What's the difference between a rogue and bard? Presentation!

If you like this sort of stuff, please go check out the full video on my YouTube! It took me forever to make and I nearly cried about 4 times during the editing/posting process!

And as always, huge thanks to my Patrons for making this stuff possible!

Omg I'm SO sorry!!! I'm the soulmates pain AU anon, I was completely aware you were the one with the milestone!! I saw the post through Molly's rb and I was almost completely sure I had opened your blog to send you the ask but alas, the Tumblr app can never give you any certainties. That long-ass message was completely dedicated to you, I still can't quite grasp how I managed to send it to scribbledghost 🙄🙄🙄 Sorry!!! Congrats again, I love you!!!!

for reference a Din Djarin x reader soulmate request where your soulmate feels your injuries and pain

hello, dear heart!

I wanted to say, before anything else, thank you. I've reread your words multiple times since you sent this, confirming they were to me, and they really mean the world to me. thank you so, so much! anyway, your idea is fantastic, I had a lot of fun with this one! I hope you like seeing what I did with your already wonderful thoughts 💕

ps it's well documented that I'm a big fan of sprawling thoughts, so please never apologize for sharing them!

warnings: mentions canon-typical injuries, a bunch of fluff. at least enough for a couple of throw pillows

>>

soulmate requests / follower celebration

<<

There's a short burn on his forearm when he wakes.

Din stares at it, wondering at the dull ache, trying to place the injury from yesterday's adventure when it hits him. Hot and golden warmth, flooding through his chest, thawing his flesh against the cold filtered air.

It's one of yours.

A burn, on his forearm.

And selfishly, indulgently, he pauses for a moment, mind slipping away from duty and expectations to dwell in the daydream of his soulmate.

First, his mind creates an image of a blurry mandalorian caretaker, gently moving around a kitchen in the covert. You stir a pot, tapping the spoon on the side before setting it down. Hearing distant calls, you turn too quickly and oh - a sliver of burn along your arm.

Din wants to help, wants to pull you away from the domestic .... danger, and he rushes forward. Your helmet turns to him and he almost sees it - before his mind can no longer produce the answers he aches for late at night.

The second image is of you, in armor as gleaming as his own, in a thick, unrecognizable forest. The hairs on his neck are at full attention, already subconsciously wanting to shout - but you don't need his help. You're breathtaking in all versions of his daydream - but watching you fight with practiced ease punches the air from his lungs. For a moment he feels self-conscious of his awkward maneuvers and slapdash fighting but then his mind pulls him back. You're protecting someone, or else you wouldn't have messed up - you never do, injuries from you are too rare - but you shove them behind you, shooting an enemy over your shoulder before your helmet snaps back. There are so many - you're surrounded - and a hot, sharp blaster bolt grazes your forearm before your fury is truly unleashed.

He runs his fingers over the burn, almost giddy at the possibilities.

Mandalorians are few and far between, but he's grateful he has a soulmate, and even more thankful you've kept yourself out of harm's way almost entirely, since you'd been connected.

As he dons his layers, the shine of his armor reflects bruises and scrapes littered across the expanse of his skin. His own, from his journey, and one beautiful little burn from his soulmate.

And then they're covered, and the armor is tied securely in place, and he leaves his daydreams in the room as the ship door slides unceremoniously shut.

-

You hiss at the burn, clutching your arm.

Great. Just what you needed - another injury to add to your impressive collection.

At least my soulmate gets a gift from me this time. You roll your eyes.

The vendor next to your stall is a sweet lady, already apologizing for her steaming pots and pans and offering you compensation.

The credits would be nice, but you could hardly justify taking anything, especially since it was your soulmate's fault your body was riddled with aches and pains in the first place.

Waving your hand, you accept her counter offer - a bowl of her perfect broth and noodles - before retreating. You sell cloth, from beautiful dyed lengths tucked away to sturdy, unstainable blacks, and it was days like today that you thanked your stars for that choice.

There's a thick pile in the middle that you perch on, sinking into the folds as your body cries at you, and you sigh over your soup in relief. The burden of waking to webbing bruises and sprawling scrapes and the more-than-occasional broken bone is eased by your stall - sitting and haggling until the sun goes down. That is, unless there's drama in the market, as it seems there is today.

In the distance you hear shouts, more than those of vendors selling meat on sticks to passing warriors and merchants - the taunts of drunkards.

Someone is coming, and you almost laugh when you see his form in the distance, because he's trying and failing to be inconspicuous. It's impossible, with his gleaming armor, but still he ducks into shadowy spots, forgetting - or maybe ignoring - their inhabitants.

"A Mandalorian has graced our market," your neighbor remarks dryly. They were respected, but it was well known that chaos followed them. You share a look, both wishing you were wealthy enough to conpletely pack up shop. If anything, a logical person would put away most of the stock and hunker down for a few hours. Weighing the odds was difficult: if you were lucky, the chaos wouldn't bother your business, and shoppers might be drawn out, hoping for entertainment and spending as they waited. If you weren't, a wayward burst of plasma or blaster fire would destroy your whole month's stock.

You looked at him again, the Mandalorian kneeling down the street. His form was... almost handsome, formidable but careful. He was light on his feet, seemingly with gentleness on his mind, and it drew you in like a moth to flame. You decided to stay, and hope for the best, your curiosity pulsing like your bruises.

And you were lucky, that day, because he ducked away not a moment later, taking the exciment with him.

Until, he came back the next day, this time on the prowl, stalking up and down the edge of Dicer's Row, one hand on his blaster and the other atop a bulky, wriggling bag. This time, you ventured to stand, folding and refolding your displays as you watched him through your lashes.

And then he made his move, and you sighed, feigning a yawn to cover your disappointment from your neighbor's knowing smile. She shouldn't be wiggling her eyebrows over the box wall between you - honestly his type were more annoying than anything. A crash from the alley confirmed it: there was no way a guy like that cared about his soulmate. The gentleness from before was surely a trick of the light.

Your whole side lit up with pain, the impact of something hard against your whole side and you groaned, settling into your mound again. Any curiosity or attraction was snuffed under your annoyance and pain, and your mood soured like fruit left unpicked on the tree.

Selfish, you thought, glaring as a chicken ran squawking from the commotion. What a jerk.

-

The next day, you tried to maintain the sentiment, huffing as he wandered the stalls.

Why does he keep coming back?

You'd have thought his time here was over when he'd dragged that lowlife out of town yesterday. But here he was, buying a crock of soup at the stall next to you, and ignoring her comments about how he couldn't eat it with his helmet on.

She had warmed to him, since he'd put money in her pocket, chattering in a way that kept him stuck for long moments.

It struck you as strange - he almost seemed too awkward to leave, like her returned generosity actually meant something to him. A man like him... surely could've just walked away.

But he stayed for awhile, nodding and looking at the spoons she carved in her free time, and you almost thought he was looking at you, too. Then he ducked his head and planted himself in front of you, and certainly he was.

For all the years you'd spent weaving words to sell your fabrics and goods, you'd never been so speechless. The Mandalorian was large, sharp, shining edges and bulky canvas packs tied to his shoulders - he seemed out of place, filling your whole stall, shuffling as he loomed over you.

He asked for soft brown things - children's clothes.

"Of course, I - I mean, yes, just over here -" you tripped over your words, caught completely off guard by the shape of him, the feel of him just an arms width away, and his request. You stumbled from your seat, nearly toppling in your hurry and his gloved hand wrapped around your arm, catching you.

"You're injured," he stated not really asking. It was... overwhelmingly intimate, him knowing, and acknowledging it, like he cared.

"Yeah, my..." you swallowed, trying not to get lost in the dark glass inches from your face. "My self-centered soulmate keeps getting himself nearly killed."

Even with your heart thumping in your chest, you couldn't keep the bite from your words, bitterness having collected over years of nursing injuries that were consequences of someone else's actions. He didn't let go of you for a moment, his helmet pulling back and tilting, like he was startled.

Then he was cautious, unbearably so, releasing his grip like a child freeing a captured creature when it was time. The topic was dropped, and he made his purchase quickly, but before he left, he paused. The Mandalorian's gloved hand ghosted over your cheek, slowly moving a hair back into it's place, and if you hadn't known better, it was almost an apology.

And then, thick cape swirling in the dust, tiny clothes in tow, he swept away, leaving you along with your whole body alight with a foreign longing.

-

Din felt as though he'd been stabbed.

Hot, hot feelings poured through his chest, spreading fast as fire as he desperately tried to sort through them.

You - you were incredible, fragile and bruised, with the most stunning, determined eyes he had ever seen. Not a Mandalorian, and you had a ... a soulmate, a fucker who left your skin littered with marks, burdening you with ...

He felt panicked, shocked, and guilty, just as he had when you'd told him. It had never occred to him that his soulmate might be there... out there, constantly burdened by his recklessness. His body screamed for attention, something he so often ignored, but this time, he was almost deafened by it.

His feet, legs, arms, chest, heart - all of them wanted him to return to you, in your little fabric stall. To... what? Truly, he hadn't the slightest idea, so his mind won out, shaking a little to try to reign in the muscles that he'd taught to obey him.

He couldn't go to you.

But, he couldn't stay away.

-

He was back in the market, and this time, he wasn't being subtle about staring at you.

Tall and ... slow, he waded through the crowds, making his was towards you like he was following a careful path.

"Can I help you?" You stood, moving almost involuntarily towards him. "Was there something wrong with my -" he was already shaking his head, hands reaching to make you shush.

Waiting, an irrational part of your mind wished he would touch you again, would place his big hands on your skin and sooth the aches that haunted your life. It was unfair, but you didn't stop it, couldn't if you tried.

Carefully, he slid a single finger to your arm, pushing up your sleeve to reveal the little burn you'd gotten.

He was being gentle. It made you want to stomp your feet, jealously welling up in your heart like bile, bitter and hot. How could it be, that someone so powerful had learned so quickly, wanted to, and he wasn't - he wasn't even your -

Then he moved again, pushing up his own sleeve and your thoughts tumbled over each other. It was intimate, even more than before, desperately trusting, as his skin near glowed in the morning light. And there was a burn on his skin, hairs singled like they'd met the edge of a pot of boiling broth.

You wanted to punch him. This man has spent years tossing his body around like he had one one spare, making your own as brittle as bread crust and - you wanted to kiss him. This man had learned after a single day, the impact of his actions, and had been nothing but kind.

The forehead of his helmet pressed into yours, and the two sides of your mind compromised.

Later, words would come - they had to.

But now, your eyes closed, and you sighed. He had the rest of your life to make it up to you - and he would, you were sure.

<<

taglist:

@fangirl-316 @scribbledghost @writeforfandoms @beautyagegoodnesssize @princess76179 @mrsbentallmadge @horton-hears-a-honk @saradika @zinzinina

the canada dream {02}

n/a: hey, guys! Here’s part 2 of TCD, as promised. I’m sorry it took me so long to update, my classes are back and last week was kinda hard, but here we go! Please let me know what you think <3 

Pairing: Pierre-Luc Dubois x reader

Warnings: a little bit of angst at the beginning, mentions of abusive/toxic relationship

Word counting: 2,1k

Ps: part 1 can be found here: https://royaltyofhockeylosers.tumblr.com/post/627737248109133824/the-canada-dream-01 

I realize there's something wrong the moment I find myself opening the door to my old apartment in Boston. As far as I remember, I moved to Montreal and am living with my best friend Anna... Or was it just a dream? I wouldn't be surprised, I've been dreaming on moving to Canada for a while now. I enter the living room and drop my bag on the couch, heading to my room but a noise stops me. No, not a noise. A moan. A woman's moan. I live with my boyfriend, Thomas, and as far as I know, we don't share the apartment with another girl. My heart fasten with every step I take until I'm facing the white door that leads to my room. Our room. "Faster, Tommy" I hear the girl say and my boyfriend groans, making my skin shiver "Yes just like that" "God you're so hot, baby" Thomas' voice is like a fist to my stomach and the tears start rolling down my face. Not again, please. I open the door and the scene in front of me breaks my heart into a million pieces. My boyfriend is buried into a blonde's pussy and keeps thrusting in and out of her as he sees me. "Hello, princess. Do you want to join us?" his smile is almost wicked and I can't move, I can't breath as I watch him fucking her the way he used to make love to me. The tears never stop coming down and my sobbing seems to make him want to go deeper and faster until the girl screams his name.

~~ I sit on my bed, tears running on my cheeks and my heart racing like a horse. My entire body hurts as I'm forced to remember every single scene from that damn day, unable to erase the overwhelming feeling for good. My phone pings and I reach out to check it. When my eyes catch the clock and I realize it's almost 1 p.m, my heart skips a beat. I've never woken up this late, but I guess the adventures from last night and the anxiety of moving to another country to restart my life got the best of me. Unlocking the screen, I check the message app before anything else. There are 2 texts from Tyler and 6 from Logan, so I decide to open the latter thread. L: Hey Y/N, it's Logan L: I'm sorry for last night, I hope Anna is okay L: Tyler said he invited you two to the barbecue, cool! L: Here's the address and don't worry about anything, just bring whatever you guys wanna drink L: We reeeeeally want you to come, Luc is excited to meet you two I smile at the last text which is formed by at least 10 different types of emojis. I reply saying I need to ask Anna if she wants to come and lock the screen again, leaving my bed and going to Anna's room. My best friend is sleeping like a baby, so I decide to go make something for us to eat. When I'm almost done with the spaghetti, Anna appears in the kitchen with a pout on the lips and her brows furrowed. "Good morning, sunshine" I sing and my friend groans, sitting on one of the benches by the marble island in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m not feeling sunshiny today. I feel like I’ve been ran over by a truck. Multiple times” “That’s called tequila hungover and I’m not saying I told you so...” “Nah shut up” she shushes me waiving her hand “Can you get me a pill that’ll make this go away?” Anna points at her own head and I hold back a laugh, opening one of the cabinets where she showed me the medicines were. Handing her an Aspirin and a cup of water, I go back to the stove and turn it down, taking the pan to the island. Anna takes the pill and sighs, looking at the food. "Is this a dream?" my best friend asks when I put a plate in front of her and lets out a small moan when she takes the first bite "Honestly, if I had known you could cook like this, I would've invited you to move in with me way earlier" "Oh, don't get to used to it. My cooking knowledge is resumed to spaghetti, lasagna and burgers" "Who said we need more than that to survive?" Anna looks at me with an offended look making me laugh. We're half way through our meal until I decided to tell her about the barbecue. "So Logan and the other boys are hosting a barbecue today and they want us to come. It'll be just us, them, Tyler's girlfriend and that other guy they were telling us about yesterday. You in?" "As long as Logan keeps his alcohol to himself, I see no problem" she replies and I can't hold back my laugh. "Hey you're the one who suggested you guys should see who could get more shots in less time" "I never thought he'd say yes! That guy is crazy!" she snaps back and I laugh even harder. "Okay so we're going?" "Yeah, I guess so..." "Cool, I'll let him know then" * "What's up?" Anna asks as we're getting ready to leave. She's in my room, laying down on my bed as I finish putting some make up on. I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt with a jeans skirt and snickers since the weather gods decided to send a chill night to break the living hell temperatures of the day. Me and An spent the entire day laying on the floor and drinking an absurd amount of water while watching the latest episodes from The 100. "What?" I ask and look at her through the mirror. "You have a worried look on your face. What's wrong?" "Nothing... I just have a weird feeling that I should know something but I don't" I reply and focus on applying my mascara. "You're weird, Y/N. Are all americans like this?" "Hey!" I throw a pillow at her, making her laugh. As I finish everything and grab the beer packs we're taking, we're all settle to go. On our way to go, I open my Instagram and start scrolling through my feed - which is the most diverse thing in the world. It’s the perfect balance of hockey, singers, food, friends and family. I look at some of the posts before heading to the Story part. I slide through a couple until one catches my attention. It’s the same bar I was yesterday and I can see Anna in her white and red dress in the corner. I check the user and my heart skips a beat when I realize who it is. Pierre-Luc Dubois, one of the few hockey players I follow on Instagram. He plays centre for the Columbus Blue Jackets, my ex's home team, and my heart aches a little when a memory gets me. "Hey, I just saw you follow PLD on Instagram" Thomas' voice reaches me before he appears on our room. "Yeah, I've been following him for a while now, Tom" I say and go back folding the clean clothes. "Why?" he asks, making me look at him a little confused. "Why what?" "Why are you following him?" "Why not? He's a hockey player and I like him. What's wrong?" "Oh you like him? What, do you think he's gonna fuck you if you ever meet?" his aggressive tone makes me blush and my heart fasten. "Why are you saying this? I'll never meet him, Thomas, he's like super famous and lives in Ohio" "Exactly, so stop following him. I don't approve it and I don't like the fact that you're following these hockey guys. They're all assholes" my boyfriend says before storming out of our apartment, leaving me to try and understand what the hell just happened. I never stopped following Pierre's profile, but that was never needed since I caught Thomas in bed with another girl just two weeks after his little scene. That was three months ago and now I was living in Montreal with my best friend, trying to rebuild my life after what he did to me. I look at Pierre's story again and can't help the weird feeling that takes over my body. I knew he was French-Canadian, but I definitely did not know he lived in Montreal during the off season. I guess I never took the time to check on any player's personal lives. I mean, expect for Mitch Marner's but that's just because I really wish we were best friends but anyways. "Hey, you're on Pierre-Luc Dubois' Insta Story" I says and Anna almost throws the car out of the road. "I'M WHAT?!" Definitely should've waited until we got to the house. "Yeah, he was at the same bar as we yesterday and posted a photo of the dance floor. You appeared in the corner" "Wait... You're telling me that that fucking greek god was at the same bar as we and none of us saw it? Are you kidding me?" she says and the annoyance in her voice makes me laugh. "Yep, that's what I'm saying. What are the odds?" "I mean, they're high since his parents live here, but still.. We weren't even at the best bar of the city" "Maybe he is low key and was trying to avoid the crowds" "Yeah, probably" she agrees and changes focus. I observe the streets, filled with big houses with even bigger yards. "I guess Pierre is not the only rich who prefers underground bars..." I comment and Anna snorts, looking at the mansions. “Should’ve guessed he had money when you told me the neighborhood we were heading to, but damn” Anna says and all I can do is nod in agreement.

