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coolpointsetta · 8 months

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OMG your posts about Jamie and Roy’s future kids!!!!! I’m sorry but I am actually squealing now, that is SO cute! I’m sorry but I’ve just GOT to know more now - what are the kids relationships like with their extended honorary family (because Jamie’s amassed himself quite the group here with the team, beard, keeley, Rebecca, ect.), what’s Roy like when Jamie gets pregnant (because imagine he would be protective as hell which I am HERE for) …sorry this whole situation makes me very intrigued even if we won’t be getting this for a while haha.

thank you!! it makes me sad we won’t get them for a while given that roy and jamie are just BARELY scraping the surface of FRIENDSHIP at this point…perhaps to ease my own suffering there could be a little drabble here or there…there or here…we shall see teehee

but you are absolutely correct!! as i said in the previous ask, i picture them having four (something something twins) and each time jamie’s pregnant roy is just a MENACE, making sure jamie is not lifting a FINGER, focusing entirely on himself and their growing babies. jamie loves roy more than anything, and he loves how affectionate and protective he is during pregnancy. granted, it can get a little suffocating and it’s hard for jamie to watch the team play and do so well without him, and even though he’s trying to listen to roy talk about plays and shit it’s a hard to listen to bc FOMO but those moments are nothing compared to the joy he feels picturing his growing family

speaking of the team, they are over the goddamn moon each time jamie and roy announce a new addition to the family. they fight over who’s the best uncle, and if jamie and roy ever want to have a date night, there’s a fucking queue line of who gets to watch them next. weekend at uncle sam’s, lunchtime with uncle richard and dinner with uncle dani with a follow up of ice cream and a movie with uncle colin and uncle isaac. the boys try and make jamie and roy go out more so they can spend more time with the kiddos. especially when the lads start to have kids of their own, the playdates are never ending.

keeley and rebecca are both co-godmother to each child, and they take their responsibilities very seriously. ‘take your godchildren to work day’ becomes a new tradition are nelson road once the kiddos are old enough to be brought around. rebecca is bringing them to meetings, keeley takes them shopping and turns her office into the most picture perfect tea party.

~small spoiler~ but each of the children’s first names are their own, but their middle names are all after someone special in their lives (keeley, rebecca, theodore, willis). when roy and jamie tell them their child’s full name, it always evokes tears.

thank you for the ask!!!

#asks #fic: no thing defines a man

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something-in-the-seas · 5 years

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November 18th, 1968 (Part 1)

I thought I would share the Aftershock one shots. They’re on AO3 as well here. There is centered on the Bioshock 2 cast coming to the surface, basically it’s a long ass night and everyone is suffering. Our lord and savior Booker isn’t here yet but Ryan is suffering.

I thank @frangstfontaine for inspiring me to finish this last night after those riveting Area 51 discussions

TW: For pregnancy (Liz is pregnant with Ziggy).

7:15 PM

The beginning of the holiday season had always been Jack’s favorite time of year. From what little he could remember during his time in Rapture, trapped in Fontaine’s laboratories and stuck under the eye of Suchong, besides New Years, everything else was heavily frowned upon. There were no organized religions in Rapture, so no Christmas or Hanukkah, unless you celebrated it in your own home. From what he could gather, Rapture’s founding, November 5th, was supposed to act as a stand in for the more commercial aspects of Christmas.

And Thanksgiving?

“Being thankful for what you have is for parasites! Propaganda made up by the hacks in Washington! Tell me, why do I have to thank any of you? For my accomplishments? No, I did that on my own, no invisible man in the sky helped me. For the displeasure you’ve all caused me for the past ten years? If so, yes, thank you-”

Well, Andrew Ryan made it very clear what his thoughts on Thanksgiving were, and he made sure everyone knew it every year during the big feast. Whether you wanted his opinion or not, you were going to get it. This Thanksgiving was going to be no exception.

So, he never got to celebrate the holidays as a child. The most he got was a piece of candy from Tenenbaum that he cherished. But, there were other memories jumbled in: of times when he was small, chewing on a turkey leg, saying grace with a family so large that the table could fit nearly a dozen people. He could vividly remember sitting on his father’s shoulders to put the star on the tree they picked together outside their farm in Kansas. He and his mother used to spend a day building an army of snowmen, and then spend the night snuggled by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate, listening to the Christmas radio dramas.

But, those weren’t real. The loving and gentle mother and father he remembered from events that never even happened had never existed. His whole life was a lie. At first, it was a lot to take in, and he had a hard time accepting it.

Getting able to recreate those moments with his children, though, made up more than enough. Their first Christmas, he barely had anything, but the joy on their faces when they saw the few presents he could afford under their tiny, dying tree in their uncomfortably small apartment somehow made it the most magical one of all.

He didn’t have a farm in Kansas, but he managed to work hard enough to afford a large, spacious house in a nice suburb right outside of town. He had that big table in their big dining room that perfectly fit a big, happy (for the most part) family for Thanksgiving. Every Christmas marked more presents under their huge, ornament full tree, the stockings hanging on the fireplace practically being dragged down by how full they were. And even though Masha chose to celebrate Hanukkah, which they all celebrated together, she also did very well for herself when it came to gifts.

If he had the means, he was going to spoil his girls rotten. After everything they had gone through during the first few years of their lives, they deserved the world.

But, the material things weren’t why he loved the holidays. It was nice to give or receive a gift, the decorations in town were always beautiful, and keeping the dream of Santa Claus alive as long as humanly possible was special, of course. He used to say the holidays were his favorite because of how excited his girls would get when the time rolled in. How he was able to start new traditions with them like playing out in the snow or decorating the house as a family.

