#which they stayed in for like 30 seconds before hopping out again

[babblingstacey]

Well deserved break for the group before heading back down the next morning. There was a little rest spot at the summit exactly for this reason.

[heich0e]

yuuji's bedtime is 7:30 each night.

there are occasional exceptions like holidays or special events, but as a general rule jin is diligent about making sure his six-year-old is tucked up snug in his little bed by 7:30 sharp so he can get all the sleep he needs to learn and grow and thrive.

sukuna thinks that's all a load of shit.

as such, yuuji's strict bedtime routine is rarely followed when uncle sukuna is tasked with watching him for the night. partially because he thinks it's stupid, and the kid should be allowed to stay up as late as he wants, and partially to spite his older brother for asking him to babysit in the first place.

yuuji hops from one dingy tile to the next on one leg while sukuna surveys the convenience store shelves before his eyes. it's 8:15 now, a full 45 minutes past yuuji's bedtime, and the kid shows no sign of dropping anytime soon—futher proof, sukuna thinks smugly, that all that stuff his brother's always spouting about "childhood development" and "gentle parenting" is a bunch of garbage. he reaches out and plucks a bag of chips off the shelf in front of him, tossing it into the basket dangling from his hand.

"jichan!" yuuji finally lets both his little light-up sneakers hit the floor, looking up at his uncle with sparkling, expectant eyes. sukuna quirks a brow in his direction, waiting for him to continue. "can i show you my dance when we get home?"

"depends," sukuna says, turning and wandering a little further down the aisle. "'s it any good?"

"fushiguro-kun said it was really, really good when i showed him at school!"

sukuna clicks his tongue. "that so?"

"uh-huh!" yuuji replies cheerfully, watching as his uncle tosses a packet of candy into the shopping basket along with the rest of the junk food they'd set out on their after-hours excursion to procure. sukuna has every intention of letting the kid eat as much of it as he wants when they get back to jin's house, which he's sure would appall his older brother.

"if it sucks i'm gonna tell you," sukuna remarks pointedly, grabbing a second pack of the same gummy candy after deciding one was insufficient.

"it doesn't suck!" yuuji insists, trailing along after his uncle as they continue making their way through the store. the young man waves his hand dismissively as he fights back a smirk at the indignation in the brat's voice.

after grabbing a few more items—some chocolate candies, a pint of ice cream, and pack of cigarettes (which even sukuna isn't enough of a degenerate to share with the kid)—the two set off on the short walk back to jin's apartment with their spoils. yuuji is hopping on one foot again, trying to avoid the cracks in the pavement as they make their way home.

sukuna wishes the kid didn't have to stick so close, because he could really go for one of those cigarettes right now, but he resists the urge to fish one out from the pack and resolves to sneak out onto the balcony and smoke one when they get home and he can distract yuuji with the TV long enough to sneak away. in the pocket of his jacket, his cell phone vibrates, signifying a new text, and he digs it out to check the notification.

[new message - 8:22PM] how's babysitting duty?

sukuna smirks a little when he sees your name and message on the small screen in his palm. his eyes briefly flicker up to yuuji, who's wandered ahead a little bit, and then back to the device as he types out his reply.

'he's still alive.'

[new message - 8:23PM] a glowing endorsement

"ojiiiiiichan!"

sukuna glances up from the screen of his phone to see yuuji staring at him.

"what?" he asks his nephew flatly.

the noisy tyke cocks his head to the side. "why'd ya stop walking?"

sukuna blinks, he hadn't noticed he'd stopped while he was texting you.

"and why're you smiling like that?" the kid adds after a moment.

sukuna scowls, tightening his grip on the plastic convenience store bag in his hand in a way that makes it rustle. "'m not smiling like anything."

"you were," yuuji insists as the two start walking in the direction of home again, but this time he falls into step with his uncle instead of racing ahead. sukuna feels his curious eyes on his face as they near jin's apartment.

"stop staring at me," he snaps. "it's rude."

"papa says you're the rudest person he knows," yuuji remarks innocently, blissfully unaware of how scathing the comment really is.

"yeah, well your father's a cun—" he catches himself before he says what he wants to say, quickly (though awkwardly) correcting himself, "—niving guy."

"what's conniving?" yuuji asks.

"it means annoying," sukuna answers with a grunt. it's not true, but that doesn't matter to him.

"jichan, were you talking to a girl on your phone back there?"

sukuna almost stumbles in his surprise, his head whipping to the side to stare at his nephew in shock. "what the hell makes you say that?"

"hell is a bad word!" yuuji points up at his uncle admonishingly.

"i'm a grown up, i'm allowed to say whatever i want," sukuna says with a roll of his eyes. "now back to the question, brat."

"papa says that you're always talking to the girls in your phone when we're eating dinner at the table. it's part of what makes you rude."

sukuna sneers. his brother's always been a narc.

"conniving," sukuna mutters under his breath.

the apartment building is in sight now, and he's grateful because that craving for a cigarette has resurfaced with renewed vigour.

"papa also says that girls don't like ojichan because ojichan makes them cry."

"your papa doesn't know what he's talking about," sukuna grunts, irritated.

"did you make the girl you were talking to back there cry?" yuuji prods again for information.

"no, i didn't," the elder of the duo counters indignantly—weirdly indignantly, if he's being honest.

"good," yuuji says with a firm nod. he starts hopping on one foot again as the two of them approach the main entrance to the building. the lights on his sneakers dance across the pavement in the dark. "if you made her cry that would make me sad for her."

sukuna thinks about you then. you're probably at home now, waiting for him to reply to that last message he didn't get the chance to respond to. you're probably wearing those slippers you like so much, the ones he teases you about every time he comes over. probably in pyjamas already, since you tend to be early to bed. he wonders if you'll still be awake by the time jin gets home to relieve him from his childminding duties. wonders if you'll answer the phone when he calls. wonders if you'll let him come over if he asks.

"yeah," sukuna says quietly, almost unconsciously, as he pulls open the apartment door and allows his nephew to hop across the threshold ahead of him. "that'd make me sad too."

[badkitty3000]

One Fateful Day

Five x Single Mom reader, one-shot, 5k words

Warnings: None!

I received a request quite a while ago for a fluffy, sweet one-shot where Five befriends a single mom. Hope you like a super soft Five, cause that's what this is! ❤️

A/N: This image was made entirely with AI, as you can probably tell by the glaringly bad mistakes.

Five listened to the sound of happy children playing and screaming, along with the quiet hum of distant traffic and the crunch of bike tires as they rolled across the gravel pathways of his favorite city park. He found his usual bench, brushing off a few fallen leaves before easing himself onto it with the groan of someone years older than he looked. As soon as he was situated, he glanced around and waited. It never took long before they found him. Sure enough, less than 30 seconds later, the gang of ne’er-do-wells showed up out of nowhere.

Five’s bird friends consisted mostly of some mangy looking pigeons, a few brown sparrows, and one particularly ornery blue jay. They knew him by sight and would flock at his feet whenever he came to visit. As they gathered around, cooing, chirping and hopping excitedly, Five smiled down at them.

“Hi, guys,” he said quietly. “How’ve you been? Staying out of trouble?”

As usual, he received no real response, but more flitters and flapping of wings. That was ok, though. He didn’t mind the one-sided conversations.

Pulling a small bag of bird seed out of his inside coat pocket, he continued talking.

“Sorry I missed you yesterday.” He sprinkled a handful of the seed on the ground and watched as the excitement of the crew intensified. “Klaus needed a ride to the dentist. He said to say hi.”

Five watched the intricate dance of bird hierarchy unraveling before him. He already knew their order of rank and which bird was going to get the majority of the feast while the others waited their turns.

“Wren Franklin…be nice. Bernice isn’t taking your share, Jack Sparrow, so quit your squawking.”

He threw another handful on the ground. “Trucker Bob, it’s ok buddy…you get on in there, they aren’t going to hurt you.” Five suddenly stomped his foot at the blue jay, causing everyone to scatter for a brief moment before scurrying back again. “Sandra Jay O’Connor, I saw that! If I see you peck at poor Mr. Tippington again, you will be banned for a month!”

As Five cursed the blue jay while cooing soft words of encouragement to a small and plain-looking brown bird, he heard a quiet giggle nearby. Sensing it was aimed in his direction, he looked up. On the next bench over, he saw you. Your eyes sparkled as you tried to stifle your laugh. You looked abruptly away as soon as Five glanced at you.

Five smiled softly to himself. He knew he looked and sounded like a crazy person. But he sensed you weren’t making fun of him, just that you were amused.

“You laugh, but I’ve seen that bird fly right onto a man’s head and fly off with his toupee purely for spite. Granted, she was probably doing him a favor because it was god awful, but still.”

You looked at Five and laughed shyly again before shaking your head. “I had no idea bird crime was so rampant in this city.”

“Oh, yes,” Five nodded solemnly. “In fact, I advise you to stay away from the park at night. You might find yourself in the middle of a fly-by shooting. Lots of bird gang violence around here.”

“Is that so? Well, thank you for the heads up,” you said with a smile. Just then, your 5 year-old daughter ran up, out of breath. You handed her a bottle of water. “Ready to go, sweetie?”

The little girl nodded while taking a sip. “Yep.”

You got up and started to walk away, taking your daughter’s hand in yours. You stopped and looked back at Five, who was still watching you. “Have a nice afternoon with your friends there, and I hope Mr. Tippington is ok.”

Five grinned widely. “Thank you, and he’ll be just fine.”

You nodded with a smile and turned to leave. Five watched you go, ignoring the fact that his feathered friends were now clearly irritated that their benefactor had yet to give them their full ration of seed for the day.

Two days later, and Five was back on his favorite bench. As he was in the middle of another inciteful, one-way conversation with his buddies on the ground, he heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Go along and play, Cassie, I’ll watch you from here.”

When Five turned, he saw you standing there. Your eyes sparkled in the sunlight just like the first time he saw you.

“So, do these birds do anything for you in return for you feeding them? Like bringing you gifts, or doing your taxes?” you teased.

Five chuckled. “No. They just let me talk their ears off while they eat.”

“Huh. Do birds have ears?”

Five shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure. Maybe that’s why they don’t care that I’m talking at them.”

You laughed and gestured to the empty side of Five’s bench. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

As Five moved over to make more room for you, you introduced yourself with a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. Five Hargreeves,” he said.

“Hargreeves? Why does that name sound familiar?” you asked, tilting your head.

Five sighed quietly. He really wondered why he hadn’t just picked another name by now. It would make things so much easier.

“Does The Umbrella Academy ring any bells?”

You were thoughtful for a second and then the lightbulb went on. “You’re kidding! You were…are…one of them?”

Five nodded. “Sure am. Good old Number Five.”

“I see,” you responded with a smile as you looked him up and down. “So, which one were you? I mean, what can you do?”

“Teleportation. Time travel.” He paused. “Pigeon summoning.”

You laughed. “Very cool. I can see your very impressive pigeon power in action now, but you’ll have to show me the others sometime.”

Five smiled. “Sure thing.”

You nodded. “Ok, Number Five. So, I’ve seen you around the park here a lot. Are you here with your kids, too?”

Five felt called out and a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. “Uh, no. No kids.” He was really hoping you didn’t think he was some creeper hanging out at the park for less innocent reasons. “Don’t worry, though. I just like to come here and feed these guys,” he explained, gesturing to the birds on the ground. “It’s like therapy but without the judgment and bill at the end.”

You looked dubious for just a moment, glancing over at the play structure where your daughter was swinging happily. But when you turned to face Five again, you relaxed. You glanced down at the birds. “They certainly seem to like you.”

Five shrugged. “I think they just view me as a human vending machine.” He held out the bag of seed towards you. “Want to be the hero?”

You nodded and reached into the bag, scooping up some seed and tossing it on the ground. The birds went crazy, tweeting and flapping their wings, making you laugh. Five grinned.

“See? They have no loyalty.”

