#ain't that just the way

[thisisanormalurldontworryaboutit]

This phrase fixes my mental state instantly

#over the garden wall #it is what it is #ain't that just the way #Greg #frog #original post #optimism #nihilism #optimistic nihilism #otgw greg #otgw

[saint-vagrant]

4th annual day of my partner & i advocating for our safety in court. please send your strongest most powerful prayers (or whatever) ❤️

i always feel like i must add a bunch of explanations and disclaimers about what's gone on (many years of DV) and what i think of the system (negatively. i think negatively of it) but i'm so beyond fried... you'd think i'd get used to it but at no point has it been or become easier. the fear of it happening is equal only to the fear of it not happening. just gotta get through it.

#if you've not had to do this sort of thing (that's good!) it's hard to explain what it does to you #so depleting... presumption of being a hysterical unreliable idiot about your own experiences #ain't that just the way #and wouldn't you know it— navigating this as 2 trans people (even a trans man! yes!) is like. holy shit #anyway SPIRIT BOMB OF GOOD LUCK PWEASE

[oflights]

Hi Allie! Love your fics and your prompt fills are great so far! If you still have room for more prompts, do you want to write something about time travel? Your time travel story in hockey RPF is one of my favorite fanfics ever and I would love to see your Drarry take. No pressure, though!

ahh hi, hello!! i have to tell you that this ask kind of broke my brain a little and gave me a new idea (not a Time Traveler's Wife AU, god, never again, bless u though) that i think is probably, sort of, maybe possibly going to turn into a real fic at some point? maybe?

here's 1.6k words of it for now hahaha. this is: professional time traveler draco who goes on an assignment back to the late 80s in surrey and maybe, sort of, possibly, accidentally kidnaps 7-year-old harry potter back to his time. yeah. enjoy? more to come someday???

Draco waits in an anxious crouch at the hearth, thighs straining, cursing himself for not just giving in to his aching back and getting on all fours. Not that that’s great for his knees—and Draco loves doing this mental exercise in his 30s, he really does, it’s—

“What do you want?” Blaise asks when he activates his Floo. He’s sitting with his legs slung over the arm of a chair, a book in his hands—upside down, because he’d definitely just picked it up and posed like that to answer the Floo. Draco rolls his eyes, face turned downward.

“Can you, erm, come over? Right now?”

“Right now?” Blaise echoes lazily. “I thought you were on assignment.”

“Right, I was, but I’m back now, and—”

“I hardly even noticed.”

Now Draco really rolls his eyes, and does not hide it; he doesn’t have the patience for this routine. “You are aware that when I’m on assignment, no time passes for you because I return directly to the moment in time where I first traveled from, right? So of course you wouldn’t have noticed, you never notice, and you just—look. Never mind. I need you to come over, right now.”

Now Blaise pinches the bridge of his nose with a frown. “Ugh. All that talk gives me a headache, you know that, Draco. Not the best way to get me to agree to your demands.”

“What if you agree to my demands because if you don’t, I will go over there and drag you through the Floo by your ear—”

“I’ve a full stone on you; unless you can time magic your way into some upper body strength—”

“I will get Greg and make him do it. Blaise.” Blaise finally looks up, the frown lingering. “I’m not joking. Please come here.”

For a moment, Blaise frowns deeply enough that it seems as if he is going to agree. He even puts down the book he’s not reading.

And then he gives Draco a slow, honeyed grin. “What’s in it for me?”

It takes the promise of a few good bottles of wine, a vow to join Blaise and his mother for tea with the latest stepfather, and all the money Draco has in his pocket—over 100 Galleons, unfortunately—to coax Blaise through the Floo. By then, Draco’s back is aching and it cracks ominously when he stands up, but the drops his hands from it as soon as Blaise steps through.

“All right,” Blaise says with a heavy sigh. “What’s so urgent?”

“It’s—I just—see, the thing is—” Draco paces, wringing his hands together, wincing at how sweaty they are. “It’s just that—oh, bollocks. I just need to show you.” Draco grabs Blaise by the wrist, ignoring his look of appalled offense, and marches him down the hall to the drawing room, where he casts a Notice-Me-Not and inches open the door. “Look,” he whispers, and Blaise pokes his head through and sucks in a breath.