Every year, more picture frames were added on the fireplace. What started as one lonely photo of them all standing at the steps of the lighthouse, squinting from the intensity of the sun and exhausted, turned into school portraits, memorabilia from family vacations, graduation pictures, it went on and on.

As Jack finished placing the garland on the fireplace, his eyes moved to one frame in particular; a photo of a stunning, beaming young woman with light brown hair, pointing at a letter she held out by the kitchen table. ‘Berkeley bound!’ was written on the white, wooden frame with purple paint.

Janice, his eldest, who used to be a gangly, awkward girl in a torn, dirty pink dress that didn't even go to her knees, was twenty-one now. She was on her second year at Berkeley Law. She earned it. She studied for weeks, stayed up multiple nights to achieve it, even when people doubted her, she never gave up, but still, he missed her. California was so far away from New York.

And Rosie, his not-so-little spitfire, was an hour away in NYU. Freshmen weren’t allowed to bring their cars onto campus, and if she ever wanted to come home for the weekends, he would have been at the train station to pick her up in a heartbeat. She just chose to stay in the city. The Big Apple was much more exciting than little, old Saratoga Falls. She had always been attracted to the bustle of the city and was happy living the nightlife with her friends. It must have been nostalgic for her.

With his girls all grown up and beginning to go their own ways, the holidays now meant something else to Jack. It brought them all home. He got to know them, not just as their father, but as their friend. He’d learn all about Masha’s family as they celebrated Hanukkah, Janice would tell about her time in California and everything going on at college, Rosie always had some crazy stories to share, and the younger girls ranted to him about their classes.

“Janice called.”

Jack turned his head to see his wife leaning on the doorway, a soft smile on her lips. She must have been watching decorate for a while.

“Do you know where she’s at?” he asked. He couldn’t have contained his excitement even if he tried.

“When we talked, she had just picked up Rosie at the station and they were stopping to get gas and some drinks.” She walked towards him and wrapped her thin arms around his thick, muscular waist. “She said she needed caffeine and had to save her quarters for the vending machine, so she couldn't stay on for long.”

“I told her if she was too tired from the flight I would have picked her up at the airport,” Jack replied. “I don’t like any of the girls driving on Hamilton at night, you know how bad deer season is right now?”

She rolled her eyes with a smirk. “They’ll be fine, Rosie’s got enough energy in her to power a small army.”

“Liz, I had five cars coming into the shop from deer accidents this week alone. Completely totaled! I don’t even know what to do with them.”

“You know how careful Janice is, she moves at a snail's pace when there’s an inch of snow. They’ll be home, perfectly safe in a half an hour.” Elizabeth paused. “Ten minutes if Rosie gets pissed enough to take the wheel.”

He shook his head. “God help us.” He took her hands and rubbed his calloused fingers over her smooth skin. “So, who is this guy Janice is bringing over? Dennis?”

“David,” she corrected, playfully scolding him. “And from everything I’ve heard about him, he is a very nice guy, and he makes her very happy. Oh, and he’s in medical school.”

It was as if she was warning him, and Jack sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. “I’m sure he’s a good kid. She’s just so young. She’s only twenty-one!”

“I was twenty-one when I met you,” Elizabeth replied. “Besides, you were-”

“No, don’t even go there.”

And now he was playfully scolding her, and they both chuckled together before they found their wedding picture on the mantle. They stood outside the church, arm in arm, with their girls, who were much younger than they were now and wearing matching little dresses, with several good friends such as Dr. Tenenbaum.

There was a guilty pang in his stomach when he saw her in the back, looking awkward and like she didn’t belong. He could tell Elizabeth felt the same way, especially with how things were for the past month or so. It was a looming elephant in the room that had to be addressed soon, but they wanted to ignore it for just a little while longer.

He had to say, though, he looked quite dashing in his tux and Liz, of course, was gorgeous in that dress, but he was biased. His wife was the most beautiful woman alive.

And then, there was a more recent photo beside it of he and Sally, beaming from ear to ear after one of her cheerleading competitions last spring. It was closer to the city, and when it was over, they got ice cream. She wasn’t that cowering seven-year-old in the bathysphere anymore. Today was her birthday, and she was sixteen now.

“I miss when they were that small,” Jack said, his full of melancholy as Elizabeth rested her head on one of his broad shoulders. “It’s like they don’t even need us anymore.”

“They still need us.”

“Yeah, but they’re not coming to us anymore if they got a scrape or had a nightmare, or asking me to read them a bedtime story-”

“Isn’t this what we wanted, though?” Elizabeth asked. “Them to grow up and be normal, independent women with their own lives?”

“I just didn’t realize how fast it was going to go.” He faced his wife. “I miss when they’d run around the house and play dolls right here. Or, when they’d sit at the table and paint. I mean, what’s the point of having this big house if it’s empty?”

She smiled softly, leading his hands to the growing swell of her stomach, just beginning to poke out from her dress. “Just think, we’ll get to do it all over again soon.”

And the thought of reliving all those moments again and passing down those holiday traditions with someone entirely new- a little boy or girl who would be the perfect blend of them both- gave Jack chills. Good chills, but chills nonetheless. They both had dreamed about this, tried for years. There were so many tears shed. Doctors had told them to give up, that it just wasn’t possible, and they were ready to, but here they were now. Cradling their unborn child, who’s birth in just a few short months would mark the beginning of spring, and with it, a whole new chapter of their lives.

