#Because it's 6PM somewhere in the world

[moonlightspencie]

This Ain’t for the Best

Description: Mutual pining. Classic hunting scenarios. Sharing a bed. Wearing the other’s clothes. Confessions. Friends to lovers. Tswizzle title. Need I say more?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x gn!Reader

Warnings: a little bit of violence, me cramming in every cliché i can because i love the classic fanfiction tropes more than i love breathing

Word Count: 5.9k

A/N: i was kicking my feet and giggling as i wrote this, especially when i snuck in criminal minds AND taylor swift references. i love writing and never beta-reading or editing what i’ve written. catharsis.

Crashing at Bobby’s had its benefits.

First, we had the comfort of knowing where we were going to sleep at night. It was good to have a bed waiting that wasn’t in a motel room.

Second, there was almost always good food around. I had a knack for home-cooked meals, and it was much easier to be appreciated for it when I actually had a stove to cook on.

Third, there were boundless opportunities for Sam, Dean, and I to kick back and actually relax.

That’s how I ended up in the kitchen, laughing with Dean over old stories we’d told a million times before. He reached in the fridge, pulling out two bottles after we’d come down from the most recent remembrance of an old case. He cracked open the top of his beer, then my drink, sliding it towards me on the counter. Sam and Bobby strolled in st that moment, pausing when they saw us.

“You both woke up like an hour ago,” Sam said, unamused.

“6pm somewhere,” Dean and I said in unison.

We looked at each other with a small laugh, leaving Bobby and Sam rolling their eyes. I took my drink and stood a few steps away.

“We should really get going, though, Dean,” Sam stated.

“Where?” Bobby asked.

“We were planning on doing a run to the grocery story. I don’t want us to eat up all your food without repaying you, and we’re almost out of beer,” Sam said, pointedly looking at his brother.

“This one needs more of those little fruity drinks, too,” Dean teased, nodding at the bottle in my hand.

“Hey, it’s still a malt liquor. Just one that I like,” I said with a laugh.

They said their goodbyes, and I started walking into the front room. Bobby watched the door for a few moment after the boys left, then turned in the archway and locked his gaze on me as I sat on the couch.

I looked at the bottle in my hand. “I know y’all are all about beer, but I can’t help if I prefer something with a little flavor.”

“That’s not why I’m looking at you,” he grumbled, fed up with me already. “What in the world is goin’ on with you and Dean?”

“Huh?”

He furrowed his brow. “Don’t act all shy, now. You two have been flirting nonstop lately.”

“What’s new? We’re both pretty flirtatious in general.”

“Not like this,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t know the last time I saw that boy blushing, or you getting all flustered like a teenager.”

“I am not,” I scoffed. “Nothing’s happening, Bobby.”

“I’ve known your for five years, now, and I’ve known those boys since they were kids. You stayed in my house for a year, too. You can’t hide this kind of thing from me.”

“I’m not hiding anything. I’m an open book.”

Now, he scoffed. “Yeah, and I’m running for president.”

I rolled my eyes, taking another drink. He came closer, sitting down next to me.

“If you keep denying all this…”

I swallowed, finally resigning. “There’s nothing to do about it, Bobby.”

“Yes, there is. You could tell him.”

“It wouldn’t do any good. You know how he is, he doesn’t want to be tied down. If we don’t make any moves or promises or whatever, a lot less doesn’t get broken.”

He raised a brow. “I do know how he is. For you, he’d make an exception.”

“I don’t think so. Besides, it’s all just flirting for him. Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Are you blind?”

I looked at him, brows raising. He shook his head, picking at the label on his bottle.

“Sorry. I just— I know what I’m seeing, and I really don’t think it’s just a little friendly flirting for him, either,” he said, looking at me again. “I really think you should speak up while you’ve got the chance to. We don’t often get good things with lives like ours.”

“I know. I just don’t want to screw things up.”

“You’re gonna end up screwed if you keep pushing it down, anyway.”

I sighed. He took that signal as a time to change the subject, and for that I was thankful.

“Well, let’s find you the next case, huh?”

The next one was an easy find, and it would’ve been great to break the news to the boys when they got back, if not for a very clumsy Sam walking in the door with a twisted ankle.

“You what?” Bobby asked, incredulous.

Sam sighed, pouting. “I rolled it when I stepped in a pothole.”

Dean shook his head, clearly hiding his amusement as he helped his brother hobble towards a kitchen chair.

“So, no case, then?” I asked.

Bobby perked up. “No, you and Dean can still go. I can take care of Sam.”

“Bobby…” I warned, seeing through him instantly.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Dean said, cutting off my death stare. “When was the last time we went on a case, just you and me?”

I looked at him.

“Seriously, you guys can go without me,” Sam said. “It might be good for you, Y/N. You seem a little restless.”

“I am not,” I defended.

Bobby chuckled. “Sure, you’re not. But I’m not suggested, I’m telling you. Get out of my house.”

I glanced at him, offended. “I am a delight.”

“You are, but I still want you out. You become much less delightful when you’re antsy.”

Dean laughed. “Come on, it’s only a state over, right? If we start driving now we can make it by sundown.”

I took a moment.

“Alright,” I nodded, heading towards the stairs to gather my things.

The case was a hot mess, to say the least. We couldn’t figure out what we were hunting to begin with, and the only true consistency is that the deaths were messy, leaving each victims with missing livers. It wasn’t until we were at the most recent site of the death that things took a little bit of a turn.

“What do you think?” Dean asked, leaning in my direction.

I shrugged, looking around the house.

“It seems… clean.”

“I mean, I guess. We haven’t found hex bags or EMF readings—”

“No,” I cut him off, gesturing around the living room. “Like physically clean. Nothing is out of place. Look at the mantle.”

I walked over, using my gloved hand to wipe along the surface. I showed him my hand.

“Clean. Not even dust.”

He raised a brow. “And that matters because…”

“Because we’re supposed to be looking for some monster-unknown that never cleans up their messes. Every other scene we’ve been to has been a wreck, so why is the only thing out of place the blood stains on the floor? This is also the first time it’s been in the victims house.”

He paused. “You’ve been watching Criminal Minds again, haven’t you?”

I rolled my eyes, taking off the glove.

“That’s not important right now,” I shook my head, standing next to him again. “And, for the record, it’s helping our case.”

“Right,” he chuckled. “Well, profiler, why don’t you tell me more about what you’re gathering from the scene.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I said with a laugh.

He smirked, placing a hand on my back.

“Let’s get out of here and figure out why things changed.”

We followed dead-end leads all over town, until we hit a lucky streak.

“Check this out,” Dean said, calling me over to the table in our room. “Remember that dive bar our last vic was seen at? Look at this dude’s last social media post.”

I walked over, resting a hand against the table as I leaned in. I looked at the laptop, raising a brow.

“Same place.”

“Same place,” he confirmed. “Wanna check it out? See if anything suspicious is up?”

“You sure you don’t just want to hit the bar?”

He looked up at me with a quirked brow.

“What do you think I am? Drinking on the job. I’d never,” he feigned innocence.

I snorted. “Right. So not you.”

“Leave in ten?”

“Sounds good to me.”

We hit the road soon after, winding up at the bar with our eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. There was plenty for us to see in a seedy town like this, but there was only one interaction that truly piqued our interested. I nodded at the man who was paying a little too much special attention to a woman, drawing Dean’s gaze in that direction. He was equally skeeved out. We kept an eye out for another hour or so before the weird activity took another step into the creep category.

We followed out the man who we caught following the woman, all the way to a neighborhood just outside the city. We made our move as soon as the man walked up to her house.

I followed Dean up to the house, and we started to slink around, waiting for any sign of trouble. I first checked through a window near the front of the house.

“Nothing,” I said, motioning for us to move further.

He took the lead, and we came up on a window that looked into the dining room. He slowly looked inside.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me,” Dean mumbled, pulling his head back from the window.

“What?”

“Well, do you want the chance to play out your little crime show fantasies?”

I raised a brow. He sighed, shaking his head.

“That’s not— well, it is a monster in there, but not our kind of monster,” he said, tilting his head.

“It’s a human?”

He nodded. “Looks like it. Nothing supernatural that I can see. She’s passed out now, but let’s get a move on before he starts in on her.”

He started walking towards the back of the house, but I stopped him before we got to the door.

“Can— How do we do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s a human. We can’t just chop his head off or exorcise him.”

“We could still stab him.”

“But should we?”

He gave me a very unamused look, waiting for me to make my point.

“Can we attempt to just— Kick his ass and leave him to deal with life in prison? Only go for the shot if it’s necessary.”

He softened. “He killed people, Y/N, does he really deserve mercy here?”

“Do you really think the prison system is mercy?” I asked, earning a slight chuckle. “I just feel weird about killing humans unless our lives are in immediate danger.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “Okay, we’ll play it your way. But if anything goes sideways—”

“Then you feel free to shoot him.”

He nodded curtly, then we continued to the door. He opened it carefully, and we stepped inside, checking our surroundings before we headed towards the woman in the dining room. We saw the man first, his back to us as he sat across the table from her.

“Playing house? Really?” Dean quipped, causing the man to whip around.

My gun was pulled before the man had a chance to stand up and react. He looked between us, obvious annoyance on his face.

“You’re not cops,” he stated.

Dean smirked. “No, we are much worse news for scumbags like you.”

“Now,” I started, “you can try and fail to fight your way out of here, or you can sit still while my partner here makes sure you’re sitting nice and pretty for when the cops do show up.”

Dean moved before he had a chance to formulate a response, dragging him out of the chair. The man tried to put up a fight, but it was pretty quickly silenced by means of a fist to the face. Dean left him on the ground after a few minutes and a roll of duct tape.

“Nice,” I commented, then put away my gun.

I moved to the woman at the table who was still passed out. I checked for a pulse, and when I was sure she was still breathing, I started undoing the binding that kept her to the chair. Dean called in an anonymous tip to the police station as I finished up clearing her of everything. She started waking right as I was about to try and move her to the couch.

“Hey, hey,” I said quietly, trying to give a little comfort before her panic set in. “You’re safe now, alright? You’re fine.”

Her eyes opened, and she immediately clung to me when she saw the man on the ground incapacitated.

“What happened?” she asked with a quivering voice.

“Me and my friend Dean saw this guy creeping around your house. We wanted to make sure everything was okay, and when we found out it wasn’t, we found a way in. The cops are on the way now.”

She nodded. “Thank you. Both of you.”

I glanced back at Dean with the ghost of a smile on my face. He raised his brows at me.

“Why don’t we get you to the couch?”

“You’re not staying?” she asked, still in shock.

“No, we gotta leave,” I said, helping her to the couch. “We’ll stick around for a few minutes outside till the cops get here, though.”

“Okay,” she nodded along absentmindedly as she laid on the couch.

I walked back to Dean, motioning for us to go outside. He looked back down at the man for a moment who was still passed out, then followed behind me. We got back to the Impala and waited.

“Weird to be thanked,” I said, watching the house.

He hummed. “Doesn’t happen often, that’s for sure.”

“I can’t believe we were accidentally hunting a serial killer.”

He snorted. “I’m surprised there’s not more crossover when we hunt.”

I hummed in agreement. “I also wonder why things changed so much. From the murders messy and public to being more confined in the homes.”

“Who knows,” he said, shaking his head. “Monsters make a hell of a lot more sense than people do.”

“You got that right.”

Soon enough we saw flashing lights coming down the street. We watched some officers step out of the first car, and a few more get out of an SUV.

“Is that FBI?” Dean asked, looking intently.

“I mean, we just found them a serial killer. They’ve probably been on high alert,” I said.

He nodded, and we watched for another moment as they prepared to go inside.

“Man, those vests are cool as hell in real life, too,” I commented.

“Alright, that’s enough,” he wrapped up the conversation with a laugh.

He pulled off the sidewalk at that, and started driving in the opposite direction of the cops. We decided to stay the night at the motel, neither of us awake enough to get back to Sam and Bobby. He pulled into the parking lot, and we trudged inside.

“At least we aren’t covered in monster guts this time,” I said as I fell onto the mattress.

“Right?” He chuckled. “Cool if I take the first shower?”

“Of course. I’ll be here.”

