#and a lot of these new residents are queer as well so we’re getting more queer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eleanorbloom · 3 years

Text

First Date (Aurora Emery x MC)

Disclaimer: The characters of this story, except Rosalía, belong to Pixelberry.

Book: Open Heart Pairing: Aurora Emery x f! MC (Rosalía Muñoz)

Warnings: Fluff, discussions of coming out, maybe some slight homophobia Rated: T

Word Count: 2.9k

Prompts: Day 7 of CFWC Female Characters Week, "Women In Love". Also, Day 14 of @choicesmonthlychallenge "Moonlight".

Summary: Aurora and Rosalía go on their first date after both confessed their feelings.

Author’s Note: This story follows the events of my first fanfic Until I Met You. This is not intended to be a series, but probably all my Aurora's fics will revolve around this premise story. Maaaaybe one day I'll do some rewrites, maybe not. Either way, I hope you enjoy this!

PS: I didn't proof read this, so forgive me the mess, probably I'll fix it later.

Taglist: @romereadingshop @starrystarrytrouble @penda-bear @queenelianar @openheartfanfics @choicesficwriterscreations @julia-highstorms

______

It was dark when Rosalía got out of bed, and beautifully quiet. Just a murmur of some cars passing by a few blocks from there, and no major movements in the apartment.

She had woken up early to leave for the hospital with Aurora, just as she used to do before starting to avoid her.

Rosalía couldn’t help but smile as she remembered the night before. Aurora confessing her feelings, reciprocating hers. Their first kiss and all the kisses that followed after. All the sweet words, the words of reaffirmation, the promises, the doubts.

Even the unknown didn’t seem so scary now that their affections were mutual.

The lights in the kitchen were on when she approached with her bag on her shoulder, ready to leave for the hospital. Aurora was there, at the counter with two travel mugs in front of her, putting a teabag in the purple one before carefully pouring boiling water on it.

Rosalía smiled, relishing in the beautiful view she had in front of her. How lucky she was for being able to do this freely now.

When Aurora noticed her staring from the corner of her eye, she glanced up and blushed instantly, “Oh, hey.”

"Good morning," Rosalía said, leaving her bag in a stool before approaching Aurora.

"Morning Rosie, I have your coffee ready," Aurora replied and pointed to the white floral mug next to the purple one.

"Thank you. Glad to be back on this routine,” she whispered, looking intently at her.

Aurora gave her a shy smile before putting the kettle back on the stove, “Yeah, me too.”

As Rosalía sensed slight nervousness in her words, she walked toward her and took her hand in hers, "Having second thoughts?"

“No. Why do you ask?”

“You seem… Nervous.”

The taller woman released a shaky breath before responding, “Well, I am, a bit."

“Why?”

"Because I…"Aurora bit her lower lip, pondering her words. This was never easy for her, but somehow it was a lot simpler with Rosalía. To open up. "Because I like you so much and I don't wanna screw it up."

“How could you screw it up? We're just starting.”

She shook her head, "It's just… I'm not used to this. It's not personal, with James it took me some time to… get accustomed to the idea of dating someone after not doing it for years. And with you is completely different because I've wanted you for so long and I have actual feelings for you so… This really feels something new to me, besides the whole 'I've never been with a girl before', it's… Scary not knowing what to do."

Rosalía gave her a sweet smile before caressing her cheek with her thumb, "Oh, gorgeous, you're not going to screw it up just because you don't know what to do or you're new to this. I bet most couples don't have a fucking idea what to do when they start, and then just figure it out with time. And in this case, we have each other to sort it out, alright?"

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay you feel that way, and if then you feel like I am or we are going too fast, you just have to say it, okay? You can be completely honest with me."

With a warm smile on her face, Aurora nodded and then leaned down to Rosalía and pressed her lips softly on hers, "Thank you."

Rosalia didn't take long to wrap her arms around Aurora's waist, deepening the kiss, lips caressing more eagerly.

Both sighed after a few seconds.

"We should get going,” Aurora breathed an inch away from Rosalía.

"Should we keep making out in your car?"

Aurora chuckled, “Not a bad idea.”

“Maybe in the elevator too, and the lockers…”

“Mmm, greedy much?”

“Can you blame me?”

Aurora stared at her deep in the eyes and bit her lip as she tucked a strand of hair behind Rosie’s ear “No. Would be very hypocritical of me.”

Rosalia chuckled and kissed her again, “Let's go, then."

Both residents took their mugs and bags and left the apartment still in complete silence.

As Rosalía anticipated, they kissed in the elevator, in the car, and every other red streetlight they stopped before they made it to Edenbrook. And then when she parked, they leaned to kiss again.

They were completely drunk with the new blossoming love.

“So, what are we gonna do?” Rosalía asked, parting after another breathtaking kiss, “We'll wait some time to tell the others?”

Aurora stared thoughtfully at her before answering, "Personally, "I'd like to wait for a while, maybe a couple of weeks? This is all too new to me, to you, and until yesterday I was dating someone else, so… We should talk about us first. If that's okay with you, of course. If-if you think I'm being too forward or going so fast, just tell me."

”I’d love to talk about us.” Rosalía said, “What is it?” she added as she saw Aurora fidgeting her hands and then bit her lips, nervous.

"Maybe we could go… on a date? Or not a date, just… going somewhere quiet to talk, just the two of us."

“That’s definitely a date, Emery,” she chuckled, amused with her strange denial.

Aurora smiled, "Okay, yes, a date, but… not a fancy thing, not with the paraphernalia of dressing and going to a fancy dinner, maybe going somewhere after work, if that's okay to you?"

“Yeah, I like that. We can do fancy anytime, right?”

The next two days were so challenging and stressful that none of them managed to end their shift before 10 pm, and by that time they were completely wiped out to even think about going somewhere else but their beds.

"Where are we going? Or is it a surprise?” Rosalía cheerily asked leaning against the wall in the emergency staircase, when both confirmed they could clock out on time that evening.

"No, it's not a surprise," Aurora assured, smiling at her excitement, "I was thinking about this place, Club Café that is… queer-friendly."

“Oooh, interesting.”

“I thought maybe both will feel a lot more comfortable in a space like that, free of prying eyes and more… Like… Like us, maybe it will help us to get… Used to this.”

“Oh God, Aurora Emery stuttering? You look adorable, you know that? All doe-eyed.”

“This isn’t easy for me, so don’t mock me, Rosie!” Aurora reprimanded, cheeks profusely blushed.

“This isn’t easy for me either, why do you think I’m laughing like an idiot? Why am I saying these things? I’m nervous as hell!”

Aurora shook her head, and arched an eyebrow, “So, what do you think?”

Rosalia placed her arms around her neck and kissed her before replying "I think it's perfect. You couldn't have picked a better place for our first date as members of the queer community."

"You just can't stop kissing and touching me, uh?”

Rosie kissed her again more deeply, “No, I can’t. There’s something about you... about your lips… that just… pull me, you know? And I’ve been restraining myself for so many weeks, that I don’t intend to stop anymore.”

“Oh, I think you’ll have to tell me about that.”

“Of course, anything you want. Tonight. I bet you have a lot to tell me too.”

“Indeed.”

After work, Aurora took Rosalía to the aforementioned cafe in Back Bay.

Despite the cafe being packed with lots of people, groups of friends chatting, couples talking, and live music being played, the atmosphere there was really pleasant and intimate. Perfect for a first date.

Aurora and Rosalía hadn’t had the time to feel particularly worried about being seen in public together, because they’d only been at the hospital and at the apartment the last three days, and all their affections would be private until they were ready to tell their friends, but the fact that they could show their love for each other in public felt absolutely liberating and somehow reassuring. It felt right.

While they were waiting for their orders, both took a moment to appreciate the soft piano melody a woman was playing on the other side of the room.

“I’ve never been much into jazz, but the melody is beautiful,” Aurora stated.

“What music are you into? I’ve only seen you listening to classical music.”

“Some pop, rock, instrumental. I’m not much into music actually, but when I do, it’s mostly for focusing.”

And that was just the first of many questions that night. They spent the following hours talking about them, but under a light, they never knew before. They were friends first, they had shared personal stuff, some interest in career paths, food, movies, etc, but when there is romance involved, every single detail seems suddenly more interesting and necessary to learn than before. Favorite place to have a coffee, to have a drink, best spots to go hiking. Favorite song. Favorite color. Favorite movie genre.

Anything that could involve future plans between them.

They also spend the evening talking about how everything happened, how Aurora realized she liked Rosalía, with more details than what they shared a few days ago, and Rosalía told her about how she felt about their first date with James, and how that night she realized she liked her. How much she tried to forget her and how difficult it was for her to avoid her in order to get her out of her mind and heart.

“And here we are,” Aurora stated, taking her hand over the table.

“Did you have any problem with the fact that you liked me, I mean, a girl?”

Aurora stood in silence for a moment, thinking, "Not really. It felt strange that after years of liking men, I was liking a woman now. I know I'm young, and there are people who are in their fifties that realize their sexuality isn't what they thought, but… it felt really concerning the fact that you were my friend and you wouldn't reciprocate me. That I'd do things that could probably ruin our friendship, that you'd realize I like you and you'd push me away, I don't know, that sort of things."

“Exactly what I thought when I realized I liked you.”

Both laughed.

“Is kind of weird but funny how it happened the same to both of us, right?” Aurora questioned, before taking a sip of her glass of water.

“Yeah, but I’m glad it happened this weirdly, lucky way. I was worried it would take me too much time and effort to forget you. But you got the worst part, around five months.”

“Yeah, but at least I didn’t see you dating another person under my nose.”

Rosalía closed her eyes and teasingly shook her head, as if she was trying to forget those painful moments, “At least you were dating a great guy. Like, damn, you dumped James Woods for me?”

“He is great, but you’re greater,” Aurora stated, serious, “Besides, I don’t like him as I like you.”

“Oh, and how much is that?” Rosalía asked, leaning to her, and stopping just a few inches from her nose.

“A lot,” Aurora answered and then cut the distance and brushed her lips on Rosalía’s, tasting the sweetness of the chocolate mousse she had been eating. “Mmm sweet.”

After a few moments of silence, both digging in their desserts, Rosalía glanced at her with a serious expression, “What do you think will happen to you when we tell everyone?”

“What do you mean?”

"I don't know, if you have family members that may not support you in this? Considering you always identified yourself as hetero."

“Mmm well, my parents will be surprised, that’s for sure, and maybe it will take them some time to get used to it, but they won’t kick me out of the family or anything.”

“And your Aunt?”

“Aunt Harper couldn’t care less as long as I don’t lose sight of my career.”

“Cool. Good to know you’ll have the support of your family, sort of.”

“Yeah. I know this will be a surprise for everyone, that my aunt will be very surprised but she won’t judge me. It’s just that... “ Aurora paused for a moment, considering her words, “Maybe… doing something no one expected from me is what worries me. I know it’s stupid, but I’ve been acting this way for a long time. And this is something clearly no one could’ve anticipated.”

“Aurora, it’s not stupid. It’s totally understandable that you feel worried about that, you’ve always lived with so much pressure on your shoulders, that obviously you wouldn't want to add more. ”

“Precisely, but it’s not just that. I’m also afraid that… I don’t know, something that feels so natural to us, won't be to everybody, that maybe some people won’t like it. I honestly don’t care what we might have to face but it’s a shame this won’t be as easy as it is… with straight people.”

"That's true. That's maybe the only thing I fear about this. The… hate we could receive, but I'm sure it will be minimal because we'll have our friends to support us. And as long as we're together, I think we can face anything."

Aurora watched as Rosalía slid her hand over the table and took it on her own, giving it a squeeze in agreement, “What about you?”

“Well, I think my mom will take it fine, but my dad won’t see me the same again in a long time. He’ll try to ignore it.”

“Oh.”

“He’s not a bad person, but it will be really disappointing that I won’t have the life he always dreamed for me. Marrying a good man and having children. Well, I’ve known since long ago that I will disappoint him because that never was something I was particularly interested in.”

“His loss, then.”

"Yeah, but eventually he'll align his dreams with reality, and he'll find out I am happy the way I am and doing the things I do. Well, that's what I hope."

“I hope so too. I hate the idea of you suffering because your dad doesn’t accept you.”

Aurora gave her a worried look to which Rosalía tried to reassure instantly with a wide smile, “Me too, but I’m kinda used to receiving the cold shoulder for not meeting his standards. I’m the black sheep of the family, after all. This just confirms my place even more.”

Aurora arched an eyebrow “You’re the best resident of our cohort, you have the job of your dreams, and you’re the black sheep of your family? What are your other siblings, CEO of Forbes 500?”

Rosalía cackled, amused with the irony of her life, "Nothing of the sort. Actually, I'm the most successful of the five, but the only lefty that rebelled against my dad’s desires and escaped from his authoritative wing.”

“Your father really needs to sort out his priorities.”

“Yeah, I keep thinking it’s never too late for that. Let’s hope I’m not being too optimistic.”

After a few minutes, Aurora paid the bill and both left the cafe to walk around the busy streets of Back Bay. Somewhere in the middle of rustled streets and the chill of the night, Rosalía extended her hand to intertwine her fingers between Aurora's.

Aurora simply smiled and gave it a squeeze before keeping walking until they reached Boston Public Garden.

"Wow, I don't think I remember seeing it this beautiful," Aurora sighed, taking in the view of the park when they stopped in the middle of the lagoon bridge.

The streetlights and the moon were softly reflecting in the water, and a few grouped ducks were sleeping by the lagoon bank.

“Yeah, but it certainly isn’t as beautiful as you,” Rosalía whispered, looking at her deeply in the eye.

“Flatterer.”

“Just stating facts.”

Aurora chuckled, and when she realized Rosalía was serious, her brows furrowed in concern, "What is it?"

“Is it too soon to ask you to be my girlfriend?”

Her eyes widened in amazement and despite trying to articulate a response, nothing could get out of her mouth.

"I know it's our first date and we said we would take things slow but…"

Somehow, seeing Rosalía nervous and blushing gave her the strength to speak, but maybe not in the way she used to do it, “You’ve been clinging to me like a limpet since we first kissed, I don’t know how much different from being a girlfriend you’ve been behaving..”

Rosalía arched a brow, baffled by her reaction “Oh I’m sorry Miss-I-Hate-Kisses, I won’t disturb you ever again.”

“Oh, so you’re the only one that can tease when the other is nervous?"

“You called me clingy while I was asking you something serious.”

"I did. But that doesn't mean I don't like you clingy. In fact, I love that you're clingy. Maybe I like you even more because you're clingy."

Rosalía's eyes illuminated as Aurora placed her hands on her hips, pulling her closer to her body.

“What I meant to say is… it’s not too soon. Whatever doubts I could have before, now I have none, so… I’d love to be your girlfriend, Rosie.”

"Oh," it's the only thing Rosalía could say. For the first time in ages, Rosalía didn't know what to say.

“Do you wanna be mine?” Aurora asked, completely touched by her sudden speechlessness.

“I am already yours, but yes, I do. I wanna be your girlfriend, Aurora Emery.”

#cfwc female characters #choices #opean heart #open heart choices #aurora emery #opne heart fanfic #open heart fic #playchoices #choices stories you play #oph choices #oph fic #aurora emery x mc #aurora x mc #oh choices

51 notes · View notes

ashtrayfloors · 2 years

Text

this is only the beginning

So. I’m 40, as of the last day of 2021. And it feels okay. I was having all kinds of sad feelings leading up to it, but then it happened, and it was fine. I had a great birthday (we stayed at my parents’ place in Door County just like we did in 2020). And things were pretty good for the first week and a half of 2022.

Opportunities and ideas poured in, over the first week and a half of the year, including:

—I get to write a review of a novel I just read, and interview the author of said novel (who, by the way, is one of my all-time favorite writers) for the website of another of my favorite writers; and, alongside the interview/review, one of my short memoir/fiction hybrid pieces is going to be published (because it was inspired by said novel). —The novel I’ve been working on on-and-off for, uh, eight years has finally clicked into place. It’s sorta On The Road, except if it was written by Kathy Acker, but there’s a lot more to it than that. (That blackout poetry I’ve been posting on my main blog is also part of the novel.) —I found out that this thing I submitted a few poems to nearly two years ago is finally moving forward, and that they chose one of my poems to be part of it—it being, one of my poems (along with work from a few other poets) is being set to music, by a legit composer, and the works will then be performed at UW-Parkside by the Racine Concert Band. Holy shit, right?! —I got asked to record another spoken word album for Hello America this year; that will probably be coming out in the fall. —A micro-press I dig said they’d like to publish a short chapbook by me, sometime in the summer or fall. —A poetry project I’ve been working on for a few years (my Rimbaud translations/responses) coalesced with some other, newer stuff I’ve been writing, and excerpts from that will probably end up being my chapbook for said micro-press. —I’m working on Bone & Ink Press stuff. I’m finally moving forward with the new wave anthology, and that’s exciting. —I’m doing a revised and expanded edition of WWTAWWTAP, with new artwork, too, and this one will actually be available in print form as well as digital. —I’ve decided to restart my Patreon. I need the income, but more than that, I think I now know how to do it in a way that’s sustainable for me but still worth it for my patrons. —Since TLSOE is no longer in print, and we’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of its publication date, I’ve been thinking of other stuff to do with the material. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten into making short films based on my poetry, so I’ve decided I’m going to make a short film (though a bit longer than my previous shorts; this one may be 30 minutes-ish) based on excerpts from TLSOE.