He may have been excited for this Christmas, but he was already looking forward to next year.

As he cupped his wife’s cheeks, Jack could only be amazed that she was somehow even more beautiful carrying their child than ever before. God, he loved her. He loved his family so much. Rapture and Fontaine may have tried to take everything from him, but they gave him even more than he thought was possible.

Their lips inched closer together, ready to share a passionate kiss, but their moment together was disrupted by the shuffling of feet. A small cough from near the doorway made them separate. Their youngest girl, fifteen-year-old Leta, glanced between the two as she rubbed her arm. Her cheeks were turning a light shade of pink.

“Grandpa wants to know if we’re doing cake soon,” she began after she was finished gawking. “He says that his show is coming on, and he does not want to be bothered while he’s watching it.”

The couple raised a brow at each other and scowled. “Did you tell him it’s up to your sister?” He asked.

“Well, yeah, but he told me that her birthday doesn’t give her superiority over him.” The bespectacled girl shrugged. "I didn't want to get into a debate with him."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes while Jack exhaled slowly. He placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulders. “Alright,” he said as father and daughter began to make their way to the kitchen, “let’s take care of the old man.”

“I’m going to see what Sal wants to do.” Elizabeth motioned upstairs. “It’s her day, she’s the birthday girl.”

Jack nodded, though, he felt a pang a jealousy that his wife didn’t have to deal with his father. Stress wasn’t good for the baby, and Andrew Ryan had the magical gift of raising blood pressures. He didn’t even need to open his mouth to do it, Jack could feel the inevitable migraine starting and there weren’t any arguments yet.

Yet.

#aftershock #bioshock #bioshock 2 #jack wynand #jack ryan #andrew ryan #elizabeth comstock #sally ryan #janice ryan #rosie ryan #leta ryan #masha lutz #masha ryan #brigid tenenbaum #david smith #pregnancy//#1968

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tonystarkstan · 5 years

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the courage of stars

Word Count: 1,568 | ao3 | tw: depressive episode

Sometimes, Peter forgets how to breathe.

He forgets a lot of things, actually, but the breathing tends to be the most problematic. It should be simple, automatic, a thing your body unconsciously does. Only two simple steps: inhale, exhale.

But for Peter, it’s just… not. Sometimes he has to stop and focus on the steady in and out, physically stretch his lungs like stretching out a rubber band. It’s elastic, something that requires an energy input to get an output. Keeping his body alive is exhausting.

Sometimes, he just doesn’t want to.

Somewhere along the way, he gives up on eating entirely. He thinks that maybe he sleeps, but there’s no solid divide between asleep and awake anymore. It’s fluid. Being alive is like treading water. He is so tired. He wants to stop swimming. Stop breathing.

Peter’s brain always comes down to this. To water and shapes and spirals and bits of messy physics that can only serve as metaphors for what’s actually on the inside of him.

“Peter, Happy’s waiting outside!” May calls, and suddenly he’s slammed back to Earth. He picks up his duffle bag and heads to the door, giving May a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Have a good weekend, baby. Hey – and be safe! I love you,” she says, giving him a tight hug. Inhale, he reminds himself. He stretches his lungs just enough to get his next words out.

“Love you, too,” he responds, and then the vacuum inside of him steals the rest of his air. He’s quick to leave after that.

He puts his headphones in, the classic “don’t talk to me” gesture, and makes his way to the Audi parked outside his apartment complex. May’s pulling extra hours over the weekend, so it was decided that he’d spend some time at the Compound, training and working in the lab with Tony.

Normally, he’d be excited. But Peter can’t breathe.

He slides into the backseat and bobs his head slightly, as if bopping to music. He’s not. There is no music in head headphones. Just silence.

Happy gives him a strange look at the lack of his usual enthusiastic greeting before shrugging to himself and pulling out into the street.

“Teenagers,” he mutters.

Peter lifts his feet onto the seat, knees pressed close to his chest and looks out the window. Somewhere inside his head, he’s thrashing to stay above water.

I’m tired, he thinks as he leans his head back on the seat.

So he lets himself sink.

Sometimes, Peter thinks that he was born with a black hole in the middle of his chest. That he was always going to feel like this, that gravity was always going to pull on him more from the inside than the outside.

But no. When he was born, Peter was a star. May and Ben and Ned poured so much light into him, and he couldn’t help but shine light into any person he met or room he walked into. His enthusiasm for science and for learning and for people was always evident in the excited tone of his voice and bright sparkle in his eyes.

When stars collapse, a strange thing occurs. During the process, the surface of the star reaches an imaginary point called the “event horizon.” And when the surface of the star finally meets that point, time stands still, and the star can collapse no more.

Peter learns in astronomy class that it’s possible to be frozen in place and still be collapsing.

When he arrives at the Compound, Peter’s so far inside his head that he barely registers it. It’s autopilot, muscle memory, that gets him into the elevator from the parking garage underneath the building.

“Good evening, Mr. Parker,” FRIDAY greets. “Boss was called for an emergency meeting but will be out shortly. You may do as you please, and he’ll notify you when he’s out. Where would you like to go?”

Peter thinks about his lungs and how there never seems to be enough air to breathe.

“Outside, please. The track.” Those four words feel like defying gravity. Maybe he is.

(Maybe being alive in itself is an act of defying gravity.)

FRIDAY falls silent after that and goes up to the ground floor. Peter vaguely wonders what the weight limit is. He’s surprised he doesn’t break the scale.

