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kalypsichor · 4 years

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five’s a crowd [ beatles x reader ] part five

chapter summary: It’s time for some apologies (aPAULogies!). You and Paul have a chat about student debt, Parliament, and showers. John tries to convince everyone that he won’t break the telly (again), Ringo tries to convince everyone that he’s NOT an old man, and you just wish George would drop that goddamn towel.

warnings: george is almost naked but not naked enough (sigh)

masterlist and parts one | two | three | four

these chapters are just getting longer, huh. also, queen makes a more... definitive appearance.

Paul’s chosen the corner booth. It’s the spot that you all usually cram into, obnoxious and loud and always on the verge of being kicked out. Sitting there all by himself with nothing but a cup of coffee, he looks very small and lonely and you feel a pang of guilt.

He glances up when you sit down next to him. “Back for round two?” Paul says, and despite this he still scoots over to give you more room.

“No.” Sighing, you resist your fight-or-flight instinct. You’ve always hated confrontation. “I just wanted to apologize. I probably overreacted today and I shouldn’t have, um… ”

“Ripped me a new one?”

You laugh. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I’ve just been so stressed about midterms and all that--which isn’t an excuse for being an asshole, I know. It’s been such a long day, with Ringo having to go to the hospital and John almost killing us in your car and George, uh… actually, George hasn’t done anything. But… forgive me?” You try your best puppy eyes, although that’s more of Paul’s forte.

He pretends to think about it, but he’s already got that smile on his face. It’s soft and accentuates the roundness of his cheeks and you can see what John fell in love with.

“Of course I do. I could never stay angry at you for too long.” You let out a sigh that you didn’t know you were holding. “And I’m sorry, as well. I hope some of your papers were salvageable? I’ll pay for your textbooks, really--”

“With the thousands of pounds of student debt you’ve got? No way.” You nudge Paul teasingly. “No, it wasn’t that bad. Besides, if I don’t have most of that stuff memorized by now I’ll be fucked for midterms.”

“It’s the damn Tories, I tell you!” A businessman at the table over shoots him a dirty look and you have to muffle your snort behind your hands. “Anyway, we’re not here to talk politics. How’s George?” At the last bit, Paul leans in, raising his eyebrows conspiratorially.

Just great, still want to snog him senseless. Nothing new. “Why don’t you ask George yourself, you live with him. He’s still pretty pissed about having to take cold showers in the morning.”

“Please, no more. I’ve gotten yelled at about it enough already.” He throws his hands up in mock surrender and you’re reminded uncannily of John. They really are two sides of the same coin… “Morning’s the only time I can shower, anyway. It’s not fun waking up early, you know, but I do have to get the studio time. I’ve got, like, a million art pieces to turn in next week. It’s killing me.”

Though he says this with a rueful grin, you can see there’s bags under his eyes. With all the drama going on, you hadn’t stopped to think about what Paul must be going through. You internally scold yourself not to be so wrapped in your own concerns next time.

“I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah, well. The woes of an art major. But when I asked about George, I wasn’t talking about our little row.”

You ignore that. “Showering every day is bad for your skin, y’know.”

“First off, that’s my phrase. Secondly, you’re changing the subject.”

“You’re the one changing the subject!” Don’t blush don’t blush don’t blush. “Look, can’t you try and compromise with him? Like, taking turns or something. You can have the first shower every other day and ditto for George!” You smack the table excitedly. “Damn, I’m a genius.”

Paul laughs and downs the rest of his coffee. “Alright, alright. I’ll talk to him about it.” Standing, he stretches and tosses the cup into the trash. “You think the flat is safe enough to go back?”

You mirror his actions, donning your fleece jacket. “Probably. I’ll protect you, though, don’t worry.”

“My hero!” He swoons and loops his arm through yours as you step out of the cafe. The rest of the walk back, he doesn’t mention George again and you think he’s forgotten all about it. That is, until you reach the apartment. Paul unlocks the door and gestures for you to go first. When you brush by him, he leans down to your ear and says it so casually you don’t even register the meaning at first.

“I’ll get the truth out of you one of these days, y’know.”

Paul winks and though he doesn’t say exactly what the ‘truth’ is, you think you have a pretty good idea what he’s talking about.

***

The next day, you’re sat at the kitchen table over a bowl of cereal and some salvaged papers, not unlike yesterday morning. John is once again swiping through his phone. Ringo’s there, too, having scrutinized the entire kitchen floor this time before sitting down.

“TikTok is a load of shit,” John announces, throwing his cell down.

“Yet that doesn’t stop you from being on it for hours on end.”

“It’s addicting! All that… hitting the woah and- and grenade stuff.”

“You mean renegade.”

You both shoot a surprised look at Ringo, who pouts. “What? I can be hip too.”

“Okay, the fact that you said ‘hip’ kinda contradicts that.”

Ringo sticks his tongue out at you and you snicker. John clears his throat, steering the conversation back to him. Attention whore.

“Aaaanyway. As I was saying. Our phones are all the government’s rubbish way of brainwashing us. And that’s why I propose… drum roll, please.”

Ringo obliges. You note that he keeps a rather good tempo.

“Game Night Part Two!”

He’s met with silence.

“Uh, let me think about it-- no.”

“What? Why not!”

You tap your finger to your chin. “Did you already forget getting piss-drunk and missing your American Lit quiz the next day? Or spilling Fanta all over my /nice/ white tee? Or doing that?” John’s gaze follows your gesture to the tv in the living room with a great crack down the middle.

“And you’re a sore loser,” Ringo adds. John frowns and throws a cornflake at him.

“George was definitely cheating-”

“Abupbupbup! I’m not done.” You point at his sour expression. “Don’t you remember the noise complaint we got from our neighbor?”

John actually pauses at this. “You mean Paul’s classmate? The one that does graphic design? Not that you’d know it from the way he dresses like a fashion major.”

“His name is Freddie.” Ringo supplies helpfully. Ringo was always good at names.

“Yeah, he actually knocked on our door and everything. That was embarrassing, John.”

A scoff makes its way through John’s pursed lips. “He’s got no right telling us to keep the noise down when his bloody flat houses an entire fucking band. I can hear them going at it until two am sometimes and I don’t call the police on them.”

“They’re quite good.” As if to accentuate his point, Ringo taps a familiar rhythm with his spoon. Must be from one of their latest songs.

John inhales and you can tell that this’ll turn into a scuffle if you don’t steer the conversation away soon.

“Anyway! We don’t want another repeat of last month’s shenanigans. I’d like to be able to keep watching Netflix on a functioning telly, thank you very much. You’re outnumbered, Johnny.”

“Well, actually.”

You both swivel to look at Ringo: you in horror and John with glee. The oldest boy is usually the tie breaker, the swing-state if you want to be American about it. If he throws his weight behind John, it’ll be over.

“I think it would be a good idea. For morale, you know. We’ve been at each other’s throats all of yesterday, and havin’ another Game Night might get everyone on good terms again.” Damn you, Ringo, you think, damn you and your altruism. John, in every sense of the saying, looks exactly like the cat that’s got the canary. He swings to you with the stupidly smug look on his face.

“The match goes to Lennon! Take that,” he gloats, and you fight the urge to strangle him across the table.

“When you fail Professor Ono’s midterms because you’re too hungover to tell Walt Whitman from Langston Hughes, don’t go crawling to me,” you hiss.

John makes to retort but he’s cut short by the sound of footsteps running down the hall. Your brain barely has time to conjure up the weird feeling of deja vu before George skids into the kitchen.

He’s wearing nothing but a towel. Again. But this time, he’s smiling, and the brilliance of it cuts through your sleep-addled brain and curls up somewhere below your rib cage.

“I just took a shower!”

“Good for you, mate,” John snarks, staring ruefully at the phone in the center of the table--did he change his phone case or something? It looks different, somehow. You can see his fingers twitching toward it.

George ignores him. “I just took a warm shower. A real shower with warm water.”

Yes, you can see that from the bit of steam still rising from his shoulders and his hair, which is now curling slightly in the colder temperature. There’s a droplet of water making its way from George’s very naked chest down to his very fit stomach--how he has abs, you have no idea, since the boy inhales food like Kirby--and you look away sharply before your gaze can wander any further.

“A warm water shower,” he repeats.

Ringo nods. “Ah, yes. The poison. The poison for Kuzco. The poison chosen specifically to kill Kuzco.” He pauses, looking you in the eye rather seriously, and you say the next bit together.

“Kuzco’s poison.”

The two of you double over, giggling like schoolgirls. George, however, looks confused.

“What are they on about?”

“Some American film.” John finally gives in and snatches up the phone laying on the table. Something flashes across his face. You know that look, and nothing good ever follows it. “Smile, Georgie.”

There’s the click of a photo being taken.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Nothing.” John pushes his chair from the table and stands up rather abruptly. The look on his face is growing into something… wicked. “Nothing at all. I will be in Paul and I’s room. Doing nothing.” He surveys you all once more with that good-for-nothing grin, cradles the phone to his chest, and then sprints down the hall past an even more confused George. The door closes and locks with a decisive click.

The three of you look at each other questioningly. Ringo grunts something unintelligible and shovels more cornflakes into his mouth. George shrugs and turns to head back to the bathroom.

He’s already halfway down the hall before he freezes.

“Wait a minute. Was that my phone?”

#beatles fanfic #george harrison x reader #ringo starr x reader #paul mccartney x reader #john lennon x reader #the beatles x reader #mclennon #five's a crowd #kalwrites #crack

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and-it-freezes-me · 3 years

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Smashed Cups

Summary: After the way he freaked out on Tuesday, there’s no way Juniper can leave his room again. Not when his housemates might see him - they must think him a freak.

Word count: 2.5k

Content warnings: panic attack, insufficient eating, self-deprecating thoughts, anxiety

If you think anything else needs to be added, please let me know!

It was six o’clock, and he was hungry. Half past six. Seven. Seven o’clock, and he was listening at his door, trying to figure out if there was anybody in the kitchen. He couldn’t tell - the kitchen was downstairs, after all. Better not risk it. Eight o’clock. Half past eight. His stomach had been complaining quietly for the past five hours, ever since it had realised that he had skipped lunch; it was starting to get hard to ignore. Twenty minutes later, he heard the sound of footsteps passing his door - he definitely couldn’t go out now. What if they were still in the corridor? What if they saw him? He couldn’t let them see him. And then it was after nine, and they’d all be curled up on the couch together, and they’d see him if he tried to sneak past to get to the kitchen. Half nine. Ten. They’d still be there. What if they fell asleep on the couch?

And suddenly it was midnight. He couldn’t go down to get some food now. What if he knocked into something, or dropped a plate and woke everyone up?

No, he should wait until tomorrow. It wasn’t a big deal.

With a small groan, Juniper stood, and realised that his legs had taken the opportunity of his being curled up against his bedroom door for the last few hours to cramp up. Typical.

Not bothering to undress, the brunet climbed into bed and pulled his duvet up to his ears. The weight of the covers calmed him a little, and he suddenly realised how tired he was. Juniper had barely gotten any sleep the previous night, and adrenaline had been spiking through him all day. Now, though - now he could relax. Nobody was going to come looking for him in the early hours of the morning to tease or ridicule or worse, treat him as though he were made of glass. Sleep slipped over him like a shroud: dark, warm, empty of light or dreams.

The next morning, his head felt full of sand, and he was aware from the moment he awoke that his stomach was empty. What time was it? Rolling over with a quiet groan, he peered at the glowing green digits of the clock on the cabinet beside his bed: 06:27. Half six. Too early. Maybe nobody else would be awake yet - it was only the start of term, so it wasn’t as though anybody would be getting up early to prepare for a long day of classes, or else to start revising early to make sure they had a free evening. Actually, half six was pretty early to wake up even during the middle of term.

If he was going to go to get something to eat today, now would be a good time. If he was lucky, Juniper would be able to grab enough to last him for the rest of the day - then he wouldn’t need to risk going back down to the kitchen at all. It wasn’t as though he would need to be anywhere today, after all. There was nothing wrong with hiding out for another day. Nothing wrong at all.

Despite reassuring himself that nobody would be awake to hear him, his heart was pounding in his throat as he pushed open the slightly creaky bedroom door and tip-toed across the hallway to the stairs. The small house was almost completely silent, which made the squeak of the third step of the staircase uncomfortably loud: almost enough to drive Juniper back to his room, but not quite. His stomach was protesting its emptiness quite loudly, after all - and he was suddenly half-remembering an article he might have read last year, something about the stomach starting to digest itself if left without food for too long?

The tiles of the kitchen floor were freezing on his bare feet.

Maybe he should get something to drink while he was down here, too. If he could get enough caffeine into his system, maybe he’d be able to go over enough lecture notes to justify not having left his room since Tuesday. If anybody asked, he’d have proof that he wasn’t avoiding them, per se, proof that they didn’t need to feel guilty about not wanting him around because he was very busy anyway, and-

Focus.

First things first, cereal. There was a half-empty pack of cornflakes in Jupiter’s kitchen cupboard; he got halfway through pouring a bowl for himself before giving up and stuffing a handful into his mouth, swallowing before he had even half finished chewing. They were uncomfortably scratchy against his dry throat, but that didn’t stop him from inhaling another two fistfuls before pausing for breath.

He had just stacked an apple and an orange on top of the small pile of food in his arms (featuring the cornflake pack, four slices of bread, a tin of tuna, two bags of crisps, and a bottle of water) and picked up his coffee awkwardly in the more free of his two hands when someone cleared their throat behind him. “Ju? What are you doing?”

Juniper choked on a fresh mouthful of cornflakes. One hand rose automatically to cover his mouth as he coughed, and the mug of coffee fell to the floor and shattered. Boiling liquid splashed over his frozen feet. “Sh- Shit! J- Jacks, I - shit!”

The food in his arms had cascaded after the coffee as he turned, landing among the shards of broken china and hot, dark liquid. The tall figure in the doorway moved forward and Juniper took a step backward, his heart already in his throat as he swallowed the last fragments of cereal.

“Ju, are-”

“I - I’ll be out of your way in a second, let me just clean up, I-”

“Ju, stop, it’s-”

“It - it was my mug, it’s not a problem, I didn’t think anyone would be up - I didn’t mean to bother you, I’ll be gone in just a-” He was rambling, already crouching to start scooping food back into his arms, the bread turning to mush under his shaking hands and the words on the back of the crisp packet beginning to blur as his breathing quickened. How could he have forgotten? Jacks was usually up first. It must be later than he thought it was, and now he had screwed up again, twice already this morning, three times if the horrible, sick feeling in his stomach grew any worse, he-

“Juniper.” Hands landed on his shoulders, and he flinched backward automatically. Looking up, he saw the thick rims of Jacks’ glasses, a frown furrowing the forehead above them. They were mad - he had screwed up and they were mad and now he was freaking out in front of them and his heart was hammering in his chest and he could barely breathe - “Juniper. It’s okay. It’s just a mug. Relax.”

“Nonononono, I - I’m sorry, I - I’ve ju-just gotta - I’m fuh-fine, I’m fine, I’m fine I’m fine I’m-” There was no way Jacks was going to be convinced by that, but Juniper’s mouth kept going, seemingly detached from the rest of his brain. His shoulders were hunched to his ears and his hands had clenched into fists and-

“Okay. Okay. It’s okay, Ju. How about we just breathe, yeah? Just for a minute. Breathe with me, that’s it. Ready?” Jacks’ voice was even, and even though Juniper shook his head his brain latched onto the words.

“Can’t - can’t, I’m fine, fine, I’m-”

“That’s okay. Let’s just try it. Ready? In. Two, three, four, and out, two, three…” But Juniper barely made it past two before exhaling again in an unsteady rush, a dry sob tearing itself from his chest. “It’s okay. No biggie. In, two, three, four… And out. Two, three, that’s okay, Ju, and in, two…”

“- I - I’m suh - I’m sorry - I’m-” There was a gentle pressure on his hands, Juniper realised suddenly - Jacks was squeezing his fists. This wasn’t how Jacks wanted to spend their time. This wasn’t how anyone would want to spend their time. He was ruining everything. Again. He couldn’t even get some food without messing up, he was just -

“In, two, three, four… You’re safe, Ju, just breathe… three, four, and out, two… That’s it… in, two, three, four…”

Juniper wasn’t sure how long they had been sat there, him hunched and shaking but gradually managing to time his breathing to his housemate’s quiet counting, Jacks cross-legged and calm, cold coffee staining trousers and feet alike, when there was movement by the door. It was obvious the second the newcomer saw the mess he had made, and Juniper felt the panic swirling back up his throat again as he flinched backward. Not someone else seeing him like this. He couldn’t bear the idea that Jacks was here for this, let alone the idea of anybody else watching him tear to pieces.

“J, what’s - fuck, what the fuck? Juniper, are-”

“Come back later, Noah. Everything’s going to be okay. That’s it, Ju, just focus on me, it’s okay…”

“Are you sure? I can clean up - fuck, you need help and-”

“Go away, Noah. Go back to bed.”

“No, I - I want to help, J, Ju, what can I do?”

Jacks seemed to know what Juniper was thinking even before he started shaking his head, ragged breathing shifting back toward unsteady gasps as the iron bands around his chest tightened. “Fuck. Off, Noah.”

Silence. Silence, other than his panicked breathing and his quiet sobs and - and then footsteps, and the blurry figure in the doorway was gone. Jacks exhaled slowly before turning back to look at him with red-rimmed eyes, and guilt rose like bile in Juniper’s throat.

“I - I’m sorry - Juh- Jacks, he’s - you shuh - shouldn’t ha-”

“He’ll forgive me. He’s just worried about you, Juniper. We both are. Do you want to try breathing again?”

“He’s yuh-your -”

“We’re going to go back to the breathing. Forget about Noah. Inhale, that’s it, one, two, three, four… And out again, two, three, four… Inhale…”

Gradually, painfully slowly, Juniper found himself calming down. Jacks’ voice was easy to focus on, it was steady and tranquil and safe. They weren’t mad. They weren’t angry with him, not like they should be, not like he deserved them to be. When his shoulders finally slumped, Jacks gave him a soft, encouraging smile, and squeezed his hands again. “There we go…”

“I’m sorry…” He had said it before, of course, said it many times already that morning, but now Juniper’s voice was a hoarse whisper and no longer shaking. The dark-haired person in front of him shook their head and reached up to rest a hand against his cheek, thumb swiping at the remaining tears in the corner of his eye.

“You don’t have to apologise, Ju. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

A few seconds passed in in silence again, a quieter silence than before. When Juniper looked up through his untidy bangs at his companion, Jacks seemed to be chewing on the inside of their cheek. He didn’t really have the energy to be properly worried about what his housemate was thinking, but when Jacks didn’t volunteer it immediately Juniper took a slow breath.

“What is it?” Did his voice have to be so scratchy? He sounded pathetic. Then again, wasn’t he?

“I’m just thinking.” Jacks paused, and Juniper’s stomach gave a weak jolt. It had to be something bad, or the other wouldn’t be spending so long trying to corral their thoughts into working order.

“... About?”

“You. This.” Something must have shown on his face, because this time Jacks rushed to fill the silence. “Nothing bad, I promise. I’m just… Worried. Something happened on Tuesday night, and then nobody saw you yesterday, and then this h-”

“I’m sorr-”

“Ju, please stop apologising. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, I’m just - ugh.” The hand that had been cupping Juniper’s cheek had dropped to rest against its owner’s knee, fingers dipping briefly into the cold-coffee puddle between them, and Jacks seemed to realise the mess they were sitting in. “Ew. We’re both gross now…”

“S - I mean, I’ll clean it up, let m-” Juniper’s words were cut off yet again as Jacks waved a slender hand.

“I’ll get it. Always cleaning up after people, that’s me - and don’t you dare apologise, that was a joke really.” Dark eyes ran briefly over Juniper’s half-slumped figure, taking in his messy hair and rumpled hoodie, coffee-stained pyjama trousers and bare feet now purple with cold and red where the boiling liquid had splashed across them. Juniper wanted to apologise again. He was a mess, and Jacks had just had to spend he didn’t know how long calming him down, and now they were going to clean up after him? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all. Still, he held his tongue, and then Jacks was standing and extending a hand to pull him to his feet. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You, Juniper Washing Machine Owens -”

A weak chuckle left his chest, and they beamed at him. “Not even close, and you know it.”

