funky little laugh you loved. “Cover him in cat-nip first, see how he likes getting--” Buggy’s plotting came to a sharp, huffy close as you freed his cock and wrapped your fingers around the bit of silky flesh.

“Captian.” You drawled, giving him a slow pump that pulled that whiny, breathy little moan you craved from his lips. “You have so much on your plate already.” Buggy cursed as you smoothed your thumb over the droplet of precome that had begun to leak from his slit. “Let me handle it--let me take your mind off it.” You said before kissing the tip of his cock. Buggy groaned, gloved hand reaching out to touch your cheek and jaw and hair. Touches you leaned into and savored. 

“Fu-fuck. Sure--sure thing, songbird.” You smirked before kissing his head again, Buggy’s hips bucking against the fleeting touch. His grip on your cheek tightened, trying to pull you closer to his twitching cock. 

“Ah, ah, ah--Captain. Where are your manners?” Buggy gave a gruff of frustration at your teasing, his gloved fingertips digging into the flesh of your cheek in a way you loved. “Say please.” 

“Please--gods, please, baby. I need to feel your mouth--such a fucking sexy mouth.” He begged. That smirk he had pulled from your lips stayed plastered there as you started to pump him slowly. 

“Such a good boy.” A sharp curse had just spilled from him when you wrapped your lips around him, swirling your tongue around his head. 

Buggy gave a string of moany noises that might have been your name, might have been your nickname, and could have possibly been another curse. In all likelihood, it was all of the above. 

The fact that you turned him into such a blubbering mess--had him gripping onto the shelf behind him so tight it knocked some bottle of cleaner off onto the floor--was intoxicating. So intoxicating you wanted to drag more and more of those dramatic reactions out of him. 

You took him deeper, flattening your tongue so you might feel every bit of soft skin and vien his cock had to offer. Your hands roamed over his thighs, holding him close as you continued to take him deeper and deeper into our mouth. Deeper and deeper until the head of his cock tickled the back of your throat, causing a wet sound to escape you. 

Buggy’s moan was long and low, his head falling back against the wooden shelf with a distinct bump. His hands found their way back to your face, caressing your forehead and cheeks and ears and jaw. And as you began to pull off him again, setting a teasingly slow pace and swirling your tongue around his leaking head every time you came to it, his thumbs brushed over your lips wrapped around him--felt the tight seal of where you two connected.

“F-fuck--songbird. You’re so fucking good. So fucking warm. Oh gods--” He said, his words falling from his mouth like some breathy, moany little waterfall. 

It was like music to your ears. Music knew you would sing right back to him as soon as he had come and was a sweat-covered mess before you. 

His head fell back again as you took him deep, something landing on the floor beside you with a soft thud. With a quick glance, you were able to see a flash of orange and blue in the dimness of the supply closet. 

His hat. He’d knocked his hat off with his dramatics. 

You pulled off of him with a pop, the clown giving a whiny noise as he grabbed at your face to keep you there. 

“Songbird--baby, please--” You shushed him in comfort, running your hand up and down his thigh. 

“I don’t want your hat to get dirty.” You said, grabbing for his hat quickly. You dusted it off in a dramatic action of your own, making Buggy huff another whine down at you. 

“I don’t care about the damn--” His words caught in his throat as you pulled it onto your head. Buggy’s mouth hung open, whatever words he had been trying to say coming out as a croaking sort of sound that had you laughing.

“Is this okay, captain?” His cock only seemed to grow harder--grew more needy in front of you. A neediness your own body burned with. 

“Fuck…” He said lowly, his thumb brushing over your lips again. “Hell yes, baby.” You scooted closer once more so you could easily take him back into your mouth. Buggy instantly become a drooping, putty-like mess against your every touch. 

You started your slow pace again, teasing the poor man to utter tears before you picked up your pace. The blue hair-like tassels on either side of his hat brushed against your shoulders with every bob of the head. 

“Songbird--” He moaned, tangling his fingers in your hair. His hips began to buck, driving his cock that much deeper down your throat, pulling those wet, lude sounds from you. “I’m gonna--fuck, I’m gonna come, baby.” You hummed around him, bringing a hand up to cup his balls. To tell him to let go and help bring him closer and closer to his finish. 

Buggy grabbed your face in a tight hold, stopping your movements only so he could thrust into your mouth like you were his own personal toy. 

It was addictive, getting used in such a way. In a way that had you gagging around his cock and your eyes filling with tears but gods did you love it. Had you reaching into your pants to find your clit to give you any sort of relief from the utter painful horniness that had been building up in you. 

Buggy’s thrusts became uneven and frantic and soon he was shoving himself to the base, spilling his come down your throat in spurts. You drank every last hot drop he gave you, slurping it down like it was your favorite cocktail. 

Heh, cocktail.

Buggy pulled his cock from your mouth with a pop and fell to his knees before you as you caught your breath in quick heaves. His gloved hands, still tangled in your hair, pulled your lips against his in a sloppy kiss. One full of tongue and lips and teeth and the hot panting of breath. 

“Did I serve you well, Captain?” You panted, your hand coming up to feel the stubble of his jaw. His green-blue eyes lightened in such a beautiful way it nearly stole your breath from your lungs. 

“Very well, songbird.” One of his hands untangled itself from your hair and grabbed at the wrist that was connected to the hand you were currently still rubbing your clit with. He yanked your hand out of the front of your pants, making you give your own whiny huff of frustration. “Let me show you how thankful I am.” 

Your breath caught in your throat as Buggy brought your fingers into his mouth, his tongue swirling around them in a way that your caught breath falling out in a throaty moan. “Ye-yes, captian.” Buggy pulled your fingers from his mouth, that funky laugh of his filling your ears.

He shoved you down, your back hitting the smelly wooden floor making you give a great huff upon impact. Buggy unbuttoned your pants before you could even think to reach for them and yanked them, and your underwear, down your legs where they collected around your ankles. 

A yelp escaped your lips as he yanked you closer, putting your bound ankles over his head so your knees hooked over his shoulders. 

“So fucking sexy, baby.” He said before running his warm tongue through your dripping and needy folds. You moaned out his name, pulling yourself upwards as best you could. 

“Taste so fucking good.” He murmured against your pussy before clasping his mouth around your clit, sucking it in a way he had learned you liked from night after night of practice aboard the Going Merry. His mouth fell away only to dip into your folds, pushing into you and lapping up your juices like some rabid dog. 

You shook against the electric pleasure he pulling from your body. Shook and twitched and moaned against it all. Moaned so loud you were sure the whole ship would hear you, but Buggy hardly cared--you hardly cared. Not when he was eating you out like it was his last meal on earth. 

You grabbed for his hands holding your thighs in a tight grip, but found one missing. One that reappeared with a quick slap of your ass that made your hips buck upwards, his nose rubbing against your clit in a way that drove you crazy. 

You fucking loved that nose of his, no matter how much he hated it himself. Loved how it made his handsome face, how it fit him so well--complimented his face just as much as his eyes did. You loved it even more when you could use it to bring yourself closer and closer to your end. 

His tongue pulled from your core, only to move it against your clit in swirling, flicking movemets he had learned to do all too well. His detached hand, ungloved now, came up to sink a finger into you. A finger that was joined by another and they both quickly found that spongy spot just about an inch up in you, rubbing it at a steady pace that brought you closer and closer and closer. 

“Buggy--oh gods. So good--baby, so good!” You moaned out, your hips moving with a mind of their own, knowing you would be unable to stop them even if you weren’t all blissed out. “I’m gonna--come. Captain, I’m gonna come.” He moaned into your pussy, keeping everything paced just right until you were clamping around his fingers and moaning out his name as buzzing pleasure shook through your body. 

You’re body fell slump, your breath ragged in your throat as Buggy pulled your legs back over his head. His strong arms scooped you up like a child, pulling you to sit in his lap and hold you close against his panting chest. 

Buggy’s face buried itself in the crook of your neck and you wrapped your arms around his neck to hold him that much closer. 

“Feel--feel less bloodthirsty now?” You asked between pants. Buggy growled into your neck, teeth biting at the sensitive skin there. 

“For now…but one wrong move and I’ll gut that frog-faced bastard.” You huffed in amusement, kissing his forehead as best you could.

“All that just for me? How sweet.” You joked. Buggy’s arms tightened around you all that much more, holding you like he was trying to keep you all to himself. Teeth turned into soft, wet kisses against your neck making your heart flutter.

“Anything for you, songbird.”

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Tag List: @synoname-wordsmith , @cefni , @solarrexplosion , @empressofmankind , @luvrsbian , @lostfirefly , @misadventures0fdes

[svioletg]

sure i'll post this here, got my first kit stand the other day because i was tired of all my models just doing a Standing And Looking Forward pose and i'm super bad at getting them to balance right on their own

first time trying posing like this so it could definitely be better, but i think it's not too bad and it's close enough to what i wanted

( hi this is future violet, i put a cut here because i started like rambling and it got long )

the second like stand post that comes with this had lfrith sit really low so at first i was gonna do like a crouching thing to try and make it work, but at the suggestion of a friend i changed it to this sort of gliding stance going on which i think is better - yeah the rifle hand is a little droopy, i couldn't get it to stay exactly in place

these two are the 3rd and 4th gunpla i've completed - Lfrith being #3 and Aerial being #4 - and its been really fun! i never got into gunpla before both because mobile suit gundam as a series isn't something i'm generally invested in and a lot of the mobile suits themselves don't really interest me design-wise, and i didn't think i'd enjoy putting together a kit of something i didn't think looked cool or wasn't otherwise invested in as like merch/decoration, if that makes sense

plus i always thought i would find the process tedious, historically i've not enjoyed dealing with very small bits and pieces of thinks and building or repairing them, but these kits have actually been some of the most relaxing shit i've done this year, it's nice

i just started with gunpla this year, the HG michaelis was my first because i thought it looked cool and more importantly it was one of few in stock, and i found myself really enjoying it despite using a giant pair of pliers (i got wire cutters and a number of other tools like lining pens and tweezers for my 2nd kit onwards) and the fact that this damn thing does not want to stand up on its own, significantly moreso than the other 3 i've built

second one was a [checks bbts page again] "Gundam Breaker Battlogue HGBB Perfect Strike Freedom Gundam" — typically referred to by me as "the gundam strike freedom fucker or whatever" because i never remember its name — which i only got because i really wanted to build another kit after the michaelis, but none of the WFM kits were in stock (no evangelion kits in stock either, the HG original series design eva-01 kit i pre-ordered in april hadn't arrived yet - and still hasn't now lol) so i found myself just looking at in-stock high grades trying to find something i thought looked cool, and went with that one. it was a fun build but i didn't fully realize how gigantic those back wings would be and it is impossible to stand on its own without having it lean back weirdly so i just propped up the back on something and had it rest against my wall so it looks vaguely correct ( although i am fucking devastated that i couldn't combine the two swords into the giant one and have it hold that, the arms kept falling out from the weight :( )

hi you've reached the bottom of the post i didnt think this would be like. long. hope you liked it ?

