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miekasa · 3 years

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mie….could we please get college au eren headcanons👉🏽👈🏽

Of course. I’m always thinking about his big head anyway <33 might as well put it good use.

One thing he learned in college is how to make his hyperfocus/fixation episodes work for him; that’s why he schedules all his classes as close together as possible. He’d rather have class back to back for 5 hours, than have it spread out with hours in between lectures, because that increases his changes of cutting.

You can always tell when he’s in class and/or what class he’s in by how much he responds to your messages. If he doesn’t text back at all, he’s in a class that hard or one he enjoys, or both. But if he’s sending you iMessage games, then you know he’s in his elective that he couldn’t care else about (and is probably cheating in someway somehow lmfao).

He usually puts his phone on dnd when he’s in a class that’s important, but you’re in his favorite contacts, so your messages always ring through. What if it’s an emergency and you need him for something? Advanced Roots of Human Biology can wait.

Some days there are one or two our breaks between his lectures, that’s just how the scheduling works out. When that happens, he usually sneaks into one of your lectures, or goes to your place to take a nap. Your roommates have become accustomed to him, honestly they’ve been considering giving him a key.

Once, he didn’t realize that your lecture was basically a seminar, with you, the prof and maybe six other students. He still stayed lmao, and the prof was so amazed by his dedication, that she didn’t even mind. Occasionally, you’ll catch the two of them talking after lecture. It’s pretty cute the way she’s adopted him into the class even tho he’s not on the roster.

You... have to show him where the library is lmfao. He genuinely has not stepped foot in one until you bring him to one. He likes it tho lmao once he gets used to it.

Speaking of which, do not give him standard directions to find your classes on campus because all you’ll get is, “Babe, I’m gonna keep it real with you, I’ve never heard of the ‘West Quad’ a day in my life. What building are you near.”

He usually comes to see you in the library after all his lectures are done for the day. Sometimes he does homework, sometimes he’s just fucking around on his computer, sometimes he’s just bothering you. When you have to leave to go to class, he stays behind to watch your stuff so you don’t have to pack everything up and come back.

Very protective when it comes to keeping your seat for you. No, you cannot take that chair to your table you good for nothing freshman; it’s reserved for you.

He’ll drag you out of the library if you’ve been cooped up all day, tho. Eren will use his height and his strength against you to get you up. Placates you with kisses when he sees your angry expression, and promises to buy you food.

He takes your backpack for you when you’re walking together,m. His backpack is frustratingly light all the time, even during midterms. You swear all he’s got in there is a pencil and some flashcards.

If you have night classes, he sticks around to walk you home after, especially in the winter when it gets dark faster. If he’s not already on campus, he’ll walk/drive back to meet you; he just doesn’t like you going home alone. Even if your friend/roommate is in the class with you, Eren will walk or drive the both of you home for his own sanity.

He plays sports, so he usually has practice most evenings, but he’ll find a way to make time. If practice was particularly brutal, he’ll probably crash at your place.

He loves it when you come to meet him after practice. His whole face lights up and he waves obnoxiously, before he gathers up his stuff and all but sprints towards you. You get a cold water bottle to the face, or a bit of water splashed on you usually, which he takes immense amusement in.

He knows it’s not possible for you to make it to all of his games, and usually it doesn’t bother him much; you’ve got your own life, and work to worry about. All he asks is that you wear his jersey, or any item of his sports apparel/merch on game day (he’s partial to hoodies).

By the time junior year rolls around, he’s not all that interested in attending parties that aren’t hosted by your friends; so, unless it’s at Connie, Jean, or Reiner and Bertholdt’s place, Eren will usually decline. Even team parties, he’s not crazy about unless it’s to celebrate a championship or something. He’d much rather celebrate with you.

He does get excited about hosting parties though, and he and Jean become pretty damn good co-hosts. They don’t throw ragers, and that’s probably why Eren likes it so much. It’s usually your friend group and a couple plus ones, some good music, games, weed, and take-out.

He’ll buy you coffee whenever you ask for it. The first time, he just orders something plain, not really knowing the difference between anything; but give it two or three tries, and he’ll get it perfect. He becomes so good that he can order you something new/different and you’ll love it.

That’s kind of the start of his own coffee addiction, and more often than not, when he buys you a cup, he’s on his second or third of the day himself. The flavor has really grown on him, okay.

He much prefers your apartment, but on occasion, he’ll ask you to come to his. You’ve been studying for so long, a change of environment should do you good, he claims. He’s a fucking liar tho because that’s all Eren Talk for “I do genuinely want you to come over, but my plans are to coerce you out of doing your assignments and doing me instead.”

Lmfao he adds you on Apple Watch Rings just so you can see him close his rings every day and laugh at you. Even if yours get closed by virtue of walking around campus or working out or whatever, his numbers are stupidly high because he fucking has practice at least 4 days of the week.

Of course when you’re running on a soccer field for 2 hours every day, you close your Move Ring five times, Eren. Leave the rest of us alone.

He buys you guys matching accessories for your keychains. It’s something pretty cute, and slightly random, but it reminded him of you. It also serves as a reminder to himself to take his fucking keys with him when he leaves his house.

He sleeps like a fucking rock, so do not let him fall asleep in the library. Waking him up is a mission, and he’s never happy to be woken up. He looks kinda cute tho.

He schedules dates for you and his friends. Usually by accident, but hear me out. Sometimes he’ll make plans with Armin, then forget that he has class or a test or something; so his solution is to text you, “hey, i forgot min and i were supposed to go some aquarium tomorrow but i have a midterm so here’s the pdf of my ticket, go with him for me, thanks babe love u” then, boop, you and Armin have an aquarium date Friday evening.

The same thing happens with Mikasa, though, she usually catches the scheduling conflict before Eren does, and invites you out herself. You and Mikasa hang out quite a bit anyway, so it comes to the point where she tells you when she’s gonna hang out with Eren, so you can make yourself free for when he inevitably remember he has a game that day.

Mikasa is most amazed that you’ve put up with Eren this long lmao. You’ve certainly lessened her Eren & Armin babysitting hours, and for that she’s eternally grateful. Also, she’s just happy to have another close friend. She loves Eren and Armin, but they’re not the most social beings, and she was literally their only friend besides the other for all their childhood PLEASE she’s so happy you’re around.

It’s Mikasa, however, who babysits you and Eren whenever you both get too drunk. Says you guys are two peas in a pod (affectionate<2)

If you tell Eren something important that happened, like an internship you got, or a good grade in a class, or something, he usually relays that information to his mom pls. He texts her every day, and if she doesn’t ask for an update on you first, he gives her one.

Carla calls you sometimes, too. At least once every few weeks, just to check on you herself. She really likes you for Eren, and is grateful someone is willing to put up with her hotheaded son.

Eren’s always using your fucking chapstick. Always. You know he has his own, so why he needs to use yours is beyond you. Finds time to make some dumbass comment about how it’s an “indirect kiss” every time he uses it too. Like bro, we’re dating, and have had many direct kisses why are you like this.

He posts on Instagram every few weeks or so, but you’re on his story every few days. Usually, it’s just a video of you minding your business and doing your work while Eren slowly zooms in before making some loud noise to surprise you, all so he can get your reaction on video and laugh at it. He’s annoying.

He’s a bit of a copycat when it comes to the products you use. He’ll buy the same brand of pens as you (for that matter, all of his school supplies mirror yours because what does he know about the difference between A4 and A5 notebooks?), put a little hand sanitizer on his backpack like yours (and a lotion, too, for good measure), he even copies your Starbucks order until he finds one he likes for himself. It’s one of his love languages <3

If you’re wondering where your eyelash curler went, Eren stole it to try it on himself, hurt himself, vowed to never use it again, went back because he wanted to “do it right and not give up,” liked the results when he didn’t pinch his eyelid, and now it’s his.

That being said, stop trying to put your Fenty lipgloss on him, it’s never going to happen. Eye makeup, maybe, only if you sit in his lap and he can have his hands on your ass while you do it.

What he does love is letting you do his skincare. He will set aside dedicated skincare nights, he adores it. Easily one of his favorite things ever.

You have his wallet. Not because he’s your sugar daddy or anything (although, if you want something, he’d definitely let you use his card to get it; and even if you bought something without asking, he wouldn’t think twice about it), but because he put it in your bag once and never took it out.

When you tried to give it back, he just shook his head and told you to keep it, “I have my ID in my phone case anyway, and you’re less likely to lose it. Plus I put all my cards on Apple Pay, so I’m good.”

When you do make it to a game of his, he’s all over you when it’s over. Not in a cocky athlete boyfriend kind of way; in a very sleepy boyfriend kind of way. He’s usually got ice on at least one part of his body, and he’s got half his body weight on you as you walk to the car.

By the time you guys get back to your place, he’s practically sleep walking. The only thing on his mind is taking a hot shower to soothe his muscles, and heading to bed. The aftermath of game days aren’t all that bad though, because even if you didn’t show, you’re always there to kiss him when he’s home and massage his shoulders, and cuddle him to sleep; and that’s his favorite part.

#anonymous #hes so fucking cute hes my fucking BOYFRIENDDDDDDDDD #eren x reader #aot x reader #eren jaeger x reader #aot imagines #eren fluff #eren smut

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a-supernatural-writer · 3 years

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hcs for poly! tlb with a fem! s/o who’s style is dark academia and is really blunt/logical and smart. she basically gives off a ‘mysterious, quiet, dark, critical’ vibe (she also doesn’t really know how to handle people who are extremely emotional and she doesn’t know how to soothe someone. she’s just really oblivious/clueless when it comes to others feelings). i’m so sorry if what i requested doesn’t make sense or if it was too much. i am seriously incapable of writing anything without making it look like an essay lmao. love your work btw 💕✨

Dark Academia Fem! S/O

Poly Lost Boys x Fem reader

I had so much fun writing this! I love the dark academia aesthetic! And it made perfect sense and it wasn’t too much! Having a lot actually helps me expand and write more so thank you. And I’m the same, once I have an idea, I write a lot, so you’re all good! And awww!!! Thank you!!! 💗💗✨✨ I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy!

