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romiantic · 3 years

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𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒕𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒙 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓!𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌!𝒇𝒆𝒎!𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 ࿐ྂ

彡 ❛ 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 ❜

彡 𝗳𝘁. ryota kise

彡 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: fluff with very little angst

彡 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 2.3k

彡 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: suggestive theme at the end

彡 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: all characters are 18+. also can we talk about how BOMB this song is 🤧 y’all sleepin on this song fr

·˚ ༘ੈ✩‧₊˚ ╰┈➤ ❛❛ 𝙄 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙔 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘿𝙊 𝙄𝙏 ❜❜

❝ 𝐘/𝐍 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎 𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐔𝐏! You have two minutes till showtime.” Your manager, AKA, older brother, barged and announced to you like he didn’t update you almost five minutes ago.

You did your usual of sucking your teeth and rolling your teeth every time he barged in and interrupted your call, you replied with annoyance in your tone, “AJ I know! Can you wait a minute? Damn, so impatient for absolutely no reason.”

“I’m sorry who’s the one with hundreds of thousands of fans screaming their name and waiting for their ass outside? Me or you? Oh okay. Anyways, end yo little call with yo boyfr-”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” You interrupted, becoming irritated with your brother and simply wanted him to shut the fuck up. A great manager and brother, yet way too uptight for his job.

AJ rolled his eyes and muttered something but you flipped him off and pretended not to hear him until he left your dressing room. You gave your attention back to your phone, giving a cheeky smile to the blonde boy on your screen. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a nervous look growing on you but from what you could tell, he was choosing what shirt to wear to his photoshoot. Leaving him to be seen with a no top on and a pair of denim jeans.

Though it was typical to see your best friend’s exposed upper body, it was a sight you never got used to. His well-toned body, results from years of playing basketball in middle and high school, making your face hot, adding on to the nervousness you were already facing from your upcoming performance. Along with the pearly white smile he flashed at you creating a sick feeling in your stomach, something that you made you clench onto it and try to ignore. Now was not the time to be drooling over your best friend, who interrupted your stare with a laugh and said, “Are you gonna keep staring or are you gonna take a picture?”

Of course, he’d ruin it with some cocky line like that, you rolled your eyes and sucked your teeth. “Boy calm down, ain’t nobody wanna was staring.”

“Your nervous face said otherwise.”

“Akekeke, don’t you have a photoshoot to go to?”

Kise replied with the same energy as yours, “And don’t you have a performance to go to?”

You held up a finger to a screen then crossed your arms, “Aht aht, don’t worry about me now. Worry about yo lil pictures with that famous ass Russian model.” You wanted to roll your eyes just thinking about the brought-up woman but it would make it seem like you’re being jealous for no reason.

Kise let out a small laugh, adoring the irritated look that was starting to creep up on your face. “Somebody sounds jealous.”

You rolled your eyes and let out a scoff, “Oh please, like I would be.” You looked at the time on your watch and noticed it was about one minute until your performance. Your eyes widened at the time and hurried, you quickly ended the call with Kise, “Shit, fuck! I gotta go perform but I’ll call you back when I’m done.”

“And I’ll be waiting for you beautiful when you get back.” The golden-eyed boy winked at you yet you cringed and scrunched your face. “You’re so fucking corny Kise.” You hung up the call, grab any other pieces missing from your outfit, and headed out of your dressing room.

You traveled quickly around backstage, passing by many coworkers and background dancers waiting for you, to head into the small tunnel for artists to come out on stage. You stopped at the exit and gulped as you scanned the stage. An outside arena with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering your name, waiting for your appearance.

Usually, you would be at ease with concerts this large but for some reason this time is different. Unknowing the reason nor cause, you started to feel anxious, your hands mildly shaking and your throat going dry.

There was something in the back of your mind attempting to not make you perform, something telling you to not do it, it won’t be good, people will hate you. A voice there to influence thoughts, hoping that you would fall into the trap and just give up on singing. Though of course, you wouldn’t listen to that voice, that voice always lingered around whenever you were brought to perform, no matter where you were.

The only thing to distract you and keep you safe from that tiny voice is someone who you’ve longed to love. One who just settles your nerves, bringing comfort, and removing all anxious thoughts. One who would deem you as one of the greatest artists he’s ever listened to, maybe it’s opinionated but he loves you too much to disagree.

The now dawdling thought of his soft voice whenever he spoke or his flirtatious nature when you two joked around made a familiar feeling grow greater than before. Something replaced the anxiousness that was growing, a feeling that replaced the nervousness and calmed your shaky hands. Something that was the thought of Ryota Kise, he was like the medicine to all the pain you’ve suffered. A remedy to your anxiety, one of the many causes of the cheeky smile social media often sees you with.

Someone who you grew up and spent all your life with, always noticing how protective he was of you or the way he hummed one of your pre-recorded tracks that he was the only one to listen to. Celebrating one of your songs had hit #1 on the Billboard chart and the way he helped out whenever you hit writer’s block.

Every single thing, noticeable or not, made you grown to love the boy, starting from a platonic, playground friendship blooming to many years of trying to figure out if you are romantically in love with him. Growing familiar feelings of butterflies mixed with the thought of just wanting to cup his face and kiss him whenever he was around.

Just the ultimate feeling of wanting to be buried in the blonde boy’s arms and explain the blooming love for him made you want to sing the song you wrote for him. A new single that you never wanted to put out since you wanted only Kise to hear it, including that the song was your way of telling him what you felt all these years.

Though something changed your mind, something in your brain told you to tell everyone around you that you’re singing solo, no backup singers or dancers, only you on that stage. In this performance, you just had to do it yourself, nothing but you, the stage, and the microphone.

Everyone was confused by the last-minute change of plans but went along with it. They rescheduled it to where your first “official” song to start the concert with was right after your solo performance. You gave thanks to your team and took some deep breaths. You made sure your Bluetooth set was on and working properly in your ear, AJ handed you a mic and brushed off any wrinkling from your outfit and any smoothed out your hair. Uptight about his job yet made sure his little sister was looking the greatest for her performances.

You took deep breaths again, shook off any bad nerves, and walked on stage. The already excited crowd enraged and their volume expanded as they saw you stand before them. Everyone waving their signs that said, “I love you y/n!!” or “Y/N is so beautiful!” You waved to the audience and stopped at the middle of the stage, walking closer to the front of the stage as well.

You turned on the mic and tapped it to see if it was working, “Mic check one two, can you guys hear me?” The crowd immediately responded yes, you continued on to talk to them, “Okay good, have been getting technical difficulties with my mic and I really don’t feel like switching mics three times. Anyways, afternoon to all my lovely fans who made it out here or to those that are watching me live. I love you all and thank you for supporting me, I truly am grateful for every single one of y’all.” Everyone screamed out how much they love you and adore you, showing off their merch that they bought and waving the homemade posters.

You smiled at their response and cleared your throat as you introduced the song, “Thank you, I love you too. This first song is one that has been sitting too comfortably in my heart. A piece that came from genuine emotions and feelings I’ve tried to bury yet couldn’t no matter how hard I tried. It’s something that I never planned on dropping but I just felt like the world had to hear what I had to say. Hopefully, you guys enjoy it cause I did when I was writing this song at two in the morning before I snuck into the studio and recorded it. Was it worth it? Definitely. Now I may introduce to you, Not Another Love Song. A contradicting title isn’t it?”

You took a large breath in and out, you took a position as you waited for the beat to drop. As soon as you heard the familiar melody start, you sang, “I don’t wanna mess this up, could it be too much to say I’m in?”

The crowd lowered down and became silent to hear your new single, grasping the beautiful new lyrics you were singing and just vibing along with it.

You yourself were placing emotion as you sang, not noticing how proudly you sang the chorus or how you were smiling at the crowd the entire time. One thing was clouding your mind to even pay attention to those details, the same thing that more than likely pushed you to sing the song.

As you sang, the feelings for your best friend grew stronger, butterflies in your stomach, and the deprivation of his touch grew on you. Not even realizing how much you missed him until you turned initially to smile at AJ and your team yet saw a familiar face appear as well. You questioned it but then turned back to continue singing to the audience, only thinking that mind is playing games with you.

“I'm finna take my time, my mind, my rules. This ain't no crimе makin' love to you, though you ain't say this. But I had a hard time waitin' for you, boy. Like ooh, boy, you, boy. Got me where you want, just gotta say and it's on, it's like, ooh, boy, do you know you got me like where do you go when you're alone?”

As you sang, you noticed the crowd growing silent, their eyes widening, and their jaws dropping. You were utterly confused at was catching their attention, you turned to your team and your brother pointed behind, giving you a goofy smile as well.

You turned around to what was the cause of this silent commotion and right along with everyone else, your jaw drop and your eyes widened. The flirtatious, handsome model that everyone knew of was standing in front of you with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He walked up to you and smiled greatly, closing in the large gap between the both of you.

Seeing him walk closer to you made you want to say forget concert and sing the rest to him. Half of your feeling was already poured out, not even knowing he was listening to all of it. You didn’t think he would even be here since he had a photoshoot, not standing on an outside stage with a bouquet of roses and dressed in casual attire.

He handed you the roses and kissed your forehead, telling you, “Alone with you, away from the world, where else would I be when I’m alone?”

No response came from you, not even a single gasp or a sniffle to signify that you might cry. The way you responded to his presence was something that shocked the arena, everyone watching you on live, your team, and even the two of you yourself. Who would’ve thought you would be bold enough to grab his face and kiss him right then and there? You snaked your arm around his waist and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. He responded back by wrapping his hands around your shoulders and hugging you tightly, holding onto you to make sure you wouldn’t separate from him.

You pulled back from the kiss and smiled, softly combed his blonde hair, and expressed, “I love you, Kise.” Saying his name like it was something you’ve been aching to say, a name that you’ve buried away yet brought out today. A name that sounded so lovely and romantic when you say it.

Kise expressed as well, “I love you too y/n. I’ve always loved you and I will never stop loving you.” He kissed you again, he removed his hand from your shoulders and trailed around to find your hands. He removed your hands from his waist and instead intertwined them with his.

He felt you smile when he held your hand and smiled back. He stated in between kisses, “You know I’m staying on this stage to hear you finish that song right?”

“It’s fine, I need someone to do my next performance on anyways.” He looked at you and you did nothing but wink and mischievously smiled at him. Kise had a small idea of what he could expect but suppressed it to enjoy the soft moment he wanted between the both of you. A moment that he’ll never forget and a concert that will always be remembered for everyone around you.

彡 it’s like 5 am and I’m tired 🦧 the only thing that kept me up was the fact that I don’t have school plus I loveeeeee kise

彡 also the show olivia

彡 I don’t think I ever mentioned to y’all how much I love his ass but now is definitely not the time 😁

彡 I’m convinced if it silent black hair blue eye powerful men weren’t my type, cocky and flirtatious ones would be runner up

彡 anyways hope you guys enjoy + pleaseee listen to the song, I highly recommend plus ella mai is VERY underrated

bye babes, drink your water, stay hydrated, and remember that you are the baddest bitch on the planet 🥰 no matter what ANYONE says

𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝟏𝟖:𝟑𝟎 💗

#knb x black reader #knb x black!reader #ryouta kise x black reader #ryouta kise x black!reader #knb fluff #kise fluff #ryouta kise fluff

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closer-stars · 4 years

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Spoiled

Member: Seonghwa Genre: Fluff, some angst Word Count: do i have to.... Content: Stressed Seonghwa deserves some love and care. Food mention. Note: kind of a product of a talk I had with a friend. meep.

[ You ] : Are you free tomorrow?

Seonghwa stares at your message. Surely he told you of his schedule this entire week?

[ Seonghwa ] : I didn’t tell you my schedule?

[ Seonghwa ] : Hmph, anyways, after tomorrow, I got three days free. What’s up?

You grin at his message. You were a little hopeful now.

[ You ] : Wanna sleep over? I haven’t seen you since promotions, and I uh, kindofmissyou

His lips curve into a strained smile, the heat from the hair dryer slightly stinging his skin.

[ Seonghwa ] : sounds like a plan, see you then.

[ Seonghwa ] : Don’t forget to watch my stages too !!! (sulking apeach)

-------

He arrives back in their dorm after their last stage. While the rest of the boys drift to their rooms to remove all the make up and take a breather before the next preparations, he practically zooms to his room. Hongjoong stares at the eldest in surprise until he remembers why he’s so excited. “Hwa, are you gonna be there the entire three days?” He questions as he follows him into their room, greeted by Seonghwa packing some of his things for the stay.

“Looks like it. I need the quiet time too.” The male muses as he gazes around the room, wondering what else he might need. “I’ll be on time for practice, if anything happens you can just message me. You know how the kids are.” No wonder the rest of the group and you call them a married couple.

The blue haired leader shakes his head. “You need the break more than anyone else.” He shoos him off, throwing one of his pillows at him in jest. “Tell them I said hi yeah?” Hongjoong says, carefully removing all the makeup from his skin.

-------

Seonghwa’s already outside your apartment, waiting for you to answer the door. He hears your footsteps rush over and he smiles, endeared by your excitement.

“Seonghwa!” You exclaim as you open the door, throwing yourself into his arms. You could still smell the hairspray and his perfume when you bury your face against his neck. His chuckle vibrates through your figure and you pull away to look at him properly. The signs of exhaustion clear in his sunken face and eyes but you say nothing about it. “Did you come here straight from your schedule?” You beckon him to come inside, and it’s only then that you notice that he still hasn’t removed his makeup.

The taller male says nothing but hum, relieved to be greeted by a quiet peaceful environment. He kind of missed how your place smelled. “Yeah, I was looking forward to this honestly.” He admits as he drops his bag by the couch. On your tv screen was a movie already playing, your pet cat, Cloud, dozes off on her cat pole. He kind of missed how peaceful your place is.

You follow him into your apartment and you let him take in the new changes. “Let me get the shower ready for you then. The food won’t come in until an hour later anyways.” You state then make your way to your bathroom. He follows you this time, not expecting the steam of the hot water running in the bathtub already relaxing his strained muscles. “Come here.” You order, applying a generous amount of make up remove onto a piece of cloth. From his point of view, he can’t see what you were doing but he obliges. Once he stands behind you, you spin on your heels, bringing yourself up to sit near the sink to reach his face. “I know you have a lot of stories to tell me, so tell me about them.”

It takes him a few moments to realize what you were doing. You were removing his makeup for him as the two of you wait for bathtub to fill up. So he entertains you with his stories of the promotions the past two months: how shooting the music videos were exhausting but the end product made it worth it, how recording the songs strained him greatly but he didn’t mind, how performing and recording day in and day out was demanding in all aspects but he loved it all. He closes his eyes as you start to remove his eye makeup, his tanned skin starting to show. You were slowly seeing Park Seonghwa, your boyfriend, rather than ATEEZ’s Seonghwa now. Once satisfied, you let him work on his skin care routine. This time telling him stories of how things have been on your end: job hunting, freelance work, and so on. Once he was done, you let him ease himself into the filled bath tub that had some bath salts to relax his muscles.

“Are you going to join me?” He asks as he looks up at you, hopeful. As much as you wanted to, you still had to wait for the food to arrive. “I would love too but who would get the food hm? I’ll cuddle with you later, I promise.” You do make up for it now though, giving him a gentle massage, working on the knots on his shoulders. At your touch, he finds himself relaxing, either leaning into the comfort or squirming from the pain of the strained muscles. A small part of you knows he was burdened by other things but you knew better than to press him. For now, it was better to spoil him.

Minutes pass and you know the food would arrive at any moment now, so you press a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Go wash up, the food’s about to arrive, babe.” With that you slip away from the bathroom, leaving him be.

---------

He comes out of the shower in his sleepwear, the towel draped over his shoulders to catch the water droplets from his still drenched hair. The smell of food had caught his attention and you were already in the living room with food you had delivered. You wave your hand to have him come over to eat with you. “What’s all these?” He asks, mouth already watering at the sight of the chicken. Some of them looked like his comfort food mixed with food from his meal plan.

