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engbergeurovacay23 · 9 months

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Wednesday, Sights Around Helsinki

On Wednesday morning, I woke up first, even though I had a terrible night’s sleep. As I mentioned in the last post, I didn’t get to bed until very late on Tuesday night, and then I had trouble actually falling asleep. Then, right after I was actually solidly asleep, at like 2:30 a.m., my phone rang, and someone who had called me twice got through my “sleep mode,” because calls will ring through if someone calls you multiple times. It was a business and not an urgent matter, so it was really irritating that my phone rang – and then I had trouble getting back to sleep again!

Anyway, Cece was the next awake, and she was chipper as can be, and then Eric was next awake, and then, Rowan. He was sleepy! The kids are sleeping in the very odd sleeping loft, and the side of it that Rowan is in is the darkest spot, so I think he was comfy and in deep sleep over there in slumberland—and his lil’ body probably needed the Zs!

The laundry marathon began as soon as I was up. We didn’t do laundry for five or six days, so like everything we brought on this whole trip needed to be washed once we got to the Helsinki Airbnb and its washer and dryer (yay for a dryer!!). I made the error, however, of not noticing the water was off – so Eric heard the periodic alert sounds from the washer and turned its water on and, then, we were off to the races with the laundry!

We had a grand plan for Wednesday to start our adventures at the farthest destination from our Airbnb (still not very far and still in central Helsinki): the 1952 Olympic stadium. Rowan visited it when he was 22 months old, our first time in Helsinki. This time, he’ll actually remember it! But, as we walked north in that direction, along one of the main thoroughfares, we made a few stops: Moomin Shop Helsinki and the restaurant at Finlandia Hall, a very famous (designed by Alvar Aalto) and beautiful modernist building that was under construction last year and was again this year and will be for maybe two more years in the future! It is undergoing major restoration and renovation. So, Cece at this point was not feeling super well. She was yawning frequently and was soooo tired. I wasn’t sure whether she was coming down with something or whether she was just exhausted from our long day the day before and her not-enough-sleep night. Rowan and I ate at the Finlandia Hall restaurant, availing ourselves of their incredible 12 Euro buffet lunch, and Cece laid down and slept on one of the outdoor couches (I could see her from where I was inside; I was like six feet away from her and she wanted to be outside with Eric); Eric sat with her and actually went on a very quick swim in a very seaweed-y lagoon.

OK, so Finnish and other Nordic countries know how to do a lunch buffet. Banish any preconceptions you have about “buffets”—this is probably nothing like it. Finlandia Hall had three kinds of very grainy and wholesome-seeming bread, four different salads featuring local ingredients (also representing the preferences of the Finnish palate), coffee, multiple kinds of tea, roasted vegetables, a pureed potato and leek soup, and some other things I am forgetting! The stars of the menu were parsnips, potatoes, multiple colors of tomatoes, and tiny mozzarella balls. And the bread was a superstar, too. All of plates and bowls were Marimekko, as were the napkins. The meal was so delicious and Rowan and I had a nice time sitting together and chatting, but, of course, we were sad that Cece was in a questionable state of health. We wanted to see whether she was going to bounce back or whether Eric or I would have to go back to the apartment with her.

Wouldn’t you know it—she was much better after her little rest! From Finlandia Hall, we continued on our way to the Olympic Stadium. But, on the way, we encountered the Winter Garden (Talvipuutarha), a beautiful garden inside a wonderful-looking glass gazebo, clearly from an earlier era. We all went in to ogle the flowers and plants. It reminded us of a very similar (but larger) garden in Gothenburg, Sweden, that we visited last summer. Also, the building looked like one I saw in Forest Park in St. Louis in June!

We arrived to the Olympic Tower around 1 p.m. and bought a ticket to ride up 11 stories to the top of its iconic tower (which, unfortunately, I did not take a picture of from the distance! But, you can read about it and see it here). So, the stadium was actually built in the 1930s and I don’t know the whole back-story on it, but, there were no Olympics for some time (1940 and 1944) because of, well, World War 2, and, then, the first one after that was in London. Next up, Helsinki in 1952! The tower is so incredible and we were really lucky that the weather cleared a bit while we were at the very top (13 stories up; you walk up the last two) and we could see all around the city. Nearby was a swimming complex, with all of the very high platform dives, lanes, and a water park, and then there was also an amusement park that we could see. I mean, we could see like everything, but those were the most noticeable things in the foreground, looking North. Looking south was a very picturesque row of pastel mid-rise residential buildings that are so “iconic Helsinki.”

From Olympic stadium, we walked towards the Church in the Rock (Temppeliaukio Church), which I’d wanted to see for a while! We finally made it happen this time, but en route we popped into a bike shop and a paper shop, you know, the kind of place that sells journals, stickers, pens, postcards—lots of cute, cute things! I could not resist—and bought both postcards and stickers ;) It was the kind of place that 12-year-old me lived for!

The Church in the Rock was amazing. We walked all around its inside (it wasn’t very big) and we sat and reflected, and Cece rested some more. The roof was so interesting, made of copper tape or thin strips of copper, and the inside of the sanctuary was blasted out of solid rock. Check out the website linked above, which will tell and show you all about it!

So, we’d been truckin’ along much of the day! The next place we visited was a large downtown mall, because we wanted to see what was happenin’ at one of our favorite Finnish stores, Tokmanni (basically, a smaller-format Target-like store, even sharing a logo! But, not related to our Target, amazingly). The city-center Tokmanni was not as amazing as the suburban ones, so I just got a few things (souvenirs for friends, like those ensuring that my plants at home are watered!). We then desperately needed a bathroom and a few things for dinner! Again, a department store was the logical place: Stockmann. Now, Stockmann is such a favorite of mine. Their food hall is drool-worthy. We got just a few things to make dinner with and the kids were totally about to either fall asleep or have a hunger-induced tantrum. Luckily, they kept it in check and we got home and had them fed by 7:30. Cece went to bed right after! Rowan still had some residual energy that needed an outlet, so he and I went on a walk.

Our walk took us just down our street and past, well, the Russian Embassy. Across the street from the Russian Embassy were buildings with Ukrainian flags in their windows and there was a fence with artificial sunflowers woven through it and messages of support for Ukraine. The Russian embassy was a really huge complex – with lots of gates and cameras. As you might imagine, what with their sharing of a long land border with Russia and their recent admission to NATO, Finland and the Finnish people are not fans of Russia. So, Rowan’s and my walk took us down past that expanse, and then we just made a big rectangle. Our apartment is in the “Design District,” so there were some neat shop windows to look in.

And that, my friends, was our very long Wednesday! I can tell you, I feel asleep much more easily on Wednesday night ;)

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umichenginabroad · 1 year

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A Little Solo Exploration in Italy

Tak... I took advantage of our class absence policy and decided to make a trip to Milan and Venice this week! Typically, I don't like missing class because it's just so stressful to catch up afterward, but for the few days I was in Prague, all I did was grind and rest so I could enjoy this trip to the fullest. Plus, I'd never gone to Italy before and really really wanted to make it there before the end of my program :)

It was so nice to see another one of my friends in Milan. Staying with her and hanging out kinda felt like I was studying abroad there too; in the sense that this trip was much more relaxing than my travels typically are. (We watched 9 episodes of the show Suits in the 3 days I visited Milan)

Me and her enjoying some homemade pasta and in front of the Duomo <3

The city itself was gorgeous too. I actually found out when I arrived that Design Week was happening too, which means that tons of exhibitions opened around the city showcasing different art and interior design things. Some favorites were this flowery one with pastel furniture pieces---ngl I have no idea what the flowers had to do with it--- and this one in a river/canal about sustainable boats. I actually walked to the water one just thinking it was a cool dock but it turned out to be an exhibit.

My friend taught me some Italian, thankfully, because it surprised me how many people didn't speak English. In Prague, I feel like most of the time I try using Czech, the person immediately switches to English because they can hear my accident haha. Despite that people were super nice, and I also randomly heard a lot of French and Mandarin being spoken? More on that later

In terms of things I saw, I explored SO much of the city. One of the days I went out on my own and walked from the Southwest to the Northeast corner... I actually really enjoy having little solo adventures when I'm traveling. Sometimes coordinating with other people and trying to find places everyone wants to go to gets tiring (not the case here but in general). Nevertheless, it does get lonely and I'm a big "make random comments on the things I'm walking by person" so it's always nice to have company then. My friend came with me the next day tho and I'd have to say my favorite part was going up to the Duomo terraces with her! The architecture and details are just insane. We looked it up and it took 600 years to complete the church.

Navigli (district with canals), Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, Modern part of Milan, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (shopping area), and terraces

As for Venice, a nice summary of my trip would be walking, water, churches, and more walking ahaha. I'm starting to think I have a walking obsession because for my one full day in Venice I literally walked a half marathon in distance. It was so beautiful with the blue skies though. Very picturesque and I ended up with too many pictures as evidenced by all the pics in this post.

View from the Rialto Bridge and one of the first pics I took after arriving

Food was delicious ofc, although I'd have to say I've had enough Italian food for the rest of my program. I can only handle so much pizza, pasta, and bread sorryyy, but gelato I could get again definitely (I ate gelato for three straight days)

Also went a bit spontaneous on my planning because friends said I should just wander and explore, so some of the best things were this bookstore that uses books to damn the area during high tide, taking a waterbus down the Grand Canal (would SO recommend), and going to Murano and Burano which are other islands in the Venetian lagoon.

It was so cool seeing everything, but all the walking made me miss traveling in a group because I started to get bored towards the afternoon. (I literally texted my friends I missed them lol) Sooo I am so glad to be back in Prague and not traveling the last weeks too. Besides a quick trip to Krakow, I'm done flying and training places. On one hand it's a little sad because that means the end is coming, but on the other, I get to rest and enjoy home :)

Na brzkou viděnou,

Catherine Jiang Computer Science Tech Career Accelerator in Prague

Czech Words

Tak - so

Na brzkou viděnou - see you soon

#UmichEnginAbroad #IPEcsPrague #CatherineJiang #IPEWinter23 #Prague #Milan #Venice

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screechthemighty · 7 years

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hi! just wondering if you'll be doing content warnings for iron fist? your posts were super helpful for the previous mcu netflix shows :) thank you!

I will, actually! The problem is that I marathoned the show in two days, and on the first day I had like...four hours of sleep (not even kidding) and squeezed in nine episodes that day. I compiled SOME warnings, but I feel like there’s some stuff I missed, or some stuff that I noted but should’ve provided more episode-specific notes for. So I want to wait until I’ve done a less binge-watch-y rewatch to do the longer posts.

THAT SAID, here’s the content warnings I typed up as I was watching. They cover the basics of especially violent content, sexual content, abusive behavior, and some stuff related to drug use and parental death. Iron Fist is actually super-tame in comparison to the other Netflix shows (except episode seven, episode seven gets Wild), so there’s not TOO much to worry about? But yeah, more in-depth content warning posts are coming, but here’s the basics under the cut. (Also, Daredevil season 2 content warnings are coming when I do my re-watch, which will be soon. I just realized the other day I never did them and...me @ myself you big dumb how could you forget that).

Just as a blanket warning, pretty much everything Harold Meachem does is abusive in some way. He’s especially cruel to his son, Ward (whom he not only emotionally abuses, but also hits a few times). Also Danny is an orphan, and the loss of both his parents (including some non-graphic but traumatic flashbacks) comes up repeatedly. He has a panic attack related to their deaths in one episode, I can’t remember the episode number (I’m like, 99% sure it’s episode eight? But my memories of specific episodes are fuzzy) but it’s the one where they go to China. So when they’re on their way there, keep in mind, that’s a thing that happens.

1x01: A guy is found dead of a drug overdose with the needle still in his arm.

1x02: Some minor gaslight-y stuff involving Danny being in a psychiatric hospital--the setting might make the whole “people think Danny is crazy” thing more upsetting for some.

1x03: One guy licks Colleen’s face while they’re in a fight and it’s creepy.

1x04: A guy gets a machete to the head.

1x05: There’s a lot of drug use stuff in this episode, including a shot of a guy’s nasty-looking track marks. More violence in this episode, including shots of a bloody chest wound, and a dude getting stabbed through the back of his head out his mouth.

1x06: More shots of the chest wound from last episode, as well as a close up of a dead pig being butchered. One villain gets bad-touch-y with Danny. A guy crushes his hand in a car door; we get to see the aftermath.

1x07: We get to see a guy cut off his finger, also a throat get cut (though the former is more gross than the latter). There’s also a sexytimes scene–it will be fairly obvious when it starts, and when you hear footsteps it’s stopped. One guy starts mashing up some bodies with a hammer and we see the results–it’s PRETTY FUCKING GRUESOME. It’s right after the sex scene; when you hear the hammer strike, be prepared for some Nasty Shit. There’s also a stabbing scene, though it’s not as gruesome as the hammer scene. Ward is especially strung-out this episode, so there’s that on the drug use front.

1x08: One guy gets his face punched repeatedly. It’s not pretty, but not as gorey as some of the other stuff that’s happened.

1x09: There’s a fairly upsetting murder scene that while not super gruesome is emotionally Not Awesome. I’m also 99% sure this is the episode where a guy pukes up chunks from a bog, so keep an eye out for that.

1x10: We get a Standard Shot To The Head, and someone gets stabbed–not too graphically, but it’s still bloody.

1x11: Danny’s brand is seen right after he first gets it and it’s pretty painful-looking. Claire also has to improvise some surgery and while it’s not gory, there is a stapler involved.

1x12: There’s a gut shot and another traumatic torso injury that I’m spacing out on because I just watch 13 episodes of a show in two days. Nothing TOO bad, in comparison to some other stuff I’ve seen, but just a fair warning

1x13: A guy gets impaled on-screen and has to pull himself off.

#asks #also I'm glad my content warnings have been helpful for people!#sorry these aren't up to par #marathoning is An Adventure and I was super tired the first day so #and for real Daredevil content warnings are coming I promise #archery

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mostlymovieswithmax · 3 years

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Movies I watched in July

Once again I’m doing my monthly round-up of movies I’ve watched. This was a good month for the cinema getting back on track and seeing new releases including the new M. Night movie, Old and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Pretty sure Marvel put out a new movie also. I’m hoping that this list can help in guiding a decision about what to watch (or what to avoid) and introduce people to movies they may otherwise not have heard of or bothered to see. These short reviews are my own subjective opinions on each individual movie and maybe a more informal approach to movie criticism can help include others who are just passing through. Here is every film I watched from the 1st to the 31st of July.

Bridesmaids (2011) - 4/10

Off to a good start. I won’t say Bridesmaids is a terrible movie but I don’t think I’m exactly the target audience. As far as I know, this is a beloved comedy but I just can’t get on board with all the boring, juvenile humour; with Maya Rudolph shitting in the street, with Rose Byrne and Kristen Wiig trying to one-up each other at a toast that went on forever, with Melissa McCarthy shitting in a sink… the conflict is so done to death and makes the movie feel unspecial. I do understand the appeal of the film, especially for women in that before this movie the likelihood of seeing something like this, where women play up the more crass and gross side of comedy, was probably few and far between. But the story is very tired and while I did appreciate some moments, namely a couple of decent jokes and some of the more intimate scenes, for the most part it felt like they wanted to corner a more quiet type of line delivery in a way that was supposed to be understated but very funny so as to not rely on over the top body language or musical cues, and it ended up being super dull.

Spectre (2015) - 7/10

As far as I can tell, a lot of people don’t like this instalment of the James Bond franchise… but I really enjoyed it! I’ve really taken a shine to these Daniel Craig-era Bond movies and while I can’t say any of them are the most amazing thing, I have a lot of fun with them. The biggest problem I have with Spectre is the villain being utterly pointless and uninteresting in basically every way. The idea of every villain Bond has fought before being tied to this one organisation controlled by this one guy is ridiculous, and what makes it worse is that the villain is barely in it! There’s so much that doesn’t come together in this but as it goes, I still had a really good time. Daniel Craig holds the whole thing together; he is excellent as 007 and the main reason I’m up for each of these movies is because of him. Sam Mendes directs again after the previous instalment and for what it’s worth I do think he does a good job with some of the action set pieces and the locations. I’m so ready for No Time To Die.