Okay, so you are very different compared to the large number of characters on the boardwalk. Your style consisted of button shirts, sweaters or turtle necks, dress pants or a plaid pleated skirts, cardigans or waistcoats, oxford shoes or even wire framed glasses if you wore them for seeing or just for the look.

To say that you caught the boys attention would be an understatement. You seemed to stand out amongst the crowd and they became curious. You were a mystery to them and they love the challenge.

Somehow, someway, after days or weeks later, you became good friends which soon lead to you dating four trouble making punks. It was tough on both parts, but it happened, and hey, you weren’t complaining.

You were very blunt when you first met them, not really interested in them and more or less interested in the book in your hands. It took a lot of “accidental” run ins to even get you to hang out with them.

You slowly opened up when they offered to take you out for dinner at a local diner. They’re constant joking soon had you letting out small, almost whisper-like giggles and tiny smiles that sent them into a frenzy.

When you would start talking about yourself, your ideas of fun were different from theirs. You liked museums, opera houses, bookstores and going to theaters to see plays. The games you played were chess and cards, and the music you listened to was old. You were pretty sure they thought you were boring but you actually peaked their interest.

After a while of being friends with them, they asked you out. You liked them and the only logical step was to see if you liked them the same way they liked you was to date them, so you said yes.

In general, them having a girlfriend with a 1940s/1950s dark prep look was fun. David and Dwayne like it the most. Paul next, then Marko.

David actually really likes picking out your clothing on most days. You have an extensive collection of clothing with material from cashmere to linen, all the colors consisting of browns, black, cream and even a little dark green.

His favorite thing to put you in is trench coats. Doesn’t matter what color it is, he just likes seeing you in them. Also, there are a handful of times that he has MADE you wear his trench coat. Yeah it almost swimmed on you, but he thought it made you look cute and it fit in perfectly with your look.

Dark academia isn’t only your style, but it’s your way of life. David is the one that plays chess with you. You had to reteach it to him and pretty soon, the two of you had your own little set up in the cave that was always ready for a game of chess.

David is sort of like you… in a way when it comes to others feelings. But deep down he knows that he really likes you and tries to show it the best he can. He took you to a theater to see a play that you were constantly talking about and so he took you on a date. You being you, didn’t realize that’s what it was until he told it straight to your face. Let’s just say you were speechless for the next hour.

Also, when it’s just the two of you, deep inside the cave where your nest is, classical music is playing from your record player. It could be Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Mozart. Whoever it is, David is the one that will listen to it with you the most. I think he really enjoys classical music and he enjoys it even more if the two of you are cuddling in your bed.

Occasionally Dwayne would join the two of you. You would be sitting in between David’s legs as Dwayne sat in between yours, his head leaning back against your chest. It was like a cuddle pile… cuddle train?? Whatever you wanted to call it, it was cuddling while the three of you relaxed listening to classical music. And it was darn cute.

Dwayne loves listening to you go on and on about any books you were reading at the moment. Whether or not it was nonfiction or even about any type of history. He was down. He lived through a lot and he knew about half of the stuff you gushed on about, but for some odd reason, it never bored him when you talked about it.

He would be the one to get you new books, leaving you sweet little notes tied to them. Of course you thought it was just him being nice and thanked him for it without thinking there was any romantic meaning behind it. Yeah he was one of your boyfriends but it never really crossed your mind that way. He would just shake his head at your obliviousness and give you a small peck on the lips.

Don’t ask him why, but his favorite look on you is a light cream colored blouse with a plaid skirt and Mary Jane shoes. Dwayne is a leg man so… he’s very happy when decide to show off some skin if you decide not to wear knee-socks or stockings with it. Even if you did wear them, he would still be attached to your side the entire night.

Like David, Dwayne would bring you out to a lot of places that were opened late at night. If there was an art exhibition in town or even a museum that was open late, just say the word and he will happily drive you on his bike. Heck, David might even tag along.

Also, late night bookstore dates… oh my heart, it’s too sweet it hurts. There are times that he does have to throw you over his shoulder when the bookstore is closing and you're pretty much refusing to leave. When he does that, you just stay frozen over his shoulder, not knowing if you should be blushing or cursing at him for carrying you like a sack of potatoes.

If anything, you and Dwayne connect very well. You’re naturally very quiet and so is he. Not much is said between you two but there's a mutual understanding that can’t be explained. While the others are out causing trouble, you and him are on the sidelines watching hand in hand or your reading and he's just staring at you as you do so.

Paul and Marko kind of give you whiplash. They’re loud and rowdy and definitely 100% opposite from you. But they interested you. They had a very chaotic outlook on life which made you ask many questions.

Paul found your look sexy. He’s horny and you give off preppy school vibes, he’s living for it 24/7. Constant teasing of you giving him ‘private lessons’ which results with you whacking a book against the back of his head. But it doesn’t stop the reddening of your ears which doesn’t make him stop.

This man is also your designated jewelry expert. You only wear some accessories and they're very simple. So you are very surprised when Paul finds you jewelry that is your style and collects it for you. You like leather watches, guess what, he’s got it for you. You want some fancy victorian looking brooches, he’s got that too. Simple rings with a single jewel in the middle, expect constant ‘will you marry me’ jokes, but he gets you the best.

Also, he’s not overly big into your music selection. He does try to get you into his type of music, which you only like very few and far between. But when you do get him to listen to your type of music, it’s only if you agree to listen to his music the next night. You guys come up with a system and decide to switch every few nights.

Each of the boys have their favorite look on you and Paul's is when you wear a button-up of any color with a simple black tie, a pencil skirt and a pair of Dr.Marten boots. He especially likes the tie… for reasons. God damn it, you know the reasons, get out of here.

He’s a very affectionate boy and he finds your looks over confusion some of the cutest shit he’s ever seen. Probably the first one to tell you that he loves you and you honestly like glitched out. Did you feel the same way? Yes, but poor little thing you doesn’t say it right away, but Paul knows that you aren’t really used to saying things like that without warming up to it. Which is okay. He knows even if you don’t say it.

He definitely steals one of your blazers to put pins on it. Marko helps, putting a few patches on it that they both know you would like. It’s the one item that stands out in all of your clothing and you will wear it if they ask you to.

Marko definitely thinks the look is cute and it suits you very well, but why no color?! You wear dark colors but nothing bright like the colors that are on his jacket. He tries to slip in some colorful clothing into your everyday look, it never goes as planned but you give him an A for effort.

He loves how dark you can be at times though. You want to go to a local graveyard just because? Sure! Let’s go! He’s your designated graveyard buddy. You have many date nights there, looking at all the different gravestones and finding it interesting when you jot down some names in one of your notebooks.

Speaking of notebooks, you have many of them. They were filled with notes from books you’ve read, real life observations or even just some random poetry and short stories that you wrote. Marko would go through them a lot and even sometimes draw little doodles or rough sketches that were thought up from your writings.

When you spend nights down at the Boardwalk, your go to drink isn’t a slushie or a milkshake or even a soda. It’s coffee or tea. Yeah, and only Marko knows your drink orders by heart. None of the others seem to remember them correctly which you thank them for trying but Marko has got them all beat.

Marko likes seeing you in sweaters and in your trousers or linen shorts with chelsea boots. If anything, when the two of you are alone, just wearing a knit sweater and shorts were perfect for him. He likes how cozy and warm you look. He’s very happy when he cuddles you and you are warm.

Now when they tell you that they’re vampires, you think that they’re joking. Vampires aren’t real, they’re a work of fiction. Yes there was a real man named Dracula, but there was no way that they were actual vampires.

Then they showed you hard proof and then there was no denying it at that point. Instead of running away, you were fascinated. You wanted to understand your boyfriends vampire ways that lead to you conducting extensive research and a notebook dedicated to them.

They showed you everything about them, how they feed, to which you didn’t bat an eyelash of watching them feed one night. You were one morbid chick but they saw that as a plus that you didn’t react. You had graveyard dates for crying out loud, nothing really surprised them at that point.

Flying came next and they had a lot of fun showing you just how high they could go with you in their arms. You never screamed at the height, you were too caught up in seeing the overhead view of the town. You could get used to seeing a view like that every night.

Then came the other things; how they slept before you came along, what actually hurt them and what didn’t. There was one time that you stared at their vampire faces for hours because you were taking notes on how their facial features changed.

Soon you had to stock up on more turtlenecks because of the many bite marks they would leave behind from feeding on you if the weather was bad one night. It wasn’t tough adapting to their occasional feeding. A lot of your clothing already covered up your skin so it was easy to hide from people on your nights out.

Not too long after, they popped the question. Would you want to be a vampire? Live forever, never grow up? Be with them for all eternity? You didn’t really need to think about it for too long, you knew what your answer was and so did they even if you didn’t say it out loud. You loved your boys and not much would change.

When you did change, it was entertaining for them to watch. You soon started taking down notes about your progress, comparing and contrasting your experience to their own.

To the eyes of many, you became even more dark and mysterious. You had an aura around you that drew people in, it’s what got you your four vampire boyfriends, only now, it brought in your meal for the night.

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goldenspecter · 4 years

Text

Forgivness

Summary: “I was possessed! Da-A ghost took over my body!” Tucker shouts and that’s the moment he breaks down, pulling his hands away from his parents and holding him close to his chest-if he holds his chest, then no one can enter his body. That burning in his chest is back as he sobs brokenly. Here he was, breaking down over something Danny did to him and here he is, still holding on to Danny’s secret. Where was the fairness in that? “I didn’t want to!”

Valerie doesn’t know how to forgive someone. She’s never really had to, because people usually don’t hurt her this badly. Usually they apologize on the spot for some minor thing and Valerie instantly forgives them because she knows that they meant her no harm.

In which we see how Tucker copes with the events of Parental Bonding and Valerie gets some closure.

Archive of Our Own | FFN

Notes:

Here's the first side story in the AU! I'm quite happy with how this one turned out and hopefully plan on doing more of these as the AU progresses!

