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lya-dustin · 1 year

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Someone will remember us

Chapter 33

Tw: mentions of past sexual abuse, description of waterboarding, blood

Taglist: @stargaryenx @fyeahhotdocs @arrthurpendragon

Gif by : @lady-phasma

“If your bride comes back from that progress without a bun in the oven you will be the only Targaryen not to have a child nine moons after the wedding night.” Aegon points out as they drag their kill back to the grounds. “Even our dearly departed Laenor got the job done.”

“Aegon, do not pester him about such things.” Daeron blushed crimson, Gwayne was too much like Laenor to fuck a woman, but as far as everyone knows Gwayne is too devoted to the Faith and mother doesn’t like being told her brother was the same thing his late goodbrother was.

And it was because of that horseshit that Daeron was as innocent as a babe and couldn’t even handle the slightest mention of sex, or hard drinking or the opium den Aegon discovered last week.

Daeron got tongue-tied near pretty girls, he could barely get a greeting out when Aemma acknowledged him. Gods know how he will find his future wife, Aemond had been lucky to meet Aemma in their shared cradle.

“How old are you, Daer-bear?” Aegon asked their little brother using the nickname Helaena had given him as a baby.

“Three and ten.” Said Daeron stammered and looked at his feet.

He and Lucerys had been milk brothers just as Aemma and Aemond had been, and while they did get along, mother had decided such friendship was to be discouraged and sent him to Orm.

Aemond felt lucky he and Aemma had escaped her notice, he and Aemma had been thick as thieves when their lessons did not separate them.

“Velaryon, how did that torture thing work? I remember Laenor was fond of doing that when it fell on him to give the king’s justice.” Aemond speaks up with a bored tone. He would be damned if Aegon took their baby brother to a brothel like he did.

Laenor personally tortured those who called Rhaenyra a whore and even then, Harwin Strong helped him with it.

“Put a sack over his head and pour saltwater over his face. There’s no saltwater, but I suppose the stream over there will do the trick.” Daeron Velaryon looked perfectly serious until you saw that gleam of mischief in his dark eyes.

“We are not torturing the prince.” Cole said being the sole voice of reason.

They were jesting, of course. Aegon would be tossed into the stream when Cole isn’t looking like last time.

“Not while you’re around, Cole.” Aemond joked and saw Aegon relent in his pursuit of taking their little brother to a brothel.

“Fine, I will not take him to a brothel and pay for a great whore for his first.” Aegon pouted and drank from his wineskin. “Just don’t Merlin King me, either of you.”

“Thank you, Aemond.” Daeron said quietly and Aemond ruffled his hair in return.

“Although you should thank me, Aemond. Imagine if you had been a man-maiden on your wedding night, poor Aemma would have joined the rest of the unsatisfied wives in their bitterness.” Aegon turned his vulgar teasing back onto him and Aemond wished he had something to pelt him with.

“Aegon!” Daeron scolded Aegon but avoiding looking at his brothers all the same.

Daeron was too innocent in the ways of men, but unlike Aegon, Aemond hopes his brother keeps such innocence and naivety a little longer.

No one will hurt him; no whore will scar him and make him feel sick to his stomach and no one will take his childhood like Lucerys took his in Driftmark.

----

He is bloody, and his immaculate silvery gold hair is unkempt and stained with dried blood, but Aemma thinks he’s never looked better.

Oh gods, she has her mother’s taste in men.

No matter, mother has good taste at the least.

“How was your hunt, valzȳrys?” she asked as she helped him wash off the blood on his skin and hair.

The hunting lodge was expanded on and eventually Kingswood Lodge was good enough to offer baths, lodging, a small sept and even a rustic feast hall.

“Mhm, good.” He was like putty in her hands, never been used to being pampered like this and never had his loving wife care for him in such a way.

Usually, he would wash himself, but Aemma had wanted to be alone with him. If she’d played her cards right, she could make them very, very late to the feast.

“How was, how was your day with mother?” he sighed into her touch when she sponged off the dried blood that had stained his neck through his hunting clothes.

“Mhm, good. We are supposed to see if I can convince the Small Council to fund the schools in Flea Bottom tomorrow.” She is hopeful, bracing for the impact of failure, but Aemma at her core is always hopeful.

Hopeful that things will be better tomorrow than they were the day before.

“If I didn’t know you, I would say you are mad.” He admits.

Aemma is crazy or seen like that because almost all her ideas sound too out there. Educating the poor, ending the practice of Serfdom and indentured servitude, a citadel of sorts for women. All these have people calling her the Mad Princess behind her back.

And they don’t even know the half of it.

They don’t know that she wishes to end the practice of primogeniture and choose an heir based on their merits and not what order they were born like the Emperors of Yi Ti

“Not mad, merely brilliant, which is often misconstrued as mad.” She repeats the words her Teora says when she confides in her about her questioning if she is right to continue pushing for such ideals.

“You’re pouting, I can feel it from here.” Aemond may be as different from as the night is to day, but he knows her just a good as she knows herself. “I am sorry, I should know better than to say such things.”

He doesn’t like being told he is less of a man because he is a second son missing a fucking eye, she doesn’t like being told she is crazy for wanting a better world for everyone and actually following through with her plans.

“No matter, I shall prove all my naysayers wrong in due course, husband. We are the future; they best get used to it.”

-----

“The girl believes the common folk will benefit from her attentions.” Her father scoffed and Alicent pretends she didn’t see Ser Criston bristle from his callousness.

Criston was the son of commoners, his father, the founder of House Cole, was given lands and a knighthood and chose nine lumps of coal for his sigil in honor of his nine children.

Criston was the seventh child, and deemed lucky enough to train in Blackhaven and be sworn into Dondarrion’s service at eight and ten.

He would not say it, but Alicent knows her Sworn Protector believes in the same dream as Aemma.

Had his hatred for Rhaenyra been as strong as it used to be, the queen would not fear him betraying her for the little queen.

“Her views of the world are a blessing and a curse, I fear the day when she realizes no good deed goes unpunished.” The queen knew tomorrow Aemma would pull some sort of stunt and turn a meeting into a fighting ring. “We must allow her to open those schools, if we deny her that she will turn Aemond against us.”

The girl may not know it, but she has power over her husband that wives seldom have.

Aemond loves her to the point of madness, to the point of defying her and her father. When the time comes, he will have to choose between his wife and children or his brother and his children.

“You have lost him and you do not see it, daughter.” Otto Hightower proclaims and part of her knows he speaks in truth.

#aemma velaryon #someone will remember us fic #asoiaf fanfic #house of the dragon #asoiaf au #aemond targaryen x velaryon!oc #oc fanfiction #asoiaf #hotd #ocappreciationtag #fyeahhotdocs

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rafescoke · 3 years

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Brother’s Best Friend ; Rafe Cameron

masterlist

Request: heyy I’ve recently found your account and I just felt in love with the way you write and with your works so I was wondering if you could write a fic where the reader is Kelce’s sister, she’s sitting alone at home and suddenly she hears a doorbell ringing, she comes to open the door and that’s Rafe and she says something like “Kelce’s not home” or smth like that and Rafe answers “I actually came to see you” or smth like that. It can be smut or fluff or whatever I don’t really care. Sorry if this is chaotic but I just want the reader to be black and I have bad ideas lmao 😭 sending love ❤️❤️

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x reader

Summary: Fooling around with your best friend's sister is not a good sign, especially when it involves something more than skinny dipping and drinking alcohol together.

Warnings: Slight smut, mentions of drinking, slight angst, teasing Rafe Cameron

A/N: I'm so close to 700 followers wtf y'all are truly amazing ily! I'm finishing all requests in my inbox for the new few days; thank you to those who put their trust in me to write their ideas <33

(Y/N) could never deny the attraction she felt towards a certain brunette boy with that charming smile.

The feeling evolved for the first time when he came over to her house to see Kelce. He was so polite to her; giving her a turn on passing the ball and scolding Kelce and Topper for not wanting to give her a chance at playing basketball in the swimming pool.

But she was only 8 back then, and she regarded the feeling as nothing more than a silly crush.

Rafe Cameron changed when he entered high school. (Y/N) couldn't explain what was wrong, but he was not her Rafe anymore. He didn't hold the door for her, scold Kelce for making fun of her or do anything that used to make her heart soar.

Her thoughts were disrupted when a fresh blue towel hit her squarely on the face, causing her to yelp in shock.

"Do you wanna come down to the lake with us?"

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, pulling the towel to her side, and closed her magazine with a snap. Her eyes fell back to the three guys, lingering on the tallest one a little bit too long.

She cleared her throat, "No, I'm tired."

Kelce shrugged, walking towards the entrance of their home from the swimming pool. He didn't feel like having (Y/N) around anyways, because that would mean he would have to protect her from his friends.

Kelce loved his friends, of course, but he also knew the other side of them that uses girls like Kleenex tissue only to throw them away again.

"On a second thought-" (Y/N) said, stopping the three boys from entering the big house. "I think I'll go."

"You sure?" Kelce asked. God. Now he would have to play the big-brother stimulator for the whole night.

The night sky was dark, and the only light came from the moonlight up above and sometimes from the flashlight of each other's phone. Boozes laid messily on the wooden deck and their clothes were discarded all over the place.

Not one person was sober, and they were all laughing to a joke by Topper.

"Okay, okay, last one-" Topper said excitedly. He shivered, and (Y/N) thought about it as a response towards the cold lake water or the excited nerves of sharing another stupid joke. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"Easy. To get to the other side," Rafe answered proudly. A beer drop slid down from his lips to his chin, and (Y/N) felt a strong desire to lick it.

"Wrong."

"Okay, fine, I don't know."

Topper smiled widely, and (Y/N) could see this joke coming from a few miles away. "To get to the loser's house. Knock knock."

Rafe pulled a face, his eyebrows raised. "Who's there?"

"The chicken."

Kelce and Topper's laugh filled the silence around them, and (Y/N) found herself slightly smiling at the joke. Rafe groaned, finally understanding the joke and being angry at himself for willingly taking the bait.

"Okay, okay. The joke's over."

Kelce laughed again before taking a full swig of another beer bottle. He stared at the sky, and let out a loud huff.

"Wish we can go up there."

"Me too, man," Topper agreed. He joined Kelce by staring up at the dark sky, both clearly high out of their minds.

"Do you want to?"

(Y/N) looked to her side, not noticing Rafe who had moved from his previous position near Topper to beside her. She quirked her head to one side, her face questioning.

"Go up to the sky," he explained. He watched as she looked up to the sky, her mouth slightly parting. Her chest heaved peacefully, and her wet body donning the lilac bikini never looked so beautiful and perfect.

"Nah. I'm too scared."

"Even when I'll go with you?" he smiled. (Y/N) rolled her eyes, though her heart was soaring brightly; she would never feel scared anymore if he were to be around her all the time.

"Yeah. Even when you’ll go with me. Besides, it's not possible."

"Let people enjoy things," he said, and he was so close to her now because she could smell the coffee mint from his breath. Her heart was beating wildly, though this would be the ten-thousandth time he did this to her.

It never failed to leave her completely breathless.

"You're drooling," he whispered, and used his thumb to wipe her wet lips from the beer. Her breath hitched, and she couldn't utter any words back. She was too mesmerised with the whole situation.

His fingers stopped at her chin, looking into her eyes, and he was petrified too. He leaned in, but before anything could happen, (Y/N) moved away. He cleared his throat, and swam back to the deck.

‘I’m drunk’ was repeated by him all the way to the the place he threw his clothes off, shaking his head at the thought that he was so close to kissing her. He looked back to her direction in the lake, still staring at him. He focused back on the ties of his shorts, and made his way back to the Kelce’s house.

He ignored his best friends calls.

. . .

(Y/N) never really liked school, but she loved the after-activity that she got herself in.

Like cheerleading.

She used to think of the sport as something quirky, but in truth, once she was accepted into the school’s cheerleading team, she had never been more into a sport than before.

She walked down the field to the other side of the track where the other girls were waiting for her. Her training skirt flew slightly from the wind, and she was trying to hold them down all while carrying the water bottle and a duffle bag.

She exchanged a few greetings with her other friends, putting down her duffle bag and her water bottle. The sun was scorching hot, and all she felt like was eating ice cream inside of their boat whilst streaming down the lake, but the last time she had ditched cheer practice, it hadn’t ended well.

“Uh-oh,” someone exclaimed behind her. “Big bro is coming.”

(Y/N) looked up to the field, and sure enough Kelce was running towards her in his jersey. (Y/N) sighed, not knowing what she did now that could earn her a lecture from Kelce.

“Hey, I’m bringing a girl home after practice,” he said. “Would you mind getting a ride with someone else?”

She groaned, “Fuck, Kelce, no. You can tell your new scandal to fuck off because I am not getting an Uber to walk back to home.”

“Look, please? You can ask your friends to give you a ride, right? It’s important,” he begged. His eyes were scanning her friends now, obviously trying to find someone who could help his sister, and when he found one, his smile quirked upwards. “Yo, Sarah! Can you drive (Y/N) home after practice?”

Sarah walked towards them, her blonde hair up in a ponytail. She slung her arms around (Y/N)’s shoulders, noting the exasperated expression on her face, and gave Kelce a glare.

“You should let her drive a car if you’re going to bring a girl home after school,” she said. Kelce groaned, knowing the amount of shit he will be getting from the people around him, but he was truly trying to make it right for this new girl.

“Look, I’ll buy y’all anything for a week. Food? Sure. Clothes? Sure.”

Sarah clapped her hands, seemingly excited, and forced (Y/N) to say yes. She wouldn’t mind driving (Y/N) home, because she wanted to catch up with her about some gossip too.

“Fine. But I’m driving my own car tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” was all he said before he jogged down to the soccer team.

That evening was hell to (Y/N). She couldn’t get the formation right, the sun was getting hotter and hotter, her hair was sticking out weirdly, and worst of all, she couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday’s event.

He was so, so close to her.

“(Y/N), come on! What’s gotten into you? The top part, again!” The coach yelled, slapping her hands against her lap. There were sweat forming on her forehead, and she was obviously hot and bothered from this whole situation.

But sport was sport. The coach wasn’t going to let today’s training to waste, and she intended for the new number to work.

(Y/N) muttered a soft ‘sorry’ before going back to her position, her heart still thumping at the thought. The cheer started, and her mouth was saying the words, but her brain was somewhere else.

The two guys by her side picked her up by her calf, and she felt the wind gushing out from beside her ears. She was high up in the sky now, throwing one arm upwards and balancing herself on one leg, and it was finally time now, to twirl into the two boys’ arms, but she wasn’t ready. Her mouth didn’t utter any words from the cheer, too focused on the step, and before she could jump back into their arms, she felt herself slipping.

“(Y/N)!” The coach yelled, running towards her by the track. Sarah and the other teammates were surrounding her now, watching as she groaned on the ground painfully, holding onto her arms.

“Okay, I take that as the end of today’s training,” the coach said, sighing. “(Y/N), are you okay? Can you walk?”

(Y/N) held her thumbs up, because she had worse injury than this before. Hell, the boxing fight she used to have with Kelce in their childhood was more painful. She sat up from the track, feeling the heat of the ground burning on her bottoms, and stretched her fingers. The pain coursed through her veins at the feeling, but kinda liked it.

“Come on, let’s get you home,” Sarah said, helping her up. She groaned when she finally stood on her two feet, feeling so painful all she wanted to do was lay back on the track, but she knew she had to go home.

She allowed Sarah helping her limp towards a black Mercedes, her eyes closed the whole time.

Okay, scratch the fight with Kelce. This one was more painful than ever.

“Can I stay at your house?” She blurted when Sarah drove out of the school gate. “I don’t feel like listening to my mom’s lecture about my leg.”

Sarah glanced at her from the rearview mirror, watching as she spread her leg out the whole backseat. The ice bag someone had gotten her was pressed against her calf, and she was sweating from the heat and trying to contain the pain.

“Yes, of course, that would be better,” Sarah said. She had other plans that evening, but helping (Y/N) overstepped all of them.

“So what’s up with you and John B?”

Sarah turned to look at her fully on her face, furrowing her eyebrows. “What do you know about John B?”

(Y/N) laughed, “The light’s green.” Just on cue, the car behind them horned at Sarah, and she quickly pushed on the pedal.

“How do you know about John B?” Sarah asked, biting her lips. If (Y/N) could find out, she couldn’t imagine what would Rafe do if he finds out.

“God, don’t be worried. I’m not going to tell anyone about this, okay? Just relax. I think it’s cute.”

Sarah’s worried expression softened, “You think so?”

“Yeah. At least you got to be with whoever you want. Some people can’t have that.”

Like her. Kelce would kill her and dump her body in the ocean for the sharks if he ever finds out how much she likes Rafe.

“You’ll find the one soon. How about that guy in your maths class?” The car turned to the right, nearing the destination.

“No. I’m not looking for anyone.”

There’s only one, but Sarah won’t like the answer.

The time was 8.23p.m. now, and (Y/N) had been in Sarah’s room for a total of 3 hours. After catching up on new gossips, watched a movie, did her English essay, she felt extremely dehydrated.

Sarah was sleeping peacefully beside her, being so tired after the practice and school, and (Y/N) didn’t feel like waking her up. She have been to The Camerons household, but that was only for Sarah’s birthday party a few years back.