*

I was worried we would be late, but when we get to the house, Tyler and his girlfriend, Kate, are the only ones waiting for us. "Hey, guys" Ty greets us and takes the beer packs from me "Logan went to buy more beer, Jesse backed down and Luc is late as always" he leads the path to the backyard and I have to keep myself from dropping my jaw. The house is huge but the backyard is unbelievable. There's a deck where the grill is, a pool with a pool house and a soccer court. "This is my girlfriend Kate. Kate, these are the girls we told you about, Anna and Y/N" "Hi!" the curly haired and green eyed girl says and we down by her side. A couple of minutes go by and we're all getting along pretty well until Anna looks at her phone and sees that it's dying. "I think i have a charger in the car, I'll be right back" She leaves and only two minutes later my phone pings. A: don't freak out and act normal but i just bumped into logan outside Y/N: so what? A: pierre is with him My eyes go wild and before I can process what I just read, Logan's voice reaches me. “Look who I just found outside!” I look up asking God for Anna to be messing with me, but she's not. Pierre-Luc fucking Dubois is standing between Logan and my best friend, how's acting like there's nothing wrong. I try my best to do the same and I guess it worked since no one is looking at me with funny looks. "Luc, this is Y/N and Y/N, this is Luc" Tyler introduces us and Pierre shakes my hand with a small smile. "Cool, now you two know each other. Can we eat? I'm starving!" Logan says heading to the grill. “We’ve known each other for less than a day and I’ve already noticed that’s a constant mood of yours” Anna snaps back following him with Pierre right after her, leaving me, Kate and Tyler behind. "You look like you just saw a ghost" Tyler says getting my attention. "I'm just thinking why none of you bothered to tell me that your friend looked like that" I snap back, making Kate laugh. I decide not to mention the fact that I'm a hockey fan and know the NHL player that has just walked past us. "Nah, the minute he opens his mouth you'll see he's a dork" Kate says and heads to the area where the rest is. I follow her with Tyler right by my side and asking God to help me out here.

2019 New Writers Fic Rec

After seeing some Discourse on Twitter, I decided to make a fic rec with some of my favorite new writers! All of these writers only started posting Stucky fanfic in 2018 or 2019. So here are some “new” writers and some of my favorite fics from them! (in no particular order)

PS: sorry for not putting the trope, word count and rating as I usually do, I wanted to try and make this fic rec quickly! 

PS2: also sorry if I chopped all your summaries, but some of them are hella long and this post is already... pretty long.

PS3: this went way past “favorite new writers” and just became “great new writers” because I wanted to prove a point, oops. 

verzacefatale 

You be yours and I'll be mine : “Oh, god. We got married, didn’t we?” 

14-Inch Cock and a Few Hundred Bimbos : There are some things in life, Steve muses as he stares down at his crotch, that nothing can prepare you for. His dick suddenly growing six inches in length and another two in girth, just because he opened a box in a Hydra dug out that maybe he should have read the instructions on before he did? How was he to know it was literally magic that would make his cock grow huge?

~

2bestfriends 

Collar Full of Chemistry : AKA a fantasy BDSM romance featuring heavy mutual pining, feelings denial, and enough kink to blackout a bingo card. 

Like Real People Do : AKA the "Lumberjack Steve/Twink Bucky" fic of our hearts.

~

deadonarrival

100,000 Miles And Feeling Very Still : Steve Rogers took a job at NASA and his life is pretty okay. Maybe not great but he has some good friends and things seem to be mostly stable. Except one day their new astronaut recruit walks in and everything in Steve's life goes upside down.

Latte Art and Slow Dancing in the Dark (WIP): Bucky is a somewhat well-adjusted former army sniper that got his shoulder blown out. He took his discharge and went home to finish school and is working on his international relations masters. His best friends and roommates (Nat & Clint) are CIA agents and tip him off that their local Sbux is hiring. He gets a job there and meets none other than the hottest guy on earth.

~

voxofthevoid

(series) couldn't get the boy to kill me (ongoing): Captain America and the Winter Soldier are a terrifying duo on the field, working together with a well-oiled precision that tears through their enemies. Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes are distant coworkers, all polite nods and mission briefings. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are fire and gasoline; the sparks between them have no choice but to roar into raging infernos.

happily ever after has bite marks in it : In which Bucky is aggressively okay with his self-imposed exile from society, and Steve is a werewolf who’s nothing like the Brooklyn boy Bucky still dreams of.

darling heart, i loved you from the start (but that's no excuse for the state i'm in) : Or, the one where Steve saves the mind stone for last and decides to fuck the timeline beyond all recognition, which regrettably involves crawling delicately up Hydra's asshole and less regrettably involves showering a very confused Bucky Barnes with affection.

(series): i'm guilty of treason (i've abandoned control) : S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Bucky Barnes is captured on a mission and meets Commander Steve Rogers, the erstwhile Captain America.It escalates quickly.

four dreams in a row where you were burned : When Steve uses the last of his Pym Particles to travel to 1944 and save his best friend, he doesn’t have a plan beyond leaving behind the battlefield and living his life alongside the people he loves. But the life that finds him is not the one he expects.

~

deisderium

much tattoo about nothing : Steve Rogers gets a lot of email requests, but never one like this: James Barnes wants to use his healing factor to practice tattoos.

(series) tits out, lads : On the walk back from Azzano, Bucky keeps touching Steve's chest. Then he touches it some more. And more.

Let Them Eat Cake : Bucky wanted to know why their new pastry chef had gun calluses on his right hand.

deep dive : In which single dad Bucky Barnes has a crush on his daughter's dive team coach and thirsts awkwardly. 

thot through the heart (and you're to blame) : In which Bucky is a baby vampire, a disaster, out to have a good time, and hopelessly in love with his roomate; and in which Steve has a few secrets of his own.

Political Animals (WIP) : or—Steve’s best friend is the U.S. Constitution and he can’t seem to stop fucking a hot Republican. They shouldn’t fall in love, but somehow they do.

~

thedoubteriswise

time on my hands (could be time spent with you) : "You doing okay, kid?” Steve releases a breath, deciding how honest he wants to be. No point in lying. No point in telling the truth, either. "Glad to see you.""That’s not what I asked, but same to you, punk."

honey don't feed it, it will come back : He’s stroking the cat’s fur, which is soft and fine now that it’s clean. He looks so open and inviting. Steve doesn’t close his eyes, watching Bucky’s gentle fingers and trying to come up with a plausible excuse to go touch him.

Ill With Want : Bucky pretends to be asleep when Steve crawls into bed, too tired to feel guilty over the quivery pleasure that settles in his belly when Steve’s arm brushes his. He drifts to sleep in a comfortable haze and tries not to wonder where this feeling was two hours ago when he had Marie in his lap.

~

steebadore

Controlled Release : Bucky's just having a little trouble...finishing. Completing the mission. He can squeeze the trigger but he can't make the shot is what he's saying. Which is why he's here, loitering outside a nice brownstone in Park Slope, trying to find the courage to knock on Captain Come Control dot com's door for his three o'clock appointment.

it takes a lot to know a man : Bucky flips to the next page, and the world around him grinds to a halt as his brain struggles to process what he's seeing. The noise of the train fades and static fills the inside of his head as he looks down at the sketches of the metal-armed guy without the mask. It's—that's him. It's Bucky's own goddamn face staring back at him from this stranger's sketchbook.

~

AidaRonan

Quench : Or the one where archeology intern Bucky Barnes meets actual archeologist Steve Rogers and reaches levels of thirst scientists once believed to be theoretically impossible.

Carnal Synchronicity : AKA A Tale of Two Stevies

Fraternizing With the Enemy : Steve and Bucky are both the presidents of their respective fraternities. Steve thinks Bucky's frat is filled with selfish party animals who care about little else. Bucky thinks Steve is a giant pretentious douchebag who owns too many Lacoste polos. They hate each other. Passionately.

~

lockedlocke

I just need you to show me : A quick google search tells him that the app he needs to get for something quick and easy, with no strings attached is Grindr. He downloads the app while he watches a bit of a Simpsons episode. It doesn’t take long, and when the app is downloaded, he looks at black icon with the yellow mask.

Pride : So here he was, at Pride despite the fact that he’d rather be at home. It’s hot, boiling and his feet hurt a bit from standing all day. Converse might be nice shoes, but Jesus they were terrible for his knees.

~

mcwho

it never hurt nobody : “I thought we agreed that that was creepy.” “No,” Bucky says slowly. “I asked you what you thought about people calling their boyfriends daddy, and you said you thought it was creepy, and then I asked you what the hell you’d done with my grey sweater after you did laundry, and we never talked about it again.”

(series) the serum amplifies : Little PWPs about Steve and Bucky’s sex life and the serums effect on it.

~

missandrogyny

don't know where i'm going (but i'll get back to you and me) : AU where Bucky is an assassin who just can’t seem to kill Steve

~

LeeHan

The Right Partner : Steve meets a beautiful man with a bright laugh on a sunny day in Italy. Captain America meets the elusive Winter Soldier moments later.

The Best Way to Wake : James Buchanan Barnes lay in a glass pod in the middle of the table, frozen since he fell. Steve’s hands were on the glass before he realized he’d moved. “Get him out,” Steve whispered, his hands searching for a clasp, a keypad, something.

~

amethystkrystal

Taking This One Step At A Time : In the weeks that follow, Bucky's omega urges start going haywire, and he realizes that night with Steve may have left him with more than just a fond memory.

Realignment : After assembling their own Infinity Gauntlet, the Avengers defeated Thanos and brought back everyone who disappeared. But their victory came at a great cost: in order to take the Soul Stone, Steve had to sacrifice the Captain America mantle and all the super-soldier strength that came with it.

~

cydonic

Home Is Wherever I'm With You : This is what happens when you buy a house to flip having only seen the online images: you get more than you bargained for. Bucky Barnes brings all the tools to handle a dilapidated home, but he's hardly prepared for a smart-mouthed child (with poor aim), a crying baby, and the hottest dad he's ever seen in his life living right next door.

~

deadto27

The Sweetest Spark : Steve Rogers runs a successful business. He has great friends and a great life. It seems like he has it all. So why is he sitting in a diner on a Friday night alone? Maybe he's just a little lonely. Maybe Bucky Barnes can help with that.

Maybe This Christmas : Bucky’s not going home for Christmas. But it’s fine. He’s spending Christmas alone in his apartment, but it’s cool. He’s not feeling up to seeing his family after his accident anyway, plus he has to work. He’s totally fine with it. But then he runs into Steve, literally, and suddenly his Christmas isn’t looking so empty after all.

~

NachoDiablo

Reconcilable Differences : AKA, "What To Do When Your Zany Fake-Relationship Scheme Actually Works."

~

odetteandodile

If Only In My Dreams : Bucky is a highly successful cooking and lifestyle blogger. He writes all about life in his Connecticut home with his D.H. (darling husband). Only problem? It’s all complete fiction.

So I Took a Faithful Leap : Bucky doesn’t fall and Steve doesn’t crash. The Howling Commados take out the remaining Hydra bases…and then they go home, just like all the other allied soldiers. Steve buys a farm in Washington state, and tries to relearn how to be at peace.

Art Thief, Heart Thief : Agent Steve Rogers is facing a series of art thefts that has him stumped, and looking for a break in the case. Convicted art thief and general high end criminal Bucky Barnes wants to make parole and happens to know all of the right people who could make Steve's job easier.

Under the Hawthorn Tree : A young man wanders into the woods one night, and wanders until he isn't a young man anymore—but something else. Seventy years later, another man follows him. Inside of a magic ring, they meet.

~

canistakahari

don't threaten me with a good time : Steve's taken him on vacation to a cabin in Canada in the middle of winter, so it's obviously the perfect time for his body to go haywire. Bucky is determined to stick it out, though, partly because he's a stubborn bastard, but mostly because he feels some kinda way about Steve.

Heckin' Chunker for Love : On the inside of the big floor to ceiling window of the office across the street, someone has used Post-it Notes to spell out a message: W H A T I S Y O U R C A T ’ S N A M E ?

(TBR) All of Your Love is Sunlight : Sometimes the path to happiness involves bad timing turned good, a butt plant, and a little everyday magic. For Steve and Bucky, it's all that and more.

~

birdjay

(TBR) STAR PLAN : He’s the most gorgeous thing Bucky’s ever laid eyes on.He’s his new tentative boss. Maybe. If this interview goes well enough, anyway. “So, Mr. Barnes?” Steve asks, blinking at him from across a particle board table. “You ever work security before?”

stay : The platform buzzes, and suddenly goes quiet. The cycle has finished. Bucky doesn’t bother to look. There’s no way Steve’s coming back when he has the chance to stay. He moves to walk away, to move on with his life, somehow. “Buck -- ?”

(TBR) The Conservation of a 17th Century Painting : Steve can’t even remember the last time he’s spoken to someone actually interested in art, who coincidentally is also someone he’d like to bang. Actually, no. He’s never had that happen.

~

dragongirlG

Searching Every Lonely Place : After the Battle of New York in 2012, Steve searches for Bucky with the help of the Avengers as he bumbles through a series of comedic misunderstandings with undercover HYDRA agents.

Reclamation : The Winter Soldier’s mask never falls off when he fights Captain America on the overpass and the helicarrier. That doesn’t stop the Soldier from recognizing Captain America and wondering why the man’s face is haunting his scattered memories.

~

megs_bee

Nothing Good Ever Happens On A Tuesday : Recently discharged soldier James Barnes is back in Brooklyn, down an arm and missing five years of memories, but he’s got his PTSD mostly under control, a fancy metal prosthetic, and what’s starting to feel like it could be a half-decent life. What he doesn’t have is any memory of the kid looking at James and asking him, “Are you my daddy?” -- or the gorgeous blond guy standing next to her.

A Ghost Before You Were a Ghost Story : “I’m sorry to wake you, Sir, but there appears to be an intruder on the roof. ”Tony finds the camera showing a figure standing alone on the roof, black tactical gear blending into the black night sky. Barely a shadow among shadows, save for the glint of silver along the figure’s left side. The Winter Soldier.

~

VenusMonstrosa

Extant : After a sudden and violent storm forces the crew of Insight III to perform an emergency evacuation, astronaut James Barnes was believed to have died and was left behind on Mars. Two years later, Commander Steve Rogers still refuses to let go. Fortunately, so does Bucky.

Through The Woods : There’s a legend in Mansewood, nearly as old as the town itself, about a pack of werewolves that once lived in the forest. They say only one survives; a monstrous and snarling beast with fur like a blizzard and fangs the size of daggers. Steve doesn’t care about any of that. He only wants to know if it prefers T-Bone or ribeye, and would it please stop tracking dirt through his house? He just mopped the floor.

