#we also had the weetabix one
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Wonder full (3)
Eventually Harry managed to wear Malfoy down—to convince him, that is, to move in. He didn’t bring a lot of things from the crappy flat: just the chest of drawers, a bunch of scratchy old records, and a pile of books. Mr. Picket tried to convince him to take more, any of the furniture, the photos on the walls, even the new sofa he's bought, all to Malfoy’s staunch refusal. “Don’t want to rely,” he started, then stopped, mouth twisting like he said something stupid. Grabbed the bin bag of his clothes and an empty tube of toothpaste and raced down to the rented van. Was silent the whole drive, buzzing at Harry’s shoulder without ever moving. But he relaxed by the time they got to the house, smiled when he saw Teddy’s drawings on the fridge door. Settled in unnervingly quick. And then they were housemates.
Oh, god, they were housemates.
This sudden existence taking space where Harry was usually quiet, usually by himself. It made everything feel more real, somehow. Less blurry. And moving in with Harry helped Malfoy too, Harry thought, released this tight line of his shoulders, rounded the sharpness of his frown. His laughter was still wild, still unhinged, and Harry liked that he could hear it more and more, and more, and more.
Work was still work. But Harry was constantly doodling on his notes, flowers and birds and trees, half-formed, disproportionate faces, big eyes with heavy eyelashes. Malfoy did the interviews with Ron a couple of times a week, and they all went to the pub together sometimes, with Ginny and Luna and Nev and the others. It was weirdly, weirdly, nice.
Malfoy was an interesting addition to the house. He worked awful hours, sometimes disappeared for days on end. He always left cups of half-drank tea everywhere, as if expecting to come back for them at some point. He insisted on buying and using a fabric softener that smelled, of all things, distinctly blue. He broke the coffee maker and always left the lights on in the hall, he chucked all of Harry’s cereal and got them Weetabix, was obsessed with fruit, mostly apples, sometimes oranges. He brought men to the house, gorgeous men who wanted to make him breakfast, who never somehow stayed. And he cleaned in the middle of the night, and monopolised the telly, and played his music far too loud and obnoxious, and Harry liked it so much he felt sick.
Most magnificent added bonus to the new living situation: Malfoy met Teddy. Or rather Teddy met Malfoy. Quiet, smiley Ted who never spoke much around Harry, who couldn’t shut up around him. As if something in Malfoy’s restless energy struck a chord, lit up something previously unknown inside him. Malfoy was baffled, spent a lot of time flushed, checking himself in the mirror, as if expecting to see someone else. Never did. And he made sure not to stay with Teddy on his own, only with Harry in the room, like he too required adult supervision.
Autumn came as it usually did, too tight and all of a sudden. September was uneventful, but then it turned October, and Harry felt every heckle in his body rise. It didn’t help that Malfoy was so loud, that there was no escaping him. It didn’t help that he followed Harry around the house like a duckling, always asking his questions and talking about nothing at all, about everything. It didn’t help that Harry sort of wanted him there, and dreaded it.
Things were getting quite tense by the end of the month. A week before Halloween Harry came back to the whole living room covered in fabric, and Malfoy in—
“The hell is this?” Harry managed weakly. Malfoy turned around, wearing a frown and nothing but tatters of linen, wrapped distressingly loose around his torso, gallons of body glitter on his exposed skin. It looked like someone who’s never seen a mummy before had a weird sex dream. It looked comical. Also very much not.
“I got a new gig. We sell perfume, I think. Down in the shopping centre beside the game shop, the one with the troll.”
Harry grunted in recognition. “And they want you dressed like that?”
“They have this promotion, bugger if I know. The pay’s terrific.” To Harry’s scowl, not letting up: “Do you—disapprove?”
“It’s,” Harry choked, and couldn’t make himself say a word more. Everything in his head was tight and, he suspected, entirely too petty to say out loud. He wasn’t a child, and this wasn’t—shouldn’t be a problem. Malfoy could have whatever job he wanted, prance around in the most revealing non-clothes, Harry didn't care. But—
“It’s Halloween,” he admitted through his teeth. “I don’t, don’t really like it.”
“Oh? Do elaborate.”
“Just don’t. Never did. I’d, erm, usually go to Sirius’s, or Ron and Hermione’s, and it was never… I mean.”
“I remember you were never around for the parties back at school. Possibly had this intention of shocking some reaction out of you, younger years. Wore some truly inspiring outfits. But that’s not really an answer, is it? What exactly is the issue I’m obviously missing here?”
“Who said there had to be an issue?”
“Your face did. Quit pouting.”
Harry didn’t pout, because he was an adult, who didn’t pout. “It’s just my face. Was born with it and everything.”
“To the general dismay of all, yes, we know. Now tell me what’s wrong or I’ll be late for my shift, and you will have to explain it to my acne-riddled, angsty teenaged boss.”
“Your boss is a teenager?” Harry frowned, and Malfoy rolled his eyes with a groan so loud it was almost funny.
“Of course he is. Are you trying to stall? Just tell me. I’m not a fucking wizard, I won’t know if you don’t—”
“My parents,” Harry said in this tiny voice he didn't even recognise. “It’s when they, er. It was the thirty-first, so, I don’t really celebrate or anything.”
Oh, god. Stupid, that was such a stupid thing to say. Harry regretted it, regretted saying anything at all in his life. Wouldn’t it be better if he'd been born mute, if he learned to keep his mouth shut and was just bloody quiet for one miserable time—
“I,” Malfoy said, and swallowed. Quiet, and also loud, in that weird, hectic way.
“Don’t,” pathetically, idiotically. “It’s fine.”
Malfoy's frown deepened. “I,” he said again, and stopped. Then: “Should have known that, actually.”
Harry rubbed his eyes till they sparked. “How would you? Not like I went and made a big deal of it. It’s not. A big deal, I mean.”
“Harry,” in this awful, low tone, possibly Malfoy's attempt at gentle. “I’m so—” hardening, hardening. “I can quit. I will. This is so silly and I never would have, ah, I'm being an absolute tosser about it anyway. No, quite right.”
The way he was standing, tall and firm and buzzing, roaring with it. “Just,” desperately, “stop, okay? I won’t even be here most of the week. Going to stay with Ron, Hermione’s out on this field research gig and—honestly, it’s fine. You don’t need to—I’m not a child.”
Malfoy made a rather horse-y sound. “That's not—” stopped once again. “All right. Fine. I’ll still quit, though. Teenage bosses in general I have no issues with, but Jeremiah is a bit too much for my tastes. He won’t even let me wear the nose ring. It’s basically like being in a cult.” Then snorted, a horrible, echoing sound. “Not that I’d know anything about that, would I.”
“Malfoy,” Harry tried.
“Truly, what am I even on about. News flash, Draco, this isn’t about you. You have… we can talk about it, if you’d like, about your parents. About all of it. I could listen.”
