#and like sports are more important to colleges because money and you know schools are mid level sports leagues and not academic institutions

[martian-astro]

Atmakaraka Series - Part 5

Atmakaraka is the planet with the highest degree in the birth chart.

Short note : atmakaraka can give good or bad results depending on the strength of the atmakaraka planet.

Atmakaraka in 5th house:-

The person needs to take care of children, it can be their own or somebody else's. You will also be forced to learn things that go against your beliefs.

Sun atmakaraka in 5th house - you can get really lucky during your sun mahadasha. For you, education is very important and you guys will probably do a PhD, or just a lot of diploma courses, you could also be more interested in dual degree programmes. If sun is making a conjunction with jupiter then you can be really good at speculative business. If it's with saturn, then refrain from engaging in such things. You are probably interested in learning ancient texts, especially the religious people, you will learn the language in which the texts were originally written so that you can understand them even better. If you have this placement in libra, leo or scorpio then you guys can be really good actors, if you're interested in acting, then I would suggest you to go for it.

Moon atmakaraka in 5th house - you guys are pretty criers, that's a fact. I have also noticed this placement in a lot of actors who are really good at portraying mental disorders on screen, especially, personality and eating disorders and schizophrenia. But if moon is weak, then you shouldn't do roles like these, because a lot of these actors went into depression because they played their characters "too well". I feel like even if you don't want to have children, you will end up doing a job that requires you to interact with kids. Kids really like you too, you maybe the kind of person who can very easily put kids to sleep, this is because they feel safe with you. This is also a stay-at-home parent placement. I know a woman with this placement, and she genuinely likes taking care of her kids, this is what she wanted to do, and she's happy with her life.

Mercury atmakaraka in 5th house - you are someone who likes to invest in education. I know a girl with this placement and her parents wanted to marry her off after she completed her schooling but she left her house, started earning money on her own and then went to college. I personally think that this is a REALLY REALLY good placement to have if you live in India or in a country where parents give more preference to a girl's marriage then her education, because it gives you the courage to fight for your education. You could be a very skilled performer, and have the ability to charm an audience. You guys are probably sapiosexuals. I know someone with this and one day a guy approached her and was talking to her and then he just suddenly says "she's probably loose" and majority of the women would get offended by this statement because it's misogynistic but she was more disgusted by the fact that he was stupid enough to think that a vagina could be loose, she is a medical student and so she basically gave him a 2 hour lecture explaining the structure of the vagina and how it works, it was.... funny...and sad.

Venus atmakaraka in 5th house - you are so lucky if you have this placement (if not aspected by saturn) you are literally supposed to have fun in this life. You can be good at all things that require creativity; painting, acting, singing, directing, etc. This is also an indicator of your first child being a girl, she would be very beautiful, and even if it's a boy, he would be more pretty than handsome. If venus is also the 7th Lord, then your spouse can be really good looking as well. But if venus is weak, then you can be superficial, and can also have the tendency to go for himbos/bimbos. I don't really have a lot to say about this placement, I mean.. Just have fun guys, do whatever makes you happy.

Mars atmakaraka in 5th house - you guys would be the type of parents who want their kids to excel in every single sport. You can have be good at technical things, like technology, engineering, mathematics, computer science and stuff. With this placement, conjunctions matter a lot, I know a girl with this who has her Mars AK in 5th conjunct venus and she's a ballet dancer, which requires streghth and creativity. I also know another girl with Mars AK in 5th conjunct Mercury and she's a lawyer and a pretty good one at that. You are more likely to pursue technical education if Mars is alone. You will be the parent who wins all the parent marathon and dance competitions. The type of parent to bully their kid's bully, and act oblivious afterwards.

Jupiter atmakaraka in 5th house - you will be blessed with all the things that 5th house represents, this placement also indicates having A LOT of kids (if jupiter isn't retrograde) they can be biological or adopted, doesn't matter. I have noticed that most of the time your parents are the ones who motivate you to study and encourage you to go to college and pursue higher education. You will also have to travel for higher education, it can be outside of your state, country, or continent. If you decide to have a child, then they will make you feel very happy and you can start earning more money after the birth of your first child, you will also be able to start your own business.

Saturn atmakaraka in 5th house - there can be a delay in childbirth and education. It can take you longer than others to complete your education. You are also someone who doesn't know how to enjoy, you can be very awkward in social situations. I have noticed that a lot of people with this, are those class monitors who are like, "if I see you talking again, then I will write your name on the board", this can also be one of the reasons why your classmates don't like you very much. This placement is easier to deal with if saturn is in conjunction with venus or Mercury, as this can make people see you as someone who is disciplined but also knows when to let loose.

(all pictures are taken from Pinterest)

© martian-astro All rights reserved, 2024

#vedic astrology #vedic observations #astrology observations #astroblr #atmakaraka #sun atmakaraka #moon atmakaraka #mercury atmakaraka #venus atmakaraka #mars atmakaraka #jupiter atmakaraka #Saturn atmakaraka #astrology #astro community #astrology community #vedic chart #astro observations

[cafeseoulmate]

Why We (Don’t) Work

i'm okay with being by your side for as long as i can hide what if i told you that i've fallen?

featuring: music major!beomgyu x fine arts major!gn!reader

genre: fluff, angst, childhood best friends to lovers, neighbors to lovers au, idiots to lovers au, high school au, college au, band au, hurt/comfort, slice of life, slowburn, mutual pining, 5+1 & nonlinear format

wc: 13k

warnings and other notes: cursing, alcohol consumption, reader is implied bi/pan, two jokes about murder, mention of the flu, brief mention of making out, cliches, inaccurate portrayal of a painting & sculpture double major, idk where this was going tbh

I. WE'VE BEEN FRIENDS FOR TOO LONG

The idea of friends eventually becoming lovers, especially those who have known each other for a long time, is okay in your opinion. In theory, the principle of falling in love with someone whom you've previously built a relationship with is not that great but not that awful either.

It's reasonable, practical and natural even in many situations. You would know from the amount of friends you've watched over the years who only started seeing each other romantically after a few years of getting to know and being comfortable around each other platonically.

You just figure that it's not for you and Choi Beomgyu, the nuisance who's been affectionately stuck to your hip since your days at the neighborhood playground.

For starters, you've known him for far too long. Not that love is supposed to have an expiration date, it's just that most people who start off friends—like your college friends Yeji and Ryujin who started dating before your junior year—usually take less than a decade, and that is really pushing it in your humble opinion.

Beomgyu's known you since the time you were sporting bowl cuts your mom fashioned with your kitchen scissors, probably and unconsciously even longer than that given that your respective moms have also been close friends since you were toddlers. You've pushed each other at the swings and the slides more than any of your other childhood friends, have gone to the same schools together spent most of your non-holidays with each other since kindergarten, and even live in the same university dorm at the present.

You both had almost 16 years to bring up anything remotely close to romantic feelings with each other and the closest to romantic-leaning affection that you got from him was the time he gave you a bouquet of roses, and he didn't even buy it for you originally.

It was in your 10th grade, when Valentine's Day gifts have finally reached normal status among the consciousness of your teen peers. Since Halloween, Beomgyu had been saving up his money to buy Yeeun from Class 4 a bouquet of roses—bribing you to pay for his lunch two out of five days in the week, singing and dancing his ass off at his family's Christmas and Lunar New Year parties for money, and working the afternoon shift at the neighborhood guitar store—only to chicken out at the last minute because Jaehyun from Class 6 had asked Yeeun to be his girlfriend in a very public proposal at the soccer field.

In a small class reunion last Christmas, Taehyun had asked about the whole ordeal, supported by the drunk cheerings of your former classmates at the memory of Beomgyu handing you the abnormally large bouquet by the school gate during dismissal almost five years ago.

"What else do you want to know about that?" You asked with a frown, feeling light-headed from all the barbecue and soju yourself. It was finals week for most of you as well, somehow making all the shots of peach-flavored alcohol taste sweeter and the stories bitterer. "You all know how it went: Gyu chickened out and didn't want to waste his hard-earned money on a girl who got a boyfriend that same day so he gave it to me before we went home."

"You also gave me half of the money to buy it! That's also an important detail!" Beomgyu slurred out to your right, leaning his head on your arm with a giggle and making you roll your eyes. "I thought, 'ya, this person bought me lunch for three months they kind of bought this bouquet so I'll just give it to them. That's only fair!'"

Yunjin raised a finger this time, as if making a shushing motion in the air as she took a long sip of her soju bottle across the table. "Okay but!" She exclaimed after slamming her bottle down, momentarily covering her mouth as she hiccuped before continuing. "You...you could've just gave it to your mom or something!"

"Auntie's allergic to flowers." You pointed out. "My dad also forgot to buy my mom flowers that time so I gave it to him when I got home. I technically saved two lives that day.”

"So it didn't spark anything?" Jeongin pointed to you then to Beomgyu who was contemplating on falling asleep on you by that point, clearly uninterested in this conversation you've had with the rest of the world a million times already. "Not even a little bit?"

Of course there were times over the years, at least on your part—moments where Beomgyu spent an hour too long in your childhood home when he just told you that his parents wanted him to come home at a certain time, filled a day with questionably sweet gestures only to bribe you with trouble after, or comforted you too well in your darkest moments among others that made your heart flutter more than it's supposed to.

You never told anyone about how on that day, you plucked out a single rose from the bouquet before secretly handing it to your dad as he cooked a quick Valentine's Day dinner for your mom. There was no denying that, even if he gave it to you under pitiful circumstances, it was still a sweet gesture. After Yeeun, he thought of giving it to you, the next immediate person and his best friend.

The red rose drank fresh water by your windowsill for three days until Beomgyu invited himself over for a cram session when you ended up hiding the flower shamefully under your bed and convincing yourself that you were just momentarily blinded by the principle of the gesture.

Though it accidentally wilted after you've forgotten about it amidst your busy high school schedule, you still keep the petals in a box under your bed as a reminder of all those moments you've thought you were starting to feel something for your best friend, only to snap yourself out of it after. You even had one of the petals made into a resin necklace by Yeji when she picked up on the hobby, wearing it everyday since without Beomgyu ever asking about it’s significance.

He just thinks you got it from the congratulatory bouquet the boys all pitched in to give when you won a sculpting competition at the university museum.

But as mentioned, you've mostly come to terms with the fact that you've known Beomgyu long enough to let a lot of opportunities to pass by, even if it pains you. Though romantic love doesn’t have to have an expiration date, you think you’ve been around your best friend long enough to know and accept that nothing is going to happen.

So to keep up appearances, you shook your head in front of your demanding friends that night at the reunion and teasingly pushed the sleeping Beomgyu to Taehyun's shoulder, much to everyone's disappointment.

"I've known him for all my life, literally. If something remotely romantic were to happen, it should've happened years ago." You grimaced before downing another shot of peach soju, that particular shot stinging a bit too much for your liking.

"But that's, like, the tricky thing with friends: you never really know when things are starting to be something else with one or both people." Sieun pointed out with a pout.

"Oh, I can assure you, it's not like that with us." You waved your hand dismissively in response before quickly going back to gathering your next mouthful of lettuce wrap. “Anyway, you guys have known us pretty well too. We just don’t match that way.”

Next to you, Beomgyu groaned seemingly in agreement as he stirred on Taehyun's shoulder, moving to lean on you again. "You're all so fucking noisy." He mumbled on the nook of your neck, hands encircling around your waist as he then pointed at the jug of water on the table. “If Y/N says it's not like that then it's not like that. So let me sleep and let Y/N eat their food!"

You shrugged at Sieun and Yunjin, smoothly shifting the conversation's focus to Sieun after before filling in a glass of water for Beomgyu as he’s requested.

"You're going to have a nasty hangover later, you know." You pointed out to him, making sure to keep your voice low knowing that he's sensitive to noise when he's drunk.

"You'll take care of me." He replied confidently with a boyish grin, more as a statement than a question. "Can I sleep over your dorm later? Hyuka won't let me in the room like this and Ryujin's already on vacation anyway."

You then rolled your eyes, knowing full well that you don’t have a choice anyway. "Sure, sure."

II. WE HAVE SHIT TASTE IN PEOPLE (AND IT WOULD BE AN INSULT TO OURSELVES IF WE START LIKING EACH OTHER)

The first time someone directly and publicly questioned Beomgyu's relationship with you, however, was at the traditional secret gathering your classmates had arranged in your two-day senior retreat just four years ago. On that night, after a whole day of tedious team-building activities and an evening of getting lectured by your teachers on house rules, most of Class 2 gathered at the boys' shared room for swiped alcohol and midnight snacks.

At that time, it was Daehwi who had asked and the context was the equally traditional game of truth or dare. When Beomgyu was picked for the second time that night, he surprisingly chose truth, prompting the question everyone has apparently been asking among themselves.

"Would you date Y/N?"

Beomgyu laughed. It was always his instinct to laugh whenever his own relatives asked the same question or when you would tell your own similar experiences but also because he saw you throwing your head back in laughter as well from where you were seated between Yunjin and Ryujin.

But what really solidifies this question as an inside joke between the two of you was the time when you watched When Harry Met Sally together at a sleepover in Beomgyu's house a year before the class retreat.

It was the classic friends to lovers romcom that you ended up watching in that particular sleepover in the first place because Yunjin mentioned that it reminded her of you and Beomgyu. So of course it had to be brought up before you could accidentally fall asleep on Beomgyu that night, you pointing to Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan before smacking Beomgyu in the head and asking the exact same question the boy would face at the senior retreat.

"Without thinking about all the gross couple shit like kissing or whatever," You gagged between your question, making Beomgyu roll his eyes and scoff. "would you date me?"

"First of all: gross—"

"That's why I said without all the couple stuff!"

"Still gross! Why would you think of that question!"

Back to the class retreat, once Beomgyu had calmed down from laughing and before Jeongin or Hueningkai could start leading the teasing on how you and your best friend reacted to the question in the same way at the same time, he said, "Y/N has shit taste in people. It'd be an insult to myself if they start liking me, even more if we do date."

You laughed even harder, repeating the words back to him. "Ya, you have shit taste in people too!"

Daehwi almost did a whole spit take with his glass of Cola while hearing your exchange. "Damn, you two are brutal with each other!"

Taehyun told Beomgyu later on that he felt as if that particular answer could be misinterpreted as the latter being mean to you. But your best friend was quick to explain that it's something you actually talked about in the aforementioned sleepover. You also backed him up on this over breakfast the next day when you sat with the two boys.

On the night of your sleepover, after you asked the question and Beomgyu was done making his teasing disgusted faces in front of you, he had said the exact same words for the first time and even elaborated on it.

And like Daehwi, you also almost did a spit take hearing it for the first time but your own glass of hot chocolate.