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] Hi there this is sumeesh from picks and perfect and i hope that you're having a fantastic day and if not i trust that you're doing your best to make it a beautiful one someone told me not to leave life to the winds of chance and change and i believe in that a thousand Percent anyway if you are a video creator and if you are hearing what i'm about to tell you for the very first time this my friend is going to change your life for the better have you ever come across situations where you have to zoom in and Out of the footage maybe it's a simple talking head video or a b-roll or even a screen capture time to time in tutorials we have to zoom in and out of specific areas to make things clear right but if you work with premiere pro or any other video editing software you already know This my friend is a tedious process you have to keep track of keyframing scaling positioning it is just a mess what if i told you that you could do all of this all the zooming in and out along with motion effects smoothed out eased in and eased out all of this Automatically sounds too good to be true doesn't it but right now there's a plug-in for it that does all of the heavy lifting for you and yes i bought it out of my own pocket when i learned about it a few weeks ago it absolutely knocked my socks off and i was Questioning myself as to why did i spend billions of hours doing it the manual way if you have been a premiere pro user or if you have used any software before this is going to blow your mind too and i can guarantee that it's definitely going to be a life changer so without Any further ado i'm super excited to show this to you let's get started Back in the magical world of premiere pro this time and if you wish to directly follow along i've linked both some sample footages and the plugin in the description and if there are discounts going on at the moment i'll update that too if you are interested so let's get started let us first Understand how this works so i was making this instagram reel on how to remove fence in photoshop and by the way it's on instagram at pixem perfect now let's say i was explaining about going to edit and then content aware film and i need to zoom in there so let's go to That section where we go to edit and then content aware fill so right now we click on edit and then content of fill so just before that i've kept the audio muted so that it doesn't interfere with this audio all right so i need to zoom in on edit so here's What i need to do after you've installed the extension go to window extensions and then drag zoom pro just simply refresh it so that you have the screen preview right over there now here's the magic you can visually tell where to zoom in so i want the zoom to be of 0.3 Seconds and all you got to do is just drag that's it so i want to zoom in this area and if you hold the space bar you can move where you want to zoom in so i'm going to zoom in exactly at this area and leave it done it does everything automatically right Now when you play it watch what happens so i'm going to play that section again for you so here let's play that see it automatically zooms into that area now after that we move to content aware and i'm going to move the camera right there i want to pan it right there or Maybe pan and zoom as well so we're just going to refresh again it's going to already tell you which area is already zoomed in and then you can just drag another area move it to content aware right there in the middle and just leave it done and this is how it looks See see the zoom see the transition it's so easy and you didn't have to do any of the keyframing manually now let's compare it with the traditional manual methods and see what are the problems we face and whether this panel can fix it so here we have another example and this Is from the tutorial where we remove the greens from the face remember we click on the adjustment layer icon and then we choose hue saturation so we need to zoom into that area if we had to do it manually here's what we would have to do

First of all let's say we are going to zoom at this point so we would have to go to effect controls and then create a keyframe both for position and scale and then just scale in and then move into that area and if we don't do it properly there might be that black Gap right over there so we have to just control the size properly okay and then we also have to create a keyframe for the original position as well i almost forgot to do that so let's say i want to start right here i'm going to create Points for both of these right here and just reset it to previous position now you have a zoom in and this is not very exciting and on top of that if you want some motion effects you would have to add some more effects here and it can take a whole lot of time So instead if you were using the panel all you had to do was this let's go to drag zoom pro and let's say i want to zoom in quickly at 0.2 seconds and now let's quickly refresh it so that we have the screen right over there and we don't Want to zoom in that quickly we want to zoom in at just this point now when you drag an area and if you feel that you want to cancel it because if you leave it right now it will zoom into that area if you want to cancel it you can simply Press the escape key as simple as that let's drag in a new one and hold the spacebar to move it around and i want to make it just a little bigger just like this and it sticks to the edge you can choose not to but i usually keep it on we'll get to That later but there's no chance of leaving those gaps around the edge once you release it boom done that's all it took now let's play that section again see how simple that is that's just amazing isn't it and by the way if you felt this is a little quicker you can Always easily increase the duration here also did you notice there's a motion blur effect to it if we scroll a little back have a look there's this motion blur effect also added now you must be wondering once we have zoomed in then what then we can do a variety of things Let's say you want to move to this area of the image simple let's refresh that again it just doesn't show that particular area but the entire thing even though in the main preview you don't have that all you have to do is to just drag a rectangle where you want to Move the camera that's it so i want to zoom in to hue saturation adjustment and it will take the camera there exciting so let's go here so we applied hue saturation and then it easily moves there and of course at any point if you want to zoom out at 100 You just have to click zoom out to 100 you don't have to refresh it it's not necessary it's just to get a preview of the entire footage here that's it if you know here you want to zoom out or zoom into a particular place you don't really Have to refresh it or get a preview just click on zoom out to 100 and i would increase the time to 0.3 let's click on this button and it zooms out as simple as that now let's play this section see the motion blur still there it zooms Out slowly since we chose 0.3 let's say there's a middle section of the image that you want to zoom in for instance when we get to picking this color i want to zoom in on that area so first let's refresh it and if i try to drag a Rectangle right there and try to move it it just snaps into those guides i don't want that to happen i want it to move freely so here's what we do and by the way we accidentally did it no problem to undo it just simply click on undo button Right there controller command z will not work here because there are lots of steps involved but thankfully we have this undo button let's simply go to settings and disable snap to gridlines from enabled let's choose disabled now let's get back to drag and zoom and now When you drag a rectangle you can move it freely wherever you want let's make it a little bigger and move it at the center of the circle right over there the highlighted area and there you go my friend that area is now zoomed in have a look

We move in there and that area is zoomed in to the very middle perfectly now at this point you might have noticed that the zoom in and zoom out are pretty smooth that's because i have set the transition interpolation to ease in and ease out if you do want it to be linear You can choose linear from here that will be a little simple but depending upon the kind of effect you're going for you can choose either of these so let's zoom out with linear to show you the difference so let's say i want to zoom out right over here let's click On zoom out to 100 so this will be a little linear motion instead of eased in and eased out so let's play it you would notice that it's just a very linear motion now let's talk about talking heads like this one from time to time we do need to zoom in and Out sometimes we have different cuts where we have to zoom in and out and here's how to do it and all the time we don't want to be dragging rectangles and every time we want to zoom into the same area it just doesn't make sense to do That manually as well let's say this is another talking head video and at this point where i just move my hand like this i want to zoom in so let's move in right over there at just this point and then open up drag zoom pro by going to window extensions and Drag zoom pro let's stick it right here at the top so this is where we want to zoom in let's first refresh it and it's not going to refresh because we have not selected the clip so let's first select the clip click on refresh and this time We do need the guides assistance so let's go to settings and we do want to enable the grid lines and secondly there's one more thing i wanted to show you there's a parameter called shutter angle and it is simply the motion blur effect that was added in talking head Videos i don't really like that much of a motion blur effect so we're just gonna go ahead with zero zero means no blur it tells right there and 360 has the most blur so let's go with zero now let's get back to dragon zoom tab and now let's drag in a rectangle Have a look it will stick to guides once we start moving it so 110 zoom looks good to me hold the spacebar and move it to the very center and it will just snap to it and release it now once you do that you would notice a very interesting thing first of all Let's have a look at the movement it's pretty good isn't it now i do want the movement to be a little earlier and a little quicker so let's go with 0.15 and we want the movement to be right here all right so let's refresh that we don't Really have to do that and now let's drag in a rectangle 110 zoom and let's move it the very center and there you go my friend and now let's play it perfect now what if you want to apply the same zoom throughout the video it just doesn't make sense to do it again And again by the way if you go to recents all of the recent zooms that you have done will be saved here so if you had zoomed in to the file section or the layer section in a screen capture all of that will be in the reasons so this is The one that we did most recently and if you want to apply it anytime again you just have to click on that let's say here we zoom out to 100 so have a look it zooms out again we want to zoom in so simply click on that Zoom in one not the zoom out one zoom in 110 and it will zoom in again how convenient is that but the next time you open the project this might be gone so we want to save this as a favorite that 110 zoom in you want to just click on The star button right there and zoom in face let's name it this way and every time you want to zoom in that way simply go to favorites and click on zoom in phase i already have one which i actually use in my projects this is the One that i did to demonstrate to you so let's say we zoom out right here by clicking on zoom out to 100 and then we want to zoom in again right here click on zoom in face that's it and it zooms in right there the saved Zooms can also help in a lot

of different ways let's say if it's a screen capture and each area is saved as a preset imagine how convenient that would be so let's say i refreshed right here i have this layer area that i zoomed in at some point in time And i will zoom in like that and it will be saved in recents and i want to save it as a favorite by clicking on this star and just name it layer area okay and then we have let's say let's undo everything and let's say I have one more for the file areas let me decrease the volume so for the file area or the menu bar area let's drag it right over there and let's save this one as the menu bar now anytime you want to zoom into the layer areas just simply go to favorites And click on layer and that area would automatically be zoomed in and at some point you might want to zoom out and then if you want to zoom into the menu bar area simple click on menu bar and it will zoom into that if you do any sort Of video professionally this is hands down a super must-have plug-in and i'm telling you i usually don't say this but i have to say this time if you don't have this plug-in you're definitely missing out by the way if you cannot afford it at the moment i absolutely Understand and you don't have to but when you can this is a must-have i cannot even just put into words how much this has helped me since i got it it's just been three or four videos but it feels like i've saved a lifetime on top there's this guilt that i wasted four Frankenstein years trying to do this manually i really wish i knew about it earlier and by the way if you're somebody who creates tutorials or teaches online why are you still even watching this video you know when i was introduced to this through a random video it was on premiere pro performance Comparison something like that i just paused the video right there went to the website bought it and even started experimenting with it i've linked the plugin in the description with some possible discounts so do go ahead and check that out a special huge massive thank you to camille piccala for Creating this panel this plug-in you my man are a super genius i absolutely am in love with it he also has a youtube channel where he also creates tutorials so do show him some love he absolutely deserves it thank you so much for watching this video i hope this video Helped you and if it did make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell that you my friend don't miss any other feature tips tricks or tutorials thanks to all of these amazing awesome and super nice people for Supporting this channel on patreon and helping keep pixim perfect free for everybody forever also thanks for making this video possible lets you and i meet again in the next video thank you so much for joining me for this one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating You [ad_2] #STOP #Keyframing #Zoom #Premiere #Pro For More Interesting Article Visit : https://mycyberbase.com/

[priyapendu]

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Investments that will make you grow

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[nohoperadio]

First off sincere thanks to those who acknowledged this cry for help, you are lovely. So the thing this was about was my performance review at work, specifically preparing the paperwork aspect of it (hey man I told you it was boring), which is not a popular chore among anyone at my workplace but which always puts me in a very particular hell that I summarized at tedious length a while ago here. My paperwork was due in on the 8th of May (the review itself being set for May 15th); the reason I was putting so much stock in that particular weekend above is because I knew it was my last substantial obligation-free block of free time before the 8th where I could realistically expect myself to knuckle down and do the work (I hadn't started yet literally at all).

You might be able to guess, from the fact I'm writing this update today and not within any temporal proximity to either the weekend in question or the May 8th deadline, that things did not go entirely to plan. In light of which, while I was and am sincerely touched and appreciative and grateful to everyone who interacted with the OP, I can't realistically give any of you a passing grade wrt positive-energy-conveyance, I'm sure you understand. Please don't feel bad, I know you all did your best, and I accept my 50% of the responsibility for my failure, we all kind of dropped the ball here, you know? Let's put it behind us now and simply agree that the next time I have a daunting personal challenge that I alone can overcome, we'll all try a little bit harder to make it work out well for me.

Anyway, it's over now, everything was eventually fine, what I'm probably going to do now is step into this read-more and ramble on about it for a bit, since it's been the dominant theme of my mental and emotional life for the past few weeks I feel like some psychic unloading could do me good. Feel free to join me if you've somehow become invested in my story, or if you've got nothing better to do, or if you're some kind of pervert who enjoys hearing people talk about their lives and their feelings and shit.