~

BlueSimplicity

(series) You Are Responsible For What You Tame : After the events in DC and on the helicarriers, and the realization that his friend Bucky Barnes is still alive, Captain Steve Rogers swears that he will do anything he can to find him. It is easier said than done, as Steve searches desperately for any hint or clue that will lead him to his friend. Steve searches, but Bucky does not want to be found. And so begins their game of cat and mouse, as Steve does everything in his power to convince Bucky to come home.

~

GoldBlooded

A Midsummer Knight's Dream : Sir Steven, knight, alpha, and baron of a small countryside estate, receives an invitation to a Royal Tournament: It’s a winner-take-all competition, and the prize? The hand of Prince James, the kingdom’s most eligible omega, in marriage.

Feast On This : Steve, Sarah, and Bucky are headed down to Florida to visit the Barnes family for Thanksgiving. Bucky's tired of the interrogation about his love life from his Ma, and Sarah suggests the simplest solution would be for he and Steve to fake it for a few days. How hard can it be, right? After all, they've shared a bed before. After all, it's only pretend... Right?

Luck of the Irish Stroll : Every year Steve and Sam go on the Irish Stroll Bar Crawl, and ever since their first time on the Stroll four years ago, Steve and Sam cross paths with Bucky and Natasha. Every year Steve’s world is rocked by the gorgeous, blue-eyed man that has captivated him since they first locked eyes fighting over a couple of pints of Guinness from the bartender. But Steve's starting to want and need more of Bucky... will this be the year he can make it last for more than one night?

~

girlbookwrm

(TBR) (series) The Hundred Year Playlist : Steve and Bucky, start to finish. "Come on, pal, it's me. Take another hundred years if you want, I'll still be here."

sidereal : Captain Rogers never did a self-portrait; we can only speculate who his soulmate — or soulmates — might have been.

~

ClaraxBarton

Holding On : “Your poll numbers are way down, and we need to get them back up.”

~

stfustucky

Salt & Sugar (collab with GoldBlooded) : Steve Rogers is a bigshot celebrity chef in New York City, and Bucky Barnes is a classically trained pastry chef in Moscow. When billionaire and mutual friend Natasha Romanoff calls on them to collaborate for her Memorial Day Benefit Gala, they both brace themselves to spend the week working with some jerk they're bound to hate. 

Honestly, Fuck Brooklyn : Or, the one where it takes yet another apocalypse for the somewhat oblivious Bucky Barnes to figure out that his dorky artist boyfriend Steve is actually Captain Goddamned America.

~

writeonclara

How to Woo the Winter Soldier : Or: Steve courts the Winter Soldier.

Wishing you were here... 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (chatroom)

A/N: Hey guys! Here’s the first real thing I’ve worked on this year... oops! Anyway, I’ve had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you enjoy reading it! Part 1 is mostly just a preview of what’s to come, I have other, longer chapters written and I’m thinking I’ll post once a week! Let me know what you think! (PS i did put a ‘read more’ link in here, so hopefully it works!)

Warnings: language, maybe? flirting? pet names

Masterlist

The only light illuminating your bedroom is the one that comes from your computer screen - bright, almost blinding, and making your eyes silently scream for sleep. 

You’re moments from giving in, from turning away from the chat room you’d found your way into a few weeks ago, hoping that you’d find someone to take the edge off your loneliness.

Unfortunately, all you’d managed to find was creepy 60 year old men begging to see your breasts. You weren’t here for it. 

A long yawn escapes you, the kind that makes you raise your arms over your head and extend your entire spine. You’re in the process of lowering your arms to exit out of the chat program, when a new IM appears on your screen.

[Sarge1917]: Hello.

You refrain from rolling your eyes, willing yourself to believe that this one won’t be a creep… but there’s a nagging thought in the back of your head, one that whispers: he’s just like the rest.

You reply anyway.

[SpaceKitten]: Hi there.

It takes a few moments before you receive a response.

[Sarge1917]: How are you?

You’re used to the first question someone asks you being “pics?” Or “dtf?” You can’t even think of one person on this god awful site that asked you how you were.

[SpaceKitten]: Honestly.. I’m exhausted. How are you?

His reply is almost instant this time.

[Sarge1917]: Oh, about the same. It’s pretty late where I am.. nearly morning, but I just can’t sleep. What’s got you up?

The fact that he has taken the time to try to have a normal conversation with you has you appalled… but also intrigued.

[SpaceKitten]: My mind won’t stop racing. I’m up all night, every night. I’d blame insomnia, but…

You hit the send button before you realize it. 

  [Sarge1917]: but…?

You don’t expect him to reply so quickly and you face an internal struggle: do you be honest, or do you lie? 

He’s a complete stranger, so why not tell the truth?

[SpaceKitten]: Honestly, I’ve never liked sleeping alone.. Once the sun sets and night takes over I.. I’m overwhelmed with how lonely I really am. I can’t stop thinking about it.

He doesn’t respond straight away this time, and you’re afraid you might’ve scared him off. Fiddling with a random toy on your desk, you anxiously await the sound of a new IM coming through.

[Sarge1917]: We have more in common than you think. I know that feeling, exactly, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I’m sorry.

You’re chewing your lip as you re-read each word, letting it soak in. 

A total creep would never speak to you in such a sweet way, right? 

You decide to be brave.

[SpaceKitten]: I keep telling myself that Mr. Right will come along some day and sweep me off my feet, but.. The more I think about it, the more it seems unlikely.

[Sarge1917]: Why’s that?

You sit back in your chair for a moment, letting out a long sigh as you contemplate your response. You’d been honest with him so far, so why not continue on that note?

[SpaceKitten]: Honestly?

[Sarge1917]: Honestly.

Taking in a large breath, you write out your reply.

[SpaceKitten]: Honestly.. most of the men I’ve gone on dates with, and the ones I’ve met here only want one thing from me.. and I’m not looking for just that, you know? I want something.. real, I guess? That probably sounds stupid..

His response is delayed for a few moments, but when it finally shows on your screen, you have to bite back a smile.

[Sarge1917]: Not stupid at all.

[Sarge1917]: In fact, I’d like to apologize on behalf of all of the men who have made you feel like a sex object.

[Sarge1917]: Nowadays, most men are.. for a lack of a better word, pigs. It makes all of us look bad.

[Sarge1917]: You deserve better than that. You deserve to be treated like a goddess.

[SpaceKitten]: Oh, I don’t know about a ��goddess’, but.. I’d like to at least be treated like a person.

[Sarge1917]: Like an equal.

[SpaceKitten]: It’s like you read my mind.

[Sarge1917]: (:

You’re not sure how late you stayed up talking to your new mystery friend, mostly because you end up falling asleep at the keyboard. The only reason you wake is the sun peeking through the curtains and directly on your face. 

The first thing you’re acutely aware of is that your back and neck are killing you. You’ve got drool stuck to your cheek and you’re quite sure the shape of the keys are embedded into the side of your face. 

You couldn’t look worse. 

The computer is still up and running, your chat app still open, along with your conversation.

You feel guilt flood your belly immediately.

While having such a pleasant conversation, you fall asleep on him? What kind of jerk does that make you?

The guilt starts to swirl and alter to another emotion as you read the last bit of your conversation over, the skin up your neck and to your cheeks burning with.. embarrassment? Desire? You weren’t sure.

[Sarge1917]: Well, kitten, it would appear you’ve fallen asleep on me. Can’t say I blame you, it’s nearly 7am here..

[Sarge1917]: I really enjoyed talking with you. And I’m glad I was able to help you find a way to sleep.

There’s a long time gap between the last message and the next.

[Sarge1917]: I was thinking.. maybe if you wanted.. we could talk again? I don’t know what it is, but.. I really would like to get to know you better.

[Sarge1917]: Would that be alright with you?

[Sarge1917]: I hope so.. Sweet dreams, kitten.

How could you possibly say no?

Night after night, week after week, you fall asleep at your desk messaging back and forth with Sarge. He’s sweet, charming and almost a little too perfect in some ways. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t grown attached - the kind of attached when chatting with him was the highlight of your day; the kind where you’d once spent an entire hour wondering what the color of his eyes were and if he has a beard or not. 

It’s the kind where you’re afraid that someday, he might disappear.

6 months later, you were still conversing every day, but that fear just seemed to grow and grow. How long would this last?

You’re in your usual spot at your computer with your usual snacks, listening to music. It’s late, your neighbors have already gone to sleep, and it almost feels like you’re the only person left awake in the entire world.

Until a new IM notification appears on your screen.

TAGS: (sorry if you dont like being tagged, its been so long since i’ve posted idk who to tag anymore lolol. @mindingmyownbusiness @plumfondler  @buckybarnesappreciationsociety @loricameback @tinaferraldo @geminimoonbeamx  @preserumsteverogers @moderapoppins @lowkeysebby @buckyshattergirl  @jayattemptstoruletheworld   @the-observant-fangirl @moondancewrites @moonbeambucky @trinityjadec  @stevieang  @bionic-buckyb @eyecandybarnes @propertyofpoeandbucky @promarvelfangirl @ballyhoobarnes @bucky-plums-barnes @cate-lynne @witchymarvelspacecase @imaginingbucky @theimpossibleg1rl

Sigh Not So

this was not requested, but i missed my boy race, so here’s a (long) fic based on my favourite scene from much ado about nothing, which is my favourite shakespeare play. it’s also heavily inspired by a modern re-imagining of the play, which i am in love with, called nothing much to do. 10/10 would recommend watching, even if you’re not an english lit nerd like me. enjoy! <3 (PS if u can spot the quote from the original that i squeezed in near the end, then you’re legally required to marry me, sorry i don’t make the rules) (also the title is a ref to a quote from the play, i’m a nerd sorry)

It felt a bit melodramatic to call Race Higgins your enemy, but it was near enough to the truth. The truth was that you had liked him, once, maybe even more-than-liked him, but, as you grew older, the qualities you had once liked in him became obnoxious. It used to loosen you up when he made stupid jokes about whatever was happening, but now he was little more than a class clown who couldn’t take anything seriously. As you grew up, friendly roasts began to sound a little more serious, and, by the end of high school, he was the nearest thing you had to a sworn enemy.

You managed to fight with him about anything, from the correct translation of your Latin homework to the DC and Marvel cinematic universes. It was fun, sometimes, but mostly just exhausting. Sometimes, you wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier to get along, for your friends’ sake, if not for your own, but then he would make some ridiculous comment about how Parks and Rec was better than The Office and you would remember that he was the worst.  

He was annoying at track practices, when his hair was impossibly curly, and his eyes glittered with happiness, and he insisted that his team needed half of your soccer pitch to practice for field events. He was annoying in class, when he argued with the teacher about the underlying racism in Anthony and Cleopatra and, sure, he may have been right, but who cared about correctness when you went about an argument in the completely wrong way.

(“You,” Katherine would say every time that you brought this up. “You care about correctness, especially when it’s opposing Shakespeare.”

You ignored her. What mattered was that it was Race arguing with the teacher, and he was always wrong, even when he was right.)

He was especially annoying at parties, when he’d flirt with anyone who breathed – except you, of course. The way he nonchalantly joked with everyone else, and pretty much ignored your existence, except to tease you about your hair or something you had said, made your blood positively boil.

(And, Davey was wrong: you weren’t jealous of anyone, not even a little bit.)

He annoyed you at parties, but his absence from Jack Kelly’s annual Halloween party left a gaping hole. You were dressed as Jim Kirk, from Star Trek, and you had expected him to tease you as soon as you got to the party, insist that you had yourself pegged wrong and that you were definitely more of an expendable red shirt, than a royal yellow. You would respond in kind, with a snarky comment about how he had less personality than a Vulcan commander and all would be right in the world.

But, he didn’t show. Or, if he did, he managed to keep quiet the entire night which, considering who you were dealing with, just made the former more likely. Towards the end of the night, you found yourself leaning against a wall in the living room, talking to a girl that you kind of knew, dressed as Wednesday Addams, and a boy that you didn’t recognise, in a full Batman costume, face-covering cowl, and everything. Maybe, you had had a little too much of the definitely not kid-friendly punch that Romeo had whipped up, or maybe you were just tired, but, when the conversation lulled, Race popped into your mind.

“Hey, you haven’t seen Higgins around tonight, have you?”

“No,” the boy answered, clearing his throat. “I mean, no, I haven’t. Why?”

Maybe it was the alcohol, but you were almost certain that his voice was pitched a little lower than it had been earlier in the conversation. You frowned, it was probably the alcohol.

“No reason, I just feel like everyone’s here and he’s, like, not. It’s weird. And, it’s so uncharacteristic of him to let a night go by where he’s not the centre of attention.”

You winced a little at the harshness in your tone, and the boy must have picked up on it, too.

“You’re being kind of hard on him, don’t you think?”

You rolled your eyes.

“No, I’m giving him the same treatment he gives me, all the time. And, besides, it’s not like I haven’t tried to get to know him – it’s not my fault he’s the biggest douche canoe this side of Canada.”

You couldn’t see the boy’s face in his costume, but you thought that he might have been frowning.

“What do you mean ‘tried to get to know him’? From what I’ve heard he’s a pretty dope guy.”

You scoffed. Did people still say dope?

“Dude, I think I would know. We used to be really good friends, like, maybe even best friends when we were in middle school, and then I guess he just lost interest, like he always does. He’s got the attention span of a studious gold fish, I swear.”

“Well, did you ever talk to him about it? Maybe, it was just a miscommunication kind of thing.”

“Ugh, as if. If he stopped talking to me, it isn’t my job to figure out what his issue is. I just,” you huffed in frustration. “We’re all here, having a good time and making fools of ourselves and he’s just missing in action. Although, I bet if he did come to this party, he’d be dressed as Peter Pan, the boy who never fucking grows up.”

The boy flinched, and you wondered for a second if you had gone too far.

“That’s harsh. You should try to give him a chance, maybe he actually wants to try to get to know you, again,” he said, before drifting off like some mysterious faerie. You weren’t sure when during the conversation the girl had left, but, soon, you were standing alone. You stood there for a moment longer, wondering idly about who that guy thought he was, anyway. You finished the drink in your cup and sauntered off to find some more of that magic punch, not giving the boy in the Batman costume a second thought.

The conversation only drifted through your mind again the next morning, when you woke up, groggy and confused, on Jack’s couch. Maybe you were a little harsh, but you had given Race the benefit of the doubt, once upon a time. He had been one of your closest friends, once upon a time.

You still remembered the last proper conversation that you had had with him. You were twelve, sitting in your bedroom and playing video games, when he paused the screen and turned to you with an oddly determined look on his face. He asked if you had heard the rumour that someone was spreading around school, that you and he were dating. You said you had, still a little confused,  and he gave you this intense, unforgettable look, before asking what you thought of it all. You laughed at the idea, telling him, perhaps a little dishonestly, that it was super gross. He was like your brother, you said. You didn’t think much of it, at all. Why would he care, anyway? He had that pretty girl, Zoey. Finch had said that he had seen them holding hands at Sarah J’s party, so you didn’t want to ruin anything for him by admitting that you sometimes wished that the rumours were true. You pressed play and kicked his ass in Tekken. 

The next Monday, at school, he acted like nothing was wrong, but, after that, the pair of you started to drift apart. You stopped playing video games together, playful barbs became antagonism and, by the time you reached high school, you had nothing left of the friendship that you had once shared. It was sad, sure, but you weren’t a chaser. If Race didn’t want to be your friend, then so be it.

You didn’t think again about the conversation with Batman boy, or what you might have done wrong to get Race to hate you, until a few nights later, when you were sitting at home alone. You were trying to convince yourself to get up and get something done, maybe cook dinner or do your homework, for once, but, instead you were scrolling through your unexciting Instagram feed. You idly double tapped on a few photos, exhaled out of your nose in lieu of laughter at some stupid memes, and then you reached a picture that Albert had posted, from the weekend’s party. It was him and a couple of other boys grinning at the camera and you were about to scroll past, when you saw a familiar costume. It was yellow and black, with the tell-tale Batman logo on the front, but, this time, the wearer had the hood off. Shit. Shitshitshit. There, in the Batman costume was Anthony Higgins. You had accidentally complained about him to him. Sure, you and Race weren’t the best of friends, but you didn’t want him to think you were an asshole.

You fumbled to your contacts app and called Katherine. She’d know what to do, you were sure of it. After she had got done laughing at you, she offered you a solution: Talk to Race and apologise for what you had said. You knew, logically, that that was your only option, but you really wished that the world would end before you had to apologise to Race Higgins. You couldn’t stomach texting him and figured that you could just grab him after school the next day.

The day went by a little too fast, and, before you knew it, the bell had rung to signal the end of your last lesson. You resigned yourself to your fate and made you way to Race’s locker, which was just a few doors down from yours. He was alone, thankfully, and looked more than a little surprised to see you heading his way.