“I see that. But you have names for them all?”

“Ah, well…some of them. At least the usual ones that come around. It’s rather interesting to observe their little avian society.” Five stopped, realizing that he sounded like a weirdo. “I’m sorry. I’m not a complete lunatic, I promise.”

You laughed, and once again Five could tell you weren’t making fun of him. You seemed genuinely charmed by him. You also had a very calming presence, he noticed. He didn’t feel awkward or on edge when talking with you, which was a refreshing change of pace these days.

“I don’t think you’re a lunatic. Believe me, I can spot them from a mile away and you’re not one.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

You jumped when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket from an incoming call. You held it up to Five with an exasperated sigh. “Sorry, I have to take this. It’s my ex and he’s supposed to take our daughter this weekend, so I have to figure out the details.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

As you turned to walk away for more privacy, Five took a look over at the playground. He saw the little girl you had called Cassie, climbing up the ladder to the monkey bars. She was small and Five watched as she got to the top rung, hesitantly reaching out for the first bar to cross. As she swung out, Five could see she wasn’t truly comfortable with what she was doing, and the ground was pretty far below. He stood up, looking over at you, but your back was turned as you were trying to focus on the call. When he turned back to the girl, he saw it start to happen like it was in slow motion. On the second bar, one of her hands started to slip, leaving her dangling by a few fingers. She let out a scream that got your attention, but it was too late.

Just as your daughter lost her grip with her remaining hand and began to fall to the ground, Five blinked directly under her, catching her just in time. As he stood there with your daughter in his arms, both of them looking shocked, you ran over in a panic.

“Cassie! Oh my god, are you ok?”

She nodded, still looking up at the mysterious man that had appeared out of the literal blue to save her. “Yeah.”

Five set her down and she ran to you, hugging you tightly around your waist. You held her to you and looked up at Five.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I can’t believe I wasn’t watching…but you were…oh my god if you weren’t here…”

“No problem. I’m just glad I got there in time.”

You choked back the tears you could feel coming on. “I’m a terrible mother, aren’t I? I just let my kid fall off the monkey bars because I wasn’t paying attention. What kind of person does that?”

Five smiled gently. “A normal one. Of course you’re not a terrible mother.”

“You don’t even know me,” you sniffed with a smile.

“True. But in the very short time we’ve been talking, I can tell that you’re a great parent. Just like you can sniff out the lunatics, I can spot a shitty parent a mile away.”

Cassie let go of you, glancing back at Five with a smile and then back at you. “It’s true, mommy, you’re not shitty at all.”

“Cassie!” you gasped in horror at your daughter’s language.

Five tried to hold it in, but he had to laugh, which made Cassie laugh, which then made you laugh.

 “Sorry, I think that’s my fault,” Five said.

“Well, I’d like to blame you, but the truth is I have a bad habit of swearing like a sailor myself. I just usually try to keep it to a minimum around her, but I’m not always successful.”

Five nodded with a smile before crouching down in front of Cassie. “Maybe next time stick with the swings, ok?”

Cassie frowned, her eyebrows scrunched together as she crossed her arms. “Swings are for babies. I can DO the monkey bars, but these were slippery. Someone made them slippery.”

Five looked back up at you with a grin, then back at Cassie, fixing his face so that he was serious again. “I bet they did. That seems like a very logical explanation; I can tell you are very smart.”

Cassie uncrossed her arms with a smile and nodded. “I am! I get in trouble at school for saying I’m smarter than the other kids, but it’s not my fault. I’m only telling the truth.”

“We’re working on being humble, aren’t we Cassie?” you said in a reproving way.

Five chuckled and leaned in to whisper to Cassie, making sure he was still loud enough that you could hear. “I completely understand. I have the same problem.”

The little girl nodded solemnly, recognizing a fellow put-upon genius in her midst. She looked back up at you. “Can I go on the slide now?”

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I’m ok.”

“Alright, then. I promise I’ll be watching.”

As she ran off to the slide, you turned to Five. “I should probably go over and stand at the bottom. Just in case.”

“Oh sure, I understand.”

“Really, I can’t thank you enough, Five. You’re amazing.”

Five put his hands in his pockets and smiled shyly. “I think amazing is a bit much, but you’re welcome.”

“So, will you be coming by to feed your buddies tomorrow?”

“Most likely, yes.”

You nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I was thinking that I might bring Cassie back here tomorrow as well. Maybe around 2pm? Do you think you’ll be here then?”

“I think I will definitely be here at 2pm.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

With a smile, you gave him a small wave and turned to go join your daughter at the slide. Five watched you walk away, unable to keep the growing grin off his face. This was the most interaction he’d had with anyone that wasn’t part of his family in a very long time and it felt surprisingly good. Really good.

The next day, Five was already waiting at his usual bench when you and Cassie found your way over to him. When he saw you, he stood up, holding out a cup of coffee for you. His own cup was on the bench next to where he had been sitting.

“I wasn’t sure how you liked it. Or, even if you drank coffee, but here you go. It’s just black.”

As you took the cup, you giggled. “Yes, I do drink coffee, and black is perfect. Thank you so much, that wasn’t necessary.”

Five shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I was getting one for myself anyway, so it was no trouble.”

Cassie watched as you and Five stood there smiling at one another, but not saying anything. Her eyebrows came together and she looked up at Five, tilting her head to one side.

“My mom said your name is Five.”

Snapping out of his trance, he addressed Cassie. “Yes, it is.”

“That’s a number.”

“Yes, it is.”

“That’s how old I am.”

Five nodded. “You seem very mature for your age.”

She paused, eyeing him up thoughtfully. “Five’s a weird name.”

“Cassie!” you cried out, completely embarrassed at your daughter’s lack of a filter.

Biting back a laugh, Five pretended to look confused. “What do you mean it’s weird? I know at least a dozen other people named Five.”

Cassie paused, trying to determine if he was telling the truth or not. Then she shook her head with a small smile. “No, you don’t.”

Five grinned. “See? I knew you were smart.”

You laughed at their interaction, looking around. “So, where are your friends?”

“Oh, I haven’t put out the buffet yet. They’ll be here though.” He turned to Cassie. “Would you like to help feed some very ungrateful birds with me?”

The little girl’s face lit up. “Yes!”

“Ok, then, here you go,” Five took out his usual bag of birdseed and handed it to Cassie. “Just start sprinkling it on the ground. They’ll be here before you know it.”

As she took the seed and started to throw handfuls around and up in the air, laughing to herself, you and Five sat on the bench and watched. Sure enough, after about a minute, the small flock began to swoop in. Five identified all of them that had names, which made Cassie laugh even harder. As she giggled and let out little shrieks of joy while she continued to throw them more food, you turned to Five.

“I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time.”

“Really?”

You nodded. “It’s been really hard on her since the divorce. She has to go back and forth from house to house every week. It’s stressful and I can see it taking a toll on her. Which, naturally, makes me feel like shit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Five said earnestly. “But even if it’s hard on her now, it will be better for her in the long run. Kids are resilient and she really is very smart, so I have no doubt she’ll be fine. What happened with you and your ex, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well,” you sighed, “it’s a long story. But the short version is that we got together when we were young and just outgrew one another over time. He’s not a bad guy, but we argued all the time. The love was gone and we just didn’t want to fight anymore.” You looked over at Cassie with a guilty frown. “I just wish I could protect her from all of this.”

Five was silent for a moment as he took that in. “Look, I’m not a parent and I don’t pretend to know anything about marriage, but I can tell you that it sounds like you did her a favor. Growing up in a house with constant bickering can be stressful in its own right. And not seeing any love between parents is even worse. So, she’ll be more than fine. You showed her that everyone deserves to be happy and she’ll carry that with her as she grows older.”

It had been so long since someone had said exactly what you needed to hear, that you immediately started to tear up. Hurriedly wiping your eyes, you laughed at yourself.

“Sorry, I’m not sure what’s wrong with me.” You looked up at Five with a grateful smile and patted his hand that was next to yours. “Thank you for that. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Five swallowed nervously and looked down at your hand on top of his. “You’re welcome. And who knows, maybe you’ll find the right person down the road.”

“Yeah,” you said quietly, taking in his clear green eyes. “Maybe I will.”

“Mommy look!” Cassie shrieked with a laugh, jarring you and Five out of your moment.

You quickly pulled your hand away, turning your attention back to your daughter. She was standing there, smiling ear to ear, as a small, skinny pigeon sat on her shoulder like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“It likes me!”

Five laughed, shaking his head. “I have been coming here for months and not one of those damn birds has ever sat on me like that.”

You laughed, too. “Unbelievable.”

“What’s this one’s name, Five?” Cassie giggled.

“Oh, uh…yeah, that’s…Fred.”

As Cassie continued on, feeding and talking to Fred, you looked over at Five. “What was that about?”

He ran a hand through his hair and lowered his voice. “I actually call that one Fuck Face.”

When you doubled over with laughter, Five grinned from ear to ear. He’d never made anyone laugh like that before, and it was the best he’d felt in a very long time.

Over the next few weeks, you and Five built up a close friendship. He listened to your stories about single mom life and how it could be lonely and difficult. You listened to his stories of his traumatic past and how he was attempting to live as a normal man for once in his life. The conversation came easily and you never felt awkward around one another. Soon, he had integrated himself into your life, and into Cassie’s, too.

She loved spending time with Five, and on the days when you didn’t see him, she always asked about him. He liked to tease her and she was always ready with her own zingers to sling back at him. When she told him bad knock knock jokes, he would groan and tell her how horrible they were, but he would be smiling the whole time. You would sit back, watching their banter, thinking how cute they were. 

There were more play dates at the park, more bird feedings, then lunch at a café, and eventually Sunday dinners at your house. Five had never felt this comfortable in his own skin before, and he actually thought he might have found what he had been looking for this whole time. Happiness.

Even though he had become such a big part of your life in such a short time, you and Five had not moved past the friends stage. You were still a little gun shy after the divorce, and you weren’t even sure Five was interested in you that way. Sure, there had been several times when you had caught him looking at you in that way that made your heart do a little flip in your chest. And maybe your breath hitched a little whenever his hand brushed against yours in passing. But you liked how things were between you. At least for now.

Five wasn’t sure how you felt about him, either. He knew you were coming off a bad relationship and you probably wanted nothing to do with men for the time being. He definitely liked spending time with you, though. He found he looked forward to it more and more. Seeing you smile when you saw him was the best part of his day. But he didn’t want to assume you were interested in anything more. If he made a move and you shot him down, not only would it be embarrassing, it might ruin what you already had. And that was too important to lose.

The three of you were at the park again, and you watched as Cassie dragged Five off toward her favorite twisty slide, taking his hand and pulling him along while he pretended to grumble about it. After he was forced to slide down the plastic slide, you laughed loudly when you saw him reach the bottom.

“What?” he asked, brushing the dust off of his pristinely pressed slacks.

“Your hair!” you laughed. “The static made it stick straight up!”

He patted at his crazy hair with a frown and tried to smash it down, which made you laugh even harder. After Cassie came tumbling out of the slide herself, Five pretended to be annoyed with her.

“Hey, kid, you didn’t tell me that slide would mess up my hair.”

Cassie giggled. “You look funny. Like a porcupine.”

After Five fixed himself as best he could, Cassie took his hand and tugged on it again, this time trying to get him to crouch down to her level. When he did, she rested her hand on his forehead for a second, pulling it back with a frown. Then she looked at Five with a shake of her head. “You don’t feel hot.”

“Should I? I’m not feeling sick.”

She looked over at you. “I heard you talking to Taylor’s mom at the bus stop and you said Five was hot.” She put her hand on his cheek. “He feels normal.”

If the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed you whole, you would not have been more grateful. Instead, you remained frozen, your face on fire and your mouth trying to form words that wouldn’t come.

“Uh…” was all that you stammered out.