He shut the door of the bathroom, and I let out a sigh. All of the teamwork bull crap we’d been doing certainly didn’t help my case, but I could at least be thankful he didn’t want to go the bars and find a hookup. I threw my arms over my eyes and sighed.

“Hey,” I heard Dean’s voice call out, his hand on my knee.

I uncovered my eyes. “Sorry. Must’ve dozed off.”

He smiled. “Go take a shower.”

“You sayin’ I need one?” I asked with a quirked brow.

“Yeah. You’re a mess,” he replied, a playful glint in his eye. “I don’t know how I sat in a car with you all day, to be honest.”

I scoffed, getting up. He moved enough for me to get by, but didn’t let me get far before he started talking again.

“Movie tonight?” he asked.

I rustled through my bag, pulling out my pajama shorts.

“Sure.”

“Any requests?”

“Uh,” I started, still looking for a clean top. “Maybe a comedy. We could use something funny.”

“Good point.” He stared for a moment as I kept digging. “You missing something?”

“I can’t find my t-shirt. I thought I packed three in here.”

“Do you want one of mine?”

I paused, considering the offer. One one hand, I wouldn’t have to wear a cami to bed and risk accidentally flashing him in my sleep. One the other, I’d be wearing his shirt and that would be a sure way to get me in my own head. The risks of the first definitely outweighed my lack of self control.

“That would be awesome.”

He walked to his own bag, pulling out a shirt that matched the one he wore and handing it to me.

“I still think wearing our outside clothes to bed worked just fine.”

“Did you ever feel rested doing that?” I asked.

He sighed dramatically. I laughed.

“Exactly my point,” I said. “Most of your well-being has to do with mindset, Dean.”

He grumbled to himself as he settled into bed, and I took that as my chance to get in the bathroom. My shower was quick, especially since Dean used up most of the hot water. I knew I should’ve gone first, but it forced me not to stay in forever. I pulled on his shirt and my shorts, trying not to let myself smile when I saw myself in the mirror wearing his clothes. I walked back into the room before I allowed myself to think too hard.

He looked at me as I walked out, a smile creeping on his face. I fought back my own to raise a brow as I lingered at the foot of my bed.

“What?”

He shrugged. “Funny seeing you in my shirt.”

“Looks better on me than it ever did on you,” I sassed with a smirk, crawling into bed.

“Can’t argue with that,” he noted, still watching me. He cleared his throat a moment later, looking at the TV screen. “Uh, I found something, I think. They had Step Brothers on demand.”

“Oh, perfect,” I said as he clicked play.

We settled into a comfortable silence for a while, and I cuddled into the duvet. After we were halfway through the movie, I gathered the blankets around me even more.

“Is it just me, or is it freezing in here?” I asked, looking over to see Dean still sitting above the covers.

“It’s a little cold,” he shrugged, then looked at me. “I can check the heater.”

I nodded as he got up and crossed the room. He held a hand out, a puzzled look on his face after a moment. He smacked it with his hand, and still felt nothing.

“Hm. Hang on,” he said, moving to the phone. “Hi, I think the heater in here’s broken.”

A pause.

“Ah, great. Okay, thanks.”

He hung up the phone, looking to me apologetically.

“They said the heating’s down in the whole place.”

I sighed. “That sucks.”

He sat back in his bed, looking at me for a moment before he spoke again.

“I know it’s been a while since we had to, but do you wanna come sleep in my bed tonight? I run hot, it might keep you warm.”

“I know. I had to sleep next to you in the summer, and it was like roasting in an oven,” I chuckled.

“See? It’ll work perfect when you’re cold,” he said, standing again.

He pulled the covers back, getting underneath and patting the mattress next to him. I cursed myself for finding this case in the first place.

“Just don’t complain if I kick you in my sleep,” I said, getting out of my bed.

He chuckled. “I’m not worried about it.”

I got into his bed, and he threw the covers over me. He then reached over top of me to grab the remote, pressing play and slinging an arm around my shoulders. I pulled the duvet up to my chin, leaning into his side.

This position put me in a delicate spot, and I found that to be true more and more with every passing minute. Every time he laughed, I felt it reverberate in his chest. Every time he talked to me, I’d look up to see his face inches from mine. Every time he moved, he held me a little tighter.

In short, Bobby was all too correct about me being screwed.

“Hey,” Dean said, voice soft. “You okay?”

“Mm?”

I looked at him, once again trying not to think about the proximity.

“You always laugh at this scene. You didn’t make a sound this time.”

“Oh,” I chuckled, looking towards the screen. “Sorry, I must be exhausted.”

“Is that all? Seems like there’s something on your mind.”

“Alright, Dr. Phil,” I joked.

“Seriously,” he said, squeezing my shoulder. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I think I just need some sleep,” I replied, glancing at him again with half a smile.

He quirked a brow, clearly not believing me, but willing to drop the subject.

“Okay. You know you can always talk to me?”

“I know.”

He smiled softly, then looked back at the TV as he shut it off. He settled into bed, still holding onto me. I snuggled into his side, using his chest as a pillow. I felt him breathe deep before he shut off the light.

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Night, Dean.”

I woke up the next morning before he did, and decided there was little harm in remaining there. I shut my eyes, letting myself enjoy the fact that I was still snuggled against him. It gave me a moment to pretend he was mine, at least for the morning. I listened to his breathing, and wondered if he ever dreamt about me in the same way I did about him. As if on cue, his arm tightened around me a little as he stirred. His thumb brushed against my shoulder where his hand had snuck under the sleeve of the t-shirt, though I couldn’t tell if he was really awake until I felt a soft kiss against the top of my head.

At that moment, I decided it was probably best to continue pretending I was still asleep.

He stayed that way for a little while, his hand still against my shoulder, making little patterns with his thumb. It took everything in me not to move when I felt him brush a few stray pieces of hair away from my face, and even more when he let his hand linger against my cheek for when felt like a few seconds too long to be purely friendly.

I wondered if he was always like this when I wasn’t awake. Extra attentive, and sure not to wake me. Maybe that’s why I somehow remained asleep every time I fell asleep in the car that normally jostled me around like a rag doll with his driving. I wondered even more if Bobby was right about something else he’d said days ago: the unrequited feelings might not be so unrequited after all.

I nestled my head against his chest, trying to give him a warning that I was about to open my eyes, and he quickly pulled his hand away from my face. I took in a breath, blinking slowly as I let the light seep in for the second time that morning.

“Morning,” he greeted quietly, his voice still soft and raspy from tiredness.

I smiled. “Morning.”

“You hungry?” he asked, drawing my attention to him.

I nodded, leaning back a little to see him better.

“Very, and I saw a café on the way into town that looked good,” I said.

He smiled softly, shutting his eyes for a moment. Then, he yawned, finally sitting up. He turned and looked at me as I stayed laying.

“How’d you sleep? Warm enough?”

“Thanks to you, yeah,” I replied, stretching. “I’m scared to get out of bed, now, though.”

He patted my leg over the covers, “If you want food, that should be motivation enough.”

“Good point.”

I reluctantly climbed out of bed as he walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day. It was cold, but not unbearable. I decided to throw on some clothes in the room since he always took a while in the bathroom. By the time he was finished, all I needed to do was wash my face and brush my teeth, then we were off.

Breakfast was short and sweet, and we made it back to Bobby’s in record time. We strolled in the door, seeing Sam gimping around the kitchen as soon as we walked in.

“Still letting that ankle beat your ass?” I asked immediately.

He laughed. “Trust me, if I had any control over it, this wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.”

“Maybe you just wanted out of the hunt,” I said in reply.

“Oh yeah, I loved hanging out and making Bobby bring me ice packs all day. Dream vacation, actually.”

Dean shook his head with a smirk. “You didn’t miss out on much anyway.”

“How’d it go?” Sam asked as he took a seat.

I looked to Dean who was already glancing in my direction. I shrugged.

“We stopped a serial killer, actually,” I noted.

Sam gaped. “And I ‘didn’t miss much’?”

“Just knocked him out and called the cops. Not much fun, anyways,” Dean shrugged. “Oh, we did find maybe the best pancakes I’ve ever had, though.”

I hummed in agreement enthusiastically, nodding.

“They were freaking incredible,” I said, then looked back at Sam. “And they had like, real, fresh maple syrup.”

“Unlimited stacks when you bought the platter, too,” Dean chimed in with a gleeful smile.

“You two sound like an old married couple,” Sam scoffed out with a laugh. “What, did you fall asleep together after reading the newspaper, too?”

“After watching a movie, actually,” Dean corrected, grabbing a beer from the fridge. Then, he looked at me. “Did you want anything?”

“I’m okay.”

Sam looked between us, a raised brow and an amused look on his face.

“You two actually fell asleep together?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you choose to focus on?”

He smiled mischievously, then looked at Dean.

“Making moves on her, now?”

Dean swallowed, glaring at his brother with wide eyes. I furrowed my brow, about to see if I could prod Sam for information, but Bobby walked in before I had the chance.

“Hey, you two. How was the hunt?”

Dean let out a breath. “Not real eventful. I could use some sleep.”

He started walking out of the room, all of us watching as he left. Bobby turned to me first, a questioning look on his face.

“Don’t look at me,” I said with my hands up in defense. “I think Sammy pissed him off.”

“Real smooth, Sam,” Bobby commented.

Sam scoffed, shaking his head. Bobby merely sighed, going to take a seat across from Sam. I looked at them both, hands on my hips.

“Why do I get the feeling you two know something I don’t?”

“Did Dean not talk to you?” Sam asked, looking at me.

“We talk plenty.”

“That’s not what I mean. He said he was gonna talk to you when the next case was over,” he stopped, then looked at Bobby. “Case came and went, and still nothing.”

Bobby shrugged. “Out of our hands, Sam. Told you not to meddle.”

I sighed in annoyance. “You two are children, you know that?”

“Hey,” Bobby said, offended.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” I said finally, turning for the door.

The second I was halfway out, they started talking again, but I couldn’t bring myself to care too much about what they said. Clearing my mind sounded like the best option, and I was determined to do it.

I started walking around the yard, music blaring from my phone to keep me preoccupied as I watched the sky light up with a million different colors. I found an old car with a relatively clean exterior and decided to climb onto the hood. I leaned back, watching the sky as it turned darker, the stars slowly peaking out.

“Room for one more?” Dean’s voice asked from behind me.

“Come on up,” I said, scooting over a bit.

He came and sat next to me, looking up at the sky. He let out a slow breath, then looked at me.

“Taylor Swift?”

“You know it,” I replied.

He smiled, turning his head back.

“Stars are coming out,” he commented.

“They are. You should’ve seen sunset, it was gorgeous.”

He scooted closer, leaning his head against mine silently. After a moment, I let myself lean against his shoulder a little more.

“You okay, Dean?” I asked after a beat.

“Of course. Why?”

“I dunno. You just seemed a little off when we got back today.”

He sighed. “Yeah. It’s— It’s nothing.”

“You sound like me, now.”

He chuckled. “Guess we’ve got the same bad habit, huh?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

We stayed there until it got dark enough to really see the stars come out, not moving even when the chill of the night started creeping in. I readjusted my head against his shoulder, preparing myself to speak again.

“Did you really follow me out here just to look at stars?”

I felt him still. Then, after a moment, I sat up a little straighter and looked at him. He glanced back at me, clearly feeling caught out.

“Thought you could use some company.”

I raised a brow, and he smirked, looking away.

“Alright, you got me,” he said, “What gave it away?”

“First off, I’ve known you for years,” I started, nudging him in the arm. “Second, Sam and Bobby were all uppity about the fact that you apparently told Sam you had something to talk to me about.”

“I swear, he can’t keep a secret to save his life when it comes to stuff like this,” he said, rubbing at his face.

“Well, try me,” I said, unable to keep my eyes off of him. He was extra cute all flustered. “I’m a good listener.”

He let out a breath, then looked at me, scanning my face for a moment.

“I know I’ve got a certain type of reputation—”

“You?! No way,” I exclaimed with a smile, my eyes wide.

He laughed. “Exactly my point.”

“You know I don’t care about that, though. Reputations are a one-sided story.”

He hummed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

He sighed, looking back at the sky for a moment.

“I just,” he started, giving a shrug, “I feel like it— Like it makes people feel like I never want anything but a hookup, you know?”

“It makes people feel that way?”

“I’m that easy to read, huh?” he asked, looking at me again with a faint smile. “You. I mean you.”