“Is that—” Blaise says, and Draco shushes him quickly and shoves him back as the child looks up, frowning. He’s been frowning since Draco first saw him, hadn’t even stopped when Draco brought him here and scrounged up every abandoned toy Pansy’s girls or Teddy had ever left behind and presented them to him. He’d frowned when Draco asked him if he wanted something to eat, frowned harder when Draco had practically run to the kitchen to throw a jam sandwich together with shaking hands because he knew that, despite what the child said, he was surely hungry, he had to be, he—

“Sorry,” Draco says hastily as 7-year-old Harry Potter turns his frown in the direction of the cracked open door, ending the Notice-Me-Not. “Just, ah, checking on you. Everything all right?”

Harry just keeps frowning. He’s got a small soft toy in the form of a dragon in his hands, but he drops it on the tea table as Draco’s eyes sweep over it, placing his hands quickly in his lap. The plate from the sandwich is utterly empty, devoid even of crumbs, and the glass of milk is similarly drained, and Harry’s eyes flash to them with a guilt that shouldn’t be there, sending another fissure of heartbreak through Draco.

“Another sandwich?” he asks, knowing the answer he’s going to get and knowing the answer that’s true.

Harry shakes his head, the barest hint of movement; his tiny, too-thin shoulders are hunched. Draco takes a steadying breath, gives a firm, determined nod, and says, “I’ll be right back.”

He pushes back, where Blaise is stood to the side now, gaping. “Come on,” Draco whispers. “I’ll explain while I make him another sandwich.”

“Draco,” Blaise says urgently as he follows Draco on another dash to the kitchen. “Tell me that’s not Harry Potter.”

“It’s not Harry Potter,” Draco says in an utterly flat, emotionless voice. Blaise groans out loud.

“It’s finally happened. You’ve lost your mind completely; that job of yours has smoothed out every remaining wrinkle in your brain. Pansy was right, we should’ve staged an intervention years ago, it’s our fault, really—”

“It is, I’m in complete agreement,” Draco says, nodding vigorously as he slams into the swinging kitchen door. Everything to make the jam sandwich is still laid out on the bench, so he slices bread with shaking hands and then turns the knife on Blaise, a glob of jam trembling at the end of it. “I’ll have that intervention now, if it’s on offer.”

“It’s a bit bloody late for it, isn’t it?” Blaise says, rubbing his hands over his face. “Is he—that’s not adult Potter on potions, is it? Is this not as bad as I think it is?”

“No, and no, it’s definitely much worse than you think it is,” Draco says as he scrapes butter up on his knife and then scrapes it over the bread rather desperately. “It’s—look.” The knife drops with a clatter, and Draco whips out his pocket watch, shoving it under Blaise’s nose.

Blaise squints down at it. “I—Draco, you know I haven’t the foggiest what any of these mad instruments say. What am I looking at?”

“Do you see that ticking hand there? The green one?” Draco asks, jabbing his finger at it. “That’s our timeline. And the rest—all the different colored hands—those are other timelines. Sometimes I go to them to fix—things, aberrations, events falling too far out of control. Sometimes I go and—and destroy them, and the hands disappear. And sometimes I just go back in my timeline, the green timeline, and go on assignment, and I get bored because my assignment is in a horrible place called Little Whinging, Surrey, and I have time to kill—don’t laugh—and I decide to peek in on my old school rival and see if I can find any fun childhood embarrassments to make fun of for the next time he forgets who I am and tries to drunkenly hit on me at the pub—”

“Oh, good god, Draco.”

“—you know, when he calls me Dresden and asks where I went to school because he would’ve remembered—”

“It’s pathetic and absurd that you’re still completely fucking hung up on that, Draco, it was months ago—”

“Vengeance takes time!”

“Kidnapping someone from the past is a little far for vengeance! You are insane!”