I knew I had to write this after writing that confrontation scene between Tucker and Valerie in the French Braids and it's been something I've been wanting to write anyways. Not to mention that I'm currently having some form of writers block when it's coming to writing the next part of the other fic.

- I've seen plenty of works within the fandom that addresses how overshadowing/possessing someone fucks them up but I don't think I've quite seen anything that talks about how it personally affected Tucker. It's really, really, really fucked up for Tucker to explicitly say no and not consent to be overshadowed and Danny, his best friend and someone who's the narrative says is a good person, ignore Tucker and do it any way and deeply violate his agency and consent. Even more fucked up that the narrative plays this for jokes at the end of the episode. This is literally a Vlad move my dudes, this is something that we should expect of Vlad because we know that he doesn't really view people as actual people, just pawns that he can use to meet a goal. Danny doing shit like this multiple times throughout canon(and it being played for jokes) only makes him more like Vlad. A more interesting concept would have been Danny asking to overshadow someone/not using except for dire circumstances but canon said fuck good ideas right?

-Valerie deserves closure. She deserves good things, good things and she deserves closure for being stood up at home coming.

-Re: Self-Harm Tag: Okay so Tucker has a certain behavior in this fic where he picks at scabs in his hair until they bleed but the thing is, Tucker doesn't really have a choice whether or not he wants to do it but rather it's compulsive. He doesn't really realize he's doing it and doesn't intend to cause physical damage(whereas its the opposite with self-harming) but he knows its a thing. Trichotillomania (hair pulling) and skin picking are commonly seen in autistic people. It can serve as a way to self-soothe and self-stimulate the individual in day to day life. Some Autism Specialists can classify this behavior as a SIB(Self-Injurious-Behavior) since it is harmful to the person's body. Also I do this a lot, have been for several years and once again the projection is real.

-Also Tucker in this AU has a really hardcore squish(friend crush) on Valerie but doesn't really understand/realize that he just wants to be friends with her and thus pursued her in a romantic manner.

Timeline wise in the AU: The first half, in Tucker’s POV, takes place right after Parental Bonding, through One of a Kind and mid way through pt one of French Braids. The second half, Valerie’s POV, is after pt one of French Braids and in between Attack of the Killer Garage Sale and Splitting Images.

-----

When Tucker fully comes back into his body, he's at the homecoming dance. Dragon Sam’s been subdued and back to her normal self and the three of them are standing in the middle of the dance floor.

“Dude, sorry your date didn't pan out. Where is Paulina anyway?” asks Tucker, the words taste bitter in his mouth as he says them.

Sam shrugs, “Ah, who cares? Look, the DJ's still playing. I think there's time for one last dance?”

“Sure, I’d love to,” Danny turns and hands the amulet to Tucker. “Keep an eye on this will you?”

Danny doesn’t bother waiting for an answer before dropping the amulet in Tucker’s hands. Tucker’s fingers instinctively curl around the amulet and Tucker turns away from Danny’s smile because all he can see now is Danny’s green eyes smiling at him before Danny took over. How come he didn’t get an apology for being forced to stand up Valerie? How come he’s the only one who doesn’t get a happy ending this time around? How come Danny gets to pretend like none of this ever happened while he was stuck with the aftermath?

Tucker swallows the lump in his chest, “Wait a second,” he begins, “I’m dateless again?! What does a guy have to do to get hooked up around here?”

“I want to go to the ball!” wails Dora.

He doesn’t know why he had to turn his feelings into a mere joke. He does of course. Because no one here really thinks his feelings matter and jokes are the only way he has right now to process it. Tucker knows this but can’t help the heartache and nausea bury when Danny and Sam laugh at his misfortune. Can they not see that he’s hurting or do they just not care ?

The fourteen year old forces a smile on his face as he steps away from Dora. “Maybe I don’t need a date that badly,” he says and runs away from the blooming romance and the burning in his chest.

~~~~~~~

Home should be safe. Home was safe. Home was where it happened, so how safe was he? Tucker opens the door and both of his parents are there, sitting at the table waiting for him.

How safe were they? Were any of them safe anymore?

His parents look up from the card game they were playing, “Tucker?” his mom asks, with confusion in her eyes. “It’s pretty early, you shouldn’t be home for another hour or two.”

Tucker shakes his head, kicking the door behind him. “Wanted to go home early.” He turns around facing the door and locks it, and with it, his emotions.

Maurice blinks, laying down his cards. “Did something happen dear?”

Tucker shakes his head even harder. “It’s nothing,” his voice cracks slightly and he can feel his parents' looks of concern.

Maurice stands up and slowly walks towards him, “Something happened dear,” he says softly and Tucker just knows that he can’t keep up this facade any longer. “Whatever happened, it’ll be okay.”

“No it won’t,” he says in a rough whisper. Maybe, if he keeps his eyes down then he won't lose it. “It won’t ever be.”

Maurice tries to wrap his arm around his son but steps back when his son roughly pushes him away. He tries again, but this time, he gently takes one of his son's hands and holds it in his. “Please, just talk to us.”

It’s the desperation in his dad’s voice that does it for him, that finally gets him to talk. “I stood up Valerie,” he says, voice cracking and thick with emotion, growing more and more panicked by the second. “I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I didn’t have a choice.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t have a choice?” Angela asks, coming up to him and taking his other hand in hers.

“I was possessed! Da-A ghost took over my body!” Tucker shouts and that’s the moment he breaks down, pulling his hands away from his parents and holding him close to his chest-if he holds his chest, then no one can enter his body. That burning in his chest is back as he sobs brokenly. Here he was, breaking down over something Danny did to him and here he is, still holding on to Danny’s secret. Where was the fairness in that? “I didn’t want to!”

Maurice gets over his initial shock at Tucker’s outburst, before he jumps in to help his hurting son. “Tucker, can you take deep breaths with me?” he takes exaggerated deep breaths, “Follow my breathing.”

“I can’t,” he manages to say through a sob, “It’s not safe, you aren’t safe, none of us are safe.”

“You’re safe honey, you’re safe,” Angela says, sliding off his hat and gently stroking his hair in an effort to calm him down. “Maybe we can go to the Fentons-”

Tucker reels back and the panic kicks into overdrive, “No!” The sobbing grows into deep and broken wails. They can’t go to Ground Zero, where the source of this misery originated from, because then all three of them definitely won’t be safe. Home is safer, Home has to be safer, Home needs to be safer.

Maurice and Angela look at each other in confusion, unable to understand why their child was so adamant about not going to the Fentons. Both parents put aside their confusion to help their son calm down, taking nearly 45 minutes to do so. Once Tucker was calm, they gave him some water and some medications to help him sleep through the night. Maurice walks his son upstairs, stands outside the door as he changes into pajamas and personally tucks his son in for the night, turning out the light and leaving Tucker’s door slightly ajar.

Tucker doesn’t leave the house for the rest of the weekend.

~~~~~~

Tucker wants to stay away from Danny, he doesn’t feel safe near him anymore. He doesn’t know when his best friend is going to overshadow his body and take control of him.

He’s just on the brink of telling Danny to leave him alone, to not talk to him anymore when Danny says he needs them both to help him with ghost hunting and studying for the test.

Tucker feels the no on his tongue, practically taste it, but instead a sour yes spills out instead.

The incident with the Purple Back Gorilla happens and the week passes by quickly. Tucker can not help but feel uneasy, thankful when the weekend comes by.

Somehow, someway he’s at the grocery store and he comes across Valerie pushing a cart with a little kid inside of it. Nerves garble his voice even as he clears his voice, “Valerie? I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while.”

“Go away Tucker,” she says and he can hear the anger boiling in her.

“I know I messed up-”

She whips around, her green eyes narrowing at him in anger and he feels so small right about now. “You left me!” she hisses, “I was alone!”

Tucker winces, rubbing his neck. “Let me explain Valerie.”

"You don't get to explain how you stood me up at homecoming," Valerie starts, her voice tight. "You don't get to waltz in here-" Her shoulders deflate, the anger leaving her body and soon washes her over with sadness. Tucker knows that she’s holding herself back and he can only assume it’s because of the kid in the cart.

"Go," she points down the aisle, "I don't want to hear your excuses."

