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wowweeharrystyles · 4 years

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Part 1 | Kindness & The Perfect Fit | 9.2k words

‘Sequins & Zippers’ Summary: An internship with Harry Lambert transformed into a job of a lifetime - Aurora Del Gatto finds herself touring the world with the one & only Harry Styles as his ‘Head of Wardrobe.’ Aurora is nothing but nerves & excitement as she packs her bags & almost 100 custom designer suits that belong to an unbelievably kind rockstar. She never thought she’d fall in love on top of it all.

A/N: So here’s part 1 of Sequins & Zippers. A MASSIVE shoutout to @niallhoranapologist. If it weren’t for Gwen I probably wouldn’t have continued to work on this story. Thanks for always helping me brainstorm ideas, listen to me talk about these fictional characters all the time & for continuously supporting my writing. you da best.

“Ugg, this is useless,” Aurora groans as she throws the t shirt she had in hand across the room. Aurora has been attempting to pack her suitcase for hours now. “How the hell am I supposed to pack 4 months worth of clothes in a single suitcase?” she whispers in defeat to herself.

“Rory? Everything alright?” Aurora’s mother calls from the other room. Rory is the nickname her mom gave her when she was only a baby. Her mother walks into her room and sees the frustrated look on her daughter’s face.

“25 countries? The weather is gonna be different in every freaking country,” Rory lets out a frustrated sigh, falling onto her bed. “I can barely pack properly for a weekend trip.”

“Hey, you’re thinking too hard and overwhelming yourself,” her mother says softly as she sits on the bed next to her. She places a hand on her shoulder, “Let me help. We’ll figure it out.”

Aurora is currently trying to pack for her new job. After the craziest year she’s ever had, packed with graduating college, moving to London to work with one of the most well-known stylists in the fashion industry and having the time of her life doing what she loves most, she was offered a career-altering job for the next 4 months. Never did Aurora think she would be sitting in her room back home in a small suburb of New York surrounded by cardboard boxes labeled with things like: “NYC Apartment - kitchen,” “London - winter clothes,” “School things,” “London Flat - bedding,” “I have no idea, from london.” Organized Chaos explained her life best right now.

“Rory, sweetie, where’s your list?” her mother asks, looking around to locate the papers she’s been carrying around for the past week that’s covered in scribbled notes, lists upon lists and small sketches here and there. “Should’ve really been keeping that stuff in a journal or something.” She finds the papers scattered on Aurora’s desk and a few laid on top of boxes. “Probably wouldn’t be so overwhelmed if you could be a little bit more organized,” her mother sighs gathering the papers into a stack, tapping the bottom edges on the desk to line them up. “You’re normally so much more organized,” her mother continues before pressing a kiss to Aurora’s hair.

“It’s a lot, Mom. I don’t know where to start.” She stands up from her bed and grabs her phone as it dings, indicating she’s received an email. “Finally!” she exclaims with a sigh of relief. “Harry’s just sent me my official itinerary and all of my flight info.”

“Harry Styles himself emailed you your travel plans?” her mother asks in disbelief.

“No, mom, Lambert. Harry Lambert, my boss.”

“Oh yeah, of course,” she laughs lightly, “How many mix ups has there been with that name?”

Aurora’s new job is ‘Head of Wardrobe’ for Harry Styles’ Arena World Tour. In all honesty, she has no idea how she got here. Well she does, but it still doesn’t feel real. Lambert’s original hire for the tour ended up needing to stay in London to help him with his styling work there and she was next in line, but she still isn’t too sure how she got this lucky. The past year happened so fast and it was one opportunity after another that landed her here. She’s barely had a moment to breathe after the holidays and some small jobs here and there to keep her busy. Last January, just over a year ago, Aurora traveled to London for a six week menswear design course at Central Saint Martins for some extra credits before her final semester of college. During this course, she was lucky enough to met Harry Lambert. After he saw her collection of work from the past few years, what her thesis plans were and what she had been working on during the CSM course he kept her information on file for the future. When Aurora left london at the end of the course she had no idea if she would ever hear from Harry Lambert again, but around mid march she received an email from him about an internship position he needed to fill and thought she would be perfect for. Starting the internship in NYC before she even graduated, May was a whirlwind and was the perfect indication on how the rest of her year would be. She moved to London in June and was put to work without a second to spare.

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” Aurora’s mother starts before launching into a detailed plan on how they’re both gonna tackle packing up Aurora’s life for the next 4 months on the road, traveling. They’ve got barely 3 days until her flight leaves for London.

Nearly 4 hours later and they’ve organized Aurora’s room. Unpacking the appropriate boxes, written a new packing list, and they’ve also written a shopping list. They’ve got organized piles surrounding them. Again, Organized Chaos best describes Aurora’s life, always.

“Oh, what about that long pleated skirt you made last year? The emerald green one? You definitely need to take that.” Aurora’s eyes lit up at the idea. She loved that skirt, it was versatile enough that she could pair with heels or sneakers. Versatile pieces were key to packing she found out quickly. Her mom reaches into her closet and searches for it. “Probably at the back, haven’t worn it in awhile,” she motions towards her closet while sorting through the box of her bags, making decisions on which ones she’ll need with her.

“Oh gosh, Rory, look what I found,” her mom emerges from the closet with a handful of rolled up posters.

Aurora goes bright red knowing exactly what is on those posters. “Oh no. I kept those?” her mom sets them down on the floor but keeps one to unroll. Once the tape is off and her mom has got it flat, she turns it around to face Aurora. It’s a large poster of One Direction from a TigerBeat magazine. Aurora drops her face into her hands.

“Remember when you couldn’t see a bit of the wall cause of these posters? If I remember right, you liked that blonde one yeah?” her mom laughs, rolling the poster back up. “Maybe you should take one with you and have Harry sign it? He’d get a kick out of it, I’m sure.”

“Mom!” Aurora whines. “This is my job, my career. I have to be nothing but professional.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a joke or two. Gotta have fun still and honestly, he’d probably think it’s cute.”

“Mom, it’s embarrassing and I’m gonna be working with him and his team for the next 4 months.” Her mother can see the panic on her face. “I cannot just show up with a One Direction poster.”

“Ror, I’m just having a bit of fun with you. You need to relax or you’ll just be frustrated and stressed the entire time.” She sets the posters aside and goes to join Aurora on the floor. Placing a hand on her cheek, “Baby girl, my baby girl, promise me you’ll have some fun? This is a chance of a lifetime and I know you’ll work your butt off and do your job perfectly, but you need to enjoy it too. Okay?” Aurora nods slowly. She knows her mother is right, she always is.

“Okay,” she says softly giving her mom a weary smile.

“You’ll be okay, I know you will,” her mom says before leaning in and hugging her daughter. “I’m so proud of you.”

Aurora and her mother continue bustling around her room until the sun sets. By the time there is no daylight left there are 2 large suitcases completely full, all organized and packed with Aurora’s belongings. They spend the next hour packing up Aurora’s rolling caboodle. The large, rollable, sturdy set of drawers and compartments is from Aurora’s days as a competition dancer. It used to carry her stage makeup, extra pairs of tights, accessories and an emergency sewing kit. It was always covered in glitter and there were bobby pins in every nook and cranny, a few stray sets of false eyelashes too. But for the past 4 years, she’s used it for all things sewing and design. She never went to class or the design studio without it. Aurora and her mom empty the drawers and reorganize the contents. They make another list of things they need to pick up at the local sewing store the next day. Aurora pulls out her old sketchbooks and sets them to the side and adds a new clean book to the now empty drawer along with her cases of Micron pens, drawing pencils and prisma coloured pencils.

Aurora continues to organize each little compartment as her mother prints out small labels and adds them to the section dividers. Aurora loves to be overly organized and have everything in its place. It keeps her calm and stops her from getting overwhelmed in stressful situations. There’s nothing she hates more than being backstage at a fashion show and needing a simple needle and thread to fix a small seam quickly and having to dig through the drawers to find what she needs. Backstage life, anywhere, fashion shows, dance competitions, or even a world tour, can be stressful if you’re not prepared properly.

“Oh, keep the box of sequins and swarovski crystals in there. I actually might need them.” Aurora finishes the sentence with a giggle as she’s setting her scissors in their respective home.

“Really?” her mom laughs too.

“Yeah, some of the looks for this tour are actually pretty sparkly. You never would’ve thought. I actually might have to bedazzle a few things on the road.”

“You’re home!” her mother sing-songs. They both laugh again thinking about the countless hours they spent bedazzling dance costumes with 100’s of crystals.

After saying goodbye to her parents through a continuous flow of tears, Aurora got on an 8 hour flight. She kept herself busy on the flight to occupy her mind and stop her from overthinking or panicking about the next 4 months ahead of her. She landed in London on the 3rd of March, just a few days till she’d be back at this exact airport with the same luggage plus a few crates labeled ‘Wardrobe’ that she’d also have to care for. She made her way to the Air B’N’B that had been set up for her for the next few days and headed straight to bed. One thing Aurora, jokingly, prides herself on is the ability to sleep anywhere at anytime.

When the morning rolls around and her alarm wakes her, she’s preparing herself a cup of coffee when her phone rings. She notices Lambert’s ID on the screen. She answers and they exchange good mornings before he asks her about her travels from the day before.

“Okay, so, I’m sending a car to where you’re staying in about an hour to bring you to the arena.”

“Arena? I thought we were meeting at your studio?”

“Oh no, change of plans, sorry should have mentioned that in an email. Harry is in full rehearsal mode and everything for the tour is at the mock stage space at Wembley Arena. They’ve just finished the final tech rehearsals and Harry will be there today to start running the show,” Lambert continues. The new knowledge of Harry Styles being there on her first day makes Aurora jittery, small butterflies erupting in her stomach. She’s met Harry before. They’re friendly, but she was only just Lambert’s shadow anytime they were together. He was sweet and kind, just as everyone always says, but she was still a tad nervous. She will be with him almost everyday, on her own, without Lambert there to be a buffer. Aurora tended to be a nervous person, especially if she doesn’t know someone all that well. She can keep her nerves at bay and save a proper panic for after the situation ends most times, which is the best she can do right now. It’s something she’s working on. It’s what she hates most about herself, not being able to keep her nerves in check.

“Oh yeah, makes sense,” Aurora responds, surprisingly with no jitters evident in her voice.

“Great, I can have the run of show lookbook all put together for you when you arrive and we’ll go through it and make notes.” “Do you mind if I actually set it up when I get there? I would feel much better and more settled doing it myself as we do a walkthrough of the wardrobe.”

“Of course, Aurora, whatever you think will work best for you.”

She thanks him and they end the phone call after confirming the time and car that will be picking her up. She finishes off her coffee and heads to the living room where she left her suitcases last night. One of the large suitcases was lying on the ground, opened, exactly where Aurora left it last night. She ruffles through the contents of her suitcase, moving around different packing cubes until she finds the cube that contains her favourite black jeans. She locates a creme hooded knit sweater and some clean undergarments. She pops into the shower and continues to bustle around the small flat getting ready. At some point she turns on some music to distract her mind. There’s an airy feeling in the flat, the sun shining in london for a change and it calms Aurora down despite the nerves running through her veins. Aurora checks her watch, 10 minutes until her car is due to pick her up. She slides on her all white leather court sneakers and laces them up, tucking in the excess laces for a clean finish. She grabs her black bomber jacket and slips her arms in, then pulls out the hood from her sweater so it lays comfortably on the outside of the jacket’s collar. She takes a quick look in the full body mirror that leans up against the white brick wall across from the large, unmade bed. She’s reminded by the reflection in her mirror to text her mother and thank her for convincing her to pack her favourite clothes instead of all her fancy stuff. She looks put together but is still extremely comfortable, prepared for anything today has to offer her.

There’s a short honk from the street in front of the building. Aurora grabs her rolling caboodle and her purse before rushing out the door to meet the driver.

20 minutes later she finds herself stepping out of the car and thanking the driver for holding the door. He grabs her caboodle from the trunk and hands it to Aurora and wishing her well and to have a nice day. Harry Lambert greets her at the door giving her a big hug and exclaiming about how excited he is to have her there. He takes her an office where the tour manager, Michael is set up. The office is busy with several people working at desks on laptops and people taking phone calls. Lambert introduces Aurora to the team and gets her set up with her tour pass and all the nitty gritty stuff. Within half an hour she’s all set for tour and has her new lanyard tied to her on a belt loop. They walk through the never ending halls plastered with signs that state “Treat People With Kindness” and Aurora smiles everytime she sees another. Lambert points out different places, important notes posted on bulletin boards and casually introduces her to people as they quickly pass.

Everyone seems to be on a mission, darting in and out of rooms and talking on headsets. It’s a busy atmosphere but nobody seems stressed or upset. Aurora appreciates the hustle that everyone seems to have. There’s smiles and high fives passed between crew members and coffees getting pass along. Lambert points out where Harry’ band’s dressing room is and then Harry’s as well. Harry’s reads “Hershel” on the sign that sticks out from the wall.

“Hershel?” Lambert chuckles when he sees the confused look on her face.

“Yeah, Jeff, his manager, you’ve met him, calls him Hershel 95% of the time.” She nods along with a smile. After making their way through a few more halls they reach a larger dressing room. “Okay, so here’s our space for the week.” Aurora rolls her caboodle and sets it against the wall near the door for now and sets her purse down on an empty space on the counter that lines one of the shorter walls. On the wall directly across from the doorway there are 3 large black cases that stand about 6 feet tall, opened and filled with garment bags.

“Is everything here already?” Aurora makes her way towards the case farthest left.

“Hopefully!” Lambert picks up a large binder that’s sitting on the table across from a small leather couch. “That’s where we’re starting. Checking through each night’s look and making sure it’s all here.” She takes the binder that Lambert has handed her and opens it up to the first page.”

“Oh wow. I almost forgot how beautiful these suits are.” Towards the end of her internship in London, Lambert let her help him pick some options for the tour. She thumbs through the book quickly to get a glimpse of the beautiful designer suits. She notices quite a few of her favourites made the cut. The 2 of them sit down and devise a plan to best get through this large task of double checking the 60 looks in front of them. They’re about ¾ the way through around 1pm when they mutually decide to take a break and grab some lunch before they power through the rest of the wardrobe. After meeting more members of the crew and grabbing another cup of coffee, Lambert and Aurora make their way back to their dressing room.

“Hey, let’s go take a look at the stage,” Lambert said as he made a sharp turn in the opposite direction of the room they’ve been working in. “I haven’t seen the final setup yet.”

“Oh, I’d love that!” Aurora’s face lights up at the idea. They enter from the back of the stage. The stage itself is fully constructed but the light trees are currently hanging low to the ground and crew members are working carefully to change the direction, colour or size of each bulb. Lambert excuses himself as he takes a call, telling Aurora he’ll meet her back in the dressing room in 15 minutes. Aurora continues the theme from today and introduces herself to the stage crew. “Mind if I check out the stage?” she asks Jack, one of the crew members who introduced himself as the Stage Manager.

“Go ahead, just keep an eye out, we haven’t cleaned up much.” She nods and smiles while walking up the metal steps at the side of the stage. She takes careful steps as she steps to center stage. She looks out into the empty arena. The lights are low and the noise from the powertools is echoing through the arena.

Though there isn’t any music, the stage lights aren’t shining, and she isn’t in one of her rhinestoned costumes, she still feels at home standing center stage. The nerves she’s been holding on to all morning wash away as she takes a deep breath. Her eyes flutter shut for a moment and she remembers the last time she performed on a stage like this one. It was her senior year of high school at nationals in New York City. It was her farewell to her dance career. A smile starts to grow on her face, the nerves from this morning, the the whole trip to get here, completely washed away now.

“Oi!” a voice booms through the air, making Aurora jump and she searches for where it came from. She turns around, her hair following her as she turns. Her hair continues to follow her movement, falling in front of her face a bit but she can still make out the face the voice comes from. “What’re you doing on my stage?” She’s met with a smiley, broad shouldered Harry Styles. He’s got his hands in the pockets of the tartan trousers he’s wearing. The strong feeling of embarrassment brings heat to her cheeks as she looks down at the black and white vans he’s sporting.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I-,” she starts rambling apologies. She watches his vans take a few steps closer to her. Aurora’s fumbling with her hands, a nervous tick of hers. “-I was told, told, I could, could, check out the stage,” she’s stuttering over her words and pointing in the direction of Jack. She finally stops talking when she meets Harry’s eyes. He’s still beaming and her stomach drops at the fact that he’s enjoying this situation. His confidence paints an incredible stark difference from her mumbling nervousness. Her brain is a bit fuzzy right now but that doesn’t stop her from noticing the way his eyes sparkle.

“I’m only joking, love” he says as he pulls his hands out of his pockets with a chuckle. “The stage suits you.”

“I’m sorry,” Aurora offers again. “I’m-” She’s reaching her hand out when he cuts off her introduction.

“Love, we’ve met. How could I forget you, Aurora.” She’s startled a bit when her name comes out of his mouth. “Ya fixed the hole in my pink jacket, remember?” He’s stepping closer to her and before she’s able to process what’s happening he’s wrapped his arms around her torso, his tattooed arm rubbing her back briefly before pulling away.

A small laugh leaves her mouth, “I remember, didn’t think you would is all.” Her voice is soft and trails off towards the end of her sentence.

“Not got much a reputation then if I’ve got people that work with me thinking I’ll forget them.” He lets out a soft chuckle and his smile elicits a dimple on his cheek.

“No, no, you’ve got a much better reputation than that, promise. You must meet a lot of people day to day is all.” Aurora is calming down, now, realizing that there is no reason for her to be so nervous around him. She’s interacted with him before, this shouldn’t be so jarring to her. Though this time is different. She wouldn’t be working behind Lambert or running errands. She’ll be with Harry just about everyday and she terrified she’ll never be comfortable, always anxiety ridden. Although his life is much different from hers, she’ll be getting a real taste of it and they’re close in age. They’re bound to find something in common. Right?. There’s a bit of silence before Aurora speaks up. “Well, your suits aren’t gonna organize themselves. I better go find Lambert.”