In true kid fashion, Cassie was oblivious to the faux pas she created. As Five slowly stood up again, and Cassie skipped off to the swing set, unbothered by it all, his eyes met yours. The self-satisfied smirk on his face spoke a thousand words.

“You said I was hot?”

“I…no…I mean well yeah…kind of…” you tried to stumble your way through a cohesive sentence.

Five adopted his typical cool stance, with his hands in his pockets, as he continued to grin like an absolute asshole. “So, is Taylor’s mom cute? Did you give her my number?”

After a few more seconds of being mortified, you started to see the humor in the situation. You relaxed and laughed quietly, looking at the ground with a shake of your head. “Damn it, you’re an asshole sometimes, you know?”

“But still hot, right?”

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?” you said with a groan.

Five shook his head slowly. “Probably not.”

As you ran a hand down your still-flushed face, you sighed. With a raised eyebrow, you jabbed a finger in his direction. “You fucking know you’re hot, too. That’s what makes it worse.” When he laughed, but didn’t deny it, you sighed again.

On your way over to the swings, Five bumped you with his elbow. “You’re pretty hot yourself, you know.”

When you looked over, you saw the corner of his mouth turn up as he swallowed hard. His eyes skirted away from yours as he looked at the ground.

“Thanks, Five,” you said, suddenly feeling very warm again.

“You’re welcome.”

It was a few days later when your little trio was walking to the park from your house. After Five had joined you for dinner, you had decided to take some of the leftover bread to his group of feathered friends. As you got close to Five’s regular bench, Cassie stopped him.

“Wait. Can you do the whooshing thing with me?”

Five chuckled. “You mean blinking? I suppose. If your mom doesn’t mind.”

“You can do my mom, too,” Cassie added.

Trying to hide a laugh, he nodded. “I would love to do your mom.”

Even though that little side comment sent a tingle down your spine, you pretended you hadn’t noticed. “It’s ok, you two go ahead.”

Five shot you a very devious grin before grabbing you both by the arms and blinking you over to the bench. Your shriek of surprise was cut short as you appeared out of his portal. Cassie was falling on the ground in a fit of giggles while you tried to catch your breath with a hand on your chest.

“Sorry,” Five said, unsuccessfully holding back his own glee.

“You are not, liar,” you laughed.

With a shrug and a grin, Five handed Cassie the bread for the birds. “Here you go, kid, they should be pretty happy with this feast.”

When Cassie opened the bag and spread the crumbs on the ground, the birds descended, recognizing their new, smaller food-bringer.

“Mr. Tippington, it’s ok,” Cassie cooed to the little brown bird that had become her favorite. “Trucker Bob, you’ll like today’s dinner, it’s bread!” She swatted the angry blue jay away, just like Five had shown her. “Sandra Jay…you be nice or no one will be your friend.”

Sitting next to Five, on the bench where you had first saw him talking to those ridiculous birds, you turned to him and studied his profile. You knew his face more intimately than anyone else’s, you thought. How many times had you stared at it while he was talking? Taking in the sharp angles of his jaw and the way he swept the hair out of his eyes with an agitated hand. It made you wonder…what was stopping you from doing what you really wanted?

Out of nowhere, you leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. When you pulled back, you couldn’t help but let out a short burst of laughter because the expression on his face was one of complete and utter confusion.

“Sorry,” you said, looking down at your lap. “I couldn’t resist.”

After a few seconds of Five trying to get his wits about him again, he smiled. “I’m so glad you did that first.”

“What do you mea—”

Your question was cut off by Five’s lips meeting yours, his hand coming to rest on the back of your neck. His kiss was soft and pure, and unlike any other kiss you’d had before. When you finally opened your eyes, meeting his gorgeous emerald ones, you felt so good you couldn’t contain your giant grin.

“I’m not sure what took me so long,” you confessed.

“Me either,” Five said with a chuckle before leaning in again, letting himself get lost in the softness of your lips and the sound of your quiet, contented sigh.

It was magical, pure and simple, and he wasn’t even sure how this was even possible. He wasn’t sure he was deserving of it, but he would take it.

“EW!!!”

You and Five jumped, pulling apart abruptly as Cassie looked on, hands on her hips.

“That’s gross,” she complained.

“Sorry, honey, uh…Five and I were just…”

“Mommy, I’m not dumb. I know you were kissing and it’s definitely yucky. You’re going to get germs.” She paused. “Are you married now?”

Five laughed, and covered your hand with his. “No, we’re not married. But we like each other, is that ok?”

Cassie thought for a moment, the birds around her seeming to stop and think with her. “Yeah, it’s ok. Just remember I want a baby sister, not a baby brother.” Then she turned back to her birds, ignoring the two shocked adults.

“Well…sorry about that,” you responded with a cringe.

“No need to apologize. These are all good things to know. Yes to a baby sister, no to a baby brother.”

“Oh my gosh,” you said, covering your eyes in embarrassment.

Five gently moved your hand away. When you looked back at him, his soft smile told you everything you needed to know. And when he leaned in for another kiss, you felt like you were finally where you were supposed to be.

“I want this. Do you?” he asked, his voice heartbreakingly quiet.

You nodded. “Yes. I feel like…like we’re meant to be somehow. Does that make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense,” Five said before kissing you once again, cradling your face in his hand.

Five had found what he had never dared to dream of. Someone he didn’t have to lie to, or pretend with, or put up a wall against. You liked him for who he was, and he wasn’t ashamed of anything when he was with you. You brought out all of the good within him, and he never felt safer than when he was with you and Cassie. You and she were his found family; the key to his happiness.

As for you, you had finally found the right person. Somehow, Five had become your best friend and confidant. And now, he was something more. Someone that understood you and knew the real you, all the way down to your bones. He was all you had been waiting for, and you couldn’t wait to start a new chapter of your life with him.

[lloromanic0]

HI sorry for the delay here’s the post I promised. xo love u all

I dreamed about this last night and had to write it.

(Can you tell that his mohawk era is my favorite?)

Fucking with Bill while he’s on tour (fem! reader)

At last the day that were the most excited about arrived. Last year you were able to get VIP tickets to meet your favorite band, Tokio Hotel, before their concert. You were thrilled you loved all the members but you had a special spot for the vocalist Bill Kaulitz, there was just something about him that attracted you so much.

You got to the meeting location half and hour before some girls already lined up, you didn’t expect to see many people because VIP tickets were a pain in the ass to get, and you knew how lucky you were to be able to get them. The 30 minutes passed by quickly, in groups of 5 the security let the people waiting come inside, you waited excitingly for your turn to come, you wanted to impress Bill in some way but you figured that just being yourself and being kind to him was the best option, before coming you even got him a small bouquet of yellow roses hopping he would like them.

It was finally your turn, you sat down with the rest of the girls and the four boys sat across from you, you got lucky enough to sit in front of Bill, he greets you with a small have a soft smile which you mimic. You all had a small talk every one took turns on telling something about themselves or asking something to the members,when the chatting time was up you all got to take pictures with the band.

As your turn got closer you started to get nervous to give the flowers to Bill, during the chatting time you noticed that he was looking at you many times, you didn’t want to sound crazy but you knew what you saw he was definitely checking you out.

It was finally your turn you approached them, greeting them all individually, Bill was the last one, after hugging him tightly you pulled away handing him the roses.

“It’s nothing special but I hope it’s of your liking…” you said while smiling at him, your face was so hot and red you felt like you could explode at any time. He took the flowers in his hands while grinning at you.

“You’re so sweet thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it, I’m happy you liked it.”

He stared in your eyes for a second.

“You’re very red sweetheart are you feeling alright?”

The nickname he used for your almost making you melt why did he make you feel like that you wanted him so bad.

“O-oh I’m sorry I actually woke up a bit under the weather today..” you lied with all the teeth in your mouth. He chuckled at your response not believing a single word that had just came out of your mouth, he didn’t say anything so that you wouldn’t be even more embarrassed.

“Okay guys let’s take these pictures quickly we need to hurry.”

You stood next to Bill, giving him a side hug, he was so warm and smelled so good you wanted to stay like this forever, his hand placed on your hip making your heart beat fast, he lightly stroked your hip, as a reaction you cleared your throat.

“You can get the pictures at the reception.” Said the photographer.

As you were about to walk away Bill grabbed your arm as he if wanted to tell you something, he got in front of you so no one could see you both.

He bends down a little to hug you again, and whispers in your ear.

“You were lovely, I want to see you again.”

You felt his hand in the back pocket of your jeans placing a small piece of paper inside. He pulled away winking at you, as you tried to walk away your legs feeling numb due to what just happened.

They all waved bye at you and you did the same, Bill smiled innocently at you.

Outside the building you reach for your back pocket to look at the paper.

“I’m staying at the hotel down the street come see me at 10pm room 324 3rd floor ;)”

You nervously stare at the piece of paper, of course you had a huge crush on Bill but you never expected this to happen.

During the concert Bill’s eyes wondered through the crowd looking for you, your beauty,kind words and actions in that single moment were enough for him to realize that he wanted to get to know you better. He always said that he believed in love at first sight and this might be it.

After the concert you made your way to the hotel, the night breeze blowing softly on your skin making you tug on your jacket tighter as you approached the hotel lobby.

You walked to the elevator, fixing yourself up on the mirror, exhaling nervously and excitedly at the thought of being alone in a room with Bill.

You stood in front of his door for a moment when you finally gathered the courage to knock on the door he immediately opened it and pulled you inside. You stared at him in confusion.

“Sorry don’t want people to see you, you know how it is.”

“Oh I understand..”

“Come on don’t just stand there, come sit.”

You followed him sitting on the edge of the bed, the room had minimal decoration the bed had white sheets, there was a mini fridge a Tv on the wall, a table in front of the bed and a bathroom, on the bed side table he placed a water jar with your flowers in it.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“A water would be nice…”

“Coming right up.” He reached for the mini fridge opening it, he took the water bottle in his hand making it look even smaller in between his large fingers.

“Here you go.” He gave you the water smiling at you, he sat down on the bed next to you.

“Did you have a safe walk?”

You shook your head yes while you chugged some of the water. Bill moved closer to you your heart begging to race.

“How was the concert? I didn’t see you in the crowd.”

“It was really good! I’m sorry I was not very close to the stage.”

“Next time let me know so I can get you to be on the front row where I can see you.”

“Will do.” You replied smiling.

Bill was now making eye contact with his beautifully sculpted face was hypnotic, his hair was down and he had no makeup on and he still looked like an angel to you.

You got even closer to him as your desire for him grew with each second, you knew he wanted this to so you just went for it. Placing your hands on both sides of his face and kissing him deeply, he got surprised at your reaction but he soon melted into the kiss, placing his hand on your lower back.

“A bit bold now aren’t you?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t like it.” You quickly replied.

“I very much did.”

“We’re just getting started.”

You pushed him on the bed getting on top of him.

“I think I’m love.” Said Bill in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“Oh shut up.” You replied kissing him one more time. His hands massaged your lower back and grabbed your ass a few times as you kissed and sucked on his neck, his strong sent invading your nose as he moaned under you.

“You smell so good Bill…” you whispered close to his ear lightly bitting it.

“You’re such a tease Y/N.”

“How do you know my name?” You ask giggling a bit.

“Did my research.” He replied winking at you. You rolled your eyes at him.

“How about you take this off?” You said tugging on his shirt. He lifted his arms up.

“Do the honors.”

You removed his shirt from him admiring his slim and toned upper body.

“Keep staring honey.”

“I will don’t worry.”

You reached down for his belt unbuckling it, unzipping his pants to palm his growing erection.

“Excited aren’t you?” You questioned.

He broke eye contact with you his cheeks now a light pink shade as you kept touching him through his underwear. You took his pants off and placed yourself between his legs.

“May I?” You asked while playing the waist band of his boxers.

“Please do.”

You smiled in response, removing his aching boner from his underwear.

“Fuck…” you whispering under your breath his size startling you. He grinned at your reaction, you pumped his length making him moan lowly. You lowered your face closer to his boner taking his tip in your mouth, you circled your tongue slowly around his tip making him shake and thrust his hips upwards.