Tucker bows his head in shame, walking down the aisle and out of the store with the few items he bought, his chance to repair...whatever he wanted to have with Valerie gone.

~~~~~

But with Tucker? She has no idea where to begin. The only reason she’s considering forgiving Tucker in the first place is because Clockwork told her that Tucker didn’t want to stand her up, that he didn’t mean to hurt her, that Clockwork knew what happened that night but couldn’t tell her.

Clockwork leans over her shoulder as she contemplates sending Tucker a text. “What are you doing?” they ask, sipping on their juice.

“Trying to send a text,” she says, “To Tucker to talk about...you know.”

Clockwork tilts their head before nodding in realization. “What’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know what to say!” Valerie says, throwing her hands up in frustration. “That’s just it!”

The small child shrugs, “Mmm, just go with what feels right?” they question in a stilted voice.

Valerie raises an eyebrow, “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I picked it up from someone on one of the TV shows you were watching,” Clockwork says, “I thought it was appropriate.”

It was appropriate, she has to give them that, no matter how stilted and unnatural they sounded while saying it. She encouragingly rubs their back, “You did good, though.” she praises, pulling them in close to her for a side hug.

Valerie’s thumb hovers over the keyboard, typing and retyping her message until she’s satisfied with it and pressing send.

You: I’ve thought about it and I’m giving you one chance to explain yourself. Meet me at the park at 5:30. I’ll be at the tables near the swings.

Several minutes pass by before she feels her phone vibrate, looking down to see the notification.

Tucker: Okay, meet you there.

Valerie sighs, pulling away from Clockwork. She sits up, checks the time on her phone. It’s 4:45 now and the park was only a five to ten minute walk from the Nasty Burger. Then again, it didn’t hurt to be early, Clockwork could play on the swings while she waits for him to meet her.

“You finished with your food?” she asks Clockwork, who nods. “Come on, we’re heading to the park.”

“Whoo!” exclaims Clockwork, eagerly sliding out of the dining booth. Valerie shakes her head with a smile, picking up their trays, dumping the food and sitting the trays on top of the trash cans as they walk out of the diner. Traffic was a little heavy, which only set them back by five minutes and the two managed to get to Amity Park in a timely manner.

Once they’re in the park, Valerie hunts for the set of swings. She quickly finds it, the tables she mentioned earlier close by. She sits down at the wooden tables and tells Clockwork to go play on the swing, which they do without a fuss. Valerie checks her phone again, the time now 5:05, leaving her with only twenty five minutes till Tucker was supposed to be here. She decides to scroll through her social media, occasionally breaking away from her phone to check on Clockwork.

Valerie feels the table and bench groan and shift under new weight, she looks up and Tucker is sitting right across from her.

He looks nervous and uncertain. So is she.

Turning her phone screen off and placing it face down on the table, Valerie sits there in silence for a moment before speaking.

“Uh, speak your truth,” Valerie says awkwardly and she wishes that she had gone over what she was going to say. “Don’t bullshit me.”

“I got possessed by a ghost,” Tucker says, looking away from her and throwing his hands out. “I don’t remember what happened when I was possessed.”

“We’re her best friends! We should have known.” Danny laments.

“It’s not our responsibility to read and protect Sam’s emotions, she should have said she wanted to go to the dance from the beginning,” Tucker says back, straightening his tie a bit. “There’s nothing we can do about it now anyways.”

Danny thinks for a moment, then a mischievous smile appears as green eyes flash at Tucker.

Tucker realizes what Danny wants him to do, “No way. Forget it. Absolutely not. No!” he loudly protests and the next thing he knows, he’s feeling a gaping hole in his chest as his consciousness is taken over by Danny.

“You were possessed….by a ghost?” Valerie asks incredulously, she feels something tugging her arms. Looking down, she sees Clockwork looking up at her with their big eyes, silently saying “He’s telling the truth.”

Tucker’s nods, “I know that sounds absurd and it sounds stupid but it happened and I’m so sorry that I stood you up.” Tucker pleads, holding his face in his hands, one of them crawling up to his head and pulling at the short curls. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m so, so sorry.”

Valerie notices how distressed Tucker sounds, how his voice cracks a tiny bit after he shields his face from her and how broken Tucker looks and sounds. There have been plenty of ghosts attacks in the city and it sounds just as likely he was possessed by one of these ghosts. He didn’t have a reason to make any of this up; it wouldn’t have made sense if he did since he was too excited to be her date to the dance.

Clockwork’s words ring in her head, “If it helps, he didn't want to hurt you.He didn't want to though," and she gets it. She finally gets it.

Valerie reaches out, uncertain as she pulls Tucker’s hands away from his hair, not saying anything as she notices blood staining the pads of his fingers and holds it in her hand. Tucker stops shaking, stops pleading, simply stops and looks at Valerie, waiting for her to confirm his worst suspicions.

“That possession stuff? That’s some weak shit fam,” she says, “But I forgive you.”

Tucker’s body sags with relief, and the unheard ‘Thank You’ is loud enough for all three of them at the table.

Clockwork reaches forward, takes one of Tucker’s hands and holds it.

Valerie grabs a tissue and some hand sanitizer out of her book bag, squeezes some on the tissue and begins gently wiping the blood off of his finger pads. He tries to pull back but Valerie tightens her grip on him.

“Let...let us handle this,” she says softly, continuing to wipe the blood off his fingers. “Why so much blood?”

Tucker looks away in embarrassment. “I have a thing where I can’t help but pick at the scabs in my hair,” he explains, “It gets really bad sometimes.”

“I bet what happened hasn’t helped any,” Valerie says, silently gesturing for Clockwork to give her his other hand so she can continue. “Do you remember the ghost who did it?”

Tucker shakes his head, “No,” The lie comes too easily. The little kid sitting next to Valerie eyes him with some scrutiny, and Tucker resists the urge to pull away from Valerie while wondering if this kid knew more than they let on. “What would you do if you ever found them?”

“Punch them in the face,” Valerie says without skipping a beat, oblivious to Clockwork’s and Tucker’s simultaneous wince. “No ghost gets away with possessing my friends.”

“Friend?” Tucker repeats back, “We’re friends?”

“Well, yeah,” Valerie answers, as if it wasn’t obvious. “You’re my friend now.”

Tucker blinks several times to make sure he heard her properly. “Oh, okay.”

Valerie finishes wiping the blood off of his fingers and he slowly pulls them back towards his chest. “I should go home now,” Tucker says, standing up and pulling away from the table.

“Why don’t we go with you? Me and...Isaiah can keep you company while you walk home. Ghosts probably won’t attack if all three of us are together.” Valerie says, standing up to wipe the imaginary dirt off her orange skirt. Isaiah follows suit, tightly holding her hand. “You in?”

“Sure,” he stutters. The three begin the walk to Tucker’s house and as they walk, he can’t help but focus on how safe he feels with Valerie and Isaiah and feels that gaping hole in his chest slowly begin to heal.

#danny phantom #tucker foley #valerie gray #dp clockwork #dp fanfiction #dp fanfic #goldenspecter writes

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passionbooties · 4 years

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title: i bet you taste like gold rating: t pairing: raihan/leon summary: raihan's never been afraid of the chase. because in the end, he always knew he'd be the winner. that all crashes when the reward at the end of the chase is leon: the one man raihan has always lost to.OR five times raihan has mentioned or shown that he likes leon, and the one time leon finally gets it.

can be read on: ao3!

read under cut !

“Damn, we lost again! But ya did good, Duraludon.” Raihan calls back his Pokémon. Rotom flies around to snap photos of the moment. Because even though Raihan lost, he’s still handsome. And there’s something his followers love about his pouts after defeat-a beauty found in the pain, sort of thing.

He looks upward, to Leon’s smiling face. As brilliant as the sun while he laughs with his partner, Charizard. “Another win for the great champion of Galar!” Leon is so confident , so sure of himself, but so pure. His boasts never come off cocky. Only mere facts that the entirety of Galar have written into their history books as gospel truths. “But it’s to be expected. After all, I’m unbeatable.”

“Yeah, for now.” Raihan snorts, but there’s no derision. No anger. Only this unsettling warmth that seeps into his bones the more he looks at Leon’s smile and continues comparing him to the sun. Bright, orbiting, so expansive and heat-filled that ignoring him was impossible.

Not that Raihan ever tried. He’d been captured by Leon long ago…

“I was close, though!” Raihan continues, striding over to meet Leon on the other side of the pitch. “Duraludon nearly had your Charizard begging for mercy.”

Leon barks out a burst of laughter, Charizard following suit. “Yeah sure! If that’s what you want to call it, we can work with that.” Raihan rolls his eyes while Leon keeps laughing and laughing. And Raihan’s stomach keeps tumbling and twisting into knots.

Leon’s laughter is one of his favorite sounds. Better than any music Raihan’s ever listened to.

Rotom whirrs by, bumping into Raihan’s cheek. A subtle reminder to get his life together and not drool so much over his longtime rival and friend. Right, good.

“Well,” Raihan works his jaw, adjusting his posture to come off as casual-and not monumental or anything of the sort to show how much impact he wanted his words to convey. “If you were anyone else, I’d definitely try to throw hands. So you’re lucky that I like you so much.”

So much. So much more than any harboring feelings of platonic platitudes he carried for the other people in his life. His heart rate never sped up so viciously as it did around the champion. His thoughts were never consumed by anyone else other than Leon.

It was horrific. Raihan wanted to scream.

His nerves became static, but Leon doesn’t seem to catch onto his words. Not really, not to their significance. But the smile he gives Raihan is soft, dare he say intimate, and Raihan has to hold back-for now-the urge to pull Leon by his cape and kiss him.

Instead Leon says, “I like you too.”

And it’s not the same.

Raihan feels the heat dissipate and a weight drop, deep. Then comes the sandstorm. Obscuring the flash of disappointment from breaking through to the surface on Raihan’s face.

Then they’re swarmed by fans who happened to oversee their battle. Quick as a standard, covering up their tracks, asking Raihan and Leon for photos and autographs of their league cards. Leon, the beloved Champion, falls into the steps of his role. Signs the cards and strikes his pose and sprinkles advice for budding trainers.

Raihan follows suit. Slips on his little mask and uses Rotom to take a bunch of photos with his fans.

If every so often, Raihan peeked over to catch Leon laughing with the kids or striking his pose, embracing the spotlight he made with ease, then so be it.

It was hard to ignore the sun when it shone so close, so brilliantly, anyways.

II.

Raihan can’t remember when he fell.

But he knows it was a graceful fall. A sudden snowstorm that drowned him in the feeling of attachment and yearning and longing for Leon that resonated a powerful chord one day when Raihan least expected it.

All the leaders of Galar knew about his one-sided affections, except Leon of course.

It had almost become a joke. A running bet among the leaders about how much longer Raihan would skirt around before he finally lost his patience and straight up proposed. Others wondered about the opposite: how much longer would it take until Leon finally noticed?

Both bets ended in similar fashions: whatever the outcome was, it wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