“Yes, of course. Don’t let me stop you from your work.” Aurora nods. She excuses herself as she makes a comment about how she thinks the stage looks great so far. Just after she’s walked past him she feels him grab her hand. “I’m excited to have ya on tour with us, love. Happy to have you making sure I sparkle just right on this stage.” He’s let go of her hand and presents his arms out to the sides as he mentions the stage.

She’s beaming back at him. “Packed extra rhinestones just for you.” She’s almost skipping down the stairs after that. A weight of relief falling from her shoulders in a light sigh. First, interaction with Harry? Check. She finds her way back to the room she’d been working in all morning. She settles down on the couch again, pulling the large binder into her lap. She jots down a few notes and adds to the ever growing list of things that need to be done. She stands up and walks over to one of the open wardrobe cases. She’s sliding hangers across the rack before she gets to the next look. Aurora takes the hanger off the rack. The sleek black hanger is labeled Yves Saint Laurent and an emerald green sequined button down shirt hangs off of it. There’s a pair of black straight leg trousers folded over the hanger as well. Aurora carries the ensemble across the room and hangs it on one of the vanity bulbs that sticks out from the light bulb framed mirror. She fixes the collar so it’s sitting straight. She takes a step back with one hand on her hip and another on her chin.

“What’re you thinking?” Lambert asks when he sees Aurora’s furrowed brow. She hums, still processing her thoughts.

“You know Michael Jackson’s black sequin jacket? The one he wore when he did the moonwalk for the first time?” He nods, following along. “Think we could play with that idea. What if Harry wore this open, with the Calvin tank?” In the small section of a wardrobe they’ve already gone through is a slew of clothing articles that will be used for multiple shows. The Calvin tank she’s referencing is one that will be, in Aurora’s opinion, an iconic, staple for the entire tour. It’s a simple white ribbed tank but on the left side, “Treat People With Kindness” is embroidered in black. “It’d be closer to Michael’s ‘Billie Jean’ performance in Munich that same year, but it’s the iconic sequin jacket that will sell it.”

“You really know your stuff huh?” Lambert chuckles, impressed by her knowledge and the way her brain works. Lambert walks away and grabs the tank from the rack and brings it back to Aurora.

A smile creeps onto Aurora’s face. “My mom loves Michael Jackson. Loves him like everyone loves Harry. I grew up dancing around the house to his music.” She takes the tank from Lambert after he slides it off the hanger. She’s quick to unbutton the YSL shirt in excitement but does it as carefully as possible. She hangs the tank under the shirt, turning it into a overshirt now. The smile on her face is growing. She’s in her element, doing exactly what she’s always wanted to do. Lambert places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. A silent approval. Aurora walks back to the table and writes down their decision for this look in the notebook she’s been working with. They go through a few more suits and make a note that they’ll need an extra white button down from Gucci. Lambert is sending Aurora there sometime this week to pick a few more things up that are getting finished and some extra shoes for Harry as well. Lambert says Harry likes to wear his shoes to dust and that Aurora will have to make sure he doesn’t go on stage with holes in his shoes cause he will, especially his rainbow loafers. They finish going through the rest of the suits before calling it a day. Lambert fills her in on the next few day’s timeline to prepare her for the week. Aurora leaves the arena feeling like her heart could burst. She couldn’t have imagined a better first day at her new job. Aurora heads to bed early, after she orders a Domino’s Pizza, to rest up for the days ahead and beat the jet lag that’s bound to hit her in the next few days.

When she gets to Wembley the next morning, Aurora grabs a coffee from craft services and says hello to a few people she recognizes from yesterday. She’s thankful that everyone has a lot to get done and people are jutting off to their own areas to get to work. Aurora would be lying to herself if she didn’t acknowledge that she’s a bit overwhelmed by all of the new faces. She knows faces will become familiar as time goes on but right now she’s content with her coffee and knowing that she’s walking to a room to work on her own for awhile.

When she finds herself in the familiar green room she sets herself up for the day. Aurora pulls her laptop out of her leather bag and presses play on her current spotify playlist. She likes working alone, but not in silence. After collecting her notebook from yesterday and the envelope of images that Lambert left for her she sits down and starts putting together the final look book for tour. She’s organizing the book by tour dates, making a section for each city.

“Basel, Switzerland” is written on the top of the 1st page in bold all capital letters. Aurora tapes an image of the black glittered Gucci suit that Harry will wear for the opening night of his world tour. She copies any notes she made about this look from yesterday onto the space underneath the photo. After she’s finished the page for Switzerland she goes to the large cases and pulls the black glittered Gucci suit to the empty rolling rack that she set up yesterday. Each of the traveling cases will need to be organized by date to make traveling and set up easier throughout the tour. She continues this process for the next 2 hours. Once her coffee is empty at the end of the 2 hours she has almost 6 cities complete. Aurora takes her empty coffee cup as a sign for her to take a break. Before leaving the room to get more coffee she checks her phone. There’s a few notifications, emails from lists she keeps forgetting to unsubscribe to and a string of texts from her mother. She laughs at the first text - “I know you’re probably fine, but you’re in a different country and I need to hear your voice to make sure you’re still alive and it’s not some kidnapper texting me back” - then another text about 20 mins after that one reads “I love you, I know you’re busy, but please call me” and the last one delivered just a few minutes ago, “I’m your mother, it’s my job to worry.” Aurora shakes her head and feels a bit guilty because she hasn’t texted her mom as much as she probably should have and before knocking out last night she texted her back apologizing for not calling after her first day and that she was just too exhausted.

Her mom doesn’t answer and is greeted with an automatic voicemail greeting, “Classic,” she chuckles as she hangs up without leaving a message. She shakes her head, standing in the doorway as she sends off a text saying she’s taking a break and to call her back, adding a “I’m good, everything’s amazing! Just calling to chat” as she always does so her mother doesn’t worry any more than she is. As she finishes the texts she mumbled a bit to herself about how her mother is always worrying but never picks up her dang phone. It isn’t until a familiar voice rings through the hallway that she realises she was mumbling quite clearly.

“Sorry, everything alright, love?” Harry’s distinct voice travels closer to her as she looks up from her phone to him. She’s made her way into the arena hallway completely now. There’s a small furrow in his brow but a slight grin on his face.

“Ah yeah, didn’t realise I was talking out loud.” She holds her phone up, “You know mothers, always worrying but never actually answering their phone when you call.” Harry laughs, his shoulders shaking. “She sent me this string of texts about being worried and 2 minutes later doesn’t pick up when I call her.” She sighs before sliding her phone into the pocket of the track jacket she’s got on today.

“My mum does the same. Always saying we don’t talk enough or that she misses me and when I do get the chance she’ll text me back saying she’s out with friends drinking wine or s’thing like that.” Aurora laughs along with him. When she takes a proper look at him she notices he’s wearing black adidas joggers today with a white t shirt and a black nike jacket.

“Looks like we both had the same idea when we got ready this morning,” she continues to laugh while gesturing between to two of them. They’re dressed almost identical right down to the white sneakers. Aurora’s got on her favourite black lululemon leggings instead of joggers but her tshirt and track jacket look just the same as Harry’s. Harry takes a good look at what he’s got on and back to Aurora and his eyes begin to crinkle and his nose scrunches up before he’s laughing. The laugh is almost a giggle and Aurora has to hold back from flashing him the most endearing smile.

“Guess it’s a good thing that my Head of Wardrobe and I match. Must mean I’ve got the right person taking care of my clothing then.” He swings his arm around her shoulder before asking if she’s got a minute to grab a snack.

“Probably should eat and I definitely need some more coffee,” she replies with a smile and shoves her hands into the pockets of her jacket not knowing what to do with them. There’s something about Harry, it’s that thing that people always talk about, his ease around everyone, the way he makes you feel like you’ve known each other forever. His kind demeanor relaxes Aurora and she’s sure this is how he makes everyone feel. Harry starts to go on about different things that are happening around the arena as they walk to the green room, pointing out different people and what they’re working on. Harry doesn’t know this, but the more Aurora knows about her surroundings and the things people are doing, the more comfortable she feels. Aurora likes knowing what’s going on. She knows it’s got something to do with wanting control over as much as she can but she also knows that there is so much going on that she can’t control anything and she especially knows that it isn’t her job. But knowing is good for her. Just as they turn the corner to the green room her phone rings. She pulls it out of her pocket and “Mother” with a pink heart is flashing on her screen. She shows the phone to Harry and she slides out from under his arm. “Rain check on the snacks?” she offers him before answering the call. She smiles as he shoots her a grin and voices an ‘of course’ before he turns around and goes back the way they had came. She questions his actions for a moment before saying hello to her mother.

Aurora pulls out her notebook while she’s in the car the next morning to review what she needs to get done today. Written in red, at the top of the page under today’s date is: final fitting with Harry @ 12pm. She’s excited to get some of the newer pieces on him and finally have all the looks together. She’s nervous too. Lambert won’t be there again today or barely at all the rest of the week, her part time buffer ripped away sooner than expected. She knows there’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just Harry. ‘Just Harry,’ she continues to mumble under her breath.

“Miss Del Gatto, we’ve arrived,” Steven, her driver, who she’s come accustomed to after the past few rides, announces. Aurora looks out the window and sees the Gucci store front.

“Thanks, Steven. I’ll only be a few minutes.” She smiles at him before stepping out of the car. She got dressed this morning in slightly more put together outfit that she had on yesterday, knowing she had to stop into a few stores on her way in to pick up some pieces that were still missing. Her black chunky heeled leather boots make a clacking sound as she walks towards the entrance. Before she can even reach for the door, she’s welcomed by a man in an all black suit that is welcoming her into the store.

“Welcome to Gucci.” His voice is deep but bright and welcoming, she thanks him with a smile.

Once she’s a few more steps into the door she adjusts the small gold airplane necklace that is sitting on the outside of her black turtleneck before speaking up. “I’m here to pick up some shoes for Harry,” she rattles out. A questioned look appears on the man’s face. “Harry Lambert and Styles.” She clarifies.

“Aurora Del Gatto, yes?” another woman’s voice speaks up from across the store.

“Uh, y-yes,” she stammers while turning towards the women.

“I’m Lauren. Nice to meet you, Aurora. Harry told me to be expecting you this morning.” Aurora shakes Lauren’s hand with a smile. Lauren looks like a seasoned pro, her black suit fits her perfectly and her greying hair is pulled up into an elegant low bun. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” she says motioning towards the plush dark purple couches. “Would you like any water or coffee, dear?”

“Oh, I’m alright actually, thank you.”

“I’ll be right back with everything.” Aurora nods in acknowledgement while sitting down on the couch. She slides off the lightweight, long, camel coloured coat she’s wearing and drapes it over the couch next to her. She checks her watch to make sure she’s good on time. She’s got to stop at Calvin Klein as well before heading to arena to prep for Harry’s fitting. It’s just gone on 10am, she’s got plenty of time but still anxious at the thought of arriving just before the fitting, not getting a chance to set up. She’s brought back from her thoughts when Lauren returns with 3 shoe boxes in her arms and a garment bag.

“I think there are only 2 pairs of shoes I’m supposed to be picking up,” Aurora questions, “the rainbow loafers and the Spring 18 leather boots.” Lauren’s face lights up in a smile.

“Yes, those are both here and there’s a pair of sneakers here for you as well.” Aurora’s face reflects exactly what is going through her mind: surprise, shock, and other emotions she couldn’t put words to. Her jaw has dropped and her eyes are wide. “Harry called last night and wanted us to fit you into some Ace Sneakers for the tour.”

“Lambert said that?” Aurora is confused, giddy and nervous, always nervous. She doesn’t even know how to accept a gift like this. She’d also be lying if she hadn’t been looking at these sneakers forever.

“No, dear, Harry Styles.” Aurora is beyond caught off guard at this point.

“I’m sorry, I think there must be a mistake. There’s no reason for Harry to be giving me anything.”

“He specifically called these in for you. I don’t know the details, he just wanted to make sure you walked out with the perfect fit.” She set 2 of the boxes down on a glass table and brought over the 3rd box. “I grabbed the 7.5, I’m normally pretty good at guessing.”

“Well, you would be right.” Aurora laughs nervously. She slides off her boots in order to avoid the overwhelming thoughts in her head. She’s afraid if she doesn’t keep moving she might go into shock. She’s trying on the sneakers before she speaks up again, “Uhm,” Aurora starts to speak, “Does Harry, uh, do this often? I-I mean, uh call in for gifts?”

“I wouldn’t say often, but I’ve fulfilled a few of his gifting requests over the past few years. Just a handful though. There really hasn’t been many, if I’m honest.”

Aurora smiles to herself. She’s still confused about it all but still that same familiar feeling rushes through her when she’s reminded of Harry’s incredible kind demeanor. And before she knew it, she's walking out of Gucci with a smile on her face, a tingle in her fingers, a garment bag and not 2 but 3 boxes of shoes.

She’s setting up one last suit on the tall silver rolling rack before she checks her watch. 11:59. She made great time getting to Wembley after grabbing the pink plaid jacket and custom boots from Calvin Klein. There’s a light knock on the slightly ajar door seconds later.

“‘Ello, love,” Harry’s voice booms through the small, concrete walled room. Aurora turns towards the door. “All ready!” He exclaims as he makes his way towards her.

“Hi Harry,” Aurora responds before Harry has a hand at her waist and is placing a light kiss on the top of her cheek.

“How’s your morning been?” He’s now made his way to the rolling rack she had just filled.

“Good,” she wants to ask him about the shoes but she doesn’t know how to bring it up. “I did uh- I, I-”

“Can I try this one on?” Harry interrupts, suddenly distracted by the garments he hasn’t seen yet. She’s grabbing her book from the table across the room when she hears the sound of hangers hitting the floor. “Oooff,” there’s a chuckle that follows. “That one’s a bit slippery.”

“Oh gosh, yeah I need to add some hanger loops to that one,” Aurora sets her book down and rushes over to pick up the fallen garments and hangers. Harry utters a few sorry’s before stepping away. She swears she hears him mumble about being in the way. Once she’s got the fallen garments gathered on the crook of her arm, she grabs a hanger adorn in the pink plaid Calvin suit. “That’s what you get for being so nosy,” she quips at him and hands him the suit. His jaw drops slightly but before he can say a thing Aurora’s speaking again, “Try this one on first, please.” Aurora lingers on the please and shoots him a sweet smile. “There’s a small room through there you can change in.” She turns around after motioning towards the door and sees that Harry already has his trousers down to his ankles. “Orrrr you can change right there.”

“Oh, don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, darling,” he responds as you quickly turn away, sliding the plaid trousers all the way up and buttoning them just as fast.

“Oh no, you’re fine, don’t wanna be rude is all.” Aurora is flipping through her book finding the section for Stockholm. “The black ribbed tank was on the hanger with the jacket, yeah?” She asks as she skims over the page in front of her. He hums back letting her know it’s there. Aurora lifts up her coffee cup from earlier this morning to her lips, turning around to find Harry fully dressed in the Calvin Klein suit she picked up this morning. She frowns realising there’s no coffee left in her cup.

“What?” Harry asks, his brows knitted together in concern after seeing the frown on her face. “Does it look that bad?” He’s messing with the way he’s tucked the shirt into the waistband of the trousers.

Aurora giggles at his frantic hands. “Harry, nothing could look bad on you.” She shakes the empty cup in front of him. “I’m out of coffee.”

“Well, that frown was badly timed. I’ve got a brand new suit on and that’s the first reaction I get?’

“Oh you’ll be fine, rockstar. Plenty of ego pumping in the near future,” Aurora quips backs at him as she makes a circle around him. “They did great with this one,” she’s pulling at the shoulders of the jacket so it sits just right on his broad frame. “How do the trousers feel?” She asks as she smooths down the fabric of the sleeves before rounding back to face Harry straight on.

“The trousers? Yeah they feel good. Fit perfect, I think.” He’s pulled up the bottom of the jacket and is twisting his hips round. “Wha’ d’ya think?”

“I think Calvin Klein knows exactly what he’s doing,” she says with a smirk. “Okay, that one’s all set, go ahead and put this one on now.” She hands him another pink jacket, this one velvet with embellishments and it has a Gucci tag on it rather than Calvin Klein. She hands him black trousers with a gold trim as well. “You’ll wear this with a button down but just try with the tank. I just need to make sure all the alterations were done properly.”

“Did you stop at Gucci this morning? Lambert mentioned you were going,” he asks while handing her the plaid suit he just took off. Aurora busies herself with hanging them up.

“Yeah. Got your loafers and boots. I also-”

“Oh nooooo, Aurora,” Harry’s voice is panicky.

“Wha-,” is all she gets out before she sees and hears the beads rolling on the floor. “Ahhh I had a feeling that was going to happen. And THIS is why we try things on 100 times. Wouldn’t want you unraveling on stage.” She runs over to her kit that stands in the corner.

“I’m sorry, not sure what I did,” Harry’s face shows worry like he’s done something wrong.

“Hun, you didn’t do anything, promise. I think it might have been from the alterations.” Aurora is tying a knot in a piece of thread before walking over to him. “I’m just gonna close this strand up while it’s on you and I’ll re embellish it later.” The piece that’s come undone is on the right shoulder. She slides her hand under the jacket to find the back of the spot she needs to fix. Her hand brushes the skin of his shoulder, reminding her he’s only wear the tank underneath and he flinches. “Sorry, my hands are probably cold. This will only take a second.”

“S’alright, love.” There’s silence while she focuses on the work in front of her. Once she’s finished she carefully slips a small pair of gold scissors underneath the jacket and cuts the thread and needle she had been working with loose, detaching herself from Harry’s shoulder. “That was quick,” Harry says with a tone of surprise and Aurora thinks she can hear a little bit of disappointment as well. Aurora shrugs her shoulders in response.