“Bill don’t be so desperate now”

“Just p-please…”

“I didn’t know you were like that.” You said at the same time as you stroked him.

“I’m not hhhmm i-it’s just you mmhm~”

You stroked his as fast as you could for a moment making Bill grip the sheets and curse under his breath, you lean down again taking all of him in your mouth gagging a little.

“Oh my- fuckkk.” Bill moaned loudly as you moved your head up and down his cock. Your pussy was aching for him you needed him inside you and he felt the same,he needed to be inside you.

“Please Y/N ride me I need to feel your pussy mmhmm a-and cum inside you hhhmm~”

You quickly took your shirt off along with your bra, and your skirt as well. You got on top of him again, his hands immediately reaching for your panties to remove them desperately needing to feel your cunt tighten around him. You lowered yourself onto him slowly adjusting to him, his lips making an O shape feeling your tightness around him.

“Oh god you feel so good Y/N”

As you reached the base of his cock you lifted your hips back up slamming yourself back down onto him earning a scream of pleasure from Bill. You rode his dick merciless your tits bouncing on his face, as he grabbed on your thighs as hard as he could forming small bruises on your skin.

“Fuck t-too much s-slow down-“ he pleaded

“You can do it for me Bill.”

He turned you on too much not to react like this you wanted him to fill you up with his cum you wanted to claim him as yours.

As your legs started to get sore you used your knees to support you and grind your hips on his, his hands reaching for your ass to help you move your hips on him.

“I can’t wait any longer fuck I n-need to cum mmhmm-“ said Bill in a desperate voice his hips slamming upwards hitting that sweet spot of yours making you moan and tremble with his brutal thrusts.

You placed your hands on his chest for support grabbing on him forcefully your nails digging in his flesh as he kept thrusting in you non stop.

“F-fuck Bill I’m gonna cum..” You whimpered.

“Yes baby cum for me do it yeahh~”

You moved your hips along with his getting that friction you needed to cum all over his cock, he kept fucking you seeking his orgasm.

“Oh my god fuck I’m gonna cum so good in this pussy.” Grunted Bill, cumming deep inside you,his movements getting sloppier as he rode his orgasm.

You collapsed on his chest as he placed his hands behind your back hugging you tight both of you inhaling your natural scent as body warmth.

“That was so good Y/N oh my god.” Whispered Bill, as he stroked your hair.

“We should do this more often…” you replied.

“We will Y/N…I need you..”

You stayed in his room for a few hours,you showered together and he even gave a change of clothes, unfortunately you had to leave in the middle of the night since Bill didn’t want the media to come after you and you didn’t want to raise any attention either.

You kissed him one last time before heading out.

For surprise (or not) the next morning you and Bill were all over the gossip magazines and tv shows.

“How can they do this?” You questioned internally.

————————————————————————

Note: I had another dream with 2023 Bill (yummy) I’m currently writing it along with your requests thank u so much for sending them and please be patient with me😪

[kmp78]

And in today's episode of me versus the universe... 😂

So I was across the border in Lithuania for the day, visiting Hill of the Crosses (quite impressive, I can recommend) and when I come back and exit the minivan I start walking towards my hotel across the Old Town, when...

...who do I spot in front of McD. 😂🧐

On her phone as usual, communicating with someone.

Well, my antennas of course went up immediately, and as she turned around the corner I obvs followed, and who do I see coming from the other direction?

2.0. 😂

He was without a jacket (🥶) and coming from the opposite direction to where the Radisson is, so I was like...??? 🤔

Why's this dude running around so far from the hotel without a jacket?

But then I thought maybe he came by car so makes sense. 🤷🏼‍♀️

They popped into a clothing store and as I walked past the window I saw him trying on jackets and her standing next to him. 🧥

Very coupleyyyyyyy... 😉

Anyway, THIS is where I will admit things got stalkey for sure. 😂🫣🕵🏼‍♀️

I lurked outside the store cos I had nothing better to do anyway (and pondered to myself who the fuck was babysitting when both his minders were out galavanting?!), and finally they came out and 2.0 got himself a snazzy new blue jacket. 😎

They walked back towards the McD and much to my horror...

THEY SEPARATED. 😬🚶🏻‍♀️👋🚶‍♂️‍➡️

I was like... shit! 😫

Which one do I follow?! 😵‍💫

Well, I had to make a quick call and I chose 2.0 cos let's face it: Nana could be going ANYWHERE. 🤷🏼‍♀️

She could just be going to buy La Principessa some tampons so that's fucking useless to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

So yes, I picked 2.0 and walked after him towards the park which was quite handy cos that's where my hotel is too. 👍

When he gets to the park he stops by a street musician playing a synth, and stands there listening for a good while. 🎹

The musician was VERY good. 👍

I stand further back and out of sight, and as the guy stops playing 2.0 approaches him and they chat for a bit, and then 2.0 shows him his phone and asks...

"You know him?"

I legit had to use all my willpower to not snort SO LOUD. 😂🙄

Just... pleeeeeeease. 😭

Then 2.0 goes: " I might come back with him in 30 mins." and leaves.

I'm like AAAAALRIGHTY THEN 🙃 and also start walking after 2.0 cos again, that's where my hotel is too and I assume he's going to go get the weasel.

But then... something weird happens. 🤔

The Radisson where we know everyone else is staying is straight ahead but suddenly 2.0 turns left. 🤔

I'm like...??? Where you going, man?! 🤔

And then...

...he pops into the hotel that's right outside the park. 😳

And THAT's when it clicks in my brain.

That's why he was coming from a different direction than the Radisson without a jacket.

He didn't have to walk any further than across the park because LORD LETO IS NOT STAYING IN THE SAME DINGY RADISSON AS EVERYONE ELSE. ⚠️

So not only are we not travelling together, we also don't wanna see each other's faces in the hotel elevator. 💀

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING HELL IS THIS BAND ANYMORE. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Anyway, maybe like 10 seconds later and before I even had time to move, 2.0 comes back out with luggage and hops into the car waiting outside.

Lord Leto obvs had to already be inside cos the car left immediately to who knows where. 🤷🏼‍♀️

So then I had another choice to make: do I go to my hotel or do I wait for the ~30 mins that 2.0 said it might take for them to come back to the musician... 🤔

Again, since I had no other plans anyway I decided that fuck it, imma wait! Even tho 30 mins in Letoland is usually more like 2.5 hours. 🙄😴

So I stroll back into the park and to the dude playing his synth, and MUCH TO MY SURPRISE almost on time... 🙃

I swear to god if I end up in the background of that Tiktok... 😭🙅🏼‍♀️

Anyway, he listened to the musician guy for like a minute...

...and then took some selfies with him...

...and chatted to that other random dude who for some reason had on weird makeup so JL said looks like he's coming from a cabaret and the guy said he could play The Joker to which JL said he totally could. 😂🤡

Then he spotted ME and waved and said "HI!" and I was like "uh... hello..." 😂🫣

And someone here said I should ask for a selfie so HERE HAVE IT. 😂😂😂✌️

Still counts. 🤷🏼‍♀️💯

Then the trio left (I don't think the synth guy got tonight's The Kill gig btw 🤷🏼‍♀️) and I could FINALLY actually go back to my damn hotel. 😂

THE END. 🙃

Or is it?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Probably not if the universe keeps this shit up. 🤪

[septimaseverinawannawrite]

How the Relationship Begins

Fandom: Star Wars

Type: Headcanons

Pairing: Cassian Andor x F!Reader

Warning: Late night writing, so, no beta. Writer is being overwhelm and under Taylor Swift's Lavender Haze (As you can see title's colours). A little bit OOC.

Rate: T

A/N: This idea happened when I rewatch Andor for fourth time. Now, I'm heavily in the writer-block state, but I don't want to abandon this blog. I believe this dilemma is gonna pass, if I keep writing. So, Enjoy!

🌹Click to My AO3

(Divider by @saradika)

Okay, let's start!

You met him on Yavin IV. Both of you were new to the Alliance's main base.

Since it was the main base, that meant you both had to train for necessary skills.

From the Alliance's levels, he was 'good to excellent', while your far-lenght shooting skill was not reaching the requirement. You stayed at training ground, after all new recruits leaved, to improve your skill.

Cassian saw you practising. He volunteered to help you, because he had feelings toward you.

It was the impression at first sight.

He couldn't clearly answer what kind of feeling, but as you were around him, smiling at him and saying thanks, he felt like he was teenage boy - who had a first crush - again.

While you had been grateful for his help and feeling like butterflies were in your stomach, especially when he adjusting your stance.

Not only his help drove you crazy, but also his smiles, his touches and his whispers into your ear - how to shoot and hitting right at the target.

As you hit all targets in all rows, you jumped and hugged him with happiness and exciting.

Yes. It made you blushing hard like tomatoes, while Cassian's heart skipped a beat. So, you two bounced away.

"First time is a beginner luck. You have to practise everyday." He said. "Meet me every day after dinner."

You agreed. You and Cassian kept meeting at training ground, every evening.

And after the semi-private session. You returned to your quater with many questions in your head. The big question was; 'Did you fall for him?'

You shaked them off and switched with the thought until you falling asleep.

Now you had been practising every evening for 2 weeks, until he challenging you to shoot all targets within 30 seconds. You accepted and you did it.

Jumping and hugging him again. But this time you both lingered. His face and yours were close, enough to feel the breathes. His brown eyes bared his soul, you could not fight them.

"Thank you so much, Cassian. I think tomorrow I will pass the test with flying flag." You mumbled.

"I think so, but, why do you looking to another way?"

You still looked down at the floor, almost startling, he was tilting your chin up to look at him. His thumb gently fondled your lower lips, your lips part a little.

"Cassian...I-I.." You stuttered, "I don't know what to say..."

"Kassa, call me Kassa."

Cassian's raptured voice got you, finally you gazed upon him, whispering 'Kassa'.

Like the gravity around you two sent the colossus magnets pulling you both to capture each other's lips.

After few seconds, which felt like hours; you both withdrew for air, leaning the temples together with wide smiles and small laughing.

When you passed the test and registered as an officially rebellion officer, Cassian was waiting for you.

You hopped and hugging him tightly. He praised you and guiding you away from the chaos around hangar and commanding table.

"Would you like to move into my quarter?" He asked, kissing your temple.

"You should ask me out before asking me to move in with you." You teased him. This time was his turn that his cheeks were reddening.

He knew too well, your both works were not certain. The missions after would take his own or your life. Also, his first mission as Captain Andor had been assigned, he must leave in three days from now. So, he had to rush things like this.

But you had a point. He should ask you out for an official date. He made up his mind and asking you to survey the ancient ruins on Yavin IV with him.

You accepted with conditions and terms;

"Okay, I'm going out with you, but about moving in--"

"But what?"

"But after your first mission succeed and our third date. Because I need the assurance that you are gonna return back safe and sound. Promise me."

Cassian smiled sweetly, kissed you before he speaking.

"I'm certainly gonna get back to you, my love, I promise."

Then you hugged him again and kissing his jawline, just like a seal to guaruntee the new chapter and adventure in your both lives was full of happiness, joyous and bright futures. Even those three words did not slip out yet.

[ausetkmt]

New York Post : First migrants arrive at NYC's Floyd Bennett Field -- only to scoff and leave isolated site after just one look-around: 'Disaster waiting to happen'

The first batch of migrants was bused to Floyd Bennett Field’s makeshift tent city in Brooklyn on Sunday — and wanted no part of it.

Dozens of migrant families arrived at the controversial remote housing site courtesy of the Adams administration shortly after 12:30 p.m., looked around and promptly hopped back on the bus to try to return to their previous shelters.

“We weren’t told where we were going,” one of the bused migrant dads griped to The Post. “I work in the Bronx. My kids go to school in the Bronx. For us to live out here is ridiculous.

“We’re going back,” he fumed.