Really, Raihan was somewhat coping with the fact that he was enamored by his best friend and greatest rival who was also, simultaneously, the most powerful trainer in all of Galar.

And the biggest idiot in all of Galar.

But that’s what was so charming .

And Raihan really, honestly, should have seen it coming. Leon attracted everyone. He was lion like. Prideful in his strength while caring a sort of regality that made others want to follow him. Raihan always chased after him from the start. To become better than him, to surpass him in the race and become champion.

Then somehow, someway, the chase ended in a plunge. And Raihan was diving face down into a rainstorm of emotional attachment.

While he may not remember when the feelings took root, he remembers vividly the first time he ever let it slip to Raihan about his feelings.

They were eating dinner at Bob’s Your Uncle. Raihan was snapping photos and Leon was making funny faces. Their food was gone by this point, but conversation didn’t stop. It never stopped between them. Leon always had stories to share about challengers who came for advice, for a battle, for a moment to bask in his presence. Raihan was always dishing out strategies, new ways to utilize the elements for his team’s advantage, better ways to craft synergy between his Pokemon in their double battles.

They were always talking and talking, bouncing back and forth, cracking jokes. Then Leon got called over by the manager and Raihan waves him off, because what is a Champion if not at the beck and call of their people, and as he watches them interact he thinks to himself how Leon looks like a king-cape aside.

Broad shoulders, a strong back, his shoulders squared. Everything in Leon’s stance is that of someone fit to rule. Fit to command. Fit to oversee. Fit to love . Strong and sturdy, a foundation that Raihan found himself wanting to utterly wreck and destroy beneath him.

Then his face got all red. His cheeks burned, a hot scorching sun across the expanse of his face. His eyes wide as he looks at Leon walking back over to him with a bottle of wine and two glasses. On the house from the manager for the two of them being such loyal customers.

When Leon sat down, he immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I like-” Raihan nearly bit his tongue. Leon blinked and Raihan couldn’t believe he almost confessed. Almost said I like you. I like you. So much, so much that I'm going to be swallowed whole and I had no idea this was going to happen.

“You like…?”

“Like-that we can use your Champion status to get free drinks, yeah.” Raihan lied easily, smoothly. Ignored the burnt taste on his tongue from his lie. Leon, thankfully, didn’t ask further. They shared drinks and went back to their conversation but this time Raihan couldn’t help but think Leon was the sun, over and over again, and how much he wanted to become an Icarus-scorched by his touch.

III.

“Honestly, just kiss him.”

“I’ve thought about that multiple times, Ness.”

Nessa folds her arms and leans back against the back of the booth, “Super surprised you haven’t gone full dragon mode and slobbered him silly with kisses, at this point. You’re normally much more straightforward with your conquests.”

Raihan rolls his eyes while Rotom snickers. “I’ll bring out the screwdriver on you,” he threatened but that only made Rotom whir and snicker louder. Gremlin. Raihan meets Nessa’s pointed gave, brilliantly blue and as fearsome as the ocean.

Which he needed, because Raihan was tired of bullshitting himself. Nessa was absolutely correct that Raihan wasn’t being himself. Not really, anyways. Raihan has confidence in his looks, his reputation, and overall swagger that he carries like a crown upon his head. He’s just as notorious, if not just as famous, as Leon-the only man to come close to someone Leon considered a rival. He can get anyone-he knows he can get anyone.

Usually it only took a smile in their direction, a flash of fang, a flex of muscle, a whisper in their ear covered in husk, sprinkled with secrets they could make between the two of them under bright moonlight and starless skies-yet all those tricks and tactics fell utterly short at Leon’s feet.

All Leon had to do was exist in the same space and time as Raihan and Raihan forgot how simple it was to breathe.

“Oh wow,” Nessa exhales with a whistle, reaching for more of her shake. She takes a pointed slurp. “You’ve got it bad , mate.”

“Shut up,” Raihan growls, but it sounds pitiful even to his own ears.

Nessa smirks with her straw still in her mouth, “Listen, I love Leon. Truly do, but the man is only focused on one thing: winning. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him even utter words like dating or love-they’re just too out of his orbit.”

“You think I don’t know that? The man’s got a bad case of one track mind and he’s barreling down that track at breakneck speeds.” Raihan goes for one of her fries because he needs comfort food and Nessa pinches his hand. “Ow! Rude, Ness.”

“Rai. Call him up and ask him out on a date. Then he can buy you fries.”

“I’ve considered that.”

“And?”

“And… what?”

“Let’s not play the who’s more dense game. Be the forward Raihan I know you can be and ask him out. What are you so afraid of?”

Ah, there it is. What was Raihan afraid of? And truly, what has he to lose? Everything comes snapping at him, fangs and claws at his neck. He never hesitated before. Never, because they were calculated wins. He knew with the people in his past he could obtain them, and obtain them easily. They were games where his outcome always ended with him as the winner.

But that changed with Leon. Not once, not ever, had Raihan been even close to winning against Leon. Perhaps that spiral of losses had downward dove into Raihan believing he’d lose to Leon in this too.

Raihan swore and Nessa simply shook her head. “Do what you need to do, Rai. But… if you ask me, I don’t think your chances of success are as low as you think they are.”

Raihan looks up at that. Sees the mischievous glint in Nessa’s eyes and a snow swirl of hope spike up in his chest. “What makes you say that?”

Nessa snorts and finishes off the last of her milkshake before she stands up, “The stars,” she answers impishly before she skips off to the bathroom. Leaving Raihan to stew and mutter and contemplate and go simply mad over her cryptic language.

Later that night, he texts Leon. Asking a simple question: What would you do if I said I liked you?

He gets a response about thirty minutes later and nearly cries.

Well of course I’d tell you I like you too. Haha, why what’s going on :P?

IV.

Raihan isn’t avoiding Leon.

No, he’s simply busy.

He has a gym to run after all. And Pokemon to train. Food to eat and places to explore. The wild area’s raid dens were popping off more often recently. So of course Raihan had to go and explore. See if there were any new dragon Pokemon he could catch, or Pokemon in general to battle against.

Sure, Leon would text him and Rotom would get all up in Raihan’s face whenever he did. But suddenly, Raihan couldn’t read anymore and to force himself to learn a skill he no longer had would be madness. So he refused to do so!

He was, in fact, avoiding Leon.

But his pride would never allow him to admit that.

Raihan’s able to pull this off for about three weeks when his luck runs out.

“Raihan!” Leon’s voice carries across the pitch of Hammerlocke stadium. Raihan stops his training with Flygon and Torkoal, nearly jumping from his skin.

Shit. Fuck. Shit. Flygon and Torkoal are giving him knowing looks and Raihan’s incredibly close to asking them both to set him ablaze with a flamethrower.

“Finally!” Leon runs over, all smiles and sunlight and Raihan wants to dig himself into the ground. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all week, yeah? Where have you been? Why haven’t you answered any of my messages?”

Raihan tilts his head. Makes his stance casual, hands in his pocket and words coming out with a drawl. “Been busy, mate. Got a gym to run and all that jazz.”

Leon looks at him strangely. And his sunlight starts to turn harsh. “Right… well, my mum’s grilling up a barbecue tonight. I was wondering if you wanted to come by and hang. I texted you and didn’t get a response. So I thought it’d be easier to just come in person!”

He’s so earnest. And so pure. So straightforward and just. Raihan’s heart squeezes, and aches. Every nerve in his body is snarling at him to confess. To unleash all the truth at Leon’s feet and hope for the best. To not let the fear of losing, again, so visceral, stop him from pursuing the golden man he craves.

Tell him you like him. Say it over and over until it penetrates the thick fog of obliviousness. Let him know over and over again how you crave the taste of his mouth. Want to run your nails down his back. Want to feel his surety and strength in the palm of your hands. How much you want to-

Rotom softly whirs beside him, having popped out to scope the scene. Flygon and Torkoal are looking at him, encouraging him to say something. To speak. Even if his voice shatters.

Yet, fear is stronger.

Fear wins.

“Can’t tonight,” ashes in his mouth-and the taste makes him sick as he continues. “I’ve already made plans.” he turns on his heel, lowering his visor so it shades his eyes. Leon could pierce through him, easily, and Raihan would rather die than have Leon see how pathetic he feels written all over his face.

Before Leon can say anything Raihan calls back Torkoal and makes Rotom go into his pocket. Then he climbs onto Flygon and tells it to take him to the Wild Area. Flygon hesitates, for a second. Looks back to Leon and softly hums before taking off with Raihan.

The mighty tamer of dragons, a coward when it comes to feelings.

Laughable.

The next time Raihan and Leon meet their world is unfurling at the seams.

Falling apart in bright columns of purple light.

The Darkest Day , Chairman Rose calls it. To save us all! To protect the future of Galar!

“He’s gone utterly insane,” Raihan hisses as the clouds above them turn pitch black and turbulent. The other leaders and challengers were doing their best to calm the masses and get them to safety. Raihan’s already making plans to go to Hammerlocke so he can go down to the power plant and beat some sense into Chairman Rose himself.

“I have to stop him,” Leon says from beside him. Raihan is reminded immediately how this is the first time in about a month that they’ve existed in the same space. They had a brief crossing in the locker room before the Championship Cup but it had been tense, and Raihan had kept himself short.

Time apart did his feelings no good. They festered like bacteria, crawling under the ground he tried to firmly pack like worms. Horribly gnawing away at his heart until Leon and the guilt he felt over their last meeting was all he his thoughts consumed.

“Leon,” Raihan says, the name dropping effortlessly out of his mouth before it can be stopped. Leon glances over at him, his mouth ready to move until the ground starts to shake at their feet. Crackling, gurgling with ancient energy. “Leon, move!”

Raihan’s body works faster. He pushes Leon out of the way as the earth cracks by their feet. A giant burst of purple energy, raw and vicious, shoots up into the sky. There’s screaming, and the scattering of feet. Dust floats in the air and rubble lays around them.

Raihan swears again, coughing as the dust settles. He pushes himself upwards, when he realizes the position their in. Leon is sprawled underneath him. Raihan’s on top. And Raihan hates, hates the sort of images that-Leon’s looking at him. And Raihan can read every single emotion behind his eyes-the anger and hurt and surprise and shock and joy and-

“Raihan,” Leon says quietly. Raihan’s snapped out of his thoughts as the world continues to collapse around them. “Are you alright?”

“I,” Raihan works his jaw, tries to make the words come out. “Yeah. Yeah I am. You?”

Leon’s still looking at him, still searching. And for once, just this time, Raihan lets himself be seen. Be pierced. Be examined and looked. Let’s the lion scrape away at the ground until there’s nothing but bare bones of emotion that Raihan can’t really hide from anymore.

There’s a few seconds that passes, then Leon closes his eyes and exhale deeply. “Help me up, please.”

Raihan does so, robotically. The two stand and stare at each other, a minute more, before Leon steps into Raihan’s space.

“You can’t go without backup,” Raihan starts. “You’re the Champion and all, I get that. But not even you-”