“Could you put on the black version of that jacket for me?” Aurora asks as she grabs a spool of black thread. “Think we might have the same problem with that one too.” She slides the needle she’s threaded with black thread onto the cuff of her sweater so she doesn’t lose it. She helps Harry into the black jacket and hangs up the one he just had on.

“Aannddd there it is,” Harry says with chuckle as a strand of beads comes loose on his right sleeve. Aurora gets to work on the one on his sleeve as 2 more make themselves known on his back. “So you got my boots and loafers this morning? Up to anything else before I came in and ruined all the garments?” Aurora laughs and moves to his back to take care of the broken pieces there.

“Uhm picked up that Calvin jacket and your custom boots. Let me tell you, those boots are glorious. The glossed leather with the steel tip will look incredible with your suits. ”

“Oh can I see them when we’re done?”

“‘Course you can!” There’s some silence between them again as she concentrates on the job in front of her. She catches a glimpse of the white gucci bags that are sitting by one of the wardrobe cases and it’s like those new sneakers are burning a hole in her head. It clicks in her head now that he’s been directing the conversation this way trying to get it out of her. “Hey Harry,” she’s met with a hum, “can I ask you about something?” She continues to work on the jacket, keeping her hands busy. She’s thankful that the strand she’s working on is on his back so she doesn’t have to make eye contact with him.

“‘Course, Aurora.”

“Uhm, at Gucci this morning, they uh, they fitted me for sneakers,” Harry hums in response, “and um, I-I, um, that was very kind of you.” She’s stuttering through her words. It wasn’t until now that she got a tinge of nervousness. “Y-you didn’t need to do that. Really.”

“Aurora, I wanted to. And I thought you deserved some new shoes.” She can’t see his face but she can hear the smile that’s formed on his face. “We’ve got a few countries to trek around the next few months.”

Moments later she’s finished repairing what she can and she’s sliding Harry’s jacket off his shoulders. “Thank you, Harry,” she says finally after the black jacket is hung back on its Gucci hanger on the rolling rack near them. “Seriously, too kind.”

“No such thing as too kind, Ror,” he quips back and before she can comment on the nickname, he’s talking again. “Now what else do you need me to try on?”

The afternoon goes by quickly and Harry is patient with her. He stands up straight in each new piece and asks questions about different things she’s making notes of or checking off of her thousands of lists. She checks her watch quickly as she’s making one last note.

“How is it 3 o’clock already?” Aurora stammers out. “Sorry to take your entire afternoon from you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ror.” Harry’s pulling down the hem of his white tshirt he walked in wearing earlier today, “Nice to spend some time with ya and seems like you’ve been able to check a lot off your list.”

“You probably have a list a mile long of things that need to be done this week too, though,” she rebuttals. “Or do you have someone to take care of those things for you?” she jokes.

“Oh yeah, don’t remember their name, but I just tell them everything I need done and they do it for me.” The look on Aurora’s face is utter disgust, unable to politely react because she wasn’t expecting that answer. There was no hint of sarcasm in Harry’s voice. Harry’s face is still and he’s silent for a moment before his nose scrunches up and a giggle erupted from his mouth. “Ror, I’m totally kidding.” He’s placed a hand on her shoulder now, rubbing his thumb soothingly.

“Harry,” she’s giggling along now too, “you had me for a second.”

Harry thanks her for her work and the time spent together today and leaves only after giving her a hug and a short kiss on her cheek.

The next few days are spent hand stitching gold and silver beads onto those 2 Gucci jackets, labeling every single piece of the wardrobe and then organizing the giant crates for the travel managers to take and get ready to fly. She walks through all of the wardrobes multiple time and completes fittings with all of Harry’s band members as well. Brief 1 hour time frames are scheduled with each of them, Clare, Sarah, Adam and Mitch. Lambert pops in to make sure the final fittings went well and pays complements to Aurora’s new sneakers she’s sporting with a knowing look on his face.

There’s one day left till the first tour stop and the arena is just about empty. The stage is packed up, the wardrobe crates have been taken from Aurora and the number of people in the arena is starting to dwindle down. Since everything is already loaded on a truck making its way to the airport Aurora didn’t have much to do today but she kept herself busy at the apartment she’s been at all week for the majority of the morning. She’s repacked multiple times getting everything to fit perfectly, almost committing the perfect folding techniques and order of adding things to her suitcase to memory. Everyone is to arrive at the airport early the next morning but Harry has arranged for a group lunch at the arena for one last collective meeting before the tour starts.

Aurora arrives a few minutes early to the lunch and says hello to a few crew members she’s gotten to know. Lambert is there too - seems that Harry has invited anyone who has helped with the prep of the tour regardless if they’re coming along or not. She also meets a few more new faces like Ayae, Harry’s hair and makeup stylist. She’s new to the tour group and hasn’t been needed for prep so this his her 1st time meeting a lot of the crew too. She sits down with Aurora and Lambert at a table and is engaging in a conversation about this and that when Harry comes up to the table with Jeff. Jeff is a familiar face to Aurora even though she has only interacted with him a few times. Jeff always seems to be everywhere - Aurora always makes mental acknowledgment about how he is consistently working on something but always is seemingly available to everyone.

Alicia, a woman probably in her late 30’s, is following Harry and Jeff with a grey rolling cart like you would see in an old cafeteria and it’s filled with large cardboard boxes. Aurora has met Alicia and remembers Lambert introducing her as the Tour Merchandise Manager.

“Aurora, Ayae, Harry, great to see all of you! Doing alright, I assume?” Jeff asks while rounding the cart and reaching a hand in the box.

“Got some tour sweatshirts for everyone, treat people with kindness and all that,” Harry adds in, running a hand through his hair. It isn’t until now that Aurora notices the length of his hair. It’s not as short as it was when she first met him but it’s nowhere near the length she remembers him having while still in One Direction. There is one curl that won’t stay back no matter how many times he runs his hand through it to push it back. The lone curl falls against his forehead one last time before he gives up.

“Oh, very humble of you, Harry,” Ayae says with a chuckle while examining the sweatshirt Alicia had just given her.

It’s a plain black Champion hoodie with 2 small pieces of embroidery, 1 on the left of the chest and the other on the inside of the right arm. Ayae is referring to the large embroidered “Harry” on the chest. Underneath his name is ‘World Tour 2018’. Hah. He’s gotta love this shit. His name written on everything. Clothing, signs, his name is branded everywhere.

“Heyyyyy,” Harry’s voice is slightly whiny, both of his eyes scrunch up and his brows furrow. The ‘hey’ turns into a giggle and they all laugh along with him. Harry then hands Aurora her sweatshirt. “Here ya go, Ror.” She thanks him softly after taking it from him.

Post lunch, Harry, Jeff and a few others talk about how excited they are and how successful the prep went all week. The Head Travel Manager, Daniel, reminds everyone to double check their itinerary when they get home tonight and to double, triple, quadruple check they’ve packed everything. Harry yells something about making sure everyone’s got their passport cause “long story short” he forgot his once and it was not a day full of kindness. The large group chuckles at his little antidote before the room begins to clear out and everyone heads home to get ready to travel the next day.

Thanks for reading !!! Feedback & comments are always welcome !!!

#harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles x reader #sequins & zippers #aurora on tour #harry styles fanfiction #one direction imagine

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ranger-jedi-knight · 4 years

Text

A New Hero Ch 19

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887313/chapters/63175624 Taglist: @bluesimani OPEN

So, it’s been a little while since this was updated. Sorry, but well, my sister came for a visit for a week n a half about n well, ya. That took up a lot of my time. N then I also wanted to get that self-indulgent one-shot angst done so ya. I think that one shot was the biggest reason since motivation came and went. Also, I’m getting ready to move to live with my sister for one of my college semesters to see how I enjoy it. And well, idk when this will come out so ya. That’s also pushing back this update since im spending some days packing up stuff I want to bring with me besides clothes, school supplies, and hygiene item......its after finally arriving and unpackin...BUT ITS HERE NOW!(im sorry bout the wait)

No matter tho! This is the next day after the dinner n we get to see how the night went before gettin some more daminette(n some dick/alya/xavier....i need to come up with a ship name for em....feel free to offer some)!! Anyways, enjoy!!!!

Small sounds woke Dick up from his sleep. He looked around, trying to see if there was any danger when he noticed next to him Alya was making soft sounds, her head turning a bit as barely audible ‘no’s left her. She was curled up next to him, her hair a bit of a mess, her bangs and sides plastered to her face while the rest tangled on the pillow. Her back was to Xavier, who had woken up as well and started making soft, soothing hums as he ran a hand along her arm.

Seeing the immediate effect, Dick started running a hand thru her hair, humming along to the tune Xavier began. Moving closer, Alya latched onto Dick, her arms wrapping around his waist as she tried burying her face into his side. The two wrapped themselves around her and continued their soft hums and touches, slowly helping her out of her nightmare.

After some time, Alya’s breathing settled down as she was once more relaxed in her sleep. Xavier smiled softly at dick as he pressed a kiss to the back of Alya’s head and slowly fell back asleep after watching for a few minutes to make sure her nightmare didn’t start back up. Dick tho, he stayed up a bit longer, continuing to run his finger’s thru her hair, untangling it gently. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Dick sighed thru his nose before falling asleep next to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian woke to Alfred the cat jumping off his bed. Usually, that wouldn’t wake him. But tonight, the way he jumped off the bed woke Damian. Usually, Alfred’s jumps were relaxed and slow, moving at his own pace. But right then, it seemed more urgent. He looked around and found Xan awake.

Xan had his arms wrapped around his knees as he stared at the door. Looking closer as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Damian noticed that Xan was tense, his fingers digging into his arms. Alfred was rubbing himself against Xan’s side and legs, a purr leaving him to help soothe Xan. As Damian watched, Xan moved a hand from his arm and started scratching Alfred’s head and chin.

Damian moved from his bed and sat down near Xan, giving him a moment before speaking finally. “What happened?” he asked, and Xan glanced over at Damian before looking at the door again.

“I saw them,” Xan started in a whispered, not needing to elaborate for Damian, he already knew who ‘they’ were. “We were at the League tho. I......I attacked them immediately when she asked me too. I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t stop myself as-as I-” he stopped then, taking a deep, shuddering breath. He took a moment to concentrate on Alfred under his fingers before he continued speaking. “I killed them,” he spoke the words so softly that Damian almost didn’t hear it.

“But you didn’t. It was just a nightmare. Nothing about it is true,” Damian said, and Xan nodded slowly at that.

“Maybe, but.......it was so vivid...so clear. It felt like I was still in the league, following their orders blindly to survive. It was like I never left....like you never helped me out of that hell hole,” he admitted, and Damian reached over and squeezed Xan’s shoulder.

“I know. It can seem so real, make you think you never left even thou you do the one thing you know you would never do. I’ve had similar nightmares,” Damian admitted and Xan glanced over at him.

“Really? Do you still?” he asked softly as Damian reached a hand out to scratch Alfred’s chin.

“Occasionally, yes. It does get better, I promise. It just takes time. You can always come talk to me or Jason. Or Rae even. Do you remember her?” Damian asked and Xan pursed his lips before nodding slowly, he remembered the woman. She helped train him in League before disappearing years prior. “She will listen if you ask her too.”

“Where is she?” Xan asked turning a bit to look over at Damian easier.

“She’s opening a restaurant called Janat Al'Amal, but she’s working at Rose Petal’s Boutique until it’s ready for the grand opening,” Damian said and Xan smiled with a small smile on his lips.

“Paradise of Hope...that’s a nice name,” Xan said and Damian had the faintest of smiles as he nodded agreement.

“It is. She chose a great name for her future restaurant. I’ve been in touch with her along with Jon and Ember. You haven’t met Ember yet but she’s Jon’s friend and hangs with us. Rae likes to let people vent or talk about their problems to her,” Damian explained and Xan nodded understanding.

“I’ll go talk with her tom-today?” he said tilting his head to look at the clock and saw that it was past midnight, around 1 am.

“Good. I can bet you won’t go to sleep immediately, right?” Damian asked and Xan nodded. Getting the confirmation, Damian stood up and went over to his desk and pulled out a sketchbook and pencil, and walked over to Xan. “Mari said you drew to relax. Here,” he crouched down and held it out.

“Thanks,” Xan said giving Damian a small smile as he took the offered items and flipped the pages to a clear one and started sketching. Damian nodded as he then went back to his bed. Laying down, he looked over at Xan one last time, watching as he drew intently with Alfred going onto his shoulders to relax, before falling asleep once more, knowing he did what he could to help his friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xan and Damian were one of the first people up in the morning. They got a quick bite to eat before going to the indoor gym the manor had to spar for a bit. Alfred worked on breakfast for everyone when the two left. Clark was up next followed by Kon and Jon. By 8, Dick, Xavier, Jason, and Tim came down to eat and work on some stuff. After some time, Alya came down walking beside Lana as she took slow steps.

Raising a hand, Lana greeted everyone sleepily as she slowly woke up. “How are you feeling, Lana?” Clark asked setting the newspaper down to look over at her. The rest of the family looked over as well as she gave a small smile.

“Better. Thank you for letting us stay the night,” she said and Clark returned the smile.

“It was nothing,” Clark said moving his hand to look at the time. “Well, I better get going. I promised Perry I’d send over my article before noon. Have a good day you guys. Also, Lana, I would like to talk to you about your future,” Clark said and Lana smiled at that and nodded. Getting the nod from Lana, Clark left to the office Bruce got him so that he could work.

“I’m glad your feeling better now, Lana,” Jason said and Lana glanced over at him with a faint smile.

“Ya, sorry about that,” she mumbled softly, glancing over at Alya who squeezed her shoulder.

“Don’t be. You couldn’t have known,” Jason said and Lana nodded, knowing he was right.

“Lana, would you be willing to accompany me to pick up Mari? She’d love to see that you’re doing better this morning,” Damian said and Lana nodded.

“Sure. But I won’t be able to stay long, I shouldn’t leave Cocoa alone much longer, especially since it’s time for breakfast,” Lana replied and Damian nodded.

“Understood. Let’s head over now and I can drop you off after Mari sees that you’re well,” Damian replied and Lana nodded, eating a slice of toast and some fruit before standing up with Damian to head out.

“I’ll talk to you later, Lana,” Alya called out before Lana left the room.

“Als, I’ll be heading out myself. Fresh air will do me some good. There’s also someone I want to visit,” Xan said and Alya nodded.

“Of course. Stay safe, Xan. And Don’t hesitate to call if you need help,” she replied and Xan nodded before getting up. “Dick?” she asked and Dick smiled.

“Yup, we should get going ourselves,” Dick agreed.

“Don’t die,” Tim called out.

“No promises, you’ve seen, Mr. Lingo,” Dick yelled back as the three left the room and Tim nodded agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mari beamed when she saw Damian and Lana entering the hotel lobby. Jumping up from her seat at the table, she ran over to the two and hugged Lana while her friends smiled from the table. “I’m so sorry for what happened, Lana! I should have asked first before making them!” Mari said as Lana returned the hug before pushing Mari back a bit to look Mari in the eyes and give her a gentle smile.

“It’s ok, Mari. Nothing bad happened. And I should have also asked about it. It’s my problem to remember, not yours. As much as I’d like to stay and talk, I need to get home, Cocoa is waiting for me,” Lana said, squeezing Mari’s shoulders as she spoke. Mari returned the small smile as she nodded.

“Ok,” she said before perking up. “Wait!” she rushed over to their table and Chloe held out the bag of cookies to her. She grabbed the bag and ran back over to the two. “Here, I made these for you! Don’t worry, I made sure nothing pecan came near them!”

Lana smiled softly as she took the bag and put them carefully into her pocket and pulled Mari into another hug. “Thank you,” she whispered before pulling back once more.

“I’ll be back after I drop her off, angel,” Damian said, causing to Mari to blush lightly as she nodded understanding. As the two turned away to leave, Lana had a teasing smile after giggling softly at Mari’s blush.

“‘Angel’, huh?” she asked, sending him a look that had Damian blushing lightly. Before the door closed behind the two, Mari and her friends listened to Lana laugh. Mari walked over to the table and continued to eat her breakfast while her friends sent her looks.

“I think you found yourself a ~boyfriend~,” Lila said in a sing-song voice. Mari’s blush deepened at that.

“I-no-!-He-!” Mari stuttered out, unable to form a single sentence while her friends laughed around her. “Oh!” she crossed her arms on the table and slammed her head down onto them. Adrien smiled softly as he patted her back while Lila covered her mouth with her hand to stifle giggles.

“Don’t worry Maribug, I’m sure he’d be delighted to be dating you,” Adrien said as Chloe nodded agreement next to him, leaning closer against him to look at her.

“Adrikins is right! He’d be a fool to not want to date you,” Chloe declared with a nod that the others shared.

“I agree. If he doesn’t ask you out today, then you need to do it yourself Mari,” Kim said with a serious look

“I-I wouldn’t even know how to!” Mari said with wide eyes and the table chuckled softly or shook their heads.

“Just be straight forward. Say how you feel then ask ‘would you go out on a date with me?’. Or, if that’s too scary ask him to hang out with you, alone,” Lila said and the group nodded agreement. Right then, the doors opened showing Damian entering with two people.

“Jon!” Chloe yelled out excited and the two got up quickly and ran over to Jon. Jon smiled as he hugged the two.

“I know it’s only been a couple of days, but that’s two days too long,” Jon whispered and the two nodded agreement.

“Definitely,” Chloe said pulling him to the table. Jon happily let them pull him to a table and sat between the two, holding their hands.

“Jon and Ember were walking by as I came back,” Damian said as Ember waved to them with a smile.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet Jon and Damian’s friends! Damian doesn’t admit it, but we’re friends,” Ember greeted, saying the last part in a mock whispered that had the group snorting while Damian rolled his eyes. “But call me Elle! Practically everyone does,” she said as the group smiled at her.

“How’d you meet him?” Kim asked leaning onto the table, wanting to know the story since when he first met Damian so long ago the dude was rather cold still.