“No,” with this crackly, panicked laughter, “no, that’s fine. I’ll be away Thursday, so, really. I’ll see you again after—in November. Don’t quit, okay? Not for me. It doesn’t matter.”
Malfoy’s pretty nose scrunched. “What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.” Shook himself, a bit less stiff and a bit more himself. “That job wasn’t for me, anyway. I’ve already texted in my resignation.”
“What?” grinned, helpless. “When did you even have the time?”
“I’m a very prudent texter, Harry. You should know that about me. It’s what I always say when people ask: Draco Malfoy, twenty-six, prudent texter.”
This thing in his chest, the block of maybe-ice shifted, started to, not melt but, become more bearable. “You should add, arse.”
“Of course, it’s next on the list. Draco Malfoy, twenty-six, prudent texter, absolute arsehole. Unemployed but in a sexy way. Proficient in French, Latin, Hebrew, Russian and Greek, tragically underdeveloped interpersonal skills.”
"Git." Against the wall, against his better judgement: “And me? What should I tell people, if they ask?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one. Harry Potter, twenty-six, workaholic. Graceful evader. Not graceful anything else. Gifted artist but only in secret, horrible taste in tv series, best godfather, arms of a Greek god. A wanker of stellar proportions. Too big a heart.”
God, god, help him, save him from all this Malfoy all the time. The corners of his mouth ached. “I’m—hey, I’m sorry about being weird before. It’s just, the… maybe I’m just hungry or something.”
Malfoy perked up. “I made lentil soup. Heat some up for you? It’s not half bad.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” His stomach grumbled with it, or with something else. “Are you really not going to work? That’s a lot of wasted body glitter.”
Even his shrug was elegant. Was weird. “Perhaps not entirely a waste. There’s the whole night ahead of us, you know.” But he mostly just sat in front of Harry in the kitchen and made bad jokes about cutlery and shed glitter all over the chairs, the floor. It was possibly one of the best nights Harry’s had in a while. It was awful.
From Wonder Full's act 1, posted in full on AO3.
#drarry fic#'tis October...#snip from a wip. technically#although all of act 1 is posted#oh no they were housemates#references to canon trauma
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Paywall alert so I pasted the article below...
It happens to be international Stereoscopy Day on the day that I interview Brian May. The rock star marks it by wearing a T-shirt from which a portrait of a Victorian scientist, Charles Wheatstone, looks out. Not that I would recognise him. This musical instrument-maker turned scientist is hardly a household name — unless of course you are a follower of the astrophysicist turned lead guitarist of Queen. Then you may well have stumbled across him because May is quite possibly Wheatstone’s biggest fan.
His passion dates back to his childhood days in suburban Feltham, he explains. May turns 76 next month, “But I still remember the moment as clearly as if was yesterday,” he says. “I opened a Weetabix packet at breakfast and found a little card inside, only a few inches across. It had two coloured pictures on it, of hippos. They looked the same and I wondered why they were giving me two. ‘For glorious full-colour realism send off now for your 3D viewer,’ the instructions said. [He still has them.] So I sent off one-and-sixpence — I earned pocket money for doing chores like mowing the grass — and a packet top and a little viewer arrived in the post.
A James Elliott stereoscope, Ophelia
“I put the card in the viewer. It was like looking through a window. I felt as if I could touch those hippos. I could almost smell their breath. I could almost have fallen into their mouths. And I thought if this is what photography can do, why is anybody bothering with flat pictures? Why isn’t this stereoscopy everywhere?”
Stereoscopy — creating a three-dimensional illusion from flat images using small changes in angle — preceded the invention of photography, May explains, and Wheatstone was quick off the mark in spotting its potential. Producing the first working model, he coined the term “stereoscope” at a Royal Society unveiling in 1838. “The Victorians were completely knocked out. It became an enormous craze. Before, people had only seen drawings of the pyramids or tea planting in China. Suddenly they could look into this little dark box and feel as if they were there. And it was utterly astonishing to them.”
May too was entranced by this new kind of magic. “I was hooked. I quickly figured out how it was done and took pictures of Mum and Dad in the garden. And I was a stereoscopist from then on. I even invented my own imaginary company called See Through Ltd. And years and years later with the help of friends we founded, or rather re-founded, the London Stereoscopic Company, which had been such a major force in Victorian times.”
This month the Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey, will be hosting a stereoscopic celebration in the form of an exhibition, Victorian Virtual Reality. It will present more than 150 images from May’s now massive archive built up over the course of 50 years — at first little by little when he was a student, but subsequently amassed at a voracious rate by a rock star who, according to recent estimates, is worth about £167 million.
Among the images on show will be one of the youthful May taken when his trademark bushy hair — now completely grey — was still black. Visitors will be invited to look at pictures that range from Egyptian pyramids to a portrait of Charles Dickens or rural scenes by May’s “ultimate hero”, the photographer TR Williams, to a Waterloo veteran with three-cornered hat and wooden legs.
It’s easy to understand how thrilling they must once have been. But May, who studied astrophysics at Imperial College London, is interested also in stereoscopy’s futuristic relevance.
Freddie Mercury and May at Live Aid, 1985
As a teenager he built his iconic Red Special guitar and, later, quit a PhD in astrophysics (A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud) to follow his rock dreams. He eventually completed his doctorate, almost 40 years later, and now spends a lot of time working with Nasa. As a self-confessed “stereoscopic evangelist” he loves bringing this Victorian technology to play in present-day situations.
About seven years ago, he explains, Nasa launched a mission, Osiris Rex, which involved sending a spacecraft to an asteroid about half a kilometre in diameter. “The whole point of the project,” he says, “was to bring a sample back, which meant that they had to land the craft momentarily upon the surface. But this object is not solid; it’s a rubble pile — an aggregation of rocks and pebbles and dust. It’s very uneven and so hard to find a spot where you can land safely. If the spacecraft fell over, the whole mission would fail.”
What stereoscopy was able to do, May explains proudly, was put together 3D images of the terrain and so find a safe site. “They landed the craft, sucked up the stones and rubble that they wanted, and now it’s on its way back to Earth,” says May, who plans shortly to publish a book, Bennu 3-D: the first atlas of an asteroid, with the added dimension of 3D.
And how does stereoscopy come to bear upon his own future? He describes virtual reality as “the grandchild of the stereoscope”. So will Queen go virtual? Will they create their own version of the hugely successful Abba Voyage show? Will a hologram bring Freddie Mercury back to the limelight?
“Not while we are alive,” May says. “We have toyed with these things. We actually use some images of Freddie in our show. But we prefer to keep it more real. The whole thing about Queen is that we never play to clicks. We don’t have backing tracks; we just play live and dangerous. And if there was too much jiggery-pokery going on with regards to Freddie, I think we would lose that.