“- are going to go upstairs and take a shower, and then you’re going to put on some fresh clothes, and then you’re going to get your ass back down here and eat whatever I can persuade Noah to make. I’d like to talk about this later, though. If that’s okay with you.”

Juniper hesitated, eyes darting away from his housemate and toward the floor, and Jacks caught the motion. They squeezed his hand gently again.

“Nothing bad. Promise. I just want to make sure you’re alright. Go on, dude. Go shower. I’ve got caffeinated bread mush to clean up. Go on. Get out of here.”

He hesitated a moment longer; Jacks waved a hand at him in a shoo-ing motion and Juniper chuckled again in spite of himself. Nodding once, he made his way slowly out of the kitchen, trying to ignore how numb his feet had become. He was half way up the stairs when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a green-haired figure slipping into the kitchen and heard the murmur of voices. Were they talking about him? Had Jacks been lying when they sa- Then Juniper remembered Noah trying to help, and Jacks’ reaction, and felt guilty again. He appreciated Jacks sending their boyfriend away, but… No, they were going to be okay. It hadn’t even been a fight, really, and Jacks and Noah were really good together. He could apologise to Noah later, and if there was a problem he could pull the blame onto himself. It would be okay.

And then he was outside his bedroom door again, and he had to focus on finding clean clothes.

Half an hour later, curled up under a blanket on the battered blue couch in the main room and clutching a plate of pancakes almost shaped like octopi, Juniper had to admit that he felt a little better. Jacks hadn’t been angry with him. Noah didn’t think he was a freak. Quint, apparently, hadn’t even noticed him freaking out on Tuesday, and had been mildly concerned not to see him the previous day (of course, that was just what Jacks and Noah said - Quint was rarely up before eleven - but they had no reason to lie to him). They didn’t think he was stupid, or crazy.

They just wanted him to be alright.

And, for now, he was.

#JuniperWMOwens #JacksRodríguez #NoahVerria-Woods #Original Characters #Where Juniper doesn't have a good morning #Where Jacks is a sweetheart like usual

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foodwithiron-blog · 4 years

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Get the Iron out of Your Breakfast Cereal

Introduction

They both have some of the same materials in them. It may appear strange to compare a bowl of cornflakes to a pile of dirt. But science can help us find among the most frequent elements on Earth in your cereal: iron.

Though iron only constitutes less than 5 percent of the mass on Earth, it is found in a great deal of places: rocks, cereal--and even in your blood! It's also the most frequently used metal on the planet; it constitutes most of steel, which is a mixture of iron and other ingredients.

Wallpaper

If you've ever seen stones or dirt which have a red or orange tint to them, they probably include iron; iron tends to rust when it's exposed to air, resulting in that rusty reddish color on older metallic objects--or even stones! Iron also has an important role in our bodies. It is found in a component of our blood called hemoglobin, which helps our blood vessels to carry oxygen molecules from our lungs to the rest of our bodies.

Our bodies can't produce iron, but it's naturally present in several foods, including meats (beef, pork, turkey), create (raisins, spinach, prunes) and nuts (walnuts, cashews, peanuts). And it is so important for our bodies to have enough iron which some food manufacturers set a dash of it into other foods products--such as fortified breakfast cereals high in iron . (Of course it wouldn't be healthy to consume iron on its own, so stick with getting your daily dose via food and vitamins.)

Like many alloys, iron is magnetic, so in case you have a strong enough magnet, you'll be able to pick this up. Are you going to manage to pick up your box of breakfast cereal just by magnetic force ? No, because it doesn't contain enough iron for your magnetism to overpower gravity pulling the weight of all that cereal down. But we are going to find a way to eliminate --or"infusion"--the iron with that cereal and select it up with a magnet.

Materials

• Breakfast cereal that includes iron, such as fortified cornflakes (check the label to find out how much iron every serving contains--the more the better!)

Planning

• Attempt passing the magnet over the flakes. Are they pulled up by the magnet?

Procedure

Keep crushing it until it turns into a fine powder (the nicer you can get it, the easier it's going to be to separate out the iron particles). • Carefully pour the powder onto the white piece of paper at a thin layer. • Run the magnet tightly over the top of the cereal powder. Is the magnet picking up any black particles? Those are pieces of iron! (If you aren't collecting any, ensure your powder is fine enough and try running the magnet via itotherwise, you may need a stronger magnet.) • Just how much iron did you get out of the cereal? • if you would like to try and get more iron, then carefully pour the cereal into the resealable plastic bag. • Carefully seal the bag and gently swish the liquid around until the cereal powder has dissolved. • Gently insert the magnet to the bag (if your magnet has a handle, carefully transfer it around without spilling the liquid; if your magnet does not have a handle, you can drop it into the bag and reseal it). • Examine the magnet's surface--were you able to amass additional iron? • Extra: try this activity with various kinds of cereals and determine if you collect less or more iron.

Observations and outcomes

What happened when you ran into the magnet across the entire cereal flakes? What happened when you passed the magnet across the crushed cereal powder? Just how much iron were you can extract out of your cereal? Can you to acquire more by dissolving the cereal powder in water? Check the nutrition facts label to see how much iron every serving really contains (keep in mind that this tabletop project may not have the ability to get all of the iron out of the cereal).

But when you crush the cereal down, it helps to free up the iron particles, so they may be picked up by the magnet (dissolving the other parts of the cereal frees up the iron more).

Read more articles about food with iron to make your healthy life.

#cereals high in iron

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talkingismylifewrites · 5 years

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Man you already have my whole heart with the king au i love dominic and how much he wants to play mix and match (lmao) with the kids and ron seems like such a sweetie it would be so funny to see little blonde regina and dominic try to get this very catholic man to Let Loose once in a while

Originally I was gonna smack you in the face with some good ol’catholic angst but I decided to be nice considering I have another angst ask waiting to be posted. so here’s something only lightly angsty but sexy!! we’ll hold the angst for another day :)

so ron is Catholic which is a big deal because

a) he’s already knocked up his wife and had to marry her to avoid the scandal but she’s a famous rockstar so everyone knew anyways and

b) he’s now in a fully committed relationship with his wife’s best friend and bandmate and her boyfriend

and he would never ever ever change a thing because there are few things in life greater than waking up to see dom snoring like a foghorn while playing little spoon to johanna or regina attempting to hold the baby, make a bottle, and fix herself a cup of coffee in the morning

like he loves them so much

and he tries to tell them every single day

he tells them by making them dinner, or running them a bath, or letting regina pick the movie even though they know its going to be some weird scifi film they’ve never even seen but WHATEVER he’s gonna do it anyways

he gives backrubs and kisses and cuddles and twice a month he brings home flowers for his girls, always two bouquets, (one for regina one for johanna) and a new six pack of craftbeer for dom

he’s also a very generous lover once he got past the whole “i’m having sex with a man and my wife is having sex with a woman and oh no we’re technically both cheating”

because while he knows he’s not cheating because it’s legit just regina and dom

part of him is like oh no i have Broken My Wedding Vows

Dom and Regina hate when he does this because they’re like, yeah, so??? your wife has too like she is right now she’s literally fucking my boyfriend/your lover in the laundry room

BUT I DIGRESS

so ron is like, hey, reg, dom, you guys know that even though i can’t show you that i love you in public...i do, right?

and regina is like duh

and dom is like, yes, but i mean, you could show it better by CLOSING THE CEREAL BAG WHEN YOU’RE DONE, RON. YOU LEAVE IT OPEN AND THEN THE CORNFLAKES GO STALE AND HONESTLY, WERE YOU RAISED IN A BARN?? WE HAVE CHIP CLIPS FOR A REASON

(dom is very passionate about food)

so ron is Very Uptight when they’re in public and is like i will only ever look at johanna i will only touch johanna and i will not give us away because that is a Sin

meanwhile

regina is like, hey ron, ron, hey hey hey ron!! betcha i can get johanna off here under this table!! watch!!

and dom is like hey ron, just thinking, but like, that closet is TOTALLY big enough for the four of us to have sex in

regina’s like ron, do you like my panties??? its the back lace ones the ones you bought me?? do you??

or they’ll be at a dinner party with trusted friends and dom will just start regaling them with tales of the bedroom with stars in his eyes about how “ron made regina come like, seven times. like i thought she was gonna die but then she rolled over and was like, jo, fetch the strap, i’ve got time for a few more”

and even johanna’s like regina wanna see how soundproof the new soundproof booth is???

and ron is D Y I N G

becuase this is not what Good Wholesome Catholics Do!!!

and johanna is like, tbh, most GWC’s don’t knock up their girlfriends OR have an actual relationship with another couple

ron, face down on the table, groans for thirty-seven seconds straight

finally, regina and dom corner ron in his Quiet Place (the guest bathroom it has the most natural light and most people don’t think to look there first) and are like Look

we love you and we want to be with you but we’re getting the feeling that we’re making you uncomfortable

so we’re gonna back off, okay? and its not because we’re upset it’s because we love you and we want you to be comfortable

and they do

no more public sex (that ron is aware of) and no more sex talk in front of people

and for the first like, let’s say month, ron is like this is what it’s like to be a GWC!!!! and he’s like finally i can look my gran gran in the eye and not remember the fact that my WIFE sucked off our BOYFRIEND in her bathroom at Easter while our GIRLFRIEND whispered in my ear about how she was gonna ride me until she broke me once we got home

but then he realizes how much he misses their sly little looks?

like regina has this Face that she makes when she’s making mischief, and he didn’t realize how much he loved it

and dom? dom is the whisper king like he could just lean over to ron and whisper how he should meet him in the bathroom in five and ron would be instantly hard

and there was something fun about it, fooling around where they could be caught

because looking back on it, they never did it where they could be absolutely caught or where someone who didn’t know that they were in a relationship could find out

it was a secret only the four of them knew

he knows that the other three are still doing it, just not him, because dom and regina are exhibitionist and they practically get off on nearly getting caught

(honestly, jo and ron are shocked that they didn’t realize how much regina and dom loved them before, considering how much public sex they had. like, half the fun was fucking where jo might walk in)

finally, one day, he just snaps

its not really his fault, alright? he and dom had gone to go for a run in the park, and well, it was hot

and dom was sweating

and obviously he had to take off his shirt

and there was one stubborn drop of sweat that ron couldn’t help but watch run from behind his ear to drop down to pool in his collarbone

so ron did the rational thing and shoved dom into the wooded area behind the park and dropped to his knees to suck him off behind a tree cuz fuck anyone who might see them

when they finish, he ends up jogging back to the house silently, mulling everything over in his brain

and he locks himself in the guest bathroom and he stares at himself in the bathroom mirror

and he comes to terms with the fact that while he can be a Good Catholic he’ll never be what his mother calls Wholesome

but he’ll love his wife and their partners until the day he dies and when he gets to st. peter all he’ll say is “god help me but i loved them”

he leaves the bathroom, and all three of them are sitting, almost nervous, on the couch

and dom starts and he’s like, look, i’m sorry, if i made you feel like you had to do something you didn’t want to

and ron’s like good. please stop being so sexy when we’re just supposed to go out for a jog like wtf how is that possible for you to ALWAYS look good

and regina just continues and is like “we’ve talked it over again and we’re going to really change, okay--”and ron’s like i don’t want you guys to change because you’ve done nothing wrong. i just want to be with you guys

public sex and all

and regina is like thank fuck because let me tell you it’s so hard sometimes to not just like, jump you in the middle of dinner

they do talk it over and they promise not to do it near any member of ron’s family, anywhere where paps could find them, or where they could be arrested for public indecency

or at the very least, be extra extra sneak about it

that weekend, the four of them go out to dinner and johanna “drops” her fork

two months ago, ron would have been horrified and traumatized and embarrassed

but now?

all he can think about as he feels her hands run up the inseam of his pants while dom stiffens next to him

is how much he loves them

and how much they love him

and that no one else gets to know about it but him

(and melina because regina is a bitch and tells melina everything)

(EVERYTHING)

(the first time melina made a very knowing joke about how big ron’s dick was he choked on his food and had to get the heimlich from a very worried brianna)

(later, as he laid on the couch and recovered while a worried dom took care of him, regina turned to johanna and made a remark that they needed to work on his deep-throating ability if he was going to almost die on a blt)

#john/veronica/roger/dominique #genderbend #ot4 to end all ot4s #caro writes #answered asks #John Deacon #roger taylor #veronica tetzlaff #dominique beyrand #send me more hcs!!!

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fanfictionized · 6 years

Text

Help Me Help You - Freak (17/?)

Character: Bucky Barnes x Enhanced!Reader / OFC

Chapter summary: The Team learns the painful aftermath of the serum that still has effects on Annabelle's blood and that it can still be very much unpredictable...

Warnings: graphic descriptions of near character death, angst

Words: 3.4k

Previous Chapter // Help Me Help You - Masterlist

Bucky was restless. Nothing new, for sure. But this time was different.

She hadn’t come out of her room again. Not after he had brushed her off and gone somewhere he could better deal with whatever it was he had been feeling. He felt bad now, for what it was worth.

He hadn’t seen her again the entire afternoon, evening, and not even on his outpost on the couch. Nada. It made him think that maybe her reaction had been just. Maybe she had just covered it up by saying something nice. Although after she had taken his cold hand in hers he had stopped listening.

Why would she ever touch him like that? Like he wasn’t some sort of demon on her left shoulder? He was a murderer, a fucking monster.

But she doesn’t know. The voice inside his head reassured him over and over again.

Oh, but could someone seriously be that naïve? Sure she looked like the sheep that would be the wolf’s meal. And he was the wolf. Sam had been right. Beauty and the Beast. But he thought she must’ve guessed that someone with a metal arm could not in the least be innocent.

That’s why he had flinched at her unfelt touch and run away with his tail between his legs. He really was an abused dog; definitely not used to a softer touch. Especially from her.

It was when they were all sitting at the breakfast table the next morning that he noticed heads whipping around and staying there, focused on what or better who was going on behind him. His head turned as well and his breath left him as they watched her strut along, a knowing smile on her lips as Sam slowly clapped his hands.

“Atta, girl.” They were all admiring the new look she had obviously given to herself and the reason for Bucky’s speechlessness was that it, indeed, looked stunning on her.

She sat down between Nat and Bucky and reached for the cereal.

Perhaps she wasn’t angry with him after all.

“Well, would you look at that.” Tony wondered straight-faced, but he winked at her as soon as she smiled back at him. “Thanks, Tony.” She mumbled, flattening her new bangs with one hand. They felt so odd, but also good. She needed it to feel a little different.

She poured her cereal into the bowl.

“And they still haven’t found it?” Natasha asked, apparently continuing their conversation from before. “N-No, not the base.” Bruce assured her, smearing his toast with butter, looking back at her fleetingly.

“Well, there must’ve been a reason they had moved her around so many times.” Steve said and gave a nod to Annabelle. She faked a smile, but internally her mind was screaming again. They were talking not only about her, but about them. About their next mission, perhaps. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, the blood going through her burning like acid in her veins. Her scalp started to itch. She didn’t want to deal with it again. False; she didn’t want to be dealing with it until there was something for her to do against it. And it didn’t help that they were talking about her like she wasn’t there.

She swallowed hard. Even that seemed difficult. Standing up even more so as she tried to distract herself by reaching for the milk.

“Maybe they were avoiding their base for a reason.” Bruce said.

“Or maybe they don’t have one right now.” Sam said and Wanda gave him a look.

“You don’t seriously believe that.” It was a statement, not a question.

But Annabelle didn’t notice that. Her head was up in the clouds, or at least it felt like it. Lightheaded. The air was getting thinner and thinner up there. And it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

Drip.

There was a short, crunching sound that made Bucky look to his right and pull him out of his thoughts on the conversation. The others rambled on, not having heard the tiniest sound, the little something that had made the cornflakes inside Anna’s bowl move. He wrinkled his forehead in confusion, looking down into her bowl.

There was one black spot inside of it. It was at the second glimpse that he realized it was not a tiny object, but liquid that had dripped down onto her crunchy flakes.

He stared up at her perplexedly, but that quickly changed into something more like surprise, or maybe horror. Or at least that was the look in his eyes as he saw the girl stand there, frozen like a marble statue, black liquid dripping steadily out of her nose and into the bowl.

“Jesus Christ!” Sam jumped out of the chair the minute he saw it too, which was what made the others quiet down and look back at him first, before following his gaze and knowing what he meant by that.

Their mouths hung open in shock as more and more liquid continued to fill her bowl. Her eyes were wide open, her jaw clenching. She looked like she was pleading with them from inside her body with only the look in her eyes, but the rest of her body wouldn’t allow it.

“Abbie?” Bucky asked, sounding scared, before her eyes rolled up inside her head and she began to fall backwards, Nat being the only one to react as quickly as to catch her mid-fall.

His heart stopped and he was frozen as well. Couldn’t come to help her, could only stare at her as her body hit the ground, but thankfully her head was caught by the woman next to her and in a second all of them were surrounding her twitching form.

Her body was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes still rolled back inside her head, they could only see the white of them as she continued to flinch and spasm on the stone-tiled floor. He could see that she wanted to scream, but her jaw had locked, no way for any sound to escape between her clenched teeth.

“Don’t!” Bruce yelled as Bucky reached down to try and help her, but the doctor pulled him back. “She’s having a seizure. You can’t touch her right now or you’ll hurt her.”

His heart was jumping up his throat with frustration. “You can’t just leave her-!” “We have to wait until it’s over.”

And so they did. For another thirty seconds straight her body was not responding, until her spasms ebbed away. Bucky was holding her head gently throughout the whole thing, Bruce rushing upstairs to get Helen Cho and the others moved away the chairs around her so she wouldn’t hit her head on them. Meanwhile the black fluid had dripped down onto the floor, collecting in a small puddle below her, streaming over her cheeks and mouth and smearing her entire face.

But it was not just dark goo there. Bucky stood closest to her, shielding her head from when she threw her neck back hard. There was something else that he saw within it.

Like opaque fumes coming off of it, the puddle of smear making the slightest movements. It wasn’t like anything he had ever seen, the movements like liquid caught on a blasting speaker. Sudden and uncoordinated, yet as if it had life of its own. There were thick twists of worm-like body winding from side to side while thin lines of it had begun to rise up, barely even a few inches, seeming to flip gravity in the process because the drops parted from the goo, hovering in the air. Floating right there, in front of his face. His mouth hung open. It kind of looked pretty, yet the others hadn’t seen it and that was when Sam moved to grab her after her convulsions had almost subsided, his hand going underneath her, wanting to carry her, but he didn’t get the chance.

Because the second his hand touched the pool of liquid on the ground, it engulfed him. Both Bucky and him were looking down at his hand and the twitching black form winding around it until the next second he was the one laying on the ground next to her, screaming from the top of his lungs while clutching his arm.

“Don’t.” Bucky warned as the others tried to help him, but he wouldn’t let them step close to her or whatever her body was oozing out of its pores.

“Or it’ll do the same to you.”

“Jesus Christ, what is she doing to him?” Natasha asked desperately while clutching Bucky’s arm that had stopped her from getting to Sam. He had stopped screaming, but he had started sweating instead. Profusely. The black around his hand was gone, yet he was still clutching his arm to his body. He was shaking uncontrollably. Something was hurting him from the inside. Perhaps it really had gotten inside of him, twitching around in there. He looked like it did, after all.

“She isn’t. Not on purpose.” He tried to defend her. Natasha’s gaze was deadly. “I know, but she’s doing something, isn’t she?”

They were all speechless.

It was when Annabelle stopped moving that a groan of relief left Sam’s tight throat. Veins had popped up on his forehead. He was still gasping for air.

Her eyes had finally closed. Lying there she almost looked peaceful if it weren’t for the fact that black streaks of liquid had covered her face and that she had just passed out. Bucky looked down. The liquid was just liquid again. Not movements, no breaking of the laws of physics.

He reached out his hand to turn her on her back.

“Don’t.” Tony hissed as he pulled his arm back.