“Jon. I was friends with Jon since he helped me in elementary school. And so then Jon and Damian became sorta friends. When that happened, I was introduced to Damian. It was hard but he likes me now,” she said and the group nodded.

“Is he still called ‘Ice Prince’?” Nino asked, pushing his cap back a bit.

“Oh ya. I have been warned against talking to him by like....everyone it seems at some point since I joined GA this year,” Ember said with a laugh and Damian had a smirk at that, a soft snort leaving him that only Mari heard.

“Really? Why’s that?” Max asked then, pausing in his typing on his phone.

“All the freshmen get warned about him. Even tho it was...what....years ago that you broke a kid’s arm?” Ember asked looking over at Damian who nodded.

“Yes. I broke a kids arm when I was in fifth grade. Give or take 8 years ago,” Damian replied and Ember nodded.

“Wait......freshmen? You were warned about him even thou you were there for that?” Kim asked confused and Ember shook her head.

“I wasn’t there for that exactly. I’m a freshman right now....well sophomore now while they’re seniors.”

“Oh, ok. You’re younger than them,” Nino replied and Ember nodded with a smile.

“H-hey, Mari?” a timid voice called. The group turned to see Alya standing there looking rather shy, which was weird for them. “I talked to Ms. Bustier and got us the day off. I thought you’d like to have a break from working and hang out with your friends,” Alya said and Mari gave the girl a small smile and nod.

“Thank you, Alya,” Mari said and Alya gave Mari one last timid smile before going back to the others that were sort of being shunned by Mari and her friends.

“That was nice of her,” Damian commented as he watched Alya sit down, looking down, he could only guess it was her phone.

“It was,” Mari agreed, she knew, or could guess that is, why Alya was doing it. But she wasn’t sure she’d be able to forgive Alya and the others yet, let alone become their friends again, after everything.

“Since we have the day off, why don’t we do something?” Lila asked with a tilt of her head. The group nodded excitedly in agreement.

“We should! Maybe a park?” Sabrina suggested and the group nodded as Mari looked over at Damian with a tilt of her head.

“Are there any parks you’d suggest for us to visit?” Mari asked and Damian’s head tilted just slightly as he thought about it before nodding.

“Yes. There’s a lovely park a few miles away. Not many people visit it due to it being owned by Poison Ivy, but that’s even better since there won’t be any ruckus to disturb the beauty,” Damian said, and that had Mari beaming.

“Really? Let’s go!” Mari said and the group laughed softly at her eagerness. They all stood up and left the hotel, following Damian as he led the way while Ember chatted with Lila about the two, and Jon was distracted by his girlfriend and boyfriend.

Damian had the softest look on his face as he watched Mari look around the park in awe. He watched as she flitted about sketching things and taking pictures. Jon had a small smile as he looked between his lovers and Damian. “You should ask her out,” Jon said softly as Mari talked excitedly with her friends.

“Maybe I will,” Damian said softly as he started making his way over to Mari. Mari glanced over curious when Lila pointed out he was coming over. “May I speak to you alone?” he asked and Mari nodded and followed him to a willow tree at the corner and pack of the park with lanterns hanging intermittently from its branches.

Foxy @actingfordays

OMG!!! Look what’s happening!!! Is it what I think!?!? #omg #isit? #opt *picture of Damian and Mari under the willow tree*

A Blocked Owl @owlforlife

Oh my god. THE OTP IS HAPPENING!!! #otp #iceprincesunshine #sunshinechild

Ok, so this update was delayed....but I did get this done BEFORE wednesday!! So hah! I hope you guys enjoyed this chap! I bet you guys can guess whats gonna happen next chap!! Until next time!! -Love Willa<3<3<3

#fanfic #fanfic update #update #my writing #A New Hero #anh #daminette #maribat #ml x dc #Alya Grayson #Lana Grayson #Xander Grayson #ocs #chap 19

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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years

Text

When was the last time you baked something for someone? I’m not a baker, so never. Like, I make stuff like those easy Pillsbury sugar cookies or cupcakes from the box once in awhile, but I’m not baking stuff from scratch or for other people. I don’t make anything great.

Do you ever spend the night at random people’s houses? No.

What did you eat for dinner tonight? Was it any good at all? I haven’t had dinner, yet, it’s only 4 in the morning.

Would you be mad if your mom showed your boyfriend your baby pictures? I like my baby pictures haha I don’t know why people get embarrassed about that. Just don’t whip out my middle school photos or any random ones after that. It’d have to be approved by me first, ha.

Would you say you’re someone who has good manners? I believe so.

When was the last time you went to an amusement park? Which one? I went to Disneyland last February. Almost a year ago, wow.

Would you rather be kissed on the neck or on the lips? Lips.

Do you completely trust the person you’re dating? I’m single.

Has someone ever called you heartless before? Why is that? No.

What color was the shirt you wore yesterday? It was a dark blue sweatshirt.

Have you ever completely given up on someone any time in life? Myself.

What is one thing you’re not looking forward to in the next week? I have my monthly doctor appointment coming up. Blah.

Would you consider Christmas your favorite holiday? Yesss. I love Christmas. I’m sad it’s over and we’re in for another long year ahead. Not to mention, we’re not even a week in the new year and madness has already ensued.

Would you rather give someone presents or receive them? I love getting presents for my loved ones.

How many chances do you normally give someone before giving up on them? I give a lot of chances.

Did you parents know what gender you were before you were born? I’m actually not sure.

Are any of your really close friends pregnant right now? No friends, but as far as I know no one I know is pregnant.

Are you for or against inter-racial relationships? Uh, for of course.

Would you say you’re more of a pessimist or optimist? I’m very much a pessimist.

Do you know what your true typing speed is? What is it? I do not.

What would you say is the longest survey you’ve ever taken? The 5,000 questions survey. I’m like really close to being done with it I think. I’ve taken many long breaks, but eventually I’ll finish it.

Do you get bored by things really easily, or not so much? No, not usually.

Do you hate it when people pronounce ‘potatoes’ as ‘taters?’ No. I say that sometimes.

Do you wear a lot of make-up on a daily basis? I haven’t worn any makeup in over 3 years now and back when I did I kept it simple with just mascara and eyeliner.

Who makes the best desserts in your entire family? My parents and brother each have their own specialties.

When was the last time your received a hug? Who was this hug from? On Christmas from my family.

Do you have good dreams or nightmares more? I have very random and weird dreams most of the time.

Would you rather color pictures with markers or crayons? How about colored pencils.

Do people come to you for advice a lot of the time? I used to be that person, but not anymore. No one should be asking me for advice, I’m a mess.

Look at your display picture. Where was it taken and when was it taken? Just a few days ago in my room.

When the holidays come around, do you watch holiday movies? Yep, all month long.

When was the last time someone insulted you? What was the insult? I don’t recall.

Would you say you’re a friendly person or not so much? I think I’m nice, but I’m not overly friendly.

Have you ever/do you ever recycle? We recycle plastic bottles and cans.

When was the last time you ate something from Burger King? It’s been quite awhile, actually.... I don’t remember.

When someone mentions a song, does it make you wanna listen to it? Not necessarily.

Do you usually talk more than you should about things? How much is more than you should, like what’s the appropriate amount? And about what things? I have questions.

Who is the nosiest person you know? Do you like them anyways? My doggo actually takes that title haha. She’s very inquisitive. She has to know what everyone is doing and what’s going on.

When did you last talk to one of your teachers? Not since I was in school still, so sometime back in 2015.

How many class periods does your school have? What are the classes? I’m not in school anymore.

Would you say you’re a faster or slow learner? Depends on the subject.

Are you one of those people who like The Nightmare Before Christmas? Yeah. I’m not obsessed, but I like it.

Do you fully understand the concept of ‘love?’ I don’t know. What’s your second favorite color? Pastels, rose gold, mint green, coral, and yellow.

Do you ever wish you lived in a different country? No.

Do you have a credit card with a picture on the front? Nope.

Have you ever gone car shopping? No.

Have you ever bought the car yourself?

What movie have you watched most recently? I watched The Santa Clause movies, Home Alone 1 & 2, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation many times last month.

Have you ever given someone the rejection hotline number? No.

Do you know what dog treats taste like? No, I’ve never wanted to try one. I imagine they’re very dry and gross.

Who’s the last person you “pounded” fists with? I don’t recall the last time I did that.

Do you think you could defend our country? No. I couldn’t anyway, I’m physically disabled.

If you leave the TV on at night, do you set the sleep timer? No, it just stays on.

When’s the last time you drove farther than 2 hours away? Two years ago. I didn’t drive, but yeah. Will you pass all your classes this semester?

Have you ever been involved in an affair? No.

Ever won a spelling bee? I was never in one.

How many times a week do you speak to your boss? I don’t have a job.

When’s the last time you exercised? Uhhhh.

What’s the last movie you saw at the drive thru? I think it was the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Our drive-ins closed a long time ago. I really feel like they should make a comeback given our current situation, especially, but they were also just fun. I know they’re still around, but they’re pretty scarce. Nowhere near me, at least.

Are you a parent? Nooo.

What about an uncle or an aunt? Nope.

How many jobs have you had? Zero.

Who did you last smile at? My mom.

Who was your last voicemail from? Probably an appointment reminder from my doctor.

Do you know how to spell well? Pretty well, I think.

Have you ever worn a leotard in public? No. Or ever.

Are you currently writing a term paper? Nopeee. Those days are over for me.

On average how many texts do you send a day? I don’t text a lot at all, it’s not a daily thing. When I text, it’s just a few quick ones. I don’t have long ongoing conversations with anyone.

How many times have you been so drunk you didn’t remember the night before? There’s only one time where parts of the night are splotchy.

How often do you watch Lifetime? Very, very rarely. It’s been quite awhile.

What do you want for your birthday? I don’t know, man, we just had Christmas and my birthday is still months away.

What’s your favorite flavor of tea? Peppermint and chamomile.

What’s your favorite fall drink? Hot coffee, but that’s really my favorite year round. It is especially nice when the weather is cold, though.

What’re you going to be for Halloween? I don’t dress up for Halloween anymore.

Do you think you’ve learned a lot and grown a lot in the past year? No. :/ That’s the problem. The past few years have come and gone and I haven’t made any positive changes or started to move in the right direction like I should be. Are you satisfied with how you’ve spent your year? ^^^ I’m afraid this year will be more of the same.

What’s something you’ve learned lately? Hmm.

Do you have a lot of friends? I don’t have any friends.

Do you own a yellow scarf? I don’t have any scarves, either.

Do you own brown shoes? I have a pair of brown boots.

Do you own anything leopard print? No.

Will you buy a cake for your next birthday? Haven’t thought about it.

Are you counting down the days until your birthday right now? Nooo.

Are you excited for something currently? No.

If you could change just one thing about your life right now, what would it be? My health.

Have you ever been to a school dance? Yeah, I went to a few in middle school and I went to winter formal and prom my senior year.

Do you make a list of goals at the beginning of each week? Ha, no. I’m not that put together. I don’t have the motivation or energy for that.

Are you artistic? No.

When was that last time you drew a picture in a sketchbook? I don’t draw.

Is there a tree right outside your bedroom window? There is, actually.

Is it windy right now where you are? I don’t think so.

Is it raining? Nope.

What’s something about you that makes you different from everyone else? *shrug*

Do you dress the same way as your peers? I don’t know how many 31 year olds live in leggings and oversized graphic tees like I do. I feel like it’s not many.

Do you talk the same way as your peers? I think so? Do you have the same life goals as your friends? I should have some goals to begin with... :/

Are you having a good day? It’s only 5:53AM.

Is your hair red? I dye it red.

Do you like brownies? I love brownies. My brother just baked some recently and I quite enjoyed them.

Have you ever dressed up as a witch on Halloween? Yeah, that was a common costume for me as a kid.

What’s one color that you never wear because it doesn’t look good on you? I don’t feel I look good in any color. Most of my clothes are black, though. I feel most comfortable in black.

Have you ever been to a masquerade? Nope.

Do you eat vegetables? I eat spinach, green onions, and potatoes pretty often. Not nearly enough veggies, I know.

Do you wear leggings? Like I said, I live in leggings.

Is there anybody you think is hot over the age of 40? Alexander Skarsgard.

Who is the most inappropriate person you know? I don’t know any inappropriate people.

Did anything bad happen to you in August? It was just a long, hot month.

Who in your phone has a heart after their name? My mom does.

Anything you’re avoiding? Yes.

If you could have one thing right now what would it be? To feel better.

If your parents searched your room, would they be angry at what they’d find? No, but also I’m 31 years old so there’s no reason for them to be doing that. They wouldn’t do that either.

Do you think anyone has feelings for you? Not romantic feelings, no.

After breaking up, what’s the worst? The heartbreak and moving on.

Do you think your last ex deserves to die? No, absolutely not. I don’t wish that on anyone and he certainly didn’t do anything to warrant that.

Do any girls like the last guy you kissed? Probably?

Are you happier now than you were three months ago? I wasn’t happy then and I’m still not, so.

Honestly, are things going the way you planned? I certainly didn’t plan these past few years to be the way they have and continue to be that’s for sure.

Have you done anything sexual today? No.

Do you have a second mom? No.

Honestly, do you hate the last boy you were talking to? Nooo, I love my brother.

Describe your most recent purchase: Food, of course.

Did you enjoy the last movie you watched in theatres? Yeah. Man, I miss going to the movies.

If you make surveys, where’s the last place you saw a survey made by you on another person’s site? I don't make them.

Do you take the subway train often (if your city has one)? We don’t have a subway train here.

What shoes did you wear today? I haven’t worn any shoes so far and won’t be wearing any later because I’m not going anywhere.

Who was the last person to leave you a comment on Facebook? I think it was my aunt.

Does your sibling have a significant other? Neither of them do.

When and why is the last time you cried (or at least, shed tears)? Like an hour ago.

Have you ever cried at a real wedding? No. Also, what do you mean by “real” wedding?

How would you feel if a girl asked your boyfriend out for a drink? Uh, I’d have an issue with that.

Do you use Skype? No.

What do your flip-flops look like? I don’t wear flip flops or sandals or any open-toed shoes.

Describe a poster on your wall. One is a giraffe painting. I actually have 3.

Are there any gadgets of yours that need charging right now? My phone is charging.

What do you use to remove makeup? I just used water and a cotton pad. I just wore eyeliner and mascara, so.

Tilt your head up and look straight ahead. Describe what you see. My bookshelf.

Which awards show would you wanna go to the most (e.g Oscars, Grammys etc.)? One of the music ones.

Any idea what time you’ll be going to bed tonight? Well, it’s 6:06AM and here we are.

Do you think George Clooney is hot? I’ve never personally found him attractive.

Have you ever participated in local magazine cover girl searches? No.

Have you ever bought a lottery ticket (and even better: won)? Yes. I’ve won small amounts, but not the big prizes. I wishhh.

What colour is your keyboard? Black with white letters.

Do you keep the plastic/paper/whatever bags after you buy stuff? We reuse plastic bags for like the little garbage cans and stuff.

Do you own any high waisted pants? No.

What’s the craziest thing you’ll ever do to your hair? Bleaching and dyeing my hair the first time was a big change for me. It’s so normal now, though.

Do you know anyone who has two different coloured eyes? No.

Does your significant other like the same colour as you do? No significant other.

Do you wanna be a pirate or an elf? I’d rather be an elf.

Have you ever purchased anything online? Numerous things over the years. I’ve done a lot of online shopping especially these past few years.

What’s your favourite classic Disney movie (no, Camp Rock doesn’t count)? Alice in Wonderland.

Gold or silver accessories? I like both.

Have you ever been called a skank/slut because of the way you dress? No.

Name all your friends whose name starts with the 4th letter of your first name.

What websites do you absolutely have to visit daily (or at least, every time you get to go online)? I always go on Tumblr, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Have you ever ridden an elephant? No.

Are you a fan of acrylic nails? I’ve never had them. I don’t get or do my nails. I don’t have any nails to do, for one. Also just not my thing.

#personal #text #survey #surveys #long survey

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woo-san-shine · 5 years

Text

Our Way

ateez college au

Premise: You and your best friend from high school move away to a university 3 hours away from your small hometown. You find yourself meeting a strange cast of characters along the way that will help you find your way throughout your freshman year.

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Slight swearing

Author’s Note: A work in progress!!! Mostly just for fun. Kind of a filler chapter, sorry if it’s boring

prev // next

Chapter 7

A dull buzzing sound awakens me from my deep sleep. I feel around for my phone in the darkness. The clock reads 7:30 am. I wanted to make sure to give myself plenty of time to shower and get ready due to the fact that I was way too tired to do anything last night after we had gotten back from 'the cleanse'. I see that I have some new messages.

As we were walking back from the fountain last night Hongjoong had noticed me yawning and insisted on making sure I was awake in time for our first class by giving me his number.

I pull up a picture of my class schedule and glance through it for probably the hundredth time.

Intro to Drawing- Monday Wednesday Friday 9 am - 10:30 am

Freshman English- Monday Wednesday Friday 12 pm - 1:30 pm

Art History- Tuesday Thursday 10 am - 12 pm

Foundations in 2D and 3D Design- Tuesday Thursday 12:30 - 2:30

Computer Graphic Applications- Wednesday 6 pm - 9 pm

I was pretty pleased with how my schedule had turned out, except for that one night class on Wednesdays that I was already dreading.

I quietly climb down from my bed, grab all of my shower supplies, and head to the bathroom. Sooyoung classes all started after mine did, so I would have to get used to either getting ready in the bathroom or in the total darkness of our room.

After a nice hot shower, I get dressed and apply some light makeup. I am wearing one of my favorite oversized vintage band t-shirts that I tie in a knot at the hem, another pair of high-waisted shorts, and some worn-out converse. If I was a character in a video game, this would be the outfit that my character would always be wearing. I pack everything I need for the day in my backpack, grab my travel mug full of coffee I had just made, and make my way down to the lobby to meet Hongjoong.