“I gathered that much.”

He laughed softly, as did I.

“How’d you know?”

“I had suspicions fueled by Bobby. Then you kissed me and started being all affectionate when you thought I was asleep this morning.”

His eyes widened. “You were pretending to be asleep? That’s so not fair!”

“Hey, I woke up snuggled into my own personal space heater, I didn’t exactly want to be up and at ‘em.”

He rolled his eyes, tugging me into his side with an arm around my shoulders once more.

“How long has it been for you?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t even know. I guess I started realizing it a year or so ago.”

“That’s embarrassing for me, then. I knew the second I met you,” he said with a laugh.

“Dean,” I said with surprise. “It’s been half a decade! No wonder Bobby got on my ass about it before we left.”

“Well, hey, Sammy’s been on mine for a couple years. You got off easy up till now.”

I laughed. “I guess so. To be fair, we were flying under the radar for quite a while, though. The incessant flirting the past few weeks is what got us in trouble.”

“Why did you start being extra flirty, anyway?” he asked, resting his cheek against the top of my head.

“I don’t know. I guess I was, like, subconsciously seeing a window. You haven’t been doing your normal bar hookups the past few months, so I thought maybe there was a reason for it,” I paused. “Though, finding out you’ve been crushing on me for five years kind of makes me question that.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Easier to keep my mind off you that way. That sounds terrible. I just— I never thought in a million years you’d think anything of me.”

“Well, when did you realize I might?”

He sighed. “You remember a couple weeks back when we were taking down that vamp nest? You easily could’ve died, and we hugged afterwards, but when I pulled back I… I saw that look in your eyes that seemed an awful lot like how I look at you when you’re not paying attention. I wanted to kiss you, and I didn’t doubt in that moment that you would’ve let me if I had.”

I paused. “Why didn’t you?”

“I was scared. We’ve been friends for so long, and we practically do everything together. I didn’t want to ruin anything on the off chance that I was reading those signs all wrong.”

“You weren’t.”

He fell quiet for a moment. I looked up at him, and he looked back at me as I did. He quickly wet his lips, drawing my gaze downward before my eyes flicked back up to his. His lips parted momentarily. Then…

“We should get back inside. It’s getting cold out here,” he said quickly.

I nodded curtly, pulling away to let him get off the hood first. He gave me a hand, helping me down next. We walked back to the house quietly, saying soft goodnights before we went to separate rooms.

I was all settled in for the night, cozy in my bed with a book in hand. Then, I heard a knock on the door. I grumbled as I got up, annoyed that I had to leave the comfort of a mattress that wasn’t a sure cesspool of germs I didn’t want to think about. I flung the door open.

“Someone better be dying or I’m gonna kick some ass for—”

Dean’s lips crashed into mine, effectively silencing me from my rant. I melted after a few seconds of mental delay, my hands gripping onto the material of his shirt as his cradled my face. I felt him smile into the kiss, drawing my closer with arms that snuck around my waist, holding me tight. He wasted no time in deepening the kiss once he was sure that the signs were all giving him a positive response.

We finally broke apart a few minutes later, breathing heavy with pounding hearts.

“I figured I should stop letting opportunities pass me up,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, good thinking.”

His eyes scanned over me, his chest still heaving.

“You wouldn’t happen to need another space heater for the night, would you?”

“I run cold, what can I say?” I replied with a smirk, and a spark in my eye.

He smiled, walking me into the room with his lips on mine, kicking the door shut behind him.

(EDIT: starting taglists now! let me know if you want to be on any!)

FULL MASTERLIST | BUY ME A COFFEE

#i haven’t written a spn fic in years this felt good #dean winchester #dean winchester fic #dean winchester one shot #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester x you #dean winchester x reader #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #delicate #reputation #taylor swift #gender neutral reader

[why-the-heck-not]

Hi! I've been a follower for some time now and I always see your posts about trying to be productive and consistent. I'm a student who's studying fully online, and because I'm only doing my thesis, I spend all my time to myself, it gets really lonely, and I feel somehow disconnected with the work and end up not doing it at all. Do you have any tips? Also, I really enjoy your updates!

Hii! I truly get you, I’ve been doing like 95% of my studies at home myself too. Got the same feelings, so I don’t rly have a solid solution, but libraries help a lot. There are other ppl there so it’s not so lonely, and less distractions and something abt going home around the same time other ppl are going home from their jobs makes me feel a lot more like I’m actually in this society/world etc.

Ideal would be to have like a routine of going to do ur studies somewhere and coming back home after u’ve done ur things for the day. (I don’t follow this but would love to and I think it would really help; did do that in january for like a week and it was nice & I felt like a real person (but then the winter got to me lol)).

Also other things that have helped a bit:

Leaving the apartment every day, no matter where or for how long. Just gotta get outside

Routines <3 a sleeping schedule <3 makes things feel a lot less like a mess. (especially a solid morning routine is very important I think)

Going to the gym in the morning (bc gets u out of the house for a decent amount of time first thing so then the threshold of leaving somewhere later on the day is smaller)

Purposely going in places when it’s the 5-6pm rush hours (mainly grocery store bc like where else would I go) even tho it sort of sucks. But I used to avoid those and then realized I’d been seeing like maybe max 10 ppl per week and felt insane, like in an apocalyptic movie sort of way. Just try to get urself to places where there’s other ppl lol (except a warning: friday & saturday evenings? Stay inside lmao, there’s only friendgroups etc. out, and that makes it feel very lonely (at least that’s my experience lol))

Podcasts and music and tvshows and books all the time lol drown out the lonely (not maybe the healthiest but better than a social media doom scroll bc that just makes it feel like u’re the only one living like this, and u’re not)

Walks !!! Walks make everything better always. Feel sad? Frustrated or confused about anything ?Not fully there? Walk it out !! (Also music/podcast during the walk and it’s super chill)

Caffeine bc dopamine & serotonin (nothing a cup of coffee wouldn’t solve)

Putting on actual clothes you could to public places with every morning, even if u aren’t planning on going anywhere rly anytime soon

Live in delusion; u’re not ”studying while feeling lonely”, you’re now the obsessed genius who has no time for anything/anyone else character trope

#all very boring & generic things but I just don’t have better advices for this i’m trying to figure it out myself too lol #asks #september 2023 #2023

[apriltearsbringmayfears]

Just popped on here, I already read a few of your posts and love them.

May I request an Arcana M6 that forgets MC's birthday? (Whether it happened to just slipped their mind or they genuinely forgot.). But I'll leave those details up to you. Keep writing! Thank you!

Thank you so much! I’m really glad you like them, I have a few more in the works but feel free to send whatever ideas my way :D

~The Arcana M6 - Forget MC’s Birthday~

Asra:

On past birthdays, you usually wake up to him cooking breakfast

This isn’t one of those days. He’s gone from the shop, with a note left behind saying he’ll be back in the afternoon.

The shop has been busy, many calls outside the shop that Asra has to tend to. Him forgetting it is understandable

At some point, about mid day- he’s helping someone and the memory hits like a train

As soon as he’s done with business, he picks up some flowers and pumpkin bread and travels straight back to shop 

The door swings open, “I’m so sorry MC!!!”

You are smothered with affection for the next 24 hours

Nadia:

You were expecting a ball, or at least some sort of formal dinner/event

However, she didn’t pull through

Between everything else going on in Vesuvia, she managed to completely forget your birthday

It’s not until the servants say something that she realizes

She sort of looks at the wall for a minute, really internalizing her mistake

How could she have forgotten? What does this say about her as a romantic partner and as The Countess?

Plans start immediately, there WILL be a celebration tonight. Everything else is pushed to the side

She deeply apologizes for her mistake, almost being too hard on herself

But the party that night is incredible despite how little time it was thrown together

Julian:

He’s never done much for his birthdays as an adult, aside from Portia throwing a small celebration with some gifts and him drinking as usual

He’s never really had to celebrate anybody else's birthday because of that

He did know about your birthday, thought about making plans for it. Maybe a nice little boat trip? Take you somewhere nice, a little adventure?

But it completely slipped his mind

He’s reminded by Mazelinka, his face getting redder than hell

It’s like the whole world crashed on him, he’s the worlds worst boyfriend now

He won’t stop apologizing, on the verge of tears, on his knees, he’ll do anything to make it right

He takes you out on the adventure he had planned anyways, free drinks to boot

Muriel:

He completely forgets birthdays are a thing

He never had the chance to celebrate his own unless it was with Asra

Which was only a handful of times, it wasn’t really even a celebration

You casually~ mention it and he gets RED 

This is man is EMBARRASSED 

I can see him making a little cake, with scraggly letters saying “Happy Birthday MC”

He last minute made a little handmade craft as gift for you too

Y’all have a cute little celebration in his hut, plenty of cuddles after

Portia:

She’s going about her day all jolly, not a care in the world

You think for a bit she might have a surprise planned but once 6pm rolls around, you lose hope

“MC, I feel like I’m forgetting something”

Her face looks puzzled and then her eyes widen

There’s practically tears in her eye

You sort of have to calm her down. She feels like she betrayed you almost

She’s usually amazing with birthdays, tends to make the most of them

She did in fact have presents and plans but either got the day wrong or got completely side tracked

Your birthday turns into a birthday week celebration

Lucio:

He’s very fond of throwing big birthday parties for himself, sort of slides by everyone else's

You ask him about what day it is and he looks confused

You tell him it’s your birthday and he sorts of huffs

“Ya…I uhhh knew that”

He didn’t, but he’s trying to play it cool

Trying to quickly make plans in the back of his head

It’s very obvious he’s lying, his face is red and he looks frantic

He’s able to gather your friends for a nice celebration (Asra, Nadia, etc.)

But only because they care about you and he was so genuine with needing help

Expect more well thought out parties after this, he basically makes it a national holiday now

#the arcana #the arcana headcanons #asra the magician #asra alzanar #nadia satrinava #countess nadia #the arcana lucio #lucio montag #the arcana muriel #portiathearcana #julian devorak #the arcana julian

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector's Edition: The X-File That Started It All

In the wake of the 30th Anniversary, I combed through my fic pile and pulled up some fics dealing with the Pilot. (Don't worry about the AUs-- I'll stick them in another list later for the fun of it.)

Loose chronological order below~

Melymbrosia's Untold

""Double-blinds, triple-blinds, codes instead of names, codes instead of the details of procedures or drugs. Dr. Charne-Sayre has assured her bosses that the lab assistants will have no idea what projects and experiments produced the blood tests and organic compounds they're analyzing, and that this will not, in fact, even seem strange to them. The old men ask if it can't all be done by computer instead; they have what Bonita Charne-Sayre privately considers a charmingly naive faith in computer security, possibly because they think of it as half magic and half obfuscation. No, she says, and again no, and finally they give in. Medical research, it seems, requires a larger budget and a more select staff than mere conspiracy.""

The horrendous experiences of the Pilot abductees.

@discordantwords‘s (Ao3) Cataplexy

""It took him a moment to realize that he was awake, that he could move, and he did so in a rush, sitting up and shucking off of the blankets. His heart thudded in his chest. He lifted one hand and then the other, clenched his fist, looked at his fingers.

Across the room, in the second bed, his father mumbled something in his sleep, turned over, began to snore.""

Billy Miles's dad hopes his son will snap out of it, willingly covering up all evidence to protect his son.

zulu's First Sight

""She remembered that there was at least one agent who pursued unusual cases. She'd heard about him from...whom? Tom Colton, in their last year at the Academy. He'd told her about the agent who chased unexplained phenomena the way the rest of them tracked drug shipments and illegal weapons.

"He's a real ghostbuster, apparently," Tom had said, laughing. A group had gathered around him, ready to hear the sort of case study their instructors didn't see fit to assign to them officially. "They say he's rather--spooky. Spooky Mulder, chasing after aliens with a badge and a gun. You know you've gone bonkers when, you know what I mean?"

Dana smiled with the others, but the idea intrigued her. "And they let him?" she asked.

"The way I hear it, it's the only way they can keep him happy enough to do their V.C.U. profiling for them." Tom snorted. "They say his profile caught Monty Props almost single-handedly.""

Scully's boredom is eased with her thrilling new assignment to the notorious Fox Mulder. Although Melissa is her only familial support, she tries not to let it dampen her spirits-- as yet unaware that Mulder is on a campaign to figure out who she is and why they were partnered.