She sighed, getting up from the bed to find the kitchen. The house was like a maze, and she wished they had some kind of a map to browse through.

Alas, she found the kitchen, her muscles screaming from all the wrong turns she took before. She knew where the plastic cups and plates were situated, having to help Sarah get them during her birthday party, so she didn’t have any trouble getting some.

She drank the cold water quickly, feeling the liquid sloshing down her throat. The feeling was so, so good that she wished she could go through it again.

“I do not know where your sister is, Kelce,” a voice sighed not far from the kitchen. “I told you you shouldn’t bring that girl home and just drive (Y/N) home yourself.”

The voice, unmistakably Rafe, was getting nearer and nearer. (Y/N)’s eyes widened, trying to find an empty space to hide in, but there were none. She panicked, still looking for a way out that she didn’t notice the tall figure behind her.

“Oh. Found you.”

His hair was dishevelled and wet, his chest heaving and he was shirtless.

What a nice way to bump onto each other.

“Take a picture,” he started, shutting his phone off and placing them in his shorts. “It’ll last longer that way.”

Now we’re talking about the new Rafe.

(Y/N) scoffed, pushing him away and making a disgusted face at his sweat sticking on her arms. “I’m here for Sarah.”

“Why? Did she die or something?”

God. He really is insufferable.

She made to push him away to return to Sarah’s room, only for him to grab her by her waist.

“Move.” Her tone was stern, but her stomach was flipping wildly. She tried to not look so bothered, but failed miserably.

Rafe seemed to notice her behaviour because he didn’t let go of her. “Come on, where’s the fun in that?”

She was on the same level as his neck now, and he could still smell his expensive cologne even after he swam in the swimming pool. She sighed, placing her hands against his chest.

“Move.”

Rafe laughed, putting his hands up in defeat, and went to grab the same glass she was drinking from. He refilled the glass and downed the content, and (Y/N) had to look away from the innocent move.

Maybe he was just saving water by not using a different cup.

“Do you need help to return to Sarah’s room or something?”

“No, I’m fine,” she refused, and made sure he could see her fake annoyed expression before she returned to the hall she came from. But there were 2 halls now, and she completely forgot which one she had been before.

“Really?” Rafe stood beside her, and she looked up to his amused face. “Because you’re in the wrong hall. It’s the other exit of the kitchen, darling.”

. . .

Why couldn’t she not see his face every single day?

It was truly troubling her, to see that boy everyday, because she couldn’t think properly every time.

The lights from the stadium blared widely, and the deafening screaming coming from both teams’ supporters rang throughout the whole field. (Y/N) was sure the whole island could hear them too.

Two things happened earlier than evening. Number one, her skirt wasn’t completely dried after being sent off to the laundry for a week, and her hair wasn’t just cooperating.

So here she was; in a shorter uniform skirt, her hair hung up into a ponytail with lots of hairspray. She wished for nothing but to be all cuddled up with her blanket in her room.

“You’re okay?” Sarah asked. She fixed (Y/N)’s lips gently, getting the lipstick and lipliner even, and gave her a kiss on the cheeks. “Don’t worry about the skirt. It looks normal.”

For a little girl.

(Y/N) sighed and involuntarily pulled down the hem of her skirt. Ten minutes from the game now, and she was nervous she would flash everyone on the school compound.

In the locker room, Rafe was sitting right next to Kelce as his best friend prayed for a win tonight. He was never that religious, and he didn’t feel the need to mutter a prayer to anyone. But tonight, he listened intently to whatever Kelce was saying because he needed to win this cup more than anything in the world.

“You’re okay?” The coach asked, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Just nervous.”

“Don’t be, you’re the Star Player. Right?”

The Star Player.

Rafe gave him a smile, and went back to his praying.

When he first entered the field to meet the rival team, his eyes couldn’t help but scanned the bleachers to find his dad. Ward wasn’t there, but Rose and Wheezie were cheering for him.

Of course.

He sighed, and went straight to the middle of the field. It’s funny how everyone was there to support him, Rafe, the Star Player, the jock, the whatever else people were saying about him.

He just wanted Ward to see him.

“Come on, man, it’s fine,” Topper said, patting his back. “He’ll come later.”

Even his friends could see how miserable he was feeling.

The first match of the game went smoothly; he scored a try goal, everyone was cheering loudly, but it was just then that one of the opponents came knocking Rafe by his side.

Rafe fell to the ground with a loud thud, earning so many gasps from the stand.

“What the fuck?!” Topper pushed whoever responsible for his fall, and the sound of a whistle rang throughout the air. “He pushed him for nothing! You saw it, fuck!”

Rafe groaned on the ground, clutching onto his arms, and he tried to spread his fingers, but couldn’t. His other teammates were surrounding him now, trying to get a good look of him, all while Topper and Kelce and another friend of his went off to the referee.

Rafe put his other hand up, trying to sit up. “I’m fine, I’m fine! Move!”

The other members scattered away, sighing in relief when Rafe came back to his legs. The referee, still getting yelled at by Topper, shook his head at something he said, and before anyone could process what happened, Topper tackled the opponent who had pushed Rafe down to the ground.

Kelce pulled Topper away after a few long seconds, telling him to stop. But one thing about Topper is that he just won’t stop.

“Stupid fuck!” He yelled, throwing another punch.

“Topper, stop, they’re going to throw you off the field!” Kelce yelled. Finally, he separated them away after the opponent’s friend pulled his injured friend away.

The referee, expectedly, pulled a red card to Topper, earning a groan coming from their coach and the stand. Rafe cursed, knowing that Topper’s one of their strongest member. He watched as Topper tried to argue with the referee, but it was no use.

“It’s okay,” Kelce said, patting his back as he made his way back to the bench. “Relax, bro, okay?” Topper calmed down after the coach said something to him, but Rafe could clearly see the distress written on his face.

“You’re okay?” Kelce asked, pointing to his arms.

Rafe could move his muscles now though he could feel the sharp pain from doing so. But he was too content on winning this game.

(Y/N) watched as the second match unfold, her teeth biting into her lips in fear. She didn’t feel like having the next week full of gloomy students and disappointed teachers, so she wanted the cup as much as everyone else.

Rafe was fast, throwing the ball smoothly back and forth with Kelce and his other friends, but it was apparent that the Star Player wasn’t feeling like himself.

It might be the arm, or the fact that Ward Cameron was too busy with his work to see his son playing.

37 minutes had passed, and the other team was leading. They only had 3 minutes left, and with the team being so drained out and their captain with a broken arm, it was clear who was winning.

The whistle blared through the field again, noting the end of the match. As the other team supporters cheered happily the other side of the stands muttered silently to each other about the game.

(Y/N) watched as Rafe yelled something at his teammates angrily before storming off to the locker room. He winced in pain, holding his arm for support, and ignored every calls from his friends as he made his way to the empty room.

Looking around quickly, she muttered a ‘be right back’ to Sarah, and quickly followed Rafe into the locker room. She wanted to see if he was okay, and if he needed help with his arm.

In truth, she just wanted to be there for him.

“Hey,” she slowly said, and Rafe’s head perked up to see her before he looked down to the ground again.

“What do you want?”

She felt a struck of pain across her heart at his tone, but decided against it. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I was just trying to see if you need anything,” she said, and when his eyes finally looked up to her again, she unconsciously pulled her skirt down again.

“Yeah? I don’t need anything. Go!”

“Wow, you’re a dick,” she scoffed, and before Rafe could mutter anything back, she exited the locker room and straight to the cheer team. She felt a mixture of anger and embarrassment all at once, because God, Rafe Cameron did not just yell at her for trying to be nice.

She should’ve known better than to be ‘nice’ to him. He wasn’t the same 8 year old she met 10 years ago.

. . .

A week had passed from the game, and everything went back to normal.

Except for one person.

Rafe didn’t come to school the next Monday, not that (Y/N) wanted to see him after getting yelled at, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

He didn’t just broke his arm; his father also chose not to attend his game.

It was finally Friday, and (Y/N) was too happy to stay home and continue watching Love Island. Life is better when you are focused on someone else’s relationship other than yours.

She was rolling in her bed, casually smiling at the cheesy joke made by one of the contestant, and before she could hear the reply towards the joke, the doorbell blared throughout the house.

(Y/N) groaned, thinking how Kelce must’ve forgotten his keys again, and waited a few more minutes so that he would just leave her alone and go to that stupid prick, Rafe Cameron’s house.

But the doorbell rang again, and she had no choice but to open the door. She was all alone in the big house, having both her parents still working and her maids having the day off.

But when she opened the door, the boy standing before her was the last person she wanted to see.

“Hi,” Rafe said.

“Kelce’s not here,” she mumbled, and pushed the door close. Rafe’s quickly put his hands to block the door from closing, and (Y/N) pulled away after deciding not to crush his other only working hands.

“What?” She asked, in the same tone that he had given her in the locker room. She felt good when his eyebrows were raised.

“I’m here for you.”

“Why? Did I die or something?” Bingo.

“God, you’re impossible,” Rafe sighed. “Can I talk to you? Just us two?”

(Y/N) sighed, wanting to get this done, and opened the door wider to grant him into her home. (Y/N) closed the door and pressed her back against it, crossing her arms.

“Okay. Talk.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” He said. “I was just so angry with everything. I was pushed and Topper received a red card because of me—”

“You didn’t do anything, Rafe.”

“Yeah, but he was just trying to protect me. And, and I was just so mad at myself because I couldn’t play properly like I usually play. I’m so sorry for yelling at you. I didn’t mean it.”

(Y/N) sighed, “It’s okay. I’m over it.”

“Really?” He stepped closer, and this time, (Y/N) allowed him. “Thank you so much!”

He pulled her into a crushing hug, and before she could put her mind into it, he lifted her up and spin her around.

“Okay, okay, now you’re just pushing it,” she groaned, hitting him on his chest. “Put me down, Rafe, I swear to god.”

Rafe put her down, his face shining happily. They were close again, like that time in the lake, and (Y/N) didn’t feel like pushing him away again.

Because maybe, that 8 year old him was somewhere in there.

“Uh—” he looked away, scratching the back of his head. “Do you wanna. . . watch Netflix?”

(Y/N) cleared her throat, “I was watching Love Island. Wanna watch with me?”

Rafe nodded, anything to get closer with this girl, and followed her upstairs to her room. The first time he entered her room was 9 years ago, and it was only because Topper and Kelce had pranked him into thinking that her room was the gaming room.

“What are you doing?” The girl before him yelled, and before he could explain how he was lied to, she threw a pink hairbrush at him. He groaned from the pain, rubbing his head.

“I’m sorry, I thought this was the gaming room!”

“Out!” She yelled, and he quickly obliged.

Her room was still pink, but it was now filled with so many books, clothes and makeups instead of the dollhouse and toys he saw a few years ago.

“Is this the pink hairbrush you threw at me?” He laughed, holding the pink tool. (Y/N) snatched the hairbrush, embarrassed, and quickly stuffed them into the drawers.

He placed himself beside her on her bed, watching her as she resumed the video. He focused on the show, trying to find at least something interesting from the show, but there was nothing.

2 episodes later, he was too into the show that he pressed on the stop button before they could continue on the next episode.

“I wish they would just communicate,” he said. “Like the whole show’s pointless. They didn’t try to talk to each other about their problems.”

“Yeah, that’s what makes the show interesting, Rafe,” she said as if that was a fact, “And besides, if they communicate, everyone will win the show.”

“Then that’s just good. A win-win situation.”

“You don’t get it,” she groaned, looking into his face. “There’s no use in fighting with you about this.”

She pressed on the resume button again, and instantly, Rafe pressed on the stop button.

“Rafe, I will—”

“You still haven’t apologised for throwing the hairbrush at me.”

She widened her eyes, “That was 9 years ago.”

“And?”

“Fine,” she placed her laptop aside, and turned to fully look him in the face. “Sorry.”

“Not sincere enough.”

She groaned, “Rafe, I am terribly sorry for throwing my pink hairbrush at you. I am so sorry that it hit your face and be the reason why you’re still holding vengeance at someone.”

“I’m not talking about that kind of sorry.”

“Fuck, you’re annoying,” she said. “I’m not going to bow down to you or anything.”

“Just a kiss.”

She looked at him back, her heart stopping at his words. “No.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because you’re Rafe?”

“Rafe? Okay, fine. I’m not Rafe. I’m Rafael.”

“Okay, it’s still a no. You’re Kelce’s best friend.”

“Didn’t you kiss Topper last year?”

“That was a dare—” she sighed. “And it didn’t mean anything.”

“Exactly. This won’t mean anything. This is just a sorry.”

It would mean everything to her to place her lips against his.

“This is sexual harassment.”

“Not if you want it too,” he said, and leaned closer to her. “And you do want it, right? I can see it in your eyes.”

She didn’t know why God would put her and Rafe in this damn position over and over again, because it wasn’t helping her to get over him.

She looked down to his lips, and how it was so inviting, and she wanted more than anything to kiss him, to finally give herself to him, but she was afraid.

“Rafe—”

“Shut up,” he cut her off, and pressed himself against her. Their kiss was slow and passionate, none like neither (Y/N) or Rafe had experienced before. Her hands found themselves wrapping around Rafe’s neck, pulling him closer.

He pulled away, grinning. “I thought you didn’t want this.”

“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes, and pulled him in for another kiss again.

He pushed her down onto the bed gently, still kissing her, and his hands were roaming down her body. She was so, so perfect and every time he saw her, he would have to look away to stop the unwanted thoughts forming in his head.

During the game last Friday, he had to pinch himself from staring at her legs in that goddamn skirt for too long.

“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he whispered, and she hummed in response before pushing him over so she could take control. She sat on top of him, grinning widely. She was in heaven; seeing him all worked up under her with his chest heaving.

“You would be surprised at the amount of times I imagined myself on top of you like this,” she said, placing her hands flat on top of his chest.

Rafe grinned back, trying to contain his feelings. “Yeah? Wanna show what else you’ve been imagining?”

She leaned closer, making sure to brush her bottom against him and hearing his soft groans. She placed a soft kiss against his cheek, and whispered into his ear.

“Would rather have you show what you’ve been dreaming of me.”

Rafe licked his lips, loving this side of her, and he wanted more than anything to make her his. She looked so innocent sitting there on top of him, smiling and biting her lips.

Before he could touch her in ways he never did to a girl before, a voice rang from outside the room.

“(Y/N)? Have you seen Rafe? I saw his car outside,” the voice said. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed. “You’re okay? I’m coming in, okay?”

“No, no, wait!” (Y/N) shouted, scrambling from her position on top of Rafe as he quickly pulled her up, but it was too late.

Kelce saw them in the midst of trying to get away, with his sister’s leg on one side of his best friend and his best friend’s hands still around his sister’s waist.

“What. The. Fuck.”

@okayshoto @joselyn001 @onceuponateenagetrash @dyingsleeping @iwannabeapogue @meaganjm @rafesobxs @flossy2929 @unfortunatekiwitrash @scottybitch @asimpwriter @amaya124 @tommy-tommo @thatshithurted8 @fallincindy @marvelwhor3 @rafeswh0ree @kookap @supernaturallydc-blog @blank-velvet @alaniskauany @kiiim8 @witchywrter @kaitlyn2907 @heyimflo @overcookedpastasause @tsukkiswifeey @spidey-d00d @anonymousobxfan @gotmeinloveagain @chicagoblackhawkslover96 @lexi-writes @classydragonthingknight @belongtoyou-u @badbussylol @savannah-elliott @angelreyesgirl100 @haterpenny @beehappyyy @alwaysclassyeagle @maybankslut @kayleea122 @clearbolts @lovelyxtom @christianaevans @jemimah-b99 @opierdalacz @dangerdolns @wildflowerliv @classygirlything21 @pogueslandia

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron smuts #rafe cameron imaginens #rafe cameron one shot #drew starkey #drew starkey x reader #drew starkey imagines #outerbanks #outerbanks x reader #outerbanks imagines #outerbanks smut

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oikadori · 3 years

Note

First off i really like your work thank you so much for making them, stay safe. And stay hydrated... This is my first time requesting. Ummmm can you please do osamu, sakusa and kenma. Like after the timeskip and the wife is on vacations and they were the one who take cares of the kids for the time being and they leave the lil demon for a moment and he/she destroyed the whole house and their wife is coming home any moment. I wanna know what their reaction and action will be. Thank you.

REACTING TO THEIR CHILD MAKING A MESS OF THEIR HOME WHILE YOU ARE AWAY

⇢ includes: osamu, sakusa , kenma,

⇢ genre // warnings: fluff , f!reader // swears, dad!sakusa gets kinda mad but then all is good.

⇢ wc~ 0,9K

a/n: this is so sweet ?? pleasee thank you for requesting nonnie !!hope u like these. special thanks to @hvnlydmn who helped me figure out how i wanted to do these! ILY AINS <33 kithes

reblogs are highly appreciated :)

“Daddy!!”

Two pairs of big grey eyes peak from the couch in Osamu’s direction. His sleepy eyes adjusting to the light, unwrapping the chaos his living room has turned into.

Your twins are sitting comfortably on the couch, both of their mouths full of candies and their faces painted with red jelly, the same jelly that is now on the kitchen floor. Snacks are smeared all over the place and the couch is full of crumbs, but the little kids are wearing happy smiles.