Another migrant father bused to the field said he has been living at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, the city processing site for the migrants — and was heading back there.

“They are going to take us back to the train so we can go back to 45th Street,” he said. “We didn’t know we were coming here. They just said they were taking us to a shelter.

“I cannot stay here,” he added. “This is crazy.”

A controversial tent shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, a one-time military airfield, is due to house 2,000 migrants, but the first busload abandoned the site after taking just one look Sunday. Gregory P. Mango

One migrant father said it was “crazy” to expect them to stay at the tent city.Gregory P. Mango

Migrants expressed concerns about how isolated the tent city is. Gregory P. Mango

About 2,000 asylum seekers from the US border with Mexico are expected to eventually be housed at the site, which has drawn widespread criticism for everything from its remote location to fire safety concerns.

State Assemblywoman Jaime Williams (D-Brooklyn), whose district includes the national park, was at the field Sunday and spoke with a man who told her he was with the city’s Health & Hospitals system and had talked with some of the migrants.

“When I asked him why did they leave immediately like that, he said the people, they were scared,” the pol said. “They weren’t sure what they were doing here. They don’t want to be here, and they asked to leave.

“They said, ‘It’s so isolated, how could I possibly get back and forth to work?’ or, ‘Getting my children to school from here would be insane.’ So they all asked to leave.

Migrants get back on a bus to leave Floyd Bennett Field. Gregory P. Mango

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” she added of the situation at the budding tent city.

“It’s one of the coldest days so far. There’s going to be a frost tonight,” Williams noted. “It’s not the ideal location for anyone to live. There’s no supermarket. There’s no infrastructure.”

“I’m going to reach out to the Legal Aid Society and the mayor and the governor and ask them to revoke the lease on this site,” she said.

A spokesman for Adams said Sunday that while some migrants did reject the site and signed release forms, others — including a second busload that arrived shortly before 2:30 p.m. — opted to remain.

“As we have said time and time again, more than 139,500 asylum seekers have moved through our intake system since the spring of 2022, all of whom have been offered vital services,” the spokesman said in a statement. 

“But with more than 65,600 migrants still currently in our care, and thousands more continuing to arrive every week, we have used every possible corner of New York City and are quite simply out of good options to shelter migrants,” he said.

Workers gather at the controversial planned tent city at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field to prepare for incoming migrants.Paul Martinka

Migrants stand in line in the cold outside a processing center in Lower Manhattan last month.ZUMAPRESS.com/MEGA

An administration source added that the migrants were warned that the city had no other space for them. The asylum seekers who left will be allowed to return to Floyd Bennett if they want, the source said.

A bus driver said workers were stunned when many of the migrants bused to the site refused to stay.

“We were shocked when they turned around and left — shocked,” the driver told The Post. “Only a few people stayed. We didn’t see that coming.”

Big Apple fire officials had warned that the one-time federal airfield is dangerously ill-suited to house anyone given its remote location and fire hydrants that are a half-mile away and largely “not reliable.”

Fire inspectors also raised concerns that asylum seekers will be allowed to have e-bikes — used by many migrants to work underground food delivery jobs — at the site. The bikes are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which have sparked a number of deadly blazes in the city.

Two FDNY satellite units that would be needed to respond to a fire at the field also are supposed to cover the entire borough of Brooklyn, raising further concerns.

In September, US Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who chairs the House National Resources Committee, was among nearly two dozen lawmakers on Capitol Hill raising questions about the plan at the federal facility.

City fire officials have warned that the planned migrant tent city at a former federal airfield in Brooklyn poses several safety concerns. Gregory P. Mango

Westerman said the former airfield, which is currently a national park, is not “a place to temporarily or permanently encamp persons experiencing a lack of housing,” regardless of “personal or political beliefs on immigration or migrant policy.”

Last week, even former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, speaking to an audience at a packed Brooklyn church, said the decision to use the field as a migrant shelter “defies common sense.”

But Adams has assured that precautions are in place to ensure safety at the site, including an outdoor area for the e-bikes to be stored and shuttle service into the five boroughs.

City officials are also working out the logistics to ensure that migrant children housed at the site have bus transportation to get to classes at distant public schools.

Rows of showers have been installed at an emergency migrant shelter erected at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.REUTERS

Adams has limited options to deal with the 140,000 migrants — more than 65,000 of whom are still in city care — who have flooded the Big Apple from the border since the spring of 2022.

City Hall has sparked a backlash by converting shuttered schools, hotels and other facilities into emergency shelters for the migrants while pleading with the White House for help.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who got approval from the Biden administration to use Floyd Bennett Field for migrants after months of haggling with the White House, has also called on the feds to do more.

On Sunday morning, the six tents set up on a runway at the former Brooklyn airfield were prepped for the arrival of migrants, with a city bus waiting and several mini-buses used to shuttle workers to the site.

The FDNY on Sunday referred questions from The Post to officials at City Hall.

[katrinawritesthings]

Kibum/Taemin; Embarrassing.; PG

"Cool," Taemin says. He takes the uncrustable and the icee and scans them both. He watches Kibum as he does, something that he always does because working this job must be muscle memory for him by now. Honestly, this entire interaction is muscle memory for both of them. Every night it's the same transaction, the same conversation. In just a second Taemin is going to tell him his total is $3 even, Kibum is going to give him the $3, Taemin is going to say thank you come again, and Kibum is going to say thank you, take his things, and leave. It's always the same.

"Your total is $3 and a kiss."

Embarrassment is purely a public emotion. All embarrassment stems from the emotional response to how other people perceive something that you're doing. Even when you're home alone and you do something to embarrass yourself, what you're really responding to is internalized social stigma against things like being yourself and having fun and doing a weird little wiggly dance in front of the toaster because you wanted to. It's what would someone else think that floats in the back of your brain uninvited, not any real personal judgment onto yourself. So logically, if there's no one around to see the embarrassing thing, you shouldn't be embarrassed. If no one can hear the embarrassing thought, then it's not embarrassing in the first place.

All of this Kibum tells himself as he sits in his car in the parking lot of the corner store at 2 in the morning, both hands griping the steering wheel so tight it kind of hurts. It's his usual routine every day that he gets off of work and comes here to grab an icee and an uncrustable before he heads home.

If no one can hear his embarrassing thoughts, then they're not embarrassing. They're just thoughts. That he's having. That are neutral. And are not being judged by anyone except his own brain. Which is is also the thing that is thinking all of these thoughts right now. So, logically, when he walks into the store and greets the cashier, his brain will apply these logical, rational, factual thoughts instead of all the emotional judgmental thoughts projected onto him by society and he will not be embarrassed.

Yes. Good. Yes. Kibum slaps his steering wheel twice, unbuckles his seat belt, and gets out of his car.

He hops up onto the curb, pushes open the glass door, scans the shop’s harsh fluorescent light, locks eyes with the cashier, and is immediately embarrassed.

"Welcome," Taemin mumbles, just like always, elbow propped on the counter, chin propped in his hand. Wavy blond hair falling into his eyes. Cheeks pocked with acne scars, eyelids droopy, lips puffy and shapeless. Bright green work uniform awful against his skin.

Kibum's heart skips in his chest and he doesn't even know what he says back before he's turning into an aisle to hide his face before he gets all red.

It's so embarrassing! He's just, like, some fucking dude. He's just an average little gremlin that can barely stay awake at his shitty awful job and has not said more than 30 unique words to Kibum in over a year but he puts butterflies in Kibum's stomach and that is so. Fucking. Embarrassing.

Kibum grabs an uncrustable reflexively as he passes them, not even checking to make sure he has the right kind as he barrels all the way to the back of the store for the icee machine. Grabbing a large cup, he starts filling it up alternating back and forth between strawberry and watermelon. His hand goes cold holding the cup the entire time, a very uncomfortable contrast to the way he can feel his face getting hotter and hotter.

When it's all the way full up, he takes a minute to just hold the cup against his forehead and try to calm down.

This is also part of his nightly routine.

He rolls the cup back and forth across his face, breathing deep and trying to fill his head with rational logical thinking brain thoughts again instead of cute boy make heart go wheeeeee thoughts. There is nothing for him to be embarrassed about. Taemin looks the way he looks and that is neutral. Kibum likes the way he looks and that is neutral. Taemin has the job that he has and that is neutral. None of these things deserve judgement and the negative judgment that they do receive is not fair and should be ignored.

In fact, if Kibum were further along in his whole self-confidence kick, he would dare to say that these statements are something to be celebrated and appreciated. But he's not that far yet, so he will stick to neutral. If he is neutral then there is nothing to be embarrassed about and he should not be embarrassed.

And even before all of that, if Taemin does not even know that Kibum has crush on him, then the lack of his opinion means that there is nothing to be embarrassed about anyway. If there is no outside perception of Kibum's internal emotion, then there is no embarrassment.

Yes. Good. Yes. Kibum slaps his own cheek twice, then turns around and confidently walks himself up to the front counter. This, at least, is something that he's always been good at. Fake it till you make it has gotten him through his entire life and it's not going to stop now just because it's harder than usual. Taemin blinks slowly at him as he approaches, eyelids droopier and cuter than usual, and Kibum is focusing so hard on keeping a straight face that he doesn't even hear what he mumbles.

Luckily, it's the same thing every night: "Did you find everything you wanted?" So Kibum has a practiced answer ready to go.

"Yep," he says. "Bedtime snacks again."

"Cool," Taemin says. He takes the uncrustable and the icee and scans them both. He watches Kibum as he does, something that he always does because working this job must be muscle memory for him by now. Honestly, this entire interaction is muscle memory for both of them. Every night it's the same transaction, the same conversation. In just a second Taemin is going to tell him his total is $3 even, Kibum is going to give him the $3, Taemin is going to say thank you come again, and Kibum is going to say thank you, take his things, and leave. It's always the same.

"Your total is $3 and a kiss."

Kibum doesn't even know why he's always so stressed about coming in–

"I–wait–what?"

"Come on. Right here." Taemin leans forward halfway over the counter, tapping just under his bottom lip with one of his weird little fingers. "I know you want to." He looks straight at Kibum with his dark eyes and–oh no. He's smiling.

That's the worst thing about it. That he's smiling, smirking, a wicked hook on the corner of his lips like he's daring Kibum to do it.

Actually, scratch that. The worst thing about it is that he's smiling at Kibum and Kibum has never seen him smile before and it's knocked him so breathless that it is literally the only thing he can think about. That and how Taemin somehow fucking knows about his crush. So he's just standing here, hot from his head to his toes, staring at Taemin's mouth, not moving. Which is, by all definitions of the word, fucking embarrassing.

Especially because Taemin isn't moving either. He's just sitting there. Watching Kibum. Smirking. Tapping his lip. Waiting.

"You don't want to steal, do you?" he asks.

Well, of course Kibum doesn't want to steal. His $3 hangs limp in his hand, forgotten almost as he tries to process the situation and figure out what the fuck he should do.

His brain spins a roulette wheel of every possible reaction he could have and comes up with "fuck it."

He leans over the counter, meeting Taemin halfway and, with only a fraction of a second's hesitation, presses their mouths together.

Not for super long. Or super deep. Just long and deep enough to feel it as a kiss, to feel Taemin's mouth moving to fit better against his, to feel the fingers Taemin brushes under his chin.

And when he pulls back, heart going a hundred miles an hour and brain completely stopped, Taemin is still smiling at him. Softer now with his fingers curled against his cheek and smushing his lips up lopsided. He licks his lips, looking Kibum up and down, and then waves the little hand that he still has on the counter.

"See you tomorrow," he hums.

Kibum has no idea how to reply to that, so he doesn't. He takes his things and leaves the store.

One good thing about being absolutely shut the fuck down is that he manages to drive all the way home and get into bed before he comes back to himself enough to dissolve into a flustered, embarrassed mess. And then at least he's comfortable while he does it.