“No, it’s not—” Draco takes a shuddering breath and turns back to the sandwich, struggling to unscrew the jam jar while still holding the pocket watch. “This isn’t vengeance. You didn’t see—I didn’t know—”

“Know what? What the fuck were you thinking?”

“It was—they treated him horribly, Blaise, I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—”

Draco hears Blaise suck in a harsh, shocked breath. “So this is—bloody hell. You’re not planning on sending him back?”

“I can’t. Even if I wanted to—look.” He whirls around with the watch again and points at a different hand. “See that—that tiny hand, the little red one? That’s a new timeline. It appeared when I brought him back here.”

Blaise stares at him in utter shock, more genuine emotion on his face that Draco’s ever seen. “So you created a new timeline, all on your own? Have you ever done that before?”

“Of course not. It’s utterly forbidden, it’s disastrous, I may have broken the universe. It’s—it’s the end of my time-traveling career.” Draco’s voice breaks on the last few words, and he turns back to the bench, wrenching the jam jar open, piling jam on top of the butter and then pulling out a new plate to serve it on. A flick of his wand and there’s a new glass, milk pouring into it, splashing out a little where Draco can’t keep a steady hand. His breathing is coming fast and a little wheezy.

“What are you going to do?” Blaise asks in a hushed, pitying voice.

Draco thinks about it for a second, trembling in his kitchen. A thousand different scenarios are flaring out in his mind, all the possibilities—he’s always thinking in multiple timelines in his line of work, always considering every possible outcome and calculation and consequence. It brings up an unpleasant buzzing in his head, rushing in his ears, and he has to take a deep, deep breath.

Then he sets the sandwich plate and the glass of milk to Levitate by the door, puts the pocket watch on the bench, picks up the knife, and brings the hilt of it down onto the face of the watch, smashing it to pieces that scatter all around them, dozens of colorful hands and gears and shattered pieces of glass, time strewn all about.

“Right now, I’m going to give that child a jam sandwich,” Draco says.

#drarry #drarry fic #oflights #asks #anonymous #fic prompts #deaging sort of?? #a lot is unsaid here because i am almost certainly going to make this a Thing lol #but i needed to get this out rn #am i going to break my own heart writing this eventually? yes probably #ain't that just the way #my fic

[goth-maudra]

Since it's Octembuary Spookytime 🎃, I'm reposting my crossover of Over the Garden Wall and Good Omens, with Crowley as Wirt, Aziraphale as Greg, and Hastur as Greg's frog Jason Funderburker. And The Beast as Himself. 8x10 Canvas board, acrylic paint, and marker. Oh, and glitter for the lamp/halo.

#good omens #good omens aziraphale #good omens crowley #good omens fanart #handmade #disabled artist #eldergoth #ineffable husbands #over the garden wall #neil gaiman #art #otgw beast #otgw fanart #otgw wirt #ogtw greg #good omens season 1 #good omens season 2 #ain't that just the way #come wayward souls

[enbyplant]

Mary Oliver, from American Primitive

#poetry #mary oliver #summer #ain't that just the way #august #happened to read this one today from my anthology

[tiresomeimagination]