“Trust me, it’s fine.” Bucky assured him, his metal hand going underneath her front, the soaked shirt and neckline. He knew her seizure was over. There shouldn’t be any danger left for him. Of cause he couldn’t know for sure, but there was something telling him that he’d be fine. His left arm wouldn’t feel a thing anyway.

And it was. He picked her up, his right arm hooked under her legs as he stood up.

“Get Sam into the lab.” He ordered Steve and he nodded, starting to pick him up and followed Bucky as he knew exactly where to go.

***

“What happened?” Doctor Cho asked as she saw not only the girl, but also another unconscious member of the Avengers being carried into her lab. Bruce was already accompanying her there.

“He touched it. The black fluid that was dripping from her mouth.” Steve groaned as he dropped Sam onto a surgery couch. There was another one only a few meters next to that one where Bucky had put down Annabelle. Bruce stepped closer, whispering to Steve. “Do you really think this is a good idea? Leaving her here with him?” “I think it’s the only plan we got right now.” He answered without hesitance. Bucky smiled at him. Bruce nodded and turned back towards his two patients.

Doctor Cho was checking her pulse. She opened one of her eyes to shine a flashlight into it.

“She has had a mild non-epileptic seizure, but her pulse is back to normal now.” “Mild seizure?” Natasha breathed out doubtfully as she entered the room along with Tony and Wanda. “Yes, that was anything but mild, but, uhm, here’s another thing you guys; The stuff is gone.” Tony said.

Helen had gone over to inspect Sam, doing the same procedure on him. “Wha- What-What do you mean?” Bruce asked nervously.

“Whatever was dripping down her nose is gone. Poof. Nothing there on the floor anymore.”

“Hey, guys” Helen got their attention, letting go of Sam’s pulse. “He’s not doing so good.”

Everyone looked as she pulled up his t-shirt to expose his stomach and the swelling underneath it.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Tony turned around on his soles, pacing through the room.

Bucky felt sick. Sick to his stomach.

“What’s happening, Doctor Cho?” Steve asked, but he had also started to sound frightened. They had no idea what… who they were dealing with.

“Internal bleeding.” Bruce stated, continuing to gape at Sam’s swollen chest and belly. “Trauma to his liver and spleen, I think.” Helen was looking back at Bruce.

“Fuck.” Natasha hissed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Okay, that’s it. We need to wake her up.” Tony shook his head and walked towards her, Bucky squaring his shoulders in front of him. “You won’t hurt her.” He growled and Tony gaped at him in confusion. “Of cause I won’t hurt her. Bruce? You got any smelling salt?” “Actually, we do.” He said and not even thirty seconds later Tony was holding an ampule in his hand, crushing the Ammonia cap open between his fingers.

“If this wont wake her up, I’m not sure anything will.” He pushed Bucky aside and he gave in with a grunt, holding the broken capsule under her nose.

Her eyes shot open and she gasped for air, scrunching up her nose. “Was zum…” She looked around, realizing where she was and that she was speaking German, correcting herself. “What the hell?”

Everyone was staring at her as she laid a hand against her chest, a pull finding its origin there, right behind her ribcage. “What happened?” She gulped, realizing their gazes were filled with both fear and concern. Even Bucky’s.

“You don’t remember anything?” Natasha asked as she raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her.

Annabelle shook her head.

“Memory loss is not uncommon for those who experience a seizure.” Helen Cho said without looking up from Sam whom she was still inspecting. Annabelle’s gaze lingered on her for a while, putting the pieces together. This woman… she had been there the day she woke up in the Stark tower. She was one of the three she had thrown across the room. Their doctor, apparently. And now she wouldn’t even look at her.

Annabelle lowered her head in shame.

“Seizure?” She whispered to herself, staring at the couch padding beneath her in confusion. “Yes and not only that.” Steve started to explain, but she still wouldn’t look up at them. “When you passed out your nose started to…” He was searching for words, but didn’t find any for this situation. He didn’t even know what it was that he was describing.

Her brows furrowed. A hand went to feel the still wet skin under her nose, but as she lowered her hands to look at her fingertips, they weren’t red. Because it wasn’t blood. Her fingers were inked black. That was the stuff she saw moving in the corner of her room at night. What she saw behind her eyelids while experiencing another phase of unrestrained emotions. The thing that made her blood cells turn dark. “What is this?” She asked nervously. Her scalp was itching. She had done something, that much was for sure. And she didn’t have to look far for an answer as a pained groan left the mouth of the man beside her.

Sam Wilson. A gasp left her when she spotted him, her fingers shaky as she held them to cover her mouth. He was floating in and out of unconsciousness, his left hand covering his stomach. His shirt had ridden up to expose the swelling underneath and tears filled her eyes at the sight.

“Sam had tried to help you up, but when he touched that black stuff… he passed out as well.” Wanda explained. She didn’t seem as shocked. She had seen it before on her after all. Although she never thought it was this potent, because how could she have known? She had never gotten into contact with it after all.

“It burns.” They heard Sam whimpering from the other side of the room. Annabelle jumped off the couch and walked towards him. Surprisingly, no one was stopping her. If anyone knew how to make it better it had to be her, right? He was clutching his left side, the one she was approaching and his groans got louder.

He was sweating so much; his shirt was drenched entirely. She wiped an arm under her nose that had thankfully stopped running, a black smear left on her forearm.

The other thing she had noticed was the consistent pull inside of her that had gotten stronger the closer she got to him. It was like a longing for something she knew she was missing. Even though she wasn’t quite sure what exactly.

She closed her eyes as if to try and listen, her head tilting to the side.

“Abbie?” She heard the faint call of her name. Bucky seemed to care for it all. But with every passing second she did less and less. She had to know what was making her cells press to her exterior like they were being pulled closer by a magnet.

The tingle in her fingertips intensified as she reached out her arm. Her hand was so close to Sam’s skin; she could feel its warmth. But it was not about his skin, but what was resting underneath it. It was waiting for her. To command the next step. His cries got louder as she knew it was pressing against his left side of his abdomen to try and get close to her, waiting to finally be reunited with her. And suddenly she knew what she had to do.

Her eyes shot open and she climbed onto the couch with him, taking his head in her hands as carefully as possible, resting it in her lap. No one called her anymore, no. They were far too hypnotized with what was going on in front of their eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sam. It’s gonna be fine.” She whispered and his eyes were looking back at her pleadingly before she looked at the faintest movements underneath the skin of his abdomen. She placed a hand there and he screamed.

“Hold him down!” She yelled and Steve and Tony were the closest, taking a hold of his arms as he tried to wiggle away from her touch.

She felt it. It was so close. She knew it wanted out so she let it, moving her hand slowly up his chest. She held his head back with one hand and moved the other up further until she felt the bulge of his throat and with one sudden movement his mouth tore open to let the remaining smoke inside leave his body to press into her palm.

He panted and she let go of him as well as the two other men and he turned to his side to cough up more spit and goo. She got off the couch quickly, standing next to him, seeing him pant for breath.

She looked down at her hand, watching the gas-like fluid sink into her pores like dry soil soaking up rain after a long drought. And then it was gone.

She looked up and while most of the group was looking after Sam, Tony, Wanda and Bucky just stared at her. There was fright in their eyes and it was absolutely new to her, the second time after the first day in the lab that she had ever seen it intended for her.

It was about the most frightening thing for her as well.

Her hands balled into fists while her eyes filled with tears that steadily rolled down her cheeks.

“Abbie…” She heard Bucky’s voice, suddenly so much closer that it made her flinch and look up at him. He was about to lay his hand on her shoulder when she stumbled away from him, whimpering and shuddering in front of him. She had gotten so small. “Don’t touch me!” She yelled, absolutely terrified. He stopped and stood still. She was shaking her head. “Please don’t touch me.” She whispered and the last thing he saw of her before she stormed out of the room were her huge, red eyes boring into him.

Perhaps Bucky was a wolf, but maybe Annabelle was no sheep after all.

Next Chapter

Taglist:

@humanexile @alt-er-love-er-alt

#slow burn #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #fanfiction #fanfic #help me help you #angst #eventual fluff

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maknaesdancersrappers · 6 years

Text

devoted.

Jung Jaehyun || yandere!au(ish?), thriller(???), smut (im sure about this one lol), cursing, some pretty dark shit is under that keep reading line

word count: 9k

devoted masterlist

T R I G G E R W A R N I N G.

A/N: i usually make a sideblog for scenarios and imagines but i cant commit to writing often //sighs at exo and svt fic blogs// so i’d rather post it on my main tumblr than on my AFF account which is strictly for memberxmember only (author name is on the gif lmao i got too lazy to edit it to my tumblr url) so here’s some jaehyun smut for all his hoes, me included.

P.S. this is based off my dream the other night and i deadass almost had a panic attack from it

As a boyfriend, Jaehyun was… devoted.

It was a mutual decision; a decision he had voiced out first, but later on deeply regrets.

Jung Jaehyun meant well when he had asked to take a break from your relationship because the final months of university was harder than both of you thought. You simply had no time for each other, especially since you come from two very different courses.

It’s been almost 4 years since you two began dating, thanks to that one Gen Ed subject you miraculously shared together during freshman year. If he hadn’t been late and ended up sitting beside you, neither of you would have crossed paths again.

Jaehyun loves you, he was completely smitten that day you had accidentally swung your head to him a little too strongly and caused your hair to whiplash against his face when all he asked was for the professor’s name to put on his forms.

And you love him, ever since he had flashed his signature dimpled smile, chuckling away your apologies for having smacked his face with your hair.

From pair works in class that turned to study sessions at the library, that turned to spending breaks together at the quad, that turned to dinner dates at the nearest pizzeria, and by then all of your friends can tell that you and Jaehyun weren’t just friendly classmates anymore.

As a boyfriend, Jaehyun was… devoted. He doted you; he made sure he showed how much he loves you every second that he can. It was cute at first, until you got used to it. It had never been a bother or a burden, no matter how many times your friends would point out it was starting to be creepy. But you always shrugged them off, saying it’s simply how Jaehyun was.

First week

“You and Jae?” Ten repeats, “Are taking a break from each other?” He scoffs and nudges Doyoung, “Are you hearing this?”

“Wait, I must have something in my ears.” Doyoung sticks a finger into each ear and pretends to clean them, “Okay, can you repeat that again, (Y/N)?”

You roll your eyes at them and Yebin throws her used tissues at the boys, “Ignore them, (Y/N.) But I’m just as surprised as they are. Are you and Jaehyun really taking a break?”

“Taking a break, in our definition, is not expecting dates every other night, texting or calling during breaks, you know, the usual things we do. And if by some miracle, we bump into each other, we’d just, smile, I guess.”

“Oh thank fuck, no more kissing like you haven’t seen each other in years.” Doyoung groans, only to screech when Yebin kicks his shin under the table.

“I bet you won’t last halfway the semester. Give or take a month?” Ten shrugs his shoulders.

Doyoung snorts, “I bet you won’t last a week.”

“It was his idea and we both agreed to it. We’re graduating soon and we both promised to do our absolute best for the last semester, so we’re getting rid of distractions.”

Ten hums, “It’s just unlike him to suggest it.”

You pout at him, “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“He worships the ground you walk on.” Doyoung says in a tone like it was the most obvious thing that existed. “He worships you.”

“He’s just affectionate.” The bell rings, “And we’ll be late for class.” You stand up from your seat and they follow suit.

Third week

It took a while for you to get adjusted to the fact you’re on a break with Jaehyun. There were plenty of times you had to stop yourself from texting him to ask how he was or if he’s up to eat out together. When there was a knock on your apartment door, you had imagined it was him and not the food delivery you forgot about.

One fateful Friday, none of your subjects had given out homeworks to slave on during the weekend and Yebin had demanded for a mandatory and much needed girl’s night out at the new bar outside of campus. You were fine with the idea, until one of your friends, Minkyung, had took it upon herself to dress you up.

“No.” You automatically told her the second her hand reached for the last dress on the rack in your closet. It was probably the shortest dress you had owned. Despite its sweetheart neckline and flowy cloth, the A-line dress was cut off just above your thighs. It wasn’t the best dress to wear on windy days, to say the least. “That’s too short.”

“It’s cute and sexy!”

“But Jae–”

Minkyung cuts you off with a snap, “Last time I checked, you and Jaehyun are currently on break. Let your legs and ass breathe while they can. You’ve kept your best assets in pants or baggy shorts because Jaehyun doesn’t like it when guys ogle them.”

“Uhm, I don’t like being ogled by other guys, too.” You weakly shot back but she had already forced the dress on you and pushed you to the bathroom.

It didn’t take long for the three of you to get ready and hop into a cab that took you to the bar Yebin had not shut up about days prior from tonight. It was the typical bar set up, with booths surrounding the dance floor with 3 bartenders manning the bar and serving up cocktails one after the other.

Minkyung was fast enough to secure a booth for the three of you and you slip inside while Yebin ordered some drinks.

You realize that it’s been a long time since you were able to go out with them like this. You had always spent your free time with Jaehyun and although you missed him, this was a nice change, too.

Halfway through the night and six margaritas and 3 shots of tequila later, Minkyung and Yebin had coaxed you onto the dance floor. Intoxicated, you sway your body to the beat, laughing and singing along with your girls. You abruptly stop when a hand glides down from your waist to your hips.

“Excuse me, but I have a boyfriend.” You slurred a bit, but stood your ground to glare at the boy that felt you up.

“Really? Where is he then? Hm?”

You size him up quickly, he was shorter than Jaehyun but had Johnny’s built.

“It’s called a girl’s night out, jackass, so fuck off.” Yebin pulls you away but he grabs your arm and you cry in pain.

“I wasn’t talking to you, short stuff.” He hisses at Yebin, who responds with a harsh stomp on his foot.

Minkyung and Yebin whisks you away from him while he cusses at her.

“Are you okay? God, some guys are just jerks.” Minkyung snarls, pulling you into a hug.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry for spoiling our night out.” You reassured her.

“You didn’t spoil it, babe. That jackass did. Besides, we’ve had one too many to drink, we should head on home.” Yebin pulls out her phone and books an Uber for the three of you.

Hangovers are the worst. Usually, Jaehyun would have prepared you some painkillers and a decent breakfast, but today, you and your roommates ate cereal in front of the television with the volume down low.

“I feel like shit. Are we too old to enjoy getting wasted already? Shit!” Yebin cries, clutching her head with one hand while jamming a spoonful of soggy cornflakes into her mouth.

“Someone ask somebody to bring us painkillers. My head is killing me.” Minkyung whines, rubbing her temples.

You grab your phone and to text Doyoung, who instantly replied with his dismay of your state but will still bring over some painkillers.

The television suddenly sounds an alarm, making all three of you groan and cover your ears.

“Breaking News from Seoul Central University. Finance student, Kim Iljung, 22, was found beaten up outside a bar on the outskirts of the campus. The victim reported that he was ambushed from behind with a bat and was not able to see his assailant.”

“(Y/N), isn’t that the guy that felt you up?” Minkyung points out and you look at the ID photo the news report flashed.

“Oh shit, yeah. Oh my god.” You gasp as the reporter described the injuries the boy had sustained.

“Kim claims that he does not know who did this and the reason behind it. He is currently recovering in the campus hospital and is working with the campus police to catch his assailant.”

“Serves him right for molesting (Y/N)! Karma’s a bitch.” Yebin says, drinking the leftover milk from her bowl.

“Karma or not, it’s scary. To be randomly assaulted like that? What if one of us were in his place?” You visibly shuddered. “I mean, who could do something like that?”

Ninth week

You’ll be having your period soon.

You know this because on top of craving all sorts of food twentyfour-seven and experiencing drastic mood swings to your friend’s unfortunate luck, you had to deal with a need that Jaehyun knew all too well to handle. But you haven’t contacted him as part of the conditions of taking a break which only meant you had to take care of yourself.

It was half past midnight when you were sure your roommates were in deep sleep in their respective rooms that you decided to lock your room and raise the volume of the music you usually played at night just a tad louder in case you got a little too vocal.

You haven’t touched yourself in a long time. And even if you had, it was under the predatory gaze of your boyfriend.

Play with yourself. He’d command and you would automatically open your legs and obey.

Everything felt tentative and unsure while your hands ran up and down your naked body. Your mind conjured up scenarios of all the times you and Jaehyun had fooled around and finally, your hand made its way to your core. Sighing, you circle your clit with the tip of your forefinger and shudder at the sensation.

You bite down your lower lip when you attempt to slip your finger inside you. After a few pumps, you slip in a second finger and a moan escapes you accompanied by your boyfriend’s name.

Yes, baby, that’s it. You could practically hear him whisper the words.

“Shit.” You remembered the last time you and Jaehyun masturbated with each other. Much like how you were lying down on your bed with your legs spread out and fingers knuckle-deep inside you, you imagined Jaehyun seated at the chair by your study table, with his large hand wrapped around his cock. You whimpered when you remembered how his eyes watched your fingers disappear inside you.

“A-ah.” You softly cry when you pump faster and harder, trying to match the speed and force Jaehyun had always used on you, but ultimately failed. You plant your feet on the mattress and lift your hips up when you finally feel yourself find the pleasure you’ve been craving for. “Jae.” You whine as your other hand squeezed one of your boobs.

There was a low groan that echoed into the room and for a split second you thought you had imagined it, but it sounded all too real and all too close for it to be a fragment of your imagination. You shoot up from the bed, your hands grabbing the sheets to cover your body as your eyes dart to the window to see a shadow move across it.

Fear seizes your heart, but you had to confront it. As quickly as you can, you run to your window and open it. Your dorm was on the second floor and if there was someone who had seen you, he was fast enough to go down the fire escape. But you shake it off, hoping it was nothing but your imagination.

You close the window before you can catch a cold, not noticing the gooey, white substance splattered on the window pane.

Sixteenth week

Finals were next week and you were at your wits end. You were neck deep in stress and you were desperate to release it. You were in no mood to drink and the girls had their own finals to study for. As you walked home late at night from the library, you stop in front of the university gymnasium.

It had been a while since you’ve went swimming.

You quit the team when you learned that Jaehyun quit the basketball team to make time for you.

The pool would have long been closed by now, but that’s not gonna stop you from sneaking in. You jumped the fence after checking no one was around and made your way to the building where the pool was.

The janitors always kept a spare key inside the emergency fire hose and with that, you successfully entered the indoor swimming pool.

The pool lights were left on as usual and you drop your bags to the side, your clothing following them soon after.

With only your matching red underwear, you slowly slip into the pool, half-moaning and half-whining at the cold water enveloping your body. When your body adapted to the coldness, you dive down and swim close to the tiled floor. From under the water, you look up and panicked when a blurred black mass stood at the side of the pool, causing you to resurface.

“Jesus Christ!” You gasp when you realized who it was. “Jaehyun!” You scolded, “You scared me!”

“Sorry.” He chuckles, lowly, pulling out one of his earbuds from his ear and letting it fall out from the hoodie of his jacket.

“How did you even know I was here?”

“I was out for a jog when I saw you jump the fence.” Once he said that, you noticed he was wearing his usual running clothes. There were a few beads of sweat sliding down his face and his breath was a little ragged. He squats down and offers you a half smile, “If anything, I should be asking you why you’re sneaking into the pool after closing time.”

You bite your lip and swim towards him. “The past weeks have been hard on me and I need to destress. Won’t you help me, Jae?”

His eyes darkened despite the pool lights shining in them. “I don’t think that’s how taking breaks from a relationship works, (Y/N).”

“We’ve made it this far, Jae. Can’t we cheat this break thing?”

“(Y/N)” He warns.

“Please, Jae. For me?” You unconsciously bat your lashes at him and he sighs.

“I don’t have my swimming trunks.”

You giggle at him, “If you haven’t noticed, I’m in my underwear.”

He watches you a little bit more and you thought he was hesitating, so you reach up and unzip his jacket for him. “Do you need help or are you going to let me play by myself?”

That made him smirk and he rises from the ground, discarding his jacket and peeling his shirt away.

Your mouth went dry at the sight of seeing his body again and it made you almost guilty to feel so sexually deprived for the past months. He pushes his running shorts down and reveals his boxers.