Once he sits next to you, you pick up a piece of chicken, placing it in front of his mouth. “I figured you deserve some good food, even just for tonight.” You say once he accepts your offer to feed him. “Heard from some of the boys that you’ve been too stressed with everything so...” You look around, already seeing Cloud wander onto Seonghwa’s lap. “I thought you might want a break from everything.”

At your explanation, he feels his heart flutter. It was true, the past two months have been demanding on him more than he’d like to admit. His eyes feel hot at your actions but he manages to swallow the heat with the aid of the food you’ve prepared.

You pull a small bowl towards the two of you. He knows that color from a mile away. “Babe, I’m not supposed to eat--” He mumbles, until he realizes that it’s homemade tteokbokki, just for him.

“I know what you’re wary of so middle ground: home made.” You state, offering the chopsticks for him to take a taste. He shakes his head, and in that moment your heart drops. His mouth falls open this time, and he points at his open mouth. “Ah~” His antics causes you to laugh lightly, and you give in to his wishes. You watch him carefully, hoping that your homemade tteokbokki would pass his standards.

He couldn’t speak. He admits that it’s better than store bought, and before he realizes it, he’s crying. “Babe, are you okay?” You ask gently, and he sees your concerned look. He pulls you into his arms and he murmurs his thanks over and over through the tears. It’s only at that moment he realizes just how much he kept to himself. Maybe Hongjoong was on to something. You say nothing, instead running your hand up and down his back as he tries to regain his composure, not minding his tears wetting your shirt.

For the rest of the night, he spills his heart out on everything that had been in his mind and heart. Things that he couldn’t tell you through text messages or calls or things he couldn’t tell you because alone time wasn’t an option lately. He didn’t really need you to give him advice, he just needed someone to listen to him. At his worries, you offer your shoulder and ears. The movie playing was already white noise at this point, providing comfort when the silence becomes too overbearing for him as he lets himself be vulnerable to you.

---------

Cloud doesn’t let Seonghwa move an inch, finding his lap much more comfortable than her bed. “Agh, Cloud. He’s my boyfriend!” You whine at your feline companion who pays no heed to your complaint. He chuckles softly, the crying and heart to heart session having taken more out of him than expected. You reach over for one of Cloud’s favorite toys, the clinking of the bell rousing her from her comfort. You shake it a few times in front of her face before tossing it at a random direction. The male watches the cloud of fur jump off his lap and chase after the object. He takes the chance to stretch his legs.

He watches you play around with Cloud, occasionally throwing the toy as well to amuse the little one. As she chases it for the nth time, he steals a kiss on your cheek, then snaking his arms around your waist. “Thank you for this, babe.” He murmurs softly, the two of you watching the feline play with the ball for a few moments before trotting over to you.

Even while you entertain the cat, you hum at his words. “You deserve to be spoiled too, love. Even if it’s just for tonight, I know you’ve got discipline but a little bit of comfort wouldn’t hurt you.”

He stares at you, while you were too busy playing with Cloud, he couldn’t help but feel touched by your actions throughout the night. If anything, it made him want to work harder to become someone you were proud of.

-----------

That’s how the next few days go: you helping him with his home training, him helping you with your freelance clients. In between the work, the two of you would catch up on other things, even going as far as messaging the other boys on how they’ve been.

[ Hongjoong ] : can you tell seonghwa that i said park seonghwa, idiot?

He sighs at the message and brings out his phone.

[ Seonghwa ] : no.

[ Seonghwa ] : (goodbye everyone meme)

At the sight of the meme, you giggle into your hand.

[ Hongjoong ] : stop with that meme, please...

[ Seonghwa ] : no :D

You get another message, again from Hongjoong.

[ Hongjoong ] : please annoy him for me ( grinning ryan )

Seonghwa looks at you with a pout but you shake your head. Instead, you press a kiss on his lips, and take a quick photo to send to Hongjoong.

[ Hongjoong ] : you guys are cute but Why

“You’re the best, you know?”

“Just for you, babe.”

#my writings #seonghwa fluff #seonghwa scenarios #ateez fluff #ateez scenarios #the WAY I accidentally posted this in my personal #was listening to kiana lede and mahalia while writing this #when sicko mode started playing i knew i had to stop #cause dance time lels #anyways if you follow my personal and saw this #no you didnt uwu

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btswritingcafe · 3 years

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valentine’s mix | prompt list

❥ VALENTINE’S MIX EVENT

Welcome to our Valentine’s Day event! Much like our previous monthly prompts events, these are created by our very own prompt team members to give all writers inspiration for the romantic holiday! Below is a list of scenarios, along with dialogue, where you can choose one or several to create a drabble or an entire oneshot! Read more down below on how to participate!

Please note. These are created by our members and not taken from anywhere else. If you take these and claim them as your own we will message you privately. Please be respectful and follow our rules. These also do not have to be written before Valentine’s Day. You can post this content until the end of March.

❥ RULES AND GUIDELINES

you do not have to be a member to use these prompts.

you must follow the network if not already a member.

reblog this post in order to use the prompts.

there is no application, therefore, a reblog is essential so we know who is using these prompts.

upon using one of the scenarios or dialogue listed, mention the network in your post @/btswritingcafe. from there your content will be queued to our network (even as a nonmember).

please use our event tag for this event as well so we can keep track of it: #cafevalentinesmix

if you fail to tag/mention the network and use the prompts without giving credit, we will ask you to make the addition. please be respectful.

you can choose just the scenarios if you wish, or you can take content from both sections.

❥ SCENARIOS

A rainstorm ruins your Valentine's plans, but you and your partner make the most of your date night spent at home.

Character A is a supernatural being that doesn't understand the reason for Valentine's Day. Character B takes this as a Challenge Accepted.

Character A was rejected on Valentine's Day and they run into the arms of Character B who's own feelings towards Character A continue to remain hidden.

Person a anonymously sends conversation hearts to person b with the hopes of finally being able to confess soon.

Character A has a get rich quick scheme to snag money from all love struck Valentines and drags an unwilling Character B into the plan.

Character A works tirelessly making homemade sweets to confess to Character B, only to find out they've already accepted someone else's confession.

Your girl friends all have plans with their partners, leaving you alone and drunk... which leads you to call up an old flame.

Every Valentine’s Day your flower shop fills with hopeful suitors, chagrined lovers, and new couples...but there always happens to be specific individual that makes sure you know who his real Valentine’s is by buying a bouquet...only to give it to you.

You're no stranger to extravagant showers of gifts for Valentine's Day and have come to expect it from each relationship you enter. So why is it that a small bouquet of flowers obviously plucked from the park just around the block sends your heart into a frenzy?

You always said to have hated Valentine’s Day for the sake of a bad experience years prior. But now that you discovered underlying feelings for your best friend, you began despise the day all the more. That is, until a certain best friend decides to show you why this special day is something worth celebrating.

This Valentine's Day, Character A plans a special day with their favorite little human.

Character A is a royal. Character B takes A to join in the village festivities celebrating the day of love.

Character A (who has no knowledge on flower language) gives a bouquet of flowers to Character B (who knows a lot about flower language) and Character B is both annoyed and endeared at the bouquet of betrayal and sorrow.

Character A and Character B are both avid confectioners and hold a contest on who can make the best sweets for each other.

Character A sprinkles a temporary love potion into a box of sweets for Character B and—oh no! Character C steals the box and eats the sweets meant for B.

There's an old saying that claims doves hover over people who are fated to be. Character A has never cared for that stupid phrase until doves start following them around any time they're near Character B—a new coworker/neighbor whom they absolutely cannot stand (or alternatively, whom they have a massive crush on).

❥ DIALOGUE

a collection of fluff, angst, and comedy

"Careful. One's filled with wasabi."

"Be my date to the Valentine's Day party so I can steal all the dessert and then we can yeet."

"I can't accept these. I'm sorry."

"I did not slave away in my kitchen and burn my fingers just for you to reject my sweets! Accept them!"

"Mistletoe is only valid during the winter season you idiot!" "I don't care. Kiss me anyway!"

"Please be mine just until the day ends."

"You're under arrest for stealing my heart!" "...How original."

"I was gonna confess first! Take your confession back!"

"What should we do with all this leftover ganache?"

"It's not perfect, but I hope you like it."

"Excuse me. Character A doesn't want your chocolates or your confession. They're already taken. By me."

“If you bring me a gigantic teddy bear I think I may fall in love with you.”

“Why did we ever stop doing those valentine mailboxes from elementary school? I want all that fake love.” “That’s not healthy.” “You’re not healthy.”

For every chocolate kiss you take, a real kiss is given in return.”

“Pretty sure Cupid’s bow was dull when it hit me.” “What makes you think it hit you?” “Because I’m Cupid, dummy.”

“Is it weird to stand here and hold hands, or is that weird?”

❥ PROMPT TEAM MEMBERS

#cafevalentinesmix #network;post #valentines;mix #network;event

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rvspberry · 3 years

Note

Cat boy Steve trying to cook/ BAKE??? something as a Christmas surprise???

(THIS WAS AN AMAZING ASK!!! And it ended up becoming a modern Catboy AU. And ended up longer than I expected. Anon, I hope you enjoy.)

Steve’s never baked cookies before. He’s never baked *anything* before, to be honest, and he’s never really thought about trying his hand at doing things in the kitchen until now. Billy cooks for them, mostly because Steve can burn water because he gets so easily distracted, ears twitching at every little noise and tail flicking with each new interest that catches his attention.

But the thing is… the thing is, Steve turns on the Hallmark channel the second week of December and watches romcom after romcom with people baking cakes and pies and whole Christmas dinners to show their love. Steve could maybe try cookies. They seem easy enough.

And, like, it sounds cool. Making cookies for Billy. Showing his love through something homemade. Like, he works part-time at Family Video, and he already bought Billy something small, something he could afford. But giving Billy something he put his heart into? Something made with love and care? Something he made with his own two hands?

The way the movies make it out, that’s the best thing he could ever offer to Billy, cookies worth their weight in gold.

It can’t be that hard, right?

So Steve turns to his first source of knowledge anytime he needs to find out how to do something new.

YouTube.

He’s a visual learner, okay? He likes being able to see the steps laid out in real time.

His attention span shoots for the sixty-second video where they do a run-through of the steps to making the perfect chocolate chip cookies. It’s long enough to hold his attention, short enough to keep him focused, and he feels so confident watching it that he goes out and buys all the ingredients he needs. He’s whistling to himself through the grocery store, smiles at the cashier, and when he gets home, he still feels utterly confident.

Until the batter comes out a lot more liquid than solid. The chocolate chips fall off the spoon before he can even scoop them up. Steve winces, but he followed the directions. Even if the directions didn’t have anything like measurements. He kind of eyeballs each ingredient. Two sticks of butter, two eggs, a cup each of flour and sugar, a hefty scoop of baking powder - and then the chocolate chips. But…

It looks weird.

It’s not right.

Steve dips his pinky into the batter and tastes it. It’s bitter, and not sweet enough. He still goes through with it, spooning the liquidy mixture onto the cookie sheet and popping it into the oven.

The oven is a whole other experience entirely, because Steve doesn’t know what the numbers really mean. He pushes a few until the numbers read 2-0-0. That seems like a long time, right? Or is it temperature? Whatever. It works.

...Except the video says to leave the cookies in the oven for 10-15 minutes, and when he pulls them out, they’re still raw. So he pops them back in for 20 minutes. 30 minutes. An hour passes, and they seem to grow more disgusting with every minute that passes.

When he finally pulls them out, somehow raw on top and burnt on the bottom and sides, Steve tosses the whole thing - cookies, tray, and all.

Billy comes home later and crinkles his nose. “Did you burn something, babe?”

“No!” Steve is quick to reply, eyes wide when he looks up at Billy from his spot on the couch where he’d been laying in the sun earlier. “Nope. Not at all.”

“Okay…” Billy drawls, his eyes gazing over at Steve with confusion until he spots something and smiles. Strutting over to Steve, Billy reaches out and rubs his thumb over Steve’s cheek. “You got some flour on you.”

Steve lets out a yelp and flies to the bathroom to wash up properly, Billy snickering behind him.

Steve tries again the next week, the week before Christmas. Surely he can master it if he tries to follow a longer video, right? Something with measurements. Something that’s foolproof. And when the batter is finished, with Steve’s focus narrowing enough for him to measure every little ingredient out, it looks just like the video. He pulls it up on his phone, ears twitching as he listens intently.

He follows every step to the T, to the dotted ‘i.’ The sets the “bake” thing to 3-7-5 and puts the sheet inside to begin with. Even waits as the numbers turn from 1-0-0 to 1-2-0, thinking that he must wait 120 minutes for the oven to hear up. He groans when the 1-0-0 turns to 1-2-0… Really? That long? That’s how long it takes to heat the oven?

By the time the oven beeps and the numbers read ‘3-7-5,’ Steve has gotten distracted licking his paws and visibly startles into action.

He places the tray into the oven and even turns on the timer somehow for ten minutes.

But then Steve goes to the living room and lays down on the couch in the sun and starts cleaning his tail, licking the backs of his hands to clean his ears. He doesn’t want Billy to know he’s made cookies until he steps into the kitchen and sees the beautiful pile of them on a plate on the counter. Wouldn’t that be something?

So, ten minutes turn into twenty, and the smell of smoke tinges the air.

Steve crinkles his nose at the scent, his senses more sensitive than a human’s, and then his eyes widen comically in fear.

“No, no, no! Not my cookies!!”

Steve rushes to the kitchen to drag the cookies out of the oven with a mitted-hand and lays them on the stove. Confusion tinges his expression - it curls at the edges of his mouth, curls his eyebrows up, makes him completely disinterested and distrustful of the process. These were going to be fool-proof. Steve-proof.

And he messed it up again.

He scrapes the burnt cookies off the tray into the trash can and soaks the tray in the sink as best as he can, given how tiny it is.

Steve’s tail twitches. How did he screw this batch so badly? How did he not hear the timer?

He realizes that only one person can really help him right now, and resolves to call Joyce Byers.

Steve is still smarting from his last attempt, so it takes him another few days to get around to calling her. By the time he does, it’s Christmas Eve.

But Joyce seems happy to help, one catperson to another, and offers up the recipe for her homemade snickerdoodles.

“Could you- could you tell me how to make them? All the ones I’ve tried end up terrible,” he says, wincing at the admission.

“Of course, Steve. Just stay on the phone with me. Put me on speaker so you can use both of your hands. And don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, okay?”

“Okay…”

So, Joyce talks him through properly measuring the ingredients, leveling them off with a knife.

She describes adding the sugar and butter together and calls it “creaming” which makes him fight back a snicker.

He adds the eggs carefully, once at a time, fishing out tiny pieces of eggshell to make sure no one gets that unpleasant surprise. He adds the vanilla, the dry ingredients, rolls them into little balls in a mix of cinnamon sugar, and places them carefully on a baking sheet.

Steve thinks to ask her about the oven numbers and feels like an idiot when she tells him it’s not the time left for preheating but the temperature climbing up to 350’.

Joyce even keeps him on the phone while the cookies bake, both of them sharing information about the latest campaigns of the party. Steve doesn’t have the attention to stay interested in a campaign for as long as they take to trudge through, everyone rolling, everyone making a decision, the boys fighting about what is and isn’t allowed… It’s a lot, and he feels a little better when Joyce agrees with him, both of them dissolving into laughter.

His tail flicks back and forth, casual and easy and contented, and when the timer goes off in the background, Steve actually hears it and Joyce reminds him to take the cookies out to let them cool.

When Billy gets home that night, Steve can’t help the smug smile on his face.

“Damn, I think the neighbor was baking cookies or something, it smells so good in the hallway!” Billy says, toeing off his boots. He stops in the doorway and sniffs the air curiously. His blue eyes turn on Steve, who can’t even pretend to be innocent as his ears are flicked ahead, alert, and his tail whips back and forth with anticipation. “Baby… did *you* bake cookies today?”

The slow smile that steals across Steve’s lips is no less smug, and his tail flicks excitedly. He perks up, licking his lips.

“Do you want to try one?” Steve asks, affecting a shy look right up until Billy nods. Then, Steve stands quickly, shoots his hand out to curl around Billy’s wrist and drags him into the kitchen.