“I was told in school that I couldn’t be an artist and a scientist, that I had to choose,” May continues. “I resented that and I think I’ve spent the rest of my life trying to prove people wrong. I believe that to be a complete person you should have all these facets. The truly creative minds understand both. Isaac Newton was a musician as well as a scientist. And a lot of scientific discoveries and concepts are fuelled by an artistic appreciation of nature. Think of Watson and Crick who discovered the double helix: they didn’t discover it through electron microscopy. It was intuition. They woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I wonder if it was a spiral and things were connected across the middle?’ They were being like artists and scientists at the same time.
“I spend a lot of my time still with astrophysicists. I spend a lot also making music. But I also spend a lot of my time trying to rescue wildlife and to change the laws that should be protecting it. To me it’s all part of the same thing — part of being a complete three-dimensional human being.”
At his Save Me Trust — a campaigning wildlife institution founded by May, who is vice-president of the RSPCA — a couple of hundred hedgehogs overwintered last year. There are also rescued deer, foxes, mice and bats. But badgers appear to be his presiding obsession. “One of the great tragedies of our lifetime, and I think the greatest crime against wildlife in our generation, is the culling of badgers,” he says. “Culling them is a tragic mistake. It hasn’t achieved anything. It hasn’t saved a single cow’s life; it hasn’t made a single farmer’s life better.”
May acknowledges that managing the environment is very complex. Soil microbes, veganism and food miles all crop up in the course of his impassioned conversation. If he had to recommend one action that we could all take tomorrow, it would be to get rid of all our pesticides. “Go into your garden shed and get rid of anything that’s poisonous for the sake of your wildlife, for the sake of your children and for the sake of the birds who eat the snails and slugs. Don’t ever use a slug killer again.
“And don’t eat meat,” he adds — he is a vegetarian verging upon vegan, but still partial to the occasional bit of fish — “because meat is one of the biggest polluters of the planet and it’s one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Every responsible prime minister should be telling us not to eat meat.”
May nearly died during lockdown. He suffered a heart attack followed by stomach problems that led to him coming “close to dying”. But he is back on top. At the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee he followed his extraordinary Golden Jubilee performance on the roof of Buckingham Palace with an equally iconic appearance and even persuaded the Queen to tap along. He’s always ready to innovate and adapt. Knighted this year, he confesses that he wrestled for a while with whether he would like to be known as “Sir” or “Dr”. “I worked really hard for my doctorate and I didn’t like giving it up. But the easiest thing is to move on, so I went with the new appellation. Sir Bry is fine. I don’t mind what people call me really. As long as they don’t call me late for dinner,” he adds, quoting Groucho Marx.
Rock bands and badgers, Nasa and the RSPCA all come together in this family man (he is married to the actress Anita Dobson and has three children with his first wife, the model Chrissie Mullen) and musical icon, calmly spoken interviewee and political ranter (look at his online blog, Brian’s Soapbox). Little wonder that May is so entranced by stereoscopy. You need that sort of vision to pull all his many facets into one whole.
Victorian Virtual Reality is at the Watts Gallery (wattsgallery.org.uk) in Compton, near Guildford in Surrey, July 4 to February 25
(Thank you renrensoh for sharing!)
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Random thought but has anyone noticed that Van seems to be super healthy 😂 everytime I see him drink, all he drinks is water, I bet he doesn't drink sodas and he's also said he's a big fan of Weetabix and special K which both of them are healthy af, and I also remember him saying he doesn't eat cupcakes when someone brought him that😂😂 which makes me think... which one of the guys do you think is the most healthy eater?
You’re right, Van drinks plenty of water, he definitely seems to stay hydrated (probably needs to to account for all the sweat loss) 💦
And remember he likes his bananas too!
As for Bondy we have evidence that he can cook a healthy meal…
youtube
But he loses points for overdoing it on the liquid diet ha ha 🍺
I feel that maybe Bob has a sweet tooth, evidence below! Look at him baking in the kitchen though domestic Bob has my whole heart 🥰
I had to include the cupcake video too!
I don’t have much evidence of Benji’s eating habits but maybe this insta post of his sums it up…
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further reactions to btvs season 4 episode 7 ("the initiative"), previous liveblogging here, and also this is the link to the beginning of my season notes
the transition/reveal for TA guy's secret was really well done, it was perfectly paced, just, the slooooow realization set in and i was like nO. NO WAY OMFG
and. THE PROFESSOR TOO??????? ASJDHFKASJDFKAJSDF ASJFKASJDFKJASDFJKASJD
this episode is unhinged holy shit
buffy and the not-so-random TA are from different genres
spike has spent this whole season running pathetically from various dangers. i am HERE for it.
season 4 episode 8 ("pangs"):
me when i realize this is a thanksgiving episode: oh huh maybe it'll be cute! or ironic!
me when i realize they're centering the plot around a chumash artifact: uh. i am not sure i trust joss whedon with this material
at one point a character says "the chumash used to be indigenous to this region" WHAT DO U MEAN "USED TO BE" there were chumash kids who went to my high school lmfao shut the fuck up
i guess that answers the question of which uc campus "uc sunnydale" is supposed to be.
i really want to concentrate on spike's tremendous poor little meow meow impression in this episode but joss whedon is making it REALLY HARD
i'm scrutinizing this mission interior shot like "is this the [redacted hometown location] mission or were the spanish just chronically uncreative"
season 4 episode 9 ("something blue"):
y'know i was just thinking "hm it's been a while since we had a willow-creates-a-magical-mishap episode"...
me muttering to myself: secondhand embarrassment is the fun-killer
impeccable. no notes
season 4 episode 10 ("hush"):
i had to google weetabix. i've heard of it many times via pop culture but i didn't actually know what it was. i'm distressed by the fact that wikipedia is saying the phrase "breakfast cereal" but showing something that looks distinctly milk-less. it looks like a brick?
poor giles needs a break
did? they say? tara? is that? THE tara?
oooh i KNEW the vocal recognition thing would come up in a later episode, hello everyone it is i, the plot anticipater
lotta great gags so far
i enjoy the blocky monitors and futuristic-for-1998 aesthetic of the underground organization; this episode has a number of quick cuts between them and the main characters that enables parallels and contrasts between the futuristic paramilitary aesthetic and the aesthetic of "we're at giles' house wearing graphic t-shirts and dusty ancient tomes are strewn across the table"
this episode is fun because it highlights how incidental dialogue is to much tv. viewers tend to prioritize dialogue in some ways, but often the dialogue is just filler, or telling audiences what the visual language is already shouting.
periodically this show is like "hi. we would like to remind you that giles has game. it's very important to recall that giles has game. this has been a psa"
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The Joy of Parenting
Location // Characters: Aberdeen // Sofia and Craig
October 2004 - Sofia and Craig talk about their oldest son.
Status/Notes: finished / I love writing these two, and I love parent couples who are still very much in love with each other after years of being together!