---

Let's start with the bare facts of the narrative I guess. As far as I remember I wrote literally no words on the weekend of May 3rd-5th, although I had it in my mind for every waking minute that I really need to be writing something. So I finished the weekend where I'd really hoped to have most or all of it completed sitting on 0% completion. Now my only real hope for finishing on time is Monday and Tuesday evenings after work, when I'll be tired and stuff, not ideal but I guess I have no choice. On Monday and Tuesday I get no work done. Wednesday 8th, the deadline, passes, I have not started writing anything yet--well okay, but missing the deadline somewhat won't be treated as a huge deal by my managers as long as they get it at least a couple of days before the review proper on the 15th. And I have Thursday 9th as a day off, so actually there's still time to pull this off after all! On Thursday 9th I don't do any work on the review, although I do manage to write an angsty tumblr post about how much I hate myself for not doing any work on the review, so maybe that kind of counts as progress? On Friday I do nothing. I'm working the weekend, on Saturday I do actually request a couple of hours of during-work time to work on the review even though I hate doing that, I spend the time making some hand-written notes which later that evening at home I type into the actual paperwork form, it's not much but it's a decent start. Sunday and Monday I do nothing.

Tuesday is the last day before the review, and also another day off. I do nothing all day, but this time giving up is literally not an option; it becomes obvious, around midnight, that I'm going to have to just cancel sleep entirely and work through the night. I drink many cups of tea. Time to get serious.

According to Google Drive edit history I make the first substantive additions to the document at 6:19AM, is the bad news. The good news is that once I've properly started I manage to find the rhythm of it pretty quickly and manage to work pretty solidly through the next three hours with very few interruptions. By just after 9AM (I don't start work until 10) I have the finished product, a couple pages are pretty lackluster but basically the end result is fine, this is a perfectly serviceable review paperwork, it doesn't particularly look rushed or anything. If I'd have been able to find this mindspace at any point in the past month, and stayed in it for 160 minutes or so, there would have been no drama at all. I email it to my manager with a brief apology, I have just barely enough time now to brush my teeth and shave (no time to shower though) and then run to catch the train in time to get to work. The in-person performance review itself--is fine and chill, whatever, I don't care about that part, it's only the paperwork I hate. And now it's all over with until next year.

(I'm sorry to report that while my second year of doing this thing was (while terrible) a modest improvement on my first year re: punctuality, this my third year has been the worst of them all.)

Now we have the bare facts of the narrative, it's time for some sober and constructive analysis of some of the emotions that came up during this whole palaver.

---

Oh my FUCKing jesus HOW does this WRECK me so hard every single year gODD, it's literally just writing some shitty garbage in some shitty boxes, no, no, ahh! It's not even hard and it's not even a lot, once I actually eventually do it I immediately remember how easy it is, why does it feel so much easier to sit around feeling like a piece of shit doing nothing for literal weeks, burning sleep time and fun-stuff time so I can focus on this one thing and then still not even doing it even a tiny little bit, why is that even a module my brain has let alone one it executes reliably every time I'm in this situation, what the FUCK.

This is my third year at the company so my third time doing this, I love my work 90% of the time but for each of these three years the month leading up to performance review has been the worst thing that happened to me that year and it hasn't been remotely close. And I'd like to point out that last year I ended a five-year relationship and that does not affect the truth of the previous sentence at all--fine admittedly it was an uncommonly amicable and positive-feeling break-up, but it was still stressful and hard and emotional and I had to find a whole-ass new place to live by myself and I wasn't sure if I was going to be too poor to support myself and this paperwork was worse, it was way worse. Maybe that's dumb but lots of dumb shit is true and that's true.

---

A big part of why I hate this is--well I'll give you some examples: according to Strava I haven't gone for a run in two and a half weeks. Normally I would run 3-4 times a week. I've barely read anything during the same period, whether we're counting actual books or like Wikipedia articles or whatever. I haven't touched the new mtg set that came out like a month ago now. I haven't gone to any gigs or anything of that ilk. I haven't written in my diary, which I'd kept up daily with almost no misses for since January until now and was really pleased about building that habit. I have next week off work which I've been meaning to finalize some plans about but I still haven't.

Basically for as long as I have this thing hanging over me, this thing I find inexplicably impossible to do, I will also find it almost as impossible to do anything else that will take a non-trivial amount of time or effort, because that's time and effort that could be going to the important thing so what kind of fool would I be to waste it on [anything positive or nice]? No, the task is the only thing I'm allowed to think about in the weeks leading up to the deadline, even if I'm not allowed to actually do it.

(This is clearly a part of why my undergrad days were such a low-point in my life btw, spending three whole years in nonstop there's-a-deadline-coming-up mode, and I had the exact same complex around it back then as I do now--I'm honestly not sure how I survived that! I mean I almost didn't I guess, is the answer. Although this wasn't even the worst thing at the time, the worst part was [tedious shit for another post]... man I'm glad I'm not young any more that shit sucked!

---

It's so weird staying awake for like 38 hours straight on purpose. I didn't really feel tired during the day, just kind of, slightly drunk? I was in a good mood most of the day, more confident and talkative than usual, noticeably dumber and slower though. It's pretty much exactly like being drunk.

---

Here's something positive I can talk about. Although the writing of the paperwork went horribly overall, I did make the very important discovery that there's a hidden easy mode in this: ChatGPT is VERY useful here, and given the intensity of the fucked up headspace I found myself in this year I'm genuinely not sure I would've finished at all without its help (thank you based @toasthaste!). Here is a breakdown of my cheating strat for whoever cares: basically the paperwork is seven pages that each cover a different area of work and have headings that look like this:

Under the first heading you're supposed to list good stuff you did, under the next two you're supposed to describe how that stuff impacted the success of the shop and something you learned from it. ChatGPT can't really help with the first column of this because it doesn't really make sense to try to have it fabricate things I might have done at work, but the first column tends to be the easiest because it's the most objective and concrete, you don't need to bullshit as much as the other two just describe things that happened in a neutral way, the other two involve 95% bullshit and are really painful and draining and embarrassing for me to write.

So basically what I ended up doing was just filling out the leftmost-third of every page legitimately and then once I'd explained to ChatGPT how everything works I could just feed it "behaviours" and request corresponding "impacts" and "learnings" and it would be shockingly good at providing these; like, I initially expected that any material I get from ChatGPT would be kinda clunky an require heavy editing and I wasn't sure it would save much time and energy; actually the AI immediately grasped the spirit of the task very well, and I mostly just changed a few words here and there to make it read more naturally/plausibly like my voice. Only a couple of times did I have to do more than that.

I genuinely think if I'd known how much less stressful the task is with these hax then I might have been able to stay calm enough to approach it, if not in good time at least a lot sooner. I mean it's easy to say stuff like that when you're not in it anymore, but I think I genuinely do think so? Guess we'll find out next year.

---

Yeah it's really an extraordinary feeling when after weeks of my brain being in a cold war against itself the task actually somehow miraculously gets completed and I'm allowed to be alive again. Suddenly life is full of possibility, the feeling of being free to do whatever I want without having to pay a toll in guilt feels like the freshest cleanest oxygen, it doesn't even feel necessary to exercise this freedom to feel its sweetness, I could do this or I could do that or I could do nothing, but such a different nothing to the nothing I've been doing these past weeks! I exist and the whole world exists and we're all going to live forever and do beautiful things and there won't be room for anything except light and love and truth and power and beauty. This isn't going to last, I know that I'm not an idiot.

---

I'm going to see the Mountain Goats next week, that should be nice.

There's something I really gotta do but really don't wanna do but gotta do and which I really oughta do this weekend. I really hope I have the power and the virtue within me to do it this weekend. No pressure, but if anyone who reads this wants to leave whatever small gesture of good luck/positive energy/etc comes naturally to them, I would sincerely be grateful.

I'm deliberately not saying what the thing is right now for silly superstitious reasons, although rest assured it's extremely boring (perhaps more boring than you can possibly imagine). But I will give an update at the appropriate time (which won't be during the weekend probably) reporting whatever level of success, or lack thereof, I attain. So you will eventually find out whether your good luck energy was helpful or whether it was USELESS.

[jungshookz]

maybe, she can drive his car; mechanic!yoongi

➺ pairing; mechanic!yoongi x spoiledbrat!y/n

➺ genre; mechanic!yoongiverse!! sfw!! honk honk humour!! some suggestive behaviour because this is mechanic!yoongi and his y/n we're talking about!! the green-eyed monster inside of y/n is awoken after being dormant for so long and she's ready to bite some heads off

➺ wordcount; 11.6k

➺ summary; yoongi's ex is back in town for a visit and you'd be lying if you said you weren't slightly envious of a) how knowledgeable she is about stupid cars and b) how well she gets along with literally everyone.

➺ what to expect; "right, about that- i know i was supposed to come over for dinner tonight but- listen, i don't know what lisa did but obviously she's got a lot of connections now and the shop has literally never been this busy before... you understand, don't you?"

➺ currently spinning on the record player; mustang sally (originally by wilson pickett, covered by andrew strong)

(unfortunately i wasn’t able to track down the original maker of this gif but this is where i sourced it from! all credits go to the original creator of course :-))

»»————- 🛠️ ————-««

namjoon usually doesn't pay too much attention to you whenever you're hanging out at the workshop with everyone because of how often you're here, but there's something about the way you're acting today that even he has to admit is oddly very...

cute?

and it's not that you're not cute all the time (because you totally are!!) but it's just that the version of you today in particular is suddenly making him want to go off and find a y/n of his own

"whatcha doing?"

namjoon jolts in surprise when a grimy hand suddenly burrows itself into the warm bag of freshly-popped popcorn that he has cradled to his chest and he scowls before turning his body away slightly

"hey, you're contaminating the popcorn, man-" he huffs, quickly grabbing the mega-sized pack of hand wipes from the desk before plopping it down on the countertop for jungkook, "at least have the decency to wipe your hands before digging into my popcorn- also, i'm watching. duh."

"watching?" jungkook frowns as he sloppily wipes his hands on the front of his shirt, turning to look out the open door, "watching what?"

"yoongi and y/n." namjoon hums, popping a couple of kernels into his mouth with a crunch, "she's been following him around like a little duckling all day."

"mm." jungkook props an elbow up on the counter as he looks towards the two of you before clicking his tongue, "...he must've really given it to her good last night if she's acting like that-"

"okay, now you've ruined the moment-" namjoon frowns, his shoulders dropping slightly before he gestures to you guys, "it's sweet! this is obviously a wholesome thing-"

"call it what you want, but all i'm trying to say is that good sex makes you do crazy things-" jungkook snorts before aggressively shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth, "cravy phings."

"i'd like to argue that good sex forms a strong emotional bond which explains why there are cartoon hearts currently floating around y/n's head-" namjoon perks up when he notices the way your eyes light up at something yoongi says, "look at her! look at the way she's looking at him!"

"oh, please." jungkook tuts, "that dopey look on her face is telling me that the only thing on her mind is yoongi bending her over the hood of that car and just ramming-"

"namjoon and jungkook are arguing again." you point out, turning to look towards the office just in time to see namjoon throw a handful of popcorn at jungkook only for him to open his mouth and chomp wildly at the air to get some into his mouth

"jungkook probably said something stupid, as per usual." yoongi snorts, leaning over to lock the hood of the car into place before pulling away and taking a look at the situation, "now, let's see what we have going on here..."

when namjoon told him that this was a brake master cylinder repair he immediately felt all the excitement leave his body

he hates doing brake master cylinder repairs

all the parts are so small and the handiwork is super tedious anD the last time he did one of these he took like four hours to get it done

overall it's a pretty boring repair job and as much as he wants to pass it off to one of the others to do, he knows that he's the most skilled with the internal mechanics of a car compared to everyone else which he usually likes to brag about but today he wishes that that wasn't the case

"so what do you have to do?" you frown, stepping over so that you're standing by the side of the car and you're not in yoongi's way, "all the thingies look fine to me."