Shazam (2019) - 7/10

Shazam is a genuinely fun superhero movie that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. I was having a great time throughout and while it could conform to some of the same tropes we’re used to with these kinds of movies, it still remained playful and used the character of Shazam to his fullest potential in a way that showed an understanding of just how silly the idea of a kid who can turn into an adult and shoot lightning out of his hands is.

High School Musical (2006) - 6/10

So as you may or may not know, I co-host a podcast: The Sunday Movie Marathon. It’s a film podcast and every week I get together with my other co-hosts and watch movies. For episode 38, we watched the High School Musical trilogy. This first movie blew me away. I was really surprised with just how much fun I had, and if you want to hear more of my thoughts on the film, please listen to episode 38 of the podcast.

High School Musical 2 (2007) - 4/10

We then jumped into the second and while it’s certainly not as good as its predecessor, there are still some brilliant songs that manage to top the last movie. Again, more of what I have to say can be heard on episode 38 of the podcast.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) - 3/10

Senior Year was pretty hard to get through. I don’t remember it being as bad as it was, but then I didn’t really remember it anyway. It did however have one redeeming quality, which you can discover on episode 38 of the podcast.

The Piano Teacher (2001) - 9/10

What the fuuuckkkk. The Piano Teacher is horrendously affecting and I was so upset when it ended, maybe not because it’s not what I wanted but because it’s just so fucking dour and unrelenting. This is the second Haneke movie I’ve seen (after the original Funny Games) and I’m so impressed with how well executed it is. Following a woman who teaches piano, we get a glimpse into the life she lives, how sheltered she is from living with her mother at an age where you’d reasonably expect a person to be living alone or with a partner or friends (even going so far as to be sleeping in the same bed as her), and how repressed she is sexually. It’s clear she’s never experienced any kind of sexual interaction or romantic love with another person, so she goes out of her way to take control and make that happen. The upsetting nature of it comes from just what she does in pursuit of it or as a result of her repression, and what is done to her. It is by no means a movie to recommend to your parents but The Piano Teacher offers so much in terms of the ideas it presents (and I’ll admit there seems to be a lot more going on than I think I picked up on a first go round) about women in modern society, and about the portrayal of sex and expectations of people when it comes to how that is represented in a person’s character depending on their gender. I really enjoyed this movie but it is not for the faint of heart.

Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011) - 1/10

My podcast co-hosts decided it’d be a right laugh to add Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure to this episode and that might have been a fun idea for them because they got to watch it together, but I was just watching it alone. Just a 24-year-old man watching Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure alone and having a miserable time, I might add. But for a short and sweet ramble on what we all thought, please listen to episode 38 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

Dr. No (1962) - 6/10

A lot of very iffy parts of this movie. A lot of discomfort arising from how black people are portrayed that really didn’t sit right with me. As far as a Bond movie goes, this first instalment in the series is one I’ve seen before and it’s not wholly engaging but it plants the seeds for the rest, with Sean Connery breathing life into the role and making an otherwise lacklustre plot bearable.

Black Widow (2021) - 6/10

I think probably the best part about Black Widow is the experience I had while watching it. It was great being back in the cinema with a couple of friends in a packed theatre. The energy was high and I’m sure for a lot of people, this is the first time they’d been to the cinema since Endgame. For what it’s worth, I did have a lot of fun with Black Widow and I’ve explained more of what I thought about the movie in episode 39 of the podcast.

The Climb (2020) - 10/10

The Climb was added to Now TV recently and I already knew I loved it, having seen it in an empty cinema theatre last year, which I had an absolute blast with. The Climb details the years of a rocky friendship told over scenes filmed as one-shots. Not only is the presentation something to gawk at, but the performances by the two leads playing these friends with a terrifically dysfunctional dynamic is truly captivating. They’re both trying to figure out their own lives and where one can come across as being rather selfish, the opposite is true in his counterpart, whom everyone loves. This is a truly funny and heartwarming movie with a lot to say about how we choose to live our lives and who we choose to be with. It’s a shame the distributors of The Climb didn’t do a very good job because if not for it being available on Now TV, it would be near impossible to watch without forking out more money than is necessary to purchase a film.

From Russia With Love (1963) - 5/10

The second Bond movie. I thought perhaps I’d change my mind on it with another watch, having seen it for the first time maybe a year ago. But no, it’s still largely boring and it treats women like absolute garbage. From Russia With Love is one of those movies I forget as I watch it, and I was trying very hard (in the middle of the day!) not to fall asleep.

The Good, The Bart, and The Loki (2021) - 1/10

I don't usually talk about the short films I watch but for this I'll make an exception. As we all should know, Disney owns The Simpsons now, through their acquisition of Fox, so, coupled with another of their properties, that being Marvel, they decided to make a six-minute animated film wherein Marvel’s Loki is stranded in Springfield. This felt as though it was a minute long due to the horrendously jarring pacing; it is a movie that feels adamant that it needs to exist, while trying as hard as it can to be over as soon as possible. It serves only to stare the audience directly in the face and say “look, characters from The Simpsons are dressed as Avengers”, shit out three credit scenes, then end before you’ve even processed the atrocity you just bore witness to.

Russian Ark (2002) - 8/10

For this next episode of the podcast, we watched a few Russian movies, starting with Russian Ark, a film shot completely in one take as the camera moves about a luxurious museum in a first-person perspective as this main character watches what is happening around him, seeing people moving about the place but unable to interact with them, guided only by another man who seems to be just slightly out of his own perception of reality. This is a tremendous feat in filmmaking and more can be heard about what I have to say in episode 39 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

Ivan’s Childhood (1962) - 7/10

For my own pick of Russian movies to discuss on the podcast, I chose the debut feature from one of my favourite directors, Andrei Tarkovsky. It’s amazing that while this is not his best film by far, Ivan’s Childhood is still such a stellar debut, jumping around in its timeline as it details a child’s experience in the second world war. Again, I do go into more depth in episode 39 of the podcast, so be sure to check that out.

Outlaw (2019) - 1/10

The third movie chosen for this marathon is apparently the fourth Russian LGBTQ+ movie ever made. I’m unsure of the ultimate goal of this movie but what seems to be clear is that it hates the LGBTQ+ community. This is perhaps the worst film we’ve discussed on the podcast to date, so listen to episode 39 to understand exactly why it’s such trash.

Almost Famous (2000) - 7/10

I too love heavy music and also studied journalism so it stands to reason that a movie about a teenager who makes his way onto a band tour, following them through America and interviewing them as they hang out and play shows is going to be a premise that resonates with me. This certainly did. I enjoyed Almost Famous a lot; this kid is living the dream and I was so along for the ride, seeing a lot of myself in what was being portrayed. That said, the story itself is at times a bit by the numbers and I really would’ve been more on board if the visual component was more interesting. For what it is, technically it’s fine enough but nothing in that department ever jumped out at me.

Minari (2021) - 8/10

It’s crazy that this didn’t get a theatrical run where I live in the UK. It feels as though I complain about film distribution all the time but I really don’t understand the process by which a movie gets no cinematic release and yet, months later will pop up on the front shelf of hmv, taking pride of place. But of course I got the blu-ray straight away. Minari has a lot to say about the immigrant experience, specifically in America as a family comes over from Korea and tries to start a business and make something of themselves. You get to see a lot of what you might not think twice about when you think about immigration: the hardship of coming from a place where you know everyone to somewhere rural and sparsely populated, having to make friends with locals and integrate within the community; the strain it can put on a family and on a marriage where this idea is presented about the importance of making it on your own in order to live and not just survive, while also taking into account why you’re doing it in the first place and the value you place on being part of a family that you decided to make because that was more important than money, than economy, than proving you were good enough to make it in a place that gave you very little advantage from the offset. This concept of the promised land, of the American dream is a construct. There are times when it’s not pretty, when you have no running water, or you’re in debt, or a family member is dying and it just feels like you’ve been dealt as bad a hand as you can get. But it is better to know you’re not facing all that alone.

Roma (2018) - 10/10

This was my recommendation for the podcast episode on Alfonso Cuarón movies. Roma is as beautiful as it is heart-wrenching and I would recommend listening to episode 40 of the podcast to find out more about my thoughts.

An American Werewolf In London (1981) - 8/10

In all fairness, London is enough to make anyone a little crazy at the best of times. An American Werewolf in London showcases some fantastically grotesque effects, akin to something like Carpenter’s The Thing, in showing the dead brought back to life and a horrifically gory transformation scene. Although the film is from the perspective of an American protagonist, directed also by an American, the depiction of British culture and climate is something I’ve not seen many films pull off quite so well, and I was pleasantly surprised at the more comedic tone the film has overall, which is something that works more in its favour than straight horror would.

The Party’s Just Beginning (2018) - 6/10

Karen Gillan’s directorial debut is… pretty good! There are a lot of ideas I like in this movie: a woman living life and through convenient circumstances, is confronted with death in many ways. Gillan obviously knows her homeland as well as she can, imbuing the whole thing with an intensely Scottish vibe (though maybe not in the same vein as something like Trainspotting) that makes it a bit more unique than a more run of the mill movie of this ilk, backed up in no small part by her own main performance. The plot itself is no great diversion from the kind of story I’m used to with these smaller movies and for something that’s trying to include messaging about transgender issues and suicide, it probably could have been handled better or done in a different way.

Solaris (1972) - 9/10

Another Tarkovsky joint, one I thought I’d revisit to see if there was indeed more to get out of it a second time. Well, it’s no surprise that yes, there was certainly more to get out of it. Solaris is a crazy trip of a movie and I would liken it to Kubrick’s 2001 in terms of how grand the scale of it feels. Yet this is a film that comes across as deeply personal, choosing to focus on a specific character as he goes to a space station to help those on board who are experiencing some kind of emotional crises, only to feel the effects of the planet, Solaris invading his own mind as it has the crew. To many, I can see this lengthy Russian sci-fi being a tad slow but my personal experience is one of deep engagement. Solaris pulls its viewer in a lot of different directions and it is always doing something unexpected in terms of where its narrative goes. There’s a lot to think about with the movie and thankfully it’s no chore to watch again.

Y Tu Mamá También (2001) - 9/10

Another recommendation for the podcast episode on Alfonso Cuarón movies. This is a very relaxed experience, following three young people as they go on a road trip, visit different places and have sex. Listen to episode 40 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast for more of my thoughts.

Children of Men (2006) - 10/10

My favourite Cuarón movie, one that never stops being tense as its characters are constantly moving towards the end goal. Set in a future where humans are infertile, the oldest living person is 18, and London is the last city in the world that’s still keeping it together, somewhat. This is masterclass filmmaking. Listen to episode 40 of the podcast for more insights.

Minority Report (2002) - 5/10

I’m really not the biggest fan of Spielberg… Minority Report is an interesting movie in terms of its concept of stopping crimes before they happen by way of prediction, but I just didn’t connect with the heart of it. The colouring is way too overexposed in a way that’s supposed to be eliciting a futuristic vibe but instead feels so early-2000’s in the worst way. My biggest problem with Minority Report is just how long it is, clocking in at two hours and twenty-five minutes which allows for a lot of meandering, all while never quite developing characters enough for you to care about.

Caché (2005) - 9/10

Oh god! Another Michael Haneke movie! Here we see a couple periodically sent video tapes featuring hours of footage of the outside of their house. The anxiety ratchets up and the mystery gets deeper with every minute. There’s always at least one moment in any of his films that have so far made me realise just how out of my depth I am. Caché is no exception, and I won’t spoil anything here because I think it’s better just to watch the movie and see for yourself. He is a director that wants the audience to know something and that something is never what is explicitly shown at face value; it is pressed into the fabric of the film - plainly evident, yet hidden. Caché is so stupidly clever in displaying its themes and messaging - making reference to the Siene Massacre of 1961 as well as a deeper study of colonialism - and there’s no way to change a single detail of it without risking the Jenga tower crumbling to the ground. It all works in tandem. It is passion and fury and haunting.

Coco (2017) - 7/10

Pixar had a string of around seven forgettable movies before this point so thankfully Coco emerged to show the company still had something good in them. Coco deals a lot with themes of death and legacy, remembering those who are gone in order to preserve them and while its plotting is quite basic and there are certainly moments that either drag or cannot escape the same Pixar formula, most of what the movie has to offer is a lot of fun, with creative, colourful animation and emotional beats that resonate the way they’re supposed to.

Incredibles 2 (2018) - 5/10

Oh, they almost had it! There's a lot here that could have been explored in far more interesting ways. Setting Incredibles 2 directly after the events of the first movie was not a good idea. If it had taken place five or ten years after, the characters could have been in different places in life and it would feel as though they'd actually changed and developed. But instead of trying to be a film that actually cares about its characters and the journeys they go on, a lot of the film is wrestling with the idea that Bob isn't supportive of his wife and Jack-Jack has to fight a raccoon… They have to shoehorn in a villain that in no way compares to the genius of the original. The ending of the original introduces another antagonist that gets wrapped up within this film's first ten minutes, except they don't catch him and he's never mentioned again. It's a real shame because the animation is fantastic and the acting is superb and there are great ideas sprinkled throughout. It just doesn't come together.

Toy Story 4 (2019) - 6/10

I was rather reluctant to watch Toy Story 4 because from the get-go I’m not really here for sequels being made just for the sake of it. Everyone loves Toy Story and making another one is a sure fire way to make money. This is the first time I’ve seen Toy Story 4 and for what it’s worth, I did enjoy it. The animation is immaculate and that alone feels like a huge flex from Pixar who tend to step up the game when it comes to animation in film, despite not having the best track record for films generally at this point. While it was nice to see these characters again, I found a lot of them to be side-lined (namely Buzz) in favour of a story that focuses mainly or entirely on Woody, who I just don’t like as much as in the previous movies. Generally the movie is good and decent enough but there’s no real antagonist and the plot is quite loose… it doesn’t feel as though it needed to be made from a story point of view.

Onward (2020) - 6/10

And with that I have seen every Pixar movie. And Onward is a fine one to go out on. While I don’t think it compares to the likes of earlier Pixar it’s still pretty fun. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a medieval setting filled with bright colours and magic! Speaking of which, the animation was super and the medieval quest element is something that hooked me with the film. Again, plot-wise it does feel very familiar and I don’t know, maybe I’m past the point now of expecting Pixar to mix it up where their formula for story-telling is concerned but the movie is quite predictable. Nonetheless, while I’m not rushing back to see Onward I would hardly turn it off or refuse if someone wanted to watch it.

Old (2021) - 3/10

Oh boy! New M. Night movie dropped and my word, was it fun! For more of my thoughts on this… masterpiece (?) of a movie, please direct your attention to episode 41 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

T2 Trainspotting (2017) - 5/10

Trainspotting is perhaps one of my favourite movies and I had never bothered with the sequel, 20 years on, because the ending of that first movie is so conclusive. T2 felt more an excuse for these guys to get together again and in that, I probably would have preferred a couple of pictures on Twitter of the main cast and director, Danny Boyle having dinner or something. This is a fine movie - very arty in its presentation but meandering and dull in its story that doesn’t offer much in the way of proof that it had to exist.

Taste of Cherry (1997) - 9/10

What makes life worth living? This is a central question and theme of Taste of Cherry, and one that leaves such interpretation not only up to its central character but to the viewer as well. This film got me thinking about times in my life when I truly have had no answer to hard questions. Because it’s hard to convince people of things they are so adamantly against and harder still to rationalise what you believe if you’re not even entirely sure why you believe it in the first place. We are all of us alive and in recognising that, does that make it precious? And if indeed living is not a happy thing, why then should we fight so hard to preserve it? I felt upset as I watched this movie because I’ve been asked these kinds of questions before and it makes me feel stupid when I’m unable to answer. But the only real answer I can give is, everything. And if you can’t see the point then you’re not looking hard enough. Taste of Cherry is beautiful in its exploration of these topics and in its overall presentation, offering some of the best visuals in any movie I’ve seen - fitting for a feature with so much to say about the beauty of life - and an ending that as much pulls the rug out from under you as it does pull you out of the dark and make you realise just how lonely you’ve felt.

Bones (2001) - 2/10

Snoop Dogg is Jimmy Bones! This film is super funny but I’m not sure it’s trying to be and I really didn’t love it overall. But I do talk more in depth about it in episode 41 of the podcast.