When the elevator door opens I see him sitting on one of the couches looking at his phone. When he sees me coming, he immediately starts waving eagerly.

"How do you already have this much energy?" I ask as I walk over to him.

"Ah, I'm the type of person who doesn't need a lot of sleep to function," he replies, getting up from the couch.

"I brought you this," I say to him, pulling my hand from behind my back to reveal an extra muffin that I had grabbed from my stash in my dorm.

He places a hand to his heart. "Really? For me?"

"Yeah, as a thanks for making sure I was awake," I say.

Hongjoong smiles and takes the muffin as we exit the dorm and start walking towards the College of Arts building. He starts telling me about how he has three other classes today, not including the one we're heading to now.

"Damn, you're going to be busy," I say, impressed at his schedule load.

"I like being busy! Keeps my mind occupied."

There are already a lot of students walking around campus even though it's still pretty early. There's a buzz of excited chatter in the air.

"Are you nervous?" He asks me.

"Honestly, a little bit," I say after a sip of coffee. "I just don't know what to expect, ya know?"

"Yeah, I just wonder what that class will be like."

The Arts building is very distinguishable amongst other others due to it being the only building on campus that had a full mural painted on the front. We walk in and after consulting some signs, we walk in the direction of the classroom. There is artwork everywhere; paintings on the wall, statues, displays, visual screens, anything that you could think of. Even the students looked like works of art.

Once we arrive at the designated room, Hongjoong pokes his head in through the doorway and then motions for me to follow him inside. The room itself has a very sleek, industrial look to it with high ceilings and exposed brick. There are long tables with four chairs at each scattered around the room. At one of the tables towards the middle of the room sits Yeosang.

"Mind if we join you?" Hongjoong teases as he makes his way over to Yeosang.

"Hey Joong, Jaemin," he nods to both of us.

We join him at the table, Hongjoong next to him and me next to Hongjoong. The room starts to fill up with more and more students, some looking nervous, others looking downright terrified.

"You would think everyone just walked into the gallows or something," I say to the pair as I glance around the room.

"Apparently this professor is pretty tough," Yeosang says to me.

"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?" A voice says from behind me.

I turn to see a small girl with short hair and glasses nervously standing next to the open seat next to me.

"No, please, have a seat," I say nodding to the chair.

She looks grateful and she sets her bag down and takes a seat.

"I'm Jaemin, and this is Hongjoong and Yeosang," I say to the girl while I point to each of the boys. Hongjoong excitedly waves and Yeosang nods.

She smiles. "Chaewon, nice to meet you."

"What are you studying?" I ask her, trying to make polite conversation.

"Fine Arts, for now. I'm hoping to find my specialty soon and then focus on that."

Before we can talk further, a tall woman wearing long, billowing clothes enters the room and strides toward the front of the class. Her jet black hair is pulled up into a tight bun and she is wearing a lot of ornate jewelry. She stops at the front of the class and surveys the room.

"Class, my name is Ms. Lee, and I will be your Intro to Drawing professor this semester." She says all this with a very low, stern tone. "I only have a few rules in this classroom. One, you must arrive for class on time and bring all of your supplies every day. Two, no loud voices. And three,” she pauses, survey the room. “No food or drink on the drawing tables."

It's a few seconds before I realize that Ms. Lee is staring directly at our table. I glance at Hongjoong's half-eaten muffin that I had given him sitting in front of him and then at my coffee mug in front of me.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Hongjoong says hurriedly as he grabs the muffin off the table.

I quickly grab my mug and try and stuff it into the side pocket of my bookbag. At a surprising speed, Ms. Lee grabs the trash can that was sitting next to her desk, walks over to our table, and hold it in front of Hongjoong. He tosses the half-eaten muffin inside. Then she holds it in front of me.

I stare up her, a little dumbstruck. I start to unscrew the lid of my mug to dump out my coffee into the trash can.

"Nope, the whole thing," she says, nodding toward my mug. She pushes the trash can closer to me.

"What?" I can hear Hongjoong whisper.

I can feel the entire classroom looking at me. Hongjoong looks like he's going to start yelling and Chaewon looks like she could start crying. I sadly drop my mug into the trash can and stare down at the table. She turns away and heads back up to the front of the room, setting the trash can next to her desk.

"For your first assignment, you will be drawing portraits of the person sitting next to you. Realistic, pencil only, to be turned in on Wednesday." With this, she takes a seat at her desk, pulls out a book, and starts reading.

The class stares around aimlessly for a few minutes. Ms. Lee looks up from her book.

"Well, you better get working," she says with her eyebrows raised.

The class immediately starts pulling out sketchbooks and pencils.

"What the hell just happened?" Hongjoong whispers to the table.

"I'm kinda scared," Chaewon said nervously.

"We can talk after class," Yeosang whispered to us. "We should probably get working." He swivels in his seat to intently stare at Hongjoong and begins sketching.

"Are you okay, Jaemin?" Hongjoong asks me.

I was silently fiddling with my pencils. "Yeah, I'm fine." I turn to Chaewon. "Do you mind if I draw you?"

"Oh, of course not!" she says eagerly.

We spend the remainder of the class doing rough sketches of each other's faces. The second the clock strikes 10:30, Ms. Lee gets up from her desk. She glances around the classroom one more time, pausing at our table. Leaning over she grabs the trash bag containing my mug and Hongjoon's half-eaten muffing and strides out of the room.

“Well, there goes my mug,” I say while staring at the doorway Ms. Lee had just walked out of.

"I guess that means the class is over," Chaewon says looking around the room.

"Class, right." Hongjoong huffs. "She didn't even teach anything! No guidelines on how she wants these portraits done? She sat up there on her ass the whole time reading that goddamn book. And then that whole stunt with your mug, Jae! What was that about?"

"I did some research on some of the professor here," Yeosang says, interrupting Hongjoong's ranting. "Apparently she pulls stuff like this every year to try and intimidate students. No one knows why."

"I guess I just happened to be the unlucky target this year," I say.

"I didn't even get to finish my muffin!" Hongjoong is basically yelling at this point.

"If you're so hungry, let's go get some lunch," Yeosang says, pulling Hongjoong towards the door.

"Do you want to come with us?" I ask Chaewon.

"Really?" she says.

"Yeah," Hongjoong adds. "We're table friends now."

She giggles, and the four of us leave the classroom and head towards the nearest dining hall.

...

After lunch, I bid Hongjoong, Chaewon, and Yeosang goodbye and walk in the direction of my next class. I secretly pray that it goes better than the trainwreck that was this morning.

Campus is much busier now that it is almost noon. Students are everywhere, and I fall into the natural flow of traffic as we all make our way to our various destinations. My English class is located in one of the oldest buildings on campus. The inside looks like something straight out of a classic 80s college movie. It was a drastic change from the modern feeling the Arts building had. I walk into the classroom and am pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face.

"Fancy seeing you here," I say to Mingi, who immediately looks up from his phone as I approach his desk.

"Jaemin?! What are you doing here?" He looks happy to see me.

"I'm in this class," I say a little jokingly

"Oh, yeah I guess that would make sense," He says while running his hand through his hair. "Here, take a seat," he says while patting the desk next to him.

"What are the odds that would actually have a class together?" I ask him as a set down my bag and take a seat.

"Honestly, way too large to calculate right now. My brain is already fried from my class this morning," he says, rubbing his temples.

"Oh, how was it?"

"It was alright, I'm already just a little overwhelmed."

"Tell me about it, at least one of your professors isn't out to get you."

"Seriously?"

I tell him the whole story about Ms. Lee and the coffee mug.

"You're kidding," he says after I finish.

"Nope. RIP to one of my favorite mugs."

"That really sucks though, like she was way out of line as a professor."

"I guess.." I pause. "Did you have a class with Sooyoung already? She was still asleep when I left this morning."

"Oh yeah," Mingi says, fidgeting in his seat a little. I could tell even just the mention of Sooyoung's name made him blush. It was really cute. "This is the only class I actually don't have with her."

"Well, I guess you have to settle for me then," I joke.

He laughs a little. "Oh psssh I like you too, Jae."

This class did go much smoother than Intro to Drawing had. The professor seemed nice and normal, the workload seemed manageable, and I had Mingi there to keep me entertained me the whole time. Even though I had basically spent the last two days with him, I hadn't really talked to him personally since he was preoccupied with Sooyoung most of the time. He's actually a really goofy guy. He kept imitating the professor in different accents under his breath while I had to stifle my laughter multiple times.

As Mingi and I exit the building and walk towards our dorm, I can't help but be thankful that he was there to cheer me up.

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

Text

A Musical Connection Ch. 4

In a world where soulmate bonds can range from a simple matching mark to timers to shared dreams, of course Adrien would get saddled with an inconvenient bond that keeps him from going out and living life- because whenever his soulmate sings, Adrien has to as well.

But the singing, as inconvenient as it is, presents another opportunity. Can Adrien use it to track down his soulmate?

(Ch 1) (Ch 2) (Ch 3)

(AO3) (FF.net)

"She's singing new songs. Her old show is over," Adrien told Max as soon as he saw the other boy again, a week after they last talked. It had been a long week, with more singing than usual. His soulmate hadn't stuck to just songs from musicals, but there was a definite pattern that had emerged. "Mary Poppins this time."

"Well, that means I can strike off any new shows," Max said, peering down at his spreadsheet. It was currently at two pages long and was completely confusing, but apparently Max could understand it. "We should be able to figure out which company your soulmate is in- or what university program she's in, I guess- and then we can get to one of their shows. Not all actors sing all songs, so that should help us narrow things down a bit to figure out who your soulmate is."

Adrien frowned as he thought about what songs his soulmate had sung. "Wasn't she singing all of the songs in the last musical, though?"

Max blinked and consulted his notes. He didn't let the new information throw him for long. "She may have been playing multiple parts or have been part of the choir."

"And her singing didn't line up very well with the show times," Adrien noted. His soulmate hadn't sung at all during the Paris university show, and only a couple times during the other show times. It was weird, and it made him question Max's methods just a bit.

He wasn't ever going to tell Max that, though. Adrien needed his help too much to risk offending him.

"Perhaps she's an understudy?" Max suggested. "She would have to know all of the songs but wouldn't be singing during the actual show unless she was needed."

Adrien groaned, barely resisting the urge to bang his head against the desk. He'd assumed that his soulmate was one of the actors out on stage. They had based their entire plan around that assumption, and Adrien wasn't sure how that plan would change if she continued to work as an understudy.

He would just have to hope that she would actually perform during the show in Mary Poppins.

"How are things going otherwise?" Max asked. "I just realized that all we ever talk about is your soulmate and while it's certainly a fascinating subject of conversation, I'm sure you have other things going on."

"Not much, since I can't really go out much, in case I start singing." Adrien thought back to the last time he had managed to get together with Nino and Alya, when his soulmate got on such a singing kick that they got booted out of the cafe they had gone to. Nino and Alya had found it hilarious, even joining Adrien in singing as they headed to Nino's family's apartment to spend the rest of the evening, but for Adrien it had been a reminder why he had to limit his outings. "I've had to start thinking about what classes I want to take next semester, which isn't going too well. There are a few things I'll have to attend in person, and there's no way to get out of them."

Max winced. "So we have a bit of a deadline, then? To find your soulmate by the end of the semester?"

"That would be nice, if it's possible." And yet again they had come right back around to the topic of his soulmate connection. It just showed how completely it was influencing his life. "But I've been paying attention to when I sing. It was mostly to plan when I could most likely do photoshoots without being interrupted, but it'll work for picking out what lab sections I take, too."

"To run the lowest risk of interruption," Max filled in, nodding. "Yes, that is quite smart. So what times-?"

It was Adrien's turn to wince. "Well, she doesn't like getting up early, I think," he admitted. Unfortunately, he also wasn't terribly fond of early morning wake-ups, but it was all he had to work with. "So all of the eight o'clock and nine o'clocks, basically."

Max patted him on the arm sympathetically. "Well, at least you'll be up and ready to go for the day?"

Adrien groaned, burying his face in his arms. "Yeah, sure, that would be fine if that was all I had to do- but if my father catches on that I chose those times because my soulmate won't be singing, then he'll have me up to do photoshoots crazy early nearly every day- and can you say sunrise shoot commercials instead of the sunset ones? I don't want to get up that early!"

"We'll find your soulmate," Max promised seriously. "We'll have to wait until her show runs, of course, but I'd say that the chances of us being successful are very high."

That put a grin on Adrien's face. "Well, I hope you're right," he told Max. "So, do you want to play some Mega Strike while you're here?"

"Sure!"

Adrien grinned when he spotted Marinette coming in through the front door of Alya's family's apartment. It had been too long since he had seen his friend, and he was eager to hear about how she was doing with her fashion degree.

"Sorry I've missed so many get-togethers," Marinette told them as she headed for the table. She exchanged hugs with Nino and Alya, and Adrien hopped up to get his own hug. Marinette's voice came out muffled as she talked into his chest. "It's just that work was going late recently."

"But it'll be back to normal for a bit now, right?" Nino asked as Adrien released Marinette from the hug. "You won't be working so late?"

"I won't have to, yeah." Marinette grinned, flopping down into an empty chair. "Which is good, since I have my own stuff I have to do for classes. I have three design sketches I have to clean up for one class, plus an outfit to finish sewing, and some studying for an exam, and an essay on the history of fashion in Russia, all to do before the end of next week."

Adrien let out a low whistle. "That's a lot. How close are you to finishing it all?"

"Well, I'm pretty close to done with the rough sketches, so all I have to do is figure out what I want to change," Marinette started out, pulling out her sketchbook. Adrien leaned forward to see the drawings, and- wow. Marinette had just grown more talented over the years, and while the designs were certainly practical, they also had a certain flair that would set them apart on the street.

He hoped that Marinette would get into men's fashion at some point, because he would love to wear something she designed.

Adrien listened as Marinette explained her designs and the things she was still struggling with, and then showed off her progress on her outfit for her techniques class. The draping was nothing short of gorgeous, and Adrien told her so.

"You'll wear that after it's done and graded, right?" Adrien asked, eyes skimming the lines of the top and skirt in the pictures Marinette showed him. "It'll look amazing on you."

Marinette looked pleased. "You think so?"

"I know so. Those lines will really compliment your figure." Not that much anything that was made well and thoughtfully wouldn't, since Marinette was slim and athletic, if maybe a little on the short side. But the draping would be really flattering, as long as Marinette was making it in her size.

"I'll try to wear it next time we meet up," Marinette promised. "Or the time after that, if my professor takes a while to inspect and grade everything. Sometimes she's really speedy at going through things, and other times it takes forever."

"Okay, enough chatter," Nino cut across before Adrien could say anything else. "Marinette, you promised that we would get to make that chocolate swirl bread, and I know that that takes, like, forever to rise. So let's get started!"

They swarmed into the kitchen and, under Marinette's instruction, started stirring up the sweet bread dough. Adrien kneaded the dough, then got it back into the bowl to rise. Across the kitchen, Nino and Alya started on their dinner, chopping spinach and getting rice started, and Adrien grinned.

Maybe a night in didn't sound that exciting to most people their age, but Adrien was glad that Alya and Nino had agreed to his request that they not go out in public again right away. He had told the two of them right after he arrived that he was well and truly exhausted of the soulmate talk- that was all that he ever seemed to discuss with Max, after all, and whenever he went in for a photoshoot, the first thing that the makeup artists and hair people and photographer asked him about was whether or not his soulmate had been active recently. As long as his soulmate didn't sing throughout the evening, maybe he could have a bit of a break from that for a change.

"So besides being busy, how's the job going, Marinette?" Alya asked after Nino finished telling them about some new music mixes he had done recently. "Are you enjoying it?"

"Most of the time, yeah," Marinette said, She had gotten the bread covered for its first rise and had joined Adrien in making a fruit salad for them to eat. "It's a lot of sewing and a lot of making sure everything stays organized, just like with last year. I've gotten the storage closets in much better shape than they were before, so everything is really easy to find."

"Oh, I remember you complaining about those before," Alya said, nodding. "The previous person wasn't very good at their job, were they?"

"The problem was that they just had random people putting things back before," Marinette explained. "And they would just stick stuff wherever there was space. But now it's easier to find stuff. The only problem is that I can't remember what's in there, just because there's so many different outfits."

Adrien listened, wracking his brain to try to remember if he had ever asked where Marinette worked. He really couldn't remember, and that was embarrassing. Even if he only infrequently saw Marinette now that their schedules seemed to conflict so much, she was one of his best friends and where she worked should have been something that he knew off of the top of his head, especially since she had been at the same place for over a year.

He wasn't going to ask her and admit that he had forgotten. Adrien made a mental note to ask Nino later, when the girls were distracted.

Even without knowing where Marinette worked, Adrien could get a pretty good picture of what she was doing. Somehow she must have managed to skip over a typical coffee-carrying internship to get a job in the sewing room and in the archives storage- or maybe she was working on organizing things behind the scenes in photoshoots, and was keeping the props room organized. He knew that his photographer often complained about the state of the Gabriel prop room, saying that it was impossible to find anything among the mountains of stuff that had accumulated over the years.

(Adrien had looked in there once, when a photoshoot in the building had been delayed due to a wardrobe malfunction and he had to kill some time. Younger him had gotten it into his head that maybe, if he did something about that particular problem, he would actually get some praise from his father.

He had taken one look into the room and the towering mountains of stuff and promptly decided that there was no way he was ever going to go anywhere near it. The shelves looked like they were either going to fall over or cause a landslide at any moment, and the other piles of stuff was no better. There had been signs of a recent topple only a few meters in. How anything found anything in there was beyond him.)

If that was indeed what Marinette had been organizing at her job, if it was anywhere as bad as Gabriel's, then Adrien had to hope that there had been someone keeping an eye on Marinette in case anything fell on her.