~

Embarrassment is an emotion that lives nestled in with Taemin's soul and always has. He's a weird little gremlin and people make fun of him for it all the time. When he's by himself, it's not a problem and he actually thinks that he is a pretty cool weird little gremlin. It's just that he hates being perceived by other people. Or, he hates the way that other people perceive him. Because the way that other people perceive him is usually negatively.

Realistically, that's probably not true. People probably don't judge him half as much as he thinks that they do. But either way, the way that he perceives other people perceiving him makes him feel embarrassed almost all the time. It's his default emotion, honestly, when he's out in public, and it got so annoying that instead of experiencing it he decided to shut down his emotions around other people a long time ago.

So, like, he's chill with it now. Because he can't feel the emotion of embarrassment if he doesn't have any emotions anymore. He can't be embarrassed if he doesn't care about the judgment that other people project onto him. It's cool. He's cool. It is not a problem.

But what is the problem is that for the very first time in his life, Taemin is embarrassed of himself.

Cute uncrustable boy is sitting outside in his car getting ready to come in and Taemin has his face firmly in his hands trying to get the fuck over himself before that happens. He just. He's so. What the fuck.

He cannot believe the dream that he had last night. Of all the times he's dozed off at work he's never had a dream so fucking flustering and realistic.

$3 and a kiss.

He takes his face out of his hands but only to transfer it onto the glass countertop, banging his forehead against it gently. God. Fuck. What the fuck. In what fucking universe would he actually have the confidence to say that. Not this one. And the fact that he dreamed it–not even just that, but that he dreamed that Kibum actually fell for it and kissed him–fuck.

Never in his life has Taemin judged himself this harshly before, but fuck, he's making up for all of it right now. Trust him to get such a big crush on someone so cool that the only way he could ever confess was in his dreams. What a fucking. Loser. Loser gremlin boi, that's him. That's–

The door chimes as Kibum steps inside and Taemin pops up immediately, back to his default casual slouch at the counter. Fuck. There he is. Cute and regular and tired. Grungy denim jacket on over his roller rink work uniform as usual. New piercings dotting his ears. Scars on his cheek and eyebrow, hair blue this week, lips–

"Welcome," Taemin says, forcing himself to look literally anywhere except Kibum's lips. He's so focused on keeping a straight face that he doesn't even hear what Kibum says back to him before he turns down an aisle to grab his stuff.

Once he disappears behind the shelves, Taemin's face is right back in his hands. If tonight goes according to routine, he has about three minutes before Kibum comes back to buy his stuff. Three minutes for Taemin to calm himself down and get his shit together. Three minutes for him to stop thinking about his dream. About Kibum's mouth on his. About how soft it was, how the taste of watermelon lingered on Taemin's lips after, how the dream was so vivid that the more he thinks about it, the more Taemin remembers it as if it actually happened.

This isn't helping.

You don't want to steal, do you?

Neither is that. Taemin waves his hand in front of his face quickly, back and forth, trying to stim his way out of embarrassment. It doesn't work like it normally does but it does help a little bit. Enough to calm himself down enough to follow some little thought pathways in his brain.

It was a dream. It was not real. Kibum does not know that he has a crush on him and thinks about kissing him a lot and had that dream about him. The only person that Taemin embarrassed himself in front of was himself. And that's not great; that's definitely something that he's going to have to work on and get over, but it does mean that there is no reason why Kibum would start acting different around him. There is no reason to be nervous or flustered around him. For once the judgment is coming from inside rather than out, so for once there's no reason to worry about how someone else is perceiving him. Taemin is good. He's cool. He's calm.

He's calm just in time, because right when he's threading his fingers through his hair, Kibum is approaching the counter with his uncrustable and his icee.

"Did you find everything you wanted?" pops out of his mouth automatically. He swears, he's been working here for three years and he has to have said that over a million times. Usually he hates his work programming, but at least now it's helping him not fall apart.

"Sure did," Kibum smiles. He's smiling more than usual tonight, Taemin thinks. More confidently, maybe, though maybe that's just because he himself is feeling so unconfident. Either way, as Taemin grabs his things to scan them, Kibum leans one hand on his counter and the other hand on his hip and smiles back at him with his sharp eyes and soft dimples and mischievous little mouth and–

"Your total is $3," Taemin says before he starts thinking about Kibum's mouth again.

And, for some reason, Kibum's smile curls up just at the right corner. His left eyebrow, the one with the scar, arches up at the same time.

"No kiss this time?" he asks, light and smooth and confident.

"I–muh–bwuh–what?" Taemin asks, heavy and shaky and confused. He drops the uncrustable, then scrambles to pick it back up and feels it squish messily inside the bag when he grabs it too hard. What the fuck? "What do–what–?"

"Hey, come on," Kibum smiles, leaning closer over the counter. "You can't start acting all shy now." He's not just smiling now; he's smirking, and it's so fucking gorgeous and intimidating and teasing and just straight-up attractive that it leaves Taemin breathless. He's absolutely knocked the fuck out and he doesn't even know how it happened. So he's just standing there, flustered from his head to his toes, staring at Kibum's mouth, blinking nervously as he tries to figure it out.

He can't start acting all shy. He can't start acting all shy now. Which means that there was some moment in time where he wasn't being shy?

Kibum leans his elbow on the counter, tapping just under his bottom lip with his pointer finger. Taemin swallows loudly. That's familiar from somewhere. That's familiar from–wait.

"Come on," Kibum says, locking eyes with Taemin like he's daring him to do it. "Right here, right?"

"That actually fucking happened last night?”

It blurts out of him, falls from his lips and splats hard on the counter in between them. And it's loud; louder than Taemin has ever spoken inside of the store. Louder than he's probably ever spoken on a normal day outside of the store. Not as loud as the current screaming inside of his own head. But almost.

And it keeps going: "I didn't–I wasn't dreaming? I actually said that? I really–oh my fucking god." His face slaps hard into his hands, elbows banging hard against the counter as he dies inside. As he absolutely fucking perishes inside. As his whole entire soul leaves his body and ascends into the cosmos, leaving his body down here, on fire and buzzing with what has to be the biggest embarrassment anyone has ever felt.

"What–you didn't mean to–you thought you were dreaming and I fucking did it anyway? I really–oh my fucking god."

There's a slap and a bang on his counter that, if Taemin wasn't so busy spontaneously combusting, would have registered it as exactly the same as what he just did 10 seconds ago.

But he doesn't, so both of them just stand there, faces in their hands, suffering, sharing this moment of embarrassment together.

[loki-draws-art]

More session doodles, this time from the penultimate finale have some long ass descriptions of each

1) Icarus reunites with his mother and talk (Momma Umbriton can’t talk as she doesn’t have a larynx or tongue but somehow Icarus was really good at reading lips). She makes him promise to stay happy and she tells him that she’s proud of him.

Immediately after their conversation, this takes place:

[…] “That's enough Mommy-Son time, don't you think?” […] Wilbrand then says to her, “Now say goodbye to your son.” and pulls out a pistol and cocks it, pointing it at (the back of) her head. Icarus [..] screams “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Wilbrand simply states, “Careful, it might go off if you mess with it.” [..] Icarus reiterates his question, "What are you doing?" "Taking care of things, but don’t worry, you’ll see her again." “Will I?” Wilbrand shrugs. “You really asked me to come here, to see my mother, JUST SO YOU KILL HER IN FRONT OF ME?” “Yep. Like this-” And he shoots her in the back of her skull, as Icarus screams “NO!!!”. Her body falls to the floor right in front of Icarus.

(This one fucked me up big time)

2) “Cletus tried to convince Orion not to hop into the fight against Wilbrand, but when he wouldn’t listen after about a solid 30 seconds, Cletus tried to push him away, but Orion fought back. Thus Cletus doing is thang and knocking out a bitch.” DM’s words

TLDR: Orion is worried about his bf and apparently almost plays hero but Cletus grabbed a stair pole and knocked him tf out before he could.

3) Post fight

After killing his father and uncle, and sending his mother off with a prayer, Icarus leaves the house only to break down a few feet away.

Meanwhile Laurence walks into where Orion and Cletus were and found Orion KO’d on the floor. After waking him up, Orion almost darts back into the room where the fight took place, but Laurence stopped him and tells him Icarus is outside the house, to which Orion runs out.

Orion, usually subtle when making any entrance, full body tackles Icarus and they both land on the ground. Sobbing ensues from the both of them, complete with Icarus blubbering apologies for everything he’s done to Orion, Orion forgiving him (albeit saying he’s still mad which Icarus understands). Orion manages to say through tears that he wants to start over with Icarus, to which Icarus agrees. Orion then asks Icarus if he wants to join him in stargazing (it’s a pastime/activity of theirs). Icarus accepts. They kiss. Session ends.

[thepercy6andtheradicalsabbatical]

Dubrovnik to Split-

We awoke on our last morning in split and Matt and Becca went on a super quick and relatively flat (by Dubrovnik standards) run then we packed with the usual franticness and stored our bags in the luggage storage in our building at checkout time of 10 AM. Our ferry to split didn’t leave until 3:15 pm so we had some time to kill and we started this buy spending about 2.5 hours of hanging on Banje beach right by our place. The kids had fun exploring the beachside rocks and all enjoyed cooling off in the clear blue waters of the Adriatic. We then used our one 50 euro cent piece to pay for a 30 second beachside shower to try and desalinate the 6 of us (but it seemed like only Matt was willing to brave the ice cold shower water to do so). We then headed back to our place, got our bags out of storage and changed our of swimsuits in the courtyard before catching a bus to the port area. There, Matt’s plan was to check out Dubrovnik beer company and grab beer/lunch. We only succeeded in one of the two as they apparently don’t start serving food until 3, but the beer was tasty and it was a bit refreshing to taste some hops after not getting much of this in beers over the past month or so. We improvised a lunch of bread, cheese and the 100g of Salami Matt had purchased way back in Pianillo and then walked about 10 min to our ferry dock. The children and Becca were once again commenting on Matt’s frugality as we walked by several much larger ferries going the same direction to our much smaller, slightly cheaper and hopefully (for Matt’s sake) equally fast and comfortable “TP lines” ferry to Split. The ferry ride did turn out to be pretty smooth, if a bit long. it was cool to look out and see the coastline of Croatia and hundreds of islands sliding by as we sailed up the smooth waters of the straits between them. We called in Pomena, Korcula, and Hvar before arriving in Split right on time at about 8:30 pm. From Hvar on there was another child who was sprinting laps around the ferry playing a broken english chase game with our 3 littlest kids (Emily the pre-teen read her book instead). On arrival it was immediately apparent that Split was a much bigger town than Dubrovnik with lots of hustle and bustle around us and people trying to get us on taxis. We instead walked to the nearby bus stop where google maps said to get on the number 18 bus, so we did, it was one of those double long busses and Becca/kids got on the back while Matt walked to the front door to pay for tickets. When I got on the driver asked where we were going then looked at Matt's phone and told hime to get off walk across the street and take the 15 bus, so Matt got off and yelled back to the fam to get off which they tried to do but the back doors wouldn't re-open so the family drove off on the bus with Matt standing on the curb! Becca called Matt and we made a plan that they would stay on and ride the 6 stops as originally planned per google maps, which they did and found the place, and checked in. Matt walked across the street as instructed by bus driver but discovered the number 15 bus was not coming for 45 minutes, so he again checked the phone and it advised him to take the number 8 bus which came in 10 minutes so he did, purchased a ticket without being hassled bu the driver this time and ended up with a short 5 min walk to the place at the end. Matt arrived to all the kids being very fired up about arriving at the rental place they had been looking forward to the most of anywhere, complete with a "B" shaped pool the kids had dubbed "the butt pool" in pictures and a kids room with a cars/star wars theme. We finally got them calmed down, unpacked and in bed around 10 pm and the tired adults also hit the hay after social media-ing a bit on our fast internet.

[unrequited-words]

I haven't had a chance to write down how I'm feeling lately. Since it's January 2nd I just wanted to write down how the first day of a new year went.