I’m kinda broke right now, but not too bad. I recently got some royalties from my album and the last chunk of the payment from my tenure as writer-in-residence, which was enough to pay off some debt I had and still have a little bit left over. Plus, being broke now means something different than it did in my younger days. Broke now is like: I can’t afford any luxuries at the moment, but I can still pay my bills. Back in the day, broke meant “I’m living on ramen noodles and malt liquor and constantly on the verge of eviction.”

I’ve canceled all my/my family’s streaming subscriptions. I started with Spotify, but I’ve also since canceled Netflix, et. al. I’m trying to finish watching the newest season of Queer Eye before my Netflix subscription actually expires, but other than that I won’t miss it too much. It actually feels kinda freeing to untie myself from all those things. For one, half the time those services didn’t have what we wanted to watch (or listen to) anyway. For two, I’d rather save some of the money that would have gone to those things and actually buy albums and films. And in the meantime, I’ll just check more CDs and DVDs out from the library.

I’ve basically quit smoking. I’m not going to say I’m 100% quit, because every time I say that, I end up relapsing, but I’m doing really really really well. I’ve got nicotine gum and CBD oil for when the physical cravings hit, tea tree oil and cinnamon toothpicks for when I need something in my mouth/to do with my hands, and when it’s about just needing that moment to myself (which it often is), I’m taking those moments to meditate, do a few yogic stretches, listen to a song, read or write a poem, something like that.

In bummer news: I’m currently waiting on CoViD test results. I started getting a sniffle on Tuesday evening; thought it was just my chronic allergy-sinus stuff. Wednesday, it was still there, and more constant. Thursday, when I woke up and it was still there plus I felt a bit fatigued/headachey, I decided to go get tested. Odds are I don’t have it—I’m triple vaxxed. I rarely go anywhere (and when I do I double-mask). The only people in my bubble are my partner, our kiddos, and my parents; five out of the six of us are now fully vaxxed and/or vaxxed + boosted (the only one not is C. because he’s too young to be eligible yet). My parents also rarely go anywhere (and when they do, they’re double-masked). The kiddos are homeschooling, P. no longer works as a bartender. Also, the symptoms of whatever I do have are extremely mild, and are pretty much gone as of today, and no one else in my house/bubble has any symptoms—and they all would have been exposed 5-6 days ago, now. What I think happened is that I was worn down from lack of sleep and stress and overdoing it, so my allergy-sinus stuff turned into a sinus infection (that’s happened before). But I still figured it was best to get tested, and my family and I are quarantined until I get my results.

If I do, god forbid, have it, I’m gonna be pissed. I have spent the past two years being so so so careful, to the point of giving up a lot of what is most important to me. Hell, I stopped seeing my friends before the country at large even went into the initial shutdown! Also, if I do have it, based on timeline/places I’ve gone, it means I caught it at either the library or the post office. Which would be both funny and stupid. Funny because, well, the library and post office are probably where I’ve spent the most hours of my life (outside of where I lived and/or worked) from the age of 12 on. Annoying because, man, if I knew I’d potentially get CoViD anyway, I’d have gone to a punk show or something fun!

Anyway. Fingers crossed I don’t have it. They said I should get my results in 1-3 days, so hopefully I find out tomorrow.

I’m on a semi-hiatus from Facebook. I check in a few times a week, but I’ve deleted the app from both my phone and tablet so I don’t start doom scrolling. See, some of my friends are getting way too doom-and-gloom. They’re all “collapse of society” this, “global climate collapse” that, sharing every horrific news article that comes along. And I just can’t immerse myself in that energy at this juncture. I’m not burying my head in the sand, or remaining neutral in situations of injustice, I’m not becoming some kind of CoViD denier or climate change denier or anything like that. But, as I’ve said before, I’m naturally prone to anxiety, depression, and existential dread. It is a daily fight for me to not completely succumb to them. I’ve started to learn, over the past few years, some ways to deal with those tendencies. There’s art and music, of course, and physical activity. There’s also the question I ask myself before I read any news article: “Can I do something, even something small, to deal with this problem in a constructive way right now?” If the answer is ‘no,’ I simply don’t read it until I’m in a headspace in which I can handle it, which is sometimes never. And there’s temporarily distancing myself from friends and acquaintances when they get too gloom-and-doom, or too bitter. I don’t expect people to be relentlessly positive all the time, but I also can’t subject myself to excessive negativity all the time. And I don’t know. A lot of my friends who are falling into that constant negativity and doom don’t have kids. And I feel like…having kids, I don’t have the luxury to let myself fall into total despair. No matter what’s happening, I’ve still gotta keep my kids safe and healthy, and it’s a lot harder to do that if I’m too depressed to get out of bed.

So I do what I can: I participate in letter-writing campaigns and phone banks for various causes, I help plan and cook community meals, I modify and mend my old clothes, I repurpose other old things for art projects, I plan what I will grow in my garden this year (and I teach myself more about sustainable gardening). I remind myself of that Tumblr post that was floating around a while back, about not thinking too much about the end of the world because there are dishes to wash and people to love. I remind myself of Brother Curtis Almquist saying: If you are anxious just now, you are almost already hopeful. And of Rebecca Solnit saying: To hope is to gamble. It’s to bet on the future, on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty is better than gloom and safety. And I remind myself of Richard Brautigan’s poem “Calendula:”

My friends worry and they tell me about it. They talk of the world ending of darkness and disaster. I always listen gently and then say: No, it’s not going to end. This is only the beginning, as this book is only a beginning.

#pls no reblobs //#dear livejournal #life #good things #bad things #aging #birthdays #new year #plans #said i got new dreams #smoking #covid mention #anxiety #hope #quotations #richard brautigan #this is only the beginning #to resist despair in this world is what it is to be free

4 notes · View notes

artificialqueens · 3 years

Text

Pretty in Pearls, Chapter 4 (Jankie) - Plastiquedoll

read on ao3 💄| previous chapters

A/N: hi! here's a new chapter and I'm planting the crygi seed for the future *wink wink* I hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading it <3

-4-

“Good morning!” Jan greeted Nicky outside the café with a smile on her face.

“Hey! You woke up earlier today; I didn’t catch you on your way out the dorms.” The blonde noticed.

She was wearing a fuzzy cardigan sweater she had seen on Jaida before, light blue jeans, and white sneakers. Her hair was still wet which made Jan think she might have spent the night with her girlfriend before meeting her.

“Yeah, I had to return some books to the library so I left when Rosé went to class.”

They walked in and were welcomed by the familiar warmness of the interior of the coffee shop. Almost a month had passed but Jan was always comforted by the charm of the place. It was a crowded morning but they were able to squish at one little table near the entrance. They had just sat down when a fuming Jackie crossed the door, at first she didn’t see them but as soon as Jan waved at her she shuffled toward their direction and plopped herself in the empty chair.

She was wearing brown flare pants along with a white shirt and a yellow batwing cardigan with a floral pattern. Her brown hair had been violently ruffled by a gust of wind, the loose locks fell all over her face completing a look that matched her current mood.

“What are you doing here?” Nicky asked.

Jan was wondering the same; all of Jackie’s classes took place in the morning, it was early for her to be out.

She grunted a few words while holding a scrunchie between her teeth as she attempted to untangle her hair.

“What?” The girls asked at the same time.

Jackie tied her hair into a ponytail and sighed. “I got kicked out of class.”

Jan looked at her with disbelief. “What?” She repeated.

“Remember that professor that hates me for making –according to him- «snarky comments»? Well, he finally found a reason to express his dislike for me and asked me to leave.” She crossed her arms on her chest. “I wasn’t going to stay quiet when –in addition, to invisibilize women in art- he also tried to erase the queerness of the artists. No, not on my watch.”

“What a pig.” Nicky shook her head. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to kick you out because you called him out.”

“Oh, trust me, this isn’t the end of it. I’m filing a complaint and leaving that class. I’m done.”

“I’m sorry, Jackie. I know you liked the subject, too bad the professor is a jerk.” Jan tapped her shoulder softly.

The brunette got stiff by the sudden touch. She cleared her throat before speaking again. “Anyway… it sucks because I need the credit and it’s the only class that fits into my schedule.”

“Maybe there’s a way to fix it, talk with the administration or something.” Jan did what she did best, being undeniably positive.

“Yeah… maybe. But enough of that, I need a cup of coffee.”

As if she had read Jackie’s mind, a waitress approached and it wasn’t any other than…

“Hello, girls!”

“Crystal? You work here?” Jan asked.

The girl nodded. “I started yesterday.” She smiled brightly.

She had a blue apron with the café’s name on it over her clothes and Jan swore her hair –covered in colorful hair clips- was different than last time she saw her not even two days ago.

“Congratulations! That’s great!”

“Thank you. I had to drop one of my classes but I needed the job.”

Jackie grunted. “Please let’s not talk about dropping classes.” She began massaging her temples.

“Right! I’m here to take your order.” She pulled out a tiny notebook covered in glitter from her pocket and a unicorn gel pen. “I’m ready.”

“I think you have to say «what can I get you?»” Nicky commented.

“Oh, you’re right… Let me try again. What can I get you?” She repeated in an extremely polite voice.

“I’ll have a hot chocolate please.” Jan pointed at the menu.

“And I’d like a hazelnut latte.” Jackie followed.

“For me, a caramel macchiato.” The blonde finished the order.

“Perfect… so hot chocolate, hazelnut latte, and caramel macchiato.” Crystal checked her notes. “Right away.”

“Thank you.” They said and with that, the ginger left and then turned around.

Jan watched her go.

“I should get a job too.” She pouted. “I don’t want to ask for extra money from my parents, they are helping with the other half the scholarship and they are paying for my brother’s tuition too.”

“I work at the mall near here and there’s always something to do there. You could come with me later and ask around.” Nicky mentioned.

“I didn’t know that, what do you do?”

“I’m on the cosmetics section. I do people’s makeup during the weekends and convince them to buy products.”

“Of course you do…”

“What would you like to do?” Jackie inquired in the meantime she rearranged the sweeteners of the table.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’ve had part-time jobs before. I used to work at an ice cream parlor. That was fun not to mention I had free ice cream. Then I worked at the post office, that wasn’t as much fun, it involved a lot of boxes… and during my senior year, I was the secretary of a dental office that… well, definitely wasn’t fun but I got to meet the same customers that were regulars on the ice cream parlor.”

Jackie and Nicky burst into laughter.

“You’ll do well…” The blonde assured.

“We can write your resume later and print it in the copy room.” Jackie suggested.

“That’s a great idea. Yeah, let’s do it.”

At that moment, Crystal returned with their drinks.

“Well, let’s see… I’ll put these over here, here and… here.” She placed the cups carefully and sighed with relief when everything stayed in place. “Great… Let me know if you need me.” She hummed.

“Thank you, Crystal!” Jan was going to leave a good tip for her friend.

When she turned around, they all exchanged misplaced cups in the blink of an eye.

“She’ll get better… hopefully.” Jackie added some sugar and took a sip of her coffee.

Jan drank some of her chocolate; the whipped cream created a mustache above her cupid’s bow and got the brunette looking fondly at her before taking a napkin and cleaning the corner of her mouth. Nicky raised an eyebrow but before she could say something, someone else showed up.

It was a girl that most definitely looked like a supermodel with her matching glen check pattern outfit consisting of a cropped jacket and a mini skirt with accents of yellow fabric and a belt with chains hanging from it along with a pair of black thigh-high boots. Her blonde hair framed her face and was tied on the back on a half up half down hairstyle.

“Hey, Nicky, did you finish the assignment for today’s class? And if you did, did you have any difficulty submitting it?” She looked upset, stressed.

“Uh… no. Maybe it’s because that paper is due tomorrow and the submission time starts… tomorrow?”

“Oh, thank God.” She sat on the only left empty chair with no need of an invitation and sighed letting all the air out of her lungs.

Their little table couldn’t accommodate more people so they squished even more.

Nicky turned to Jackie and Jan. “This is Gigi, she’s a classmate of mine and she actually lives in the same dorms as us. Gigi, do you remember my friend Jackie? And this is Jan, resident of the C dorm.”

The other blonde girl waved. “Hi, sorry… that was rude. I was freaking out due to that assignment.” She took a deep breath. “Hi, Jackie… I do remember you and Jan, we’re neighbors.”

“That’s great!” Jan smiled at her. “So you’re a fashion major too?”

She nodded. “I’m a sophomore as well but I’m a year younger than everyone else because of technicalities and my mom sending me to kindergarten one year earlier.”

“We’re the same age then. That’s cool.”

Gigi smiled, she was beautiful.

“How are you adapting to-” She was going to ask Jan something when she lowered her head in an attempt to hide behind Jackie. “Oh shit.”

“Gigi, what is it?” Nicky whispered.

“She’s here.” Gigi tried to descend even more.

“Uhm… who’s here?” Jackie looked around.

“She! She’s here right now… Oh God…” The girl seemed nervous and her cheeks were tinted in soft pink. “So, uh… there’s this girl who lives in our dorm I guess and I’ve bumped into her a couple of times before but… I don’t know, she’s like…” She blushed harder.

“Gigi Goode... The Gigi Goode is possibly… intimidated by someone?” Nicky gasped.

“Shhh… shut up… no… yeah… maybe. I don’t know. I’m gay and single, leave me alone.”

“Wait but how does she look like?” Jan also tried to find her among the crowd. They all were whispering.

“Oh my God… she’s coming… she’s walking in this direction, why is she walking in this direction? Never mind she has an apron.”

But it was Crystal who appeared next to Jan. “Hey guys, everything’s okay over here? Do you need something else?” She inquired, completely clueless.

The three remaining girls looked at Crystal, then at Gigi, and then at Crystal again as if it was a ping pong game.

“Oh, hey! I hadn’t seen you there, would you like me to bring something for you?” She asked Gigi while pulling out her Crystalcore things.

The blonde girl nodded and recovered the posture a little. “Uh… matcha… that’s the green thing… yeah… latte. Green tea?”

“Matcha tea latte?”

She nodded mechanically again.

“Alright, anything else?” The other girls shook their heads. “I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you.” Gigi’s voice sounded high-pitched.

Once Crystal left, all eyes were on the blonde once again.

“Oh my… I fucked up, didn’t I?”

Nicky’s jaw had dropped to the floor. “Wait, hold on a minute… you like her?”

“Shhh… God, Nicky, she could hear you or something.” Gigi pressed her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating fast. “I didn’t know she worked here.”

Jan was trying to contain a smile, her lips turned into a thin line, meanwhile, Jackie stirred her lukewarm coffee.

“Uh… You know that’s my roommate, right?” Nicky smirked.

At that moment, Gigi almost fainted. Her face went from reddish to pale in a second and her eyes were full of terror as if she had seen a ghost.

“Excuse me, she’s your what?!”

“My roommate? Crystal? The girl with orange hair? I’ve told you about her. The one that put stickers on the notes she leaves me? She forgot her key three times in the span of a day? The one that –allegedly- accidentally shot a confetti cannon in our room and since then it feels like the place coughs confetti here and there? Rings your bell?”

That had been a good day, Jan recalled.

“Wait- That’s your Crystal? Your Crystal is my Crystal?” She covered her mouth after saying those words.

Jackie and Jan exchanged an amused look.

“Your Crystal?” Nicky tilted her head.

“I mean… that’s not what I mean…” She cleared her throat. “please don’t tell her I have a crush on her this is already too embarrassing for me… I could die like a Sim… of embarrassment, it’s a real thing, you know?”

“Relax, I won’t say a word and I’m sure the girls won’t either, right?” Jan and Jackie nodded.

Gigi seemed relieved. “Thank you… I can’t believe she’s your roommate.” She buried her face in her hands.

“I can’t believe you feel intimidated by her, she has a One Direction poster in our room.”

“There are so many things clicking in my head right now please leave your message after the tone. Beep.”

Jackie moved her hand in front of her eyes without getting a response. “I think you broke her, Nicky.”

“She’ll be fine. Plus, Crystal is bringing her tea right now.”

“Fuck…” She said as if was a reset command.

“Here you have.” The ginger placed the smoky cup in front of her. “I hope you enjoy it.” She smiled and winked before leaving.

Gigi gulped.

“Uh, Gigi, I’m not an expert but judging by the color of the beverage, that’s not what you ordered.” Jackie pointed out.

But the blonde wasn’t even looking at her. “I don’t care; this is the most delicious drink existing in the entire universe right now.”