The Duchess (2008) - 5/10

Another recommendation for the podcast. The Duchess was pretty much exactly what I thought it was going to be and there’s a lot to like about it but generally it’s a bit sparse. For more chat on the movie, listen to episode 41 of the podcast.

The Man With One Red Shoe (1985) - 1/10

This was another one for the podcast and man, was it awful. We had to watch it at 1.5x speed towards the end because it just wasn’t getting finished otherwise. To find out more, make sure to listen to episode 41 of the podcast.

The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) - 7/10

Pull the lever, Kronk! Haha! Slays me. I do quite miss this era of Disney, where the animation was hand-drawn and the stories were actually compelling and funny. The Emperor’s New Groove is vibrant, it’s got great characters and memorable moments that will forever be ingrained in the memory of culture. All in all, it’s just a solid flick that doesn’t waste time, developing the standard fall from glory type of arc but smoothly and in an entertaining way.

The Suicide Squad (2021) - 8/10

Oh, bloody hell! They actually made a good one! The Suicide Squad is not only better than the ‘Suicide Squad’ of 2016 in every way, it’s a genuinely great film! This time, James Gunn (director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies) is at the helm and it seems clear that Warner Bros. basically let him do what he wanted with the movie, as it doesn’t seem to bog itself down with the restrictions of a more family-friendly rating. The result of this is a far cleaner, colourful film with a clearer vision that takes from early Vietnam movies and uses that style to craft a superhero/villain movie that differentiates itself among the copious amount of existing films of the genre. The Suicide Squad wastes very little time, introducing fun, crazy characters we’ve not seen on the big screen before and isn’t worried about killing a whole bunch of them, with standouts being Elba’s Bloodsport, Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2, Stallone’s King Shark (expertly rendered with fantastic visual effects), and Robbie’s returning interpretation of Harley Quinn. A lot of Gunn’s trademark sense of humour is laced throughout and more often than not, it hits. The audience at the cinema were truly loving this movie and I’ll admit, I was right there with them. This mix of the gritty, gory and absurd is not something that should work as well as it does but the basic premise of the film is already so silly (and boy, do they know it) that it just works! Certainly one of the best DC movies since The Dark Knight and one I’d be more than happy to watch again. This is what the modern comic book movie should be: just balls to the wall fun!

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strawberryfics · 4 years

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Dating Headcanons

Izuku x Reader, Todoroki x Reader, Denki x Reader

Warnings- uhh some implied things

Izu

It would start as puppy love. He would be infactuated with you.

He would write everything about you in his notebook. He has a multiple one notebook dedicated to you. He would so draw you and your hero outfit all the time

He would either do the traditional confession with the cherry blossom tree or accidentally blurt it out, either way, he would stutter and ramble like crazy

He calls you Puppy but If someone calls him out for it he's going to become a blushing mess.

If you call him Izu he gets so soft and weak in the knees.

Dates with him are always going to be an adventure. One week it may be a simple study date and next thing you know you're going to a Hero Convention cosplaying each other

If Inko likes you, Deku will fall in love with you a second time guaranteed

The Dekusquad would like you other than Uraraka. In her mind, you did steal Deku tho. You might have to drag her but whatever

You're going to have to reassure Deku all the time. He's going to have random moments where he doesn't think he's good enough for you or his quirk but if you cuddle him he’ll be good again.

In the beginning of your relationship, his kisses are going to be very simple and short but as you progress there going to get longer and passionate. He will moan into your mouth if you pull his hair.

Overall dating him is going to be so wholesome and fun

Todo

When Todoroki first starts getting feelings he's going to be confused. Probably thought he was dying tbh. Iida or Deku would have to explain the bases of having a crush. “But I don't wanna crush Y/n”. Once he understands he's going to be buying you expensive things and basically force you to accept them.

He's going to confess only a couple days after he understands what a crush is. He’ll pull you aside before class starts and confess right then and there.

Once you're in a relationship with him you're going to have to explain a lot of things to him. He's never had someone model a healthy relationship so he's going to have a lot of questions

He will introduce you to his siblings and Mom but his Dads out of the question. If his Mom likes you he's going to be starstruck. Fuyumi would love hanging out with you and Natsuo would love pulling pranks with you

Help him dye his hair completely white Make sure to reassure him about his scar and quirk. If he knows you love the things he hates about himself you're getting a ring hands down he doesn't need to think about it. You're automatically the one, he's going to protect you and love you forever.

He would have nightmares pretty often so he will call or text you in the middle of the night. If he ever has a nightmare while you're sleeping over he’ll simply hold you tighter and go back to sleep.

His kisses are very sweet and short but can get heated fast. Please be careful this man will have you dripping Love you

Overall he's going to be sweet and innocent Dense but he’ll love you with all his heart so 10/10 right here

Denki

First off why just why. Your in for so much

He's going to start the friendship off with his normal flirts and jokes and slowly realize that he likes you.

He's going to become a full-time simp. He's going to tell you every story about things he's done to try and impress you. He pulling even more pranks on Bakugou hoping that you'll find them funny. He's even upgrading his flirts and jokes just for you.

He’ll probably confess at 3am not even comprehending what he's doing. You two were having a movie marathon when he randomly just started ranting about how he likes you while fighting sleep and then passed out because he's tired

He would wake up late afternoon and realize what he said and freak out but when you woke up you would assure him the feelings were mutual

Pda is through the roof, he's always touching you.

You guys would go to arcades and movie theaters for dates. He would be obsessed with getting you a stuffed animal at every claw machine he sees.

It's no secret Denki isn't doing super well in school so if you try to tutor him his grades might go up just a little but almost every study session is going to end with cuddles. I don't make the rules.

If you're ever mad or sad or any emotion other than happy. He's going to show up to your dorm with all your favorites in his hands and cuddle you till your smiling again.

His kisses are so cute. You're going to get little sparks of electricity in every kiss whether it's small or long. He's very sloppy when it comes to his kisses too so his face is going to be all over yours. 10/10 would recommend it tho

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the-blind-assassin-12 · 3 years

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no one asked but here we are:

i am procrastinating my ass off today and i saw this on @something-tofightfor ‘s page and thought “OH LOOK A NEW WAY TO PROCRASTINATE MY ASS OFF!” So here’s some useless information about me:

1. Do you put ketchup on hotdogs?

Yes. Alllll the toppings. Onions, relish, mustard, mayo and ketchup.

2. Choice of soda?

I don’t really like soda because I don’t love sweet beverages. Ginger Ale, I guess, if I had to pick.

3. Do you put salt on watermelon?

So I never knew this was a thing until I worked at a fancy schmancy place where there was a fancy schmancy watermelon cocktail that was finished with a wedge of watermelon that had been sprinkled with kosher salt. And it was fine but seemed unnecessary. So that was my long winded way of saying: not on purpose.

4. Can you swim?

I can. I had a small above ground pool in my backyard growing up and I was in it ALL the time. I also took lessons and grew up only a few miles from the ocean, so learning to swim with currents was part of my childhood.

5. Hot dogs or burgers?

Toss up. Gimme one of each at a cookout.

6. Favorite type of food?

Tacos. All kinds. Any kinds.

7. Do you believe in ghosts?

I do. But I’m not afraid of them.

8. What do you drink in the morning?

Coffee, black with a little drizzle of honey.

9. Can you do 100 push-ups?

The most I ever did at once was 40 (not the kind some asshats call “girl pushups”- we don’t have time for why I hate that- with your knees on the floor, but with my legs all the way extended) but I could certainly get to 100 if I had a few weeks to build up to it. I couldn’t do more than 12 a few years ago.

10. Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring?

Fall and Spring over Summer and Winter. But Winter is last.

11. Your favorite animal?

Giraffes. I got to feed one once and it was one of the best days of my life.

12. Tattoos?

I have one - the number 26.2 on my right foot. I got it after I ran my first and only full marathon (marathons are 26.2 miles). I have plans for more but there are other things I need/ want to save my money for before I can spend on ink.

13. Do you wear glasses?

I sure do. I have thick coke bottle glasses and without them the world is just a bunch of formless blobs of color and light and shadow.

14. Do you have a fear?

I have a very irrational fear of something happening to someone I care about while they’re driving. If it takes someone longer than expected to get somewhere I start to panic until I hear from them. It’s a problem.

I used to be afraid of clowns and I still certainly do not like them, but now I know how to choke people so... they can come at me I guess.

15. Do you have a nickname?

Most people call me Lyss. A few family members call me Lissie. My sister calls me Sissie because she had trouble with L’s as a small child and couldn’t say Lissie, not because it’s a cute form of sister. One of my very good friends from college calls me Fro-ho Baggins because of my giant ass hair.

16. Can you change a tire?

I’ve done it once and I dented the wheel well. After that time I always ask for help. I *could* do it...but I don’t wanna fuck up my car.

17. Favorite flower?

Daisies.

18. Can you drive a stick?

No, but I want to learn. I always wanted to know that in an emergency I could drive any vehicle I needed to. But that’s not true currently. I know that soon they will probably do away with manual transition altogether but I still wouldn’t pass up the chance to learn.

19. Ever gone sky diving?

No but I really want to! Fun fact- the head instructor at my gym has done like over 100 solo jumps.

20. Kids?

Nope.

21. Favorite color?

Green. All kinds of greens.

22. Can you whistle?

Yeah, like, really well.

23. Where were you born?

New Jersey

24. Surgeries?

I had major surgery on my right foot in 2018. I had an accessory navicular bone, which is the roundish kind of bump bone on the inside of your foot, right under your ankle. I had a second one growing on top of the existing one, and it was pulling the tendons in my calf and foot in the wrong direction. It caused my arch to completely collapse and it got to the point where it was excruciatingly painful to even walk. So they removed the extra bone, cut my heel away from my foot, moved everything back into place, took out about a foot of diseased tendon, and then screwed everything in place with one LONG screw through my heel and into my foot, and one small threaded anchor holding the good tendons to the spot where they’re supposed to go. I was in a cast for...I think it was 8 weeks total, and then a walking boot for about a month after that, and then another two months of PT.

25. Shower or bath?

Shower. Baths bother me. I know they’re supposed to feel relaxing but I can’t help feeling grossed. Maybe if I had like a super nice jacuzzi tub with like jets and enough space to really lounge and stretch it would feel better, but i’d prefer a shower anytime.

26. Last song you heard?

Papillion by The Airborne Toxic Event is playing right now. Does that count?

27. How many TV’s in your home?

One.

28. Worst pain?

When the nerve block wore off the second day after the aforementioned surgery. I was so out of it for the first like 20 hours that I was home that I really couldn’t feel a thing, but then all at once it was there and it was awful. I have a VERY high pain tolerance and I was just in tears.

29. Do you like to sing?

I do! I’m not very good but I do not give a single shit.

30. Are your parents still alive?

My father is. My mom passed away 9 years ago.

31. Do you like to go Camping?

I LOVE CAMPING. I want to camp every state. And I want to do a Canadian camping adventure sooooo badly.

32. What do you binge watch?

So, binge watching is the only way I watch anything anymore. So...everything I watch I watch all in one go. Most recent binge of something new (to me) and not something I’ve seen a million times was Hanna on Amazon Prime and I frickin loved it and I love Erik and I’m not okay.

33. Pumpkin or pecan?

Neither. Sweet Potato, not pumpkin (a new development) and Pistachio not Pecan. Replace the pecans with pistachios and voila.

34. A photo of yourself.

Ew. Okay, fine, but I look like absolute garbage right now so you’re getting one from like... two months ago:

Idk why I feel the need to stick my tongue out in so many pictures. Gosh I can’t take me anywhere.

#ugh now i've run out of things to procrastinate with #i guess that means i have to write #*throws small tantrum*#fiiiiiiiiiiine.#i love how I’m like “I look like trash here have this photo of me making a trash face

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svft2jae · 5 years

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‘icy secret‘;

➵ genre: fluffy fluff, i guess-

➵ pairing: ice prince! jaemin x knight! reader.

➵ warnings: none, just probably a bad writing sorryhbfvbgj

summary: “wherein y/n still struggles on denying the heart inside to burn through the breastplate.”

➵ songs rec.: ice queen - baekhyun ; moonlight - wavycake feat. navy, nathania.

[5:19 PM]

tiny snowflakes touch the fresh ground through your walk besides captain of guard! jeno with the more you get closer to the castle, both of you coming back together exhausted from your daily training, in the time he so called as "when afternoon waves goodbye". you kept your footsteps by his side steadily marching, just as you tried your best all the time to pay attention to what he was saying, about things that made him glad in today's exercises and fight simulations with the knights, but it was barely impossible for you to control your mind which kept on flying away, filled with thoughts of the prince — about yesterday when he sneaked in all disguised through your window at the dorms, for the fourth time this month, with his big white cloak full of gold details and his breathtaking, dazzling smile. you remember about his eyes just like the luck of hot chocolate and hazelnut in the winter, in contrast to his long, icy lashes hitting the snowy white skin, as inviting as his husky but soft like vanilla petals voice, calling you to go out with him on another adventure to the other side of the river which bordered the castle area. this time on the pretext of wanting to see the newly arrived auroras with what he claimed to be a "truly competent" one to protect him.

— at first you refused, saying that even if you were there to accompany him whenever he wanted, you were afraid of it ending up like the last time when you two almost got caught. but it didn't take long for him to convince you with his sweet requests and large hands covered by gloves holding yours, nervousness mingling with sweat between your fingers by the way he squeezed them all the time unwillingly to let go. soon you were already running outside tripping a little as he guided you extremely excited on the secret path you two always went for and just before you think both of you were already under the auroras, surrounded by the beauty of them. "how... beautiful." you let out, looking around completely amused, trying to even touch some of the dancing lights passing by, but stopped embarrassed as soon as you realize the prince's wide pearly smile, who somehow was trying to capture the colored rays in a glass but had stopped to watch you, his extremely fluffy white-blond hair just like sunbeams hovering over his forehead, innumerous fanciful ideas coming to meet him under it. “did you know you can get on a higher beauty level than theirs? i bet they must be jealous now.” he whispered playfully, cold air coming out from his rosy lips, chuckling while only a stutter sound came out of you in response, heat all up your cheeks at once. "i want to show you something. come with me.” you followed him, wondering why he went behind a rock where there was nothing but some pieces of grass with flowers and another part of the river, even more so when he just stood still and began to take off his gloves, asking you to hold the crystalline pot with auroras. “this is my secret, which will as well be ours, ok? everyone in the castle already knows but, i want you to keep it for me too.” you nodded vehemently although not having any clue of what it could be, promising loyalty to the overflowing gaze deep into yours. suddenly you saw the prince's hands get both filled with brilliant designs going up to his nails as soon as they got exposed, his skin had turned translucent as ice and snow smoke came out of it, all while your jaw simply was left dropped with the sight, eyes widened in pure wonder as you watched him shocked. the prince then made a cold breeze which took the pot from your hands and blew your hair lightly, as if stroking it and slowly smiled a little awkwardly when he noticed your stunned, practically speechless expression at what you saw, and without delaying asked what you thought of it, a small hint of fear in his tone for some possible rejection. "it's, it's... simply wonderful... just like fairytale- how, how do you-??" you stuttered, earning another soft giggle from the prince who got to feel relieved seeing the way you wanted to touch his hands, curious. “i don't know, i guess i was just born like this. but yeah i also think it's nice, like a super power. do you wanna see what it can do?” he said excitedly, a certain mischief taking over his tone, what immediately made you want to decline the offer, but as curiosity consumed your heart you accepted smiling. then just before you knew it you two already had two huge flake-decorated ice forts, snow angels on the floor, sculptures and handmade giant slides, both of you laughing loudly running after each other with countless snowballs, him of course with his own. so far you can't forget how much fun you had that afternoon, less even it’d be like that, one more time next to the prince — just while he was showing you some things he could do with his special ability, such as when he froze temporarily a part of the river to teach you how to skate, when he made ice arrows for target shooting or the high ladder across the oak to see more of the pink-tinted horizon, you also played, jumped, ran a lot, and even fell like two children in their blooming childhood, without caring a single bit about the world around. yet you also couldn't forget the way he looked at you that kept on making your heart flutter so much, the downy touch of his cold fingers when he complied your request to draw some flakes on your face, or especially when you were both already tired and he called you to sit beside one of the forts, saying he wanted to show you one more thing. “can you give me your hand?” he asked extending his own, holding your hand by its back when you gave it. you watched him carefully as he began to draw lines on your palm with his thumbs, making a small snowflake in the shape of what looked like a heart. your eyes kept watching every move of his until you couldn't help but get them widened to see him out of sudden take the small form by your hand and kiss it, but before you said anything you noticed it made the little thing shine and levitate over your palm, just like a star. “woah- i, i can't believe you can do that too!” you exclaimed with a giant smile taking over your lips, the prince as well grinning all happy as he saw you trying to play with his creation. "of course! where do you think all the decoration in the palace comes from, hm?” he smiled playfully again, you immediately looking at him surprised at what he had just said — so this is was how the castle always kept covered with really thin snow and absolutely stunning, delicate details and iced arts, monuments, chandeliers, flowers, and designs you always admired and thought they looked more like actually made by some millennial fairies than built by human hands, just like it was also why jeno sometimes complained about how his best friend from the royal court spent so many mornings on one of the castle's rooftops for no reason or explanation. again you looked at him speechless, disconcerted by how incredible he was, as if it wasn't already enough to be so brave, righteous, kind, exceptional in practically every combat and sword fight, a strong and exemplary prince and leader, also owner of a fantastic ability, besides being able to make your heart run countless marathons in the simplest actions, just as in that moment. “it's for you. i hope you’ll like it, and you’ll remember me every time you look at it. just as i do remember you every day.” he let out in such soothing words like an embrace. just in time you turned your gaze back to him, again not believing what you had just heard, but before anything you’d do in response he sighed lightly and leaned in to you, touching his velvety lips on your cheek in a kiss which lingered a little until he pulled away, sighing again as soon as your eyes met, asteroids and comets crashing into the vast skies that were his pupils. —