I’m learning Spanish right now so I’ve been thinking a lot about the wacky ways Saeyoung would probably try to help you improve your language skills. In this context, italicized dialogue means it’s being spoken in the target/foreign language! Also the small marked off section is supposed to imply it’s over the messenger. Anyways, this was just a short silly idea I had lolol.

~~~~~

"What'cha working on there?"

came the voice of your boyfriend as he peered over your shoulder to catch a peek at what you seemed so involved in studying at the table.

You chuckled as his fiery curls entered the edge of your vision and you felt him leaning against you. "I've just got to get through this next chapter," you explained, lifting your textbook and turning it so he could read the title. You were taking a foreign language class and it was already so much to remember.

His face lit up at the sight of the title, recognizing the language immediately. "Oh! I know that one! it's pretty easy once you practice it enough."

"Yeah... it's just tough to keep up with the practice I guess..." You groaned, rubbing your face tiredly.

He hummed in thought, absentmindedly resting his hand on your shoulder. "hmm... how about I give you a hand?"

"Uh... well, I guess it would help to drill some stuff with somebody. I'll have a test coming up soon and I'm not sure if I'm ready…" you admitted, assuming he was offering to go through flashcards with you or something.

He gave you a confident grin. "Oh don't worry! You'll be acing your tests in no time after we're done!"

If you had known what he really meant by this, you probably wouldn't have accepted his interference so readily. But it was too late. The gears were already turning and he knew exactly what he was going to do to help you.

You didn't notice the change right away. You got up the next morning and went through your usual routine. It wasn't until you opened the fridge and pulled out a drink that you spotted something so strange you had to do a double take. 

The label was in a different language.

"...What…??" You breathed out, your brain struggling to catch up to what was happening. You pulled out a different bottle from the fridge, eyes widening as you found its label had also changed languages.

After a few minutes of rummaging through the cabinets, you realized just about everything had been relabeled in your target language. Once you reassured yourself that you had not gone crazy in your sleep, you came to the conclusion that only one person could be responsible for pulling off something of this scale.

"Saeyoung!!" You called out.

It wasn't long before the culprit in question came strolling in at your call. "Yesss, my honey?" he greeted you casually, and it took you a moment to register that he was speaking your target language.

"Saeyoung, what in the world is going on??" You huffed.

"Immersion really is one of the best learning tools, Y/N. Trust me, I had to pick up a lot of languages on pretty short notice with the agency," he explained, shrugging.

You frowned, brows furrowing. "I understood next to none of that." You grumbled unhappily, hoping he would get the idea and go back to talking normally.

Instead he just laughed, ruffling your hair teasingly. "You'll get the hang of it!"

Oh you were going to kill him.

— — — —

[Jaehee] "I can't help but notice that Y/N has been speaking strangely in the messenger today."

[Yoosung] "I noticed that too! I wonder if their phone keyboard is broken."

[Y/N] "Help!! Saeyoung change me messenger. Language stuck!! No use good T-T"

[Jaehee] "...I'm sorry, Y/N. I can't understand what you're trying to say. There's something wrong with your copy of the messenger?"

[707] "Don't worry, they're fine lolol. They're just using a special version today."

[Y/N] "fix language set!! >:( no more help;;"

[707] "You're doing great, honey! ^^"

— — — —

You tossed your phone aside with an aggravated groan. Your entire version of the RFA messenger had been switched to your target language, but only on your end. Part of you couldn't help but admire the effort Saeyoung must have put into all of this…but that didn't change the fact that it wasn't exactly the kind of studying you had in mind.

"Aww, is my grumpy little kitty getting tired?" You heard Saeyoung coo from his place beside you on the couch as he wrapped an arm around you.

You just pouted at him, your brain too tired to try decoding all his words.

He chuckled at your expression, leaning in closer. "You did really good today. But of course I already knew my 606 was smart, hehe..." he breathed out softly, finally speaking normally again, much to your relief.

You couldn't stop the bashful smile that spread across your face at his gentle teasing and tender praise.

Your flustered look only spurred him on. He slid closer and leaned towards your ear, slipping effortlessly back into your target language and whispering, "There aren't enough languages in the world to tell you how you make me feel, you know. I love you, agent 606~"

You shivered slightly at the feeling of his breath, recognizing at least one particular phrase in that. Before you could form a coherent response, he brought his lips to yours in a gesture that needed no translation. Maybe his way wasn’t so bad after all if you got rewards like this.

