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arrghigiveup · 5 years

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There's a lot of news going on about the "black hole girl" right now, and how she's being given too much credit for her role in the historic first image of a black hole. Because this is too important, I want to set the record straight.

Once Katie Bouman became the "face" of the black hole photo, and articles began to call her "the woman behind the black hole photo", an assortment of people that I'm strongly inclined to call incels but won't decided to figure out just how much of a role she had in it. Why? You'd have to ask them. Something about her attractiveness, youthfulness, and femaleness disturbed them to the point where they had to go digging.

And after digging, they found Andrew Chael, who wrote an algorithm, and put his algorithm online. Andrew Chael worked on the black hole photo as well. And because people kept saying that Katie Bouman wrote "the algorithm", these people decided that "the algorithm" in question must be Chael's.

So they looked at Chael's GitHub repository and checked the history. The history showed that Andrew Chael made 850,000 commits to the GitHub repository, while Katie Bouman made only 2,400.

"Oh my god!" they all said. "He did almost all of the work on the algorithm and yet she's the one getting all of the credit!"

They dug a little deeper - but not much - and discovered that the algorithm that "ultimately" generated the world-famous photo was created a different man, named Mareki Honma.

"She's taken the credit from two men!" they gasped. "Feminism and the PC media is destroying everything!"

There were, of course, those who tried to be kind. "She's always said that this was a team effort," they said. "We don't blame her, we blame the media. She didn't ask to become the poster girl of a team project she barely contributed to."

Meanwhile, Andrew Chael - a gay man - tweeted in defense of her. He thanked people for congratulating him on the work he'd spent years on but clarified that if they were doing so as a part of a sexist attack on Katie Bouman, they should go away and reconsider their lives. He said that his work couldn't have happened without Katie.

And it turns out that he was the one who took the viral photo of Bouman, specifically because he didn't want her contributions to be lost to history

So I decided to find out for myself what Katie Bouman's actual contributions were. As a programmer, I'm well aware that the number of GitHub commits means nothing without context. And Chael himself clarified that the lines being counted in the commits were from automatic commits of large data files. The actual software was made up of 68,000 lines, and though he didn't count how many he did personally, someone else assessed that he wrote about 24,000 of those.

Whether 68,000 or 24,000-- it's more than 2,400 right? Why call it "her" algorithm, then?

Because there's more than one algorithm being referenced here. These people just don't realize it.

I'll work my way backward because it's easier to explain that way.

The photo that everyone is looking at, the world famous black hole photo? It's actually a composite photo. It was generated by an algorithm credited to Mareki Honma. Honma's algorithm, based on MRI technology, is used to "stitch together" photos and fill in the missing pixels by analyzing the surrounding pixels.

But where did the photos come from that are composited into this photo?

The photos making up the composite were generated by 4 separate teams, led by Katie Bouman, Andrew Chael, Kazu Akiyama, Michael Johnson, and Jose L Gomez. Each team was given a copy of the black hole data and isolated from each other. Between the four of them, they used two techniques - an older, traditional one called CLEAN, and a newer one called RML - to generate an image.

The purpose of this division and isolation of teams was deliberately done to test the accuracy of the black hole data they were all using. If four isolated teams using different algorithms all got similar results, that would indicate that the data itself was accurate.

And lo, that's exactly what happened. The data wasn't just good, it's the most accurate of its kind. 5 petabytes (millions of billions of bytes) worth of accurate black hole data.

But where did the data come from?

Eight radio telescopes around the world trained their attention on the night sky in the direction of this black hole. The black hole is some ungodly distance away, a relative speck amidst billions of celestial bodies. And what the telescopes caught was not only the data of the black hole but the data of everything else as well.

Data that would need to be sorted.

Clearly, it's not the sort of thing you can sort by hand. To separate the wheat (one specific black hole's data) from the chaff (literally everything else around and between here and there) required an algorithm that could identify and single it out, calculations that were crunched across 800 CPUs on a 40Gbit/s network. And given that the resulting black hole-specific data was 5 petabytes (hundreds of pounds worth of hard drives!) you can imagine that the original data set was many times larger.

The algorithm that accomplished this feat was called CHIRP, short for "Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors".

CHIRP was created by Katie Bouman.

At the age of 23, she knew nothing about black holes. Her field is computer science and artificial intelligence, topics she'd been involved in since high school. But she had a theory that black holes have shadows, and her algorithm was designed to find those shadows. Katie Bouman used a variety of what MIT called "clever algebraic solutions" to overcome the obstacles involved in creating the CHIRP algorithm. And though she had a team working to help her, her name comes first on the peer-reviewed documentation.

It's called the CHIRP algorithm because that's what she named it. It's the only reason these images could be created, and it's responsible for creating some of the images that were incorporated into the final image. It's the algorithm that made the effort of collecting all that data worth it. Any data analyst can tell you that you can't analyze or visualize data until it's been prepared first. Cleaned up. Narrowed down to the important information.

That's what Katie Bouman did, and after working as a data analyst for two years with a focus on this exact thing - data transformation - I can tell you it's not easy. It's not easy on the small data sets I worked with, where I could wind up spending a week looking for the patterns in a 68K Excel spreadsheet with only one month's worth of programming for a single TV station!

Katie Bouman's 2,400 line contribution to Andrew Chael's work is on top of all of her other work. She spent five years developing and refining the CHIRP algorithm before leading four teams in testing the data created. The data collection phase of this took 10 days in April 2017, when the eight telescopes simultaneously trained their gazes towards the black hole.

This photo was ultimately created as a way to test Katie Bouman's algorithm for accuracy. MIT says that it's far more accurate than similar predecessors. And it is the algorithm that gave us our first direct image of a black hole.

Around the internet, there are people who have the misperception that Katie Bouman is just the pretty face, a minor contributor to a project where men like Andrew Chael and Mareki Honma deserve the credit. There are people pushing memes and narratives that she's only being given such acclaim because of feminism. And because Katie Bouman refuses to say that this was anything other than a team effort, even the most flattering comments about her still place her contributions to the photo at equal or less-than-equal contribution to others.

But I'm writing to set the story straight:

When it is written that Katie Bouman is the woman "behind the black hole photo", it is objectively true.

When Andrew Chael says that his software could not have worked without her, he isn't just being a stand-up guy, he's being literal.

And while it's true that every one of the 200+ people involved placed an important role, Katie Bouman deserves every ounce of superstardom she receives.

If there must be a face to this project - and there usually is - then why shouldn't it be her, her fingers twined across her lips, her gleeful eyes luminous and wide with awe and joy.

Edited:

Thinking on it a little further, I felt I should clarify that I'm not actually trying to downplay Andrew Chael. His imaging algorithm is actually the result of years of effort, a labor of love. Each image that could be composited into the final photo brought with it a unique take on the data, without which the final photo wouldn't have been complete.

So let's take a moment to celebrate the fact that two of the most integral contributors to the first direct photo of a black hole

were a woman

and a gay man.

=============================================== 2nd Update (LONG!)

I went to bed at 19 shares on a post I wrote to vent to my FB friends, and now it's over 2K. I guess it's gone viral. That means I have some work to do.

I'm going to provide a list of the various articles I read to piece this together. When I wrote this, I wasn't trying to write an essay so I didn't put sources in and I didn't ensure that every detail is 100% accurate. So I'm doing that now.

Any edits I make are mentioned below (apart from spelling/grammar fixes). The resources that led me to write this are listed below. And because I value accuracy, I welcome people to point out mistakes of any kind. I'll make corrects and credit them here.

Edit: I incorrectly wrote that Bouman worked on the algorithm for 6 years and spent 2 years refining it. This was an accidental mush of facts: She's been working on this project for a total of 6 years (ages 23 to 29). She spent 3 years building CHIRP and 2 years refining it. I've corrected that and included that she led the four teams, as two separate articles mention it.

Edit: One of the leads for the 4 team project was a man named Jose L Gomez. I added that to the above, after being sent a twitter thread from Xu S. Han. Thank you! Twitter thread here: https://twitter.com/saraissaoun/status/1116304522660519936…

http://news.mit.edu/2016/method-image-black-holes-0606 This is a 2016 MIT article announcing CHIRP. It gives a pretty excellent idea about the magnitude of Bouman's contribution.

https://www.extremetech.com/…/229675-mit-researcher-develop… This goes into detail about Katie Bouman's algorithm. It describes how her algorithm differs from normal/traditional interferometric algorithms. This article explains the difficulty she faced in how trying to capture a black hole is like trying to photograph "a grapefruit on the moon." This also explains how Bouman's algorithm made all of this work-- it combines all of the data from the participating telescopes into, in essence, one massive telescope.

https://youtu.be/BIvezCVcsYs This is a 2016 TEDx talk from Bouman where she describes her work. Note: though I am intentionally focusing on her contributions specifically to defend the attend she's getting, she makes it clear that this was a team effort. She always gives credit to her teammates who work with her. She is full of humility and wonder.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/…/papers_an…/cvpr2016_bouman.pdf This is the paper based on Bouman's work, where she's listed as first author. The position of her name is important. While the meaning of being first author can differ in certain fields, I'm basing the 'primary contributor' interpretation on the fact that multiple other articles say she was lead, MIT refers to the algorithm as hers, as well as the fact that she named CHIRP.

https://github.com/achael/eht-imaging This is Andrew Chael's imaging library available on GitHub. It's where our original "sleuths" discovered that Bouman had contributed very little and assumed that she was stealing the glory from others. NOTE: Andrew Chael didn't make these claims or ask for this sort of attention!

https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.06156 This is a paper describing Chael's work, which is impressive. Bouman is in the position of last author. Again, the relevance of the author order can differ, but the common significance of 'last author' is either the supervisor or the relative least contribution. In Bouman's paper, the position of last author seemed to indicate supervisor(s) based on the organization hierarchy on the EHT website. In this instance, I interpret Bouman's name being last as her being a minor contributor to Chael's specific work.

https://eventhorizontelescope.org/ This is the official EHT telescope website. I can't remember what I looked at here, it's in my history. I think I was trying to find out who Bouman's project lead was.

https://twitter.com/thisgreyspir…/status/1116518544961830918 This is the twitter thread where Chael defends Katie. He explains that he didn't write 850K lines, defends Katie and says that his algorithm couldn't have worked without her, mentions his LGBTQ status, and more. He seems like a great guy.

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/…/10.1063/PT.6.1.2…/full/ This article speaks to some of the other people involved, including the project leader Sheperd Doeleman. This describes the process they went through in creating the black hole image and is where I got the information about how they split the teams into 4, and how the final image is a composite.

https://phys.org/…/2019-04-scientist-superstar-katie-bouman… This is the article that talks about CHIRP sorting through a "true mountain" of data, and how that data was passed out to four teams to check for accuracy.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/black-hole-picture-captured-f… This article talks about Bouman coming up with a new algorithm to "stitch data across the EHT network" of telescopes, and how she led an elaborate series of tests (splitting the data up across four teams, etc) to verify that the output wasn't the result of a glitch or fluke.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904110037.html This article explains Honma's significant role. It describes what Honma's algorithm does and how it was used in this project.