Maidenjedi’s Ab Initio

""Stuck. He was stuck in an elevator at the Hoover Building after 6pm on a Friday night....

On a Friday night.

Mulder sat down and started fishing in his pocket for sunflower seeds. Of course there weren't any, he never had them in his pants pockets. It was a crazy habit anyway.

Somewhere right now, guys his age were picking up chicks at bars. Or maybe they were married and having kids.

Mulder? He was chasing demons and ghosts from a basement. They called him Spooky for a reason.

The elevator starting moving an hour later and Mulder went home.

To nobody.""

Mulder is a lonely, paranoid man: friendly only to Reggie Perdue, and suspicious of anyone else at the FBI. TLG slip him information about Bellefleur; but he is a little more intrigued at his first glimpse of Dana Scully.

Surajtare’s Fragments in Time

Chapter 1

""Over the next few days, Mulder set his investigative skills to find out whatever he could about this Dana Scully. Her credentials made him uneasy: undergraduate degree in physics, M.D., "Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation."

In Mulder's head the people of the world were divided in two: word people and number people. Word people saw stories everywhere. Number people saw equations. Mulder was a word person through and through. He never trusted number people; they usually had an obsessive need to quantify everything. Scully was definitely that kind, a person who could never understand the X files. The mere thought of a partner like that was exasperating.

Then, on March, he got a call from Reggie, his former ASAC at Violent Crimes.""

Mulder finds out about his assigned partner through the grapevine, immediately assuming she's been hand-picked to be "his type." He's mildly surprised at Blevins's pick.

Chapter 2

""So, how do you like the X Files so far?" he asked her, a little teasingly.

"They're interesting. They are!" she added when he saw his skeptical look.

"Well, this is an interesting first case," Mulder said, sitting back in the chair and stretching his legs. He couldn't fight the smile anymore and she reciprocated, briefly.

"Do you really think aliens have something to do with all this?" she demanded, growing serious.

"I don't know," he admitted, "but I can't find any better explanation."

"We haven't found any explanation, so far," she said.

Mulder soothes Scully after her embarrassment over the mosquito bites, admitting he'd had first-case paranoia, too. Scully admits she's fascinated by the case overall; and their conversation slowly turns to why he's so devoted to the X-Files.

Lara Means’s (Ao3) The View From the Outer Office (Ao3)

""Today it's just one agent -- Agent Mulder. He doesn't come up here much, and his name doesn't come up very often in Mr. Skinner's day-to-day work -- mostly Section Chief Blevins supervises him. But today he's waiting for the Assistant Director. And he looks nervous.

His knee is bouncing pretty steadily, and he's chewing on a fingernail. He keeps glancing over at me like I'd disappear if he didn't. When he catches my eye he smiles a nervous little half-smile, which I return before I go back to my work.

He clears his throat and I look up. "Um... I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name."

You didn't forget it, Agent, you never asked. "Kimberly.""

Mulder tries to get information out of secretary Kim, too impatient to wait for A.D. Skinner any longer.

Athene's Dana Scully's Senior Thesis

""She was accepted at Johns Hopkins University College of Medicine up in Baltimore, and graduated with the President's Medal in 1988," Frohike continued. He stared at a photo in his hand, one Mulder couldn't quite see. There was a little smile on his face, and a hint of admiration in his voice as he continued. "After being recruited by the FBI under a grant-with-stipend issued by the Critical Position Acquisition program at Quantico, she did a two year residency in clinical pathology at Hopkins. When she finished-"

"Let me guess," Mulder interrupted, a sneer in his voice, "she was at the top of her class."

Byers took up the narrative, his voice calm, ignoring Mulder's interruption with the ease of long practice.""

Mulder, enraged about being partnered, gets TLG to dig up information on one Dana Scully (who he believes is a plant set up to get him into an HR harassment claim.) His thoughts turn soft when he sees her honest eyes.  

@spookytheory's Fire, But Better

""First ring of fire: cleared. Blevins seemed content. The strange man in the corner seemed non-plussed. Both fit her preconceived notions of what FBI higher-ups were like. Old, stand-offish, starchy, and, dare she say, predictable? Dana is used to bland men: soulless nurses and aides who seemed to give life and hope to patients from their own personal stores. Some salt-and-pepper doctors were exceptions. Her heart clenches as her mind whispers the name Daniel.

She shakes it off with a roll of her shoulders. I chose this.

She lets this assurance distill into confidence and begins walking down the hall, smiling and nodding at her new co-workers. They blatantly ignore her.""

Scully is trying to shake off her past-- and its mistakes-- by seeking a new change in this assignment. Still, it echoes her heel taps all the way down to the basement.

Madeline Partous's (Annex) Pilot, The 01

""His castle. His domain. He knew that many people saw his exile to the basement as a demotion, a source of shame, but he'd considered it a new lease on life, the compensation for the dues he'd paid.

He'd been the golden boy, and it had earned him a measure of freedom. Now he planned to exploit it for all it was worth, despite the fact that he knew it would condemn him to ridicule and obscurity in the end.""

Mulder covers his extreme surprise and intrigue with sarcasm, finding himself immediately drawn to Dana Scully: New Recruit.

@i-gaze-at-scully’s (Ao3) She's a medical doctor

""Einstein.

His new partner literally took on Einstein. 

“A New Interpretation.” Polite way to say actually, you’re wrong. Here’s why.""

AUish-- Mulder is mad that he is forced to have a new partner; and decides that he hates doe-eyed, green Dana Scully.  

Beshter/Publius's Seasons: First

Chapter 3

""Dana Scully," she passed over her badge to the pleasant woman behind the ticket counter, stifling her own yawn, yearning for the coffee she could smell coming from some mysterious corner of the airport. Why 8 AM, she silently complained? She hadn't seen Fox Mulder. She half expected he would come last minute, tumbling to the gate, tie rumpled and dark hair scattered, as he'd grant her an unapologetic smile. She doubted he was really used to having to do anything on time for anyone, or at least not for a partner. From what she had gathered from his personnel file it had been a few years since he had one of those.

"Here you go, Ms. Scully, if you could sign here," the ticket agent pointed towards a line on the receipt she passed over, and slid Scully's open badge over the counter. Scully's own serious face stared up at her as she signed quickly.

"Who did you con to get that good of a picture, Scully?" Mulder's lazy, monotone drawl was somewhere just above Scully's ear, and she snapped her head up, nearly knocking the top of it into Fox Mulder's chin.""

Scully is floundering in the paranoid waters of Fox Mulder way too early in the morning, and without her coffee. She feels a little guilty that Mulder nails her on her eagerness to debunk his crazy theories.

astronaught's Equilibrium - Chapter 1

""He has had friends. He has had lovers. He has certainly been played with, though not in the fun way. Fox Mulder doesn’t have fun. Fox Mulder sits in his basement office for fourteen hours a day reading rotting casefiles from 1953. He enjoys the work, but his single-minded focus has nothing to do with enjoyment, and everything to do with a desperate and somewhat self-abnegative feeling of necessity. He has a sense of irony so well-cultivated that an outside observer might mistake it for a zest for life. In reality, it is the final recourse of the smart and painfully sincere. He thinks he jokes at the world because he’s given up on it joking back, but Fox Mulder is nothing if not a compulsive seeker of wonder, and deep down his ill-guarded, latchkey heart murmurs Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.""

Mulder's humor garnered him respect from Scully; and both mutually want to hope in each other.  

@wexleresque/hllsteeth’s

Table for Two - Chapter 1

""Mulder bounces his leg and taps his fingers on the sticky table, the pent-up energy from hours of sitting in a car being released from his body like pressurized steam. Through the stubborn pieces of hair that hang over his forehead, he observes the agent sitting across from him as she examines her nails and sighs tiredly.

He can sympathize with her on that front, at least. Though he’d strategically found the least uncomfortable way to fold his tall body into the plane, sleep had been far down on his mental to-do list. Instead, he’d let the case details swirl around the ether of his consciousness, looking for patterns and anachronisms that he may have missed, all the while stealing glances at Scully while she’d white-knuckled her way through turbulence and read over the case notes.""

Mulder observes Scully's post-plane meal.

@scapegrace74-blog​​‘s (Ao3) Fictober, Day 11. Theme: UFO

""They are two hours into their flight to the very plausible state of Oregon when he asks her to switch seats.   She’s momentarily confused.  With his coltish legs, there’s no way he should prefer the window, and she tells him as much.   Challenging Agent Mulder’s assertions is already beginning to feel less like a job description, and more like a secret vice.

“We’re almost over Utah.” As though that explains anything.

“What’s so special about Utah?   Is it a hotbed for UFO activity or something?”

He smiles and makes the obligatory harhar gesture, but his eyes shift to the hublot behind her, so she obliges by sliding out into the aisle.""

Mulder and Scully have a mini conversation about their respective faiths and beliefs before the Oregon plane experiences turbulence.

@scullysexual/PostApocolypticAlien

(Un)Buried.

 ""An unmarked grave. No mortsafe protected this body. There was nobody left to care about what happened to it.

Just the three of you stand in the graveyard in the black of night. The coffin is brought up, the lid removed.""

Mulder is intrigued by the body, mulling this new development over while Scully instructs the cemetery men to take it to the morgue.

10.02 (Ao3)

""It suddenly dawns on you how fun having a partner again could be so fun. You missed it, you realise.

Standing in the rain, in a graveyard, next to two unusually empty graves, discussing how a coma patient is sneaking out and taking people to the forest, it should be as absurd as everyone says it is but it is, instead, a reality and the person who is supposed to argue is absurdity is standing in front of you, laughing, believing it all.""

AU-- Mulder realizes how alone he was while watching Scully laugh in the graveyard. He makes moves that are very not canonical.

@kateyes224‘s (Ao3) Unnamed

""She was nervous as she packed her bags for “Ore-gone”, as her spooky, shockingly attractive new partner called it.... Dana spent almost an hour dutifully stuffing clothes and toiletries into every nook and cranny of her rolling carry-on, fretting over how many layers to bring, erring on the side of caution and, she decided as she was barely able to zip it closed, definitely overpacking.

It wasn’t until she opened her bag in her motel room in Bellefleur that her stomach plummeted as she pawed frantically through her bag, realizing with no little amount of horror that she’d forgotten to pack her pajamas."" 

Scully forgot her jammies, and Mulder lends her his shirt. Both of them appreciate the high art of Steven Spielberg references.

@scullywolf's (Ao3)

Pilot - Chapter 1

""Sighing, she picked up the tape recorder and turned back to her computer, grabbing her glasses from the bed and sliding them on. With a click to restart the tape, she resumed her transcription.

“...four millimeters in diameter and twenty-seven millimeters in length. Object is cylindrical in design with small spheres on either end. No identifying marks, stamps or branding were found. The potential purpose of this implant is unknown.”

The recorder clicked as the tape came to its end. Scully read back over her notes with a small shake of her head, then saved her data and shut down the computer. She had started this case with such confidence, certain that with proper investigative work and attention to detail, they would be able to figure out what was happening to these kids. Now, though… now she was not so sure.""

Scully is intrigued by this strange, new case; and, while not quite sold on the ape theory, she isn't about to subscribe to the alien one.

Fictober Drabbles - Day 3: Basement

""Diana once remarked how appropriate it was that his office was in the basement. “The Fox’s den” she called it, and he blushed and thought her so clever. Infatuation will do that; if anyone else had said it, he’d have rolled his eyes.

She wasn’t wrong, though....""

Mulder's infatuation with Diana turns into desolation when she leaves. He didn't realize how much isolation had affected him until Scully knocks, helping him to stop clinging to loneliness.

Tammy D. Aiken-Phillips/ThamasD's Nine Minutes

""It took only a moment for It to look them over, catalog them, and then telepathically inform It's comrades of It's findings. And intentions.

*The Female - She will have what We need in approximately eighteen Earth months. The Male - His body will be able to provide Us with information in approximately eight Earth years. We will have them then.* *What shall we do with them for now?* A comrade questioned. *Wipe their memories of this visit and return them. Inform our connections on their planet of their importance and the timetable I have set. The arrangements will be made.* *Affirmative.*""

In the 9 minutes that Scully and Mulder are abducted, the aliens have assessed them and marked them for future abductions.