“What’s that though?” Nicky tried to touch the cup but Gigi slapped her hand.

“No touching.” She glared at her classmate.

“Yeah, I feel like we’re going to be good friends.” Jan thought about it aloud.

“Alright, all set.”

Jackie let a big sigh out of her chest when she left the administration office; Jan had been waiting for her outside. They had gone there straight after leaving the café when Nicky and Gigi left for their class. On their way to the building, she had tried to cheer Jackie up by telling the entire confetti cannon anecdote in full detail but even afterward laughing at loud the brunette still seemed afflicted.

“I’ve submitted my complaint and the head administrator told me that the board will look into it. Until then, they said that most classes are already full so they’ll have to look for a different solution and they’ll contact me via e-mail or I’ll have to drop by next week.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? They’ll tell you what the next step is. It can only get better from here.”

“I hope so.” She shrugged. She didn’t sound fully convinced, though.

Jan checked the time on her phone. “Hey, we still have some time before your shift starts, we can hang out or something…”

Jackie bit her inner cheek. “I don’t know…”

Jan touched her shoulder gently. “Jackie, I hate you seen you like this. There has to be something that makes you feel at least one percent better.”

She looked at her with her big puppy eyes and Jackie couldn’t say no to her.

“Okay… there’s something that always makes me feel better.” She gave in.

“I’m listening.”

Jackie’s eyes sparked.

“No way…” Jan looked around. “This is awesome!”

They had gone upstairs –climbing several stairs-, to a place that wasn’t on the maps of the campus. Jackie had led the way without revealing a single detail –even when Jan asked many, many questions on their way there- she had said it was a surprise and that she didn’t want to spoil it. Finally, as they were climbing those endless stairs, her mood got a bit better.

They reached a single green metal door, it was locked but the brunette pulled a key from her set and opened it. The door led to a little hidden rooftop garden with a few hanging plants and flowers in terracotta pots, there was also a set of recycled wood chairs and an unvarnished coffee table rough around the edges. But without any doubt the most stunning part of that small place was the view, it was the perfect spot to contemplate most of the green areas of the campus including some of the park across the street nearby the café. It was almost noon and the sun hit the opposite side but in a few hours, it would be probably the best viewpoint of the sunset.

“What is this place?” The younger kept inspecting everything.

Jackie closed the door behind them. “It used to be a project made for a group of students to raise awareness about the use of recycling materials but since they all graduated no one really knows it exists. I accidentally discovered it last year when I took a photography class and spotted it with my camera from that crossroad.” She pointed with her index finger. “I did some research and the janitor gave me the key after asking… when I was done with the assignment, she let me keep it with the promise I would do some maintenance once in a while and keep the plants alive. And since then, I come here when I need to be alone or when I’m upset… like today.”

Jan stared at her. “I’m sorry that you had to drop that class.”

“I didn’t want to quit, you know? I thought I was going to be able to handle it, by giving up I feel like I let him win…”

“No, you didn’t. You don’t have to stand that mistreatment.” She looked the brunette in the eye. “I’m glad you did it; don’t let it be a defeat, it doesn’t have to be one.”

“Thank you.” A weak smile appeared on her face.

“I’m gonna hug right now, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“No, you don’t have to…”

“But I want to. C’mon, come here.” She extended her arms widely. “If you don’t let me hug you I’m going to hug myself and it’s going to be lame and I’m going to be sad.”

Jackie chuckled. “Okay, I guess…”

“Yay!” Jan jumped directly to her and wrapped her arms around her.

Jan’s shampoo smelled like almonds and honey. Her embrace made Jackie feel warm inside. Clouds could’ve been made of cotton and the sky was the bluest she had ever seen.

“You see? This is nice.�� The younger still held her.

“Yeah, nice…” Jackie closed her eyes and for a moment, it was all right.

They stayed there for a little while. Jackie would have to go to the copy room soon and Jan had her class after lunch. During the time they were there, Jan played some music on her phone and they talked about what had happened earlier in the café. They agreed that it was sweet that Gigi had a crush on Crystal; Jackie watered the plants and told her the story of how she had met the blonde through Nicky. Later on, she sat on one of the chairs while Jan played hopscotch with the cracks in the concrete; she sang softly the song that was playing Hey There Delilah.

“You have a good singing voice,” Jackie mentioned.

“Huh? Me? Oh… I didn’t… I just sing for fun sometimes.” She suddenly felt coy.

“I mean it. It sounded lovely.”

“You’re just being nice. You haven’t heard Rosé or Lagoona, they are amazing.”

“They could tell you. I’m sure they’d agree with me.”

“I could never sing in front of them.” She looked mortified.

“You’d do well.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“I don’t know…” Jan shrugged.

The music stopped and the alarm she had set went off.

“We have to go.” The younger announced. “I’ll walk with you to the copy room and then I’ll grab something to eat.”

“Okay. Let me close the door.”

She waited until the brunette was done and they started walking downstairs.

“I wish I could work with you, wouldn’t that be fun?” Jan casually mentioned.

“Well, you’re there all the time anyway.”

“Does it bother you?”

Jackie shook her head and smiled. “No, not at all.”

“I don’t understand it.” Jan lied on the table of the study room. “I have applied for every job available at the mall and still, no response and no results.”

“Ow, baby,” Rosé ruffled her hair. “I’m sure you’re going to find something soon.”

Lagoona lifted her gaze from the textbook. “I wish I could help but the restaurant where I work is full.”

“I thought you hated that place?” Jan turned toward her.

“I do, but the tips are good.” She highlighted a sentence with her pastel marker.

She was already studying for an upcoming presentation. Rosé was memorizing the lines of a play and she got Jan there to read the other part. Now they were on a break. The pink-haired girl was drinking peach soda from a can in the meantime Jan whined for her failed job search. Lagoona –whose blue hair was beginning to fade a little- googled some job offers in the area and read them at loud.

“There are a few that sound pretty disgusting if you ask me. I didn’t know the classified ads could be this kinky.” She frowned and put her phone down.

“Hey, what about that place?” Rosé snapped her fingers. “Goona, do you remember? The diner that’s a couple of blocks from here? We used to go there all the time during our freshman year.”

“Oh, yes. That was a nice place, didn’t we stop going there because your ex-roommate worked there?”

Rosé’s expression turned sour. “Yeah… but she got fired or quit, I don’t know. The point is, they were always hiring people, maybe you could ask there?”

“And you’ve waited this long to tell me?” Jan cried. “It’s been three agonizing days.”

“They are open now so you could-”

“Bye, guys! See you later.” She grabbed her things, threw them into her backpack, and dashed out just to return a couple of seconds later. “Yeah, so I don’t know where it is.”

Jan held her breath before walking past the door.

The diner was decorated in a retro style. It had black and white floor tiles, a long bar, red stools, chairs and booths, round tables, neon signs, vinyl albums and posters of classic Hollywood stars on the walls, lamps hanging from the ceiling, and even a functional jukebox. A few people were sitting at the bar, it was still early for dinner so almost everyone was having a milkshake or some ice cream.

Jan was welcomed by a girl with dark wavy hair in a striped red and white dress with a little white apron on. The name «Denali» was written on her tag.

“Welcome to Lucky’s, would you like a table or a seat on the bar?” She smiled and a pair of dimples appeared on her face.

“Hi, I was wondering if you have a job application for me or… if you were hiring right now?”

“Oh,” She lowered her notebook. “You wanna work here? Okay, just give me a second. You can sit over there.” Denali pointed at one empty table.

“Sure.” Jan held her backpack close to her body and moved to the booth.

Denali returned shortly after with a pen and a paper sheet in her hands.

“In normal circumstances, you’d have an interview with the manager but since he’s God knows where and I’m in charge in the meantime, I’m going to let you complete this form and then ask you some questions…”

“Alright, yeah.”

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

Jan filled the form with basic information, her full name, birth date, age, address, phone number, e-mail, etc. When she was done, she observed Denali serving customers, she moved like her feet weren’t touching the floor, with a full tray on her hands as if it weighed nothing, all with a giant smile on her face. She made it look easy.

“Everything alright?” She asked before sitting in front of Jan.

“Yes, I’m done.” She returned the paper sheet.

Denali scanned it, collecting information. “Janice? Okay, you’re a college student.”

“Jan is fine. Yes, I’m a freshman.”

“Aw,” She tilted her head. “I’m going to write my notes in front of you if that’s okay.” Jan nodded. “You haven’t worked as a waitress before, right?”

“No, but I’m a fast learner and I believe I compensate my lack of experience with enthusiasm, I’ve been told.”

She wrote something “Next, uhm… Why do you want to work here?”

“I need a job to pay for my things. As I said, this is my first year of college; I have a partial scholarship and my parents are supporting me from home but I don’t want to become a burden for them.”

“Do you mind if I ask about your scholarship?”

“No, not at all. It’s for baseball.”

“Work!” She nodded. “The last one, you wrote here your potential time schedules and, according to the rules, if you only work have twice per week you’ll have to take two Saturdays per month. Are you fine with that?”

“Sure, I can take any shift that day.”

“Well, Jan, the good news is that I sense we’re going to be besties, so I wrote «overqualified», «fast learner» and «tight schedules but willing to take Saturday’s shifts» which always is a plus.” She smiled at Jan. “I believe you’re going to get a call very soon.”

“Oh my God! Thank you.” Jan grinned. “I really appreciate that.”

“No worries. You’re lucky -no pun intended-, a girl just quit but being completely honest, she was a real bitch. You can’t be worse than her.”

“I’ve heard that before and… I’m okay with that.”

“Alright. I hope I see you soon.” She winked and returned to serve tables.

Jan left the diner with the biggest smile on Earth.

#rpdr fanfiction #jan sport #jackie cox #jankie #crygi #college au #lesbian au #slow burn #pretty in pearls #plastiquedoll #concrit welcome

8 notes · View notes

sapphicscholar · 3 years

Note

If you want to ramble about unpacking characters and their histories/relationships/etc through smut, I would absolutely love to read it!

An anon after my own heart!

Typing while cooking dinner, so apologies in advance for any disjointedness!

So Dorothy Allison, a working-class femme lesbian who writes absolutely stunning prose, has an essay called "Sex Talk," and she talks about the ways that there seem to be different genres of sex writing that she'd conflated before parsing through her thoughts and her own style. She calls them the visual and print viewpoints, though I don't think we have to stick with that categorical distinction. But anyway, she works through the way that some sex writing (the visual) "seems to be about setting a scene, so much so that scene becomes all. It is intrinsically about providing a context--costume, texture, fetish," but it's missing the "internal dialogue of feeling and emotional response" and a "philosophical examination of the 'I' to whom everything happens, or who observes everything that happens" that she values in her writing and reading (the print).

There's plenty of value in both types of writing! But I think in a lot of my smut writing (and that of plenty of amazing authors whose work I read and follow), I see the visceral eroticism of the former working hand-in-hand with things like the character study genre. And I think part of why fic writing gets to go there more frequently than the published erotica Allison was looking at is that we've already got specific characters we're working with. No matter how much we want to push canon and its sometimes infuriating writing choices behind a tree, we as readers and writers already have someone in our mind when we come to a given piece of writing. As writers we're not having to do the groundwork of inventing someone, getting a reader invested in not just what they can do with their bodies but who they are as people, and then also getting them to sex! And that makes writing in that "print mode" Allison describes, in certain ways, a lot easier! (I think it brings its own challenges, too, but those can be for another day haha)

I often think best though examples, so right, working with characters and ships I write and/or read a lot:

Take someone like Alex Danvers on Supergirl. If we're writing in the canon universe, we know from her 2x05 coming out speech that she'd tried dating men and, because nothing felt right, she'd started to think that maybe intimacy just "wasn't for her," that "maybe [she] wasn't built that way." And suddenly we're seeing her come out as a lesbian, get a girlfriend for the first time, have a first morning after a night of intimacy that she actually enjoyed--enjoyed so much she wants to call off work to spend the whole day in bed! So when we're writing about Alex with Maggie, to stay in canon at that time in Alex's arc (or with any number of possible partners people ship her with!), we're also writing with the weight of that long history. And how a writer scripts some of these scenes, the conversations around them, the internal thoughts and feelings we might get from Alex (or from, say, Maggie, who knows about Alex's earlier relationship to sex and dating) - all that's gonna give the reader this gorgeous frame into which they'll situate this smut scene!

Or take Grace Hanson from Grace and Frankie. The show writers have shown her having a long and complicated relationship to her body--her disordered thinking around weight and food, her lifelong patterns of self-denial, her arthritis and knee problems, her career at Say Grace, the vast differences between those scenes of her stripping back the facade in the first ep with Robert and then later on with Nick. And specifically, we also get a sustained look at her changing relationship to pleasure (and the ways that brings her into a new relationship with her body as well)--the long years of a cold, fairly loveless marriage to Robert, that early S1 kiss with Byron and the unexpected pleasure in the passion of it that had been missing from her life for so long, literally everything about Vybrant and the conversations around its founding, product development, and marketing. And so many amazing femslash writers in that fandom have done such a beautiful job holding in tension where Grace has resided for so, so much of her adult life and who she's becoming in canon and who she might continue to grow into with Frankie, who also brings all of her own histories and hangups (as well as her joy and love and passion) to the bedroom!

Obviously these are just two quick examples, and I could ramble on for so long dinner will definitely burn, but I think even in a smutty one-shot or something tagged as PWP, we still end up getting more insight into the characters than we might assume at first glance! And I should clarify that this kind of work doesn't only happen or have to happen in the context of smut between two nicely coupled characters. Anytime we're thinking about a character and pleasure and/or desire, I think these details have the potential to emerge and be explored in more or less detail (author's choice there!), and I'd hate to be misread as reifying those normative relationship scripts that I think the very best (and very queer) fanfic works often get to mess with!

#writer asks #ask me anything #tw references to disordered eating #smut writing

9 notes · View notes

hecalledmehanbana · 3 years

Text

Have you ever met someone and you just clicked? Everything lined up, the sun shone, it seemed even the world was telling you, “Hey! Pay attention! This person is going to be important!”

I did. Just over a month ago. @melaxia is that person for me. We met through one of my best friends that I’ve known for more than 10 years. (Funnily enough, I had that same sort of moment with him, but it just meant important in a different way. He’s family to me and has been, for years. I call him Princess and so that’s what he’ll be referred to as if I’m ever talking about him.) Princess works with her, and as a cis white dude (who tries way too hard to prove he’s a manly man), he realized both of us are queer and was like, “Hey, I have 2 queer friends! Maybe my queer friends should meet!” He got her permission to give me her number, and then during another conversation with me, got my permission to give her my number. (Side Note: I struggle really hard with new situations, they give me hella anxiety, so when he asked if I wanted her number, I told him to just give her mine and have her text me.) The next day, I got a message from a number with the same area code as mine. (Because I never changed numbers after I moved out of my home town, and Princess never moved out of our home town.) This message kept it super simple with just a hey, and an introduction. So I responded in kind. And since then, we haven’t really stopped talking unless we are either asleep or working (and even then, sometimes we’ll talk while either of us are working). We figured out pretty quickly that he was trying to set us up. He talked me up to her, and he talked her up to me, and yet, we were dating for literal weeks before he knew. And honestly, I had to tell him, because I don’t like lying to the people that matter, and he really matters to me, so lying to him, even if it was my idea, made me anxious. So I told him, and pretty much all he had to say about it was that he was glad I’m happy.

And I really am. I have had pretty shitty relationships in the past. None have ever really lasted longer than a couple months because of one thing or another. In reality, I had just gotten bored in the relationship and things stagnated and the things they’d been doing the entire time (complaining about something and not doing anything to fix it, not being confident about who they are, not being up front about things, etc.) really started to get to me and I ended up breaking up with all of them. My girlfriend and I were talking about this last night, and she jokingly asked, “Should I be worried?” Because I truly haven’t had a relationship longer than 2 months. And I’m 26. But that just got me thinking. And so I was very honestly able to answer her with, “No. You shouldn’t be worried at all. And here’s why.”

See, the thing about my relationship with her, is that we can talk on the phone for 12 hours a day, and maybe we’re not talking nonstop, but we can always make each other laugh. We can go from joking, to a somewhat serious topic, and right back to joking without missing a beat. We can just be on the phone, and don’t need to be doing anything specific. We can talk about legitimately anything, we can tease each other or be cheering sections for each other. We always have the utmost faith in each other, even if we don’t really have it in ourselves. I could never get bored with her, because she makes me smile with a simple text or with one of our jokey arguments. We can banter and discuss and just be together. We may live 1200 miles apart, but that doesn’t mean that our relationship is less than someone else’s. It doesn’t mean that it’s more likely to fail. And it REALLY doesn’t mean that it’s not real. And I’m not the only one that feels this way. See, we figured out within the last couple of days that we’re both empathy. I’m pretty sure she told me early on, but I’m only human, and I forgot. I, on the other hand, KNOW I didn’t say anything, because as a general rule, I don’t tell people until I know them very well. From personal experience, I’ve figured out that if people know I’m an empath right from the start they tend to just try and hide their feelings. But I have hella trust issues (courtesy of ex friends and being cheated on and reactions to my coming out) so not being able to feel a truthful representation of how someone feel about me can be legitimately harmful to my health. So unless I know someone very well, I keep that to myself.

