#yay for a weekly drop

[bewitching-666]

:)

[umilily]

sooo has anyone figured out how you're supposed to deal with sucking at the things you're reputed to be good at??

[hatsukeii]

ring pop! / bsf!ushijima wakatoshi x reader

genre(s): heavy on the crack and fluff, dumb and dumber, ushiwaka is dense but loveable! childhood bsf to lovers! yay! sunshine! rainbows! candy!

warning(s): nothing, implied fem reader for fluency's sake, but please interpret this as you'd like!! i myself am non-binary, so at the very least you know the person who's writing has you in mind!! i still tried my best to keep everything gender neutral to the best of my ability!!

wc: 1490

tldr; “boyfriend? but i thought we were already dating?”

“Wakatoshi, can I have your second button?”

Petals of blooming sakura flowers replace the grey pavement beneath your shoes with a mosaic of dusty pink as you stand beneath Shiratorizawa’s famous confession tree. It’s a ritual that has been done for many graduations before your own, students would act nonchalant as they drag their romantic prospects beneath this very tree, all to ask for their second shirt button. This year, it’s your turn, your hands clenched behind your back as you rock forward, backward, forward, backward.

“What do you mean? My second button?”

“Yeah, your second button.”

Wakatoshi’s nose twitches in confusion and under the blanket of pollen from the flowers above. What’s so special about his second button, that you’ve dragged him under the Shiratorizawa tree for? His hand shoots up, picking at the thread sewn between each hole in his second uniform button. It doesn’t budge as he picks and pulls, until finally, he rips it off with force, handing it to you between pinched fingers.

“Here.” He reaches for one of your hands, linked with the other in anxiety and anticipation, and pushes your fingers apart, before dropping the button into your palm unceremoniously. You stare blankly at the small round in your hand, then at Wakatoshi’s deadpan expression.

“Toshi, that’s…that’s not how it works.”

He tilts his head in confusion, eyebrows furrowing as if trying to search your head for clues. The petals shuffle beneath your feet as you mindlessly grind your shoe into the ground, not sure what to make of this situation.

“I’m not sure what you mean. I gave you the second button, like you asked. Did I do something wrong?”

“Wakatoshi, I’m asking you to be my boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? Do you hear yourself? What nonsense, what has he been to you for the past six years, if not that?

“Boyfriend? But I thought we were already dating?”

You mind empties its contents as your jaw goes slack, a dumbfounded hum escaping your windpipe. You’re not too sure- no, you have not a single idea when that idea planted itself into his head. You’ve been subtle enough, right? And careful too! No love letters, or secret gifts, or bento boxes, just day to day, regular best friend interactions between the two of you. What could have possibly gone wrong?

“Dating? Where did you get that from??”

Wakatoshi frowns, hands moving to his pockets. A spring breeze whizzes by, filling the stale air between himself and you. That’s not very nice of you. Wakatoshi knows close to nothing about relationships, but he does know one thing: You probably should remember how you got together in the first place.

“You…forgot?” After all these years of tailing behind you at grocery stores, and weekly dinners at your house, and running to your place at a text’s notice, only to end up watching dramas all night and crying with you, and you forgot that you were dating? His voice quivers, a rush of betrayal in the gleam of his eyes stabbing at your chest as he grimaces at your confused expression, then back at the second button he just ripped off his chest that sits in your hand.

“I think I would remember if we‘re dating…but we aren’t.”

“How could you forget? I still have the ring pop from that day!”

What?

“Wakatoshi, the ring pop? From sixth grade?” At the mention of the ring pop, the fuzziness of an afternoon six years ago is wiped clean. You can almost taste the disgustingly artificial grape flavour that tingled and fizzed on your tongue, before sending you into a sugar high for hours, feel the cheap plastic ring that hung a size too big from your ring finger. You’re fairly certain that the company had discontinued that line of ring pops by now, the two pack too costly of a production for the cheap price they sold for in convenience stores.

“Yeah! I asked you to be my girlfriend with the second pop, and you said yes! You even wore the ring on your ring finger!”

His hands leave his pockets now, pointing accusingly at your ring finger that lacks a humorously large plastic ring. You’re not sure whether to be shocked or to laugh hysterically, not when Wakatoshi’s accusations of your…infidelity? are rooted in the sanctity and candour of a discontinued ring pop, until it all hits you at once. All the nights that he would drop off bags of groceries at your doorstep, your mother gleaming at his persistent service, and the afternoons of watching his volleyball trainings, his eyes glancing at you for approval at every legal point he makes, all the little times that led up to your eventual confession weren’t “best friend interactions.”

They were the actions of a boyfriend. A boyfriend, who (rightfully so) thought he was dating his girlfriend.

“Toshi…did it never occur to you that we’ve done absolutely NOTHING in all these years of ‘dating’? I mean, wouldn’t you have wanted to, I dunno, hold my hand? Or like, kiss me?”

Wakatoshi jolts backwards by an inch, hand travelling towards his jaw as he rubs it introspectively, trying to fan off the heat that is crawling from his chest to his neck. You stifle a giggle, before clearing your throat guiltily. No, you shouldn’t laugh at him. He’s trying his best to process the past six years of unrequited ‘dating’, how could you interrupt him? Do you have no heart, or shame?

“W-well, my dad’s always taught me not to do anything with anyone, partner or not, unless they asked for it first… and you never asked to. So, I never did.” He finally responds, as confidently as his stuttering voice could seem. “Besides, I assumed you weren’t the type of person to be into super-romantic dating, so I just never questioned it.”

You shake your head, smiling at the ground as you take a step towards him. Your hand grips his uniform button by your side, afraid that it might get lost in the petals if you drop it. Wakatoshi’s head darts from left to right, as if piecing together red herrings on a cork board, pinning down every interaction from sixth grade to now with thumbtacks as the strings tangle and twist.

“What about our drama nights? Was that also just being best friends?”

“Yes, Wakatoshi. That is what best friends do.”

“The grocery runs?”

“You offered to do them, and I assumed it was because you were always training late and wanted to help a friend out on the way home.”

“And the weekly dinners at your place?”

“We’re neighbours!”

You watch him groan, his face shoved into his now clammy palms. This is information overload, and Wakatoshi’s processor is melting down in front of your very eyes. He shakes his head frantically, his hair becoming disheveled. His hands run through his green locks, and land on his hips as his feet tap at the petal-covered ground.

“So, we have not been dating for six years, but you want to start dating from today onwards?”

"That is exactly what I'm asking."

Finally. He’s finally got it. The button weighs heavy in your hand, and you duck beneath his face to look him in the eye. He glances away, visibly repulsed by his embarrassment. He should've caught the signs...well, earlier. It somehow has never occured to him that a ring pop proposal might not be the most legitimate way to one's heart, and it certainly has never occured to him that it might have come off as an ingenuine attempt at securing a relationship.

"I meant it when I gave you the ring pop though."

Your face morphs into an effortless smile, the towering boy looking more timid than he ever has before. You haven't changed one bit since the day he's 'proposed' to you, from the smile lines that adorn your face, to the little pout of your lips when you grin. And as you look at him, eyes shimmering under the shade of the infamous Shiratorizawa confession tree, Wakatoshi is twleve years old again, missing a canine tooth on the top right side of his toothbed. He's pinching a long discontinued ring pop between both thumbs and index fingers, getting down on one bandaged knee earnestly to pop the big question.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

And suddenly, you're twelve years old, standing right there, in front of him, tiny hands covering your mouth as you gasp and tell him yes, a million times over and more. Wakatoshi is 5'2 here, a whole foot shorter than his now eighteen year old self, slotting a ring pop that's two sizes too big on your ring finger, the candy diamond shimmering in the sunlight on the walk home. Except now, the ring pop has transformed into the second button of his soon to be forgotten Shiratorizawa shirt, residing in your clenched fist.

"I know. I know you did."

His eyes refocus as he snaps out of his thoughts, and he wonders if you still have the plastic ring from the ring pop, the one that means to him doing groceries for your household before his own, and showing up at your door to watch dramas all night in your bed, and helping your parents with the cooking before your weekly dinners. His eyes soften, the probing frown long gone from his face as he returns your smile with his own, cheeks pink and teeth threatening to show through his suppressed grin.

"Does this mean I get to kiss you now?"