When their dinner went in the oven, Marinette returned to the bread to punch it back down, divide it, and roll it out. Adrien joined her, spreading the rounds with the chocolate spread that Marinette had brought with her. He was generous with the chocolate, and the small smile dancing around the corners of Marinette's mouth told him that it hadn't going unnoticed.

Adrien liked chocolate, so sue him. He would just go out on a run as Chat Noir tonight and work it all right back off, so it didn't matter what he ate.

"How is your degree going?" Marinette asked as they started to put the layers together. She adjusted a layer so it would line up more evenly, then gestured for Adrien to cover it in chocolate. "I just realized recently that I haven't heard about that in forever."

"It's going," Adrien said ruefully, spreading a generous amount of chocolate over the dough. "Still online, at the moment. I'm learning interesting stuff, but it's a lot of theories to memorize. Theories and biological processes and chemicals with strange names and..." He let out a long breath. "It's a lot. And since I'm doing everything online at the moment, I've been putting off all of my lab classes and whatnot, which is going to be a pain later." It was going to leave him with a huge load of courses in the later part of his degree, and if he didn't find his soulmate, then everything would have to be done right away in the morning. He was considering taking some courses over the summer just to spread them out a little bit more, but that would depend on how well the next semester went. "But I'm not having any trouble with understanding things, which is nice. It was something I worried about when I started taking the courses online."

"Well, you've always been smart." Marinette grinned over at him, and Adrien relished in the praise. "I'm not surprised that you would be able to adapt to other ways of learning."

"It's not as fun," Adrien admitted. "I hear these two talking about the friends they've made in their classes all the time, but it's hard to meet people online. I'll have a few things where I'll have to go in in-person next semester, though."

"Oh, nice!"

Adrien hummed a sort of agreement, wondering if perhaps Marinette hadn't heard how much trouble his soulmate bond had been giving him as of late. Maybe she thought that it was still like it had been at first, with only a few scattered songs now and then. Alya and Nino must not have told her about how their last get-together was interrupted.

He wasn't going to bring it up, not today. Not when he had had to push his lunch break off for three hours because his soulmate's singing had put them behind schedule and the manager for the photoshoot had insisted that everyone else take their break while he was still singing and unable to eat. Not when he had had enough talking about the bond.

"Dude, put in a little chocolate, will you?" Nino exclaimed, peering over Adrien's shoulder. "You know that you don't have to pile it on for us to taste it, right?"

Adrien grinned. "Yeah, but more chocolate is always good. And I need chocolate, with the marathon fittings I have tomorrow."

"I would have thought that you would want to have less chocolate, then, if you have a fitting!"

Adrien finished spreading on the last layer of the chocolate, then licked the knife off while holding eye contact with an amused Nino. Once it was clean, Adrien placed it back down on the counter. "Nope."

"Let the boy have his chocolate, Nino," Alya ordered jokingly. "And I approve of that amount of chocolate, by the way. It looks fabulous. I can't wait to eat it."

Adrien had to agree.

Despite her worries, Marinette finished her assignments with plenty of time and aced her midterm exam easily. With those out of the way, she threw herself into the second half of the semester and into her work in the theater. She got to meet up with her friends a few times, too, which she enjoyed while she could. She knew that once it got closer to the end of the semester, she would once again find herself with absolutely no free time.

But for now, everything was good, and Marinette could afford to relax a bit as she worked, adding trim to a dress for Mary Poppins. She could hear the rehearsal going on up on the stage from her backstage sewing area, bits of dialogue and the occasional song drifting back.

While the cast definitely weren't ready by any means- after all, the roles had only just been cast and rehearsals had only just started- she could already hear things starting to really improve, lines delivered with more emotion and conviction now that they weren't reading off of the scripts quite as much as they had at the start. Some of the actors were out on stage, while others- the understudies, and the main actors that weren't in the current scene- had split up, working through their scenes out in the hallway and in the nearby classrooms.

The cast weren't the only people there. Several people from other departments had been brought in to work on the special effects that were needed for some of the scenes. They already were hard at work with a projector and a screen, which would replace some of the painted sets for when the scenery had to change faster than the sets could be switched. From what Marinette could tell, they would project from behind the screen and the picture would show up bright so the audience could see it. There were still some bugs, of course- even though they had been brainstorming and working on their special effects even before the show was cast, the timing still had to be perfected and they had to find exactly where the projector had to be for the least distortion and brightest picture.

One of the special effects people had already shown Marinette what they had in store, and it was absolutely amazing, magical and spectacular and enough to entrance any kids that they got in the audience.

Of course, the play was a little less interesting in terms of costumes. There was very little design that Marinette could actually do, since the play took place in a very specific time period and she had to stick to that aesthetic. Marinette had been plagued by visions of having to make endless boring dresses and suits for an entire weekend before she dove into the costume closet and found plenty of outfits that would work perfectly for the play. Some would need altering, others would need mending, and a couple could do with some sprucing up, replacing trim and lace that had faded and discolored over time. She could add a bit of her own flair there, replacing dowdy lace with some that was actually attractive and making some other switches.

Not too much, though. She had to keep in mind how people dressed. This was a play, not a runway show, and most of the characters weren't exactly crazy rich and on the edge of fashion at the time. She could take some liberties with Madam Banks' costume, of course, and with the outfits for the fair scene, but otherwise?

Blah. Good-looking blah, but blah. She was a seamstress for this job more often than she was a designer, but she wasn't going to let that affect her enjoyment of the job.

"Are you already almost done with the outfits, Marinette?" Tikki asked in amazement as she watched Marinette finish attaching the trim and set the dress aside. "Wow! You'll have loads of extra time this time around!"

"Not exactly, Tikki," Marinette said with a laugh. "I need to make Jane and Michael's outfits, and once I assign dresses and suits, I'll have to do little alterations. There might be some drapes for the set, and then I might end up being recruited to help with scenery painting. And there's always other plays going on in the other stages that might need me to do some work on outfits for them."

"Or maybe you'll be doing special effects!" Tikki suggested excitedly. "Because you've made cool stuff like that before, right?"

"I don't even know where I would start with that," Marinette said with a laugh as she hung up the dress and rearranged the rack. "Besides, we have actual engineering students working on those things. No, if I have extra time, then I'll work on getting a good floor map of the storage rooms made so that I won't have to dig through everything in the future to find what I need. But only if other people can't use my help. And if I don't have any schoolwork that needs to get done."

Tikki giggled. "So organization is the last thing on your list?"

"Ugh. I know I did most of the work on that last year, but I'm still sick of it."

The little kwami only giggled harder.

As the director out on stage called for a scene re-start, Marinette returned her attention to the racks of outfits around her and the clipboard that Miss Bella had provided with all of the outfits needed. She started checking outfits off, counting dresses and suits and making notes on those that still needed some work before they could be used. There were enough outfits and then some- enough that in case something happened to one of the outfits, there would be backups.

"And now you label them, right?" Tikki asked as Marinette checked the last of the dresses. "So you know which of the pieces you're going to fit to each performer?"

"Right!" Marinette returned to her desk and started drawing out labels, cross-checking clothing sizes of the actors and actresses with what she had available and starting to scribble names on the labels. "Then I can start pulling people in here for fittings as soon as I get the last of the repairs done. We'll get more permanent labels on later on, ones that won't rip off as easily."

"I can make some!" Tikki volunteered, swooping down and grabbing a short bit of pencil. She paused, looking uncertain. "Uh..."

Marinette giggled. "I think I need to figure all of these out on my own. But could you go grab a few more pieces of paper from the first drawer in my desk? I don't think I have enough here."

While Tikki zipped off to grab more slips of paper, Marinette gathered up the labels she had so far and strapped her pincushion on her wrist, getting up to start putting them on the outfits she had assigned so far. If she could get those set aside, then it would be easier to see what all she had left to work with.

Outside the door, a prerecorded backing track started up and voices floated through the door as the cast started to sing. Marinette perked up and started to sing along as she pinned the labels to dresses and suits hanging on the rack, feeling more cheerful than she had even only moments before.

"Oh, it's a jolly holiday with Mary..."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #A Musical Connection #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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bmccourtsvad-gd · 2 years

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MAY 10

Chapter 4 reading today was an introduction to a lot of new stuff. I have no experience learning about typography, and reading about designers gave me insight into what I will be taught this semester. The designs by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich look familiar to me, which is cool how his work is easily identifiable as his work. Before this class I didn’t know that an artist could be identified through their style of typography. Andy Cruz and Rich Roat’s designs were my favorite to look at and read about from this chapter because the fonts are satisfying/comforting, and remind me of the 1960′s. After I sketched some ideas in my sketchbook for assignment 1, I cut out 3 8x8″ squares on both cardstock and foam board. Then I made a 4x4 grid on each piece of cardstock so I could plot where I wanted to place my cutouts. As I was collecting from magazines and newspaper, I realized that it was easier to plan out shapes after I found text samples that would fit the areas I was planning out. By doing this I made sure I was cutting with the intention to make sure everything fit in each square. I am glad I did this because I was able to avoid a lot of mistakes. This project was a good introduction to this course, and I have already learned a lot about typography. This project took longer than I expected it to, but I enjoyed the process and I am happy with the result!

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10hour11minute · 6 years

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“my life is becoming a cliche fanfic oh my god”

note: nicknames have an asterisk * next to them in case it’s unclear

1. I’ve been wearing my friends’ sweaters whenever I get the chance to, and since my body isn’t proportionate, everything is oversized for me

I took my friend Carmean’s* sweater and it was so big and comfy??? I had sweater paws and it was cute n 재연* just shouted “WHY ARE YOU SO SHIPPABLE”

also lmao I mention him a lot in this bc there was this point in 8th grade near graduation where I tried to make friends with all the people I’ve known a while and had been too shy/had too awkward backstories in the past with to properly talk to!

2. Just the fact I’m friends with Carminay* and that time we linked arms and he didn’t argue

“O yea I’d rather be Lin’s friend than deal with [our other friend]!” and he ran up to me and let me link our arms

3. This group of guys just came up behind our friend group and I legit heard “which one of them is the hottest” and then this one dude deadass comes up to one of my friends and I all like “Hey I have a question for you even tho we don’t talk… would you go out with my friend here”

I was like nah bish stay away

4. I p much hated this one guy for the longest time because he used to pinch me and poke my sides in elementary school

…I managed to hold his hand for 10 seconds on 2 separate days without him arguing how? idk

5. I basically jumped into my friend’s open arms and he unexpectedly spun me around in circles during passing period uwu

6. I have a friend who can rest his head on my head if I hug him. I’m the perfect height!!!

7. Managed to get a hug from Carmean* after much debate

I said “I’m just trying to be nice” in the smollest voice ever and he agreed

8. I got some chocolate from Sheeven*!! On its own it’s not really cliche but lol another friend had to trade smth but I got it in exchange for friendship 😁

9. This isn’t really soft but I found out I went to the same class as one of my close friends in elementary school, but then I switched schools after a week. So we actually met each other 5 years ago without knowing 😂

10. Long story short my hair smelled like Carmex* after wearing his sweater for a while I legit nearly scREAMED ONCE I GOT INTO THE SHOWER

11. Guy from #4 didn’t want my friend to take some of his ice cream, but when I tried taking some he didn’t pull away his ice cream he just let me have it

sounds like that 1 character in an anime that the protagonist lets get away with things bc they soft.

Also he grew taller than me?? since when??? Tfw 2 characters grow up together and the short one suddenly grows taller than the original tall one- I’ve known him for 6 years, we could be in an anime together

12. “I’m going to frame you…ᶠᵒʳ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ᵃ ᶜᵘᵗᶦᵉ”

13. Classic “taller guy offers to hold girl’s umbrella for them”

14. I’m somehow on good-ish terms with probably the™ most annoying dude in my algebra class

me: *calls said bro's name* can i have foooooddd

boi: NO

boi: *walks over 2 minutes later to offer me food anyway*

15. “I want to bring you along, because, yknow, cause you’re Lin!”

16. DC senior stood next to me on the bus (I stay near the front bc I get off in 2 stops) even tho our other teammates were farther down on the bus (he joined them after so??? He stayed there just for me I’m-) we didn’t talk much bc im an awkward bean, im glad he was polite enough to not immediately leave when things got awkward tho aaaa

17. My pen pal from 7 years ago in 3rd grade finally brought up the fact we were pen pals (we have the same English class this year) so that’s 7 years of never seeing each other and then we happen to be in the same English class—I recognized her from her handwriting so now we’re reminiscing :’) I still kept a keychain she made for me and a letter somewhere uwu

(1 of my best friends has been waiting for this moment LMAO all 3 of us worked on a project together earlier this semester)

18. There’s this dude in my physics class in the morning who’s real good at art and has a hobby of drawing people he sits near in his class, so there’s a whole page in his sketchbook of me hfkaijdjd and currently he’s fully colouring it wtf im crying I NOTICE HIM GLANCING AT ME TO MAKE SURE THE COLOURS ARE RIGHT IT’S SO MHDMAJSIDB

+ he mentioned he wants to either produce his own anime or be a concept artist as a future career and like CONCEPT ART BUDDY??? BUT I LEARNED ALL THIS BY SEMI-EAVESDROPPING (it was a loud conversation and he sits near me but) SO IDKKKK WANT TO BE HIS FRIEND?!?!?! IM DYING

19. Dude from #16... gOD he became such a big topic in my life for being the nicest bean to me and I had a full on crush-squish on him,,, I joked “lol what if he was my secret santa” in my head anD THEN A MONTH LATER I FOUND OUT HE WAS??

20. Don’t remember when this was but I said hi when walking into a room and no one said hi back to me and I whined (not seriously) about it out loud to everyone in a tiny voice and one of my teammates was like

Him: “I said hi??” Me: “You did??? I want a hug!!” (or smth similar)

and he’s really tall, but he was sitting down this time so I got a v nice hug where I was taller for once and got to hug/pat his head :’))

21. The end of the Josh-Lin saga

22. one of my DC team mates keeps thinking that when I call someone “bean” that I’m referring to him because he thinks of like Mexican food gjsjfhs (he’s Mexican)

But then I was like “NO beans as in smol beans, would you rather I call you smol?!” and he was like “only you” IFJJAHDSH

23. this is stuff w/guy from #22

I was in the restroom near the band room washing my hands

actually saw him coming down the hall but wanted to surprise him in the range

but ahah he saw me in the mirror of the restroom

literally BACKTRACKED to stare into the restroom at me like “😳”

“LIN?! YOU’RE ALIVE?!”

his friend who was with him did the like “oooooh” thing lmfao (he was single at the time lolol)

I get v nice full hug in the MIDDLE of the hallway thank gosh it was empty

#clinche #pan(romant)icking hours #lin says stuff #.txt

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a-blrofonesown · 6 years

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Fall 2018 - Once More Into the Breach!

Hey everyone! The new semester starts up next week, and I wanted to take the time to introduce myself a little more fully and talk about what I want to do with this blog going forward. Right now it’s mostly just a dumping ground for posts or art tutorials I’ve found, and I want to give it a little more purpose.

My name is Nikki/Nikkil, whichever you would prefer, and I’m a storyteller. I’ve been actively writing since about 2007, and drawing or painting since about 2009. I’m studying illustration and creative writing at university, along with things acting and playwriting. I like experimenting with new ways of combining various forms of media to see if I can tell stories that resonate with people that maybe connect with visual or physical input more than they do the written word, because everyone deserves to be able to enjoy stories in their “native language”, so to speak. I write predominately upper YA/crossover adult stuff, with a focus on science fiction and fantasy.

I created this blog last year, around the same time that I made it into the illustration program. The title is a riff off of Virginia Wolff’s “A Room of One’s Own”—I wanted to create a space where I could come and talk about the things I’m trying to achieve in my studies, to have a sounding board with other students, to basically have somewhere where I could say, “when I am here, I can be successful and in control of my studies.”

I mention in my about section that I’m autistic. I’ve got a few other brain things, like ADHD-inattentive type and OCD tendencies, all of which can contribute to a pretty scattered mind and a hard time with executive functioning skills like task initiation and time management. In the past, this has made it pretty hard to consistently stay on top of schoolwork because there were just so many moving parts. However, another part of my autism is my special interest in education and learning. I really, really love learning about how to learn and focus and improve. I have a gigantic catalog of articles, videos, and short ebooks on my phone waiting to be read and assimilated. When I was in high school, I always felt like there was something that other people knew that I didn’t. Somehow, they had been told how to manage their time and their coursework, and they had time for work and extracurriculars and leisure and they could just keep track of things. I want to be that kind of person—in control of my own life.

I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to be methodical. I like making plans and reporting back on them. I like the accountability of it, not because I dislike the drop that comes if I fail to do as I’d intended, but because I love the buzz that comes when I succeed. There are a few things I’d like to do with this blog going forward to try and harness that phenomenon.

#OneMoreDayOfProductivity - A riff on the #100DaysOfProductivity I’ve seen around the blogosphere. I like the idea of trying to build up streaks for important habits. I like the look of the unbroken chain. However, something I’ve recently been trying to do is not fail before I have a chance to succeed. Trying to decide to do something for 100 days when it is still only day 1 has enough psychological weight as it is, and if I’ve tried and failed to do something like it before, it becomes that much harder to believe I can do it. One day, though? I can do one day. I can do one day of writing, one day of planning, one day of drawing. I can do this one day at a time. Who cares what happens tomorrow? This is about today.

Weekly Wrapups - I used to work at a place with a professional development program, and each week we would meet with a coach and review our goals and plan out action steps for the coming week. We’d adjust plans as needed to reflect how our actual progress was going, accounting for unexpected difficulties or successes. Right now, I have a coach I meet with to help me with my executive function skills, and we do the same thing with my school work. I’d like to do a post in tandem with that, to go over what I’ve succeeded at this week and what I’d like to change or implement going forward. I’d also like to do a roundup of posts or videos or other resources I’ve come across over the week that have to do with relevant topics like mental health, creativity, education, art, etc.