When he makes it out to the track, he drops his duffle bag by the entrance, not having the energy to bring it all the way up to his room first. It’s already dark outside, dusk settling comfortably over Peter’s surroundings.

He doesn’t have the energy for running, so instead, he just starts walking, pace slow and lethargic. The elastic isn’t just around his lungs anymore. It’s holding his legs hostage too, making every step forward burn.

God, he is so tired.

It’s chilly outside, he realizes belatedly. A breeze brushes his face and he shivers slightly, sensitive to the cold.

As he walks, he listens to the scuff of his shoe against the track. Friction. His whole life is made of friction. The skid of shoes on pavement as he stops a bus. Flash’s offhand remarks against thick skin. The scrape of his lungs against a too-small ribcage.

He doesn’t remember making the decision to stop. Maybe it wasn’t his choice to begin with.

(Too much friction. Not enough pull.)

For a while, he just stands there. After a moment, his chest starts to burn, and he reminds himself, Inhale.

His lungs expand and then collapse back in on themselves, like a dying star. He’s standing in place and he’s collapsing, over and over again.

Frozen movement.

Peter hears the sound of footsteps behind him long before their owner stops next to him, but he doesn’t move. He just watches air puff out in front of him, a reminder that he’s breathing. A choice.

(You’re alive because of you.)

“What are we doing out here, buddy? It’s cold,” Tony says into the night, and Peter glances at him. He marvels at how the words leave the man effortlessly, how his chest rises and falls as effortlessly as the sun in the sky. Like it’s natural.

Inhale.

“I wanted air,” Peter tells him.

“There’s plenty of that inside,” Tony quips mildly but doesn’t push it when he gets no response.

For a moment, they stay just like that, side by side. Tony doesn’t push, and Peter simply continues to watch his breath leave him. Inhale, exhale. He tries to program those words back into his body.

His gaze shifts to the sky before he speaks again. “Did you know that stars are in constant conflict with themselves?”

Tony looks at him, hands casually tucked into his pockets but eyes sharp and concerned. “How so?”

Inhale, Peter reminds himself. “All of the gravity of the mass in a star is constantly trying to pull it inward. The only thing that keeps a star from collapsing is its light, the energy generated from nuclear fusion.”

“Yeah?” Tony asks.

“Yeah.”

Peter falls silent again, exhausted, and Tony takes the time to study the kid carefully. Peter is sullen in a way he’s never seen before, shoulders hunched and weighed down by some unseen force.

He’s just not… Peter.

“Come on, Pete. Talk to me,” Tony prompts. “If you want to see the stars, I can take you. I’ll take you wherever you’d like.”

Inhale.

“I can’t breathe because I’m losing light,” Peter says suddenly, desperately. At this, Tony looks completely lost.

“What? Kid, I don’t… I don’t think I’m following,” Tony says hesitantly, and Peter shakes his head, thinking of dying stars and friction and gravity and all the forces that are trying to stop him when all he wants is to breathe.

This time, when he inhales, his lungs stutter and the rubber band snaps back before it can ever fully stretch. He tries again and again, chest heaving, but it’s not enough, it’s not.

Peter turns, looking up at Tony and grasping his sleeve. “Tony,” he gasps, a word that tears itself from his mouth and hits the man with the force of a train.

“Hey, hey, hey – I’m here, kiddo,” Tony says, hands quickly coming to rest on the kid’s shoulders. “I’m right here. Just breathe.”

Peter shakes his head, again, frustrated. “I can’t,” he chokes, voice cracking. “I’m – I’m tired and I’m losing light and without it, nothing is going to keep me from – keep me from – “

Understanding lights Tony’s eyes, and his heart breaks a little. Tony doesn’t wait. He just pulls the kid close, one arm wrapping around Peter’s waist and the other coming to rest at the back of his head.

“It’s okay, Pete, it’s okay,” Tony murmurs, chin resting on the kid’s head. He feels the boy’s body shake with the force of his emotion, and Tony can’t help but squeeze a little tighter.

“You’re not going to run out of light,” Tony tells him fiercely. “I have plenty of my own. We can share.”

Peter lets out a harsh sob at that, somewhere in between despair and relief, and Tony just holds him while he cries.

Time stands still, but this time, Tony keeps him from collapsing. Eventually, Peter’s breaths even out and the tremors stop, but he doesn’t pull away. They just stay like that.

Inhale, he reminds himself.

This time, the breath comes a little easier.

Note: Originally, I was hesitant to post this anywhere, because I didn’t think it made any sense. But honestly? I think I’m proud of it. So I figured I’d post it here, too. Title taken from the song “Saturn” by Sleeping At Last.

#please validate me im needy #its awful but #here i am #peter parker #tony stark #iron dad #spider son #marvel #mcu #mcu writing #my writing #fanfic #iron dad and spider son #depression #TW depression #angst #whump #hope writes

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cherryblossomchangbin · 6 years

Text

Damsel in Distress - Na Jaemin

‘85,48 and 21 for Na Jaemin pls!’

{ 21: “We’ll figure this out” // 48: “Why are you crying?” // 85: “Don’t lie to me” }

Angst/Fluff prompt list

Word Count: 1451

To say that you were feeling stressed was an understatement. Exam season. The part of the school year that you’d been dreading the most. As if your own pressure wasn’t enough, your parents were always on your back about doing well. And your friends weren’t much help. In all the practices tests they all did really well, while you barely managed to scrape over the pass mark. You just didn’t get it. No matter what you did, the information just wouldn’t stick in your head. The only thing that might’ve helped take the edge off, even a little bit, was your boyfriend, Jaemin. But was he around? No.