The final link is the document by all 200+ participants. This document is important because it gives such a clear idea of the work that went into this, the fabric of which Bouman is a part. While I intentionally highlight her contributions in defense of her, her statement that it was a team effort is true. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0ec7

#Katie Bouman #Andrew Chael #black hole #black hole photo #science #programming

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hattywatch · 5 years

Text

Jimmy Vesey - All Smiles Part 2

A/N: Part 1 As always, thank you to @hockeyandtaylorswift for being my ride or die and hyping me up to post things. ilu bby <3

Thursday had come and gone without anything of consequence occurring. The flipper for his front teeth came in and you prepared the posts for the implants. You had taken another mold and placed a rush order on the implants for Mr. Vesey.

There wasn't much time for conversation in all fairness, with the Novocaine inhibiting his ability to speak and your gloved fingers poking around trying to do their jobs.

Although, he did shake your hand after you showed him how to put in the flipper- just a temporary replacement of his front teeth until the permanent ones were ready.

“I really appreciate it, Dr. Y/L/N. It's nice to be able to speak again... After the numbing wears off anyway, and I stop drooling all over myself like a dog,” he shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweats.

He drops his head a little but maintains eye contact, and you feel a little rude so you start degloving your hands and drop your mask down around your neck. You're also realizing for the first time just how tall and broad your patient is, since he's usually sat on a chair and not towering over you like he is now, and you all of a sudden feel a little grubby in your purple scrubs and lab coat.

“It's quite literally my job, Mr. Vesey. No trouble at all.”

“Yeah, but still,” he knocks his head to the side in a move that would look bashful on anyone but a 6’4” man, and pulls his hand out of his pocket for a handshake.

You slip your ungloved hand into his.

“It's Jimmy, by the way.”

You look up, a little confused at first, since your brain was still focused on the large, calloused hand that was warming you from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes and continues:

“Not Mr. Vesey. Just call me Jimmy.” You smile at that, trying to pull some of your brain back together to form a sentence. It's pathetic really. You're a doctor for Christ's sake.

“No trouble at all, Jimmy.” Your smile is likely that of a gooey schoolgirl, but you do your best to pull it together and release his hand.

“The implants may take a while to get here. I'll call you when they come in and we'll set up a final appointment.”

He nods and smiles, complete with front teeth and turns to leave.

_____

When the implants come in you call Jimmy. Usually you'd have Sarah do it, but you're feeling a little brave and what's the harm in calling. It's not crossing a line, you convince yourself. Even though Sarah stares at you smirking as you sit down next to her with his file open.

It turns out you're worrying for no reason; he doesn't answer, so you leave a message.

“Hi, this is messages is for Jimmy. This is Y/N… I mean, Doctor Y/L/N… the dentist. Sorry. We just got your implants in. They look great, so just uhh, give me a call when you're ready and we can set up a date… an appointment, I mean, for you to come in and get them all finished up. Talk to you soon… bye”

Your head is in your hands before you even hang up the phone, luckily Sarah has the good graces to wait until she hears the phone click into the cradle to start cackling in laughter.

“What are you, 16? I'm dying, I'm dead. If a smokin’ hot, genius Doctor can't keep cool what hope it's there for the rest of us?”

She laughs harder when you grumble out, “You're fired,” from behind your hands, still holding your warm, embarrassed face.

He calls back just minutes after you left the message and made an appointment with Sarah. She motions for you to pick up when the caller ID read his name, but the embarrassment is still too fresh, so she stops laughing and picks up. You try to listen in as best you can, with your head face down on Sarah's desk on top of your stacked arms.

“Dr. Y/L/N? Oh, umm,” Sarah kicks you under the desk and you sit up, frantically shaking your head and waving your hands back and forth, mouthing No, no no!

“She just stepped in with another patient, actually. Do you want me to have her call you back?”

You only catch Sarah's side of the conversation from here on out, but can assume that he doesn't want you to call him back, since she just nods and enters his name into the computer for tomorrow at 6, the last appointment of the day.

“Okay, we'll see you then Mr. Vesey, have a nice evening.” She hangs up and stands to put on her sweater.

“You're pathetic. Get it together by tomorrow. I can't handle this 'will they won't they’ anymore. It's wearing on me.” Sarah leaves for the day and you kind of agree with her.

______

The final time Jimmy comes in you're determined to be as professional as possible, still embarrassed by the voicemail he has the heart to not bring up, bless him.

He looks great today. Every other time he's come in he's super casual- always sweats and a hoodie. Today is clearly testing you because he's gelled his hair and he's wearing well fitting jeans and a Henley. It's all too much, especially since you're determined to not look him in the eye, lest he know about the very inappropriate crush you've developed on him.

When you're all finished your embarrassment has diminished. You've been working hard and just listening to the soft music playing through the speakers. So rolling your chair back, you hit the button that makes his chair raise back to an upright position and remove your mask and gloves.

“I am very proud of myself,” your smile is contagious and he smiles too, “really outdid myself here,” you assure as you hand him the mirror.

He smiles into the mirror and nods his head.

“Damn. Yeah, you do good work. Made me look presentable again,” he hands you back the mirror.

“All in a day's work,” you're cringing before you get the sentence out, feeling like such a nerd.

You initiate the handshake this time.

“If anything feels funny or you get any more teeth knocked out, you know where to find me,” you're smiling but desperately trying to think of a way to make him stay.

You come up short.

He laughs though, “Hopefully I don't see you under these circumstances again.” He pulls back from the handshake.

“See you around, Y/N,” he smiles wide, his new perfect smile, “I mean Dr. Y/L/N.” He tucks his head down and exits the room and you just know your cheeks are darkening with the heat you feel.

You're so fucked.

_____

You don't expect to see him again, let's be real, who actually enjoys going to the dentist. But you do see him again, under slightly different circumstances.

Sunday morning finds you in leggings and a sweatshirt ready to do some shopping like the weekend warrior you are. You stop by the sandwich shop near your apartment, Wichcraft, for a cup of coffee and maybe a pastry if anything strikes your fancy, something always does.

The only thing striking your fancy right now though is the man sitting the booth next to the coffee station, Jimmy of course is sat with a few friends, next to where you now stand pouring milk into your iced coffee.

Of course. How fucking awkward.

He gaze keeps flicking sideways to you but he determinedly looks away when you look over at him.

Whatever, got it, will not approach. You finish making your coffee and pop up onto the counter seating in front of the window, slightly wounded but not surprised. You did make an idiot of yourself on his voicemail, so that's the end of that.

It's not until he is on his way back from the bathroom that he gets close to you, as you're awkwardly picking apart your croissant and stuffing it into your face.

“Y/N? Doctor Y/L/N?” He's speaking lowly and tentatively, approaching you like you're a timid animal.

“Yes, everything okay?” You manage around your mouthful of French pastry.

“Oh wow!” He approaches quicker now, speaking louder and more confidently. His friends, still sat in the booth, look up at the sound of his voice.

“I wasn't sure if that was you. I didn't recognize you in clothes!”

You damn near choke on the croissant and hazard a sip of your iced coffee to help it go down. He's red and sputtering apologies by the time you're able to speak.

“Not... like that. I just meant out of scrubs! Not in your lab coat! You know what I meant right? Not naked. Oh my God. I am so not making this better I'm sorry.”

He's holding his hands up in an effort to show he means no harm, while one of his friends is audibly trying to catch his breath at the booth and the other has his face down against the table, shaking with what you can only assume is silent laughter.

You do your best to help him along, “I know what you meant,” but you're laughing now too, “Please lower your voice, I don't want word to get around that I do my work in the nude. The ADA will have my head.”

Where you at now, Sarah? Look who's got some game!

He gapes at you.

Fuuuuuuuuuuu-

“I'm kidding! Just a joke!” Now your hands are up, shaking a little nervously that he really may report you. But he smiles finally, and damn, you really are fantastic at your job.

“We're really bad at this,” he huffs out. He shoves his hands in his pockets, sweatpants and a hoodie again, and he looks so soft that you can't help but give a tight smile back, still embarrassed.

“Can I maybe see you sometime, not at your office while you fix my teeth or here, where I imply I've seen you nude while you're trying to enjoy your breakfast in peace?”

Back in the game. After an internal fist pump, you decide you will relay this story to Sarah after all.

“Yeah,” you reply, probably too quickly to come off as anything but utterly desperate. “I mean, yes. Yes you can,” you amend primly, before scribbling your number onto a napkin and handing it to him.

“Awesome. I'll call you to make an appointment,” his smirk is back, “I mean a date,” he winks now and partnered with that smirk, you are literal mush.

You scrunch your eyes and lay your face into your palm, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Worst voicemail ever. Got it. I'm already embarrassed enough, stop making fun of me.”

He pulls your hand from your face, “Not by a long shot- got it saved and everything. I can call you later?”

“I look forward to it.”

His friends have joined his side now. A scruffy looking guy around Jimmy's height has a hand on his shoulder, but he looks straight at you when he speaks.

“We gotta get this guy to practice, I promise he'll talk to you later” he says as he steers Jimmy towards the door.

It's not meant for you to hear, but his jibe is so loud that you can't help it, “Smooth Vese, real smooth.”

#jimmy vesey fic #jimmy vesey blurb #jimmy vesey imagine #nhl fic #nhl blurb #nhl rpf #nyr imagine #nyr fic #all smiles part 2 #part 2 #hockey imagine #hockey rpf #hockey blurb #this was 6 pages #it was not supposed to be #i am terrible at this #help me im poor

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bratkook · 7 years

Text

clairvoyant. (m) part four.

masterlist

word count: 9.5k

no warnings this chapter, just nice friendly banter between friends.

The white ceramic mug filled with hot chocolate felt warm in your hand as you brought it back and forth from your knee to your lips in an almost robotic motion. You had your roommates knitted blanket balled around your waist, covering your legs as you sat criss crossed and hunched over your laptop on your bed.

The both of you were in preparation mode, neither of you bothering to turn on the lights in your dorm or open the blinds and instead choosing to have your faces lit up by the blue cast coming from your laptop screens. She was busy typing away, finishing up a 17 page essay on god knows what, her hair was sticking up in different directions from the countless times she ran her fingers through it in frustration, she had a stained grey hoodie on and her purple duvet covering her bottom half. It all screamed stressed college student.

“It’s times like this that I regret being so into history when I was in highschool. Why? Why did you let me do this Y/N?” She shouted out at you, deciding to chuck one of the countless pillows on her side right at you, successfully smacking into the left side of your face, causing your hair to muss up and your teeth to clank against the ceramic mug as you tried to take a drink.