"You had a crush on Yeonjun two years ago before he was cool and you dated that annoying what's-her-name from the softball team who, by the way, cheated on you before you could even celebrate 100 days." The blunt 11th-grader Beomgyu said in front of your surprised face on that sleepover. "Ah, and don't get me started on that time you were swooning over that asshole Taejoon from Class 7 last semester because he sat next to you on the bus when I got the flu? You were crushing on a guy who thought he was jack shit and played with a lot of girls while I was almost dying in the hospital! Shit taste and inconsiderate!"

You and Beomgyu also did not forget to mention to Taehyun about how you almost smothered Beomgyu to death with a pillow in response, pausing the movie so Meg Ryan didn't have to see the crime you were about to do before tackling your best friend on the bed.

"Hey, Yeonjun's cool and Minji from softball really is an asshole but I didn't know Taejoon had a reputation in Class 7 back then! I just thought he was cute and really polite to the old ladies and the kids on the bus!" You retorted aggressively, smacking Beomgyu's face repeatedly with the Hello Kitty pillow he lent you for that night. "And I visited you with the boys and Yunjin after school while you were sick to catch you up in class, you ungrateful brat! I have shit taste but I'll never be inconsiderate to you!

"While we're at it, you also have shit taste, mind you! Pining after girls like Yeeun and Rina right when they start dating other people! Ah, and you dated that girl, Areum, in the 9th grade too even when everyone kept telling you that she was trying to get to Soobin through you! Shit taste and idiotic!"

Your college years would not spare the both of you from having more strings of failed romantic relationships just as much as it did not stop all the questions from friends, both new and old, about Beomgyu's relationship with you so the answer always remained the same: both of you have shit taste in people so dating each other would be somehow insults to yourselves.

But there are times, of course, when it would just be you and Beomgyu alone and, instead of the usual jokes and banter, he allows himself to be just slightly honest for the sake of his sanity and to make sure that you never feel as if he has some hidden ill-intent in always jokingly bringing up the uglier sides of your dating history.

In another sleepover at his house last summer, he didn't fight you when you decide on watching My Best Friend's Wedding and blurted out halfway, "As your own best friend, I think you deserve the best."

Though no one did a spit take this time, you did momentarily freeze while trying to tuck yourself in under the weighted blanket you were sharing. On his laptop perched comfortably on a foldable table, the movie was coincidentally at the part where Julia Roberts was delivering the iconic, "Choose Me” speech.

“I'll have to say this quick or I'm just going to have this massive coronary and then you'll never hear it and.....and....you have to. This is, by far the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life.” Julia Roberts dramatically delivered on the laptop screen as if filling in the silence. “Ugh—so dumb in fact—uh—that I can't...... oh but I'm gonna.”

“What’s wrong?” Her male lead, Dermont Mulroney, asked and Beomgyu felt like he should be asking that question to you when your silence started dragging on for too long.

When you did regain your composure, you chuckled nervously. "I-I mean yeah, I know, but...what's with that all of a sudden?" You furrowed your brows up at him.

And like he was mirroring you, Beomgyu also paused for a moment as he too contemplated on why he said it out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Julia Roberts just continued delivering her lines flawlessly, filling in the silence between the two of you. “Michael......I love you. I've loved you for nine years. I've just been too arrogant and scared to realize it and, well, now I'm just scared. So I, I......realize that this comes at a very inopportune time. But I really have this gigantic favor to ask of you.” Though the sound coming in on your respective earphones was only at 75%, suddenly it felt louder the longer that Beomgyu didn't speak. “Choose me? Marry me. Let me make you happy.”

Beomgyu scratched the nape of his neck and smiled sheepishly, turning away for a second as you finally pause the movie and the light illuminates the side of his face a little too brightly.

“Oh God, please don’t tell me you’re gonna pull a Julia Roberts right now. You know—“

“What? No!"

“Then answer the question!”

"I just remembered, you know, how we always say that we won't date each other because we both have shitty taste in people and everything." He shrugged when he did explain himself, unconsciously sinking lower on the bed as he pressed his back harder on the bed frame behind you. "And I know it's a joke and all but I—I also think that you deserve better than someone like me...or Yeonjun, Soobin, Tae, and Hyuka.

“Though I guess it is hard to find someone better than us, especially me and Soobin, I think you should still look for someone who’s really kind, smart, and will never give you a hard time. You deserve someone who looks out for you and makes you feel like home but also like you’re flying.

“Someone who’s funny too but not too funny to upstage me! Just enough to get you through the dark times because you do get really stressed out these days. I—I don’t know, I guess I was just thinking about—about that, yeah…”

You relaxed your expression as he spoke, though a small pout remained. "Okay..." You pressed play on the laptop again with a laugh. "Random but okay.”

“I give my whole heart out to you in a speech and that’s all you have to say?”

“What else do you want me to say?” You scoffed and playfully nudged him away, earning you a dramatic wince from him. "With how you generally act around people I like, it's not that hard to figure out that it's because you think this way."

“Yeah but, I don’t know, maybe say it back to me too and comfort my lonely, lonely heart?” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in response.

“I think that’s a you problem. We all tell you to just get yourself out there then you reject every person who throws themself at you.”

The boy feigned a glare next. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep later.”

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes, moving carefully on the bed to face him fully. “You deserve someone infinitely better than me too. Someone gorgeous—not just pretty!—and smart enough to keep your dumbass in check and just overall awesome, but not too awesome, of course! I’m literally the coolest person you’ll ever meet…ever!”

"Oh you flatter me, Y/N!" He exclaimed dramatically with his hands to his chest, smiling when you snorted and turned your attention back to the laptop again to press play on the movie.

Though he partly thinks otherwise—that it’s impossible that there’s someone out there infinitely better than you overall—he does agree that you are the coolest person in his life.

"You're so annoying." You mumbled under your breath and he quickly retaliated by pinching your cheek affectionately. "Ya!"

"You love me."

"I know right, how will I even find someone better than you?" You teased but Beomgyu's observant enough to understand that you only mean it halfway.

"Maybe you won't?" He teased back with a wink. "I know for sure no one's better than you."

"Shut up."

III. WE ARE EXTREME OPPOSITES (AND WE ANNOY EACH OTHER A LOT)

If you were to be asked about the things that annoy you about Beomgyu and vice versa, you both would probably need a month of preparation and a year each just to list everything you've come up with. Sure, you’ve known each other for a long enough time to be comfortable in each other’s presence but that doesn’t make everyday perfect as there are still instances when you get the undeniable urge to smack him in the head or dropkick him for being insufferable.

If you were to make a top five shortlist, however, the fact that Beomgyu has no concept of personal space when it comes to you would take the cake—pinching your cheeks, holding your hand whenever a remotely attractive person passes you by, always putting his legs on top of yours, hugging you to death, and always headlocking you when you meet up among others.

But beyond that, ever since he got comfortable with initiating skinship with you around the 3rd grade, he's also somehow managed to convince himself that he had the right to be all up in your personal business too even when you didn't want him to—from simple things like stealing your food, spamming you with messages the second you don't reply as quickly as he'd like, to always having insisting that he accompanies you whenever you mention going to a new place, online stalking anyone you find interesting, randomly popping up at the studio in the Fine Arts department, and loosely keeping tabs on people you hang out with.

There have been times, however, when Beomgyu’s nosiness has actually saved you from a date or unwanted attention in public and even comforted you. In elementary and high school, whenever you’re allowed to pick groupmates, he’s always ready with gossip about everyone’s work ethic for some reason. Whenever a creep at the mall or at a party would try to hit on you, he’s always by your side ready with a glare and all intent to report the creep to the authorities. And even when he’s a shit drunk, he’s always aware enough to defend you whenever your friends pick on you.

But more importantly, as the more reserved person between the two of you, Beomgyu’s always the one who’s forcing you to open up to at least one person when you’re down (aka him).

The first sleepover that the two of you ever had was in the 6th grade when Beomgyu invited himself over to your house and stayed up with you until 3 AM to finish a Science project your three other groupmates basically gave up on. You never asked him to do it, just complained about it over lunch once, then suddenly he was barging in your house with his own stationary and your Science teacher already notified of how your groupmates have been slacking the past two weeks.

“Why did you do that?” You pouted after turning in your finished paper online. Fortunately for the two of you that time, it was a Friday and sleeping in wasn’t going to be an issue, especially for 6th grader Beomgyu who had the tendency to sleep the whole day. “I could’ve just told Mrs. Kim on Monday myself.”

Beomgyu shrugged as he fluffed the pillows and arranged your plushies on the bed. He hasn’t had his sudden growth spurt at that time so fitting in your old bed frame was still fairly easy then. “Knowing you and how long your groupmates have been bailing on you, you’d probably chicken out if Yunjin or I don’t do it ourselves or push you to do it.”

“No—“

“You know I’m right.“

You glared at him then, standing up from your desk to punch his arm. “I hate you.”

But he only rolled his eyes. “Then next time, I’ll try to not meddle that much anymore. Just…when our classmates are taking advantage of your kindness like this again, report it immediately, okay?” He nagged, his voice soft while his expression was determined. “Even if you don’t tell me directly, I know you’ve been having a hard time with that even more this year for some reason and, knowing you, you’d rather suck it up because you think you’re bothering people when you bring it up when you’re not.”

“That’s not true.”

“Y/N.” He squinted his eyes and pursed his lips.

You scoffed, climbing in the bed and laying down on the side next to the wall. “Okay, maybe sometimes it’s true.”

“Y/N.” He repeated your name in the same tone, lying next to you with your teddy bear in his arms. "Ms. Fluffy doesn't think so and I kind of agree with her."

You rolled your eyes in response, Beomgyu catching the gesture before he could turn off your bedside lamp. “Fine, fine. I admit it, I wasn’t—I wasn’t planning to tell Mrs. Kim because I thought my groupmates would get mad and think of me as a nuisance.” You winced at the admission, lifting your blanket up to your nose.

But Beomgyu was quick to stop your hand, flicking your forehead after. “Stop doing that. You literally did half of your paper, even the parts you weren’t assigned to. You’re far from a nuisance.” He retorted, tucking Ms. Fluffy the teddy bear next to you. “And Mrs. Kim’s job is literally to make sure we’re not having a hard time learning, she’d understand.”

That time, and most times when Beomgyu would be the one nagging you, you felt like shrinking under his fierce gaze. “I don’t want to get into trouble with anyone in class—“

“I’d fight anyone off for you if that happens."

“But I can handle myself if ever!”

“Now, you’re just contradicting yourself.” He pointed out with a chuckle, settling down next to you. “Just...next time, okay? You should never suffer in silence by choice, you’re better than that.”

You had no choice but to nod in agreement and fulfill your promise that very next Monday, talking to Mrs. Kim yourself to elaborate on the incident further with Beomgyu holding your hand the entire time.

Most of the time, it's sweet and thoughtful that your best friend looks out for you out of genuine concern. You can’t admit it to his face, knowing he’ll tease you endlessly for it, but you like Beomgyu having his full attention on you most of the time and how he can literally rival your family as the person who knows you best.

But alas, there are still numerous instances when it's caused you more harm than good to disastrous levels.

At the top of your head, there was that incident in the summer before your sophomore year when Yeji first set you up on a blind date with Theo, a friend of a friend from the Vocal Performance department.

You even made sure that Beomgyu wouldn't get anywhere near your bowling date, threatening all of your mutual friends to keep the agenda a secret over message (and free food for Taehyun and Hueningkai) and scheduling the date on the same weekend Beomgyu was going to take an exam for one of his summer classes.

However, when Theo briefly left you alone in your lane to buy snacks, a familiar mop of brown hair, black hoodie, and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses suddenly whooshed in your peripheral vision, followed by two figures in hoodies you unmasked at the end of the night as Yeonjun and Soobin.

Another annoying thing that Beomgyu does is that when he’s “investigating” something—whether it’s a friend’s date or that time everyone thought Taehyun was secretly seeing someone—he always brings the same get-up of hoodie and thick-rimmed glasses along as "disguise." It's a stupid idea that first came to him when Yunjin went on her very first date in high school that he never bothered to change even when everyone started catching on, making it easier to spot him in your surroundings.

Though he didn't approach you until you approached him back in your dorms, it was still unnerving to spot him, Yeonjun, and Soobin playing five lanes away from you and your date. Their glances felt heavy on your back as the night went on.

"He was literally in two of your classes last semester. It's not like he's some stranger to you." You frowned at Beomgyu after letting Yeonjun and Soobin go with an earful of a speech of their own. Though you and Theo agreed that you clicked better as friends, you still lectured and nagged at your three friends in your dorm's communal kitchen with Beomgyu staying an hour longer than the other two. "How did you even get to the bowling alley? I thought you have an exam tonight?"

"My exam was only until 7 PM so I got Yeonjun to drive us to the bowling alley as soon as I got out. It was a celebratory thing for me too! That English final really kicked me in the ass, if you must know." Beomgyu answered with a pout, hands deep in his hoodie pockets and his glasses slipping on his nose. "And even if I do know Theo in passing, I don't know him that way. He’s more Yeji’s friend than mine. What if he was a shit dude when it comes to dates? What if he stood you up tonight or something?"

"You say that for all the people I like."

Beomgyu waved his hand dismissively in defense. "I only say that to the objectively trashy ones and the ones I don’t know enough about. Theo’s under the second category.”

"Still! You get what I mean!" You frowned as you smacked him on the back of his head, earning you a wince from him. "Gyu, once, just one date where you leave me alone. No disguises and no spam texts. Can you do that?"

There's a long pause that followed after with Beomgyu opening his mouth a couple of times only to close it back again, keeping you on edge for what felt like forever but was only for around five minutes.

He never told you what he was going to say at first or if he was even thinking of something else to say, you can just easily infer that it's different from what he actually ended up saying with the way his expression softened right before he finally spoke.

"Only if you tell me more about these things before you actually go on them. Even just the basic things are fine.” He frowned this time, crossing his arms. Even without you scanning every inch of his face, his expression easily gave away to the fact that he was thinking of saying something else but was trying his best to hold back. “I’m...I'm worried, okay? I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

"You know I can handle myself. We've been through this hundreds of times, I'm not that kid from the 4th grade who couldn't tell on my shit groupmates." You interjected, crossing your arms in front of the taller boy. "Anyway, if I ever need help, you're always the first one I'll call, you already know that."

He pouted down at you. "Sure?"

And you nodded with a laugh at his ridiculous expression, uncrossing your arms as you couldn't fight the amusement creeping up on you whenever Beomgyu tries to act cute anymore. "Positive."

So on the next two blind dates that Yeji set up for you that summer, you were pretty sure that Beomgyu only kept tabs on you through text as the hoodie and glasses were nowhere to be seen when you and your dates went out.