___
October 2004
Strong but gentle arms wrapped around her body from behind, and Sofia closed her eyes, leaning into the very familiar touch with a content smile and breathing in her husband's scent. Sun and salt water in his long hair, his favourite cologne as well as a hint of fresh wood - it was an illustrious scent she could never get enough of, even after twenty years.
"Let's go and eat out tonight, Sof, hm?" Craig murmured into her ear. Sofia could practically see his wide smile, without turning around, right in front of her inner eye.
"What?" she laughed.
"I want to take you out to dinner, dear and hard-working wife of mine."
"Where does that come from now?"
"Well, I feel much better than I did last week, I made a secret wish on my birthday… that is now not so secret anymore, mind you, and it's been ages since the last time we went out. You're always so busy saving animals-"
"He says like it's a bad thing-"
"-and I miss going out with you!"
"Well, our budget's been a bit tight after all, with all the repair work in our bathrooms, Ali's new sets of sports gear and Lance's latest school trips? Besides, we are also still saving up to support him through university." Sofia said, snuggling a little deeper into Craig's embrace, savouring the moment.
"And we always managed to put food on the table, too." Craig said. "We've always been doing just fine, Sof. I have an eye on our finances, too. You just worry too much."
"Nooo, I just prefer to keep my head out of the clouds, unlike a certain gentleman whom I happen to be very much into… despite his tendency to gloss over certain situations." she mocked, knowing that Craig would not take it personally. He never did.
"Have I ever met that bloke? Sounds like an idiot."
There we go.
"Briefly, I think. He's quite adorable, actually." Sofia giggled and lightly patted Craig's arms.
The gentle pats were their own little signal to let go of each other, any time they didn't exactly want to part but had to, and Sofia sure would have loved to lean into her husband for a little while longer, but the ice cream that was sitting at the bottom of one of the grocery bags on the counter was probably about to melt right in front of her eyes within the next few minutes and that was not at all why she had bought it.
Once Craig let go of her, she started unpacking the bags, handing him some of the items so he could store them away.
"Nah, seriously, Sof… what do you say?" Craig tried again, putting a package of spaghetti into the cupboard above him. "Hm? Just us tonight. We can drop Ali off at Finn's and, as far as I know, Lancie has plans, too."
"He does?"
"Heard him say somethin' earlier and from what I understood, he won't be home before ten or so."
"I love how he's only sixteen and just assumes that curfews are no longer a thing for him."
"He's a good kid, Sof."
"I know, I know."
Craig put away the two new boxes of Weetabix and leaned against the counter. A wide smile spread across his face. "So, what do you say? I could get a table at Humphrey's at six o'clock?"
"Hm, go on?"
"Then we should be done with dinner around eight, at the latest, and that still leaves enough time for me to get you home real quick and show you some of my finest woodwork, if you catch my drift."
Sofia groaned. "Dear god, Abbott, that's it, I'm going to hide that book about puns."
"So that's a no to my well-crafted plans?"
Sofia pursed her lips and thought about Craig's idea.
She actually had made plans to declutter her office tonight, to go through all the documents she had not had enough time to sort into their appropriate folders in the past few weeks, and after that she had looked forward to wind down in front of the TV with one of her favourite movies, "Gone With The Wind" (hence the ice cream), and go to bed early, to enjoy a night of peaceful sleep.
A date with her husband, however, with the outlook of some… woodwork, as he apparently liked to put it now, was all too tempting.
Between them both working full time and managing everyday life with two very lively sons, making room for some actual romance could be a challenge, and it really had been a while at this point. Neither Sofia nor Craig had liked that a whole lot.
Sofia decided that her office could probably wait another day or two.
"It's a yes." she smiled. "Stop referring to sex as woodwork, though, and you will get lucky tonight."
"It's a charming code word, though?" Craig hopped on the counter and made himself comfortable, snatching one of the shiny bags next to him, opening it and devouring a handful of crisps within seconds. "Any time the boysh are around and we talk about woodwork, they'd remain entirely cluelesh."
"Really?" Sofia raised an eyebrow. "Have you met your own sons?!"
"Well… at least Ali would be clueless, and he might remain so for a long time, now that his cute little mind revolves all around football."
"Let's just hope so."
Sofia sighed at the very unsettling thought of her youngest eventually growing up, too, and she had just put away a can of baked beans when another thought crossed her mind. She turned to her husband.
"So what is Lancie up to later?" she asked. "I haven't seen him all day, and, well… he never really talks to me anyway."
She did her best to make the last part sound like a casual statement, and she knew that it had never been personal either, but the way Lance felt mostly drawn to Craig still had potential to nag at her sometimes.
"I don't know, really. Think I heard him mention 'Diana', though."
"Dear god, no." Sofia let out another groan, losing composure for a second, despite trying not to, and leaning on the counter in frustration.
Next to her, her husband chuckled and helped himself to another handful of crisps. "You really don't like the little lass, eh?"
"I want to, Pooky, I really do. It's more that... I don't know, I just don't like the way she makes Lancie run after her. That's just not like him at all."
"Sof, he's sixteen. A damn teenager."
"So? Doesn't mean he can't have any standards?"
"You're cute. Do you really need me to spell out for you what he's after?"
"Craig!" Sofia moaned. "You're not helping."
"What? Most of us go through that awful phase, and trust me, it pains us more than it does you."
"And how would you know that?"
"Because you lassies know you're sweet and gorgeous, and intriguing, and that we're all into you no matter what, and you know we know it, and you can do whatever you want with that. Don't tell me you weren't a scheming little goddess at sixteen."
"I wasn't?!"
"I don't believe you at all." Craig laughed. "What I wanted to say, though... we usually come out of that phase as better, wiser people."
Sofia glanced to the side to where Craig was still sitting happily on the counter, his long legs dangling and his blue eyes sparkling with excitement as he was looking at his bag of crisps like it was his own, personal revelation. He, too, resembled a damn teenager in this very moment and it was one of the things she had always loved about her husband - life, no matter the circumstances, had never hardened him and she hoped it never would.
Her lips curled up into a smile. "Better, sure. Wiser however-"
"Hey, I managed to woo you!"
"I was young and very easy to impress." Sofia laughed.
"You were never easy to impress, Miss Thomson, I am really just that great." Craig pointed at himself with two thumbs, grinning like the gorgeous, confident fool he was, before he joined in laughing.
A few moments later, he shrugged and added: "Honestly, Sof, don't even worry. Besides, it's not like there's a whole lot that Lancie could do wrong, so let him do his thing, he'll be fine."
Sofia cocked her head.
It's not like there's a whole lot that Lancie could do wrong.
What a strange and out-of-the-blue statement that was. It sure sparked her curiosity, so she decided to address it.
"What do you mean, he can't do wrong?"
"You know what I mean. Our oldest isn't exactly set up for failure, right?"
"I don't even know how to answer that."
"Just think about it - has Lance ever done anything truly stupid? Name one thing!" Craig dared her, putting his bag of crisps away, before he jumped off the counter, proceeding to put the last few groceries to their designated places.