Your teeth bite down on your lips again when he kicks his shoes off and smirks at you before diving head first into the water. You swim backwards, trying to tease him as he swims to you from underneath. He resurfaces right in front of you the second your back hits the side of the pool.

Jaehyun wipes away the excess water off his face while you wrap your arms around his shoulders.

“Hi.” You whisper, laughing when he flashes you a smile as you helped pushed his wet hair back.

“Hi.” He breathes, grabbing onto your thighs and guiding your legs around him. “So you needed to destress?”

You nod your head, sliding the hand that pushed his hair back down the side of his face. “How are you gonna help me?”

He pulls your hips closer and grinds his erection against your clothed sex, eliciting a silent gasp from you. “I can think of a few things.”

“C-care to show me?” You stuttered, unable to say anything else as Jaehyun continues to gyrate his hips into you.

For the first time in months, you kissed each other.

The open kiss was messy and sloppy, and it was desperate, needy, and hungry. You clawed his bare back, looking for support as you slid down his body. In response, he pushes you against the side of the pool, the corner biting into your back had hurt but you couldn’t care less. His tongue had invaded your mouth, stroking your own as one of his hands roughly grab your breasts, pushing above the water’s surface.

You throw your head back, resting it against the poolside as Jaehyun clumsily thumbs your hardened nipple and trails a sloppy kiss from your cheek, to your jaw, and stopped short on the side of your neck.

Just as you slowly lose yourself with Jaehyun’s actions, a high pitched whistle hurls you back to reality.

“Shame on you two, fucking in a public pool.” Deep laughter follows afterwards.

Your eyes snap to the entrance where a group of boys watched in amusement. Humiliated, you hide yourself using Jaehyun’s body who shielded you nonetheless.

“Do you mind?” He snaps at them, defensively putting his arms around you.

“Yeah, man, we do mind.” One of them hollers, “We wanted to swim in sperm-free water.”

You flinch when they laugh once more, “Jae, let’s just go.”

He doesn’t react immediately; dark eyes glaring straight to the space behind you. His breathing had slowed and became heavy.

“Jaehyun,” You cup his cheek and make him face you, “Baby, let’s just go.”

It takes him another second to react. He closes his eyes and kisses your forehead. “Okay.”

The guys didn’t pay attention to either of you anymore as they jumped into the far end of the pool. Jaehyun helped you get out of the pool and instinctively, he checked on the guys as he got out after you. Just as he expected, one of them was checking you out while you bent over to grab your things.

“Hey!” He shouts, “I’d appreciate it if you stopped checking my girlfriend out.”

“Can’t help it, man. No wonder you can’t keep your hands off of her.” You see him look at you once more in an overly appreciative manner that made you shudder. On the corner of your eye, you can see Jaehyun tense up and ball his fists. “Jaehyun, leave him alone. It’s not worth our time, come on.”

“Do her real good, man!”

It took all your strength to hold Jaehyun down before he can even properly react. “Baby, please, I just want to go home.” You almost begged him and he finally relented.

Snatching your clothing up, both of you head for the locker rooms to dress before leaving the premises.

“Let me walk you home.” Jaehyun pulled you to his side after seeing you shiver.

After a while, he quietly says, “I’m sorry about those dickheads.”

“It’s not your fault. Maybe it’s the universe saying we shouldn’t be cheating on taking a break.” You huddled closer to him. “But I really miss you, Jae.”

“I miss you, too.” He plants a kiss on the top of your head. “We have a week left. I think we can hold out until then.”

“Until then? Hold out, what exactly?” You tease, spinning on your heels as you arrive to the doorstep of your apartment.

He leans down and kisses the spot between your jaw and your ear. “What could have happened back in the pool and so much more in the privacy of our homes.” His whisper was deep and low, tickling your ear and making you pull away with a short laugh.

“I can’t wait, then.” You let him kiss you on your lips. “Get home safely, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry for not helping you destress.” Jaehyun slightly pouts at you and you smile at him.

“I had this time with you.” You shrugged your shoulders, “It helped.”

“You can always play with yourself again.” He chuckles under his breath. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” And with one last kiss, he walks away.

You turn around and reach for the door, but realization hits you before you can turn the knob.

Did Jaehyun say… ‘again’?

Seventeenth week

You were finally through with exams and all you had to do now was wait for graduation. Jaehyun still had one last exam to finish in the afternoon, as Ten told you, so you guys, along with your roommates and Doyoung, decided to go to the mall.

When everyone grew tired of window shopping, Doyoung had suggested to head over to the arcade. Yebin had challenged Ten to breaking the high score on the basketball games while Minkyung had devoted herself into getting the large minnie mouse tsum tsum in the claw machine.

“Let’s play air hockey like old times!” You pulled Doyoung by his arm.

“Right! So I can beat you, like old times.” He laughs and avoids being shoved by you.

“We’ll see about that.”

He swipes the arcade card into the air hockey machine and the puck pops out in front of you. You place the puck onto the table and grip the striker.

“Are you ready to lose?”

“I should be asking you tha–hey! That’s not fair!” He yells when you make your turn and the puck goes straight into the goal.

“Whoops.” You feigned innocence. “If you’re so great, my leading point shouldn’t be a bother.”

Grumbling to himself, Doyoung places the puck back into the table and swings as hard as he could, making it bounce everywhere before you could block it and send it back to him. He had struck it too hard and made it hit the sides that ultimately led it straight into his goal.

“What the hell!” He complains and glares at you as you laughed out loud.

“That’s two points for me!” You cheer, preparing to block his next shot.

As the game continued, you couldn’t help but laugh at all the nonsense complains Doyoung kept stuttering out. Tears even made it to your eyes when he had made an effort to put all his weight into blocking the puck but he had missed it and stumbled away from the table.

“Are you sure you’re as good at this game as you say you are?” You jeered, peeking up at him through your lashes, but your eyes catch sight of someone else. “Jae?”

Doyoung cheers when the puck slips past you while you were distracted.

You eyes flutter down when the puck plops out of the bank by your legs but you ignore it and look back behind Doyoung. Jaehyun wasn’t there anymore.

“What’s wrong?” He stops his mini celebration and turns around, trying to look for what you were staring at.

“I just… I thought I saw Jaehyun.”

He whips his head back at you with a confused expression. “He should be taking an exam right now.” He glances down at his wristwatch. “Well, if he was fast, he could be done, but it would still take him some time to get here.”

“Right. I was just seeing things.”

After a few more minutes at the arcade, you head over to a fastfood chain across the arcade.

“To console you on your loss in our neck-to-neck air hockey match, I’ll buy you ice cream.” Doyoung wraps an arm around your shoulders, “Sound good?”

“Add in some fries and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be okay about losing.”

He exaggerates a sigh, “My best friend, using me for free food.” He lightly pinches your shoulder, “You’re lucky I love you or else–”

It happened so fast that you could barely register it into your mind.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, huh? Keeping her warm for me?”

The voice didn’t register at first, but the face that owned it did.

“Dude, what the hell?!” Doyoung scrambles onto his feet with Ten’s help.

Jaehyun steps forward but you block him. “Jae, what is wrong with you?”

“What is wrong with me? I finished my exam early and rushed here to see you, but I see him,” He juts his chin towards Doyoung, “With his arm around you.”

“What’s happening here?” A mall security guard approached your group.

“A misunderstanding, nothing we can’t handle ourselves. Sorry for the trouble.” You bow your head at him and grab Jaehyun’s arm. “Can we talk outside?”

He casts a glare at Doyoung before letting you pull him out. On the way to the exit, you recognized the same group of boys that chanced upon you and Jaehyun in the swimming pool from the previous week. You were ready to avoid their gazes, but they had seen you and immediately steered clear from you–and you didn’t fail to notice the fear in their expressions. Glancing up at Jaehyun, you could see the smug look on his face as he watches the group retreat.

You walk out into the parking lot and spin around to face him. “Do you want to explain yourself for what you did back there?”

Jaehyun frowns, “He had his arm around you.”

“I–Jae! He is Doyoung. Kim Doyoung. My best friend since pre-school. My best friend who is asexual. You know that!”

“He can’t be asexual forever. For all we know, he’s already got a crush on you!”

“Why are you being jealous of him? He’s my best friend and will always just be my best friend.”

“He just said he loves you!”

“And I love him back, as in, platonically, which I think is what he meant!” You groan in frustration. “You’re being ridiculous!”

Jaehyun scowls, “I’m being protective of my girlfriend!”

You suck in your lips and stare him down, “Your girlfriend that you’re technically on a break with.”

“What?” His body visibly tensed up.

“Maybe we should extend the break for a week or two.” You began to step back, but he follows you.

“What?” Jaehyun repeats, “Why?”

“Because, Jae,” You snap and he flinches at your tone, “I need time to get over what you just did inside to my best friend and you need time to contemplate over your actions and apologize to Doyoung.”

“(Y/N).” He whines.

“Jaehyun, please.” You cross your arms over your chest, defensively, and he stops in his tracks, looking at you with pleading eyes. You shake your head with regret and turn away, walking to the mall front.

He hadn’t followed you or tried to stop you, and you were thankful for that.

You take out your phone, book and Uber, and sent a text to Yebin, saying you’re heading home to rest, and then sent one to Doyoung, apologizing for Jaehyun’s actions and asked if he was okay.

Yebin replies with a kissy face emoji and a short message that she and Minkyung will bring home some dinner for you, to which you replied with a quick thank you.

Doyoung responds to your text a little while after, telling you that he’s fine; that nothing was broken or bleeding, and Jaehyun came back to check up on him and to apologize for punching him.

You close your phone as you see your Uber arriving and hop inside. Jaehyun had never reacted that way and it came as shock to you that he did. He was always that shy and nice kid that everyone was friends with. He was never assertive, but you knew it irked him when guys would so much give you excessive attention.

Seventeen weeks and three days

With classes over and practices for graduation rites starting in two weeks, you were left bored at home while Yebin and Minkyung had their exhibits and recitals to attend to. You woke up at noon and ate late lunch in front of the television, catching up on all the dramas you’ve missed for the sake of studying.

It pained you to watch some romantic scenes, if you were to be honest with yourself. It reminded you of Jaehyun and how he had acted a few days ago.

You learned from Ten, since he’s been seeing Jaehyun’s roommate, Johnny, that Jaehyun was either cooped up in his room or spending his hours at the gym.

The news didn’t make you feel any different. You missed him so much, but your pride wouldn’t allow you to give in. He had to apologize and admit his mistakes.

You fell asleep in the middle of a drama and was woken up by your cellphone ringing. The caller ID read Unknown, but you answer it either way.

“Hello?” You yawned. The other line was silent. Thinking there was a problem with the signal, you stand up and walk closer to the window. “Hello?” You repeat. “Who is this?”

As the line continued to remain silent, you decided to hang up.

The call was unsettling, but you shake it off and gasp to see that it was half past 8 already. You trudged to the kitchen, taking out some left overs from the fridge and pop it into the microwave. While waiting for it to heat up, you scroll through your SNS; liking pictures, watching random videos. You see Taeyong’s new profile pic that showed his newly bleached hair and you give it a heart eyes emoji react.

The microwave beeps and you close your phone to eat your dinner in silence.

As you cleaned up after your meal, you’re overcome with the sense of someone watching you. There was a palpable tension in the air and you convince yourself to look behind you. You regret not turning the lights on in the living room, leaving the open space dark and barely illuminated by the kitchen lights.

Your imagination went haywire, thinking how possible it was for someone to stand in the darkest corner and possibly staring you down, mocking how you can’t see them. But your eyes adjust to the darkness and you can map out the tall lamp shade Yebin’s mother had gifted you guys the day you moved in.

You let out an awkward, shaky laugh. “It’s all in your mind, (Y/N).”

Your phone rings, ripping through the silence and effectively made the tiny hairs all over your body stand up. “Motherfuck.” You hiss, clutching your heart as you take your phone from the counter.

It was an unknown number again.

“Hello?” You answer, a little too aggravated.

There was static on the other side and thinking the cell service was bad from the kitchen, you move to window and peek up into the cloudy sky. “Hello? This better not be a prank phone call.”

Instead of the silence you expected, you hear slow, heavy breathing.

“Hello? Who is this?” The clouds move and the moon shines the ground below. Your eyes drop to the street below and your chest tightens.

On the sidewalk that leads to your apartment building, there was a man dressed in a black hoodie, ripped jeans, and a black face mask covering half his face. He was looking up at your building, you weren’t so sure since his hoodie had casted a shadow over his eyes. But what caught your attention was his hand, holding up a phone to his ear.

You see his chest heave and at the same time, an exhale comes from the other line of your phone.

You drop your phone and stumble backwards as a scream erupts from your throat. You hear your roommates concerned shouts from outside the hall as they scramble to open the front door.

By the time they reach you, you were on the floor, shaking uncontrollably and crying from what you had seen.

Seventeen weeks and four days

Your landlady came to visit you and told you she had asked the campus police for extra security every night. They had also tried to trace the unknown number, but didn’t get any leads and guessed it came from a burner phone. Nevertheless, they reassured you that they’ll continue to investigate your case.

Minkyung and Yebin had slept beside you last night to comfort you, but the thought of having a stalker still haunted you.

You were still jittery and with your mind playing tricks on you, you grab your phone and head out.

“Hey, I heard from Ten what happened. Are you okay?” Johnny asks as he opens the door for you.

“More or less? Uhm…” You look inside the room as you toed off your shoes.

“He’s taking a shower. He actually planned to go to you, but I guess you beat him to it.” Johnny cocks his head to the small bouquet of flowers on the side table. “I’m meeting Ten for an early dinner.”

“Bye.” You quietly say as you watch him close the door behind him.

With soft steps, you make your way to Jaehyun’s room. It was tidy as it always was. You can hear him singing as the shower turned on and it makes you smile.

As you move to sit on the bed to wait for him, your eyes catch the black face mask on his table. “Has he been sick?” You frown to yourself, walking over to it. Upon closer inspection, you find an old-school phone beneath it. You dismissed it as a toy when you try to open it and consequently failed to do so.

Your eyes travel to the picture frame beside it. It was you, of course. You were with him to help him choose the picture he’d have printed and framed. You pick it up only to put it down as fast as you could when your fingers came into something sticky.

“Ugh, Jung Jaehyun!” You hiss, stretching your hand as far away as possible. You were disgusted, to say the least, but a part of you is flattered to know your boyfriend jacks off to you instead of some porno video or magazine. You walk to his laundry basket and grab the first thing you could and wiped your hands on it.

You feel bad for using one of his black hoodies to clean your hands but he’d understand. As you returned the dirty laundry back into the pile, you noticed the light washed denim jeans inside. There was an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see that they were tattered. It’s a coincidence, you convince yourself, a horrible coincidence.

You throw the jacket back into the basket and walked over to the other side of the room to sanitize your hands with the bottle of rubbing alcohol liked to keep there. Your emotions have suddenly turned a complete 180 degrees; when you stepped inside the apartment, you felt safe and secured. But after running into items that looked so out of place and had triggered your memories of the past events the last weeks, you were uneasy.

The sound of the shower turns off and you cast a glance at the bathroom door, catching your reflection on the full length mirror. You blink repeatedly, seeing (yet another) item that you did not know Jaehyun had owned.

Your heart began to speed up as you twist around to get a better look. You could hear your heart beating in your ears with every slow step you took towards the corner of the room. There, hidden behind an armchair, resting against the crevice where the adjacent walls met, was a metal baseball bat. You wanted to throw up as your mind connected the dots.

Jaehyun was always protective of you.

“(Y/N)?”

You gasp, turning around, putting a hand over your chest.

Jaehyun, dressed in a loose shirt and boxers with a towel haphazardly thrown over his head, looked as equally as surprised as you.

He couldn’t possibly have done it.

You choke on the onslaught of tears, running to him and burying your face into his chest.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” He automatically wraps his arms around you, smoothing your hair down. “You’re okay. I’m here. You’re safe with me.”

Jaehyun holds you tight, letting you cry out the remaining fear from the previous night, all the while placing kisses on your head and rubbing your back.

“Oh god,” You breathe in, smelling his strawberry-scented shower gel. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too.” He pulls away, tilting your face towards him. “How are you? Did you get any sleep? If I found out any sooner, I would have gone over to you.”

You shake your head, “I couldn’t sleep properly, even though Yebin and Minkyung stayed with me.”

“Have you eaten at least? Let me cook something for you to eat.”

“I-I… Don’t leave me here.” You hated yourself for sounding so weak.

Jaehyun offers you a soft smile, “No one’s going to hurt you while I’m around. But if you really don’t want to stay in my room, you can come with me to the kitchen.”

He leads you to the kitchen by the hand, his thumb running over your knuckles. He makes small talk with you, asking how your finals went, and you smile to yourself, seeing how he wanted to get your mind off last night.

You respond to his questions and watch him fry some eggs and slices of pork. It didn’t take too long for him to serve it to you with some reheated rice from this morning.

“Eat up, baby girl.”

“Baby girl?” You smirked, “Should I call you daddy, then?”

Jaehyun laughs, a blush still makes it way to the apples of his cheeks. “Be careful what you wish for.” He whispers into your ear, trying to sound seductive but ended up chuckling.

He watches you eat and from time to time, lets you feed him some.

“What are your plans after graduation?” He asks out of the blue.

You swallowed your food, “My plans?”

He nods, waiting for you to answer.

“Get a job?” You shrug, “I haven’t thought about that at all, actually.”

“How about moving into a new apartment?”

You pause for moment, “I don’t know if I can afford it, but my contract for my apartment right now ends two months after graduation so I should probably look into it.”

“Well,” Jaehyun massages his nape and avoids your gaze; a telltale sign he was nervous. He looked exactly the same when he first asked you out. “My parents graduation gift for me is my own apartment room in downtown Seoul. I was wondering if, you know, you’d want to move in with me.”

You stare at him, trying to process what he had just said. “Will your parents be okay with that? I mean, I thought you and Johnny would still be sharing an apartment.”

“He and Ten have their own plans, besides, I’m not sharing a bed with Johnny.” That makes you giggle and he lets out a short chuckle of his own, “And about my parents… they love you like their own daughter. They wouldn’t mind. I’m willing to bet they’re hoping for grandchildren in two years.”

“Woah there, big boy.” You laugh, “How about we take baby steps instead of hoping of seeing our baby take their first ones, huh?”

“Tell that to my parents.” He grumbles like a child and you reach up to pinch his cheeks.

“Anyways, I’d love to.”

“Hm?”

“I’d love to move in with you.”

It takes a second for Jaehyun to grin at your answer, both cheeks displaying a dimple each. “Really?”

You giggle at his reaction, biting down on your lower lip while you nod. “Yes, really.”

He pulls you in for multiple kisses, making you laugh in between each one. The last one he planted stayed longer against your lips, igniting a heat below your belly. His tongue grazes your lips and you instantly grant him access into your mouth, moaning at the sensation of his tongue sliding against yours.

His hands snake onto your thighs, roughly massaging them before pulling you tight against his body. You cling onto him; mouths undetached as he hauls you up and takes you back to the bedroom.

As if you were a delicate piece of china, Jaehyun sets you down on his bed with utmost care. He pulls away from the kiss, leaving a string of saliva between your lips before it snaps as he straightens himself to remove his shirt.

“Oh, god.” You groan, “I can’t believe I lasted 4 months.” You palmed him over his boxers with one hand while the other travelled upwards, fingers dancing across the expanse of the hard muscles of his abdomen and chest. Before you can slip your hands into his shorts, he grabs both of your wrists.

“I still owe you a destresser.” Jaehyun reminds you with a matching smirk on his lips.

You let him undress you, watching his eyes dart to every newly exposed skin and grow darker with carnal lust to every drop of clothing article on the floor by his feet. When you’re finally stripped off of all your clothes and underwear, he gently pushes you back until you’re lying on the bed. With a light tap on your thighs, your legs part to make room for him.

He removes his boxers and kneels on the bed, one hand already stroking his hard member. He leans down and kisses you, “I’m going to show you how much I missed you.”

“Don’t hold back.” You challenged and he playfully scoffs at you.

“When have I ever held back?”