"Yes, Toshi. Yes it does."

His hands spare no time to cup your face, pulling it up to his own as his fingers draw lines across your cheekbones. Wakatoshi's brain bursts in sparks of gold and red, and he genuinely ponders how he has lived until now without ever doing this once. He pulls away, unsure what else to do after, before sneezing in your face.

"Sorry, pollen, gross."

"Let's get out of here then, quick."

You grab his hand in your own, another sensation he isn't sure how he's lived without until now, and pull him away from the tree as you run to the school exit. He jogs behind you, and you turn around, your fingers interlocked with each other's.

"By the way, happy sixth anniversary, Toshi!"

author's note:

@catsoupki here's your long overdue ushiwaka prompt baby i hope you like you like ;P i had so much fun writing this omg i cracked myself AND my sister up like twenty times running her through what my plan was LMAOO

i too need ushiwaka btw i actually love him SO MUCH it's not funny anymore I NEED HIM SBSBSBSBSB the only other fic i have of him is genuinely some of the worst situations i've put any haikyuu character in recently so i have to treat him to a good one here ofc

anyways tags!!

@starlysama @chuuya-brainrot @fiannee @bailey-reeds

ok love u guys see u next fic bye bye

[starstruckchilli]

Billy Batson Fic Idea:

Billy has been in the Justice League for just over a year, as an eleven-year-old parading in an adult’s body.

Unfortunately, in an especially difficult battle he’s forced to reveal his identity to his teammates, and they don’t take it well.

With a little digging from Batman, his foster history and eventually drop from the systems are exposed. Now the entire JLA view him as a pathetic child in need of saving by them.

Superman orders Martian Manhunter to remove all of Billy memories of Captain Marvel so that they can protect him from the “dangers of hero work.” Subsequently, Billy is fostered by Bruce and placed in the Wayne household.

The batfam keep their ‘bat’ secrets from him, and after six months acclimating to the manor, Billy starts keeping his secrets from them.

Clearly, he’s some sort of meta.

Lightening has been arching off his body in, powerful, sporadic bursts whenever his emotions are particularly heightened. As a citizen of Gotham, he’s well aware of the “no meta” rule and fears what Batman (a cool, cryptid vigilante that he’s never seen before no matter how much it feels like he knows him on a personal level) will do to him.

So he tells no one, especially not his foster siblings.

Furthermore, his mind has been messing with him, inserting fragments of memories that he can’t quite place.

He gets especially dizzy around news stations. He swears he can envision Captain Marvel in detail, despite his certainty that he’d never met the hero. The feeling is so powerful though, to the point that he compulsively starts collecting news articles about “the hero that went missing.” He begins unconsciously seeking connects to his former life.

When Billy works out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and the Batfam work out Billy has magic, it’s already too late.

Cap’s god-like powers have already returned all of his memories.

Billy is overcome with unadulterated fury at the revelation.

Marvel’s powers have been suppressed within Billy for far too long and they excitably respond to these emotions.

Billy confronts Batman, screaming about how they invaded his mind and stripped him of his autonomy. All the while, thunder and lightening rains down upon Gotham, menacingly striking the manor.

He yells at Batman for coercing him into their family in order to fulfil some sort of guilt complex. They basically kidnapped him and kept him as a pet.

They stripped him of his home, his life goals, his morals, and worse of all, his identity.

Every few words, Billy pauses to yell Shazam. The lightening tears apart the manor, setting the south wing aflame.

Nobody can get close to him without being struck by a particularly vengeful beam of light.

“Shazam. You ripped me from my home. Shazam. You kept me like a pet. Shazam. You stripped me of everything I believed in. Shazam.” He booms, voice thunderous and hateful.

The Mightest mortal looks intimidating as he switches forms. His hair whips in the wind and his eyes glow white with electrical rage.

As he turns of fly back to Gotham, Billy swears that he will never stop heroing for Fawcett, and if the JLA tries to interrupt him, he will have no choice but to treat them as enemies.

Bruce is left to rot in his regret and dread as he watches his foster son that he’d come to love fly away. He puts on his cowl and heads up to the Watchtower with a new resolve; to convince the superheroes that Captain Marvel needs to come back to the league.

In the end, more stuff goes down. Dick and Steph and some other family members go to Fawcett to convince Billy to come home. He ignores them. Bruce is wallowing in the Batcave while presenting weekly PowerPoints to the JLA about Captain Marvel’s essentialness.

Eventually they are all united by a big bad. Bruce saves Billy’s life then Captain Marvel saves the day. He accepts his invitation back into the league and starts living with the Wayne’s again. Everyone is happy. Yay.

Lemme know if u think I should write this lol

[romanreignsbae]

Baby Daddy - J.U

A/N: just in favour of our very own main event jey uso winning the royal rumble!!! well deservedly! haters can suck his dick!!

warnings: smut & fluff (hope y’all enjoy!)

————

Another weekly exchange took place at your home per usual. Every Tuesday Josh would come and pick up your son Elijah until Wednesday evening. Due to his hectic road life, he really only got a day a week to spend time with his son. Josh took every single moment he got with his son, and savoured it. The problems you two had could never come in to say that Josh wasn’t an amazing dad.

Your son Elijah, was the best thing that ever happened to the both of you. You and Josh were high school sweethearts. You never once thought you would get pregnant with his child..at least not anytime soon. But in your last year of college, with a simple week of morning sickness, emotional breakdowns, and crazy cravings, you found out you would now be eating for two. And from there on out it was history.

Josh was ecstatic he was gonna be a father. From a young age he’s always dreamed of being an amazing father. He was even more happier when he found out the two of you would be expecting a boy. He was already picturing throwing around a football with his son, and teaching him all about his samoan family lineage. And even you were ecstatic.

You delivered a healthy baby boy, whom was loved by all the family around him. However for you and Josh, your relationship only weakened from that moment on. Josh was in desperate need of a job, and because of his family background, he turned to wrestling. As much as wrestling was looked at as a glamorous job, it wasn’t all that it seemed. Josh was constantly on the road, and even when he was home, he would be on interview calls or hitting the gym. You on the other hand, were just as busy as Josh. The two of you were constantly on the go and never has time for each other. So you both decided it’d be better if you broke up.

Well, it was you who broke up with Josh. It took a lot of guts to do so, but it had to be done. It was for the better…it seemed. Josh could never take the words ‘broke up’ to his heart, so he used ‘on a break’. You thought it was a immature and delusional way to deny reality, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Dada!” Elijah squealed as Josh walked through the door of your home. “Hey buddy! My mini uce!” Josh spoke back with just as much excitement. Your 2 year old son, ran on wobbly legs towards his daddy. You smiled at the sight. Josh handled Elijah on one hip, while turning to you.

“What’s up Y/n..” he spoke while Elijah was grabbing at his face. “Hey Josh, how are you?” you spoke back nervously avoiding eye contact. The truth was you’d never gotten over Josh. The road broke you two apart, also breaking your heart at the same time. You love Josh with your whole heart to this moment. He was your first kiss, your first boyfriend, your first time, and now the father of your child. When you broke up with him, you only broke your own heart too.

Now 2 years later after breaking up with him, you still want him more then ever. “I’m doing alright. Busy ya know. Well ima take Eli…i’ll see you tomorrow when I drop him off..” he told you while turning towards your door but not before grabbing Eli’s bags. “No! Mama! Come with us!” Elijah screamed out while kicking his feet all over the place.

Josh let Elijah down on the floor and he wobbled over to you. “Mama! Come with us to dada house! All of us!” he spoke on the verge of tears. “Baby..it’s dada’s time with you, i’ll see you tomorrow..” you spoke softly while caressing his little chubby cheek. “Please mama!” he cried out. He had never acted this way before.

“Baby..” you started speaking before getting cut off. “Y/n, I don’t mind if you come with us, you know it’s been a while” Josh cut you off. “Yay! See mama come with us!” Elijah then squealed. You thought about being with Josh for a long period of time, and it made you nervous yet excited. But for your baby, you would go.

“Okay, you guys wait in the car i’ll be there in a minute,” you spoke softly. After grabbing your bag and some stuff you would need, you made your way out of your home locking the door behind you. You made your way into Joshua’s car, sitting in the passenger seat.