Sofia smirked and raised an eyebrow. "So you're tryin' to tell me that you already conveniently forgot how he snuck out to a party he wasn't allowed to go to last year?"
Her husband turned around, making a face. "Oh, that-"
"And didn't even manage to sneak back in, like he had planned? Instead he passed out drunk at some stranger's house and we called him about three hundred times, worried sick, before he gave a sign of life - the next afternoon."
Craig pressed his lips into a thin line, and he blinked. "Just, uh… name one other thing he fucked up."
Sofia laughed and gently tugged at the hem of her husband's sweater jacket. "Pooky, what are you even on about?"
"That party incident was merely a glitch, don't you think? What I'm saying is that our son is a force of nature. I'm so proud of him. I mean, he's good at everything he tries, it almost scares me."
Ah. The age old tale of the Golden Boy. Sofia looked down and bit her lip.
She had always loved how Craig had proved to be a devoted father. In spite of what everyone else had to say about their young relationship back in the days, he had done simply amazing right from the start and while there had been many voices trying to talk her out of 'settling for that silly lad', Sofia had always… known. Sure, Craig had been young, but even back then, in his very early twenties, she had sensed that hint of security about him. It was never about money, status and possessions, she could've had that plenty of times. Craig Abbott had the heart and soul that she had always looked for, to even think about starting a family. Craig had always seen her for her, and he wholeheartedly believed in the people he loved.
Sofia had always known that and not much had changed about it, but the past was the past and the present was right here, always waiting to be faced in whatever way necessary. And believing in loved ones was one thing. Putting them on a pedestal, however, was another.
"Lance is good at everything he does, that's true." Sofia nodded reluctantly and she let a few more moments pass before she went on. "And I'm beginning to wonder whether that's actually a good thing."
Craig put his hands on each side of her neck and gently caressed it with his thumbs. "That doesn't make any sense, love. How can that not be a good thing?"
"Because I'm not sure if I like the person he's becoming... because of that."
"Come on, Sof. What is that even supposed to mean?"
"Haven't you noticed how... reckless he has become? Inconsiderate? I mean... sometimes?"
"He's neither reckless nor inconsiderate, he's confident."
"Confidence is a good thing, I'd never complain about that. I don't know, Craig, it's the way he talks to his friends sometimes. His tone, his manners. Happens with Cal, mostly. You might want to listen a little closer the next time the two are talking."
Craig sighed. "I don't know... aren't you reading a bit too much into all of this?"
Sofia knew that her husband was not exactly trying to brush off her concerns or to invalidate her perception on purpose but it still angered her a little that he did not even try to think about it for a while longer, pretty much proving her point right on the spot.
"Perhaps I am." she shrugged. "I can't help but notice a little change, though. You keep encouraging him in a way that... I don't know." She sighed. "I don't know, Craig. There's just something I don't quite like about this."
"So what? Lance has figured some things out sooner than others, what's the big deal? Makes things easier for us! It's what I'm talking about after all, he's a bright one, and I still don't know how that's a bad thing."
"Because teenage years are exactly the time to fuck up. It's how we truly learn and grow. We make mistakes. We learn. We grow. All the time, on repeat. We need to experience those mistakes, to really feel the weight of them. That way, we learn how to reflect ourselves. How is Lance supposed to do that if no one is around to humble him every once in a while?"
"You want us to wear our own kid down?!"
"God, Craig, no!" Sofia groaned. "Of course not. All I want to say is… you might want to grant him a little more room to make mistakes. Because he will. He already has. Question the things he says. Look a little closer, just every once in a while."
"Who says I'm not doing that?"
"I'm not saying that it happens on purpose, but you aren't exactly- I mean, sometimes-" Sofia struggled to find the right words. "The way you talk about him sometimes, like he's already a fully fledged grown up friend of yours… it concerns me."
Craig pulled his eyebrows together and made a tiny step back. "But… why? I love him and I admire him. Why can't my son be my friend, too? How is my support wrong all of a sudden?"
"It's not wrong but… I don't know, Craig. And you know what, sometimes I can't help but ask myself whether you remember that we have another son."
"Hey, no. Just no! That's not fair, Sof." Her husband now let go of her entirely. He took another step back, crossing his arms in obvious defense, and shooting her a glance of disapproval. "You know I love Ali just as much!"
"Well, I can sure assume that, but does Ali know?"
"Sofia, what the fuck is this about? How did we go from dinner plans to me being on family trial, what did I even do?"
Sofia looked down and shook her head. Damn. That was not at all how she had meant for her concerns to come out. She made a step forward and gently squeezed her husband's upper arms and she knew she was not exactly acting reasonable right now, but acting reasonable could be so hard when the subject of debate was her children. Her still-so-very-young sons.
She had to let Craig know that this was still an eye-to-eye discussion.
"Look, I'm sorry, Pooky." she said, stroking his arms. "You are definitely not on trial, and I am not trying to hurt you here, but… sometimes I can't shake off the feeling that you're..."
Doing more harm than good. No, way too harsh. And not quite true either. Sofia pondered her choice of words carefully.
"... that you're putting Lancie in a position he is not at all ready to be in. You may see a force of nature but he is still a boy, Craig."
"Are you… are you tryin' to tell me that I love my son too much?"
"No. No, Craig, that is absolutely not what I'm trying to tell you." Sofia shook her head. "I love the way you love him, alright? I'm just a wee bit worried you might be putting more pressure on him sometimes than what is good for him, without you even realising. You know how you get carried away at times-"
"I'm not putting any pressure on him!"
"Craig-"
"It's not like I expect him to do any of the things he does? I never expected him to master "Painkiller" on the drums at only fourteen, I never expected him to do that well in school and I sure don't expect him to go to med school. It is what he wants, Sof, it's all him! He is the driving force in his own life, he has always been."
"I know that!"
"So what are we even arguing about?!"
"We're not arguing!"
"No? Because it feels like that to me!"
"We're not! I just happen to know that Lance looks up to you. He looks up to you so much, and it might not appear like that to you but he wants your approval. He wants you to think high of him. I know my son, too. He might favour you and he might not even be aware of all the things I just said, but I can see it."
"If it was me he looks up to, he would strive to become a rockstar and hedonist."
"Craig." Sofia breathed out in mild exhaustion and she rested her forehead against her husband's chest.
"The doctor thing is cool, too, though." Craig said after a few moments, offering a tone so soft now that Sofia instantly knew that she had him back on her side, right where he belonged. Craig put his arms around her once more and gently rested his head on hers. This felt good. They stood like that for a while until Sofia felt ready to speak again.
"All I want to say is… try and look behind the facade at times. Be gentle with him." she murmured. "After all, this world won't always be. He might be more fragile than both of you think."
"I am gentle with him. He doesn't care for it all that much."