almost immediately as you bring your fingers to the spot on your cheek he touched you feel it flush, your pulse barely to explode just by thinking of the simple but tender contact. quietly you let out a deep breath while you put your hand in the pocket of your red tunic underneath the breastplate to remove the glowing heart-shaped gift, your thumb a little shaky holding the object that didn't get out of your hands through the entire sleepless night before yesterday, passed with just the image of the graceful boy in your mind. “y/n? planet earth calling y/n?” you hear jeno's voice abruptly bring you back to reality, worry in his expression until you shove the small form back to your pocket and turn your face to him, eyes wide as you get startled, making him let out a sigh of relief. “you know, i think you should stop reading about astronomy for a while y/n, it's already the millionth time this month you go out of orbit.” he laughs amusedly, showing up his so characteristic, gorgeous eyesmile. you look at your best friend still bewildered, but soon smile at his silly joke, reaching your hand out to ruffle his golden hair based with an undercut. “you little goofy- and you now turned into my control tower to bring me back all the time." both of you laughed at the same time, jeno even more when you started tickling him, running to the side to try to get away from you. "but yeah i'm sorry, i really didn't pay much attention... my head has been indeed full lately." “it's fine, i was just blabbering. i just wanted to understand what goes on in your head, seriously. you even look like jaemin staring at nothing and giggling alone." jeno laughs again, shaking his head in disbelief, not realizing you froze beside him when he mentions the prince's name, a wave of thoughts hitting you again and nervousness coming all up. "don't worry, it's nothing... i-it's just the training stuff, of this tough knight routine..." you try to build an answer, shaky words coming out. "i know, i know i understand you perfectly. and you know you can count on me whenever you want, that i'm always here with you, right? afterwards that's what friends are for." he said, a warm smile now taking over his face along to his hand going to rub your back, making you relax and smile back, comfort filling your chest. "thank you jeno. im always here for you too." you pat him on the back, adjusting his sword which was falling a little. "tomorrow on the way back home i'll buy you that fried fish stick you like so mu-“ "and as i once said and repeat y/n my buddy you're such a wonderful being, just tell me if ever there's someone bothering you and i‘ll come quickly to throw one right, one left, ha!" he exclaimed cheerfully, simulating a fight with his silver sword giving kicks and punchs in the air at an invisible enemy as you laugh nonstop watching him, jeno doing just so. “y/n! jeno! thank god i found you two! i, i need help! arf..." right in the time you and jeno get interrupted hearing someone call out loud, almost breathless. soon you see royal advisor! renjun coming close as if he had just run a marathon, so both of you immediately go to hold him by his hands so he wouldn't get dizzy, worried about what could be happening. “what happened, renjun?! are you ok? where‘s the prince? wait, take a deep breath-" “i, i'm ok, it's all fine, it‘s just that, just... aH no, no nothing's fine! he ran away! he ran away again! just because the lord was going to bring the new clothing for tomorrow's ceremony, aHh but when i catch him-" you try to calm renjun down while he fists and simulates punches, jeno already going back to laugh nonstop just by imagining the kind of situation familiar enough going on, having in mind some of the prince's typical tricks. “no need to explain anything anymore, i already got it- ahh jaemin i swear to god-" “but, but what‘s going on?? i can't understand anything." you ask. “don‘t worry y/n it's nothing, just another episode of the prince giving daily headache to his royal adviser.” jeno tries to contain his laughter, hugging renjun by the side who was now much calmer yet still a little upset. “it‘s just that, he always does this, y/n- he always runs away when it‘s time to choose the linen and colored pieces for any upcoming special occasions, he says he doesn't like them because they're just ridiculous and that he doesn't need them, that he feels so much better in his usual weekly clothes he‘s always wearing to do practically everything and that always comes up with some smears of whatever possible on it, and simply goes like this every time right in front of the ancients council! then there always lasts for me the noble women's commentaries, about me not teaching him things right so this is why he does what he wants- aHh but this time i can‘t admit it! that's why i was looking for you two everywhere so i'd ask you to help me find him and bring him back." renjun explained sounding kinda sulky, jeno going forward to squeeze his cheek lightly and you smile nodding with your head to sign to him you did understand everything, not even much surprised since it all just fits the prince so much. “alright then, let‘s look in separate parts. y/n goes to the gardens at the west, renjun goes to the surroundings of the castle and to the adjoining areas at the east, and i go to the chambers, galleries, throne centre and all of the rooms where he usually goes. if we don't find him after all we shall go to the city entrance and meet there to enter together, ok? let's go, before our injunnie start malfunctioning." jeno explained his plan, all of you saluting like a real team as he went for renjun's neck and ruffled his hair, the shorter brown haired boy complaining in his own adorable way while you giggle to yourself watching them walk to the opposite direction, a high blow of confidence raising up your chest. you adjust your belt and tighten your knee pads, then getting ready to stick a step forward filled with attitude when suddenly two gloved hands cover your eyes, causing your shoulders to fall along to all your courage and nervousness take over. "but who-" "guess who it is." you feel your heart begin to pound crazily again at the sound of that voice, air hitching in your throat feeling how close it was to your ears. "p-prince?" almost at the same time he sighs a little and gently removes his hands from your eyes, going in front to look at you, his long, flavescent cloak moving in the process. "hey... i remember i've said you don't have to call me like that. i just want you to call me by jaemin." he did a light frown and pouted cutely as he played with your hands, what makes your stomach flutter immediately. "a-ah yes... pardon me your highne- i mean, j-jaemin" you stutter, seeing his face soon lighting up again, his charming smile shows almost like a cupid's arrow ready to hit. "you know, if you want you can also call me by jae, or nana. it'd make me really happy too- oh and please come with me, there's something i really wanna show you." he said, pulling you by your hands again, just as excited as in that day. "what- wait!" you try to process his words but as always before you could ever do anything you were already running beside him, letting the prince once more guide you, now on a new route apparently to the outer staircases of the palace. "renjun, jeno and i were looking for you! you shouldn't have run away, what are you going to say to him now? you, you have a ceremony tomorrow and he's afraid thinking of how you're going to look there." you said apprehensively, hearing him chuckle like a carefree young boy in response, giving your hand a little squeeze as you continued to go through the stairs steps. "don't worry about that it's all ok, i'm fine the way i do everything, renjun just worries too much but im sure he'll understand it soon. i've told him several times how important it is to not to pay attention to people's comments all the time and just be yourself. he knows if it weren't for that he'd probably still have his biological restoration ability inactive till now." he talked through both of your paces slowed down by the weariness of the stairs, your own mouth now agape at what he had just told. “renjun can… heal?!” you let out, jaemin nodding with another smile, melted with the innocent way you asked. "yes. actually it was because of him my lungs didn't end up literally frozen once in my childhood... we owe each other's lives in fact, so that's why for our friendship too, i can never leave his side. just like i can’t from yours..." you feel comfort in your chest again as you listen to him until the material inside it stops for a second when you realize his last sentence, and you could swear you've clearly seen reddish hues blooming in the prince's so niveous face when he looked away at the same time he said it. later on he hastened his pace a little to where the stairway led, then out of stopped, saying you were already in the exact place, which was nothing more than the inaccessible rooftop at one of the farthest points of the castle, as in the moment you set your foot there you couldn't help but feel just the same way of when you came close to the auroras at that day, completely enchanted. “oh my… god.” you exclaimed, grinning widely as your eyes light up with fascination seeing each of the beautiful works around you — paintings, small sculptures, handcrafts, various forms, many colored by auroras and several other shining ones like the one he gave you, everything made of snow and ice, organized like real stars in a sky studio. "remember when i said that thing, about the palace's decoration? i was thinking and, wanted you to know the place where i do what i like the most on earth, since you showed me the knights' training camp before..." he said hiding his hands in his pocket, you watching and trying to touch the pieces one by one, the prince's frosted lashes yet only focused on your reactions he cherished so much. "i think i'm in heaven." you take one of the little forms in the shape of a levitating cotton cloud in your hand and look at him smiling joyfully, his eyes sparkling perhaps as much as yours when he looks at you like you were so precious as a rare gem, what made you blush violently in the second you noticed it. he then smiles disconcertingly at you, some snowflakes coming out of his mouth while he coughs a little and covers it with his hand trying to hide his already reddened face again, looking to the side at something that caught his attention. "there's one more thing- you need to see." he exclaimed quickly, pulling you with him to another part ahead where you came across a wide view of the whole kingdom covered by the warm shades of the sunset magically coloring the horizon, snow falling like invisible crystals over the forests and around the city. a calm wind stirs your hair when one more sigh escapes you, the prince slowly going to sit on an iced marble support and guiding you to take place right by his side, all while you couldn't take your eyes off the scene before your eyes. "it's amazing, isn't it... i've been trying to reproduce some of these colors since i‘ve found this place." his voice echoes softly, for a minute you look at him and notice what appeared to be a hanging painting beside him with lots of orange and pinkish sketches, every one of them too delicate and well made. "but tell me, how do you feel now? i, hope you're not upset because i brought you here, instead of letting you do your job... anytime you want we can go back and meet jeno and renjun." you watch him kick his feet against the marble and lower his head a few times, as if he was somehow ashamed. "no i, i'm happy. all of this is just so incredible, like a dream. now i understand why you spend so much time here... oh and the boys- they won't mind too much, let‘s just not stay too long and go soon." you giggled jokingly making him smile too, the prince's expression filling up with joy again. "if you're happy then i am too..." suddenly he approached you making your heart pound to almost jump out of your mouth and rested his chin comfortably on your shoulder, doing what seemed like nuzzling into it as his arms come to wrap around you gently as if asking for permission. you felt the extremely soft, cold skin of his cheek brush agaisnt your warm one at the crook of your neck, silky blond strands also caress your face and the prince takes a deep breath, his hug tightening slightly. "thank you for trusting me, for always being with me. you don't know how much it means..." he says almost like a hesitant whisper and for some reason you can hear a bit of his loud heartbeats, your stomach fluttering at the same time jaemin pulled away to look at you, just as loving as you swore you never saw anything in your life. “you deserve everything, y/n…” your chest burns with the prince's cozy and so sincere words as well as his deep eyes and the touch of his cold fingers on your hot face once more but simultaneously to your flourishing feelings a hint of desperation runs through your head, causing you to no longer watch your own words. “b-but, majesty… i don't—” you go away a little but stop when you realize what you just called him, seeing his brows frowning and him sighing deeply with what he heard, looking a little disappointed. some few seconds of silence take over until you decide to say something, but jaemin breaks it up first, turning his face back to you already with a small smile at the corners of his lips. "you know what? from now on every time you call me like that i'll kiss you. sure now you'll stop.” the prince still tries to contain his smile but fails right after seeing your wide eyes and cheeks just like he thought of as two of the elegant roses from the royal garden and the rare, hard to get red auroras. “you look so cute when you blush… it's unbelievable.” jaemin just lets himself smile, captivating and gracious like a mirage, reminding you of when he first jumped into your window taking off the hood of his cloak from his forehead to let you see who he was — right in time you quickly put the back of your hand in front of your face, but a boost of courage rises to the flush coloring your ears and you remove it, resting it on your knee. “and you're just so beautiful… outside and inside… everything about you, everything you do or create is. you're just, loving… and although we're so different, my heart always feels so warm when i'm with you.” silence settles in for a while as you let out the last word, lowering your head for a moment before you look at him again. now sweat forms through your palms when you notice the prince's smile fading, replaced instead with his lips getting slightly parted and his chocolatey irises as bright as they never were locked in only you, untold feelings screaming in his chest every second thoughts of you and your words filled his head more and more. "that was, so sweet i could kiss you right now..." he says almost like a whisper, breath fastening little by little just like yours right when you heard him. “p-prince-” you let out again without noticing, your nervousness speaking louder again as your eyes widen in disbelief at what you have just done, but jaemin only smiles tenderly when he realizes your mistake, internally grateful to his soul for it. but before you could do anything, once more, the prince had already approached enough so his puffy yet gelid nose could touch yours, his large gloved hand comes to hold yours and your heart seems to burn away feeling how close he was, however you can't help but come up with any reaction except to just lower all your guards to the one that since the start has been filling your dreams. “i warned you… now suffer the consequences.” you heard him say out like in a playful tone for a moment, his other hand going to tickle the red fabric part under your breastplate, causing you to instantly laugh out of control along to him, both having fun at the same time you try to stop him, until all out of sudden he meets your foreheads and with his right hand touches your face as if caressing it, another beat skipped out of you when your eyes meet up again. “i'm in love with you y/n. since when i first met you… i don't know how to be without you anymore.” he confesses softly, catching every nerve in your body by surprise like time just seemed to stop with the sound of his husky voice and his small confession in your ears. but almost in the blink of an eye the prince leaned in and closed the space between you two, his delicate rosy lips, how you've always seen them, now pressed gently on yours, sealed in a kiss so sweet, and so genuine like your true yet hidden feelings for each other. and albeit your nervousness always came for the fact that yes, you two were indeed like fire and ice — you've been always afraid of the distance he had from you high like a castle, and the danger of what could happen if you two got too close — now you could do nothing but cast your burning heart in place, with him.

then as your eyes shut tightly and your sweating, shaking hand goes to cup jaemin's cheek, without you noticing the spot warms up with your touch and it turns red, making the prince feel like losing his breath for a second and open his lips a bit more to deepen the kiss, nibbling softly into your own — after all through it had never been iced, his heart was always there melting, and getting tinted by you, each by each day he got to jump your dorm's window.

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evilrubberducke · 5 years

Text

Sweeter than Candy

I got the idea of Izuku and Mina cuddling while watching a movie marathon, and thus this fic was born. Expect plenty of tooth aching fluff, as the name would imply. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Mina worked hard in the lead-up to midterm exams. Now, with the exams concluded, it's time to celebrate, and what better way to do that than with an all day movie marathon with her boyfriend?

Read it on AO3!

“This seems like overkill” Izuku said as he watched Mina add another handful of snacks to the already enormous pile.

In truth, it probably was too much. Izuku stuck to his diet pretty religiously, and she wouldn’t be able to eat all of these on her own. That wasn’t the point though. Today was about indulgence, and she was going to splurge

“Nah.” Mina responded. “Overkill would be having to spend every waking minute not already devoted to hero training to studying math. Can you imagine? That would just be the worst.” As she spoke, her voice became more and more deadpan.

Izuku looked concerned by her tone of voice and stepped over to give her a comforting hug. It was unnecessary, but Mina enjoyed it nonetheless. She hadn’t done any testing, but she would be willing to bet good money that Izuku gave the best hugs in the class. He had a way of completely wrapping you in his warm arms that was just amazing.