Before you could answer, a digit dips into your core. A shaky sigh escapes you as Jaehyun languidly moves his finger around.

“Show me how much you missed me first.” He quietly says, “Use my hand.”

Whimpering, you covered his hand with your own, grinding your clit into his palm. Your fingers tapped onto his middle finger and he got the message, inserting it along with his pointer finger. He dragged them against your inner walls that caused you to softly moan.

You lifted your hips, hoping to get some more leverage but Jaehyun flexes his middle finger and it brushes against your g-spot. You gasp, dropping your weight back down to the bed. From there, Jaehyun takes over.

With no warning, he pumps his fingers into you, curling them inside before pulling out. It felt amazing and your body was already starting to convulse. He continued his actions, going harder and faster, ignoring the signs of your oncoming orgasm.

You cry out, grabbing onto his wrist with both hands as your body violently shook.

Not wasting any time, Jaehyun takes whatever essence of your climax his fingers collected and smears it over his cock, giving it a few more pumps before he slides it in you.

Your moan may or may not have been too loud for the neighbors to hear, but you had no control over it. Despite being sensitive and still high from your orgasm, you try to spread your thighs further for him. One of your legs pinned his on the bed while you wrapped the other around his hips.

Jaehyun mumbles something about you being tight and how it feels amazing just before he begins to thrust, slow and deep. He leans over and kisses your neck, alternating between sucking and licking every patch of skin he can get his mouth on.

“I’m going to mark you so other guys wouldn’t think twice about hitting on you, okay?” He thrusts a little too hard, as if to punctuate his question, and you groan in response.

“Yes, yes,” You gasp, your hands finding purchase on his shoulders. “I’m yours.”

He makes almost an animalistic growl, hips moving more erratically with your words. “Say that again.”

“I’m yours.” You chant, almost like a prayer.

With every repetition of your invocation, Jaehyun snaps his hips into you, gaining more speed and power. It had you curling your toes and teetering over a cliff, ready to jump head first into ecstasy only he can deliver.

Your body thrashed against him as he gave you your second mind-blowing orgasm for the night. He helps you ride it out, keeping your hips still as he shallowly pushed into you. Unintentionally, you clenched around him and he moans at the sensation.

“Shit, that feels so good, baby.” He rasps, throwing his head back.

“Won’t you come?” You asked, pouting up at him as you catch your breath.

Slowing down his thrusts, he looks down at you. He studies how you were still shivering from your high, how his kisses on your necks have bloomed into a bouquet of purple flowers, how your breasts rose with every haggard breath. He takes one into his hand, softly palming it. “I’m getting there.”

“Is there anything you want me to do?” You watch his eyebrows scrunch up and his lips curl into a wicked grin.

He pulls out of you all of a sudden and crawls until his knees are on either side of your chest. “Open up.”

You part your lips and stick your tongue out a little.

Jaehyun groans at the lewd sight of you; taking his cock into his hand and pumping as fast as he can. He places the tip on your tongue when beads of pre-cum ooze out.

You lick it up immediately, coaxing him to ejaculate by running your tongue on the underside of his cock’s head.

A string of curses fall from Jaehyun’s lips as he finally found the final push he needed to come. White, hot liquid shoots into your mouth and amidst of you swallowing it, the remaining cum splashes onto your cupid’s bow, cheek, and chin. He cries out in anguish when you push yourself up to suck him dry with hollowed cheeks. As you fall back to bed, one last spurt escapes him and hits your brow.

Seeing it dribble down your eyelid, Jaehyun uses his thumb to swipe it off. Before he can clean his finger, you grab hold of his wrist and guide it to your mouth, collecting the salty substance with your tongue.

“Jesus christ, (Y/N).” Jaehyun exhales, feeling his cock twitch at the salacious scene.

“I just missed how you tasted.” You giggled, kissing his thumb. “Still delicious.”

He combs your sweat-slicked hair and chuckles, his ears turning red at the compliment, “Well, I’m sure you taste sweeter.”

You jut out your lower lip at him, “How would you know? You haven’t tasted me in months.”

“Oh?” His eyes glaze over once again, “Is that a challenge?”

“Baby,” You coo, “It’s an invitation.”

If his dimpled smile made you melt, a dimpled smirk made you melt in other places–places he was about to visit.

“Don’t mind if I do, then.” He trails a kiss from between your breasts down to your navel.

Your jaw drops when he arrives right at your core and does his magic.

You dip your head back down further on the bed, moaning at every flick of his tongue. You turn your head to the side and your eyes fall on the baseball bat from earlier. You had a clearer view of it this time.

You had a clearer view of the other end stained with dark red splatters.

Your blood ran cold and you froze up.

Jaehyun, realizing immediately that you had stopped responding to his actions, pulls away and looks at you. His gaze follows yours and once he spots what had grabbed your attention, he hovers above you and places a hand on either side of your head. “Look at me.” He commands.

“You couldn’t have…” You murmur, meeting his darkened eyes.

“He touched you.” He simply states, devoid of any emotion.

“Jaehyun!” You reprimand, but he cuts you off.

“He disrespected you, (Y/N). I wasn’t going to let that pass by!”

“How did you even know I was the bar? Were you following me?”

“I wanted to make sure you were safe!”

You push him off, scooting off the bed and picking out your clothes from the floor. This wasn’t something you wanted to discuss in the nude. “Well, I was! Yebin and Minkyung were there with me. We left before he could do anything else. You didn’t have to beat him up with a bat! Jesus christ! Jae! You’re wanted by campus police.”

“He got what he deserved, (Y/N).” He coolly shrugs his shoulders, grabbing his boxers and slipping them on while watching you dress.

“And what about those guys from the pool?” You suddenly remembered running into them the other day.

“I only meant to go after the one who couldn’t keep his eyes off you.” Jaehyun admits, “But his friends came looking for him, so I had to deal with them as well.”

“You took them by your–” You shut your eyes in frustration and disbelief. It felt like you didn’t even know the man in front of you. Shaking your head with a scoff, you avoid his piercing glare.

Another thought pops into your head, a scarier one that gave you goosebumps.

You look to the table and stare at the black face mask, “…w-were you the guy last night?”

“Yes. I was outside your window, too, when you masturbated.”

You gaped at him with horrified astonishment. “Why?” It took every fiber of your body not to start shaking from fear and disgust. “You scared me shitless!”

“That was the point.”

Your jaw drops, unable to formulate a proper response, nevertheless, Jaehyun continues.

“I had to scare you back to me.”

“What?!”

“I was losing you.” His voice finally breaks from the monotony and raises an octave higher. “You asked for an extension when I was at my limit. I missed you!”

“I was mad! You punched my best friend, Jaehyun! I had the right to be! And it didn’t mean you were losing me. I just needed time to cool down!” You pinch the bridge of your nose. Never, in the four years, you and Jaehyun have spent together did you argue like this. This was a completely different side to your boyfriend and all these revelations were giving you a headache. You needed time to process them. “I can’t do this.”

You make a move to leave but Jaehyun blocks your path.

“Can’t do what?” His voice had dropped and his eyes were practically black as the night. Taken aback from his demeanor, you were unable to respond to him, making him ask again in a raised voice. “Can’t do what, (Y/N)?!”

“Let me go, Jae. I need to go.”

“Go where? Who are you running of to, huh? Doyoung? Taeyong?”

“Why are you dragging Taeyong into this?”

Jaehyun scowls, “I saw you giving his picture a heart eyes react.”

“Oh my god!” You shout, “Do you hear yourself right now? So I liked his new photo because I thought his new hairstyle looked good. He’s our friend, remember? Jaehyun, please, let me leave.”

“And what? Extend our break even more? I don’t think so.” He reaches for your hand, but you move away. “(Y/N).”

“You’re honestly scaring me right now.” You back away until you feel the wall behind you. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Because I love you, (Y/N),” He steps forward, “Everything I do is for you. I have to protect you. If you could only see how other guys look at you, how they would undress you with their eyes–I, I can’t let them disrespect you like that. They need to know that you’re mine and I’m yours.”

“And if you really, really do love me, Jae,” Your eyes tear up, “You would let me leave.”

“No. W-why?” His eyebrows scrunched up in frustration “Do you want to break up?”

You swallow hard, “I’m really scared right now, Jaehyun. Just please give me time to think–”

“Answer me!” He yells, making you flinch in your spot. He traps you against the wall, “Are you thinking about breaking up with me?”

“I don’t feel safe with you right now.” You breathed. Your words were barely audible but they rang like sirens in Jaehyun’s ears.

He steps away from you, the emotions on his face have changed from hostile to defeated. His eyes are wet as they searched around the room for something, and they fell on the full length mirror attached to the bathroom door. Huffing, he takes two large steps towards it and swings as hard as he can.

You shrieked as his fist connected to the mirror, creating a large, cracked web onto it. You had expected him to stop, or at most react to the the pain of the blow, but he repeatedly punched the mirror, smashing chunks of the glass and sending them crashing to the floor.

“Jae, stop!” You yell, but it was as if he couldn’t hear you.

You found yourself grabbing his arms at the first sight of crimson staining the mirror. “Jaehyun!”

“Go away! I don’t want to hurt you,” He spares you a tormented glance. His cheeks were damp from tears already. “I can’t hurt you, so let me–”

He attempts to throw another punch, but you hold him back. Then both of you struggled with one another, until he nudges you away and faces you. “You hate me!” He cries.

You shake your head in denial, but he repeats himself.

“You hate me.”

“I never said that.” You squeaked, staring into his eyes.

“You wanted to break up.” Jaehyun grabs a fistful of his hair as he shuts his eyes.

“I never said that, either.” You quietly admonished, shakily reaching up to wipe his tears.

He had flinched away from your touch at first, snapping his eyes wide open like an injured beast being cornered, but the way you looked at him made him drop his defenses.

“I’m sorry.” He chokes out, sobbing like a little boy and your heart wrenches at the sight. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He repeats over and over until you pull him down, letting his head rest on the crook of your neck. “I can’t lose you, (Y/N). I can’t. I just wanted to protect you.”

“You’re not gonna lose me and you won’t.” You run one of your hands down his back while the other combed through his hair.

He pulls away, tears still flowing down his cheeks, “You’re not leaving me?”

You take in his expression; a mix of pain, anguish, confusion, guilt, and above all that, you see the expression that made you choose him and stay by his side: love.

“I mean, I have to go home sooner or later.” You cock your head, offering him an unsure smile in an endeavour to bring up his mood, and it sort of did. The briefest flash of his dimple with the curl of the corners of his lips told you that you had at least succeeded in making him laugh. “But I can spend the night if you want to.”

“I want you to.” He mumbles and you smile up at him.

“Then I’ll stay the night.” You pull him down until his forehead was touching yours. Playing with the short hairs on his nape, you whisper onto his lips, “I love you.”

A smile finally breaks out onto his face, lighting it up from the solemn mood “I love you, too.”

“Let’s get your hand cleaned up and wrapped, okay?” You kiss his cheek and lead him out the room, careful not to step on any glass shards.

The clock in the living room struck 12 and exhaustion seeped into your system. You were beginning to accept that there was something terribly wrong with your boyfriend’s psychological health. You should have ran away when you had the chance; you should have left when he, himself, told you to. But you remembered his eyes when he spared you a glance. Something in them switched like an on and off button when they were on you in comparison to when he had been punching the wall.

You look over your shoulder and up at Jaehyun, who sniffed as he inspected his bleeding knuckles.

Your friends have always told you how much he doted you.

Up until tonight, you had no idea just how devoted Jaehyun was to you.

devoted 2 part 1

devotee (jaehyun’s pov)

#nct #nct 127 #jung jaehyun #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun smut #nct scenarios #nct smut

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euroman1945-blog · 6 years

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The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Monday 25th June 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. Busy day today, Sandra and the children come back from Sweden where they have been for the past three days visiting, so Bella and I have had the house to ourselves, so fresh from the walk, I give Bella aher food, pour coffee and look at what I’ve discovered this morning, it’s an odd world we live in….

'DUMPLING-SHAPED' SPACE ROCK COMES INTO VIEW…. A Japanese spacecraft is sending back images as it approaches an irregularly shaped asteroid that some on the mission have compared to a dumpling. The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft was launched in 2014 on a quest to study the asteroid Ryugu and deliver rocks and soil from its surface to Earth. The craft is now about 215km away from Ryugu and should arrive on 27 June. Hayabusa's camera is starting to resolve its shape, which has been likened to a Japanese dango dumpling. But closer inspection shows that the object is pitted with dents or craters. In addition, the asteroid's orbit is retrograde, meaning that it spins in the opposite direction to the Sun and the Earth.

STUDENT FINDS 'BIGGEST EVER' CRUNCHY NUT CORNFLAKE IN HIS CEREAL BOX - IT'S A MONSTER…. Hinay Lad thought a piece of his ceiling had fallen into his breakfast but soon realised he had actually discovered an incredibly creepy Frankenflake. A student almost choked on the world’s largest ever Crunchy Nut Cornflake…which measured a whopping six INCHES long. Shocked Hinay Lad thought a piece of the ceiling had fallen into his morning breakfast bowl when he first saw the monster flake lurking inside the popular cereal packet. But when he contacted makers Kellogg’s to report the creepy lump he was sent four £1 vouchers and was told to buy a new pack. Hinay, 22, who is studying healthcare at Queen Mary University of London, had just taken his first bite when his dad noticed the Frankenflake. Hinay said: “My dad saw it in the packet and said ‘what on earth is that?’ “It just looked like a bit of ceiling had fallen into the box. We were like ‘what’s going on here?’ “I thought it was a bit dangerous because it could have been a choking hazard. “It even looks like it could be something from outer space, a bit of meteorite or something. Hinay was home for the Easter holidays and was innocently pouring out his favourite breakfast food when the massive chunk appeared out of nowhere. It was as big as half the size of the cereal box, which his family bought from Morrisons for £2.68. He added: “It felt like a rock, if you tried bending it it wouldn’t break. “That’s why we thought it was a bit of ceiling. “You could have chipped your teeth on it. “I wrote to Kellogg’s and their explanation was that it occurred in their plant. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. They are supposed to have quality controls!” Kellogg’s suggested Hinay, who lives in Bradford, sends them the flake so they can analyse it and find out how it ended up in the packet. They shipped out a measly £4 in vouchers in compensation. A spokeswoman for the company said the lump was “coating and cereal particles which have collected during processing.” She added: “Although we work hard to prevent this, it sounds like an accumulation passed the screening process and unintentionally entered the package.”

PONTYPRIDD HEN PARTY 'SHOCKED' AT FLIGHT CANCELLATION…. A hen party whose flight was cancelled at the last minute said they were made to feel "like criminals" after being escorted out of the airport by police. The Bristol to Malaga flight had to be abandoned after what EasyJet referred to as a "crew welfare" issue. The party of 20 women were told there was not an EasyJet flight for another week, so they paid £6,000 for new flights with another airline. EasyJet said it did everything possible to minimise disruption. Abi Parker from Newport was one of the group. She said they first heard the flight was off while they were sitting in the departure lounge. "It was quite shocking. The flight was originally delayed for 40 minutes, but then it came over the Tannoy that it had been cancelled." "We were told it was because staff had worked too long already and so couldn't fly the plane." The women were heading to Marbella at the end of May, ahead of the wedding of their friend Rhianydd Edwards. When the flight was cancelled they were told to remove their luggage and leave the airport. Ms Parker says she was shocked with the way they were treated.

THERANOS FOUNDER HIT WITH CRIMINAL CHARGES…. The founder of a US start-up that promised to revolutionise blood testing has been hit with criminal charges. US prosecutors said Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes engaged in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors, doctors and patients. The charges come three months after Ms Holmes settled charges from financial regulators that she lied about the capabilities of her firm's blood tests. Theranos earlier said Ms Holmes would step down as chief executive. Federal prosecutors said Ms Holmes encouraged doctors and patients to use the firm's blood tests even though she knew the tests were not consistently accurate. Theranos's former president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was also charged. Theranos, founded in 2003 when Ms Holmes was 19, had claimed its devices could test for conditions such as cancer and cholesterol with only a few drops of blood from a finger-prick, rather than taking full blood samples by needle from a vein. "This conspiracy misled doctors and patients about the reliability of medical tests that endangered health and lives," said John F Bennett of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). They charged Ms Holmes, 34 and Mr Balwani, 53, with wire fraud. Theranos earlier on Friday said its general counsel David Taylor had been named chief executive. At the time, it said Ms Holmes would remain on the board of the company.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE TO ACCEPT CHINESE EXAM RESULTS…. A US university will begin accepting the Chinese university entrance exam known as the Gaokao in an effort to attract more Chinese students. The University of New Hampshire will be the first state university in the US to accept the standardised placement test. China is the largest exporter of students to the US, with 377,000 currently enrolled in US universities, according to government data. An estimated 10 million students took the nine-hour test in China last week. The exam - which takes place over two days in June each year - is taken by nearly every Chinese pupil and plays a crucial role in determining a person's career and future prospects.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are very red......

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Monday 25th June 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Estepona #news #blog #love

#robertmcangus #robert mcangus #travel #space #love #news #blog #tulips

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godoftravellers · 3 years

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oh my god i fucking hate cheerios

YOU KNOW I THINK MORE PEOPLE SHOULD HATE CHEERIOS BECAUSE I HATE CHEERIOS AND THEIR EXISTANCE IS TERRIBLE. I MEAN COME ON THERE ARE WAY BETTER CEREALS OUT THERE??? WHY WOULD YOU PICK CHEERIOS??? U KNOW IT WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED CHEERIOATS??? THAT'S LITERALLY SUCH A TERRIBLE NAME IT SOUNDS BAD. WHY WOULD YOU EAT THAT. THERE'S ALSO LIKE 16 FLAVOURS OF CHEERIOS INCLUDING DISCONTINUED ONES. THAT'S HORRIBLE. WHAT ARE THEY. WHY ARE THEY. HOW ARE THEY. WHY. WHY WOULD YOU EVER DO THAT. ALSO THEY ARE UGLY. THEY ARE LITTLE WHEAT MINI BAGELS THEY TASTE OF MILKY SOGGY WHEAT STALKS ITS HORRIBLE WHY WOULD YOU EVER LIKE IT??? UNLESS IT'S HONEY NUT IT'S UNACCEPTABLE, AND EVEN THEN IF UR GONNA GET HONEY NUT JUST GET HONEY NUT CORNFLAKES, INFINITELY BETTER. ON TOP OF THAT THEY'RE FROM THE 1940S AND THAT MEANS THEY ARE OLD AND CHEERIOS AS WE KNOW THEM WITH THE NAME CHEERIOS ARE LITERALLY BOOMERS. THEY ARE ACTUALLY BOOMERS. NO JOKE. MORE REASONS TO HATE THEM. THE FIRST FLAVOURED CHEERIO(ATS) WERE FUCKING "CINNAMON NUT" WHAT SORT OF CHOICE WAS THAT????? SOUNDS GROSS. ALSO IT TOOK 30 YEARS FOR THEM TO FLAVOUR THEM???????????? HOW DID IT LIVE FOR 30 YEARS? WITHOUT FLAVOURS? EVEN IF IT'S A HORRID FIRST FLAVOUR. SHOULD'VE DIED THEN. ALSO THEY MADE "PUMPKIN SPICE CHEERIOS" WHAT IS THIS STARBUCKS?? DISGUSTING. LET ALONE PEACH CHEERIOS. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, HUH? THAT SOUNDS BAD. TERRIBLE. TRULY AWFUL. THERE FIRST MASCOT WASN'T EVEN THE BEE!!! THE ONLY REDEEMABLE THING ABOUT CHEERIOS WAS THE BEE AND IT WASN'T EVEN THE OG MASCOT IT WAS SOME CHILD. GROSS. I DONT LIKE CHILDS. IT LITERALLY HAS MERCH. CHEERIOS HAS MERCH. I HATE THIS CEREAL SO MUCH IT SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT EXIST LET ALONE HAVE FUCKING MERCH. DISGUSTING. CHANGING MY NAME FROM GODOFTRAVELLERS TO GODOFHATINGCHEERIOS I DISLIKE THEM AAAAAAAAAAAA TERRIBLE CEREAL JUST EAT LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE FOR BREAKFAST I DO NOT CARE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

#all caps #swearing #no theyre horried #horrid #please #PUMPKIN SPICE CHEERIOS???? WTF #random rant #cheerios #no. 1 cheerio hater over here #its also /hj #i dislike them but i will clarify this is for a bit

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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885

What Rhymes With “AKE”?