The car ride to Josh’s house was about a hour away, including the busy traffic. Josh blasted music the whole way to his house, to avoid the awkward silence. Elijah was dosing off in the back, and you took small glances at Josh when you got the chance. You felt him staring too, which only added tension.

Without either of you speaking a word to each other the whole ride, you made you way inside Josh’s beautiful beach side mansion. “Wow Josh! This place is beautiful!” you spoke astonished. He smiled at you. “Thanks...coulda been yours too..” he mumbled the last part thinking you didn’t hear. You did hear, loud and clear, which only added to your regret of breaking up with Josh. You knew he missed you, and you knew he still wanted you. You just couldn’t bring yourself to admit the fact you were still in love with him.

The evening was spent with you, Josh, and Elijah playing board games together, sitting together eating dinner, and ended with watching ‘The Lion King’ all together on Josh’s massive L shaped couch.

“He’s asleep,” Josh spoke quietly. You looked down to your side to see Elijah fast asleep. “Yeah he is” you agreed. “Lemme go put him in bed, wait here.”

You waited for Josh, wanting to know why he wanted you to wait. You should be back home right now. ‘Aight..” Josh mumbled walking back into the living room, making his presence known.

He sat beside me on the couch and waited a minute before talking. “Y/n..ion even know where to start, there’s so much I have to admit to you..lemme start off by saying, I miss you, a lot.” he admitted.

You softly smiled. You were happy Josh admitted this so now you could get everything off your chest. “Josh, you don’t even know how much I regret breaking up with you back then..we were just in such a bad place and I was so scared that you’d find someone else while you were on the road, and truth is i’ve never stopped loving you..” you admitted.

He smiled at you showing off his pearly whites. “I love you too baby,” he leaned in and your lips met for a soft kiss. You felt him grab your hips and pull you on top of his lap. While sensually kissing he moved your hips on top of his in a circular motion, creating friction. You gasped in pleasure softly.

You could feel a tent beginning to grow under you, adding to your pleasure. Josh groaned out. You took charge and pulled back from the kiss. “Life your arms up,” you mumbled out of breath. Josh complied, and you took his shirt off.

“You sure?” Josh asked. You needed this desperately. After you broke up with Josh, you had no time to be with anyone sexually, and you missing him didn’t help the matter. “Yes, im positive.” you spoke back.

You felt Josh’s hands roaming your clothed body, and he began stripping you piece by piece. Your body shivered at the sudden contact with the cold air. You were now left in only your panties, as Josh was left in his boxers. He once again moved his head down towards mines and shared a passion full kiss. Our tongues fought for dominance in which he won.

He broke away from your lips and peppered kisses on your jaw, then moving to your neck. You were surprised when you felt him sucking extra hard on your sweet spot, even after these few years, he remembered where you were extra sensitive.

“J-josh please!” you squeaked out. He continued his assault on your neck, and you swore you could feel his lips curve into a smile. “What you want mama?” he mumbled. “You..”

He pulled back from your neck and peppered kisses down towards your chest. He grabbed one of your breasts and massaged it in his large hand.

He then lowered his head down and softly took your nipple into his mouth, sucking on it lightly. You let out a moan to the feeling of his mouth. He did the same with your other breast and peppered kisses down your stomach.

He continued his kisses down to your thighs, once in a while biting down softly causing you to squeal. He was purposely denying the spot your body craved him most. Josh always knew how to drive you insane before finally giving into what you wanted.

He slowly slid your panties off in one swift motion exposing your core to the cold air. Your body was now covered in goosebumps hence the chilliness of the room.

“Missed this pretty pussy..” he mumbled while running his finger through your folds. “Yeah, yeah whatever just-” you were cut off by his head suddenly being pushed between your thighs and his mouth hungrily devouring you. You moaned out in ecstasy. You had almost forgot how talented Josh’s mouth was matched with your lower set of lips.

He sucked hastily at your clit almost sending you over the edge. You began grinding your hips onto his face, causing him to pull away quickly. “Baby if you gon cum its gon be on this dick,” he spoke with deep chuckle. You whined at sudden loss of warmth from your lower region.

Josh chuckled at your neediness. As he took off his boxers revealing his hard length. You felt so touch deprived, as you moaned out into the chilly air of the room evoking a deep chuckle from him. “I gotchu baby, I gotchu..”

The tip of his dick slowly stretched you out as you almost practically screamed at the amazing sensation. Josh continued entering inside you at a steady pace allowing you to adjust to the now unfamiliar feeling. Your eyes were droopy as you looked up to see him with his mouth open as his eyes were also fluttering shut. “Damn baby, you always so tight for me, just for daddy..” he barely choked out.

Once he was fully inside you, he began thrusting into you at a very slow pace, prolonging the beautiful orgasm he knew you were on the verge of having. “P- please, daddy..please faster” you asked quietly barely being able to speak.

Without warning Josh began moving at a speed you could barely keep up with, causing you both to moan loudly with pleasure. “We gotta keep it down baby..we don’t want Eli wakin up” he spoke while not once slowing his pace.

The familiar feeling began brewing inside your lower belly, tingling all around signalling you were close. “I’m almost- i’m gonna” you choked out on the verge of tears. You forgot how intense sex was with Josh.

“I know baby, I know..” he mumbled while moving his hand down to playing with your clit sending you straight over the edge. “Fuck Josh!” you wailed as he held you down with his arm as you convulsed.

He continued chasing his own nut at a severe pace, which was slightly overestimating you. Before you could get a word out you felt his warm speed paint the walls of your now swole pussy.

He moved off you, lying down on the couch beside you gathering you in his arms before pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “I love you baby, and I want us to be a family this time, for real.”

“Mmm yeah me too, love you Josh..” you whispered as sleep overcame your body, while you slept in the arms of the man you have always and always will love.

[lillaydee]

Shhh!!! Part 2

Celebrity!Joel Miller / F Reader

A reluctant celebrity contractor who has closed his heart for love meets a celebrity-hating Cafe on Wheels owner...

She HATES him. Thing is, he couldn't get enough of the coffee she makes...

Tag List:

@kirsteng42 @peelieblue @harriedandharassed @joelalorian @vickie5446 @inept-the-magnificent @maried01 @brittmb115 @peedrow @lovefreylove

Let me know if you would like to be added/removed from the tag list.

Dividers by the awesome @saradika

Header by Moi cause I learned how to use Canva! Yay me!

WARNINGS: Grumpy Joel (The Last of Us), Protective Joel (The Last of Us), Good Parent Joel (The Last of Us), Joel is Bad at Feelings (The Last of Us), Alternate Universe - No Cordyceps Outbreak (The Last of Us), Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Celebrity Joel Miller, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, I'm Bad At Tagging, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, Hurt Joel (The Last of Us), Jealousy.

SERIES MASTER LIST

Part 1

***Okay, I have zero self control, I know I said twice weekly... but knowing that I have 13 chapters ready... I just... so... here you go. Don't judge me. I might space out the posting if I need to, but until then... here... take it off my hands so the impatient little girl in me can sleep tonight. (Covers face in self-controlless shame). ALSO - I MADE A HEADER!!! I LEARNT TO USE CANVA! YAY ME!***

Joel couldn’t even answer. Ellie was attacking him with more and more questions. Her questions were fast, furious, demented, even, he would say. He couldn’t even gather his thoughts to formulate an answer before another one came flying out of her mouth.

“What exactly did you say to her? Did you raise your voice at her? How did she leave? Was she mad? Why wouldn’t she wait for me if she wasn’t mad? Do I still have a job? Fuck Joel! I just went to the bathroom. I wasn’t kidnapped. Ugh! Don’t you have any self-control? Sheesh! Wait ‘til I tell Sarah.”

Ellie went on and on in the truck on the way home. Dinner was quiet. She looked extremely worried. She had texted you, apparently, rows and rows of apologies and promises that Joel wouldn’t be bothering you again, just please don’t fire her. All you replied with was a quick ‘it’s all good’, and she hadn’t heard from you since. She did her chores, and shut her bedroom door behind her, leaving Joel feeling like shit outside her door.