“Hey,” you tried to smile when you reached him, but you were sure it came across as more of a grimace.

“Hi,” he answered, barely looking at you as he moved books from his locker to his bag.

“Race,” you tried again, putting a hand on his forearm to stop his fairly violent rifling. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” He glanced down at where your hand touched his arm and sighed, turning to you, looking a little deflated.

“Fine. What’s up?”

You took a deep breath.

“Look, I didn’t know it was you that I was saying that shit to at Jack’s. And, I know it was shitty of me to be saying that to anyone, but I didn’t mean most of it. You’re on my nerves half the time, and making fun of me the other half, but that was mean. I’m sorry.”

He looked shocked, and a little pensive.

“It’s, um. It’s okay, Y/N. It just made me kind of sad that we aren’t friends anymore. I mean, we were good together.”

He met your eyes, and you were struck by how much you had missed the way they shined when he was being sincere.

“Yeah, uh, me too. We made a good team. I miss that.”

He looked like he was going to say something else, when Albert came up behind him and put two hands on his shoulders.

“Race and Y/N? Having a civil conversation? I’m entering the lottery on the way home, because today is a day for miracles.”

Race rolled his eyes at you and you laughed.

“Fuck off, DaSilva, you’re not even old enough to get a ticket,” he said jerking the boy’s hands off his shoulders.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “And you waste enough money buying coffee to flirt with Elmer at Jacobi’s.”

“Nice,” Race laughed high-fiving you, and Albert stuck his tongue out at you, before stalking off because he didn’t have a good comeback to dispute the truth.

There was a beat of silence, and before it started to get awkward, Race spoke again.

“Uh, if you’re serious about being friends again, we should hang out some time, maybe go to the arcade?”

You smiled at him, brightly.

“You sure that’s a good idea, Higgins? I’ll smoke you in ice hockey, like I always used to.”

“Uh, you wish. I’m the ice hockey king, baby.”

You punched him in the shoulder and made plans for that weekend. That had gone better than you had expected.

It wouldn’t have been true to say that you had changed your mind about Race right away. You had fun with him, from that first day at the arcade, onwards. It was still a little awkward and there was always a little tension in the room, but you worked through it. You were seniors, you could be mature, if you tried.

(Although maturity certainly seemed to be in short supply when you and Race giggled, together, at the matching sixty-nines that you got on your history pop quizzes, or when he whispered “that’s what she said” in your ear at almost every sentence that came out of Mr Bunsen’s mouth in bio.)

You didn’t hate him, not that you ever really had. You hated that, now, his stupid jokes made you laugh, because you were included in them. You hated the warmth you felt in your chest when you said something that made him laugh, and you especially hated that crinkle at the corner of his eyes when he smiled at you, sincere and earnest.

You, realised, gradually, that you and Race had never been enemies – you just responded to what you thought was his hate in kind. It was easier to keep roasting one another, when neither one of you broke the cycle. That conversation at the party had been a turning point, for both of you.

Although, you still seemed unable to talk about the elephant in the room. You and Race never discussed how the animosity had begun between the two of you. Bringing it up would force you both to admit how stupid you had been, and neither of you were very skilled at admitting fault. It was easier to ignore it, to dance around it, than it was to deal with it. It was on your mind more often, now.

You wondered what had really happened, because something had to have happened, right? The more you thought about it, the more it made sense. People don’t just stop being friends and turn to enemies, like flicking a switch, especially not two fiercely loyal people, like you and Race. You didn’t mention it, though, for fear that you would slip back into old habits.

You liked Race, you realised, even if the two of you were incapable of having a conversation about emotions. You grinned at one another in private moments of understanding, warm with that feeling you get when you spend time with someone who has the exact same sense of humour as you. It was really good to be his friend again, until it wasn’t.

The argument had started by accident. Race was coming over on a Thursday, after school to work on a project for history. You were determined to get better than a sixty-nine for this one, even if that was the golden number. When Race had rung the doorbell, your mum had welcomed him in, pleasantly surprised to see him. You always had a feeling that she was sadder about your losing Race than you were. She was convinced that the two of you were soulmates, even when you were kids in the playground. She called it a mum’s intuition. You called it heteronormativity, but, anyway.

She chatted his ear off as she waited for you to come downstairs, talking about how much she had missed having a boy around, and how glad she was that the two of you had patched everything up. You caught the tail end of the conversation as you made your way down the stairs.

“What ever happened between you two, anyway?” your mum had asked, innocently enough.

Race laughed uncomfortably.

“Oh, I guess she just got too busy for me. I’m glad we’re friends again, now, though.”

Your mum agreed, and you fumed. Almost as soon as you had pulled your bedroom shut behind you, you gave him A Look. He was alarmed.

“What?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘what’? Do you seriously think it’s my fault that we stopped being friends?”

He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“Oh, about what I said to your mom? I mean, yeah, it kind of was. You stopped inviting me over or replying to my texts, so I just figured you were busy,” he sounded unsure of himself.

“You stopped talking to me, Race. Was I supposed to be super nice to you when you always acted like you’d rather be anywhere else when I was in the same room as you?”

He scoffed.

“Are you being for real? We were fine, we were doing great, and then you started hanging out with Katherine or Davey instead of me, which is fine, but it was so not my fault.”

“You pretty much begged for space that day when you asked me about the stupid rumours about us dating, or whatever!”

He ran a hand through his hair.

“I cannot believe we’re talking about this. We were twelve, we were stupid!”

“And, now, you’re deflecting,” you replied. “We were best friends, Race. I just wanna know what happened between us.”

He sighed and flopped on your bed like a petulant child. His blue eyes were stormy, and they looked familiarly intense.

“Fine, it was kind of my fault, I guess.”

You kept yourself from fist pumping.

“It’s just, I felt so stupid!” he continued.

“What do you mean?” you asked, gently, this time, sitting at his feet on the bed.

“So, that day? When I asked you about the stupid middle school rumours?”

You nodded, motioning for him to go on.

“I had the biggest crush on you, and I figured that that was your way of letting me down easy. I was like your brother, right? It sucked. And, whenever we hung out, after that, I just felt so frustrated. I was mad at me, for being stupid and catching feelings and making everything weird between us, but I guess it was easier to just lash out at you. It was dumb, but I don’t think I like anything in the world as much as I like you, you were the first person that I ever felt any anything for. It sucked.”

He scrunched his eyes shut and looked ready to disappear.

“Wait,” you said, still processing his words. “’Like’, as in, present tense?”

He sat up straight.

“I – what?”

“You said like, like present tense like, like currently like.”

He cleared his throat and his eyes scanned the room, as he searched the walls for something.

“Uh, slip of the tongue, whatever. You said like way too many times just then.”

You waved your hand. Semantics.

“Do you, um, like me, as in like-like me, present tense like me, Race?”

He sputtered for a moment, and then swallowed drily.

“I guess, it’s stupid. It kind of never went away, if you can believe it.”

You could believe it. It wasn’t hard to believe, since you could relate. He was waiting, nervously, for you to say something, but your words didn’t seem to be working. Instead of speaking, you moved across the bed, so that you were sitting next to him, both of your heads leaning against the wall.

“I, um,” you took a deep breath. “Uh, same.”

His head snapped to yours and he searched your eyes for humour. He sighed, shakily, and then let out a soft laugh.

“’Same?’ I practically confess my love to you and all you’ve got is ‘same’?”

His eyes twinkled with mirth.

“Well, what else do you want me to say?” you protested. “That I don’t hate you? That I never wanted to hate you? I just figured that you didn’t want to be my friend, anymore.”

“God. We are idiots.”

“Yep,” you agreed.

You sat in silence for a moment, letting the realisation of what you had just admitted wash over you. Race suddenly turned to you.

“So, what happens now?”

You shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. You weren’t sure what you were nervous about now, but the tumble of feelings in your stomach insisted that looking at Race’s eyes would ruin you, so you stared at the white wall in front you.

“Because,” he said, putting a hand on your knee like he was bracing himself. “I kinda wanna make out with you, like, romantically?”

A laugh bubbled out of you and you turned to him, finally. You had been wrong, before, about the consequences of meeting his eyes. They weren’t storm-blue anymore. They were blue like the sky on a sunny a day. They were blue like the ocean, when you’ve spent months away from the sea. They were a sight to behold.

You turned your whole body to face him and gently slipped a hand to the back of his neck, playing with the blonde curls there. You leaned into him, and just before your lips met his, you muttered a word, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Same.”

You leaned in and kissed him, with years’ worth of hidden feelings, and he smiled against your lips. You pulled away after a bit and looked at his eyes. His pupils were blown wide, but they were as blue as ever. You wondered how you had ever pretended to dislike eyes as beautiful as his.

 TAGLIST: @bencookisagod @broadwayandbookblog @theygivesyawhateveryouwant @crazymecjc

Three of a Kind - Part 1

Word count: 2,539

Players: Tyler Seguin, Andre Burakovsky, Jamie Benn, the rest of the Stars (mentioned)

Other people: Katie

Warnings: Cussing, mean comments on social media

Authors Note: YUP HERE I AM starting a new fucking series like a crazy person lmao xD This one is going to be a lot different from my other one. We shall see how this goes lol I hope you all enjoy it!!!

PS Sorry the first part is so short but there should be a follow up soon ANDDDD I promise you part 18 is on the way! I PROMISE It is almost done I just have a few more scenes to write and then that will be up too <3

Also thank you to @psychospeak-blog​ for helping me with the title, and encouraging me to write this story. I was unsure how people would react to where this is going to go but she helped me get over that and just write whatever I want. Love you bby! Thanks for all the support <3 (Also GO READ HER SERIES WONT GO SLOWLY ITS SO DAMN GOOD)

Part 2

November 15th 2018

(Brooke’s POV)

"Well, you are gonna be happy," Tyler said as he walked into the living room, handing me his phone.

"Wait what?" I asked looking up at him and he just nodded at his phone.

I looked down and read a twitter post that said "Washington Capitals trade Andre Burakovsky to Dallas Stars for Remi Elie."

"Whoa what?!"

"Your little Swedish boyfriend will be in town," Tyler said, grabbing his phone. I could tell he wasn't actually mad he was just trying to give me a hard time.

Tyler had known that from the start of me watching hockey that he, himself, had always been my favorite. We had met when I moved to Dallas to be roommates with my best friend. I ended up working at a local coffee shop that he went to a lot, and our relationship had gone from there. I was moved into his house in 5 months of us being together and we had been that way ever since, a year later. He knew that Dallas was my team, I went to every home game, and of course supported my baby. However I did have other teams I liked as well as other players. He had made jokes about it at first, fake being mad, but he made sure that I knew he didn't actually mind.

Burky happened to be one of them. I had a jersey of his, which Tyler had given me a lot of shit for when I first got it. I was so shocked to see that Washington had traded him at all, he had been doing so great this past season, and they had just won the cup! What I was even more surprised about was that Dallas had gotten him.

Tyler sat down on the couch next to me and wrapped his arm around me, kissing my temple. I cuddled into the side of him and smiled, closing my eyes. I was glad that Tyler wasn't the type of boyfriend to actually be bothered by little things like that. If this had been my last relationship it would of caused so many fights.

"You know I'm just messing with you right?" He whispered in my ear and I smiled, nodding.

"Of course I do," I turned to look up at him and leaned forward to give him a kiss.

It had been about 2 months since Andre had gotten into town and started playing with the boys. I had talked to him at a few events that Tyler would bring me along to, and he was very sweet. It was a long weekend with no games and Tyler decided that he wanted to have a BBQ with everyone since the weather was going to be nice, even being in the middle of January. People had slowly started showing up as the day went on, Jamie and Katie were the first to arrive, Katie being sweet and wanting to help me finish getting everything ready while Tyler and Jamie started to cook on the grill.

I had just finished making the last side dish and put it into the fridge until everything else was ready to go when Andre walked into the house. I gave him a quick hug, welcoming him to his first Stars BBQ and showed him the way to the backyard. The dogs were running around with some of the guys who were playing keep away with a frisbee, Tyler and Jamie were hanging out by the grill and some of the WAGs were sitting out around the pool.

I went back inside where Katie was still in the kitchen, making herself a drink. She smiled at me as I walked back in and laughed softly.

"What?" I asked looking at her as I leaned against the island counter.

"Nothing.." she said, still smiling. "Alright alright," she said, already knowing I wasn't going to let her not tell me. "Don't you dare tell Jamie I said this. You know I love him to the moon and back but Andre.."

"Yeah I know," I laughed. "I mean I have the most handsome boyfriend in the entire world, but that boy.." I sighed. "Anyways," I laughed and stood up, grabbing the drinks and helped Katie to carry them outside.

(Tyler's POV)

The night had gone great, everyone was having a blast, and the food was amazing as usual. Brooke was hanging out with Katie and some of the other girls playing corn hole.

"You're really lucky man," Andre said to me as I sat back down in my chair at the fire pit.

"Whys that?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

"Brooke is really great. She listens and actually cares how you feel. Never found anything like that back in D.C."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah I got lucky with that one," I said looking over to where she was standing.

(Brooke's POV) 2 months later

It was the first home game for the boys since they had been on their two week road trip. They had just won, Tyler getting the winning goal. I had headed downstairs towards the locker room with Katie to meet our boys after they finished with media and such. We were standing against the wall when I saw Tyler walk out of the locker room and smiled at me.

"So.." he started.

I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowing. "So what?" I asked, knowing he had something going on in that brain of his.

"Um.. How do you feel about a roommate?"

"No more dogs Tyler," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "I love the boys but Gerry is still a puppy and acts crazy-"

"No not another dog," he laughed.

"Oh.. Um who?"

"Well.." Tyler paused and looked over his shoulder. I could see Andre lurking in the background, looking down at his feet, holding his duffel bag. I uncrossed my arms from in front of me and looked back up to Ty.

"Andre?"

He nodded. "He doesn't have anywhere to stay right now. The apartment that he got to start out with is uh.. well its not really a safe livable environment. So I offered him to stay with us until he finds a place. We have the guest room downstairs so I figured it would-"

"Tyler," I laughed. "Its your house babe."

"Its your house too."

"I know, you keep telling me that," I smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss. "Yes of course he can stay with us," I said after pulling away.

Tyler looked back over his shoulder and motioned for Andre to come over. "The boss lady said its okay," Tyler said, laughing when I smacked his arm.

"I'm not the boss lady," I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Thank you Brooke, I appreciate this a lot," Andre said, shyly.

"Of course!" I smiled and we all made our way outside to head home.

The end of the season was fast approaching and I could tell that the boys were a little stressed out. They had yet to clinch a spot in the playoffs but there was still a chance for sure. They had just gotten back home from a few away games last night, having tonight off. Tyler had decided he wanted to head to the gym this morning, waking me up with a kiss goodbye.

I rolled over in bed and grabbed my phone off of my bedside table to see if I had any notifications. I unlocked my phone and opened Instagram, seeing that I had a few on there. As soon as I opened the app I smiled, seeing that Tyler had posted a picture of me when I was sleeping. I didn't look too bad, and the caption he had put was super cute. However I should of stopped there and not continued to scroll down because seeing the comments that were posted was too much this early in the morning.

I had been used to people being mean to me on social media since I started dating Tyler, and for the most part I could handle it and just ignored them. I knew that Tyler loved me and how he felt about me so I didn't feel the need to prove myself to any of these hockey fans, however there were some moments when certain comments affected me more than other.

Today was, sadly, one of those days. It had already been a hard enough month with dealing with my grandfather going through dementia and being in and out of the hospital because he had become aggressive with my grandmother on a few occasions. Being so far away I felt helpless, not that there was anything I could really do in the first place anyways. My emotions had kind of been all over the place because of that, and reading comments on a picture of me like "I can't believe you are still with that cow" or "Is Tyler blind or what? I don't get how she ended up with someone like him." and my favorite, from the same girl who always posted some bull shit about me "He only likes her for her tits. its so obvious. There is no way that they will last. I have a better chance at being with him than she ever did, he just didn't meet me yet."

I sighed and shut my phone off and got out of bed. I pulled on one of Tyler's shirts and a pair of PJ shorts. All three dogs lifted their heads off the bed as they watched me walk across the room, jumping off the bed to follow me out of the room and down the stairs. There was no way I was going to go back to sleep after that so might as well make some breakfast. However I was no longer hungry so maybe I should just have an apple or something..