There, on a simple paper plate, are the snickerdoodles Joyce helped him make. Completely harmless, and yet they hold a weight to them that Steve cannot describe.

Steve’s eyes are wide as he watches Billy pick one up, can practically feed his pupils dilating as Billy raises the cookie to his mouth and he takes a bite.

Billy tuns to face him suddenly and Steve’s ears flatten in preparation to be told that they’re terrible. For Billy to spit them out, or- or whatever. To do something that shows that Steve’s efforts were all for naught.

“Steve, these are *delicious*!” Billy exclaims, then shoves the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

“Really?” Steve asks. He looks at Billy through his lashes with his biggest, roundest eyes, a little pout on his lips.

“Baby, yes. Yes, they’re so fucking good,” Billy mumbles through a mouthful of cookie, chewing and swallowing what he had in his mouth. He pulls Steve into his arms and gives him a sweet kiss, the buttery-sugar-and-cinnamon flavor clinging to Billy’s lips. “Did you make these for me…?”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes out, the weight on his shoulders lifting immediately. He ducks his head, trying to hide his grin.

Billy crowds him back against the counter, a hand on either side of Steve caging him in. Steve picks his chin up to lock eyes with Billy, who smiles warmly at him.

“Thank you,” Billy murmurs and turns his head to lean in and press their lips together. “They’re amazing. *You’re* amazing.”

Steve laughs softly and kisses Billy back, his hands moving up to slide into Billy’s hair. “You’re amazing, too. That’s why I made them for you. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, babe,” Billy whispers, and kisses Steve again.

#catboy steve harrington #harringrove #catboy content #catboy steve

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erin-bo-berin · 4 years

Text

Double The Surprise

MASTERLIST

Prequel to Thing 1 and Thing 2

Surprise! A new fic, two days in a row? I know, who am I? This was an anon request to do a gender reveal party of the twins from Thing 1 and Thing 2, so I made it sort of a prequel. I’ve linked the fic in case you haven’t read it. One thing to note, I included Diana, but in a more normal state so no Alzheimer's or schizophrenia. I’ve wanted to write something where she was free of any illnesses, so I added her in this like that. Besides, she’d DEFINITELY be there. Also, take a shot every time I say pink and blue, lord I was getting tired of saying that myself so sorry about that. Enjoy some Spencer and the team cuteness. Happy reading!

Spencer Reid/Reader

Rating: G (fluff)

Word Count: 3,285

You knew it was a mistake to let Penelope be in charge.

Not that she was bad at it at all, in fact she was wonderful. But when she had a secret that she actually wanted to keep a surprise, her lips were sealed tighter than your old jeans.

Penelope Garcia—the technical analyst at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and your husband, Spencer Reid’s teammate, coworker and friend—was the best at planning parties. Which is how she had gotten you and Spencer excited about the idea of a potential gender reveal party for the baby you and Spencer were expecting this fall.

You were currently 21 weeks and a bit larger than normal, although your doctor wasn’t worried. She had explained it could be due to the baby being bigger—your husband was over 6 feet after all—or perhaps you were a bit further along in your pregnancy than she first thought. Either way, at the last appointment, she had assured you that everything was looking fine.

The last appointment was also when you were able to find out the sex of the baby.

Since you and Spencer really wanted to have a gender reveal party with your friends and the other team members of the BAU, you had invited Garcia to come along to the appointment. She would be informed of the sex and also have the results handed to her in a manila envelope, for the baker who would create the cake.

You were regretting your decision though because you were currently dying to know what baby Reid would be. It was amazing though, Garcia hadn’t even breathed the hint of a clue.

She was the worst person to keep a secret, so it was ironic when she refused to give into your pleading.

The gender reveal party was going to be this upcoming weekend, still a few days away and you were struggling with the anticipation.

The party details and planning helped curb your desire to know, though.

When Garcia had first suggested the idea, not long after you and Spencer announced your pregnancy, you were slightly hesitant about it. You didn’t know much about them or if anyone would even come. With the help of Penelope and her promise to take care of everything, you started coming around to the idea.

She was an excellent party planner because even though she took care of everything, she left plenty of room for you and Spencer to decide on details and things you wanted. Many nights were spent laying in bed, the two of you looking at gender reveal party ideas on Pinterest.

You actually thought Spencer was more excited for this party then you were. It was nice to know he was just as excited for it, though.

“Do you think she’d cave and tell us what we’re having if we surprise her with a red velvet cupcake?” you’d asked Spencer, one night that week.

“It’d probably be tempting for her, but I doubt it,” he answered you, “In fact, I’m surprised she’s kept quiet this long. She’s the worst at keeping secrets.”

“I know. I had her pegged to tell us within a day,” you huffed.

Spencer chuckled, kissing your head.

“Just think, it will be worth the wait when we find out what we’re having on Saturday.”

•

Surprisingly, Saturday did come rather fast. Although at the same time, it felt like eons to you.

You were bursting with excitement for the party, which was to be held at David Rossi’s house.

Garcia had given you and Spencer strict instructions to not arrive until after 2 pm. She, with the help of her boyfriend Luke Alvez we’re going to be setting up everything for the party to keep the final display a surprise as well.

You were just as eager to wear the new outfit that Garcia had bought for you to wear—she really had thought of everything.

You had to admit, the ensemble was pretty cute.

You’d dressed in the sleeveless maxi dress that was designed in an alternating pink and blue chevron style and white flats that were partially hidden by the long skirt of the dress. Your bump was fully on display in the outfit, but it just made the dress seem even cuter.

It also helped that it was extremely comfy as well.

The finishing touch for the outfit was a flower crown. Yes, a flower crown. Garcia went all out when she did things, that’s for sure.

It was a thin band of flowers that sat nicely on your head. One side was decorated with pink flowers while the other half had blue. With the entire outfit complete, you had to admit, Garcia definitely had picked a cute ensemble.

Spencer had come in just as you’d finished getting ready and whistled, making you blush.

“Why if it isn’t the sexiest baby mama around,” he grinned slyly, wrapping his arms around you from behind, “You look beautiful, Y/N.”

“You look rather charming yourself,” you chuckled.

His appearance wasn’t that much different than it was from his work attire. His suit pants and dress shirt were the same as usual, but Garcia had gotten him a pink and blue chevron tie to match your dress.

“Not exactly something I’d wear every day, but I like it,” he smiled, “Ready to find out what our baby is?”

“More than ever.”

•

The first thing you saw when entering Rossi’s backyard was a sign on the iron gate door to his backyard.

There were a handful of pink and blue cardboard, cutout circles hanging on the gate door, along with a pink and blue cutout onesie that said We’re here for the sex. It made you laugh. This definitely had Garcia written all over it.

“I’m sure Rossi is thrilled with that hanging on his gate door,” Spencer laughed.

He took your hand and pushed the gate open into a pink and blue wonderland.

You gasped as the two of you walked further into the backyard. Not only was the actual decorations and set up amazing, but the turnout was just as shocking.

The entire team was there; Emily Prentiss, Matt Simmons, his wife Kristy and all five kids—you’d specifically told Penelope that all the BAU kids were welcomed, you had a special place in your heart for them, just as she did.

JJ was there with her husband Will and her two boys Henry and Michael. Tara Lewis was there as well, always ready for a get together. Of course David Rossi was there as well with his third wife Krystall that he’d recently married again.

Luke and Penelope were of course in attendance, but what surprised you most was seeing the unexpected and surprise guests that Garcia had most definitely arranged to show up.

Former Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner was there with Jack, who was now taller than you. They both greeted you with a hug and their congratulations. Jack said he was mostly excited for cake and you couldn’t argue with that.

Derek Morgan, wife Savannah and little Hank Spencer Morgan had made it too. These kids were growing faster than you would like because now little Hank was 4 quickly approaching 5.

“Pretty boy!” Morgan greeted, hugging Spencer tightly, “It’s about time you became a father.”

You greeted Savannah and Hank, who was in his mother’s arms, suddenly a lot shyer than normal. After speaking to them both for a minute, they too went back to socializing with the others.

What was most surprising was seeing your parents and Spencer’s mom, Diana Reid.

“Mom! Dad!” you exclaimed, hugging them.

“Mom!” Spencer said, hugging Diana, “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“You think I was going to miss my grandbaby’s first party? I think not,” she grinned.

After greeting your parents, you hugged Diana yourself.

“It’s so good to see you Mrs. Reid,” you kissed her cheek.

It had been a little bit since you’d last traveled to Las Vegas with Spencer to visit her, not long after you’d married. Before that, you’d seen her at the wedding.

“Oh honey, you know I told you to call me Diana,” she beamed, “You’re the Mrs. Reid around here. How are you feeling?”

She rubbed a hand across your belly and you smiled.

“Feeling rather large, if I do say so myself,” you chuckled.

“Well there’s a good reason for that,” she winked, making your brows furrow in confusion.

Garcia was just on her way over to the three of you as Diana spoke and suddenly, she sped up, rushing over.

“Diana! How about I get you some punch and refreshments!” Garcia exclaimed, leading Diana away.

She turned to you and Spencer as she led his mother away.

“Take some time and look around before we do the reveal!” Garcia hollered.

“Come on, I wanna check things out,” you told Spencer.

You were beaming so big that he couldn’t help but chuckle and indulge you. He was pretty curious to check out everything too.

First off, there were pink and blue balloons everywhere.

At the table where the food and refreshments were at, were gold letter balloons that spelled out the phrase Oh baby.

The actual food spread was rather impressive too. There were finger sandwiches of chicken salad, turkey and ham, mixed nuts, vegetable plates with dip and of course, much to your delight was Alvez’s homemade salsa and guacamole, along with chips to dip. You’d be eating good this afternoon, that’s for sure.

The sweets were all gender themed, which was an adorable touch.

There were blue and pink chocolate covered strawberries, blue and pink cake pops—a mustache on the blue cake pop sticks and a bow on the pink ones—and hilariously enough, there were M&Ms in two bowls. One with peanuts were labeled Nuts and the other with plain was labeled No Nuts, hence the mystery of the baby’s sex.

“That’s ingenious,” Spencer commented, laughing, grabbing a handful of some.

There were blue plates with matching napkins and pink plates with pink napkins, along with alternating blue and pink jars that held the opposing color of plastic ware in them.

At the very end of the refreshments table sat two huge glass jugs with spigots filled with blue and pink drinks. The blue was named Bouncing Blue Punch whereas the pink was Sweet Pink Lemonade.

“Wow, Luke and Penelope really went all out,” you gaped, amazed.

“And you haven’t even seen the best parts,” Garcia said, seemingly appearing out of thin air next to you, “Come on!”

She tugged on your arm excitedly, dragging you to another section of the party. You laughed, trying to keep up with her, looking behind you at a grinning Spencer who was following behind the two of you.

The first thing she had to show you, made you tear up thanks to the damn pregnancy hormones.

It was a canvas of animals in a little hot air balloon and the “balloons” were made up of thumbprints from all the guests, in the color of their guess of the baby’s gender. Even the kids had all done one.

There were a variety of pink and blue thumbprints, each one signed by the person. At the bottom of the canvas it read: Oh the places you’ll go.

“We all made our guesses and I put this together a week ago so it would be dry and ready to display for today,” Garcia beamed.

“I love it,” you said, your hand covering your mouth, still shocked at how beautiful it was, “Spence, this is going up in the nursery for sure.”

“Definitely,” he nodded, looking at it himself.

“This is amazing. Thank you, Garcia,” you breathed.

“Oh honey, we’re just getting started on the tour. Come on, there’s more to see.”

The next display was another interactive guessing game.

This was a chalkboard that read Twinkle, Twinkle, little star. How we wonder what you are!

One side of the board represented the boy votes and the other represented the girl votes.

“This is where everyone was able to vote as they came in with their guess,” she said.

You looked closer. So far a girl was winning by two.

“I also included two more interactive little games,” Garcia said, leading you to two more chalkboards.

One had Guess The Date written on it and the entire month of September written out. Your due date was approximately September 25th, which was listed at the top and sticky notes covered the dates of different attendee’s guesses on when the baby would arrive.

“Oh that is super cute,” you laughed.

Your eyes scanned over the numerous guesses.

Some had guessed as early as September 6th and others had guessed as late as September 30th.

“Pinterest, I’m telling you,” Garcia quipped.

The next board had a list of girls and boys names. Underneath the board and easel on each side was a basket, in the matching colors, slips of paper inside.

“This here is where the guests have tried to guess what your number one name for a boy and a girl is,” Garcia explained.

“So that explains why you asked for our top name for a boy and a girl,” Spencer mused.

“Yup.”

You looked at each column. There were a total of five names on each side.

The boys’ column included:

Carl

Aidan

Luke

Alexander

Matthew

The girls’ column included:

Daisy

Abrielle

Gabriella

Penelope

Paige

“Penelope? Luke?” you chuckled.

“Hey, for all they know you could be naming a kid after us!” she protested.

You smiled, seeing yours and Spencer’s top two picks on the lists—Abrielle for a girl or Alexander for a boy.

“Last but not least,” Garcia beamed, “You gotta see the cake. It’s amazing.”

The three of you walked to a table in the middle of the party where there were two chairs and a cake resting on the table.

“Obviously since it’s baby Reid, you two will be the center of attention,” Penelope said.

On the table was a beautiful cake decorated with blue and pink icing roses. One side was strictly pink roses and the other blue. The finishing touch was the various sized edible pearls that had been delicately placed in the center of each flower.

You audibly gasped.

“Penelope, it’s gorgeous!”

“Isn’t it though? I was in awe when I picked it up,” she commented.

“So the inside will be the reveal, right?” Spencer asked.

“Yes sir,” she smiled, “You guys ready to find out the gender?”

“Yes, please!”

You were practically bouncing on your heels like a child eagerly awaiting candy.

“First, I wanted to give you guys a little gift,” Garcia said, rushing over to the table where Luke sat, holding a gift bag.

“Garcia, you know we said no gifts!” you protested.

“Yeah, I know. But you know me,” she scurried back over, handing you the bag, “I can’t keep huge secrets.”

“What are you talking about?” you laughed, opening the bag.

Inside was a simple, cute, white baby onesie.

On the front, it said We’re having a baby! with the word baby scratched out.

“Why’s the word baby crossed out?” Spencer asked, peering over your shoulder at it.

He seemed to be just as puzzled as you were.

“Wait, there’s something else in the bag,” you observed, reaching in to pull out the second object.

It was a second white onesie that read Make that TWO babies!

“I couldn’t keep such a big secret obviously, so I told the entire team and they wanted to chip in on a present to announce it to you—this isn't all the gift though.”

You were stunned beyond belief and absolutely overjoyed.

“Twins?! Spence, did you hear that? We’re having twins!”

You turned to see your husband as white as a ghost, starting to sway.

“I-I-I think I need to sit for a moment,” he stammered, falling into the nearby metal folding chair.

“Spence, you okay?”

You rushed to his side—as fast as your pregnant body would let you, that.

“Yeah, fine,” he muttered, still looking dazed, “Everything just started spinning there for a moment.”

Garcia was by his side with an unused paper plate, fanning him, just in case he was actually going to pass out.

The rest of the party’s eyes were on the spectacle, all of them clearly amused.

“Who knew the kid could create twins! Even his sperm is brilliant,” Derek hollered.

Everyone laughed at that and the fact that Savannah immediately stuck a sandwich in his mouth to quiet him.

“There are kids here, Derek!” she whispered loudly.

“Twins, huh?” Spencer asked.

The poor thing looked dumbstruck.

“You sure you’re okay Spencer?” you asked, worried.

It’s like it took him a moment for it to finally sink in because he turned to you, a big grin on his face.

“Y/N, we’re having twins!”

He grabbed your face, kissing you, not caring about all the onlookers. You turned scarlet when he pulled away, a tad bit embarrassed that everyone was watching, but you were just as happy as him, so you couldn’t complain.

“My baby boy is going to have twins,” Diana smiled, coming over to wrap her son in a hug, “I was so excited when I heard that I almost ruined the surprise earlier!”

“Oh so that’s what you meant?” you asked, laughing.

That was definitely a good reason for you to be larger than normal. Your body was home to not one but two babies for the next little while.