You couldn’t really blame him though… he was an idol. He was following his dream. This also meant that he took all of his exams earlier than you- so they didn’t interfere with his schedule. Despite that, Jaemin didn’t seem to struggle at all. “That was easy!” He had said, joining you for lunch after taking his last exam. Thankfully, tomorrow was saturday. Your parents were going to be away for the weekend meaning you could just relax and study in any way you wanted. Or so you hoped.

When ‘tomorrow’ came, however, your plans were interrupted at lunch time by a knock on the door. You looked up from the dining table where you were studying and debated answering. Nah, if you ignore them they’ll go away, right? Wrong. They knocked again. And again. With a groan, you stood up and shuffled over to the door. You frowned, confused, to see Jaemin standing on the other side.

“Nana.. what are you doing here?” You said, rather bluntly.

“Surprise!” He replied in his usual happy-go-lucky tone. He walked past you and into the house before you could even say anything. “My manager gave us the weekend off so I thought I’d come and surprise you. It’s been a while since we got to hang out properly. Especially since doing our exams.”

“Jae… I still have exams. I was in the middle of studying..” you gently closed the door, still frowning as your turned to face him; not that you managed to get another word out before he started talking again.

“I know, I know. I just thought maybe you could use a break. Relax a little.” The shining smile that never left his face made your heart melt. But the papers scattered across the table that made their way into your line of sight pulled you back to reality.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. I have too much to do,” after giving Jaemin a small smile you made your way back to your seat, picking up your pen again and reading over the paper in front of you.

“Come on, Y/N..” Jaemin pouted as he sat opposite you. He tried to place his hand on top of yours but you moved away causing him to frown, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you muttered, concentrating on the notes you were writing.

“Don’t lie to me..”

“I said I’m fine,” your voice a little louder this time. You could feel the frustration building up inside. None of your notes were making sense, your plans for studying had been messed up. All you wanted was to get good grades. Though, right now you weren’t sure if that was a reality you would be able to live. Jaemin sighed quietly to himself before sitting in silence for a while, not wanting to push you. It was clear something was wrong. But it was also clear you didn’t want to talk about it. So he let you be.

After about 5 minutes of silence, Jaemin was getting edgy. He wanted to talk to you, to do something, to help. He just didn’t know what to do or say. But seeing you shove another piece of paper across the table in frustration was the trigger.

“Y/N,” he said. His tone not blunt, but not soft. Slowly, you looked up and met his eyes. “You need to take a break…”

Rolling your eyes, you looked back at your papers, “I told you I’m okay.”

“No you’re not! I can see it! Please… You’re overworking yourself,” his pleas bore through you like nails on a chalkboard. All you wanted to do was study and do well.

“Just stop!” This time you yelled. You didn’t need to look up from the table to know that Jaemin was pouting. Part of you just didn’t care right now. “All I wanted to do today was study. Everyone else seems to be having no trouble getting through their exams. But I just can’t do it.”

“Let me hel-”

“I don’t need your help! You didn’t have to come here. God, of all days why today?”

“I wanted to see you… “

“Well who says I wanted to see you?!”

You inhaled sharply, quickly realising what you had just said. Eyes closed tight, you just listened. Waiting. All Jaemin could do was look at you. You words stung like a fresh papercut.

Did you really mean that? Of course you didn’t. Jaemin was your world. He was there for you no matter what. He was always able to tell when you were feeling sad and always knew just what to do to make it better. He was your sunshine on a rainy day. He was your guiding light through the dark. You mentally cursed yourself for letting your stress get the better of you, letting yourself take it out on your boyfriend. It took everything in you to just keep your eyes shut, you didn’t know what would happen if you opened them. Then you heard it. He got up. His footsteps coming closer and then getting fainter with every step. You didn’t know where he was going. You wanted to follow him, to apologise. But your body weighed you down.

When you could no longer hear his footsteps, you let go. All the stress, all the frustration. It felt good to cry out all the emotions. But what did it cost you? You shoved all the paperwork across the table, not caring if anything fell on the floor, and lay your head over your arms along the wooden surface. Crying was all you could do.

“Hey, why are you crying?” came a soft whisper from beside you. Sniffling, you looked up to see Jaemin kneeling next to your chair.

“I thought you left because of what I said.. Nana..” The tears began to flow again as you looked at the worry in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m just so stressed out and -”

“I know..” It was his turn to interrupt you. “I would never leave you, especially in a state like this. I’m sorry I haven’t been there more to help you. Maybe I got too caught up with my schedule that I didn’t notice how stressed out you were. All I wanted to do was spend time with you.” Jaemin held his hand up and shook his head a little when you tried to speak, a way to implying you to stay quiet- which you did. “I know you didn’t mean what you said and I knew you would need a minute to yourself so I went to do something…Come with me.” Seeing the smile on his face you instantly questioned what he possibly could’ve done. You wiped the last of your tears as Jaemin led to the living room.

“Jaemin…” you gasped seeing before you a whole bunch of pillows and blankets laid out on the couch; the screen of the tv showing the title menu to your favourite DVD.

“All we need are snacks. But I need your help for that…”

“Why?” You frowned.

Jaemin looked at you sheepishly, then spoke in a small voice “I don’t know where you keep your snacks.”

Laughter erupted from you, dragging your, now pouty, boyfriend towards the kitchen. “You’re such a dork!”