“It was worth it though, right?” Izuku said softly into her ear.

“Yeah...” It had been, but that didn’t mean Mina wasn’t allowed to be salty about it.

Exam season was always a trying time at any school, but that went double for UA. As future heroes they were expected to maintain satisfactory grades while keeping up with their regular training, and preparing for whatever ridiculous practical exam their teachers had managed to concoct.

In addition to all that, Mina had had a personal goal. She was tired of being one of the only failing students in her class. Even Mineta was pulling better grades than her for god's sake!

So, she had given up a huge chunk of her personal time to prepare. She’d missed the season finale of her favorite reality show, she hadn’t gone to an arcade in weeks, and she had even sworn off pranks in the lead up to the exams.

She’d spent hours under Yaomomo’s careful tutelage, and even more time studying with Izuku after school every day as she tried to cram increasingly arcane formulas and facts into her poor brain. It had been a slow, horrifically boring process, but she had put her all into it. She’d even tried sleeping with her textbook under her pillow, in the hope that she would somehow absorb some knowledge by osmosis, a subject she now vaguely understood thanks to her wonderfully patient tutors.

When the exam had finally rolled around, Mina had felt more nervous about it than she had ever felt for a test before. Her mind had been horrifyingly blank, like all the knowledge she’d scraped together had fled in a fit of pique.

Then, almost miraculously, she’d known the answer to the first question. And the one after that as well. As she’d gotten further in, she'd started to feel more and more confident. Sure, she wasn’t getting every question, but most of the ones she didn’t know could be narrowed down to just two possible answers. It had felt good, like she was catching up to everyone else, instead of being left behind like always.

When Aizawa finally called time she had collapsed, happy but totally drained.

She had thought that the lead up to the exam would be the worst, but the aftermath was much more intense. Instead of being able to completely relax once she was done, like she had previously, Mina was left with a vague sense of anxiety about her performance that left her repeating the questions she already knew she had gotten wrong over and over in her head, trying to puzzle them out and failing miserably.

<I wonder if this is what Izuku feels like all the time> She had thought to herself <If so, I owe him a big apology for every time I joked about how anxious he was.>

Aizawa, at least, was prompt with his grading. They had their tests graded on their desks by the end of the day.

Mina had slowly flipped her paper over, wanting to put off seeing the grade for as long as possible. Then shrieked with delight when she saw the big B- in the corner. Sure, it was far from the highest grade in the class, or even the highest grade she had gotten in her life, but it was the highest grade she had gotten since coming to UA, and that was an accomplishment in its own right.

And an achievement like that deserved a celebration!

Thus, she had assembled a small mountain of snacks ranging from chips to chocolate to sodas of several varieties. She had also put together a leaning tower of movies from all sorts of different genres. Feel good romance movies made up a significant percentage of the stack. They would be great for setting a lovely mood for her and Izuku. And a nice palate cleanser after the classic horror triple feature she had planned midway through the day.

Lastly, she had borrowed every spare pillow that she could find in the dorms and arranged them into a fortress for her and Izuku to snuggle in while they binged.

In short, Maestro Mina had concocted the perfect day for destressing, and she was going to milk it for all it was worth.

She might have overestimated the amount of snacks they would need, but she had definitely underestimated the amount of tissues Izuku would go through. He was midway through the first box before the first movie had even ended.

“Sorry” He sniffled, dabbing at his eyes once more. “It’s just ...they were so in love, and then ...it was just so sad!” He broke into a fresh round of sobs at the thought.

They had started off the night with a classic animated movie about a man who flew his house away on an adventure with an astounding number of balloons. Mina was fairly certain that such a feat was impossible unless he was distantly related to Uraraka, but she wasn’t going to criticise since it made for a pretty awesome visual.

She wrapped her arms around Izuku, pulling him into a comforting hug as she patted his head. It was sweet that he was such a softie, and that he felt comfortable enough around her that he didn't feel the need to hide it. It made her feel special.

Although, they were definitely going to need more tissues if things went according to plan. This wasn’t even close to the biggest tearjerker she had planned for their marathon.

Mina could feel Izuku nodding off beside her, head dipping slightly as he struggled against the sandman. She didn’t blame him. Lunch had been both tasty and super filling, which meant it was threatening to drag her off to dreamland as well. As pleasant as it would be to take a nap right then and there in Izuku’s arms, Mina had other plans.

Days like this didn’t come often, and that meant she had to enjoy every second of it.

Instead, she stood up and stretched. Izuku shook a bit of the drowsiness from his face and looked at her curiously. She merely smiled innocently at him as she made her way to the TV.

Izuku was a little bit too trusting sometimes. He wanted to think the best of people, and that let them take advantage of him from time to time. Mina didn’t abuse that trust, that would be immoral, but she did occasionally take advantage of it to make Izuku’s life just a little more interesting.

Her plan for today involved introducing him to a classic in B movie horror that was sure to get his blood pumping and wake him right up. It was time for the horror block to begin!

Mina silently cackled to herself as she slid the movie in.

Izuku obviously knew that something was up with her. After nearly a year together, they were both getting better at reading the other’s body language, and he had gotten adept at recognizing her ‘I’m having fun pranking someone’ smile as a survival mechanism.

It took him right up until the title ‘Night of Screams 2: The Revenge of Screamtopia’ to realize what she was planning, and by that point, it was far too late.

Quick as a whip, she snaked her legs through his, tangling them together and preventing him from getting up unless she let him.

“Minaaaaaa!” He cried as he clawed at the floor. She did notice, however, that despite being much stronger than her, he made no real attempt to get free.

“Shush you. I told you the quadratic formula was terrifying, and you made me memorize it anyway. Consider this my vengeance!” She put on her best evil villainess face as she spoke. The effect was ruined by the smile she couldn’t keep off her lips, but she felt it was important to make the effort all the same.

He moaned inarticulately in response as the opening credits began to play.

Mina hummed in response, and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend once again. “Tell you what, if you get scared, you can snuggle up to me and I’ll make it all better, ok?”

It took a moment, but she finally heard a muffled “Kay” from below her.

She smiled in triumph. It had taken a lot of effort to get here, but it really was good to be the Queen.

“You doing ok back there Izuku?” Mina asked.

No response came, though Izuku clutched more tightly to her back as a shriek rang out from the TV. Another innocent down as the monster continued it’s furious rampage. It was over the top, and for a horror buff like Mina, it was nothing she hadn’t seen a thousand times before.

Izuku, however, was having a much tougher time of it. It was kind of funny. They had faced terrifying villains like Shiguraki and his Nomu, and Izuku had barely flinched. She’d even heard from Uraraka that he’d stayed calm when Shigaraki had him by the neck during the incident at the Kiyashi mall incident, trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt in the crossfire. And now, here he was cowering from some cheap blood and jump scares.

As he flinched again, Mina relented. She had planned a trio of films for the day, and while she was enjoying having Izuku clinging to her, it was obvious Izuku wasn’t having nearly as good of a time as she was.

A comedy then. One that would get him flashing that smile she loved so much once again.

Just ...in a minute or two. She really loved the part coming up, and after all, it wasn’t like Izuku would keel over from just a little more gore, would he…?

“Mina, I’m not sure how good an idea this is” Izuku said hesitantly. “There’s a real choking hazard.”

“Pfffft! My big brother and I used to do this with jawbreakers all the time, and we’re both fine! Now, hit me with your best shot!” Mina called, tilting her head back once more.

She was sitting at the foot of her bed, while Izuku was at the top, holding a bag of candy in one hand and wearing a worried expression.

Finally, at her continued insistence that she would be fine, he tossed one of the candies lightly toward her. It wasn’t a great throw, and Mina had to lunge to the side, but she managed to catch the candy in her mouth. She swallowed it quickly, then grinned at Izuku in triumph.

He smiled back at her, the look of nervousness fading somewhat in the face of her victory.

“Toldja I could do it!” She proclaimed. “I’m the candy catch master! It was part of how I trained my reflexes for UA. Now why don’t you give me a real challenge?” She winked as she said it. Technically, the line about it being reflex training was BS, but it sounded almost reasonable enough to be true, so Mina stuck with it.

Shaking his head, Izuku readied another candy to throw. They were a brand of chocolate coated berries that Mina found absolutely delicious. In fact, she was having such a hard time not scarfing the whole bag that she had proposed the game as a way to slow down her consumption rate.

Izuku’s next throw went wide again, but this time Mina wasn’t able to catch it with her lips. Instead it came plummeting directly into her right eye.

She flinched, the offending candy bouncing to the floor as she reached up to rub at her eye, trying to work the irritation out manually.

“Are you okay?” Izuku said, rushing to her side. “I didn’t mean to hurt you!” he said, taking her head gently in his hands and peering into her eye, checking for damage.

“I’m fine Midori.” She said, chuckling slightly at his response despite the minor pain she was feeling. At this point, she was more than used to enduring small pains thanks to all their hero training. There wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t pick up some minor scrape or cut. Sure, the accidental eye attack had stung, but the irritation was already fading.

Izuku seemed satisfied that he hadn’t accidentally put her eye out. He sighed in relief, but he kept his hands on the sides of her head, and his eyes stayed locked on hers.

“Midori?” She asked, as the moment of silence dragged on. “You okay in there?”

He smiled softly at that, and let go of her head, turning his face slightly away from hers as he did so. “Sorry. I just…” He turned his face back to hers, and she could see that his cheeks were dusted with red. “I always forget how pretty your eyes are, so when I see them up close like that, I get distracted.” He idly poked the tips of his index fingers together as he spoke.

Now it was Mina’s turn to blush, a brilliant lilac filling her cheeks as her heart started to beat faster. <Being that cute has to be illegal>

She pulled Izuku into a tight hug and planted a firm kiss on his cheek, which caused him to light up like a christmas tree, just like he did every time she kissed him. It was another one of his cute habits that she had picked up on rather quickly after they had started dating. He reacted to every bit of affection like it was the first time he had received it.

It did make her a bit sad, thinking about how lonely he must have been growing up, if that was the way he reacted. He’d told her a bit about his childhood, how he hadn’t had any friends since his Quirk had come in so late and they had thought he was Quirkless.

Instead of letting the sadness overwhelm her, Mina took the opposite approach. She hugged Izuku even tighter, kissing his cheeks, his forehead, his eyes, and his ears until he was giggling at her to stop. She’d make up for the lack of affection, or her name wasn’t Mina Ashido, girlfriend extraordinaire.

Izuku looked down at Mina’s gently snoring form. She had passed out a few minutes ago, exhaustion finally overtaking the ludicrous amount of sugar and caffeine she had been inhaling all day.

When Mina Ashido partied, she didn’t do it half way.

Smiling, he pulled the blankets up over her shoulders, tucking her comfortably into bed. The pair had changed into pajamas as the day had worn into evening, so there was no need to worry about mussing her clothes.

She sighed contentedly in her sleep, shifting slightly to get into a more comfortable position.

As he leaned down to plant a good night kiss on her forehead, he could hear her mutter something in her sleep.

“Wanna go in the haunted house next…” She whined softly.

He could only chuckle at that. One of their first dates, before they had officially become boyfriend and girlfriend, had been to Universal Studios Japan. They had been more than a little nervous going in, given their previous experience at a similarly named location.

However, it had turned out excellently. They had both had tons of fun, going on all kinds of rides until they had felt slightly nauseous, checking out the scenery, and buying overpriced gag gifts for their friends and classmates. It had even ended with them sharing their first properly romantic hug, just before they returned to the dorms.

Knowing that she was dreaming about being on a date with him, despite spending nearly the entire day with him made his chest feel warm and full.

He leaned in the rest of the way, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

She sighed in contentment and snuggled deeper into her pillows.

<How did I get so lucky?> He thought to himself as he flicked off the lights.

Just before the door clicked shut behind him, he whispered something that even Jirou would have had trouble hearing from across the room.

“Good night Mina. I love you with all my heart…”

With that, he padded off to his own room, excited to spend the rest of the day with Mina, in the world of his dreams.

Also available on AO3!

#izumina #mha #mha fanfiction #fluff #slice of life #mina ashido #midoriya izuku #movie night #two dorks in love #bnha #bnha fanfiction #my hero academia #fanfiction #dekumina #minadeku

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mysticmikalla · 6 years

Note

Dearest GodMikalla, I humbly request a HC where Zen and Vandy are fuck buddies (friends with benefits) with MC. Like, how did they arrive at that situation, does anyone catch feelings? If so, who? What happened if the rest of RFA find out? It can be nsfw. It can be angst if you like. I'll let you take control.

Your wish has been heard, loud and clear!

I GOT SUPER CARRIED AWAY AND ENDED UP WRITING 5.4K WORDS OF THIS BUT ALAS, I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!

***

Zen

“We need to get back to the party soon, you know. The others will start getting suspicious.”

“Hm,” Zen hummed against your neck, “Just a few more minutes.”

“You said that a few minutes ago.”

“I really mean it this time.” You could tell he was barely listening to you, his lips buried on your neck, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses all the way down to your collarbone

“Zen,” you moaned, tilting your head back so he could have access to more of you, “We need to go, the others will start getting suspicious.”

“They won’t,” he reassured you, “There are a million guests this time, they won’t even notice that we are gone.”

“But if they find out…!”

“They won’t.” Zen said, and to himself, he added, but would it be so bad if they did?

And as if on cue, in barged in a hacker and a gamer, their callings for you interrupted by the sight of your intertwined figures at the back of the dark room

“Zen? And M-MC?!” Yoosung gasped, his purple eyes wide and mouth agape, “Were you two…?”

“Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like.” Said Seven, still trying to process the scene unfolding before him

When you two didn’t reply, which the blond took as confirmation that it was indeed what it looked like, he exclaimed, “How did this even happen?!”

Ah, how did this happened, indeed?

It had maybe been a month since it had all started; after your first party as the new coordinator, the RFA agreed that having you stay in an apartment with a bomb was rather…dangerous, to say the least

And its not that Zen and Yoosung didn’t trust Seven’s nearly perfect algorithm for the security system, but the pair of them were the most outspoken ones about your safety

“She’s already planned a party for us, there’s no reason for her to stay there anymore!” Zen argued, angry at V and Seven for allowing you to ever step foot in there in the first place

Though you appreciated his concern for you, you pointed out, “I don’t really have anywhere else to go, I already got kicked out of my old apartment for missing the rent. Is there really no way you can disarm the bomb, Seven? Just so I can stay?”

The hacker scratched the back of his head, “I can’t really do anything about it without talking to V first…Sorry, MC.”

“Where the hell is she supposed to go?!” You could tell Zen was furious by the way he spat, even more so than you were

“I have several extra rooms in my penthouse, MC is more than welcome to-” Jumin offered

“No!” The actor objected, “She can’t stay with you!”

“Why not?”

“She’s…She’s a woman, and you’re a man! It’s not right!”

“MC, do you have a problem with staying at my home for a few days?”

“Not really-”

“Of course she does!” Zen said, “Listen, MC. You can’t go around trusting everyone, alright? You already got yourself involved with that hacker, don’t go trusting this guy. He might be charming and all, but you never know! He might lock you in a cage or something!”

“I would never do such thing.” Jumin waved him off

“Where am I supposed to go, then?”

“Uh, well,” he began, “You could stay at my place. Just for a while, until you find somewhere more permanent.”

“I fail to see why you deem her staying at my home immoral but it’s fine as long as its with you.” Jumin spoke, but his words were ignored by the silvered-haired man

“What do you say, MC?”

“Is it really okay? I don’t want to bother you or anything…”

“You could never bother me, of course its okay,” He gave you a warm smile, “Are you in?”

“I’m in!”

And so, in the span of 2 days, you managed to get all your belongings over to Zen’s place

It was smaller than you thought it would be, and there was only one bedroom, but Zen insisted he was fine sleeping on the couch

“Are you sure?” You lifted an eyebrow, “Jumin has plenty of space over at his place, maybe I should just stay there…?”

“Trust me, MC,” he scoffed, “You don’t want to share a home with him, he’s so…boring. You’d be dying of boredom in two days.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t feel so good about making you sleep on the couch.” You shifted awkwardly on your feet.

“You’re not making me do anything, MC. I offered you a place to stay, I’m more than happy to have you here. Its what friends do.”