"well, i actually need to replace the brake master cylinder thingy." yoongi teases, smiling lightly as he points at some kind of container, "there's a leak in the seals, which is pretty common since they wear out after a few years. it should be an easy fix! it'll just take a while, that's all."

luckily, taehyung already took care of the messy part and emptied the fluid from the reservoir for him so now it's time to start the actual repair process

"so does beeper have one of these cylinders in him?" you ask, tilting your head in curiosity

you've never actually taken a look at beeper's under the hood situation before so you wouldn't know

(it feels like he's all naked and exposed whenever yoongi lifts his hood up and you just want to give beeper some privacy, that's all.)

"if beeper didn't have one of these cylinders in him, you wouldn't be able to brake, silly." yoongi snorts, reaching down to unclip the sensor from the reservoir, "see, when you push down on the brake, it pushes a piston through the cylinder and forces hydraulic fluid through the brake lines, which goes to the slave cylinders of each wheel, and then-" he pauses when he notices you've gone all quiet and he turns to see you staring directly at him with a dopey little smile on your face "-what? what'd i say?"

"i like it when you talk shop to me." you giggle quietly, "i mean, i don't understand 98% of the words that come out of your mouth when you do, but i still like it a lot-"

"yeah?" yoongi teases, taking a hand off the edge of the car so he can gesture for you to come closer (and you do, obviously), "you like it when i talk to you about... hm, i don't know..." he feigns cluelessness as he stands up to slink an arm around your waist and bring you towards him while your arms automatically hang loosely around his neck, "how the rubbing of the brake pad against the brake disc generates friction..." he lowers his voice as he sits lightly on the edge of the car and gives your hips a squeeze

"mm, tell me more..." you play along, letting yoongi pull you closer so that you're settled nicely in between his legs

"i don't know, maybe i should save all the good stuff for the bedroom..."

you resist the urge to immediately start whining when you lean in only for yoongi to dodge your kiss, "hey, i like you in these baggy overalls, by the way." he suddenly changes the subject and you feel your cheeks flush when both his hands slide in through the gaps until he's able to grip your bum, "big, big fan of them-"

"you- namjoon and jungkook are right there-" you gawk, "at least have the decency to turn me around so they don't see you fully groping me-"

"they can always just close their eyes or something-"

"okay, you two, break it up-!" you hear namjoon's claps echoing from the office as he tries to get your attention and you immediately turn to look at him with a grin, "god, it's like you sick freaks want to rub it in our faces-"

"okay, i have to get to work so why don't you go and hang out with namjoon in the office?" yoongi stands up, being careful not to hit the top of his head on the hood, "he'll let you play chess on the computer if you ask nicely."

"i thought i was helping you out today!" you frown, grabbing onto his hand before waving it back and forth, "you said i did a good job handing you the tools and stuff. i'm getting better at not mixing all the different types of screwdrivers up!"

yoongi can't help but laugh at how needy you're being and he reaches up with his free hand to adjust his bandana

"i know you wanna help, but i promise you there's nothing exciting about repairing a master cylinder." he hums, reaching up to pinch your cheek playfully, "plus, don't you still have a huge research paper to work on?"

"yeah, but i'd much rather hang out with you..." you pout, yoongi cooing before leaning in to give your pushed-out bottom lip a little kiss

"we can hang out when we're both done with work."

"okay..." you purse your lips before letting go of his hand, "it's your loss. i'm a fantastic helper."

"mhm, you certainly are-" yoongi spins you around before pushing his palm against your lower back to get you to move, "now go and bug namjoon!"

you turn back to glance at yoongi one last time and he sweeps his hands at you to tell you to gO

fine!

it was getting hot in the garage anyway and namjoon always has the aircon blasting in the office

"sorry! only sad, single people are allowed in this area-" namjoon jokes as soon as you step in, gesturing to the office space with a grin, "leave or i'll have security escort you out."

"oh, stop it." you giggle, folding your arms up on the counter and leaning forward, "i keep telling you i'd be more than happy to set you up with one of my friends!!"

"i know, and that's very nice of you to offer, but i just want to find someone organically, you know?" namjoon sighs, leaning back against his chair before looking up at the ceiling wistfully, "being set up with someone doesn't feel like a natural process."

"namjoon thinks he's the main character of a shitty netflix romantic comedy." jungkook mutters, the two of you exchanging low giggles with each other

"well, if no one comes into your life organically you can always let me know and i'll- woah-" you jump in surprise when the sound of a roaring engine suddenly shatters the peaceful atmosphere and you turn around just in time to see a sleek car veering into the shop

you wince and raise a hand to shield your eyes from the bright headlights and you don't get a chance to make the first comment because jungkook beats you to it

(for the record, you were going to talk about how dramatic of an entrance whatever that was)

"oh my god. that is the sexiest car i've ever seen in my entire life." he breathes out, stepping away from the counter so he can stand by the door and get a closer look, "a 1965 mustang. nice."

"fun fact: i was actually thinking about getting a vintage mustang! i wanted an olive green one because i could've named her 'olive' which is super cute-" you nod enthusiastically, looking back and forth between namjoon and jungkook only for them to.,., completely ignore you and continue staring at the glossy mustang sitting out front

"okay, you guys, it's just a car-" you roll your eyes and let out a little snort of disbelief, "this isn't going to change your life or anything-"

a high-heel clad foot steps out of the car and onto the pavement and you immediately recognize the classic red-bottom louboutins

you actually own a pair of them as well but you rarely wear them out because you're always paranoid that you're going to topple over and snap an ankle and that would be completely mortifying

they're six inches tall!!!!

for the record, they look very nice sitting (collecting dust) on your shelf but now you're starting to think that it might be a good idea to wear them out again because this stranger makes it look like walking in them is easy breezy beautiful

"holy shit. is that lisa?" namjoon murmurs, reaching up to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "oh, wow. she..."

"i don't remember her looking like that the last time we saw her." jungkook whistles lowly, "hello, miss manoban."

"lisa- who's lisa?" you frown, tilting your head in curiosity as you watch this mysterious lisa toss her oversized sunglasses into the front seat of the car before slamming the door shut

"uh, she's just one of yoongi's exes- she actually used to work here but-" namjoon reaches over the counter so he can nudge you aside gently to get a better look, "when did she get a vintage mustang?!"

lisa leans down to look at herself in the side mirror, smearing some red lipstick over her pillowy bottom lip before rubbing her lips together and nodding satisfactorily

"guess her car-wrapping business really took off." jungkook hums, his eyes glued to the car

she seems to be moving in slow motion as she takes her hair down and shakes her head back and forth, the three of you tilting your heads at the same time as you watch her in awe

"car-wrapping?" you ask curiously, "she must spend a fortune on wrapping paper and giant bows-"

"no, obviously it's not actual wrapping- like-" jungkook huffs and you resist the urge to bop him over the head at how snappy he's being with you when he already knows you're clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff, "okay, you know how you said that if you ever got a g-wagon for yourself one day that you wanted to make it baby blue just like beeper and also matte? lisa could do that for you."

"oh! in that case, it might be nice to get a business card from her or something-" you make a mental note before shaking your head and turning back around to face namjoon, "hey, so, super casual, can we round back to the whole 'yoongi's ex' thing real quickly because i-"

"yoohoo, boys!" lisa whistles, grinning excitedly when she's suddenly joined by everyone outside one by one, "what, no one thought to roll out the red carpet for me?"

"c'mon, namjoon! let's go say hi to lisa and her vintage 'stang!!" jungkook grins, gesturing for namjoon to hurry before he's darting out the door, "lisa, hey!"

"yeah, okay!!" namjoon gets up from his seat so quickly that he sends his chair rolling back and smacking against the file cabinets, "oh, y/n-! if anyone calls, just send them straight to voicemail-"

"but i-" you don't get a chance to say anything before namjoon's brushing past you and dashing out the door as well

you don't know too much about lisa but obviously she's a pretty big deal around here

it'd probably be good for you to go and introduce yourself instead of awkwardly hanging out in the office by yourself

"hello, lisa. it's very nice to meet you. firm handshake." you mutter to yourself as you step out of the office and head towards the bustling group of boys, "hey, lisa! so great to meet you. firm handshake. hi, girlie-! nope, don't like that one-"

"-in town for business so i thought it'd be nice to swing by and visit my boys." you manage to catch the end of lisa's sentences as you join the boys, trying not to make any sudden movements to catch her attention

"you should've texted one of us or something!" namjoon pulls his phone out of his back pocket, "we could've ordered a pizza for lunch-"

you reach over to give the back of yoongi's jumpsuit a little tug just to get his attention and he glances over his shoulder at you before offering you a teasing smile and reaching back to wiggle his fingers against your stomach

you giggle lightly before swatting his hand away and he turns back to look at lisa

"well, i wanted to surprise you guys!" lisa chirps, tucking her clutch underneath her armpit before clapping her hands together, "i see nothing's changed around here... except for..." you feel your heart drop when she suddenly leans over and looks directly at you, "hello! i don't think we've ever met."

"oh, shoot- sorry, i should've introduced you sooner-" yoongi steps aside so that he isn't blocking you, "lisa, this is y/n! y/n, this is lisa." he smiles, gesturing towards lisa, "my girlfriend." he pauses and quickly shakes his head at his little flub-up, "i mean- lisa, this is y/n, my girlfriend-"

"he's definitely gonna pay for that later." jimin mutters, jungkook snickering before nudging at his side to get him to shut up

"it's super nice to meet you, y/n!" lisa doesn't acknowledge yoongi's error and she steps forward to get closer to you

she's practically towering over you but it's really just because of the stilettos

she turns her head to look at the boys and a second of silence goes by before they realize what she's asking of them and they all scatter in different directions

you give yoongi a look that basically screams S.O.S. and you resist the urge to burst into tears when he gives you a cheery thumbs up in return and trots off to go and do something else

okay

you'll be fine

you have nothing to be nervous about!

this is just yoongi's very hot ex who looks like a million bucks while you'e currently dressed like a giant toddler

it doesn't help that you're wearing what's commonly known as a 'baby tee' under these overalls

"you- yeah, you too-" you chuckle uneasily, giving her a weak handshake before pulling away with a smile, "i'm sorry, i'm a little underdressed-" you pause to gesture to the grubby overalls you have on, "i promise i look better than this most of the time..."

"oh, don't be silly. i just grabbed the first outfit i saw out of my suitcase and threw it on-" she sighs, reaching up to pick some lint off her blazer that you're pretty sure you saw in the most recent YSL spring catalog (in fact, you're pretty sure it's on your to-buy list), "so, what do you do?"

"me? i- uh, well, nothing, at the moment- i'm still studying for my undergraduate degree, so..." you shrug sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of your neck

for some reason you can't seem to maintain eye contact with her for more than three seconds at a time

"oh! you're still in school?"

"yeah, i- well, i'm graduating this year, so i'm almost out of school if you think about it that way- but yes. yes, i... am currently a university student, so that's what i'm doing."

"mm, cute! what are you studying?"

"history! i'm a history major and a marine biology minor." you nod, "so... the cold war and... like, sharks. something like that."

"ah, very cool."

to be honest you're not entirely sure if lisa's being sincere or not but you'll take the compliment either way

you can tell she's trying to scope you out - which is fair, because this is the first time you two are meeting and you're currently involved with someone she used to be involved with

"i'm sorry. i'm probably, like, freaking you out right now, aren't i?" lisa snorts, reaching out and placing her hand on your forearm for a split second, "i promise i'm just genuinely curious and i'm not trying to, like, interrogate you or anything. it's super nice to meet you! and honestly- i love the overalls. the little knee patches are adorable."

"oh, thank you..." you smile nervously, reaching down to glance at the mismatched patches of fabric sewn onto the knees of your overalls, "yoongi actually sewed 'em on for me! i usually wear this whenever i'm here because i'm okay with getting it dirty- i, um, i like your blazer! and your heels. and your purse- a chanel clutch is a classic!"