@frostbitepandaaaaa's (Ao3) Nine Minutes and Then Some

Chapter 1

""As much as she was dizzy with relief, she was now weak with abrupt, crushing mortification.

“I need to sit down,” she told him, herself, cinching up the belt of her robe tighter for good measure.

“Yeah, of course.” His voice wavered with a note of insecurity. His motions were suddenly hasty, rushing to put the barrier of the cheap, motel table between them. And just like that, they were drawn apart like hydrophobic molecules.""

Scully is shocked at how much Mulder truly understands and cares her embarrassment post mosquito bite scare.

Chapter 4 (Ao3)

""I believe that hypnotherapy can have… therapeutic uses,” Missy begins, slowly, still recovering from her shock, “though I am not so sure of the… veracity of the memories it is said to tap into.”

Dana smiles, that little half-smirk that her sister dons whenever she was amused against her better judgement.

“What?” Missy asks her.

Dana shakes her head, looks down at her plate. “Nothing… that just sounded like an answer I would give.”

Missy grins. “I’m not as hippy-dippy as you think I am, Dana.""

Melissa sides with Mulder, admonishing her scientific younger sister to keep an open mind.

@neednottoneed/neednot’s (Ao3) Unnamed

""Maybe, she thinks, she’ll lose another nine minutes if it means he’ll look at her like that again.""

Scully realizes she can only talk about and understand her experience with Mulder, the man who lights up like a boy at Christmas when it comes to these uncharted, paranormal waters.  

Erin M. Blair’s (Ao3) His New Partner

""He wasn't quite certain what to make of her. He read her personnel file, along with a photocopy of her thesis. Her intelligence in the scientific would help him brainstorm and come up with plausible theories, along with keeping him sane. He had a gnawing feeling that Scully would gradually change his life, forever.""

Mulder is struck with how quickly his bad luck with partners has so suddenly turned around.

Macspooky's New Partners

""Come on," he slipped an arm around her waist and led her in the direction of the ambulance. "I think I might have another patient for you ladies and gentlemen. Possible concussion."

"Mulder...it wasn't..." She wanted to say that it wasn't that bad, that she had only been dizzy for a moment.

"Go on...." he said. "That's an order. I'll meet you at the hospital. You should be checked out.""

Scully berates her behavior in the wake of the case, scoffing that she'd been swept off her feet and gotten a concussion for her troubles. Mulder kept her company and thought she'd "done good."

@allyinthekeyofx's (Ao3) Playing the Game

""By the time morning comes her pile of sunflower seeds far outstrips his and he knows he will have to stop on the way to the airport to buy more.

He also knows that Dana Scully is not to be underestimated.""

Scully and Mulder have to spend a night at their burnt down motel before flying out. He does them both a favor by buying them new clothes and passing the time with easy bonding games.

@cactustree's (Ao3) Babyface Blues

""The residual embarrassment from the mosquito bite incident has only just begun to wear off when a flight attendant leans down to place a paper cup of coffee on Agent Mulder’s tray table and then asks him softly, “And would your daughter like anything?”

Dana is leaning back against the headrest with her eyes closed, but she is not asleep. ....

The motel fire left her with nothing but what she’d had on her person when she and Mulder rushed out in response to the news of Peggy’s death, and so she is still dressed in the same oversized raincoat and jeans that were soaked through in the cemetery, face bare of makeup, hair loose about her shoulders. She is twenty-nine years old, a medical doctor and a federal agent, and she has just been mistaken for the daughter of her partner, who, as far as she is aware, is in his mid-thirties.

Mulder lets out a quiet chuckle. “No, thanks,” he says to the flight attendant. He does not correct her.""

Scully tries to correct her babyface with a new haircut.

@freckleslikestars/Living_Underground’s perfect lullaby (Ao3)

""They were over Idaho when he carefully removed her reading glasses and tucked them into his breast pocket for safe keeping, lest her head loll to the side and crush them.

The lights of Montana cities sparkled bellow as her soft, nasal snores competed with the whir of the air circulation in the cabin.

Around the time they flew across the Missouri River, her head dropped to his shoulder and she slouched into him."" 

Mulder is surprised that Scully can sleep through their return trip from Oregon. He ponders on his impressions years later; and is shocked when she admits it's "his presence."

David Hearne's Thoughts at 11:21 P.M.

""Then the woods came. They brought twisted black corpses, metal hidden inside flesh, marks branded onto skin, and the light. Your new partner picked a spot and declared it unnatural. He spoke of time being snatched like quarters from the pavement. He pointed the finger of blame at a comatose teenager. None of it was false. None of it was true. It was all merely unsubstantial. You might as well try to bottle the wind as prove what happened in those woods.

You became angry at the mystery. Then you became scared....""

Scully had noticed how defensively Mulder believed before they even left for their case; and is surprised that he calls after to keep her in the loop. She listens.

@invidiosa/Circe Invidiosa's (Gossamer, Alt., Live Journal, Website)

silent fury

""Scully hurled the report into the trash can and dropped down onto the chair in front of Mulder’s desk. “They ask me to debunk your work, and then when I can’t do that, they just redact everything? And you want me to just sit here in silent fury and just take it?""

Scully is furious over her redacted report; and channels her frustration into Mulder's next case, ready to get back out and expose more truths.

@the-spooky-alien's Day 2 of Fictober!

""Oh, c'mon Scully, don't play innocent,'' he snorted, stomach clenching as annoyance flared high in his mind. She couldn't seriously ignore what everyone was calling him behind his back. ''Never heard of Spooky Mulder?''

The look of warning she gave him was enough to dampen his irritation. He mouthed an inaudible 'sorry' at her, wincing when she crossed her arms.

''I have, yes,'' she said, coldly. ''But it can hardly be considered a warning. It's merely a stupid nickname because of what you do with the X-Files.''

Stupid. That was one word for it.""

Mulder is relieved that Scully didn't (doesn't) chase the rumor mills; and is touched that she considers him intelligent.

Diadem’s Scene 02 - Thank You

""At first I guess it was simply morbid curiosity - would I find the body of my sister? Anything was better than the "unsolved" stamp the police had given the case file detailing Samantha's abduction.

After a couple of years, though, I realised that finding her would not be so simple. She would not just be dropped in the middle of a field and left there to be found by some farm hand. I knew by then that everything was much more complicated.""

Mulder had lived a lonely, obsessive life since childhood; and is grateful to be saved and given dignity by Scully's presence.  

amalnahurriyeh/Amal Nahurriyeh's (DW) Triptych With Luggage

""We got you something," her father had said quietly, when they'd all been having lunch back at her apartment after the ceremony.

"You didn't have to," she'd said, and blushed. She still found it hard to talk about the FBI with him; she'd pretty much stuck to telling her mother about it on the phone since she left her internship, and conversations with her father had devolved into safe topics: football, politics, Billy's disciplinary record.

"Sure we did," he said, and swallowed. "Come on down, they're in the car." She'd gone out to the parking lot behind her building with him. "Your mother thought we should wrap them, but I figured that was just a waste of time." He unlocked the trunk of the car and lifted it. She paused for a second, confused. "It's a whole set of 'em," he said, gesturing to the suitcase sitting next to the windshield wiper fluid. "I figured, you'll probably have to do more traveling now. And you can't put your FBI suits in Billy's old duffel, huh?""

Scully pours her excitement for her first field agent case into packing her new, expensive suitcase (gifted by her father in his hesitant support.) It serves her well all of Season 1; and it becomes her conduit during the rough, grounded months in Season 2.

Foxhunt2blue's Pleasures of Simplicity

""It's always strange how children can't wait to grow to adulthood---constantly in a hurry to be something they believe will be so much better. When they finally get there they wish they were children again.

Somewhere along the way they lose what can only be called magic, but maybe it's something else.""

Scully reflects on the innocence that can only be lost in adulthood; and her ensuing transformations over the years in many hallways.  

Enjoy!

#txf #xf fanfic #xfiles #fic #x-files #Collector's Edition #The X-File That Started It All #mine #Melymbrosia #discordantwords #Maidenjedi #zulu #Surajtare #Lara Means #Athene #scullywolf #hllsteeth #wexleresque #spookytheory #Madeline Partous #Erin M. Blair #the-spooky-alien #thespookyalien #scapegrace74 #scullysexual #PostApocolypticAlien #kateyes224 #Beshter

[caramelstarlight]

So apparently either tumblr deleted my stuff or idk.

I posted it on here for sure I saw it yesterday but well it’s being weird so here it is again. I’m so sorry to those who didn’t read it on wattpad since they got to see it earlier because of this issue.

Two Worlds One Heart: 🌿Our Exchange🌿

(Idk if I will keep updating this on Wattpad. Barely anyone views this and I have more reading it on tumblr. But I will try. If you can, Please let other genshin players that love Tighnari about this book! Idm having a small audience at all, it's just that my audience on tumblr has more people reading it.) (sorry for a long wait and how short it is 😭)

You woke up curled next to Tighnari. Lifting your head slightly as his began to fall. You held it up for him on your shoulder. You looked down to see the both of yours and his tail wrapped against the others body. Blushing slightly as you used magic to bring the paper on the table towards you. (If only I could irl) Reading what collei had written. You were happy for her. She was getting better at literature. 

"Y/N or Tighnari, whoever is reading this. I would like to ask you both on how to control my dendro powers better. I also want to learn a bit of magic as well just incase I can't use my bow. Please give me some lessons on these. I told the forest rangers to not disturb you both. I'm hoping none came inside, I told them to go to Rana instead. I hope you both enjoyed your nap. I would surely be exhausted talking for hours as my social battery isn't as high. Make sure to check the time when you both work up. I have some pita pockets made on the table for the both of you if you're both hungry."

-Collei.

"Awwh! That's so sweet of her!" You said in a soft voice being careful to not wake Tighnari up beside you. Your tail swished slowly as you kept reading the note. Checking the time which was 6pm. The usual time for dinner. "Hey Nari, it's 6pm do you want to eat?" You nudged him slightly Ashe work up from the gentle touch. "Mmhh?" He said as his eyes opened. He rubbed them as he registered your sentence.

"Oh sure! Also since when did you start calling me Nari hm-?~" he asked with a bit of tease in his voice. "Today because I feel comfortable, it's nice meeting a kindred spirit y'know?" You said as you pointed to the pita pockets in front of the both of you. Silently enjoying the food with not many thoughts in your head. "Do you want to do anything after we're done?" You asked him and he nodded. "Yeah I can take you somewhere that I think you would like in the Avidya Forest." "Ooh! That sounds fun!" You said as he nodded. "Make sure to not startle them. Be careful when we head there." He said as he kept eating. 

You gave him your plate as you finished. Taking them both to the sink and returning to the couch. "When do you want to go? I say nighttime is the prettiest for this place." "We can go right now if you want to Tighnari." "Alright I'll leave a note for collei to find if she can't find us." He said as you got up and went outside. He wrote where you were going to be with him and when you both should return. Before getting up and joining you.

"It's this way." He said as he pulled your shirt(or jacket) lightly. Tugging it to the right. "Oh haha!" You said slightly embarrassed as you followed him. (And no it's not a real location 🥰) After a few turns and dealing with paths you both made it to the spot. You were in awe as Tighnari looked at you. "That was how I was when I first stumbled across this place." He laughed as his gaze went back towards it. 

It was a little clearing with a pond,  Firefly's dazzled around it while some foxes were nearby resting. You could hear crickets clearly with the water rushing slowly. Some birds chirped nearby, the sounds of the animals were calming. "Make sure to not scare them away, be gentle." He said as he brought you closer. Sitting near the edge of the pond. Watching as some of the foxes came up towards him. Cautious and wary of you before realizing you wouldn't hurt them. 

"Hmm." You said as you petted a fox that was near you. "I wonder how it feels getting scratched behind the ear." You said as your eyes went towards the fox. "It feels nice." Tighnari told you as he took a few notes. "Woww so descriptive." You playfully rolled your eyes at him as he laughed. "Numbskull of course it feels good." Still writing notes down. "Well I never experienced it since my ears are lowered often." 