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

1. Does any part of your body ache right now? Not at the moment, but I will say that I’m now sporting several gashes on my arms and fingers thanks to Cooper’s feisty teeth. His grip is a lot firmer now so there’ve been a few times where he was able to grab onto my skin harder than I expected while we played. 2. How do you like your steak? Barely cooked. Blood oozing once I cut into it and all that. 3. Which bone did you last break? I haven’t broken a bone before. 4. How long is your break at work? Back in my internship, we had an hour for lunch and then we were allowed 30 minutes to take a nap. That was awesome to find out, that my boss would give her employees nap time :) The office lights were all turned off and I would even be told off if they caught me working. 5. What did you do over Christmas break? How about spring break? We don’t have spring break. For Christmas I mostly stayed off of social media. Gabie allowed me to open my presents earlier than the 24th because she got me painting stuff and she wanted me to have something to do before Christmas, which is the period where I get most anxious and depressed. Then for Christmas my siblings and I got a Switch from our parents, so most of post-Christmas was spent getting acquainted with it.

6. Do you know anyone named Jake? My fact-checking instructor was a Jake and I absolutely hated his guts. I really don’t like it when a teacher says shit like “I could very much fail you all right now” and says it proudly, and I don’t like how he refused to help and correct us in our articles just because “what [we’re] supposed to do was already covered in a past lecture and [we] should know better.” That’s why we’re enrolled in your class dumbass. We want to learn, but we’re bound to make mistakes too. Anyway, that was four months of pure hell. 7. What’s your favorite thing to bake? I don’t bake a lot but baking cookies has always been nostalgic for me. I love when I get to do it with friends or when my dad allows me to help out in the kitchen. 8. Favorite kind of cake and favorite kind of frosting? Cheesecake. My favorite frosting is either cream cheese or chocolate, especially on my cupcakes.

9. Do you know someone who is fake? Most of the popular girls in my high school were fake but idk, they’ve since seemed genuine in the few times I talked to some of them throughout college. 10. Which lake is closest to you, geographically? Taal. 11. How would you like to make a difference in the world? Ending up the complete opposite of my mom. I just want to prove that some kids don’t always end up the same as the shitty environment they were brought up in. 12. When’s the last time you used a rake? Maybe in high school? We’d have special days where we were assigned to help our janitors and other auxiliary staff ~as a way of saying thanks~ and it’s likely I used a rake at least once. 13. What would you like to take a class in? If I could, I’d take all the history courses that exist. But other than that, I’d love to take a class that covered different countries’ cultures. It was too late when I found out my school has a department that offers classes that taught Japanese, Turkish, Russian, etc. cultures, so that’s a bummer. 14. Have you ever been to a wake before? Yes, a handful. I’ve been to the wake of the relative of my dad’s friend, Sophie, my grandfather...Nacho’s was the most recent. 15. Have you ever used the phrase “for Pete’s sake?!” Maybe once or twice. I’ve gone with its more inappropriate sibling, for fuck’s sake far more often. 16. When’s the last time you felt wide awake? Saturday evening. 17. Do you know how to change the brakes on your car? No. I always forget that you can do that, lol. 18. Do you enjoy listening to Drake? Sure, especially his songs that came out while I was in high school so from 2012-2016. Again, nostalgia just hits differently when it comes to his older songs. 19. When’s the last time you’ve seen snowflakes? Never. 20. Have you ever been called a flake before? I don’t think so, no. 21. When’s the last time you felt your body quake? Two days ago. I walked into the kitchen as my dad was kicking away a ball of dust and I thought it was a rat, so my whole body shuddered and shook lol 22. Favorite type of milkshake? Anything unhealthily sweet. 23. Do you ever try to shake something in order to get it to work again? That’s how I was when I still used TV remotes. I don’t shake things as much anymore. 24. Are you afraid of snakes? Only venomous ones, and ones that can swallow humans alive. I’m not scared of all snakes, in fact I’ve held a few and put them around me in the past. 25. Has your life ever been at stake before? Not that I can recall. 26. Have you ever had to do picture retake at school? I don’t know what this means since we don’t use this exact term, but I’ve needed my college ID re-done TWICE because I also ended up losing my replacement ID haha. In the end, my mom ended up finding my actual original ID just hiding in one of my bags. 27. Are remakes of things better, or the originals? Either have the potential to be better, it’s not black-or-white. Like I’ll always prefer the original 1976 Carrie movie, but I know that the most recent adaptation of Little Women got very good reviews too. 28. Do you call them hotcakes or pancakes? Pancakes. 29. Do you prefer cupcakes or muffins? Cupcakes. 30. What’s the last mistake you made? I shared an article about an update on Naya Rivera but I didn’t notice until after sharing it that it came from TMZ, and we all know how shittily they handed Kobe Bryant’s death. Immediately deleted my post after seeing that no other news outlet had confirmed that it was her body that was found.

Still, the team in charge of finding her in the lake confirmed that it was her a few hours after the TMZ report came out. I’m absolutely gutted. 31. What activity would you like to partake in right now? Any activity that would involve going outside. 32. Have you ever had a teacake before? How about a clambake? I’ve had neither. Clambake looks super appetizing though. It reminds me of a seafood paella that’s served at a local Fil-Mex place I love going to :) 33. What is one of your keepsakes? A Ferrari keychain that JM gave me and our other orgmates as a souvenir from his trip to Singapore to watch the Grand Prix last year. 34. Do you like cornflakes? They’re okay. I’d rather eat them as it is though, and not as a cereal. 35. Have you ever made a fruitcake before? Nope. 36. Do you like strawberry shortcake? How about coffeecake? I’ve had a few slices of coffee cake before. 37. Who’s the last person you gave a handshake to? Probably one of the applicants in our org. 38. Favorite flavor of cheesecake? Oreo! And New York-style. 39. Have you ever felt an earthquake before? Yes. Nothing too extreme though, like no books falling off the shelves or anything like that. They were strong enough for it to be just noticeable.

#survey #surveys

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alchemine · 6 years

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the time travel saga continues

In which there is a failure to resolve anything, but at least Danny finally gets fed a proper meal.

previously on: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Before Danny even opened his eyes, he knew that it was morning, and that Jo’s test hadn’t worked. The air around him smelt of wood and paint and carpeting instead of his discarded socks and those disgusting sausages Scott kept buying and cooking, and he could hear the faint hum of an industrial-strength ventilation system instead of the ordinary early-morning traffic in their road.

The good news was that the library staff hadn’t found him and handed him over to the police. The bad news was that he was still locked in a room deep in the underbelly of the library, that his neck and back hurt from sleeping stretched across two chairs, and that he desperately needed the toilet. On balance, it seemed bad news was winning over good for the second day in a row.

Groaning quietly, he unfolded himself from his torture rack, pressed the power button on his phone to check the time, and found that the library had opened ten minutes ago, which meant he could at least leave the room instead of pissing in a corner like some sort of wild animal. He stretched arms and legs as best he could, gathered up Jo’s books from the night before, and tried to smooth his sticking-up hair before unlocking the door and easing it open far enough to check the corridor. He had a brief vision of himself abruptly coming face to face with a floating, spectral librarian, but all was clear, and he made it up to the main floor without seeing anyone either living or dead.

There were already surprising numbers of people coming in through the doors where he’d entered the night before--mothers arriving with their toddlers for the morning rhyme time session, old men settling in to spend the day perusing the racks of newspapers, and grubby-looking students prepared to stake out the best seats in the study area. Danny merged with them as nonchalantly as he could, glad that the dark trousers, white shirt and tie he’d worn to work two days and twenty-three years before were nondescript enough to blend into almost any decade (although he had a nasty feeling they were beginning to smell less than fresh), and deposited the stack of books on an empty bit of shelf before escaping to the men’s toilets. With his most urgent need out of the way, he examined his dishevelled, red-eyed self in the mirror, then washed his face and hands and rinsed his mouth, which tasted as if something had prised it open and crawled inside to die in the night. Maybe Jo had a toothbrush he could use. And a razor. And a shower.

And a spare roast dinner wouldn’t go amiss, he thought. The hunger that had been an annoyance yesterday was a bottomless roaring pit today, and as he gulped down a double palmful of water from the sink to try to quiet it, he realised he felt dangerously shaky. He had better hurry up and get to Jo’s, or he’d fall over along the way.

The sky outside was still grim with clouds, but it wasn’t actively raining, which he decided to count as another tick in the “good news” column. He stood on the library’s steps for a moment to get his bearings, and noted that while no one passing by was on the phone, either talking or typing away madly with their thumbs, no one looked particularly interested in giving him directions either. They were a grim lot, these citizens of twenty years ago, tramping along in their ugly vintage jumpers and plastic rain bonnets and gigantic square-lensed specs, or sitting on benches and reading newspapers full of events he only remembered from modern history lessons at school. Well, he’d find his way without their help, the miserable beggars.

He’d never missed Google Maps more in his life, but he unfolded the paper map he’d acquired and from that, managed to locate the address Jo had given him, which was back in the direction from which they’d both come yesterday. It had been a five-minute bus ride, but it took nearly half an hour to walk, and he really was ready to fall over by the time he got there. Her house was a large, semi-detached one fronted by carefully tended shrubbery, in a road not unlike the one where she would eventually live with Iain, and he felt weak and bedraggled and unsightly as he pushed the bell and waited.

After a moment, Jo opened the door--not in school uniform today, thank God; being seen with her in it had made him feel pervier than he ever wanted to feel again--and greeted him with a disappointed expression.

“It didn’t work, then.”

“No,” Danny said, and she sighed.

“You’d better come in. Don’t worry, there’s no one else here.”

He followed her through the house to the kitchen, where she sat him at a cluttered breakfast bar covered with the detritus of the Rourkes’ daily family life.

“You’ve got to be starving,” she said, and he nodded, hoping he didn’t look too pathetic. “What do you want to eat?”

“Anything. Everything. If you’ve got a dog I’ll fight it for one of its biscuits.”

Jo snorted with laughter. “I don’t think you’ll have to go that far.” She turned away to open cupboards and peer into the fridge. “Cornflakes? Cold chicken? Leftover cake?”

“Yes please,” Danny said, and she banged a box of cornflakes, a jug of milk and a blue plastic bowl down in front of him.

“Here, start with these and we’ll see how you get on. Don’t make yourself sick, though. I don’t want to clear that up.”

He got through two bowls of cornflakes, three slices of buttered toast, a fist-size chunk of cake and a chicken leg before he admitted defeat and stopped, stuffed nearly to the point of pain, but finally able to think straight again. Jo had made them both a cup of tea while he was head down in the cereal bowl, and now she perched on the stool beside his, her cup wrapped in both her hands, and regarded him with curiosity. She’d put on pale-pink lipstick this morning, he saw: with Future Jo, that would mean she was girding herself up for some sort of battle, but this Jo was probably just taking advantage of a day out from under the nuns’ gimlet eyes.

“Well, Daniel,” she said.

“Well, Joanne.”

Jo scrunched her nose up at the sound of her full name. “All right, all right. Obviously what we hoped would happen didn’t happen, because here you are, but did anything happen at all? Did you have any prophetic dreams or mysterious flashes of insight in your sleep?”

“The only thing I got in my sleep was a sore neck.” Danny tilted his head gingerly from side to side, wincing. “I’ve still got no idea what happened, and I had lots of time to think about it, sitting there on my own in the dark. It really was a completely boring, ordinary Tuesday right up until the moment when I did my Marty McFly impression.”

“Your what?”

“Another film. It’ll be in the cinemas in a few more months. You should see it. Anyway, I honestly can’t remember anything weird happening, just going to work and then coming home in the rain.”

“It was raining here too,” Jo said thoughtfully. “I wonder--no, that couldn’t have anything to do with it. Was the date here the same as the one you left?”

Danny nodded. “Tuesday, the nineteenth of March, both places.”

“And there’s no significance to that date for you?”

“Not that I know of.”

“This is making my head hurt,” Jo said. She finished her tea and set her cup down. “Have you checked your pockets? Maybe someone did a reverse pickpocketing and slipped you some miniature time-travelling device disguised as a coin?”

“I showed you my coins yesterday, remember?”

“Still.”

Danny pushed aside his bowl and plate, empty now except for a few drops of milk and a gnawed chicken bone, and turned his pockets out on the worktop, trousers first and then coat. “Wallet, coins, mobile, map, that slip of paper you gave me--”

“No keys?”

“I put them down after I let myself into the flat,” Danny said, thinking back to his movements on that night. He’d been tired, running on autopilot, not thinking of much beyond whether he was going to have pickle on his sandwich or not.

Jo nodded. “Anything else?”

He dug deeper into his left coat pocket. “Notepad, gum--that’s for you, you’re always asking me for some--oh God, don’t look at that.” He grabbed for the bright foil condom packet he’d accidentally thrown down alongside everything else, but not fast enough to stop Jo shooting out a hand and picking it up.

“With ribs and dots,” she read aloud. “Designed to speed her up and slow him down. Really?”

“It’s not mine.”

“It’s not?” Jo looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “Don’t tell me this is the disguised time-travelling device.”

“It’s my brother thinking he’s funny.” He snatched the packet back from her and stuffed it down into his coat pocket again. “He’s always hiding them in my pockets, for good luck, he says.”

“Does it work?”

“Does what work?”

“Hiding them in your pockets,” Jo said. “Not the other it. I’m sure that works.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Danny said, exasperated. He could feel a slow burn starting in his face and knew it was only a matter of time until it became visible.“Look, can we not have this conversation? Let’s just go through the rest of these things and make certain there’s nothing strange about any of them.”

“Sorry,” Jo said, not sounding very sorry at all. She touched the spread-out items delicately, with the tips of her fingers, as if she were a medium trying to contact him through his possessions. “It all looks perfectly normal to me, but it’s not mine. Does anything look wrong to you?”

Danny stared down at the small, sad collection of objects that now represented the whole of his real life, searching for some sort of pattern or anomaly, and then slowly shook his head.

“No.”

#btw i'm not tagging these with actor names anymore because i don't want to clog up the tags #it's cracky crackfiiiiiic #party animals #jo porter #danny foster

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bbjames69 · 5 years

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Part One: The Start

The problem here is that word I just mentioned: start. Where do we start? With so much to tackle, so many products out there yelling “consume me”, and so many changes to make, what comes first?

There’s probably no right or wrong answer to that one, as long as a ‘start’ is made. Going logically, I could ‘start’ with breakfast. They always told me to begin the day with that, but what they didn’t tell you was that you might decide to have a plastic-free breakfast and walk straight into a minefield.

What are our favourite breakfasts then? Cereals of course, like cornflakes, wheat biscuits (Weetabix – let’s not waste too much time trying not to use brand names where they have become a synonym for what we mean!), rice krispies, porridge, milk, juice, coffee, bready things like muffins, crumpets and, well, bread. Eggs, bacon, jam, butter. There’s loads more of course: here begins the mountain.

Those of you who know me are probably thinking I only mentioned Weetabix as it’s a personal favourite. It is! But what you may not know is that also happens to be the UK’s favourite, according to data by Kantar. And that makes sense: it’s got ready-made portions, you can add anything you want to it, and it’s great for a late night snack after a night on the sauce (contact me directly for the best drunken recipes).

The question is: should it continue to be our favourites? Well, it’s not GM, it’s not cruel to animals, and they are committed to ensuring that human rights (in the shape of prevention of modern slavery) are protected throughout their supply chain. Not bad. Weetabix doesn’t contain palm oil either, and like most cereals its outer packaging is made of card and is hydrocarbon free.

So that leaves the inner packaging, that white stuff which was always such a pain to open without it coming off in little bits. Well even that has changed; it now feels more like paper and is certainly easier to get open but is still classed as ‘mixed material’, and is not currently recycled at all.

Disappointing, especially for a product which it seems could easily be contained within fully-recyclable paper. I have Emailed them to ask what their plans are for this…watch this space.

Job done, then! Er, no, not quite. Even if all one ate were Weetabix, there is still the question of milk; after all you’d have to be totally trollied to have it dry (see above). And when was the last time you saw milk in anything other than plastic down at your local supermarket?

This is quite a head-scratcher because after all, what is the alternative? Well, believe it or not there options. One is simply to switch away from dairy milk and use soya, coconut, or my favourite, almond milk; all of these are available in tetra-paks which are completely recyclable. They also avoid the contentious issue of unwanted hormones contained within, the ethical arguments of animal produce, and the very fact that we are humans, not cows, so perhaps it’s a little odd that we drink it in the first place.

However, if you need your daily intake of ‘real’ milk, it is still possible to get deliveries – in glass bottles – from the local milkman. The largest supplier is Milk & More, but there are regional competitors available if you want to shop around. Glass milk bottles can be reused over 60-70 times, so – with the carbon footprint of glass bottles needing to top 20 uses to even out – this seems a great solution as well.

As for what to pour the milk on, it doesn’t have to be Weetabix, regardless of what their (eventual) reply (might) say(s). A little research turns up all kinds of dead ends, with muesli kings Jordan having previously claimed on one page that their packaging was ‘100% compostable’. If that was ever true, it certainly did not apply to all their products, and definitely not any available in my local Tesco. Scott’s Porage Oats, on the other hand, are stored in nothing but their cardboard birthday suit, and like most other cereals, do not contain palm oil or any other red flags.

Of course, we don’t want porridge every day – this may be Britain, but we do have the occasional hot days – so another solution is to make a delicious and healthy granola from it. Here’s the recipe my wife made earlier, but if you prefer yours with ‘more’ or less’ of any particular ingredient, then tweak the parameters ad lib:

Amanda’s Bung-it-in Granola

300g Porridge oats

50g Dried Cranberries

25g Dried Goji Berries

1 tbsp Flax Seeds

½ tbsp Chia Seeds

1 handful Flaked Almonds

25g Walnut Halves, chopped

50g Dates, chopped

25g Pumpkin Seeds

25g Sunflower Seeds

30g Brazil Nuts, chopped

2 tbsp Coconut oil

2 tbsp Honey

¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon

You can add other seeds like hemp, too (recommend 1 tbsp per batch), if you can find them in zero waste shops (see below). If you prefer your granola fruitier (or nuttier), add more fruit (or nuts) – we might try it with some crystallised papaya which is available nearby.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 140C (120C fan).

Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Melt the coconut oil with the honey and cinnamon, either in a bowl in a microwave for 15 seconds or on the hob till runny.

Immediately stir the liquid into the mixing bowl, coating all the ingredients as much as possible.

Add a pinch of salt.

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper (optional; this just makes it easier to tip into a container after it’s ready!)

Spread the granola evenly and quite thinly over the tray (see pic) and bung it in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring half way through.

Many of the above dried ingredients can be found plastic-free online at sites such as www.realplasticfree.com but if you prefer to support local businesses (and keep your own delivery costs down), investigate your nearest plastic-free pantry. These are cropping up everywhere and are worth checking out anew on a regular basis, as their ranges change all the time.

Where are they? Let me know where you are, and I’ll check it out for you. As for my own area, there is plenty of choice:

Best Health Food Shop, 33 East St, Shoreham-by-sea

www.besthealthfoodshop.com

Great for nuts! Er…I mean the actual food, of course. Also does dried fruit, and things like flours in non-plastic paper-based packaging, plus soap, shampoo and washing refills. Open 7 days, which is a plus especially if you’ve unexpectedly run out of something on a Sunday – it’s open 11 till 4 on that day, 9 till 5.30 the rest of the week.

Larder, 147 Montague St, Worthing

www.zerowastelarder.co.uk

Various nuts, spices, cereals and pasta plus soapy refills and even popcorn. Yes, I’ve watched way more films since discovering this place. Open Wed to Sun 10 till 4 and also 5 till 7 on Thursdays.