I grabbed a water out of the fridge and an apple off the counter and walked into the living room, sitting down and turning the TV on. I was trying really hard to focus on whatever it was that was on the TV but I couldn't. I was still thinking about those comments and I had a bad feeling that wouldn't change for a while. I looked over, seeing my reflection in the glass door that lead out to the backyard and closed my eyes. Great now I was seeing what the dumb asses on the internet did.

I had gained a little weight over the last 6 months. Tyler said he didn't believe me at all that I looked the same as I had the whole time we had been together, and that was how he liked me. I loved that was how he was with me, it always made me feel better, but I still always had that little voice in the back of my head that fought with every good thing that was said to me.

I curled up on the couch, resting my head on the pillow. I didn't even realize that I was crying until Andre had come in with a plate of food for himself and sat on the other couch next to me. He looked over, doing a double take when he noticed I was crying.

"Brooke?" He asked softly. "Are you okay?"

Andre was very sweet, I loved having him as a roommate. He and I had bonded over a few things, and became really great friends in the time that we had spent together. However when I had my weaker moments he was always there to listen to me and give me a hug which always helped. Tyler of course did those things as well but it was different from Andre. I knew that Andre had dealt with being hard on himself as well, and while I know Tyler did from time to time too it was just.. different somehow. I felt like Andre kind of understood more than Ty did.

I nodded and wiped my cheeks. "Yeah Andre I'm okay," I said softly and turned my attention back to the TV.

Andre set his plate down on the coffee table and shook his head. "No you aren't. Whats the matter?"

I sighed and sat up. "I just.. Tyler posted a picture of me this morning on his Instagram and.."

"People were mean."

I looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah how did you know?"

"I saw them," he said softly and stood up, walking over to sit next to me. "I'm sorry people are like that. It's not true though," he said and wiped my cheek.

I looked down at my lap and nodded. "Thanks."

"No seriously Brooke. You are beautiful and sweet and kind. You deserve everything that you have, they are all just jealous."

"Jealous of what Andre?" I asked and looked up at him. "I'm not exactly model esque. I don't look like any of the other WAGs. They are all very sweet girls though, so they don't see it like everyone else does, but I do. I'm sick of feeling like I don't fit in. I'm sick of feeling like no matter what I do no one will like me. And I'm sick of caring about any of that. As much as I try, or as many times as Tyler tells me to stop worrying about the fans I can't," I explained, more tears running down my face.

Andre sighed and grabbed my right hand with his left and rubbed circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "I understand-"

"No Andre I don't think you do! You are perfect. You are a good looking guy, you are fit, you play in the NHL, you won a Stanley cup. You-" my voice cut off, not able to continue as I cried harder. I know that all these emotions were not just from the comments on the picture today, but everything building up over the last few months.

Andre wrapped his arms around me, pressing my face against his chest and rubbing my back. "Please don't cry," he said softly.

After a few minutes I finally had calmed down enough and pulled back from his embrace. I sighed and wiped my cheeks off, not wanting to look at him. "I'm sorry. Its just with everything going on with my grandpa lately and then toda-" I started to apologize but my words got cut off, Andre's lips meeting mine.

I tensed, not sure what to do because I was in shock, my brain still not caught up to what was going on just yet. I had thought about kissing him before, way before Tyler and I were ever together, but I never thought that it would happen. Granted I didn’t think I would also be dating Tyler ever in my life, let alone at the same time that Andre decided to kiss me. What the fuck?! He pulled away before I even got the chance to, his eyes wide.

"Oh my god," he mumbled. "I-I'm so.. I'm so sorry Brooke," He said and stood up. "I.. fuck," he swore under his breath and walked out of the living room.

How To Not Be Sensitive? | Why am I so sensitive & How to stop being?

Sensitivity!

It is a blessing because it reinforces that you have a heart!

Sensitivity is vital for emotional intelligence.

But it can become a huge pain and completely distort your being if it exceeds a line.

It is good to be sensitive about others but when it comes to yourself then not so much.

You are reading this blogpost which means you are already threatened by this problem & wondering how to not be sensitive.   

Do you know that what most people will do to get rid of sensitivity? (And this will backfire by the way)

People will avoid social situations, shut others out of life, develop a cold exterior, and pretend to be someone else.

Yes, implementing these strategies might help you in the short run.

Of course, how will you feel sensitive when you will practically shut the others out!

But as far as the lifetime personal development is concerned then these strategies will cause more harm than good. This is not a way to treat how to not be sensitive.

One will sink into deep depression. So never attempt to get away sensitivity with the aforementioned steps.

What to do then for how to not be sensitive?

Don’t worry the points below have got you covered with how to stop being sensitive.

 Also Here Are Some Related Massively-Transformative Resources You Will Ever Need.

10 secret tricks you need to master for self confidence

15 Insanely Powerful Low Self Confidence Tips 

9 ways to increase self pride & fix Distorted Self Image

When any incident makes you feel an overly sensitive then you need to untangle the knots swirling within you.

Yes, you have to get why you feel the way you did and what made you so affected.

  PS : Don’t forget to grab the freebie at the end of post, specially crafted for you  !

 #1. Figure out what makes you sensitive

You should identify the cause as without that you will not reach to a concrete solution.

Sensitivity can get triggered upon the mention of certain incidents, or upon being called out at something etc.

You might take the comments passed by others more seriously than you should.

 #2. How to not be sensitive: Limit overthinking

 One of the reason of being sensitive is overthinking.

Do you obsess over at the slightest actions/words of the people You need to learn how to control your thoughts.

Yes, you cannot just let them wander where ever they feel like.

Overthinking will devoid you of any possible productivity thus the best bet is to become mindful of the thoughts.

You might question that how to do just that. *****This blog post has got you covered. *****Remember your thoughts can become your biggest enemy.

And most importantly they have a pivotal role in law of attraction.

So you need to limit your thoughts.

 #3. How to not be sensitive: Think before you react

 Over-sensitivity also means that you are reacting before thinking wisely.

Whenever any such triggering situation arises, do not jump on the defensive mode rather take a step back.

Do not over blow the situation rather learn all possible dimensions.

You will act in a sensitive way mainly because you will turn judgmental.

Next time when any such situation strikes just write 80 possible reasons for thinking in a negative way . . .

Yes, till the time you will jot down 80 reasons you are most likely to become less sensitive about the whole situation.

For instance if your friend was not able to return the call then this does not mean that has forgotten your importance.

SHOW SOME LOVE & PIN THIS FOR LATER ! 

  #4.  Stop being sensitive by knowing It’s not all about you

 When you are being oversensitive you are most likely to believe that every one behaves intentionally to hurt you.

Life is busy my friend.

Everyone is just busy in thinking about their own struggles.

Yes, everyone.

So most of the time people are not thinking about you at all.

You are the main character in your life and they are the main character in their life so remember the distinction.

 #5. How to not be sensitive : Be patient

 Getting rid of sensitivity will take time because it is process.

I wish there could have been any medicine that could instantly help.

But let’s not get demotivated because if you will work on your mindset then you can overcome sensitivity insanely quickly.

 #6. Become Mindful

 Do you think that mindfulness is a big term?

Well, it is actually not.

Mindfulness is nothing but a lifestyle where you are intentionally living with a clearer and calmer mind.

Mindfulness is about making most of the moment.

Interestingly there is not a single way of achieving it and that is why many stay confused.

See what works best for you from:

Mindful meditation

Mindfulness app

Mindfulness journaling

#7. Train Your Brain

 To overcome sensitivity you need to understand brain pattern.

Do not worry i am not digging into scientific jargons!

I am just trying to tell that our brain is like a computer.

It has pre-stored programs.

It works on the basis of connections.

If you are sensitive then your behavior is fed in it due to repetition and it will keep repeating the behaviors or that “over-sensitivity program” unless you told it to do otherwise.

When some one will pass any comment, your brain will process it and output something like “you are supposed to feel threatened and hurt right now”

So what is the drill?

You need to teach your brain new ways of responding.

And here comes the play of thoughts.

You will have to train your thought.

Is it that easy?

Yes. Try for yourself.

 #8. Jump your Perspective

 This technique is really powerful. It is an effective answer for how to not be sensitive.

It is called perspective jumping. We have established above that we tend to think “me against the world”.

You get sensitive because you think that everyone just hates you and there is some sort of scheme going playing on.

How to practically get rid of this perspective? Yes, thought jumping.

Don’t worry you do not have to hop around . . . rather just make your perspective hop.

Sorry that was lame.

Any way you need to think from the lens of an completely different individual.

Now recall the incident that triggered your sensitivity.

This time, narrow the lens and view it as “what would alien think of the whole situation.”

Detach yourself from the situation and see everything as an onlooker.

What would a random onlooker suggest?

 #9. Become easy on yourself

 If you get hurt very easily then now is the time to show self acceptance.

We humans tend to value others more than ourselves.

So now think of others. When you find yourself judging then do not get hard on yourself.

Instead imagine you were talking with a good friend . . . how would you speak to one and treat one?

Offer yourself the same help in such sensitive triggered situations.

 #10. Overcome sensitivity by Daily Journaling

 There are several types of journaling and I am clearly not hinting towards writing your daily routine in here.

Maintain a self discovery journal. ***** Get these prompts here and let your feelings flow.****

These prompts will help you unload what is in there.

Release your thoughts. Wherever you feel that you will explode with sensitivity then go for the journaling.

Those 5 minutes which you will invest in journaling have the potential to completely flip how you feel.

 #11. Proper Self Care for stop being sensitive

 Do you know one interesting fact?

If you are emotionally sensitive then there are 90 percent chances that you are physically sensitive as well.

You simply do not take care of yourself.

Poor sleep.

Poor diet all are your enemies. You need to start taking care of your self religiously.

What will it do?

It will make you fall in love with yourself again.

Yes, i am using the word again because you have forgotten.

Check this insane value self care bundle.

It is extremely powerful for boosting your self esteem, self love and self worth.

Trust me work on your self image for getting rid of this sensitivity.

Become the self confident women who will conquer any battle with strength. . . this time without getting hurt, angry or sad. 

  Before you go Know This Secret:

If you ask me what is the key for not being sensitive then i will say:

It is the way you look at yourself. . . 

It is the way you look at other things. 

Value yourself. Boost yourself confidence so that no one else could ever shake that. 

Take care of your sensitivity by flipping your mindset around.

Love yourself . . . if you have forgotten then fall in love with yourself again. 

Tell me what do you think in the comments below. 

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Messy (Lauren Jauregui/Kendall Jenner)

Timelines are a mess, but whenever that is, this is 4 months after Tyren’s breakup

PS. This chapter is gonna be a bit OOC, esp to Kendall, but hey. This is RPF so everyone will at least be 10% OOC.

==========================================================

If you ask Lauren ‘when it really started’ then she’d probably answer this, because we all know how dramatic and sentimental she is.

She was up really early for a show they are doing, and she’s been up late last night(or this morning??) with Dinah, but #professionalism so here she is. Though the cranky mood the green-eyed girl has wouldn’t go unnoticed, she tried her best to show off a polite smile to everyone and greet them. Ally, God bless her, gives her a cup of coffee and reminds her that she loves her but that she has to pretend that she is having the best time of her life even though she’d rather go have another hour of sleep. She begrudgingly thinks of Dinah probably still sleeping. Of course, she’ll always be the second for glam, while her party-buddy picked fourth.

She notices her phone lights up for another incoming notification. She would have ignored it, but it has been the sixth time it lit up in 2 seconds. She suddenly felt a slight tinge in her heart, wondering if something happened while she was asleep.

‘What is it now?’

Clearly someone would have said something, right?

Regardless, she took her phone and read the message.

It’s from her best friend, Alexa.

A sigh of relief, uncontrollably left her lips.

‘YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!!’’

‘LAUREN!!!’

‘I JUST GOT BOOKED TO WALK FOR TOMMY HILFIGER!!!’

‘I WANTED TO TELL YOU FIRST BECAUSE I KNOW YOU’RE MY NUMBER ONE (and ONLY) FAN’

‘YOU BETTER BE MY PLUS ONE TO THISSS!!!’

‘I CAN’T BREATHE LIKE OMG I CANT BELIEVE THIS WOULD HAPPEN LIKE HLPPP??’

Her eyes widen, and had to re-read it for the fifth time to make sure she’s not dreaming. She immediately dials her friend’s phone, in response.

She frowns when she keeps redirecting to her friend’s voicemail. She just got a message from her two seconds ago. What even?

With shaky hands, she quickly types, ‘Well, answer my call, so you can hear me gush about youuu!!!’

She got a reply soon too, which confuses her more.

‘Talk later. I’m about to go to class!’

She laughs lightly, she’s about to respond when she sees her friend typing.

It reads, ‘I know what you’re thinking. But I DID NOT shed blood and tears until 3 hours ago, studying for this pain in the ass exam I have at 7am in the morning, only to fail it.’

Instead of another remark, she settles in with, ‘Well go make me proud mama. Kick ass in your exams!! Xx’

“Weren’t you up until 2am? What got you smiling?” Normani asks as she takes Lauren’s place in front of the mirror.

“Ally’s coffee” Lauren said as she offers the cup to Normani, which the girl quickly declines, “Ew no. That’s too sweet for my taste.”

===========================================================

A few proud post here and there on how proud she is to her BFASFLAH, then flash forward … True to Alexa’s words, she invited Lauren to the afterparty of the show. Alexa, has been one of the models for Gigi’s Collection, has been booked to walk in their Fall collection.

So there Lauren is gushing to everyone she knew at the event on how amazing and beautiful Alexa was, just like the proud mom she is.

“Hun, I love you. But one more drink and you’re gonna start embarrassing us both.” Alexa takes away the drink from Lauren’s hand. “Mostly you.”

“I’ve only had two drinks!!” Lauren insists, but Alexa just gave her a pointed look. It is true that Lauren did more talking thank drinking, but she knows an excited!Lauren is pretty much like a puppy wagging its tail endlessly begging for attention.

She can be cute, but better be sure than sorry.

Not a moment later, a man tapped into Lauren’s shoulder. It’s one of Zayn’s team, who told her to take a picture with Zayn.

She asks Alexa to come with her, but Alexa said she needed to go to the bathroom. After a quick nod, Lauren follows the guy on a suit to Zayn’s location. It’s not like she’s buddy-buddies with Zayn, but they were once in the same label, so it really wouldn’t hurt to have some nice photos out there, right?

Zayn recognized her and offers a smile. They posed for a picture together, then quickly conversed in a small talk until Gigi’s group of models came in.

Lauren suddenly felt out of place, being surrounded with skinny attractive people.

“Hey there, stranger! What’s up?” She’s surprised to be addressed by one of them.

She wasn’t sure it was directed at her, but after a moment of silence, she decided not to embarrass herself more, and say. “Uhmmm. Hi? Nothing much really…?”

…and obviously failing miserably.

Zayn, comes to her aid, and Lauren takes note how she owes him big time. “Kenny, this is Lauren…”

“Of Fifth Harmony, I know. We met a couple of times.” Kendall smiles at her, even offering her a drink. When Lauren didn’t take it, she adds, “…we even talked at that concert one time. And I’m pretty sure we exchanged some ‘hellos’ at like, every Harper’s Bazaar!”

At this, Lauren decides to take the friendly gesture Kendall is sending her way, “Yes, yes! Sorry, I didn’t think you would remember me.”

“You’re kinda hard to forget.”

At that, Lauren finally grabs the drink Kendall had laid out for her, and drink it one go. Yup. This definitely is a dream.

“So who are you with?”

Lauren found herself connecting to Louis the most even before, but right now, she really is considering extending her social list to another One Direction member, (even ex-member at that).

“I’m friends with one of the models…” Which reminded her, holy shit, where the fuck is Alexa?

============================================================

She hasn’t had the chance to look at her phone until the afternoon the next day. She and Alexa had spent the night together, went out on a late-brunch, reminiscing how much they both enjoyed the event, with Lauren continuously telling Alexa how excited she is for her, now that she has opportunities at her door step.

She rarely had time to spent with her long-time friend so she decides to make the best out of it. Filling their day casually strolling at the New York streets, which they managed without getting mobbed by fans – pro at disappearing when she wants to!! They went back to her hotel so Alexa can get ready for her flight back to Miami.

At that time, Lauren finally takes her phone and see the aftermath of the event.

She had only managed to post one photo in her Instagram of her and Alexa, so she went there first. (She knew very well, if anything else, Twitter can be such a mess)

Smiling proudly at how the comments are mostly filled with positive ones, she casually scrolls through her feed to like some pictures.

She checks her tag, inevitably, and see some of the photos that night. Most were candid pictures of her on the event with Alexa, and some of her solo shots by the paparazzi’s, and there were some of the pictures she took with the celebrities at the afterparty.