“I can,” Leon interjects, and he’s so close. So close and so sure, unwavering, Raihan doesn’t know how he thought he could run away from Leon when his gravitational pull was so deep. “And I’ll be back. Safe, and sound, so that when I come back, we can talk.”

“We can-?” Raihan’s words are swallowed whole by Leon’s lips on his.

Leon kisses the way he battles-sure, strong, and forward. It’s clumsy as all hell though, and Raihan hates the little choking noise he makes in surprise from it all. But Leon tastes like gold, with dirt, with liquid heat.

Leon pulls back, and his eyes are hooded. But his lips are pulled into the brightest grin as their foreheads touch in the middle of the chaos.

“Yes, we need to talk. We have a lot to go over." And then, a beat later and with a goofy grin to seal the deal, Leon says, "I talked to Nessa.”

Raihan’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “What did she say-”

“That you like me." Leon says effortlessly. "And that I’m as dense as a house of bricks. And she’s right, I am dense. But she also told me that I need to tell you that yes, Raihan, I like you too.”

Raihan is rooted. Cemented to the ground and Leon just gives him his soft smile, his confident gaze, and Raihan shoots forward to kiss him again. Sharply, one more time before letting go. One more time to make sure it’s real.

“Brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant ,” he wants to laugh in hysterics but now, now is not the time. And this was not the place nor the setting he envisioned where this moment would finally come. “Yes. Okay. We will talk. After we save the world… be safe, Leon.”

“Always, Raihan.”

#my fanfic #raihan x leon #leon x raihan #raileon #truerivalshipping #pokemon raihan #pokemon leon #treasuredshipping #outcomeshipping

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ofnifflersandkings · 5 years

Text

Title: Roses are Red

Character: Miles Morales

A/n: Happy belated Valentine’s day from your favorite spiderboi

•

You looked down at your desk with a look of pure anguish on your face. In a fit of rage, you tossed you pencil off to the side and sat back to look at your work with a huff.

To put it nicely, it looked horrible.

You picked up the sketchbook you bought from the art supply store on the way home. You held it an arm’s length away from your face, seeing if maybe some distance would increase the quality.

When that proved useless, it took all of your will power to not shove open your window and throw the whole thing out of it.

You pressed your back against your chair, catching a glance at the evergrowing pile of crumpled attempts sitting in your wastebasket. And you could’ve cried right there.

Tomorrow was Valentines Day, and hear you sat trying desperately to make a decent picture for Miles.

The two of you weren’t necessarily dating. It was more of a let’s very clearly have a thing for one another but ignore our emotions till we die sort of situation.

You didn’t expect Miles to do anything in return, but you thought it would be nice to draw him something special as a token of your affection.

Only the problem was that you weren’t anywhere near as good of an artist as he was. Everything you put on the paper just seemed so ugly and nothing looked good enough.

As time crept mercilessly onwards, your frustration only grew. You could feel your anxiety settle in at the base of your stomach and you contemplated forgetting about the whole thing.

What if he took one look at your pathetic drawing and laughed?

The rational part of your brain told you that you knew he’d never be so cruel, especially not to you. But the doubt in the back of your mind was coming in and making itself comfortable.

It certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. This had been the second sketchbook you’d purchased to try and create him something that was good enough for him.

But you were really falling flat.

You looked over at a framed photograph of the two of you, the happy expression on both of your faces made you smile.

Miles was just so sweet, and you liked him more than you probably should’ve. Heaven knows if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be stressing about a simple present as much as you were.

You closed your eyes and took a deep inhale to calm yourself down. Maybe you were just thinking too hard about this, so you decided to approach this from a different angle.

•

“You don’t think she’s mad at me do you?” Miles asked, staring up at his phone screen.

He had tried messaging you a couple of times since classes ended that day. This had been the fourth day in a row that you had skipped hanging out at lunch or during your free time at the end of the day.

Any time he would ask you to go see a movie with him or hang out on the school grounds and let him show off his new designs, you’d give him a half handed excuse about how you had too much homework to catch up on.

Miles knew you well enough to know that something was up. Sure, you would procrastinate on your work from time to time. But this felt very off, you were usually never this behind.

Yesterday, he even offered to help you finish up your assignments. But you quickly told him you had it under control before you took off without another word.

Truthfully, Miles was beginning to worry. Did you not want to hang out with him anymore?

He looked over at your gift sitting on his nightstand and suddenly felt very self-conscious about giving it to you tomorrow.

This would be his very first Valentine’s Day with someone to show his affection towards. And if he was being 100% honest, he had been very excited to spend the day with you.

But now he was just worried.

“You know (Y/n) better, probably busy with something and can’t get to the phone.” Ganke chimed in, turning away from his monitor to give Miles a reassuring smile.

“Yeah,” Miles said, scrolling back on some previous text messages between you two, trying to see if he had said something to make you upset with him. “I do know better.”

•

You came into school the next morning with a skip in your step and a smile etched onto your face. Somehow, someway, the stars had alligned and you had managed to make a gift you were happy with.

Class Committee had gone into school early that morning and taped flowergrams to people’s lockers. When you got to yours, you were surprised to see a red rose taped onto the door.

You beamed, gently pulling it off and twirling it in your hand. You knew it had been from Miles, he had tried to casually ask you what flowers you liked for no reason in particular.

You placed it in the very top shelf of your locker, setting it right on top of Miles’ present for safe keeping until the end of the day.

The rest of the day passed by as normal, the only difference was that Miles was now the one absent from lunch. He had missed a Physics test from the beginning of the week, so you had no time to explain your sudden disappearances.

“You really threw him for a loop there,” Ganke said, attepting to catch a grape he tossed into the air in his mouth. “I actually felt bad, almost revealed your whole surprise right then and there.”

You looked up from your math homework. “He was worried?”

Ganke nodded. “Miles thought you were mad at him so that’s why you kept bailing on lunch.”

You snorted, “He’s such a dork.”

“A dork you looove.” Ganke cooed, breaking off into a cackle when you chucked one of your own grapes at him.

“Don’t think I forgot about you though,” You said, reaching into your bag and sliding a giant pack of gummy worms over to him.

Ganke gasped dramatically and pulled them to his chest. “You know the way to my heart.”

•

Miles stared at the clock in his final class for the day, it felt like the bell would never ring. Ganke had told him you definitely weren’t mad at him, so now all he wanted to do was see you.

As soon as the bell rang, he was at the door and in a full on sprint to get to your locker before you had a chance with leave without him.

He turned the hallway and saw you just as you pressed your locker door shut. Your bag was already on and he saw the carnation he had gotten for you in your hand.

The sight made him equally relieved and flittery in his stomach. Relieved for fact that you were holding it was solid proof you really weren’t mad at him. And the other because he had never gotten flowers for someone he liked before and the reality of it made his head want to reel.

With this newfound reassurance he bounded up to with a big smile and placed his hands over your eyes to block your vision.

“Guess who?”

He felt you chuckle and it made his smile beam.

You pretended to contemplate it with a few very dramatic hums before a funny idea came into your head. “Is it Spider-Man?”

If a sentence could kill someone, Miles would’ve dropped dead on the floor. He truly couldn’t get his brain to form a sentence but he realized if he didn’t something soon it would make things worse.

Miles faked a laugh and released his hands. “So now we’re playing games? I see how it is.”

You turned around to face him and smiled. “I just wanted to see your reaction. It’s not like you could actually be Spider-Man.”

A thought ran through his mind, ‘This is great, this is your get-out-of-jail free card, take it and run with it,’ but the more prideful side of him couldn’t help but feel slightly offended and curious for your reasoning.

“What makes you think I couldn’t be?” He asked, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

Your brows furrowed slightly as his sudden question and you laughed. “I don’t know?” You posed as a question more than a statement. “Probably because your Mom would kill you before any supervillian could if she found out.”

Miles couldn’t hide his laugh. “Alright, you got me.”

You looked at him and the nervousness over giving him your gift was starting to settle in again. Should you wait? Should you just get it over with now while there was still time to run?

“I got something for you,” You began, before stumbling over your sentence. “Well not really got, I made it.”

Miles felt his face get all warm. “You made something for me?”

You got flustered and felt to shy too say anything else, so you nodded. You had been holding the sketchbook against your chest, so you held it out to him.

“It isn’t very much, but I tried to make it personal if it couldn’t be good,” You said, undoing the leather strap that held it together.

Miles flipped through the pages. Each page from cover to cover was filled with doodles, some were of the two of you, and others were just funny little comics that you knew would make him laugh.

There was the time when he convinced you take old sheets and cut them up to make ghost costumes you could both wear around. But because Miles never ties his shoes, he tripped in his costume and fell smack on his face.

Normally you would’ve rushed over to help, but seeing this giant blob of white hit the floor with a shrilly cry was too much, and you laughed for about ten minutes instead.

You watched Miles flip through it. Each time he’d laugh or smile, you felt a tiny bit of pressue ease from your shoulders. Maybe you hadn’t done too bad afterall.

When he got to the final page, there was a small message written on it along with a picture of the two of you taped to the inside of the back cover.

For the very best person I know,

It isn’t much but I tried to put in all the thought and love I could muster

Happy Valentine’s Day

Miles just stared at the final page, his fingers running along your handwriting as an almost overwhelming amount of emotion ran through him.

The silence was starting to make your anxiety build up again and you rolled back and forth on your feet. “It’s alright if you don’t like it.”

He looked up at you like you were crazy. “You’re kidding? This is now the most important object I own.” He stated proudly, closing it up and holding it close it him.

You laughed and it made his chest feel light.

“Really though, thank you for making this for me.”

You bashfully shrugged your shoulders. “It’s the least I could do for you.”

“Gonna make my gift look like nothing.” Miles said, taking his bag off of his shoulder so reach inside and pull out a wrapped package.

You looked wide-eyed at it and then looked back at him. “You got me a gift?”

“Well yeah,” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What kind of valentine would I be if I didn’t. I have a reputation to uphold.”

You smiled and took his gift, slowly peeling off the wrapping paper. It was a painting on an art board of the two of you, ironically of the same photo you had taped to the back of his book.

It was beautiful, his art always was. The colors were super bright and you could help but trace your fingers along the visible brush lines.