♡

On Beomgyu’s end, if he were to pick a top one habit of yours that he finds the most annoying it would be your tendency to hide your artworks from him until it’s finished when he’s always showing you his drafts.

Much like how you often try hiding your burdens, troubles, and blind dates from him, you often ban Beomgyu from seeing your drafts and sketches until the work itself is done which, as a fellow artist, makes him want to sneak up on you even more.

Especially when you think that you’ll be working on a particular project for a long time or if it’s in a medium you haven’t tried before, you’d often be blocking Beomgyu from seeing a peek of your plans out of a weird superstition that you might not finish anything if you hear a comment from him too early.

As your musician best friend who’s always showing you his own work even when it’s still disjointed lyrics and melodies in his head, Beomgyu sometimes thinks that you don’t trust him enough in something important as your own art. Without you knowing, it hurts him a bit sometimes because it’s as if he can’t be useful for you in that sense when you're always his most trusted critic when it comes to his music.

“It’s not like I can possibly make a bad comment.” Beomgyu insisted sometime during midterms as you talked over your senior thesis projects over dinner. It was almost 2 AM in your dorm’s communal kitchen, your mugs only half-filled with lukewarm chocolate when the boy asked if he could take a peek at your sketchbook after letting you hear some of his new music. “With you and your art? Impossible to make any bad comments I’m telling you!”

“Eh, but—“ Maybe it was the tiredness from having been up for 24 hours straight, trying to stay on top of your piling requirements, that unlike your usual response to Beomgyu’s pouting and puppy eyes, you decided to blurt out, “I just—I don’t know…I think too highly of your opinion.”

Beomgyu was effectively rendered frozen and speechless, missing the way you slouched your shoulders and hid your face behind your hair after your confession. “I—what?”

“Don’t make me repeat it.” You deadpanned, taking another sip of your chocolate next to him. At least with your shoulders touching, you couldn't see the way his expression unconsciously softened while listening to you. "It's already embarrassing enough as it is."

“But…but why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you think highly of my opinion? It’s just me.” Beomgyu chuckled nervously, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment as he spoke. “Not like I’m a professional artist or whatever.”

“Do I really have to say it?”

Beomgyu nodded, pursing his lips. "I'm being serious right now." He pretended to squint his eyes and furrow his brows and you rolled your eyes in response.

With a sigh, you then answered. “It’s exactly because you’re you. You’re Choi Beomgyu, the annoying kid from the neighborhood who just decided one day that he’d join me at the plastic tables in the playground when he saw me drawing flowers on my mom's notepad. The one who bought me my first oil paint set for Christmas in the 7th grade because he said he noticed how much I enjoyed it in our Art class. The one who always adds more compliments to my work along with actually helpful feedback even when I ask for criticisms only because he’s too nice for his own good but he’s also very intuitive.

“You…annoying as it is, you’re kind of very important in my art and it makes me nervous sometimes to show you anything before it’s complete because I think it has to be perfect and totally not disappointing even when you first see it. I only want you to see good things from me...”

While the silence that followed felt like an hour for you, it felt like forever in Beomgyu's mind as his thoughts flew to the memories as you mentioned them.

Much like you, he can also vividly remember how exactly you befriended each other at the playground then, when he complimented your doodle of the daisy bushes by the swings because you drew them a little too well for a five-year-old with broken crayons and an unsharpened pencil. You even complained to him that you can render the flowers better if you just didn't forget your sharpener at home, leading to a whole conversation that you continued at the swings where he offered to push you for the rest of that afternoon.

He remembers that 7th grade Christmas when he picked your name for the class Secret Santa and didn't even have to read more on the wishlist below your name because he was already set on buying you an oil paint set and some brushes to go with it outside of the classroom. He knew you were saving up to buy it in the summer yourself but he also knew that it'd make you even happier to get it six months earlier so it was easy for him to take money from his own savings that were supposed to go on a new ukulele.

But more importantly, his mind lingers to a memory you didn't mention, to that day outside of the teacher's lounge when you were first filling in your college applications. While your other friends were talking animatedly about what they were planning to do after your high school graduation, you were unusually quiet next to Beomgyu as you filled out your application which quickly prompted him to ask if you were okay.

"What did you put in your program?" He had asked after, leaning his head on your shoulder only for you to cover the top half of your application with your hands. "Ya, I want to see!"

"No, it's embarrassing!" You protested, moving the form away from his peering eyes when his hand tries to reach for it. "You'll know later anyway if I pass Seoul University!"

"You mean 'when' you pass." He corrected, resting his chin on your shoulder this time before peering up at you. "And why are you embarrassed over your program? It's not the most embarrassing choice you've made in front of me."

"Ya!"

"So what is it?"

You leaned away from him and Beomgyu found it weirdly strange to be on eye-level with you while seated after he's suddenly grown almost a head taller than you over the summer. "I might...do a double degree on Painting and Sculpture."

"What's embarrassing about that? If anything, I'd be surprised if those two are nowhere near your top five options." He raised a brow almost instinctively. "Y/N, a double degree's impressive as hell!"

"It's just that..." You stumbled shyly over your words, scratching the nape of your neck. "I don't know, it's a shot in the dark. It's not like I'm that good like how you're great with your music."

"That's bullshit. You've always been talented and hardworking when it comes to your art. If anything, it's me who's always trying to catch up with you." He countered immediately, sitting up straight with a serious expression on his face. "And it's something you love and want to learn more of so why would it be embarrassing? Be confident and own your passions, Y/N."

"They might not actually see that if I don't do well in the exams and the portfolio I turn in. For all we know, I suck compared to other people."

"You literally just won a mural competition last summer." Beomgyu rolled his eyes. "Admissions would be dumb to reject you."

Looking back on that memory almost four years ago, the revelation of what you really think of him makes Beomgyu's head spin that he had to quickly snap himself back to reality when you downed the last of your chocolate and mumbled how opening up was a mistake to yourself.

"I'm going to bed." You announced, rubbing your eyes tiredly and clutching your mug to your chest.

Before you could leave the table, however, Beomgyu quickly grabs onto your arm. "Wait, wait, no!"

"I'm tired as shit. You can rub my emotional comments on my face tomorrow morning."

"It's not that." Beomgyu frowned, tugging on your arm for you to sit down again. When you hesitantly follow along with him, he then continued, "It's just...is that why you tried hiding your application form from me back then?"

"I mean, I wasn't as confident in myself then as I am now and I had my other doubts about taking the program itself but...yeah, I guess." You shrugged slowly, looking everywhere but him. "I also thought that if I take both Painting and Sculpture, I have to make you proud no matter what."

On any other day, he would've teased you for it but he knew you'd probably smack his head on the table in that moment. So, instead, he held back on a smile and nudged you gently on the shoulder. "You make me proud no matter what you do." He assured. "And, if you must know, I also think highly of your opinion on my music...I guess we just show it in different ways.

"And if you're not ready to show me some of your new projects yet, it's okay. I can wait for all of them because I know they'll all turn out great."

You then looked up at him with raised brows. "Even if I make you wait until graduation for some of them?"

"I might ask Ryujin or Soobin to take photos of your progress for me if I have to wait that long." He joked, making you chuckle. "You know, the usual."

"Sure you will." You scoffed before picking up his mug on the table and standing up again. "Dude, come on, we really have to go to bed."

IV. WE KEEP SECRETS FROM EACH OTHER

It's not to say, however, that there aren't any instances when your roles are unwittingly reversed. Beomgyu also closes himself off from you and everyone else from time to time and you naturally end up being the nosy one banging on his door and demanding for him to at least let you know that he's eating well.

It's often when Beomgyu's stressed—when there's too much work to be done, especially in his music, or when he suddenly finds himself in a problem that he unusually doesn't share with you at the first encounter.

In these moments, you usually start noticing a week before he could even lock himself in his room and isolate himself from all of your friends. Especially since university began when you'd mostly meet in the day at lunch with your friends, he'd stop pestering you to elaborate more on a story you'd tell half-heartedly but he'll still hold your hand under the tables in front of all of your friends, squeezing it more often than usual out of anxiety.

And his smile never reaches his eyes when he's stressed, the same way his laugh would be quieter, an easy giveaway that he's going through something he's decided to keep on his own.

So as someone who's noticed his patterns over the years, you let him be at first, squeezing his hand back and initiating all the jokes in the group for him to finish with the punchline so he doesn't linger too much in his own thoughts.

Then when Hueningkai or Soobin do message you that Beomgyu hasn't left his room except to go to only half of his classes, you're quick to come up to his dorm with takeout and whatever project you're working on, knowing that what he really needs best in these moments is company.

There's times when Beomgyu acts extra bratty and doesn't let you in his personal space for a couple of days, a week at most like the time he was so stressed about Toto getting sick back in your Freshman year. It takes a lot of time out of your week and money from your weekly allowance buying him food but you wait patiently by his door anyway, catching up on your studies on the hallway floor if you're at the dorms or outside his room back in your neighborhood and occasionally knocking on his door to ensure that he's still alive.

But when he does let you in, opening the door just wide enough for you to see his bloodshot tired eyes and a blanket over his head, you take the initiative to open the door wider and hug him before anything else.

You almost never initiate skinship as much as you never share things until they're prodded out of you by Beomgyu, he knows that well so that's exactly what you do when you first see him in this state. All the time.

You don't speak until he lets you go and you're allowed to occupy his space with him. Back in your old neighborhood, you would put your things on his desk next to his own and work quietly until he decides to open up to you on his own accord.

Since college started, however, things have been slightly different in that once you're in the room, you'd sit on his bed first and let him hug you until he's ready to talk. If his roommate, Hueningkai, would be there at the end of the day, you'd throw a shoe at the younger boy and ask him to come back after dinner with the promise that you'd play Mario Kart with him the next weekend.

When Beomgyu's stressed, he likes it better when it's just the two of you, your exact opposite since you'd rather have all of your close friends with you on a hangout when you're in a similar state of mind.

The most stressed Beomgyu has been in college was when he was finishing the first official album for TXT, the band he formed with Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun, and Hueningkai in the summer before your freshman year. It was in the second semester of your junior year, when both of you were also preparing for internship applications on top of academics and the clubs piling one on top of each other that you sort of saw this coming as soon as you felt stressed out yourself.

Beomgyu only let you in his dorm room on your fifth day of camping out, crying out his frustrations on your shoulders for almost two hours that you had to change into one of his shirts after and ask Hueningkai to bring up a whole pitcher of water for your best friend to drink over dinner.

"I—I...I just...I can't! I can't finish the songs! I'm going insane!" He exclaimed on your shoulder, his cries muffled against you but you don't mind as you continue rubbing his back in circles and reminding him to breathe. "And...and nothing's been going my way these days! Not in my classes, not in the radio show or on the soccer team! I'm just...I'm just so out of it, Y/N!"

You hummed comfortingly, carefully moving both him and yourself so you're both sitting up properly once more. You then pointed to his open laptop and computer screens on the desk across the room with a small smile, "I can see your progress from here, though. You've been doing well. You're trying and getting things done, that's what matters."

"It's not all that good..."

You shook your head almost immediately, handing him another pack of tissues you've brought with you before discarding the used ones in the nearby trash bin. "Yes, it is! I've heard the drafts before you locked yourself up in here, they're all great." You retorted, tilting your head when he buries his face in the crook of your neck once more. "I think I like Thursday's Child Has Far To Go and Maze in the Mirror the most. They're very you.

"And about your classes and clubs, just take your time with them. Soobin and I e-mailed some of your profs already, Jeongin and Tae are handling the radio show well, and I'm sure Sunwoo and the rest of the soccer team would understand your absence for now.

"For now, just do what you want to do. Rest if you want to rest. If you want to focus on the band, then that's fine too. Everything will align themselves in time, just please don't forget to take care of yourself."

"And if they don't? Align themselves in time, I mean?"

His breathing was ragged then from all of the crying and his eyes the reddest and puffiest you've ever seen them. You figured from then on that you really hate seeing Beomgyu cry in frustration the most.

"They will, I promise. They always do with you." You replied without thinking, hesitantly patting his head and gently wiping his tears with your thumbs. "And you know I'll stay with you here until you're satisfied with your progress. Or at least for a couple of days because I have tons of presentations next week."

He sniffled a bit, spraying his hands with alcohol and adjusting the blanket wrapped around him. "W-What are you going to work on in a bit?"

You scoffed, already expecting that he'd ask. "I brought a project for my Sculpture II class, if that's okay. I also brought newspapers so I don't make a mess on the floor." You answered anyway, chuckling when his eyes immediately lit up. "You've been bugging me about it so I thought I can show you the my progress just this once to cheer you up."

And as if a light switch was turned, the glossiness previously in his eyes suddenly looked like sparkles as he sat up straight. "I could smother your face in kisses right now."

"Wipe that snot off of your nose first." You pretended to cringe when he dramatically opened his arms wide and puckered his lips. At that moment, you immediately knew that he was feeling a bit better, at least. "Geez, sometimes, I think you just sulk sometimes to get me to come here and show you my works early."

"I'm not that evil!" He pouted, taking the weighted blanket off of his back and getting off the bed. "Though, now that you've suggested it..."

A pillow then quickly landed on his face. "Choi Beomgyu!"

So you spent three nights at Beomgyu and Hueningkai's dorm room, working on a bust of Yeonjun (it's a long story involving you losing a bet to him at your last group hangout) on the floor while Beomgyu finished the final edits to TXT's songs. You then go back to your own dorm room before breakfast to freshen up for your class then come back again after your classes, often around 4 PM.

And when Beomgyu finally caught up with his classes and extra-curriculars, he surprised you with an invitation to TXT's surprise album launch over a month later.

Another thing about Beomgyu is that he's strangely great with surprises, preparing elaborate plans for occasions like your birthday, the holidays, or when he's bounced back from a difficult situation right under your nose.

Initially, the boys only told you that they'd release the album after finals week and play it at the year-end school festival, the first time they would be performing a full set of original songs. Though you, Yeji, Ryujin, and Yunjin insisted that they should do a proper album launch, all five of the boys just kept saying excuses or shifting the topic to something else.

On your last official school day for that semester, however, you suddenly received a notification from TXT's social medias about a surprise album launch at a cafe you frequent with all of your friends and a personal message from Beomgyu telling you to come over 30 minutes before the show.

So in retaliation, you made sure to stop over at the nearest flower shop with the girls and surprise Beomgyu with at least a congratulatory bouquet of roses, the same size as the one he gave you all of those years ago.

Said bouquet almost getting ruined when Beomgyu hugged you the moment you entered the cafe.

"You came!" He exclaimed giddily on your neck, almost toppling you to the ground as his arms encircled your waist. "You came! You came! You came!"

You scoffed, taking a moment to regain your footing as you rested your cheek against your best friend and carefully held the bouquet behind his head. "Of course I'd come. I'm your number one fan."