“You knew, mom?” Spencer asked.

“Oh of course, Penelope called everyone,” Diana answered.

“You know I can’t keep a secret!” Garcia exclaimed, “This was my biggest one yet! It was the only way I could make it without bursting.”

“Speaking of everyone else,” JJ said, bringing up another, slightly larger gift bag, “This is from all of us, Hotch and Morgan included.”

“You wanna open it?” you asked Spencer.

He shook his head, indicating you could, so you did.

You pulled out a long, wood, plaque that read:

Our family is growing by

4 feet

and

2 hearts

At the bottom, there was an engraving.

Reid Twins

It was absolutely perfect.

There were definitely tears on your end as you made your rounds hugging everyone and saying your thank yous.

You made your way back to the center table to Garcia, who you gave another huge hug.

“Thank you so much for putting together such an amazing party,” you said.

“It was my pleasure,” she smiled.

“Cut the cake already!” Both Jack and Henry hollered simultaneously, making everyone chuckle.

“I can’t argue with that, now can I?” you responded.

You managed to pull Spencer away from the conversation he was having with some of the guests and you both put your hands on the knife, cutting through the cake. It reminded you of your wedding reception, but this was ten times more exciting; you were expanding your family with the man you were in love with.

The entire backyard counted down.

“THREE!”

You looked over at Spencer, a big smile on your face. At this point, you didn’t think much more could surprise you than the news of having twins.

“TWO!”

He winked at you, silently reassuring you that no matter what the result, you two would raise these babies as a team.

“ONE!”

You both lifted up the slice, revealing a two layer cake; one layer was pink and one was blue.

“It’s a boy and a girl!” Spencer cheered.

You were pretty sure this day couldn’t get any better.

You and Spencer would soon be welcoming fraternal twins; Abrielle Jade Reid and Spencer Alexander Reid.

Little Abbie and Alex were going to be incredibly loved.

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yeocult · 4 years

Text

ATEEZ as moments in life

HONGJOONG: the moon greets you. it’s midnight right now, or it was when you last checked. your eyes were too focused on the canvas in front of you to even spare a glance at the clock on the wall. the moonlight along with a single lamp lights up your little work area as you mixed the paints together on your palette. a brand new colour to the eye. one day you’ll move yourself to a spacious studio in the city and have your art on display at a gallery. one day they’ll be proud of you. it’s not easy living your own way, you can’t blame anyone but yourself. as the sun rises, your arms are exhausted. putting the brush down before stretching your tense body. what time is it?

SEONGHWA: the mirrored walls creating the illusion of a bigger room, no escape. sitting alone in this empty studio. your legs felt heavy, hopeless and numb, weighing you down. there weren’t the usual heavy footsteps, loud music blasting through the speakers and the tired huffs from the team. complete silence was broken when steps and greetings walked through the door, the team had arrived. the speakers were connected again blasting the latest pop song, synchronized stomps and claps, the slight hum of the lyrics slipping from your lips. the comforting presence made it less lonely to be in the studio. a shadow looms over you, reaching out for their hand, pulling you back on your feet. once again, you feel alive.

YUNHO: the flames on the candles were so pretty, you didn’t want to blow it out just yet. leaning in to take a close look at the flames, feeling the warmth hit your face. but don’t get too close, it’ll burn you. “what did you wish for? is there something you want?” they ask you. brushing the question off with, “if i tell you it won’t come true.” and a cheerful smile that you hope they buy. and they did. it’s nice to dream, isn’t it? it must be nice to know what you want to do. you’ve got no idea at all, living one day to the next. being left alone has it’s hard parts too. one person stays the same and the other keeps getting farther and farther ahead. what is your dream?

YEOSANG: it’s night time. dinner passed, your belly stuffed with homemade delicious meal. sprawled out on the bedroom floor with limbs tangled together with your friends, the movie was long forgotten. laughing into the cool air as one of them cracks a joke. lights out, windows open, the breeze lifting up the curtains. you can hear the cars that come and go and the faint voice singing their hearts out downstairs, the adults are doing karaoke. endless conversations going on for hours. talking about nothing and everything, spilling your heart out to your favourite people in the world. every feels hazy, you don’t want the day to end.

SAN: another year, another town, another school, another friend, another side of you. there’s no escape to this endless cycle of hell. glancing over that the group of friends playing around, rolling down the hill with non stop laughter, youth looks nice. wondering what it would be like if you inserted yourself into that group, will they accept you? will they like you? quickly shaking off the feeling, it’s not worth it because next year you’ll move again. they’ll forget about you and you’ll forget about them. you could only admire from afar with no one by your side.

MINGI: you’re on top of the world. looking down, everyone looks so tiny. at least from this view on the rooftop, the cars started to look like an army of ants retrieving their crumbs of food. screaming on the top of your lungs and nobody could hear it. spreading your arms out like a bird in the sky, careful with each step as you walk near the edge. the world is so small, but we’re even smaller. so insignificant. you could disappear and the earth will still continue rotating, people will continue their lives, the sun and moon would still set and rise. it doesn’t matter, none of this matters. so from now on, you’ll do what you want, because life is too short and meaningless. be on top of your world.

WOOYOUNG: there’s always a voice inside of you that says, things won’t go that smoothly. there are tons of people who are just as good as me, you think. it’s similar to the special effects used in movies; the character is moving in slow motion, but their surroundings are racing past them while they are frozen. everyone around you has been improving and moving on, so why are you still stuck on this rock? you didn’t have the courage to make that leap to the next rock, remaining on the same rock. it’s going to sink soon, you’re going to drown yourself. “am i good enough?” you close your eyes and held your breath.

JONGHO: sneakers squeaking, shouts after shouts, and the dribbling of the basketball. your ears had tuned out the noisy crowd ever since the second quarter. you don’t dare to glance over that scoreboard, fully knowing that your complete attention should be on the ball the entire time. drenched in sweat as it drips down your forehead, soaking your hair and uniform. the crowd emerges together to count, ten seconds left on the clock. breathing increases rapidly as time is running out. the ball had been passed in your control. will you go for it? will you take the shot?

a/n: few slightly inspired by friends/real events, some are random :))

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ggukcangetit · 4 years

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Namjoon-ing in the Rain

Pairing: namjoon x reader

Synopsis: You hate the rain but your best friend, Namjoon, doesn’t feel the same.

Genre/AU: fluff| best friends!au

Word Count: 1.6k

Rating: PG-13 for language

Warnings: nothing really

A/N: i’ve never really written a member-centric fic for anyone other than jungkook. not sure how this worked out. just something that felt like being written. mainly because i hate the rain and i miss my friends. banner by @sushireads !!

There is something about the rain. It makes everything horribly squelchy and disgusting. Daily routine is hampered, and everyone and everything is thrown off kilter. Frankly, you hate the rain.

You do not own a car, instead having to rely on public transport for every single commute. Another reason why you cannot stand the rain. Squishing yourself into a crowded bus during rush hour, completely drenched and trying your utmost to avoid the wandering hands of well-meaning perverts, is not your idea of fun. And why are you drenched when the weather app has predicted a week’s worth of showers which should have prepared you to carry an umbrella along with you. Honestly, you have half a mind to sue every single umbrella manufacturer there is. What is the point of the umbrella if you are still soaked to the bone after holding it up in the rain for a maximum of 3 minutes?

Of course, you do not verbalize these grievances when the opportunity arises. Instead, you opt for a more succinct phrase.

“Fuck the rain.”

Your best friend doesn’t have much of a response to this, continuing to sip the americano in front of him.

“Namjoon, pay attention!” you yell, snapping your fingers in front of him to get his attention.

He looks up with a mildly amused expression. “I heard you.”

“It’s only polite to respond when someone says something.”

“Yes, but-” he shuts the book he had been reading- “when someone only ever says the one thing over and over again, responses are more likely to run out.”

“Rude.” You cross your arms across your chest, glaring out the window of the coffee shop situated opposite your place of work - the place you meet Namjoon every Friday when work gets over an hour early.

“Come on, Y/N,” Namjoon chuckles, tapping on the table to grab your attention. “You always complain about the rain, but you’ve never actually said why you hate it.”

“It’s an inconvenience,” you say simply.

“I beg to differ.”

“Why? Don’t tell me it’s some romantic bullshit like the rains make everything magical and wondrous. Or the ever popular notion that rains are cleansing - a new beginning!” You scoff and roll your eyes, fingers impatiently tucking wet strands of hair behind your ear.

“I’m sure that’s true to an extent. But that’s not what I’m talking about,” said Namjoon, tiredly rubbing his eyes. “I’ll try and explain it to you some other time. Right now, I’m too tired to think. Yoongi was up all night mixing tracks and I couldn’t fall asleep in the next room.”

“You should’ve gone home after work,” you say, feeling a little guilty.

“I should’ve,” he replies with a shrug, but doesn’t budge from his seat for another hour as you finish your latte and he makes a few notes in the book he was reading.

An entire month passes by, and you and Namjoon have missed your weekly Friday coffee meets twice. It’s nothing life-changing or particularly alarming that has caused this disruption. It’s just life. But on the fifth Friday, the weather is bright and sparkling, and Namjoon suggests sitting by the Han river instead of inside the coffee shop. Since you are breaking from your routine anyway, you decide to order an iced honey chai instead of your usual latte. Namjoon opts for two iced americanos instead of one.

You’ve only been to the river a handful of times. Each time, Namjoon has been there with you. In a way, you can’t imagine the river without him. Memory is funny in the way that it attaches permanence to the more fleeting parts of existence.

“Did you submit the report on time?” Namjoon asks, stretching his long limbs above his head.

“Just. Two minutes more and I would’ve missed the deadline.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less from a fellow deadline junkie.”

You grin before sipping the iced honey chai. It doesn’t taste that great. This is why you don’t experiment with new things. They tend not to work out for you. Or maybe it’s just that you’re unwilling to give change a chance. But that thought is not something you dwell on for longer than a moment.

“Honey chai not to your liking?” Namjoon chuckles at your disgruntled expression.

“This is the last time I’m experimenting with things. Dunno why I did it in the first place. It’s all thanks to your terrible influence. Changing up our usual meeting place pressured me into changing up my choice of beverage.”

“Whatever makes sense to you.”

“I’m just glad the weather is good today! Crisp skies and warm sunshine! I’ve really missed this!” You gaze up at the sky happily, noting a single grey cloud floating by.

The weather gods have never particularly liked you as is evidenced by the fact that a torrential downpour begins mere seconds after you utter that sentence.

“Fuck!” You stand up, gathering your belongings and calculating the driest path back to the coffee shop.

“Where are you going?” Namjoon asks, not having moved from his place on the bench.

“Inside. In case you haven’t noticed, Joon, it’s raining like the fucking apocalypse!”

“You’ll be drenched by the time you manage to get to any of the shops. It’s actually better to stay here. The benches here don’t really get wet unless there’s a strong accompanying wind.”

You groan dejectedly, dropping your bag on the bench and flopping down beside him. Namjoon always looks so peaceful during rains. It’s a complete contrast to the immense irritation this particular weather phenomenon has always ignited in you.

“Why do you like the rain so much?” you ask, turning away from his handsome profile.

“I don’t like it, per se.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“I have time.”

“I always look to people to learn about life. Each person in my life has taught me something different. But I also realised that this applies to rain as well. There are so many different kinds of rain, and just like the different people in my life, each type of rain has showed me something different about life. There’s the soft shower that barely touches you as it falls from the sky which is such a contrast to the relentlessness of the rainstorms that continue for hours on end. Then you have the sudden storms that burst through without any warning, upsetting the natural rhythm of things. The cold showers in early November that indicate the incoming winter. And lastly, the first rain that hits the ground after a brutal summer. That’s my favorite one because the smell of the wet earth coming to life always reminds me of that day in our first year of college.”

Namjoon wanted to cry. He was nineteen years old, studying art history and business at the most prestigious college in the country, on his way to becoming a research assistant for one of his favorite academics. Yet, today all he really wanted to do was cry. It was the last week of the semester, the weather had been particularly oppressive, the cafeteria had run out of food by the time he had managed to get out of a meeting with his professor, and to top it off, his bicycle chain had snapped just as he was preparing to cycle home.

It was at that moment that you walked over to him. You both had become friends about a year ago, and if he was perfectly honest, Namjoon wasn’t really sure how that happened. You were calm, even slightly formidable, in the way that you handled every part of your college life. Whereas, he was a bit of a bumbling mess, misplacing lecture notes, contact lenses, and plastic utensils. He often wondered what it was that was holding your friendship together.

“You missed food,” you said to him, matter-of-factly. “It sucked. But I snagged one of Seokjin’s homemade chicken wraps for you.”

Namjoon blinked a couple of times before taking the neatly wrapped packet from you.

“Well, go on,” you said impatiently. “Eat it. What’re you waiting for?”

“R-right.”

But just as he unwrapped the foil, a crack of thunder erupted followed by a burst of rainfall. Namjoon had resigned himself to the fact that things were not going to go his way that day. What he had not expected was to hear you yell the most interesting cuss words at the top of your voice.

“FUCKING HELL! THIS WAS NOT ON THE FORECAST FOR TODAY! I DON’T HAVE A BLOODY UMBRELLA WITH ME! BASTARDS IN THE WEATHER DEPARTMENT CAN’T EVEN DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS PROPERLY! UGH!!!”

Though everything that could go wrong had gone wrong that day, he had never been able to forget the smell of the wet earth on that day. Because that was when he began seeing you as a real person and stopped questioning the mechanics of your friendship.

“I realised that day that you and I were different in many ways, but there would always be something that united us. We’re human and all humans feel despair and frustration at something or the other. The rain humanized you that day. And I’ll always be grateful to it because otherwise I would’ve never gotten to know my best friend.”

It continues pouring for a couple of hours more. But the two of you don’t move from the bench alongside the river. The iced honey chai lays neglected on the iron armrest, while the empty americano cups have long since been deposited into the nearby trash can.

There is something about the rain. It makes everything horribly squelchy and disgusting. Daily routine is hampered, and everyone and everything is thrown off kilter. But frankly, there are better things to hate than the rain.