#mystic messenger #mysme #mm 707 #mystic messenger x reader #luciel choi #saeyoung choi #707 x reader #saeyoung x reader #bonus: Saeran walks into the room. Saeyoung continues to speak in a foreign language as if nothing is unusual #I...I don't even wanna know... he decides as he nopes out #lolol #this probably isn't one of my best works #I wanted it to just be a short imagine but it was a little trickier during the brain to paper process #ain't that just the way #anyway it's almost 6 am and I haven't slept yet #goodnight tumblr #o7

[theelvishscribbler]

When i want to be awkw my body is always like "oooooo sleepy, so sleepy, you can barely stay awake, fall asleep at your desk right now" but when i want to fall asleep it's like "awake now :3 your eyes hurt and you can't keep them open. But it's awake time now :D just lay there for hours!"

#everyday i fight for my life to not take a nap #and then lay there for 5 hours unable to honk shoe #i got plans! i need to do things tomorrow! #i need full brain power #but awake now :3 #ain't that just the way

[kanerallels]

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to attempt to write a good chunk of the project that needs to be done in the next three days in the next 45 minutes before I have to go make dinner

#ain't that just the way #it's my submission for sw-olives-and-grapes btw

[crplpunkklavier]

had a dream that i got covid and went to the hospital for a "covidectomy", a surgery i recovered from in a room with like 20 other people because everyone was getting covidectomies, covid being an organ they found within the human body, and if you remove it nobody can get covid anymore. like an appendectomy but with covid. and my immediate first thought upon waking up was that if i were a different sort of person i would now make "this came to me in a dream so i will start peddling essential oils that shall help people flush out their covid organs" my new hill to die on

#genuinely very interesting to me what makes people swear on pseudomedicine #and who believes in it and who doesn't #anyway. very funny dream. also met a hot person in it and then was disappointed to find they weren't actually masc #ain't that just the way

[citrlet]

#ts4 #ts4 gameplay #ts4 legacy #*jol #sim: nelle #ain't that just the way

[gin-juice-tonic]

Yknow 'increase in appetite' was a t side effect I was excited about but I never got hit with that one

#ain't that just the way

[borkbarks]

isn't it just so great when you get traumatized and then have to go through that trauma AGAIN

#without any time to process it between either #ain't that just the way

[erradox]

Someone who started out as just a background character that exists for people to complain about, then I gave him parental issues and suddenly he goes from a character I genuinely dislike to someone I adore with my entire heart

#ain't that just the way #Amarantos #my beloved #also he's only 21 years old and uses shapeshifting to his face sculpting advantage #he's just a baby!!! #forced to be a superhero to keep up with his parents' prestigious lineage #oc #Turupin #awash #ref

[one-winged-dreams]

@dearly-beeloved

BEEEEEEEE, don't speak this into existence! 😭

#i was checking his btva page to make sure he's not anyone ELSE i'm into #turns out he's the wolf half of Kindred #ain't that just the way #bee! #hearts will sacrifice

[flannelepicurean]

Heyyyyy, so, life has gotten bonkers wackadoodle stress-testing nerve-shredding marathon of horrors distilled to a heady essence over a span of ohhhhhhhh, about a week, enough that I just started slap-dashing out some fluffy mpreg business again.

And I'm not gonna subject everybody to it, it's entirely self-indulgent, and absolutely a marker of when I've been Pushed Too Far, but Nicolas Cage style and not Keanu Reeves style, because I fuckin' started out the film already Pushed Too Far, and baby, there's nowhere to go but Farther.

But the thing I think is interesting in this pattern is, I somehow can't resist creating polycules or deep relationships around the, "Hey bud, we're gonna get you through this," anchor point, and then everybody goes, "OMG, BABY!!! 😍🥰" and a kid grows and gets nurtured, surrounded by adults who love them, and who love each other in ways they maybe didn't expect, and everything's just a little bit kinder, and softer, and nicer, because people take care of each other.

There's a reason why this is a comfort trope for me, is what I'm saying.

I'm gonna go get my fuzzy blanket and turn myself into a burrito, see y'all later.

#my life right now #stressed #oh comfort fic ideas #we're really in it now #mpreg #i've been pushed too far #this is what happens #i start writing fluffy mpreg #i just like caretaking #usually when i really need some tbh #i just like to imagine things being better #ain't that just the way #blanket burrito #it's time

[enbyplant]

god they should be required to warn you on books if the story is based on a fanfiction. i was one chapter into a reylo fanfic and the only reason i found out is bc i happened to see a 1 star review on goodreads

#ain't that just the way #i would rather die than read reylo fanfiction #the book is the hurricane wars btw