“Its what friends do.” You agreed with a grin

And so began your adventures living together

You found Zen to be a great roommate, always fun to be around and never really getting in the way of your daily routines

Friday nights were beer nights while Saturday mornings consisted of him nursing you back from your hangover so you were well enough for a movie marathon later that evening

Zen liked to cook for you, though it was always super healthy and low-fat things, and that was one luxury you didn’t have if you were living alone

The only downside to it all was that, although you got the bedroom, Zen’s snores could be heard from the living room all the way to your tired ears

You felt yourself having a great time with him, so much so that you didn’t even want to leave his place anymore, and he did everything in his power to keep you there, as well

It had been weeks since you had moved in, and now neither of you were ready for you to move out

“Zen,” you giggled, reaching across the couch to take away his can of beer, “I think you’ve had enough for tonight.”

“This is just my fifth one,” he said, “I’m not even tipsy yet.”

And while alcohol had barely an effect on him, the room was already spinning for you

The movie you two had previously been watching was now ignored and replaced by drunk chatter

“How can you drink this much without getting a beer belly?”

“I told you, I’m superhuman,” he winked, “God’s-”

“God’s mistake.” You finished his sentence, dramatically rolling your eyes

“Hey,” he nudged your foot with his, a smirk playing on his lips, “Don’t steal my lines. And I don’t get fat because I work out. See?”

Lifting up his shirt, Zen revealed the defined muscles of his abs

In your drunk state of mind, all you could do was stare

I mean, you had seen plenty of fit men shirtless before in your lifetime

But Zen was not exaggerating when he compared himself to a statue and you were too intoxicated to care about whether it was appropriate to stare at his body for this long

“Speechless?” He asked in amusement

“I…” The alcohol took over control of your tongue while the little part of your brain that was still sober heavily protested, “I want to touch it.”

This sent Zen into a laughing fit, his eyes screwing shut as he bent over, “Don’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry, MC,” he managed to say in between laughs, “I was just not expecting that from you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re just so…innocent! I never thought you’d ask to touch me like that.”

“I’m not that innocent, you know.” You pouted, crossing your arms over your chest

“Sure you aren’t, MC, sure you aren’t.” he chuckled, opening a new can of beer and taking a large sip

You mimicked him, helping yourself to yet another can

Innocent…was that supposed to be a compliment?

It was half past three by the time you were both passed out on the couch

You were so drunk, even Zen’s loud snores and long limbs tangled with yours didn’t seem to bother you, and the only thing that could interrupt your drunken slumber was a nagging urge to pee

Zen didn’t wake up when you untangled your legs from under his and stumbled over to the bathroom, nor when you decided to settle next to him in the small couch instead of going to your room like you usually did

He didn’t wake up as your stared at his sleeping face, bringing your fingers to trace his features, so perfect and serene, even in slumber

Neither did he wake up when you whispered his name, wishing he would wake up and talk to you some more

He did, however, open his eyes as you lifted his shirt back up to get another look at him, this time up close

You didn’t know what you were thinking, the alcohol still affecting your judgement, but one thing was certain; you needed to see him again

Grabbing your hand, he mumbled, “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry,” you whispered back, “I just…I’m not as innocent as you think.”

“MC,” he let out a breathy laugh, “I don’t think just looking at my abs while I sleep makes you any less innocent.”

Perhaps it was the challenge in his voice or the alcohol in your system, or the mingling of both, that made you cup his cheek and run your thumb over his bottom lip

Or perhaps it was how good he looked and how delicious he smelled that urged you to bring his lips to yours, kissing him as if you had wanted to for ages

His lips still had a lingering taste of beer, but they were otherwise sweet, addictingly so

He kissed you back immediately, grabbing your face and bringing you closer, leading the ardent kiss

You took the hand that traveled from your waist to the small of your back as an invitation to go further

Shifting positions, you straddled his lap, knee on the either side of him and your center pressed against his

In the dim light of his living room, you could make out both shock and lust in his scarlet irises, the parting of his lips urged you want to close the gap between them and yours again, and his silver hair that was messily sprawled out underneath him made the man look unreal

He was so beautiful, you realized

“MC-”

“I’ll prove to you that I’m not innocent.”

And, yup, this is indeed how it had happened

“So you’ve been sneaking around for a month?!” Yoosung sputtered, still unable to process the story you had just told and what he’d just seen

“Well…yeah.”

“But why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because,” you began, “We didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It’s not like it means anything anyway, it was just for fun.”

While both Yoosung and Seven uttered their responses, Zen felt a painful tug of his heart, and his gaze fell down to the floor

“Hey,” he croaked, “Could you guys give us a minute?”

After the two men left, Zen dropped his hold on your hand, refusing to meet your eyes

“Is something wrong?” You eyed him curiously, reaching for his hand again only to have him reject your touch

“I…I don’t think we should do this anymore, MC.”

What?

“Zen, what are you saying?”

“I think we should stop this, whatever this is.” He motioned in between you two

“Hey, look at me,” you brought up your hand to cup his cheek, but he gently swayed it away before you could, “Zen…Why are you being like this all the sudden? You seemed into it just a minute ago!”

“Yeah, well,” when his eyes met yours, you were shocked to see they flared with anger, and how his brows pulled together in hurt, “That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before I found out that it means nothing to you!” He snapped, his hand running over his face

You opened your mouth, but no words would come out. Huh?

“All this time I thought that maybe…Ah, forget it. Just…Forget it, it’s my fault for ever thinking you felt the same.”

“Zen, wait,” you grabbed his hand before he could attempt to leave, “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

It had been true from the moment he had met you; all the shared jokes, silent flirting and secret touches under the table made him hope, words of affection whispered after moments pleasure and the way your eyes seemed to linger longer on him all made Zen believe you could possibly feel the same

It was how giddy he felt knowing he had someone to come home to, how incredibly happy he became when you two started to share a bed. It was how absolutely thrilled he was knowing that you were there, that you were his, even if only in the moments he kissed you

It was a combination of all those things that made the actor realize he was utterly in love with you

“It’s nothing, MC. Forget I said anything.” He mumbled, leaning in for a kiss

Having you like this, he realized, even if only one-sided, was better than not having you at all

If you didn’t feel the same, the short moments of bliss in which he could pretend you did were enough. They had to be enough

“No,” you turned your head before his lips could find yours, “I know its not ‘nothing’. Tell me. What did you mean by that?”

“It wasn’t just meaningless sex to me, MC,” he confessed, “It wasn’t just that.”

“But I thought…”

“I know, and it’s not your fault. I’m sorry, please forget I said anything, please. I don’t want to stop being with you, even if its like this.”

You took a step closer to him until you were mere inches from his chest. His head hung low, all you had to do was simply look up to meet your lips with his

“I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Jesus, MC,” he let out a defeated laugh, “How could you possibly not know?”

“I…I didn’t want to hope for it, Zen.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t want to fool myself into thinking that you might feel the same way I do.” You admitted, finally looking up to meet his eyes, your lips millimeters apart, “I didn’t want to hope that you were in love with me as I am with you.”

It took him a second to process your words, “A-are you saying what I think you’re saying? Don’t get my hopes up like this, MC.”

“I would never do that.”

“Then why did you tell them that it meant nothing?” He question, still skeptical about your confession, still refusing to believe that you might actually feel it, too

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You never mentioned anything so I didn’t know what to think.”

He caressed your cheek, adoration so vivid in his eyes and the beating of his heart so strong against his chest that he was sure the guests outside could hear, “MC, I had no idea…”

“How could I possibly not fall in love with you, Zen? After everything we’ve been through?” You smiled, and when he found himself to be at a loss for words, you brought your lips together, tasting them as if it were the first time

“Just kiss me, you fool.”

Vanderwood

You could never have guessed that you’d end up like this, so close to him

Perhaps it was because he wasn’t as outgoing as Seven or Zen, charming like Yoosung and Jumin or seemed as caring as Jaehee, but the man in the leopard-print suit with a stone face had always seemed a bit unapproachable to you

Hell, he wasn’t even in the RFA in the first place, so the opportunities you had to get to know him were, well, close to none

And yet,

After hackers, cults, kidnappings and all of the drama that came with being a party coordinator, Seven decided to give up his precious ‘maid’ so that Vanderwood could keep a close eye on you

“I’m not even hired by you,” scoffed the agent, “I’m here to make sure you do your job.”

“I can’t focus if I know she’s in danger,” Seven would say in order to convince him, “So if you do this, I promise to get all my work done. Pretty please?”

Vanderwood knew that when Seven went into pleading mode, there was no arguing against

The brunette man wasn’t happy about having to baby sit you, and you weren’t so thrilled about the arrangement, either

Yes, Vanderwood was one of the only ones who knew the address to the apartment, and yes it was risky to send Jumin’s body guards over to your top secret location

…but still

Did it have to be Vanderwood? You barely knew him!

You two had hardly exchanged two sentences to each other, and although he did seem nice enough to you, it was damn awkward

Although you knew he was being paid to be there and you didn’t have to keep him company at all times, you still felt bad about leaving him alone like that all day

He just sat there on the couch, eyes fixated on his phone and occasionally pulling out a book

For hours

Everyday.

During weeks

A few words were muttered here in there when you came and went from the apartment, but other than that, it was complete silence

Seven told you not to take it personally, he just tended to keep to himself most of the time when he wasn’t scolding anyone

You often wondered what went through his mind during the long hours of silence he endured, whether he was counting down the days as well until the hacker was no longer a threat so he could finally leave

It had become a painfully boring routine for him and an awkward one for you

“Hey,” you told him one day as you were leaving the house, “I’m going out to the store for a few minutes…is there anything you w-want, or need?”

“You can’t go.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t go.” He repeated, not even bothering to avert his gaze from his phone and look at you

“Why not?”

“The hacker has been acting quite strange lately, Luciel said its best to stay here for a while.”

You chewed on your bottom lip, unsure of what to say. “Oh.”

His attention went back to his phone and, without another word, you retreated to your room

And in the following days, the same happened

Whether it was going across the street to the store or even just get the mail outside, Vanderwood said the exact three words, leaving to space for arguments

“You can’t go.”

You were getting annoyed at the whole ordeal, feeling as if you were a ten-year-old asking for your parent’s permission

“I’m going over to my friend’s house.” You informed, hastily putting your coat on and gathering your things so he wouldn’t have time to stop you

“Can’t.” Damn.

“But-”

“Nope.”

“It’s Poker night! I can’t miss Poker night.” You huffed in annoyance

“You can, and you will. There is still a possibility-”

“I don’t want to put my life on hold due to a ‘possibility’!” You argued, “Come with me if you’re so worried.”

“Its too dangerous, MC,” he warned, but upon seeing your frustration, Vanderwood softened, “I’m sorry.”

“I just-” you let out a deep sigh, knowing it wasn’t his fault, either, “Never mind. Its fine.”

And when you spun in your heel to trudge your way back to the confinement of your room, he spoke, “I can play Poker.”

It had been the first time he had said something to you that wasn’t related to your safety

“Oh,” you replied, “You don’t have to, its fine-”

Vanderwood scoffed, “You’ve been sulking in your room for days now, I’m even starting to feel guilty here.”

“You’re not-”

“Let’s play.”

Reluctantly, you sat on the other end of the couch closely watching Vanderwood shuffle a deck of cards

“Where did you get that deck? I didn’t know there was one in the apartment.”

“There are two things you can never leave the house without,” he told you, “A pen and a deck of cards.”

“And clothes, of course.” You added

“And clothes,” he agreed, “You know the rules, right?”

“Please. I am the Poker Queen, undefeated among my friends.”

“That’s good to hear,” he grinned, “I am the Poker King.”

And so, a weird yet amusing tradition began

After work or school, Vanderwood would pick you up from where Jumin’s bodyguards dropped you off, and together you walked back to the secrecy of your apartment

You were in charge of getting snacks while he set up the game and put together a small playlist composed of his favorite songs (which you thought were terrible, but hey, if he were in a good mood, so were you)

And then you began to play

And when you played, you talked

And the more you talked, the more you realized that there was so much more to this man that met the eye

Someone you had deemed so cold before was actually pretty easy going, and surprisingly caring

For someone who wasn’t used to talking a lot to other people, Vanderwood was actually quite funny

And boy could this man talk after getting a bit more comfortable with you

Vanderwood had so many stories to tell and you two often found yourselves lost in chat, neglecting the game you both loved so you could listen

He never went into much detail about his past, but you were too engrossed in his tales of adventure and danger to pay much mind

And…you liked it

You enjoyed his company a lot and found yourself preferring to stay in and share a game with this him rather than going out with your friends

It went on for weeks, and your previous wish of having the hacker taken care of so he could leave was now completely gone

“This is getting boring,” you set your cards down after the second hour of playing, “We need to at least bet something.”

“Do you have anything you want from me?” He wondered, eyeing his cards and the ones on the table, masking his expression well so you could never guess what hand he had

“How about…” You pondered, “One truth?”

“A truth?”

“Yes,” you nodded, “If I win, you have answer any question I ask truthfully.”

“No.” He turned you down before you could explain further

You stuck your lips out in a pout, “Why not?”

“Are you going to call or not?” He nodded towards the cards, ignoring your question

“No, I fold. And why not?”

“The less you know about me, the better.” He said, collecting the prize of some gummy bears from his win

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me!” You offered

“I already know everything about you.” Vanderwood pointed out, and you knew it was true; Seven had probably informed him of even your blood type and credit card information by now

“That’s not fair,” you argued, “How come you get to know everything about me but I don’t know a single thing about you?”

“Because its my job, MC. Now, are you going to deal the cards or not?”

“No,” you stubbornly said, crossing your arms over your chest and avoiding his gaze, “I don’t want to play anymore.”

“Don’t be like that.” He rolled his eyes

“I’m serious! I don’t like it that you know everything about me and I don’t even know if Vanderwood is even your real name.”

“There is no reason for you to know,” he countered, “I’m getting paid to be here, to protect you. There is nothing more to it. You don’t have to know anything about me.”

You blinked, puzzled at his words, “I-I thought we were friends?”

His silence sent a surprisingly painful pang through your chest

“I see. It’s fine.”

“MC-”

“I don’t feel like playing anymore.” You mumbled, standing up to leave towards the comfort of your room

Vanderwood always made sure to keep the distance, so you were surprised when he grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you back down to the couch

“We are friends, okay?”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to believe me, its the truth.” He huffed, but the longer you stared with those big, pleading eyes of yours, the more he felt himself give in

Vanderwood groaned, running a hand over his face, “Argh, fine. I’ll answer three questions you have, but no more.”

You beamed at him, “Really?”

“Really.”

Chewing on your bottom lip, you thought about every question, every thought of wonder you’ve ever had about him; there were too many! How were you supposed to pick just three?

His past, his scars, his family, and even the story behind the haircut you deemed so ugly- you wanted to know it all

“Is Vanderwood your real name?”

“No,” he answered, “And I won’t give you my real one.”

“Fine,” you sighed, pausing before asking your second question, “Why do you wear gloves all the time? Its summer.”

“Would you believe it if I said that I’m a germophobe?”

You shook your head, “You promised to tell the truth.”

“I….” He paused for a while, as if battling with himself on whether he wanted to answer or skip the question, “I don’t like touching people.”

Your eyes widened at his response, and guilt washed over you as you remembered all the playful nudges and pokes you shared with him, “Oh my God, you should have told me before! I wouldn’t have-”

“It’s fine,” he waved you off, “I said I don’t like people touching me. You’re not people, you’re you.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, unsure of what to reply, “So…how do you…”

“How do I what?”

“You know…” You fumbled with your words, flustered, “How do you date?”

“I don’t.” He said flatly

“So you mean you’ve never…?”

“I think you already used all your questions.” He cut you off, tearing his gaze from yours

“I will take that as a yes.”

He was silent

“…Well?”

“No,” he admitted in a grumble, “I have never.”

And you don’t know why you said it

Perhaps it was because you were lonely or stressed, but ever since you had been locked in the same apartment as him for weeks, you began to feel…Curious

Curious about him; how he would feel, what he looked like under all those clothes, how he would taste, how he sounded like…

And most of all, curious as to what he would reply to your suggestive question

“Do you want to?”

The silence that fell and the moments that followed had to be the longest of your life

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“It could be fun.” You wiggled your eyebrows

He let out a laugh, “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Oh, come on! You’re bored, I’m bored, we are stuck here together anyway…What do you say?”