Your fingers rubbed at your front teeth as you turned and glared at her, seeing her face hidden behind her hands as she screamed into them. “I didn’t know you back then Wendy, but in retrospect, you’d be typing up a 17 page essay on something else right now. At least this is something you enjoy.”

She peeked back up from behind her hands, shrugging in agreement at your words, “Very true.”

“Plus, some guys get boners when you mention you’re a history major.”

Her lips turned up at that, shooting you a wink, “Also very true.”

She sighed and flopped onto her back in defeat, your gaze went back to your laptop screen. You had photoshop opened up and a few pictures you had taken of your friends spread out but you were currently working on color correcting a picture of Taehyung.

“How’s it coming along?” Wendy asked, her attention now gone from her essay and completely focused on scrolling through social media on her phone.

You hummed as you studied the picture some more, “It’s coming. I just feel like I’ve been staring at Taehyung’s face for so long that he’s gone ugly.”

She snorted at that, hopping out of bed and going to peek over your shoulder to see the picture you were working on. “Now that’s impossible.” Her chin rested on your shoulder as she watched you fiddle with the levels before finally deciding that it was good and you’d come back to it later, you needed a break from seeing his face staring right back at you.

“I guess.” You reply, raising the arm that wasn’t still holding the mug up for a stretch, hearing stuff pop and feeling the tension in your shoulder ease up. You had been sitting here since noon, reviewing and editing pictures for the upcoming exhibit at the end of the month and it was now 9 at night. It was something they did every year so you had been preparing for this since the start of the summer, which is when you had taken these pictures, you had just held off on editing due to focusing on other projects and work but you couldn’t hold off on any longer.

“I guess,” Wendy mocked your voice, smacking the back of your head before retreating back to her bed, “he is god sent Y/N. A classic Mcdreamy, honestly.”

You reached across your bed to set the empty mug down on the desk at the end of your bed, “Wow Wendy, want me to put in a good word for you?”

She slapped her palm against her chest, “Oh no, my heart is way too fragile for the man that Kim Taehyung is. He’s wonderful to look at from afar and I am but a weak woman who would cry after a one night stand.”

You sat back on your butt and laughed, Wendy had told you time and time again that the college life just wasn’t for her. She couldn’t handle mindless hooking up and Kim Taehyung was the literal definition of a mindless hookup, him being the kind of guy that would suggest getting you an uber before your post orgasm glow faded, leaving the weak feeling vulnerable and a little betrayed.

“Honestly I applaud you.” She continued, placing her headphones around her neck as she fixed up her bed a bit.

“And why’s that?” You ask, mimicking her actions and tidying up your bed as well, tossing her knit blanket back at her. Your cream coloured duvet being smoothed out and your graphic pillows being placed at the head of the bed, one adorning a repeating pattern of an eye and the other having a drawing of a moth on it.

Wendy plopped back down on the bed, resuming her stewing position and attempting to finish off her essay, “Because you have a heart of steel.”

Your sock covered feet padded their way to flick on the light to see the mirror held above your desk, using it to help fix up your hair that had been in the same lopsided ponytail since you woke up. “Negative. I’m just not looking for commitment right now. Believe me, if I had any romantic feelings for Tae I would’ve been a crying ball of mush by now.”

Your fingers raked through your hair, smoothing out the bumps and pulling out any of the knots as you remade the ponytail and began digging through your drawers for a change of clothes. You slipped off your faded graphic tee and threw it in the hamper, it smelled like coffee and inner frustrations, instead you grabbed a distressed white tee and slipped it on. Wendy was talking in the background but a sound coming from the hall caught your attention.

You could hear boots stomping around and childish laughter, your finger was raised up, successfully shushing Wendy and making her ears perk up to listen. “Is that…”

A loud smack could be heard before someone groaned out in pain, “Ow, fuck you Min Yoongi.” The voice rasped out, sounding a lot closer now.

You mouthed out a sorry at Wendy, which she shrugged off with a smile, deciding to slip on her headphones and play music to block out the events that were about to happen while going back to her essay.

You were expecting knocks to come from your door but instead it was swung open, eliciting a scream from you and a gasp from Wendy, both of you having your hands placed over your hearts.

“Jesus fucking–”

“You really should lock your door Y/N, you never know what creeps could be lurking.”

Your fists were balled up and you couldn’t hold back from smacking him on the chest repeatedly, “Fuck you Yoongi! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” Tae and Hoseok chanted behind him, phone’s being held up, pretending to record the cat fight. His fingers wrapped around your wrist, stopping you from assaulting him as he gave you a dry smile, “Don’t attack me for proving why you should lock your door, I could’ve been a creep.”

You glare up at him, seeing him huff out a piece of hair that had fallen out of place from your attack, “You’re not far from it.” You grumbled out, yanking your wrists out of his grasp and going back to your clothes. “Now please tell me what I have done to be graced with your presence.”

The three of them seemed to finally realize your roommate was in, giving her a small greeting which she returned before she turned up the volume in her headphones and typed away. Taehyung made himself at home, sitting on your bed and looking at your laptop, “Hey, thats me!”

Hoseok sat down behind him, looking over his shoulder just like Wendy had done earlier, “That’s all of us, you self centered fuck.” Smack. Tae’s red hair flew up at the impact, his fingers rubbing the spot Hobi had hit.

“This was before you dyed your hair, please refresh my memory was Ronald Mcdonald your inspo?” Hoseok teased him, laughing out at the shocked expression on his face.

“Fuck you Jung, this red hair makes me a chick magnet–”

“Who even calls themselves a chick magnet anymore?”

“Someone who gets a lot of pussy!”

They continued their back and forth bickering but the first comment caught Yoongi’s attention so he made his way to the bed, seeing the files you had open of the photoshoot you had them agree to months ago. It had been shot in two days, half of the pictures being shot with colorful confetti outdoors with your DSLR and the other half, which were shot on film and were not on your computer, being in black and white in a studio. “What was this for again?”

You were holding up two pairs of jeans against yourself, not being able to decide until Hoseok pointed at the blue denim with holes in the knees, “The Fall photography exhibit.”

“Yeah but isn’t that a good ways from now?”

You gave him a curious look, “No, Yoongi. It’s next week.”

His eyes widened at that, “Fuck me.” His hands ran down his face as he groaned, he obviously lost track of time and most likely didn’t even know what month it was anymore. “I need to start editing my photos now.” He spoke to himself, going through a game plan of how he would get it done.

You grabbed the changing divider you had in your room for situations like this and slipped behind it, changing out of your sweats and into the pair of jeans before folding it back up and resting it against the wall.

“You’ll get it done, you planned it all summer. Don’t stress.” You gave him a reassuring smile as you made your way to them, saving the files in your computer before closing the laptop and shoving it into your side bag, choosing to sit down in front of Taehyung with your back against the wall.

He snapped his fingers in realization, “Right, speaking of stress, I got you a job.”

Your back straightened up at that, eyebrows raised up as you waited for him to elaborate. “Just say the word and it’s yours. I put in a good word for you at the photo studio I work at and if you want it, you’re hired.”

“Yes! Yeah I want it!”

“Good, I was gonna beat you down if you said no. They’re most likely gonna have us work together since our schedules are similar but you start Monday so you have today and tomorrow to bask in unemployment.”

It was like the angels began to sing, you had been searching for a job after you quit the last place you had been working at for months, being tired of getting yelled at by drunken customers that spit more than they actually talked. The amount of times you had come back to the dorms, exhausted from school and work, reeking of meat and cheap soju was ridiculous so you quit a month before school started. The stress of bills hadn’t piled up yet due to the fact that your scholarship was still paying but you knew if a job wasn’t found soon you would spiral again.

“I’ll text you the time and location if I don’t see you before. I gotta go start editing, you just lit a fire under my ass Y/N.” He reached over and ruffled your hair before leaving, making a note to lock your door and shoot you a wink before shutting it.

“Party tonight, you in?” Tae asked the second Yoongi left, his hands reaching out and digging into your left shoulder at an attempt to massage it.

“I’m gonna pass, is it at the Delta fucking whatever’s again?”

His thumb dug deeper into your shoulder making you wince and slap his hand away, “No, just a house party. I got my roommate to agree to go.”

You gave him a side glance, seeing Hoseok roll his eyes, “He agreed to go for fun or did he agree to go to baby sit you?”

He hummed at that, “Now that you put it that way…I’m gonna have to get him super drunk from the get go. Better start pregaming now.” He shot up from the bed and just walked out, no goodbyes, his mind too focused on thinking what drinks he’d force down Jeon Jungkook’s throat.

You could just picture Jungkook now, wide eyed and very out of his element. It had been three weeks since the start of school and you had only really interacted a handful of times, a few times when you were in his and Tae’s room and a few other times in class but you never really hung out, or fulfilled the open promise of coffee. Regardless the few interactions you two had made it very clear that Jungkook was very far from Taehyung, he entered college with a serious determination to study, he always declined offers for parties and always seemed wary when Tae mentioned drugs so the fact that he agreed to go to this house party was very shocking.

“Poor kid.” Hoseok sighed out, he was laid back on your bed, his hands behind his head, looking rather comfy.

“I’m tempted to go to make sure Tae doesn’t get him black out drunk but I can’t waste anymore time with these pictures.”

He shook his head, “Tae’s wild but he’s not an ass, he probably just wants to show him what he’s been missing. I think he’ll be fine.”

That was true, he wouldn’t leave him like a fish out of water. He would probably just ease him into alcohol and leave it at that, as long as Jungkook didn’t naively say yes to everything he would be fine.

Your stomach grumbled out and you looked down at it with a frown, your hands going to pat it in realization that it was in fact empty.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes mom.” You muttered out, avoiding eye contact.

He squinted at you, his eyes scanning the room for possible food leftovers for proof and as they landed by your bed he gasped, “Y/N, you better not tell me that this,” he held up the open box of coco puffs as evidence, “is your sorry excuse for a meal.”

Your lips pursed as he scolded you, refusing to look at the pathetic meal he held up. “So you had cereal and whatever substance is in that cup–”

“Hot chocolate.”

“Cereal and hot chocolate. Wow so nutritious.”

You stood back up from the bed and grabbed your side bag that was on the floor, “Where are you going?”

You opened the leather bag and inspected the inside, sunglasses, lotion, gum, a tiny plastic bag Tae had handed you at a party to keep safe, your wallet, some sd cards, an extra lens a handful of rings that you decided to just slip on and your laptop. “To go eat, since you scolded me. Are you coming or are you gonna stay here?”

He shot up with a smile, hands rubbing his stomach, clearly looking forward to filling it up with whatever you mentioned. He also took the liberty to pick up your camera, hanging it off his neck with pride.

“Wendy,” you tapped her shoulder, taking her out of her deep concentration. She slipped off her headphones, eyebrows raised in question, “wanna come eat with us?”