After getting all the snacks together and setting them out on the long coffee table, you and Jaemin both got comfortable amongst the mound of pillows and blankets. Jaemin wrapped his arm around you, pulling you closer, “no more studying today, okay?” He chuckled at the protest on your face, “tomorrow. You can study again tomorrow and I’ll help you. But today you need to rest and let me take care of you We’ll figure this out.” He was right. Of course he was right. You sighed, ignoring the stubborn feeling inside, letting your head fall onto his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for my damsel in distress,” Jaemin joked. You laughed with him, pressing play on the remote. Maybe a change of plans wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

#jaemin #na jaemin #nct #nct dream #jaemin scenario #na jaemin scenario #jaemin imagine #na jaemin imagine #nct jaemin #nct na jaemin #nct dream jaemin #nct dream na jaemin #nana #nct imagine #nct scenario

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charllieeldridge · 4 years

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What To See & Do With 24 Hours In New York City

We recently headed to the Big Apple with big hopes of seeing it all. When we were researching the sights around the city, we had a hard time visualizing distances and weren’t sure what we’d accomplish in our short visit to the city before heading upstate.

Of course, a weekend in New York would be better, as with only 24 hours, you’ll barely have time to scrape the surface. So, what exactly can you see in 24 hours in New York City? It turns out, quite a bit.

In this article, I’m going to list everything that we managed to take in on our recent trip to New York City and hopefully it will give you an idea of what you’ll be able to cover in a day. One thing to make sure of is that you’re wearing a good pair of shoes when exploring NYC!

Note: This entire itinerary is based in Manhattan and while I’m aware that New York has many wonderful boroughs to explore, we stuck to Manhattan for the sake of seeing as many sights in the shortest amount of time. To maximize our time in the city, and to arrive in style, we took a Blacklane car to get us from the airport to Manhattan, but you could also take the Air Train from JFK.

What to see and do with 24 hours in New York City.

Where To Stay: Lower Manhattan

I recommend staying at a hotel in Lower Manhattan and branching out from there to see all of the sites around the area. We stayed at the W New York – Downtown and found its central location to be the perfect base for our explorations around the city. The staff were young and the hotel was very chic — make sure to check out their onsite lounge with live music!

If you’re on a tight budget, there are some hostels in Manhattan, but even they are expensive. You could stay in a cheaper borough (like Queens), but then you’ll spend more time & money on transport. Another great option is to check out Airbnb for some cheaper rooms for your 1 day in New York.

What to See Around the Financial District:

*Note: You’re going to want to eat at some point during your whirlwind trip to New York City. Check out this post which lists the best places to eat in NYC, according to a local.

Battery Park: This beautiful, 27-acre park is located at the southern tip of Manhattan and it is the perfect place to start the day. Walk along the sea wall and take in the next sight.

The Statue Of Liberty: You can see a side profile of the famous statue from Battery Park and there are numerous ferries to take you closer. If you hop on the boat that visits Ellis Island and Liberty Island, it will take up an hour and a half of your day (even without even getting off), so for the sake of time, snap a photo and get moving.

Broadway: From Battery Park, take this famous road to the next sights.

The Charging Bull: In the name of financial prosperity and luck, fight through the crowds of tourists to rub the lucky bronze balls below this 3.2-ton famous statue.

Trinity Church: Just a little further down Broadway you’ll see Trinity Church on your left. If you’re quick, you may even have time to head inside for a peak.

Wall Street: Wall Street has a fascinating collection of Gilded Age architecture. Here you can take in a few major sites within minutes — The Trump Building, Federal Hall, 14 Wall Street (Bankers Trust Building), and the New York Stock Exchange (among others).

The Brooklyn Bridge: There’s a beautiful walkway that runs along to the East River on FDR Drive. Take this and you’ll have lovely views of the Brooklyn Bridge, plus you can shop for some touristy New York trinkets from vendors here.

Chinatown: From the Brooklyn Bridge take St. James and Bowery streets into Chinatown. Source out a popular Chinese restaurant and enjoy some soup dumplings. I recommend Joe’s Shanghai for authentic soup dumplings.

Canal Street: This 2.5 km east-west street is your best bet for finding cheap knock-off sunglasses and inexpensive tourist garb. Don’t spend too much time shopping, there’s lots more to see with your day in New York.

Little Italy: Hopefully you brought your appetite. Little Italy has some of the best restaurants in all of New York. You’ll have a bit of time to explore the area before popping in for a bite.

SoHo: Named for its location (South of Houston) and its similarities to London’s SoHo, this is a great area to roam around for a bit. There is a lot of charm in the neighbourhood’s narrow, cobblestone back streets.

Tribeca: Another acronym based name (“Triangle Below Canal St.”), Tribeca is a great place for fans of neo-Renaissance architecture. Some places to see include the Powell Building, a row of White neo-Renaissance buildings on Worth Street and the New York Telephone Company (140 West St.).

Freedom Tower & World Trade Memorial: End the day off with a walk through the beautiful and profoundly evocative World Trade Memorial, all the while looking up to see the tallest building in the Western hemisphere, the Freedom Tower.

…SLEEP!

What To See Around Central Manhattan:

After a good sleep, hop on the subway at Wall St. Station heading uptown on the R-line ($2.50 – around 20 minutes) to 14th St. Station (Union Square) and get ready for another jam-packed few hours of sightseeing in New York.

Union Square: Sometimes there are events and farmer’s markets here. Definitely check it out.