“Daddy just went to sleep for fifteen minutes ‘cause he was tired and this is how you are gonna greet mommy when she’s back?”

Osamu’s tone is rather playful than harsh, he doesn’t have the heart to put on his serious face when your kids are smiling at him with those puffy cheeks. He breathes heavily, walking towards them, stopping right in front of the TV to catch their attention.

“So, which one of ya is gonna help me clean this?”, he crosses his arms over his beefy chest as the little girl and the little boy blink at his words.

“He!” “She!”

They point at the other, looking up at your husband, who’s lips curve into a smile, the scene feeling familiar to him bringing back a piece of his childhood with Atsumu.

“Right…” a deep chuckle leaves his throat as he kneels between them, taking a napkin out, “But first I’ll have to get ya both clean”

He grabs your daughter’s cheek, earning a girly giggle out of her when he whipped away the jelly from her chin. Osamu freezes, feeling his phone buzzing in his pocket.

I’ll be there in 5!!! Love you !

He reads the message in slow motion as his son drops some more candies onto the floor and his daughter puts more sweets into her mouth. Osamu locks eyes with the two kids, fear printed in his face.

“Yer mom is gonna kill me”

“What…What happened?”

Sakusa says, almost dropping the towel he was using to dry off his dark, wet curls as he stares at the scene in front of him. The walls of the hall are covered with lines and figures and your daughter is standing proud next to it.

“LOOK, DADDY!“. The little girl points with her chubby fingers at the walls showing off her artistic skills to her dad but Sakusa’s face is pale. He moves towards her with his brows furrowed, her smile slowly fading.

“Y-you didn’t like it?”

“It’s not that… but good kids don’t draw on the walls while their dads are taking a shower!”, he points at the drawings, noticing her daughter’s dress stained with yellow, “―and you’ve ruined your dress!”

He doesn’t notice the harshness in his voice until he hears a little sniffle. Sakusa blinks, founding a big pout taking over his daughter’s face, making his breath hitch in his throat.

“I-I just wanted to give mommy a surprise”

She looks at the floor, playing with her fingers and Sakusa’s heart drops to the ground. His eyes soften instantly and he bends down, caressing the top of her head and holding her small hand in his.

“ Hey, I’m sorry love, daddy it’s just a bit tired and he misses mommy too” He thumbs her daughter’s cheek before tracing the yellow spot on her dress with his fingers “let’s change you into some clean clothes, okay angel?”

Your daughter nods eagerly, putting a grin on Sakusa’s lips.

“That’s my perfect girl!” Your daughter smiles again as he picks her up easily from the floor, kissing her cheek in his way to her room but the click the key makes with the door causes both of them to still, looking at each other with wide eyes.

“ it's mom!” she yells with the biggest smile on her face, stealing a chuckle from the spiker.

“Yeah, I’m excited to see her too.”

“Sorry, I’ll be back in 5. I have to check upon a little something of mine”

Kenma says with a soft grin before taking off his headsets and stopping his stream. He heads to his son’s room when a loud thud makes him freeze in the spot. He trips in his way to the living room, finding your big, flat screen Tv laying on the floor.

“shit“ he curses under his breath, his cat-like eyes widening as he spots his kid standing with an innocent face next to the TV.

“Mmh, I guess this is the part where I scold you….” Kenma hides his hands in his pockets, thinking about his next words. Your son moves towards him, stopping right in front of him to hold his hoodie, pulling the fabric to catch his attention.

“Can you play with me now, daddy?” Kenma’s amber eyes widen and his lips curl into a grin.

“So, you destroyed the living room to call daddy’s attention?”, your child nods, embarrassed, and Kenma tilts his head.

“I’m sorry daddy”

“I guess―if you know it was wrong, we are all good, bubs” Kenma whispers, patting his head and hugging him lightly, “but you mommy isn’t as cool as your daddy”

He grins devilish at his son when a familiar ringtone fills the room. Your son quickly unwraps your husband’s waist to pick up his tablet, a picture of you popping on the screen

Your son looks at his dad in fear and Kenma ruffles his dark hair with calm eyes before grabbing the device to answer the call. He giggles at the way your eyes seem to fall from your face when you catch a glimpse of your living room.

“Kenma…What―”

He takes out his wallet, sighing softly before giving you a cocky grin from across the screen.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ll buy you a new living room.”

TO JOIN MY TAGLIST, FILL THE FORM HERE ♡

TAGLIST : @sazunari @hajiswife @oikadiors @arrogantsonofabiscuit @wak4tosh1 @asteroid-babe @kenmaki @kouffee-ink @mjoork @tobiosbbyghorl @evelynn27 @akkeyomi @devilgirlcrybabiey @ilovecheese08 @realityisabitch-blr @itsmeaudrieee

#osamu x reader #sakusa x reader #hqradiostation #osamu x you #osamu scenario #miya osamu x reader #sakusa x you #sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa scenarios #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #kozume kenma x reader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu fluff #kenma scenario

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travoltacustom · 3 years

Text

HYPNOSIS MICROPHONE 4TH INTERNATIONAL POLL (DECEMBER 2020) Part 2: Demographics

Thank you for your participation! These are the final results for the 4th Hypnosis Microphone International Poll. After months of work on this, we have estimates for general fandom opinions. Do you agree or disagree with the general opinions? Please let us know!

The results were held back from original posting as we were waiting to post for a month before the 2nd DRB finals (which is on Doppo’s Birthday this year.) My deepest apologies for how long this took to get out. We will be releasing these results with a section per day, with the end of these results showing the Japanese side.

Click the READ MORE to view the results.

PREFACE

The data collection for this poll received 902 votes to give us an indication of the demographic of those who consume Hypnosis Mic. This poll was open to English speakers, and thus, results may be considerably Euro/American-centric. The word ‘international’ has been used to refer to how fans are from many places around the world, but the poll may also refer to this group as ‘English-speaking’ etc. The Japanese poll had a smaller respondent pool with 400.

This poll received the most activity through Twitter, given that the series is most active on that platform. The poll was also posted on Tumblr, Facebook and the HypMic wiki. Commentary has been given on sections of the poll. These results will be available in full on from this account. The Japanese poll results shall follow about a week with comparison to this poll.

The poll was conducted from December 2020 to January 2021. This poll is UNOFFICIAL and none of the composers of this poll have any relation to King Records whatsoever.

This will be split into MULTIPLE posts due to the amount of data and limitations of tumblr.

PART 2: THE INTERNATIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS OF HYPNOSIS MIC

This section will show us who the fans of Hypnosis Mic are. Age, gender, location and zodiac will be looked at. Age and gender will be compared to the Japanese version of the poll. The rest of the Japanese poll will be in the second half of this stream of posts.

AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

INTERNATIONAL AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

Under 15s: 5.8%

15-17s: 25.2%

18-20s: 24.9%

21-23s: 22%

24-26s: 12.5%

27-29s: 5.3%

30-35s: 3.2%

35+s: 1.1%

JAPANESE AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

Under 15s: 2.5%

15-17s: 10%

18-20s: 25.3%

21-23s: 15.8%

24-26s: 12.0%

27-29s: 15.2%

30-35s: 11.5%

35+s: 7.8%

OBSERVATIONS

For both International and Japanese fans, the biggest age group appears to be 18-20.

The average of International fans appears to be 15-20, while the average of Japanese fans appears to be 15-23.

There is a significant drop off for older International fans, while the decline in older Japanese fans is steadier.

The smallest group for JP fans are the Under 15s, while the smallest group for International fans are the 35+s.

GENDER DEMOGRAPHICS

INTERNATIONAL GENDER DEMOGRAPHICS

Male: 7.9%

Female: 66.1%

Non-binary: 18.6%

Preferred not to say: 7.4%

JAPANESE GENDER DEMOGRAPHICS

Male: 1.3%

Female: 92.3%

Non-binary: 3.2%

Preferred not to say: 3.2%

LOCATION DEMOGRAPHICS

Due to the limitations of Google Sheets, Africa has not been labelled on the chart with 0.3% - it’s the red/purple in between South America and Australia/Oceania.

INTERNATIONAL LOCATION DEMOGRAPHICS

Europe: 19.1%

Asia: 33%

North America: 37%

South America: 8.6%

Africa: 1.9%

Australia/Oceania: 1.9%

STAR SIGN DEMOGRAPHICS OF RESPONDENTS

DOES AGE AFFECT WHICH DIVISION YOU STAN?

We decided to examine if there were discernable trends within age as it was appealed to us as the most interesting data. However, we found that these results may have been skewed as this poll gained heavy traction through Fling Posse stans who retweeted the poll more than those who stanned other divisions. This is what we found for age demographics.

Note: Respondents were allowed to choose up to 3 favorite characters.

FAVORITE CHARACTERS BASED ON AGE

UNDER 15s: 52 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Fling Posse (16), Matenro (11), Buster Bros!!! (9)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Ramuda Amemura (16)

Dice Arisugawa (14)

Saburo Yamada, Jyushi Aimono (13)

Jakurai Jinguji, Sasara Nurude (10)

Hifumi Izanami, Doppo Kannonzaka, Rio Mason Busujima (9)

15-17s: 223 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Fling Posse (87), Matenro (41), Buster Bros!!! (29)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Ramuda amemura (71)

Gentaro Yumeno (70)

Dice Arisugawa (57)

Doppo Kannonzaka (52)

Sasara Nurude (44)

18-20s: 225 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Fling Posse (72), MAD TRIGGER CREW (47), Matenro (40)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Ramuda Amemura (62)

Samatoki Aohitsugi (55)

Gentaro Yumeno (54)

Dice Arisugawa (53)

Sasara Nurude (46)

21-23s: 198 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Fling Posse (54), Matenro (48), MAD TRIGGER CREW (36)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Doppo Kannonzaka (57)

Samatoki Aohitsugi (55)

Dice Arisugawa (50)

Ramuda Amemura (44)

Gentaro Yumeno, Hifumi Izanami, Sasara Nurude (43)

24-26s: 113 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Matenro (33), Fling Posse (31), MAD TRIGGER CREW (18)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Doppo Kannonzaka (36)

Sasara Nurude (33)

Ramuda Amemura, Jakurai Jinguji (28)

Samatoki Aohitsugi (23)

Ichiro Yamada, Hifumi Izanami (21)

27-29s: 48 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Matenro (13), MAD TRIGGER CREW (12), Fling Posse

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Dice Arisugawa (15)

Doppo Kannonzaka (12)

Ichiro Yamada, Samatoki Aohitsugi, Jakurai Jinguji, Kuko Harai (10)

Jyuto Iruma (9)

Ramuda Amemura, Gentaro Yumeno, Sasara Nurude (8)

30-35s: 29 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Matenro (14), Fling Posse (7), Dotsuitare Honpo (3)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Doppo Kannonzaka (13)

Hifumi Izanami, Sasara Nurude (10)

Samatoki Aohitsugi, Jakurai Jinguji (7)

Dice Arisugawa (6)

Gentaro Yumeno (5)

35+s: 10 votes

FAVORITE DIVISIONS

Matenro / Fling Posse (4), MAD TRIGGER CREW (2)

FAVORITE CHARACTERS

Dice Arisugawa (2), Doppo Kannonzaka (5)

Samatoki Aohitsugi, Ramuda Amemura, Hifumi Izanami (3)

We looked to see if there were any differences in favorite characters dependent on when fans joined as well - would old fans have chosen the newer divisions of Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple? This is what we found:

Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple debuted in September 2019, and thus we have counted Post Battle Season 1 and Pre-Battle Season 2 as ‘Post-DotsuBat introductions’.

There were 271 respondents out of 902 that started HypMic before Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple were introduced. Out of that 228/271 (84.3%) ‘remained loyal’ to the first 4 Divisions’. The rest have moved onto the new divisions.

Onigawara Bombers did not receive a single vote.

HYPSTER SUBSCRIPTION

We wanted to see if people who had been into HypMic for longer were more willing to purchase the HYPSTER subscription. This is what we found:

PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS WITH HYPSTER SUBSCRIPTION

Before the project began - Sep 2017: 5/33 - 15.1%

Since Pre-Battle Season 1 - Oct 2017 - Feb 2018: 6/63 - 9.5%

Since Battle Season 1 - Mar 2018 - Dec 2018: 22/175 - 12.6%

Since Post-Battle Season 1 - Jan 2019 - Nov 2019: 28/267 - 10.5%

Since Pre-Battle Season 2 - Dec 2019 - Dec 2020: 28/364 - 7.7%

Pre-DotsuBat introduction: 33/271 - 12.2%

Post-DotsuBat introduction: 78/631 - 12.4%

On average, only 11.1% of HypMic fans have purchased a HYPSTER subscription. And there was no discernable correlation between time as a fan to the probability of their subscribing to HYPSTER.

These are only interesting numbers to show fan demographics. You may interpret these as you wish.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

To see the next part on characters and music please follow us to the next post. To view consumption of the series, go back to the previous post.

PREVIOUS | NEXT

#hypnosis mic #hypmic #hypmic 4th intl poll

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rhetoricandlogic · 4 years

Video

youtube

The release event of RoW - digital this time. I normally wouldn’t have posted a link to a >3h video, but thankfully some angel by the username of JDB segmented the whole thing finely, so you can jump directly to the stuff that interests you. Here’s what they wrote in the comments (spoilery parts are mentioned in the link description:

<Intro>

00:00:00 [Waiting with the title card.]

00:36:41 [And we are live! Unfortunately, the stream is rendered speechless by the set.]

00:37:46 [The audio recovers!] [Brandon mid-sentence talking about where the questions will come from and the plans for the stream.]

0:37:58 [The mutual appreciation ceremony begins.] [A big thank you to the whole team! 😊 ]

00:41:11 [Brandon on the challenges his team overcame.]

00:42:14 [Brandon alerted by Adam that our friends the tech gremlins crashed the party.]

00:43:28 What is your favourite question. [Calling it the delaying question wasn’t cool!]

00:44:52 [Tech check.]

00:45:26 What’s your favourite art on a Magic the Gathering card?

00:47:16 [Tech Check 2: Electric Boogaloo.] <Brandon’s Speech With Readings Interspersed By Questions Part 1>

00:47:33 Brandon’s Speech Introduction [Opportunity cost and his career.]

00:55:46 How do you feel about the release of Rhythm of War? Is it different from how you felt about releasing any of the previous Stormlight books?

00:59:08 Is there only one Seon for every given Aon?

00:59:26 Brandon’s Speech Part One [Brandon Era 1]

01:03: 54 Brandon reads from his fifth novel, The Sixth incarnation of Pandora. [01:06:46 reading begins. 01:14:38 reading ends.]

00:14:39 [Back to the speech.]

01:17:40 Of all the magic systems would awakeners most be able to quickly utilize acquiring a Dawnshard? [NO spoilers, RAFO.]

01:18:38 Can a Radiant join multiple orders and/or become a squire of a different order? And if Dalinar became a Lightweaver squire, or had the Lightweaver Honorblade, could he create the Roshar map himself? [No spoilers.]

01:19:20 Are any of your characters based on somebody you know?

01:22:53 As the years of your career have progressed, as the World and your worldview has changed, has your Cosmere, your vision of a fantastic universe become more defined and detailed or has the picture become muddled by shifts in perspective?

01:23:50 Brandon’s Speech Part Two [Brandon Era 2.]

01:32:10 Brandon reads from an unpublish novel that he isn’t yet happy with, The Liar of Partinel. [ 01:33:34 reading begins. 01:45:42 reading ends.]

<Isaac’s Segment>

01:46:37 [Screen blanked during setup.]

01:46:50 [Rhythm of War cover art on screen.] 01:49:20 [And we are back with Isaac!]

01:49:21 [Isaac introduces himself.]

01:49:40 [What Isaac will be talking about in this stream.]

01:50:53 Where did the art for Rhythm of War start?

01:51:46 [First cover concept description on screen.] [Pre-Rhythm SPOILERS for Shallan.]

01:53:07 [Rhythm of War cover template on screen.]

01:54:27 [Greyscale thumbnail concepts overlaid on the cover template.] 01:54:49 [Even more of these.] [Fortress of lasting What Now? The Tower on the back of the cover is name dropped.]

01:56:02 [Shallan traveling clothes concept art.]

01:56:21 [Adolin uniform concept art.] 01:56:51 [The cover art is now available as a print.]

01:57:00 A video of Michael Whelan talking about creating the cover.

02:01:40 [Back to Isaac thanking Michael. Muted for a few seconds at the start.]

02:02:12 Back to the creation of the cover.

02:03:29 [Radiant Spren sketches from the book set 1. Mist, Cryptic and Ash Spren] [Visual spoilers kinda, if you can read the text.]

02:03:48 [Radiant Spren sketches from the book set 2. Honour, Cultivation and Light Spren] [Visual spoilers kinda, if you can read the text.] [Onscreen again at 02:05:06.]

02:05:54 [Radiant Spren sketches from the book set 3. Hight, CPeak and Ink Spren] [Visual spoilers kinda, if you can read the text.] [Teeny Tiny Jasnah audio spoiler as well for the first book.]

02:06:38 [Isaac starts talking about endpapers here.]

02:09:28 [Rhythm of War front endpapers. Heralds Pailiah and Kelek by Magali Villeneuve.]

02:10:10 Howard Lyon to talk about painting the physical versions!