"Sure you are." He feigned a sniffle before tilting his head away to press a kiss to your cheek. "But still, thank you for coming. This means a lot to me."

"I know."

"You helped finished this album."

"I doubt that. I just worked with you in silence for three days straight."

He shook his head fervently, pulling away from you fully by then and leading you to the makeshift stage across the room. "You helped me refocus and get back on my feet so I can finish everything. I think you helped big time." He retorted before picking up his guitar from its stand. "Anyway, I have another surprise!"

"I only got you one." You feigned a frown while shaking the bouquet in your hands, making him chuckle before occupying the empty high stool next to him. "I'll have to get back at you again after this."

"You're already doing so much for me coming here tonight. And you bought me really expensive flowers!" He assured, strumming the guitar a few times. When you then opened your mouth to retort, he quickly interjected, "Anyway, I wrote this song for you! I'm still thinking if I want us to perform this later but I really just want to play it for you right now before anything."

So in the middle of that cafe, while your friends ran around preparing the decorations and doing soundchecks, Beomgyu sang his song, "Nap of a Star," with his guitar on his lap and his phone with the lyrics on the music stand.

"I can see even without you in front of me. I feel you, even without saying anything. Because I believe in you, even if I'm anxious

"I can touch even without you in front of my eyes. I reach even if you go far away from me. Just by remembering you, my heart always dances like before

"I want to become your nap and dream together always as if nothing happened. The evening sunset and the darkened night sky, my heart is full of you."

He occasionally giggled and fumbled on the guitar a bit everytime he glanced over in your general direction but he finished the song with you nearly in tears, something you instinctively hid by smacking him in the arm once the guitar was out of the way.

"You jerk! You wrote that for me? Are you sure?" You exclaimed, rapidly blinking back tears. "And I only got you flowers today! God, you're making me look like a bad friend!"

He rolled his eyes, getting down from the high stool and standing in front of you. With your own chair's height, you were easily at eye-level with him as he smiled at you. "I already told you, just coming over to hear us is already enough. Don't worry about it." He assured. "Anyway, what did you think of the song?"

"It's beautiful, of course." You scoffed half-heartedly, making him chuckle. "Was that night walk in the lyrics about—?"

"That night walk at the art fair? Yeah." He grinned shyly, rubbing the nape of his neck.

Once, in the 9th grade, you had a big fight with Beomgyu over Areum, at that point his ex-girlfriend. What you both do remember the most about it is how it happened on the week before a planned trip to an art fair in the busier district of Seoul that you were really excited about.

Though you were pretty sure that you weren't on speaking terms with him that time, he still showed up at the bus stop on the day itself, prompting you to apologize to each other before heading to the art fair together.

"You were crying like shit in public that we had to move to a more secluded area because people were looking. Then, you almost choked me to death with your hug." You recalled in confusion. "Not like I was any better but..."

"I put it in because I really thought our friendship was over then." He explained with a pout. "Then the first words we told each other when you saw me at the bus stop were apologies and...ah, it's very cheesy but I just think back to that time whenever I miss you. I think it's one of those moments I remember when I think of our bond."

You smack him again, this time directly on his chest, but the tears also flow freely this time. "God, you're so...you're so poetic and annoying! And you're making me cry!"

"I take that as a win." He laughed deeply as he hugged you, one hand rubbing your back soothingly while the other cupped your face and wiped your tears gently.

"How can you even say those things without crying? We've been friends for almost 16 years, damn it, Gyu." You mumbled in his plaid shirt, hugging him back. "I-I really love the song…”

"Years of practice on how to say it properly, actually." He joked half-heartedly, rubbing your back even more and mumbling to a passing Soobin something about the last preparations for the album launch. "That's why I do all the talking for us."

V. I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH

Your thesis for your Painting degree, you realize right before the Winter break this senior year, is the perfect surprise to get back at Beomgyu. While you've briefly mentioned that you'll have to take an extra year to complete your Sculpture degree's senior thesis, you're focusing on your Painting degree in your 4th year and have miraculously kept it under wraps from everyone including your best friend because everything's been hidden in your laptop and at the studios.

At the same time, it sort of fits. Though overall, most of the studies, actual finished works, and research you've done so far for your thesis are focused on human relationships overall, traces of Beomgyu have been slipping in here and there, reminding you that it's quite hard to paint anything about your friends or your first love without him.

He's in the series of studies you did of all of your friend groups, in a watercolor rendition of the faces you remember from your old neighborhood's playground, and even in a charcoal rendition of your favorite romance book characters as your thesis advisor suggested that you try and explore.

And he's in even more finished works and abandoned sketches way before that, some you unconvered in your old binders while researching for your thesis.

It could just be the extra hustle and bustle of your senior year, with you and all of your friends busier than ever as you work on your final year. Not to mention, you still have to prepare balancing a job at the university museum with your fifth year classes next year and Beomgyu's been busy putting out new music with TXT and discussing a junior producer position at an entertainment company.

But it's been almost a whole month since you last went to a proper lunch (one that isn't jut coffee and convenience store ramen) with any of your friends which is a whole record for you and Beomgyu, in particular. You're probably just missing the guy a bit too much these days that even just getting his daily cheer up messages has been messing with your thoughts all over again.

(Not that it doesn't mess you up on any normal day. It's just a tad bit extra now that you haven't seen his face around in a while)

So when you brought up to your thesis advisor the idea of painting a portrait of Beomgyu, the studies of which you would gift him for Christmas then remake as a proper oil painting for your thesis after the Winter break, there wasn't much of a complaint on her part.

Hell, you might even suspect that Prof Kim, a mentor whom you've also had in past studio classes, has been secretly rooting for you this whole time after years of always seeing Beomgyu randomly pop up around the department building.

"And what kind of relationship will a portrait of Choi Beomgyu represent in your exhibit?" She asked on Monday with a teasing glint in her eyes, a copy of your project research in her hands.

Your face heated up in an instant as you fumbled over your words, something you quickly excuse as a reaction related to the snow outside. "I—well...I'll figure that out later which I know is a cop out answer academically but I'll connect it to something in my RRL later, I promise!"

Prof Kim chuckled, closing her binder. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Personally, I think you already have it in your RRL and project proposal, you just need to make a more explicit mention of your friend in the paper moving forward since he'll be a subject in one of your finished works."

You nodded sheepishly, quickly gathering your things and standing up to bow at your advisor. "I'll e-mail you my progress again next week before the break!"

"No, no, it's okay! Just e-mail me after the holidays, I won't deduct grades or anything!"

A few days later, you're on the floor of your dorm room with Ryujin and Yeji cramming their own choreographies for their respective senior theses in another corner of the room while you finished your second study of Beomgyu, using your most recent photos as a reference.

The small 12x16 canvas you were working on sat comfortably on an equally small easel on your work desk, another canvas of the same dimensions drying by the windowsill next to a pile of old photos at the same time. Since your thesis would only require photos of your studies, you figured that you can give all of them to Beomgyu then make an extra oil painting of the two of you, knowing that he'd probably shy away (after making egotistical jokes, of course) if it's all just him.

"So what would the final painting be?" Ryujin suddenly asked as Yeji pauses the music for a five-minute break, approaching you as she drinks a bottle of cold water. "They're all so different."

You glanced over your shoulder and frown. "That's the thing, I'm not really sure how I want to paint him in the final work."

"Why?" Yeji asked this time, sitting cross-legged on a nearby mat.

You shrugged in response. "I don't know. Honestly, I thought if I do some studies, I'd get a clearer idea but I'm already three paintings in and I still have no plan of action for the one that actually counts to a grade." You sighed, turning your attention back to your unfinished painting.

"At least you have the Christmas gift ready!" Ryujin half-heartedly joked, sitting on an empty chair next to you. On your peripheral vision, you also caught Yeji nodding with a hopeful smile. "You don't have to paint the final work until after the break, anyway."

"Yeah, but it's the one that's going to be displayed at the exhibit at the end of the year." You pointed out matter-of-factly, carefully finishing the last layer of your painting. "And it has to be perfect."

"Maybe you can work something out over the break? You're going home to your neighborhood with Beomgyu and spending more time with him, anyway." Yeji suggested next. "Maybe then you'll have a clearer idea, hm?"

And Yeji was definitely right, as she always is, when you do go home to your old neighborhood with Beomgyu after the last official school day of the semester and find yourself hanging out in his childhood bedroom on the days leading up to Christmas much like the old days.

The idea comes to you on the afternoon of Christmas Eve almost two weeks later, when you invited yourself at the Choi's once more to listen to TXT's new songs and catch up with Toto. You sat cross-legged on Beomgyu's bed with your own earphones connected to his laptop and a live-sketch of the boy in his favorite green plaid shirt and freshly cut and dyed black hair on your lap.

Glancing over at him and seeing the way his eyes sparkled as you listened to "Way Home," it was a rather quick revelation to you that the best way to paint your best friend is in his most comfortable state. Just like this: when it's just the two of you drawing and listening to music, basking in the comfort of each other's company.

So you looked back at him again as the song transitioned to "Blue Hour," trying to take in as much of his features in that moment as much as you can. The faint sunlight coming in through the fogged up windows, Beomgyu's messy hair and skewed reading glasses, his hand propped up on his desk as he rested his cheek on his palm, his brows furrowed slightly in concentration as he worked only to consciously soften them when he looks at you, the way he talked animatedly about certain parts of the song with a boyish but proud grin on his lips.

Before you can even listen to the third song, you were already placing your hand on his upper arm and asking him to stay still for a moment.

"Why?" He asked, blinking twice while his hands go to pausing the song on his laptop anyway.

"I'm trying to memorize your face in this light." You answered absentmindedly, turning to a fresh page on your sketchbook and looking at him for a minute longer before removing your hand from him. "Okay."

"Okay?" He chuckled nervously. "What was that for? Are you going to send the mafia to kill me or something?"

You rolled your eyes, folding your knees closer to your chest to hide your sketchbook as you start anew. "It's a secret."

He then tried peering over your shoulder, moving the chair he was sitting on closer to the bed. "Are you drawing me?"

"Maybe." You teased with a smirk before pulling the sketchbook closer to your chest when he tried peering again. "Play the next song, Gyu."

Painting him in another solo portrait then on one of the two of you after that was relatively quick and easy as you finished your final gifts on Christmas Day while Beomgyu and his family went to a reunion out of town. While the last painting study, the one you'll render to a bigger canvas after the break, is him looking back at you fondly on that Christmas Eve afternoon, the additional painting of the two of you was from a candid photo Taehyun took when Beomgu played you Nap of a Star.

So now, here you are, in your room this time with the portraits gift-wrapped on the foot of your bed while your best friend handed you a late Christmas gift of his own.

"I was going to make it on my computer at first since everyone was sending in pictures on chats but then Yeonjun said that it might end up looking like the slideshows you have at funerals even with my superior editing skills." Beomgyu explained with a nervous chuckle as you unwrapped the gift, finding a thick scrapbook of all of your memories and mementos growing up. "Since everything else of you that I have—the pictures, the craft store receipts, Lotte World tickets, and everything—are all in boxes at home and at the dorms, I just thought I'd print the pictures I got from our friends and instead of scanning the things I already have then make it into a physical scrapbook.

"You did always say that you want to make one someday but we never really had the time so I thought I'd start it for you and, surprisingly, there are too many things in my own space that are yours or remind me of you."

You browse through the abnormally thick book in surprise and amusement, not even knowing that Beomgyu's kept even the simplest scraps of paper related to you after all these years. From the pictures his mom took of the two of you for every first day of school until the 12th grade to the candid photos he's taken of you over the years on his phone (regardless of how unflattering they are—you make sure to smack him in the arm everytime you come across one as you continue browsing) to notes you'd leave on his locker whenever he missed school and all the Christmas tags you've put on your previous gifts, it's the most detailed history of the two of you from when you met up until the present, complete with small captions handwritten by the boy himself.

So much so that you even linger on some of the pages you never thought you'd see, including the sketch you drew that day on the playground, the first note he passed you in class in the 1st grade, and a copy of the front page of the Science paper you crammed with him in the 6th grade.

"How did you even get some of these?" You ask, pointing to a photo of the two of you from your first Christmas together you somehow forgot existed. It was in the 1st grade when the Chois had to cancel going to their annual family reunion because of Mr. Choi's work so your families ended up watching the neighborhood fireworks display together. "I don't even think I have a copy of this!"

"That's from my mom! Also took her a long time to find on her phone." Beomgyu grins before turning to another page just full of flattened flowers, mostly daisies and roses. "And these are from all the bouquets you've bought me for recitals, graduations, and our first album launch! I kept at least one of everything because I wanted to use them in a project someday but I wasn't really sure what until I got the idea to make you a scrapbook."

"How did you even decide to give me a scrapbook for Christmas? And going through all the trouble of asking everyone we know for extra pictures? I thought you were busy with the band and your thesis?" You ask next, turning to the last page and finding a bunch of old letters and old invitations, the one from your senior prom standing out. By this point, it was hard to keep the stray tears at bay as you sniffle, making Beomgyu laugh before passing you tissues.

You went with all of your friends back then but you only danced alone with Beomgyu, somehow deluding yourself into thinking that he would confess and reciprocate your feelings.

But he never did, holding himself back from saying anymore in front of your house and simply kissing your forehead at the end of the night, and that was probably the only time you cried over the boy for that reason.

Beomgyu scratches his head and smiles sheepishly before slowly gesturing over to your wrapped gift for him. "A-Ah, well...Ryujin may or may not have mentioned something about you slaving away the past few weeks for your gift."

Your jaw slacks. "Are you serious?"

Before you could protest even more, however, Beomgyu's quick to raise his hands up in defense and interject, "Well, to be fair, I got the original idea of a simple scrapbook with everything I have way before Ryujin approached me! Then she mentioned sometime ago how hard you were working on my Christmas present that I had to up the stakes and ask for more pictures and stuff from everyone else after.

"And it wasn't that time consuming, actually! Everyone was happy to share photos and even some stories about you which I wrote in some of the entries because I thought it was sweet. Just...I want you to feel absolutely loved with this gift.

"And I mean, isn't it also nice seeing us from other people's point of view?" He points out next, flipping back to the pages mainly dedicated to photos of you and your mutual friends mixed in with photos they took of you. "It's also kind of a gift from everyone else in that sense."

You wipe another set of stray tears, making Beomgyu pout and reach a hand up to help you.

"Are you okay—?"

"I love it so much." You sniffle, smacking his arm before hugging the scrapbook to your chest. "Thank you, Gyu."

He heaves a sigh of relief, clutching his chest with his free hand. "There are still some blank pages towards the end. I figured you can put your own stuff in it if since I know you keep some things in the box under the bed." He suggests, patting the bed as if to gesture to the boxes you keep under it. "Or if you want, we can just fill it with new stuff later."