It was an okay day. I had Sunday off like I normally do. I woke up around nine and got to sleep in. The bed we have is a piece of dogshit and my back has been fucked for a while.

We had the older kids for a week and it was the last day we had with them. They mostly stayed in their room we have set up for them. My stepdaughter on her phone/tablet and my stepson on his tablet.

It was snowing all day. The baby was pretty okay for the most part. Doing toddler things like getting into everything and asking me to watch Paw Patrol for the 72nd time which is normal for her.

Later that afternoon I put her down for a nap and I got to relax with the older kids and my husband. She woke up around 4:30 or so and about 5:15 I had the bright idea to shovel the driveway to help my husband since he did the porch in the back yard earlier that day.

I figured since I'm out here let me get the kids ready to play in the snow. The baby lasted ten minutes maybe as she kept putting her hands directly in the snow and cried and said ouch (I need to buy her some damn gloves)

My stepson made a snow Angel, we had a snowball fight with the older two kids. After ten minutes I took her back in to warm up with her dad who stayed in because it was too cold.

My step daughter went in and after five minutes I had my step son play in the back yard with the snow. My husband finished up dinner.

Later that night, we watched Star Wars. The two older ones could give a flying fuck about the movie. My stepson I guess is on the spectrum so I had to get on top of him on certain things. The baby was in and out of watching the movie and would rather watch Cocomelon.

I fell asleep twenty minutes before it ended. Around 10 the kids went to bed and so did the baby. Husband fell asleep on me which was fantastic because I never see him or get to spend time with him since I've been working a lot of overtime.

Not a bad first of the year.

January 2nd

I woke up at 830 because my back has been fucking killing me since I shoveled the snow last night. I picked their bags, made breakfast and of course yelled at my stepson because he can't pay attention to anything more than five seconds at a time.

Around 11 am we left. Husband is driving and we've seen several cars spin out because of the snow, multiple car wrecks and Utah drivers who can't drive worth dick.

This trip usually takes three hours to drop the kids off and it's taken an hour more due to heavy traffic, having to rebuckle this toddler and readjust myself over and over to get comfortable.

I'll write more when I have something else to update with besides get off my lawn, my back hurts etc 😂

EDIT

2:30 p.m 1/2/23

Dropped off the kids with their mom. Due to weather and snow for us she beat us by ten minutes when we are normally early. I changed the baby in the bathroom. I came back out and had the older two hug their sister.

I strapped her in and husband said we'll stop in an hour and I said well let me pee. I went back inside to pee and while in the bathroom my stepson hugged me and I cried. I owed went back out with the kids and their mom. My daughter hugged me and I hugged her right and cried again.

I tried so hard to hold it together but the connection I feel with her has always been there since day one. I made sure the baby was strapped in tightly since she Houdini'd herself out of the damn car seat during the way there.

I forgot the tablet and husband said I was gonna say to hop back with her. I almost dove back there since she was complaining already. She had my phone the whole way.

Between where we live and Nephi it got really scary. We made it home at 6 pm and left at 11 am. What a long stressful drive. It's eight and a hot shower is calling my name.

Happy New Years for what it's worth

[laurenetuttle]

Japan Days 0 and 1 (September 5th and 6th, 2024)

Today marks the beginning of our Japan trip!! Liz and I carpooled to LAX to catch our 10 am flight to Tokyo. Our friend picked us up at my parents’ house and made us crepes for breakfast on the way to the airport! It was so nice! The airport was not very busy and we got through security and to the gate very quickly. The flight was on time for departure. And it felt like maybe only half (or less than half) of the plane was full. There were so many empty seats! It was a 2-4-2 seat configuration. So Liz and I sat in one of the 2 seat rows. Liz and I decided to backpack this trip because we heard that Japan is not very rollerbag friendly with all the stairs in the subways. I fit all of my things for the 10 day trip into my backpack! But it is MASSIVE. It almost didn’t fit in the overhead compartment LOL. But I made it work!

The flight itself was nice and smooth. The food onboard was just ok. We had a pretty mediocre chicken and mashed potatoes dinner. They did serve us warm chocolate chip cookies halfway through the flight, which was nice. They also had snacks in the back of the plane as well. For the second meal was a little calzone and some yogurt. Because we had a middle of the day flight, neither Liz nor I really did any sleeping. We both got some rest with our eyes closed, but it wasn’t really comfortable enough to sleep. Both of our chairs would not stay reclined. I would push my chair back and then slowly it would be straight upright again. That was pretty annoying. Otherwise, we watched movies/tv, listened to music, and chatted. It was slated to be a 12 hour flight, but it actually landed right under 11 hours!

We landed at around 1:10pm Tokyo time. We went through a shoe disinfecting process to prevent transmission of certain viruses (particularly agricultural). We then waited in the longest, hottest line to get through immigration. It was a giant room with tons of single file lines that snaked back and forth. We also had to carry our heavy backpacks the whole time. I’m definitely going to need a massage after this trip. We didn’t have any bags to pick up at baggage claim, so we skipped that part! And we breezed through customs! We then headed to pick up our pocket WiFi. Instead of paying Verizon $10/day for international service and limited data, we decided to rent a device that provides high quality WiFi. We just need to carry it around with us. But it was like $30/person for the whole trip! So we picked that up and set it up and then set out for our hotel! We hopped on a monorail and then two train transfers to get to our hotel. Thankfully, the subway/train system in Tokyo is so easy to understand and navigate. We have not gotten lost or gotten on the wrong train yet!

We then checked into our lovely hotel. It appears to be relatively new with very trendy decor. The rooms are nice and spacious and have tons of amenities! They provided us pajamas, slippers, and other odds and ends. Also, the toilets in Japan are quite fancy. They all have bidets. So there are tons of buttons that make going to the bathroom complicated haha. The bathroom at the airport played music while you used it so other people wouldn’t hear. The toilet in our hotel room has a heated seat which is very nice. We then organized our room a little bit and decided to check out the Family Mart that is attached to the hotel. Japan is known for their convenience stores! They all reportedly have great food options! We then took the subway to a different neighborhood to a teppanyaki restaurant (similar to hibachi) for my birthday dinner! Today is my birthday! Teppanyaki is where they cook the food in front of you. We had delicious wagyu steak, potatoes, carrots, sprouts, salad, miso soup, and the most amazing garlic rice. It was a really tasty dinner and a lot of fun for my birthday! We also had a realization that we should have practiced our chopstick skills before coming here! They did offer a fork and spoon for us, but we’re trying to use the chopsticks! By the end of dinner, both Liz and I had officially turned into zombies. I think we’ve been awake for about 23 hours at this point. It’s almost 8 pm and we’re getting ready for bed. We had a lovely shower and are relaxing and figuring out some details for tomorrow! I’m very excited for all the fun things we have planned for tomorrow!! Good night! Wish us luck battling jet lag!

[lizzygrantarchives]

The Sun, January 27, 2012

'When I write songs, I stand under the telephone wires and take in their energy'

The thrill of hearing a great album from a mysterious new artist for the first time is great daydream material.

You can drift off into a smoke-filled hotel room with a rock star crumpled in the corner, sobering up as an all-nighter comes to a close, delicate tinkering on a guitar distracting from the pain of a headache as yet another hangover says "hello".

Or you can picture a weeping female solo star scribbling melancholic lyrics over a love lost in heartbreaking circumstances, tears blotting the ink as they splash on the page.

I pictured Lana Del Rey writing her new album Born To Die in the biting cold of a New York winter, or on the road to the Hamptons.

I was wrong.

Lana says: "When the body is in motion the mind kind of follows. I like to write when I'm moving, when there's nothing getting in the way.

"The nice thing is a lot of the album was written before anything was happening, any deals or contracts. So a lot, I would say a third of it, was written in California.

"I had a car, so I was just driving from Santa Monica to Malibu thinking out loud.

"One of my best friends, Daniel — the string composer on some of the songs — is who I stay with in California.

"When he went to work, I would go down to the foot of the hill, underneath the telephone wires. When it's really hot, they're really electric and crackle. I would try to get energy from the wires."

It's a colourful, happy picture she paints. It explains a lot of the warm Hollywood imagery from the Video Games promo, which 20million people have viewed on YouTube.

"It's great driving music too," she explains in her hypnotic East Coast accent.

Born To Die, out on January 30, is a 12-track road trip millions of fans will be investing in over the coming weeks and months.

It's a beautiful collection of ballads and sophisticated pop songs, weaved together so well it requires you to listen to the album as a whole. It's the Holy Grail for artists — the much sought-after winning formula.

Lana, real name Lizzie Grant, has found it with the help of brilliant producer Justin Parker and some trusted musician pals.

A lot of people are taking notice, including Damon Albarn.

She said: "I spent a day with Damon. It was good. He saw me on Jools Holland. Damon and Bobby Womack had been watching the show together that night and called me the next day asking me if I'd come over.

"I just drove over and they just wanted me to freestyle, make up a chorus on a song. So I did.

"He's smart. I've taken notice of a lot of UK artists. I like Professor Green and Mark Ronson. Those two stand out."

There's a sense on the album that hip-hop beats have influenced the rhythm of some of her tracks. The lyrics on Radio are a nod to some of her teenage listening tastes.

She explains: "Eminem was the first hip-hop I listened to. He was the most innovative lyricist I had ever heard.

"I didn't really hear Biggie Smalls until I was 20. But again, that really influenced me.

"Listening to that music made me happy and I can write better when I'm happier."

Lana's live performances have been honed in the underground clubs of New York City and she has looked to Bob Dylan for inspiration during her long walks in the sticky heat of an East Coast summer.

She says: "He had clarity, such a way with words.

"I think when I'm writing the melodies they just sound bittersweet because I've found things to be a little bit difficult at times, but also beautiful.

"I just write while I'm walking and I'll take it to one of my producers and ask him to help me put chords underneath it.

"But sometimes too, like with the track Radio, Justin just held down long keys. Sometimes what I ask my producers to do is just hold down long extended, melancholic notes and I end up just freestyling over them.

"I keep everything pretty simple. It's funny, I'm a writer first and a singer second.

"We're really busy right now but I think I'm just going to settle down for a bit.

"Ideally what I'd like to do in a few months — or later on — is go back to the West Village in New York, have a residency there somewhere and just continue to do my work and stuff on the side."

And for all Lana's fans wondering whether to call her by her real name Lizzie if they stumble across her on her regular trips to the UK, here's the answer.

"I like them both, they feel really comfortable to me.

"Everyone I work with calls me Lana, but it feels like home, it feels like me.

"When my mother is in the same room as my manager and publicist, no one gets the feeling they're talking to a different person, it's just kind of how it goes. My dad calls me Lizzie but my mum just calls me Honey."

Apt really. Born To Die is the manuka honey of albums in 2012 — and here Lana reveals the inspiration behind six songs.

Video Games

It's a song about letting go of my musical ambitions and settling down into a simple life with a person I loved. We had a mutual love for the community of New York, art and hard work.

Born To Die

Born To Die best represented the mood and the energy of the entire album so I named the record after this track. I consider the record a homage to true love lost and a tribute to living life on the wild side. When I was young I was overwhelmed by thoughts of my own mortality, but I also found fleeting moments of happiness in the arms of my lover and friends. This track and the record are about these two worlds — death and love — coming together.

Carmen

Carmen is a song I can't say too much about because it's so close to my heart. It's the song on the record I relate to most closely. It's set partly in Coney Island, a place that's been important to me throughout my New York City career.

Radio

Radio is a song I wrote in the middle of making the record after Fearne Cotton started playing Video Games on Radio 1. I was grateful that the song being on the radio brought some old friends back into my life — especially one person. In the chorus of the song I sing "Now my life is sweet like cinnamon like a f****** dream I'm living in — baby loves me 'cause I'm playing on the radio. Lick me up and take me like a vitamin, 'cause my body's sweet like sugar venom, oh yeah."