Her eyes flicked down at the page count, a sigh leaving her when she saw it was only 10 pages done out of the 17 needed by tomorrow, “Can’t, I’m just gonna grab something from the cafeteria and come back here to finish. Thanks though.”

You nodded in understanding, motioning for Hoseok to follow you out of your room. The hallways of your dorm were full of autumn decor, a few orange and red leaves drawn out on paper being hung up on the wall and a bulletin board full of activities being held this month on your floor. October was approaching and all the girls on your floor were planning a get together to decorate and watch horror movies, that was one thing to look forward to in the pile of homework you had.

“The girl’s dorm is always so cute, the closest we get to decorations is opened condom wrappers everywhere.”

Yeah, you’ve seen that. Everywhere. Your dorms encouraged safe sex but the guy’s were just messy as hell, completely unsanitary. It was truly a mystery why you were always there.

The both of you swiftly exited the building, walking down the trail that lead off campus and onto the main road. Hoseok was busying himself with snapping shots on your camera, for once not complaining about the weight because you had switched the lens out for a smaller single zoom lens.

He walked mindlessly behind you taking random snaps of nature and himself, occasionally looking up to make sure you didn’t stray too far ahead. The streets were rather empty and there weren’t many people on the sidewalks, letting you freely kick the fallen leaves as you walked slowly.

You were on a hunt for a place you had come to one night when you were very drunk with Jimin and you knew it was just a few blocks from school. You remembered it perfectly despite not being sober, you also remember Jimin having to feed you because your fingers just couldn’t remember how to hold your chopsticks.

The second you spotted the red exterior you reached back to stop Hoseok from ramming into your back. Your palm froze him in his tracks and he looked up at the sign, “Ramen, really?”

“Hey, this beats coco puffs and hot chocolate. Show some respect.”

He wouldn’t argue with that, besides he had a soft spot for ramen, never really being against having it as a meal because it was always satisfying.

The two of you were seated quickly and in a booth in the corner, per the request of Hoseok asking for a booth with the best lighting. Mason jars with the drinks of your choice were brought to your table and you both ordered, before you were given a chance to breathe Hoseok slid your camera your way and you knew what he meant.

Over the past couple of months you had become Hoseok’s photographer of choice, he had a pretty decent instagram following and according to him you were best at bringing his visions to life in a way that fit his feed. You didn’t mind it, he was fun to take pictures of and with and him tagging you in all the pictures you took for him had gained you a good following on your photography page.

You flipped off the lens cap, adjusting the shutter speed and ISO before pointing your camera at him, his gaze was cast off to the side, staring out of the window beside the booth and the soft light from above hit his face at just the right angle, accentuating his profile and making his jaw look sharper, his teeth gently bit the straw attached to his mason jar and you could applaud him for looking so great doing something so simple. He changed his facial expressions a few times and switched up his posing for options and you knew he’d find one he liked.

That process was repeated the second the food was set in front of you, the both of you standing up and snapping shots of the food like a pair of idiots but like Hobi said it’s all for the shot. The bowls were turned infinite times, the mason jars had to be just right and so did the utensils everything had to flow and Hoseok trusted your knowledge to get this shot before you were allowed to actually enjoy the meal.

The whole ordeal took about 10 minutes so when he finally decided one or you got the shot you instantly dug into your meal.

“So,” he wiped his mouth, setting his chopsticks on top of the bowl, “how drunk do you think they are right now?”

You shoved a clump of rice into your mouth, mulling the question over as you chewed, “Not drunk enough. I bet Jungkook has to drag his ass back to their room, if he can carry him.”

He let out a low whistle, “If he can carry him, Y/N that boy is built like a fucking rock. He can probably carry Tae with one hand easily.”

That you hadn’t known, he always looked so…not buff? He was timid, and soft spoken, the only time he really spoke out was the day you had decked him with your camera so I guess his personality made him seem smaller than he was. Maybe Tae should work out with him since he had a sudden urge to buff up.

You just shrugged, if he carried Tae back to the dorms completely wasted Namjoon would be livid when it came time to do rounds at the dorm, the amount of times he had let Tae, or any of you really, off the hook was absurd and it was shocking he still held the position of being RA, it was most likely due to the fact that he had a charming personality.

You pushed your noodles around with your chopsticks as you took a sip of your drink, seeing Hoseok’s phone vibrate twice, indicating a new message.

“Ooooh, is that your girlfriend.” You teased him, stuffing the noodles into your mouth and slurping them up with a grin when he ignored your question. “How are things with, what’s her name? Yeob–”

“Irrelevant.” He took a pretty aggressive bite out of his meat before scowling and locking the phone to get rid of the notification.

“Trouble in paradise?” You wiped your face, looking down at your bowl and seeing that your meal was disappearing, a clear display of how starving you were.

He took a sip of the broth and sighed, “Yeah, I guess.”

Did you wanna press this? You weren’t quite sure if he wanted to talk about it because he came off as rather dismissive. Him and his girlfriend have been together for about five years, high school sweethearts that kept going strong regardless of moving and going to different universities. He always talked about her and she had come to visit in the past and everyone kind of thought she was the one for him but things have obviously changed.

“She cheated on me.”

Your hand froze on its trip towards your mouth, your grip loosening on the chopsticks so your noodles slipped through them. “What?”

That was all you found appropriate to say, in reality you wanted to call her every name in the book because who would cheat, especially on someone like Hoseok? He deserved better, it was for the best that he broke up with her and moved on to someone else. There were plenty of girls in the university that had their sights out for him, he could snag one up easily.

“She’s been texting me nonstop apologizing–”

“Fuck her.” You blurted out without noticing, “She can’t do that and apologize once you dumped her.”

His lips pursed out at that, eyes locked on his bowl of food, “I…I didn’t dump her.”

You just decided to set your chopsticks down because food was gone from your mind. “Hobi, what do you mean.”

He took a sip of his drink, stalling, “I mean, she texted me a week or so ago telling me she cheated but that she was drunk so I told her I forgave her….I love her, I couldn’t just end it but I probably should have.”

“I gave her another chance, and yeah shit was weird because there was like a giant elephant in the room that neither of us were acknowledging but I fucking tried to make it work and then–” he lets out a frustrated sigh and his palms rub his face,

“then the other night she sent me a fucking video. A video Y/N.”

“Oh no.” You mumble out.

“She was sucking off some guy and sent me the video he took of her with we should breakup being the only text under it. I fucking blew up, I called her and text her like a madman and got nothing in response and now, now she’s texting me saying it was a mistake but I can’t. Not anymore.”

What a bitch.

“Has she been calling you?”

He nodded and right on cue his phone lit up with her face, signaling a call.

“Go find some girl tonight, sleep with her and call her while doing that.”

“Y/N, I’m not that horrible.”

You just shrugged in response, “It was just a suggestion.”

Hoseok just sat there, staring at his phone as it continued to buzz and eventually light up with the notification of a missed call. You could tell he was thinking over what you had said and it was honestly very petty to do but at this point it would make her feel like shit to know how it is to be the one getting explicit content of your significant other with someone else.

Both of your meals were basically done and it was obvious they weren’t going to be touched after the current topic so you raised your hand and politely called over your server to ask for the check.

“Look, I know it feels horrible right now and you have every right to sulk about it but don’t let her weasel into your head and cry her way back to you. You’re a great guy Hobi, you know that right? You treated your relationship with respect and you loved her with all you had, this is all her fault. And if you want to let loose and have fun, you go ahead and do so.”

He looked up at you and you just wanted to bring him in for a hug, his eyes just looked so defeated but you didn’t blame him.

“Thanks Y/N,” you handed the waiter your card when she brought the check, not letting him get a chance to offer to pay, “I think I’m gonna head out to that party Taehyung went to, just to forget about this, no promises on hooking up with someone. Did you want to come?”

You took your card back and began putting everything back into your bag as you both prepared to leave, “No, I’m gonna head out to the school cafe and work on my pictures for a bit. I promise I’ll be back to my normal riot self once these are finished. Make sure Tae or Jungkook aren’t blacked out and keep me updated.”

The both of you got up, Hoseok slapping a few bills onto the table as a tip before you exited the building.

The chilly air hit your skin and you shivered, letting out a laugh when you felt Hoseok drape his jacket over your shoulders and your camera around your neck, “Thanks, be safe okay? I’ll send you the pictures later tonight. ”

He nodded and pulled you in for a hug before waving and walking off in the opposite direction from school. You tightened his jacket around yourself as you watched his silhouette get smaller in the distance, once you could no longer see him you grinned and started your short walk back to school.

The roads were pretty empty now, a few cars drove by and you passed a couple of people that you knew went to your university but besides that it was quiet and alone, something you weren’t used to experiencing while being in college and dorming so you took your sweet ass time getting back there.

You snapped a couple of pictures of the half dead trees, lit up by the streetlights so their remaining leaves let off a slight orange tinge. The reality of Yoongi scoring you a job still hadn’t hit you yet and when it did you were pretty sure you were going to smother him with love because you really needed it. He always mentioned his job at the studio was relatively laid back, all he did was set up lights, backdrops, and occasionally get called on to take shoots which would be great experience and maybe you could network there who knows.

You were reviewing a few shots you had taken on the walk just now with a giddy expression as you reached the concrete path that lead you to the quad when you noticed that your phone started vibrating. You dug it out of your pockets and answered when you saw it was Jimin calling you.

“What do you want?” You teased, hearing his soft gasp.

“You know, if I knew being a caring friend would get me this treatment I would’ve stayed a loner.”

You rolled your eyes with a smile, continuing your walk up the path lit up by tall lights. You could see your destination up ahead but you kept your slow pace.

“Such a baby. But excuse me, hello Jimin how’s your night going?”

There was rustling on the other end and you knew he was walking around, whether it be in his apartment or just roaming the streets. “That’s better…but my nights going good. Namjoon just called me trying to get me to go out to that party everyone’s at, you going?”

You readjusted the strap from your bag higher up your shoulder, “That’s the third time I’ve been asked today and nope, I’m editing nonstop tonight. Did Namjoon convince you?”

“Almost but then my mom called and said if I show up hungover to her fucking brunch event she’s shunning me from the family.”

You could just picture Jimin showing up with giant shades on to hide how badly he looked while the rest of the guests were dressed in their most expensive attire. Everytime he went to one of these events he would call you, using your phone call as an excuse to leave a conversation about him eventually taking over the family business.

His hatred for these events was very evident, both his parents knew but they baited him in with money. Jimin wasn’t foolish, yes he wished he could choose a path of his own and be happy but he also knew that without money came stress and unhappiness, so he chose to suck it up and then complain to you.

“And shunning equates to you saying bye to your money right?”

“Exactly and we can’t have that.” He let out a sigh before speaking again, “Anyways, I was gonna ask you to come over and pig out on pizza but seeing as you’re on a editing marathon I’ll let you go. Let me know if you need anything alright?”