02:10:07 [Physical painting of Pailiah revealed.]

02:14:40 A video from Magali Villeneuve on her process creating these Heralds.

02:18:13 Back to Isaac discussing the paintings

02:18:32 [Closeups of Howard’s Pailiah.]

02:18:34 Isaac on the endpapers by Karla Ortiz.

02:19:05 A video on creating the art for the endpapers by Karla Ortiz.

02:23:59 [Back to Isaac thanking Karla.]

02:24:14 [Rhythm of War endpapers. Heralds Nalan and Chanaranach by Karla Ortiz.]

02:24:25 [Closeup of Chanaranach.]

02:25:04 [Closeup of Nalan.]

02:25:37 Isaac on making notes on manuscript pages to direct art later. [With image, NO spoilers.]

02:26:06 [Book map of where the illustrations will be placed, NO spoilers.]

02:26:54 [Urithiru Atrium map/illustration.]

02:27:55 [Viewpoint Icons. Rysn and Taravangian.]

02:27:55 [Viewpoint Icons. Eshonai and Venli.]

02:29:06 [Art log.]

02:29:27 [Isaac on Dan dos Santos doing Singer fashion plates.] [Image on screen.]

02:30:35 A video from Dan dos Santos on this. [Louder music on the intro and outro of this.]

02:34:31 [Back to Isaac thanking Dan.]

02:34:37 Isaac on Navani’s notebook pages.

02:34:56 [Notebook pages on screen by Kelly Harris.]

02:36:04 [Some more pages on screen.]

02:36:43 [Maps on screen by Kelly Harris!]

02:38:08 Isaac says goodbye and ends his segment. <Brandon’s Speech With Readings Interspersed By Questions Part 2>

02:38:43 [Brandon Introduces a video put together by his sister Jane.]

02:39:05 Video by Jane regarding the Lightweaver Foundation.

02:40:41 [Back to Brandon with questions.] 02:40:55 What do you think you will do after the Cosmere is finished?

02:41:13 We have seen Wit tell stories that others told incomplete versions of earlier in the book. Is this an in-world coincidence or is he aware of those stories being told?

02:41:39 Nale seems to be able to sense Lift7s Stormlight, even before she uses it (after she eats the roll) is this an ability of his as a surgebinder, as a Herald or something external he’s doing or using? [No spoilers beyond the question, RAFO.]

02:41:54 After you decided that you don’t need to be cagey about Cosmere references, did the structure or plot of the Cosmere change?

02:43:11 Brandon’s Speech Part Three [Brandon Era 3]

02:47:24 Brandon reads from an unfinished book, I hate Dragons. [ 02:48:26 reading begins. 02:54:06 reading ends.]

02:54:15 Happy Birthday to Tyler Schmill!

02:54:40 What’s the longest amount of time in one sitting you’ve spent entirely writing in this series?

02:55:12 What culture inspired the Horneaters?

02:56:41 Which is your favourite somewhat lesser known fantasy series?

02:57:47 We’ve seen that metalborn siblings can end up with different powers. What about metalborn twins?

02:58:00 Were there ever characters you have written that got a surprising reaction from readers?

02:58:53 Out of all the characters you’ve created, which one do you most personify with?

03:00:08 How do you balance creating new and wonderful series, while continuing to develop the worlds you already created? [This answer bleeds into Brandon’s Speech Part Four.]

03:02:49 Brandon’s Speech Part Four. [Brandon era 4.]

03:04:44 Brandon reads from the unnamed sequel to Sixth of the Dusk. [03:06:35 reading begins. 03:30:07 reading ends. MASSIVE SPACE AGE COSMERE SPOILERS!!!]

03:30:30 [Thank you and goodbye.]

#Brandon Sanderson #Stormlight Archive #Stormlight spoilers #spoilers #long post

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tibbinswrites · 4 years

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How about Dean/Cas #33. Canon or AU. All is good to me. 🙂

Hiii!!!! Thank you so much for your request! So this one has taken me so long and it’s not super on topic with the prompt. I had a plan but got very distracted and this happened instead. Hope you like it ^_^

I’ve now done prompts for: #1, #2, #4 and #16, #9, #10, #33, #77, #78, #170 and #502

I also have 2 prompts waiting for: #20 and an addition to #170 and after I’ve done these I will be closing prompts for a little while. Sorry! I’ve joined up for a Big Bang which I’m super excited about and I’ve never done before so I really need to turn my focus to that at the moment.

ANYWAY! On with the fic!

Prompt #33. Tomorrow

In this life there was never a guarantee that you would get anything more than what you had right now. There was also never a guarantee that you wouldn’t lose what little you had. This was a lesson that Dean had learned too many times to count. Could it be counted as loss if your hold on it was tenuous at best? What about a dream? A wish? A distant maybe? Those were never certain, he’d never had them, so why, when they were on the brink of vanishing forever, did it feel like grief?

Watching Cas leave had felt like that. The anger gloated in his gut while the rest of him mourned. He hated that the one constant in his life now was his rage. It hadn’t always been this way; back when hunting had been enough for him, before John had died. That was then the anger had really come into its own, he thought; solidified from all the disappointment and potential for closure that would now never come. He might have been able to say a final goodbye to his father the previous year, but there had been so much still left unsaid between them and Dean hadn’t decided if the John that had appeared had even been the John he knew, or just something conjured as part of the wish. Questioning the reality of things in Dean’s life was ‘in’ at the moment.

He was working on it, he was. In between Purgatory and worrying about Jack and looking for ways to kill God and meeting his alternate self he was working on self-improvement. He’d apologised to Cas and that had worked out. He was trying to joke with the guy more, make him laugh, or at least ease the worried crease between his eyes a little. It hadn’t worked so far.

But now, Jack was sobbing at the kitchen table, apologising over and over for every slight he’d ever made. He had his soul back. And Cas and Sam were gathered around him, forgiving him each time he mumbled a ‘sorry’. Dean went to fill a glass of water and placed it in front of the kid before stepping back. Sam rubbed Jack’s back soothingly while Cas kept up a stream of affirmations and comfort but Dean could only watch. He’d been working on his anger, but the wound of what had happened to Mary Winchester was still raw, tangled up in a bunch of other feelings like the mess that was their phone charger station. Dean wasn’t sure he’d forgiven Jack yet, but seeing how sorry he was… well… that helped.

Jack had looked up at him a few times, blue eyes wet and shiny with remorse as though he wanted Dean to say something. Dean knew that he should, he knew that he should swallow his pride, kneel down to eye-level and tell Jack that he still cared about him, that he was still family. But he knew that wasn’t what Jack wanted to hear and it would eat him up to mutter a forgiveness he didn’t feel, even if it might be the only thing that Jack really wanted to hear.

Cas sent him a couple of pointed glares, but he retreated instead, leaving Cas and Sam to calm the kid down. Sure, the first few hours of having his soul back would be messy, but once he adjusted to having feelings again he’d be okay, or at least as okay as the rest of them were. Besides, Sam was the one with first-hand experience of losing and re-gaining your soul, he was the best person to be in there right now. Dean just awkwardly standing around wouldn’t make any of them feel better.

Xxx

It was a few hours later that Cas came to find him.

“He’s still very upset,” he said by way of a greeting when he walked into the garage. His voice was hard, almost accusatory. Dean didn’t turn around. “We could have used you there.”

“I’m not exactly good at that whole… area of things, Cas. I’m sure you and Sam did a better job than I could have.”

“It’s you that Jack needs forgiveness from,” Cas fired back. “And more than forgiveness he needs reassurance that you don’t hate him. You disappearing doesn’t exactly alleviate that fear.”

“I don’t hate him.” Dean said, uncomfortable. He was working on Baby, nothing major, just inspecting every inch of her to make sure his and Sam’s alternate selves hadn’t done any damage. They hadn’t, but the work got his hands greasy and kept his mind calm and that was all he needed right now. Meeting himself from that other world had thrown him, probably more than it should. Thinking about it now, maybe sending them off to Brazil hadn’t been the best plan. They weren’t exactly done defying God, having a couple of decoys could come in handy, and if they were loaded enough to afford a private jet, two sets of pilots, top-shelf scotch and whatever the hell they’d been wearing they couldn’t be completely useless as hunters. The other John Winchester might have spoiled them (and if that thought didn’t just sit in his stomach like sour milk), but if he’d started HunterCorp and it had gone international, they had to have done a decent job of proving themselves, because he was pretty sure that any John Winchester in any world still had to be a ball-busting hard-ass when it came to hunting. Plus, they were still alive.

Then again, they couldn’t exactly stay here. If Chuck did come to check up on them then their usefulness as stand-ins was blown. Plus… it would just be weird. There had been a strange mix of relief and jealousy when they had talked about their life back on other-Earth, a bit of longing for that kind of ease and lightness that he knew he’d lost years ago, but then again, they had come through the rift alone, no Cas, no Jack, no family, and despite their toasts to their father, the grief there had been perfunctory at best. Their whole world was gone and they had barely seemed to care. So their lives might have been shinier and easier, but at least his life was full.

“Maybe you should tell him that.” Cas grumbled with all the heaviness of a parent who had been trying to comfort their child for the past several hours. Then, in a tone much sharper, “and I’m not an idiot.”

Dean turned. Cas was glaring at him, which Dean wasn’t exactly surprised at, but the glare contained something else too, a spark of real fury, not the watered-down version Cas more often than not used.

Dean folded his arms. “On this particular day, you were.” He insisted, folding his oil-streaked arms across his chest. “Going to the Empty, Cas? Really?”

“Oh, like going to Hell was a better plan.”

“Me and Sam didn’t have to die to get there!” Dean heard his voice get louder with each syllable.

“I didn’t—” Cas began.

“Almost is too damn close,” Dean interrupted. Dropping his arms where his hands balled into fists.

“Well my plan is the one that worked.” Cas said. Dean watched as his shoulders pulled back, Cas was gearing up for a big fight. Well fine, if this was the hill Cas wanted to die on, that was just fine with him, ’cause this time he was right, dammit. “You and Sam walked right into Jo’s trap while I got the location of the occultum.”

“You think this is about results?” Dean asked, his voice deadly quiet now. “You think I give a crap that it worked?”

Cas frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Dean let out a breath and dragged a hand through his hair. “You really are an idiot.”

“Stop calling me that!” Cas advanced on him, blue fire in his eyes. “I was the leader of a garrison of angels. That means I was the best. And I got there because I am an expert strategist. I understand how wars are fought and won. I saw the flaws in Jo’s story when you didn’t and I took steps to make sure that your mistake didn’t cost us the occultum and ultimately gave us a fighting chance in this war. I procured the thing that returned our son’s soul and still you call me stupid, you belittle me, you refuse to respect my choices. Why do you insist on trying to make me smaller than I am?”

“Why do you insist on trying to leave me every damn chance you get?!” Dean shouted back, though Cas’ words had hurt. Not least because they were true, or at least, they would certainly seem to be true, if you didn’t have access to the inner workings of Dean’s head. “Did your great intelligence factor in what would have happened to us if you hadn’t made it back, what would have happened to me? You keep doing this. You keep throwing yourself away as though you’re some kind of red-shirt. So yeah, you’re an idiot. Because you might be smart and you might be an expert in strategy and you might be the size of the goddamn Chrysler Building but one thing you’re not is disposable. And I don’t care that you were right. I don’t care that your plan worked. I don’t care that we got the occultum because of your hunch. All I care about is that you died today, and you seem to think that that’s an acceptable risk.”

“It is,” came Cas’ immediate response, though his tone and his eyes had softened a little during Dean’s tirade. “Dean, the world is at stake here. Of course I will give my life for it.”

“You don’t have to be so freaking eager.”

“I don’t have a part in Death’s plan,” Cas said, as argumentative and stubborn as ever, despite the bitterness in his words. “Just as I didn’t have a part in God’s plan. You, Sam and Jack are the ones who will get this done. But I will not just stand back and let you fight it for me. This is my fight too!”

“So fight,” Dean said, stepping forward so he and Cas were almost chest-to-chest. “Don’t give up. Don’t go diving headfirst into the Empty without a proper plan that we all agree on. It’s because Billie hasn’t factored you in that I am terrified, Cas. I can’t lose you again, I can’t do it. I barely made it through last time. Hell, technically it’s only because of Billie and her plan that I lived to see you again. But if she says that you don’t have a part, screw her. You’re with us. You’re with me. To the end of this thing and not a moment before.”

He was so close. Cas’ eyes mere inches from his own, his tongue darted out to wet his lips and Cas looked down to track the movement. And it was then that Dean knew, knew what he had been so scared to know all along: that feeling in his chest when he looked at Cas, the glow that drew him in, he knew in that moment that Cas felt it too. And it suddenly didn’t matter that they were fighting, it didn’t matter that Dean had all kinds of issues about his being into guys thing. It didn’t matter because Cas didn’t care, and Cas cared about the important stuff. So he leaned closer, his eyes slipping closed as he did so. Because tomorrow would bring with it more problems, more plans, more arguments; because Cas was brilliant, he was smart, he was resourceful, he would do what he thought was right whether Dean approved or not. He was fierce and so, so soft and he was right there.

He felt a hand on his chest and he blinked. Cas’ face was right next to his, something painful but determined in his expression.

“Not a moment before.” He whispered against Dean’s lips before he took a step back.

And if those words held an extra significance, Dean couldn’t fathom it, but they were an apology and a promise rolled into one, and they were more than Dean deserved at the best of times. He nodded an apology of his own and reached up to trace the line of Cas’ cheekbone. Cas leaned slightly into the touch.

“We’ll talk?” Dean asked. Because Cas was a sneaky bastard and he was hiding something, something that he wasn’t quite ready to say just now.”

Cas sighed heavily and nodded.

“Tomorrow.”

#supernatural #fanfiction #spn fanfic #Destiel #prompts #prompt #writing #TibbinsWrites #season 15 spoilers

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furbyfubar · 4 years

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How's Sweden? 🇪🇺🇸🇪❤️

In what context? Do you mean for the country as a whole or what? Big question...

Never mind, I get few enough asks here that I can give you a more comprehensive answer. I'll use it as an excuse to take stock of my personal trends against those of my country? Sorry not sorry for the incoming wall of text. Note, this is why you shouldn't say "How do you do?" to anyone from Sweden; we're tragically likely to give you an honest answer!

Weather for Sweden: You're UK based, so lets go by stereotypes and start with talking about the weather I suppose? It's winter, so the weather here is *usually* quickly summed up as "dark". Right now Sweden has between ~7 hours 15 minutes of time between sun up and sun down in the far south of Sweden, and "fuck you" minutes of sun on the far north, where it's currently polar night until about two weeks into January. On top the normal lack of sun, Sweden got an early Autumn this year and had less actually sunny days than usual in October and November due to clouds. So yeah, vitamin D deficiency for about 25% of the population according to my doctor. And many of the ones avoiding a deficiency are doing it by eating supplements. On a longer time scale, ”climate” not “weather”... Yeah, we’ve been having heat records broken and all that shit here the past few years as as well while having some winters be worse due to the Gulf stream being messed up..

Rating: 3.5/10 – It sucks, but it's not much worse than the expected level of suckiness?Weather for me personally: I'm based in Stockholm and we're currently at 6½h of sun up time per day, but like I said, it’s been cloudy. Not so cold so far though. The problem for me personally is that when the sun goes down at 14:52 I often miss out on the sun completely due to my fucked up sleeping patterns. Or the sun is up but covered while I’m going to work and that's it for sunlight that day. I'd likely suffer from winter depression if only I could separate it from my normal depression. We’ve had some snow that stays on the ground, but we’re somewhat surprisingly not in the hell that is streets filled with snow-water slosh yet.

Rating: 3.5/10 – I don’t think the weather sucks more or less for me than it does for the country on average. (Places north of the polar circle excluded; I would really no be able to stand months of polar night.)

Health for Sweden: Sweden made #6 on the Bloomberg 2019 Healthiest Country Index, up two positions from 2017. Up from a score of 88.92 to 90.24 out of 100, so apparently it's not just other countries having worse health, things have gotten a bit better here.Rating: 9.24/10 – Well, Bloomberg hopefully put a lot more effort into their score than I’ll ever do, so I’ll just re-scale and steal it.

Health for me personally: I had to basically skip a year due depression and exhaustion. Not being able to work due to a non-functioning brain obviously sucks, but to bring this back to how Sweden is: Being able to be on sick leave for almost a year and thus being able to focus on getting medication that works for me and not being worried about getting evicted for not making rent is a blessing. I'm back to working part time since October while still on sick leave for 50%, trying to ease me back in to the productive work force. So far going well. If I’d been forced to somehow work or starve, or live off my parents or something instead, I’m pretty sure I’d either be much deeper in depression right now, or be dead. I’ve still not really found meds that work great for me, but I'm feeling much better than I was a year ago.

Rating: 3/10 – I'm as optimistic as a clinically depressed person gets to be.

Status politically for Sweden (as I see it personally): It's getting more fucked by the day. The Moderate party just broke their campaign promise to not cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a party born from neo-Nazi and white power movements. For UK context, think of the British National Party. Now imagine them going from a fringe group in the '90s to getting 20% of the votes in recent polls. They've been doing this all while having a whole bunch of scandals that would've hurt or killed the credibility of any non-fascist party. They're racist, homo- and transphobic, and operate their own alternative media that have ties to Russian disinformation efforts. So yeah, as a gay guy who's seen the inside of a few history books: Outlook not great.