#bts fic #btsbookclub #namjoon fic #namjoon x oc #c me write bangtan #namjoon #kim namjoon

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jungnoir · 4 years

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𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡!𝐛𝐭𝐬;

bts but as witches in a coven. discuss

𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤𝐣𝐢𝐧: the supreme

ok not quite but he’s the most experienced in magic out of all the boys

his mother was a witch and she taught him everything he needed to know from birth to adulthood

his whole family is blessed with magic save for a few who didn’t get the gene but every family reunion they all dote on jin and talk about how powerful he’s become and how proud they are of him

the coven house where all of the boys stay is actually jin’s ancestor’s home from a long time ago

the place has brought up witches of all generations and jin was very eager to inherit it

while there’s definitely a lack of witches he’s been able to recruit, he loves his family of six so it doesn’t really bother him

he acts like he’s all serious but in reality he’s always casting spells on the youngins as tests (read: for fun)

jimin: why tf did you give me green skin

jin: if you had been paying attention during lessons you would know how to fix it :)

has definitely said this out of context more than once: ”any witch worth a broom handle knows how to get rid of poisonous snakes! you know back in my day…”

wears the flashiest outfits, but little do people know that they’re all homemade. he has a serious creative eye and seeks to make what simple human designers wish they could (taehyung is very eager to learn this talent from him)

goes all out on halloween with this talent too, creating uber realistic costumes

no he didn’t make a costume out of real human bones that year he went as a scarily realistic skeleton what are you talking about

no graves were robbed in the making of this outfit

if you couldn’t tell, his specialty is in glamours

honestly the guy should just tattoo “i’m a witch” across his forehead, he makes it so damn obvious

he openly practices magic too like it gives yoongi stress pains bc!! there’s still ppl who would very much like to burn witches still to this day!!! where is the self-preservation!!

jin doesn’t care. he’ll burn them right back. checkmate bitch

honestly charms anyone that comes in contact with him which is one of the things he never has to try at

the guys think he uses magic to do it but he’s honestly just, as jin would say, “born with it”

𝐲𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢: the right hand man

*namjoon voice* and who do we got here right now??? ˢᵘᵍᵃ!!!

when it comes to magic, yoongi is pretty neutral

an awfully interesting feeling to have given that seokjin has appointed him the heir of the coven in case anything happens to him

he’s not obsessed with magic like tae, hobi or kook

he doesn’t spend his time learning everything about it like namjoon

and he’s not playful with it like jimin and jin

yoongi just… acknowledges it. its like it exists as something he can do and he’s proud but he doesn’t really care if that makes sense

most of his friends outside of the coven are human too and he has no reservations about telling them what he is bc if they cause trouble he is more than prepared to take care of it

they’re usually like “wow so cool! i wish i was a witch” but yoongi really doesn’t care lmao

with or without magic, yoongi is the same: he loves music, he loves making music, and he loves being a musician

yoongi, however, is guilty of having used magic to make his music just right before

sometimes a note just doesn’t sit with him right and it’s driving him insane

or maybe the bass doesn’t hit hard enough

he charms his music in a way that when one listens to it, they feel exactly what yoongi wants them to feel

people are always telling him he has a real gift in music and while he most certainly does, he feels he has to give credit to his magic for helping him along sometimes

but then seokjin will be like “isn’t magic your talent too? aren’t you just exercising it when you charm your music? it’s not like you can only make music well. you should give yourself props for your magic too”

it’s just. weird to him because he’s seen how much magic can corrupt people in much higher positions than himself and it’s Terrifying

he wants to know that no matter what he makes, it’s his and his alone, not attributed to any otherworldly advantage

this just kind of contributes to his need to be as detached from magic as possible

he’s too cheap to buy one of those coffee makers that automatically start brewing at a certain time in the morning and just uses magic to do it instead

“yoongi do you want me to buy you a new coffee maker for your birthday? they have ones that do all the work for you now-” “no”

he has to be extra, okay namjoon

jimin teases him sometimes but yoongi knows it’s all out of love

jimin understands yoongi in a way, and while the others are always like “yoongi you should have more fun with your magic!” jimin is always like “no no no, let him be”

besides yoongi could probably smoke all of them in a battle of magic if it came down to it lol

𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤: the perfectionist

HERE HE IS!!! ITS HE

hoseok is probably one of the most talented witches in the coven

hoseok is a perfectionist to a t so if he feels insecure about how he’s doing a certain spell he will do it over and over and over until he’s got it right which makes him a pretty formidable opponent

like even the boys wouldn’t go up against him bc they know they’re just gonna get their ass handed to them

he’s a sweetie tho and very light-hearted and he never lets his power get to his head

he mainly uses it to bother the others tbh

also uses magic to give himself and the boys cool ass hair colors

currently he’s obsessed with this orange he’s got going on

calls it “pumpkin spice” bc it angers yoongi

“it really brings out the burnt sunset hues of a pumpkin ya know? or like a mix of changing fall colors, like golden crisp and warm crimson” “it’s fucking orange” yoongi can be heard chiming in from somewhere else in the house

but don’t get me wrong, hoseok loves himself some yoongi and vice versa

yoongi taught hoseok directly bc yoongi was the one that found hoseok

he was just an average college student and wasn’t really finding a will to live outside of paying off his student debts

he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and was pretty dead inside, working at a cafe and serving coffee to other dead inside college students when yoongi came in and sensed his strong magical aura

yoongi kinda forced hoseok’s magic out of him by tossing a cup of steaming hot coffee to the floor, causing hoseok to freeze the entire cafe in time, save for the two of them. yoongi told him what he was and the rest was history

now that it’s been so long hoseok still gets upset that yoongi was willing to break one of the cafe’s mugs to prove a point

because of course, when time unfroze, the mug fuckin shattered all over the place what a fuckin jerk guess who’s going to have to clean that up does he really have no respect for retail workers seriou

seokjin also was opposed to yoongi’s method but since it resulted in hobi joining their coven, he can’t be too mad

it was hoseok’s natural ability that yoongi was able to help hone, and when hoseok found a love for it, he took it upon himself to be the absolute best witch he could be

hoseok’s power of stopping time is uniquely his own and he’s worked hard to perfect it

sometimes he just stops time to stop it

hob: *freezes a movie theater right before something dramatic happens on screen* hold on yall I gotta piss real quick

freezing time is also super helpful during *cough* stressful exams* cough*

𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧: the scholar

he knows…. everything

not only did he do the reading, he did an 8 page analysis on it and corrected a few mistakes too

namjoon was aware of his witchy nature even from the moment he was a little kid, and his parents were both human and a bit scared for him since they didn’t know how to handle it, but they gave him the option of pursuing magic or not. they made sure to do all their own research into where witches could go to hone their craft just in case

in the end, namjoon grew curious and started reading books about magic and magical things

tho he didn’t actually start using his power until his mid teens

by then he was a bit shaky with it, but he knew a lot and was very determined so he got the hang of it very quickly

rarely uses his magic outside of it being necessary tho bc he’s gone so long without having to use it that he doesn’t rely on it for anything

he also likes to be independent from his magic in a way

while magic is very much a part of him and his being, he doesn’t want it to be like a crutch, you know? his biggest fear is losing his magic, bc he’s heard it can happen

he’s also aware that some witches lose important life skills and miss out on opportunities to build their character bc they’re so used to being able to just magic their way out of a situation

went from student to teacher real quick

teaches the other boys how to properly say incantations

“its levios-ah not levios-ar”

actually?? a pretty scary dude when it comes to using his magic for real

don’t put him in a situation where someone is getting hurt because he will not go easy on the aggressor. the other boys can attest to this too, having been saved by him far too many times than is acceptable in namjoon’s eyes

basically dont fuck with namjoon’s boys or u gon die

does cute things for the boys on their birthdays with magic

one time taehyung was sad that it wasn’t snowing on his birthday so namjoon made it snow for hours

may have fucked up the climate a lil bit

yoongi almost lost a toe

namjoon frequents a library and whenever a lil kid is struggling to reach a book he uses his magic to drift the book down to the little kid and when the kid looks at him in awe he just presses his finger to his lips and winks at them

flirts using his extreme wicca knowledge, of which is either a major turn off or a major turn on. you decide

𝐣𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧: the reluctant

jimin loves magic, but it wasn’t always like that

jimin kinda struggled with accepting his magical abilities at a young age bc he was really confused

like why wasn’t he just like everyone else? why did he have to be a witch? why did he have to have magic when he could’ve just been normal?

he often rejected it, never bothering to learn anything even to impress the family at reunions

but as he grew older, his parents grew worried he’d hate his magic and never use it again, putting him in a vulnerable position if his magic were ever to just come out when jimin isn’t in a place to control it, so they let him meet a slightly older witch that could help mentor him

his parents would’ve done it but jimin hardly ever listened to his parents about magic and they wanted to show him there were witches his age that were amazing people and embraced it, that it didn’t take away from jimin’s life but in fact added to it

in comes yoongi

yoongi, at first, really pities jimin

he understands the struggle between wanting to be normal and dealing with a part of his identity that won’t ever go away

where yoongi is concerned, that struggle for him was that he wanted to be himself regardless of being talented in magic. jimin... just hates it

but then jimin starts bashing magic and witches and he’s about to get angry at his parents for trying to force him into being a witch when yoongi just,,, slaps him upside the head

jimin’s shocked and yoongi is just like “respect your parents kid, they’re looking out for you. just because you don’t use your magic doesn’t mean people won’t know you’re a witch. its dangerous for a witch to go around with magic and not know how to use it”

jimin is shocked. he never thought of it that way

jimin feels embarrassed all of a sudden and apologizes and then yoongi cracks a smile and he’s like “no biggie kid, i’m just here to teach you the basics of magic and then i’ll be out of your hair”

jimin finds that learning magic with yoongi is really fun and soon he’s asking to be apart of the coven and embracing being a witch

he becomes carefree with it, like it’s another part of him, and he’s still kinda inexperienced, but he’s learning a lot from yoongi and namjoon

loves playing with temperature

the boys make him freeze their drinks for him, or ask him to heat up some popcorn while they’re all sprawled out on the couch on movie night bc no one feels like waiting two minutes for it to cook in the microwave

makes the water in the shower cold whenever one of the boys is taking way too fucking long in there which is Everyday

also jimin: *hitting on someone at the bar* *makes the room slightly warmer* “is it hot in here or is it just you?”

relates everything he learns back to naruto in some way, much to everyone’s complete and utter confusion

he just really kins the guy i guess

100% owns every single witch pun shirt known to man

“witch please” “witches do it better” “this is my resting witch face”

jungkook: by all means jimin why don’t you just burn us all at the stake yourself

it’s ok tho bc it’s his own little way of owning his identity, and if you want to avoid having your fingers frozen off, you’ll be sure not to step to him any kind of way

𝐭𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠: the transcendent

my favorite witch!!! i wrote this whole thing for him

tae is like jin in that his whole family is magical and he grew up surrounded by magic his whole life

in fact, he’s so familiar with magic that he’s kind of sick of it (no he isn’t (most of the time))

taehyung is unique with his magic bc he’s actually able to transcend realms oooh~

the information on how many realms and parallel universes and such are limited as hell so taehyung actively helps broaden that knowledge as he travels, a very Dangerous and Scary job to anybody else

but to him he’s like!! fuck yeah astral projection!

basically, he’s able to put himself into a deep sleep where he moves through different realms, some more or less magical than the others

he’s so good at it that he can project himself into someone else’s dreams too

he’s basically capable of seeing more than most magical beings, and he can perceive spirits easily, as well as being able to actually see a magical aura around someone

so for instance, if a witch who didn’t know they were a witch walked into a bar, he’d know what they were instantly. besides the general intuitive feeling that most witches get, he can see the auras physically, like swarming tendrils of smoke unique to every person

each aura feels and looks different than others which makes it easy for him to point out shape shifters and vampires and werewolves and all the other guys pretty easily

bc of this ability, taehyung also likes to mess with the boys like everyone else lol

“tae, i just saw the most beautiful-” “they’re actually an ogre in disguise” “WHAT”

“man my english teacher is a witch” “she actually is”

in case you couldn’t tell tae’s favorite victim is jungkook

casually tells people he’s a witch just for the #reactions

if you’re wondering, no. nobody in this coven cares about keeping this shit a secret

since he’s more sensitive to dreaming, a lot of his dreams leave him incredibly emotional because sometimes he really is there

he once had a dream where all magical beings were universally accepted in the world and were loved and happy and woke up sobbing into jimin’s lap

also nightmares take a HUGE toll on him so his sleep pattern is fucked for real

usually ends up eating cake with jin in the dining room at four am and talking about life together to get the nightmares off tae’s mind

tae uses his magic on humans in a different way. like he doesn’t prank them that much, but rather manipulates their moods. he tries to charm anyone he comes in contact with to make them happy or to make them giggly

he wants to use his magic for good, because it often leaves a very painful burden on him in turn

𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤: the prodigy

honestly i feel like if jungkook was a witch he’d probably be an underdeveloped one, you feel?

he finds out his power late bc either his family didn’t know (they’re all human) or they just didn’t tell him in hopes of him never becoming one

but jungkook is being bullied by some guys in his grade and they corner him after school one day and jungkook gets so frustrated that he just,,, makes them all start uncontrollably burping

as dumb as it is, those kids never bother jungkook again

when he does get a hang of it, jungkook probably uses his magic for fun more often than not

jungkook is recruited by jin for this very reason. he catches jungkook messing with old people at the park on his afternoon runs and he’s like this kid is such a brat. i want him

jungkook is SUCH a fast learner holy shit

he goes to namjoon for every little question, to the point where namjoon is positive he’s become a better witch simply because jungkook has prepared him for any fuckin scenario known to man

he also makes himself float upside down in the kitchen at night so when hoseok comes down for a glass of water he almost pisses himself

“haha did i scare you”

cue hoseok making jungkook fall down as he mumbles “little shit” under his breath

halloween is his favorite time of year and he likes to pull harmless pranks on the kiddies while scaring the mean teenagers ruining all of the children’s fun

like he sees this guy in a deformed mask holding a plastic knife about to scare a little boy so Jungkook just gives the dude a wedgie with his magic

all the kids are laughing at him and jungkook just smirks

honestly he doesn’t like reading about magic as much as he likes just doing it from intuition/namjoon’s instruction. he’s a lot like hoseok in that he has a lot of natural talent but not a lot of proper training when he first starts honing his ability

since jin yoongi and namjoon are in charge of teaching magic they all hound on him like “did u do the reading”

jungkook maybe glosses over everything and then just over-performs as compensation

they get on him abt it but there’s no lying about it, jungkook is a strong witch on his own

he hasn’t gotten a special manifestation of his magic Just Yet but he only gets stronger as he goes. the more he applies himself, the stronger he grows

#majwrites #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts headcanons #bts au #witch!bts #witch au #bts #been in the drafts for far too long

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reginacooks · 3 years

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Day 365. The End.

I’ve decided to make cheesecake as a send-off to this blog. I cannot think of any good reason why cheesecake should not be the cake-of-celebration for having reached my goal of creating something delicious every day for one year. Cheesecake was my sister’s favorite, and she died a year ago in March, bypassing a global pandemic by one week. Every memory I have of the countless celebrations in her home include a cheesecake. Cheesecake was my father’s favorite. He grew up on New York-style cheesecake, and he made sure my mother had a Lindy’s Cheesecake recipe when they married in 1963. My mother made good on her promise to feed him with love, and cheesecake. My mother’s birthday was in March. She taught me how to make a cheesecake using her large, ceramic mixing bowl in our kitchen in Ohio. I cannot think of cheesecake without thinking of my mother. The pandemic started in March and brought us to another March. All roads lead us to cheesecake.

One week into the pandemic and toilet-paper humor, I decided I would use the next 365 days to cook and bake, and write about it. Aside from a few months when yeast was sparse, we lacked for nothing, including toilet paper. Unbelievably, and faster than I thought one year could pass, I have reached the end of my goal. I needed a thing to grab on to at the start of this pandemic, something separate from teaching. True, I was tired at the end of some days and faced this goal reluctantly. Or worse, there was a day when I’d already gone to bed. I closed my eyes then moments later remembered my blog. But I dragged myself to the couch and sitting position anyway. Not long ago, after watching a family movie, it was close to midnight and I said to my kids, “My blog!” Ethan sat nearby. “Quick mom! It’s ten minutes to midnight. You can do it!” I shared some pictures and words of the food I’d made that day and at 11:57, clicked on “Post.” Mostly I felt like I was writing into a black void, then unexpectedly a friend would email or text indicating they were reading these posts. I was glad someone was reading, but I guess that wasn’t the point. All along I knew I was doing this for me, to brighten my days and bring on a spot of joy.

The cooking, baking, recipe searches, taking pictures, and writing helped to define my life this year. I’ve thought a lot about why the act of cooking and baking is important to me, too. Once, many years ago, a couple of friends were on a road trip and they stopped at our home for dinner. That night I happened to be making pasta with cauliflower and tomato sauce, garlic and cheddar cheese, a pretty standard week-night meal in our house. They dug into that food like it was their last drop of sustenance on the long journey ahead, even though they were only traveling by minivan from one state to the next. They exclaimed and wanted the recipe and so thoroughly enjoyed that simple fare, it seemed as if it had been many moons since they’d eaten a homemade meal. Making dinner that night, I would never have anticipated their reaction to it.

I think about the times I’ve been fed by others. A long time ago, for one year, I worked in a school in Highwood, Illinois, an old town with a large Italian population. The secretary of my school was a short, slight-framed, older Italian woman with whom I had a special connection. She had worked at the school for maybe her entire career. I complained to Vera once about the reading curriculum in first grade that didn’t use real children’s literature. Same old story. I hinted that I was going to talk to the principal about it. This was my first teaching job and she warned me against that. I’ll never forget her words. “You don’t talk about books to someone who doesn’t read.” She came into my room once as I was reading a story aloud to my students, and she paused to listen. Later she told me I was “the real deal.” Ah, to be seen by another person. Even if only briefly.