"Anyways how long are we going to stay here?" You asked as you looked at him." "I suppose we could stay here for a bit more if you want." "Sure then." You replied as your focus went elsewhere. "Are we going when you finish your notes?" "Yeah I am almost done." He continued to write before getting up. Handing out his hand to you as you touched his. Going back towards Tighnaris house. 

"Our exchange is changing a lot." You said out loud as he heard you. "Yeah we're becoming friends, that's how interactions work." "Do you always have a need to be sassy?" "Not really do you?" "No..." "That's good." Collei saw as the both of you came back. Giving her report to Tighnari and told what happened while the both of you were away. "Thank you collei." He stated as he sat down on a chair. Reading the reports that she handed him. "I'll go get ready for bed." Teleporting away from the both of them and quickly took a shower and changed. Using clothes you had brought along as you came back to the both of them.

"That was quick." Collei stated as she saw you teleport in front of them. You wore a long shirt with medium length pants. Watching Tighnari read the reports. "They all did well today. Glad there's no longer withering zone reports. Those were tiring with a limited amount of people available to battle them." 

"It sounds as difficult as the Decree we had in inazuma. It was hard to get trades and export everything. With less visitors and unable to make trades made it hard to earn money." You said remembering how many had suffered to afford their homes. "I have heard about it. Especially with the raiden shogun not letting anyone slip up." 

"Anyways you guys can go sleep I'll be writing my responses to the forest rangers." Tighnari stated as he watched you both leave the room. Focusing on making his responses. His eyes went towards the window. Gazing at the moon every now and then. Before falling asleep on his bed. 

"Tighnari are you up yet?" You said as you tapped him as his shoulder, his ears picked up on your voice as he looked at you. "What's up?" "The sky, anyways I'm heading to sumeru city to get some souvenirs. Do you know any good spots? Or I can mark some stuff based on sumeru." 

"I can teach you to make a flower crown in exchange for how to make something from inazuma." He stated as you agreed. "We can go make some quickly before I start working." "Yeah it sounds fun!" He took out some Nilotpalas lotuses and sumeru roses. "Chose however pattern you want." He said as he made a pattern. Watching you do the same thing. "So here's how you do it..."

"Master has been exchanging information with Y/N again. I don't know where they headed off to but don't worry! He definitely wrote a message somewhere on a letter. I think it's over there actually." Collei stated as she handled the amount of forest rangers coming to her for help. (This sure is getting hard to keep up with, I hope the both of them return soon to us.) she thought as the number of forest rangers dwindled and finally dispersed."Oh it's time for patrol soon. So they should be returning soon for it." Collei told herself as she checked the time. Getting everything ready for him and her for his arrival with you. 

"That was fun! I like the combo, purple and yellow is always great together." You said as you enjoyed the color choice. "Glad you do, anyways it's time for patrol so we are heading back, you can go to sumeru city and look for souvenirs and stuff over there while we're busy." "Alright well we should hurry we don't want you being late to it." He nodded as the both of you ran towards Gandharva Ville. "Well goodbye guys!" You said as you waved goodbye as they headed off. Teleporting to sumeru city you were in awe. Sumeru city's tree really was holding up the Akademiya. "Now to find someone or somewhere to go to for souvenirs." You stated as you wandered around the place. Many things caught you eye as you purchased some for your friends and had some breakfast over there. 

"Sumeru city is nice I didn't think there would be a whole tree in the city! " you told yourself as your gaze lingered on it before you pulled out your phone and started to eat. Trying to ignore the stares you recieved from others. Were they all in awe of you or were they trying to figure out what you are? Surely the scholars know you're from inazuma and are kitsune. The ones that aren't scholars may only know of you being inazuman.

#genshin impact x reader #sumeru #tighnari #genshin impact #dendro #genshin tighnari #tighnari x reader #tighnari fluff #tighnari x you #collei #genshin tighnari x reader #tighnari x yn #tighnari x y/n #tighnari x gn reader #tighnari x gender neutral reader #Caramels Two World One Heart series

[moonlight26posts-blog]

Very URGENT NOW!!! Update 3/11: Due to the extent of Kira's medical and need for surgery, in addition to her general fearfulness, she needs rescue placement by close of business (6pm) on 3/13.

URGENT: Despite being found bloody & tied down on a curb several months ago, this sweet girl has SO much love to give - BARCS, Baltimore MD

**If you would like to foster Kira, we can contact local rescues to ask for help, please email [email protected] (we are only a volunteer group that tries to help rescues help the dogs/cats of MD)**

1-year-old Kira is a certified MAJOR lovebug once she warms up to you.

Kira definitely runs on the fearful side, which isn't shocking given that she was initially found with her mouth and chest tied up bloody on a curb, all alone in the city, just waiting desperately for anyone to care and help. Fortunately, two Good Samaritans discovered her, believing at first that she was already deceased, only to realize that she was still alive. For several months afterward, they got her healthy again, loved her unconditionally, and made her a part of their family- along with their two resident "grumpy" small dogs.

Unfortunately, because her family had to move out of the country, they were forced to make the difficult decision to surrender Kira into BARCS' care.

When she very first arrived at our shelter, Kira was very confused and unsure, and would growl when first meeting new people; we don't blame her though, as we know that the bustle of this environment can be quite overwhelming for many animals.

Everything we've seen so far appears fear-based, and she does seem more fearful of men or people with bigger builds.

While in our care, Kira has presented as quite nervous and unsure of other dogs. She did snap/snarl for space when tested off-leash, but then showed interest (with polite rear sniffs) when the other dogs were not facing her. Given these observations, we think she may be the most comfortable as the only dog in a future home, but also has the potential to improve with more interactions with polite dogs.

Due to how nervous Kira is currently, she is not available for adoption through BARCS at this time and can only be placed with an approved partner rescue. Our hope for her would be to see her go somewhere where one can see past the fear because once she feels safe, she is full of SO much love- the most love in the world. She's been through the most unspeakable situations and deserves to live the rest of her life feeling nothing but safe, loved, and secure.

Upon examination, our vets noted that Kira has a very obvious scar around her muzzle, which makes sense given her history and how she was found. She also has an old leg injury, and although she uses it to walk sometimes, she has lost a lot of muscle mass from disuse. Her x-rays have been forwarded to a surgeon for opinion, and a full medical summary can be provided upon request.

Kira is available immediately for rescue pick-up.

Please let us know if your organization can help! Thank you, The BARCS Rescue Team Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) ​New Address! 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225 [email protected]| [phone]

Rescue pick-up hours: Monday-Friday: 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m

Adoption hours: Monday-Friday: 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, Inc. (BARCS) | 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225

#dog rescue maryland #dog rescue #dog rescue baltimore maryland #doglover #dog adoption maryland #cute animals #adopt a dog #foster dog #fostering dogs #foster family #foster

[holding-hands-and-hearts]

It Was Tuesday

content warning: talk of suicide / suicidal ideation.

They called to tell me you tried to kill yourself on a Tuesday. 

It was so late at night it was long into Wednesday, but for me it was still Tuesday evening, in the way that insomniacs’ schedules simply shift everything a few hours forward and noon is at 6pm. I did the math on the drive over, adding up the hours until the time I picked up the phone. I knew how you’d have done it but couldn’t say who’d found you, and the ambulance was usually pretty quick but the hospital receptionists don’t call until they know whether to give their deepest condolences or just tell you you’d better come in. 

It was the phrase they used that got me, I think. Attempted to take your own life. So casual, like you could just pick it up and walk away with it, and you’d just dropped it somewhere along the way. How is it to hold a life in your hands? Does it squirm between your palms? Or is it docile enough that you can just watch it for a while, trace the pits and scars and broken parts until something tells you that you may as well just trash the whole thing?

They called on a Tuesday, and I was sitting at the kitchen counter doing taxes when the phone rang, my dirty dishes stacked somewhere beyond my W-2. They called me by both names, and I was oddly touched that you’d had me as your emergency contact since before everyone else started saying “doctor” when they addressed me. I can’t believe I still don’t know what I’m doing, I told you after the piece of paper came in the mail, but what’s a PhD supposed to do about that? Turns out education doesn’t exempt you from real life. The doctorate doesn’t do the dishes, and I don’t know why in the world I bothered in the first place. 

Then they told me the ambulance had brought you in unresponsive, said the trauma care team is still working, and I think my brilliant response was “oh”, like I knew what all of that meant beyond the fact that you weren’t dead yet. They said the working assumption was that you’d tried to take your own life, that bizarre little phrase, like the trauma team was trying to pry it back from you as if you were a child trying to hold something you shouldn’t. It wasn’t too far from the truth, probably. 

I should come as soon as possible, they said, and then there was a pause on the other end of the line, and whoever it was staffing the phones at God-knows-what hour the Tuesday night you tried to die asked me if all of that made sense. I burst out laughing. 

I still picture them on the other end of the line, behind some circulation desk in some lobby, holding the receiver a few extra inches away from their ear; they saw someone’s kid in tears because they had to get a flu shot today, an empty-eyed daughter signing her dad’s postmortem, a repeat patient coming to chemo in a ball gown, and now I’m laughing because you’re nearly dead in the next room. It wasn’t until my sides ached and my lungs burned and I’d knocked my W-2 and half the stack of receipts off of the counter that I stopped, and my voice was practically a croak when I said “I’ll be there.”

Nothing’s sure but death and taxes, and it looks like we’re both just doing our best to be certain. 

*******

Do you remember that time you stayed awake with me? I was doing my dissertation, I was always doing that nightmare of a dissertation, determined to pull an all-nighter so I could tell myself I’d done something. You sat in the hard-back kitchen chair two feet away, watching Disney movies and reaching over to squeeze my hand when I stopped typing. Your fingers were warm. 

By four-thirty in the morning you’d finished the Emperor’s New Groove and Tangled and gone most of the way through Wall-E, and I was hungry and cold and hadn’t written eight thousand words in eight hours like I said I would, so you put the cinnamon rolls I’d been saving for an unspecified special occasion in the oven and held a butter knife full of fake cream cheese frosting in front of my nose. I gave up on the dissertation.

I didn’t have a couch, but the sheet set had come with an extra duvet I didn’t need in the spring and my next-door neighbor was a live-laugh-love fanatic who gave away throw pillows like party favors at the end of every season, so we grabbed oven mitts and forks and sat down to eat warm cinnamon rolls straight from the pan. The sun was rising outside my window and the woolen March clouds were positively dreary, but I tangled our ankles together, you laughed when I got cinnamon goop on the end of my nose, and you were so bright and beautiful in the early morning light that I forgot about anything else. 

It was nearly the same time in the morning when I started pacing in the waiting room. The doctors would all come to talk to people who weren’t me, and the tearstained faces of the others who’d waited overnight disappeared one by one, and slowly I was convinced I’d dreamed it. I still smelled cinnamon when I thought of you. I saw the outline of your face in the early morning light, warm hands and sticky fingers on the floor of my stupid apartment, and I remembered thinking so clearly how you were the most beautiful human being I’d ever seen. 

How in the world did you end up here?

I didn’t think anyone could be angry at someone suicidal, but all of a sudden I’m pissed at you, walking so furiously I’ll wear a hole in the stupid industrial carpet. There’s a lady in one of the chairs who looks like she’s lived there for at least the past week, gives me a dirty look as I go by for the six millionth time and I don’t care. They called me on a Tuesday night to tell me you had tried to kill yourself and here I am, so royally furious I want to shake you by the shoulders until you understand how much I hate that you didn’t call me first.

*******

Someone comes to tell me you’re alive when I’m already halfway done planning the funeral. I have this mental image of you upstairs eating Jell-O, and it’s not really you, but I’d take it. The other part of me already knows exactly what you’d look like lying in a morgue, and the dead feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that that one’s more right. I know you’d hate a church memorial, don’t worry. I know you better than that. 

It’s Wednesday, no longer the morning, just Wednesday, and I ask if you’re okay. They don’t seem to know what to tell me. Visitors aren’t allowed yet, but the cafeteria’s open. 

“Okay,” I say. And I sit. I’m still angry at you. 

When you get out of here, we’re going to make cinnamon rolls. It’ll be sunrise, and maybe the weather’s terrible, and I still don’t have a couch, but I can’t do it without you. I can’t imagine any of this without you. 