"ooh, someone has an eye for fashion..." lisa winks, raising her clutch and waving it slightly, "maybe after i'm done talking business with yoongi we can talk about gucci's new multicolour line-"

"oh, i have so many thoughts on gucci's new multicolour line!" you gasp, suddenly reignited with a spurt of energy, "honestly the colour scheme is very stabilo highlighters to me but we can talk about it later- i'll just be hanging out in the office, so you can find me there whenever you're ready-"

"perfect!" lisa gives you a thumbs up before pointing over to where yoongi is, "if you'll excuse me, i have to go and talk about boring things with yoongi-"

"mhm!" you watch with a smile as lisa click-clacks off towards yoongi before you spin around on your heels, giving yourself a mental pat on the back for how well you handled that interaction

lisa's actually nicer than you thought she'd be!

obviously the saying don't judge a book by its cover is very applicable here

"so... what'd you think of lisa?" namjoon joins your side before nudging you gently, "she's nice, right?"

"i like her! she seems really cool." you nod enthusiastically, pausing to glance over your shoulder to look at her from behind, "i need to ask her for tips on walking in those louboutins and how not to fall over."

"you know, i must say i'm pleasantly surprised at how you're handling this." namjoon snorts, holding back for a second to let you into the office first before he steps in behind you, "colour me impressed!"

"thank you!" you reach over to pull the lollipop jar towards you before suddenly pausing and looking back over at namjoon with a frown, "hold on a sec, what's that supposed to mean?"

"hm? oh, it's nothing." namjoon scrunches his nose, dismissing you with a flick of his wrist as he takes his seat behind the counter, "i just know that if i was in your shoes and my significant other's very attractive and very successful ex came back i would be a little antsy about it-" namjoon glances up from the computer and his eyes widen in panic when he notices that your eyes have widened in panic, "i- i mean- not that you're not very attractive and very successful- what i'm trying to say is that you have nothing to worry- you and yoongi seem like a very stable couple so-"

"do you think maybe you could tell me a bit about yoongi and lisa?" you interrupt his spiral and you feel yourself starting to get a little fidgety, "because i- i actually don't know anything about that situation-"

namjoon has a point, now that you think about it

lisa is very successful and very attractive and can walk in high heels very elegantly

and what about you?

yesterday you submitted a paper one minute before the deadline because of how much procrastinating you had done

and you haven't worn heels in forever because they just hurt so much

but lisa wouldn't complain about her feet hurting in high heels

lisa could have a hundred blisters and still walk into the room with a beautiful, red-lipped smile

"has he never told you about her?" namjoon frowns, "i feel like every couple should at least have one conversation about their past relationships."

"i think he tried to one time, but i- i dunno, you can't blame me for not wanting to sit there and listen to yoongi talking about all the girls he's been with, so i just changed the subject..." you mutter, pushing the jar away from you after pulling a strawberry lollipop out, "kind of regretting that decision now."

it's not like you have a reason to be insecure or anything, right?

your relationship with yoongi is very solid and there are certainly no trust issues or communication issues or anything of the sort

...

but he is your first boyfriend...,., and this is your first serious relationship which means you've had no prior experiences to learn from which means you're just going with the flow most of the time.,., so is it possible that you're being a little naïve right now?

"still, i don't think me telling you all the details of their relationship is a good idea because i feel like this is a conversation you should be having with yoongi-" namjoon chuckles nervously, leaning back against his chair before tucking a pencil behind his ear, "sorry, kiddo. i'm not trying to stir the pot here."

"i- oh, c'mon, joon- what's it gonna take, huh?" you reach into the front pocket of your overalls before subtly flashing a folded up hundred dollar bill, pursing your lips slightly as your eyes flicker back and forth between namjoon and your chest-money, "hm??"

"first of all, it's very concerning to me that you stash loose cash in your pocket like that. second of all, are you really trying to bribe me into telling you about yoongi and lisa?" namjoon asks incredulously

"what?! no!" you scoff, tucking the bill back into your pocket before pausing and raising an eyebrow, "...is it working?"

"no! in fact, i find it offensive that you think i'd be so easily swayed-"

"the next time i bring sushi for lunch, i'll get you your own mango shrimp tempura roll." you offer, namjoon staring at you blankly before he suddenly springs into action

"so, they used to sleep together, obviously." he clears his throat, "when lisa started working here, i kind of expected her to get involved with one of us and unsurprisingly it was yoongi, because... well, it's yoongi- i'm pretty sure it was a friends with benefits kind of thing because i remember asking him about it and he said they didn't want to put a label on it? and then at one point jimin asked lisa about it because all of us were super curious and she called it a 'situationship'... which, personally, i think is a pretty cheesy label- i dunno, they'd go out to dinners sometimes and occasionally they'd come into work together in the morning because- well, you know- uh, they were in this 'situationship' for... maybe, like, eight months? and then lisa got an opportunity to work elsewhere and she took it and they decided to call it off and fast forward to now... here we are!" namjoon claps his hands together before pressing his palm over his heart, "and i promise you that's all the information i have- well, maybe this piece of information might be useful to you: they were, like, super horny for each other all the time. like, almost outrageously horny, which i think is one of the downfalls of the relationship because you can't base a solid relationship off of animalistic sex, right? ooh, there was one time i caught them in yoongi's office and lisa was-"

"okay, i think that's enough-!" you hold a hand out to shut namjoon up and he shrugs before leaning back against his chair, "more than enough, actually-"

you weren't expecting to learn about the raw, animalistic sex yoongi had with lisa, but then again, you weren't expecting to even meet lisa at all

oh, god

should you be nervous??

you shouldn't be nervous, right??

...yeah, you're being ridiculous!

yoongi has been with other girls before and that shouldn't bother you because you didn't exist then

this has nothing to do with you!

so what if he bent her over the office table and-

okay, maybe it's time to stop thinking about this because the point is: you're fine. don't worry. everything is normal. yoongi is your boyfriend. lisa is his ex. everything is great!

"by the way, i want you to know that you honestly have nothing to worry about." namjoon suddenly chimes in as if he can read your mind, "lisa was yoongi's past but you are his present and most likely his future as well, so- seriously, don't even worry about it."

"yeah, you're right. it'd be silly of me to be upset about yoongi being with someone else when i wasn't even in the picture yet." you snort, reaching up to smack your own forehead gently, "okay! i'm feeling a little better. it would've been nice to not be informed about how horny they were for each other, but thank you for that detail-"

"yo, where are the snap ring pliers from my toolbox?" you turn just in time to see yoongi pop his head in, "i can't find them anywhere... i swear to god, everyone keeps borrowing my tools and 'forgetting' to put them back-" he rolls his eyes before looking over at you with a smile, "hi, baby-"

"hi yoongi-" you giggle, all your doubts and insecurities immediately fluttering away

see? nothing to worry about!

phEw

it feels like a weight's been lifted off your shoulders

"i think hoseok might've been using them earlier this morning." namjoon hums, "what do you need them for?"

"oh, lisa offered to help me out with the master cylinder repair and she needs 'em." yoongi points back over his shoulder, "you know how great she is with her hands-"

"woah, i thought-" your voice cracks slightly and you clear your throat, "i thought, uh- you were working on it yourself? like, i thought you didn't need any help and that's why i'm in here-"

"oh, i don't, but- well, lisa's good with fine-tuning so i might as well take advantage of her expertise while she's here." yoongi snorts before looking back over at namjoon, "you said hoseok had them?"

"yep!"

you bite down on your tongue to keep yourself from commenting any further

it's fine!

as we've already established, you have nothing to worry about.

...right?

»»————- 🛠️ ————-««

"and... voilà!" you smile satisfactorily to yourself after you set the scented candle down on the coffee table

the living room is going to smell like warm brown sugar and cinnamon in a few minutes and you can't wait

this is yoongi's favourite candle so you hope he'll be excited about that when he gets here :'))

you've been preparing the apartment for his arrival and lighting the candle was one of the last things on your to-do list

you still have to order dinner for tonight and you've always been awful at making decisions so you figured it'd be best to let yoongi choose instead

you haven't seen him for about a week and a half because of finals (and, being perfectly honest, you were the one who implemented this distancing rule in the first place because you know you won't be able to focus on studying when yoongi's in the apartment with you) so you're pretty pumped for tonight!!

you hum to yourself as you click on yoongi's phone number in your contacts, flopping back on the couch with a fwump! while your legs swing lazily over the arm

"hello?"

the phone picks up after a couple of rings and it takes you a second to realize that the voice on the other end certainly does not belong to your boyfriend

"he-" you pause, pulling your phone away from your ear and frowning at the unfamiliar voice before bringing it back, "um, hello?"

"hi! who's this?"

"who's this?" you point to yourself before scoffing lightly, "what do you mean who- who's this?"

"oh- oh, y/n! hey, it's lisa!" lisa greets enthusiastically and you relax a little knowing that it's just lisa, "sorry, i didn't look at the contact name before picking up- what's up?"

"well, i-" you pause again to recollect your thoughts, "um, sorry, i guess i was just expecting yoongi to pick up his own phone so i'm a little lost right now-"

"oh my gosh, don't even worry about it! yoongi's hands are super gross right now so i offered to take his call for him which is why i picked up the phone. is there something you wanted me to pass along to him?"

"yeah, you could pass his phone right along to him-" you joke before reminding yourself to keep the unnecessary cattiness to a minimum, "yeah, um- can you ask him what time he's coming over? so that i know what time to order our food and stuff? i want the food to still be nice and hot by the time he gets here, so i just need a time from him, that's all-"

"yeah, about that... i actually don't think yoongi's going to make it for dinner."

"i-" you frown, pushing yourself up so that you're leaning back against an elbow, "what? why not?"

"the thing is, i hooked him up with a bunch of clients so the poor thing's been working like a dog all day and it looks like he's going to be stuck here for a while... if you're worried about him skipping dinner, i can totally go and get some food for him if you want! there's this sandwich place a block away and i know what he likes-"

your eyes widen slightly at how... happy? lisa sounds about the fact that yoongi potentially won't be joining you for dinner and you nod to yourself as you clench your jaw

"that's- that's very kind of you, lisa-" your voice is a little pitchier than usual at this point and you clear your throat obnoxiously, "i'm sorry, i just really have to talk to yoongi for a second so if you could just, like, hold the phone up to his ear that would be okay too-"

"okay! gimme a sec." there's a bit of shuffling on the other end and you press your lips together as you wait (im)patiently, "yoongs! it's y/n... dinner... hot food... her place... clients... pretty busy tonight..."

and she even has a nickname for him

that's just downright adorable, isn't it?

"god, just give him the damn phone." you mutter under your breath, raising your other hand to inspect your cuticles as you lie back down on the couch

hm

you should probably schedule another manicure soon

"-it's okay, i can hold the phone myself- y/n?" you perk up when you hear yoongi on the other end and you can't help but kick your legs in excitement

you can't help it!!!

you haven't heard his voice in a whole week and a half!!!

"greetings, yoongs." you tease, "what time are you going to be here?" you bypass lisa's whole monologue about yoongi probably not being able to come over tonight in hopes that she'll be wrong about him ditching you to continue working, "i wanna order the food so it'll get here a little before you arrive. also, i haven't chosen what we're going to eat tonight so you're going to have to choose for us-"

"right, about that-" yoongi clears his throat, "i know i was supposed to come over for dinner tonight but- listen, i don't know what lisa did but obviously she's got a lot of connections now and the shop has literally never been this busy before..." he pauses and you hear the sound of loud clanging in the background, "you understand, don't you?"

it takes you a couple of seconds to process the fact that yoongi really won't be coming over tonight and you puff your cheeks out to keep yourself from immediately whining in protest

to say the least, you are.,.,,. very disappointed,.., but!! it won't be the end of the world, right?

you hate that lisa was right, but that's a conversation you can have with yourself another time

and if yoongi won't be here, that means you can hog all the garlic cheesy bread to yourself so maybe this is a blessing in disguise >:-)

"no, yeah, i- yeah, get it!" you nod, "i love that business is booming, i just don't love that you didn't text me or call me earlier to let me know you weren't going to come over tonight," you frown, turning your head to look at the flickering candle, "a heads up would've been nice, that's all..."