Joel was trying. He really was. He knew he had a problem. Well… several problems, really. He’s angry at the world. Grumpy. Anti-social. But just his luck, he got embroiled in a world where being those things became public knowledge, and put him in the centre of attention, where he did not want to be. And he’d been doing much better, he thought. He smiled, every now and again. He smiled just this morning, in fact, after he dropped Ellie off and was finally able to enjoy that coffee, the best he’d ever had in his life, in the privacy of his truck, without the teenager mocking him or making a big deal about him smiling.

But then he got to work, and things just… that day… it was just not a good day.

He loved building things. He had been doing it since he was a boy. Built a recipe box for Christmas with the help of his Papa for his Mama, and he was hooked. She looked so happy he wanted to see that joy on her face again and again. So he learnt, got better, and became a carpenter, and later a builder.

He and Laura got married young, Sarah arriving just a few months after they tied the knot. Being in LA, he never wanted for a job, there was always a need for contractors, but there was no guarantee either. Competition was fierce and plentiful. The small company he and Tommy owned were getting by, getting jobs here and there, but being small, they didn’t always win a bid on lucrative contracts, the bigger companies got them instead. They stuck to smaller jobs, making enough, but money was tight. LA was not exactly a cheap place to live in. Laura was a stay at home mom, daycare a bit beyond their budget then. They could pay their bills, their mortgage, but even in the lower end, much less classy bit of LA where they lived, saving for rainy days was a big ask, much less Sarah’s college fund.

When his wife passed, he agreed to take on a contract with a studio to build sets, mainly because it allowed him to have more stability. It offered a steady stream of income, on top of the jobs they already had. He had Sarah to think about. He had to do this, the long hours, the toll the jobs were taking on his body, all became worth it when he could come home to a healthy, happy, clothed and fed little girl with a stable roof above her head.

Tommy’s good looks and charm gave the producers some ideas. He was reluctant, knowing how the industry worked. But he agreed, it was just a small 15 minutes slot for the morning show at first. The extra money meant he could start a college fund for Sarah. Tommy did the talking and peacocking, he did the work. Small stuff, how to fix a leaking faucet, oiling squeaking doors, sanding and repainting a cabinet. Simple. Easy. They were at the studio for an hour, tops, then off to the next lot to build. Sometimes, they even had time to go do other projects around town. And then the slots began to turn episodic – five fifteen minutes slots weekly on how to fix something bigger, all shot beforehand.

Then, they started doing builds for talk shows, the ones where his team was sent in to remodel a house for some unfortunate families. Tommy was the face, he was the contractor. Next thing he knew, the studio began receiving phone calls, mails and emails asking for the Miller brothers to have a show of their own. The money, even the initial offer, was good. It would mean he could pay off his mortgage, one thing less off his mind. He could begin to save some money, Sarah could attend any school of her choosing, he could retire early. So they signed a contract – just five episodes to start.

The show was an instant hit, and their contracts were quickly renewed for more episodes. People started recognising him around town. It wasn’t too bad at the beginning. He managed to ignore most of it. He was too focused on Sarah to care. He did get less and less patient with people coming up to him for construction advice. Even getting after work drinks with Tommy became a chore after a while. Nary a day went by where some drunks were not talking his ears off about lying contractors and some lady offering a peek of her boobs at him for five minutes alone in the bathroom. It was all beginning to get too much.

As the show got more and more successful, what he called the ridiculousness began. His schedule would involve going on promotional photo shoots, where he had to sit on a make-up chair for hours getting layers and layers of make-up applied on his face, his hair teased to the heavens. He was made to wear fancy clothes and pose like an idiot for magazine covers and interviewed for articles. When he voiced his distaste for such atrocities to his agent, Angela shrugged and said he signed a contract, waving that binder in his face. So he put up with it for a couple of years. He finally drew a line when he was made to pose topless in a pair of jeans slinging a massive hammer over his naked shoulder with construction gloves and a hard hat on. To this day, even the thought of it made him cringe. He made sure his involvement in such promos and advertising was removed from the next contract by a very reluctant Angela, who moaned about the missed opportunity to sign a very lucrative modelling contract with a very popular jeans company – all that money... she had sighed. He didn’t care. He didn’t even care when the studio threatened to cut his pay for his reluctance to become a proper celebrity. He had enough to make sure Sarah was taken care of. No more posing, he said.

That topless magazine cover proved to be his biggest nightmare. That magazine flew off the racks so fast they had to reprint. The show got even bigger. People actually started following him around, paparazzies snapping pictures of him and Sarah at the park and ice cream places. He was losing privacy. He was starting to fear for Sarah’s safety. But when he woke up to a woman he had never seen before in his kitchen, dressed like some 50s housewife, merrily scrambling eggs for him and Sarah one morning, for the first time in his life, he was legitimately scared. He couldn’t rough her up, not knowing her mental state of mind, surely someone who could see nothing wrong with breaking into someone’s home to make them breakfast was deranged on some level? So he had to stand calmly while he waited for the cops, Sarah held tightly to his chest, his whispers of assurance endless in her ears as she shivered against him, trying hard not to cry, scared out of her mind.

He wasted no time at all after that, immediately getting a more secure place for him and Sarah. Gated community. High fences. Security system. Cameras. The lot. He started being deliberately rude to those approaching him, pushing cameras away from his and Sarah’s faces when someone tried to take photos of them.

The press started calling him the grumpy Miller, but the attention didn’t cease. They got worse, in fact. Photos or videos of him pushing cameras away and shouting at the paparazzi sold well. Finally, when Tommy, the more easy-going of the two, the one who at one point was enjoying the attention he got, got into a scuffle with a particularly feisty pap over him trying to get a picture of Sarah during one of their weekly dates at McDonalds, people began leaving Sarah alone, for the most part, or at least, they were keeping their distance whenever she was around. No one messes with Joel and Tommy Miller’s little princess.

But then, the age of social media began. The show got bigger and bigger, and Joel found himself to be in the spotlight a lot more. He did try to ignore the cameras that everyone seemed to have handy, and his life seemed to calm a little, seemingly unbothered by pictures of him buying socks and underwear or filling his truck being posted all over social media.

And then, a boy Sarah dated posted a selfie of the two of them, only for the post to be made viral.

The public was brutal. Sarah was criticized. Her hair wasn’t styled enough, her skin wasn’t flawless enough, her clothes not stylish or expensive enough, her body not skinny enough. She came home crying, the poor boy stood trembling in front of Joel and Tommy apologizing for his oversight. It took everything in him not to punch this scrawny kid in the face.

But they rode the storm out, and things seemed to calm down.

When Ellie came into the picture, it all started again. Someone who knew Ellie’s mother gave an interview detailing her horrific past, and the story was everywhere. And suddenly Joel Miller came back into focus, the saviour Daddy every woman was lusting for. How noble of him, taking in a kid in need like that. Suddenly the outlets that were once criticizing his grumpiness and overprotectiveness back when Sarah was still a kid were now openly discussing how admirable he was, protecting his kid like that, reputation be darned. The fact that he was a single father, a widower no less, came back up. Never remarried, never dated anyone, well, none that was confirmed, as far as anyone was concerned, drove the ladies crazy.

Aww, he was so in love with her he never let go of her memory. Swoon. Oh, does Daddy need a wifey to help him take care of his children?

Young ladies, young enough to be his daughter, were posting about bearing his children. Shockingly detailed fan fictions about him taking their virginities on his kitchen table were written and spread. He could only hope the people who wrote them were of age and made sure neither Sarah nor Ellie ever got a hold of them.

Angela told him all this with pride. You’ve made it, Joel. You’re a Daddy. They all want you. Take in in, Joel! Take it in!

He wanted to disappear into the wilderness and never return. Pictures of his were posted daily, his crotch zoomed in. People were openly questioning whether he had been celibate all this while – was that possible? Surely he got his rocks off somewhere? Why was no one coming up to share what was behind that fabulous bulge? They would shout it from the rooftops if they had the good fortune of a peek.

This was probably the one aspect of having Angela around that he was thankful for. She was adamant every single lady he had a dalliance with signed an NDA. Heck, even she signed one. He was just not interested in relationships anymore. Not after Laura. And he was too wary for one night stands with random ladies, not that he had many opportunities for such indulgences. His life was Sarah, work and home. So he made do with a few regular ladies who were willing to be his… friends… ones with benefits, so to speak. Just a few ladies on the team that he knew well and felt he could trust. Some had even moved on and gotten married, still friendly with him. There were of course, a few disgruntled ones, those who openly got angry once he made it clear he wasn’t going to take their arrangement further than just sex. He wouldn’t even let them come over to his house. Always at the set, in the privacy of his office. He wouldn’t go to theirs either. No intimacy, just sex. To fulfil a need. They were clearly not happy, those few hopeful ones, but the NDAs should keep them quiet.