It was one of the rare times Vanderwood was completely caught by surprise

It wasn’t what he signed up for. He was supposed to just keep an eye on you as you came and went, just while this hacker was still on the loose so Seven could get his work for the agency done

He was never supposed to starting speaking and much less talking about himself with you, and Vanderwood was definitely not supposed to get close to you like that

So why did he find himself just as curious as you?

Why did he find himself closing the space between you on the couch? Why was he leaning in until his nose brushed with yours and your minty breath was all he could smell?

Why did he find himself kissing you?

“No strings attached?” He murmured

“No strings attached.”

And then he dipped his head in, bringing your lips to his, trying not to think about how it was the closest he had ever been to someone, and how it was you, of all people!

It was true, he hadn’t lied; you were the only person he didn’t hate touching, and he was almost as surprised as you were at how much he enjoyed it

You, on the other hand, had lied

You promised him it was meaningless, you promised him it would be just sex

No strings attached, right?

But from the very first kiss and the very first time he touched you, you could feel those strings growing tighter

Whenever you would wake up and he was still in your bed, you couldn’t help but run your hands over his sleeping features, admiring how soft they looked in comparison to when he was awake

When he was in silence, you desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, what troubled him enough to warrant a deep scowl he often wore on his face

Each time you called his name during moments of ecstasy, you felt yourself fall a little more for him, a little deeper, a little harder

Whenever his hands were on you and yours were on him, a foreign warmth spread within you, especially when you thought about how you were the only person in the world who had ever been with him like this

The nights when he got a little bit too drunk and your pillow-talk would grow to invade the late hours of night, with him speaking in a softer tone than usual and revealing bits about himself, you felt yourself beginning to crash

The only thing that kept you grounded was your daily reminder that he was being paid to be there, to worry about your whereabouts and care for you

That’s right, you bitterly reminded yourself, its his job. Its just his job

But it didn’t feel like that when he kissed you

It didn’t feel like it was just part of his job, and it sure didn’t feel as if you two were just friends

He was sweet and tender with you, softly spoken at times and incredibly vulnerable at others

And that was no job nor friendship

It was something you only dared to hope for

It was lo-

“Hey,” you whispered while you lied on his chest, focusing on the counts of his heartbeat and the heat of his bare skin on yours, “Can I ask you something?”

“Mhm.” He hummed, eyes half closed and his movements slow and tired while he caressed your hair

“What are you feeling right now?”

His hand stopped feeling through your locks, “I’m tired. Why?”

“Just tired?”

“Why are you asking?” He shifted you over so he could look at your face

“Its nothing. You should sleep.” You buried your face in his arms again, avoiding his eyes and attempting to push down the rising lump in your throat

Ah, yes, you were cruelly reminded, the euphoria and glowing feeling in your heart was something exclusive to you, and no matter how much you wished for it, the four-lettered word you felt was horribly one-sided

But Vanderwood was not a fool nor was he oblivious; he could detect the smallest crack in your voice and the stiffing of your body under his arm

“I thought you said friends didn’t lie, MC. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I just…” You trailed off, absentmindedly tracing circles on his skin, “I’m tired, I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“I’m tired, too, so tell me.”

Hesitating, you thought about how much greater the dull in your chest was about to get once you spoke those words, and how it would tenfold once he rejected them, “What would you say if I told you I were in love?”

His silence was almost deafening, and you regretted those words almost immediately after they left your lips

Perhaps it would have been better to remain in the bliss of ignorance

“I’d tell you that you’re mad.”

There it was.

The warmth that previously lounged in your heart was now overcome with a vicious cold, your limbs going numb upon processing his words

You didn’t know how the lump in your throat hadn’t suffocated you yet, and for a moment, you wished it would

But before the hurt could fester any further and your heart could completely break, Vanderwood tilted your chin up, taking you by surprise as his lips met with yours

“But maybe I’m just as mad as you.”

#This is the longest hc ive ever written lmfao im sorry #but it was quite fun to write #mystic messenger #mystic messenger headcanons #mystic messenger scenarios #mystic messenger fanfic #hyun ryun #mm zen #mm vanderwood #vanderwood

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bxrrnes · 6 years

Text

Bucky Barnes [A to Z (fluff)]

list made by @multiplefandomsimagines

[masterlist] / [request here]

A - attractive (what they find attractive)

You’re confidence. He can’t help but feel a sense of pride as he watches you take action and not let anyone get in your way, not even him. You’re not rude or arrogant of course, you just have the power to be okay with yourself so much that you don’t let anyone control you.

B - baby (do they want a family?)

Babies are a sensitive topic with Bucky. Before the war James was a player, not interested in settling down, always looking for adventure, or trouble (which ever came first). And after HYDRA it took him a long time to trust himself. Starting a family with you would be the greatest gift he could ever want but he just doesn’t feel like he deserves it just yet.

C - cuddle (how they cuddle)

Bucky Barnes is universal cuddle master. As long as it involves you wrapped up in his arms he’s all over it. First it’ll start all cute, you snuggled up to his side as he lies on his back, one arm around you shoulder, but through out the night you too will just get closer and closer. Eventually, you both wake up in a human pretzel.

D - dates (what dates with them are like)

James has tried to take you dancing but the clubs nowadays just aren’t his scene anymore which made him kinda sad but the drive-ins always cheer him up. It reminded him of being a kid again, borrowing his dad’s car to only watch 15 minutes of the movie and make out it.

E - everything (you are my...)

Rock, you are his rock. Every time he has a bad day or a mission goes wrong he goes to you. It took him a while to get close to anyone that wasn’t Steve and to have such an intimate relationship with you after everything he’s been through meant a lot. You can’t always bring him back down but you do help.

F - feelings (when they realise that they love you)

James catch really remember the one moment he figured out that he loved you. Over time he had just grow used to this certain feeling. One day he just kinda woke up and was like ‘wow, this is love, I’m in love’. He had realised just as you had walked into your shared room only wearing one of his shirts and your hair a mess. You lazily smiled at him as you flopped back into bed. He couldn’t help but wrap you up in arms.

G - gentle (are they gentle?)

Bucky is just one big cuddly bear. In the morning if you wake up before him, he’ll come up behind you and place his hands on your waist and kiss your neck whispering a sleepy ‘Good morning’. And after a long night at one of Tony’s big parties he happily helps you wash up in the shower, careful to take off all your make-up, and carry you to bed as you mumble about how hot he is.

H - hand/hold (how do they hold you? do they hold hands?)

At the start Buck hated any form of psychical affection, always worried he may accidentally hurt you. For the longest time his metal are was completely off limits, he even hated you just standing on his left side. Eventually, after many attempts, he finally gave in - of course he wasn’t that upset by it anyways. He had gotten tired of avoiding being psychical in public and finally wanted to show that you were his (respectfully, of course).

I - impression (first impression)

You had just been promoted to field agent and you couldn’t have been more happy, if only your colleagues felt the same... For your first mission you had to go undercover with with none-other than the Winter Solider. People who wanted to work with him were little to none so Fury thought it would be interesting to have both of you on the same mission, it was only recon. Many agents were not happy with this but said nothing to Fury, instead taking it out passive-aggressively on you. But you didn’t let it faze you, you knew what your job was and it wasn’t to brood over hurt feelings. He liked that. You even shook his hand when first meeting, he was cautious but still interested by you and your professionalism.

J - joker (do they pull pranks?)

Bucky isn’t a prank master but he can pull a little joke once in a while. But most of the time it’s with you, on Sam. When first introduced to the team you were confused by Sam and Bucky’s relationship, not sure if they were friends or enemies and would always try and convince Bucky not to mess with him. Eventually you saw the light and began secretly plotting with Bucky, painting Sam’s wings a bright pink, shaving his facial hair to replicate Stark’s. Tony was impressed, Sam wasn’t.

K - kisses (how do they kiss?)

His kisses are gentle but passionate. Starting of as a cheeky peck or two on the back of your neck in the morning to wake you up. Then when you finally roll over goes in, holding himself up by his metal arm and gently holding your hair with his flesh hand. You eventually need to stop him so you can get up and get dressed. And he’ll just sit there watching you, not in a creepy way, of course, but in a loving way. As you leave you’ll blow him a kiss and won’t leave until he lazily raises his hand up to mock catch it.

L - little things (what little things they love)

He loves the way you every time you come back from a mission, as you walk in the door you’ll do a little dance, strutting right up to him just to slam a folder on the kitchen island (most likely your mission report). It doesn’t matter if theres no music playing, you make up the music, as well as the dance moves.

M - memory (favourite memory together)

His favourite has to be the morning with you after your first date. It had been an amazing night so you invited him up for one more glass of wine and one thing led to another... The night had been a drunken blur so Bucky woke with a bit of a headache and you were there with an aspirin and a plate of homemade waffles with bacon on the side. He ate slowly, afraid that when he finished you would finally kick him out, but you didn’t, instead spending the rest of that day cozied up together on the coach.

N - nickel (do they spoil?)

Believe it or not being an Avenger doesn’t pay too well (because Stark is chump) but when he can he does. Most restaurants are too fancy for his liking and the people make him feel anxious so he prefers to stay home for a movie marathon then take you too all night diner. It’ll be 2 o’clock in the morning and you’ll both be eating burgers and gushing over how cool the Mad Max movies are.

O - orange (what colour reminds them of you)

Bucky has always loved blue. It reminded him of that time you too had a picnic and as you tried to feed a duckling the mother charged at you and stole all your bread. And that time you suddenly had an urge to paint so you made him drive you all the way to a 24 hour target and only every painted a blue background before giving up because the blue had started to turn a swampy green when you tried to add grass.

P - petnames (what petnames they use)

It’s stereotypical but Jame’s will only ever call you ‘Baby’ or ‘Doll’, sometime ‘Hun’ when he’s feeling extra soft. You, of course, make fun of him because of this because what kind of girlfriend would you be if you didn’t? When in front of a group of people you like to start pinching his cheeks and make baby noises, calling him ‘Huggle Bear’ and ‘Shnookims’. He instantly looses his badboy cool, turning bright red and fighting to remove you.

Q - questions (what are the questions they're always asking?)

He may look late-twenties but he actually an 80-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. For a deadly assassin he is super bad at keep tabs on things. “Doll, where are my keys?” “Did you see where I left my phone?” “Shit, I can’t remember where we parked.” It’s funny until it prevents you from going home so you have to walk 15 blocks in the rain.

R - remember (their favourite memory of each other)

The first time you met Steve, Bucky’s heart skipped a beat. He had just gotten back from a mission and he found you in the Avengers Tower, laughing and chatting with his oldest friend. You walked over to him, smiling. He wrapped him arms around you as his heart started to finally stop racing. Looking up he saw Steve give him a quick nod and the thumbs up.

S - sad (how they cheer themselves/others up)

He likes to just rest his hands on your waist, after the kiss just resting his forehead against yours and swaying ever so slightly. Then he’d pull you head to rest on his chest and run his flesh hand through your hair and kiss your crown. But whenever he’s sad he just likes to stay in his room in bed so you bring him breakfast in bed and just cuddle up with him, having his rest his head on your chest.

T - talking (what they love to talk about)

He loves to think back the first time he opened up about the war. He was expecting a sad expression on your face as he detailed stories of taking down nazi bases but he was wrong. You sat there beaming, hooked onto every word. You didn’t look at him like he was a child, you look at him like he was some war hero. And to you he was. Sure, the war wasn’t glamorous but talking to you about it helped him be more comfortable with his past.

U - universe (a metaphor)

“Your body is a museum of natural disasters can you grasp how stunning that is.” - Milk and Honey, Rupi Kaur.

Buck isn’t really a poetry kinda guy but this one really did resinate with him. It’s obvious why which is kind of sad but you have to give him props for how far he’s come with accepting who he is and what he’s done.

V - very (thoughts about each other)

He can never put you in a box. You’re not the type of person that he can just label as “nice” because you’re not just “nice”. You’re a little bit of everything.

James is a rough-around-the-edges softy with a heart of gold and a metal arm. He would risk his life for anyone, doesn't matter who. You don’t just love him, you respect him as a hero and a colleague.

W - why (reasons why they love you)

Where do I begin? Maybe how gorgeous you are, how kind you are, you know how to get almost anyone out of a funk, you’re not some damsel in distress always looking for help but you know when to ask for it. Buck could list a million things but you won’t let him because although you love him dearly, you’d much rather eat than have your food go cold as he gives a big ass speech about how much he loves you. You already know he does.

X - xylophone (what's their song?)

Listen to me when I tell you Bucky loves classic rock, he’s a classic guy. But one of his favourite song is Renegade by Styx, especially because the first time he heard it was one morning when you were cleaning and blasting it throughout your apartment. You were just straight up rocking out and letting loose. And he thinks it’s kinda corny but the lyrics do somewhat relate to him.

Y - you (what you are to them)

You are his soulmate. Bucky isn’t too sure about the whole “soulmate” thing but the more time he spends with you the more he starts to believe it. This feeling he has for you isn’t just love, it’s something he can’t really put into words and he some how likes that feeling. He doesn’t want to put a label on you because he knows your more than that.

Z - zebra (what pet they want to have)

For a while Bucky wanted to adopt Rocket, but of course he was having the none of that so instead you opted for a dog. Originally you had visited the rescue centre in hopes for a puppy was Bucky was instant in love with a 5 year old Rottweiler called Muffin. He had been rescued from an underground dog fighting rink and had lost and eye as well as half an ear. Although Muffin at first did not like either of you, but after weeks of tender, love, care and lots of dog treats, he refused to leave Bucky’s side.

#marvel #avengers #fluff #james barnes #marvel headcanons #bucky barnes #bucky barns x reader #james barnes x reader #marvel x reader #avengers x reader #avengers headcanon

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jessaadventures-blog · 6 years

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Week Six: Chillin’ Out

Under the Lobitos pier.

This week was nice and chill, which was much needed after the craziness of last week! Nothing too crazy happened, but there were still some fun times with the EcoTeam. I’m already two-thirds through my time in Lobitos, and it feels both like I just got here and I’ve been here forever. I’m sure these next three weeks will fly by, and I’m excited to see what they hold!

The EcoHouse

My banana and strawberry compote crepe!

We only had one addition to the EcoTeam this week. Claudia arrived on Tuesday from the UK! She goes to Bristol University like Jack, but is a year ahead of him in the same geography program (going into her third year of uni). Claudia is great, she’s always really enthusiastic and funny and we’ve had fun pointing out differences between British and American slang (it’s her and Jack and Joris against the rest of us usually). Claudia is doing research for her dissertation while she’s here, so she isn’t directly involved in any of the existing projects. She’s been interviewing local fisherman about overfishing and illegal fishing, which is really interesting! She’ll be here for three weeks total, so her, Seth, Orianna, and Chris (who comes tomorrow for two weeks) all leave the weekend before me. We have eight volunteers right now, with two people staying at Nacho’s hostel. Jenny leaves tomorrow and Chris comes to replace her, and we have one more guy, Anthony, coming on Sunday so we’ll have nine volunteers! That’s a super full house.

Diego (the Director) and his girlfriend, Nai Ana, are arriving tomorrow as well to replace Michael leaving for a week, and then Andres leaves when Michael gets back. It’ll be a big crew for my last few weeks!

We cooked a lot this week in an effort to reduce the money we’re spending by going out to eat so much. The four girls were almost always the chefs, and the four guys were the clean up crew! We did our classic Taco Tuesday, which everyone always enjoys, and on Wednesday we made two amazing vegan pot pies! Still my favorite food I think :) On Thursday we had a sweet and savory vegan crepe night with homemade strawberry compote, bananas, avocados, tomatoes, chickpeas, veggies, and more. This was a big hit; I definitely want to make crepes again before I leave. We also had some pisco sours to go with our fancy crepes! On Friday we made our famous veggie burgers (the guys were all extremely hungry though, so they went for starters at Tranqui’s and then came back and demolished the rest of the burgers). By Saturday we were getting low on homemade dinner materials (it’s hard cooking for ten people, six of whom eat for two or three people each), but we made a big batch of pasta and stir fried some squash and veggies to go with it and the remade pasta sauce we buy. Last night we gave up and went to Tranqui’s for dinner, which was as good as always!