Vera and her husband were making pasta dumplings, she told me one day, and she’d like to have me over for lunch. When I went across the street and knocked on their side door, I entered their kitchen where they were filling dumplings with cheese and meat, trays of fresh pasta, dough, and flour spread out on the small kitchen table. The scene was intimate and homey, as traditional as any holy ritual, and I was invited to pull up a chair. It was the first time I’d eaten homemade pasta and I remember it still.

I have put a permanent place card next to my heart of the people who have fed me in my life. Homemade food is worth marveling at. And for me it brings back memories of the people I’ve enjoyed it with, and of other ways they’ve fed me. Vera fed me fresh pasta and there have been times over the years when my confidence suffered and I would go back to that one-liner she also fed me. “You are the real deal.” For years I hung my hat on those words. I am the real deal. And I thought they must be so because a wise woman who read books, whose name meant truth, and who had feather-light Italian dumplings at her fingertips spoke them.

We just never know how feeding others can have an impact, how words or deeds can take hold in our psyche, like a fortune cookie message we keep in our wallet forever. A long time ago a friend was visiting me in a house I lived in near the ocean. I packed us a picnic lunch and off we went. Years later she referenced those tuna fish sandwiches as being the best ones she’d ever had. Say what? She was a new mom and had her baby with her at the time. She was probably desperate for someone to care for her for a few moments and maybe that came in the form of my preparing a simple lunch, which she never forgot. I doubt it was just because of the sandwiches.

I enjoy sifting through the recipe box of my food memories. Sometimes when I’m searching for a soothing thought to put me in a state of calm, I’ll think about something wonderful that I’ve eaten with a person whom I love. Often, we’re outdoors. A memory comes of pausing for a break on a hike in Ireland with new found friends, eating a sandwich and an apple, leaning against a fence and looking out at a wet, green field speckled with sheep. Or enjoying pizza and a cold beer on a sunny hilltop in Belgrade at a cafe on the edge of the forest. A giant swing on the property served to entertain our children while my husband and I grabbed a few moments of peace. Once, my family and I were staying the night at a simple hut during a trek in Ethiopia. We sat on the roof of the hut and watched as baboons scrambled toward their caves on the slope of a cliff, and we held hot tea and bread given to us as a sign of welcome by our hosts. Clasping that tea, we knew we would be taken care of during the night in that foreign spot.

A chocolate eclair always reminds me of my father. I can hear him saying, “Oh boy,” smiling and looking down at the pastry display inside the food hall at Harrods of London, wide-eyed like a kid again in New York City. He bought us both a picnic that day and we enjoyed it in St. James Park. A few years later he was left five thousand dollars in the will of an uncle and used that to send me to cooking school in New York. He wanted me to have a skill and set me up for life. I learned many skills at cooking school, but none as valuable as the ones I learned in my parents’ kitchen. Love and food are intermingled. There was hardly a joyful, happy occasion in our home growing up without it involving something delicious. The memories I have of the food enhance the memories of my father’s laugh, my mother’s smile, my older siblings arriving for the holidays and the love that we all shared.

My mother delighted in simple, good things. When I was a teen I remember her sneaking up to her bedroom for a little solitude, a glass of brandy and a little dish of peanuts in hand, a book tucked under her arm. She’d say she was going upstairs to have her party before bed. On weekend mornings she’d make pancakes. She had a knack for turning the ordinary into something special. She would make a pancake shaped out of the first letter of our name, large and covering the whole plate and recognizable as my very own. Neighborhood kids would wait by the backdoor for their pancake, too. An L for Lenny, a J for Jimmy. I’ve stored away hundreds of food memories of my mother, and I pull them up often. Her cheesecake, her smile, her sly grin when she sneaks another piece.

Before my sister, Raissa, died a year ago, I flew out to stay with her in her home. It was the last weekend that I ever stayed in her house, the house that was a foundation for me—for all of our family—for so many years. This was the last weekend that I would ever see her home as it was, her home crowded with the beloved artifacts of her life. And beloved to us, too. We all knew every nook and cranny of that home so well. The family photos, the hundreds of books that lined the shelves, the afghans and dishes and vases and fireplace mantel and coffee mugs. I cried openly and loudly the night before I left, knowing that this would be the last time I would be in this space that was my second home. “My home is your home,” my sister always said to me. But the house would be sold and I would never have this as my second home again, and the next time I visited this town, my sister would be gone. I looked around feeling the shock, like a rug was being pulled out from under me, but it wasn’t just a rug. It was every precious thing in sight.

One morning during my last weekend with her she was sitting up in her chair reading her newspaper, as she did every day, and I asked her if she wanted some breakfast. She had hardly been eating, so I didn’t expect her to say yes, but she put the paper down in her lap and looked up at me and smiled and said yes. Feeling hungry made her look so healthy. So I went into her kitchen and made her toast and scrambled eggs, simple comfort food. Our father was the Scrambled Eggs King. He cooked them slow and steady, all throughout our growing up. It was his specialty, we all knew. So I made them the way Daddy made them, no recipe needed for the dashes of good humor and love. She ate them with such pleasure, like she had not eaten in a long time, smiling up at me in thanks. I was feeding her, like she had fed me for years and years. We fed each other. I know I added joy to her life—she told me how much she loved me every time we were together—and she was my personal cheerleader, cheering for me every single step of every single way. I will live the rest of my days with the gifts she gave, and the memory that I made her comfort food before her own long journey home.

#goals #cheesecake #baking from scratch #bakingathome #bakingforfamily #bakingforjoy #bakingforlove

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onlyeverydaysa · 4 years

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3. Africa and the novel coronavirus.

Africa enjoyed a short bit of time before the novel coronavirus hit its shores. Here, however; the amount of time that lapsed till the first few reported confirmed cases made the world question whether or not we would be ready to handle a health crisis of this magnitude. Kind of ironic because the entire world including first world countries were and are still not equipped to handle a pandemic of this magnitude as we can clearly see from the numbers and how different areas have shifted to become the epicentre. But I digress.

The first known and confirmed cases in Africa originated from Egypt, and was said to be someone who was not of Egyption nationality who had recently travelled to an area affected by COVID-19 and was reported on the 14th of February, 2020. The last African country to catch COVID19 was Lesotho who recorded their first case on the 13th of May, 2020.

Then on the 5th of March, 2020 the first known and confirmed case was recorded / reported to South Africa. South Africa was ‘the 7th African country to have a citizen test positive for the disease’. The person was said to be a 38 year old male who had travelled to Italy with his wife in a group of 10 people. Here, South Africa was held to be ‘one of 2 countries on the continent with reliable testing capabilities’. But testing capacity has since improved in other countries due to the rapid spread and severity of coronavirus and the need to be able to take care of our people. Here, the rand was said to weaken against the dollar after confirmation of our first corona case.

We watched the novel coronavirus spread rapidly across Africa in quite a short period of time. It almost looked, well, too co-ordinated. Was that just coincidence? I don’t know but again this takes me back to whichever theory you believe in about it’s origins; as that theory might have an answer that suits you. -sips tea- However, one must also take into consideration how much travelling was still allowed during the earlier days of COVID19 and how in general, mild cases have been allowed, in most cases to treat themselves at home - which means the potential for underreporting of real COVID19 cases throughout the world; whilst some non-COVID cases have been misdiagnosed as covid cases potentially inflating numbers in some areas will cause problems for us when analysing what needed to be done, what has been done and what still needs to be done to fight COVID19.

But here is what we do know: every country’s experience of coronavirus is different and as a result everyone has had to respond differently to try address the unique challenges facing their country. The one size fits all approach couldn’t be used to treat this virus, as it has been used to treat other viruses and we are seeing in some instances this difference in approach paying off in some countries whilst going wrong in others which has been both eye opening and scary as the entire world realises that the entire health system has been greatly neglected.

However, despite having been praised for trying to get ahead of the curve by WHO and many others (and also praising WHO for their role in helping to combat COVID19) in our earlier days dealing with coronavirus, our numbers have since drastically shot up (currently sitting at about 23 615 as of the 25th of May, 2020 - Africa Day) and are expected to peak only around August / September/ Also, despite efforts by government to keep people calm and despite efforts by everyone to try and focus on the facts and the science of it all there have been some later decisions that have arguably taken us backward or caused us as citizens to question whose interests are best being served by some of the implementation measures introduced by government to combat / curve / reduce the spread of COVID-19.

But with regards to my experience in South Africa, I would definitely say we tried to do the best we could with the cards that we have been dealt and as critical as I am of politicians, authority and structures I would say that some of the decisions that have been taken have been quite impressive actually, despite potential political, racial and class differences that the country is facing. Also I am very proud of our healthcare sector and how they have managed to actually also encourage us to stay calm by leading by example from our Health Minister, to doctors, nurses, lab techs, scientists, pharmacists, paramedics and other essential staff that work at the health facilities including cleaning staff, security, food suppliers etc. Everyone has just been calm in the public eye. Our response between mid-march up until early April definitely inspired a sense of feeling safe (health wise), albeit not physically; because the army & the police were unleashed on the people causing greater distress.

Some controversial issues raised were in relation to class and how lockdown impacted on the unemployed, underprivileged and working class in a society that is so deeply unequal - actually even known as the most unequal country in the world. Social media has opened the door for all these different debates, with many people openly questioning and criticizing some of the decisions taken by the government. Most notably, the open letters to the president written by Ntsiki Mazwai and Gareth Cliff which caused a stir. For which I will definitely say at the time Ntsiki raised some valid concerns even though her tone was harsh. Gareth’s letter stated nothing new, but then when he was questioned on it, on the popular South African tv show the Big Debate SA he didn’t really articulate himself well and quite frankly was quite rude and unfortunately played into critiques belief that he was clout chasing and seeking relevance (a story for another day). (This all depends on which side of the debate you fall on, I guess).

Meanwhile, round-about mid to late-April (21 April, 2020) Madagascar announced a herbal mix remedy called COVID Organics that is preventative and curative in nature. The remedy is said to contain Artemisia Annua, a plant used in medicines to combat malaria, for which it has been critiqued to say that this plant does not fight malaria in its plant-like state. Here, several African countries had opted to try it by mid-May, including: Liberia, Equitorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Tanzania, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo who have all ‘received some bottles’ of COVID Organics. The emergence of this remedy sparked growing debate around the usefulness / effectiveness in herbal and traditional medicine in combating COVID19 here on the African continent even though China has been exploring this option since February. This resulted in WHO cautioning against herbal remedies that are untested but criticism for the centering of Western medicine as the solution has grown. This led to a call to boycott WHO on social media which never really went further and was then resolved when WHO was rumoured to have agreed to look into COVID Organics but concerns were raised around the non-disclosure clause said to be agreed upon between the two (also rumour, as the sources on this are now more scarce). However Madagascar is still a member of WHO and supporting WHO. Madagascar was recently elected (22 May) on their executive board.

Personally, I believe a combination of both forms of medicine must be looked into, because some homemade remedies have proven effective in combating or helping to boost our immune systems against flu and if flu is a virus that logic holds. But on the other hand, noting that respiratory illnesses like pneumonia require antibiotics and other inflammatory and other drugs as well as liquids, rest, and possible oxygen therapy a more impactful drug with organic properties may be what is needed. But again I am not a medical expert so I am merely stating an opinion based on my understanding - its not fact. Anyway, interestingly enough: Madagascar only had 121 cases and no deaths at the time of releasing COVID Organics. Now by the 25th of May, 2020 they had 527 cases (I stand to be corrected). This is still significantly less than most countries especially for a population of 27.6 Million people so they must be doing something right even if it might not be linked to medicine - it could just be that they have disciplined citizens who are taking care of their health by eating healthy and practicing effective social distancing and sanitization.

To date, Africa as a whole continent has had 111 812 confirmed cases of COVID!9, with 3 354 deaths and 45 001 recoveries as of 6am, (25 May, 2020). In blog posts to follow, I will continue to touch on South Africa as my primary example of what is happening (for obvious reasons as you can tell by the name of this blog) and I will then try to give examples of what has been done in other countries.

*Disclaimer (again): images aren't mine. I just use pics from the net from the sources I touch on, for my posts.

*Wrote this piece on Africa Day, but struggled to post it.

*A reminder that the blog posts in the 21 Conversation series are just bits & pieces of the COVID19 experience that I have found worth talking about touching on some facts, some opinion and some theories you may or may not agree with, I have linked some of the sources that speak to these issues in all the posts that range from news to stats and facts to blogs to youtube so take everything with a pinch of salt. But always keep up to date with coronavirus news through reliable sources and keep up to date with your country’s rules, regulation and other legislation through official government sites. I hope lockdown is treating you well if you are in lockdown and if you happen to be reading this and your country isn’t on lockdown let us know how your country is handling it. Stay safe everybody.

M.T.M

Sources:

1. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/egypt-confirms-coronavirus-case-africa-200214190840134.html

2. https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/world-news/first-coronavirus-case-south-africa-who-is-it-where-reported/

3. https://techcentral.co.za/first-case-of-coronavirus-in-south-africa/96364/

4. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/africa/south-africa-first-coronavirus-case/index.html

5. https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/03/05/south-africa-confirms-first-case-of-covid-19/

6. https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/coronavirus-in-sa-who-boss-praises-south-africas-response-to-covid-19-pandemic-45923836

7. https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/04/09/african-union-reaffirms-support-for-who-amid-covid-19-pandemic/

8. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/who-again-heaps-praise-on-south-africas-response-to-covid-19/

9. https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-19-why-sa-is-the-worlds-most-unequal-society/

10. https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-04-04-poverty-shows-how-apartheid-legacy-endures-in-south-africa/

11. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52125713

12. https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/396473/handling-of-the-covid-19-crisis-makes-mkhize-a-stand-out-leader-analysts/

13. https://www.cnbcafrica.com/africa-press-office/2020/05/12/coronavirus-south-africa-employment-and-labour-praised-for-prompt-payment-of-coronavirus-covid-19-temporary-employer-employee-relief-scheme-ters-benefits/

14.https://select.timeslive.co.za/news/2020-03-23-sa-states-response-to-covid-19-gets-a-huge-thumbs-up/

15. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52619308

16. https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/395685/extending-lockdown-would-not-delay-south-africas-coronavirus-peak-by-much-mkhize/

17. https://citizen.co.za/lifestyle/your-life-entertainment-your-life/entertainment-celebrities/2261937/ntsiki-mazwai-pens-scathing-open-letter-to-ramaphosa-opposes-lockdown/

18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFPD2zj6DCE&t=6s

19. https://www.garethcliff.com/dear-mr-president/

20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8iGnW2cSYc

21. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/madagascar-population/

22. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-madagascar-idUSKBN22K1HQ

23. https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/madagascar-launches-miracle-drink-for-coronavirus-infection/ar-BB12WZoM

24. https://africa.cgtn.com/2020/04/21/madagascar-president-backs-unproven-herbal-treatment-for-coronavirus/

25. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/coronavirus-madagascar-herbal-remedy-covid-organics-200505131055598.html

26. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52374250

27. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/who-to-study-madagascars-drug-to-treat-covid-19-/1840971#

28. https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/no-madagascar-hasnt-quit-world-health-organization/

29. https://www.africanews.com/2020/05/25/coronavirus-in-africa-breakdown-of-infected-virus-free-countries/

30. https://www.webmd.com/lung/understanding-pneumonia-treatment

31. https://www.drugs.com/condition/pneumonia.html

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maskedmuses · 4 years

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@moyasuborn asked: Quiet and stern was the apt concentration he put into his steps, the gift clasped between both palms one he had dug as deep as his bloodline called for(Sometimes his father was too cryptic for comprehension), to be one that was accurate to her interests. As such, it was a bouquet,lavish and nearly as large as half the Mad Burnish' minuscule height, made of flowers painstakingly sought to mean things such as 'thank you' and 'I cherish you' in its many forms. "Happy.. Mother's day."

There were a handful of days that Nia selfishly treasured above all else.

The dawn of the day she met Simon, when he opened the box and gave her chance at new life. The moment Simon had given her the glittering stone, her most cherished gift for many years. Her wedding day, when all of her happiness erupted inside of her. How she pretended she could be with Simon forever, despite knowing the truth. The pain of holding her body together for that singular event was worth every second to be able to kiss her husband one last time. The day she resumed her life and Viral had found her, ushering her back to her family and the people she loved.