The last signed NDA happened just a few months before Ellie came into his life, four years ago. He had just turned 40 then. Having decided to take Ellie in, he put more stipulations in his contract. Local gigs only, he needed to be home by a certain hour, with very few exceptions, weekends were off limits. He wanted Ellie to have a normal life at least. Sarah was already away at college then, so he didn’t want Ellie to be raised by strangers, not with the life she had. He focused on her. His sex life took a step back. He wasn’t interested anyway. Ellie should come first, with the hard life she'd had. 

Joel officially gave up. He had no idea why his life was so interesting to these people. He had hoped that if he ignored the publicity, kept his head down and just went about his life, it would all die down. He hoped that the fame would subside, and he could have some semblance of a normal life. But every now and again, something always came back up, and he was all over social media again.

To top it all off, he found no joy in the work anymore. It had all gotten so TV. Everything was planned, faked, rehearsed. He didn’t even have much say as a contractor anymore. It was all about looking good for the cameras, practicality be darned. It was all pretend. That joy on the homeowner’s faces was not even genuine, nothing compared to the joy on his Mama’s face when he presented her with that wonky recipe box he made, one that even his extremely handy Papa couldn’t fix. But his Mama treasured that wonky box to the day she died, and now, that box was Sarah’s pride and joy, her Nana’s recipes still in it, locked away to pass on to her children one day.

He longed to find that joy again. That satisfaction of building something genuine, something real, something that would make someone happy. He just wanted to feel the way he felt when his Mama opened that wrapping paper that Christmas morning.

So that evening, after a long, frustrating day where nothing went their way, but of course, made for great TV, he had a talk with Tommy and Angela. Sarah was coming back to do her internship in town, and then she would be graduating. Ellie was 16 now, she would be graduating high school soon. He had more money than he could ever need, than his girls could ever need. He wanted to retire from the showbusiness. He had one year left on his contract, and then he was done. No more. Tommy could go on should he wished, but Joel was done. He wanted to settle down. Move somewhere quiet and just live out his life. Keep sheep. Shovel shit. Anything but this.

Angela looked at Tommy, exasperation clear across her features. Talk to your brother, Tommy. You guys are in your prime, you can make so much more. Five more years, tops. Just one more contract. The show just got picked up by Netflix. Come on, we have to take advantage of this! Tommy agreed with Angela. Come on, brother, just one more round. And then we retire.

What followed could only be described as a screaming match, two against one. The yelling only stopped because his phone beeped, it was time to pick Ellie up. He left in a huff, his head replaying all the shit that he had hated about this much too exposed life he was living, the invasion of privacy, the gossip, the lewd comments, the threat to his girls’ safety. He had had enough, and of course his fame hungry brother and his greedy agent would find ways to prolong this hellish life for him, all in the name of fame and money.

And when he got to the rec centre, Ellie was not where she usually was. And she didn’t pick up his calls. He panicked, and yelled at you, thinking you were just another pesky fan wanting a selfie.

When he told Ellie what had happened, the teenager had literally taken him down with one sentence before shooting more words at him as he laid dead from that first exclaim.

“Oh my God, not everyone recognizes you, Joel, who do you think you are, Beyonce?”  

He wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel, face red from embarrassment. Had he gotten so high and mighty and vain that he thought everyone who approached him was just a swooning fan? He worked hard to stay humble, and yet he had just yelled at his daughter’s boss, on her first day of work, for simply approaching him to tell him where she was, all because he had it in his over-inflated head that he was a celebrity, and anyone who approached him must surely be a swooning, fangirling groupie.

“Woman doesn’t even watch TV, Joel. I doubt she had ever heard of you. Not like I’ve ever told her who you were. Sarah certainly didn’t. God! I can’t believe you yelled at Lily, who, by the way, is the coolest, nicest person I know. How the fuck am I going to face her tomorrow?”

So there Joel stood, right outside his teenage daughter’s room, trying to figure out how to make up for his behaviour the next day.

You went home fuming at this old man of Ellie’s. So rude. So rude! And you were quite sure he was deranged as well, and deaf, to some level. Who the fuck said anything about pictures? Who barks at people they didn’t know like that in public? You were so done with men thinking their own thoughts and comfort matter more than anyone else’s. So done.

This was all Ellie and Sarah’s fault. They had made him out to be this great, caring father who worked hard to raise them both. You actually admired the man, going by the stories they told you about him. Your own Mom died giving birth to you, and your Dad did just about everything he could to raise you. He didn’t fuck around looking for someone else to replace her, he took care of you. He became a Dad, the way a man should. Not just an earner. He was your Dad. He did everything a Mom would, save for breastfeeding. He strapped you onto his chest as he served his customers. Heck, half the town knew you just from being the toddler who grew up in the café. That was your normal, until he met Jenny when you turned five. Their old man, apparently, left Sarah with his neighbour when he’s off to work, but other than that, it was all him. You liked the sound of him. He sounded like a great father figure. You hoped to meet him one day. Tip your proverbial hat at him. Congratulate him for raising such great young ladies.

And then you met him.

Talk about never meeting your heroes.  

Never had either of them said he was a grumpy, self-important, delusional and deaf man. They must know he was like that, surely? They were great at keeping that bit of him a secret then, bravo girls for wanting to keep the fact that your Dad was an asshole to yourself. You were shaking when you drove off. You were glad the door hit him on his shoulder as you closed it. How you wished it was his face.

No one should mess with you these days. You were no longer the impressionable young woman you once were. You just turned 40. You literally did not have the time to give a shit. And no, you didn’t have any more fucks to give to anyone, let alone accept treatment like the one he gave you. It was amazing when it finally happened. You had heard rumours of women turning 40 and just said fuck it. You woke up at 4.30 am on your 40th birthday to your neighbour screeching in the shower, yet again. You had been too polite to say much before, simply asking her to keep it down whenever your paths crossed, which she decidedly ignored. That day, like magic, you decided enough was enough. You recorded that off-key screeching and sent it to the chat group for the whole apartment, telling everyone whose lovely voice that was, and which unit she lived in.

The less than flattering replies that resulted ensured that neighbour of yours, a young, vapid little thing, never sang again. Good for you, and everyone else in her vicinity. You did everyone a service that day. You actually came home to a basket of exotic fruits and flowers the next week, the bliss the silence had brought was more than enough for people to chip in and splurge on you.

You liked this new you. You’re old. Your hair hurt. You threw your back out sneezing. You needed a pee every hour. You were miserable, the world owed you one, so fuck everyone else.

And yes, fuck this man who barked at you as if you were begging him for scraps at his table. Maybe the next time you saw him you should give him a coffee ground shower, accidentally, of course. Let him scrape and dig for errant coffee ground from the crevices of his person. That’ll serve him right. Bastard. If only you were classless enough to spit into his coffee next time. The only saving grace the jerk had was the horrific thought that your Dad would roll over in his grave if you did that…

By the time you got your truck washed, you checked your phone to see about 20 texts from Ellie begging you to forgive her old man and asking if she still had a job. Your heart immediately softened. You told her it’s all good, and then your Uncle Bill called. You spent the rest of the evening hanging out with him, going home only to faceplant into your pillow, forgetting to text the worried teenager back.

Ellie walked up to you slowly. You were already entertaining your long line of customers, all in a rush to get their morning coffees to get to work. You basically didn’t have time to stop in the mornings, working alone. You could manage, of course, but having Ellie to help with the cleaning in the evenings did help a lot. At least you could put your feet up a bit, and the clean up took half the time come closing. She waited until you were readying the to go cups for the pouring espresso before meekly asking you if she still had a job. You rolled your eyes an gave her a playful ‘what do you think’ look, to which she gave a huge sigh of relief, climbing in to make herself a cup of iced tea before running off to class.