“I think we compliment each other well,” Miles teased, looking down at the painting with you. “You know what, that was genius, I should make cards or something.”

You laughed and turned to him, placing your hand on his shoulder and reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek, right near the corner of his lips.

“It’s wonderful, Miles.”

He froze right on the spot, his face felt

so warm he worried he might burst into flames right on the spot. When he felt your lips leave his skin he actually let out a giggle.

Miles immediately cleared his throat to cover this and suavely leaned in close to you, taking your hand in his. “Let’s see if we can catch that movie we missed earlier.”

#miles makes my heart warm #he is an absolute ham #miles morales imagines #miles morales imagine #miles morales x reader #into the spiderverse imagine #into the spiderverse imagines #spider man:into the spiderverse #miles morales

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jerepars · 6 years

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The Con Extended Chapter Notes

Hyperlinks appear in blue (underlined on mobile). The story is posted here. Direct link to this chapter is here.

> “Well, is this a new thing or an old thing?” Veronica supplied a starter question.

> “A bit of both, I guess. I had a huge crush on him when I left Riverdale. And then this summer, when I saw him, all those crush feelings came rushing back.” I got the floaty fluttering of butterflies in my stomach just speaking of my feelings out loud. “Then I found out he was moving here. Then I found out he was moving into my building. It all just kind of encircled me.”

I don't think I've made any reference to "The Con", the song by Tegan and Sara, since Chapter 2 ("The Plan"). We're now at the point in the story where the parts of the song that inspired me to name the story after it will begin to pop up more. One of the lines that's repeated several times in the latter part of the song is encircle me, I need to be taken down.

I do understand the context that the line is being used in within the song, and that might come back around later in the story. But for now, we've got Betty admitting to being encircled by her feelings. Tegan and Sara have mentioned a bunch of different times that the original name for the song was actually "Encircle Me" and was later re-named as the title track for the album The Con.

> “Oh my God, swoon. You just got Disney Princess heart eyes,” Veronica cooed. “You are so smitten. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this about anyone.”

> “I’ve known him for so long and I do feel like I really know him,” I said. “Lately it feels like…like maybe he could have some of the same feelings. And maybe we could have something that I thought would never happen.”

Here's an instance when I realized I was making a reference to a song literally as I was writing the sentence. Part of the chorus in "Attention" by The Academy Is... goes: Oh, did I mention when I see you it stings like hell? To the fact that we could have something that'll never happen.

Back in the notes for Chapter 5 ("The Sleepover") I said that I was hoping I'd get to reference Academy somehow, someway during the story, because they were a Chicago band. This time I wasn't even thinking about any of their songs, it just happened. I inadvertently put myself on a total nostalgia trip, too, because I remember referencing the same song--much more directly, actually--in a story I wrote over ten years ago. Wild.

> “Oh, Betty.” Veronica shook her head pensively. “As much as I love the idea of you pulling one over on him, and as much as it sounds like he’s got some seriously repressed feelings for you, I don’t want you to end up hurt if this goes badly. Please be careful.”

> Be careful. Those were the same precautionary words Jellybean had warned me with when the con was in its infancy, before I’d gotten in so deep.

I'm always going to back-reference to things that happened earlier in the story. In Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), when Jellybean revealed to Betty that she knew what was going on, she warned Betty to be careful. Even in Chapter 4 ("The Robots"), when Betty and Jughead have breakfast together, the chapter ends with him warning her about whatever game she's playing.

> For Trev and myself, preparation for the holiday shows would be grueling just as the preparation for the autumn program had been. The year before, for the inaugural season with the new Nutcracker, the company had begun the piece from scratch, with only a one-page synopsis of the story and our choreographer’s vision. We’d worked on The Nutcracker from the very start of dance season in August through December. Since it was no longer rubbing two sticks together and hoping they caught fire, and haven taken the time to premiere Giselle for the autumn program, it was back to the usual approach of rehearsing The Nutcracker from November until the first performance in December, with few full-on rehearsals through December. I was thrilled about the parts I’d been cast for; a pas de deux in the Spanish Dance, one of four dancers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, as an understudy for the Arabian Dance and a Snow soloist, and corps roles as a Snowflake (of course) and fair worker. But it would be no easy feat. For most dance companies, Nutcracker time was (maybe ironically) crunch time. We never worked harder under such unforgiving time constraints than during the holidays.

In the chapter notes for Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), I talked about the Joffrey Ballet's "new" Nutcracker and linked a few articles about how it was reimagined and how it's different from a classic Nutcracker, so maybe check that out. If you want.

When I was doing my research, looking through the program for Giselle, I noticed that one of the pages was an advertisement for a documentary on Joffrey's new Nutcracker to air on WTTW, the local PBS affiliate in Chicago. Knowing that this chapter was coming up, I thought to myself that I might as well wait to see the documentary. So I did! I even took notes so I could write the paragraph quoted above. And you can watch it too if for some reason you want to spend an hour learning about the new production. The documentary is called Making a New American Nutcracker and it's streaming on the WTTW website. Want to make a Riverdale connection? For all the Skeet Ulrich fans out there, it's narrated by Neve Campbell, who played Skeet's/Billy's girlfriend in Scream. Six degrees of separation with Skeet? You bet.

I found the casting sheets from 2016 and, oh boy, it was really hard to decide what roles to put Betty in beyond the corps roles. But I definitely wanted her to be in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (one male dancer is Buffalo Bill and the three other dancers are women). As described in the documentary, it replaces what is usually the Russian Dance, but it's danced to Tchaikovsky's score that is used for the Russian Dance. There's some kind of humor in there, man. I like it.

> As for Kevin, he would be on the earliest non-red eye flight back to LA in the morning. He had a master class to teach that same day and rehearsal for a performance at the American Music Awards after that. He was just as busy as a dancer in a company, if not even busier. I was thankful that Kevin still managed to make time for me when he was in town and that our close friendship continued beyond our adolescence. There were no hard feelings that he never made it to any of the Giselle performances because he had his own life and success to tend to, and I was so proud of him.

This is Kevin's second appearance in the story, and his last. I wish he could have been in it more but it was more important to me not to relegate his role as just the gay best friend who occassionally provides comic relief. The comic relief he provides on Riverdale is great, yes, but we're now six episodes into the second season and I'm still wondering where Kevin's major arc is. I don't think he should be just a placeholder.

That's exactly why when he was introduced in Chapter 3 ("The Fireworks"), Betty spent some time talking about him--his life, his career, his success--rather than just the role he plays in her life. Keeping that in mind, I did want Kevin to make one more appearance in the story, briefly, squeezing a little bit of time for Betty into his schedule (and not the other way around), amidst all the good things that are happening in his busy life.

> “Thanks. You’re the best, Arch. I know you’ll be great tonight.” I leaned in and shifted onto my toes so that I could kiss him on the cheek. As was customary in ballet, I whispered my good luck wish to him, “Merde.”

I came across this quite a few times while doing research for the story. It's bad luck to say "good luck", and because breaking a leg is a possibility during ballet performance, ballet dancers don't wish each other well by saying "break a leg" either. The term merde, the French word for 'shit', is what dancers say before a performance instead. There are differing views on why that slang is used.

> I grabbed my coat off the back of my chair to shield me from the early November evening and slid my phone and card case into one of the pockets—I’d need my ID to get back into the bar after. I turned back to my friends and mouthed a ‘sorry’ as Jughead and I walked toward the door. Trev merely shrugged but Kevin gave me goofy grin and added a wink for good measure.

> I followed Jughead outside and we didn’t stop until we were standing in the doorway of the storefront across from the bar. It was a hair salon that, according to the hours listed in the window, closed at five every afternoon. The salon had bay windows, which made for a wide doorway that was lit by a solitary fluorescent motion-detecting light.

There is, in fact, a salon across the street from Schubas. And if you enlarged the image of the storefront using Google Maps, you'd see that the bay windows create a wide entryway in the shape of a trapezoid. What am I doing with my life looking this stuff up?

> It felt good to insult him to his face after finding out just what he thought about me liking him. I’d really started to believe that he might have a thing for me, too. At the very least I thought he genuinely cared about my well-being. But none of it was true. And once again my crystal vision was so wrong. My fate with him wasn’t like those girls like Sabrina. It was worse—it was nonexistent—and he had made sure of it. As quickly as he’d made my heart swell, he yanked it out of my chest, threw it on the ground, and stomped all over it with his combat boots.

The line about Betty's crystal vision is a quick little back-reference to her mention of crystal vision in Chapter 6 ("The Minutes"), which as I mentioned in the notes for that chapter, is actually a reference to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".

> Oh, I was counting on it. I was absolutely livid. There would be no complaints on my part if Chic wanted to use his overprotective older brother card for justice against his beanie-wearing cad of a best friend. In fact, I would gladly help him. Chic could pour the gasoline and I would light the match.

I debated with myself whether or not this was the right moment to use some of Alice's lines from 2x01. I wondered if using the "beanie-wearing cad" term was too distracting here, if it brought humor into an otherwise serious and tense moment. But then I thought...Betty's definitely got some of Alice's fiery spirit in her. So when she's livid? Well, that probably comes out, with Alice's terminology, too.

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travelxbritt-blog · 5 years

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10 TIPS ON HOW TO SAVE UP FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP

If you are wondering how to save big for your next trip, you’ve come to the right place.

When I ask others why they don’t travel, the answer almost all of the time is money.

Isn’t it bizarre how much power a little piece of paper has over our lives?

What if we paid closer attention to where the money is actually going?

I want to inform you that whatever travels plans you have, it’s not impossible, in fact, it’s actually incredibly doable. If you prioritize successfully, you’ll be on that trip sooner than you think. You don’t have to get into debt to travel either.