Continuing on, the incident that led to us finding that out about both of us, happened Tuesday while I was at work. I felt confusion, hurt, sadness, and some anxiety and I knew it wasn’t from me. Obviously, I can’t always tell exactly who it’s from, but instincts let me know. So I messaged her to check on her. That, was the incident at the dojo that led to me wishing I lived in the same state, because I would have kicked the shit out of the head instructor for the way he made her feel. Later on, after I got off work and was finally able to call her, she told me her first thought was of me during that fairly one sided conversation. That’s when I felt the flow of emotion, and that’s when I knew I had to check on her.

This girl has just strolled into my heart and taken up residence. She just casually stole my heart and gave me hers, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yesterday, was a rough day for me. And already knowing she’s empathic as well, it made it so she felt all the emotions I was feeling, and I was feeling mine and my momma’s. (A little backstory: in late September of 2020, my daddy was told by our primary care doctor to go to the emergency room immediately for what seemed to be a blood clot in his leg. He was admitted, and came home a couple days later with a stage 4 metastatic lung cancer diagnosis. 2 months later, he was gone). So yesterday morning, our primary care doctor told momma to go to the emergency room, and I panicked. I was feeling momma’s surprise and anxiety, and then as soon as she told me, my own distress. Any time someone important to me ends up in the hospital for any reason, I’m not sure how well I’m going to handle it, because watching my daddy go downhill broke my heart and honestly traumatized me. So, I had a full on anxiety attack yesterday morning before I went into work, and my girl was my rock. And honestly, she was a rockstar because all of my anxiety and distress and straight up fear hit her all at once, and she wasn’t expecting it, and yet she was still able to make me smile and supported me as I went into work on a day I didn’t think I had it in me to deal with people.

I really need to thank her from the bottom of my heart, because I don’t know how well I could have handled yesterday without her. I am not sure if I would have been able to truly work through the anxiety and still have a successful work day. Thank you babygirl, for being such a truly amazing person. I appreciate you every day, even when we’re both distracted and not saying a whole lot. 💜😊

#truth #writing is my therapy #relationship #tw death mention #gorgeous girlfriend #I have the best girlfriend #I wouldn’t change a thing #empathic #sharing emotions #feeling what everyone else feels #suddenly it was 40 minutes after I started writing #oops #I didn’t mean to write a novel #it just happened #because she’s important #even nature says so

3 notes · View notes

silverlightqueen · 4 years

Text

Grease - Teaser

greaser!Hoseok x cheerleader!reader - fluff, angst, humour, potential smut

Rating: PG13

Word Count: 5k+ (not really a teaser lmao, but let’s just roll with it)

Summary - During the best summer of their childhood, good girl y/n and greaser Jung Hoseok indulge in a sweet and innocent love affair before parting ways, believing they will never see one another again. But fate has other plans, and it is only the beginning of the story for y/n and Hoseok in this tale of cars, chicks and high school cliques... (ft. Red Velvet and NCT Jaehyun)

Warnings - mild profanity, mention of sex, mild threat of violence, misogyny and sexism (it was the 50s lol), a lot of 50s slang (it took me longer to find relevant slang than it did to actually write this lmao), bts and red velvet flirting, gross overuse of pet names, I think that’s it but tell me if I missed anything lol

a/n: this is actually edited and proofread by the love of my life @silverlightprincess who made me even more excited about this story than I was before. I hope y’all like it x

song I listened to whilst writing: Bad Boy (English Version) - Red Velvet (the album cover inspired their outfits - yes, I know Rydell’s colours are red and white but I don’t care lol)

divider credit: ? (lmk if you know whose it is pls)

silverlightqueen masterlist

‘Six strawberry milkshakes for the paper shakers!’ the chef behind the counter shouts. A waitress, stood mere feet away from him, winces at the volume of his voice in the quiet diner before picking up the tray of our milkshakes and heading over towards us. ‘Six strawberry milkshakes,’ she says softly, and we all thank her as she puts them down on the table in front of us.

‘You girls look neat. Rydell trying out some new threads?’ she asks, and we all look at Irene, the Cheer Captain, and the unspoken leader of our little group. ‘Yeah, but Coach didn’t really… dig them like I hoped he would. Says they’re impractical or something lame-brained like that,’ Irene says ruefully, and the waitress rolls her eyes. ‘And those skimpy little cheer kits aren’t? Coach is such a pooper – he’s probably just peed off he didn’t come up with these,’ she says, and Irene smiles, a hint of pride in her grin – she likes a little compliment. ‘He’ll warm up to them. Well, he has no choice – all the other girls have bought them too. Our parents will blow a fuse if we can’t wear them,’ Irene says, and the waitress nods, us five just sipping on our milkshakes as we listen. Just as she opens her mouth to reply, we hear the chef shout, ‘Mina! These tables ain’t gonna clean themselves!’ She rolls her eyes with an apologetic shrug before trudging over to the counter where the chef throws a cloth and disinfectant at her.

‘Irene, where did you get the idea for these duds?’ Joy asks, straw between her teeth as she speaks. ‘You know that girl group, Red Velvet? They dropped a new record a few weeks ago – you’ve heard it right? It’s all over the radio. Well, anyway, they did a video for it, and they were wearing these cute little skirts and tops, all in blue and yellow plaid,’ she explains, but I get the feeling Yeri and I are the only ones listening, all of the other girls staring out of the window behind us.

‘Oh, no. I recognise that hunk o’ junk. That’s Kim Seokjin and his little gang. They’ve just pulled up in the parking lot,’ Seulgi says, though the way she checks her reflection in her little pocket mirror shows she’s not quite as distressed about their arrival as she seems. ‘Don’t say that in front of Kim Taehyung. He calls it a ‘hot rod’; he’d flip out if he heard someone call it a hunk o’ junk,’ Wendy says warningly as she fixes her hair.

‘Wait, sorry, but who is Kim Seokjin? And who’re his gang?’ I ask, the girls all looking at me shock, quickly followed by realisation. ‘I keep forgettin’ you’re a newbie. They’re greasers – you’ve probably seen a couple of them at school. They’re… bad news. They have a reputation of humpin’ and dumpin’. Still doesn’t put all the girls off them though,’ Seulgi explains, saying the last bit under her breath.

‘What’s humping and dumping?’ I ask, the five of them shushing me instantly. ‘Keep your voice down, y/n, we can’t be heard talkin’ about things like that in public. Humpin’ and dumpin’ is, like… one minute, they’re all friendly, then they’re suddenly in your bed, and then they’ve forgotten you existed,’ Wendy explains quietly, and I nod in understanding, feeling my cheeks warm up a little bit at discussing something so crude.

‘That Jeon Jungkook did it to Lisa,’ Joy whispers as she applies fresh lipstick, and I picture our fellow cheerleader in my head, feeling a little bit of pity for the poor girl. ‘He’s so dreamy, though,’ Yeri says softly, and Irene rolls her eyes. ‘They’re all dreamy, Yeri, but they’re bad news,’ the girl says forcefully, echoing Seulgi’s earlier words.

And then the bell above the diner door rings behind me, followed by an absolute hubbub. ‘I’ll have you know, I got an A in Miss Lee’s class through workin’ my ass off!’ ‘No, it’s ‘cause you’re a little brownnoser, Jeon.’ ‘Hey! I am not!’ ‘So, if you’re workin’ your ass off in her class, why can’t you work your ass off in all the others? You’re failin’ everything else!’ ‘I’m not failin’ anything! I just don’t have time to do extra sessions with any other teachers.’ ‘You’re doing extra sessions with Miss Lee? Lucky fucker.’ ‘Lucky? How am I lucky?’ ‘She’s stacked.’ ‘So what? She might be a sex-pot, but we’re doin’ history work, not makin’ out.’ ‘Maybe you should make out with her. Drive her home, a little backseat bingo.’ ‘Jeon’s too much of a sissy for that.’ ‘I’m not a sissy! I could easy… backseat bingo with Miss Lee if I wanted too.’ ‘So you don’t want to? Are you queer?’

‘Hey, fat-heads, put a lid on it,’ one voice rises above all the squabbling. ‘Get a load of those dollies,’ the voice says softly, not softly enough for us to not hear. I feel a sudden rush of panic, knowing they’re about to join us. ‘Are those paper shakers I spy?’ ‘It can’t be.’ The teasing voices get louder and closer, and Irene gives me an encouraging smile, obviously telling me not to worry.

‘Ah, if it isn’t Rydell’s resident greasers,’ Seulgi says with a small smirk, and then ‘Rydell’s resident greasers’ come into my view. All of them have their hair slicked back and wear black leather jackets over black or white t-shirts, and black or blue jeans, but that’s where the similarities end. All of them are handsome, but in their own ways; Irene was right – they’re all dreamy. ‘Speak for the rest of ‘em, my hair ain’t greasy,’ one of the boys says with a boxy smile, pushing himself into the booth beside Joy who welcomes him with a flirty grin. He’s right too; his hair isn’t greasy at all. None of their hair is. A little shiny and sleek, but not greasy. At the mention of grease, one of the boys begins singing ‘Grease Is The Word’ obnoxiously loud, another hitting him over the head.

‘Don’t you skirts look cute?’ another of the boys says with a smirk as he pulls a stool up to the side of our booth, and the girls all smile back. ‘Thanks, Jungkook,’ Yeri says with a little flutter of her eyelashes, and he ever-so-slightly leans over me towards her, ignoring me completely. ‘You’re most welcome, doll,’ he replies, and she giggles behind her hand.

‘Oh. Who’s this?’ one of the other boys asks, looking at me, and suddenly all of them are looking at me. I will myself to be confident and flirty like the other girls, and I sit up a little in my seat. ‘She’s new ‘round here,’ Wendy says, not giving me a proper introduction. But it seems it’s better she didn’t, all of the boys suddenly intrigued, eyes scanning me intently. I spot Seulgi and Joy exchange a little grin; they’ve been bugging me all week to try and talk to some boys, saying it’d be super easy for me because of how much of a ‘dish’ I am, but I’m way too shy for that. ‘Obviously. I woulda noticed a cute little piece like this before,’ a disembodied voice says, and when Jungkook moves his head to the side, I spot the source of the voice.

He’s… hot, to say the least, his good looks making my stomach turn a little. His skin sports a golden tan, his eyes and hair a dark brown, and he has nice proportions, not too built but not exactly small either. He gives me a little grin when he spots me looking at him, and I’m endeared when I notice his lips form a heart shape when he smiles. I’m certain I’ve seen a smile like that before.

‘Don’t call her a piece, Hoseok. That’s derogatory towards women,’ Irene says, all eyes turning to her with surprise. Hoseok. Nice name. ‘What? We all know I’m a feminist, it’s not a surprise,’ she says matter-of-factly, as though it’s the most normal thing in the world, before taking a sip of her milkshake. ‘We’re just surprised you know a big word like derogary,’ one of the boys says, coaxing laughter from the rest of them. ‘It’s derogatory, doofus, not derogary,’ Irene says but her voice is lost under their laughter.

‘Hey, Yoongi, Mina’s workin’ tonight,’ one of the boys says, nudging another, presumably Yoongi, who instantly looks up with eager eyes, everyone else laughing. ‘Excuse me, ladies, knuckleheads. My lady awaits,’ he says, the other boys hollering and hooting at him, pushing him towards where poor Mina cleans tables on the other side of the diner.

‘So, what’s the dealio with you, sweetie? How’s a cute little dish like you managed to get in with the socs?’ one of the boys says to me in a teasing tone as he leans against the booth beside ours, the other girls rolling their eyes. ‘I hate it when you call us that, Jimin,’ Seulgi says with wide eyes and a little pout, and he grins at her, blowing her a kiss before he says, ‘sorry, baby, but ya know it’s true. Popular teeny queenies, you five.’ Seulgi certainly seems appeased, a satisfied little smirk on her face when she turns to take a sip of her milkshake.

‘I was a cheerleader at my old school, so the girls got me on the team as soon as I started at Rydell,’ I explain softly, the boys all listening with interest. ‘Ain’t you a cutie? So softly spoken, an’ all posh soundin'. Not like this noisy broad,’ the boy beside Joy says, nudging her, and she nudges him back with a scowl. ‘Shut it, Tae,’ she snaps, and the boy, Tae, grins as he throws an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side, Joy’s scowl quickly disappearing.

‘Ain’t you in one of my classes?’ Jungkook says, and I look at him for a moment, before nodding, realising he’s in my Math class. ‘Mmhmm. Math, right?’ I say, and he nods with a little grin at me, an unreadable expression on his face. ‘You’re awful quiet in class.’ ‘And you’re awful loud.’ The entire group bursts out laughing, Jungkook included, and he looks impressed.

‘The kitten has claws, huh?’ Hoseok says, my eyes flitting up to meet his amused ones, and then I realise – I’ve seen him before. ‘I recognise you,’ I say without thinking, and a little bit of surprise appears on his face before he quickly masks it with a grin. ‘That’s a line I usually use,’ he says, and everyone laughs, a little bit of embarrassment unfurling in my chest as I let out a giggle.

‘So what’s your name, sweetheart?’ the boy that thought ‘derogary’ was a word asks, and I raise an eyebrow at him. ‘What’s yours?’ I ask, and he grins, more laughter rippling around the group. ‘Kim Seokjin, Jin for short. I’m surprised you don’t know. Irene’s neighbours sure do,’ he jokes, a little gasp escaping my lips as everyone laughs, Irene shooting him a death stare. ‘Aw, ain’t you adorable?’ Tae says with an amused grin, having noticed my gasp, and I feel blood rushing to my cheeks as I duck my head to take a sip of my milkshake.

‘What’s the name then, doll?’ Hoseok asks, my heart fluttering at the nickname. ‘y/n,’ I say, and his mouth falls open. ‘Get outta here. There’s no way. y/n y/l/n?’ he asks, and I nod mutely, shocked that he knows my full name. ‘It’s me, Jung Hoseok,’ he says, and I vaguely recognise the name, but can’t remember where I know him from. One of the boys whistles to fill the awkward silence, another whispering ‘sheesh, ain’t that a bite?’. Hoseok looks at me with intense eyes, almost willing me to remember him. ‘Come on, y/n, you remember me. That summer. At the beach. You know me,’ he says, almost desperately, and then I realise exactly who he is, ice cold shock filling my veins.

‘Hobi! No way!’ I exclaim, a grin spreading across his face as he nods. ‘Hobi? Who the fuck is Hobi?’ Jimin asks, and Hobi rubs the back of his neck embarrassedly. ‘I am. It was my nickname when I was a kid,’ he admits, the boys all laughing, and annoyance appears on his face. ‘Put a lid on it, dipsticks. My old lady gave me that nickname, an’ I’ll be damned if you make me embarrassed of it,’ he says seriously, the boys all falling silent. ‘I like it,’ Seulgi says evenly, taking a sip of her milkshake. ‘Yeah, it’s cute. Hobi. Definitely suits you,’ Wendy says, and suddenly, Hobi’s sporting a little grin, and the other boys seem a little jealous at the attention from the girls.

‘So, you two childhood friends or somethin’?’ the only boy whose name I don’t know yet asks, and both Hobi and I nod. ‘We met a couple years back, when we were… 15?’ he asks me, and I nod. ‘Yeah, 15. I was nearly 16. It was summer, an’ our villas were next to each other on holiday. We spent the whole summer together,’ he says, the others listening with interest. ‘Ain’t that just adorable? Who woulda thought our big bad wolf would turn out to be a little softie?’ the boy replies, and Hobi glares at him. ‘You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’, Namjoon, so can it before you get a knuckle sandwich. I’m sure Wendy wouldn’t be too happy to see your face busted,’ Hobi threatens, and I’m shocked to see a new side to the gentle and kind boy so full of sunshine that I met a few years ago. He spots the look on my face, and suddenly looks ashamed of himself, the anger in his disposition instantly disappearing.

The conversation quickly moves on to Namjoon and Wendy, and I’m lost in my memories of that summer with Hobi. He was such a lovely boy, so funny and full of laughter. We made a lifetime of memories that summer, and I’ll always treasure it as the summer I fell in love for the first time.

‘Oh, y/n, your milkshake’s finished. Why don’t you get another one?’ Yeri says, nudging me out of my own mind, and I look down at my glass. Sure enough, it’s empty. I didn’t think I’d had that much. ‘Oh. Yeah, okay. Does anyone else want anything?’ I offer, and Yeri hands me some money to get her a basket of cheesy fries, and tells me to get my milkshake with her money too. And it’s then that I notice her glass is suspiciously full, around the amount that I had left in mine. She grins at me sneakily before her eyes flit to Hobi, and I know she’s plotting for him to follow me.