You went about entertaining your next few customers, the line usually endless at this hour, chatting with them as you readied their much needed morning dose of caffeine. They were mostly your regulars, and these five minutes on a weekday were all you had with them. You asked them about their sick child, that promotion they were hoping to get, that car they had to send to the shop, the vacation they were looking forward to, that date they were dreading, the presentation they were not quite prepared for, somehow making the wait less arduous, a smile on your face the whole time.

Someone finally paid using cash, so you focused on the till for a bit, until a clearing of a manly throat made you look up, a smile at the ready for his order.

Oh. It’s him.

Your smile disappeared. A stern, stone-face met him instead. What can I get you, sir?

His face, the hesitant one that you saw when you first looked up, turned into a flustered one. Words tried to escape his lips but mumbles were all that came out, him panicking and trying hard to tell you his order but nothing coherent came out.

“What, you couldn’t speak? What happened to the fluent spewer of hatred I met yesterday? Cat got your tongue? It’s a simple question. What. Can. I. Get. You. Sir.”

“Erm… I don’t know the name… my daughter… she…”

You rolled your eyes and turned, getting him the Americano Ellie ordered yesterday. But suddenly a thought came to you. Why don't we give him a ridiculous amount of caffeine today? Get him jumping from a caffeine high. That ought to ruin his day, at least the way he ruined yours yesterday.

You smirked as you poured in another espresso shot in his cup, and then another, and then another. You stopped when the cup was halfway full, about six shots in all, before topping it off with hot water. This should teach him. Have a great day today, sir.

You plopped the cup on the sill, your eyes lasering on him, and immediately turned to your next customer, your smile automatically back on, greeting the older lady by name, asking her if you should make her usual? She nodded, placing her card on the reader and waited for her cappuccino patiently. When you gave it to her, he was still standing there, the cup now in his hand. Your smile disappeared yet again, asking him if there was something else he wanted.

“Erm… I haven’t paid, I don’t know how much…”

You kept staring at him, not saying a word. The look you gave him silenced him. You didn’t really want to tell him you were not charging the man who raised Sarah and Ellie any money, but at the same time, you wanted to be petty and not give him any satisfaction today. “Just go, it’s on the house,” you fired, annoyance so prominent coming from you he looked taken aback. He mumbled a hesitant thank you, and awkwardly turned and walked away.

Immediately, you turned to Frank, the professor who was teaching Ellie for the summer, giving him your usual smile, turning around to get his latte.

“What did Joel Miller do to you that you were so angry at him?” he asked, a very interested smile on his face.

Oh, was that his name? You scoffed. “He was a jerk, he was looking for Ellie yesterday and snapped at me when I tried to tell him she was in the bathroom.”

Frank’s face turned into shock. “That’s Ellie’s old man? Ellie’s old man is Joel Miller? The Joel Miller?”

“Yeah, I thought you knew him. You named him. I didn’t even know his name until you told me.”

“I know him from that show, Build with the Millers. I didn’t know Ellie’s old man was a celebrity! Damn!” he placed his card on the reader, taking his coffee, telling you he would see you after class.

Oh, he’s a celebrity huh? No wonder he’s such an ass.

Oh shit. You just gave a celebrity six shots of free espressos.

Damn it.

This was perfect. Now you had more of a reason to hate the guy.

Joel closed the door to his truck, his head spinning from the encounter. You hated him. It was so clear you hated him. He stood in line for a bit before his turn came, watching you work, a sweet smile on your face. He was awestruck. How did you do that? You were so friendly with every single one of your customers. You knew the smaller aspects of their lives. You clearly paid attention. And all of them clearly liked you a lot, talking to you like you were old friends.

He watched you the entirety of his wait, and when your smile snapped shut upon realizing he was there, he panicked. His mind went blank. He had a script and everything, complete with an extremely sincere apology that he rehearsed over and over in his head since he woke up that morning, all the way to the front of the line. It all just went out of his head the moment your eyes lasered in on him.

What the fuck happened to him? He spent years memorizing lines. He could do it without much thought, and he got tongue-tied? What the hell?

He took a sip from the cup, eyes immediately closing at the potency of his coffee. He was wrong yesterday. This was the best cup of coffee he had ever had. He had always preferred strong coffee. But the ones he made himself was always too bitter and burnt, thanks to the broken, ancient coffee machine he had stubbornly refused to get rid of. This was… perfection. Strong, bitter, but there was a tinge of sweetness to it despite the fact that he didn’t add any sugar to it. Your smiling face flashed before his eyes as he took another sip and his heart suddenly felt a bit heavy at the thought that you served everyone before and after him with that dazzling smile of yours. He couldn’t get the image out of his head. Your overalls underneath your apron, the kerchief you had tied on your head, the ponytail peeking at the back, your dimples gracing your cheeks as you spoke, smiled and laughed with your customers, the last two of which disappeared from his view once you realized he was there. As he shifted into drive, for the first time in forever, Joel longed for something. He longed that someday, he would be on the receiving end of that dimply smile too.

He’ll come back tomorrow. His coffee machine was broken anyway.

Part 3

[academicazura]

🗓️ 07/07/25 • Day 9 of Documenting My Life

🥗Went grocery shopping and ended up meal-prepping for like 3 hours. I made some cheesecake-like dessert, turkey bacon cups and a cabbage-lingonberry salad!

I also spent a lot of time blogging and setting the week up in my journal. I ended up with 3 spreads of a running task list for school... Although a lot of quick tasks, I may have overestimated my time management skills, but we'll see.

Had a rest day, so instead of wandering around the area at snail speed I did my nails, epilated, exfoliated and did a foot soak. Mom helped me do the dishes, which I found so nice cause there was quite a lot from cooking, and I helped her vacuum when a frame she had hung dropped from the wall. We're getting along okay recently, so I'm just enjoying it.

Ready to sprinkle magic into everything I do.

Highlights 🌟 Didn't get tired from meal-prepping! Amazed, honestly. 🌟 Bought materials for my hair brush project 🌟 Posted my weekly review! 🌟 Planned the week ahead, trying to find things to look forward to 🌟 Silky smooth legs again, yay (sorry if it's TMI)

���Bob's Burgers (Season 2, The Belchies) 📖Omahyvä (ja omalaki), Risto Ahti

[coinandcandle]

Dropped Cards - Yay or nay?

Sorry for not having weekly witchy questions the past two weeks!! But I have a question for you still!!

How do you guys feel about “dropped” cards? Like when you’re shuffling your deck and one falls out, what do you do with it?

[melanieph321]

Here we go y'all, my 200th Ruben Dias fic!!! 🎉🎉🎉

This is a 10 part series where all chapters will be available on my Wattpad, Tumblr, and Patreon for free!

Three chapters will be released weekly where my members on Patreon will have access to all three chapters right away. However, parts 1, 2, and 3 will be available for all right away!

Now...without further ado I give you:

Ruben Dias x Reader - Summer Fling Part 1/10

Part 2 Part 3

Summary - Reader has landed a research job at a marine biology lab in Portugal. She is, therefore, staying with her sister and her sister's Portuguese boyfriend for the summer holidays. There, she meets Ruben Dias, who is on vacation with his friends after the 2024 Euros. However, the two meet under the circumstances in which Ruben believes that Reader is a prostitute.

Enjoy! ☀️

Your flight from Sydney, Australia, to Faro, Portugal, took 27 hours and 35 minutes. Yet, your jet lag from that flight lasted twice as many hours, including two bottles of melatonin drops.

"Does that stuff even work?" Your sister asked, as you unwillingly got up and out of bed to endure another nightly dose. She was occupying the bathroom upon your entry, doing her makeup, preparing for yet another night out.

"I don't know Maki, you tell me." You hissed. "It says here on the bottle that this stuff is supposed to help me fall asleep, but here I am talking to you."

"Gee, Y/N. It was just a question."

"Well, no more of those. I need to get my sleep schedule back before I start work this summer."

It wasn't by choice that you applied to a Portuguese marine biology lab to do your international research. Your sister has been living in the country for three years, as another one of her schemes to piss off your parents. Moving in with her for the summer meant free housing, a blessing for a broke student like yourself.

"Relax Y/N, you're not starting work for another week. How about you take this time to enjoy your stay here in Portugal, you know, have a bit of fun?"

"And how exactly will I do that?"

"Come with us to Albufeira."

"Us?"

"Yes, Diogo and I."