So far, no embarrassing pictures yet, or anything worth-harassing her in Twitter. She quickly checks her Snapchat to see what the other girls are up to. Once satisfied, she notices that Alexa is still humming in the shower, so she decides to open her Twitter app to spare time.

She rolls her eyes at the battalion of shipper comments in her mentions, again.

Gigi was literally at the corner of the photo of her and Zayn, and people are still shipping her and Zayn. Things people do for aesthetics.

She scrolls past it, and wonders where do people got the ‘hot potato’, that keeps popping up here and there.

She reads some tweets and came across the one that shed the light (but not really)

It’s the picture of her and Kendall, that apparently, Kendall posted in her story.

‘w the hottest potato in town @laurenjauregui’

…

What?

=========================================================

Surprisingly, they were having decent conversation. Lauren had introduced Alexa to everybody, whom some of them already knew, and turned out, it was Lauren who was needed of the introduction. Even though Lauren wasn’t comfortable with the crowd she has never been with, she decided to stay so Alexa can socialize to her new circle.

Few comments were, ‘it’s finally great to put a face on the name’

With some few pictures here and there, Lauren learned how, a ‘squad’ like this really enjoys showing people off when they’re together, and she thinks at how this will affect her. She lowkey expects some ‘social climber’ thrown at her face by some haters, but what can the girl do?

They were laughing at something until Kendall puts out her phone and says, ‘Hey, we’ve always seen each other around at events. Let’s take a picture together.’

Lauren shakes her head and says, ‘oh no. I’d love to, trust me I do. But I literally look like a potato.’ Her own insecurity now resurfacing.

Kendall lets out a laugh, “Are you kidding me? You’re killing it in that dress, and your eyes just blows me away every time! If you’re a potato then you’re be the hottest potato in town!”

…

Right.

So that happened.

She blinks a couple of times as she stares out the ceiling.

‘So you sort of gained a new friend, no big deal, right?’

Only that, Kendall is probably one of the most followed celebrity in Instagram, and part of this crazy family-filled with drama on a daily basis. Yeah sure, no big deal.

She chastised herself for being pessimistic on this newfound friendship (sort of) just because of Kendall’s reputation. She vaguely remembers the 5-minute conversation they had before she and Alexa parted from the group.

She shakes her head and tries to reel back into reality. She checks back in to Instagram and taps on Kendall’s story.

And there she is, in one of Kendall’s story.

With Kendall finally following her back.

“Hey, what’s up?” Lauren finally looks up to see her friend fresh from the shower, drying her hair. “You look a little pale?”

“Honestly? I don’t know anymore.”

Time Management

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Analytical Skills

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Something Awesome

Throughout the course, I believe that I have managed my time effectively. Firstly, I have been completing this course concurrently with my thesis (in information systems) and a level 4/5 (both honours and masters level course).

Furthermore, many expected and unexpected events have provided roadblocks to my time management that I believe that I have successfully overcome:

I had a huge roadblock that lasted many weeks with my laptop having a corrupt OS and harddrive (this took multiple technicians to fix) [reference 1] [reference 2].

Adding to the time management conundrum that this unexpected issue created, I actually opted to complete TWO something awesome projects (rather than one). Despite these issues, since week 4 I have basically been on schedule or above schedule in my something awesome project:

Week 4 - Project 1 is 1.5 weeks ahead of schedule. Project 2 changed

Week 5 - Project 1 is 1 week ahead of schedule. Project 2 is on schedule for a CR-DN.

Week 6 - Project 1 is 1 week ahead of schedule (HD Achieved). Project 2 has achieved a High PS - CR.

Week 7 - Project 1 HD achieved and the project was further improved. Project 2 DN-HD achieved.

Furthermore, the deadline for the “something awesome” project was not finalised until MUCH later in the term. As such, when planning and getting the approval of this project I assumed that this would be due at the END of week 8 (see the proposed timeline of my something awesome project). This turned out to be due at the start of week 8 (effectively reducing the time available for me to complete these tasks by one week). Even with these roadblocks, I managed to achieve DN-HD grades for BOTH of my projects (NOTE: sorry for the bad numbering of the ordered list... Tumblr didn't want to change this dot point to 3).

Throughout all of this work relating to my Something Awesome project, I realised that a lot of my security knowledge and technical abilities were being improved, however, I know that having analysis skills are also paramount in a security engineer role. As such, I also never missed a tutorial/”analysis session” and almost always took some time out to reflect on my learnings (even with the heavy something awesome workload and roadblocks experienced):

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Lastly, even with the painful 6hr gap between lectures, I managed to only miss 2 lectures since the start of the term! I did not create blog posts on the lectures and a lot of my files were lost when my laptop became corrupted, but here is a screenshot of some Word documents/iPhone notes app I took notes in and the dates (the iPhone dates aren’t correct as I had “to-study” lists on them that I constantly changed).

Catfished

Lin x Reader

Uh, hi. It’s been about...4 weeks? Since I posted an actual fic of my own? I just finished my first year of college and it has been a stressful set of weeks, but it’s summer now so I’m going to try to be more active. Ps. I suck at titles. 

Thanks to @angeilca-s for being great and helping me through the writers block that has plagued me, being my second set of eyes, and just kind of being the absolute best.

Warnings: None, other than the fact that I can’t write without including swearing and some very slightly implied smut but it’s all joking.

You were pissed. Practically fuming in annoyance and you speed walked your way from your apartment to your best friend’s. A walk that would normally take about 20 minutes was cut down to about 10 as and before you knew it you were walking right through his front door, not bothering to knock because you never needed to.

“I’m done. I’m fucking done with guys. My life is over” You exclaimed, walking in and flopping down on the couch. Lin walked in the room, laughing lightly at your dramatic entrance, two beers already in his hands.  

“Hello to you too,” He handed you one before sitting down next to you, “Wanna tell me what happened?”

“You know that guy? Greg? Yeah, we went on our date, if you can even call it that-”

“Greg. Is that the one from Tinder? Or Match? Famers Only?”

“Oh shut up! Tinder. I only use Tinder,” He only raised his eyebrows in response, making you role your eyes. “Can I vent? I came here to vent.”

“You’re right, I’ll shut up.” He gave you his usual smirk and took a sip of his beer.

“Greg seemed like a decent contender, he didn’t seem like he was just like all the other gross, horny guys on Tinder. He took me to dinner and then we get to my place and he tries to have sex! Why can’t I just meet a nice guy who isn’t thinking with his dick? I’m getting too old for this crap.” You sighed, taking another drink of the beer. The irony of the situation was not lost on you. The fact that the only reason you were even attempting these dumb dates was because you loved your best friend, not that you would ever tell him that.

“You know you could always meet someone,” he paused, widening his eyes, “In real life!”

“If I haven’t met someone in the real world yet, there’s no hope for me. Plus it’s not the 90′s anymore, Lin. People date digitally.”

“Nope, they find their hookups digitally.”

“Oh whatever. You’re not being helpful at all, some friend best friend you are.” He laughed at that.

“I’m sorry, what did you want me to say? You’ll get ‘em next time, tiger! Don’t throw in the towel! You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Rolling your eyes for what felt like the hundredth time in the short amount of time you’d been there you threw a pillow at him before standing up from the couch.

“Well, I walked all the way here for some moral support but I can see there will be none of that here so, I’ll be leaving. You wanna stop being a little turd, call me.” You took another sip of your beer before setting it on his kitchen counter.

“Bye, dear.” You laughed before opening the door, stopping to call out, “See ya later, hun.” before leaving and heading back to your own apartment to sulk over the shitty excuse of a date alone.

It was late, and you probably should go to sleep, you knew that but yet you were mindlessly swiping on Tinder. Just when you were ready to put your phone down and give up for the night, you were notified of a match. Michael, who you swiped right on because he had a nice face was now trying to talk to you.

“Hey, you’re up late.”

You almost laughed. If that was supposed to be a pick up line, it was the worst you’ve ever recieved.

“I could say the same to you.”

“Touche.”

Maybe it was your awful luck with Tinder or still feeling annoyed from your failed date of the night, but you were in no mood for small talk.

“Look, if you’re just looking for someone to fuck, you’ve come to the wrong person because I’m not doing that. Kindly keep swiping.”

There was no response on the other end for a few minutes. You laughed to yourself, knowing you were right at it was just someone looking for a quick hookup, until there was a ring from your phone and a notification from Michael popped up,

“Well then I’m glad we’re on the same page. I’m Michael, nice to meet you.”

It has been a few weeks since you first matched with Michael and it was great. He was everything you were looking for. A sense of humor, kind, smart you just needed to meet him. Today was that day. You were finally meeting someone that might be able to get your mind off of Lin and he was the only person you wanted around to help you get ready. You were rifling through the pile of clothes you had already looked at when Lin came walking in.

“No knock?” You laughed.

“Do we ever knock when we come to each other’s houses?” He sat on your bed in the small area of space not covered with clothes.

“Well true but, what if I had been naked? I’d have to charge you for the peep show.” You laughed but he didn’t, he was playing with his thumbs.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You okay?” He looked up and gave a semi-convincing grin, nodding.

“I’ll buy that for now, but only because I’m stressing to the max. Hand me my phone? I may need to tell Michael I’m going to be late, none of my clothes are working for me.”

“Where exactly is it?” You looked up and around at the mess of clothes, sighing.

“Alright, call my phone then.” You stood up and got ready to look, catching a glimpse of his phone screen and while doing so, noticing a familiar app on is home screen.

“Woah, woah! Is that Tinder? Do you have a Tinder?” You tried to ignore the small knot that formed in your stomach at the thought of it, but told yourself that wasn’t fair because you were doing the same thing.

“Uh. No, i-it’s not,” He locked his phone, putting it away, “Oh look, here’s your phone.”

“Thanks but I’m looking at yours. Let me see, Lin.”

“No!” You rolled your eyes at him.

“Don’t be a child, I just wanna see who you’re talking to, gotta know if I’m gonna have a new best friend.” While you gave your small speech you managed to grab his phone, running to your bathroom and locking the door.

“Y/N come on! Give me the phone back and I’ll just tell you who I’m talking to!”

“I’d rather just see it myself.” You turned the phone on, seeing a picture of you and him as his lock screen, making your heart flutter a little until you remembered you were about to see the girls he was talking to.

“You don’t even know my password.” You rolled your eyes, typing in ‘2-4-6-0-1′.

“Oh really, Jean Valjean?” He muttered a ‘fuck’ outside the door. You mentally prepared yourself to see with your own eyes the fact that you were truly always going to be in the friend zone with Lin as you tapped the Tinder app. When it opened you went to his messages but felt your stomach drop when you only saw your own picture in the list. You opened the door to find him sitting on your bed, not making eye contact, once again playing with his thumbs.

“What is this?” You asked,

“I can explain-”

“Explain what? You-you! Oh my God!” The realization that you had in fact been talking to Lin the whole time hit you hard, you didn’t know if you were confused, angry, sad or all of the above in that moment.

“I didn’t do this to be malicious, Y/N, I swear I just-”

“What? What other reason would you have other than to mess with me!” You could do nothing but look at him in complete shock.

“I can’t believe this is my life right now.”

“I just, I knew how upset you were! Y-you were’t talking to anyone that wanted an actual relationship and I just-”

“You lied! Michael and I were- we were about to go on a date! How were you going to pull that off? Oh my God, Lin I can’t believe you.”

“I don’t know! Okay? I’m sorry! I just, hear me out-”

“Lin are you serious right now though? Why are you not understanding how messed up this is?” You couldn’t believe he was trying to defend himself.

“I know I messed, up I went about it the wrong way, and I’m sorry! I-I just, really like you! Okay? A lot.”

“Oh yeah, you sure do. Some friend of mine! You made me think I was talking to some other guy but it was really just you.” As soon as the harsh words left your mouth, you regretted them. You realized, too late what Lin was implying and judging from the look of hurt on his face told you that you had messed up. “Lin, I didn’t mean it like that, I didn’t-”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just me, I’ll just leave, to stop you from having to deal with me again.” You stopped trying when the door was slammed in your face. Only to slam it open yourself and follow him down to the hallway, not caring if you were being loud to your neighbors.

“No. Stop you’re not going to just leave like that!” You grabbed his arm, spinning him around, “I didn’t mean to be that harsh, but you’re the one in the wrong here still.” He opened his mouth to say something but you stopped him.

“If you liked me, why didn’t you just tell me?” You were too mad to acknowledge how hypocritical that was.

“Because I know you deserve someone great. I know I’m just a friend to you and you would never want anything more” He wasn’t making eye contact with you, he was staring at his feet. You didn’t realize you were crying until you saw the tears fall. You quickly wiped under your eyes. You didn’t know what to do, part of you was furious and a little embarrassed over what just happened but the other was jumping for joy over the fact that he shared your feelings.

“You should have told me.” You mumbled.

“Well, I couldn’t because you’re too good for me. I mean, look at the Michael guy, you went for me, all handsome and stuff and not me.” You just stared at him, completely confused as to why he thought of himself like that.

“Can you please say something? Because I’m freaking out over here an-” You cut him off with the first thing that came to your mind and you kissed him, stopping his worrying. The kiss, though it was short lived was something you had been waiting for and you pulled away with a smile.

“I wish you had just been honest with me. It would have stopped a lot of trouble you know,” You laughed a bit, as did Lin now that he was out of the dog house.

“Does that kiss mean I just rambled for no reason?”

“Yeah,” You leaned in, him meeting you half way for another kiss.

“You know, Tinder is kind of for hookups if you want to...” He winked, but you laughed, “Alright or not.”

“How about we go on that date I was promised and we’ll see where it goes.” He nodded quickly. You both went back to your apartment so you could continue getting ready, which was easy because it was Lin and you knew things with him were going to be easy from now on.

“Oh hey, Y/N?” You walked out of the bathroom, completely ready, “Do me a favor? Delete Tinder, you don’t need it anymore.”

“I could say the same for you. Let’s go you goof.”

regarding requests...

To those who sent in requests since last September of 2016(?) and still haven't gotten answered, I'm terribly sorry for still having not fulfilled those requests. At the time, I thought I could do it, I could fulfill these requests but I eventually began putting them on the shelf and saying that I would do them later when "I have time." This cycle kept going and now I have quite a few requests sitting in my inbox right now. 

My personality/nature is more of doing whatever I feel at the moment. So when the feeling strikes me, I'll make wallpapers, headers, icons, etc. on my own accord. I still feel guilty for letting those requests sit in my inbox :/ but I hope for y'all to understand that I'm just like this. However, I will try my best to fulfill these requests later on this year.

In addition to this, mentally I haven't been in the greatest state, I've got my low days and I've in this state for an indefinite period of time for quite some time now. No I'm not clinically diagnosed with any types of mental illness and I will not use it as an excuse. It's just wrong to do so. I just want you to understand that I'm 16 years old and am now a junior in high school. School is very important to me but it's also a great source of my stress. I'm not exactly happy right now. I just want you to understand that. Creating wallpapers are a side hobby of mine, it's not something I take seriously. JUST FOR FUN. I’d like to keep making content but have it not feel like work. 

To those who don't understand the process of creating content, you basically need a good database or good organization system going. Right now it's a huge mess since I have two camera rolls worth of BTS pics, I switched to my new phone in March and still haven't gotten around to going through my 5S camera roll. There are literally thousands of pics to sift through too so... imagine the headache ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 So lately, I've been trying to organize them on here, Tumblr. I've made individual blogs for each member and will be planning on making blogs for the ships but I will have carefully plan out how 21 ships will be organized into 7 or less blogs. (My friend helped me with this thanks Ana!) 

 Lastly, if anyone is good with Tumblr and it's mechanisms, please message me bc this girl is lost and frustrated. For example, I've been trying figure out how to link my tags so that on mobile it would take you to the tag search page ON THE APP rather than taking you out the app and onto safari or whatever browser. It's extremely annoying when that keeps happening. If anyone knows how to make it so it stays on the app, PLZ MESSAGE ME MAN. (PS: I'm talking about my "my tags" post; which I said I'll be fixing some tags and I've yet to figure it out :)))))

Also one last thing aha, I’ve gained such a huge following, it’s been unbelievable to see the number rise each day. I’m extremely grateful and happy that y’all enjoy my own content and others’ works. 

THANK YOU (づ￣ ³￣)づ

                                                                                     -Donna♡

(1/3) I don't ever interact much on Tumblr, but I wanted - no, NEEDED - to express how much I adore your Saizo fics, and by extension your other SLBP drabbles. The epilogue to 'Stay' took my breath away. I am in awe at how perfectly you write Saizo, how easily you capture his voice. I squealed throughout every story because his affection and adoration for MC is so apparent yet subtle beneath your prose. 'Little One' is a personal fav for its tenderness, 'Stay' is a tour de force and...