Rating: 2/10 – If only because it can still get worse. Think first act of Cabaret.

Love life for Sweden: Hmm, check in on satwcomic.com I suppose?

Love life for me personally: Yes please? I've been single for longer than I'm willing to admit. I've barely dated anyone for ages due to my aforementioned depression making me not feel like someone worth dating. Also, there's some types of vitamin D deficiencies that eating supplements won't cure...

Rating: I really don't want to put a number on this so I won’t. Honestly, graphing out my love life numerically doesn't sound all that productive. But somewhere at the edge of the Bell curve is the guy for me?

Economically for Sweden: Sweden's been in a upward business cycle since 2016, but it's ebbing out and is expected to be balanced sometime next real. Ie, things have been good, but things aren't quite yet bad. Rating: 5.5/10 – I suppose? Not really my area of expertise.

Economically for me personally: Not complaining at all on this front. I got an IT job four years ago after having worked part time in retail for a bunch of years and having been a student before that. I've managed to not raise my monthly expenses even nearly as much as my pay went up. So while I’m not wealthy, I'm still surprised by being able to have a savings account that grows steadily and still having more spending money over each month.

My rating: 8/10 – This quote by Charles Dickens comes to mind: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”

Social life in Sweden: According to this article I just Googled up from half remembering reading in 2015, “The expat quality of life survey" published by HSBC, Sweden was the worst country for the category "Making friends". Looking at the data on HSBC's website we're apparently no longer dead last as a place to be making friends, we're now 31st out of the 33 countries listed, with Japan at 32nd place and Saudi Arabia last at 33rd. The United Kingdom is at 29th.

It is close to impossible to make friends here by talking to random strangers in most situations, as only weird people talk to strangers. Of course that mentality is self-fulfilling since if you assume any stranger talking to you is weird, drunk, or high, you will not want to make friends with strangers that talk to you, and you won't want to talk to strangers more than you have to or risk being branded weird. Even striking up random conversations at a pub will be more difficult here.

But don’t despair, there’s a trick! Find the few social situations where Swedes want to talk to people they don't know: This is done by joining some organization or club of some sort. It doesn't really matter if it's a board gaming group, a student group, doing volunteer work for the local Pride or some other NPO or if it's a club for people who really like a certain breed of dogs. Once we've decided that we're among our own kind of people (and I don't mean "other Swedes") we'll happily talk to strangers, and not only about subjects related to that specific organization. Step two is converting them to be your friends and not just some randos you can talk to at some club meeting. I’m sad to say that traditionally this is done with alcohol, either by dragging people along to a pub/bar, or by inviting them or being invited by them to some sort of party. Without alcohol the fallback is fika. If the organization you’ve joined is something that you will naturally be spending time doing outside of the organization or club meetings that’s also ideal. Once you’ve invited or been invited to a few things outside of the organization it’s not strange to invite them to other social things than what the organization cares about.

For fairness to anyone reading this that didn’t read the article: I should probably also mention that the same HSBC study had Sweden as the top country in Europe for “overall quality of life” for expats here. And third best in the world, just behind Singapore and New Zealand in the same category. "Swedes make great friends but terrible strangers”.

My rating for making friends in Sweden is : 3/10 - Join a club, any club.

Social life for me personally: I have a few great close friends and a bunch more not quite as close friends who are also great. Come to think of it, many of them I've met through one of the three different organizations I've been most active in, and most of the rest I met through those friends. I'm really thankful for having friends who are still around even after I've spent way too much time feeling too bad to be very social or friendly at all.

My rating of my friends: 10/10 - No, I'm not biased.OK, so let’s average those numbers up and pretend the averages mean something!

Sweden: 5.81Me: 6.63Wait what? I’m winning?

#personal #depression #Sweden #Stockholm

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theknightstemplars-blog · 5 years

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Is Landry A Real Person In ‘Knightfall’? The Knights Templars

The global video streaming industry is getting bigger & wider, thanks to the soaring popularity of the worldwide entrainment platforms like Netflix, the Amazon. The web series audience is seriously increasing, Netflix‘s Narcos based on true story of Pablo Escobar has been a bit hit, while Amazon’s Jack Ryan won many applause.

Not too only ago, once termed as a luxury today is been backed to topple the traditional cable television in the next couple of years.

The Knightfall- A Netflix Original Web Series

The first episode was premiered on 6 December 2017; the Knightfall is a fictional historical drama, which is scripted by Richard Rayner and the Don Handfield for the History Chanel. This web series filmed across the mystical settings of Croatia and the Czech Republic. The underlying story of this web series revolves around the Knights Templars final days during the 14th century. Julian Ovenden, a renewed English actor-singer is playing the Guillaume de Nogaret character in this show.

Knightfall TV Series

S.No.

Knightfall TV Season Info

Genre

Period Pieces

Network

Netflix

Release Year

2017

Category

16+

Starring

Tom Cullen, Jim Carter, Pádraic Delaney

Creators

Don Handfield, Richard Rayner

This TV series is set in the year 872; today’s France then divided into numerous kingdoms, invaded by a Germanic tribe, Danes. Except the Wessex kingdom which is still out of his hands, as this kingdom is been ruled by an able people’s King Alfred. Now, is our hero, Uhtred, he is the noble son of a Saxon, who has been captured by Danes and raised there. Now, Uhtred has to go through the stern loyalty test, whether he wishes to choose to fight for this birth country or stay with his people. He has to pick one, Dane or Saxon? You can see the entire series to known if Uhtred picks up the sword to reclaim what Danes has snatched from him and ultimately regain the ancestor lands.

800-900 AD is roughly setting of the Knightfall web series. There is a massive conflict between the North Germanic tribes, the Vikings those want to gain grounds in every nook & corner of France and French people, the Saxons those are willing to bleed every drop of blood left in their body deter the evil plans of Vikings.

Who Are The Knights Templars?

The Knights Templar belong to French history for several centuries. They are simply poor warriors of the Solomon temple and the Christ. Knights Templar is a military formed by papal bull Omne Datum Optimum in the year 1139. Knights Templars played their part during the Crusades.

Who is Landry du lauzon?

Starring Tom Cullen, Landry du Lauzon is the main character of the Knightfall web series on Netflix. He is a fictional character, who is never respected much in the Knights Templar fraternity, even when he is so brave and courageous. However, a big twist comes into his life, when he discovered that the Holy Grail has resurfaced.

His character sketch is about honesty, never die-down spirit and a strong knight who is ready to bleed for his people. Besides being a Knights Templar, Landry du Lauzon is a veteran warrior from the Crusades. His life journey began as the squire of Godfrey. He trained and made him learn all the skills & tricks of the warriors. Post the Siege of Acre, the life of Landry is fallen apart. His pursuits are taken for a blow during the Crusade, and he has also lost the Holy Grail. He is completely shaken & devastated, and doesn’t know where to go. Landry then became the Commander of the Paris Temple post the assignation of Godfrey. But, later he will set on a journey to find the Holy Grail, as the news has surfaced it is in France. Also, he is in the quest to discover the reasons for the death of his master. For more insight about the show, watch the Knightfall Netflix trailer.

Also, Knightfall cast names on Netflix include some of the industries well-known celebrity faces.

Tom Cullen Playing the Landry Character

33-year-old Tom Cullen is a Wales actor, rated highly for his roles in the famous independent film Weekend. He lived the popular character Viscount Gillingham in the T.V. series Downton Abbey. During his early life, he joined the Llanishen High School to learn the true art of acting. Before getting into acting, he had a great love for music. Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama is the reputed institution from where he learned music.

Now, Coming to the Million Dollar Question, Is Landry du Lauzon Ever Existed?

The History Channel is known to create great T.V. series around the history heroes. But is Landry de Lauzon, a history channel inspired character belongs to Knightfall on Netflix a real person? The answer is no, the Netflix description clearly declared in its show description that Landry is a “Fictional History Character.” The real-life figures are the Queen Joan of Navarre, King Philip IV of France, and Pope Boniface VIII. However, that doesn’t mean there is no reference to Landry in the history books. As per Britannica, Landry belonging to Knights Templars, which was established in 1119 Hugh de Payens, French noble and his friends. Jerusalem, a holy city in the Middle East was found during the first Crusade, this place later became a popular pilgrim site for the Christian community from various parts of the world. However, these kingdoms were inadequate to deter the foreign invaders.

Then, came the Payens and co. They took the oath to protect the faith of the Christian community. Later, as they grew in confidence, they took the pledge to safeguard the Crusader states from invasion. One of them is King Philip IV, which is a crucial part of the Knightfall web series.

The Guardian Proof

As per the Guardian, Knights Templars existed in France for many centuries. Later, they were dissolved in the 13th century. However, in 1804 their resurgence happened in a bid to protect the holy places of Christianity. Today, the Knights Templars worked as a non-government organization established to spread the word of Christianity and has hundreds of representatives around the globe.

Dominic Minghella – What His Say

Dominic Minghella, the Knightfall’s executive producer told a top news source that Landry du Lauzon isn’t about an individual but represents the entire community of the Knights Templars. This blockbuster T.V series is dedicated to unsung heroes those are the jewels of French history. While, the theme of the story has found its narrative to France rich history, but a little flair is added to amp the thriller of the story.

He further added Landry is being portrayed as an ideal character, faces a lot of difficulties but overcame the barriers all by his courage. The fictional aspect of this web series doesn’t stop here, as later in his life, Landry will fall for a girl. And, then he has to make a big call, whether to choose his love or the monk. However, in a nutshell, Landry is a character derived from French history. Therefore, you can say he is not a real person, but his thinking and what he does defines Knights Templars.

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hillaryalbert-blog · 5 years

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Chevy Bel-Airs, Acuña, Mexico, and the Columbia Record Club

As this is my first conducted interview, a bit of background information is in order:

My interview subject is my Papa, Ron Rhodes, who was born in 1943 in Mulberry, Kansas, a small town near Pittsburgh. All his life he’s lived in rural towns, whether in Kansas, Missouri, or a short stint in Utah when he was a toddler. Most of his childhood was spent in Appleton City, Missouri, near Butler. He has three siblings, an older brother and younger brother and sister. He graduated from the University of Central Missouri (back then called Central Missouri State University) with a degree in history (and subsequently earned a master’s degree) where he met his wife, my Nana, getting married in 1964. They raised a family of three girls, my mom and her sisters, in Windsor, Missouri (where he lives to this day), a town of about 3,000 people equidistant between Clinton, Warrensburg, and Sedalia. Both Nana and Papa were teachers and coaches at the local high school, English/Debate and History/Football respectively.

Photo © Arianne Rhodes Fortune. Used with permission. (My Papa and Nana with me and my younger cousin circa 2002)

Like most American families at the time, his family owned a tabletop radio set that everyone in the home utilized. They would listen to variety shows, notably Jack Benny and Bob Hope. Music-wise, they would also listen to what was popular at the time, swing, big bands, and orchestral music.

He recalls his dad always owning Chevrolets, most memorably Bel-Air models, most of which had built-in radios. The radios in those cars were strictly FM radios, with no other options for other media. His dad pretty much bought a new model every other year on the odds, besides one occurrence Papa remembered…

“My older brother was driving by then, and he managed to run it through a ditch on prom night, so that year he bought a ’58.”

https://www.autabuy.com/details/?vid=57094538

At this point I ask if he and his siblings ever took advantage of clear AM signals at night to listen to international stations. He pauses, takes a long nip off his vape (much to my aunt’s chagrin), and recalls a station out of Del Rio, Texas.

“Now, if you know your geography, you’ll know that Del Rio is on the Rio Grande… because of FCC regulations that limited the amount of power that they could transmit with, the station was in Del Rio, Texas, but the tower was across the river in Acuña, Mexico… so they could crank it up, and they would advertise the 100,000 watt power. What was the FCC gonna do, invade Mexico? Well, Trump might…”

He also recalls a station out of Shreveport, Louisiana that they could often pick up in that Bel-Air, but it was all “hillbilly music” so they didn’t often tune in to that one unless they had no other options. Their 1949 Phillips shortwave radio in the home was able to pick up transatlantic transmissions.

https://picclick.com/Crank-Brothers-Multi-5-Tool-Gold-184000697297.html

Building a collection of records came pretty easy to the Rhodes family thanks to the Columbia Record Club, a subscription service that mailed 33 1/3 RPM vinyls directly to your house every month for an absolute dirt-cheap price. The first month they would send you 13 records for $1, then every month after they would either send you a random record they were trying to promote, or you could pick your own for a small premium.

https://www.retrospace.org/2011/04/retro-fail-24-columbia-record-and-tape.html

His older brother, Buddy, was the family manager for the record club. He cultivated records by Elvis, The Beatles, the various members of the Rat Pack, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Gene Autrey, and others. Their mother joined the record club herself as well so she could pick the records she wanted that the kids weren’t very interested in. His parents kept control over the nice record player in the living room while the kids used a small, portable, cardboard record player that could be easily replaced when it inevitably broke. His parents didn’t really have any restrictions on what the kids could listen to, so overall they just listened to whoever was popular and topping the charts.

His favorite record they received from that record club was, oddly enough, a Steel Drum band out of Kingston, Jamaica, that played not only calypso music, but classical and contemporary pieces in a calypso style as well. He maintains to this day that one of his all-time favorite pieces of music is a rendition of Toselli’s Serenade by the Royal Steel Band.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0D0lntNcCn5GZNEfxfQzhu

While talking about that old time rock n roll, Papa revealed to me that he had a little rock and roll band in high school and that he was the drummer, which was brand new and exciting information to me!

“We called it ‘rock n roll’ but basically we were playing what you might call ‘rockabilly’. It was pretty awful, I’m sure, but we’d do that.”

Over time as technology improved, the transistors in the cars got better, FM was added to the car radios, and then cassette players, CD players, and now aux cords and Bluetooth capabilities. Papa doesn’t own a smart phone, so he doesn’t have much familiarity with streaming music or radio, though he is familiar with CDs and cassettes. His current car is pretty much limited to playing radio, because when he traded in his old car he forgot to take out all the CDs in the disc changer, so he doesn’t have many CDs anymore. Luckily his current car’s radio system downloads CD tracks and stores them in a computer, so he doesn’t have to worry about losing those CDs in the future.

He’s a big fan nowadays of those channels on TV that are just 24/7 streams of specific music genres and artists. He particularly likes the Jimmy Buffet, Grateful dead, Classic Rock, and Elvis stations.

“I love Jimmy Buffet, he just makes up words that rhyme.”

https://www.margaritaville.com/kaaboo-form

He uses the radio nowadays for news a bit more than he did in the past. Local stations for local news, of course, but national news is strictly an NPR job for him. He doesn’t mind CBS’ news radio, but his lack of access to internet make it and unreliable resource, so he sticks with NPR.

“I listen to local radio to find out what’s happening around here, you know, who got killed in a car wreck out here on B Highway, stuff like that.”

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audliminal · 6 years

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4:33

Hey, guys, I’m back with the second piece in the signing-verse (finally, I know)! Sorry for the long wait, but my cat had surgery a couple weeks ago and everything’s been really hectic. Anyways, this one is Logan’s introduction, and how he met Patton and Virgil. Enjoy!

Word Count: 3010

Logan's favorite piece of music has no lyrics. He has the whole thing memorized, and whenever he is feeling particularly lost in the vast universe (this often happens late at night), he will sit at the piano and perform his favorite song. Bar by bar, he will count and listen, as four minutes and thirty-three seconds tick by, slowly, and the world around him plays him a song. He listens as the house creaks and settles, and he listens as the clock ticks from its place, mounted on the wall. Sometimes, he performs the piece outside or with the window open so he can enjoy the song that the trees and frogs and plants and owls have to offer.

Logan's favorite piece of music is often referred to as Four Minutes, Thirty-Three Seconds of Silence, but Logan is no fool, and he knows the truth. There is no silence here, on this Earth, this floating orb of rock that is hurtling at breakneck speeds through empty space. Every time Logan performs his piece, it sounds different, and he listens carefully, to the chaotic nature of the Universe, and to the unpredictable sounds of Life Itself. When he can't sleep, late into the night, because the world around him is being just as loud as his own mind (there's too much to do, too much to say), he performs his song. It calms him, to know that no matter how lonely he gets, he is never truly alone.

Logan enjoys silence. He enjoys those moments when the world falls to quiet peace, but even more than that, Logan loves noise. He is fascinated by the concepts of noise and sound and spends his time listening to the constant motion of the world around him, and reveling in the beauty of how nothing ever stops changing. No two moments are the same.

It is a comfort to Logan, that he will never be who he was a minute ago, and he works hard to make each moment of his life new and better, with more knowledge, a bit more understanding of everything around him.

Logan is very lonely.

He tries to ignore it, tries his hardest to find joy and happiness in his quiet little world, and tries to find comfort in the company of only himself. Still, the noise of the world inevitably breaks through his walls, and he is reminded of just how alone he is. When his brother brings home friends, he can do nothing but listen, as the vibrant sounds of laughter in the room next-door shatter his peace and echo against his walls. He can never ignore it.