Harriet’s of Hove, 48 Blatchington Road, Hove

www.harrietsofhove.com

Very difficult to summarise the range this place has. It is about as comprehensive as plastic free pantries get, but if you want to get some inspiration then get on their website because it’s kept pretty well up to date. Open every day 9 till 5weekdays, staying open till 7 on Fridays, and 10 till 5 Sat, 11 till 4 Sun.

Hope you approve, Mother Earth.

#plastic #plasticfree #sustainability #green #waronplastic

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scoup-d-etat · 7 years

Text

Question Tag

!HEadlines! HEadlines! !Headlines! tagged by my fav veggie @coupsyboopsy you is special you is smart you is kind you is important

1. Are you named after someone?

K funny story I was named after the bond girl Denise Perrier cause my mom loved it when she was preggers. Tbh diamonds are forever is my shit .My middle name is from my grandma Josephine i know old fashioned

2. When is the last time you cried?

umm I think last week because it was hell week and I was stressed out

3. Do you like your handwriting?

It depends sometimes its freaking difficult to read

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?

I only speak medium rare steak with sauce i dont really care i love all sorts of meat they come in all shapes and sizes ;)

5. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?

UM YES im freaking nice and shit. JK im super annoying irl im either super serious or a petty 5 year old child

6. Do you use sarcasm?

fluent ever since day 1. People dont really get it sometimes which leaves me sometimes in an awkward position hehe

7. Do you have your tonsils?

Actually yes. It always caused me problems when I was younger but not anymore. I try to take care of my health

8. Would you bungee jump?

Sure. Its actually in my bucket list but you know it’s expensive and I live in a freaking village full of old people

9. What is your favorite kind of cereal?

your good ol’ boring plain cornflakes..

10. Do you untie your shoes when you take off your shoes?

Nah I yank them off my feet

11. Do you think you’re a strong person?

More than when I was younger. At some point I had to be strong not only for me but for my mom. I was always sick when I was younger and couldn’t really go to hospital bc we were poor but today Im stronger than ever. I dont have asthma attacks anymore and I think my emotional wounds are starting to heal the more openly talk about it, heww

12. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate and mint i know i love to suffer

13. What is the first thing you notice about people?

How they talk and what they talk about. If a person is self centered or too fake(?). I also watch their hands carefully~ I like observing habits tbh

14. Red or pink?

RED RED RED RED and rose pink. I need my lipsticks in dark deep red or else i aint using it~

15. What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself?

Before it was my skin but I got over it. I think it had something to do with my asian upbringing where being pale is considered as beautiful. Moving to Germany really changed my way of thinking. Right now it’s my nose but you can always contour that shiz

16. What color pants and shoes are you wearing now?

Im all black rn

17. What was the last thing you ate?

Pickles with salt

18. What are you listening to right now?

D (Half moon) - Dean

19. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

indigogogogo

20. Favorite smell?

When it’s sper hot the whole day and it rains in the evening. Is it soil? Or the smell of new books

21. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?

MY mom

22. Favorite sport to watch?

Me going up and down the stairs

23. Hair color?

like super dark brown I need to dye my roots again

24. Eye color?

like super dark brown

25. Do you wear contacts?

nope but id like to try the coloured ones

26. Favorite food to eat?

Wendys- Bacon mushroom melted cheese man

my mom’s soup~

27. Scary movie or comedy?

Scary movies I need to watch babadook again lols

28. last movie you watched?

Leon the professional

29. What color of shirt are you wearing?

ALL BLACK rn

30. Summer or winter

both? cause why not you get to eat watermelon and other fruits in summer and you get to cuddle with your duvet in winter

31. Hugs or kisses

Hugs ~ I feel like they are more intimate idk why- Kisses are too sloppy and wet for me

32.What book are you currently reading?

Brave new world why is this book so difficult to read?!?

33. Who do you miss right now?

My friends and family in the Philippines

34. What is on your mouse pad?

I dont have one hehe

35. What is the last program you watched?

Weekly idol with SVT ahhh my babies

36. What is the best sound?

rain or thunder

37. Rolling Stones or the Beatles?

Beatles~ I literally sing every single song on the karaoke

38. What is the furthest you have ever traveled?

Germany - Philippines it was a 27 hours flight I died man

39.Do you have a special talent?

I can breath

40. Where were you born

In the mentropolis of the Philippines

Tagging my other babies : @wonwoo-cheeseburger @see-bun-teen @makemoneynotfriend @woozioppa @supersuperroa @softlysweetlystan(u dont have to do it) i wanted to tag more peeps but im too awks lols tag me i want to BE YOUR FRIEND

#personal

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ask-the-crystal-squad · 7 years

Text

The Arrival

Hypothetical Steven Universe Episode, about Chrysoberyl’s, Jadeite’s and Star Ruby’s arrival on Earth.

Part 1

“This device is so extremely primitive.” Peridot pressed her eye to the scope and pressed some of the many buttons along the telescope until it finally faced into the starry night sky. “This should be right.”

“Can I see now?”

“Alright.” Peridot stepped aside. “But don’t expect too much! The magnification is simply substandard …”

Steven shrugged it off, and pressed his own eye against the scope instead. “I don’t know! Looks pretty magnified for me!”

“Yes, yes … I guess you have never seen gem telescope then, because if you had, you wouldn’t be so amazed by this … Anyway, if you look through it, you should be able to see Homeworld’s sun.”

“Which one is Homeworld’s sun?” The sky was full of stars, even just looking at the small part of it that the telescope pointed at. Well, he probably was looking at it right now, but how could he ever be sure?

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Substandard magnification. But … Homeworld’s sun is the little star in the middle of the rectangle of stars that your … human telescope is directly pointing at.”

“Okay …” And sure enough, there it was. At least he believed it was. It looked about right. Four stars aligned in a rectangle and a fifth fainter star almost exactly in its middle.

It felt weird, to look at it. Maybe he was looking at Homeworld right now. The place Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl and Peridot and Lapis came from. The place they had all left to find a new home here, at Earth. Even if not all had chosen to at first, of course, but even Lapis was warming up to Earth and …

He wondered what it was like on Homeworld. He’d seen the plans for the Earth colony on the moon. Was Homeworld like that? A planet with holes all over it like some piece of cheese? It didn’t sound very welcoming then …

How many of the stars out there belonged to other gem colonies? Maybe the bright star just outside the rectangle? Or the tiny red one that was almost without any neighbors, alone in space? Or the star that went brighter and brigther the longer he looked at it and also seemed to get … bigger …

Wait …

Stars didn’t usually become bigger, did they?

“Peridot! Shooting star! Quick, you have to make a wish!”

“Why would I do that? … Let me see.”

She pushed him aside, rather rudely for a Gem that was just as short as him, and pressed her eye to the scope.

Her face turned almost white, and her eyes as large as footballs.

“That’s not a shooting star!”

“What? It’s not?”

Peridot jumped away from the telescope as though it had just bitten her into the nose. Before Steven could even react, she clung to his arm, her face buried in his neck, and screamed: “They’re coming to get me! This time for real!”

“Who’s coming …” Steven tried to squint through the scope without pushing Peridot away. He could feel her shiver against him, and he really didn’t want to upset her further.

“I’ll be shattered! Yellow Diamond will never forgive me! We’re all lost!” Peridot waved at the sky with her free arm, her eyes as wide as saucers. “It’s a gem spaceship, Steven! We’re all doomed!”

“Are you … sure? Maybe it was just a funny looking star!”

“It’s not! And they’re coming for me! This is it! I’ll never save the Earth again!”

“They won’t get you! I won’t let them … I … better warn Garnet and Pearl and Amethyst!”

Peridot nodded with a little too much enthusiasm, it almost broke his heart. He hadn’t seen her this scared since … well, since the ruby squad had first come to Earth. But they hadn’t wanted to get her then. So why now? Had Yellow Diamond only just remembered that Peridot had called her a clod?

Ugh, he couldn’t think about that now! Gems coming to Earth was bad, really bad, and he really needed to …

“Uh, Peridot, I gonna need my legs!”

“Don’t just leave me here!”

There were tears in her eyes.

“Do you want to come with?”

Peridot nodded.

How Pearl managed to fit all these things inside her Gems, Steven would never understand. (He didn’t know how Lion did fit so many things inside his maine, either, but that was a question for another day.) Just now she had pulled an actual telescope out of her Gem and looked through it, before handing it over to Garnet.

Pearl was even whiter than usual, her fingers gripped the banister until Steven heard something cracking.

He could feel Peridot’s eyes on him. She’d decided to hide inside, and he had this suspicion he’d find her in the bathroom later.

“This is bad.” Garnet handed the telescope back to Pearl.

“Hey, if ya’re freaking out here, I wanna know why!” Amethyst tried to wrestle the telescope from Pearl’s hand. “Gimme!”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to ask nicely.” But Pearl handed over the telescope nonetheless.

“Ye, whatever.” Amethyst shrugged, glancing through the telescope. “That thing is getting bigger real fast! Woah!”

“It’s not a thing, Amethyst, it’s a gem spaceship.”

“So what’s the deal? We just beat ‘em up like the last time … times.”

Pearl sighed, snatching the telescope from Amethyst’s hands. “We don’t know who’s aboard this ship! It could be a whole battalion of Quartzes! Or worse!”

“What’s worse?” Steven asked. He only knew Amethyst and Jasper (and mum, if you could count that), but Jasper alone had already been pretty bad. What could be worse than a whole bunch of warriors like Jasper?

“Plenty! Another lapis lazuli, or a squad of spinels, or … They wouldn’t come to Earth themselves, would they, Garnet?”

“It’s not the diamonds, Pearl”, Garnet said firmly.

“How can you be sure of that!? Can you see who’s going to come out of that ship?”

“Hm …” Garnet adjusted her shades. “I can see several Gems leaving or one.”

“You don’t know how many of them there are? This is bad. This is really bad. And we don’t even have time to prepare …”

Steven didn’t like this. The Gems were supposed to know what to do, didn’t they? But even Garnet didn’t know how many they were! And she’d seen them landing, and that meant …

“They’re going to land here?”

“Yes.” Garnet turned around to him. “Steven, go back inside. Check on Peridot.”

So close already? He looked up, and oh gosh … It was coming closer really fast! Back at the barn he’d thought it was just a star, but there was no mistaking it now! It looked vaguely like the gem spaceship the rubies had used, not like the giant space hand at all …

That was good, wasn’t it? That meant it wasn’t a warship!

Unless they had warships that looked like feet. Or heads. Or other body parts.

“I’m a Crystal Gem too! Why do I have to get back inside? I have mum’s shield!”

He tried his best starry eyed puppy face, but this time, Garnet didn’t fall for it. “Steven, this is not the time for arguments. We don’t know what will happen if these Gems land here. Go back inside.”

Above them, the spaceship was big like the tip of his thump. Against his will, Steven felt a shiver creep down his spine.

“Okay.”

“We let you know if you can help.” She squeezed his shoulder, lightly.

Steven nodded. “Okay.”

He still didn’t like it. He’d rather be here with the other Crystal Gems. They always told him how far he’d come and now they didn’t want him to help them. What if the ship wanted to shoot them and he wasn’t quick enough to protect them?

He all but dragged himself back inside, paused at the door, peered out through the glass and to the silhouettes of the Gems outside. They were talking with each other again, but he couldn’t hear what they said.

Pearl nodded at something that Garnet said. She pulled her spear out of her gem, gripping it tight.

Steven bit unto his bottom lip and turned around.

Peridot was still in the bathroom. She cowered in the bathtube, arms wrapped around her knees as if trying to curl herself into a tiny green and yellow ball. She almost jumped up to the ceiling when Steven came in.

“It’s just me!” Steven raised his hands.

Peridot climbed out of the bathtube. “Are they here yet? I don’t hear fighting!”

Steven shook his head. “Not yet! But I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe they’re not even here for you! Last time they came for Jasper, I’m sure it’s gonna be okay!”

Peridot didn’t look convinced. “Yellow Diamond can’t have forgotten about me! I called her a clod!” She looked around in the bathroom, like a caged animal looking for an escape route. “Metal! Steven, where is metal?”

“We, uh, don’t have that much metal in the bathroom …” He could guess where she was getting at with that question. She really looked scared. Maybe it was good to give her what she wanted to feel better. “But there’s plenty in the kitchen! Spoons and forks and stuff. Lots of it …”

Peridot rushed past him, almost burst through the bathroom door, falling on all fours while she hurried around the corner. Steven chased after her.

He couldn’t let her use all the spoons! He needed at least some of those! How was he supposed to eat breakfast without spoons?

“Peridot, wait!”

He rushed around the corner. Peridot had already pulled a drawer open, followed by a second, a third … A pile of spoons, forks and knifes jumped out of the last one, clouding above Peridot’s head.

“Steven … wow, thanks!” Peridot grinned at him, a wavering smile but a smile. She tried to be bold. “That will be enough!”

Steven sighed. Now he couldn’t ask her to leave some of the spoons for his breakfast! (Maybe he could eat his new Crying Breakfast Friends Cornflakes without a spoon? You could drink out of a cereal bowl, right?)

“I’m not … I’m not going to sit around while my friends fight for me!” Above Peridot’s head, the cloud of spoons, knifes and forks wavered. “I’m a Crystal Gem now, Steven!”

Steven wanted to hug her, but the cloud of metal stopped him. He didn’t want to be buried in the pile of spoons and forks! But she’d come so far since the first time they met! A year ago, she’d tried to crush him with a giant hand and now she wanted to help them!

And he would help her! Not even Garnet knew what was going to happen when that spaceship landed. He just had to help them, and they had told them to keep an eye on Peridot, and Peridot was going outside …

“I’ll come with you!”

“Yes, good idea! With my metal powers and your shield, that gem spaceship won’t stand a chance!”

“Uh … maybe we don’t even have to fight them? What if they are just here to say hello?” He jogged after Peridot, who rushed for the door, her cloud of spoons, forks and knifes still floating above her head like a strange swarm of bees.

“They are Gems from our Homeworld! They don’t come to say hello, Steven!” She jogged down the stairs, and Steven was really grateful that he knew the stairs to the veranda like the back of his hand. It was really dark outside and he could’ve tripped. “I can protect you with my metal powers if you are too af-AHHHHHH!”

She dove behind a rock, the cloud of cutlery swarming above her like angry wasps ready to sting …

Steven looked up.

“Oh my stars, they’re here!” Peridot’s hand cramped around the rock. “They’re here! We’re all going to be shattered!”

Steven felt his stomach twist into knots. The spaceship was really close. So close he felt he could just stretch and touch it with his hand. He could see what it looked like, exactly. Large, larger than the ruby space ship. Long and round, with a shining ring around the middle, like … like a gemstone. And it was so smooth, there were no windows. No light.

It hovered above the water and then, splash! It landed. A wave rolled to shore, swapped over Garnet’s feet, into Amethyst’s face, up to Pearl’s knees.

Then, hiss! Pearl gripped her spear tighter, Garnet balled her fists, Amethyst’s whip swished through the air. A side of the spaceship opened suddenly, building a bridge that lead to shore.

The first to step through the hatch was a tall gem, roughly Garnet’s height. Steven couldn’t be entirely sure, but her skin and hair looked golden and yellow to him in the light that came from the ship. Next, and immediately flanking the tall one, came two smaller Gems. The taller of the two was about as tall as Lapis, with blue-green skin and hair. The other looked very much like a ruby, except that her hair wasn’t in the shape of a square, but an upturned cylinder - a bit like a top hat, except it wasn’t.

The strange ruby charged forwards, right hand rushing to her shoulder where her gem was …

The tall Gem shook her head, and the ruby relaxed, but slowly, keeping a wary eye on Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl.

“What do you want here!?” Pearl asked, sharply, gripping the shaft of her spear tighter, stance lowered and ready to thrust.

“Refuge, that’s all.” The golden Gem stepped forwards, hands lowered. “We didn’t come to pick a fight.”

“You shouldn’t be here. This is not a Gem controlled planet.” Garnet didn’t yell, but she couldn’t have made it clearer that she wanted them to leave. Right now.

“Look, I know the situation is difficult for you, but we really don’t have that much of a choice. If you don’t trust us, that’s only fair. But maybe you trust us at least when we say we’re not with Homeworld.”

“Bla bla, you believe we buy that?” Amethyst turned to Garnet. “Let’s just smash ‘em. They can’t hurt us if they’re in a bubble, right?”

Garnet was silent for a very long time. Maybe she was observing the new Gems, maybe she was just thinking or using her future vision, Steven couldn’t tell.

Then she shook her head. “No.”

“But …”

“I’m not saying we should trust them. But they’re not Homeworld.”

“But Garnet …”

“Amethyst. Her gems.”

Gems. Like more than one. And the yellow Gem had two! One at her forehead, shaped like a hexagon. Another at her navel, like Steven’s own, just that it was the shape of teardrop and not round.

A fusion. The yellow Gem was a fusion, a fusion of two different kinds of Gems. Like Garnet. Homeworld hated fusions like her. That was something that hadn’t changed in thousands of years.

“You can stay. But that doesn’t mean we trust you.”

“Yeah. One wrong move!” Amethyst punched her fist.

“We’ll know if you try something, so don’t.”

Garnet turned around, headed back to the house. Pearl was at her first, a protest on her lips.

“But Garnet! We can’t just leave them behind like that! What if they decide to attack us?

“They won’t. And if they try, we’re ready.”

“We can’t just leave them to themselves just because one of them is a fusion! That wasn’t a good idea with Malachite …”

“We’ll be fine. That fusion isn’t like Malachite.”

Steven waited until they had passed before he followed them. He glanced over his shoulder to the three new Gems. Who were they? Garnet didn’t seem to think they’re dangerous, or else there would be fighting now … Maybe someone should try to talk to them. Really talk to them. That had helped with Lapis and Peridot, hadn’t it? (He pushed the thought aside that it hadn’t worked so well on Bismuth, and Eyeball, and Jasper …)

Lapis and Peridot were friends now, after all. Peridot even was a Crystal Gem! Maybe they could be friends with these Gems too. Wouldn’t that be better than watching them all the time?

It certainly was …

#text #crystal gems #chrysoberyl #star ruby #jadeite #amethyst #garnet #pearl #peridot #steven universe #amethyst (su)#garnet (su)#peridot (su)#pearl (su)#su

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theo-la-dora · 7 years

Text

Ink Stained: Chapter 3 Coffee Cups

Read here or on AO3

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

Chapter 3 Summary:

In which coffee is used to neutralize curses, Laura should definitely reconsider her choice in jewlery and Carmilla has no concept of doors. Also, Betty needs bleach. All of the bleach.

On Monday, Carmilla waited for Laura on her doorstep.

Her hair was cut short, inky tips that framed her jaw like they'd done at the club and she held two take-away cups of coffee in her hands. When Laura saw her, she almost toppled over from surprise - which would’ve been unfortunate as the concrete sidewalk and Laura were not the best of friends on any given day.

“Morning, cupcake,” Carmilla drawled, seemingly amused at Laura’s wide-eyed, not quite awake state when the girl just blinked at her owlishly. “Thought you might need this.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Laura blurted out, not quite ready to adequately process Carmilla being on her doorstep in a way that didn’t feel like pulling teeth, but always open for caffeinated beverages.

“Quite literally, I’m sure,” Carmilla quipped with a considering look at the dark circles under Laura’s eyes, causing the girl to sheepishly rub at them as they started walking towards the next underground station. “Another eighteen-hour workday?”

“Well,” Laura said, hitching her backpack up higher. It was quite a lot heavier now that she’d started carrying around bear spray everywhere. “Not all of us can turn ‘woman of mystery’ into our chosen career path, you know?”

“Pray tell, what’s your favorite pastime if you so categorically dismiss mine?”

Laura grinned up at her from beneath a knitted hat with a snowflake on the front. “Sometimes it’s not all that hard to believe you were a countess once, Miss Karnstein,” she teased.

“Lies.” One corner of Carmilla’s mouth twitched upwards. “It’s all lies.”

“I know. Because then you’d have manners, right?”

Unamused, Carmilla threatened to shove her in to the bustling traffic, not quite managing to hide her grin when Laura yelped. “I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now,” she grumbled, shaking her head fondly when Laura almost choked on her own giggles.