I slide out of the booth, and head up to the counter, my white cheer shoes squeaking against the clean vinyl floor. I cross paths with Yoongi, who’s glowering a little. ‘Any luck with Mina?’ I ask, my courage at speaking to a virtual stranger surprising me. ‘Not really,’ he admits, and I supress an amused laugh. ‘Maybe bring her some flowers next time you’re here? Girls love it when boys do things like that. It’s cute and romantic,’ I say, and he nods, digesting my words. ‘Yeah. Good idea. Thanks, new girl,’ he says, heading back to our booth with renewed energy.

I order a strawberry milkshake and Yeri’s fries at the counter, poor Mina looking like she could kill the chef when he shouts at her to clean the machine before getting my milkshake. ‘Shall I bring it over, or you gonna wait?’ she asks me, but I’m saved from answering, a voice behind me replying, ‘we’ll wait.’ Hobi appears, sliding on to the stool beside where I stand with an easy grin at me, my heart jumping.

‘I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,’ he admits, and I smile. ‘Me too. You’ve changed,’ I say, and his smile slips a little. I feel guilty, and so I make up for it by saying, ‘you’ve grown into a dreamboat.’ A grin instantly appears on his face, and he puffs out his chest a little, coaxing a laugh from me. ‘But look at you, y/n. You were always a pretty little thing, but now… well, you got a classy chassis, alright, an’ your face ain’t half bad either,’ he says as offhandedly as possible, a little grin on his face, and I can practically see his new greaser image fighting down the sweet boy that I know is inside. What he says is a little… not offensive, but I know Irene wouldn’t be too impressed if she heard it, and yet I can’t help but feel a little flattered. ‘Thank you. I think,’ I giggle, fingers toying with the hem of my skirt nervously, and he leans back against the counter, eyes skimming over my figure. ‘It was a compliment, doll. This new uniform’s cute, too. Reminds me of that little dress you wore, our last night that summer,’ he says, smiling widely, and my heart warms at him remembering.

I know exactly the dress he means; it was yellow and white plaid, sleeveless, and the hem came to just above my knee. I remember feeling so grown up in such a short dress, but it’s nothing compared to the outfit I’m wearing now. My grandparents would be scandalised if they saw me in my strappy, yellow plaid top – revealing my arms, the majority of my chest and a little bit of midriff when I stretch – and my blue plaid skirt, swishing around my thighs, with lacy white ankle socks and a yellow plaid scrunchie on my wrist. All the other girls are in variations of the same outfit, colours switched around on their tops and bottoms, different shape tops, different length skirts. It’s a little risqué, but times are slowly changing, and Irene is a firm believer that people like us will help to change it.

‘I barely remember that night,’ I say shyly, and he raises an eyebrow, knowing I’m lying. ‘I could never forget,’ he says lowly, eyes locked with mine, and the memory appears in my head. I shared my first kiss with him that night and whilst the memory is one that I treasure, I’m surprised it means anything to him. He’s a greaser, and they have a reputation for… ‘humping and dumping’ as Seulgi so eloquently put it. ‘You were my first kiss,’ he says casually, and I smile shyly, a little surprised at hearing so. ‘I never would’ve guessed,’ I say softly, and he grins. ‘I haven’t been a… greaser forever, you know,’ he says frankly, and I laugh. ‘Well, you were my first kiss too,’ I admit, and he grins even wider. ‘I know, kitten,’ he replies, and I feel my face fall a little, his face falling too. ‘No, no, I don’t mean it like that. It wasn’t bad, or anything,’ he says hastily, and I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. ‘You were just so…’ he trails off, and I give him a pointed look, prompting him to continue. ‘Innocent. Practically jail bait. A cute little Quentin Quail. It’s hot when a girl’s like that. Hotter than easy girls,’ he says, and I nod, holding back a laugh, and trying to mask how embarrassed I am at the flattery.

‘Here’s your milkshake, y/n, and your fries,’ Mina says, suddenly interrupting mine and Hobi’s eye contact. ‘Hey, Mina,’ Hobi says with a flirty grin, and I try to stop my smile from faltering. ‘Hi Hobi.’ ‘Why’s the diner so quiet tonight? It’s like Nowheresville in here.’ ‘Everyone’s at the bar, watching the football.’ ‘Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Well, anyway…’ ‘Yes, Hobi?’ Mina replies in a bored tone, and I suddenly like the girl. A lot. ‘Why don’t ya give Yoongi a chance? He’s real sweet on ya,’ Hobi says easily, and my heart warms when I realise that he’s trying to be a good friend. ‘And I told him already, I got a boyfriend,’ Mina says, and Hobi nods, impressed. ‘Yeah? What’s his name?’ ‘He goes by Bambam.’ ‘Still at school?’ ‘Na, he works at the garage ‘round the corner.’ ‘Good pay?’ ‘You writin’ a book or somethin? What’s with all the questions?’ ‘Just askin’. I wanna work there.’ ‘I’ll put in a word if you get Min over there to leave me be,’ Mina says, Hobi holding a hand out to her with a grin. ‘Deal,’ he says, Mina unable to keep a small smile off her face as she shakes his hand.

‘Come on, doll, let’s get back before Yeri’s fries go cold,’ Hobi says, his attention back on me as he hands me my milkshake, picking up the fries in one hand and snaking the other around my waist. A little thrill runs through my body at the feeling of his hand on me. He leads me back over to the table as I thank Mina over my shoulder. When we reach our booth, everyone’s staring at us, continuing to do so when Hobi puts Yeri’s fries down in front of her, slides into my seat and pulls me down onto his lap. My heart nearly pounds out of my chest.

‘You two look awful… close,’ Wendy says cautiously, and Hobi shrugs offhandedly. ‘We spent a whole summer together, ‘course we’re close.’ ‘Yeah, like two years ago.’ ‘So what?’ ‘Nothin’. Hobi.’ ‘Are ya laughin’ at my nickname?’ ‘No.’ ‘So, tell us more about this summer you two spent together,’ Taehyung says musingly, his elbow on the table and his chin resting on his hand. ‘Yeah, d’you get in her drawers?’ Jimin asks with a mischievous grin, and blood rushes to my cheeks from embarrassment. ‘Hey! Shut it, bozo, they were little kids,’ Seulgi exclaims, hitting him over the head, and he continues grinning, still looking at Hobi for an answer. ‘Mind your own beeswax,’ Hobi replies as his arms slide around my stomach. ‘Come on, let’s hear a little at least,’ Namjoon says softly, the others all nodding in agreement. ‘We wanna hear about your summer lovin’. Did you get friendly down in the sand?’ ‘D’you get far?’ ‘Did she put up a fight?’ Shut it, clods! Don’t ask questions like that, ‘specially not in front of her,’ Hobi exclaims, all of them exchanging grins. ‘Jeez, whatta grouch. You oughta tell us somethin’, since you didn’t even tell us about her after that summer,’ Jungkook says, leaning away from Hobi when the boy goes to hit him. ‘What are ya, the FBI? Lay off a little. There’s nothin’ to know. Like Seulgi said; we were little kids. Ain’t that right, kitten?’ Hobi says, and I nod in response to his question, butterflies in my stomach at being sat on his lap, having his arms around me, and having him speak to me like… like I’m his girl or something.

‘Well, whatever. I’m bored. Let’s cut out,’ Taehyung says, and I can see Joy deflate a little, my heart going out to her. ‘Na, let’s stick around a while,’ Jimin grins, eyes locked with Seulgi who grins right back. ‘Thought we were gonna hit the passion pit,’ Hobi says, Irene rolling her eyes. ‘The flick’s probably finished by now,’ Namjoon says, and Yoongi grins. ‘Let’s head down to Thunder Road,’ he says with a glint in his eyes, and the others exchange a glance before looking to Jin. ‘Na, my old lady said I gotta be home before midnight,’ Jungkook says, the others all mocking him. ‘Candy ass. Your old lady won’t say nothin’ if you’re late, let’s just go,’ Yoongi says, and Jin shakes his head. ‘Ice it. We get in enough trouble, let’s not go lookin’ for it,’ he says, surprisingly wisely, and the other boys respect his words, nodding.

‘We makin’ tracks or what? I really gotta get home or my old lady’ll crown me,’ Jungkook says, Yeri practically melting at his words – obviously she’s got a soft spot for a momma’s boy. ‘Yeah, let’s split. You dollies hangin’ ‘round here, or ya wanna come with?’ Jin asks, and the girls all look to Irene. ‘Where ya goin’? We ain’t comin’ if you’re goin’ to Thunder Road,’ Irene says, and I’m still unaware of what exactly Thunder Road is. ‘Na, we’re gonna drop the kid off an’ then… head to the bar,’ Jin says, the other boys cheering at his words. They all start to get up from their seats, and I feel Hobi fidgeting a little beneath me. I get out of the booth, and he gives me a smile before sliding out himself, and I take the empty seat. Irene looks around at us all before answering, ‘I think we’re gonna head home.’ ‘Any of ya need a ride?’ Jin offers, and Irene shakes her head. ‘I’m drivin’ Yeri and y/n home, and Seulgi’s old man said he’ll pick her, Joy and Wendy up on his way from work,’ Irene says, Jin nodding. Whilst he seemed a little immature at first, it’s obvious he’s a lot more grown up and responsible than the others.

‘Well. We’ll see you dollies at school on Monday then,’ Jin says, the other boys giving various goodbyes. Tae squeezes Joy’s thigh, the girl jumping a little in her seat as he grins, Jimin blowing Seulgi a kiss as he heads towards the door and she giggles, pretending to catch it and tuck it into her top. Namjoon gives Wendy a wink and she rolls her eyes, unable to hold back the grin on her face, as Jin exchanges a little glance with Irene and Jungkook presses a kiss to Yeri’s hand with a smirk, Yeri giggling as a blush colours her cheeks. ‘See ya Monday, y/n,’ Hobi says with a grin, and I smile back. ‘Bye, Hobi,’ I reply, the boys leaving moments later.

The diner seems eerily quiet now that they’re gone, and all of the girls look at me. ‘You and Jung Hoseok, huh? Who woulda thought?’ Joy says, looking at me with both curiosity and amusement in her eyes. ‘You’re so good, and sweet, y/n. I never woulda guessed you had the hots for him,’ Wendy says, and the true words are unspoken. So I say them. ‘And you never would’ve guessed he had the hots for me?’ I say plainly, Wendy looking a little guilty. ‘It sounds bad when you say it like that. I mean… the greasers, they flirt with us and all, but they’d choose an easy girl over us any day. And you’re not easy. You’re so innocent and soft, and I’m just surprised Hoseok would like someone like that,’ Wendy explains herself, and it makes perfect sense. ‘He wasn’t the same back then. He was… really nice, and gentle,’ I say, the girls exchanging a glance. ‘y/n, he’s been in that gang since he was, like, 14, ‘cause his big sister dates one of the older boys in the gang. Meanin’ he was a greaser back then too. Maybe… he dropped the act with you, though,’ Irene says, though she sounds sceptical. ‘Yeah. Maybe,’ I say, questioning our summer together in my head.

‘Speak of the devil,’ Wendy says gently, just before Hobi reappears beside me. ‘Hey, doll. I was wonderin’ if ya wanna do somethin’ with me? Maybe next Friday, after school?’ he asks, rubbing the back of his neck, and he looks almost nervous. My stomach turns with butterflies, and it’s only when Yeri nudges me that I remember I need to answer. ‘That… sounds real nice, but the pep rally’s next Friday. Maybe another day?’ I ask, and he nods, looking down at the floor, a little disheartened. ‘I can do something on the weekend after the pep rally?’ I offer, and he looks back up hopefully. ‘Yeah. Yeah, the weekend sounds good. You wanna… go to the passion pit? They’re showin’ Sunset Boulevard,’ he suggests, and I nod with a small smile. ‘I… I’d really like that, Hobi,’ I reply, and he smiles, real wide, his eyes practically shining. ‘I’ll pick you up. It’d be nice to see your parents again.’ ‘Yeah, that would be nice. They’d like to see you too.’ ‘Yeah. Neat. We’ll talk about it at school, but I gotta go. The boys are waitin’ for me,’ he says, and I nod, smiling. ‘Bye, Hobi,’ I say softly, and he grins back at me. ‘See ya, y/n,’ he says, taking a sip of my milkshake and laughing when I swat at him, before jogging towards the door.

I sigh happily, looking around at the girls, who all look back at me amusedly. ‘Oh, she’s a goner,’ Yeri says gently, and I laugh, rolling my eyes. ‘So is he, by the looks of it,’ Joy says, and Irene raises an eyebrow. ‘I’m not so sure. You know why people go to the passion pit,’ Irene says, and I look blankly at her. ‘Why?’ ‘To have the movie as background noise for… backseat bingo,’ she says quietly, and I feel my happiness deflate a little. I’ve met the first (and only) boy I loved again after a couple years, and I’m finding out he’s a horndog. ‘But maybe he just wants to watch the flick. I heard Sunset Boulevard’s real good,’ Seulgi says encouragingly, obviously trying to cheer me up, and I nod, though Irene’s words still ring in my ears. ‘I could be worryin’ for nothin’, y/n, don’t get sad about it. I just wanna look out for ya, that’s all,’ Irene says, and I smile at her, feeling gratitude for her being so kind this soon into our friendship. ‘Thanks, Irene. Don’t worry, I won’t let him… get into my drawers,’ I joke, repeating Jimin’s earlier words, and the girls all burst out laughing. ‘I sure hope not ‘cause my momma’s goin’ to watch Sunset Boulevard next weekend,’ Joy says between laughs, coaxing more laughter from us. I meet Irene’s eyes, and she gives me a gentle smile before mouthing, ‘be careful.’ ‘Don’t worry,’ I mouth back with a smile, ‘I will.’

81 notes · View notes

mdzs-kinkmeme · 4 years

Text

Recruiting tag wranglers for the MDZS Kink Meme!

Prompts are back open, and we’ve got a DELUGE of them. If we want to consistently move them over to the Pinboard so folks can filter & search, we need a strong and active tag wrangling team. Up until now, I’ve been recruiting mainly via Twitter, but there’s an active MDZS fanbase on tumblr as well and I’d love to get more tumblr-pased fans involved!

Now that we kinda-sorta know what we're doing with prompt tagging & wrangling, we've divided things up into neater roles so that people can become experts at their various column sets. All you need to help out is a Discord handle and an email address!

Tag team roles are as follows:

Reviewer : Thoroughly reviews already-tagged pages for typos and missing tags. You need to know a lot about the entire tag system and will probably need to ask a lot of check-in questions, but you can go as slow as you want.

Category/character/ship tagger : One of the two most urgent column sets to fill in. Good job for people who know how to use text shortcuts because there's a lot of tags to add.

Status/exclusions tagger : The other most urgent column set. Requires a good grasp of the exclusion tag system, which we can teach you about.

Setting/timeline/canon tagger: Requires ability to read between the lines on vague prompts in order to suggest appropriate setting and timeline placement. Knowledge of how canon sources differ from each other is probably helpful.

Kinks/content/tropes tagger : Ideally, lots of people will have this role so no one gets overwhelmed. Requires ability to recognize and name kinks and tropes. (What's figging? Felching? Omaroshi? You'll learn.) Will require getting familiar with our index and adding any new tags there. Not necessary to get done before prompts are added to Pinboard.

Type tagger: Primarily about tagging who tops, who bottoms, who doms, who subs, who's alpha, and who's omega, but you also tag things like queer identities, non-canon gender variations, and notable types like vampire!, camboy!, and dark!.

Dead dove tagger : Our resident dead dove expert is in charge of helping dead dove eaters find dead doves to eat by making sure they're tagged appropriately.

Right now we are especially in need of kink/content/tropes taggers and type taggers!!! Ping me here or on Twitter if you are interested in helping out. Just be aware that you need to have a strong enough stomach to read through all the prompts, so please keep your own mental health in mind before volunteering <3

#mdzs kink meme #mdzs #the untamed #mod speaks #pinboard

24 notes · View notes

bittysvalentines · 4 years

Text

Would That I

From: @lizards-online

To: @pieandpucks

Sometimes in life, things are missed. Opportunities are lost, but as a whole we cannot stop moving. Still, something feels left behind, dropped in a time before. We keep going, with something lost and something gained, until life gives us our chance again,to take destiny’s chance to reconnect and find what is lost.

At Samwell University resided one Dr. Jack Zimmermann, a professor of history with an affinity for ice sports and queer literature. His smile was kind and his hair was just beginning to hint at touches of grey. He was a hard grader, and his readings were long, but his passion for teaching and his love of his students always showed through in his work. Students left his classes better thinkers, harder workers, and with only the smallest crush on him. Okay sometimes, not so small. Even the straightest of men recognized that Dr.Jack Zimmermann was a resident hottie. Rumor had it that he was voted “Samwell’s Most Gorgeous” four years straight back in the day.