Then, of course, there was the day she had given birth to Lio.

Loving attempt after attempt to conceive a child had finally come to fruition between her and Simon, the Remnant sealed and kept at bay from the growing cells within her until the day that the boy emerged upon the ship in her quarters. It had been a great deal thanks to Yoko, who had been picked up from Earth to help be a midwife in the couple’s time of need—which was better than any of the other hands available on the Chou Dai-Gurren Dan.

A culmination of love and Spiral Energy between Nia and Simon had managed to bring forth new life—a family; a wish that the former princess had only whispered to her husband, had become realized. They could live together, raise the child, and be the family she had always desired.

But to her dismay, such a dream could not be everlasting.

As Lio grew within the ship, the captivity of it reminded the woman of her own childhood. The growing boy needed to explore, find the universe that he could make his own without the walls and ceiling looming above him, a glass to keep him from reaching out and piercing the heavens. But as the years had passed, it had become more than apparent for Nia.

She could not leave the ship without consequence.

The Remnant had quelled some in the passing time, but merely for the safety net the Chou Dai-Gurren offered. Spiral energy still flared its energy from time to time, and when Lio had grown to show his developing energies, the mother knew she would be at the end of her rope should he stay longer. A chance for him to grow and to keep safely from her.

It would not be like how her father did to her—she would not outcast him. Nia would ensure he would always feel loved, even if she had to watch from afar.

A universe was found, fledgling and ready for growth with Spiral energy, and the day she had to leave him, Nia could barely let her child go. So many tears had never flowed as much as they did the day she left him upon the planet, despite giving him the photograph and small keepsakes to remember her by. A small quartz drill, made by his father and placed around his neck.

Yet it had been a fleeting goodbye; the Remnant reared her head at the chance and they had to leave; proof that it was for the best.

Years after years, Nia worked tirelessly to gain full control. To squash down the Remnant, so she could see the boy again. Many benefits had come from Nia’s temperance upon the Anti-Spiral and Spiral parts within her: She could see her son from time to time with the focused power of Spiral Energy, and much like her husband, she retained a youthful visage and could manipulate her age at will.

So when the time finally came, when she could see her son face to face, the woman was ready. No need for fear from the Remnant, nothing would halt her from seeing the boy who had turned into a man when Nia had looked away. How he had gone through so many things, and all she had ever wanted to do was help him.

Leaving the ship to step foot on the planet, it had been a long time since she had felt the soil beneath her feet. But she—mostly Simon, despite Viral’s complaints—had arranged a place for the two to meet, a small little café that was outside of the city. Some place nearly vacant, but also where they could speak without rising suspicion. Seating herself at the small table on the patio, Nia was dressed nicely, the pink dress one she had kept from her days as The Commander’s Wife, despite the lack of marriage. Formal, but not without some leeway to her own typical princess style.

When he arrived, Nia didn’t even need to guess who he was.

His approach had been stiff, floret eyes wide briefly. He took after her in so many ways—was that a bit of hair that wanted to curl and flutter like her own?—but that bravado, the emanating will power reeked of Spiral Energy that had been cultivated. A sharp needle of pain struck at her, but was dismissed with ease; The Remnant would not interfere on this day. Despite the large bouquet in his grip, Nia could not take her eyes off his face, rising from her seat as he came upon her and wished her the soft words.

Lio. It was Lio. Her little Lio.

Gently grasping the flowers, taking them from his hold—something to hide how her fingers trembled—Nia’s breath hitched a little as she nodded. “Thank you…” Her voice soft, melodious sound that mixed with elation and something else, the well of tears clogging her throat.

Holding the flowers simply wasn’t enough.

Placing them on the table, Nia was quick to move; arms came to wrap around his shoulders, chin tucking near her bent elbow as she pressed him close to her, her own cumulous hair nearly eclipsing her frame against his. “I’m…I-I’m so proud of you, Lio.” Her voice broke as tears began to drip from her pink florets, yet her smile was untouched. “I’m so sorry. For everything I couldn’t do, because I wasn’t strong enough.”

Holding him tighter, it didn’t matter the prickles inside of her. This was her child, and she would fight the entire universe if it dared to take this moment from her. “I love you, Lio. I always have, ever since I first held you in my arms.” Finally, finally releasing the young boy, Nia leaned back, a hand lifting to wipe away the tears as she gave out a small giggle.

“Will you do me the honor of sharing a meal with me?” She offered, glancing to the table, which was merely absorbed by the large amount of flowers he had gifted her. “I’m sorry it’s not my own homemade food, but…it’s everything I want for Mother’s Day. To spend time with you, Lio.”

#moyasuborn #asks #||Remnant Messenger|Nia||#Mother's Day #I didn't plan this to be like this but here we are #Readmore for length

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leoneandpegs · 5 years

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The Art of Deception

I’m here and back on my bullshit

(this was originally a vent and it turned into this? I apologise in advance)

Tony was confident. He was smooth and sly. Growing up with the press, he had learned at a very young age that he had people to impress. He was constantly in the spotlight. Constantly watched. The whole world was watching him. Every move; every word; every little thing he had done was known by everyone and able to be accessed by anyone. He was a celebrity; an icon that the whole world looked up to. He influenced society with what he said and did. He couldn’t take anything back. Once it was done, it was there forever. Never forgotten. Easily accessed.

Sometimes, he wished he had a normal life. Wished he didn’t feel like he had to live up to society’s standards. Wished the world wasn’t watching his life play out. Wished he wasn’t constantly judged for anything he did. He desperately wanted a life where he didn’t have to have the pressure of impressing everyone.

Tony’s father wasn’t great. In fact, he was a piece of shit. He didn’t love Tony. If he did, he was just shite at showing it. Tony only longed for his father’s love and support. He wanted a father to tell him that he was proud of him. As a child, Tony worked hard to show Howard that he was worth his time. To show that he was just as smart as him. But even with that, Howard still turned him away. He just wanted to be at least acknowledged by him. Was it just too much to ask? For a father to be loving and supportive? Maybe Howard wasn’t cut out to be a father. (Of course he wasn’t, he was a terrible father.)

Maybe that’s where the problems all started. With his father. Maybe if his father had been somewhat good at what he was supposed to do, he wouldn’t be overly self critical about himself. Maybe he wouldn’t think that everything he did wasn’t good enough.

The Tony the world knew was different to the real Tony. He wasn’t confident and self-assured. He was hurting. Constantly. He never felt like he was good enough. Was he good enough? Was anything he did good enough? Were his inventions good enough? No. That was always his answer. No.

And as life went on, it only became worse.

The Avengers. A group put together to protect the Earth. To make the world feel safe. A group of remarkable and skilled people that were able to bring hope and stability to the world. A group that were meant to be friends. In a sense, they were.

Tony cared for them; he really did. He showed that in his own way. He tinkered and built them their weapons. That was always the way he showed someone that they cared for them (with some exceptions). That was always the way he showed it. It was the only way he knew how to show it. It was a way to relieve his stress. Sometimes though, he felt like they didn’t care about him.

Maybe it was his terrible self-esteem, but he often felt like he was cast out from the group. Like he didn’t really belong there. Sure, he was part of the Avengers but he didn’t think he belonged there as a friend.

Ever since Afghanistan and becoming Iron Man, his mental health had deteriorated even quicker than before. Mixed with his depression and anxiety, there was PTSD. His mind was tainted with the memories of torture, the terrible surgery for his arc reactor and flying into that wormhole during the invasion. His dreams were replaced with nightmares that haunted his mind. That’s part of what caused the insomnia.

He never slept. He couldn’t sleep. Thoughts plagued him, whispering from the back of his mind. A mantra. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough. He wished he was good enough.

As a superhero, you can’t save everyone. A fact that Tony was yet to accept. The guilt was always there. People he couldn’t save. All those innocent people that died because he couldn’t save them. He should’ve been able to save them. He should’ve saved them. They had friends. They had family. Why couldn’t he save them all?

The press was unforgiving. Always highlighting his faults and mistakes. Did that help him? Of course not. It only gave him another reason to keep on upgrading his suits and the Avengers’ weapons. He had to be able to save everyone. He needed his gear to be the best it could be. The whole world was relying on him; on the safety he brought to them.

Therapy kinda helped. But then again, he had never been the kind of person that would talk about his feelings. He was never allowed to. (Another fault of Howard Stark.) He was given medication. At times, it felt like it really did help him but at others, it felt like there was no point in taking them. The ups and downs of his mental health, he guessed.

He saw Pepper die. Well, she didn’t really die but he watched her fall. He thought she was dead. She should’ve been dead. If it weren’t for that damn Extremis that she was injected with, she would’ve died. He was thankful for that, but she shouldn’t have been kidnapped or injected with it in the first place. And that was his fault. He shouldn’t have let her get kidnapped. Now she had to have the memories of it.

The Avengers - his second family. And although he felt cast out at times, he enjoyed having them live with him. He enjoyed having their company and the shenanigans they got up to. It was never truly uneventful when they were there. Their family was dysfunctional, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

In his quest to keep the world as safe as possible, he created Ultron. In theory, his plan was great. A robot that would bring safety to Earth. A set of hands around the world; protecting the whole population from the inevitable alien attack. If only it didn’t completely backfire.

He didn’t expect Ultron to become evil. Nobody did. He just wanted another way to protect everyone. Apparently, that was just too much to ask.

Ultron was built to protect the Earth, but instead wanted to destroy it. His plan was to kill the entire population of the planet. All of the innocent people. Everyone.

That took a big toll on Tony. He was to blame. He created Ultron. Bruce was missing. He lost JARVIS and even though he now had Vision, he would never be the same. Anyone who died during that attack was on Tony. His fault, his fault, his fault. His mental health got worse.

As he was still yet to fulfil his quest of ensuring the safety of the entire Earth, Tony kept on working. Working on new suits. Working on new weapons. Anything and everything to make sure everyone was safe. ‘You can’t save everyone.’ Bullshit. Tony would make sure that everyone was safe. He could save everyone. He had to be able to. After all of the innocent people he couldn’t save, he had to make sure there wasn’t anymore.

But what happens when those weapons are used against him? The same weapons he gifted those he called family used against each other. They were meant to protect the world, not create what they called ‘the civil war.’

Betrayal. Betrayed by the people he cared for the most. He did a lot of things he regretted during that time. Blinded by rage and hurt, he became desperate to bring his family back together. He brought Peter into the fight. And even though he was definitely good enough to go into a fight like that, he was only a child. He didn’t have to be dragged into that.

Rhodey. Oh god, Rhodey. He was paralysed. And it was his fault. Was it really his fault? No. But did he still think it was? Yes. But still, he made sure that Rhodey has the best damn leg braces that he could build. He would make it so he could walk again.

Then, Siberia happened. Finding out the truth about the death of his parents, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Learning that someone he completely trusted had lied to him for years, he felt utterly betrayed. And then he was left there to die.

He was alone. Again. He only had Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. And maybe Peter. Not that he meant to let Peter into his life like that, Peter just had a way of working his way into people's hearts.

He gave Peter the suit. It was so much better than his homemade suit anyway. Such a drastic improvement. He was able to track how well Peter was doing and if he had any injuries. He also gave Peter an AI for his suit. Peter named her Karen which he found quite cute.

That was until the ferry fiasco. He took away the suit. He had to take away the suit. It was to keep him safe. Peter couldn’t be responsible about having the suit. That would stop him, right? Wrong.

Tony thought about if it was the wrong decision to take the suit away from Peter. No. It was definitely the right decision. He wouldn’t get hurt. He didn’t need the suit. He needed to learn that he could be something without the suit. He couldn’t have known that taking away the suit wouldn’t stop Peter.

Peter, desperate to prove himself to Tony, went after Vulture on homecoming night. In the end, he didn’t know if he should have gone or not. Having a building dropped on you isn’t a great experience. But he saved the Avengers’ items and that’s what really mattered. To him, anyway.

Tony was absolutely devastated when he found out what really went down on that night. Peter still went out in his fucking pyjamas after Tony took the suit. He took away Peter’s layer of protection. And now he was dealing with the PTSD of having the damn warehouse collapse on him. That was his fault. Everything was his fault.

Even after Peter turned down the offer to be in the Avengers, they still stayed quite close. Peter was gifted the suit back and he visited the tower, which Tony decided to no longer sell, at least once a week.

Tony loved Peter. Hell, even Pepper loved Peter. Have you looked at him? That boy is literally a puppy. At that point, Peter was basically Tony’s son. And Tony was basically a helicopter parent. Howard didn’t completely fuck him up. He was able to take care of his totally not-son. Fuck you Howard.

Peter knew Tony; the real Tony. Despite what the kids at school said about his ‘Stark Internship’, he did actually know Tony Stark himself. And not the press Tony Stark™️, the real Tony Stark. He was one of the lucky few who knew what Tony was really like. Not like how the press portrayed him. He wouldn’t dare say it, but Tony was his father figure. (Honestly, both of them needed to fucking grow some balls and admit it; everyone knew that they were father and son.)

When Tony was with Peter, he finally felt like he was enough for someone. That someone being Peter. And really, to Peter, Tony was more than enough. He had looked up to Tony his entire life so now knowing him was kinda a mindfuck to Peter.

But even so, Tony still wanted to ensure safety to all the people of Earth. Then, he made Mark 50. A nanotech suit that he can get in an instant. Even though it was quite a pain to get the whole mechanism installed (and a pain to have in his body,) it was well worth it if it made sure that Earth could be protected.

It had been about a year since the ‘Civil War’. Still, no contact had been made between Tony and Steve. Tony didn’t really want to. Yes, he wanted his family back but could he really trust them all again? Would they betray his trust again? Steve lied to him for years. On something he had the right to know. Something he shouldn’t have found out about in Siberia. Forgivable? Probably not. He wasn’t mad at Bucky. He was never mad at Bucky. As much as he wanted to be, he couldn’t be. It wasn’t his fault that he was brainwashed and used by HYDRA. He was the weapon that HYDRA yielded. He was mad at the fact that the truth was hidden from him for years. Hidden from him by someone he put his complete trust in.

The Avengers were no longer a reliable option when it came to protecting the world. Nobody knew where they were. Did Team Cap ever think about the consequences on the civilians of the world? They only had a handful of people left that they could put their faith in to keep their world safe. They lived in fear of what could happen without them.

Infinity war. That’s what they called it. That was the inevitable invasion Tony always prepared for. What Tony had been thinking about ever since the invasion in New York. And another one was about to happen.

It seemed like a somewhat normal day. It was a normal day. It should’ve been a normal day. Why wasn’t it a normal day? Just him and Pepper in that park. That’s how it should’ve stayed. Fate works in weird ways and it’s not always the way that it should be.

Tony never thought he would ever actually have to go into space. And especially not with the kid. Peter was just meant to be help the little guys, not carry the whole weight of the world on his shoulders. Peter was a good kid. He already held grief and sadness yet still managed to keep a smile on his face at all times. He didn’t need to be corrupted by the demons and pain of the world. He didn’t need to see space as what it really was.

Oh, yeah and Thanos was a fucking demon of a purple space grape. He stabbed- wait no, impaled Tony. He had the audacity to do so after talking so highly about him. He stood there, waiting for the black to start coming into the corner of his eyes. He was waiting for death. He was going to have the death he always wanted. Dying while saving the world; dying in honour. And he was, until-

“Stop.”

Looking over, he saw Strange. Didn’t he say that he would protect the time stone even if it cost him his life? He wasn’t just going to give over the time stone. This wasn’t the way they would win, right? This couldn’t be the only way.

“It was the only way.”

Well, shit. This is not how he expected any of this to go. And now Thanos was gone. He was sat there, helpless. Not knowing what would come next. Thanos had surely gone to Earth. He didn’t have the mind stone - Vision was still out there, alive. All he could hope was that those that were defending Earth could do so. He prayed to a God he didn’t even believe in that it would all go well.

First it was Mantis. Then it was Drax. Then it was Quill. Then Strange.

“Mr Stark?”

God please no. Not him. Not Peter. The sweet innocent boy Tony had grown to love. He had so much to live for. He had so much potential. An amazing future waiting for him.