And the coffee. Definitely the coffee.

“Well, you did bring me coffee,” Laura acquiesced as they walked down the steps of the underground station. It was messy and full of people and Laura had to be careful not to stumble over them because the girl next to her was all kinds of distracting. “So that counts for something.”

“Oh, so I’m a good girl now?” Carmilla’s expression turned from playful to suggestive in five hot seconds and Laura’s face burned brighter than a fire engine. “Never knew it was that easy.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Laura said, a bit sarcastically. “Easy.”

“Not a word I’d use to describe you, cupcake, but far be it from me to dictate someone else’s identity.”

Laura glared at her. “You’re the worst.”

“I thought I was a lifesaver?”

“You’re becoming more of a nuisance with every second.”

They’d reached the platform, the arrival board announcing that the next train would arrive in two minutes as the familiar smell of the Toronto public transport system surrounded them. “Did you know that I once followed you down St. George’s station? I felt like such a stalker that day and I swear you-”

Laura suddenly swiveled around to face a sheepish looking Carmilla who apparently found great interest in the life-sized advertisements on the other side of the platform and wouldn’t meet her narrowed eyes. “Carmilla…”

“I was curious, okay?”

“But why were you-“

“Is that my phone number?” Carmilla was evidently also quite skilled at the art of deflection, because she picked up Laura’s wrist, pushing back the sleeve of her coat to examine the black numbers more closely. “Oh, were you feeling sappy?”

Laura yanked back her arm with a glare that could rival that of an angry kitten. “I’m not the one appearing and disappearing like a sodding house-elf all the time,” she huffed out indignantly, ignoring Carmilla’s downright offended expression at being compared to Dobby. “So, you might not share the sentiment, but I actually think it quite reassuring that I can call you like a normal person and not wish upon a star or whatever you people like to do.”

“We write messages in blood, actually. It’s really quite efficient.”

Laura looked like she was two point five seconds away from imploding, so Carmilla quickly grabbed her other hand, produced a sharpie form god-knows-where and wrote another series of numbers down the inside of the still bare wrist before tying a bracelet with what looked like a bat wing around it.

“In case the number doesn’t work, wait there for me, okay Liebling?” she murmured, something unmentionable or other passing in her eyes before she curled her free hand around Laura’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss that tasted like coffee and ink and other promises. “And the bracelet should help keep you hidden from other would-be killers, so don’t take it off. I got to go now, figure out who’s been trying to kill you and shit.”

“Why are you-” The arriving train cut off Laura’s slightly dazed question and she could only watch as Carmilla pocketed the sharpie in the back pocket of her leather pants before throwing Laura one last smirk and sauntering up the stairs.

“Because apparently, I’m a good person now,” was the last thing Laura heard before the train doors closed with a thud. Under the circumstances, it was probably a good thing that the train was packed since only the sheer number of people kept her standing when she carefully pushed back the bat wing charm to look at what Carmilla had written on her arm and realized what it meant.

It was a series of coordinates.

That same day, the mark on City Hall appears on the parliament’s building in Ottawa as well and the uproar that’s previously been exclusive to Toronto takes hold of the whole country.

+++

(Laura checks the coordinates on Google Earth and stares at the picture for almost half an hour.

It’s a cabin in the woods.)

+++

There was a necklace on Laura’s nightstand when she woke up Thursday morning. The pendant was a gemstone framed by metal ornaments and Laura couldn’t help the flip in her stomach when she saw it, sunlight catching in the red of the stone. It had to be another one of Carmilla’s presents, the prettier companion to the bat wing bracelet that was still tied around her wrist despite her roommate’s distaste for the thing.

“Shiny,” Betty grinned, looking up from a gigantic, ancient tome that took up three-quarters of their breakfast table with her reading glasses askew and some marmalade on her left cheek when Laura bounced into the kitchen. “You got yourself a girlfriend or something, Hollis?”

Tugging at the pendant, Laura couldn’t help the smile that spread on her cheeks. The thing between her and Carmilla was… messy at best – not just because of the potential heartbreak, but also because of the collateral damage that came with time travel and its marks which –

Not exactly an ideal conversation topic for breakfast, so Laura just did an awkward head-shake and blurted out, “Or something?” with bright cheeks.

Betty shook her head sternly. “No funny business in any shared living spaces, Hollis. I don’t care what you get up to in your room but I don’t want to have to worry about what’s previously been on my table when I eat breakfast.”

“As if you’ve ever used a table for eating in your life,” Laura fired back, pointing at the literary monstrosity in front of Betty with a bowl of cereal and almost spilling half of it over. “I’m pretty sure I saw you eat pasta in a shower once.”

“Hearsay.”

“I got the photos to prove it.”

“And I have video footage of you singing a love song to your Tardis mug after eating one of Natalie’s special brownies, so don’t get cheeky with me, young lady.”

Laura almost choked on her cornflakes. “Love you, too, grandma.”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about. No respect for your elders,” Betty said with about three pens in her mouth and stood up, closing the book with a thud. “So, I’m meeting some people at the library, let’s see if we can’t solve your little… Goethe problem there.” She pointed at Laura’s chest as if it was somehow offensive to her and Laura used her hands to cover herself despite being fully clothed.

“I feel like we’re talking about an Alien growing inside of me,” Laura grumbled into her cornflakes, squirming when Betty tried to pet her head but forgot to drop another two pens before doing just that.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this, Hollis. Even if I have to cut it out of you.”

“If that’s supposed to be reassuring I think you need to work on your empathy skills, Spielsdorf. That was all Sherlock Holmes kinds of awful.”

“I took a few anatomy courses in undergrad,” Betty shrugged. “I could do it.”

Strangely enough, Laura didn’t doubt that.

+++

Fiddling with the necklace pendant, watching it catch the sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window, Laura feels a soft kind of hope blooming in her chest as if everything can be alright after all.

(The feeling is strangely familiar but Laura can’t quite say why.)

+++

All day she kept playing around with the necklace, the rough texture and sharp edges a source of constant fascination to her fingers. Laura didn’t realize that something was wrong until she excited her favourite coffee-shop, a steaming cup of double espresso with milk and sugar in one hand, and her legs suddenly started moving of their own accord.

Down the streets and away from campus, faster and faster they took her with no care for traffic or other obstacles and her muscles burned, the liquid in her cup spilling over and burning her hand. She tried to talk, to somehow get her mouth to open but it felt stitched up and then glued together, gums molded like liquid plastic with the taste of sulphur on her tongue. Her eyes went wide, insides screaming and she tried to hold on to walls and street signs, even to people who just moved out of her way as if she wasn’t there and Laura tried to breathe, tried to just breathe –

Suddenly, an arm shot out of an alleyway to grab her and pull her with it and the sudden change of direction almost knocked the wind out of Laura. She was pushed against a brick wall, the smell of street and garbage overwhelming her when she could breathe once again. Laura had to blink one, two times before she could focus on the person in front of her.

It was a woman.

She was tall, dark-skinned and elegantly dressed, her blood red gloves the first thing to catch Laura’s attention as she tilted her head to the side and displayed two rows of perfectly straight white teeth that reminded her more of a shark than anything.

“May I?” the strange woman asked, one glove covered hand wrapping itself around the necklace pendant that Laura had been wearing all day. “Such a nasty little thing,” she whispered, her voice almost caressing the words. Laura was about to protest when the pressure around her neck increased and with a tearing sound the necklace gave way.

She almost toppled over.

“There you go,” the woman exclaimed, holding the necklace up with a satisfied grin. “Cursed, you see? One should never put on strange jewelry, moppet, it’s a recipe for disaster. As for this one…” She looked around as if searching for a place to throw it like Laura had seen people do with bombs in movies, before settling on the cup in Laura’s hand.

“Ah…” She took the cup and, tearing off the lid, she dropped the necklace into it. There was a hissing sound that made the woman only smile brighter as she put the lid back on. “All done. You can thank me now, little girl.”

“I- What the holy – That was my coffee!”

The woman shrugged. “I had to neutralize it.”

“With my coffee?”

“Well, to be honest any kind of liquid would have done the job, but personally I think the caffeine always gives it a nice touch. Not to mention that the atrocity there can scarcely be called coffee.” She scoffed, wiping invisible dust off her fur-trimmed coat. “Even battery acid tastes decent when drowned in milk and sugar.”

Disregarding the stranger’s coffee snobbery, Laura cautiously pointed at the cup as if it could explode any moment. Her limbs still felt weak from the strain they’d been put under as she leaned heavily against the graffiti covered wall. “So, that’s like Voldemort’s horcrux or-“

“In a manner of speaking.”

“So, I should probably thank you for saving my life then?”

The woman let out a long-suffering sigh. “You could. But I feel like you’re going to diffuse into tears any moment now, moppet, and that is not quite my style. So, you can just tell Kitty Kat hello from her sister and we’ll defer this conversation to a more convenient time. Because I have a witch to catch. Or maybe two.”

“Kitty Kat?” Laura blurted out, feeling her vision go blurry.

“Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t figured out that she’s more cat than human some days,” the woman chuckled and then her eyes lit up as she examined the cup again. “Isn’t that interesting!”, she exclaimed, moving her fingers so that Laura could see what she was talking about. “Normally, it should appear on your skin but apparently…”

Right across the coffee shop logo and the hot content warning was a red mark as if stamped on it.

The cartwheel symbol.

“You are-” Laura just stared at her and the woman's smile stretched impossibly wide across her face before she disappeared with a snap, the coffee cup still in hand.

“-one of them, little Holly girl.”

+++

It takes her a long time to get her legs moving again and when she finally manages to get home, she just collapses on her bed and sleeps for ten hours straight.

(Laura's dreams are filled with burning pyres and choked lullabies that night as someone presses a Holly crown on her head, the sharp leaves piercing her skin.)

+++

There was a knock on the living room’s balcony door at half past eight on Sunday evening and it was a testament to all the weird things happening so far that Laura didn’t call the police, but instead grabbed the nearest kitchen spatula, positioned herself next to the curtained door and ripped it open.

“Took you long enough, cupcake,” a familiar voice drawled instead of the squirrel, the potential serial killer or even the life-sized moose she’d been expecting. Laura had to blink one, two times to properly register Carmilla sitting on the balustrade of the tiny balcony, hands buried in the pockets of her leather jacket and a smirk on her face.

“We do have a front door, you know?” Laura deadpanned, spatula still in hand.

“Now that would be boring, cutie,” Carmilla smirked, jumping up and slipping past Laura into the apartment like she owned the place in her shorts and fishnet stockings. “Cute pyjamas by the way.”

“Thank you?” Laura says, fiddling a bit nervously with the ties to said pyjama bottoms that had tiny bows printed all over them. “So, using a fifth-floor balcony as an entrance and half scaring me to death is just for entertainment value then?”

“Not everyone resorts to ice cold rivers to get their kicks,” Carmilla quipped and, taking in the stacks of paper, books and the lone laptop on the couch table next to a plate of cookies, added, “or, you know, investigative journalism.”

“I could have seriously hurt you, you know?”

Carmilla eyed the makeshift weapon from where she was sprawled on Laura’s couch and chuckled. “Doubt that, sweetheart.”

“Next time I’m bringing out the bear spray,” Laura grumbled, pushing combat boots off her favourite pillow and settling in next to her unexpected visitor.

“I’d pay to see that.”

“Yes, well unfortunately I’m not that sort of entertainment no matter how bored you are, so…” She managed to pull up her heavy, five-pound textbook on civil wars in the western world to function as a sort of barricade when Carmilla was suddenly a whole lot closer than before, eyes alight with a sort of mischief that had Laura gulp, thinking about a different night in different lights.

“Oh really?” Carmilla’s voice dropped so low that the hairs on the back of Laura’s neck stood up and she shivered. “There’s nothing I could do to induce you to…”

With a squeak, Laura pushed the girl off her using the heavy tome between them and almost fell off the couch in the process. “Work first, this…,” she gestured between them, cheeks bright red. “Later?”

Looking a bit disgruntled, Carmilla settled back on the other end of the couch, quietly muttering ‘What the frilly hell?’ under her breath when Laura handed her a much smaller textbook and with a shy smile asked, “Quiz me?”

“Are you seriously asking me to help you study?”

“You’re the one barging in here unannounced,” Laura said sternly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Only because you can travel back in time to hand in late essays or study doesn’t mean the rest of us can, so quit whining and help me. I got a quiz tomorrow and you’re an expert in history, right?”

“I feel like you only like me for my brain,” Carmilla complained, eyeing the book like it had somehow grossly insulted her.

“And I’d like you even more for your brain if it figured out who’s been trying to kill me,” Laura said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your sister sends her regards by the way.”

“You’ve met Mattie?”

“Is that her name? Nice woman, very – interesting. You know, in the could-eat-your-liver, disembowel-you-if-you-get-a-stain-on-her-Louboutin’s kind of way-”

“Laura…”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a meeting per say as she didn’t introduce herself to me. You know, because she was too busy saving my life and all that jazz.”

“Mattie – saved your life?”

“Yes, does evil cursed necklace ring a bell?” The second attempt at ending her life had made Laura just the tiniest bit tetchy and it showed. “It tried running me into traffic but your sister dropped it into my coffee – which, you know, rude, but-”

“So, it’s not just some creep in a car then,” Carmilla sighed, pulling at her hair in frustration. “Which makes sense as I haven’t had any luck so far in tracing down the driver. So much for superpowers, I guess.”

“But how did you-,” Laura began but quickly cut herself off. “You went back.”

It wasn’t really a question and Carmilla just shrugged. “I waited further up the street because two of me in the same place is like trying to press same-poled magnets together, but yeah…”

“Wow, that’s… How does that even work?”

Carmilla looked uncomfortable. “It just does,” she said, an edge to her voice. “It’s not like consciously deciding on a specific time or date, you know? I think about it and then I’m there, no matter the time or place.” She shrugged. “It’s always been like this.”

“Been like what?”

Carmilla seemed to borrow further into herself. “Like this,” she bit out.

“And when you go back and change things, a mark appears?” Laura tried to contain her excitement at getting answers directly from the source because the girl didn’t exactly look happy about it.

“It’s not that easy,” Carmilla grumbled, sighing when she glanced at the eager look on Laura’s face. “A lot of the time the change doesn’t even manifest. Take me playing Nancy Drew for example, stuff like that doesn’t even cause a ripple most days because time is less domino game and more languid river – it takes a lot to make it leave its chosen path and I’m still just one person.”

“But if you do change something…”

“Then it usually shows,” Carmilla said, thumbing through the book Laura had given her as if an introduction to European revolutions was a scintillating topic.

If one liked decapitated people that is.

“So… you saving me from drowning should have left a mark then?”

At that, Carmilla looked up, something flashing in dark eyes and it was just the tilt of a head, that drop in volume but Laura nodded, her heart in her throat when she moved one hand to press it against her sternum.

Carmilla looked hungry for a split second, but then she nodded and turned back to the book. “Maybe we should’ve stuck with revising,” she finally admitted quietly and Laura let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Yeah,” she said. “Maybe.”

It was quiet from then on. Carmilla kept asking Laura questions in a bored manner, complete with teasing nicknames and small digs at this or that particular historical figure while stealing cookies from the plate. Laura just watched her get caught up in small rants when something irked her, Carmilla’s whole demeanor changing, coming alive and despite the mess they were in, she couldn’t help the sappy smile and the quiet happiness spreading in the space beneath the mark on her chest.

“What?” Carmilla asked when she caught Laura staring, a bit self-consciously rubbing away a few stray crumbs and Laura shook her head, ready to offer a quickly squeaked “Nothing!” when the front door suddenly burst open to make room for a books and bags covered Betty Spielsdorf.

“This is absolute insanity, Hollis. You can’t believe the incompetence of these people – is it really too much to ask them to be prepared and read the freaking material before we have a study session? No! They’re either stressed or their grandmother just died or their bloody dog is having-” Laura almost accurately timed the fifteen seconds it took for Betty to realize there was a third person present in the room and promptly drop her bags.

The girl had always had a flair for dramatics.

“Who is this, Hollis?” her roommate asked, stepping from the tiny entrance hall into the warm lights of the living room, a suspicious frown on her face.

“Betty, Hi!” Laura almost stumbled over her own two feet as she scrambled up to make the introductions. “This is Carmilla, she helped me study for my quiz tomorrow.” A quiet snort could be heard from the girl in question at that but Laura ignored her. “Carmilla, this is Betty. Roommate extraordinaire and my best friend since I started university.”

From the corner of her eye she saw Carmilla eyeing the balcony door and swiftly moved over to close it before the girl could get any ideas.

Carmilla just glared at her and stole another cookie.

“So, you two have been… studying the whole evening?” The sarcasm was practically dripping from Betty’s voice which, in Laura’s opinion, was a bit unfair. She opened her mouth to protest, but didn’t get very far when Betty took a step back, palm pressed against her eyes. “Oh my god, this is a date, right?”

Carmilla and Laura both looked at each other and then quickly away before starting to vehemently protest any such thing but Betty wasn’t even listening to them.

“Bleach!” she cried out, disappearing into the kitchen. “I’m going to need all of the bleach!”

“Is she always so…” Carmilla made several random hand gestures and Laura nodded as if that was a reasonable assessment to make.

“She’s an… acquired taste, I guess? Wait until she starts reorganizing your drawers because the mess is giving her a headache or she and Mel start ganging up on you. Those two, I swear…”

“I can always just go, you know?” Carmilla said with a raised brow. “Doors or no doors.”

“Yeah, because that would be really inconspicuous.”

“Well, you’re the least inconspicuous person I’ve ever met,” Betty drawled, coming in from the kitchen with a bowl of steaming food before settling in a lone armchair. She raised a brow at Laura. “What? You’re letting her eat the cookies without protest. I’ve been living with you for over a year now and I’m still not allowed.”

Carmilla sniggered when Laura was reduced to flustered stammering at that revelation but quickly started coughing when Betty turned to her, announcing that “Vampirella over there isn’t really all that subtle either. What with the heart eyes and everything” which Laura thought was the most hilarious thing since watching Lafontaine try out their new taser in the middle of an Advanced Psychology class.

“She’s not a vampire though,” Laura was quick to point out, earning herself matching “Duh” expressions from both Betty and Carmilla. But something caught the former’s attention because she proceeded to take in their visitor with an unveiled scrutiny that had Laura shuffle her feet nervously.

“No, she’s not, but there’s just something about her…” Laura could see the exact moment it dawned on Betty and she counted two and two together. “Did you tell her?” she swiveled around to face Laura whose face had turned to stone, mouth unwilling to utter a single word.

“Tell me what?” Carmilla interjected, leaning forward, amusement gone from her face but Betty ignored her.

“Did you tell your time travelling girlfriend that you’ve got that mark on your chest since birth?” she continued instead, a considering, almost worried look on her face and Laura’s throat and fingers burned. “Did you tell her it’s been growing?”

“Laura?” Carmilla’s voice was low and quiet. Dangerous even. “What the hell is she talking about?”

Laura gulped, fingers tugging at the hem of the button down she was wearing and she felt so numb –

“She’s right,” she said, head spinning as she started unbuttoning her shirt. No one besides her Dad and Betty had seen this before, because she’d been so careful to not let it show, so very, very careful. “The mark, it’s been…” She pulled the two halves apart, baring the words beneath her collarbones and the mark spreading on her sternum.

The panther skull surrounded by vines.

“It’s been there as long as I can remember. But these,” she traced the words. “These are new.”

Disbelief and terror and something… else warred on Carmilla’s face before her jaw set. Laura wanted to reach out, to hold her back, but she couldn’t, was frozen there with her heart on a platter and when Carmilla disappeared with nary a sound, the only thing she heard was Betty dropping her bowl of food.

And the sound of it shattering.

+++

Carmilla doesn’t come back that night or the next.

Or the next.

Betty’s the quietest Betty can be in her worry and the TV’s blaring news about new marks appearing all over Canada but Laura doesn’t listen.

(She doesn’t sleep either.)

#carmilla #fanfiction #hollstein #Carmilla Karnstein #laura hollis #time travel au

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