Jack shuffled a few papers at his podium so as to get them in order before the end of his lecture. “Everyone, thank you for your attention today, just remember if you want to earn some extra credit points, you can attend one of the alumni guest lectures that will be on campus this weekend, and then write a one page response on the speaker’s topic and your thoughts. I’ll be popping in to a couple of the speakers myself, so if you see me, don’t be afraid to say hello.”

Jack began walking across the front of the classroom, dispersing flyers advertising the Alumni Symposium to be passed back.

A student in the back of the room raised her hand, staring down at the flyer in her hand “Dr. Zimmermann, when did you graduate Samwell?”

Jack paused for a moment. “2015. Why?”

“Well, I was just looking at the graduation year of some of these alumni, and it says here Eric Bittle Graduated in 2017. So that means you were only two years ahead of Eric Bittle when he went here!”

The class erupted in murmurs and comments. Eric Bittle was one of Samwell’s most famous alumni. He led Samwell to the Frozen Four his senior year, while being the first out NCAA hockey captain, was drafted by the Falconers and was the first openly LGBT+ player in the league. He won the Stanley Cup his rookie year (first of many) along with the Calder and Art Ross. Even outside of hockey he was famous for his witty vlog which evolved from a cooking vlog to a hockey, cooking and life blog with now over 18 million followers from all walks of life.

Jack swallowed hard. Yes, it was true, his time at Samwell and Eric Bittle’s time did overlap by two years, and in fact, during those two years, he ran into Eric all the time. They were...friends. Shitty made sure of that. Jack would watch the hockey team’s games, not only to support Shitty, but to watch Eric weave and maneuver across the ice unlike anyone else. Even though Jack had decided against playing in college, he never did lose his love of the game. Meanwhile Eric would hover about the library doing anything but homework when Jack was working. Plus, the semester they took a class together was definitely a bonding experience. But it had been a long time since they had spoken. After Jack graduated, he felt too awkward reaching out to someone who he had a massive crush on but was WAY out of his league. And when one month turned into two, and then one year turned into five, and five years into a decade, Jack had trouble remembering where all the time had gone.

“Hah. Uh, yes he was two years younger than me. We had a class together once.” Jack decided firmly against mentioning his large crush on the blond to his entire History 336 Seminar.

The students in the room all lamented about how cool it was that their professor knew a celebrity.

Jack closed the door to his office and scrubbed his hand over his face and let out a sigh. Would it be awkward to see Eric again? Would Eric even remember him? Probably not. It was just a youthful crush. Even if Eric was still as attractive and charming and wonderful as he was back in the day, Jack was far past his prime. He could just not go to that lecture, but he felt drawn to it, as if something wanted him to see Eric speak. Jack picked up his phone and dialed the most recent number. It picked up on the first ring.

“What the FUCK is up Zimmermann, to what do I owe the pleasure of one of your rare and coveted calls? Are you in legal trouble? Did you kill someone? Did you kick a goose and now you’re losing your Canadian citizenship?” Shitty was Jack’s best friend. He was boisterous and energetic but genuine nonetheless. His words washed over Jack with a wave of excitement and familiarity.

“Haha Shits. I’m good. And no, no geese, at least not this time. I was just wondering, would you want to come down to Samwell this weekend? There’s an alumni symposium going on, and I think you’d enjoy the speakers.”

“Ah ha old Jackabelle misses me. Of fuckin course I’ll come down to the symposium, but I’ll warn ya man I’m not gonna sit through more than ONE old white man talk. ONE. Who's the lineup anyway?”

“I can forward you the flyer but just off the top of my head: there's the current head of the English department, Dr. Masawa, she’s gonna be talking about her book, um Dr. Atley is going to present some research, and um, Eric Bittle is going to be there.”

“Bitty fucking Bittle? The myth, the man, the legend himself? Well fuck my ass and call me chicken we HAVE to go to that. It’s been like FOREVER since I’ve seen Bits. What a fucking beaut. We texted a bit last month but it's been like a year and some since I last got to hang with him. You know he’s got a daughter now?”

“Oh. Uh, no?” A daughter. Jack’s head spinned. He knew he didn’t have a chance with Eric but he didn’t realize that Eric had gotten married and had a kid. That would’ve been big news right? Was Jack really that out of the loop? He needed to read the news more.

“Yeah she’s fuckin adorable as fuck. Like, two, three now maybe? He posts pictures of her on Facebook like all the time.”

“That’s uh pretty cool. Listen Shits, I have to go I have a, uh, book to read. I’ll see you this weekend. You can stay at my place. Text you bye.”

“Bye Jac-” Jack hung up the phone before Shitty could fully say goodbye. Why did he feel like there was a pit in his stomach? He didn’t care that Eric Bittle was a married father. So what? It’s not like he had a chance with him anyway. What would he have done? Gone up to him after his speech and say “Hello, I had a crush on you in college, and then we never talked after I graduated. Want to go on a date?” Even if Jack had had the confidence to do so, it was literally impossible now because Eric was a married father, a professional hockey player, celebrity, and an A Level hottie. All Jack had was a doctorate, a wall of books and a million papers to grade. He wasn’t even in the shape he had been in when he was in college, so really, he didn’t have anything to offer. Jack should just shut out all the fantasies of those big brown eyes, and golden hair, and gorgeous toned legs. Gosh what was he doing?

Jack crossed the room and slumped into his chair behind his desk and picked up a stack of papers sitting on a chair beside the desk. The best way to distract himself was to drown in work.

Eric Bittle woke up at 6 a.m. Saturday morning to the sound of his daughter crying. He was tired and sore from his game the night before, and a bruise was starting to form on his left thigh due to a nasty check from a Bruins defenceman but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

Eric threw off his sheets and rushed into his daughter’s room. Allie was just about two and a half years old, and was in the midst of potty training. Unfortunately for him, Eric was also in the middle of the thralls of hockey season so a lot of the potty training fell on her daycare teachers. Being a single parent was tough. When his cousin Elizabeth had passed away, leaving her and her partner’s daughter to him, he had no idea what to do. He had been five years into his professional hockey career, out, single and totally unprepared for the hurdles of parenthood.

He pushed open the door to the nursery to find his daughter sitting upright whimpering. “Oh you poor thing. Looks like we’re going to have to get you changed real quick now aren’t we Miss Allie?”

Eric brought her to the changing table and cleaned her and dressed her for the day. It was a little earlier in the morning than he had planned, but he needed to get a move on to get to Samwell in time for his guest lecture. Eric had reached out to his old advisor and she recommended him an education major who would be glad to watch his daughter while he spoke and mingled, not wanting to be away from her for the entirety of his day off. He dressed her in cute bunny socks and a yellow shirt and white pants. She was just about the cutest thing in the world. Soon Eric himself got dressed, packed a diaper bag and headed out.

On his way Eric’s thoughts winded through his head. It had been quite some time since he’d been back to his alma mater. Samwell had been such an influential and formative place for him. From developing his hockey skills to coming into his own as a gay man. And even though he never did have a long lasting romantic relationship, the friendships he made there pushed him through his life and helped him become who he was. Thinking back to some of the people, he thought about the boys, Lardo, some of the other team captains, and his mind landed on one Jack Zimmermann.

Eric had always had such a massive crush on Jack, with his boyband bangs, his droopy eyes, jaw that could cut glass and a behind that would give greek statues a run for their money. Eric had first met Jack through Shitty, but then subsequently kept running into him in the dining hall, gym and then one semester for a class. Jack would come to their games and Eric would watch him stack books in the campus library while he pretended to do homework, but always ended up back at the circulation desk, talking about everything and nothing until it closed. They had been friends, and Eric had had the largest crush on earth on the sad-eyed Canadian. But Jack was way out of Eric’s league. He had been voted Samwell’s Most Beautiful for four years straight, and suitors were constantly trying to ask him out. And then Jack graduated, leaving Bitty yearning for what could have been. According to Shitty, Jack was a professor at Samwell, but the two hadn’t really kept in contact. After the fact, there had been some boys, some boyfriends, even some hookups, but nothing lasting more than a few months at a time. At 30 years old Eric Bittle had never been in a relationship longer than 9 months.

The sight of Samwell pulled Eric out of his thoughts and Eric shook his head. He had things to do, and he wasn’t going to let ghosts from the past distract him from his job today: to speak about Samwell, sports, and his activism.

Jack entered the packed auditorium with Shitty in tow. He smiled and waved to a few of his students while Shitty was speaking as if he was a physical manifestation of stream of consciousness. They took their seats in the front row reserved for faculty, staff and alumni.

“I wonder what he’s gonna talk about. I hope he brings up all the swawesome shit the SMH did. Like that one kegster when-”

“Wait Shits shhh there he is” Jack cut Shitty off.

Eric Bittle walked onto the stage with a mic affixed to his shirt. He wore tight fitting navy blue slacks that highlighted just how well the NHL had bulked him up. His top two shirt buttons were unbuttoned on his white and navy blue patterned shirt. The sleeves were rolled up ¾ of the way showing off the definition in his arms. Jack’s throat immediately went dry with his face getting more red as the moments ticked on.

Fuck. Eric Bittle was even hotter than he remembered and was a million times more attractive in person than he had been in promotional pictures. And his voice, the accent was so cute! Keep it together Zimmermann, that’s a married man. Jack was going to have a hard time sitting through this entire speech.

Fuck. Eric walked on stage, scanning the audience and almost immediately his eyes landed on one Jack Zimmermann. He was wearing a tweed jacket, with glasses and his hair was just a touch grey. Time had been very kind to Jack. Eric’s throat became dry as he stumbled his way through his introduction. Shit Jack was in the front row. How was Eric going to concentrate when the hottest man in the world was right in front of him, watching him speak for an hour and a half.

Clapping. Jack was clapping. He zoned back in after having not actually comprehended a single word for the past 90 minutes. He had just sat and stared at the most gorgeous man he had ever seen and tried not to get a boner. Shitty was speaking to him. Jack needed to respond.

“Yeah. He does look good in those pants” Shit. Probably not what Shitty asked him.

“Not what I was talking about, but yeah you know what now that you mention it, mother fucker looks fresh as fuck! I gotta fuckin tell him those pants are doing it for him.” Shitty bolstered himself out of his chair, and up the steps and onto the stage where some faculty were gathering to congratulate him on his speech. Jack followed.

“Eric Mother fucking Bittle” Shitty bellowed as he walked, Jack close behind, to where Eric stood, now holding a young baby girl on his hip as he spoke with alumni and faculty alike.

Eric turned to face the two men and smiled. “Shitty B. Knight you best not be swearing around my daughter like that. And Jack, it’s good to see you. It’s been awhile.”

“Fuck yeah it has been. You two were adorable back in the day. You should’ve kept touch more!” Shitty laughed.

Jack smiled awkwardly. “Yeah it has been a bit hasn’t it? I’m sorry I never kept touch. Congrats on the hockey, and the Stanley Cup, and the marriage and uh, kid.”

Eric’s face twisted into a confused half smile. “Marriage? Jack Zimmermann I am not married. I was her godfather. Life happened and now I’m her Daddy.” Eric looked at her, and kissed her forehead softly.

Jack’s brain short circuited. Not...married? “Oh so are you…”

“No I’m not seeing anyone. I’m doing quite fine with her all by myself.” Eric blushed.

“Okay I see where this is going, I’m gonna back out of this convo..” Shitty etched away from the two men. The latter hardly noticing.

Jack awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. “In all honesty, Eric, remember all those years ago, when we went to Samwell together. I had the biggest crush on you, but you were so out of league I never did anything about it. I should have, but I was a bit of a coward.”

Eric’s face turned a bright shade of pink as he stammered out a response. “Jack Laurent Zimmermann! You had a crush on me back then? I’ll have you know I pined for you for two whole years thinking you were straight until someone told me YEARS later that you weren’t, and then when I did realize you were an option, I never thought in a million years that you would be in my league anyway. You’re meaning to tell me you had a crush on me that entire time?”

Jack blushed furiously. “We both had crushes on eachother I guess. I’m sorry I never made a move on you back then. If it means anything, I’d like to uh make one now.”

“Well how about our timing. Gladly Jack. Here, ” Eric pulled out his phone with one hand, careful not to disturb Allie, and handed it over to Jack. “ text me.”

Jack put his number into the phone and texted himself. “In the meantime, would you like to catch up? It’s been a long time.”

Unbeknownst to the two men, several students stood by in shock, watching their professor flirt with and score a date with a literal celebrity. Two in the front high fived. “Get it Dr. Zimmermann!”

#bittyjack #bv2020 #bitty's valentines #omgcp fandom #omg check please!

61 notes · View notes

crime-brains · 4 years

Text

Yee Haw

Summary: An AU based off of JJ and Reid’s conversation at the end of “Rusty” where Reid says if he weren’t in the FBI he’d be a cowboy.

Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of homophobia and transphobia.

Word Count: 1,095

Tropes: AU, The Team Is Queer Because You Can’t Stop Me

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Emily Prentiss, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, Jennifer Jereau, Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan

FYI: The fic is in Spencer’s POV.

I dismounted my horse, Monte, and hitched him in front of a large building with a sign reading “Saloon” perched on the roof. As I stepped into the dimly lit room the doors swung behind me, creaking loudly on their hinges. As my eyes adjusted I saw a man behind the bar, he was older, with salt n’ pepper hair and a goatee to match. The only other person in the bar was a woman with straight black hair framing an angular face, who was nursing a glass of what looked like whiskey.

“You new around here?” The barkeep asked as he cleaned out a cup with a rag.

“Uh, yeah, I bought a ranch just outside of town,” I said, sliding onto a stool a couple of chairs away from the woman.

“I should introduce myself then, I’m David Rossi, me and my wife Krystall own and run the saloon. She’s down at the flower shop right now, but you’ll meet her soon enough.” The man, who I now knew as David Rossi, said. “But anyway, what can I get you?”

“Spencer Reid, and water would be fantastic, thanks,” I said with a small smile. As I tapped my fingers against the counter, I dared a glance towards the woman at the end of the bar. She downed the rest of her drink and stood up, as she did so I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a sheriff’s badge. As she left I turned back to Mr. Rossi.

“That’s the sheriff?”

“Yep.”

“Does she always drink in the middle of the day?”

“You’ll have to excuse her, we don’t really get any sort of crime around here, so she doesn’t have much else to do.”

I nodded, taking a long sip of water.

“So you said you bought a ranch?” Mr. Rossi asked, turning to grab a rag to wipe away the wet rings the sheriff’s drink had left on the bar.

“Yes, I’ve got some cattle, a couple of horses.”

“So you’re a cattle farmer?”

“Well, I sort of just wanted to move somewhere small. My hometown wasn’t big by any standards, but it was just too much.” I said with a dishonest smile. My mom had tried her best to help me hide my secret, but once it was out, the news spread like wildfire. Luckily I was able to get out before any actual damage could be done.

Mr. Rossi nodded, I knew he could tell I was lying, but he didn’t pry, which I appreciated.

“Lots of folks around here like that.” Mr. Rossi said with a knowing look. I nodded, reaching towards my pocket to pay for the water.

“Hey, no, on the house for our newest resident.” Rossi said, picking up my empty glass. I smiled at him, and stood up, leaving the bar. As I squinted through the sunlight I spotted a man, he was on a horse and was pulling a cart full of what looked like vegetables, I figured I was already on a roll, I had already met the bar owner and the sheriff, might as well meet The Vegetable Guy. I mounted my horse and trotted towards Vegetable Guy.

“Hey, I’m Spencer Reid, I just moved here. I’ve got a ranch just outside of town.” Vegetable Guy turned to me with a kind smile. “Derek Morgan, I’ve got a farm just West of here. I’m going to drop off some vegetables to one of my biggest buyers, Penelope Garcia, have you met her yet?”

“No, mind if I come with you?”

“Not at all, you’ll love her, everyone does.”

I nodded, continuing to ride alongside him until we reached a large metal gate leading into a large forested area. Soon a stout woman was running towards us down a dirt path and Derek and I dismounted, she unlocked the gate, struggling to push it open, as soon as she did she embraced Derek with a huge smile.

“Hey baby girl, I’ve got someone you should meet.” The woman, who I assumed was Penelope reluctantly let go of Derek and she approached me, the same smile still plastered onto her face.

“Penelope Garcia” She held out her hand.

“Spencer Reid.” I shook her hand and took notice of how she was dressed, she had on some of the brightest clothes I’d ever seen, not to mention plenty of accessories including a pair of giant heart-shaped earrings.

“Great to meet you! I run this sanctuary-” She gestured to the forested area, “for wounded animals. Derek supplies me with all the vegetables I need to feed everybody.” I nodded, glancing back toward the cart piled high with vegetables. “He also volunteers here a few times a week, and we’re always looking for more help.” She said, walking towards the vegetables to help Derek unload them. Penelope and I each carried two crates while Derek carried four.

“Are you sure you’re alright? It’s okay if we have to make two trips.” I said with concern, glancing back at Derek, who was walking a few yards behind me.

“I’m alright.” As if to prove his point, he jogged towards me, the crates swaying precariously in his arms.