When I went on my Europe trip I noticed a pattern of friends and foes DMing me, “How are you traveling so much?” There’s no real secret. Just like you save up for a car, or for an apartment, it is the same exact way you can save to travel. Prioritize and limit spending. In this post, I’ve included everything I’ve done and still do to help me save to travel and maintain my travel lifestyle. If you are looking to learn how I started traveling, you can read about that here.

These tips and thinking processes below are exactly what helped me save 10k within 4 months.

1. PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS

Strategy # 1 Eliminate all your debts. Before you start saving, make sure you don’t owe anything. Having no debts helps you save everything for yourself. If I had debt, I would focus on paying that off before trying to save, if not, you’re technically negative and that’s not helpful. Interest can catch up if you choose to avoid this. Paying interest is never a useful way to spend your money. When I refer to paying off these debts, I’m not talking about student loans or mortgages. I’m talking about things like credit card bills and the debt you can pay off relatively fast. I don’t think anyone pays off their student loans right away so the debts I’m talking about in this passage are everyday debts.

Take action: If you have debt, come up with a game plan to get out of it. Work on this plan and stay consistent until you are back at 0 and don’t owe. Once you are at 0 you can start to save for your next trip with that extra money.

2. IDENTIFY NEEDS VS. WANTS

Before you start physically saving, you should identify what are your true needs vs wants. Need = something you need to survive, no exceptions. Some examples: food, water, shelter, minimal amount of clothing, etc. Wants = Things you don’t need but urge to have because you desire them. Some examples: cocktails, frappes, fancy clothes, eating out, etc. You don’t need any of this to survive. These are luxuries. The biggest point here is to know what you truly need (to survive) to help identify your pointless expenses. The money spent on pointless expenses is the money you could be saving. The more you cut out, the more you will save. It’s simple.

Take action: Figure out ALL of your expenses – What are your absolute life necessities? Are there any luxuries you absolutely can’t live without? Write it down somewhere so you have a mental note on how to move forward. Ask yourself before you pay for anything, is this a true need or a want? Do you really need it?

3. BECOME A MINIMALIST

Now that you’ve identified your needs vs wants, I recommend maintaining a minimal lifestyle. But first! What is minimal? Cambridge Dictionary defines minimal as – very small in amount. Maintaining a minimal lifestyle means living a very basic life. It’s living with what you need and that’s that. This prevents useless expenses and more financial burdens for you. It’s a great way to save for your next trip because you’ll limit the unnecessary expenses. It starts to become second nature after some time. If you want to keep traveling, you have to be mindful of these things.

This could be hard if you are attached to material things – but think of the bigger picture. Money in your hands or possessions? You pick. Have you ever looked at your closet and realized how much of your clothes you DON’T wear? Right, I’ve definitely been there. Now think of the people who don’t even have a shirt on their back. Right, I’ve been there too. It sucks! You are only one physical person. Trust me, there are only so many events and so many places you can wear these clothes too. Limit consumption!

Take action: Look into anything you have in excessive amounts. Stop buying whatever you have in excess. What can you sell that you have an excessive amount of? Too many clothes? Video games? Electronics? Sell it! That’s money sitting on the table if you don’t use these items. This will also help clear out your environment which will continue to promote a minimal lifestyle.

4. DON’T BE A BIG CONSUMER

Not being a big consumer goes hand in hand with minimalism. For saving purposes, don’t be a big consumer. To consume means to use, to use, you need to buy products to use. In other words, if you want to save, you will have to limit consumption. In the past, one would probably call me the ideal consumer. To think about it now, I cringe – Why was I so convinced to purchase ….. everything?! It was so ridiculous.

My point isn’t to consume anything, my point is to know the difference between your needs and wants and limit it so it doesn’t go overboard. In other words, don’t get into overspending or even worst, debt!

Take action: What can you stop buying today that will save you money? Are you buying anything that you truly can’t afford? Is there a cheaper option if you can’t live without it? Reorganizing how you will consume is a great way to save up for your next trip. This has helped me SO much in my personal life. If I don’t need it, I don’t really even have interesting in buying it.

5. BECOME PSYCHO ABOUT WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES

People have a hard time-saving. Yet, if you take a deeper look at it, it is usually careless spending. Careless spending is also when people go above their means in life.

Can you afford what you want with your salary? Should you be living in a smaller apartment? Be realistic. Should you be driving a cheaper car? The only one who will have to pay back that debt is you, so really think about your money.

Start tracking your money, every day. Every transaction, calculate it. If you pay for it, calculate it. Know where every dollar goes. I’ve found that any moment I leave to not pay attention to my finances, it can get messy – quick. If we want to be on top of our finances, we have to pay attention to everything financially related.

Take action: Track your statements to the T. Having this knowledge and organization of your finances helps you save for your trips and to save overall. Know what your spending on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. This way when you log into online banking you don’t gasp and have a heart attack when you look at your balance. You know what to expect and understand your statements.

6. WORK MORE/GET A SIDE HUSTLE

If you need more money, you’ll have to work for it somehow, someway. Can you work extra hours at your current job? If not, get a side hustle. You can be a server at a restaurant, maybe do something online, the options are endless.

The side hustles I did to save for my travels were bartend, promote brands, and be a brand ambassador. There are LOADS of Brand Ambassading and Promotion companies out there. Companies hire all the time, there are always events and people are always needed. I’m signed up with countless promotional agencies. The favorites that I would highly recommend are TEAM, Beacon Brand Solutions, and Next Level Marketing. These companies pay 20-50$ per hour, depending on the event. It is an easy peasy lemon squeezy way to make a quick $100-150 a day, which adds up quickly over time.

Disclaimer: Please note, promotion and BA work is not really consistent work. Meaning you won’t really be able to turn into a full-time income. I have tried this once and it’s not worth the energy. To do so, you’ll have to sign up for a million agencies. In my honest opinion, it’s more exhausting getting contracted to do this type of work than it is doing the job. These options are a side hustle, definitely make it your extra income, not the 9-5 replacement.

Take action: Look into whatever other side gigs interest you. Apply, start working, start saving!

7. EAT OUT LESS AND COOK MORE –

Restaurants mark up food at insane rates. How else would they make a profit? Start cooking and eating more at home. A lot of people have food as a huge expense in their life. Being mindful of this will help you save for a trip by not paying for overpriced food.

How to compromise:

Eating out with friends is a social activity. Sometimes it’s hard to turn down that dinner invite to save a few dollars. I get it! But some options for the whole crew to save are -why not have a potluck at a friend’s house or go to a friend’s house to cook together? It’s fun and intimate. (you won’t have to shout at your friends across the table to hear them like in a restaurant.)

If you’re absolutely not budging and have to eat out, here are some tricks to save while dining out:

Always avoid the extras i.e cocktails and desserts.

Use eating out with friends to your advantage. I.e Split something! In America, a lot of the portions are inappropriately huge. Odds are it’ll probably be a lot of food and you won’t end up finishing all of it.

If you want to see price ranges so there are no surprises when you get there, try to look online for the menu. Most restaurants have a preview. The price isn’t always there but it’s worth a try.

8. LIMIT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

Those 7 drinks you had on Saturday, yeah it adds up. Your average bar in NYC charges $7-17 dollars for cocktails. Multiply that by 7 thats a whopping $49-$119! Just on alcohol. This is not including if you’re eating out too. Going out for the sole purpose of drinking adds up, too quick. It is an expense.

How to compromise –

Pregame! I’m not saying to not go out, I’m saying to go out smarter. Usually, on a big night out, my friends and I meet up at someone’s house before the event to have a few drinks. A 6 pack of beer at most liquor stores is about $10-15. Compare this to a bar in NYC, it will probably be about $5-7 for one beer. Not only does this help you save for your next trip, but it also helps you avoid the crowd that’s always hovering over the bar. Odds are, by the time you get to the place, you won’t need any more booze. You’ll be set!

9. LIMIT CAR SERVICE AND TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION –

Ah, yes. Uber everywhere. Until you look at your bank account and say I spent how much? to go where?! Think again. For the most part, when I was hopping around in NYC, I’d pull up Google maps to see my time to my destination. Not even joking, 75% of the time it took the same exact time to go in an uber than to ride a subway. Who wants to ride the subway? Absolutely no one, especially in NYC! But! Who wants to pay extra overhead charges just to sit in traffic? Think ahead.

How to compromise –

Use public transportation. You can’t compare $3.00 for subway fare to $30 for one uber ride. That’s a 10x mark-up. Be smart about using a car service. If you really have to use it, make it a one-off occasion. Not your daily habit. Or better yet, when you do take car service, try to split the fare amongst friends. It will help you save for your next trip big time.

10. STOP BUYING COFFEE BEFORE WORK

Mm, coffee. It’s a luxury sometimes, isn’t it? Whether you think it is or it isn’t, it’s money being spent buying it daily.

Let’s say your coffee go-to place is Starbucks. For your usual order, you get a frappe that’s $4-5 dollars. 5 x 30 (days of the month) = 120, 120 x 12 (months of the year) = $1,440 a year. That’s just on coffee, imagine if you get a pastry or something else.

This will not help us save up for a trip. Overpriced and a perfect example of another unnecessary expense. Your job probably provides free coffee. Utilize it! If you don’t like the blend, buy your own or bring your own from home. If you work from home, buy a coffee maker and make your own. A very simple solution that will save you over $1,000 a year.

**Bonus pointer – If you are not sure how much money to save for your next trip, having an idea of your destination helps a lot. Figure out what a daily rate would be to visit this destination. You can even try to come up with an itinerary so you know what a good ballpark is. Always have more money saved to visit a destination than less. This way you have more flexibility and aren’t on such a tight budget.

Aaaaaand that’s a wrap! I genuinely hope you found these tips useful. Adopting this mindset is what helped me save 10k in 4 months for my travels in 2017. Nobody pays for my travels, but me. No rich parents, no credit cards, no rich man, just my hard-earned money. If you really want to go on a big trip, save and you can make it happen. We prioritize to spend on a new laptop, a new camera, travel is no different. There’s no hidden secret or unattainable tricks but work, save and pay attention to where the money’s going.

Once you’re on the road enjoy your travels, you’ve worked hard for this! Enjoy your travels, your way!

Happy traveling my friends!

XO,

Britt

#travel #save to travel #travel tips #how to travel #travel 101 #travel information #travel more #travel life #travel lifestyle #i love travel #travel is life

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