AKoaDK, while hot, just amazes me for how loving the whole scenario is. Every fic you’ve written is just so on point with character, voice and detail that I wish you wrote for the app itself. If you don’t mind a question– do ideas for stories/drabbles come easily to you? And is the actual writing mostly a breeze or a struggle Regardless, please know that you’ve got a very eager fan who thinks you’re awesome and will read anything you write (especially if it’s Saizo 😍). Keep on doing what you do, girl. PS: for real THANK YOU for an amazing epilogue to ‘Stay’. My heart could not handle being broken into so many pieces with the original ending. Still loved it but everywhere hurt afterwards… 😭💖

Oh my goodness ;.; I REALLY HOPE you don’t mind me posting this instead of responding privately! If you’d rather me take it down, I will repost as a text with it anonymous.

I have read this like five times because it genuinely mademe tear up ;.; god I don’t have words. Thank you. I have so many feelings aboutSaizo in particular and about HIS feelings and I am so damn glad they are getting across because I wouldn’t have themif the original authors of the app weren’t so good at what they do and so if Ihave come in any way close to evoking the same thing I am thrilled. I AM ESPECIALLY happy to see you say that about AKoaDK becausethat’s how I feel too - I know it’s smut and I know it’s exciting and all thatbut it’s an expression of love and that’s so important. That’s the MOSTimportant. I’m a romantic sap y'all.That’s why I love SLBP so much. There’s so much depth and passion to play with,and it isn’t just the love story,it’s these rich and wonderful characters with rich and complex lives and their love in turn is rich and complex and layered with so much energy and so many moments and I justlove it, those moments, and I want to share my love of them and have MORE of them so I try and make them and knowing that I am doing so justsatisfies this craving in my heart  and is the most satisfying and wonderful thing to hear ;.; SO YES. MY GOD, THANK YOU. All my love

And for your question! They do and they don’t! Once I havean idea, the actual writing of it flies by. As often as not, it’s actually really hard to capture my thoughtsquickly enough, so I write out of order, because if I think of something I feel‘fits’ I have to quick scramble to write it down, and then I come back laterand figure out how everything connects. I tend to write ‘out’ from the center–90%of the time I have NO idea where I’m going with something. I have one, keycentral point, and I start there and it comes as I go and I hop chaotically aroundto whichever point pops into my head next. It seems to work for me? I call ‘emmy snowball moments. Like, with Waffle Cottage, it started as three-sentencething, and I posted it, and @mai-dreaming built on it, and the 'snowballmoment’ was imagining Shingen charming one of the princesses out of her dress,because that freed up the dress to go on the MC, and it exploded from there.And even then, to give an example, the Kenshin bits of the Waffle CottageChronicles were some of the last bits written, and Stay was written completely out of order, with bits addedback in on my first re-read when I noticed certain characters hadn’t appearedwho needed to, and I used them to reinforce ideas that were going to come laterthat I’d already written. I DID write it all at one time, in one long computer session, but just not in order. 99% of what I write is done in one fell swoop, MAYBE two because sometimes I have to go to work snrk. BUT it is also why I lean so heavily on @juniperotomewho is amazing and gives me legit and thorough feedback, recommendations and ideas and helps make my ramblings alittle more clear for an audience/reader who doesn’t have the benefit of beinginside my brain to know what I meant. She is an amazing editor and catches somany things and gives me so many key phrases and moments and helps me tone downand clarify things.  NOT AN EASY TASK. 

But, I have no discipline. If the inspiration isn’t there, I got nothing. I have twooutstanding fic requests from my giveaway months ago and trust me I sit overhere in SHAME because I want to write them, and I just need to sit down and doit, but I haven’t found my 'snowball moments’ to write out from yet. I keepevery prompt sent to me, because I am always hoping the snowball moment willhit, but I make zero progress untilit does and sometimes it takes awhile and sometimes it may not come. Whichreally means I just need to make some up and try them - the act of writinginspires more writing, which is what happens with some of my headcanon posts.If I start with the 'easy’ ones, the ones that are harder for me to write comea little more easily once I’m in writing mode.  I have this ridiculous sense of obligation toinclude everyone once I’ve started XD but some are much easier than others; Istruggle with Yasu, in part because he IS one of my favorites, but you have topick like which one of him you’re writing, boy goes through a couple variations@.@ and I also struggle with Kojuro because he’s just too organized and calm,you can’t just randomly plonk into ridiculous shenanigans like you can withYukimura and, as established, I am impulsiveso characters that require planning don’t come as easily. I deal best inridiculousness.

I re-edit everything becauseI typically don’t re-read my shorter stuff until like a week after it’s posted,and then I edit like fifty things. I’ve already edited the Stay epilogue threetimes and I only posted it yesterday XD I wish I could just get it spot on thefirst time but I’m too impatient, but every time I re-read something I’m like'that phrase is ugly let’s fix it’ or 'I’m gonna add ALL the sentences here’ (Iam a comma and parenthesis abuser, I sprinkle them everywhere for decoration -I write like I talk) and that’s where my impatience in the typing babble stream comes back to haunt me. 

I LOVE slice of life. I love the romance and everything too,but I love the idea of this world and these characters so I really enjoywriting all of the ridiculous little moments I imagine happen in their day-to-daylives. I think it makes them more real! Which is why I love things like AU Sasukebeing the first one up clamoring for pancakes and Shigezane cracking dad jokes whilehe and the MC hide in a in the enemy’s linen closet ('Man I really feel likewe’ve been hung out to dry, huh MC?Huh, huh?’) and Ieyasu on babysitting duty once Nobu procreates having conversations with this putrid,squalling creature who has just eaten his strawberries. I’m big on happyendings, too. I am glad my one foray into angst has been well received and I amtruly proud of that, but I invariably have to find some way to sneak some hopeinto all things XD

That is a hella long answer.I like to talk about myself SORRY!

And thank you so much! I was sitting here thinking 'wow, mynext post will be my 200th on this blog what should it be’ and I was going togo with a like a very off-topic gif of a kid hugging a chicken and then I gotthis BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL ask and I sat here kind of weepy and sniffly for abit, so thank you thank you thank you.

Hiya 😁 I really want to be more productive and start doing better in school, taking better notes, studying better, etc. but honestly I'm the most unmotivated person ever and I don't want studying/school to take up my whole life. However, I'm in high school next year which means I really have to try hard. ☹️ What things can I do to be more productive and be better at school? Is there steps I can do to build up to getting into a normal routine rather than changing it all right now? Thanks 🤔

Hello! (Sometimes I get carried away and talk too much — most times? — anyways, there is this thing about motivation and my personal view on it and below it there is a bulleted list with actual tips. I wrote it all for a reason, so I’d recommend for you to read it all? Oops!)

Structure of it all (under the cut): Introduction // Part I - Components of the Routine // Part II - Productivity // Part III - The Routine Itself // Part IV - Whatever Else That Needs To Be Said 

PS: It ended up much longer than what I expected? Hope it’s not a problem…

PSS: If anyone knows the sources to any of those things that I mention I saw somewhere on tumblr, please let me know to put it here, thank you!

I didn’t mean to star this harsh on anything but it might be taken — mistakenly — such as… Hm, I’ve seen this quote around my dashboard sometime in the past few days and I couldn’t deny that it had a lot of reason within it — I don’t have exact source right now, but it goes something like: motivation gets you nowhere, discipline does (also don’t know who to credit for, sorry). 

Yes, motivation makes everything easier in some ways, but it’s definitely not everything. With motivation and no discipline you’ll barely accomplish anything. On the other hand, if what you lack is motivation then you can accomplish great deals with discipline. 

 Like I said, this isn’t supposed to be a harsh message — its purpose was to give some hope. You don’t need to be the most motivated person ever to accomplish your goals, you need to have them set clearly (even if they change every few days) and a lot of discipline. Motivation would help? Yes, of course it would. But, don’t worry about it, when you’ve broken the starting inertia, have your goals defined and start seeing progress and getting closer to them, this is the kind of feeling I like to call motivation. 

 For me, motivation doesn’t come first. Motivation is build up on objectives and goals, it is shaped by the path that takes you to your final destination, it keeps growing bigger and stronger the closer you get, the cleaner you see the next steps you need to take, the more possible and close to your reality it all seems. Being motivated is a process — that is acquired during a much longer process, one that requires discipline — through the path that takes you to your goals.

PART I — The Parts of The Routine

 Ok, I suck at giving titles but this is basically about what will be a part of your routine (let’s leave how to arrange this for later). Just to show that it doesn’t have to have only school related stuff and that a normal routine can be pretty productive.

Good news: studying/school doesn’t have to take up your whole life, neither it should. First off, overdosing yourself with mental work (studying, for example) will kill an expressive amount of your productivity and in a long term (combined with not varying your activities) it might cause you a burnout (what will kill of most of your productivity). So…

Allow yourself some “me-time” — in this context I mean time spent doing absolutely nothing, thinking about life, thinking about nothing, not actually doing anything — in a regular basis, but don’t let it rule. What do I mean by that? Well, physics tells us that breaking inertia is equally hard one way or another — starting movement or quitting it — but, this is only true in vacuum, with no friction. Seems to me that working and trying to be productive is the activity with the most friction ever, seriously. Ok, let’s quit talking about physics — I don’t even know why I started, tbh. What I mean is: starting to work and to be productive is extremely hard, on the other hand, letting it all go to hell is so easy. Allow yourself “me-time” but limit it, otherwise it will easily take over and start the no-productivity world domination — the little voice of “it’s better to let it go and not do anything for a while, just a little bit more, you don’t need to get back right now, you have plenty time to do what you have to do later, let’s just do nothing a little longer, just give up already” can be pretty convincing. Trust me. Respect yourself and your timing but don’t abuse, don’t make excuses — or at least, don’t listen to the excuses you make.

Hobbies. Save some time on the week for your hobbies, go to classes or courses about it, practice on your own, I don’t know… Just spend some time doing something you love. The difference between doing some activity you love from outside school and doing nothing? Even if it has absolutely nothing to do with academics, by practicing a hobby you will be productive, you’ll be developing skills, getting to know yourself better, enjoying your time and not being idle (not lazy, idle).

Free time. Another important thing to keep space for in your week is some free time, doing some activity — so it’s not “me-time” — that doesn’t really develop a skill — depending on your hobbies they might, but usually they don’t. Save some time to read, watch netflix, watch a movie, television, surf on the internet, check social media, do something random you choose to do.

Spend time with people/Go out. Go out with your friends, go to parties, go to the movies, the theater, go shopping (but please be reasonable with your spendings), bring people home… Idk, there are many possibilities. Being social seems to boost extroverts’ energy, if you are introvert do what you feel up to (it can be just a few people — or one—, in quiet places). You can also not spend time with people — sort of — just go have a walk on your own, animals can be great company as well, do some people watching somewhere, once again, there are many possibilities.

Study. Seems to me like this is actually your goal, the objective of this ask. Yes, it plays an important role in our society and, since you’ll be starting high school soon, it gets you into a college (if that’s what you want, we’ll get to that later). Yes, since it’s the whole purpose of this, you have to save some time to study… I don’t think I have to explain why.  

Part II — ProductivityHow to make your work be effective? Simply tips to be more productive, as well as time management — this is important, trust me.  

The Pomodoro Technic: there are many apps to help you with that, just search for “pomodoro” and you’ll be filled up with lots of options, just choose one. The basics of this is working for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break, after a few cycles (usually four) you take a longer break — around 15 minutes.

The 60/20 Technic: Basically the same thing as the above, but the cycles are made of one hour of work and twenty minutes breaks between them. I’ve never really seen any apps for this but you can still count on your own, everything is not lost.

There is also this one that says that you should work during 90 minutes sessions with a 20 minute break cycles, it’s said to be based on the ultradian rhythm — it seems like it the body rhythm through the day.

Discipline. Yeah, we got back there… Whatever routine you choose to follow, keep up with it — that doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind later on. Don’t give up. Doing things randomly is dangerous — not that it never works — it gives you not consistency and doesn’t make any habits. Habits are powerful, it takes around 21 days to form them and 66 to become automatic — take it into account while making your routine and struggling to start it, in a few days it’ll be just the natural thing to do. Thank you google. 

Find out what type of learner you are. There are visual learners, kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, among other categories. Each type gets along better with different kinds of study techniques, use the ones recommended for you type(s) instead of insisting in what is conventional but might not be fit to the way your brain processes it all. Here are some links to tests and technics.

Cut distractions. At least while you’re working, try to keep your phone and internet away, they are truly a temptation and totally mess up with your productivity. Set up a study space that helps you concentrate.

Set priorities. There are really nice tables of priorities — the time square or something — around Tumblr, here is a good post that talks about it as week as many other useful things.

The five minute rule (is that how it’s called?). Once again, I saw it somewhere in Tumblr, no credit for me, but I don’t know where it comes from to put a source here. Basically, you should do all the tasks that will take you 5 minutes, at most. Knowing that each of them will not take that long to finish, you’ll be more willing to start and probably accomplish a lot.

At school itself: if you have the possibility of choosing your subjects, choose the ones that you care/are passionate about. What if there is nothing? Pick something close to your interests, or something that is the path to something that you actually like. It’s easier to get motivated if you’re studying about what you’re interested in.

Part III — The Routine Itself

Balance it all, the way it feels better for you. I’ll leave it up for you to do, since you said that you want a “normal routine”, but I’m going to give some suggestions about the studying time.

Do a bit everyday. It seems like most of this part will be explained on this topic. Anyways, revise your materials the same day (rewrite your notes, read the textbook if you haven’t already, do some exercises, watch video classes, sum everything up). Do your homework the day you get it, as much as you can, this way you won’t have a bunch of stuff to do the day before.

Revise. Revise. Revise. It will take you least time every time you do it, first revision might take you half an hour, the second maybe half of the time, the next? possibly five minutes. Let’s say you get home and rewrite your notes the same day, the next day you define the important topics, the next you sum everything up, the other you make a flash card and from there on you just have to read a tiny piece of paper. This way you’ll fix the content in your mind and won’t have to kill yourself studying the days before the exam.

Visit the material before the class, if possible. It’ll save you some work afterwards, trust me. Even if you just run through it, not giving all you can, you at least know in what ground you’ll be during class. Reading the titles and defining the topics covered is already something, it helps.

Practice. Do exercises to test your knowledge, this way you’ll know where to focus instead of trying to study everything at once for the exam. Besides, practice makes perfect, right?

How much time to save each day? That’s up to you, balance all the activities in a way that doesn’t get you overwhelmed, make it comfortable. You can also have different approaches for different classes, so you don’t have to save the same amount of time for every subject. A good shoot for me, personally, would be two hours of diary study and a bit more on the weekends around 3 or 4 hours, but this is just what worked best for me, just an option.

Part IV - Whatever Else Needs to Be Said

Those are just suggestions and they are pretty general, I’d recommend you to adapt it to your own needs, wants and reality. Also, somethings might seem pretty simple at a first glance but turn out hard when you actually get to do it, take your time.

Don’t give up, it takes time. You can make a gradual change in your routine if it looks like too much, or even just take part of it, something is more than nothing. Also, you don’t have to wait until next year to start adapting yourself to the new lifestyle you want to have.

Remember, I know our society puts a lot of importance in academics, it might seem like an academic career is the only path to follow but remember that it isn’t the right choice for everyone — even if the pressure from everyone around you tells you the opposite. This is just me talking, before making any decision consider your environment and your family — sometimes it can be pretty hard, I know.

If you fall out of track, just know that it’s never too late to do what’s right for you, ok?

Find study buddies to help you keep in track and be the motivation you might lack sometimes.

Everyone is its own individual, there are certain ways of doing stuff that are so normalized that seem like it’s the only option available. When the patterns doesn’t fit to our beings, our function, when it’s not the best option for us individually, it feels like we can’t fit and it sorta kills out our motivation. This is just a friendly reminder that there are a bunch of ways to do the same thing and none are the right choice as well as none is the wrong one, do what’s best for you.

I hope it helped, if you need anything else just let me know and I’ll do what I can to help. Anything at all. 

My product launch wishlist for Instagram, Twitter, Uber and more

‘Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the house, not a feature was stirring from the designer’s mouse . . . Not Twitter! Not Uber, Not Apple or Pinterest! On Facebook! On Snapchat! On Lyft or on Insta! . . . From the sidelines I ask you to flex your code’s might. Happy Xmas to all if you make these apps right.