It hurts, in a way that Logan still cannot understand- he has tried making friends before; he found it frustrating and exhausting, and he chose to be alone instead- it was better, more comfortable. It was easier to be alone. And still, he hated it. Still, he longed for the joy of friendship and companionship that everyone around him seemed to enjoy. So, when a boy approached him, with an invitation to join their group for a semester-long project, Logan found himself dangerously conflicted.

Logan's seen the two of them around school before; it's hard to not notice the vibrant duo that insists on using ASL and refuses to be sorry about it, but Logan has never spoken to them before. He doesn't even know a single word in ASL, and he would hardly know where to start if he wanted to learn. And anyway, it’s hardly a surprise that Logan never speaks to them, because he doesn’t ever speak to anyone if he can help it. Talking is hard and exhausting, and he’s always felt lost and adrift whenever he finds himself trapped in a conversation. So when the more energetic half of this particular duo plops down into the seat next to him, Logan has no idea what to do.

"Hi there!" The boy (was it Patton?) says cheerfully, hands moving in almost perfect synchronicity with his mouth. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in joining our group?" The offer is unexpected. Even being acknowledge by his classmates is rare for Logan, unless they want something from him, and Logan can feel discomfort welling up almost instantaneously. This boy with his fast-talking hands and vibrant energy- this boy is sitting next to him, grinning happily like they’ve been friends forever. Logan cannot even begin to imagine why the boy is inviting him to join their group. He does not want to believe that Patton is one of the cruel people; he’s always seemed so nice, but even if he is- well, the ones who befriend you out of pity are almost worse than the ones who do so out of cruelty. So, even though Logan’s heart wants to say yes, Logan curls into himself, shaking his head.

"No-" Logan says, voice as small as he feels. “ No thank you.” His words are carefully chosen, a mask to hide his insecurities. To avoid the shortfalls of his voice -no S's, no L's, no R's. Years of speech therapy, and he’s still not perfect. The lessons echo through his head, but even still he cannot seem to enunciate clearly, and he inevitably trips over his words the second he relaxes. He turns back towards his desk again and ignores the awkwardness pounding through his head. He’s sick of groups; sick of being surrounded by friends who want to talk and chat, and inevitably leave him sitting there on the fringe, doing all the work while they have fun. The pain of refusing echoes in his head, but it is easier than the pain of ending up trapped in a friendship he desperately wants but can’t really have. And so, Logan carefully ignores the hurt, surprised look on Patton's face, and is about to go back to reading his book, until the teacher appears beside them.

"Logan," the teacher begins. "Here I was, worried that I would have trouble getting you to join a group, but it seems that my concerns were misguided! And helping our deaf students- I'm sure with your help, they'll have no trouble at all!" Logan starts in surprise and begins to voice a protest- he’s going to work alone, he already has his entire project planned- anything to not be trapped in a group that barely wants him, but the teacher gives him a sharp smile, and Logan can do nothing but resign himself to his fate. Beside him, Patton lets out a choked giggle, and Logan turns to stare at him in confused realization as the teacher walks away.

"Wait, you’re deaf too?" He asks because that’s what the teacher had implied, but Logan had not been aware of this, and he flinches as his voice trips up on the r. Belatedly he wonders if his lips were even clear enough to read, feeling off-balance and terrified of doing the wrong thing, but Patton is quick to shake his head.

"No, I'm not deaf. But teachers don’t always realize. I sign so I must be deaf, y’know?" Patton's words are accompanied with a shrug that leaves Logan frowning and uncertain of how to respond until he catches movement in the corner of his eye and realizes that the other boy (Virgil, right?)has joined them, and is signing at a rapid pace. A pang of guilt (frustration too, ASL is just another thing he doesn’t understand) hits Logan, as he watches the words that he cannot understand.

"If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to, Patton.” The spoken words confuse Logan for a moment until his brain registers that Patton must be interpreting Virgil’s words for him. For just a moment, the longing hits Logan again- how nice must it be to have a friend who you fit with so seamlessly, but then Logan remembers that this is the part of the conversation where he should probably respond -or has it been too long now, and he’s made it awkward with his silence?

"Unfortunately, our teacher doesn’t share that opinion.” Logan blurts out quickly before he can make things any more awkward. “So it appears that we will be working together on this project.” Virgil raises an eyebrow at him, and Logan’s glance flits nervously between the two, feeling very much like an object that’s been put on display.

Logan barely even remembers the conversation that follows, though, at some point, he agrees to meet up with them after school every Wednesday so they can get to work on planning their project.

He comes to their first meeting, feeling very much like his head is about to explode from sheer nervousness. He greets them and sits down, watching Patton’s hands move- the motions all seem to flow together, a constant, unbroken stream of conversation, and Logan wonders how Virgil can tell where Patton’s words end and Logan’s begin. He is caught off guard when Patton immediately asks him how his day was and finds himself stumbling over an answer. Five minutes later, he realizes he’s devolved into a rant about how boring his chemistry class is, and he cuts himself off abruptly.

“I’m sorry,” he says, fighting to keep his hands still. “You were just asking to be polite, and I just ran off with it, and-”

“It’s no problem! Patton is quick to reassure him. “I think we’ll all benefit from getting to know each other a bit better before we start trying to complete this project!” Beside him, Virgil nods, and Logan isn’t about to argue with them, but he carefully turns the question on its head, asking about Patton and Virgil’s days, so he doesn’t start ranting at them again. After all, no matter what Patton says, he knows that people are prone to saying things they don’t mean, because of politeness.

“Oh, well, I drew a picture of a cat today, in Government! Look!” And then, Patton’s pulling a notebook out of his backpack and flipping it open to reveal a goofy drawing of a cat. It’s not very good- better than a kindergartener would do, but Logan keeps his mouth shut before he can say anything mean, and listens as Virgil offers a half-hearted compliment.

“It definitely looks like a cat.” Patton translates with a laugh. “I know, it’s not great, but hey! It was a lot more interesting than listening to the teacher drone on about checks and balances for fifty minutes. I mean, honestly Virgil, you’re lucky you’re deaf- our teacher’s voice is like- like listening to a handful of bees try and teach about the court system! It’s awful.”

The next two weeks pass by, and Logan’s life has never felt more like a rollercoaster. Patton is so friendly and energetic, and even when Logan’s looking for it, he can’t find a hint of a notion that he’s not wanted there. Even Virgil, who can’t directly talk to, seems to not really mind his presence, and their every interaction leaves Logan feeling like he’s teetering above a really large drop, waiting to start falling. Somewhere along the way, Virgil and Patton start appearing at his lunch table, and even when he doesn’t have the energy to join in the conversation, Patton continues on translating for him.

He finds himself lying awake at night even more than usual, analyzing everything he’s said, and wincing at the awkward moments where he’d spoken over either Patton or Virgil- he’s bad enough at conversations when everyone’s using the same language, and it’s only made worse by the confusion of getting used to Virgil and Patton’s use of sign language. And yet, neither of them have complained about his behavior yet, and he is left, every day, feeling very confused. They hadn’t said anything when he’d ranted at them for ten minutes about the importance of the cultural connotation of specific adjectives, and nobody had gotten mad when Logan had corrected Patton’s pronunciation of the word sherbet.

That’s why Logan found himself curled up on his bed with his laptop, at five in the morning, carefully practicing the same hand movements over and over, hoping, against all odds, that he can manage to do this one thing perfectly.

“Hello Virgil, how was your weekend?” Logan carefully forms the words of his very first sentence in ASL. The movements feel strange in his hands, and he ignores the part of him that worries that he’ll fuck the whole the thing up. Instead, Logan shakes his hands out and tries again, because he needs to do this. Because he wants to do this. He wants to be a part of their comfortable friendship and he’s not sure he knows how to take the first step towards being their friends, but learning one sentence in a new language? Learning is the one thing he’s good at, so with another shake of his hands, he keeps practicing.

By the time he makes it to school, Logan is a nervous wreck, and the anticipation (and fear) of what he’s going to do makes it completely impossible to pay attention through all of his first and second periods. He’ll figure out what he missed later. For now, he has a mission.

Logan makes his way to his English class, determined and pretending he doesn’t notice the dread building in his stomach. The desire to be these boys’ friends echoes across his whole body, and he struggles to still his trembling and takes a seat. Virgil and Patton walk through the door a moment later. Patton’s hands are moving in huge, excited motions, as tells Virgil about- something. Logan chokes down the sudden lurch of terror and focuses on how much he wants to be a part of- that. He wants to be able to join in on the conversations- to not be an awkward addition who needs everything translated for him, while Patton and Virgil communicate so easily.

And so, Logan smiles and nods at them, as they take their seats, and when Virgil says hello with a wave of the hand, he carefully forms the words he’s been learning.

“Hi, Virgil. How was your weekend?” It takes only a few moments to say it, and Logan cringes as he feels the whole world stop around him. Virgil is staring, and- oh god, Patton is too, and slowly the fear starts to seep back in. What if the website he had used was wrong? It’s a thought that hadn’t even occurred to him until this moment, but all of a sudden it seems very possible, and Logan can barely breathe.

Then, Virgil snorts and Logan flinches, before Virgil’s hands lift, and then Virgil is saying something and Logan can’t understand it, and Patton isn’t telling him what Virgil just said. Virgil seems to realize belatedly that Patton isn’t interpreting for him, and closes his eyes in frustration, before reaching over and waving his hand in front of Patton’s face. It takes Patton a moment to start moving again, and then Virgil signs the same sentence again, for Patton to translate.

“I’m good, what about you?” Relief floods through Logan, because he may not have been perfect, but he was at least understandable, which is- not exactly ideal, but it’s definitely enough.

“Alright, I guess. Sorry but that’s the only sentence I know so far.” Logan smiles, and the words so far hang like a promise between them.

“Oh my gosh that’s what we should do for our project!” The exclamation rings loudly beside them and Logan and Virgil both flinch as Patton’s energy suddenly returns. “I mean- that was so cool, and your signing was almost perfect, Logan, wow; how long have you been practicing that- but we should do our English project on ASL!” Logan glances between the two, as Virgil stares at his friend.

“I mean, I guess we could?” Virgil slowly offers, and Logan is incredibly grateful when Patton translates for him because Logan has definitely reached the limits of what ASL he’s managed to figure out so far. “Although it’s technically not English, so is that allowed?”

“I mean, I doubt our teacher knows that,” Patton says, “but anyways, what if we made our project about the grammatical differences between ASL and English?”

“I don’t want you guys to have to do all the- all the work, though,” Logan mumbles wincing as his stutter makes itself known.

“Well, you can be our English expert!” Patton responds happily. “I don’t think me or Virgil know all that much about the grammar rules of English, after all.”

“It’s I.” Logan corrects.

“What?”

“I don’t think either Virgil or I know all that- all that much about the grammatical rules of English.” He explains, cringing at every word as his brain supplies a reminder that correcting people is rude. It’s too late to stop now.

“See?! You’ll be our English expert! Plus, it’ll give us an excellent excuse to teach you ASL, won’t it?” Patton leans over, grinning as he pats Logan’s shoulder.

“It- it will?”

“I mean, if you want us to teach you, that is? I just figured, ‘cause you’d been teaching yourself...” Patton trails off.

“I- uh, if you- if you’re willing to spend the time teaching me, I’d love to learn! I just- I wasn’t really sure where to start, or how to- to find out.” Logan glances over at Patton, who’s actually bouncing in his seat with excitement, and Virgil, who’s normally irritated look is twitching with what almost looks like the beginning of a smile.

“Great,” Virgil says, “then we’ll check with the teacher, and if she okays it, then we can get started whenever.” Logan nods in agreement because he’s certainly not going to refuse the help- ASL is the first thing that Logan’s ever been scared to try and learn. It’s just so different and Logan’s never even learned a speaking language on his own, so he has no idea how he would ever manage. But with Patton and Virgil guiding him, it just might be doable.

As always, please let me know if there’s any way I can do better by those of you that are deaf/hoh or use ASL! This is a learning experience for me, and I’m bound to get some things wrong.

#my fics #signing-verse #yay i finally got around to finishing this

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deans-baby-momma · 6 years

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The Padackles Link-Chapter 34

A/N: For those interested, I forgot to include the picture of the house in Chapter 33 so if you want just click HERE to go back and see it. Sorry about that! Anyway, don't be like me and forget! Leave me some reviews, it feeds my muse. Comment HERE.

I hold my breath as I watch her look at me and then glance down at my stomach. I lay a hand over my belly protectively, shielding my sons.

“You whore!” Danneel seethes. “You fucking whore! You are nothing but a bitch. I felt sorry for you! I had your back, I became your friend. I believed your sob story! And you repay me by sleeping with my husband?” Tears are streaming down her face as she keeps berating me, stepping closer and closer. I step away until a table stops my descent. I just stand there until she is right in my face. “I hope you’re miserable. I hope he leaves you for the next slut that comes along. You’ve stolen everything from me! I didn’t even know Jay was home until he showed up to see his daughter this morning. He was mine! He has been mine for 8 years. And then you come along and ruin it.”

“Danni, I didn’t mean to--”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses! I don’t want to hear how you were lonely because your husband died, if there really was a husband to begin with.”

“There was!” Now, tears are running down my face. “Chad did exist!”

“Yea, well I wonder what he would think of you now. Pregnant by a married man! Stealing that man from not only his wife, but his own daughter! You couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you? You were so jealous of me, you had to take the one good thing going for me.”

“I’m not jealous of you Danni! I wouldn’t want to be like you,” I try to hold in my anger but fail. “How dare you come in here and accuse me of ruining your marriage, taking Jay from you. It was only a matter of time before he left you once he discovered the truth! I don’t need a paternity test when my sons are born. I know who their father is! I didn't sleep with every Tom, Dick, and Harry while on the job like you, so how dare you call me a slut."

“Sons?!” Danneel says, shocked. “You’re having twins?”

“Yes,” I say, frankly. “I am giving Jay two sons. JJ is gonna have two brothers. “

Danneel huffs and turns to walk toward the door. She stops before she exits and looks directly at me. Tears still running down her face, mascara making faint black lines down her cheeks. “Well, we’ll see about that!” And then she pushes the door open and leaves.

I barely make it to a chair before I sit down and let the anguish and sorrow take hold. I lay my arms on the the table and put my head on them and cry. Loud, powerful sobs wreak through me and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up and through the tears see Naomi standing there, frowning down at me.

“Drea, go home. Take the rest of the day and tomorrow off. I’ll call Josie and she can cover for you.”

“But--”

“No buts. Now go, get out of here.”

She shoos me toward the employee room where I grab my purse and turn to leave. Naomi is standing there and I walk to her and hug her. “Thank you Naomi.” I could feel tears begin to prick my eyelids.

“None of that now,” Naomi tells me. “You go home to your man and his daughter and just forget what she said. Enjoy the time together and don’t stress. Josie can come in fill in for a few days. Just relax, you hear me?”

“Yes Aunt Naomi.”

“Cool Aunt Naomi,” she says with a smile as she ushers me out the door.

It doesn’t take me long to get to my apartment and as I am climbing the outside stairs I start hearing raised voices.

“You can’t do that!”

“Oh really? You can bet your ass I can!”

I quickly recognize the voices as Jay’s and Danni’s and as I turn the corner, I see that they are standing outside my apartment door arguing. I step back and listen, not really ready to be verbally assaulted again.

“I have done nothing wrong here,” Jay continues. “I’m not the one who ruined our marriage by sleeping around.”

“You think that’s what ruined it? Because I’ve been fucking co-stars longer than I’ve been with you. I mean, you should’ve known that. I fucked you two weeks after we started working together! It was supposed to just be a way to pass time while filming. You weren’t even the only one I screwed either.”

“What?! Let me guess, I was just supposed to be a quick fling until filming was done? I was just stupid enough to fall in love with you. Who else were you fucking?”

Danni scoffs and then squares her shoulders. “You think those scenes wouldn’t lead to something else? Hell while you were filming, I was riding Sean’s dick.”

“Get out of my sight before I do something I’m going to regret!”

“Not without my daughter!”

“You can have her back after I spend the day with her.” “No, I’m taking her now,” Dani yelled and pushed past Jay to get to the door of my apartment. Jay grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back.

“You will get her back after I spend the day with her. Now leave!”

Danni turns on her heel and walks toward where I am hiding. She catches a glimpse of me and smirked. She turned back to Jay and said, “Enjoy today because you won’t see her again. Oh, and congratulations on the sons with the whore.”

She stalks past me and out of sight. I step around the corner to see Jay with his head in his hands and leaning against the wall, his shoulders shaking with sobs. I run to him and pull him into a hug.

JJ’s cries come through the cracked door of my apartment and Jay releases me to go get her.

“No,” I tell him. “You go calm down. Drink some water or something. I got her. She doesn’t need to see you like this.”

On the last day of Jensen’s visit, he gets the call that our bid for the house has been accepted and we celebrate by a cookout at the Padalecki home. The agent had informed Jensen that with all the legalities and paperwork, it could be up to two months before we can actually begin moving in but that doesn’t stop us from rejoicing our first official purchase as a couple.

Plans of Genevieve helping me load up my apartment while the guys are in Vancouver filming are discussed and Gen seems excited to get to spend time with me, helping to pack and offering to store whatever needs to be stored until the move. It is also brought to light, by Jay of course, that I would not be allowed to pack up or pick up anything heavy while growing his sons. Of course we all laugh at him and I assure him that I will not do any strenuous lifting.