A slice of vegan pot pie :)

Other than food, we had some fun nighttime activities this week! We had two game nights, one where we played BS (the card game) and Seth, who worked as a gondolier in Indianapolis, gave a wonderful performance of a famous Italian song that he would have to sing while he rowed tourists down the river so Claudia would take some of his cards (he’s quite talented). For the other game night we played the name game, where everyone writes down names of famous people on pieces of paper, and one person on each of the two teams has to get the rest of the team to guess what name they have (similar to taboo or charades), and we played some vary intense rounds of spoons, one of which was spoons hide-and-seek and we had to get up and run around the house trying to find the spoons. It was a blast!

The other big event we had was a Lord of the Rings marathon! We watched all the extended editions (each is four hours or more) over the course of four almost-consecutive days. We watched the first movie on Wednesday, split the second movie between Thursday and Friday, and watched the third (4.5 hours) on Sunday because it hadn’t fully downloaded on Saturday. Because I just finished the books, it was interesting to rewatch the movies and notice all the things they left out and little plot changes in the movies that weren’t in the books.

This weekend was really chill for me, all of the newer volunteers went to El Ñuro to swim with the turtles on Saturday, so I just hung out and read Harry Potter (I’ve just started the fifth book and I started the first one a week ago) and laid in the sun and did a big load of laundry. On Sunday everyone was tired but I got outside for a while and went for a swim (the waves were too big for me to surf) and a walk.

Overall a fun week in the EcoHouse getting to know the new interns, playing games, and cooking!

Work

Chipping paint in the sunrise!

This week was a little frustrating work-wise. I found a bunch of big cracks in the basin of the distiller that have opened up again (they originally were formed because the volunteer that built the actual wood structure of the distiller didn’t let the wood dry long enough and it warped) and the seawater was just leaking straight out of the bottom of the distiller. We got more silicone from Seth, and I did my best to fill all the gaps and create a seal between the window and the basin, but when I went to test the distiller again on Saturday morning there was still a big crack that I had missed, so all the water drained out again. Now I have to let the distiller dry again and then fix the cracks again and let it dry before testing it again hopefully on Friday. I think the seal is working a lot better, but the warping is definitely slowing down progress and making it difficult to get the distiller to perform at its best. But, I guess that’s the point of pilot unit like this one, to try it and make mistakes and learn from them! My main goal for the distiller at this point is to to a fully functional test (with no holes and a good seal) and move it up to the fisherman’s guild, where Joris has just finished building a stand for the distiller, before I leave. I think that’s doable, but I don’t want to rush it and sacrifice functionality like the guy who built the wood structure did. We’ll see how far I get! I also got my first Lobitos sunburn while painting silicone on the distiller this week, but its already faded.

Planting day was more like painting day this week. We got up at 6am as usual, and we finally decided to repaint the front outside wall of the house (there were a bunch of big paint chips in it that had been bugging me since I got here), so we spent five hours chipping the paint off the wall and getting covered in paint dust (we had catchy music to work to, so it was fun)! We then had an EcoBrunch, which was our usual big planting day breakfast immediately followed by the lunch that Angelita was already done making by the time we called planting day quits.

I’ve been keeping up with social media posts much better now, so that went well this week! We also launched and completed a crowdfunding campaign in four days, during which we raised $750 for Ale’s wind turbine project!

There’s still a lot to do before I leave, and I hope I can get it all done! I’m still very motivated to get this distiller up and running efficiently and reliably.

Adventures

Surfers jumping into the big waves at Piscinas.

There weren’t too many adventures this week, but we went to Tranqui’s for Saturday dinner and 420 for Monday dinner (we got there early and got the warm inside table and quick service)!

I went surfing a few times this week, though I usually ended up going at low tide when the waves aren’t as great, but I got up on a little green wave (before the wave had curled) which was exciting! I had only been catching the white wash before then.

My swim this weekend was nice, and my walk afterwards took me down to the Piscinas cliffs, where I watched surfers catching the big waves, saw a bunch of crabs, and picked up a bunch of trash (I haven’t talked much about it, but there’s an open landfill nearby and plastic bags and other trash tend to escape and litter the beach and everywhere between Lobitos and Talara, it’s really sad).

The EcoTeam at Tranqui’s!

This was a nice, chill week with a lot of fun nights! I’m looking forward to the next three weeks, and I’m definitely getting excited for Patagonia (we have some readings to do now, and I’m starting to read up on Patagonian energy issues) and the mountains and beauty there. I’m also missing my friends and am excited to be back on campus soon and move into my new house!

Miss and love you all as well, I hope all your summers are going well and are full of fun adventures!

#EcoSwell #summer2018 #Lobitos #Peru

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umichenginabroad · 1 year

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Week 11: A Failed Attempt at a Relaxing Week

This week, we hit the one-month mark until the end of our program! My feelings are a bit all over the place. Slowly, I am hitting a wall with balancing my health, school, and traveling so the end of our program coming up is much needed. I cannot wait to snuggle in the comfort of my own bed with my dog whom I have not seen in months. However, this has been the best 3 months of my life by far. Never in my life did I ever think I would have the opportunity to study my major in Prague and travel to a new country almost every weekend. I have gotten into such a routine with all my IFSA peers and I cannot even fathom what life will be like not seeing and living with them anymore. Thankfully, most of us attend U-M so it won’t be a goodbye forever :)

On a brighter note, let’s talk about my week! This is another shout-out to my roommate. She brought me flowers to celebrate a month until my birthday, which was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. I welcomed our new plant baby and have been watering it every day since.

This week continued to be super sunny! So sunny that a cute little gelato truck opened up in the park of our villa and made everyone’s afternoons.

Before this program, I was anything but an ice cream fanatic. I would choose an iced coffee on a hot summer day over ice cream. However, since being in IFSA, ice cream has turned into a bonding moment and we would get it almost every time we walk by an ice cream shop. This is a new addiction that I will be bringing home with me, being that I now can eat it in almost below-freezing temperatures as long as the company is there.

I also started running again since my knee injury! My friend and I set out for a 2-mile light run, being that I have not moved that intensely for 4-5 months. However, when I started, I immediately got the runners high and could not stop. It felt so good and free so we ended up running for 5 miles, which is almost my personal best distance.

I got to explore so much more of Prague! Aside from the first week, the most I have seen of Prague was my walk to and from school. Outside of that trek, I would always be too tired after class to go on adventures in the city. This was like killing two birds with one stone! I was able to see the Jewish quarter and the area around Prague Castle, which has been on my bucket list since day one.

This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend but it ended up being hectic, as per usual. With my legs feeling like jelly after my run, my friends and I decided to spend a day hiking through the Karlstejn Castle and its neighboring villages.

The Czech Republic fails to disappoint every time. Just a 40-minute train ride outside of the city can take you to a completely different world! Being in nature is definitely growing on me. We spend the day sweating, tired and dehydrated but I left feeling so accomplished and fulfilled. It was nice detaching from the real world and just immersing ourselves in the present moment. None of us had any service so for most of the day, it was just each other and the markings on the trees guiding us through the hike.

Then, we did a day trip to Krakow, Poland! I went partly because I wanted to complete my goal of hitting 10 countries this study abroad semester but also because I wanted to see Auschwitz. Throughout our world history classes, I had a grasp of the tragedies faced those 5 years but seeing it in person was a whole other experience. It brought to light the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust and serves as a reminder of the dangers of hate and discrimination. The journey was overwhelming at times but I am glad I went.

After our Auschwitz tour, we took it as an opportunity to explore the city of Krakow. The city itself was smaller than I expected but it was pretty regardless. We were able to walk through most of it within a few hours and spent the rest watching the Krakow marathon and shopping!

That’s all for this week! Bye :)

Janice Liu

Computer Science

Tech Career Accelerator in Prague

#UmichEnginAbroad #IPEcsPrague #JaniceLiu #IPEWinter23 #UnitedStates

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nickbutterrun · 6 years

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Day 250 - Rome to Rimini Italy 🇮🇹 Travel Day - Stupidly long hair! I’m sooo tempted to get rid of it. - Another 4 hours on a train, a sleepy sea side town and on top of everything I lost a bet to Dani. Never trust a drunk! 😂 [Dani would like everyone to know he is not a drunk, that’s what’s all drunks say right?] - Today we made the 4 hour journey to Rimini from Rome. Despite not needing to run in Rimini it was the easiest option to run marathon 73 in San Marino 🇸🇲 tomorrow. - The plan tomorrow morning is to get up early, grab an 08:00 bus through the mountains to the small hilly country of San Marino. The 5th smallest country in the world and I’ve heard it’s beyond hilly. I have tired legs so it’s going to be a tough one. - We arrived about 5 hours ago; it’s not what I was expecting; no disrespect to Rimini but it’s basically the same as any Spanish coastal resort; run down, pretty empty and full of arcade stands and drab hotels. Basically the south eastern coastline of the U.K. - Once again, thanks to my team and the hospitality of the Hotel Estade for putting us up. Small, quaint and super friendly staff. Certainly lucked out - I lost a bet to Dani playing Table tennis 🏓 First to 3 games, I didn’t even make it to 1. I paid for dinner, and blamed the loss on the wind. - We made friends with some locals, had a few drinks in a huge outdoor bar on the beach and listened to some quirky love music. Time for bed. - Needless to say I will sleep like a baby tonight. I’m a little apprehensive for tomorrow. Fingers crossed it’s not too hilly for my tired body. I’m full of a cold still so fingers crossed. Right, I’m all showered, some stretching done, belly full, and now it’s time for sleep. 👌🏼 ahhh sleep. - Anyone running Berlin soon? #berlinmarathon2018 #running #runner #marathon #run #runnersofinstagram #body #adventure #berlin #nickbutter #hot #runnerguy #ukrunchat #runningtheworld196 (at Rimini, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/p/BntrJ9oH8JQ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=sy9ylurswkhc

#berlinmarathon2018 #running #runner #marathon #run #runnersofinstagram #body #adventure #berlin #nickbutter #hot #runnerguy #ukrunchat #runningtheworld196

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canaryatlaw · 6 years

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okay. today was not bad. not sure if we reached good, but overall now bad, which for now I will take. My body decided to wake me up at 7:50 am for no discernible reason, then decided I wasn’t gonna be able to fall back asleep so I was up for the day. well, might as well make the best of it and be productive. I wanted to make m&m pancakes because I haven’t made them in a while, and I’ve been getting lazy about measuring out the right proportions because I tend to like the batter to be thinner than what the measurements they tell you to use produce (thinner pancakes are less likely to burn on the outside while the middle still isn’t cooked and that gives me anxiety) so I just kinda eyeballed it, but it ended up being a bit too thin and the pancakes would just die when I tried to flip them, so I added some more mix and they were then working just fine. Made my pancakes, sat at the table with my computer and got a jump on the lecture for trusts. it was like 2 hours and 50 minutes, not too bad. It was alright, I did already do the New York trusts lecture so I did have some concept of what was going on, so it wasn’t like totally brand new information to me. I’d wanted to marathon two lectures today so then I don’t have to do one Monday when I’m running around doing a million other things to prep for the bar on Tuesday, so now that I was up early I was gonna try to marathon the two lectures, the second being about the same length as the first. this one was on “commercial paper” which is literally not a term I’ve even heard mentioned once in my three years of law school, so I really had no idea what was coming. The lecturer started off the video by basically saying there is legit little to no chance this is going to come up on the bar but we still made the lecture to be thorough at which point I was like okay PEACE and left because I’m not wasting precious studying time on shit that’s not gonna be on the bar (one paragraph I was reading said fed tax, which is a subject they still teach, hasn’t shown up on the bar in decades. DECADES.) so that was one less thing to do. there’s only one more lecture to cover that I’ll do tomorrow, and it’s secured transactions, which I just took in my last semester and somehow managed to swindle an A- out of it, so I’ll definitely have an advantage with that as opposed to these other subjects I never touched in high school. So, what to do now. I started with some practice questions trying to go slow and analytically, following their step by step problem solving theory, and the first batch came back with really bad grades and I was super frustrated and wanted to bang my head against the wall, but I calmed down and tried another, and the grade went up significantly, so I did a few more with mostly good grades, so that was encouraging. I did some outline review after that, then started going through the essays by subject and outlining them, which is probably something I should continue doing tomorrow, because I’m not great with the specialty subjects essays being that I just learned most of them. Interspersed with all of this was of course news coming out of comic con, I turned the push notifications off on my phone because there was just way too much coming out to distract me, but I would occasionally check it and yeah, there was just a lot. Of course there’s the fact that Jess met the entire cast, which I legit am not even a little bit surprised at because I fully expected that to happen at this point, because that’s just her life. But yeah, that’s all kinds of awesome of course (goddamn bar exam keeping me from going....) and then I took a break to make dinner. I’m still on the trying to convince myself I like eating chicken train, and I had bought some ingredients for a recipe I later decided I didn’t want to make, but I could add a few things and use them to make one meal I know is really good, chicken roll ups, which is basically shredded chicken mixed with cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese and then stuffed into crescent roll dough and cooked and it’s fucking heavenly. Well. I managed to fuck things up in quite a few ways that made them really not very good. First off, I was using leftover rotisserie chicken, which of course just had a different texture and taste, and was also a lot drier, and I didn’t measure how much it was and I think the ratio was too much so it through off the mixture. I also ended up not having enough cheese because the block of cheddar I had in the fridge had grown a really gross mold spot on it so I had to ditch that. And then, idk if this made any difference, but I didn’t have crescent dough but I had biscuit dough, so I figured if I just rolled it out it would work fine, and idk if that contributed to it not tasting right at all but it was at least one change. so I ended up basically eating the dough off of a few of those before tossing them because they were just not good. so that’s one more check in the “failed” column in this venture. Oh well. I did also watch videos and such out of SDCC as I could, I saw Caity’s IG live where she had the camera on the sizzle reel airing live, so that was a very cool way to get to see the footage for the first time. Everything that came out was so good, I’m so happy we’re getting soft AvaLance and so so much more. I’m so pumped for this season. But alas, I went back to my essays and was getting kind of frustrated when I had a bit of a moment. I had my pump up playlist on, which included a song called Meant To Be by Steven Curtis Chapman (if you’re unaware of who that is, he’s a Christian singer) which I had debated about whether I should add and then had debated again this afternoon if I should keep it as I was deleting some of them, but I did, and I’m just sitting there frustrated when I begin to focus on the lyrics, and in that moment they really spoke to my soul-

You were meant to be touching The lives that you touch And meant to be here Making this world so much more Than it would be without you in it

And in that minute, I was reminded of all of the reasons I am going on this crazy adventure, why I’m putting myself through all this stress and hard work. It’s because I care. It’s because I want to make a difference. I want to be the kind of person that has a radical effect on the areas of the world they worked in. I was meant to be here. I know I was. I may get frustrated sometimes and talk about how much I miss acting (which, to be fair, I really do) but at the end of the day, that decision wasn’t about me picking law because I didn’t think I could make it in acting, it was about me picking law because I wanted to be a lawyer more than anything else in this world. I had all of this in my mind and I walked over to the wall in my room where I have a picture of the little boy from the child death case I worked on. Manny. He will forever be an innocent four year old. He was denied the opportunity to grow up. And that is why I’m doing what I’m doing. I couldn’t save him, I wasn’t there. But I know there will be so, so many Manny’s in the future that I could be able to help if I worked hard and diligently and refused to back down when things get hard. That’s why I’m doing this. For all the little boys and girls who are facing potential deadly violence and neglect, innocent lives that can be saved, that can be spared meeting a grizzly death before they even get to kindergarten. Because I am so tired of hearing these stories. I. Am. So. Tired. So I’m going to do something about it. Alright, I think that’s enough of a rant for more, there will always be plenty more where that came from. I tried to do some more essays but my vision kept blurring on me which again idk if it’s a vision problem I’ve somehow developed or just a sign I’m overstudying, but it made it fairly impossible to work, so I gave up (I mean, it was also pushing like, 10 pm at this point, so it was probably a good cut off point). So I moved to the living room and watched Queer Eye, trying to unwind, which was helpful. And then I eventually decided I should go to bed, mostly because i’d like to not sleep the entire day tomorrow so I can actually get stuff done. And I am already very tired, my eyelids are actively trying to close on me right now, so I’m gonna finish here. Goodnight mah people. You da best.

#daily journal #July 2018 #Jess tag

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