"I'm not telling you to coddle him. I just- I need to be sure you have his back, even when he messes up."
"Why would you even question that?" Craig asked, unusually timid, stroking her hair while he was still gently rocking her in his arms.
"I know you think he can't do anything wrong but... just play pretend for a moment." Sofia pulled out of his embrace, not much, but just far enough so she could look up into his face. "Assume that Lance does something really stupid... will you be there for him? Will he have your unconditional love and support, even when he's not the amazing self you admire so much? Even when he makes loving him very hard?"
"Sofia-"
"I just need to know, Craig. Please."
Her husband took a deep breath, and he also took his time before he answered.
"Sofia, I will always love him, no matter what he does. And I will always be there for him, too. Even when he messes up. Even when he messes up bad. It... it hurts that I have to spell it out like that."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm having a moment. It's been quite a week, I'm letting it all out on you and I'm so sorry."
"It's all good, love, but you need to tell me what this is really about."
Sofia pondered the question. "I don't know. Sometimes I hate seeing him grow up so fast. Love it, too. But mostly hate it these days. The world is scary, and I keep wondering whether we're giving our sons enough-"
"Shhh. Hey. Our sons have great parents, trust me. They will be fine."
"Why can't I be the funny and gorgeous, happy-go-lucky half of this relationship at times?"
"Because you're perfect the way you are, and no one wants you any other way. And I get that you're thinking about these things, Sof, I really do. I think about it, too. But our sons growing up is the way things are supposed to be, and we may not always like it but neither you nor I can change it. All we can do is watch them live in the moment."
"I know." Sofia sighed. "Wow, that was one hell of a speech, I just remembered again why I love you."
"I told you I'm just that great!" Craig smirked down at her, earning himself a light punch to his upper arm but it only made him laugh and pull her a little closer again. "It'll be alright, love, Lancie still has us. And just to assure you once more - I'll be around to catch him the second he falls. I promise."
Sofia nodded. "Alright, good. I'm sorry, Pooky... can't promise it won't happen again but I'm done being a crazy mother hen for now."
"As long as you always end up telling me what's on your mind, I'm fine with you acting a little crazy at times."
Sofia let out a little laugh and gave her husband another little squeeze.
"Are we good?" Craig asked, kissing the top of her head.
"We're always good." she assured him and stood up on her toes to kiss him. "I meant what I said earlier, though."
"Hm?"
"I know you love him. Of course you do, but please make some room for Ali, too. It won't hurt. He needs his father just as much, if not more. I mean, you have already established that Lance is a force of nature so I think you can let him run free sometimes."
"That coming from you, right after your crazy mother hen meltdown?"
"Arsehole."
Craig let out a hearty laugh. "I promise I'll make room for my little Ali. Of course I will. He'll be fed up with me soon enough."
"You don't need to suffocate him?!" Sofia scoffed. "Just... pay a little attention to him, he's really sweet and entertaining, actually."
"I know he is, and now that I think of it... the prospect of having an entire lifetime of pestering both my sons to pure and utter exhaustion ahead of me... it's pretty great!"
"Oh god." Sofia groaned and rolled her eyes, but she did it with an honest smile. It felt so good to let it all out every once in a while, and another thing she loved about her husband was that he always had a way of making her feel better.
"Honestly, I live for that!" Craig added, a mischievous little spark in his eyes. "For now, though... how about we both finally enjoy the prospect of going out to dinner later?"
"Sounds great to me!"
***
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BEGIN AGAIN | hwang hyunjin
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Hwang Hyunjin messes with your head, unknowingly, for over a month. Until you can't take it anymore.
*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:
Growing up with Chris Bang as your best friend had it's perks - a permanent bodyguard, a shoulder to cry on... and seven other boys who also became your best friends as you grew up together.
Week in, week out, your routine stayed the same. Study, go to class and patiently wait to attend your regular Friday evening home cooked meal with your friends. You just couldn't wait to graduate and start working, to rid yourself of exams and finally start earning some proper money like the boys.
Desperate to put some light back into your mundane, studious life, Chris forces you to start blind dating. Two miserable dates down and ready to murder the man, someone completely unexpected appears and makes a mess of your orderly life.
And a mess he does make.
|fake dating|friends to lovers|slow burn|non idol au|
chapter eleven
"Jisung so help me god, if you spill this popcorn I will murder you."
You rolled your eyes at your friends, sipping silently on your drink. You were all in the cinema, getting snacks and waiting for everyone to arrive. You had decided to grab food at Minho's restaurant before he left, as it meant you didn't need to cook and you could get a lift with Minho to the cinema. Were you trying to avoid Hyunjin? Slightly. Were you still excited to see him? Of course. Your head and heart were currently at war with one another, your head telling you that Hyunjin was your friend and your heart telling you to fuck that and just tell him how you were feeling.
You had no idea what you were going to do, other than just keep hiding how you felt until you could read into how he was feeling more.
"Earth to idiot, hello!" You saw a hand waving across your face and looked up to see Changbin staring at you. "It would be so polite of you to actually welcome your friend when they greet you."
"Sorry, oh hello your holy-ness, how dare I disrespect your presence!" You said sarcastically, literally bowing to him.
"Sheesh, someone's feeling sassy today," Felix said as he walked up to you, joining you, Changbin, Minho and Jisung after getting popcorn for himself. "Who shit in your shoes this morning?"
"That's not even the expression," Jisung interrupted, already eating his hotdog he had bought.
"Then what is it?"
"Who shit in your weetabix," he says through a mouthful of hotdog.
"Why would anyone shit in someone's weetabix?" Felix questioned.
"Why would anyone shit in a pair of shoes?" Jisung shot back.
"If the two of you don't shut the fuck up, I swear to god," Minho said as he rubbed his temples.
"What, Minho? What will you do?" Jisung sassed Minho, but all the older boy had to do was raise an eyebrow and the younger one was apologising.
"Finally, Jesus, where have you guys been?" Changbin said to Chris, Hyunjin, Jeongin and Seungmin as they walked into the cinema.
"Chris was taking ages, we were waiting on him for over ten minutes," Jeongin explained as he walked over to ruffle your hair whilst Chris and Seungmin went to the food counter.
"Really Jeongin? You're not going to tell them how you spilled a drink all over him in the car which was why he had to change?" Hyunjin laughed, outing Jeongin who only made a funny face as a response.
"Fuck sake Jisung," Minho groaned, and you turned to see the box of popcorn they had all over the floor. Jisung began to get a worker while Minho joined the two boys at the food counter.
"That's the second time he's done that," Felix laughed. Jeongin rested his elbows on your shoulders and put his head on top of yours from behind you, and for some reason your eyes went straight to Hyunjin to see how he would react. It was so stupid, as it didn't even mean anything, but the way the smile slowly dropped from his face selfishly made you smile.