You hummed as you neared the cafe, seeing the lights on through the windowed walls, “I might show up at 1am in the mood for pizza.” He said that was completely fine with him and then said his goodbyes.

Your hand grasped the metal handle and pulled the door open to the cafe, smiling at the two girls behind the counter as you approached them and ordered an iced coffee before sitting down at the half booth by the corner. They were open until 1 am, you had about 3 hours or less to edit before they kicked you out.

One of the workers whose name you learned was Jisoo came and brought you your drink with a smile before returning back behind the counter to clean up. You took a sip and sighed before pulling out your laptop and opening it up to continue where you left off.

The amount of times you sat in this same booth doing this was laughable, most of the workers here knew how you liked your iced coffee and knew you had a favorite spot to sit at, they would come by and ask if you wanted another coffee after a few hours but besides that they would leave you alone. It was nice, it made it more comfortable to sit here for hours on end when you felt like you had a personal connection with the baristas.

The plastic straw of the drink was between your teeth, currently being gnawed at while your right hand worked on bringing the light catches back into Jimin’s eyes, you had adjusted the tone of the light pink hair he had at the time and had made sure everything looked right colorwise. This concept was very keen on color so you made sure everything popped without being overly saturated.

Considering this was the only set of photos you would be editing you were determined to give it your best effort. The other set was being blown up the way they were shot. Black and white, grainy, showing the true beauty of film, a big contrast to the photos you were currently working on.

Seeing these pictures just brought back memories of summer. The trouble you had gone through to find this location and forcing the guys to help you cut up confetti because you could only find gold and that just wouldn’t do. How many injuries the guys got from fucking around and slipping on the confetti, the end tally was 10 scrapes, a handful of bruises and Namjoon almost breaking his arm from the rough fall he had taken.

You set your cup down with a smile and fell into a rhythm, all of your photos were shot in RAW so if anything simple needed adjusting it was easy to do to speed up the process. You filled in empty spots with extra confetti, sharpened them up and made sure they didn’t get lost in everything going on in the background.

The screen flicked back and forth between photos until you decided you were completely satisfied with it and proceeded to move on to the next one. You had finished the shots of Yoongi, Jimin, Namjoon and Taehyung. The last two remaining were Jin and Hoseok and if you were quick enough you could finish them off before 1am.

Your eyes scanned over the picture of Hobi looking up at the confetti with a smile, the confetti that fell in front him being out of focus as well as the background.

Alright, this will be quick.

Your fingers tapped on the mousepad before deciding what to do when you heard a voice fill up the quiet cafe. Your gaze moved away from your screen and up towards the voice, seeing a boy with a black bomber jacket ordering an americano.

His hair looked disheveled, either really bad sex hair or the effect of him running his hands through it, his body language made it clear he was exhausted so maybe just a college student cramming for something?

You were about to regain your focus on work until you heard the barista call out his name, then your ears perked up.

“Here you go Jungkook.”

“Thanks.” He mumbled out with a smile, turning around to leave and before you could help it you were calling out his name also.

His cup of coffee stopped before it could reach his lips and then his eyes started their search for the voice, bouncing over every seat until landing on you, sat in the back with your hand raised up waving him over.

Red flags waved around in his head along with a tiny voice chanting ohfuckohfuck as he gave you a smile before shyly making his way over, choosing to stand by the table instead of sitting down right away.

“I thought you were at that party with Taehyung?” You moved your bag, plopping it on the ground beside you and scooting over so he had some room to sit, he looked at the seat for a moment before deciding to just sit down, both of his hands cupping his warm cup of coffee as he thought of a response.

“Yeah, I was. It just…got a little too crazy for me.” He looked nervous, refusing to make eye contact, fingers tapping against the cup and rolling his lips together. Was he hiding something? Maybe he did something while drunk that he normally wouldn’t have done?

“That’s usually how house parties end up. Did you have fun? Taehyung didn’t peer pressure you too bad did he?” You saved the file you were working on and gently pushed your computer back so you could really face him, your own drink in your hand.

Jungkook set his cup of coffee down and ran his fingers through his hair, looking conflicted for a moment before deciding to finally look at you, seeing your eyebrows raised in question. “You okay?” You asked him, tilting your head slightly.

He pursed his lips, looking like he was talking to himself internally before taking a deep breath, “Y/N…”

You nodded slowly, motioning for him to continue, if anything happened tonight that made him act like he’s acting right now you wanted to know.

“You seem like a really nice person. Someone who is always there for people, loyal you know? I told myself I wasn’t gonna say anything but I really have to.” Okay now you were confused…

“Jungkook, whats up?”

His hands were on their way to run through his hair once again but you caught them in your palms, seeing his eyes go wide at the contact, “Taehyung’s cheating on you.”

Huh?

Jungkook looked utterly confused when you started laughing, letting his hands go to cover your mouth as your giggles filled up the empty cafe. His brows were furrowed, thinking maybe you were just in shock and the waterworks would begin any moment now.

“You’re kidding right?”

Oh yeah, she’s in denial. He thought to himself, his left hand going to gently pat your right shoulder in an attempt for comfort.

“No, he kept taking shots and I kept pretending to take them so he got really drunk, then I lost him for a bit and when I found him again he was making out with some girl. I had to leave, I couldn’t watch that happen and I wasn’t going to tell you because I just felt like it wasn’t my place and then I see you here and you’re working hard while your boyfriends out there being a dick and I couldn’t help myself.” He was rambling now, his lips moving too fast it was shocking the words he was speaking were coherent and not a slur altogether.

Your laughter stopped with his explanation, a smile adorning your face because that was actually really sweet.

“He was really drunk so–”

“Jungkook.”

“–maybe you could forgive him? But you needed to know–”

“Kook.” You tried again, finally stopping him and letting him catch his breath and take another sip of his drink, although maybe he should just leave it because he honestly looked like he was about to puke out everything he ate today.

“Drunk or not I wouldn’t forgive a cheater but,” you gently placed your hand on top of his that was still on your shoulder, “me and Taehyung are not dating.”

The confusion clouded his eyes once again, he was looking at you like a lost puppy and it dawned on you that you’d probably have to explain your relationship to him and you weren’t used to doing that. Everyone in your friend group never asked and never wondered but Jungkook was definitely wondering now.

“But you’re always at the dorm late and he always tells me not to come to the room unless I want front row seats.”

You quickly took a sip of your coffee as you thought of what to say. He had an assumption already but he didn’t want to go out and say it in case it offended you, plus a part of him told him that maybe you really were in shock and were now going to make lies up to mask your hurt but he didn’t want to go out and say that in case that offended you as well.

“Tae and I sleep together occasionally but it’s nothing serious. No labels, no commitment so yeah, we’re not dating. It’s just fun.”

Fun? He didn’t really understand how sleeping with each other while also sleeping with other people was fun but then again he had never been in a situation like that so what did he know.

“So…you’re okay with it?”

You took another sip of your drink and nodded, “Yeah, it’s not like the only person I sleep with is Tae. The way I see it is I’m young and not entirely convinced that commitment is up my alley at the moment so until then I’m not going to limit myself.”

Jungkook hummed in understanding, that made a little more sense to him now. Why would you get into a relationship knowing that wasn’t what you wanted, it would suck for the person who was more emotionally invested.

“Is that something you would recommend others do?” He shyly asked, his fingers resuming their tapping from earlier.

“Others as in you?”

Nod.

“Hmm…it depends really. Have you ever had meaningless sex, no strings attached, one night stands?”

His messed up hair shook as he nodded his head no.

“Ah, so only sex with a girlfriend?” He blushed at that, he didn’t understand how you could openly talk about sex in public, albeit the cafe was practically empty but still.

“Or a boyfriend, sorry for assuming.”

He immediately turned to face you with wide eyes, boths his hands help up in front of him, “No, no I’m not into–guys aren’t–I’m straight.”

Jungkook watched you shrug your shoulders and say okay cool, still waiting for him to answer the question.

Alright, Jungkook could totally have a conversation like this. I mean he only had two options, ignore the question and end the conversation even though he strangely wanted to talk about it because really who else would he talk about this with, or he could just answer it and see what direction this conversation would go in.

“Yeah I guess…it wasn’t really a normal thing it only happened once before we broke up.”

“And that was the only relationship you had?” That was hard to believe, yeah it was obvious Jungkook wasn’t a very open person at first but he was attractive. You’d have to be completely blind to not think so.

He nodded and sipped his warm drink, slowly seeming more comfortable. After getting what he thought was Tae cheating off his chest he looked more at ease, a little anxious but that could be due to the coffee or the conversation at hand.

“But you’re hot.”

He choked on his drink, his fingers wiping the few drops that had spilt over his lips and on his chin, “Thanks–”

“Did girls just not approach you or did you just ignore it?”

Jungkook just shrugged because he honestly didn’t know. Maybe girls had approached him but he had been too naive and inexperienced to know any better. The only relationship he had was with a girl who he had known for years, friends since the start of middle school and one day she just blurted out that she liked him and wanted to be his girlfriend and all he could mutter out was a dumb okay if you want. It only lasted a few months before she broke it off and they stopped talking altogether.

“Alright,” you clapped your hands together with a grin, “this is your first year of college and since relationships aren’t common ground for you maybe you should ease into it?”

“How?” He wanted to know, he was growing tired of feeling like an inexperienced child. Of course there was nothing wrong with that but at this point he just wanted something to happen.

“Ask a cute girl out on a date? Someone from your class, someone you see on campus. Anyone here would say yes instantly. Plus you have me to help if you want?”

“Like…coach me?”

That was a good way of putting it, “Yeah, sure. I’ll tell you what to say, how to make a move. All that good stuff. Once you get into the groove of things you decide if you think the hookup lifestyle is for you.”

Okay, he’d basically have to tell you everything for your coaching to work and he was already getting embarrassed by it. Yeah he remembered you saying he didn’t have to be careful about what he said around you but that didn’t mean he’d get word vomit.

You slid your phone over to him so he could input his number, which he did with slightly shaky fingers, and then you sent him a text with suggestive emojis and your name just because you knew it would make him blush.

You closed your laptop and nudged his thigh so he could reach your bag for you. The cafe was closing down which meant it was now 1 in the morning. You slipped your silver laptop and camera into the bag and took the last sips of your coffee before standing and giving him a smirk that made him a little nervous.

“I promise,” you gave his cheek a gentle pat with your hand, “that you’ll get laid by the end of October with my help.”

Oh god.

“If you want.” You shrugged. He finally got up and you both slid out of the booth. Jungkook stayed a few feet behind you, seeing you wave at the baristas so he did the same before exiting the cafe.

The temperature outside had dropped significantly from when you first entered the place so you zipped up the jacket Hoseok lent you. It swallowed you whole and Jungkook just laughed at how silly you looked.

“Hey, we finally had coffee together.” You told him with a giant smile, giving him a hug and noticing he felt extremely warm, but then you were backing up, he noticed you were always quick to say your goodbyes and leave, “I’ll see you later yeah?”