5th Ave: Another one of New York’s most famous avenues, 5th Ave. has some beautiful architecture rooted in the Gilded Age, such as the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York Public Library, Rizzoli, Saks Fifth Avenue, Flatiron Building, etc. Plus, many more shopping opportunities for those not on a strict budget!

Central Park: Follow Fifth Avenue north until you hit Central Park on your left-hand side. You won’t have time to see much of this 3.41 km2 green space, but you’ll be able to see the south end all the way to the fountain. When you reach the fountain, loop back around to the west side of the park and exit on Central Park West.

Columbus Circle: This is a beautiful roundabout to take a couple of photos before getting on the subway at the Columbus Circle Station. Take the A-C-E train downtown and get off at 59th St. Station.

The Chelsea Market & Neighbourhood: Get off the subway at 14th St. and head for the amazing Chelsea Market which is open Monday to Friday (7am – 9pm) and Sunday (8am – 9pm).

The High Line: My personal favourite part of New York City, the High Line is an abandoned railway track turned pedestrian walkway and garden. Benches, flowers, amphitheaters, grass, and foliage make this one of the most beautiful and romantic city walks. There are also plenty of dinner options around here and some snack stands on the High Line itself. Get off on 30th St and head east.

Madison Square Garden: Turn left on 7th Ave off of 30th St and head north. Almost immediately you’ll see one of the world’s most famous venues, Madison Square Garden.

Times Square: Continue northbound on 7th Ave and basically just follow the bright lights and camera-happy tourists until you reach Times Square. Take a few photos and try not to have a seizure amongst the flashing LED TV Screens that are the size of football fields. If you’re looking to find mouthwatering barbecue in New York, stop in at Virgil’s in Times Square.

Have Some Extra Time?

Why not go sailing? Consider a day sail around the waters of NYC. Check out companies like Sailo who offer many popular rentals for around 2 – 4 hours including sunset cruises overlooking Manhattan.

Once you’ve seen the city by foot and your legs are sore, you can relax on a sailboat and enjoy the view. They’ve also done plenty of trips that are organized bachelorette parties, as well as sightseeing trips around the bay.

All of their boats in NYC are rented with a licensed captain which is included in the price, so all you have to do is book a trip and then show up on the dock.

Time’s Up!

By this point, your legs will be aching and your camera shutter finger will be twitching, but you’ll have seen a lot of New York (well, only Manhattan actually).

Of course, you could go a whole different route and head into Brooklyn or check out the beautiful Staten Island area, but that’s what is so great about New York City, you can explore it for months and still not see it all! Some of it will just have to wait until next time.

One important thing to note is that you’ll want to make sure you have travel insurance for a trip to New York (and the USA as a whole).

Not only should you have insurance for anywhere in the world, but the cost of visiting a hospital in the USA is incredibly expensive. Enter your information below to get a free quote from World Nomads, a popular insurance company for travellers.

What did we miss? If you think it’s possible to see more of New York in 24 hours, please share it with us in the comments below. If you think that it would be impossible to see all of this in 24 hours, tell us we’re crazy!

Don’t believe it’s possible? Check out our fun, quick video of our 24 hours in New York City!

youtube

Some images in this article were sourced from Shutterstock.com.

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homewoodpage · 6 years

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The Long-Neglected Upstairs Bath

Three years ago I had a great idea. An idea that was mostly driven by my desire to have one bathroom in this house that contained a tub suitable for soaking.

Anyone remember this tub (with an effing fireplace?!) from my last house?

Yeah. Me too. With pain in my heart every time I think about it.

This house has three full bathrooms, and, for the first 3 years I lived here, zero working bathtubs. I mean, there was one, kinda, but if you put more than 6” of water in it it started to leak… and it also had iron stains that made it look like someone had previously been dismembered in there.

So, back to my great idea. Three years ago I decided to do a “quick” overhaul of the upstairs bathroom. In my mind that meant taking out the old tub (which meant the old tile had to come out too) then putting in a new tub, re-tiling the floor, and maybe a coat of paint. Voila! Done! Right?

Ha. Hahaha.

Yeah, no.

What actually happened was that I tore up the tile and realized the toilet had been leaking into the subfloor for the last twenty-ish years…

I mean. I could have picked any hobby in the world. I could have been a person who golfs. But no. I had to pick the one that means I’ve spent more hours of my life then I care to think about scraping up subfloor that has been rotted and soaked through with sewer water.

Sigh.

After the trauma with the subfloor and my desire not to spend any more time in that room, it took me a whole year to finally tile the shower surround (and only got it done because Sarah–from the Ugly Duckling House–came to visit and got my ass in gear)…

Then I had a failed attempt at leveling the floor, and finally just said “screw it” because you can, in fact, use a bathtub that only has a raw pipe as the faucet in a bathroom that has a plywood floor…

And then, guys, I just straight-up ignored this room for the last couple of years. I mean, literally every time I woke up in the middle of the night and had to pee, and then had to walk downstairs and to the opposite end of the house… at those times I was keenly aware of my failure to get the upstairs bath finished. But otherwise I mostly just avoided the idea of finishing this room.

I probably would have gone on that way for another year but when my mom was up at the house for Christmas and I was talking about my 2018 projects, she gently steered the conversation in the direction of the upstairs bath. Like, she might of mentioned how much my quality of life would be improved by having a working bathroom upstairs, and then didn’t say anything else about it until she showed up at the farm every weekend for the last 2 months with a bottle of wine and innocently asked what we’d be working on in the bathroom that day.

Moms. Amirite?

She gets all the credit for the progress I’ve made on this room so far.