Leaving the Padalecki’s, Jay and I head back to the apartment, talking about how we were going to decorate and mostly the boys’ nurseries. Luckily we both have the same idea of giving each boy their own room.

It’s still early when we got back and we both are still wide awake and excited about the house. As soon as the apartment door closes, Jay pulls me to him and kisses me passionately.

“Now, let’s have a little celebration of our own,” he mumbles against my lips.

“What did you have in mind?” I tease as I wrap my arms around his neck.

His arms tighten around my waist and he nuzzles against my shoulder before whispering in my ear, “Let’s go to bed and I’ll show you.”

If he hadn’t had such a good hold on me, I would have crumbled because my knees go weak and the throb in my core takes over.

“Take me to bed Mr. Ackles and have your way with me.”

“Gladly,” Jay says, smiling as he walks me toward the bedroom.

A week has passed since Jay and Jared left and went back to Vancouver to continue filming. I joined Gen as she trekked through their neighborhood with Tom and Shep trick-or-treating. Watching the boys run up the the door and knocking and yelling “Trick or Treat” as soon as the door opens made me imagine in a few years when it would be me with my sons, taking them out and getting their fill of candy and sweets. I smile as Tom runs back to his Mama and I, Shep following close behind, to show us his newest acquisition.

“So, twins huh?” Gen asks as we walk toward the next house.

“Yea two boys,” I chuckle as I answer her.

“God, I bet Jay was stunned!”

“That’s an understatement!” I laugh. “He didn’t say anything for like five minutes. I was almost scared that he was gonna pass out.”

Gen joins me in laughing as Tom and Shep take off up the sidewalk to a couple sitting on their front stoop. Gen raises her hand and waves at the man and woman and they return the greeting then shift their attention to the Ninja Turtles in front of them.

“It’s nice to know your neighbors,” I tell her watching the older people interact with the boys.

“That’s Mr. and Mrs. Price. They were the first ones to welcome us to the cul-de-sac when we moved in. Mrs. Price knitted a blanket for the boys when they were born. They were gorgeous!”

As soon as I got back from the Padalecki’s, I ran a tub of water to ease my aching back. Walking for two miles with two excited little boys while almost four months pregnant with twins was probably no the best idea. My back was spasming and it was causing pains in my groin. I put it off as normal pregnancy symptoms, my body adjusting to carrying two babies and preparing itself for labor and delivery. Although it was kind of early for that, maybe it was just because there were two in there instead of one.

The cool fall air swirls around as I was toward the Homestead for my shift. Although Texas is known for its sweltering temperatures, what most people don't know is when there is a chill in the air the scorching temps actually can get pretty frigid.

I wrap my cardigan sweater tighter around my body and reach for the door to the diner. As soon as my hand touch the metal handle, a quick stabbing pain in my core takes my breath away and my knees weak. If I didn't have such a good hold on the door I would have been on the ground.

Naomi sees me gripping my stomach and rushes to open the door. She helps me get to the nearest chair and sit.

“Drea, what's wrong honey?”

“I don't know,” I tell her through gritted teeth. “I reached for the door and a sharp cramp hit me.”

“Okay, well you just rest here. I'll bring your tea and your favorite jelly croissant. “

“Okay. Thanks.”

After drinking Mack’s secret pregnancy tea and eating my breakfast, I start feeling better and the pain has turned into a dull ache. And as long as I don't pay attention to it, it almost disappears. I'm enjoying talking to Mike and Joyce, the married paramedics that are regulars at the diner and have become good friends, when the pain returns.

I double over in agony, gripping to bottom of my protruding bump. The pain seems to originate in that area and emit to my core and my back. Joyce jumps up and comes around the counter, placing her hands on my shoulders. She guides me to the nearest seat and helps me to sit. Mike takes my wrist and with two fingers begins checking my pulse.

“Her pulse is erratic. Let's get a pressure reading and an ECG,” Mike says calmly. I watch Joyce immediately dart outside to the back of their ambulance. In less than five minutes she has her equipment back inside and they are working together, getting me hooked up.

“Drea, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?”

“Uh….7, 8 I guess?”

“And how long have you been having these episodes?”

“A few days. I don't know. I just shrugged it off as my body adjusting to being pregnant.”

“Is this episode the worse? Have you had pain like this before?” Joyce asks as Mike reads the monitor on his machine and write it down.

“Yes. This morning I had a sharp pain in my lower stomach but after eating, it kind of went away.”

“What do you mean, it kind of went away?” Mike asks, looking at me concerned.

“Like it was there but it wasn't. More like just background noise. As long as I didn't think about it, I forgot it was there. “

“Okay,” Mike says, patting my hand and smiling. “I think you need to be checked out, okay? Make sure those boys in there are being good and not giving Mom trouble already.”

“You think there's something wrong with my babies?” I asked, panicked.

“Drea, I'm going to be honest with you,” he tells me, keeping eye contact. “Your symptoms. Classic miscarriage symptoms.”

“No!! No, I can't lose them Mike,” I cry out, tears now streaming down my face and my hands come over my stomach as to protect them from harm.

“I know, honey. I know. Let's get you loaded up and checked out.”

“Okay.”

Naomi finishes pouring coffee for her customers, thankfully the older man and his wife are the only patrons in the diner at the time, and comes over to check on me.

“Drea, is there anyone you need me to call?” she asks and then glances to Mike and Joyce who are busy gathering up their equipment. Naomi leans closer and whispers, “Like Jensen?”

I profusely shake my head at her question but then I realize I don't want or need to go through this alone. If I am losing my sons, I need someone there.

“Call Gen. Her number is in my phone. Ask her to meet us at...hey Mike, where you taking me?”

“Seton Medical.”

I look up at the older woman, the co-worker who has not only become my friend bit my confidante. The fear and grief evident in her big brown eyes.

“Call Gen. Ask her to meet at Seton Medical as soon as she can, please!”

“Sure. Sure, I'll do that right now,” she says as she wraps an arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple.

Joyce helps me onto the gurney and she and Mike maneuvers the stretcher through the tables and out the door.

At the hospital I was registered and checked in with no problems. The attending physician sees me immediately and after asking a few question questions and looking over Mike's notes, calls for more testing and a ultrasound to check on the boys.

An hour later Gen finds me in my room, sobbing and laying in the bed, curled into myself holding my bump.

“Sweetie, I'm here. I'm here,” she comforts, rubbing her hand down my back. I continue to cry until my whole body aches. How could this happen? Why me?

I turn over into Gen’s embrace. She squeezes her petite arms around me tightly. “Shhhh, baby. It's okay. It's alright.”

“No, “ I sob. “It's not alright! How is it alright? Oh god Gen. Jay doesn't know. How do I tell him?” I don't know how she understood me through my sobs and gasps for breath but she did. She hugged me closer to her and coo3d comforting words.

Once I settled down I pulled from her arms and laid back down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Do you want to call him?” she asked timidly.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “This isn't something you say over the phone. I'll just wait until the holiday hiatus and tell him. Face to face.”

I didn't see it but she grimaced at my logic and shook her head. She wasn't going to let me do that to Jay or to myself. She knew I needed him and he was going to need me.

Genevieve’s P.O.V

I watches as Drea drifts off to sleep and pull my phone out, dialing the number I have had memorized for years. As soon as the call is answered, I tell him, “Jay, you need to come home.”

Chapter 35

@xxdragonagequeenxx @sunskittlex @carryonmywaywardcaptain @darlingpeanut @wayward-gypsy @sis-tafics @sea040561

#thepadackleslink #jensen ackles #danneel ackles #jared padalecki #genevieve padalecki #jensen x drea #jensen x ofc #drea murphy #romance #angst #pregnancy #twins #emergency

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coffee-for-himchan · 6 years

Text

No Answer (Jongup x reader)

Requested by: @thevisionandthescarletwitch12 (Thanks!! ❤)

Word count: 4.9 k+

Genre/warnings: fluff ❤

Summary: Receiving a mysterious message from an unknown number seemed rather intriguing, but it became even more interesting when Jongup found no time to respond, and later witnessed how the person typing figured the number had no owner, and turned the chat into a personal diary to lighten the burdens of everyday life. He found himself more and more invested into reading those texts, making it a daily thing, and had a hard time not to respond. Why not? Because that would be weird. He’d been quietly reading messages for weeks already, without leaving any answer. And leaving one now seemed inappropriate. He’d missed his chance, and all he could do now was continue reading, or so he thought at first.

He looked down at the phone in his hands, staring in mild confusion to whether he should respond or not.

I found your number accidentally. Who are you? [17:28]

Accidentally? Junhong called for him to come and join practice again, so he threw another insignificant look to the phone and shoved it back into his pocket, hoping it wouldn’t fall out mid-song like the few other times it did after his rapid spins and turns all through the choreo. With lazy yet graceful movements, he was back in formation, and took only another moment to consider the possibilities of how his number ended up in a stranger’s hands before starting practice.

And then suddenly it hit him hard.

“Jongup-ah, what are you doing!?” Himchan crashed into him, and only then he realized he’d stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of a dance break.

“I’m thinking.”

“Can’t you move and think at the same time?!” Junhong, perhaps, called out while chuckling, but Jongup wasn’t sure - he didn’t really catch onto the speaker’s identity. He had realized a significant detail from sometime last week that could stick to the puzzle, and needed a minute to consider how stupid his assumptions were.

“I ain’t a multitasker,” he said, and with that, was gone with the wind, wandering out of the room to lean against the wall of the hallway.

“I found your number accidentally. Who are you?”

He was Moon Jongup, if he wasn’t mistaken. And he was also a guy who was close to blackout drunk last week, stumbling along the streets with a few old friends only he knew, making small, insignificant mistakes along the way and laughing tons meanwhile as well.

It was stupid, actually. But he figured he wasn’t the brghtest in the head anyways.

“Let’s see who’ll find it,” his friend giggled, scrapping a few digits on pieces of paper, and happily letting them sail away in the rather strong wind while standing in a place you could see the whole city from. He recalled being beyond happy and giggly about this idea, supporting it fully with his other two friends in their drunken states.

“Might get yourself a date like that.”

Or trouble, he figured. But he figured too late, as it’s been a week, and he had finally gotten a “lucky” message. He also wondered if any of the other guys did.

“Stop being a weirdo and come back in. Thinking time is over,” Youngjae presented himself well in the same old sarcastic fashion, leaning out of the doorway and trying to get Jongup back in so they could finally be finished for the day. And, understanding he’d better obey and put everyone’s tired minds out of their misery, he joined them again, pouring sweat and panting lightly for another half an hour before finally departing from the rest and going his own way.

Not that the text was of no significance, not at all. Jongup simply had a different mindset, and was someone to forget things easily. And half an hour of dancing was enough for him to forget completely about all that had happened, and also forget to answer. Hell, he didn’t even care to respond to his hyung’s messages sometimes, so this was simply something he wasn’t that good at. Texting.

He only recalled it when it was too late and inappropriate to respond.

“Should I?” he contemplated, sneaking around the dorm’s kitchen and making hot chocolate at 2 AM, clearly knowing sleep wasn’t his priority but a nice, warm chocolatey drink was. Sleep was Himchan and Youngjae’s priority though, and “nagging mom” and “sarcasm ball” weren’t the ones he wanted to disturb from sleeping peacefully. This was his chance to get some nice, peaceful alone time.

“I’m Moon Jongup.” Would that be.. Appropriate?

It probably wouldn’t. He figured he still was an idol, and even though he thought there were slim chances the person texting him could possibly know who he was, he still hesitated. If he’d ask anyone from the company, they’d tell him off immediately. And possibly even call him stupid, telling him to be cautious with whom he gives his number to.

So scrapping the thought, he quietly sneaked back to his room to do some 2 AM internet browsing. It’s not like he had to respond anyways, but curiosity killed him to know who was on the other end of the line. He figured he’d think of something, and eventually would respond. But later.

Later turned out to be never.

He wasn’t of fault for being a busy man with a short memory and attention span. He already got dragged from schedule to schedule by Himchan, basically serving him as an accessory or handbag, because otherwise he wouldn’t remember to come and would wander off to be present somewhere else. If he couldn’t remember all of that, how could he remember about a mysterious text?

Does this number even belong to anyone? [22:34]

When he saw the message though, he recalled. It had been about a week already, and he figured he was still curious. Yet his fingers stopped him from typing when he saw the three animated dots, indicating something more was being typed on the other end, and would soon pop up on the screen.

Well.. I guess it doesn’t. [22:56]

He chuckled. He was just as quick to make assumptions as the person typing, and for some reason, that was intriguing. First thing in common, and it had been three lone texts. This could actually evolve to be interesting.

Today was an awful day, by the way. [22:57]

He leaned back, looking at the stream of messages that followed. One every other minute, being a detailed explanation of a rather bad day. Troubles at work and with studies. Misunderstandings with friends and even family. God, he really found himself feeling sorry for whoever it was that managed to have such an unfortunate day.

But once again, as he wanted to type, he realized he was unable to do it. Wouldn’t that be creepy? Now, after all this whole heartfelt and emotional storytelling, all of a sudden he would say something really out of place. “Hey, this number indeed has an owner”, “Cool story, but quite sad tbh. Are you alright?” - all the potential responses seemed rather dumb to him. The worst one by far being “Hey, so, I was just sitting and reading, but figured I wanted to talk to you actually. I’m Jongup.”

This helps, actually. [23:31]

He heard the swooping sound, and glanced back to the device, tracing his fingers ever so lightly over the screen. What helped? Typing out things that bothered? Maybe, and right as he figured he understood, he got the response.

It’s crazy, but it helps a little. I’ll call you my new, non-existent friend, number without owner. And maybe I’ll message you. [23:33]

He was quite existent, actually, and he was more than curious to how this could unfold. He thought it was interesting, maybe even cute. And a little creepy, but.. Did anyone have to know? Not really. So he convinced himself it was fine, and he let it happen.

“See ya, new friend,” he chuckled with a smile, and put his phone down, wandering out of his room too meet with needy hyungs who had been calling him for a while already. He swore, if he’d hear the phrase “Jongup-ah, bring me my phone! I don’t know where it is though, but find it!” one more time, he’d move out.

It was days and days of simple, diary-like texting, and he once found himself looking back on the stream of messages, figuring it had been weeks already. Maybe even a month, actually. But he didn’t mind. In fact, after an insignificant amount of time had passed, he had gotten used to it, and couldn’t picture his life without an occasional message every here and there anymore. It had become part of the daily routine.

Her name was (Y/N), so much he knew, and she was the sweetest yet most problematic person he’d ever met. Well, “met” only technically. He hadn’t met her in real life, but he still felt like he knew a bunch about her in a.. non-creepy way. This really didn’t feel creepy to him. It just felt strange. Or rather unusual.

Aaand I do not know how to manage now. I’ve got a week left, and still 30 pages to write. Too bad I didn’t start writing earlier. [19:44]

But I’m a stupid mess, so I’m allowed to make mistakes. [19:44]

He chuckled at the familiar sentence, knowing he’d used it on himself thousands of times. But he also knew that when it came to her, she was far from being stupid. Her conversations with this non-existent friend in the form of a phone number she thought belonged to no one, but in reality was his, made her seem like a lovely, kind, but over all intelligent person. And he found himself lying in bed and smiling at his phone like an idiot.

“You’ll do great,” he quietly said to himself, surprised at how truly he wanted her to succeed, “Because you’ve been studying hard for ages. More than I’ve ever studied all together, to be honest.”

And the more time passed, the more he understood how much he truly cared.

He cared every evening he lied in bed and watched the message streams coming by. He traced his fingers over the phone screen, and desperately wanted to respond. He weirdly found himself hurting every time she had a hard time, and simply wanted to go and do something about it. He didn’t even know who she truly was, or how she looked or anything. Yet this diary-type conversation she typed out to no one but herself every evening made him believe he knew enough to find a liking in her. She was funny and her personality was overall cute. She had a heart big enough to fit the whole world into it, and sometimes he imagined he could find a place there as well. He wanted to get to know her actually, because he thought she was interesting. Yet every time he was about to type something, he froze dead in his tracks.

After all this time, it would be weird to respond. And he didn’t want to weird her out or scare her away. He simply wanted to actually meet her and get to know her.

“What are you grinning about?” Youngjae asked one morning, catching Jongup completely off-guard and making him realize how he once again was staring at the phone and chuckling about seemingly nothing.

“Yeah. Something’s been off for a while already,” Himchan called from behind the stove, walking around with two plates in hand a second later and handing one to Youngjae, “You’re never really abandoning your cereal for anything.”

“Spit it out,” Youngjae budged, and when Himchan had made his way around the breakfast bar and sat across the latter two, it felt like it was maybe time to say something. But right as Jongup opened his mouth to talk, Youngjae frantically interrupted.

“Not the cereal, by the way - don’t spit that out, keep that in your mouth or in the bowl, will ya? I’m talking about the reason you’d been grinning like a madman at mysterious stuff in your phone for weeks.”

“So.. This might sound weird..”

“Like everything else involving you. Nothing new,” Youngjae cheekily remarked, leaning on his hand and choking on his food just a second later because he was too focused on talking and didn’t care to properly chew his food.

“That’s what you get Youngjae-ah for interrupting your friend and challenging the universe,” Himchan remarked, chuckling lightly and turning to face Jongup, “Continue. I’m curious.”