You turned around and started your walk to the road by campus, already knowing you were heading for Jimin’s for the pizza he had promised when Jungkook yelled something out.

“I want it!”

That stopped you in your tracks, your brows furrowing as you turned back around, “Huh?” You shouted back, the two of you were about 20 feet apart but the slight wind made it a little difficult to really hear.

“I want your help!”

You threw your hands up with a stupid smile, shooting him a thumbs up as you walked backwards now. “Hell yeah! It’ll be great! Send me a text whenever you find a girl!”

He stood there, watching you slowly walk away and noticing you weren’t going towards the girls dorm at all. He could take help from you, you clearly knew a thing or two about carefree living, especially if you were wandering off campus at 1am. It wasn’t like you were going to a friends house to watch movies, right?

But little did Jungkook know that’s exactly what you were doing. Moana was currently being played on Jimin’s flat screen as he cut up the pizza he had just taken out of the oven and you poured the both of you cups of soda.

“How’d the editing go?”

The glass cups were placed on top of the wooden coasters on his black coffee table in the living room along with two plates, “Good, just two pictures left to edit and then I’ll be ready to blow them up for the exhibit.”

Jimin walked out of the kitchen, a black oven mitt in his right hand that held the pizza tray and a wooden slab in his left hand that he placed beside the drinks before setting the pizza tray on top. “I’m excited for your exhibit by the way. I’m curious to see how you pulled off a photoshoot with us idiots barely cooperating.”

You watched the strings of cheese stretch out as Jimin pulled up a slice before dropping it onto his plate once his fingers burned, “You’ll be surprised with how well they turned out. Maybe you should buy one of the pictures and hang it up there.” You pointed to the area of blank space on the wall above his dining table.

“I’ll think about it.” He hummed out with a grin before deciding he didn’t give a shit about the roof of his mouth and took a bite of the hot pizza.

“So, how excited are you for tomorrow?” The shit eating grin on your face made him scowl, you clearly knew he was extremely unexcited for tomorrow. If he had to put his mother’s brunch events on a hate list it would be a solid two, right above kidz bop and below vomiting.

“Super!” He sarcastically answered, “How excited are you at joining me for the thanksgiving fundraiser dinner?”

Now that made you almost choke on your pizza as you swallowed it, “Fuck you were serious about that?” A few months back Jimin had mentioned needing a date for that event because his parents kept trying to set him up with random rich girls and he was getting fed up so you were his go to choice in making his parents stop trying to play matchmaker.

“I’ll give you five grand.”

Daggers. Pure fucking daggers were being thrown his way from your eyes, “Jimin you can’t pay me to go to events with you, you’re not my sugar daddy.”

That made him laugh, hysterically, to the point where he wiped tears away from the corner of his eyes. “That could be arranged.” He joked with a wiggle of his brows.

A scoff left you and your fingers itched to toss the crispy crust you held right at his face but you held back, choosing to bite a chunk of it instead. Jimin was too much sometimes but then again so were the rest of the guys.

“Sometimes I wonder how life would be if I would have chosen different friends back in freshman year.”

The second the words left your mouth your phone sounded off, the ring letting you know someone wanted to facetime you and because of the time it was either Taehyung or Hoseok.

“You wouldn’t be getting drunken facetime calls right now that’s forsure.” Jimin giggled to himself as he shuffled closer because his nosey self wanted to see the scene that was about to unfold.

You picked up the phone, noting that it was Tae calling and you swiped accept without a second thought, the loud sounds of house music making you turn down the volume slightly.

“Y/N!” He yelled out, his face extremely close to the phone.

“Taehyung, how are you doing cute stuff?”

He whined and pulled the phone back as he rubbed his eyes with the hand that was clutching onto a red solo cup. “Great, ‘miss you though. And look who else is doing great.” He dropped the cup in his hand and tossed his whole arm around someone, yanking them next to him and into shot.

“It’s Jungkook!”

You tilted your head at the screen because that definitely was not Jungkook.

“Tae that’s not–”

“He’s an animal, he takes shots like a champ don’t you Kookie.”

The black haired man who was obviously very drunk nodded along with a smile, “That’s not Jungkook.”

Tae scoffed and looked at his new friend and then back at you, “Of course he is. Tell her you’re Jungkook man.”

“I can be whoever you want baby.”

Oh great.

“Taehyung that’s Yugyeom he literally lives across the hall from you. I saw Jungkook earlier on campus.”

Taehyung made the funniest face, not quite sure if he believed you or if you were fucking with him because he was drunk. But if you were telling the truth that meant he had lost Jungkook and that was a big fat no in his book. So him being Tae did the typical Tae thing, “Sorry I gotta go I think my phones broken.” His drunk ass then proceeded to chuck his phone across the room at full force while you and Jimin watched as the screen blurred together before the entire thing went black when it probably hit a wall or something hard.

“He’s literally fucking insane.” Jimin laughed out as you stared at your phone screen in awe. Taehyung was literally fucking insane, exactly how Jimin put it but he sure did know how to keep things interesting.

You sent Hoseok a quick text telling him to keep his eyes peeled for Tae if he was still at the party. “He’s going to regret that tomorrow when he can no longer take his precious selfies.”

The amount of times drunk Taehyung had full on broken his phone to the point of no return was absurd. It’s gotten to the point where your group places bets on the time frame he’ll break it at the next outing you all attend, it’s almost always past 1am depending on if he’s mixed his liquor with a few pills or not.

“My family’s gonna wonder why the fuck I keep buying iPhones.” Jimin sighed in faux annoyance as he went onto his phone and placed an order so Taehyung wouldn’t be completely phoneless.

“No!” You shouted with a laugh, “You need to stop reinforcing his bad habits, he’ll never learn if you keep giving him phones to break.”

Jimin’s gaze slowly lifted towards you, his face saying oh really? “Need I remind you of the time when your baked ass swore your phone would fly if you put it on airplane mode?”

You suddenly couldn’t hear, and wow the movie just go so interesting.

“Where did your phone end up? In the pool.”

He was tilting his head closer to you so you could see him from your peripheral as hard as you tried not to.

“It was still salvageable but oh no, what did Y/N decide to do to dry if off? Put it in the fucking microwave!”

You could feel your lips quivering as you held in your laughter, “Okay! Okay I got it! But what did you do, you bought me a new one and gave me the lecture of a lifetime, told me this phone didn’t have insurance and guess what? I still have it in pristine condition so thanks.”

He mocked your voice under his breath as he completed the order on his phone. He knew Taehyung was harmless and meant well, and besides he was practically a brother to him and in Jimin’s eyes if the roles were switched he knew Tae would do the same for him.

“Shut up and watch Moana.”

That’s how the remainder of the night went, the entire pizza being consumed and Moana along with half of Brave being watched before you felt yourself drifting off on his couch. You deemed his couch the perfect place to sleep and you weren’t worried about not being in your dorm considering it was saturday and they were pretty forgiving on saturdays.

Your breathing was evening out and your face was smushed against one of his pillows when you felt him whispering next to you, “Y/N come on.” His finger gently prodded your cheek once before he repeated your name.

“What?” You mumbled out.

“You’re not sleeping on the couch c’mon.” He took it in him to grab both your arms and haul you up in your half asleep state. Your arms were wrapped around his neck as he basically dragged you to his room, your sock clad feet rubbing against the rug he had in his hallway.

Once you finally reached his room you sat on his bed and yawned as he pulled back the duvet for you. “Aw,” you reached for his cheeks and squished them between your hands, “I might just take you up on that sugar daddy offer.” You patted them gently which only made him laugh and shove your head away.

“Go to sleep, I’m gonna clean up and then knock out too. There’s a charger by the bed if you need it.”

You mumbled out a thanks as you slipped in between the sheets, plugging your phone in and seeing it was 4am along with text notifications from Jungkook.

You rubbed the rest of sleep out of your eyes to see whatever text he sent you.

Jungkook 3:15am The girl in the coffee shop

Jungkook 3:18am Jisoo

Jungkook 3:19am Help pls

He was adorable and this would be very entertaining for you and hopefully very exciting for him. Your fingers tapped across your phone as you wrote a response out and hit send.

Y/N 4:25am I gotchu my lil grasshopper

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #bts smut #bts writing #bts scenarios #jungkook #hoseok #jimin #taehyung #namjoon #jin #yoongi #clairvoyant #writing #new

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mainstreamelectricalparade · 7 years

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So apparently sick Jordan is evil Jordan @jvwriter90 (I’m kidding, I love tags)

1. What made you start writing for the first time.

My sibling was doing it and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so I thought I’d give it a try. I only really started taking myself seriously as a writer when I was... 14 or 15, I guess.

2. If you could only write about the ocean, forest, or the desert for the rest of your life, which one would you pick?

Ooh, I’m torn between the ocean and the forest, because they’re both special to me for different reasons (even though I’m not a big beach person and the forest gives me the sneezies). (Just because I live in the desert doesn’t mean I love the desert. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t write about it forever.) I’d probably write about the ocean, though.

3. Would you ever write a memoir?

If my life ever got more interesting, maybe. I don’t do enough right now, lol.

4.Do you like writing by hand, or writing with a computer?

Computer. I think faster than I can write, so it’s hard enough getting my typing to keep up with my brain, writing by hand is just murder because I write so fast that it all mushes together and I make a lot of spelling mistakes and it’s illegible anyway by the time I want to put it onto my computer for back-up and safekeeping.

5. Would you rather be popular among many readers, or unpopular, but loved by critics?

READERS. Like, honestly, if a bunch of 12-25 year olds on the internet like what I write better than a bunch of middle-aged critics who don’t understand why the things I write about are important to me, a “millennial” (even though I’ve been told I’m generation x or y or whatever the heck idek), I think I’ll have won.

6. Do you listen to music while you write? What is the best writing music?

I LOVE listening to music when I write. I have a file full of quotes that remind me of my novel, and a lot of them are song lyrics. Although my first thought when I think “writing music” is usually a video game or movie soundtrack (because of all the different vibes and emotions the tracks are supposed to convey) or, like... I have a couple of playlists on youtube, one is literally just a collection of my favorite “rooms” by a channel called ASMR Rooms, that does ambient noise for fictional universes and stuff, and then the other one is called “bops and writing music” which is just... bops. I don’t know how to explain that one.

7. Do people you’ve met find their way into your writing?

Yeah, kind of. I don’t base characters off of real people as much as I base dialogue off of real people, though. I have this, like, 35-page file full of prompts and things that I’ve seen or heard that gave me an idea, and I know at least four of those pages are filled with just ridiculous things that I’ve said, or my family has said, or my friends have said, or that I’ve heard people say just passing by when I’m out somewhere. If you’ve said something really funny or cool to me, there’s a really good chance that I’ll add it to the file and either quote you word for word, or paraphrase it.