Million Dollar Man

Million Dollar Man is my favourite song to sing live. It sounds best in New York City jazz clubs under a blue spot light. It's a song about a man who thought I was one of the most exotic things he had ever seen and me indulging in his appreciation and love. On the outside he was handsome and wholesome, but under wraps he was running an illegal electronic business which ended up taking him and his friends under, hence the chorus — "You look like a million dollar man, so why is my heart broke?"

National Anthem

It's another escapist song, revelling in the good times. I've been with this guy off and on for a long time, but we used to just drive from New York in his car up to the Hamptons. I remember thinking at the time it was just heaven. It's funny, all the songs are about the same thing — going away with the one you love and then coming back home. In having relationships, you're able to explore other sides of yourself.

Originally published on thesun.co.uk.

[angelzombiepirate]

dam meltdam

went to amsterdam last week, didn't smoke, i green when im not tucked up in my bed like a victorian child on cocaine :3

e and i stayed on a boat, which would move during the day, our first day, it was docked next to the nemo, cute, easy to get to centraal and back. the second day, we hopped off next to the nemo and waved goodbye as it sailed away (im lying, we didnt do that).

we made plans for the evening while wandering the streets of dam, we planned to seek out the boat, make sure we are absolutely sure on how to get there before we return back to central to see a drag show and get pissed.

we check the map and its a little out of our way, in zaandam, no matter, we will hop on the train! because we have three day passes for all public transport in amsterdam! hurrah!

we arrive at the station and i joke: "oh my god, imagine our tickets don't work because we are outside of amsterdam."

e and i lol nervously.

we get to the ticket barriers, take a deep breath, place our tickets against the scanner...

the scanner will light up either green or red.

the milliseconds feel like millennias.

and...

FUCK

okay, it's fine, we can use our cards, i put my phone against the scanner and again,

CHRIST

the screen reads something like "didn't work, ur card isn't registered, twat"

okay, fuck you.

thankfully there are some other brits on our side of the barriers in the same situation, it would be great if the ticket machine were working, but we can't figure it out, even with our combined brainpower.

we consider jumping the barriers, but there is a very intimidating dutch woman sitting at a desk, we could ask her for help, but there is a glass fucking wall between us, and when we tap on it and do some mime for 'please help, our tickets aren't working and neither is your machine' she just shruggs and looks away.

right.

we stand like lemons for a while, gauging the hight of the barriers, to see if they're jumpable, but i'm not very agile at the best of times, and i have a heavy backpack on, and my feet are screaming for me to SIT DOWN.

by the grace of god, some tall, blonde, dutch angel hears our dillema, and scans his ticket, to let us all through.

BEDANKT!

we part ways with our fellow helpless brits and find the courage to speak to the scary dutch train lady that is no longer behind the wall of glass.

"our tickets didnt work"

"can i see the ticket"

"yeah sure"

this lady looked me in the eye and tore my 30 euro ticket clean in half.

im lying

she informed us that we should have gotten the amsterdam and reigon ticket instead, it would've cost the same amount, and gotten us into zaandam.

"can we buy them here?"

"you can, but it would be cheaper for you to just buy a return ticket back to amsterdam, if you buy the reigon ticket now, you'll be paying double"

guys?? the train service isnt exploiting us??

we thank her, she wasn't as mean as she looked. we decided to just find the boat, and buy our tickets on the way back to dam for the evening.

zaandam felt weird, i suddenly felt out of place, the looks i was getting in amsterdam were not like the looks i was getting here.

zaandam was less tourist heavy i suppose, and being a queer man with blue hair and pronouns felt a little unsafe.

we found an albert heijn. e and i loved albert heijn for some reason. we mooched and looked for something to eat, and left with a couple drinks, deciding maybe we should eat at the ramen place we passed before coming into the shop.

my feet hurt a bit. quite a lot actually.

we stand at the door of the ramen place, looking over the menu and prices, e says that maybe we shouldn't go back into dam tonight, the train was a bit of a pain in the arse. i'm fine with that, we can just go and sit on the boat for the evening and chill.

we wait to order at the ramen place, there are some loud kids to the left of me and a family on my right, and the sound of chairs scraping the floor.

oh, the staff are packing up the chairs, they are closing.

that's fine, we can just go back to the supermarket and get a microwave meal to make on the boat.

my feet really fucking hurt.

i'm looking for something to eat but there's nothing i recognise, nothing i really fancy, im hungry but i want something i know.

e is looking at all the different sausages, she likes cooking, she knows a lot about good food.

i look around the shop probably three times, and land on a can of pringles at last.

dinner!

we walk to the checkout, e walks, i hobble, my feet are killing me.

we put our stuff on the conveyor and i beckon e to move towards me a little, there is a man who wants to put his stuff down also.

"what? do you want to talk to me?"

oh, e sounds angry.

"there's a guy there, i just wanted you to move out of his way."

beep, beep, beep.

stupid fucking scanners.

e sighs and moves.

"why are you being so rude?" i ask, with tears in my eyes.

"what?"

i turn away, i don't usually cry in dutch supermarkets, i don't want anyone to see.

i hold out a 10 euro banknote, "can you pay please?"

"yeah"

e pays and we leave, i step out the door and i sob.

im breathing really weird and e isnt being rude, i don't know if she was ever being rude.

"you okay?"

"can we go and sit on that bench?"

"yeah"

e gives me a weird 'i dont know what to do' hug.

i explain a little, e isnt autistic, so she doesn't quite understand, and that makes me feel a little shit.

but other than that, i feel a little better.

i explain that while its all fine, i'm just having a hard time adjusting to things, we are in an unfamiliar place, i feel unsafe, i'm in pain, dinner plans changed, evening plans changed, e's demeanour changed.

"we can just sit here for a while. then we can go back to the boat and chill."

"yeah."

i get over it pretty quickly, albeit feeling pretty exhausted, on top of the exhaustion i was already feeling.

and e and i get back to the boat.

we sit on top of the boat, have dinner, and do some colouring. (we found a funky colouring book in flying tiger)

THE END

[keefwho]

May 06 - 2024 Monday

11:01pm

5/10

I've been getting to bed late so I haven't had the proper time to write down my thoughts. It has to be quick tonight too. This morning I mowed the lawn for the first time this year, it was nice and looks so much better. I didn't rake though, I will next time. In the shower I tried to play VRchat again but I joined an empty world and stayed there. No one else joined. For breakfast I made my last jimmy dean sandwich and rice. My weight was up a tiny bit so I planned to have a light lunch. I started an episode of Black Mirror that DS recommended me and I got hooked. I was only able to watch half before work and I was eager to continue later. I popped in on BR and JG in their VC very briefly to see what was up.

For work I warmed up with arm sketches, looking at different muscle locations. Then I sketched the commissions I forgot to on Friday and finished GS's commission. I had 30 minutes to spare so I worked on a personal thing too. While reading comments at the beginning, someone had said all my characters look like cubs on an e621 tag bot post which was insane to me. Like I don't know what he's seeing. We also found out he likes school girl stuff so.

After work I continued Black Mirror while I snacked and made lunch. I ate the rest of my Salt and Vinegar chips and made lipton soup. Since my frozen bread broke apart, I used it in my soup instead of crumbled up crackers as a way to thicken it. I didn't boil it long enough though so all I got were chunks of soft, slimy bread that ruined the soup. I choked it down anyways but it was not fun. Then I started the first Black Mirror episode since I was curious.

In the afternoon I sketched something for DS that I got permission to continue with. I did some more sketches while I waited for that and that was pretty much the whole hour of friend art this week. The request winner didn't get back to me in time and neither did the second winner so I skipped requests today. With how I was feeling and the upcoming therapy appointment, I didn't work on anything else today.

Therapy was fine, we mostly went over what's been happening and how things are pretty stable. Next time I'm going to have some long term goals organized and maybe he can help me come up with a way to keep track of them so I keep working on them.

After that I hopped on Minecraft in a call with AE and BT. They didn't talk much. I was trying to figure out how to start my new snowman kingdom. Then DS called so I joined her while I played and we watched furry videos. I briefly switched to KSP and she headed to bed. While she did, I finished that first BM episode. In bed we did puzzles, set a new record for the crossword time, and I played KH2.

I want to give journaling more attention. Sometimes I do it as a chore and sort of mindlessly. I'd like to take my time and consider it as if I was writing for someone who has no context for anything in my life. I think it'll help me to expand in greater detail and assist in my communication/perspective taking skills. But to do that I need time so I should probably enforce a nighttime cutoff time again where I get off to do dishes and get ready for bed. Usually 10:30 has been good enough.

[0613magazine]

230307 EFE

BTS leader isn’t thinking about future, but would like to work with Rosalía

RM, the lead singer of K-pop supergroup BTS, would love to one day collaborate with Spanish star Rosalía – his favorite Spanish singer – but with his mandatory military service in South Korea approaching, he will not be taking on any projects in the near future.

During an interview with Efe in Barcelona, the South Korean singer admits that he is going through a “hard time on a human level”, because after 10 years non-stop with BTS, the band members’ looming military service has forced the group into a temporary break.

But Kim Nam-joon, better known by the stage name RM, wants to stay positive, and insists that the situation “can be beneficial to him as an artist,” because “some great work is born in personally chaotic moments.”

“When you are famous, staying on top is very difficult,” he admits, “but I think BTS will make it. It will come together again when we finish our military service, and we will look for new synergies between us to enter a second phase. But, in any case, nothing lasts forever.”

On Rosalía, he says that all the members of BTS “like her very much and respect her a lot” as a very famous and influential star. Asked if he would like to collaborate with her, Kim Nam-joon does not hesitate: “If she wants to, I do too.”

SECOND SOLO ALBUM IN THE PIPELINE

Soon after releasing his most personal album ‘Indigo’ at the end of last year, and in search of inspiration for a second solo album, RM traveled to Spain for the first time this week.

The boy band has yet to perform in the country, as their 2020 world tour, on which they planned to reach the few remaining corners of the world they had not set foot in, was canceled due to the pandemic.

“I chose Spain to travel with my family because I have friends who are not artists who have told me it’s a great place,” he says.

“I wanted to see artworks by (painters) Goya, Velazquez and Picasso for inspiration and I’ve been to the Prado and other museums,” he adds during his visit to Barcelona, where he was impressed by the iconic Sagrada Familia basilica by Spanish architect Gaudi. Before that, he took in the capital Madrid and the northern city of Bilbao.

“I came to Spain because of my love of its art and, if someone learns about my country’s culture through my songs, it is an honor that makes me happy,” he says.

MILITARY SERVICE TRIGGERS PERIOD OF REFLECTION

South Koreans are obligated to sign up for 18 months of military service before they turn 30 – the eldest member of BTS, Jin, has already enlisted, with the rest of the group soon to follow suit.

It has forced a temporary break on the boyband with the group at its peak that RM has taken advantage of to release his first solo album ‘Indigo’, in which he frees himself from the strict rules of combining being the main standard-bearer of K-pop and searching for his own identity.

“After 10 years as a member of BTS, I didn’t know who I was and I wanted to know,” he says. “I started out as a teenage rapper, then BTS came along and it was all very intense. Now that the group is inactive, I’ve gone back to thinking about the beginnings and the real reasons why I joined BTS.”

It is a process of reflection that has led him to contemplate the meaning of a musical career that has been dictated by trends.

BREAKING FREE FROM FADS

“K-pop and k-drama are in fashion,” he says, “so, ironically, I am at the center of the trend at a time when I feel the need to step away from that and have time to think and create with a more timeless outlook.”

The first result of this new approach is ‘Indigo’, an album full of stellar collaborations that combines elements of hip-hop, neo-soul, R&B, folk, electronic music and urban pop, a work which he insists presents a version of himself that is unrecognizable from the one that social media and worldwide fame have created.

But he has not turned his back on his time with BTS, which he is proud of for allowing millions of people around the world to discover Korean culture through his songs and for having paved the way for others to follow.

Source: EFE