"Will you help me add in my own things?"

He nods with a bright smile. "We can do it before dinner with your parents." He then reaches towards the opposite end of the bed and picks up his gift, shaking it in front of him and asking next, "Should I open my gift in the meantime?"

"Yes, please. I can't be the only one crying right now." You nod with a chuckle, moving the scrapbook to your bedside table and helping him remove the tapes all over his gift.

"Before you make your usual complaint that it's too much, it's also actually part of my senior thesis for my Painting degree. Remember how I mentioned last time that I decided to make two separate theses for my programs? So, these are studies for one of my final paintings." You explain as the paintings come into view, Beomgyu's eyes widening and his jaw slacking in an instant.

"Woah..." He breathes, laying the canvases next to each other gently. “This is...this is amazing!"

"And there's one of the two of us. Look." You point at the last painting with a small smile. "The reference is from a photo Taehyun sent to our chat after the album launch."

"A-And...and where are the other portraits from?" He asks in a lower voice after a moment, eyes sparkling when he looks up at you again.

You gulp down any feelings of wanting to melt on the spot, pointing to each painting as you answer, "The first portrait's from a photo I took at your last gig, the second one's from last summer when we went to Haeundae beach, and the third one's from just the other day when you were letting me listen to your new music."

He points to the last one shyly, his cheeks flushed pink as the two of you look over at the painting of him listening to music on his headphones with a small smile on his face. "This was in my room?"

You nod, equally shy now that he's asking the questions upfront. "I-I just figured...you looked so warm and cozy then and that's always how I remember you so...yeah. That's also the one I'll be painting in the final work that's going in my thesis."

"Really?" His eyes widen even more, to which you simply nod once more before briefly looking away from him.

"Yeah, because my thesis is mostly on human relationships and, really, the rationale in all of these paintings is that I wanted to portray you as how you are in my eyes which is—"

Before you could even finish your thought, however, Beomgyu's oversized hoodie engulfs you and his lips land on your cheek. Then he gives you another peck, this time on a spot just slightly higher on the same cheek.

Then another, and another, before moving to another cheek. "You're amazing. I love you so much." He whispers against your skin dangerously close to your lips, almost as if he was telling you a very important secret.

And you know he means it differently than the other times he casually says it to you when he doesn't laugh excitedly between his words or jokingly force you to say it back as he would often do.

Instead, he punctuates the declaration by cupping your face gently and repeating the words again. "I love you so much. I love you the most." He sighs, meeting your gaze desperately.

And it's probably the years of knowing him that he doesn't have to elaborate on it further for you to catch on. At the same time, you feel a weight lift itself off of your shoulders at this, one that you haven't even realized you've been carrying along with you this whole time, hugging the boy back tighter with your arms on his waist in response.

“Can I?” He asks next, stroking your cheek with his thumb as his eyes momentarily flickers down to your lips.

You nod with a soft hum almost instantly, tilting your face as he closes the gap between your lips.

Beomgyu kisses you like it's the most natural thing in the world for him to do, his lips feeling comforting on top of yours as he conveys every built up feeling and all the kinds of love he’s had for you in the past 16 years and receives the same back from you.

And all negative thoughts you’ve had, worries that your best friend will never look at you the same way you’ve always hoped for him to, are immediately thrown off the window and replaced by the assurance that Choi Beomgyu, the nuisance who’s been affectionately stuck to your hip since day one, is in love with you.

"I love you." He repeats, voice muffled towards the end as he gives you another fleeting kiss before rubbing your noses together. "You know what I mean, right?"

"I love you too." You reply on your own accord, panting slightly as you fill your lungs in with air and biting your lip as you feel your face heat up after. "I outlined it out at the bottom of our painting too with my signature, in case you didn't spot it."

"Ya, I did." He chuckles sheepishly, briefly moving to sit away to put your paintings on the side of the bed. Before the space he previously occupied in front of you grows cold, his arms are back around you once more as he tackles you down on the bed. "I'll hang all of them in my dorm when we get back."

"You can't nail things to the walls then graduate. That's not how it works." You laugh with a shake of your head, encircling your arms on his neck as he props himself on his elbows on top of you. When he laughs along, something in your heart stirs happily at how the two of you could go from intimate to casual so smoothly, assuring you that nothing much is going to change—just now with more-than-friendly kisses and the assurance that your best friend feels the same about you. "Anyway, they're all small enough to go on your desk at the dorms and at the studio."

"Then I'll put them on my work desk at the studio. Everyone has to know I have a really talented partner."

"Partner?" You scoff teasingly against the sudden rapid beating of your heart, playfully pushing him away. "I'm your significant other now?"

"Didn't I make it clear enough with the kisses and the hug? Not even with the fact that I've been sticking by you my entire life?" He feigns a pout as he easily rolls the two of you over with you comfortably on top of him now. "Should we make out instead?"

Your face heats up more at the comment, eyes widening when he does press a longer kiss on your lips and even manages to open your mouth while you’re distracted. "That's also not how it works, Gyu!" You manage to successfully push him away and roll your eyes, hiding your face in his chest in embarrassment.

"Then will you be my significant other? I'll take care of you like I always have, just with more kisses! Maybe some other things too like just five seconds ago." He dramatically asks with a smirk, teasingly prying your hands away from your face. "What? You wanted me to ask!"

"What happened to having shit taste in people and dating each other being an insult, then?” You tease one last time, making him groan. "Or not liking anyone I like, hm? You’re kind of contradicting yourself here.”

"We’re contradicting ourselves. I think I know enough Math to know that negatives cancel each other out." He retorts before leaning down for another kiss and resting his head on your chest after.

"But you suck at Math.”

"Do you want help with the scrapbook or not?"

VI. (epilogue) MAYBE WE WORK A LITTLE TOO WELL

A big bouquet of red roses and sunflowers is dropped in your arms by Beomgyu for the second time in your life, purposeful this time as he follows it with a an extra daisy tucked in your ear and a kiss.

"Congratulations on the exhibit, baby!" He greets you giddily after with a grin and a soft pat on your head. "I’m so proud of you! You’ve worked so hard!”

"Ew, ew, ew, not in front of us, please." Hueningkai complains, hiding behind Yeonjun and Taehyun as you lead your friends around your thesis exhibit. “I’m a child!”

You roll your eyes, draping your free arm around Beomgyu's waist anyway as Ryujin and Yeji wander off to the portraits you made of your family while the boys approach your studies on your high school and college friends.

"I have another surprise, by the way!" Your boyfriend speaks up again, taking out his phone and placing an earphone on your left ear. "I may or may not have gotten the idea from that time you were finishing up your thesis in the studio."

"I'm fucking scared." You joke, adjusting the earphone anyway while he wears the right bud on his right ear. "What is this?"

From what you can remember of those all-nighters two weeks ago, you brought your remaining works in his studio to work with him in the same space. While Beomgyu was winding down from having just finished his own thesis and recording the demo for a new song, you were trying to work quietly in your own corner, alternating between singing TXT's old songs to yourself or mumbling about how you were going to present the written part of your thesis to Prof Kim.

You also remember making out on the studio sofa while you’re on break but you’re pretty sure (well, you’re hoping your boyfriend's not insane like that) that it’s not anything remotely related to that in particular.

Beomgyu then takes your hand, leading you to where Yeji and Ryujin are. "Let's start here. I followed your gallery's pamphlet but modified it a bit towards the end so we'll end up in the painting you made of us."

And when you do stop in front of the painting series, that of your family over the years, Beomgyu's pre-recorded voice rings through your ears.

"Hello and welcome to "Why We Work,” a senior thesis by artist and my beautiful, beautiful partner, Y/N Y/L/N." Beomgyu proudly announces in the recording, making you laugh out loud in an instant. Faint in the background, you can distinctly hear Maze in the Mirror's instrumentals playing. "Y/N, baby, are you tuning in? Congratulations on finally finishing your Painting thesis! I made you an audio guide!”

You smack the real Beomgyu on his arm as you try and regain your composure. "Ya, you brat! What is this?”

He only giggles in response, making a shushing gesture dramatically. "Shh, just continue listening in. I made it for the whole gallery."

You roll your eyes but tune in anyway, responding well to the commentary as you walk with Beomgyu and even discussing some of the works yourself live and more in-depth.

“This was really sweet of you.”

“It is sweet of me, you’re welcome.” He teases, earning him another smack on the arm.

taglist: @wccycc @4beomy

#cafeseoulmate #tomorrow x together #txt #txt imagines #txt scenarios #txt drabbles #txt oneshots #txt au #txt fluff #txt angst #txt x reader #txt x you #beomgyu #choi beomgyu #tomorrow x together beomgyu #txt beomgyu #beomgyu imagines #beomgyu scenarios #beomgyu drabbles #beomgyu au #beomgyu oneshots #beomgyu fluff #beomgyu angst #beomgyu x reader #beomgyu x you

[catboymoments]

Here’s some general advice from me for all of you going into high school this coming year that I wish I had before I started high school:

- if you ever feel like your mental health is suffering please take care of yourself! It’s not worth it to suffer and regret stuff afterward.

- don’t be afraid to try new things or get out of your comfort zone!

- make sure to seize opportunities when they come your way because they pass you by quick!

- check the school announcements for events coming up so you’re not in the dark about things you wanna do!

- make friends !! Yes some old friendships might fall off and that’s part of growing up, but don’t be scared to make new friends too. It sucks being lonely!!

- get your gym credit out of the way freshman year and don’t put it off because that’ll give you a lot more opportunities in later years for different classes!!!!! This one is super important.

- be on a good page with your teachers and it’ll send you far. If your teachers like you things will be so much easier.

- don’t stress about competitions in fine arts or sports because they’re so much fun!! You get to make a lot of memories!

- you don’t have to make a decision about college as soon as possible. It’s okay to not know or have a plan for right after you graduate. Everyone grows at a different pace!

- find what works for you with regards to tutorials- yes there might be tutorials at your school but those don’t work for everyone- try things like Khan Academy or Mathnasium or even YouTube tutorials for stuff you’re struggling with! and don’t be afraid to ask questions in class. You will not look stupid or annoying. It helps everyone.

- if you don’t feel ready to get your drivers license at 16, you don’t have to. don’t feel pressured to do so.

- Same goes for getting a job- you don’t have to apply to a corporation and do food service if you want to make a little spending money. There’s lots of opportunities in pet sitting, washing cars, mowing lawns and reselling clothes you don’t wear anymore.

- you don’t really need multiple notebooks and folders for every single class. It will weigh you down and make your shoulders hurt like a bitch if you carry around a lot of stuff all the time.

- Don’t worry about being cringe or worrying about appearances. You are a teenager. Embrace being one! Don’t kill the part of you that’s cringe- kill the part of you that cringes.

- always make sure you have an adult in your life that you can trust. Yes they can be hard to find, but it will be a lifesaver once you get one, wether that’s a therapist, a teacher, a parent, a counselor, or a family friend.

- have courage, and be kind.

#I love you all please be safe mwah

[ghostcathedrals]

sports coach toji ://///

basketball

he's the chill coach; honestly worrisome how chill he is even at crucial times when they're trying to beat the quarter clocks. he's so composed even when the gap is widening (regardless if in favor of toji's team or not) that it's insulting to the other team's coach, as if he's belittling the game itself. like it's a practice game.

sports parents, esp. moms ..... i'm sure you know how they regard toji. single coach who spent a good sum of his money during his divorce court trial. anyway. they love him istg they watch the games both for their kids AND their coach

you're his favorite sports parents lmfaoooo

however, he's NOT chill during practices, especially after losing. now, toji's teams have far more winning streaks than losing, so he's usually stricter at the peak of the streaks or right after one loss. he's got that chill look with a sinisterly strict aura underneath.

"you're not yet good if you can't beat me" ⎯ is way too good it takes several practices for his team to catch up. well, good for him ⎯ two students from the male team, geto and gojo, were able to block his attempt for a two-point shot. AND NO NEPOTISM OK but maki's that grade school team point guard who's able to replicate his signature half-court shot. he got her a pair of basketball shoes for that.

megumi way too good for grade schooler but he also credits his vigor to practice on itadori yuuji.

toji too good there are offers being sent to him with higher pay and larger connections (which do attract him) but he said he'll stay because his son likes his school which is in the basic education of geto and gojo's university

toji likes the way you scream when you cheer and imagines if you'd sound just as loud when he (TOOT) you ;))

football

it's obvious hot under the sun on the field so yes he does take off his coach unform and practices with them with only either a muscle tee or a tank top (yes, i refuse to call it wife-beater). sometimes he forgets to take off his chain necklace even tho it's itchy bc god this man gets lazy at the weirdest times possible

oooooo everyone just loves rerouting to pass by the field (same) and then they'd take pictures so at some point college football got too famous bc of the hot coach

so toji's usually more of a verbal socratic coach. during cooldowns or breaks or warmups he makes sure that his players know how to think for themselves so that even if they're in the zone (which renders them on autopilot and when they're disturbed they lose focus abruptly). he has a way of making them calm down when they know what to do. the same method even helped them with their academics holy shit!

he's lazy when demonstrating but when he does omfg pls kick my face idk. important notes to consider are his agility and flexibility; strong physique in general; and quick thinking. even if he slows down to show them, he's still quick.

he does get frustrated bc we all get crankier when it's hot. he doesn't lash out on his players, he almost never did before, but he does lash out at home when megumi's not around lmfao.

and then one time your kid told you to watch his practice (for this your kid is assigned male at birth), so you did, and then you see his coach and all of a sudden your cute kid always sees you at the bleachers side, front row. parent perks.

the japan national team wants him to be the coach but he's like ..... maybe next time when my son joins your team

omfg if you do get together imagine the way he's flexible and he never gets to drain his stamina because it's overwhelming. i feel bad for you. it will be a tough time. i wouldn't just say in bed, but hehe. he'd fuck you anywhere as long as you say yes.

volleyball

ah yes, toji trained the best spiker-setter duo (that's the coach ukai in him) so now he's graduated two top players in the national team who will, sadly, go to separate teams after an intimacy problem which toji tries to be out of (who knows if the conflict was their breakup after college but ended up as teammates lmfao)

can we talk about how insane his spikes would be strong ones, insulting feints, and ooooo the cross court spike 😍😍 and his wrists!! the trajectory changes caused by his littlest techniques!

Thighs.

you take care of yuuji on behalf of his parents so now you're always seeing him and his very very very special friend and yuuji's equally ecstatic sister ⎯ megumi and nobara respectively. who knew megumi had such a hot father like???

toji being a volleyball player/coach makes a lot of sense ykwim he's got that service ace that no one has ever beaten until toji suddenly retired from playing and started coaching instead

home gym 😍

he's got that vacuum-sealed looking shirt every time he's coaching or at the games specifically. i think they put him on screen often for publicity honestly.

they ask him, "you're one of the best coaches of this generation, and the best graduating players were under your wing. what inspires you to keep being so great at your teaching?" and then he looks at the camera, and grins. "there's someone who watches during practice that divides my attention. i know they're watching right now." and then he winks

said person will not be able to walk the day after the winning games.