@ssswexceptitsnotwritingrelated and @justpercyjacksonthings your turn :)

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mettlefork-blog · 5 years

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Living in England gives me a pretty fair advantage when it comes to this list of things to try that are British and Irish before you die. I have currently tried 10 out of the 63 recommended food items. Listed below is my current list of foodcomplishments:

Afternoon Tea

A long standing tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century. Afternoon tea isn’t your sweet tea or iced tea. The best kind is a loose leaf tea similar to what you would have purchased at Teavana in the U.S. In the U.K. my favorite tea company is Whittard’s and their tea combinations are wicked. A more formal tea where you go out will also typically provide various tea options to include the famous Earl Grey and breakfast tea. Most afternoon teas include a serving of biscuits with clotted cream and jam. If you go to the right place, you might get lucky and check three things off your list. To see my afternoon tea recommendations click here.

Macaroon

Afternoon Tea desserts

Bangers and Mash

Bangers and Mash sounds pretty gnarly and if you get the right one it tastes pretty gnarly too. Simply put it’s sausage and mashed potatoes but the former sounds much better. The most common meat used for sausage is pork but don’t be dismayed, there are other types available for those who don’t eat swine. The most common sausage used is the Cumberland banger (sausage) but you could really get fancy and use any sausage. One of my favorites is a chicken and sage banger it definitely speaks to the savory side of me. One of the best places to get a bangin’ Bangers and Mash is at The George located at 2 High Street Spaldwich, Huntingdon UK PE28 0TD.

Black Pudding Hash

It looks just as appetizing as it sounds. So crazy little tidbit here, my daughter has a computer game called crazy café. One of the levels had a British breakfast and it included making a plate of black pudding hash, beans, eggs and mushrooms. I know some of you are wondering who thought up that combination. During the war food became scarce and well we know how that goes. I don’t know how it works but it works. So fast forward to us living in England and guess what is included in the traditional English Breakfast…you guessed it Black Pudding Hash. I was reluctant at first but you know what sometimes you have to eat in the moment. So to date the best Black pudding hash I’ve had has been at Johnson’s Farm in Huntingdon, UK.

Biscuits

These are your Pillsbury biscuits although a good southern biscuit is great. English biscuits are more of a biscotti texture. To Americans the closest thing to a biscuit would be shortbread biscotti I suppose. Many biscuits are served with cheese as they are sturdy enough to support a good brie with a nice chutney. That’s they way I eat them at least.

Borough Market

If you ever have the pleasure of making it to London or if you live in the UK and have not made it to London. Let me be the first to go on record and say visit the Borough Market. There is almost something for everyone there. I’ve had some amazing Paella, Ethiopian Food and Mushroom Risotto. It is set up food market style so you are free to roam from vendor to vendor and chose whatever is speaking to your soul. My only recommendation is get there early and if you have a fear of crowd’s this isn’t the venue for you. It is literally shoulder to shoulder on Saturdays. The typical hours are 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, although Monday and Tuesday there are limited vendors.

Clotted Cream

The book describes clotted cream as the cream of raw milk that is left for 12 hours and then scalded. It’s so hard to describe but it reminded me of whipped butter the very first time I tried it. It is usually accompanied with strawberry jam and scones. The clotted cream at St. Ermin’s Hotel Tea Lounge is pretty darn good.

Fish and Chips

The signature dish of England is pretty much fish and chips. Any pub you go into will most likely have fish and chips as a staple on the menu. Chips for the record are what American refer to as fries except they are chunky so we would probably consider them almost wedges. The fish is commonly Haddock, Whiting or Cod and is usually covered in a light batter. If you are fortunate the fish will be fried well enough that it isn’t drenched in grease. Drip a little lemon juice over that bad baby and Bam you are on the money. If you are in the area the fish and chips at the Duke of Cambridge is definitely worth a stop.

Mushy Peas

If you like peas you may be turning your head ever so slightly at the thought of mushy peas. If you don’t like peas hopefully I can convince you to give them a try. They are made using fresh early peas and usually mushed with some butter. Most of the peas lack salt so be sure to add salt and pepper to give them a good flavor. My favorite mushy peas to date have been mint mushy peas served at one of my favorite places the Brampton Mill.

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding

Sunday Roast is a thing in England and perhaps throughout Europe. Roasts can be roast beef, pork or chicken and they are usually accompanied with Yorkshire Pudding. I’m sure almost everyone growing up has had at least one Sunday Roast fresh out of Grandma’s kitchen. There really is not much different in American Roasts and English Roasts. What is different is Yorkshire Pudding. The name is deceiving as it is not pudding at all. It’s actually a puffy egg bread that baked and sometimes braised with roast drippings then covered in gravy. Currently, my favorite place to have Sunday Roast and Yorkshire Pudding is at the Brampton Mill in Huntingdon.

Sunday Roast

Yorkshire Pudding

Scones

I added scones to my list because well they are quintessential of afternoon tea. If they are homemade the texture is a bit wonky but man oh man a warm English scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam will make your taste buds do the happy dance. Scones are often accompanied with clotted cream and served with Afternoon Tea as mentioned above. Best scone to date I ate at Betty Bumbles Vintage Tea Room.

Scotch Eggs

Scotch eggs are essentially a boiled egg incased in a meat such as ham or pork sausage. It is then breaded and deep fried. If I know what thing, I know deep fried foods are good. Due to the small nature of an egg, it makes a great appetizer. I’ve only tried them once and that was at the café at Sandringham palace and they were good. I know there are some amazing scotch eggs out there and I’ll keep searching until I find the best ones.

If you’ve tried any of these dishes already let me know what you think. Is there anything on the list that isn’t already there? Also, be sure to check back for more additions to the list as I continue to explore more food.

Forks Up!

British and Irish: 1,000 foods to eat before you die. Living in England gives me a pretty fair advantage when it comes to this list of things to try that are British and Irish before you die.

#British #bucket list #Food #Irish

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lexiwhittenburg-writer-blog · 5 years

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Halloween M.D.

Halloween is always the busiest night of the year for New Orleans' University Medical Center ER. Tourists travel to see the culture come alive this time of year, but don't always know how to handle the atmosphere. The ER staff see a spectrum of things all year in New Orleans from dehydration, alcohol poisoning, car accidents, and the like. Halloween however brings the crazy out in this town.

Dr. Danielle Plath is working this Halloween night. Her shift started at four o'clock in the afternoon. It is now seven in the evening and she's seen a child who was run over by a drunk driver, four young girls who were suffering from alcohol poisoning, and a grandfather who was quite literally almost scared to death while taking his granddaughter trick-or-treating. The fun has begun, the staff say, when a group of teenage kids burst through the doors -- every one of them suffering from what seems to be a heart attack. There were nine of them total. Six boys and three girls. They live here in New Orleans, and are familiar with the surroundings downtown. This was no downtown accident or over-drinking, however. Dr. Plath took the child that was most coherent to decipher what was happening to them. Her name was Lila Bastion. Her friends and her were sixteen or seventeen. She was replaying the events leading up to their arrival through quick, painful breaths as the nurses and Dr. Plath stabilize her. "We went to.. the cemetery by.. the school.. to see what would happen... My friend.. pulled out a.. Ouija board.. and started talking... It was moving.. we thought he was moving it.. it spelled die.. we all started getting pains.. in our chest...," Lila explained. Her voice softened as she began to fade. Dr. Plath stopped asking questions and returned to her main focus of stabilizing these kids. Danielle went from child to child making sure they were all being taken care of and stable. Once they were better, she would speak to all of them together. The parents of all the kids were notified and instructed to come in as soon as possible.

It took three days for all of the kids to get stable and out of their hospital beds. Dr. Plath sat down with all of them, as well as their parents, in her office. She had to figure out what happened. No drugs or alcohol showed up in their blood work, and all of their vitals were normal. "Lila," Dr. Plath began, "You told me that one of your friends pulled out an Ouija board while you were all in the cemetery." Lila nodded and Dr. Plath continued, "I need to know what happened. This is the most unusual case I've ever seen. A couple of you came close to dying." The parent's gasps made one of them jump. He spoke up, "My name is Ralph, doctor. I was the one who brought the board." Dr. Plath nodded, "Okay, good. Can you tell me what happened?" He looked to his hands and began speaking, "It was my brother's. He plays with it all the time. I always thought it was fake, like everyone always says. I wanted to take it to freak everyone out. We were in the cemetery trying to perform a seance, but nothing was happening. I pulled the board out of my bag and put it in the middle of our circle. I was the only one who would touch it though." He looked to his friends who were shuffling awkwardly. Dr. Plath kept her eyes on Ralph. "I started asking it questions like its name, age, year it died, stuff like that. It answered all of them. Its name was Esther, age twelve, died in 1902. Probably got sick and couldn't get any help or something. Anyway... Things got weird when I asked why it was still here, why it couldn't pass on. That's when it spelled "die" and all of us started having the chest pains. I know no one else believed it, but I wasn't moving it and I didn't hurt us!" Hs stood quickly and faced his friends, raising his voice. Dr. Plath held her hand out and stood from her desk, "Ralph, no one is blaming you, okay? Just sit down and let's talk it out. All of us." She looked to all of the teens in her office. They were terrified. What was she going to do?

It'd been two days since Danielle had spoken to any of the teens. She's been in her office after every shift for hours at a time, researching what could have happened to these kids. She found numerous stories about this Esther spirit in the cemetery they visited. The myth states that the little girl's mother died from pain in her chest, and her father abused her for years after her mother's death. She was out to get revenge on both of her parents for the abuse and the abandonment. She was diagnosed with scarlet fever and died at twelve. There were so many stories of children just like this in history, Danielle found. But there was only one Esther that this happened to in New Orleans in 1902. The reason she was here was clear. Even though Danielle wasn't religious or superstitious, this wasn't a coincidence and something needed to happen. Nine healthy, teenage kids don't all have a heart attack at the same time for no apparent reason. Danielle picked up the phone and dialed the local priest.

Danielle met Father Joseph at the cemetery where the children were all attacked. She explained the situation, and to Danielle's surprise, Father Joseph's reaction wasn't as she expected. He sighed and turned to Danielle, "Dr. Plath, I appreciate you coming to me, but I've researched this so-called spirit for almost seven years. I've not once found any trace of evidence that there are any spirits in this cemetery, to be frank." As he was explaining, he led Dr. Plath to a bench near their meeting place. "Father Joseph, you know I'm not religious, but there is no way these teens all had heart attacks at the same time naturally. Their blood work, vitals, all of the tests we ran were clean. I need help explaining this phenomena. Can you just... try one more time? For me?" A small smile disrupted the wrinkles around his mouth. Father Joseph placed his hand over Danielle's and squeezed softly, "Danielle, I know you're concerned. I will open my research back up, and we will both work on this together. Science meets religion." Danielle smiled and nodded. This was good. She needed to know. They both stood and shared a hug when Danielle spoke, "Thank you, Father. I will gather all of the research I found, and we can meet next week?" Father Joseph nodded, "Just come by my office Monday. I have all of my files together when I put them away."