*******

#non-star wars?? what? #don't worry we're back to standard menu items soon #heart's other writing #suicide #cw suicide #tw suicide #creative writing

[pompadourpink]

hi mom, i have adhd and i'm super super messy, i always lose or break my stuff, i'm wasting money, super frustrated, my place is always messy and gross but i don't know how to get out of that vicious cycle, PLS HLP! luv u uwu

Hello dear,

Sorry to hear that! Work hard now so you can be lazy later:

DECLUTTER (you wouldn't have stuff laying around if it had somewhere to go + having less makes maintenance a lot easier/faster),

simplify (you leave empty water bottles under the bed: get a reusable one),

take precautions (get a phone case, buy silicon/plastic rather than glass),

use muscle memory (do you ever lose your toothbrush? no, because you stay in front of the sink as you brush and then put it back before you leave)

ponder: do you need to get shelves/coat hooks so you stop dropping your clothes on the floor? tiles to find your keys? what routinely bothers you?

set alarms (7am: fill up your water bottle! 6pm before bin day: take the trash out! 9pm: start your evening routine!) and have a cleaning schedule (with alarms!) so you don't get overwhelmed after three weeks of doing nothing and now you're out of underwear because you didn't do laundry

get clear boxes and labels so you know where stuff goes,

make a budget of your necessary expenses, add a percentage of your income for extras and save the rest, even if it means waiting three weeks to replace something - your brain will learn carefulness to avoid frustration (if you have no self-control, put someone else in charge)

have a five minute cleaning session in your morning routine (but make it fun, listen to some Katy Perry and reward yourself after)

get extras of useful things (have a box with scissors, painkillers, a nail file, etc., in the rooms you spend the most time in + emergency pouches in your handbag, glovebox, desk at work, with your favourite liner, deodorant, batteries, etc.)

be nicer to yourself; you're not gross and messy and irresponsible, you're trying to exist in a very demanding world with a dysfunctional brain - and sometimes you'll have to neglect certain things and it literally doesn't matter

Love,

Mum

#ask #malks

[peaky-shelby]

still buzzing from the amazing chapters u fed us with!!

can I ask you something? What software do u use to write? Word?

Also, I know its probably easier to find motivation to write bc u are getting so much support (as u should) but honestly how do u get yourself into writing mode? And are productive at it?

Im also a writer and am struggling with finding motivation. And the blank page sometimes is scary even though I know want I want to write. Ughhh I hope u understand!

Anyway, I literally just vibe with you alot! Of course I don't know you but you pass a very lovely vibe through your replies and interactions!

Have a great weekend <3

hiiiii,

first of all as i always say thank you for taking your time to read my stories. Means a lot.

Nooowww about the softwares, yess i use WORD unless I'm writing for my scripts, in which case i use FADE IN, if you wanna look into other writing methods.

I have some tips for writing mode so here we goo:

The most cliche one is have a certain time of day you'll write every day no matter what. Tell yourself that everyday at 6pm, you'll sit and write for 10 minutes. Start writing. Some days you'll only write for 10 minutes because your brain is dry and it's just one of those days. Other days you'll start writing and you're never gonna stop because everything is gonna flow and you'll feel content.

It's best when you have a specific time everyday but If you can't , then whenever you have the time just do that. Sit down, set a 10 minute timer and begin. When the timer goes off, set another 10 minutes and by then chances are you're so into the story and writing you'll keep going.

Music also helps to get your mind working, especially if you have made a playlist that is based on your fic. It distracts you from the real world, gets you inside the world you are creating and motivates you to start writing.

Rereading the previous chapter you've written to get on the spirit also helps. By the time you finish reading you wanna keep going and continue the story.

People motivating you is amazing. But you have to learn to motivate yourself in these situations. That can happen with deadlines. Set deadlines for yourself and if you make it give yourself a present. The goals don't have to be huge. It could be one chapter per week. Or to have finish a 100 pages in two weeks. They can be anything as long as you allow yourself to see progress. I've been in the business of professional screenwriting for a few months now but as I've already said I'm still incredibly insecure when it comes to writing my personal stuff and I'm not following other people's plots. Sometimes my insecurities alone stop me from writing. Setting deadlines and rewarding yourself helps stop those insecurities from growing because you can see there is progress and that motivates you to continue writing.

White pages are the most terrifying thing in the world, trust me I know. And they never get friendlier unless you change your mindset. Some times a blank page will be a monster, other days they are endless possibilities. I like to compare blank pages to space. You can go anywhere, do anything and 50 minutes later you realize you're just floating in darkness. There's only one way out and it is to write. Start writing, even if it's the worst first line, even if it's a line you stolr from somewhere else. Look at your keyboard, face down and say fuck it. Start from any part of the story you want. If you don't want to write a scene now, write the next one.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, write about things you are obsessed with. Don't push yourself to write a story that doesn't make you feel like you are high, screaming, crying, throwing up. Write about what you love. I haven't felt as much excitement as i have for New Romantics in YEARS. I picked a plot that I knew interested me enough to think about it before i go to sleep, a topic that i knew interested me to research and could get me obsessed even.

In conclusion writing is a sneaky hobby. Because a lot of times it takes a lot of an energy and you gotta start from nothing. It's all about setting an environment for yourself that awakens your soul and your heart every time to open up. For me music does that. And sometimes when i don't wanna write i create playlists, edits, aesthetics, mood boards, presentations about my fics. Anything to get me in the story. It's all about creating, if you start you can't stop.

I hope this helps and please don't hesitate to text me or send another anon ask. I'm here to make friends and meet people. I love creating blogs that i can interact with others in a safe environment. That's why you'll never see any toxic shit here. I'm a bit of a crackhead, yelling all the time and freaking out but i promise I'm harmless. 💞

I love you to the moon & back xx

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

About the Blog/Pinned Post (Update)

Updated: 4/14/2024

Hello! I’m Mod Poss, the sole founder and admin of this blog. Here at the Professional Prompt Maker, I write a ton of prompts. But this blog is unique from other prompt blogs: my askbox is an uncensored and judgment free zone, because I will write prompts for taboo topics (ex: incest, age gaps, cannibalism, etc.)*.

*NOTE: Specifically NSFW prompts are only available to my patrons.

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8AM to 9AM (Sat & Sun Only) - 3 Dialogue Prompts 2PM to 3PM - Requests (CLOSED) 5PM - Obscure Holidays Prompts (Holidays collected from this site[x]) 6PM to 8pm (Fri Only) - Mod Poss OC Talk & Personal Questions Answered Friday - Weekly Update

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Extra Services I Do For Money:

Beta Reading for Fantasy (with a focus on helping with worldbuilding, specifically magic systems, cultural aspects, gender/sexuality, and basic biology/environments) - prices vary (currently available to select patrons only)

Prompt Request Commissions (will only be sent to commissioner, never posted) - $2 per prompt created ($1 per prompt for select patrons) Note: Comissions accepted via Ko-fi or Email ([email protected])

Commission Writing for your OCs (“fanfictions” for your OCs with your oversight,) - prices TBA (patrons prioritized)

(More to come)

Recommended Sites & Tools (Not Mine)

For Worldbuilding:

This PDF (HARP Folkways for $15) -- an RPG guide that breaks down aspects of real world cultures to help you design your own cultures. Invaluable to me.

Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator (Free) -- a very in-depth and detailed mapmaker with all sorts of cool tidbits. Nothing has ever quite sparked my worldbuilding like designing a map that tells me the temperature, altitude, biomes, etc. of the countries/cities/worlds I’m designing. So much is customizable too, so don’t feel limited by what the map generates/suggests. All the details this map maker has really makes me reconsider clothing, holidays, architecture, etc. since so much about a society is shaped by it’s environment (works very well with the Folkways culture guide). [+ the creator has a Patreon]

MyNoise -- an ambience maker I am currently loving due to all the great high quality ambiences the creator makes and has up on their site.

[More to come]

Want more?

I also have a Patreon and (coming soon!) a SubscribeStar for this blog - some goodies there include:

[NOTE: SubscribeStar is currently available but under construction]

Prompt request & obscure holiday overflow from Tumblr* ($5+)

View patron requested prompts & random weekday prompts + writing craft rants/advice ($10+)

Request prompts NSFW & SFW that will ONLY post on Patreon + receive 10+ prompts per request** ($15+)

Purchase Patreon exclusive prompts*** & Commission private/never-to-be-posted prompts ($25+)

Beta reading & Worldbuilding help*** ($50+/limited slots)

*If I receive a free request and write more than 5 prompts for it, all prompts past the first 5 will only be posted to my Patreon. **Compared to 5 prompts per request on Tumblr. ***Details on Patreon.

And if you just want to help me not be broke, here’s my Ko-Fi!

#mod poss #(updated pinned post using the new text post)

[hocusbogus]

Day 3: Lotte World, Lotte Aquarium, (Shopping) and Lotte Sky World

Day 3 was interesting because I was at the height of my period pain. It was an exciting day, but a bit nerve wrecking for me because it was RIDES! I hate rides. The idea of it sounds fun, but my scaredy-height-fearing ass knew that it will kill me.

But Diana love rides, so of course we’d go. Thankfully they also have haunted houses and we also went, in which Diana hates haunted houses so it’s s win-win, lose-lose for us.

We were too chill before heading to Lotte World, had our Isaac Toast and Ediya coffee and rewatched what we vlogged the past two days, we left the hotel quite late. 

I think it would be more fun if it weren’t for the long queues for most of the rides, which caused us to not be able to hit all the rides, and there were a lot of VR rides. 

My nightmare came in two, the first one was the turning teacup. Okay, it was not a teacup this time around it was like a basket, the concept was snakes in a basket but you need to turn it very fast and I almost puked. I closed my eyes the whole time because I felt like I was about to faint. The second nightmare was the Gyro Spin but we’ll get into that later.

We bought cute headbands! Which made me so happy! I’ve always wanted to put on cute headbands and walk around in public. So I bought the bunny ears one, and Diana bought like something with ears too but with a fish ornament, I don’t even know what to call it. We were so cute!!! Lotte World is the only place where you would look normal wearing cute headbands, you can’t be walking around like that usually. I love how Koreans like to dress up in themes? Almost everyone were dressed in costumes or at least has that cute headband, the costumes were either student costumes or costumes related to Halloween. We looked so out of place, hence the need for the cute headbands. 

I lost count on how many rides we went to but only 1 would be considered a proper ride, at least in my books which was the Gyro Spin (the second nightmare), we queued for so long it was insane and I almost had a heart attack while on the ride it doesn’t feel safe at all my back was exposed!!! I could flung out anytime. But I am still well and alive and typing this.

We had some random hotteok and sausage because damn, I’ve never felt so famished, maybe because of all the waiting. Next would be the haunted house! We had to book a timeslot and only Zombie Subway was available, it was like an immersive haunted house. Apparently there was another one that was scarier which was Zombie Prison but the timeslot for that was at 6pm and we couldn’t wait.

Since we couldn’t film inside let me describe the experience here, so when we went in we were required to sit on the two rows of seats, facing each other. It was just like Train To Busan where we are on our way to somewhere and suddenly the train broke down. We couldn’t understand a word of what the train conductor was saying, but I’m assuming he was telling us there was something wrong and he asked us to stay put. The “windows” were screens so it’s also kinda like a VR thing and you could see there were zombies outside and then it went dark and the door opened!

Holy shit, it was scary. I love immersive haunted houses! Then it went completely dark, and we waited for awhile, the lights turned on and off and we can see the Zombie walking around the aisle of the train in front of us, they were so good at it too.

There was also one Zombie who was carrying a chainsaw, what the hell. We weren’t allow to move or interact with the actors so it’s even worse. Finally they asked us to leave the train but before we could, a zombie came inside and did a jump-scare I literally sat on someone, sorry human! 

It was a short experience but funny.

Next was the Aquarium, I love aquariums! I love fish and sea animals. My favourite would probably be the seal, the whale, the penguins and the giant octopus. So interesting, I’ve never seen them in real life. For the seal, it kept on doing the same move of swimming to the front and kicking its feet back to swim backwards, Diana named it “the one trick pony” and we laughed for a good while, another inside joke was born.

We saw some otters that looked like Miso too. They’re so cute but I know they are mean and deadly in nature.

Last stop before dinner and shopping was Lotte Sky World, our expectation was LOW. How interesting would a tower be? Boy, wow did we changed our minds. When we went in there was a group of corporate people who had a personal guide, and we were like eavesdropping to it, getting free guides pretending to be important people. Oh, by the way the Lotte Sky World was where Namjoon and Yoongi did one of their Run BTS penalty, another BTS crumb.