Instagram

See More Like This – A button on feed posts that when tapped inserts a burst of similar posts before the timeline continues. Want to see more fashion, sunsets, selfies, food porn, pets, or Boomerangs? Instagram’s machine vision technology and metadata would gather them from people you follow and give you a dose. You shouldn’t have to work through search, hashtags, or the Explore page, nor permanently change your feed by following new accounts. Pinterest briefly had this feature (and should bring it back) but it’d work better on Insta.

Web DMs – Instagram’s messaging feature has become the defacto place for sharing memes and trash talk about people’s photos, but it’s stuck on mobile. For all the college kids and entry-level office workers out there, this would make being stuck on laptops all day much more fun. Plus, youth culture truthsayer Taylor Lorenz wants Instagram web DMs too.

Upload Quality Indicator – Try to post a Story video or Boomerang from a crummy internet connection and they turn out a blurry mess. Instagram should warn us if our signal strength is low compared to what we usually have (since some places it’s always mediocre) and either recommend we wait for Wi-Fi, or post a low-res copy that’s replaced by the high-res version when possible.

Oh, and if new VP of product Vishal Shah is listening, I’d also like Bitmoji-style avatars and a better way to discover accounts that shows a selection of their recent posts plus their bio, instead of just one post and no context in Explore which is better for discovering content.

Every feed app should steal Pinterest’s ‘more like this’ button

Twitter

DM Search – Ummm, this is pretty straightforward. It’s absurd that you can’t even search DMs by person, let alone keyword. Twitter knows messaging is a big thing on mobile right? And DMs are one of the most powerful ways to get in contact with mid-level public figures and journalists. PS: My DMs are open if you’ve got a news tip — @JoshConstine.

Unfollow Suggestions – Social networks are obsessed with getting us to follow more people, but do a terrible job of helping us clean up our feeds. With Twitter bringing back the option to see a chronological feed, we need unfollow suggestions more than ever. It should analyze who I follow but never click, fave, reply to, retweet, or even slow down to read and ask if I want to nix them. I asked for this 5 years ago and the problem has only gotten worse. Since people feel like their feeds are already overflowing, they’re stingy with following new people. That’s partly why you see accounts get only a handful of new followers when their tweets go viral and are seen by millions. I recently had a tweet with 1.7 million impressions and 18,000 Likes that drove just 11 follows. Yes I know that’s a self-own.

Analytics Benchmarks – If Twitter wants to improve conversation quality, it should teach us what works. Twitter offers analytics about each of your tweets, but not in context of your other posts. Did this drive more or fewer link clicks or follows than my typical tweet? That kind of info could guide users to create more compelling content.

Twitter Quitters And The Unfiltered Feed Problem

Facebook

(Obviously we could get into Facebook’s myriad problems here. A less sensationalized feed that doesn’t reward exaggerated claims would top my list. Hopefully its plan to downrank “borderline content” that almost violates its policies will help when it rolls out.)

Batched Notifications – Facebook sends way too many notifications. Some are downright useless and should be eliminated. “14 friends responded to events happening tomorrow”? “Someone’s fundraiser is half way to its goal?” Get that shit out of here. But there are other notifications I want to see but that aren’t urgent nor crucial to know about individually. Facebook should let us decide to batch notifications so we’d only get one of a certain type every 12 or 24 hours, or only when a certain number of similar ones are triggered. I’d love a digest of posts to my Groups or Events from the past day rather than every time someone opens their mouth.

I so don’t care

Notifications In The “Time Well Spent” Feature – Facebook tells you how many minutes you spent on it each day over the past week and on average, but my total time on Facebook matters less to me than how often it interrupts my life with push notifications. The “Your Time On Facebook” feature should show how many notifications of each type I’ve received, which ones I actually opened, and let me turn off or batch the ones I want fewer of.

Facebook is finally rolling out its ‘how long do I spend on Facebook’ dashboard

Oh, and for Will Cathcart, Facebook’s VP of apps, can I also get proper syncing so I don’t rewatch the same Stories on Instagram and Facebook, the ability to invite people to Events on mobile based on past invite lists of those I’ve hosted or attended, and the See More Like This feature I recommended for Instagram?

Uber/Lyft/Ridesharing

“Quiet Ride” Button – Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for small talk. Had a rough day, need to get work done, or want to just zone out? Ridesharing apps should offer a request for a quiet ride that if the driver accepts, you pay them an extra dollar (or get it free as a loyalty perk), and you get ferried to your destination without unnecessary conversation. I get that it’s a bit dehumanizing for the driver, but I’d bet some would happily take a little extra cash for their compliance.

“I Need More Time” Button – Sometimes you overestimate the ETA and suddenly your car is arriving before you’re ready to leave. Instead of cancelling and rebooking a few minutes later, frantically rushing so you don’t miss your window and get smacked with a no-show fee, or making the driver wait while they and the company aren’t getting paid, Uber, Lyft, and the rest should offer the “I Need More Time” button that simply rebooks you a car that’s a little further away.

Spotify/Music Streaming Apps

Scan My Collection – I wish I could just take photos of the album covers, spines, or even discs of my CD or record collection and have them instantly added to a playlist or folder. It’s kind of sad that after lifetimes of collecting physical music, most of it now sits on a shelf and we forget to play what we used to love. Music apps want more data on what we like, and it’s just sitting there gathering dust. There’s obviously some fun viral potential here too. Let me share what’s my most embarrassing CD. For me, it’s my dual copies of Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other” because I played the first one so much it got scratched.

Friends Weekly – Spotify ditched its in-app messaging, third-party app platform, and other ways to discover music so its playlists would decide what becomes a hit in order to exert leverage over the record labels to negotiate better deals. But music discovery is inherently social and the desktop little ticker of what friends are playing on doesn’t cut it. Spotify should let me choose to recommend my new favorite song or agree to let it share what I’ve recently played most, and put those into a Discover Weekly-style social playlist of what friends are listening to.

How Spotify is finally gaining leverage over record labels

Snapchat

Growth – I’m sorry, I had to.

Bulk Export Memories – But seriously, Snapchat is shrinking. That’s worrisome because some users’ photos and videos are trapped on its Memories cloud hosting feature that’s supposed to help free up space on your phone. But there’s no bulk export option, meaning it could take hours of saving shots one at a time to your camera roll if you needed to get off of Snapchat, if for example it was shutting down, or got acquired, or you’re just bored of it.

Add-On Cameras – Snapchat’s Spectacles are actually pretty neat for recording first-person or underwater shots in a circular format. But otherwise they don’t do much more, and in some ways do much less, than your phone’s camera and are a long way from being a Magic Leap competitor. That’s why if Snapchat really wants to become a “Camera Company”, it should build sleek add-on cameras that augment our phone’s hardware. Snap previously explored selling a 360-camera but never launched one. A little Giroptic iO-style 360 lens that attaches to your phone’s charging port could let you capture a new kind of content that really makes people feel like they’re there with you. An Aukey Aura-style zoom lens attachment that easily fits in your pocket unlike a DSLR could also be a hit

Snap explored selling a 360 camera

iOS

Switch Wi-Fi/Bluetooth From Control Center – I thought the whole point of Control Center was one touch access, but I can only turn on or off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s silly having to dig into the Settings menu to switch to a different Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth device, especially as we interact with more and more of them. Control Center should unfurl a menu of networks or devices you can choose from.

Shoot GIFs – Live Photos are a clumsy proprietary format. Instagram’s Boomerang nailed what we want out of live action GIFs and we should be able to shoot them straight from the iOS camera and export them as actual GIFs that can be used across the web. Give us some extra GIF settings and iPhones could have a new reason for teens to choose them over Androids.

Gradual Alarms – Anyone else have a heart attack whenever they hear their phone’s Alarm Clock ringtone? I know I do because I leave my alarms on so loud that I’ll never miss them, but end up being rudely shocked awake. A setting that gradually increases the volume of the iOS Alarm Clock every 15 seconds or minute so I can be gently arisen unless I refuse to get up.

Maybe some of these apply to Android, but I wouldn’t know because I’m a filthy casual iPhoner. Send me your Android suggestions, as well as what else you want to see added to your favorite apps.

[Image Credit: Hanson Inc]

from iraidajzsmmwtv http://bit.ly/2AcFp4w via IFTTT

‘Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the house, not a feature was stirring from the designer’s mouse . . . Not Twitter! Not Uber, Not Apple or Pinterest! On Facebook! On Snapchat! On Lyft or on Insta! . . . From the sidelines I ask you to flex your code’s might. Happy Xmas to all if you make these apps right.

Instagram

See More Like This – A button on feed posts that when tapped inserts a burst of similar posts before the timeline continues. Want to see more fashion, sunsets, selfies, food porn, pets, or Boomerangs? Instagram’s machine vision technology and metadata would gather them from people you follow and give you a dose. You shouldn’t have to work through search, hashtags, or the Explore page, nor permanently change your feed by following new accounts. Pinterest briefly had this feature (and should bring it back) but it’d work better on Insta.

Web DMs – Instagram’s messaging feature has become the defacto place for sharing memes and trash talk about people’s photos, but it’s stuck on mobile. For all the college kids and entry-level office workers out there, this would make being stuck on laptops all day much more fun. Plus, youth culture truthsayer Taylor Lorenz wants Instagram web DMs too.

Upload Quality Indicator – Try to post a Story video or Boomerang from a crummy internet connection and they turn out a blurry mess. Instagram should warn us if our signal strength is low compared to what we usually have (since some places it’s always mediocre) and either recommend we wait for Wi-Fi, or post a low-res copy that’s replaced by the high-res version when possible.

Oh, and if new VP of product Vishal Shah is listening, I’d also like Bitmoji-style avatars and a better way to discover accounts that shows a selection of their recent posts plus their bio, instead of just one post and no context in Explore which is better for discovering content.

Every feed app should steal Pinterest’s ‘more like this’ button

Twitter

DM Search – Ummm, this is pretty straightforward. It’s absurd that you can’t even search DMs by person, let alone keyword. Twitter knows messaging is a big thing on mobile right? And DMs are one of the most powerful ways to get in contact with mid-level public figures and journalists. PS: My DMs are open if you’ve got a news tip — @JoshConstine.

Unfollow Suggestions – Social networks are obsessed with getting us to follow more people, but do a terrible job of helping us clean up our feeds. With Twitter bringing back the option to see a chronological feed, we need unfollow suggestions more than ever. It should analyze who I follow but never click, fave, reply to, retweet, or even slow down to read and ask if I want to nix them. I asked for this 5 years ago and the problem has only gotten worse. Since people feel like their feeds are already overflowing, they’re stingy with following new people. That’s partly why you see accounts get only a handful of new followers when their tweets go viral and are seen by millions. I recently had a tweet with 1.7 million impressions and 18,000 Likes that drove just 11 follows. Yes I know that’s a self-own.

Analytics Benchmarks – If Twitter wants to improve conversation quality, it should teach us what works. Twitter offers analytics about each of your tweets, but not in context of your other posts. Did this drive more or fewer link clicks or follows than my typical tweet? That kind of info could guide users to create more compelling content.

Twitter Quitters And The Unfiltered Feed Problem

Facebook

(Obviously we could get into Facebook’s myriad problems here. A less sensationalized feed that doesn’t reward exaggerated claims would top my list. Hopefully its plan to downrank “borderline content” that almost violates its policies will help when it rolls out.)

Batched Notifications – Facebook sends way too many notifications. Some are downright useless and should be eliminated. “14 friends responded to events happening tomorrow”? “Someone’s fundraiser is half way to its goal?” Get that shit out of here. But there are other notifications I want to see but that aren’t urgent nor crucial to know about individually. Facebook should let us decide to batch notifications so we’d only get one of a certain type every 12 or 24 hours, or only when a certain number of similar ones are triggered. I’d love a digest of posts to my Groups or Events from the past day rather than every time someone opens their mouth.

I so don’t care

Notifications In The “Time Well Spent” Feature – Facebook tells you how many minutes you spent on it each day over the past week and on average, but my total time on Facebook matters less to me than how often it interrupts my life with push notifications. The “Your Time On Facebook” feature should show how many notifications of each type I’ve received, which ones I actually opened, and let me turn off or batch the ones I want fewer of.

Facebook is finally rolling out its ‘how long do I spend on Facebook’ dashboard

Oh, and for Will Cathcart, Facebook’s VP of apps, can I also get proper syncing so I don’t rewatch the same Stories on Instagram and Facebook, the ability to invite people to Events on mobile based on past invite lists of those I’ve hosted or attended, and the See More Like This feature I recommended for Instagram?

Uber/Lyft/Ridesharing

“Quiet Ride” Button – Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for small talk. Had a rough day, need to get work done, or want to just zone out? Ridesharing apps should offer a request for a quiet ride that if the driver accepts, you pay them an extra dollar (or get it free as a loyalty perk), and you get ferried to your destination without unnecessary conversation. I get that it’s a bit dehumanizing for the driver, but I’d bet some would happily take a little extra cash for their compliance.

“I Need More Time” Button – Sometimes you overestimate the ETA and suddenly your car is arriving before you’re ready to leave. Instead of cancelling and rebooking a few minutes later, frantically rushing so you don’t miss your window and get smacked with a no-show fee, or making the driver wait while they and the company aren’t getting paid, Uber, Lyft, and the rest should offer the “I Need More Time” button that simply rebooks you a car that’s a little further away.

Spotify/Music Streaming Apps

Scan My Collection – I wish I could just take photos of the album covers, spines, or even discs of my CD or record collection and have them instantly added to a playlist or folder. It’s kind of sad that after lifetimes of collecting physical music, most of it now sits on a shelf and we forget to play what we used to love. Music apps want more data on what we like, and it’s just sitting there gathering dust. There’s obviously some fun viral potential here too. Let me share what’s my most embarrassing CD. For me, it’s my dual copies of Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other” because I played the first one so much it got scratched.

Friends Weekly – Spotify ditched its in-app messaging, third-party app platform, and other ways to discover music so its playlists would decide what becomes a hit in order to exert leverage over the record labels to negotiate better deals. But music discovery is inherently social and the desktop little ticker of what friends are playing on doesn’t cut it. Spotify should let me choose to recommend my new favorite song or agree to let it share what I’ve recently played most, and put those into a Discover Weekly-style social playlist of what friends are listening to.

How Spotify is finally gaining leverage over record labels

Snapchat

Growth – I’m sorry, I had to.

Bulk Export Memories – But seriously, Snapchat is shrinking. That’s worrisome because some users’ photos and videos are trapped on its Memories cloud hosting feature that’s supposed to help free up space on your phone. But there’s no bulk export option, meaning it could take hours of saving shots one at a time to your camera roll if you needed to get off of Snapchat, if for example it was shutting down, or got acquired, or you’re just bored of it.

Add-On Cameras – Snapchat’s Spectacles are actually pretty neat for recording first-person or underwater shots in a circular format. But otherwise they don’t do much more, and in some ways do much less, than your phone’s camera and are a long way from being a Magic Leap competitor. That’s why if Snapchat really wants to become a “Camera Company”, it should build sleek add-on cameras that augment our phone’s hardware. Snap previously explored selling a 360-camera but never launched one. A little Giroptic iO-style 360 lens that attaches to your phone’s charging port could let you capture a new kind of content that really makes people feel like they’re there with you. An Aukey Aura-style zoom lens attachment that easily fits in your pocket unlike a DSLR could also be a hit

Snap explored selling a 360 camera

iOS

Switch Wi-Fi/Bluetooth From Control Center – I thought the whole point of Control Center was one touch access, but I can only turn on or off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s silly having to dig into the Settings menu to switch to a different Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth device, especially as we interact with more and more of them. Control Center should unfurl a menu of networks or devices you can choose from.

Shoot GIFs – Live Photos are a clumsy proprietary format. Instagram’s Boomerang nailed what we want out of live action GIFs and we should be able to shoot them straight from the iOS camera and export them as actual GIFs that can be used across the web. Give us some extra GIF settings and iPhones could have a new reason for teens to choose them over Androids.

Gradual Alarms – Anyone else have a heart attack whenever they hear their phone’s Alarm Clock ringtone? I know I do because I leave my alarms on so loud that I’ll never miss them, but end up being rudely shocked awake. A setting that gradually increases the volume of the iOS Alarm Clock every 15 seconds or minute so I can be gently arisen unless I refuse to get up.

Maybe some of these apply to Android, but I wouldn’t know because I’m a filthy casual iPhoner. Send me your Android suggestions, as well as what else you want to see added to your favorite apps.

[Image Credit: Hanson Inc]

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