Diogo was your sister's infamous boyfriend. He was infamous for the plethora of times that he had broken up with her, only to beg for her forgiveness days later. And as always, your sister would eat it up, taking Diogo back in a heartbeat.

"He's the love of my life Y/N, get over yourself. '' She said, seeing the grimace you pulled. "Besides, he's got a job that pays well, and that's all I've ever wanted in a man."

"Wow, way to be pretentious, Maki."

"I don't even know what that means. But what I do know is that you're coming with us to Albufeira."

"No. I refuse."

"Come on, Y/N. I told mom and dad that I was looking after you this summer."

"No, I told mom and dad that I was looking after YOU this summer."

She shrugged. "Same thing."

"It's really not." 

"Yes, it is. It means that we need to stick together, through thick and thin." Your sister brought up her hand, urging you to pinky swear. You rolled your eyes but did not leave her hanging. "Through thick and thin." You nodded.

"Great!" She squealed. "Now....do you own a pair of G-strings?"

"What, no. Why would you even ask me that?"

"We're going to Albufeira baby. It's basically the Ibiza of Portugal."

"Right."

"We're gonna have so much fun!"

"Yay." You sighed, longing for the ability to sleep again. 

Part 2 Part 3

[crowshuh]

ty for the tag @mercuryisfronting yay here are... all my fics lol from most to least recent (i think most of my mutuals who write have already been tagged in this so i challenge You if you would like)

The rules are: post the beginning lines of your most recent 10 published fanfics and then tag 10 people.

1. Anatomy of a House

Two floors up.  In the corner block of a squat, ugly apartment complex, a man—young, twenty-three, weary from an empty job full of emptier people—forgets in his quiet misery to lock his front door.  He goes to bed and closes the bedroom door. He leaves his shoes on.  And then, he gets stoned staring into the water stains on the ceiling, finding a quiet hypnosis in the writhing grain.

2. Dead Nerves, Short Circuits

The world continues turning underneath you, even after Lady Argent leaves the room. Unsteadied. Untethered. Still half-stuck in the dream and twisting over yourself. Folding inwards until all that is left - - You scrub your face with your hands, listening to Ortega cross the room. You try to focus on the weight of your hands against your face. The heat and the smell of skin and sweat. “Do you mind if I turn on the lights?”

3. Mea Culpa

The Baroness Nestani Vemulakonda pays her third visit to Skyhold just two weeks off from the Inquisition’s departure to Halamshiral. Brought with her are her usual generous gifts of sweet-flowered fruit from her orchards. The fruit will bruise and soften by the time she leaves only days later. And the cook, forced to rearrange her plan for the weekly meals, will rake curses over the rotting things and over the head of the woman who had brought them.

4. strangers

It’s not until you feel the mattress dip next to you that your brain registers the intruder—closed-eyed and stone-still where you lie. Above made bedsheets. It is not hard to imagine the cold white marble of the crypt from here… But your body rolls towards him where knees cave into soft bedding and  you feel yourself lapse.   Vertigo stretching and pulling and pulling you from this body. The surf washing you out further from shore as water fills the inner ear until you’ve lost sense of your surface.

5. Heart Rot

There’s a moment. Before the first shot is fired. A turning head, a raised hand. Yelling, shouting, the scuffle of boots against wet wood. The match is lit, in the pit of your stomach. Sparking up a spinal cord wrapped with rope and iron riggings. And your gut—in the hull—is flush with salt and sick. Pulling itself up through your esophagus. 

6. Licking Your Wounds

The California sun is ruthless. And the air is stagnant, interrupted by no breeze. The kind of weather that drops birds from the skies and rolls bloated sealife ashore.  Caustic and death-heavy.  You feel sweat rolling down your chest as hard puffs of breath hit the skin of your collarbone. You’re a man, young and shirtless, running through a calisthenic routine in the middle of the city boardwalk. Public space that has been wholly claimed, occupied, made yours. The passing strangers become an audience to you, nothing but vague ideas of faces and the uniform roar of a crowd. Memories of sports games pushing up through the wash of endorphins. Pushing, gasping, pulling your muscles apart like rope. Gripping an arm, patting a back. 

7. Enjoy the Silence

The sun burns, golden and waning into the horizon as you clean up the dishes from dinner. The light putting the sparse trees and low brush of the countryside into flame and drawing out the crickets, cicadas, and frogs from where they had hidden from the heat. Singing, screaming, sighing at the dying of the day. A hypnotic wash against the backs of your eyes that lulls your movements into a soft monotony as you work.

8. From the Fire Escape

A distant clang from outside is enough to rip you from your dreamless sleep. Stretching, sore-limbed over a beaten and poorly reupholstered couch. And still half wrapped in the gray nanoweave of Sidestep, a secondhand hoodie over it. The upper portion of the suit peels from sweaty skin and hangs at your hips like a snake shed as you shift your weight, rolling with a tightly held caution off the couch and onto spread feet. Palming for the energy caster you know you had left beside you.  The noise comes again.

9. Living Dead Girl

Every time you walk into a room or look down at the pavement, you see your own corpse laying there. Staring at you behind glassy teal eyes. A crumpled heap of limbs wrapped, nameless, faceless, in grey and blue. A reminder of the past, a promise for the future; that the horrific thing has happened, is still happening, will happen again soon.  Soon, but not yet.

10. Hot Faced, Lamb Woman

Agape empties her stomach at the Templar’s feet unceremoniously, and if the man was not actively breathing his last breath, she might have felt a bit more apologetic about it. Someone pats her back gingerly as she heaves, leaning against her staff for support. Lyrium-induced migraine drumming against the front of her skull as the ground beneath her rolls like the sea to its beat. And while normally she could just reach out and feel the impressions her surroundings make against the Veil, through a combination of her magic and that of the Anchor, Sahrnia had been so thoroughly infested by the red lyrium that it was difficult to focus on anything but. 

[magpod-confessions]

HELLO AUTISTICS OF THE JURY

IT IS I. THE ORIGINAL CREATOR OF THE BLOG WHO HASNT BEEN SEEN IN GOD KNOWS HOW LONG (everyone say thank you deceit for keeping this up and running for a while bc I was just. not there lol)

Anyways hi chat its me Im back I relistened to tma and felt joy and whimsy so I thought Id go thru the askbox. Pls understand I am tired as shit and probably will fuck off for a few more months after this but yay you get little sprinkles of treats have fun with that

Ooooo where did I go what did I do why did I leave said noone ever but I like talking abt myself so

WHERE DID I GO? Uh. Got autistic over a mix of malevolent, life series and league lore. Arcane as well Ig but tbh the league thing is bigger (I LOVEEE THE FRELJORD AND SHURIMAAAA ionia and demacia is kicking my ass tho)

WHAT DID I DO? Not much. Drew a bunch of things, expanded my skills, got new friends, dropped a cunt or 2, got 3 partners (poly win), got a new therapist, a bunch of other shit went down the general internet doesnt need to know. Ya anyways great times I feel like an ao3 author rn LMAOO 'Hey chat Ik its been long since the last update I got hit by a car' or some shit thats me rn. I did start writing more fics maybe thats it anyways

WHY DID I LEAVE? Got tired and annoyed and lost interest in tma for a bit. The fandom is. Smth. Lemme tell ya and when you go thru a mix of dogshit opinions and the most interesting analysis youve seen weekly you quickly learn that 1. You are way too tired for this shit, 2. this is sucking the joy out of your special interest and 3. You need a break. You just take one. Unprompted. Its going great for me lmaooo but ya I prob wont be too active back here cuz Im dealing with shittt BUT YAY JOYOUS hope all of you have a good day lol

Anyways ya there you go mod update ig. You should check out my main @thecatspasta where I can talk your ass off abt league and the life series

[theclearblue]

I think with the JJK ending I'm not in the camp of thinking the final chapter or even a lot of the resolution of the Sukuna fight was bad. I like the final panel of it circling back to the shack and the finger as a ward, I liked the introspection of Sukuna to choose a different life for himself this time with Uraume, instead of embracing himself as "the strongest" and playing out the part of a curse. I liked that it was a team effort to take down Sukuna ultimately while also giving Yuuji a chance to shine in those final moments. I'm also glad Gojo did not comeback to life, he should be able to rest and the new generation gets a chance to take charge.