"You're not saying much," Jeongin said quietly to you. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I've just been studying all day so I'm tired," you said back. It was half true, but all the overthinking you'd been doing had given you a headache, and you just wished you could see what was going on inside Hyunjin's head.
Once Seungmin, Chris and Minho came over with their food you all headed into the viewing room for the movie, and you felt a sense of deja vu. Luckily, but also unfortunately for you, the way you'd all walked into the room meant that Hyunjin was almost the farthest away from you he possibly could be. You all settled into your seats, you beside Jeongin and Changbin, as the movie started.
It got to about halfway through before you started feeling yourself getting sleepy. You didn't want to end up falling asleep in the theatre, so you excused yourself to the bathroom. You looked at yourself in the mirror, splashing some water on your face to wake yourself up. You shook your head at your reflection, wanting nothing more than to slap some sense into yourself.
Realistically, Hyunjin was one of the best looking guys you'd ever seen, he was rich, funny and had good morals. He was damn near perfect, and if he hadn't been giving you so much attention recently you wouldn't even give the two of you together a second thought, branding the man way out of your league.
You pulled yourself out of your thoughts and walked back out of the bathroom, where you saw the man of the hour leaning against the wall beside the door to the room the rest of your friends were in. See, this is exactly what you were talking about. There he was standing so casually, but as his head turned towards you and he flashed you an adorable grin, you melted.
"Hey," he said as you approached him. "It got to the bit where it started to get scary and I freaked out last time, so I left. I also wanted to make sure you were okay, you seemed off earlier."
"Yeah, I'm fine I just..." you trailed off, wondering wether you should just let it all out now and get it over with, or just forget about it. "It's nothing, I'm just sick of studying day in and day out."
He didn't look as though he believed you, and honestly you wouldn't have believed yourself either, but the two of you were interrupted by Seungmin who came out the doors beside you.
"Oh, there you two are. I'm going to the bathroom, but also, if you don't go back inside within the next minute Minho owes Changbin money," he says as he manoeuvres past you, talking to you both as he walks backwards.
"Those fuckers bet to see if I'd come back from the bathroom or not," Hyunjin chuckled as he shook his head. "Cmon then, I wanna see Minho's face, he never loses bets."
And that was that. Together, you walked back to your seats and Jeongin flashed you a smile as you sat next to him. You noticed how Minho gave Hyunjin a pissed off look when he sat back down in his own seat.
"This is super scary," Jeongin whispered to you. You could practically see him trembling, bless him. "You missed the jumpscare. Felix almost cried."
You looked over to where Felix was and sure enough, his face was glued to the screen and he had never looked more frightened in his life. You didn't pay much attention to the movie after that, trying your best not to completely nod off. You had a long week ahead of you, studying your ass of for you exams that were approaching faster than you wished, and you wanted to get a decent sleep tonight. When the movie ended, you all walked as a group out of the cinema together and onto the street.
"That was awesome," Jisung said with a bright smile. He was the only one who seemed to have enjoyed himself, the other boys looking as through hell and back.
"You're insane," Jeongin said to him. "It was terrifying! How can anyone enjoy that?"
"I have to agree," Minho said to Jisung who rolled his eyes. "The loud noises and jump scares just ruin the whole thing. Can we collectively agree to never see another horror together again?"
The boys all agreed, Hyunjin nodding enthusiastically and Jisung sighing heavily.
"You all suck. I really need to find some new friends," he said dramatically. You were all kind of hanging around the streets, not making any moves to leave. The boys all had work the next day, so it wasn't as if the night would last any longer, anyway.
"Okay, I think I'm gonna head home," you said. Minho looked at you, as if silently asking if you needed a ride home since he brought you.
"Okay, you can come with us since we're already going in your direction, right Hyun?" Chris said, directing the question to Hyunjin who nodded with a smile.
"Well, we'll all see each other on Friday, except not in our usual setting," Changbin said, addressing the fact you weren't having your usual group dinner this Friday.
"Shit, yeah, I forgot about that," Jeongin said with eyebrows raised. "We're all going to that?"
The others just nodded collectively. It was a mutual friend's birthday, so you were all going to some bar for the night. You all parted pays after that, and you didn't say much on the car ride home. Hyunjin dropped you off last, as usual, and walked you up to your apartment, as usual. It felt so strange, stepping into this routine with him. It was as if you were falling into something real and you didn't have a clue how you felt about it.
"Hey, promise you're okay? You seem to be in your own head a lot lately," he commented when you got to your door. "Anything you want to talk about? I know I'm probably not your first choice for advice, but I'm here if you need me."
You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. You didn't know where this was coming from.
"Ew, cringe. Seriously, when did we become so sappy?" You said, and he rolled his eyes playfully as you started to unlock your door. "But really, thanks. And I know I can come to you if I need you, the same goes for you."
You opened your door, and you thought it would be rude not to at least ask. "Would you like to come in for a bit? I'll make you tea and we can watch those YouTube videos you love so much."
Hyunjin grinned from ear to ear and nodded his head, following you as you walked in. You put the kettle on as soon as you went in and kicked your shoes off, placing your bag on your kitchen counter. You took two mugs out the cupboard and placed a teabag in each one.
"So, Minho is furious at me for coming back into the movie theatre. It was worth watching it twice to know when the scary parts were just for that," Hyunjin laughed as he made himself comfortable on your sofa. For once, the workmen had taken a night off and there was only a peaceful silence between the two of you, until Hyunjin put on the tv.
"I felt so bad for the others, though. Poor Felix was mortified. He didn't speak for so long afterwards," you said as you stirred milk into your teas after putting the boiling water in, carrying them over and putting them on the coffee table in front of your sofa.
"True, we're just lucky i'm the smartest man in the universe and suggested we watch it first."
You rolled your eyes at his playful cockiness.
"Oh, I meant to ask," you said as he fiddled with the remote control, putting up YouTube. "What's happening with that tv show you were asked to go on?"
"Ah, that. I've been offered one last amount before they said that's it, they're done. I really don't know what to do, you know. I talked to some people about it at work and they said it would be good exposure for my own personal image, but it probably wouldn't help the company much, which would have been my aim with doing it," he explained. You could see it was clearly stressing him out by the way he spoke about it. "I don't know. I really, really don't know what to do. Either I put myself out there, make a shit tonne more money but be put in the eye of the public, or decline it and just keep trying to improve the business."
You thought about his words as he said them. "It sounds like a tough decision. Maybe it's just because we can both be really introverted, but I understand why you wouldn't want to be in the public eye. It seems amazing from an outsider perspective, but it's daunting as fuck having your every move watched."
His eyes widen and he moves closer to you. "Yeah, right? That's exactly how I feel! Chan's been telling me to do it for weeks, but he doesn't understand. He would be way better at it than I would," Hyunjin agrees with you, acting as though you had put his thoughts into words. He turned his attention back to the tv and put on the YouTube videos he loved, the ones of those two guys building mud huts in the middle of nowhere. You had laughed at him the first time he put them on, but for some reason you both found them comforting.