The entrance was quite dramatic, they made us sit in rows and watch this presentation on how Seoul was during the Joseon dynasty and all the dynasties. It was so unexpected for the screen to lift revealing Seoul skyline as the sun was setting? Dude, my heart dropped to my stomach in awe! I love how dramatic the reveal was and how unexpected it was for us as well, everyone’s jaw was on the floor. 

We took tons of pictures just trying to capture the moments, it was amazing and beyond words, the contrasting hues of orange and blue with a hint of purple as the city lights illuminate it. Everything was pretty in contrast yet it blends so seamlessly. Seeing how the city comes alive at night, and how small everything seems, yet down there, there are millions of people living their own lives, it all felt so surreal and grounding (ironically we were very far from the ground).

There was also a photo-booth that Diana and I managed to take pictures at, Korea is known for that, yet it took us 3 days to actually do it, and that was the only time that we actually did it even though there were tons of self photo-booth we saw over the next few days of our trip. 

After the amazing experience at Lotte Sky World we went into the mall to look for food, the food was alright, not mind blowing unlike Myeongdong Kyoja. I was so excited for thisisneverthat store, love that brand and going to its actual physical store made me excited, Casetify physical store too! But they didn’t have what I wanted so we skipped.

We discovered earpearp store selling phone casings and pod casings for cheap, we of course bought a few, one of our favourite finds. I’m still using the airpods casing that I first put on there till today. I bought two phone casings and two airpods casings.

We ended the day that way, what an amazing day.

#lotte #lotte world #lotte sky world #korea #seoul #seoulmate trip

[justcahttingtothevoidcat]

2am

Well it's after 2am

I didn't wake up until 6pm ish because I was awake until 6am that morning thanks to pain. It's been a pain week Cat, oh, it's the 13th of October, a Thursday.

Anyway, I don't have much news, still waiting on my MRI results, although I did email the consultant asking him for them, that may improve the likelihood of getting the results.

In terms of the wider world, Truss is still PM, we are still in a messed up economy, prices are too high and wages are too low. I haven't been keeping abreast of much going on internationally, just been too sore and tired.

I did actually get out yesterday, I had a chiropody appointment, which was fine, it was good to chat to someone new but my big toe is pretty messed up, it wasn't great before, antibiotics may be the answer although I detest them, they really wreck my body.

Anyway, I went to Loch Lomond shores to pop into the shoe shop there, mum got some lovely boots and I got to listen to my music and enjoy the autumn landscape. We did go to Pets at home and B&M then Asda after, which was fun but my did I pay for it. I just enjoy the time out with mum and seeing new things and going places. Oh did I say I got my chair back? It started working again on its own, which is fine with me.

I would really like to spend some good time in a park somewhere, and just drink in all the Autumnal goodness while it is here, the seasons fly by and I may have the chance weather and body depending to get to Rouen Glen park and garden centre tomorrow, who knows what tomorrow will bring though, I will find out when I meet it and not concern myself with it until then. That's how I keep myself sane!

I should really take myself off to bed, I am hesitant to because I seem to have adrenalin running and I feel both anxiously awake and quite tired. Chronic illness is a trip, often you find yourself a living contradiction and because the way that the NHS is set up and Gov priorities, the research and help just isn't there for folk, many of who live with much more difficult things than me.

Anyway, I am rambling Güten nacht.

[pinersecond]

Where to find the lesson list in devslopes

#Where to find the lesson list in devslopes code#

I’m scared (Scared of the unknown, or what bad things could happen).I’m worried about losing my job and not being able to pay my rent.I want to, but I have a family to provide for and just can’t.If you don’t have any roadblocks stopping you from accomplishing your goals/dream then you shouldn’t be reading this article because clearly life has given you all the answers and blessings that the rest of us can’t seem to find.įor us normal folk’, we have obstacles and need to overcome them. If you miss a day, you set yourself up for failure. Planning action items for the day with a maximum of one month allows your tasks to be doable and you won’t get depressed looking at the “long” path ahead of you.Īccomplishing action items every day is critical to becoming successful. If your plan includes action items for today, and you do those action items for today, you have literally started on the path to success. This is how I personally build all of my plans. When you get close to the end of this month, make a plan for the next month. If you have planned more than this, then you are setting yourself up for failure.

#Where to find the lesson list in devslopes code#

Need to work with wife to help me code from 7pm-11pm every day, and 8am-3pm on Saturdays. Pick a tech to learn This week: Build my first simple app/program This month: Publish my first app/program for others to use Roadblocks: I work 8am-6pm. Goal: Work remotely as an engineer by August, 5th 2018 Steps: Pick a technology/language, learn to code, apply for jobs Today: Research technologies that have most remote jobs. Though this can apply to any subject, let’s say your goal is to travel the world and make your living working remotely as an engineer, but you have no experience with code. The plan must include action items for today, the rest of the week, and possibly up until the end of the month. No more than this! Seriously - spend only 1 hour planning out the path to your goal. They start mapping out every step along the path to success. or Tony Robbins and they are all of a sudden pumped and ready to change the world. If you do have an idea of who you want to be or what you want to accomplish, read on. If you are in this boat, reach out to me personally and I can give you some advice. If there is nothing that makes you happy, or that you want to work towards - or if you simply don’t know what those things are yet, you are going to need to start experimenting. If you want to make some changes in your life, you are going to at least need a desire and direction. If you ever have any of these thoughts, I would say it’s time for some big change. I start working on my goals, but somewhere a long the way stop working on them.I have thoughts of depression or frustration when I think about the state of my life.I “Netflix and chill” way too much - and I know it.I’m always broke and I hate being broke.When I see others accomplishments/successes on social media I get sad and/or frustrated.I’m going to use my super biased personal-experienced based algorithm to help you identify if you are on the wrong path.Īsk yourself in any of the following apply to you: You can know that you are being successful when even your failures bring you joy. So what is success? Success is working towards what you are most passionate about and loving every minute of the journey along the way. Yet, almost every person I or you know will be in that position. For me, the worst thing ever would be lying on my deathbed, thinking about not doing something that I wanted to do in this life. You are likely going to live to be 77–81 years old in this life. After that is usually followed up with some lame response such as, “But life is good…”. When I ask them, “Is doing this your dream job” they have all responded, “no”. I have friends who are lawyers, dentists, doctors, and other “worthy” professions. Almost every person on this planet has a dream of some kind - something that they want to do or a person they want to be. What is a mediocre life? It’s a life that is living below it’s potential. Yeah it’s not my dream job but its good”. They say things like, “There is nothing wrong with having a steady job if it provides for your family” or “Being a lawyer is a respectable job. I get a lot of flack on the subject of success - usually from people living mediocre lives. Choosing a date to be diligent or do some great thing is counter-intuitive to diligence and consistency.Īlso, all the wannabes, sales people, and people you shouldn’t respect are making resolutions today - don’t be like them. I have found that success comes from diligent action over an extended period of time. Sudo the Dog Should I Make New Years Resolutions?

#Where to find the lesson list in devslopes

[moonlight26posts-blog]

Very URGENT NOW!!! Update 3/11: Due to the extent of Kira's medical and need for surgery, in addition to her general fearfulness, she needs rescue placement by close of business (6pm) on 3/13.

URGENT: Despite being found bloody & tied down on a curb several months ago, this sweet girl has SO much love to give - BARCS, Baltimore MD

1-year-old Kira is a certified MAJOR lovebug once she warms up to you.

Kira definitely runs on the fearful side, which isn't shocking given that she was initially found with her mouth and chest tied up bloody on a curb, all alone in the city, just waiting desperately for anyone to care and help. Fortunately, two Good Samaritans discovered her, believing at first that she was already deceased, only to realize that she was still alive. For several months afterward, they got her healthy again, loved her unconditionally, and made her a part of their family- along with their two resident "grumpy" small dogs.

Unfortunately, because her family had to move out of the country, they were forced to make the difficult decision to surrender Kira into BARCS' care.

When she very first arrived at our shelter, Kira was very confused and unsure, and would growl when first meeting new people; we don't blame her though, as we know that the bustle of this environment can be quite overwhelming for many animals. Everything we've seen so far appears fear-based, and she does seem more fearful of men or people with bigger builds.

While in our care, Kira has presented as quite nervous and unsure of other dogs. She did snap/snarl for space when tested off-leash, but then showed interest (with polite rear sniffs) when the other dogs were not facing her. Given these observations, we think she may be the most comfortable as the only dog in a future home, but also has the potential to improve with more interactions with polite dogs.

Due to how nervous Kira is currently, she is not available for adoption through BARCS at this time and can only be placed with an approved partner rescue. Our hope for her would be to see her go somewhere where one can see past the fear because once she feels safe, she is full of SO much love- the most love in the world. She's been through the most unspeakable situations and deserves to live the rest of her life feeling nothing but safe, loved, and secure.

Upon examination, our vets noted that Kira has a very obvious scar around her muzzle, which makes sense given her history and how she was found. She also has an old leg injury, and although she uses it to walk sometimes, she has lost a lot of muscle mass from disuse. Her x-rays have been forwarded to a surgeon for opinion, and a full medical summary can be provided upon request.

Kira is available immediately for rescue pick-up.

Please let us know if your organization can help!

Thank you,

The BARCS Rescue Team

Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) ​New Address! 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225 [email protected]| [phone]

Rescue pick-up hours: Monday-Friday: 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m

Adoption hours: Monday-Friday: 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, Inc. (BARCS) | 2490 Giles Rd, Baltimore, MD 21225

**If you would like to foster Kira, we can contact local rescues to ask for help, please email [email protected] (we are only a volunteer group that tries to help rescues help the dogs/cats of MD)

#dog rescue maryland #dog rescue #dog rescue baltimore maryland #doglover #dog adoption maryland #cute animals #foster dog #fostering dogs #foster #foster dogs baltimore

[desperately0seeking]

5.08.22

HIDE & SEEK

On Saturday morning I left with my comrades, albeit on mute, to check out the Pride celebrations in town before they headed to the festival. By this point we’d hired bikes, customary in Amsterdam, to ride into town but we were locking them up shortly thereafter as the streets and canals were absolutely chockers. The colourful procession was well underway on the water and the banks were so packed the backstreets were the only places you could successfully make progress in any direction. I split from the others as they were soon to ride to the festival and I was going to go look at some Vermeers. I walked all the way there, half because it was too busy to ride and half because I was long on time. The parade stretched all around the city and every ground floor commercial or residential property seemed to be hosting a different party. The atmosphere was ebullient and I put on a smile as I traversed the crowd even though I was feeling very sorry for myself. The walk took twice as long as what it normally would have due to the crowds so by the time I got to Rijksmuseum I was then short on time. There was nothing around the outside of the museum to buy lunch except for a doleful little hotdog stand so I entered the museum hangry. I found a coffee cart that had carrot cake and bought a slice and a bottle of fanta. I then bought another slice, trying to apologise with shame as I requested it, and ate the second piece standing at the exhibition entrance. The museum was grand and excellent and I got lost on one of the floors so badly that I had to ask a staff member how to get out, something I put off for multiple attempts due to the language barrier (they could speak fluent english, I couldn't).

By the time I was ushered out of the gallery (it had closed 5 mins ago but I was running around in the rooms I'd missed) it was late and I'd made the risible assumption (I blame the illness) that the canals would have calmed down by now. This is the European gay scene, AKA the hardest partiers in the world, who i’d expected to have packed up and gone home by 6pm on their biggest day of the year. This was not the case, and any of the restraint that was on display during the earlier, more family friendly part of the day, was now off with my voice somewhere far away. The canals were rocking, and I again (fool me once..) was stuck in throngs of thonged people raving in the streets. I was moving through along the canals at snail’s pace trying to squeeze past the crowds and while I would normally would have been right among it, with my illness and fomo and in my sorrowful state I just wanted to be home and it really seemed so far off when all I could see around me was chest hair. Eventually I made it to the backstreets and retrieved my bike, and made my way home for a long night of chamomile tea and vitamin C consumption. 

On the last night in the dam we smoked two joints at a Bulldog cafe, the one with the photo of Charlie Sheen on the wall.