#jujutsu kaisen #toji fushiguro #toji #toji x reader #fushiguro toji #toji headcanons

[nakachuchu]

CHAPTER ONE: KIRA

In the Dark series

SYNOPSIS: You never expected to see the insides of your fellow cheerleader in the locker rooms on homecoming night.

READER: female

WORDS: 1.2k

WRITTEN: 01/19/2023

Sophomore year of college so far was a bit underwhelming for you. You enjoyed it so far, but you knew you could get more out of it. Your only goal as both a student and an individual in college was to stand out so that you would have a story to tell for college applications.

If you didn't get into a good graduate school with connections, you wouldn't get a good job that paid well. Money was important to you. You liked receiving it and spending it, and with your shopping habits, you needed all the money you could get.

From stuffed animals to makeup to clothes to random, cute figurines you could get in blind boxes, you knew you needed to get a well-earning job.

Besides your spending habits, you knew how much adults needed money. You've seen your parents fight over it countless times and they had to sell the house when you were in elementary school. Then, when you were in middle school, your father left you and your mother.

You saw what money did to people and you never wanted it to happen to you, which is why you tried out for the junior varsity cheer team. You were decent enough to make the team, so it was a win. Besides, flaunting around in a cheer uniform made you feel noticed and important.

It cost more than you thought it would, but having a sport on your resume would look good and prove you're dedicated to your school. You didn't join a sport freshman year because you decided to join the debate club and volunteer after school everyday.

"Kira! Kira, where are you, you whore?" you called out. "Coach Utahime is getting angry you're not on the field yet! Halftime is almost over."

You groaned out loud as you wandered the school, looking for your fellow cheerleader. The field was quite far from the school as well so you were ticked off that you had to come look for her after seeing no sign of her on the field.

You stepped into the girl's locker room, where the cheerleaders had previously gotten ready before the game.

Splashes of glitter and various perfume scents littered the lockers, hair ties scattered on the floor, and even a false eyelash was stuck to one of the mirrors.

"Kira, are you — "

Your voice got caught in your throat as you rounded the corner. You stopped in your tracks, eyes widening in fear and shock as Kira's body was split open and her insides pooled out onto the locker room's floors.

The culprit in a mask crouched beneath her, holding a bloody knife. He looked at you and abruptly stood up, causing you to take a shaky step back. He wore a black robe that covered his entire body.

He raised his hand with the knife and you took another step back. He paused and chuckled, tilting his head to the side and wagging a silent index finger at you.

He turned around, and you were still frozen. You didn't know if you should run or not. Maybe he would kill you if you did run or maybe it would kill you if you didn't.

He scooped up Kira's insides and threw them at you. Instinctively, you caught them and immediately screamed and dropped them.

"Catch," he said before running away from the other side of the locker room.

You cried out screams, covered in your friend's insides. Your uniform and flesh were covered in blood and the stench was unbearable. You stumbled out of the locker room, looking both ways for the killer.

The hallways were dark and you couldn't see anything, but that didn't matter because you had to get out of there.

And you did. With no phone to call the police, you stumbled onto the football field during the game.

The sound of cheers and boos dying out with a final whistle at the sight of a bloodied cheerleader was engraved in your mind.

“Quarterback Gojo Satoru — Huh, what's happening?” said the announcer.

Your coach ran over immediately, catching you in her arms as you grabbed onto her and cried.

"Y/N! Y/N, what happened?" she questioned.

"K-Kira was k-killed!"

"What? By who?"

"I don't know!" you cried.

The police were called, and after a check-up from the EMTs, you were questioned by the police. You did your best to answer them. It wasn't like you didn't remember most of the details, but you didn't have much energy to answer them.

After cheering for a football game the whole night, then finding a split-open human body, you wanted to shower and sleep.

News reporters flooded the scene, trying to find out if a murder really happened on homecoming night. You weren't sure how they found out so quickly, but when the news reporter waggled her microphone into your face while being held back by the police, you had come to your senses.

This is what you would write about for your college applications. You were the one who found the body. It wasn't your coach or another cheerleader. It was you. You were the one who got guts and intestines thrown at you. You had come face to face with the killer himself.

“What did he look like? L/N Y/N, what did he look like? What was he wearing?”

You took a shaky breath and looked at the bright cameras as you leaned into her microphone. The news reporter brightened at the fact that you would be giving her information.

“He wore a mask and a robe, so I couldn't see him. His mask resembled a ghost.”

“He had a ghost face? And what did he do?”

“That's enough,” gruffed the officer. “Let the girl go.”

This was it. Your name would be in the papers and online. All colleges would know you and you could get scholarships for your essays about surviving a masked killer.

“Sweetheart, let's go home,” your mother urged.

You followed her to the car, looking at the reporter one last time before your mother shut the car door. The drive home was silent except for a single “I'm glad you're okay” from your mother.

When you got home, you immediately took a shower to get rid of the stick and dried blood on you. You stayed a while in the shower because it was warm and to convince your mom that, in a way, you were grieving. But you only had one thing on your mind: fame.

Fame meant access, and access meant money.

“Mom,” you called out as you knocked on her door.

“Yes, sweetie?”

You opened the door to her room and hugged yourself. “I want to cheer outside of school too. I want to go to tournaments. After Kira died — ” You trailed off and cleared your throat. “I like cheer and I'll keep doing it in school too, but I realized life is short — like, super short. I don't want to feel unfulfilled like…”

Your mother nodded. “I understand, sweetie. We don't have much money, but I'll do my best. After tonight — I can't imagine losing you. You're the only good thing I got out of your father.”

You softly smiled. “I'll get a job to help pay.”

Your mother brushed you off. “You're still young. Don't worry about that right now. Just…enjoy yourself.”

You nodded. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Y/N. Good night.”

“Night,” you said as you closed the door to her room.

You walked into your room, locked the door, and opened up your laptop. The first thing you searched was for cheerleading teams looking for members.

NEXT CHAPTER: SUMMER CAMP

#jujutsu Kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #gojo Satoru x reader #getou Suguru x reader #Suguru getou x reader #choso x reader #kamo choso x reader #itadori yuuji x reader #okkotsu yuta x reader #okkotsu Yuuta x reader #jjk series

[callsign-bunnie]

Do you have everyone's majors decided in the college au?? And the classes the professors teach??

Yes! So this was further explained in An Academic Proposal chapter 14 and 15, but I've had their majors decided since about chapter 5 of An Academic Achievement! Feel free to ask any questions about Academic Achievement and Proposal since I know not everyone has read either

--

Rodolfo: Rodolfo's major is a little tricky. So, he's Pre-Law which isn't one specific major, but I've settled on Sociology being what he takes before he goes to Law School and switches to Criminal Law (Originally going to be for Custody Law which I think has a bit more specialized of a Law degree.)

Alejandro: Alejandro is actively a business major, he's also in Alpha Lambda which is a business frat. However, once he gets through this degree, he's going back into college to get a BSW (Bachelor's of Social Work)

Soap: Chemical Engineering. This was sparked because what he's supposed to be was split down the middle as half wanted Engineering, half wanted Chemistry, so I found a middle ground. He's not too passionate about his degree at the current time for reasons I can't say due to spoilers.

Ghost: Ghost is forensics with no specialty. He's kind of just going to college to have a degree, he has enough family money he doesn't really need to find a career. He plans on going as high as he can with Forensics and then teaching it.

Roach: Roach is Digital Forensics, which he picked because Farah is forensics and he has a mild interest in technology. However, he's reconsidering his major for Entomology, because he has more passion for insects than computers. I cannot explain why he didn't go with Entomology to begin with because of (you guessed it) spoilers.

Valeria: Sociology. She's also Pre-law and will be a prosecuting attorney when she graduates Law School. She's been on this track since she started.

Price: He's mostly just the coach of the football team as well as a few other very small sports teams. He also teaches a couple Sport related courses. He has a degree in Sports Management with a Sports and Society minor.

Laswell: She primarily teaches Criminology, but she's a Prosecuting Attorney for her main job. I should state this now I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LAW AND I DON'T FEEL INTERESTED IN LEARNING, SO ALL THREE LAWYERS ARE GOING TO BE FAIRLY INACCURATE

Laswell's Wife (Jen): She teaches Chemistry Courses, whatever ends up being most convenient for plot. Not super accurate for her character, I would probably choose Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree if I did another. However, she has a PhD in Chemistry.

Gaz: Business major. He's fairly undriven at college because he had other things going on when he joined. He's about to look over everything he's done and see if switching majors is something feasible for him.

Alex: He started out also as a business major, but switched to Criminology in his second year about a fourth of the way through. Laswell helped him do it and he'll likely join her firm when he's graduated. He used to also be in Alpha Lambda, but had to leave when he switched majors because it's a Business Frat

Farah: She's a basic Forensics Major with no specialty. I have no major reason, I don't really think it fits her character, but it did fit the story. If I was to do a new College AU, I think I would pick Social Justice or Social Work

Malika: She's a computer science major because she has a special interest in all things computer! She and Roach actually bond over a similar major quite a bit!

Graves: Business Major, current Chapter President of Alpha Lambda. Not much really needs to be known beyond that, tbh

Lucas: (He's important to the story.) He's also Pre-Law and his degree is in Criminology. He hasn't quite figured out the full scope of his career, yet.

--

Again, feel free to ask whatever for this AU. Here's the original headcanons post and here's An Academic Achievement and An Academic Proposal if you haven't read them, yet. I think I just recently reached a 225k total wordcount for the series!

#an academic achievement #an academic proposal #Johnny Soap Mactavish #Simon Ghost Riley #Rodolfo Parra #Alejandro Vargas #John Price #Kyle Gaz Garrick #Phillip Graves #Valeria Garza #Alex Keller #Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II #Call of Duty #Gary Roach Sanderson #Malika COD #Horangi COD #Alejandro x Rodolfo #Aledolfo #Soapghost #Ghostsoap #Soap x Ghost #Ghost x Soap #Macriley #Farah x Malika

[cowboyjen68]

Hi! I am a lesbian about to graduate and go off to college (I hope it’s okay I’m sending this). And was wondering if you had advice on safely navigating a new area as an lgbtq person, and how to not feel alone. I was lucky to grow up surrounded by accepting people, but I still feel like a sore thumb, and I am naturally a quiet unapproachable person. My fear is that I will go right back into hiding and maybe never stop. People say that it’ll be fine but it’s hard to believe them. I’m terrified.

It is ALWAYS ok to send me Ask. I say thay are always open and I mean it. I try very hard to get to them but right now I am behind and it truly bugs me. But we do what we can when we can and I am no exception to that rule.

I went to college is a small Missouri town, moving from a small midwest high school. Luckily it was pretty chill and liberal so while I met a lot of LGBT friends (or those exploring the notion) I was not ready to come out until after graduation. I had just moved to Iowa CIty to be closer to home and work and go to grad school. U of I is HUGE and sprawling and I was workng a new job (political fundraiser ie door knocker) that paid the bills AND gave me health insurance. It was 1991.

Even though I am outgoing and make friends easily it was a bit over whelming. I happen to move in with 5 gay men from my job and they introduced me to their world and friends. I had an "in" that eventually led me to have a larger friend circle. BUT here is my advice

FInd something you are interested in and join it. Theatre, yoga, Sci Fi, animal rescue volunteering. It does not have to be an offical club nor LGBT Centric. It also does not need to require a lot of time or money. Freshman year is a over whelming and exciting but making the time to do something you enjoy with others who enjoy it is a good way to at least form a circle of familiar faces around campus. Sad to say EVEN back in the 90's the "gay groups" I did attend (as an ally of course) were clique and awkward for me. I felt like the infringing new person. I hope that has changed, but I have my doubts.

There are some groups and activities that will have a concentration of LGBT people without that being the focus. Theatre, animal rescue, environmental, politics (be wary of echo chambers) and some intramural sports. Volley ball and softball, even coed will have a fair share of lesbians. But so might gaming clubs or frisbee golf. Dont forget about book clubs or Sci fi or Ren Fest groups. Once you make some connections with other who share some common ground with you, you might gain some confidence it making friends in the more narrow LGBT social or official groups.

What is really more important that a large friend group is a few people you can trust and get to know. Once you leave college many of your college friends will naturally navigate out of your life. That is normal and expected because it a time in life of drastic change and growth. But if you find that one or two who will be worth hanging on to you can work less on many people and put your energy into someone who does the same for ou. IF you befriend an extravert that is a bonus because she will make tsure you have social interactions whether you want them or not.

College people are just high schoolers a year or two down the road. Just people. Like you. Say "hello" and smile and ask to sit and chat. The worst they can say is "no" or "im not interested" but more often you will make at least an acquaintance . A familar face to see on campus as time moves on. Or you make a friend worth getting to know.

#college #friends

[backtotheo]

(joe keery, he/him/his, cismale) who is theo clark anyways? ew. you don’t know about him, we’ll bet you want to. they’re feeling thirty and singing karaoke feels like a perfect night to them. rumor has it they’re indecisive and have low self-esteem because they care, but they’re also intelligent and adaptable in the best way. he works to make a little money as an employee at the animal shelter (...but he also walks dogs on rover on the side). they’ve rented on a place on cornelia street in the form of an an apartment. back to december and long live are the song they could dance to the beat of forevermore. (tw: cancer, about 3/4's of the way into the "backstory" section here!)

basics.

full name: theodore james clark. nicknames: honestly? most people just call him theo, though teddy is a family nickname he'd probably still respond to. gender/pronouns: cismale/he/him/his. sexual orientation: extremely bisexual. birthday: july 22nd. star sign: cancer. cancers are known to be highly intuitive, sensitive...and insecure. occupation: proud employee of the animal care center of new york...and he walks dogs for rover on the side.

personality.

positive traits: intelligent, adaptable, caring, honest, empathetic. negative traits: realistic pessimistic, indecisive, blunt, sensitive…but like not talking about those feelings ever?,  low self esteem while being self-centered. hogwarts house: i know jrk sucks and we do not claim her but the man is a hufflepuff…but a burned one. alignment: chaotic neutral. ennegram: 4w5. personality type: infj. 

backstory.

his childhood was normal. happy, even. except for the part where his parents never let him have a dog because they were 'too busy' for one.

because his parents both had pretty demanding jobs, he was put in a ton of after school activities, but he kind of sucked at sports. so he joined boy scouts and took a bunch of different music lessons. he's pretty decent at guitar and piano and can fake his way through some accordion in a pinch.

theo is the oldest of three and was the child his parents placed their hopes on. his mother is a well-known pediatric oncologist at pittsburgh children's hospital and his father teaches biology at carnegie mellon. everyone assumed that theo would follow in their footsteps. and he did...sort of

he studied biology even though it wasn't really his thing because he wasn't paying for college, his parents were...and he minored in both music theory and psychology, which he liked more.

he met one of he most important people in his life while attending duquesne university in caroline davis.