Masterposts - I don’t have a lot of original content to round up into a master post, but I do have a HUGE selection of third-party resources. I’d like to make a series of masterposts that I can update as I work through my own catalog. I want to make it easy to use these resources to find the kind of information you’d be looking for, so I’d include little blurbs talking about what the article or post or video had to say and what I liked about it. I’d reblog them every so often as I update them, and I’d probably set up a permalink on the side of the blog so you could find them easily. Some topics I’d like to cover would include:

Mental Health in College

Executive Functioning Skills

General Study Skills

Creative Thinking (for brainstorming, writing, drawing, design, etc.)

Reading and Comprehension

Focus and Productivity

How to Art

How to Write

Self Care and Self Regulation

How to Adult

Motivation

Apps and Tools

and whatever else I find while I trawl through my massive archive!

I’m pretty excited to get back into the swing of things. No matter what happens, I always see a new semester as another chance to do things right. The studyblr/studioblr community is such a wonderful place—you all congratulated me when I got into my program last year, and so much of my archive is filled resources that you’ve put together in your own time. Let’s do this together, one day at a time!

Some places you can find me:

The Studioblr Collective Discord: It’s a great community full of wonderful people! You can get help on projects, post progress shots and final pieces, troubleshoot programs, or just hang out. You can find more about that here.

@nikkilbook : My main blog. I mostly do cross-posting from here, with the occasional reblog and the rare original post. Sometimes you’ll see bits and pieces of the shenanigans my sister and I get up to.

@nikkil-rp : A writeblr/roleplay blog I started to showcase the characters and stories I’ve been working on, both in words and art. There are a bunch of handy permalinks along the side to my project character pages.

Words and Worlds: My Wordpress blog, where I put my original fiction, complete with the pertinent illustrations. Everything up to the first act of each story (which currently means everything) will be open to be read.

Artstation: My full portfolio, complete with progress shots. The progress shots are my favorite part of any project—I love seeing how it all comes together.

DeviantArt: A more casual portfolio. This has some of my older, pre-university work, as well as a few short written pieces. I’d like to get this one up to date, particularly with some of my sketchbook work, but that’s lower on my list of things to do right now.

#nikkil has something to say #studioblr #studyblr #blogkeeping #actuallyautistic

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engelen · 6 years

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2017 IN REVIEW!!

JANUARY: - Started work on an animated video that would go on for the entire semester. - Designed two pairs of acrylic standees. - Worked on a piece for a Latin American Yuuri on Ice zine.

FEBRUARY: - Saw Moonlight (this was important to me). - Started working out with a personal trainer.

MARCH: - Had a piece at my third Gallery Nucleus Show. - Self-published a YOI sketchbook. - Did a show, and a con. - Designed another acrylic standee.

APRIL: - Exciting commissions I can’t talk about (they’re not BIG, they just made me happy to be considered for these).

MAY: - Met Mitsurou Kubo and Sayo Yamamoto. - Cosplayed again for the first time in almost 10 years. - Supervised 2 student films + advised on a student videogame. - Storyboarded a commercial for Sally Beauty Mexico. - Did Creativa Fest (met Claire Keane!!) and Pixelatl Bootcamp (sad thing: Not a finalist for their contest for the first time since 2014). - Did another show. - Worked on a piece for @nextlevelzine - (( I did not work out at all throughout this month OOPS ))

JUNE: -Delivered the video I’d been working on since January. Reached 2.5 million views within a month, and it’s currently at something like 6 million views. - Storyboarded another commercial for Sally Beauty Mexico. - Advised on a senior thesis project. - Got hired to do animation for a feature film (it’s nothing big that will ever be seen in the West, but it’s paid work, and a big deal to me ; 3; ) - Watched Twin Peaks.

JULY - Went to Mexico City for a wedding. - Did another show. - I got into a bit of a car wreck, and got my shoulders sunburnt from standing on a parking lot for a million hours. - I did another piece of another YOI Zine, and I got to draw Victor and Yuuri in my hometown! - I did a YOI-themed cover for a Mexican magazine about geeky shit. - We held a bit of a RAM event at a comic book café shop to celebrate season 3.

AUGUST - I opened my online store. - Worked on another campaign for Sally Beauty Mexico. - Got a new phone, after 3 year. This is the first time I own a phone that’s been released on the year I got it. - I saw Kimi no na wa twice in theatres, and cried. - I. WENT. TO. JAPAN. Did all sorts of YOI things: Went to Yuuri on Museum, Karatsu, etc. It was. A GOOD TIME.

SEPTEMBER - I turned 30. - Went to Pixelatl without the pressure of competition. AND LET ME TELL YOU: It is a lot more fun that way. No panic attacks or nothing. I got to meet some of my heroes, AND embarrass myself by saying terrible stuff. HAH! - There was a multiple-state area blackout upon my return (that even affected Texas??). It was spooky. I was like “ARE KAIJUS REAL AND ATTACKING MEXICO!?” - Tested for Bojack Horseman. - The Mexico City Earthquake hit. I was part of a collaborative workbook for kids to help them cope with what happened. - I did another show, but this time nobody gave a shit I was there... and I was fine??

OCTOBER - Found out some of my Rick and Morty art had been made into socks! - Saw IT - An LGBT book with a cover I did was released (I still don’t have a copy). - A thesis project I advised on won a National Award. Go students! - I watched Neo Yokio. - Did 2 RAM covers back-to-back. - Self-published another YOI Sketchbook. - Did another show, but it went bad. First time I don’t make by my investment at a con. Welp. - Finally got a raise on one of my teaching jobs.

NOVEMBER - I self-published a third YOI Sketchbook. - I did a show in Mexico City, and it was INCREDIBLE. - I did another small show in my hometown. - Someone broke into my home, and I have been experiencing a lot of anger, fear, and sadness ever since >:’-( - I did a couple of youtube interviews. - I was finally able to throw myself a birthday party. - Watched the Hey Arnold movie, and CRIED. God Bless. I deserved that movie.

DECEMBER - Took a 3-week-long break. I am now behind on a lot of class planning, and personal projects. But. Screw that. I was tired. - Started reading Golden Kamuy. - I rediscovered my love for drawing.

All in all: I did a lot of shows and conventions, self-published 4 sketchbooks (3 YOI + 1 RAM), did not quit exercising (and am actually starting to get buff legs!), traveled A LOT MORE than I was even hoping to, and strengthened bonds with people in my community. All in all, this was a pretty good year. Here’s to a good 2018! 🍾

#2017 #jujujulieta

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13tth · 6 years

Text

Smooth Horizon of the Verb Love: Chapter 2

Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Relationship: Eleven/Max

Summary: “I bet you real money, or rides, or smokes— whatever you want, that you can’t get Jane to sleep with you by the end of next semester.” Lucas looks almost proud of himself when he steps back, glancing over his shoulder at the group of girls wielding pom-poms, seemingly flying. Seemingly touching the sun.

“You fall in love, you lose.”

Title from the poem of the same name by Nicole Brossard.

Read on ao3 | Chapter 1

Max approaches the football field with a diminishing spring in her step.

It’s not that she’s nervous— no. She just doesn’t have any idea what to say. To anyone, most of the time. Except for Lucas. She can always fuck with Lucas.

Max had never been great at making friends and or keeping acquaintances. The best friends she’s ever made were the three or four she’d managed to reel in during her eighth-grade year when she was new to Hawkins, and boys thought her sun-kissed skin was pretty. Dustin and Lucas were first, the two fighting for her unfortunately— as realized later— very very lesbian hand. Lucas stole a kiss at their winter semi-formal the very same year. Dustin thought he’d won until she came out to both of them through teary fingers the following summer. They all grew closer after that somehow.

She’d met Jane in 8th grade the day after winter break.

And Mike. And Will. She’d met them all.

"This is Mike, and his girlfriend, Jane, and Will Byers..."

Mike was skinny, about her height with a stunning full head of black hair comparable to a mushroom, and had a scowl on his face that could compete with her own. It only seemed to diminish when the tiny girl with short brown hair and huge dark eyes (darker than dark, almost nothing), whose hand he was holding, would tug on his arm and plant a wet kiss on his cheek. It was disgusting then because they were shy, but only a little afraid. It’s even more so now that they aren’t either.

Max had been holding hands with Lucas, her heart tugging on her throat telling her strongly that she was pretending, that she was a fraud. That was before she’d learned to listen.

It was amazing to think she’d even kept him at all.

Will was the smallest of them all, Max remembers because she’d heard a lot about Will Byers. And how he always looked like he’d been run over by a truck. He stood on flat feet, back hunched and fingertips ghosting Mike’s side. Max thought it was weird that he tagged along with Hawkins Middle’s own married couple, but there was something about the way he would sigh at Mike sometimes and stand a little straighter when Mike would glance at him with worried eyes. Max ignored it. For a few years.

Will was still small for a guy, standing at a threatening 5’6 even at the ripe old age of 17.

On days like today, when the sun is shining low, almost touching the horizon, Max will often find him hunched over on the bleachers, blending stick in hand pretending to not know marching band practice is going on on the east end of the field. Pretending he isn’t sketching 30 different angles of Mike Wheeler.

“How’s it going, Byers?”

Will slams his sketchbook shut with graphite stained fingers, straightening his back with a nervous smile. “Um hey— hi Max.”

Max sits a step down from him, boots coming to rest underneath her knees as she leans back and looks up. “Anything new in Will’s world?”

“Not—“ He twists his body around to face her, face lighting up at the realization that just beyond her head was the view he’d wanted anyway. If she’d done that on purpose, no one would know. Will certainly wouldn’t ask. “Really, no. You?”

“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, my friend,” Max leans in close, urging Will to do the same with the wave of her hand. “I’m on a mission.”

“What kind of mission,” Will looks suddenly intrigued and pulls his sketchbook tighter to his chest, hoping to lean even closer.

Max covers her mouth with one hand, “A gay mission. And I need your help.”

“I’m in,” Will immediately whispers, sending them both into small fits of knowing laughter.

It’d be insane to anyone but them, but they have a bond no one at Hawkins High School can really relate to. They weren’t the closest of friends but they were out to each other and for Max that was enough. It’s one thing to be gay around people that aren’t, but a totally different (and amazing) thing to be gay around other gay people in a town that’ll all but kill you for both. Will Byers was a blessing.

Max looks around at that, noticing that marching band was done for the day and everyone was starting to disperse, which meant cheer would soon be done too. It sent Max into a panic when she saw Mike jogging over to where she now sat with Will to her left. She waves a hand of dismissal in Will’s general direction, but he’s already sitting up, eagerness seeping from lips drawn up in a tight smile.

Before Mike can even make it to the fence surrounding the track he’s intercepted by Jane, who slams into his side and attacks his lips in a fever Max would only dream of committing to a dripping ice cream cone.

She scoffs at the same time Will hums a disapproving note.

“Any cool ones today, Will?” Mike’s hair against the sun forms a kind of halo around his head. Max can almost see the cartoon hearts floating out of Will’s ears. She feigns a gag.

“Just some dumb drawings of the trees and stuff, as usual,” Will lies through his teeth. Max seems to be the only one with bullshit goggles because Jane perks up with his mention of landscapes.

“I’m sure they’re beautiful, Will. You should show us tonight we’re out of here. It’ll be late, around 10 as usual.” Jane leans against Mike’s shoulder, their staggering heights shocking to the eye.

Max can’t look away from them until Mike’s hand is on Jane’s hip and she has to.

“It’s so nice to see you as well, Maxine! Feels like it’s been a million years.” Jane’s voice jumps, full of surprise, but it’s still genuine. Her eyes find Max’s when she lifts her head and she smiles. “Are you coming to the game tonight?”

Her teeth are full of lavender sprigs—

“I’m not really a football person,” Max shakes her head, not breaking eye contact. That is until Jane smiles again and for some reason, she feels she has to. Again. Max tries to tell herself it isn’t because Jane is pretty. Home by eight with soft pink cheeks pretty. Never.

Will stares on at their interaction with a confused expression. Glancing back and forth awkwardly from Max to Jane to Mike, and back again. Mike opens his mouth to intervene before Jane cuts him off.

“Then come to Deena’s after and bring Lucas, we have enough room.” Jane’s eyes widen like she’d just had a revelation, and Max remembers her mission at the sight. Her mind clicks into gear in the same heartbeat, already visualizing a skateboard friendly path to the diner. “Will is definitely going, right Will?”

Will’s tennis-match-like concentration breaks and he stumbles over his words, coughing up an affirmative noise. Mike does the same with his eyebrows drawn together.

“It’s not a big game or anything so like,” Mike scratches at his neck, in a trying-to-figure-out-how-to-be-passive-aggressive-without-actually-expressing-it kind of way. In a Mike way. It doesn’t work. “You don’t have to come if you can’t. I’ll let Lucas know—

“I’ll come,” Max agrees quickly. She’s confident now that if this was her way into Jane’s circle, with the invitation from the girl herself, this couldn’t possibly get any easier. “On one condition,”

They all raise eyebrows, Jane’s looking exceedingly sculpted, the dark blue barrette holding bob-length wisps of hair from her face almost mimics the shape.

“I get to sit next to Jane.”

Max swears the shine of Jane’s lip gloss could blind a pilot when her mouth drops open just a bit, and a soft giggle falls out.

Will smiles. Mike doesn’t. His sneakers scratch the dirt in an impulse to walk and Max can tell, so she lets them turn to leave, limbs and torsos tangled haphazardly, borderline protectively together.

“10 sharp, Maxine!” Jane calls back with a wave, pom-pom strapped to her wrist shaking as she does so. Max swallows a wad of spit.

“What the hell was that,” Will finally asks when they’re gone, stunned by the scene that had just unfolded in front of them both.

“My gay mission,” Max exhales, pulling the cigarette she’d forgotten she had stored behind her ear from its hidden home, and sticking it between her lips.

tags: @dandeliontozier

#stranger things #st2 #st #eleven #max mayfield #jane hopper #eleven x max #elmax #my stuff #SHVLfic

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artdjgblog · 4 years

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Innerview: M.L. / University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

April 2008

Image: MO Fine Arts Academy Name Badge / Logo: Roman Duszek

Note: Interview for a design student’s art history lecture.

Introduction:

I wanted to know if you would be willing to answer a few questions for me. I really like your work, because I really appreciate the super hand-done and collage quality of it. I think it’s a way of working that’s often forgotten and overlooked, but personally I really like it, and your work really appeals to me. I’m especially interested in your work with show posters, so if you would be amenable to a short interview I would really appreciate it. You can just shoot me back an e-mail, or if you prefer a phone interview that would be fine too. Thanks! 01) Did you go to school for art, or are you self taught? I was fortunate to attend one of the best kept secrets in design schools at Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) in Springfield, MO. Shortly after I left, the name was simplified to Missouri State University. (Rewind A Bit to 1996) The year before my Freshman fall semester, I was selected for the first annual Missouri Fine Arts Academy, which was held on the campus of SMSU. Before my senior year of high school (back in 1996) I thought about pursuing a career in architecture design, in particular, the area of sports stadium design. Though, after several years of lying to myself that I would eventually kick my math deficiency, I got a kick in the gut that this might not be my best choice. I loved to shut myself in my room for hours at a time drawing everything from comics to sports logos to buildings and such. I loved the creative aspect of this and felt that not only might I lose some of that personal one-on-one with architecture (though, nothing short of creative, but it’s a relatively computer and technical group effort), I would be held responsible to make the designs actually “work”. Being that I was terrible at math I didn’t want to be held accountable for future building flops. So, at the Fine Arts Academy I did a little bit of re-discovering of my own wheels, as I realized that I had more to offer from my fingertips. Raised from the dirt of a farm in the middle of the mid-west, I was pretty naive to most all things having to do with graphic design, I just knew that I should head in that direction, yet not limit myself only there. And I had shown signs of graphic design earlier on by way of winning a small town logo competition for a skating rink / bowling alley in the fifth grade. I just had a hunch while in creation of the identity (they kept the original, but i still have the newspaper clipping copy depicting my original entry) that I would be chosen out of the dozen other area schools and get my creation up on that big sign. Well, come time for the grand opening of The Fun Factory, my school principal forgot to notify me or my parents that I was the celebrated one to christen the new establishment. The next week she apologized, but i didn’t really give a care as I don’t like such sanctions of attention, and I still don’t. Most kids would have been struck with disappointment by the loss of a free chance to be the first to scuff the freshly waxed lanes with boulders and the new floor with skates, but the deep gut spoilage came to me by way of finally getting to see my logo up on that sign. I was devastated. My design had been butchered. This was my earliest memory of design sabotage. How could somebody take my vision and just ruin it? I look at all things in my life to have lead me up to this point in the writing, and so I feel that early little burnt spark in my gut that day told me something important…pour yourself into your work and protect that. (Fast Forward To 1996) To shorten the story, I came back from those three weeks of Fine Arts Academy in a born-again sense within my own talents, though still unsure of how to officially tap into it like I once had before body hair and outside influences and distractions pushed “play”. Being inspired by a couple of graffiti artists that I observed at the Fine Arts Academy, I began studying the art of typography (though, I had no idea what that word meant then) by way of this whole new world of urban language. And being that I tried to keep my nose clean and lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, I just practiced my own graffitied typography twists and turns by way of perfecting one-of-a-kind personalized locker names and special birthday certificates for my classmates and friends on cheap Wal-Mart sketchbook paper. I was never so thankful to be attached to my small school in such a way as I only had two dozen classmate name plates to hand draw and color and diecut. If I did that now, my hands would surely buckle. I didn’t need to do it then, but I saw it as an investment towards the future growth of my work, or some way to start my last year of schooling fresh. My senior year was mostly spent in my bedroom making things. All of my friends had girlfriends and I had my work to sit next to on weekend nights. I also was inspired by a new art teacher at the school named Allen Heck. He was a real artist and not just some fluke or painter who couldn’t sell work so in-turn dropped on the totem pole to teach a crummy low-budget art program. Allen had a business head and an artistic head and he meant business in a classroom that spilled creativity. Even though there were a couple of art teachers before Allen that I admired, most art classes before his were mostly afterthoughts or throwaways. Places where the jerk-off kids could goof and ruin the atmosphere for the ones who wanted to be there to learn and develop, just like at most any school, i suppose. Anyway, I found an excuse to be in Allen’s classroom as much as I could and he sorta guided me on some design paths. I also helped him teach several of the elementary classes (we had K-12 grades all under one roof) that year. At this same time I was getting really involved in devouring music and an early mining idea of combining art and music started to strike, though it wouldn’t cement until several years later. Outside of Allen’s classes I landed a logo for the local Future Farmers of America chapter, along with other little so-called “best artist in the class” projects. A title that I didn’t really think I deserved as a friend of mine was ten times the draftsman that I was. Anyway, for my not-so troubles with the Future Farmers (I wasn’t a member and I didn’t want to follow my blood line), I got a giant canvas carrying case for artwork big enough that a beefy baby calf corpse could take a nap in it (I use it now to stuff my dirty clothes in for the laundromat trips). In early 1997, my guidance counselor set-up a special solo trip for me to visit an area company that specialized in yearbook designs. I went and wasn’t completely enthused about this place that seemed to put a lock on creativity in a darkened room with eyes staring at computer screens, shuffling around items given to them, though, I lied to myself that as I would grow older, this is what I might want. It just didn’t really say “Happiness” to me though, more-so (to quote The Beatles), “Happiness is a warm gun”. Still, I decided to go on ahead with going to a college that had graphic design courses. As graduation loomed on the purple and white horizon, I began to think a bit more seriously about applying for schools to further my education. Being that I had some solid fortune at the Fine Arts Academy at Southwest Missouri State University, and being that Springfield, MO was four hours south down the black top road (far enough from everything, but not too far for a weekend visit), I registered with no time to spare. Thoughts of the Kansas City Art Institute loomed, but they were more expensive, and i felt some sort of strange magnetism to SMSU. I ended up getting in by a scrape to the only college I applied for. I had the lowest common denominator for test scores and was in the top half of my graduating class as I was 12 out of 24. That was all the requirements I needed, the deal was set. The transition from high school to college art class (like most I assume) was a little challenging for me as I soon realized that the mold I was in previously had to be broken as I wasn’t comparable to skill with my new classmates. Though, the drawing classes frustrated, yet intrigued me, I did do fairly decent in my fundamentals design classroom. And this is where I learned more about making like-minded, potential life-long friends, a skill I hadn’t perfected much since my first day of Meadville first grade. All of my friends in foundations course were annoyed with working in cutting blades and paper and such…whereas, I flourished a good reputation in those departments and at times neglected all other areas of my studies to perfect my art skills. On break one early spring morning my friends spoke of much better things to come in the coming semester. Their minds were on the computer. They couldn’t wait as they had backgrounds in computer-related image creating in their high school yearbook classes. My school had one computer until I was a senior, and then we got a baker’s dozen or so. Other than that few hour visit to the local yearbook factory, I was naive to the idea of a computer as the essential tool for the modern day graphic designer. Exhausted by their comments, anxieties swelled in me and out finally popped my ignorance to the subject, “I plan to take the direction in graphic design that is done without the computer. I’m going to take the courses that are all hands-on.” And instant mockery, was I. My friends ripped me a new one and basically said I better learn pretty quick because graphic design wasn’t conquered without the computer. This is all really quite humorous to me know (possibly to them too) as I’ve somehow managed some mild success with my hands-on design approach and most of them are staring at computers all day in jobs they dislike or not even doing graphic design at all. Later that year I found out where the design kids were stuffed as I climbed aboard a twenty minute bus ride to the small downtown area of Springfield and up an elevator zooming past vacant floors housing archives of university products and collections to the top of a five story building where the world of graphic design officially opened up to me. Did it open wide at first? That answer is a giant NO as I was still so naive to what the heck I was getting into that when my friends early-on claimed, “I can’t wait until next semester for typography class”. I said, “Cool! We get to design maps?” 02) Were your areas of interest in school (artistically) the same as they are now? My artistic whatevers were put on hold the first few semester of design school. Not only that, but they were run thru the emotional and physical gambits over and over. Being thrown on a computer was very troubling for me and there was a time that I almost quit design all together because I didn’t feel a connection to the work anymore thru the screen barrier. So, I struggled to find myself again for about a year and a half. Though, at the same time the design instructors at SMSU were (and still are) old-fashioned in a sense with their training and we still did many hands-on projects. I shined more in these areas, though my work still seemed more like decorating than me trying to say something. True, design is pretty much decorating and saying something, but, I couldn’t really find myself and it felt more like doing my chores than anything else. I think it can be dangerous when the designer is hogging the avenue and only speaking for their ego or style and not client intentions. Sometimes a healthy dose of both works, sometimes not. Anyway, I just didn’t “get” what I was doing and basically was doing an incredibly OK job at fulfilling my instructor’s projects. Which is fine, but it took me a while to really enjoy design. All of the instructor’s at SMSU were (mostly still are) from Eastern Europe and Russia. This was a great experience for me as it opened me up to not only a unique education in design, but also one in culture. I felt a strange connection to this as I was somewhat foreign being an artistically-challenged kid from a farm in The Sticks, Missouri. There is an exciting mix of design and passion going on down there on the fifth floor of that building. New wheels in me started to get greased around this same time and my eyes started to open a pinch. And they really thumped when I went on a limb to attach illustration classes to my already full plate during my junior year. I was starting to get hungry and / or full…full in a sense to where I needed to get the work out of my system. It was time for me to find my voice. 03) How did you get started working as an illustrator? Growing up and drawing a lot, I thought I was pretty decent at it, but nothing more special or ordinary than creating strange, graphic WWII battles and mimicking comic book characters. I even had an epic, life-sized drawing of Batman I worked on at my grandma’s almost every week after school. Sadly, I think it was thrown away recently when she moved. However, on the back burner to the drawing, there was a side of me that always did a lot of cut-outs and saving and archiving of things. I think most every kid at some point cuts things of interest from magazines and tacks them to their wall or jumbles words cut to make “cool” sayings glued on paper. My older brother and I did this a lot. Mostly, we were just never bored and always doing something and always being inspired by anything and everything. We even created our own little magazine (I still have a few issues) at my grandma’s. My grandmother was a good influence on my creative side too as we were always making homemade things there. My siblings and I recreated any event we went to or anything we watched on television / movies in our sandbox, tree house(s), forts and bedroom. I was fortunate to have a large intake of popular culture and mix that with the experience of farm life and a lot of room to play. All of this fueled my creative side to where at a younger age I had a lot of options to choose from and I enjoyed and loved them all. Though, it took me a while to re-discover this within myself in design school. I was getting deeper into school and the ever present “What do I wish to do with my life” question(s) (among other personal mind trappings and inner wrangling). This especially was asked after I signed up with other design students on several professional studio visits. Every time I would come home with an empty heart from these “creative” places that felt more like controlled meat markets than anything remotely creative. Some people thrive in certain areas and not everybody wants the same thing, but the typical trappings of community computer screen shuffling didn’t offer me much hope at all. I have always enjoyed being alone making things. I’ve also been very protective of my creations and I didn’t want to be thrown into a factory-like design setting unless it was my own to where I could do what I wanted, when I wanted and have parental rights and control. Coming back to school from these studio visits was very discouraging to me. I felt confused and as if my career path was in a box already. Around this time I toyed with the idea of taking illustration classes to help push myself a little more as I wanted to keep what little fire I had in me from burning out. However, I wasn’t confident in my illustration skills as I thought I wasn’t solid enough at regular drawing. This is a terrible mistake that I feel many students make. I sorta had to shovel deep and realize the way I created when I was younger and that really helped cultivate a new side of me as I learned how to pour myself into and out of my work again and it was fun and special. Looking back, I think mustering up the courage to find confidence in illustration helped me in the long run. Though, at times I still struggle with thinking that I’m still not good enough at particular things. The only competition I have is with myself. 04) Did it take you a long time to find a working style that you are satisfied with? For the most part I advise for makers of things to stay away from the trap of a “working style”. And it’s mighty easy to stumble or choose something and milk it, which is the feeling I get from the majority of artists and designer’s portfolios. It’s easy to stick with turning over the same old tires on the same old asphalt. I realize I have a certain feel to my body of work, but each day my head’s approach to life is so different (heck each minute sometimes) that I try to trust my gut instincts. I just try to speak from my heart, which ends up in my gut sometimes. A lot of times I trust good ol’ intuition. Of course, some projects require a bit more fine tuning than others as something like a logo has more life than say, a concert poster. Even though the logo might have more of a lasting impression, I’d rather put my butter to the blank paper bread of the poster. I love to try new things and just reach and grab at whatever I have around me and in my head, marriaging that with the band and the music in some strange brew. At times it can be quite intoxicating and when you do it enough and for a long while, you end up not even thinking, rather just doing and it’s fluid and non-calculating. This is when it becomes pure, this is when design becomes true language. I’ve had some projects where I’ll be told about it from a client and I’ll immediately have a vision in my head of how it should look, and then go home and start teaching it how to walk. Items like CD packages are very similar to logos because you’ve got to really give out something that you don’t mind sticking around a while in the lock-down of identity for a product or persona. There have been a few CDs that have happened out in a matter of a couple hours. The majority though, I like to have enough time to tackle and build in three separate sessions. But, I really don’t like sitting on projects for a long time. And usually the client has more of a personal care for a CD than a poster, so it might take a three act play or teeter tottering until all sides are fixed to fancy. I’ve had a few CDs that have stretched to almost a year. Being that my work is recognizable to a hands-on aesthetic, I’m sure most think that I don’t touch a computer. This is true and not true. I try to build as much as I can by hand as I love that connection I get. The screen barrier between me getting dirty with my work has bothered me and created anxieties with my work since day one in formal design class when I was thrown on a computer to mash buttons. I do what I can by hand and then use the computer as a layout and printing tool and I use it to correct or help put the finish on some items. Most designers forget that the computer is only a tool. If I could have it my complete way, I wouldn’t use a computer at all. I have made several projects in this way, but it’s hard to do it all in this fashion anymore and I have a wide format ink jet printer to print a lot of my more complex poster works with. The computer has ruined and helped designers. But, overall I feel that if it’s treated with respect and not used as substitute brains, then a designer will truly show his or her meat and potatoes. For the most part, I get a little disappointed in the output from a vast majority of designers as it all feels far away like an afterthought that doesn’t count, or simply as a decorating kit or pre-fabricated template you buy at a craft store. But, I try to keep my disgruntled burly bears close to my own heels. As long as I am creating what needs to be created from my own little corner of the basement, then I am a pretty happy camper. Though, the computer has broken many a bulb, not only with designers, but also with attitudes toward treating the designer with respect. Maybe it’s always been this way, but it’s easy for me to think that I can throw an iPhone and hit somebody who thinks they know graphic design because they can change the colors on their myspace or blog (and I’d have to borrow their iPhone to do so). It’s great that creativity is being fused with daily interaction, in a sense, but it can get a little confusing for people. I don’t think it should be reserved for a certain few, but I feel that everybody thinks they are a graphic designer now. It’s like trying to keep the raccoons out of the patch of sweet corn. You’ve just got to find the right gauge of wire to shock the perimeter with so they will find other food to steal and nibble. And there are still those who are hungry enough to go find and get the good stuff on their own. I suppose I’ve found myself to be more in tune to old folk artists and with the mindset of the old school designers and illustrators. Folk art is as pure in art and language as cave painting and daily ancient living. I like the idea of somebody just up and making something out of the blue because they’ve got to get their story out for themselves. Last summer I went from The Museum of Modern Art to the American Folk Art Museum in New York City in an afternoon and found a more pure-incentive to making things from the folk artists than the artists and designers across the street. It was refreshing. I had been enjoying my personal study of folk art history the past four or five years, but seeing it out of the pages of a book or web site really gave it a new light. And to see that most folk art has pushed into some avenues of the mainstream is really interesting, though chokes the purity from it original conceptual intention. I find that a lot of artists and designers are just as much about making themselves as important as the work they are producing. I just have never understood this idea. So, what individuals are my art and design in kin with? There are many, and it goes beyond just one field, but here is the short list: Grandma Gibson / Jim Henson / Stanley Donwood / Lester Beall / Saul Bass / Seymour Chwast & Pushpin Studio / Paul Klee / Ivan Chermayeff / Henryk Tomaszewski / Art Chantry / Vaughn Oliver / Edward Gorey / Saul Steinberg / Bill Traylor / Ray Johnson / Eric Carle / Cy Twombly / Robert Rauschenberg / Henry Darger / Hans Schleger…to name a few. There are a few items I’ve created that I can tell don’t speak right in retrospect (and they are probably obvious to others as well). These were the ones that caught me in a bad mood, exhaustion or in a lack of time. It’s so hard not to let the daily life and emotions influence the work. And in my case I’ve never been able to just chase my dreams, as I’ve had to work full-time day jobs and at times part-time jobs on top of those, and then slide my work into late nights and weekends (and I always had a girlfriend on top of that…now, a wife). It can be a hard struggle for a healthy balance. I just try to approach it with the idea that I am a man and a man who happens to make things. I am doing what I need to be doing and working hard towards the goal of some day having all of the clocks wound on my time. I have been fortunate in my choices of day jobs. I admire those who wish to live in near-poverty designing for bands and independent projects, but there is no money in it at all and it’s easy for people to take advantage of you. I tried it for a few short stints, but got tired quickly of scraping by and relying on musician’s responsibility of paying me and I ran out of belongings to sell to pay the rent. Throwing out the few bad apple clients, I must say I can’t complain too much as I’ve been blessed with some great people to not only work with, but also to have relationships with beyond the art. Janitorial and groundskeeping had me for 5 years and I loved it. The pay isn’t great, but I was alone and within my thoughts and had time to write and actually make a few things while on the clock. Also, I was able to bring home whatever stuff I could dig out of the dumpster. I’m still chipping at a 15,000 page stack of bricked paper that I found in a dumpster 6 years ago. Currently, I am in the second year of being trapped in a cubicle as a data entryman. It’s a great job, it’s not too difficult, I work with people I know, I walk to work, I’m able to get my teeth fixed and am setting aside some money now for my future, but I don’t plan to marry it as it’s not what I need to be doing with my talents. Many days I can’t sit still because all I can think about is going home and making things. Design is a way of life for me. It’s easy for it to start to take over at times, but I’ve been working on a better balance of it by getting up at 5:00 in the morning, before the “junk” pollution of the day. I love getting up before the crickets and getting to work. Even if I’m filling up on books and movies, it’s still work for me. But, it’s not really work, it’s just what I enjoy and I kinda need it to aid survival. If a designer only puts their design mind onto paper / screen into a 9 to 5 crack, then they might want to think about looking into other lines of life work to chew on. 05) Do you do a lot of self promotion, and how? I’ve been in an interesting position to where my work has been trickling word of mouth for the most part. I’ve been surrounded in positions where I’ve been around musicians a lot and in general, people have been attracted to my creations to where they too want me to make them something. With age, I don’t get out as much to shows, nor do I live with musicians anymore (thankfully). Those days were great, but that kind of lifestyle can’t be taken seriously forever. But, it helped shape me in some way. And I’ve established myself, somewhat. It still amazes me that my work is speaking in the volume that it has. It’s certainly nothing of major impact, but it means a lot to me. For many years I’ve also been at a constant with submitting large quantities of my work to yearly design magazine annuals. This breaks my bank for sure, but it’s the best way of promotion as the work gets spread around the world quickly. I have contacts in many countries who found me this way and thus, offer me entry into their books, magazines, contests or give me a shot to make something for them. The internet is a great source too, of course. Recently I’ve somehow caught a breathe of fresh air from the web currents and realize the easy importance of putting myself out there on it. It’s a strange world though, and I’m still a bit ignorant of it, but I’m becoming more comfortable. I used to not be into self-promotion much. Not only that, I just didn’t have much time with it, being weighed down by day jobs and life stuff. And I’m a believer of the work speaking for itself and letting it take time to mature and incubate. Right now I’m looking at how much weight my portfolio has gained and am seeing what alternate routes I can walk with it. I’ve always planned to be doing my best work, for me, but I’ve never really pushed it as hard until now, as the big No. 30 looms. True, I am making what I want to make, but I don’t wish to be working a full-time job much longer. I have alot more to say and in different varieties of value packs and I just need more second hands to say it in. 06) Lastly, because I’m interested in doing show posters, do you have any advice on positioning oneself into that market?

I tell a lot of people a similar thing that I’ve heard Quentin Tarantino say to aspiring filmmakers, (to paraphrase here) “Just go and make what you need to make and do it at whatever cost.” Just get out there and make things and get those things out, even if you go broke or worn out doing it. Catch fire and start a paper trail. I was fortunate to not only love devouring music since the day my ears could, but ended up in positions to where I was surround by musicians and / or individuals with like-minded inner ear infestations. Most importantly, I found that I could merge the things I loved into a cohesive music and art stomping ground. My last couple of college years I befriended several bands and musicians and had my own little business on the side from class, making show posters and CD packages. After four and a half years of college and exhausting all my design class options…AND ability to fail Algebra four times and even an art history course…I had a higher calling to quit spinning my own wheels and dropped college from the daily schedule, among many other things weighing me down at the time. It was gutsy, but one of the most crucially sound decisions I’ve ever made. I moved from the Bible Belt Buckle comforts of Springfield and into a big, orange, dilapidated house in the middle of a shady section of Kansas City, Missouri with a band that had become my best friends. I almost didn’t do it as my pants pockets were turned inside-out and thoughts of sticking around the family farm to save up money kept me down. I think a lot of people were very disappointed in me too for quitting school. But, my decision was made and I believe in following the heart instead of stopping up the artery. I would have been miserable to stay at home and I had bigger fields to plow and sew. And I didn’t need a piece of paper saying what I was supposed to be doing. Most importantly, only I can tell myself what I should do with me. -djg

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