“Okay, if you say so.” I said turning to face forwards, I was surprised to see that Penelope had stopped. It was then that I heard a loud meowing coming from the tree she was stopped in front of. Penelope turned towards Derek, a look of worry evident on her features.

“Sergio got himself stuck again!” She said, looking up into the tree.

“I’ll call Emily.” With that, Derek set down the vegetables and made his way back down the trail.

I stood there awkwardly as Penelope called out for Sergio, desperate to make some sort of conversation, I tried to think of something helpful to say.

“You know, 31% of feline adoptions are black cats.” Penelope turned towards me with a confused look on her face.

“That’s cool.” She said, “I always worry about black cats, I’m afraid people won’t adopt them because of a stupid superstition.”

“Uh, unfortunately, black cats are the most commonly left behind at animal shelters, at 30%, but I-I uh felt like that statistic was too sad.”

“Oh. Why do you know all this anyway?” I shrugged at her question.

“I have an, uh, eidetic memory. I remember everything I read.”

“That’s, that’s really cool actually.” She turned to me as her face lit up, “What else do you know about cats?” I smiled, I knew I was gonna like it here.

#cm #criminal minds #spencer reid #penelope garcia #derek morgan #david rossi #cm fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction

17 notes · View notes

scientia-rex · 5 years

Text

I feel a thousand years older than my non-medical friends these days. How many people did you watch die this year? How many children?

Came back to the sticks for the remainder of my residency. Thought to myself, do I really need to be involved in jail medicine? I don’t love abscess drainage. I don’t take a lot of joy or satisfaction in treating a tooth abscess or writing Zofran for somebody puking their guts out because they’re withdrawing from heroin. Then, on my very first fucking day at the jail, a queer rape victim who needed an abortion burst into tears, and my attending stood next to her rubbing circles on her back and said quietly, “I am so sorry,” and I thought, well, shit, guess I’m going to work in the jail after all.

Because we’re here. Because when you go into medicine you have to decide, who are you doing this for? And maybe the answer is you. Maybe you’re doing it because your father was a doctor and you look forward to being a specialist with money and prestige and an attractive, quiet wife and Wednesday golf afternoons and an award of some kind as a paperweight on your big carved wooden desk. That’s fine. But a lot of us are here for someone. Poor people or black people or Native people, Asian people of varying backgrounds, rural people, and of course categories overlap all the time, I know multiple queer doctors of color, but the thing is, I am here for queer people. That’s what I used to think about, on the excruciating afternoons of third year in med school: what would I say to a trans kid from my hometown if I quit? That I couldn’t put up with this for them, for their sake? That they can’t get hormones or even have a doctor who treats them like a person, because I was weak?

People will do a lot for greed or for fear. They’ll do a lot more for love. And Jesus Christ, I love my people.

I came home for you. I almost grabbed the paper the nurse took out to the patient to write, come see me at the clinic and my name, because I don’t know if there are any other queer doctors at that clinic. I didn’t. Maybe I should have.

Our parents hate us. They kick us out. We live on the streets, become dependent on substances, engage in sex work, loiter, all kinds of things that mean queers show up in jail and on psych wards. And that’s where I’ll meet you, if you need me to. I’ve been in the psych ward for children and I’ve been in the emergency room, I’ve been in the hospital and told a man with a resistant strain of HIV that he was dying. I’ve listened to twelve and thirteen year olds who tried to kill themselves because their parents didn’t love them because they were queer. I’ve held the arms down of an incoherent flailing fourteen-year-old who took a whole bottle of pills, I’ve spent twenty minutes late at night on the phone with Poison Control talking like a calm, patient doctor, saying When would you recommend I repeat those labs? and Any other vital sign abnormalities I should be watching for? instead of screaming and beating my fists on the wall like I want to.

Did you watch a child die this year? I did. Not that kid, not that time. But you can’t go back. You’re not the same person after that. I watched a kid die in third year of medical school, and I watched a kid die this year, and I came to pronounce the death of a gay man while his partner and what parts of his family would still come stood around his bed and wept, and I held the hand of an elderly man who was dying alone, and you are not the same after these things happen, and I’m a thousand years old and so tired. So tired.

This week I bought a storage ottoman and a new coat. My old one had a rip in the pocket. I lost a chapstick. I put in a request for a week’s vacation later this year. I stood there and watched a queer rape victim cry because she’d been kept, incarcerated, just long enough to miss her appointment for her abortion. I didn’t punch anything. I didn’t drink to excess.

When you need me, come find me in the clinic by the water. I just saw my first patient there. He asked me about his heart and I explained its disease, carefully and slowly, and at the end he said he thought he’d like to keep seeing me as his doctor for a long time. “When it gets to that point,” he said, “I would like to die with dignity.” He wants physician-assisted suicide. I said, “I very strongly support your right to do that. I think it’s very important for people to have that right.”

I’m here for my people. The hicks, yes, and the old men and women, and the violent children whose parents fear them, and the queers. Most of all the queers. I love you. I’m here because I love you.

#residency will be the death of me

617 notes · View notes

faunusrights · 5 years

Text

it’s just you, me, and this bottle of gin between us

“I know that we’re the resident teetotal people,” Weiss starts from somewhere behind the sofa, glasses clinking together as she crosses the room to where Yang has been slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the cushions for nearly two hours now. She hasn’t decided whether she needs to cry yet, or if she just needs to succumb to a state of total silent apathy. It’s a close one. “But I figured this would be a good a time as any for a stiff drink.”

Vale’s election results are depressing. Well, they’ve been depressing before, but this year seems particularly malicious because this was the first time Yang had expected to see some wave of real change. Having all the seats up for reshuffle was a chance to finally oust some of the old and greying men who sat upon their perches and spouted bullshit about the young, the poor, the Faunus, the disabled, and the queer to anyone who’d listen, but instead the predictions went up after voting had closed for the day, and, well...

“Yeah,” Yang mumbles. “Good idea.”

Where the gin came from, she’s not sure. She’d guess that it was a gift because Weiss’s sister does drink, but she’s more a proper military kind who can chug the equivalent of paint thinner and hardly feel a burn. This bottle Weiss has is new, unfamiliar, and Yang wonders if she bought it just for tonight.

“They say gin is melancholic,” Weiss says as she sits down, lining the glasses up in front of her before she pops open the bottle with a sharp twist of her wrist. “So it’s maybe not the best choice, but I thought it’d be fitting.”

“Didn’t expect good things?”

Weiss shakes her head, filling each glass with more gin than is maybe advisable when they haven’t got a mixer to go with it, but maybe that’s intentional. Blake and Ruby went to bed as soon as the predictions came out, exhausted with distress, but Yang and Weiss like to stay up all night to see how the votes go. If they get drunk quickly, they’ll nearly be sober by sunrise. “I’d been optimistic, because Ruby would yell at me if I didn’t, but I knew we wouldn’t get a full house. Even these predictions are worse than I’d expected, though.”

Fifty seats up for grabs, and Yang had hoped for a split house, if not something close. The younger, more progressive prospective councillors had talked big game, ambition shining in bright eyes, and they’d have been able to make real change with more than twenty seats under their belt. Instead, it’s looking like four seats, maybe, if not a lucky five or six, which means Vale’s council will continue on as ever; hating everyone who isn’t just like them.

“Was Atlas’s voting like this?” Yang asks as Weiss hands her a glass, carrying all the potency of a bottle of perfume. “Just fucking garbage, all the time?”

Weiss mulls it over, sips her drink. She takes it like a champ, considering neither she nor Yang have drunk in years, though she shivers when it hits her stomach. “Yeah. I mean, I was on the garbage side back then, if not by choice. But what always got me- like, the thing that was always crazy to me was how people in Mantle would vote to support them too.” She pulls a face, but that’s not because of the gin. “These men would say the most awful things, support the worst causes you could, and yet, people would clamour to toss them votes. Even when they fucked up so badly it looked like they’d never recover, they did. And all you could wonder was why.”

The gin doesn’t just smell like perfume, it tastes like it too, and it takes a lot of strength for Yang to muscle through her first gulp. It burns from the back of her throat right down to the pit of her stomach, and gods above, she remembers why she doesn’t do this any more. Alcohol is disgusting on every single level she knows, but it’s still not as nasty as the results she’s seeing on-screen, so she takes another swig anyway. “Charismatic?”

Weiss snorts. “None of the ones here are, and yet, look at them.” She motions to the numbers, the rising figures, and Yang gives her that one. “They do it by blaming everyone but them. None of this is their fault, it’s everyone else’s fault. And people swallow it up. They’re looking for someone to blame.”

She sits back then, slouching as Yang is, and she swirls her drink around in the glass before she knocks it all back in one, fingers tightening around the glass until the worst of the burn passes. “And they got it. They got all the scapegoats they’ve ever asked for.”

There’s a second, then two, then three, and on the near-silent TV comes intense debate by a bunch of newscasters, all looking very grim. Everything’s shaping up poorly tonight.

“If the predictions are correct,” Yang starts lightly, watching Weiss pour herself another glass. “Think Blake will let us move to Menagerie with them?”

Weiss laughs, stops, frowns, and then takes a sip of the gin right out of the bottle. It’s a huge mood.

“Honestly,” she replies. “I don’t think I’d take it as a joke if they asked.”

#rwby #my writing #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #freezerburn #not sure which au this is so #anyway #im tired of elections #tired of tories #think imma just sleep

64 notes · View notes

rocklandhistoryblog · 4 years

Text

Motel on the Mountain, 1977 Memory

CLIPPED FROM The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 06 Oct 1977

‘GAYLA OPENING’ OF UNIQUE MOTEL

By Richard Ben Cramer Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

HILLBURN, N.Y. - It was, on the whole, not the standard world premiere. The men in the crowd, for example, tended less to black tie and more to gold lame with high-heeled pumps.

Still, it was quite a partying night, and Beth and Frank Cavallo were feeling great. They had left their two-year-old daughter at home and had traveled with two of their friends, Jay Young and Bill Hiller, to the Gayla Opening of Motel on the Mountain, a homosexual resort in Rockland County, N.Y. on the way to the Catskills.

Now, in the wee hours, with everybody loose, Frank celebrated by giving Bill a big kiss.

Beth, bemused, looked on. She is straight but tolerant. She learned to adjust when Frank "came out" shortly before the birth of their child, Jennifer.

Anyway, Frank still likes "fish," as gay men call women, and to prove it, he pulled his wife toward him, and soon she was entangled in his arms and Bill's with everybody trading kisses around.

On the dance floor at the front of the disco room, one of four rooms provided for the opening-night crowd, a man and a man who looked like a woman were dancing belly to belly while strobes revealed their-movement in a series of dramatic stills.

Another mannish form, attracted by the dance, leaped into the light and danced up behind the womanish form until the sandwich was moving through the crowd in perfect synchronization.

From the end of the bar, in a straight three-piece suit, Tommy Esposito squinted through the smoke and flashing lights at the crowd near the stage and smiled a small smile of private satisfaction.

Tommy is straight. ("I'm not gay, I'm Italian," he says.) And until this weekend, he was the proprietor of a hotel and resort property that seemed headed for collapse.

The Motel on the Mountain built 22 years ago overlooking the New York State Thruway, was at the time the wonder of this small community, about 45 minutes from mid-Manhattan by car.

Its clever landscaping in the Japanese style and engineering that gave every room a view of the large wooded valley below won the motel several architectural awards.

But the motel has been going downhill, so to speak, since Esposito acquired control four years ago. Twice during those years, preliminary bankruptcy papers were filed. The complex looks a little down at the heels.

That is all past now, according to Esposito, who expects the Motel on the Mountain to be a trend-setter for other resort properties, a crucial breakthrough in the social liberation of homosexuals in America and, most important, a tremendous commercial success.

He paused in the task of erecting new signs ("Gay Life at Its Peak," they proclaim) at the bottom of the winding road up the mountain, to put the event in proper historical perspective.

"Hey, we're living history now," he said. "A place as famous as Motel on the Mountain? A gay resort? This is a sociological breakthrough."

His own motivation was not sociological.

"Well, put it this way," he said. "Summer of 74, I called the Summer of American Graffiti good name, huh? The movie was just out, you know, and I had all the biggest oldie names in the business the Drifters, the Orlons, everybody . . . Didn't work.

"In 1975, I open up with a dinner theater, the Roar of the Greasepaint. ...Didn't work.

"In 1976 . . . Variety Showcase . . . ventriloquists, magicians, comedians, everything. . .. Didn't work.

"So, I said, 'Hey, -why not?' You know?"

On the main street of Hillburn, an inconspicuous valley town of inconspicuous charms, W. S. Jones, 62, was remarking in front of the fire hall that he sure to heck knew why not and he just didn't know why it had to happen to Hillburn.

“Tell you the truth, I think they're all sick," said Jones, a retired postal worker. "That's just my opinion, but I know one thing. If it'd happened back a few years ago, when all the big people were here, the big church people, it never would've even got a foothold."

Jones' opinion was echoed by most in a joint town meeting for the residents of Hillburn and Sloatsburg, a neighboring village.

"If we don't stop these people from getting a foothold right now, it will be too late," said Sloatsburg resident Robert Latke. "They'll be running up and down the streets of our village, flaunting it."

Hillburn's Mayor Brian Miele, who runs the 1,100-person town's business after teaching his school classes for the day, said that he did not know if a law existed to prevent the motel's conversion.

But he and about 25 other Hillburn and Sloatsburg residents showed up at the Gayla Opening last weekend with picket signs that read "Queers Go Home" and the like, in an effort to decrease the turnout for the night.

About 25 gay patrons came down from the lounge to stage a counterdemonstration at the bottom of the motel's entrance road, and for a while it looked as if the situation might get ugly. A plea from Esposito to his customers and the arrival of the Rockland County Sheriff's Department avoided trouble.

Now the residents of the town say that they want to bring in Anita Bryant, the singer and orange-juice peddler who helped defeat a local Florida ordinance preventing discrimination against homosexuals.

"Let her come, oh yes," said" Allan Ross, the motel's new consultant on gay affairs.

Ross, who was talent scout and master of ceremonies for the Gayla Opening, thought that the first night was "fabulous, oh definitely fabulous."

In his red ruffled shirt, red pants and red high-heeled shoes, he looked rather fabulous himself. From the back of the stage, he introduced a series of female impersonator acts mimicking Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, Pearl Bailey and Diana Ross.

The crowd around the stage, dressed in a lot of satin and leather, capes and hats, mostly colorful and mostly quite tight, cheered and called out unprintable remarks. Most stayed until 3 or 4 a.m., and most said that they would be back.

At the end of his act, the Sophisticated Silhouette of Diana Ross - Leslie London dressed in high heels and a divine scarlet sequined see-through gown, said that he would definitely be back.

After seven years in the business, he knew he would rarely see a crowd of 1,500, and so sympathetic!

"Oh, I've played sweet sixteens," he said, wrapping himself around a young Manhattan boy, "rock 'n' roll revivals, bar mitzvahs . . ."

Bar mitzvahs?

"On Long Island, darling, of course."

_____

We are pleased to share this piece of 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ History in honor and recognition of PRIDE month.

_____

This event was the subject of a chapter in Joe Kennedy’s book “SUMMER OF '77: Last Hurrah of the Gay Activists Alliance.”

#rockland history #local history #rockland county #rocklandhistory #nyshistory #hillburn #motel on the mountain #1977 #pride #lgbtq history

5 notes · View notes

peace-coast-island · 4 years

Text

Diary of a Junebug

Kicking back at a seaside resort

Feel the wind in your hair and bask in the warm sunlight. Dive into the crystal clear water and immerse yourself in the world below. Float as far as the waves will take you.

I think Aqua Shores is becoming one of my favorite vacation spots. I’ve heard good things about the island for years but never got around to looking into it until a few months ago. It’s a bit hard to get there so that’s why it’s not overrun with tourists. Thanks to Isabelle and Tom Nook, we got a great vacation package deal that has made all the travel worth it!

While relaxing by the pool, I ran into two familiar faces - Dae and Marisol. They reside in Tokyo but visit Peace Coast Island once a year to host a big art exhibition at Seashore Path College. Dae Jeong is a big name in animation as she’s a producer, animator, writer, and founder of Sound Stories - an independent animation studio known for making strides in queer media.

Her wife, Marisol Alon, is a storyboarder and producer who’s the showrunner of the award winning show Flames of Amber, a must watch if you’re interested in fantasy, drama, and comedy. It’s kinda like a mix between a magical girl kind of show but aimed towards an older audience and a sitcom that tends to lean on the serious side. It’s one of those shows where it’s a mix of self-contained episodes and season long overarching plots. Season three, which is airing now, has been knocking it out of the park so far and we’re only like eight episodes in so far. It’s got dark humor, touching moments, wholesome slice of life stuff, stunning animation, and well developed characters - I can’t recommend it enough!