And he told the whole story. About the on-paper phone numbers thrown from a high point in the city, and how he actually received a message after some time. And the weird further events, where the girl on the other end of the line supposed the number belonged to no one, and never stopped typing, gifting him with a diary of her biggest issues and the brightest moments of her life.

“And so you simply keep sitting around and reading everything she types?”

“Yeah, kind of-”

“What a creep,” Youngjae laughed out, making Jongup feel generally ashamed about the whole situation.

“Yeah, I have to admit, it is a little creepy. But at the same time, it’s so absurd, yet.. I don’t know how to say. Somewhat beautiful?”

“In which way, hyung?” Youngjae laughed at Himchan, yet kind of understood his point.

“I don’t know, think about it. He knows so much about her, and she doesn’t even know he exists. Okay, that indeed sounds bad, but let me turn it around. I can imagine it already.”

“A cold winter night,” he extended his arms to both sides, making the youngers laugh at his theatrical, dramatical stare that was directed into the distance, “Don’t laugh, just picture it. A stormy night, and she’s walking home alone. Left to be completely lonely by everyone but the howling, harsh wind-”

“You should do acting, hyung,” Younjae kept laughing, cracking up even more after the casual response of “I know, right?”

“And he emerges from the shadows - our Jongup-ah. The hero of the night, who approaches and lovingly tells her all. ”(Y/N), come with me, and everything will be alright,“ he will say, and she won’t have time to question, because in her pain and despair, he will be her only light. So she will put her hand in his and they will run off into the sunset-”

“You mean sunrise. It was already nighttime in your setting of the story.”

“Yes. Pardon,” he announced, his pronunciation almost on point, “The sunrise. But you get the idea.”

“Oh stop it, hyung,” both of them turned to face a rather embarrassed and blushing Jongup, “That’s never gonna happen.”

“Don’t try to tell me you’ve never thought about it,” Youngjae kept teasing.

“I feel like we’re gossip girls or something right now, talking about this the way we do,” Himchan chuckled lightly, and hit the back of Youngjae’s head playfully, getting up from his spot, “Okay, as always. I cook, you wash up.”

“But hyuuuuung.”

“You can always eat cereal like Jongup-ah instead, if you’re not satisfied with this distribution of duties,” Himchan called from somewhere far away, making Youngjae pout one more time before he got up to do as told, “Although, then you’d have to wash up as well. So it’s a no-win situation for you.”

Jongup stayed in place, glancing at the phone one more time as he heard the familiar, at this point already exciting swooping sound.

And now I missed breakfast, all because of that other research paper that I managed to wrap up only earlier this morning. But maybe it’s even convenient. I guess I’d need to go on a diet anyways. [08:51]

She didn’t, he was certain. She sounded like someone who would constantly criticize no one but herself, and one day he will come up to her and tell her to cut it. Take her out and eat cupcakes or something, and tell her how lovely she was at heart, and at face as well. He was convinced she was beautiful, because everyone who was this beautiful at heart had to be beautiful on the outside as well.

And beauty wasn’t measurable by the size of the waist anyways, right?

Time kept passing, and he kept sitting around and reading. From time to time either Himchan or Youngjae would budge him about it, and poke at him, telling him he had to do something in return. But he only ever answered that he wasn’t good at holding conversation, and rather wanted to simply stay and read.

“Don’t let it slide,” they’d say, but he was hard to convince to act in any way that would reveal himself and who he was. But that didn't mean he didn’t try to communicate with her in other, different ways.

She’d had flowers delivered to her university, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as they were handed to her and a dozen of jealous girls threw all types of glances her way. Yet she never found out where those flowers came from, since there was no sender’s name left behind. Only a note with neat handwriting on it, saying “non-existent friend”, and she couldn’t quite tie her mind around it. Little surprises continued to await her at every corner - even at a place like her favorite coffee shop - and she found herself wondering who had been kind and generous enough to gift her with all of it. And who even knew enough about her to get something such ad her favorite flowers or chocolates or anything else right.

It all silently continued on the same way, until a particular evening when he found himself lying on his bed again, waiting for the message stream, yet nothing came up. And he was left alone, without company in the evening or any clue of what had happened to her.

He told himself it was nothing at first. She was away somewhere. Out with family, perhaps? Or maybe friend? Although he knew she lived rather far from family, and had only few friends. He was laying around, waiting, and eventually he fell asleep like that, just to wake up the next morning and find nothing but Instagram notifications and cat videos sent to him by Himchan.

Nothing from her. Not even a single message. And as this continued every evening from then on, he became convinced she was gone. Probably forever.

It bothered him. Had something happened, or was she simply busy? She was always busy, or so she stated, yet somehow she was always able to find time for typing. But not in the past weeks, as he was met with total and utter silence from her end of the line, ans finally understood how she must’ve been feeling about this whole thing.

Receiving nothing. It indeed was horrible. And maybe if he would’ve revealed himself to her, she would’ve still been a part of his life.

Only now he figured how truly.. alone he was without her company. It all seemed unreal and unusual, yet he had found peace and comfort in her stories. Her life differed from his significantly, and he figured he was quite interested in her daily life and the things she did. He found it to be a little vacation for his mind for when it was tired of running circles, as reading her stories was always like a little treat of the day. That is, until it all disappeared.

And reappeared after what seemed almost a month already. Or rather eternity, judging by his point of view and perception of time.

I can’t do it anymore. [00:01]

The lone message scared him, and as another long-gone and much missed message stream started blowing up his phone, he sat tight and read carefully, not to miss a single detail.

And then he realized she was crying out for help. To no one but an empty space.

It hurts. Everything does, and I wish it would’ve went down another way. [00:02]

She was talking about her family situation, her studies, relationships and everything else. Everything had seemingly crumbled at this one moment, and he was genuinely worried about her. He only barely knew how it was to feel down and be alone at those moments, since he was usually used to having someone around to help. And he figured this would be a long, boring night for him anyways if he decided to let i slide. Even if this was a mistake, he wasn’t the brightest in the head, so he was allowed to make mistakes every now and then.

I swear, this is the only nice place left in Seoul. I seem to hate everything else at this point already. [00:04]

He glanced at the few further words, trying to recall the location she named and eventually being able to do so. The city was beyond big, but this place she was at wasn’t far away, and that was by far the luckiest coincidence of the week, or maybe even the whole month. And since life had been nice to him and he had been gifted with a location, he simply got up, put his shoes and coat on and headed for the door.

“It’s late, Jongup-ah. Where are you leaving to?”

He turned a little to face Himchan who had just stumbled out of the living room at the wrong time, his “I was napping just a second ago” face going strong. Jongup simply threw him a barely-there smile, and stepped out of the apartment, closing the door behind himself lightly and leaving Himchan alone and confused in the dimly lit hallway.

“To meet a friend.”

It was surprisingly easy to find her, as there was only one person around, and he lingered a little longer as he saw an unfamiliar frame in the place she should’ve been at. He simply feared to be called a creep and get into trouble for it all.

“(Y/N)?”

He saw her turning slowly, throwing him a puzzled glance as she tried to process. And he had to admit that he needed a moment to process as well.

He had imagined her to be beautiful, but this view in front of him was better than any of the images his imagination had created on it’s own with only knowing mere facts she’d slipped in conversation. Her hair fell beautifully, lightly covering her face and her soft features that got highlighted by the street lights to make it even more graceful. Her brows slightly furrowed in confusion as she looked at the rather lost, young man in front of her. And the way she tried to remember who he was, but found herself to be clueless.

“Sorry if I sound rude, but.. I can’t quite recall you,” she quietly said, and only now he noticed she’d been crying.

“Who are you?”

Instead of getting a reply, she saw him shyly fiddling around his pockets to pull out his phone. And with a few taps, swipes and no additional conversation or explanations, his hands extended towards hers, offering her to take the phone.

And she did, not questioning and simply looking down on his hands, her fingers sliding lightly over his as she took the device and threw it a glance.

He inspected her face, and wondered what would happen. A feeling of uneasiness had spread all across his gut, and he simply waited for her verdict. For anything really, as he saw a little crease forming between her eyebrows, indicating she had understood what she was looking at.

“These are my messages..” she quietly muttered, observing the screen with extra care as realization suddenly hit like a train and she stared back at him with a puzzled look.

“I thought that number was…”

“Abandoned? Yeah, not really,” he scratched the back of his head looking away in embarrassment.

He watched her from the corners of his eyes though, and saw she was clueless on what to say and what to do next. He didn’t blame her at all - he was quite puzzled himself in theses types of situations, this one being an extremely unusual case. But at least she hadn’t ran away from him yet, which was somewhat comforting.. Right?

“I’m.. I’m sorry for never giving you a response,” he looked back at her with an unsure glance, yet found comfort in the way she simply listened, without interrupting or anything. He was a stranger, but she could see through him with her beautiful, intelligent eyes, and knew he meant no harm and was nervous, having troubles at explaining himself. So she simply listened.

“I wanted to. But I had schedules..” he looked somewhere away, snapping back and clarifying after a moment, “Working schedules, that is.”

“And I kind of forgot. Until the evening you started typing a whole stream of messages.. My phone kept buzzing, and I read it all, wanting to type something in return. But then I felt.. I don’t know.. Quite ashamed, or maybe even awkward to respond? You had poured your whole heart out there, and it would’ve been stupid to just type back something like “Yeah, nice story. I’m Jongup, by the way, and not a non-existent friend-”

“Non-existent friend..” he saw her recognizing the name, and felt rather stupid for having said that. Looks like she had a rather good memory, and it had just been sparked to recall all the little things he had treated her with.

“Are you behind all of the small surprises?” a mix or utter surprise and shock alongside mild happiness was displayed on her face, and he simply wanted to hide away as he felt his cheeks turning a bright shade or red.

“Well, kind of..”

“This is so.. unbelievably absurd,” he heard her chuckling, and suddenly felt the strong desire to wrap this whole explanation up for once and forever, sparing himself the painful mild awkwardness.

“Listen,” his hand unconsciously reached for hers, and she mildly flinched, yet didn’t pull away as she saw he was too far away from this world to react properly anyways, “I know it sounds creepy, but every time you were typing something, I was sitting on the other end of the line and reading. I found out a lot about you that way, and.. Figured you’re such a nice person. I really like you, actually, and all these issues you have to face all the time that constantly keep bringing you down aren’t worth it.”

“You’re so kind and so nice, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he was looking right into her eyes, making her blush as he spoke shamelessly, pouring everything out of his heart, saying the truth when it need to be said, “And since you’d been having a hard time, I figured I could brighten it at least somehow.. I mean, you sounded happy about the flowers and everything, so I just continued doing it..”

“And why did you never tell me you were there, reading it all?” she said, and he suddenly glanced at their intertwined hands, pulling his away shyly and causing her to chuckle lightly.

“I was, I don’t know.. Anxious to come off weird. Or scare you away.”

“Scare me away?” she suddenly giggled, and he felt how she pinched his cheek a littleonly seconds later, “You’re cute and not scary.”

“Well.. Y-you wouldn’t be able to know that if I’m b-behind a phone screen..” he found himself stuttering at her braveness and the way she wasn’t ashamed to do what she desired, “But yeah, I’m not scary. Just a regular guy, making bad decisions and good mistakes.”

“Good mistakes?” she questioned, starting to walk off. He felt a light tug to his sleeve before her fingers disconnected from his coat, and took it as an indicator that she wanted him to come along as well.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, tucking his hands into his jeans pockets and following closely, “We were out with friends that night, feeling quite tipsy. Thought it would be funny to write our numbers on paper and let them sail with the wind to see if someone would find them and contact us afterwards. So, like a "message in a bottle” type of thing, just less well thought-out and exciting.“

"Sounds like fun-”

“I’m not an alcoholic, by the way. That was just an occasional drink,” she laughed out loud at that, seeing how he wanted to come off as truly nice to her and wanted to leave a good first impression desperately, and simply nodded in agreement.

“J-jongup, right?”

“Yes. I’m Moon Jongup.”

“That’s a cute name, actually.”

“Thank you. Your’s better though.”

And they walked the night away, silently chuckling as the moon shone above their heads, highlighting the shadows their frames cast on the pavement in the most beautiful ways. He was glad she didn’t think of him as a complete weirdo, and found himself liking her a lot, actually. The mere sight of her picture perfect features had him mesmerized, and he scolded himself for behaving like an animal when his mouth started slightly watering at the sight of her nicely shaped lips moving and causing beautiful sounds to come out of her mouth that unconsciously crawled right through his ears, but refused to leave his mind completely once they had gotten in.

He’d indeed imagined her to be amazing. But this had topped all expectations.

And by the end of the night, he was sure - this weird and fuzzy feeling he felt at the pit of his stomach was indeed attraction. Attraction towards someone who was far from being a stranger to him, even though he was a stranger to her.

“And how comes you found me today?”

He turned to her, knowing she’d just said she had to get going and would be away in minutes, and smiled his brightest smile, causing her to melt a little at how genuinely mood lifting his smile happened to be.

“You typed where you were. And after I’d read about all of your troubles.. You know, I didn’t want you to feel alone..”

“I most definitely didn’t tonight,” she said, and with that, walked up to give him an embrace that lasted way too little.

“It’s weird, but I like it,” she whispered, face buried in his coat, and was gone within seconds, leaving him to stand alone and process all that had happened.

“Please, respond from now on.. Existent friend,” he heard her voice rather faintly in the distance, and answered too silent for her to hear, rather saying it to himself.

“I sure will.”

And he did now every now and them, smiling as she encouraged him to tell her more about himself, since he knew all he needed to know about her for the start, but she was clueless on many things regarding him. The tiny surprises never stopped, and neither did her gratefulness for them. Late night walks had become a regular thing, and even thought Youngjae and Himchan’s teasing could become close to unbearable at times, he knew his never-ending indefinite suffering was worth it.

He wasn’t just attracted to her. He really, really liked her, and since a thing he didn’t like was waiting around for too long, he decided to let her know just after a month of actually being acquainted, using another bouquet of flowers to send a message instead having to type it out.

She looked at the neat handwriting on the card, and smiled down on it.

“Who keeps sending you all these flowers?” a friend of hers asked, and she simply laughed in return.

“Someone I really like,” she traced her fingers over the location written on the note, and looked at her friend, “Someone who has become the most beautiful coincidence in my life so far.”

And as she came by to meet him that evening, dressed to impress in her prettiest clothes even though her personality alone already made his heart skip a beat, he didn’t greet her with a “hello”, with a wave of his hand or a hug that lasted a little too long to be considered simply friendly appropriate. He greeted her with a question that mattered to him instead.

“Can I kiss you?”

And all she could do was give him a shy nod before she felt his frame pressing against hers lightly, his arms wrapping around her tightly as he leaned in and lingered before her lips for a little, cautiously pecking them once a second later.

But once was far from being enough, and soon she found her hands trailing to rest on his cheeks, tracing circles in a relaxing and calm fashion as she felt herself being lifted up to heaven. Her feet did in fact disconnect from the ground a little as he pulled her up, leaving her to barely reach the ground on her tippy toes as he supported all of her weight on his bare arms. Yet that was of no importance as he was giving her kiss after kiss, going at a soft, slow pace, making sure it was comfortable and pleasurable beyond anything else. But he had to admit that he was faced with a hard time when holding her like that. The mere touch of her lips had already made his knees weak, and he had to use all his strength not to fall apart and collapse right there and then. Who knew she was this damn intoxicating and addicting?

“You look stunning,” he complimented as he pulled away, and she chuckled, hiding her face in the crook of his neck immediately.

“I’m blushing already, Jongup-ah. Don’t. I’m not used to this.”

“I will continue nonetheless, sorry not sorry. From now on even more, since you have to get used to it. That’s how it’s going to be now.”

And as they walked off that night, with the stars once again shining bright above them and lighting the way, she was glad about all that had happened. With his fingers tangled in between hers, and his calming voice throwing out savage or sometimes simply adorable commentary, there was nothing more she could ever wish for. She knew there were still a thousand different things she didn’t know about him, yet that didn’t bother her, as she believed she’d find out along the way. And she knew it was all unusually absurd, but couldn’t help but take his sudden presence in her life as a sing.

She glanced up at him and made him throw her a questioning look.

“Want to say something?” he questioned, and saw her considering, just to nod afterwards, “You’ve got my whole attention. I’m listening.”

“Thank you for never telling me off and reading through all my babbling,” she blurted out, and made him smile, “And thank you for caring for me, and eventually coming to check on me back then. I..”

“..you?” he chuckled after the little pause she’d made, as he wanted to know the continuing from the depths of his heart.

“I like you a lot, Jongup-ah. And I’m so grateful to have met you.”

And that’s all he’d been wanting to hear for a while, so he smiled in return, and, just because he could, leaned down to press another quick, loving peck on her lips, leaving her to let out a soft sound of disapproval as his lips disconnected from hers a little too soon.

“I like you too, (Y/N). You’re the best coincidence that had ever happened to me,” he chuckled, and wrapped his arms around her, figuring she should get all she ever wanted. Which, in this case, was a dose of him. And he was more than ready to offer it all to her, leaning back down to seal the unnecessary gap between himself and her with yet another kiss that displayed it all.

He was beyond grateful. And he truly wanted to try this out and stay with her.

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