Danielle was nervous. She did more research in the five days since she first met with Father Joseph. Instead of the historical aspect, she researched any possibilities of foul play that could have taken place to induce these heart attacks. Her manila folder turned into four, and her brain turned to mush. Saturday night, she sat in her home and poured a glass of wine when it hit her: Wolf's Bane. This drug doesn't isn't usually found except through autopsy -- and that's if it's being searched for. One of these kids poisoned all of them, or this was a suicide pact. Danielle called the hospital and asked the nurse to have all of their files ready for her to pick them up. There had to be something in these files, and she was going to find it. On her way to the hospital, she called Father Joseph. "Hello," he answered cheerfully. "Father Joseph! I think I have an idea of what happened. Wolf's Bane, or medically known as Aconitum." The other end of the phone was silent for a long time. "Father Joseph? Did you hear me?" The sound of fumbling could be heard, "Uh, yes, yes. I'm here. Sorry, Danielle. That isn't native to Louisiana. Where could this have been obtained?" That was a good question. "The dark web, maybe," Danielle answered. Father Joseph humphed on the other end. After a moment, Danielle continued, "I'm headed to the hospital now. I'm going to look over their files to see if anything was missed. I'll call you if I find anything." They hung up.

The nurse smiled when Danielle approached the station, "Hi Dr. Plath! Are you bored at home tonight?" Danielle chuckled as she took the files extended to her, "You could say that. Have a good night, Amanda. I'll see you Tuesday." With files in hand, Dr. Plath decided to head to her office to look these over just in case she needed anything else from the hospital. The files told her everything she already knew. To her surprise, however, they each had another vile of blood that was not tested. Since there were no issues with the initial tests, the extra blood was not needed for more extensive testing. This could be her chance to find the problem.

Danielle walked the blood down to the lab and met with the medical examiner, "Toby! I'm so glad you're here. I need some help." Toby turned from his microscope with a handsome smile, "Danielle! What a pleasant surprise! How can I help you?" She placed the blood on the counter by his microscope and placed her hand on the back of his chair, "Can you test for poisonous compounds such as, say, Aconitum?" Toby's smile faded slowly. He spun his chair around to face her and crossed his arms around his broad chest, "Danielle, what's going on?" She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her first finger and thumb. Toby leaned forward to look Danielle in the eyes, prompting response with a raise of one eyebrow. "Do you remember the nine kids that came in with heart attacks a few days ago?" Her arm fell to her side as she rose her head to meet his eyes. Toby nodded, "Yeah, there was nothing in their blood to indicate what happened." She was nodding and motioned towards the blood, "I think I know what happened." His eyes widened as recognition flooded his face, "Let me run some tests and see if there is anything I can find." Relief overwhelmed Danielle, "Thank you so much, Toby. I owe you dinner." Toby chuckled as Danielle made her way back to her office.

Danielle looked at the clock on her computer. It read 10:45 PM. She'd been here for four hours without word from Toby. To stretch her legs, Danielle decided to make another trip down to see what was taking so long. The only noise in the hallway towards the lab was the clicking of her heels. The silence was eerie, unusual. The hospital is normally swarming with patients and staff alike, no matter what area. Danielle pushed the door open carefully as to not startle anyone who may be in there, "Toby? You in here?" The door swung closed behind her. "Back here!" She heard Toby call from a quarantined area of the lab. She walked towards the back, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Toby being held by someone at gunpoint. She couldn't see his face. It was hidden by a shelf holding medical supplies. "Toby, are you okay?" Danielle held her hands out in front of her, not sure what to do. "Dr. Plath, is that you?" A soft, scared voice came from the hidden face. "Ralph?!" The surprise was apparent in her voice. She dropped her hands to her sides and slowly crept forward enough to see his face, "What are you doing, Ralph?" His hands were shaking, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I--I...," he stammered as he shook his head. Toby's eyes were wide with terror and confusion. "Ralph," Danielle began, "Toby has nothing to do with this. He was only following my orders. It's me you want. Let him go." The words left her mouth in a hurry, mimicking what she's seen on television shows, hoping it would work. Ralph's eyes shot to Danielle, looking her up and down, "You?" His arm dropped from Toby's throat as the gun changed directions -- her direction. Toby fell to the floor, scooting towards Danielle on his backside. Ralph didn't seem to notice. His stare was boring into Danielle's eyes. "Why would you do this, Dr. Plath? We had a plan. We had a plan and someone ruined it!" His face grew red with... anger? Fear? It didn't matter. Danielle's first responsibility is to get that gun out of his hand. "I didn't know you had a plan. I would have left it alone if you told me. There was no way you could have told me in front of your parents, but you could have most definitely called to let me know when you were alone. We can talk about it now. Just drop the gun and we can talk. Okay?" Ralph's expression calmed, but his arm did not lower. Danielle raised her brow in question, lifting her hand up slowly, "What do you say, Ralph?" He looked down to his feet, eyes wandering the floor as if the answer were right in front of him. He quickly snapped his head back up, steadying the gun, "Sit down. On your hands. Then I'll put the gun down." Danielle did as she was told, sitting on her hands on the floor. That's when she realized Toby was gone. She calmed when Ralph sat in front of her, laying the gun on the ground. "Tell me about it Ralph," Danielle prompted.

"It was supposed to be all of us, together, leaving this Earth before it went to complete shit. I was asked to bring the Wolf's Bane, and I added the Ouija board as a prop for whoever found us. Make them believe it was some sort of seance gone wrong, you know? Someone backed out. I don't know who called 911," Toby was holding back tears as he explained what they had planned. "It was a suicide pact?" Danielle asked with concern. He nodded, drawing on the tile floor with his finger. "Where did you get the Wolf's Bane, Ralph?" It took him a while to answer, so Danielle prompted, "You aren't in trouble. It wasn't your fault. You and your friends had a promise. Someone didn't keep it." He nodded again, taking a deep breath. "I found it on the dark web. I've been fiddling with it for months, researching serial killers, criminals," he said, hurriedly adding, "I never contributed though. Well, until I bought the Wolf's Bane." He shrugged his shoulders, sighing. Danielle was nodding, unsure of what to say next. She's never been in a situation like this, but it seemed to be going well. "Ralph, who asked you to get the Wolf's Bane?" She wasn't expecting an answer, but she got one. "Lila did," he answered, "She knew I had access to the dark web, so she asked if I could look into getting some. The only reason I did it was because I wanted her to think I was cool, not some creep who surfs the dark web for kiddy porn or something." Ralph chuckled at himself and shook his head, saying under his breath, "How stupid." Danielle cut him off, "You are not stupid, Ralph. Did you want to actually go through with this plan? I know you bought the Wolf's Bane, but did you think it would actually succeed?" A minute passed and Ralph lifted his head to face Danielle, "No. Some part of me thought this was a test to see if I could prove that I knew what I said I knew. I'm fairly new to this area and they were the first ones to accept me into their group." Danielle took a deep breath. Ralph continued, "Lila was the one who actually put it in our drinks. At that moment, I felt that if they were really doing this, why shouldn't I? I wouldn't have any friends if they all died." Tears welled up in Danielle's eyes. She raised her legs to free her hands and lifted her arms to pull Ralph in. Before she could get to him though, the swinging doors busted in and the SWAT team entered the lab. Danielle and Ralph both stood, Danielle grabbing Ralph and pushing him behind her, "Don't touch him! I'm okay! Do not touch him!"

Danielle was in the waiting room of the police station when a detective called her name. He motioned for her to follow him into the squad room. She was escorted to the Captain's office. "Dr. Plath! My name is Captain Ramos. Please, have a seat." Danielle smiled and nodded in acceptance as she took the chair in front of him. "So, Danielle -- can I call you Danielle?" She nodded. "Danielle, why did you tell the SWAT team not to touch the boy who was holding you hostage?" He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, his buff chest pushing on the buttons of his shirt. Danielle moved closer to the edge of her chair, "Captain Ramos, he isn't well. He isn't the one you really want."

#medical #horror #mystery #thriller #new orleans #louisiana #halloween #cemetery #rituals #short story

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misccee · 5 years

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So they looked at Chael's GitHub repository and checked the history. The history showed that Andrew Chael made 850,000 commits to the GitHub repository, while Katie Bouman made only 2,400.

"Oh my god!" they all said. "He did almost all of the work on the algorithm and yet she's the one getting all of the credit!"

They dug a little deeper - but not much - and discovered that the algorithm that "ultimately" generated the world-famous photo was created a different man, named Mareki Honma.

"She's taken the credit from two men!" they gasped. "Feminism and the PC media is destroying everything!"

And it turns out that he was the one who took the viral photo of Bouman, specifically because he didn't want her contributions to be lost to history

So I decided to find out for myself what Katie Bouman's actual contributions were.

As a programmer, I'm well aware that the number of GitHub commits means nothing without context. And Chael himself clarified that the lines being counted in the commits were from automatic commits of large data files. The actual software was made up of 68,000 lines, and though he didn't count how many he did personally, someone else assessed that he wrote about 24,000 of those.

Whether 68,000 or 24,000-- it's more than 2,400 right? Why call it "her" algorithm, then?

Because there's more than one algorithm being referenced here. These people just don't realize it.

I'll work my way backward because it's easier to explain that way.

But where did the photos come from that are composited into this photo?

And lo, that's exactly what happened. The data wasn't just good, it's the most accurate of its kind. 5 petabytes (millions of billions of bytes) worth of accurate black hole data.

But where did the data come from?

Data that would need to be sorted.

The algorithm that accomplished this feat was called CHIRP, short for "Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors".

CHIRP was created by Katie Bouman.

But I'm writing to set the story straight:

When it is written that Katie Bouman is the woman "behind the black hole photo", it is objectively true.

When Andrew Chael says that his software could not have worked without her, he isn't just being a stand-up guy, he's being literal.

And while it's true that every one of the 200+ people involved placed an important role, Katie Bouman deserves every ounce of superstardom she receives.

If there must be a face to this project - and there usually is - then why shouldn't it be her, her fingers twined across her lips, her gleeful eyes luminous and wide with awe and joy.

Edited:

So let's take a moment to celebrate the fact that two of the most integral contributors to the first direct photo of a black hole

were a woman

and a gay man.

=============================================== 2nd Update (LONG!)

I went to bed at 19 shares on a post I wrote to vent to my FB friends, and now it's over 2K. I guess it's gone viral. That means I have some work to do.

http://news.mit.edu/2016/method-image-black-holes-0606 This is a 2016 MIT article announcing CHIRP. It gives a pretty excellent idea about the magnitude of Bouman's contribution.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904110037.html This article explains Honma's significant role. It describes what Honma's algorithm does and how it was used in this project.

#black hole girl #black hole #expert judgement #non spn #STEM

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