Dae’s the kind of person who built her life from the ground up. Having grown up in a family that disapproved of her lifestyle - specifically her interest in art - Dae is also an advocate in making the arts more accessible as well as helping those who are discouraged from expressing themselves. She’s one of those big figures - celebrity doesn’t fit her, though she might be considered one - who’s not performative when it comes to social justice. Despite what her detractors say, her activism hasn’t ruined her career, it made her stronger and more vocal. She’s the reason why animation is able to make big strides in queer and Asian representation.

It’s no question that I’m a big fan of Dae and Marisol. They’re also very much down to earth, the kind of people who like to keep it real. They mean what they say and say what they mean - even if it means putting their careers on the line. Basically if they were straight white men they wouldn’t be getting as much unwarranted criticism or be picked apart by haters.

Dae’s not one to back down from her opponents. She grew up in a super conservative, predominantly white suburban town, which explains a lot. She was born in Seoul and adopted at the age of two by a white American couple, to which she became known as Dani. Her parents adopted her because they were unable to have another child so they opted for “a poor exotic orphan” to make themselves look good. As a result, Dae never felt like she fit in with her family because they forced her to be someone she’s not.

From mocking her interests to clearly favoring her brother, it’s no wonder Dae resents her foster parents. It’s a sore subject for her but one she feels like it’s important to talk about as there’s a lot of people who grew up in a similar upbringing. It wasn’t until she left for college when Dae finally began to embrace her Asian side after years of being ashamed of her heritage.

Dae’s relationship with her foster brother is an interesting one. Jace was the golden child, the good looking athletic star who was popular and charismatic. Dae describes her relationship with him as complicated. While they weren’t exactly close, Jace was the only one who usually treated Dae like an actual person instead of a trophy or an emotional punching bag.

While things between Dae and her family were always strained, it reached a breaking point when Jace was diagnosed with cancer and lost his leg, ending a promising future as a basketball player. Her parents took their anger out on Dae while expecting her to act like a therapist as they cope badly with the circumstances. Jace also pushed Dae around but he would come to her defense at times if their parents go too far. While the parents were falling apart, the siblings came to a middle ground.

The years from Jace’s diagnosis to his death were the best in terms of their relationship, Dae once said. Maybe having cancer changed him as it knocked him off the impossibly high pedestal his parents put him on. With no one to turn to as their parents were too busy being shitty people, they reached an understanding over who their enemies were. They weren’t friends, but at least Jace admitted that the only reason why he stuck his neck out for Dae was because he found her “useful” in the war between their parents.

Jace was the reason why Dae was able to leave for good. Her parents were always against Dae pursuing art so they did everything they could to discourage her. Dae taught herself digital art so she won’t have to deal with her parents finding her art and destroying it. She worked hard to get scholarships since she’ll be paying every cent herself so she secretly joined competitions with Jace’s help. Eventually her effort paid off and she received an offer to study animation in Leeds. Knowing that it was her ticket out, Jace offered to help pay for her tuition as well as an apartment. He also made sure that their parents wouldn’t get in her way and for that, Dae is forever grateful.

In Leeds, it was like Dae was given a second lease on life. Free to be herself and pursue her dreams, she stopped being Dani and went back to her birth name. There, she met Marisol and they began dating a few years later. Jace checked in on her a few times over the next year before he died.

After graduating college, Dae and Marisol worked at a studio in London for a couple years before moving to Tokyo. Dae’s got an impressive array of works like Firefly Garden, Unknown Mysteries of the Seas, The Garden Palace, Neighbors, Northern Winters, and Carousel Dreams. Her whole career’s pretty much a middle finger to everyone who told her that she was destined to fail.

She's said that a part of her wants to go up to her foster parents and tell them to fuck off. But if they knew how successful she was - as in how much money she makes - they’d exploit her, bleed her dry, and destroy everything she worked hard for. Dae meant it when she said that she’s never going back.

It’s good to see Dae and Marisol kicking back at the pool. They’re here for their tenth wedding anniversary, taking a much needed vacation from their busy lives. It’s their first time at Aqua Shores too, having arrived a couple days before us. Both are trying not to do anything work related during their vacation, which is a bit of a challenge, especially for Marisol. The relaxing atmosphere does help a lot though.

After spending a good part of the day chilling by the pool, I invited Dae and Marisol to have dinner with us at the May Harbor Diner. So we enjoyed a beachside dinner while watching the waves and exchanging stories. I think Daisy Jane was a bit starstruck at first but by dinner she was comfortable enough to talk about art with Dae and Marisol. They both gave her a lot of helpful advice on getting her art out there, which was super nice. Dae later told me that she sees a lot of herself in Daisy Jane and I can see that too.

We stayed out until around eight and our group split up. Daisy Jane, Dae, Marisol, and I went on a ferry for an island tour that was about an hour long. At night it’s almost like Aqua Shores transforms into a different place. It’s a different kind of peaceful, like wandering the streets when most of the world is asleep so time moves differently in a way that makes you super aware of it. Too bad it’s hard to take decent pictures of the scenery - I tried and while the pics aren’t terrible, they really don’t do the island justice.

The lights are so gorgeous to look at, like who would’ve thought that street lights can be so pretty?

Then we hung out at the pool until 1, where we talked about Flames of Amber and binged on a few episodes. It’s fascinating hearing behind the scenes stuff from Marisol, especially in a casual setting instead of like a convention or something. Dae talked about what it’s like running an animation studio, which was fun to learn about. She and Marisol are so passionate and honest about their work, it makes me appreciate and respect them even more.

Before heading out, we got the next two days planned out - scuba diving and riding a hot air balloon! Plus there’s a new episode of Flames of Amber tomorrow so that’s another thing to look forward to.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

1 note · View note

queeryourgame · 4 years

Text

Community Values, Guidelines & Rule Enforcement

Community Values

Queer Your Game is an international multi-game LGBTQIA+ only gayming community. We aim to provide our Gaymers with a protected cross-platform environment where we can all enjoy ourselves, meet new gay™ people from all over the world and gayme together safely. Queer Your Game welcomes all sorts of Gaymers regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality or level of skill.

Our community is live on Discord and you can join us today!

We expect everyone to behave responsibly, kindly and respectfully toward one another across all platforms and games.

The following guidelines are not exhaustive and we reserve the right to change and amend them as our community grows and we learn. We’ll let you know when we do, but we expect all of you to read them, accept them and abide by them.

One last thing, safety is our main concern and to that end, we are offering a moderated space.

You are the heart of this community. The way you behave is the way we all behave and your integrity is our integrity. If you see someone that needs help, if you witness something that’s against our guidelines or just plain wrong, say something. Do something. Tell a mod, alert us on social media, stand up for your fellow Gaymer as you would like your fellow Gaymer to stand up for you and help.

Join Queer Your Game 👉 http://bit.ly/QYGDiscord

Community Guidelines

Queer Your Game is an LGBTQIA+ only community. What does that mean? Well, it means that if you are cisheteroromantic AND cisheterosexual then you can’t be part of this community. We appreciate that you consider yourself one of our cishet allies and we understand that you might have a spouse/partner, family members, friends and acquaintances who are LGBTQIA+ that you care about and support. However, due to the nature of the gaming community at large, we wish to keep QYG open to LGBTQIA+ folks only. PS: If you are cisAromantic and/or cisAssexual and you consider yourself Queer, we welcome you.

Our community guidelines must be respected cross-platforms. You must also abide by the community guidelines and terms of services of the platforms you are using. On Discord, you must respect Discord’s guidelines, on Twitter, you must respect Twitter’s guidelines, on Xbox, you must respect Xbox’s guidelines, etc.

Queer Your Game is not yet a corporation but we will abide by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), the European Union Copyright Law (EUCL), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WIPO and WCT) and the World Trade Organization (WCT) on copyright and intellectual property. If the copyright and IP organization of your region isn’t mentioned here, please know that if we are contacted by them regarding copyright and intellectual property transgressions by our users, we will consider their inquiries just as seriously as those from the organizations mentioned above.

While we are on the subject of copyright and intellectual property, it’s important you remember that we consider fanart and derivative work to be fair use. Fair use is a right, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Using culture to express yourself and create your own representation is something that we at Queer Your Game actively encourage.

Reposting original art, derivative work, and fanart as your own without crediting the artist or appropriating art, derivative work, and fanart is forbidden. If we find out that you are stealing original art, derivative work, and fanart from the artists in our community—whether from Discord, Tumblr, Twitter, or anywhere else our users are present—for commercial purposes, you will be reported to said platforms, to the relevant authorities, and you will be immediately banned from Queer Your Game. Forever.

The sharing and/or promoting of illegal activities and illegal materials, like piracy, copyright and intellectual property infringement, betting and gambling, pornography, pornography involving children/animals/violence, political parties, etc. are forbidden in our community cross-platforms.

Please don’t use the community Discord and other platforms for your advertisement of any kind, unless you are affiliated with Queer Your Game and/or we have given you permission to do so. Yes, that includes charities and fandom projects. Do not ever ask for money or promote your Ko-fi, your Patreon, your PayPal, your Kickstarter, your IndieGoGo, etc. unless you are affiliated with Queer Your Game and we have given you permission to do so.

Remember when we said that your safety is our main concern at Queer Your Game? That starts with keeping your personal information secret. Do not ever share your personal information in our Discord Server or publically on our other platforms. If you want to share your personal information with a fellow Gaymer, add them as a friend and share what you wish to share via private direct messages.

Nobody at Queer Your Game, Admins or Mods, will ever ask you for your personal information in our Discord server—unless you are in the SOS channel and you are requiring immediate IRL assistance, and we do mean life or death situations.

If you are caught sharing another Gaymer’s personal information, you will be banned. If you obtained that information illegally, we will report you to the authorities in your country of residence.

To become a part of our gayming community you need to follow our application process. We do not allow Gaymers to have multiple accounts—especially if you have been kicked or banned and you’re trying to trick us into adding you again. Don’t do it.

If we catch you impersonating another Gaymer, you will be banned and reported.

By the way, don’t use offensive usernames. By offensive we mean insulting, discriminatory, violent, sexual, etc.. Oh and don’t copy another Gaymer’s username either.

We are running an 18 and older Discord server and we don’t mind you discussing all sorts of topics, including sex. I mean, we’re gay. It’s okay. Just don’t be inappropriate. Don’t link to porn, under 18 content, illegal content, or you know, all the stuff we already mentioned above. Don’t upload under 18 or NSFW content in the chat, don’t use porn/violent/discriminative GIFs, don’t swear like a sailor, don’t spam.

Using our community Discord for sexual acts or intercourse, the promotion of sexual services and the exploitation of children is prohibited.

We will have zero tolerance for Gaymers who bully, harass, verbally abuse or berate other Gaymers in-game, on Discord or any other platforms Queer Your Game is on. Hate speech is not okay. Do not promote violence against anyone, especially other marginalized folks. If we catch you bashing on someone, alone or in a group, you’re done.

If you have a disagreement with someone or you’re getting upset and you feel like lashing out, find a Mod, take a break. If you can’t manage what’s going on in the moment, walk away, send us an email or DM us. Criticism should always be polite and constructive. In fact, one of the mottos we use in every aspect of our work at Queer Your Game is “To be a voice of criticism, be a force of proposition.” It’s good advice; you’re welcome.

Trolling in-game, on Discord and other platforms Queer Your Game is on is unacceptable. Don’t ruin the experience of other people. That goes for spoiling. Whether it’s about a game, a movie, a book, a tv show, just don’t spoil, okay? Now, we know some of you will want to talk about every bit of spoiler and juicy news out there so we made you a channel on Discord.

In-game, we expect you to show fair play, to win with dignity and lose with grace, and to support your fellow Gaymers and teammates. Cheating and hacking are prohibited. Respect in-game rules and codes of conduct. No friendly kills, no awoxing, no spawn killing, no stealing from other Gaymers, no destroying other Gaymers property. Oh and no botting.

Raging is a no-go. Don’t rage quit, don’t yell at your fellow Gaymers, don’t insult people, don’t swear excessively, etc.. If you can’t handle what’s going on in-game, if you know you’re going to lose it, walk away. It’s that simple.

Cooperation and support are promoted within Queer Your Game. We like transparency and we think that champions, raid leaders and more skilled Gaymers should lead and help and teach and theorycraft and strategize and all the good things that can advance their fellow Gaymers, their own teams, parties and guilds of Gaymers. Just don’t go around sharing all of that on social media unless it’s made clear that it’s okay or you’re the person who came up with it.

At Queer Your Game we consider ourselves proponents of social justice and equal rights. We also know what a lot of social media platforms and communities refuse to acknowledge: tech and media are not neutral and no community or person is apolitical. While we encourage conversation and we understand that nobody’s perfect and no content is unproblematic, we want everyone to have the opportunity to enjoy the diversity of our community as they have fun, share, learn, educate themselves and grow. We expect all Gaymers to be on their best behavior. If you witness any of the following behaviors, report it to a Mod.

Racism, anti-blackness, xenophobia, white supremacy, Islamophobia, antisemitism, cultural appropriation, and bigotry will not be tolerated.

If you’re a transphobe or a TERF, don’t apply. We don’t want you. We also expect Gaymers to respect their fellow Gaymers’ pronouns. Misgendering will be sanctioned.

Sexism and misogyny won’t be tolerated. If you’re a white feminist, we don’t like you either. And if you don’t know what that is, we encourage you to check Google.

Ableism, food-shaming, fat-shaming, and all physical discrimination or belittling are rude and forbidden.

Don’t police, gatekeep, etc.. We have Mods and Admins, and we have guidelines. Your judgment of others is not required nor welcome.

Threats, incitation to violence and self-destroying behaviors, and any activity or conversation that could lead to your physical or emotional harm are completely forbidden and will get a Gaymer banned.

Suicide stunts or self-harm for attention-seeking, entertainment, or bad jokes will be sanctioned.

We have created an SOS text chat and voice channel on our Discord. Our intention is to provide a safe space for any Gaymer who would find themselves in a sudden and terrible struggle. If you are in danger, if you are in crisis, if you are experiencing a medical or mental health emergency, etc., anything that would require immediate assistance, you can, if you choose to, go into the SOS text and voice channels.

We want to make it clear that, even though our Moderators are notified that if they are alerted or see a Gaymer in an SOS channel, they should immediately check on them, we cannot shoulder the responsibility of your well being and your safety. We will not offer professional and trained support even if some of our Moderators and Admins could be trained professionals. For now, we can only provide you with a safe space and common sense help if we are able. We will call the police or an ambulance if you need them and we happen to be able to. We will stay with you if you require a presence. We will help provide you with crisis helpline phone numbers if they’re available where you reside so you can seek the appropriate help.

Please don’t abuse the SOS channels. We cannot stress enough that this specific gesture is a way for Queer Your Game to show you in action that we care. We are not in any position to be responsible for your safety and/or your well being and we do not make any promises of trained support or life-altering actions. Therefore Queer Your Game—as private individuals or as a corporation—is not liable for you.

Rule Enforcement

Queer Your Game is a moderated space, on Discord, on Social Media, in forums, and in-game. We have Moderators, Admins, and Super Admins.

As a moderated space and community, Queer Your Game does, in fact, exercise a certain censure as described in our community guidelines. We reserve the right to change them, although we will let you know when that happens.

The appreciation of your violations and of your behaviors remain up to the discretion of our Mods, Admins and Super Admins. You can appeal a sanction, a temporary kick or ban, a definitive ban, etc. by emailing us at [email protected]. The decision to maintain, alter or lift your sanction(s) is also to the discretion of our Mods, Admins and Super Admins.

The offense system is as follows:

You can get warnings of different gravity in-game, in Discord chat or voice channels, in your mentions and in your DMs or PMs depending on the platform you commit your offense on.

If warnings don’t have an immediate impact on your behavior, you can be asked to a private conversation with a Mod, an Admin or a Super Admin on Discord.

A small offense will get you an email, a DM or a PM, possibly a temporary time out or kick, most likely a private scolding and a mark on your account.

A serious offense will get you the same treatment as a small offense, a definite scolding, a kick or ban for the length we deem fit, and you will lose your status in the community. When you come back, you will have to go through a return interview and you will start fresh as a Padawan Gaymer on probation.

A grave offense will mean your immediate kick from our Discord and a ban will be decided by our team of Mods, Admins, and Super Admins. You’ll receive an email informing you of your ban and our definitive decision.

We may ask for your opinions, thoughts, and ideas in polls and voting events.

We at Queer Your Game think strongly about the ethics of our project. We believe in transparency and in taking in different perspectives. To that end, we regularly consult with outside professionals in different fields and we are in the process of recruiting different individuals for our reference and sensitivity group.

Join Queer Your Game 👉 http://bit.ly/QYGDiscord

#GaymersUnite #QueerYourGame #QYGAbout #Gamers #Gaming #Gaymers #Gayming #GamingCommunity #Video Games #LGBTQ Games #LGBTQ Gamers #Queer Gamers #Trans Gamers #Women Gamers #Community Guidelines #LGBTQIA+#LGBTQIA

13 notes · View notes