...they didn't hit it off right away. in fact, at first, she was a bit of a thorn in his side. but a little bonding over a mutual love of music (and the food trucks on campus...) and they clicked. he asked her out around homecoming that first year and the rest is history.

they dated for years. it was very serious. he was two weeks away from buying a ring, honestly. but they spent a really big chunk of their relationship long-distance and it was just...hard. he really fucking loves loved her. but you know what they say...if you love it, let it go. or whatever.

during college, he made spending money at a work study job at the school library, but he made more walking dogs so he quit the work study job and started pet-sitting and dog walking most evenings.

this is where his love of animals began and only started to grow the more he spent times with classmates' and neighbors' pets. he decided to apply to vet school instead of med school, much to his mom's chagrin.

he got in!

...and he dropped out 2 semesters in because he hated it.

theo kept up a pretty big lie for the better part of a year, working odd jobs around pittsburgh and maintaining his off-campus apartment and dodging his parents' questions...until his dad was a guest lecturer to one of his vet school classes and he was nowhere to be found.

his parents gave him two choices: go back to vet school or go back to college and get a degree he would use.

theo chose neither. he packed up his shit, hopped on a bus, and moved to new york city with a collection of cassette tapes, a duffel bag of clothes, and whatever was left in his bank account to his name.

his parents didn't exactly disown him during this period, but they didn't reach out. he found out his mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer about 2 months after his move...and she'd been diagnosed a month prior. he heard it from one of his siblings and tried to reach out, but didn't get a response.

she passed away eight months after her diagnosis. he never got a chance to make amends and it's one of his biggest regrets.

he has since reconciled with his dad, but that's something that just..you don't just get over that. he's struggled with it mightily and with the help of a good therapist, he's starting to forgive himself. some.

he intended on reconnecting with caroline when he got there but...well, that didn't turn out so well.

so he couch surfed for a while until he could accept the first non-sketchy craigslist roommate ad he could find and moved into his cornelia street apartment.

he's not sure what he wants to do, really, so he's worked a lot of odd jobs since moving to the city. he's worked at almost every starbucks in an eight block radius of his apartment, bartended for a while, tried his hand working a food truck...but nothing seemed to stick. he paid rent by ubereats-ing most months, until he started walking neighbors' dogs and found something he kind-of-doesn't-hate.

during this in-between time is when he sort of got back into music. one job, he played piano in a restaurant's main dining room. another was a bar where he sweet talked his way into a few gigs. probably ended up meeting the rest of the electric touch crew during this period!

now he's working at the animal shelter, walking dogs using rover, and playing some gigs on the side. thank god for dogs and music.

plots n' stuff.

a roommate. or a few? i could see him having a few to keep costs low and i didn't snag any of the premade skellies for this so if you're down i'm down

found family/besties. i love those vibes especially given he's essentially upped and move away from home knowing like 2 people in the entire city.

people with dogs. either people whose dogs he walks or neighbors who happen to have them. he's like a dog whisperer so if you need a pet sitter he's your guy.

or! shelter volunteers!!!

people from any and all odd job he used to have. like a regular at the coffee shop who can't get their order right now because he left or a co-worker who helped him create a sandwich that's still on a menu at a local restaurant?

random hookups would be an option tbh. he came to new york intending to, like, win back his ex in some kind of rom-com bullshit way, but...well, it hasn't worked out so far.

someone who thought their hookup was more serious than it was would be kind of funny too. we live for miscommunications.

would love some kind of enemies/animosity plot. we'd have to talk it through. could've started with something little and spiraled or maybe they're just besties with caroline and are on her side. or maybe he accidentally ran over your muse's dog's tail on his bike :/

i'm dani. 32. friendly, promise! and i'm open to plotting pretty much anything, honestly! DM's here or on discord are always open to figure some stuff out. i'm danisaurus. over on discord and i'm really looking forward to writing with you all!

#cornelia.intro #//hi i'm dani and i never learned to shut the fuck up #//excited to write with you! some plots are towards the end but i'm very flexible i promise #//also thanks to alyssa for this pretty graphic bc i'm useless at that sorta thing <333

[elijahlittle]

dad julian hcs? :)

Sorry I haven't been answering requests as much lately, work has been hell. Even so, I wanted to answer this one because I think about dad!julian a lot.

I think that Julian isn't as hard of a dad as he pretends to be. I think he's a big softie. I think if he had the money, he would buy things for his child. I don't think he'd buy everything the kid wanted, because Julian is always in the business of saving money, but I think he'd spoil his child a bit - boy or girl.

I think, though, that Julian treats boys differently than girls. I think that's just in his nature. I think he'd be very overprotective of a girl, because he knows how terrible boys can be (he was one of those terrible boys) but I also think he'd be equally as stern with a boy. Either way, he doesn't want his kid going down the same path he did.

Julian stresses the importance of school all of the time. He wants his kids to go to college and even has a savings jar for them. I think that he'd actually kind of be a hard-ass and push his kid towards a more lucrative career, something like a doctor or lawyer. If his kid wanted to do something less lucrative, like art, it'd be a really big fight. I think Julian is the kind of person to be like "either you're going to go to a career that can make you money or you're going to make your own career." I think it'd cause a big fight between you and Julian honestly, but eventually you'd probably convince him to just support the kid no matter what they wanted to do. "If they're going to be an artist, at least let them be an artist without crazy debt." Despite how ardently against art he is, if he had a child that was an artist he'd keep every painting and show up to every art showing.

Julian is the kind of dad to show up to every event. He strikes me as the guy who just didn't have parents who were present in his life.

Julian would definitely give their kid a bit of daddy issues, I'm sorry. A man like that doesn't just change overnight. I think he's quick to punish and ground his kid, specifically for misbehaving in school. He just desperately wants his kids to be successful.

Julian is a very affectionate father, I feel. He likes to hug and kiss his kids and isn't afraid to express fatherly affection. Throughout the series, Julian has always openly held his partner's hand, hugged them, or kissed them in front of others. I think that dad!Julian would be disgusting affection with you to the point where his kids would be like 'ew, gross'.

It doesn't matter what school event there is, Julian is always there. He's literally at every single: holiday party, open house, meet the teacher, choir concert, art showing, sports event - you name it, he's there.

He's the kind of guy to like to take his kids on trips. I actually like the idea that Julian is finally able to take that cruise with everyone like he intended before he landed in jail. I think going on a cruise with his kids, partner, and chosen family is actually a really big deal for him. It's a big fucking mess and everyone traumatizes the cruise ship but it's fun.

Dad!Julian taking his family to Disney Land. I just imagine this big fucking muscly guy in fucking Mickey Mouse ears because his kids wanted him to wear it. Excellent.

On a more emotional note, I think the only way Julian would stop drinking would be if he became a dad. I think his kid would ask him about the glass he always carries around and that simple question would rock him so much he'd work on putting it down. It'd be a long time before he finally kicks it (alcoholism is a bitch), but he'd do it for his kids. (Edit: someone wonderful in the comments mentioned julian would carry around a cup of coke instead and I love it so much, I’m going to add that thought up here to read)

Christmastime is a fucking nightmare, but I think he'd go from hating Christmas (I feel like Julian has Christmas trauma) to enjoying to take his family to see all of the Christmas lights and shit. Everyone goes to Julian's for Christmas and he's kind of sick of it, but also secretly loves it.

He'd definitely chew out his kid for getting caught smoking pot and doing drugs. He won't tolerate it.

Dad!Julian crying when his kids move out of the hosue

Dad!Julian always loading his college-aged kids down with food to take back when they come to visit.

Dad!Julian letting his kids help Bubbles fix up shopping carts

Dad!Julian losing his shit on Ricky because he left his kids with Ricky for literally five minutes so he could take something to a neighbor across the street and he comes back to an absolute shit-fest in his kitchen

Dad!Julian grilling all of his kid's prospective boyfriends/girlfriends/partners regardless of gender

LGBT Dad Julian has the pride flag in his lawn for gay kids. He doesn't exactly understand the pride flag but it's important to his kids.

Dad!Julian rubbing his partner's feet after a long day of walking and working :(((((( so sweet :))))

Julian definitely gets in trouble with the law for threatening a teacher who was bullying his kid, fr.

LMAO DAD!JULIAN IN THE PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION. All of the parents think he's really hot and he finds it annoying because he just wants to spend time with his family, not be oggled over by parents and stuff.

Dad!Julian dressing up as Santa LMFAO

Are these okay? I have some more, but these were my favorite ones I thought of.

#julian x reader tpb #tpb julian #trailer park boys x reader #julian jules #julian x you #trailer park boys x you #tpb x you #julian x you tpb

[thisismostdefinitelynotablog]

From Time to Time - Finn Wolfhard x Reader (Part 1)

Hi!! I've gotten some requests for an actor/actress reader, this is sort of inspired by some of those, except I thought I would write about a reader who's an extra because I haven't seen that be done before!! I also wanted to try my hand at writing more of a slow burn/series so this is that. This part doesn't have a whole lot of Finn in it so I do apologize but it's important!! exposition!!

Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Your favorite literary device was indisputably the internal allusion. In literature, an internal allusion is when a piece of writing refers to something that has happened earlier in the text. Internal allusions are usually used to give the piece a sense of continuity, a feeling of well-roundedness, and/or completion.

Your friends always thought it was a little strange to have a favorite literary device. But you couldn't help it. Having read so many books in your life, you were bound to recognize their devices and consistencies.

Consistent. That was the way your life was. Outside of books, anyway.

You often put it this way—if your life was a novel, it wouldn't make for a very interesting one. You were a fairly average teenager, going to school when you had to and staying home when you could. The only thing in your life, you thought, that would make for a good story was the work you did as an extra from time to time.

It started a few summers ago, when you were looking for a part time job. You thought it would look good on college applications to have some work experience, and having a little extra cash wouldn't hurt.

Since then you had been in the background of a few music videos for local bands and even briefly in a TV pilot. To be fair, you were only in each of the previously mentioned for about a second or two, at most a minute, but it didn't bother you in the slightest. You didn't care for stardom or money, and you especially didn't care for recognition. No, your favorite part of it all was simply being there.

There was a certain electricity on set. Everyone there had a purpose, and so much work went into creating even the simplest of scenes. The bright lights, the heavy cameras, and the stressed-out directors all felt more magic to you than the final product. And you got to be there, watching it all unfold. Like you were inside of one of those novels on your shelf, watching the story play out live.

Today, you were an extra for a music video for some band you hadn't heard of. You were in a backyard, positioned by a vine-covered fence, red solo cup in hand, offhandedly chatting with another extra who was about your age. It was just before sunset, and you watched as the crew set up their box lights and cameras just off of the set. You were stood right by a table full of props for the extras. It was littered with empty cups and beer bottles that glittered in the fairy lights strung up around the yard.

The sun was probably setting about now, and you were chatting with your new extra friend about who knows what when you felt a lukewarm liquid splash on the back of your neck and subsequently run all the way down your back (and shirt).

You spun around, very confused, your back very wet, and were met with the apologetic faces of some of the crew, and what looked to be one of the stars of the video. A boy about your age sporting a tan chin strap sunhat and a blue collared jacket. Which, you thought, was a questionable combination, given that it was A) nighttime and B) summer. But you didn't pay it any mind because he was also probably one of if not the most beautiful people you'd ever met. He had dreamy brown eyes and dark curly hair. Freckles littered his pale nose and cheeks, and he was—

"—so sorry. Oh my god, are you okay? Do you need a new shirt? I'm really sorry, we were told to pour the beers out because we can't have alcohol on set and I wasn't looking where I was pouring and...and are you okay?" His voice was, for lack of a better word, frantic. He stumbled over his words and his expression was of the utmost concern. It was almost comical, how considerate he seemed to be.

"Yeah. I'm okay." You smiled at him, and he smiled back, visibly relieved. God, he was so pretty. "If you have an extra shirt, though, I'll take it."

And they did have an extra shirt for you to take. It was mildly hideous, a strange shade of denim blue with just a few too many pockets down the front. But you appreciated it anyway, and they let you keep it after the shoot, which would have surprised you, but then you thought better of it and realized that they were probably aching to get rid of it.

But you never got rid of it. It was one of the only mementos of being on a set that you had, and you even took it with you years later, when you moved from California to Atlanta, Georgia. You never wore it, of course, but you had it. And you had fond memories of it. Because even though you had lukewarm beer spilled down your back, you had lukewarm beer spilled down your back by Finn Wolfhard (whose name you only learned after the video had released).

He had never learned your name. But that was the life of a background character like yourself. You didn't care for recognition. Right?

#finn wolfhard imagine #finn wolfhard #finn wolfhard x reader #finn wolfhard x y/n #fluff #oneshot #x reader #one shot #reader insert

[cariantha]

Hii bestie 💙

So since I read doppelganger and you mentioned Sawyers brother can I maybe know more about him?

In a small fic maybe? 💙

Because I’m super curious 👀

Thanks so much 💙

Hi Babe!❤️

Thanks for the question. Sawyer is the oldest of four siblings. Her brother Warner was #2, followed by two younger sisters. Warner was showered with a lot of attention when they were kids, their parent never wanting him to feel forgotten. To a degree, he was spoiled by their parents. Sometimes it felt unfair to Sawyer how much time and money they invested in Warner's extracurricular activities compared to her own. As a result, he excelled at sports. He was captain of the football team and a star basketball player. He was in the popular crowd at school and never had any trouble finding dates.

Warner is attractive, and boy does he knows it. He struts around like he's a super model. And if there's a mirror nearby, trust, he's checking himself out.

After high school, he went to college on a football scholarship, but dropped out after the first year. Somewhere along the way, status became very important to him. His top priorities became wealth and appearance. He wanted to make money and look like he had loads of it. He has changed jobs several times since leaving college, always looking for the next get-rich-quick path.

While he has many friends and acquaintances fooled, his parents and sisters see right through the façade. Deep down Sawyer loves him, but she really can't stand to be around him for too long. He's just an ass sometimes. (Like he was here.) He wants people to think he's funny, but most of his jokes just end up offending someone. Since Sawyer was already away at school for most of Warner's high school and college years, she didn't have to put up with too much of his conceit. But the younger sisters who had to live with him...they call him out on his shit all the time. They are so over it.