“I don’t feel so good.”

Falling into Tony’s arms, Peter clutched desperately onto him as he begged for his life. Too young; too pure. Slowly fading away. Grasping on to Tony for his dear life. This wasn’t the way it was meant to go. He was meant to be peaceful, not in pain. Not begging for his life. Not meant to be a child when he experienced death.

He dusted. Ripped from existence. Ripped from Tony’s grasp. Tony sat there and waited for it too. He waited for the dust to come from his fingers and take him away from existence. It was his turn.

But, it never came.

For the first time in years, he cried freely. He didn’t hold back. Tears rolled down his stained cheeks, mixing with the blood from the various wounds situated on his face. He tasted the dust and the blood. He tasted the tears. He tasted the pain. He tasted the loss.

He failed. He failed to protect the Earth. He failed to protect the universe. He failed to protect Peter. This was all his fault.

His fault. His fault. His fault. His fau….

- 🌻 (Pegs)

My AO3: oofandpeggy

#tony stark #irondad #irondad fanfic #irondad fic #Irondad and Spiderson #marvel #avengers #iw #im sorry #fanfic #some bullshit #angsty #i think?#Iron Man #spiderman #spider man: homecoming #im trying my best pls love me #Pegs

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theloveliestpartsofasexuality · 5 years

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Destressor List: One Each for the Five Main Senses

So, it’s the holidays. School finals are coming up. Pretty much everyone who’ll end up reading this is probably a minority group in at least one way and has to deal with bullshit because of that.

I figure we’re all a bunch of stressed people. Therefore, here are some things you can do to relieve stress that may also even help with anxiety if you have it, like me. These are things that help me, so they won’t necessarily work for you, but it’s worth a shot.

Coloring apps:

Do you like art but don’t feel like you can create anything? Well, do you remember coloring books? There’s apps for that! For adults! There’s a plethora of pixel art apps that are basically color-by-number. I personally use Sandox because it includes a lot of pop culture stuff. The pictures can be simple or complex. Here’s some examples:

If you’re feeling more traditionally ~artsy~ there’s also apps that are pretty much coloring books. I find you can do a lot creatively on Recolor with the free tools. Here’s one picture from start to finish.

You can surprisingly add extra details with crayons. Everything you see added in the third picture was done with the crayons. They can be solid or more transparent and require a bit more patience to use since it’s more than just tapping to make color appear. It’s worth noting that the crayons are not very crayon-like. I feel that I should add that while I did used to draw kinda-sorta decently, I CANT DRAW FOR SHIT anymore because of my tremors, but I can still do stuff like that with the app (Don’t look at those flowers too closely. They look okay in the whole context of the picture but if you zoom in you can see they’re actually just squiggles, ha). The last picture looks that way not because I did anything extra to the picture but because there are filters. I finished the coloring in the third.

Hot Beverages:

During winter especially, it feels good to drink something hot. My main go to is tea. Like coffee, you may not like what you first drink, but it’s a matter of finding what flavor, strength, and level of sweetness you like. Sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, milk/cream/coffee creamer can all be added to offset the initial bitter brew. You can find crazy amounts of detail about how to brew tea, but you don’t have to try that hard. Just don’t steep longer than ten minutes, though you can steep less. Put a microwave safe mug full of water in a microwave for two minutes. Put the tea bag or infuser in the water to steep. Bam, tea. There’s floral tea, fruity tea, earthy tea, herbal tea, whatever flavors you think might sound good as a hot beverage and more. You can find caffeine free tea easily, but even the strongest teas typically have less than half the caffeine found in a home brewed cup of coffee. Here’s a graph:

You can also go for hot chocolate(try homemade, it’s ridiculously good), hot apple cider(add cinnamon if you want), and decaf coffee. When it comes to coffee, if you want to relax, it has to be decaf.

Fuzzy Things:

When you’re feeling stressed, fuzzy things can be great, especially if they’re warm. Personally, I think the best option is a warm furry friend, but warm furry friends are not available to everyone. However, blankets are also great, and they do not have to necessarily be fuzzy if you’re not into that. You can sit and read on your phone (or scroll through Tumblr) or get a physically there book, watch Netflix/Hulu/cable/whatever you have. Pillows are a welcome addition. Heated blankets are awesome because w a r m t h, and if you’re a person who menstruates, it doubles as a way to ease cramps. On top of all that, you can also have a warm furry friend keep you company if you have one. Or any friend. Maybe even a human friend, why not, let’s gets crazy here.

Bake ALL of the Goods:

I already did taste with the hot beverages, and this is technically a heavy taste thing, but my favorite part of baking is probably the smell(especially bread. You wouldn’t believe how good homemade bread smells). Cookies are an easy one that most people enjoy the smell of and I could give you all SO MANY recipes. Like, you have no idea how many recipes I have. It’s ridiculous. You don’t need many tools for most cookie recipes, not even a hand mixer. In fact, sometimes you can’t use a hand mixture if the cookie dough is too thick. The catch is that you will have to give up on using a spoon near the end and dig your hands into it. No kneading techniques are necessary, but your hands are gonna go in the dough. If you cannot stand the way dough feels, then I’d recommend getting someone to finish mixing the dough for you or get already prepared dough. For a lot of people, however, dough is actually kinda fun to play with.

Here is my comparatively easy, completely unhealthy, absolutely amazing Super Secret Family Recipe for chocolate chip cookies. The base of this recipe can be found on the back of a Nestle chocolate chips bag, but if you compare the two, you’ll notice this one has been...modified.

Baking tools you absolutely need: two large bowls, measuring cups and spoons, baking sheet, something to mix wet(first six) ingredients. May use a large spoon, hand mixer, or stand mixer.

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar (packed)

2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)

2/3 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks, softened)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda (not powder!)

1 bag of Semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven 375F or 190C

2.) In a large bowl, mix both sugars, shortening, butter, eggs, and vanilla together.

(Your butter needs to be soft. You may simply leave it out and let it come to room temperature or you may microwave it. Both ways work most efficiently if butter is cut into tabs. If you microwave, be careful! Don’t melt it. Microwave no more than 10 seconds at a time.)

3.) Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together in a separate large bowl.

(To sift, put all the ingredients in the bowl, then you may gently shake the bowl and/or whisk it. I shake the bowl, my grandma used a whisk. Both work fine.)

4.) Pour the dry (ingredients from number 3) ingredients into the wet and mix.

(It is easiest to do this by pouring the dry ingredients by roughly a third of the entire thing at a time. This is the point at which you should stop using a mixer, though you can keep using a large spoon until it becomes too difficult to do so. Mix the ingredients with your hands.)

5.) Fold in however many chocolate chips you want into the dough. I use about half a bag, but you can always use more or less based on your preference.

6.) Form balls of dough roughly one inch thick. You can use your hands, two spoons, or a cookie scooper(easiest). Place on baking sheet a couple inches apart. Bake for 9-12 minutes.

Yields: about 3-3 1/2 dozen cookies. Might give you four dozen if no one eats any cookie dough, I don’t know, never tried that.

Unfortunately, despite how many times I’ve made this, I don’t have a picture of cookies where I followed this recipe. I do, however, have one where I didn’t have shortening and substituted for another 2/3 cup of butter, totaling 3 sticks of butter. If you follow the recipe, the cookies will look similar, but less smooth than these:

If you have any questions or want a different recipe, ask away or DM me. If you’re uncertain about how your dough is turning out, send me a picture and I will be able to tell you how to fix the dough if it needs fixing. Don’t worry, I have corrected every mistake you could fathom with this specific recipe. You won’t be bothering me with questions. In fact, I would love to help out with it. Send me pictures of the resulting cookies, if you’d like!

Music:

So, I’m a musician. Like, I study music education at a college known for their fine arts program. My main method of trying to relax and relieve anxiety always involves music. I do a lot of playing music, but listening to music is the most relaxing thing. My advice here is to branch out and try new music. Even music you’ve never considered before. We have over a thousand years worth of music that you can still listen to today, with endless variations, from all over the world, and you’d never run out of new music.

Listen to songs in languages you don’t understand. And no, I don’t just mean K-pop, though obviously that counts. People make music in every language you can think of. Music is one of the only constants in human history. There’s music for every emotion you can think of and some music paints pictures in your head if the performer is skilled enough. You don’t even need words to do that, either. It can make you feel things just with sound, if it’s good enough. I would recommend songs, but I would need to make a master list, honestly. If you want a starting point, you can give me an emotion, a genre, a time period, a language, a favorite instrument/voice type, and/or any other criteria and I can find something for you.

#lgbtqia #lgbt #not an asexual problem #stress #anxiety #destress #little things #long post #baking #coloring #music #mental health #fun things #you can tell im not a very tactile person

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booklover277 · 6 years

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Cravings: Hungry for More by: Chrissy Teigen

5 stars out of 5

After the extraordinary success of Cravings, Chrissy Teigen comes back with more of her signature wit and take-no-prisoners flavor bombs. Cravings: Hungry for More takes us further into Chrissy’s kitchen…and life. It’s a life of pancakes that remind you of blueberry pie, eating onion dip with your glam squad, banana bread that breaks the internet, and a little something called Pad Thai Carbonara. After two years of parenthood, falling in love with different flavors, and relearning the healing power of comfort food, this book is like Chrissy’s new edible diary: recipes for quick-as-a-snap meals; recipes for lighter, brighter, healthier-ish living; and recipes that, well, are gonna put you to bed, holding your belly. And it will have you hungry for more.

Release Date: September 18, 2018

Before I get started..I'd like to just inform you that this cookbook is outstanding. My expectations have been reached and then some. And I had very high expectations, btw. Chrissy Teigen remains the cooking goddess she is and this cookbook will become a kitchen staple for me, just like her first cookbook. I know I'll be using the recipes over and over. I cannot wait to keep the cooking going. So far..and this is since the release (which was last Tuesday)..I have made four recipes from this book. And all four were delicious. My sister made two others and they were also delicious. I'd say we're on a roll. And now what follows can probably be described as a rant of my love for Chrissy Teigen's cookbooks. I'll let you know which recipes I've made and how this book compares to the last one. Let's go!

Okay, so I've already written a raving review of her first cookbook, Cravings. It became my all-time favorite cookbook. I've never made so many recipes out of a single cookbook. I'm telling you..her tastebuds are in sync with mine or something. Or maybe I should stop thinking the world revolves around me and realize the book is called Cravings, so no shit is it going to be delicious to most people. I suppose I'll update that review eventually with the recipes I've made, but it'll get ridiculous because I've really worked my way through it.

I spent the entire time since the release of the first waiting for the release of her second. I'm one of those people who followed her blog before the cookbooks happened. After the blog stopped, I remember loving watching the process of Chrissy making her first cookbook. This time around..she didn't seem to document it nearly as much, which I found disappointing. I still need something to fulfill the void of waiting for Chrissy's blog posts because it took over 2 and a half years for this second cookbook to come out.

Now...it is a great cookbook. This time around..it is once again cravings, although because she is now a mom there are a few differences. She opted for "lighter food" this time around, which let's be real..there is still tons of cheese and bacon and all types of good stuff throughout. But compared to the first book, there are less of those foods that seem like straight indulgences. Still...very similar in ways too. Meaning..if you enjoyed the first book, you will definitely once again enjoy this one.

The other difference here is, once again because she is a mom, time has become an even more precious thing. So there are things that she takes shortcuts on, while also admitting it along the way. For her jerk lamb chops, she says to buy jerk seasoning ready from the store but notes that if this were her first cookbook, she would have given the recipe to make it yourself from scratch. This is true because there's a recipe in her first book involving cajun seasoning and sure enough, she gives you the recipe to make that from scratch. I'm torn on how to feel about this because yes, I am a major lover of saving time. I love getting the option of how to do things a little quicker when it doesn't make a difference in the finished product. However, I do like to get told how to do something, so I can make the decision myself if it was worth it. She could have included a brief put salt, pepper, this, this, and this and you'd have the seasoning. But it's fine. Not the biggest deal. And again, it's something I'm torn on.

This book has a couple sections that weren't in the first book, such as a dessert section. Chrissy isn't much of a sweet person, so it's not cakes, cookies & brownies. This one has a banana bread, soft pretzels, two-faced cobbler, mango sorbet, homemade magic shell, mousse, and skillet peanut butter chocolate chip blondies (UH...YES PLEASE).

Also, there is an entire sandwich section, which includes a couple grilled cheeses I need..the jalapeño-parmesan crusted grilled cheese and sweet & spice peach & brie grilled cheese. Oh and the philly french dip she makes with more of a cheese sauce au jus. There is just so much. I probably shouldn't just list every recipe in the book. Although, if you get a chance..it wouldn't hurt to check out the table of contents.

Plus...this time there is a potatoes & their friends section. POTATOES!! Yeah..my stomach is pleased. It has plenty of potato dishes among other veggie dishes. I made the Tators, Shrooms, & Peas with parmesan cream from this section. And it was SO GOOD!!! My husband and I were both in heaven. It was more filling than we expected, so next time it'll be a main and we'll add diced ham to it. The parmesan cream was so good that we'll definitely use it with other dishes. I'm thinking it'll be good with pasta.

This time around I didn't find the Thai Mom section quite so intimidating. It probably helped that I got blue apron for six weeks this summer when Chrissy had a partnership. A few of the dishes were from the thai section of the first book and they were absolutely delectable. I get why I was freaked out by ingredients like fish sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin, sweet chili sauce, sambal oelek ..really just things I wasn't used to cooking with. Nor did I see how these ingredients would all mix together to become something heavenly. Garlic is also pretty common in the thai section. I love garlic, though. Anyway, this time around I found myself excited to make these authentic Thai dishes. Last night, we had the Thai soy-garlic fried ribs and OH BABY. Yes, they were ridiculously easy, but oh so tasty. I never knew ribs could be cooked so quickly and there was this nice crisp to them that ribs don't usually have, but I lived for it. Definitely making these again. I cannot believe Chrissy considered not including this one in the book because of how easy it is. It's a keeper. And not something you'd think to do yourself.

I also went into the breakfast section and made the Everything Bagel Breakfast Bake. So good!! It was kind of like a breakfast casserole, but there were chunks of bagel in it that didn't taste fully like bagel by the time they cooked and soaked in the egg mixture. They were much softer. And there were cream cheese bombs throughout. This was a good one for sure! I made mine with mushrooms instead of tomatoes because I'm not a tomato person. And I'll do it this same way again in the future when I want a breakfast casserole with everything bagel type flavoring. Yum!

I finally understand why people call Chrissy a soup master! I have been DYING to try her pot pie soup from the first book. Honestly, I only haven't made it yet because for the longest time I could not find heavy cream in the store. Finally this summer, I FOUND IT!! It's only at one grocery store in my area. So I will make that one in the next month. For now, I needed to make something from her new book. I opted for the French Onion Soup. I'll be honest..I'd never had french onion soup before. I really love onions, though. This one was a major winner. And I feel talented for being able to say I can make it. Not too difficult. Hardest part was getting through cutting all those onions without crying my eyes out. But this beautiful soup turned out sooo tasty. It was oh so cheesy and there were croissant croutons in it that became doughy and just OOOH! You know what I mean? Yeah..this is a major winner.

I guess it's good I've only made the four recipes so far because this review would go on and on. Luckily for you, I didn't have all the time in the world so I'll be making more this weekend.

There is also a salad section, snack section, and supper section which actually has mains & sides tacked on to several of the dishes giving us more side recipes than what is included in potatoes & their friends.

I will say that her introduction to the book and the intros to all the recipes have a great layer of humor. Her stories are fun and will make you laugh out loud. She also talks about how she went through postpartum between books (and babies) and how that affected her/this book. She reminds us she is only human, and a relatable one at that.

There are photos of almost every recipe, but a couple might be missing and that bothers me. I like to see what the outcome of what I'm making should look like at the end. Not to mention, you want to see how tasty a dish looks to decide if you want to make it. I'll still make everything in this book regardless.

So there you have it...delicious recipes from Chrissy Teigen. Food that will make you look like a pro in the kitchen when you have a dinner party. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a cookbook with food they actually want to eat.

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