However, a final chapter was never going to fix the myriad of problems and unanswered questions that roughly the last one and a half years of JJK has had. Pacing I think is what ultimately hurts this series, with the Gojo and Sukuna battle stretched way out, the Kenjaku fight only taking four chapters, and then a way over extended fight with Sukuna with a rushed resolution concerning the return of Nobara and, more glaringly, not focusing on Megumi at all and his development during this time. Chapter 269 is still one of the most baffling chapters I have ever read, giving us answers to questions nobody asked or could of possibly foreseen, and that really don't matter. Spending this time on a secret shadow society that was draining the life of simple domain users, but don't worry! It's all taken care of instead of on the merger, Tengen, Megumi, Nobara, how the jujutsu society would move forward, a solution to cursed energy, the whole cursed corpses plot line, the American military plot line, grieving the people they lost in this fight, etc.

I enjoyed and liked parts of the final stretch of this series, but I think Yuki's death, the American military plot line, and the reintroduction of Gojo into the series with a month long timeskip is a turning point in the series for the worse. The Culling Games introduces a lot of really interesting lore and theory about the Heian era and cursed energy which feels like it dies with Yuki. The American military thread is still bizarre seeing as it drops out of the story as quickly as it's dropped in, and then after Gojo's return, instead of letting the characters breath a little bit after the shakeup of Gojo returning and Megumi being taken over, we jump straight into the dragged out Sukuna fight.

And ultimately I find it somewhat strange to end the last chapter on a benign mission the trio goes on that is similar to something we would of seen at the beginning of the series, like after seeing this system wear down the Hidden Inventory cast, and then we see throughout this series that the cycle continued with wearing down the current students, it's insane to me that they are still going on these missions. Sure the old higher ups are dead, but....what replaced it? It doesn't seem to have really been dismantled if they're just going on missions again. I really would of liked to have seen the merger affect the story more (as was implied tbh) instead of "Yay Sukuna was defeated, time to go back to what we did before." The next generation moves forward, but what are the systemic changes that take place? We'll never know.

I hope Gege finds a different magazine to publish any future series he does, I do think he's a good writer, he's still young, and I hope he does a series that isn't crunched under the weekly schedule of Shonen Jump. he had health problems throughout the latter half of the series and it's not hard to imagine why. A monthly schedule for manga should be the standard, not the exception, and I think a lot of my frustrations with the writing would have been remedied if Gege simply had more time to write the series he wanted to write.

[alexistudies]

october 31st, 2024 (happy halloween!)

i have been forgetting to check this page since i don't use my personal PC as much anymore LOL but hello! this month was crazyy busy. i got my equipment working in lab so my supplemental study should be starting in November!! yay!!

recently had an exam, and then started my session B course in Research Design. I ended up dropping the bioinformatics class because it didn't align with my research like i thought it would. this research design class is way heavier workload wise and i hate it, buttt its necessary for my development as a scientist or whateva.

i'm about to go walk the pup then head to campus for data collections all morning, then going to help a new lab member with learning a protocol, followed by class and my weekly meeting with my PI.

i'll get back to posting on here more regularly, sorry for falling off.

[quickspinner]

Weekly Lukanette Link Roundup

What is the Weekly Roundup? | Previous Weekly Roundups

From @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers: Secret Admirer Exchange 2025 (I'll be getting the compilation post up this weekend but for now check out the works in the tag!)

From @airi-p4: From Above the Stars Ch 13 | Miraculous Escape Ch 7

From @alwaysawkwardd: Broken Melody Ch 38 (COMPLETE!! YAY AWKWARD)

From @haphira: Miraculous Ladybug and the Valiant Annuler Ch 40 | Ch 41

From @verfound: Buttercream Bangers

If I missed something that should be included, reblog, reply, DM, or drop the link in my asks and I’ll make sure it goes on next week’s roundup! If you prefer not to be included in these roundups for any reason please drop me a message, or if you post something that you would like to be sure I include, please drop a link in my asks and I’ll make sure it gets listed (Lukanette endgame only please - see what is the weekly roundupfor more details). If you want to be sure I’ve flagged your work for inclusion you can check the quickroundup tag on my blog to see what I’ve got in the queue for this week.

If you find something you like please like/reblog the original post to let the author know you enjoyed their work!

[pleaseeeimjustagirl]

♡Weekly Chronicles♡

Hey babes! I've missed you guysss I am so happy I had an amazing trip it was so nice. I went to a convention in Maryland for 5 days it was so nice. I definitely left with a lot of knowledge so many amazing people spoke at the lectures<3 and I'm sorry I missed the weekly affirmations for this week.

♡Education♡

I applied for all my classes for next semester before my trip. I’m low-key excited about the classes I have coming up. Lot of different courses since I'm almost done with my major required classes now I need to fill the rest of my credits with electives. I have an art class next semester just for fun. I can't wait to meet the people in my classes. I have to take this math class I am not excited for at all I hate math lol so every time I update you girliesss on this class I'll probably be complaining lol.

♡Mental♡

Interacting with different people this past week has been very good for me mentally. It brought me back to pre-quarantine Khadija who was such a big extrovert. After covid, I started to have mild social anxiety so this was needed. I dealt with a little insecurities while on my trip interacting with so many beautiful women I started to doubt my looks comparison is the thief of joy, I practiced a lot of the methods my therapist recommended like canceling one negative thought with two positive thoughts. I realized I was all in my head for no reason. I love watching Leo Skepi when I am feeling this way he always gets me together. I highly recommend him if you are dealing with a lack of discipline, self-confidence, or just need someone to get you together with tough love he is that guyyy. Side noteee I missed my antidepressant dose twice in a row because of traveling back to New York and it low-key made me hazy like it was super weird but I took it today. 

♡Physical♡

While I was away I ate super bad! The event was an African-focused event so the food there wasn’t healthy at all. I was going to stick to my diet while on my trip but I decided I'm on a trip let me relax and I don't regret it at all. But I am seeing the consequences of my food choices now I am soooo bloated lol. So I am starting a cleanse tomorrow for the next 14 days I already prepped my ginger shot for the morning I want to flush my system out completely going into the new year. I don't recommend cleanses especially to my babes that have dealt with ED’s always consult your doctors before starting anything. I just do what works for me. 

♡Hobbies♡

Now that I am back I can get back to being consistent with my Italian, pilates, and weight lifting. I was so sad I could not lift I feel like I'm low-key obsessed with lifting lol it feels so good and I've been seeing results, especially in my lower body. While I was gone I didn't have any time to do my hobbies they had us in lectures and events constantly. I practiced my Italian once which I'm happy about. I plan on starting jewelry making next week I'm super excited it was one of my favorite hobbies when I was in middle school. I used to make earrings and bracelets. 

♡Plans For The Weekend♡

My birthday is Sunday, December 31st! I am turning 21 yay! I am super excited I don't have anything planned for my birthday. I am going to have a mini celebration with my family and watch the ball drop my siblings bought me presents so I'm excited to open everything. I'm starting my cleanse so I'll be working out and taking good care of my body internally and externally so I'll be off social media this weekend and focused on my mental and physical health. I plan on creating my vision board and listing my goals this year. My dad is ordering my camera I used to have a YouTube channel but I took a break to work on my self-improvement journey I do plan on getting back on my YouTube grind soon lol so look out for that coming out in 2024! 

This week's little journal entrieee a lot happened this week and I'm excited to see what this new year brings babesss. Comment your plans this weekend and how did your week go?

[livingund3ad]

Temporary Hiatus

What's up y'all!! Just a quick heads-up, likely temporary hiatus incoming :(( miss girl is finally not unemployed(yay) and college szn is creeping up on me(unfortunately). I’m planning to drop the last two chapters of ftlt part one simultaneously sometime next week before I fully disappear for a few months. (Yeah each part has like 6-7 chapters btw, and it’s a 4-part thing with around 26-27 chapters overall)

Soo question time: do y’all want me to finish writing the whole fic first before I start posting again? I just started chapter 12 and might be able to hit chapter 14 this month before life eats me alive. Tbh i kinda wanna focus on finishing + cleaning up the drafts (some stuff needs serious rewriting too)

So yea, that's all. Have a good one stranger🤍🎀

Once again thank y'all lovelies and lads, take care🫶