First, I tore out my previous, unsuccessful attempt at leveling the floor. Then I cleaned and primed the subfloor (and drank some wine.)

I’d been very leery about using a pour-on self-lever for a lot of reasons, mostly involving prep, but I figured I couldn’t have made a worse mess than my first attempt, so used a spray foam insulation to seal any gaps between the old plaster walls and the framing, and rigged up a cardboard “seal” around the toilet plumbing.

Then we went for broke and poured the first coat of self-leveler. Mom was chief in charge of mixing…

While I poured the leveler and worked the float.

One of the many joys of a 170 year old house is that this bathroom floor was ¾” off-level over a 3-foot run of floor. Which is to say, it required a second coat of leveler the next weekend.

Because I let it sit for a week before putting the second coat on I needed to re-prime the surface (aka drink more wine)…

But after a second coat of leveler, we got there. (Or, close enough to there.)

Here’s the new floor, pre-tile:

Once the floor was mostly level I installed Schuler DITRA underlayment, and then started with the tile.

(Also, you can add “tile saw” to the list of tools my mom now knows how to use, since I conscripted her in to being the Chief Tile Cutter for this project.)

I bought this tile three years ago, when I thought this project was going to take a couple of weekends. (I know, I know, keep laughing.) At the time I thought I might try a herringbone pattern with these 8×24 tiles, but the day I was going to start laying tile both my mom and my grandma were up at the farm helping with some other projects, and when I mentioned the herringbone idea they both gave me a look that can best be translated as “are you out of your effing mind?”

And, you know, good point. It’s been three years. The last thing I need to do is make this more difficult.

So I just ran the tile straight, and they actually look great that way. It’s a lesson in 1.) don’t make things harder than they need to be, and 2.) always listen to your mom and grandma.

It’s actually been a solid seven years since I’ve had occasion to tile a floor. (Pretty sure this was the last one. [LINK]). In the intervening years there’s been an explosion of younger, awesome tradesmen who use instagram as a platform to share their work. I’ve been following @tilefreak for a couple of years, which is how I learned about the Perfect Levelmaster T-Lock system…

They aren’t cheap, but The idea made a lot of sense to me and I wanted to check them out. Because I follow the tile guys I know that you have to be very conscientious about backbuttering and having enough mud under the tiles. It didn’t make it easier to lay the tile, but I think the floor is probably the best one I’ve ever done because of it.

Once the tile was in, it was time to address one of the biggest issues in this bathroom… the plumbing.

(That’s the view looking up from the closet in my home gym, which already had the ceiling torn out from the previous leaking.)

The old toilet had been leaking because the flange for the toilet was set below the tile floor (I assume a product of needing to raise the floor so much to level it.). You can see in this picture, the wax ring was barely dented and wasn’t providing a great seal.

I cut out the old flange before leveling the floor, and now that the new tile was in I was set to replace the old soil pipe with a new one.

Here’s a thing I love about my life these days. I have a tool for everything. Need to cut a PVC pipe in a tiny space? I’ve got the saw for that. Need to drill a hole through tile? I’ve got a bit for that. Need to open cans of Oatey PVC primer and cement that I literally cannot untwist the lids from? I legit have a designated can opener FOR JUST THIS REASON.

(P.S. Oatey? If people have a designated can opener just to open your shit, maybe you’ve got a packaging problem? Just sayin.)

But, despite all the tools needed, at the end of the day I had a well-installed toilet flange.

And, even better, a few days later…

A WORKING TOILET.

I realize that shouldn’t be so exciting, but seriously, it’s been three years. And I have a working toilet.

Also, this is actually a toilet that Delta Faucet sent me 4 years ago to review, so… this is why I don’t do product reviews anymore.

I don’t think that after 4 years you can legitimately call this a “sponsored” product (I’m not sure they even make this model of toilet anymore, but they do make other ones.) I will say that one thing I consistently love about Delta faucets–AND this toilet–is the integrated plumbing. Their faucets hook right into the water valve and the same is true of the toilet, which made it a quick and easy install.

So, here’s the awesome thing…

My upstairs bath now has:

A working bathtub

Working sinks

A working toilet

It’s pretty much a working bathroom, you guys!

But, before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s still very much not-finished.

I’ve got an ugly fan/light to replace…

Some drywall to patch where I had the old awkwardly-placed outlets moved…

Plus a few spots above the shower…

Here’s the current to-do list, as it stands:

Tear out closet and patch drywall

Re-face cabinets

Level, tile, and grout floor

Tile tub surround

Patch ceiling

Move outlets and patch all drywall

Replace plumbing and install toilet

Caulk tub and toilet

Paint radiator

Paint ceiling and touch-up walls

Install baseboard

Install new light fixtures and switches

Add cabinet “feet”

Finish tub plumbing for working shower

Get and hang mirrors

Get hutch for storage

Install shelving, towel racks, etc.

And then getting the plumbing finalized so the tub has a faucet (and working shower), and putting baseboard in, plus replacing the light in the shower, and figuring out why the other one in the old closet area won’t turn on…

And then there’s a ceiling to paint, and walls to touch-up, mirrors to buy and hang, and a hutch to find to replace the bulky closet I tore out.

It’s not exactly “close” to being done, but it’s very close to being functional, which is really what counts around here.

Who knows… if my mom brings up enough wine I might even get the kitchen done this year?

I mean. Don’t hold your breath though.

The Long-Neglected Upstairs Bath syndicated from https://chaisesofassite.wordpress.com/

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sureyhny · 6 years