"i asked lisa to text you earlier when my hands were full... sorry, she must've forgot..."

"oh. yeah, i guess it could've slipped her mind." you respond dryly, "it would've taken, like, five seconds to text me-"

"okay, i-" you hear yoongi let out a small sigh before he speaks up again, "i'm sorry, baby, i really am- do you- i can come over now if you want me t-"

"no, it's okay! i'm sorry, i'm just-" you shake your head quickly before chuckling uneasily, "i just haven't seen you in a while so i miss you, that's all- but i'll let you get back to work now and i'll see you later?"

"yes! you are the best, you really are- look, i promise i'll be all yours as soon as i-"

"yoongi! these tires aren't going to change themselves, silly-"

"oh, c'mon-" you grumble, your teeth grinding slightly at the interruption of lisa's peppy voice in the background

"uh- yeah, in a sec-! i gotta go, doll- i'll call you later-"

"okay, b-" you don't get a chance to even say goodbye before the line goes dead and the only thing you can hear is an obnoxious beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep- "-ye."

»»————- 🛠️ ————-««

one of your goals for the new year was to try your best to not hold a grudge

admittedly, holding grudges is one of your specialties so it's been a little bit difficult but you think you've been doing an okay job so far!

like that time jungkook accidentally drowned you with dirty car water because he didn't see you and also he had headphones on so he couldn't hear you

you were ready to strangle him right then and there but you just took a deep breath and reminded yourself that *~deep-cleaning services exist~*

and sure, you were a little upset that yoongi couldn't make it for dinner the other night and that the two of you haven't really had a chance to have a moment alone because of how swamped he's been with work, but... well, the past is in the past and challenges like this are good for your personal growth!

plus, it's the start of a new week so you're just going to focus on the present

you try your best to keep your footsteps as quiet as possible as you approach a preoccupied yoongi from behind

he's currently sorting out all the things to do on his giant whiteboard (you bought this for the boys because you thought it'd be a good way to organize all their tasks and unsurprisingly, namjoon was the most excited about it)

"guess who?" you hold your hands over yoongi's eyes with a giddy smile and he immediately spins around to face you

"hey, what are you doing here?" yoongi asks, leaning down to give you a quick kiss before pulling away to check the time on his watch, "aren't you supposed to be in class right now?"

"my history seminar was cancelled because my professor had some kind of an emergency so i thought i'd come and have lunch with you guys!" you hum, reaching over to fix the thin silver chain hanging around yoongi's neck, "i was going to pick the food up before coming here but i didn't want to just choose for everyone so i thought it'd be better to get everyone's orders first-"

"oh, you don't have to do that, baby-" yoongi shakes his head, capping the marker and dropping it back into the wire holder, "lisa actually offered to treat us to lunch- apparently there's some bagel place that has, like, a hundred different fillings-"

"lisa's here?" you interrupt, suddenly straightening your back before looking around quickly, "i... was not aware that lisa was... still here! i thought she was only here for a little while-"

"mm, she ended up extending her stay! one of her clients pushed their appointment to thursday so she came over to help out for the day."

"oh, cool." you nod, pressing your lips together as you take a second to sort through your thoughts

your nose scrunches slightly as you weigh the pros and cons of saying what you're about to say to yoongi

...

it won't kill you to ask, right?

"hey, i don't wanna, um-" you pause, "you know, i don't wanna... be that girlfriend, but... do you think that there's a slight possibility that lisa might still have feelings for you?"

a moment of silence goes by before yoongi practically barks out a laugh of disbelief

"what? lisa? no, no- that- no, don't be ridiculous." he snorts, shaking his head before turning back around to face the whiteboard, "lisa most certainly does not still have feelings for me- and, by the way, she was the one who broke things off with me, so if anything, i should be the one who still has feelings for-" he stops himself midway and presses his lips together before turning to glance at you over his shoulder, "you know, i'm hearing the words coming out of my mouth and i... am going to shut up now."

"mm, good choice." you raise a brow before shrugging, "alright, well, i just- you know, it's a possibility but if you say that lisa doesn't still have feelings for you, then i believe you-"

"alright, boys! it's chow time!"

you turn your head to see lisa waltzing into the shop carrying two large paper bags and the rest of the boys immediately rush over to her like moths to a flame

she brought bagels for lunch?

you're not trying to be biased or anything sandwiches are easier to eat, in your personal opinion

you basically have to unhinge your jaw to get a good bite of a bagel

"y/n!" lisa looks more than surprised at your presence when you and yoongi walk over the join the group, "i wasn't aware you were going to be here today- yoongi told me that you had class so i-" she pauses to set the bags down on the table, "oh my goodness, i am so sorry but i really didn't know you'd be joining us for lunch... yoongi, you could've texted me or something-"

"she just got here!" yoongi shrugs as he takes a seat at the table, "don't pin this on me-"

"ah, i probably look like such a jerk right now..." lisa winces, scratching the back of her head before reaching down to grab a bagel out of one of the paper bags, "here! you can take my bagel-"

"no, no, it's alright!" you hold your hands out before shaking them, "don't be silly, you don't have to do that- it's very nice of you to offer but i- it's alright, you go ahead and enjoy yourself!"

"oh, stop- take the bagel, y/n." lisa scoffs playfully, practically shoving the bagel into your arms before rummaging through the bags again, "i'll just share a bagel with yoongi! you don't mind, right, yoongs?"

"yeah, i had a snack earlier so i'm not, like, starving or anything-" yoongi nods, "what kind of filling is it?"

"this one is..." lisa pauses to look at the sticker on the top, "smoked salmon and dill cream cheese with capers."

"yoongi doesn't like capers." you chime in, suddenly feeling the need to prove to everyone that you know your boyfriend very well, "i remember they were sprinkled in a salad one time and he said they were too salty-"

"eh, i'll survive. i can always just pick 'em out." yoongi shrugs nonchalantly and you can't help but purse your lips in mild frustration at his response

"'atta boy! luckily, they're already sliced in half otherwise we'd have to take turns taking bites which would be weird-"

"agreed." you mutter, peeling the label off your bagel and sticking it onto the side instead

"oh, lisa! i was wondering if maybe you could help me out with some custom headlights i'm working on?" hoseok perks up, "i'm having some trouble getting the halo lights to work and i need your magic hands-"

"mhm! i can definitely check them out after lunch-" lisa grins, taking a seat next to yoongi, "anyone need a napkin?"

"yes, please!"

"i need one too-"

"pass one over here-"

you know it's silly of you to be feeling jealous over this because god knows the only thing you know about cars is that key go in and car go vroom so obviously the boys would never ask you to help them out with anything like how they're asking lisa to help out

and you're trying very hard to noT throw a self-pity party but it's getting harder and harder to not to that

(and it certainly doesn't help that there aren't any more seats left at the table)

you just can't help but feel so!!!!! inferior!!!!! compared to lisa

she's so cool and pretty and witty and obviously very knowledgable about cars

and what are you bringing to the table??

ham and cheese sandwiches??? fancy sushi rolls????

obviously not anymore because they've been replaced by these stupid bagels

this is the first time you haven't been able to throw money at a problem and you're not,.., sure.,., how you feel about it,..,

"i, uh, have to work on a paper, so i think i'm going to go and eat this in the office if anyone wants to come with?" you clear your throat quietly as you start to back away from the table slowly, "...or i can just go fuck myself, which is fine too."

you're not entirely surprised when your comment isn't acknowledged by anyone and you nod to yourself before swiftly turning on your heel and trying your best not to storm towards the office

you force your fists to uncurl and your shoulders to relax slightly but you can't help but make a face when you hear the boys laughing obnoxiously at one of lisa's jokes

of course she has to be funny as well

because the woman literally has zero flaws

you've been trying to find a reason to hate her and so far you haven't found anything negative to say

hating someone for having perfectly styled hair is a little odd

the legs of the chair screech against the floor as you pull it out and plop down

whatever

you like eating alone anyway

you unwrap the parchment paper and pick up the bagel before taking an overly aggressive bite of it, your cheeks practically bursting from how much food is currently in your mouth

you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand as you chew, tossing the bagel back onto the wrapper with a thunk!

...

damnit!

this is the best goddamn bagel you've ever had in your entire life!!

"phtupid phriggin' bavhel." you grumble, reaching up to wipe the sauce off the corner of your mouth before swallowing roughly, "even the mayo is delicious! god, what is this? some kind of garlic mayo-"

"oh my god. i think she's finally lost it." you jolt upon hearing jungkook's voice and you turn to see him and jimin standing at the door

"what's your problem?" jimin asks, the two of them walking over to join you at your sad, lonely table

"what? nothing. i don't have a problem." you shake your head stubbornly, "i just- i just wanted to be alone, that doesn't mean something's wrong-"

"is that why you're in here basically yelling at a bagel?" jungkook points out as he pulls out a chair and sits on your right

"i'm- i'm just stressed about- my paper. or whatever. it's whatever, i'm fine-"

"you can talk to us, you know." you frown when jungkook suddenly reaches over and in an uncharacteristic move, places both hands over yours

"is it about lisa?" jimin asks, crinkling his nose as he sits down as well, "it's about lisa, isn't it?"

"no, it's not-" you press your lips together before letting out a light laugh, "you know, i don't even have a reason to be upset about lisa, right? she's super cool and very nice and knows a lot about cars and is yoongi's age and namjoon blessed me with the knowledge that she, apparently, was a very passionate lover- so i have nothing to be upset about!" you snap, slapping your palm down on the table before wincing and cradling your hand to your chest, "...everything is fine."

"i have to say, i really don't think jealousy is a good look on you." jungkook clicks his tongue before glancing down at your feet, "i also don't know if those shoes are a good look on you- jeez, it's like the people at gucci are just pulling design elements out of a hat-"

"you are not making me feel any better, jungkook- these shoes are new!"

"ooh, you should make him jealous!" jungkook suddenly lights up and the fluorescent light hanging above you guys flickers for a second

"we're going to have to round back to my shoes later because i really don't think they're that bad-"

"you should make him jealous and give him a taste of his own medicine..." jungkook trails off, ignoring your previous comments once again, "it's what you deserve."

"i'm not- i'm not doing that." you chuckle uneasily, "are you serious? this isn't high school and getting him back would just be petty of me-"

"but it'd feel so nice to be petty, don't you think?" jungkook encourages, scooting a little closer to you with a devilish grin, "think about it, y/n. don't you wanna see yoongi get all hot and possessive over you-"

"i don't think it's a good idea." jimin chimes in, shaking his head quickly as he moves in closer as well, "because if yoongi finds out you orchestrated something just to get him back, that might create an issue of trust in the relationship, and that would be very, very bad-"

"oh, but it feels so good to be bad..." jungkook coos, poking your arm with his pointer finger, "so, so good..."

"uh, i don't think so! i'd like to argue that it feels bad to be bad-"

"don't listen to jimin, he's a wuss-"

"don't listen to jungkook, he's an idiot-!"