#thanks for the ask! #sawyer brooks

[rbl-robin]

[ZOE KRAVITZ, FEMALE, SHE/HER] who’s that? oh it’s [ROBIN BUCKLEY]. i hear they’re [21] and are known as [THE ALT GIRL] around [HAWKINS]. they’re a [CLERK] at [FAMILY VIDEO] and they’re also a [SOPHOMORE] at [HAWKINS COMMUNITY COLLEGE]. they’re known to be [+INTELLIGENT, +PERSUASIVE] and [-CYNICAL, -BLUNT]. some people say they remind them of [doodles on their favorite pair of red chucks, a french horn case covered in stickers, oversized clothes, and singing to la vie en rose in the shower]. 

BASICS

full name: robin michelle buckley

nickname: rob, buckley, tweedledee

birthday: march 10, 1967

age: twenty-one

sign: pisces ☼

hometown: hawkins, indiana

sexuality: lesbian (closeted)

relationship status: single

education: high school diploma, some college

major: undeclared

occupation: clerk at family video

skills: advanced french horn, spanish (fluent), french (fluent), italian (conversational), russian (beginner)

FULL BIO

robin michelle buckley was allegedly conceived in the back of a vw van on the oregon coast according to her parents. richard and melissa buckley, youngish and newly in love at the time, had a shotgun wedding in vegas and then made their way back home to hawkins, indiana, to their families, as soon as they learned they were with child. 

the buckleys were elated to welcome their little girl into the world. as a child, her parents (and grandparents) believed she was the brightest kid alive, even though she was a late bloomer when it came to most things (walking, talking, being potty trained, etc.). it was like things that came easy for most people were difficult for her, but things that were difficult to most were easy for her. so her parents took her shortcomings in stride and focused on her strengths, enrolling her in sports, allowing her to try her hand at playing instruments, and making sure she always had nannies that spoke different languages so they could teach little her a thing or two.

robin came from a long line of only children, so after her grandparents respectively passed, she was left with just her parents as far as family went. and then the recession of ‘81 hit and it was like her parents weren’t even her parents anymore. their sole focus became making ends meet so that hopefully, one day, they could put robin through college...but even that became a distant dream as the years passed on by. 

the recession was in no way a blessing...but having her parents’ focus off of her was. it meant that when she started panicking about her sexuality and abruptly quit soccer because “bev wildfire almost lost her leg” and not because she was scared her teammates would somehow know that she was crushing on their rivals’ center forward...her parents didn’t even bat an eye. they let her quit and continued on with their lives. 

by the time robin got to high school, she’d narrowed her hobbies down to the french horn and being a master of language. she would’ve added driving to her list of hobbies if she had a license, but her parents couldn’t afford driver’s ed or a car (thanks recession!), so...tough shit! being dubbed a ‘band geek’ was a rude awakening for one robin buckley. it was so reductive and so annoying...but once her sexuality became totally crystalized, she decided it wasn’t so bad. she figured it was better to be invisible than to be seen for who you really are and then rejected. 

once robin graduated, her good grades and extra curricular activities weren’t enough to make going to a good college a reality. the funds were simply not there. so...community college it was! she’d do two years in hawkins, buy herself some time to save more money, and hopefully transfer to a better school after that...but of course then robin met steve ‘the hair’ harrington and her priorities shifted. getting into a good college felt way less important when russians were getting ready to attack and the end of the world was right around the corner. 

robin’s purpose now is making sure she does her part to defeat whatever thing is terrorizing hawkins. in the meantime, she’ll continue silently suffering under the weight of debilitating crushes, pawning the children off on steve while she mystery solves with nancy wheeler, and doing other things regular 20-somethings do when evil forces are lurking beneath every surface...trying to milk it and enjoy her very minute time on this earth before it all goes black. 

#bth:intro

[backtohawkins]

WELCOME BACK TO HAWKINS, ROBIN BUCKLEY (zoe kravitz fc)

good luck and have a bitchin’ summer!

[ZOE KRAVITZ, FEMALE, SHE/HER] who’s that? oh it’s [ROBIN BUCKLEY]. i hear they’re [20] and are known as [THE ALT GIRL] around [HAWKINS]. they’re a [CLERK] at [FAMILY VIDEO] and they’re also a [SOPHOMORE] at [HAWKINS COMMUNITY COLLEGE]. they’re known to be [+INTELLIGENT, +PERSUASIVE] and [-CYNICAL, -BLUNT]. some people say they remind them of [doodles on their favorite pair of red chucks, a french horn case covered in stickers, oversized clothes, and singing to la vie en rose in the shower]. 

robin michelle buckley was allegedly conceived in the back of a vw van on the oregon coast according to her parents. richard and melissa buckley, youngish and newly in love at the time, had a shotgun wedding in vegas and then made their way back home to hawkins, indiana, to their families, as soon as they learned they were with child. 

the buckleys were elated to welcome their little girl into the world. as a child, her parents (and grandparents) believed she was the brightest kid alive, even though she was a late bloomer when it came to most things (walking, talking, being potty trained, etc.). it was like things that came easy for most people were difficult for her, but things that were difficult to mostwere easy for her. so her parents took her shortcomings in stride and focused on her strengths, enrolling her in sports, allowing her to try her hand at playing instruments, and making sure she always had nannies that spoke different languages so they could teach little her a thing or two.

robin came from a long line of only children, so after her grandparents respectively passed, she was left with just her parents as far as family went. and then the recession of ‘81 hit and it was like her parents weren’t even her parents anymore. their sole focus became making ends meet so that hopefully, one day, they could put robin through college…but even that became a distant dream as the years passed on by. 

the recession was in no way a blessing…but having her parents’ focus off of her was. it meant that when she started panicking about her sexuality and abruptly quit soccer because “bev wildfire almost lost her leg” and not because she was scared her teammates would somehow know that she was crushing on their rivals’ center forward…her parents didn’t even bat an eye. they let her quit and continued on with their lives. 

by the time robin got to high school, she’d narrowed her hobbies down to the french horn and being a master of language. she would’ve added driving to her list of hobbies if she had a license, but her parents couldn’t afford driver’s ed or a car (thanks recession!), so…tough shit! being dubbed a ‘band geek’ was a rude awakening for one robin buckley. it was so reductive and so annoying…but once her sexuality became totally crystalized, she decided it wasn’t so bad. she figured it was better to be invisible than to be seen for who you really are and then rejected. 

once robin graduated, her good grades and extra curricular activities weren’t enough to make going to a good college a reality. the funds were simply not there. so…community college it was! she’d do two years in hawkins, buy herself some time to save more money, and hopefully transfer to a better school after that…but of course then robin met steve ‘the hair’ harrington and her priorities shifted. getting into a good college felt way less important when russians were getting ready to attack and the end of the world was right around the corner. 

robin’s purpose now is making sure she does her part to defeat whatever thing is terrorizing hawkins. in the meantime, she’ll continue silently suffering under the weight of debilitating crushes, pawning the children off on steve while she mystery solves with nancy wheeler, and doing other things regular 20-somethings do when evil forces are lurking beneath every surface…trying to milk it and enjoy her very minute time on this earth before it all goes black. 

#submission #accepted #robin buckley

[the-firebird69]

insane Skier Jump Training (@olehenningholt8808) #shorts

This is the kind of vulgar crab we see all the time now our son is saying we need to get the demons out and get the keys going to force ourselves to raise the army and start manufacturing more we have a plan and it's going to head but he says the demons should be opened up before the 15th and we understand what he's saying we we need to do that we always screaming about it no matter what we're doing this is trying to get ahead of it and we need to build more Star Trek facilities the activities centers and we need to do that now and we need to build them at campuses colleges and universities and get some help from them and I started doing it all over the place and his country went nuts they said this is great we need them to use their brains to do it and to help that and to get them on board first and really it's a smart idea and near high schools middle school no psy corp and his kids are jumping for joy this is look at me and so they said we're going to go ahead and do it and it is to save children it's a it's like Mr crusher you heard that and said that's great and yeah he had problems and they bring him up when he's talking about things like this so we're doing that and near businesses but the university is key businesses would be great and we need to we need to get them going and leadership so we went ahead and start doing that and it's working ...this is a terrifying job a horrible place to jump to and who the hell would build this is gross you put it on here because of the Utah Olympic facility and he helped build this and design this and he wants the money for it these people don't care if you take it down it's not true but he wants them in court anybody that used it too and now we're going to start doing it cuz they say all sorts of stuff

Thor Freya

He designed a lot of stuff like this and sports became famous it is for us now we're going to get them back cuz they say it's for them and I tell you what I'm going to open a lot of lawsuits right now and we're not slowing down but we haven't done this for a while and he's saying this kind of stuff is important what they did to the clans was to try and erase anything that would ever get him anything what are you saying is well that's probably stupid and it really is they want to impress him with the ships and their in control and in charge and potatoes and we don't want him to go through mass of hell to get there that's stupid and we don't want him to go through massive hell to get where we are it just happens that the realm is a piece of crap and that they can't do the act for that long and really that's not what it is but it's close these Max are pushing these idiots already having trouble I already have makeup problems because I know what to do or revels if you're from a certain country then there's a Chinese their rebels he says okay I get that Dave's rebel you have to list them all this is threatening my life and like trying to get an education and that's all I got and I'm poor dirt poor dirt poor and Sarah says you're feeling massively he's got a song is going to play but he said that back in Armstrong there's notes in lockers from him it's John remillard to himself it's really from Billy Hicks and he wrote about what was happening and they're still in the locker and he opened it up he said we're a bunch of f***** to him but he doesn't care he's a rebel and we're the people he knows and stuff like that and it might be some dirty pictures in there and stuff. Not many but you guys are trying those everywhere and he's complaining about it so you pulled him down. We are going to have losses and they'll be surprised again soon cuz he know who's doing it it's like the actor from The predator he had an accident on a Harley-Davidson and he blames John remillard for a lack of safety equipment no it's the way that they were doing the throttle and he told them not to so they're trying to show me works now they're trying to use it on him and he orchestrated this whole thing to blame Trump and Trump went for it and fell for it and the max were having him do it to get the material and they fail and like you said there were two of them in the building and one went missing and the material came back and it was the man who brought it back is the blind guy who says lions and tigers and bears he's a very big f** and the other guy is the rooster he was a Mac too and he blamed will pierce and he got him put into museum and that guy's dead he went over the top and they're going after the other one too it's on the stop doing it stop bothering him get the ice back out don't keep the injury there and he won't listen anything after his people and it's really because he's not listening and you guys are stupid

I'm introducing these lawsuits soon and the max will support the one against landrigan because we're going to sue the Mac and Trump and will tell you how it goes Trump is going to die and then we're going to sue Lange again who's the actor if you still around we have to sue them both at the same time they both have the same identity and they both are trying to use it he did the surgery on purpose and forced that too.

Bitol and Goddess Wife

Olympus

[hangonimevolving]

And we're back... to 2023

BACK TO THE PRESENT. I have managed to catch my blog up with the goings-on from 2021-2022, and I now find myself in the present year. Guys. I'm proud of myself.

Top row plus bottom left: We spent the first week of January (the 2nd week of the kids' holiday break from school) on a little road trip to Legoland, and then Cape Canaveral. We hadn't been to either before, despite living in Florida for almost 9 years. Feel like this was an important achievement as Floridians.

Bottom middle: Vev turned TEN! Can you believe that insanity?!!!! Remember when he was JUST BORN, or when he was a TINY BABY?! I know, so nuts. Our big activity to celebrate Year Ten was a trip to.... an abandoned railroad track. But not just any abandoned railroad track! This was an abandoned railroad track that I scouted out and pored over the internet to find... because apparently, its the favorite spot of official Planespotters to take photos of "heavies," aka large-body jumbo jets, that land into Miami International Airport. We went planespotting! Our first of many planespotting jaunts since. Vev was freaking delighted. #winning

Bottom right: February 2023. Dr. Spouse and I ran the Publix A1A race - this time, opting for the 4-miler in support of the American Cancer Society, and channeling positive vibes to two special people in our lives who at the time, were battling aggressive cancers. Sadly, in the weeks since then, we have lost both of them :( but this highlights the importance of the ACS's work. In the weeks since this race, I've been dealing with some nagging chronic pain and arthritis.... what else is new.

***

March 2023: The kids' spring break week = family vacation to Costa Rica! Dr. Spouse and I had done a weeklong trip to CR in 2008, but this was our first time as a family unit. We spent our time in Monteverde exploring mountaintop rainforests, and then Arenal/La Fortuna exploring the forests, hot springs, and land surrounding the Arenal volcano. It was a blast. Also, our kids are REALLY good sports about hiking and outdoor adventures. They are at the most awesome, awesome ages right now, and I couldn't be more freaking delighted.

***

And now, I bring you to the last few weeks, from March-May 2023.

Top left and top right: I spent most of March and April quilting up a storm. I made two beautiful (if I do say so myself) quilts for the kids rooms with fabrics that I purchased from Etsy in December 2021 while living in the apartment, that I dropped entirely too much money on, but that were all chosen carefully to compliment the color scheme of their rooms/rugs that I just KNEW I'd be putting in there once we moved in. These quilts weren't just quilts: they were sort of a love letter to the labor and waiting that we had put into this house of ours. I enjoyed making them! Also, I chose patterns that involved me learning new skills. Can talk more about that later, but it was kind of a "thing" for me.

Middle left: American Heart Association Heart Ball. Dr. Spouse is on the board of the local chapter of the AHA, so he was sort of obligated to make an appearance. I recycled the same dress I wore to the 2016 ball, lol.

Middle right: I volunteered for several days at the kids' school's Scholastic Book Fair. I used to do this at their old school too - I really love it. Its fun to help the kids pick out new and interesting books to read! Bonus: I got to take funny pics trolling Florida governor Ron Desantis' dumbass policies on critical race theory and anti-wokeness. Eat shit, Ron Desantis! :) love ya haha jk jk.

Bottom row: May 2023 has meant some fun adult time! No, not that kind of adult time. I'm talking about a few occasions to reconnect with old friends, on our own and without kids in tow. I had a LONG awaited and much, MUCH enjoyed weekend with my college girlfriends - they all flew down to my neck of the woods, and we rented a beautiful and HUGE mansion from a homesharing site and had a blast together. Dr. Spouse did a similar thing the very next weekend with two of his medical school buddies. Here's to nurturing old friendships - the ones that have gotten us through all kinds of things in life so far.

***

And, now I'm up to date with our lives. Whee! I know this might sound dumb, but I feel like a weight is off my shoulders. I have had this blog going since sometime in 2010, I think, and although I've had long blocks of time where I haven't kept it up, its never far from my mind. I love that its a chronicle of my life over many years and many changes. I hope to keep it going. Whether you are new here or you've followed me awhile, whether you even exist or not - - thanks for reading.

#vacation #running

[mastermover345]

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