"okay, cut it out!" you snap, shoving your hands into both their chests to keep them from coming any closer, "i... must admit, i do want to do something to piss yoongi off because of how much he's pissed me off, but... i'm not like that, you know? and i don't want to come off as some crazy girlfriend because-" you pause when you notice jungkook's finger creeping closer and closer to your bagel and you immediately deflate as soon as you realize what's going on here, "oh my god. you guys only came in here because you wanted to try my bagel, didn't you?"

jungkook and jimin exchange knowing glances before looking up at you sheepishly

"yeah, that makes more sense-" you snort, rolling your eyes before pushing the bagel away from you, "have at it, you animals."

you lean back against your chair, stroking your chin in thought as the sound of jungkook and jimin bickering over who gets the bigger half of the bagel starts to fade out

to be petty or not to be petty, that is the question...

»»————- 🛠️ ————-««

(spoiler alert: the answer to the previous question is to be petty. very, very petty.) »»————- 🛠️ ————-««

"namjoon! where did you put my keys??" yoongi calls out, yanking open another drawer to rifle through its contents, "i'm supposed to pick y/n up from campus and i can't find them anywhere... i don't want her to just stand there waiting for me..."

"looking for these?"

yoongi looks up to see lisa standing by the door with his keys in her hand before she tosses them to him

"yes! you're a lifesaver, thanks-" he catches them with one hand before stepping out from behind the counter, "i thought you were leaving today? we already said goodbye to you this morning-"

"yeah, i know-" lisa chuckles as she steps into the office, "it's just that... well, i was going to just leave but i actually had something i needed to talk to you about before i left. i felt it wouldn't be fair to either one of us if i didn't say anything."

"mm. what's up?" yoongi hums, sticking his hand into the lollipop jar to pull a cherry flavoured one out

he pulls another one out before tucking it into his pocket (one for you when he picks you up!)

"well, i guess i should just go ahead and say it- just gotta rip the bandaid off-" lisa straightens her blazer before clearing her throat, "yes."

"...yes?" yoongi frowns, unwrapping his lollipop before popping it into his mouth and scrunching up the wrapper, "i'm not following. yes to what?"

"oh, don't play dumb-" lisa snorts, flicking her wrist at him, "yes, as in: i would love to rekindle our friends with benefits situationship-"

"woah, what?!" yoongi immediately chokes and he yanks the lollipop out of his mouth before patting his chest roughly, "what are you- what the hell are you talking about??"

"what do you mean what the hell am i talking about??" lisa stares at him incredulously before shaking her head, "you're the one who's been giving me secret signals all week-"

"signals-" yoongi's gawks, "what signals??"

"you know, like, how you cancelled dinner plans with her so you could be with me..." lisa croons, taking a step closer towards him

"i cancelled dinner plans with y/n so i could be with twenty cars-" yoongi inches to the side so he can make a quick getaway to run behind the counter in case lisa pounces, "which, i'm realizing doesn't make me sound like the best boyfriend but- i most certainly didn't cancel just to spend private time with you, no offence-"

"what about when we shared a bagel and you didn't complain about the capers??" lisa snaps, lunging towards yoongi only for him to quickly spin out of the way and hurry to get behind the counter

"uh, we shared a bagel because i wasn't hungry for a full bagel and i thought you weren't either, and also-" yoongi grabs namjoon's wheely chair as a makeshift barrier between him and lisa, "i'm a grown man, i'm not going to throw a fit over some friggin' capers-"

"how about when i squeezed your arm and asked you if you'd been working out and you totally flexed your arm for me??" lisa grabs the arms of the chair before yanking and aggressively rolling it behind her, yoongi's eyes widening in panic at the sudden empty space in between the two of them

"i flexed it to prove to you that i have indeed been working out-!" yoongi hops up onto the counter as soon as lisa darts towards him and he hurries to jump off so he's on the other side of it, knocking the phone and namjoon's pen holder down onto the ground in the process, "friends can ask each other if they've been hitting the gym!! i squeeze namjoon's arms all the time because his biceps are literally boulders-"

"i just feel like we have unfinished business, you know?" lisa whines, pausing for a second before bringing a hand up to bite down on the tip of her pointer finger teasingly, "plus, you have to admit that our sex was super hot-"

"are you- hello, i'm dating y/n!" yoongi gasps, "our business is finished! we have no more- we're out of business, lisa!"

"oh, c'mon." lisa raises a brow, clearly unimpressed with his reaction, "it's not going to hurt anyone to keep me as your sexy little secret- it's perfect! i only come into town, like, once or twice a year, so she won't even suspect anythi-"

"what are you- are you insane?! i'm not going to cheat on y/n-" yoongi chokes before raising his hands in defence, "lisa, you're a very beautiful woman and we do have a history, but- look, i'm sorry if i sent you mixed signals this week, that was certainly not my intention- please understand that i am very much not trying to cheat on someone who i love very much and who i'm pretty sure loves me back, so-"

"then who's that person she's so obviously flirting with right now?" lisa points over his shoulder, "also, she's barely visited you this week. what kind of girlfriend doesn't want to always be with her boyfriend??"

"first of all, space can be healthy, and second of all, she- hold on, you said flirting?" yoongi turns to look over his shoulder and out the door, tilting his head slightly when he sees you standing at the front of the garage laughing with... someone he certainly doesn't recognize...

"you can leave all of this behind and come and work for me, yoongi-" yoongi jumps when he suddenly feels hands grasping at the collar of his jumpsuit and he turns back to see lisa standing right in front of him (how did she move so quickly and quietly?!), "we can be happy together, i swear-"

"yeah, cool, just give me a second-" yoongi gently yanks lisa's hands off of him before hurrying out of the office and making a beeline right for you and this mysterious stranger

"oop- okay, he's coming this way-" baekhyun mutters, glancing over your shoulder before looking back at you, "it's show time. you ready?" he hums, reaching over to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear

"what do you think? do we look convincing?" you reach down to unbutton another button on your blouse before adjusting the collar

it's taking everything within you noT to whip around to see if yoongi's just walking towards you or if he's storming towards you... because there's definitely a difference and you definitely want it to be the latter

the plan you came up with had a pretty simple formula: one handsome stranger + one flirty, oblivious y/n = one jealous yoongi

jungkook had a point about how nice it'd be to get yoongi all riled up and possessive and frankly you think you deserve it considering how dismissive he's been with you all week... which is why you were more than happy to recruit your very handsome friend baekhyun (he's very sweet / you met last semester in one of your history courses / he was more than willing to help out with your plan because he's a theatre major and this is good practice for him) to help you out with your plan!

"you're laughing like a robot." baekhyun lowers his voice, "i told you to act natural-"

"i'm being natural! ha, ha! ha! ha-ha. you're so funny, baek-" you giggle obnoxiously, reaching over to slap his chest gently, "you are absolutely the funniest person i've ever met-"

"y/n!" yoongi clears his throat loudly and you bite back a grin at the hint of annoyance you can detect in his voice, "i... thought i was picking you up from class today? i wasn't aware you hired a chauffeur!"

"oh, yoongi!" you spin around, feigning surprise as if you totally weren't expecting to see him at all, "oh, this is actually my friend- i know you've been busy so he offered to give me a ride!" you hum, stepping aside to let baekhyun step up onto the sidewalk, "baekhyun, this is yoongi-" you gesture to yoongi, "yoongi, this is baekhyun! ...my boyfriend."

you're hoping your accidental on-purpose flub-up triggers yoongi's memory of how he accidentally introduced lisa to you as his girlfriend and you're delighted to see the way yoongi's jaw drops slightly, "oh, my bad! i'm sorry, i don't know how that happened- what i meant to say was baekhyun, this is yoongi, my boyfriend. there we go."

"baekhyun..." yoongi repeats, his eyes narrowing slightly when baekhyun suddenly wraps an arm around your shoulder and gives you a squeeze "well, that's very nice of you to drive y/n all the way here. thanks for doing that, man."

"oh, it's no problem at all!" baekhyun hums, reaching over to pinch your cheek, "y/n's the sweetest and i didn't want to abandon her on campus-"

"okay, she wasn't abandoned, i was literally about to leave to pick her up-" yoongi points out, lifting his keys with a jingle before abruptly shoving them into his back pocket, "you know, y/n's never mentioned a baekhyun before. you two seem... close!"

"oh, baek and i go way back." you snort, digging your elbow into his side with a grin, "isn't that right, baek?"

baek

yoongi pokes his tongue against the inside of his cheek at the fact that baekhyun still has his arm wrapped around your shoulder and you haven't made a move to shoVE it off

how can you not see that his intentions with you aren't just chummy??

he wouldn't have driven you all the way here if he didn't want to get his grubby hands under your skirt-

"we most certainly do! we made some great memories in that lecture hall- i have to say, i was, uh, pretty disappointed when i found out she was already in a relationship..." baekhyun sighs dramatically, shaking his head before looking back at you, "i would treat you right and never cancel dinner plans with you-"

"okay, i think it's time for you to go, bacon-" yoongi forces a smile on his face before reaching over to gently pull you towards him, "thank you for dropping my girlfriend off. have a good one."

"oh, no problem!" baekhyun points towards you, "hey, lemme know if you need a ride to campus on monday because i'd be happy to swing by your apartment and-"

"no, i can take her!" yoongi manoeuvres you so that you're standing behind him and basically blocked from baekhyun's sight, "i've got it from here, thanks."

"bye, baek!" you wave at baekhyun as gets into his car and he salutes at you before his right eye drops in a cheeky wink and it's at that point that yoongi really thinks he's about to lose it

what the hell was that?!

he spins around to face you as soon as baekhyun zooms off and you keep yourself from asking him why his ears have suddenly turned super red

"why are you wearing lowbuttons to class?" yoongi crosses his arms over his chest, "i thought you said you were going to use them as, like, apartment decoration."

"louboutins, yoongi." you correct, looking down at your slick stilettos, "and why can't i wear louboutins to class?"

"you wore them out to dinner one time and i ended up having to carry you back to the car because your feet were aching-" yoongi reminds you with a pointed tone, "are you telling me that you walked up and down and all around campus in those things?"

"maybe i did." you shrug, turning to stick your nose up in the air a little, "i can wear stilettos to class if i so please."

"and the miniskirt?"

"what, you don't like it?" you pout, reaching down to pick a piece of fluff off the surface, "it's new!"

it's a plain black skirt but it has a little slit on the side and you purposely bought this specific piece knowing that yoongi has expressed how much he likes you in black

"of course i like it, and obviously i'm a big fan of the heels but-" yoongi huffs, "all i'm saying is that it's a little odd- the timing is weird for your miniskirts and heels to make a sudden comeback now that you're all buddy-buddy with this backyawn-"

"it's baekhyun-"

"that's what i said!"

"you know, i don't know what you're implying here but i haven't done anything wrong-" you shrug, "are you feeling okay? maybe you need to take a nap-"

"stop being stubborn, y/n. just tell me what's going on!"

"nothing's going on!" you insist, raising your hands in defense before flicking a strand of hair over your shoulder, "everything is perfectly fine and nothing is-"

"are you leaving me for baekhyun?" yoongi interrupts, his eyes suddenly softening, "because if this is how you're telling me we're over, it's a pretty shitty-"

"what- what?? no!" you shake your head quickly, "no, of course i'm not- why would you even- okay, fine! fine, i-" you let out a breath and your shoulders drop a little, "it's just that... i don't know, it kind of feels like i've been fighting to get your attention for the whole week and i... i feel like i shouldn't have to do that as your girlfriend, you know? and i'm not... i guess i just felt like i wasn't stacking up to lisa and how cool and smart she is and- this whole week it's just felt like you're in a relationship with lisa and not me, so i... wanted to make you jealous to see if you still cared. or whatever."

"are you serious?" yoongi's eyes flutter shut and he reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, "fuck, i'm sorry, ah- i'm sorry, y/n, i really am-" his brows knit together in remorse as he looks at you, "i think i just got swept up in all the new clients she was bringing in so i was focusing more on that than on noticing what was going on with you... i'm sorry. why didn't you just come and talk to me about it?"

"i didn't know how." you mutter, reaching up to scratch the side of your head, "i've never had to deal with something like this before, so... i know it was silly of me to come up with this whole thing-"

"you are my girlfriend, y/n." yoongi reminds you, his voice softening, "not lisa. it's you." he reaches over to hook a finger under your chin so he can get you to look at him, "i promise i only have eyes for you, pretty girl. you still love me?"

"god, yoongi-" you feel your cheeks flush at the nickname and you roll your eyes playfully before turning your head, "yeah. duh."

"oh, you silly thing..." he tuts, pulling you in for a hug and propping his chin up on the top of your head, "i'm sorry, baby. i really didn't mean to make you feel like that..." he pulls away and reaches down to glide his finger down the bridge of your nose before poking the tip, "i hope you can forgive me for being a shitty boyfriend."

"i'll forgive you if you forgive me for pretending to flirt with someone else." you smile sheepishly, yoongi grinning before nodding in agreement

"deal." he wraps an arm around your shoulder as the two of you head back towards the direction of the office, "so you really went through all that trouble just to make me a little jealous?" yoongi grins, "just for a little bit of attention? as if i'm not already all over you when we're alone-"

"well, it worked, didn't it?" you take your bottom lip in between your teeth as you squish your cheek against yoongi's shoulder and look up at him, "my acting skills are not half bad, if i do say so myself-"

"oh, shit, uh-" yoongi suddenly stops in his tracks when he sees lisa step out of the office and he spins around so that his back is facing her, "not to make you worry, but you should probably know that lisa's somehow convinced that i've been secretly flirting with her all week because i want to become friends with benefits again and she almost, like, body-slammed me in the office- also, if namjoon asks, tell him a raccoon snuck in and that's why his desk is a mess and his pens are all over the floor-"

"wait, what?!" your brows knit together and you're about to lean over to look at lisa but yoongi quickly reaches out and grabs onto your shoulders to keep you in place

"-yeah, so i'm going to lay you down on the hood of that car now because doing something extreme is probably the only thing that'll prove to her that she's wrong and i am very desperate to show her that she's wrong-"

"lay me down on the- and do what?! yoongi-!" you don't get much of a chance to say anything else before yoongi's suddenly bending down to pick you up off the ground in one swift movement, his fingers digging underneath your thighs as he lays you down on the hood of the nearest car, "yoongi-! you can't just-"

"shush!" yoongi hisses, pressing his lips against yours to shut you up promptly

"mmvph-"

it doesn't take you very long to melt into the kiss once you realize you haven't kissed yoongi like this in like a week and a half and you can't help but smile at the familiar faint taste of cherry you're getting from him

yoongi's warm hand slides down from your waist so he can hitch your left leg up against his hip, one of your heels slipping from your foot and clattering onto the floor

your senses are so clouded with yoongi cherry yoongi cherry that you nearly forget the two of you aren't alone (and also, all of this is definitely being recorded on the security cameras right now)

"hey, so- i- i'm gonna get going-" lisa announces loudly as she stands at a good distance away from the two of you, her eyes looking up towards the ceiling so that she doesn't have to watch the way yoongi's kissing down your neck, "i have to check out of my hotel, so-"

"yeah, sounds good!" yoongi pulls away for a second and shoots a quick thumbs up over his shoulder, "see you later, pal!"

"bye, lisa!" you chime in, giving her a wave even though she isn't looking at you and is really trying to double-time it to her car, "it was so nice meeting you!"

the two of you watch silently as lisa practically leaps into her mustang, the sound of the engine revving before she quickly speeds off like she just remembered she left the oven on at home

you turn your head to look up at yoongi before scoffing lightly, hooking a finger against his chain to pull him back down towards you, "you're ridiculous, you know that?"

"yeah, i know-" yoongi's nose crinkles before he offers you a boyish smirk and a half-hearted shrug, "you love it, though."

🎙️help me help you make your wishes come true (send me a request!) ✨why don’t you explore the rest of the library while you’re here? (full fics!) 💫or perhaps you want something shorter to read? (drabbles like this one!) 🌟or something even shorter? (teeny tidbits!)

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Produce Joe

(My gif)(Requested by @westanimagines )

- You and Joe meet when you get a job at the grocery store and are given a tour of the place by your new manager. 

- After being shown around the floor of the shop, he takes you into the backrooms and introduces you to Randy and the ever interesting Joe; who he has to tap on the shoulder in order to make him realize there’s people behind him since his music is playing so loud. 

- The bespectacled boy tries to play it cool but you can tell he’s a little embarrassed; particularly when his eyes fall on you and your manager explains that you’ll be starting work there the next Monday. 

- You give the man a polite hello before you’re ushered out of the room and whisked away to be shown around the rest of the building; leaving Joe flustered yet realistically unhopeful. 

- As I said before, you start work the next Monday and things go smoothly. You make friends with the other girls on shift and you do the mind numbing work that pertains to a job at a grocery store. 

- When you first start working there, you don’t really talk to Joe all that much. You don’t have a reason to be in his portion of the store most days and you’re new to the job so you’re doing whatever you can to look like a picture perfect employee as you figure out the rules of working there. 

- Once you’re a little more comfortable in your position, you do a bit more wandering and are trusted with more tedious jobs that have you going into the back of the store. That's when you actually start making conversation from time to time. 

- Your conversations are always a bit awkward but you come to realize that that’s …sort of just Joe. Which is why you begin to feel a bit bad for him.

- He’s always detached from everyone, always alone, and though you can’t say for sure that he isn’t the one who’s doing the detaching, you figure that it can’t be easy all the same and make it your mission to be friendly and talk with him. And his pleasant response to your interest in him convinces you that you've done the right thing. 

- Soon enough, he’s latched onto you. Not in a creepy way but in a friendly, ‘you’re the only one who I’m comfortable around and who talks to me’ sort of way. 

- It’s easy to see that you just being there makes his day a whole lot better; and that he looks forward to your little interactions, and though your coworkers certainly find him a bit strange, you begin to find him sort of cute. 

- Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t take Joe a ridiculously long time to shoot his shot. He just randomly asks if you’d want to see a movie with him on Saturday and against your better judgement of dating one of your coworkers, you can’t help but agree. 

- Hey, if there was anyone you’d be able to avoid at work and whose offer is dorkily endearing enough to persuade you into accepting, it’s Joe. 

- So you meet up with him that next Saturday and settle in for a date at the cinema, sharing a popcorn and pretending like you aren’t flattered by/don’t notice his glances towards you. 

- He almost kisses you after the movie as the two of you are saying goodbye but he very obviously loses his nerve and plays it off before the two of you call it a night. And as you’re driving yourself home, you’re surprised by how disappointed you are that he didn’t....

- Though you don’t wind up waiting too long for that kiss since you wind up taking it for yourself a few days later when you’re retrieving something from his area of the shop. 

- You figure that it’s best to get it out of the way to show him that you want him to kiss you so, after he hands you the box of things that you’d came there for, you lean up and peck him on the lips, giving him a cheerful thanks before you leave the room; leaving him an ecstatic mess. 

- And just like that, you’ve got yourself the freshest boy at the grocers. 

- Joe likes to pretend like he’s this cool tough guy but at the same time, he knows that he isn’t; which makes you being with him a big accomplishment in his eyes. He’s incredibly proud that you’ve chosen to be his girlfriend and being your boyfriend makes him feel cool so he loves pda and being able to show you off.  

- Him awkwardly throwing his arm around your shoulder while trying to look all macho. He’s a dork and that’s just something you’ll have to get used to. 

- Kiss his cheek! Kiss his cheek! Seriously, he loves it almost as much as he loves you. 

- Clumsy but sweet kisses. 

- Taking his glasses off so that you can kiss him better. I can’t imagine it would be easy to touch lips with those massive frames in the way. 

- The main pet name he uses is babe and it almost always sounds hilarious whenever it leaves his mouth.  

- Most of the time, when you cuddle, he’s the big spoon. He likes nuzzling into the back of your neck and having you pressed up against him; and he’s tall so it works out quite nicely. 

- Laying your head in each others laps. Oftentimes he’ll snuggle into your lap or stomach, wrapping his arms around the small of your back as your fingers card through his hair. 

- Brushing his hair out of his face. It never seems to bother him but every now and again it bothers the hell out of you. 

- Always having the freshest fruit and vegetables. If your boyfriend doesn’t put aside the best of the bunch when your favorite produce comes in, is he even your boyfriend?

- Spitting watermelon seeds and playing other stupid little games.

- Sliding down the grocery shoot every now and again when you know you aren’t gonna get caught; not that your boss really cares 90% of the time. 

- Making faces at each other.

- Goofing off and not taking yourselves too seriously. 

- Occasionally spooking him when you come to visit since he plays his music so loud. It’s become a highlight of your day to make him momentarily jump out of his skin; you consider it to be you avenging his eardrums. 

- Borrowing his Walkman and cassettes. It’ll definitely take some convincing though, that things practically his baby. 

- Dancing to music and lip syncing to songs.

- You can’t tell me that he doesn’t look like a “little” nerd, which is why I’m making him liking Star Wars and Star Trek and all of those geeky interests a thing. 

- Going to conventions and other nerdy events like that.

- Playing different tabletop games. 

- Movie dates. Something tells me he’d be one of those guys who are scared of horror movies but would try to play it off like he wasn’t…up until he’s clutching your hand all tight and refusing to walk down a dark street.

- Arcade dates.

- Carnival dates. 

- Mall dates. 

- He’s adorably willing to indulge in your more “girly” interests and probably secretly likes them himself.

- Taking naps together; though he strikes me as the type of person who barely gets any sleep so you might just be taking naps at his apartment while he does his own thing.

- Playful competitions.

- Him scaring the shit out of you with his chopping and dicing; to the point where you’re compelled to do his work yourself so that you know he isn’t gonna lose a finger. 

- Eating lunch together and sharing food. You spend pretty much all of your lunch breaks in the backrooms with him.

- Talking with Randy every now and again while you wait for Joe. He appreciates the occasional company and the fact that you can save him some trouble and relay messages to your boyfriend for him. 

- Long conversations about nothing in particular. You can rant to him about whatever you want but I can’t guarantee that he’ll be listening too intently; not that he’s purposefully ignoring you or anything.

- He’s kind of the typical oblivious boyfriend but he’s never malicious in his ignorance. He’s just a goofy dork who doesn’t take notice of subtleties and has trouble concentrating. 

- Letting him brag about his accomplishments; even though you probably know that he’s completely making them up. He’ll probably “come clean” later on in your relationship and you'll have to hold back a laugh while trying to sound sincere when you tell him it’s okay. 

- Him trying to act tough yet borderline hiding behind you when things get scary. 

- Most of the time, Joe doesn’t take notice of any flirtation or suggestive interactions between you and other men so he rarely gets jealous of people. You could openly flirt with a dude and he’d be none the wiser. 

- As much as Joe likes to pretend like he can kick peoples asses, he most certainly cannot so don’t expect him to start any fights in your honor. He’s a bit of a coward so he really isn’t all too protective of you. 

- Joe’s a laidback guy and you sort of knew what you were getting yourself into when you started dating him so the two of you really don’t get into too many fights. If you do have them, they’re a quick argument and an even quicker resolution. 

- Both of you sort of just choose to forget about arguments or you bicker until you come up with a quick “fine.” “fine!” sort of agreement and subsequently forget about the problem. Either way, fights never last long. 

- Joe tells you he loves you pretty much every day; usually when you’re saying goodbye or in other circumstances like that. 

- He might give you the occasional headache but you love him nonetheless. He’s a dork but he’s your dork and you’re gonna stay with him for as long as you can.