"Maybe you should just say that to them. Apologise, you're too busy right now, but perhaps Chris would be up for it? I don't know, you'd have to talk to him, but it's something to consider," you thought, taking a sip of your tea. You enjoyed this more than you could explain, sitting and having an honest, regular conversation with the man in front of you. You both fell into quietness, drinking your tea and watching the strange video on your tv.
Once again you felt your eyes drooping, the calm aura that had settled in the room sending you to sleep. It wasn't until Hyunjin's phone went off, ringing, that you opened your eyes.
"Fucking hell," he said under his breath. "I need to get this, princess."
He walked into the bathroom and closed the door, so all you heard were hushed voices. You wanted to groan in frustration. Who the fuck was this person calling him constantly? And why only at night? It really didn't make any sense, as none of the boys including Hyunjin had spoke about him seeing someone, and that was the only thing you could think he'd want to hide from you. He was talking for what felt like forever, and you closed your eyes once again. You were so close to sleeping, until you felt strong arms lift you up and you groggily opened your eyes to see Hyunjin carrying you into your bedroom, placing you gently on your bed.
"I have to go," he whispered, crouching down beside you. "I'm sorry. I'll see you on Friday, princess."
And with that, he was gone.
CHAPTER TWELVE HERE!
#stray kids#hwang hyunjin x you#hwang hyunjin x reader#hwang hyunjin#felix lee#lee know#bang chan#changbin#jeongin#seungmin#han jisung
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Mystery man
This is a female reader x bucky barnes story
This is my first time writing a one shot please enjoy
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
The sun is shining through my baby pink cotton curtains as jarvis announces the time "6:30 Miss y/n, you have breakfast scheduled for 7:00 accompanied with Mr Hogan, followed by training at 8:00 with your new instructor mr barnes".
Ah yes the Mystery man that all the shield agents seem to be obsessed by Mr Barnes the fearless soldier. Guess today we can put a name to a face.
I rolled out of bed slowly dragging myself to the joint bathroom i share with tessa they are also an agent but also the closest thing i have to family. We enrolled into the academy together and since then we have been as close as ever. I pick up my tooth brush take off its protective cap and put some toothpaste on. While brushing my teeth tessa makes an appearance brushes their hair.
"whats your schedule?" I ask them while spitting out toothpaste
"Ive got a meeting with Hill at 7:00 and then me and a few other agents have a mission with Rogers at noon, what about you?" They answers
"Breakfast with Hogan and training with Barnes"
"Omg u get to train with Barnes im so jealous, hes the best trainer out there, however ive heard hes ruthless so good luck"
I leave them in the bathroom closing my door behind me. I walk over to my vanity and pick up my hair brush and put my hair into double dutch braids while applying some sun cream and day cream on to my face. Gotta keep my young looking face, i think then i smile at my self in the mirror and say you can do this.
I walk to breakfast and was automatically greeted by Happy who was waiting for me in the kitchen. He talked me through security details while we had some lovely raisin weetabix.
I stand up from the table and place my dish and spoon in the sink and turned to face Happy.
"Ive got to go now i need to meet Barnes" he nodds and i walk down the corridor and take a left.
I walked into the gymnasium there was a sparing place in the middle of the floor which was surrounded by multiple various different gym equipment. In the middle of the floor stood a man around 6ft tall, dark slick back hair, muscular and one strange noticeable feature... a metal arm. Oh and one other thing hes incredibly gorgeous no wonder everyone was so obsessed.
"You are y/n i assume" he questioned
"Thats correct sir"
"Dont call me sir i feel old, call me Barnes... now lets see what you got"
He made me run lap around the hall, lift weights and occasionally fight each other. It felt like hours had passed.
"Im fed up, im not doing anymore" i refuse and drop to the floor.
He looks down at me in amusement
"You have only been training for an hour u still have another hour left. Now get up" he says that last part more stern than pervious.
"No i cant move, you cant make me do something if i cant move"
Tension starts to pick up
"Get up off your lazy arse right now and give me another 10 laps" he said fury burning within his eyes
"Make me"
We stared deeply in one anothers eyes both with hatred flowing through us. He walks closer towards me causing him to tower over me more. I stand up so the height difference wasnt so great but he still seemed to tower over me. We stared intently into each others souls both of us not wanting to break away first to give the other the delight of winning.
A slight smirk forms across his face and he reaches out for my arm while im still distracted by his ocean blue eyes. He flips me on the floor and pins me down. Still not breaking eye contact.
"20 laps now"
I can tell that me and metal man are going to have lots of fun...
#bucky x reader#bucky fanfic#bucky x y/n#marvel#marvel one shot#oneshot#fyppage#bucky x female reader#bucky imagine#james bucky barnes#marvel fanfic writer
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Chamomile Comic Trivia #25
#129 - List
A bit of a convoluted setup, but I wanted to do something a little less directly halloweeny for October’s comics in 2019 and came up with this idea - I always have been a big fan of the ghostly-voices-heard-in-a-recording trope.
It’s only barely visible in the earlier panels with a speech bubble covering it in the one shown above here, but Cammie’s hair clamp from #117 is resting next to her bedside table.
#130 - Ghosts
For story arcs, I’ve always tried to make every single Chamomile Comic’s context possible to piece together even if someone hasn’t read the ones that came before it as best I can, but in this case the previous comic was so particular and unusual that Cammie would literally need to describe the entire scene that late readers will have just read, so I made a joke out of it instead, almost serving as a marker where I made the decision to not get hung up on it anymore when it’s too hard, lol.
#131 - Whispers
I didn’t choose Layla at random, it’s an important note that she’s the one who bought into Cammie’s nonsense here. It’s never really been the subject of any focus or story arc but I do think Cammie and Layla’s friendship has an unspoken flavour to it that feels a bit different from Cammie and Brianna’s, even though Cam and Bri are besties.
Having said that it presented me with the decision of whether to depict her without her hijab, and at this point in time I leaned away from the idea. Being brutally honest, I kind of expected people to make a big deal out of seeing her without it - it’s sort of an unfortunate but understandable downside of also being a femme-focused pin-up artist, having a cast of women, and drawing it all in a cute art style. A lot of people are here who admire cute feminine character art and I’d be a hypocrite to say there’s anything inherently wrong with that when that’s literally what half my art is! I think I was right with this judgement too, because I definitely did get a comment or two from folks who were all “aww I thought we were gonna get to see her hair”. I know there’s tons of people who like me would shift their mindset to think nothing of it, but I know the folks who don’t would kind of bug me, so I think it’s easier to just not.
Having said all of this, I can’t deny it was a really fun artistic challenge to come up with a way to hide her lack of hijab in the nighttime scene without it feeling intentionally like an Austin Powers prop censorship gag - at least that was my hope!
Realistically I don’t think she would be wearing a cap around Cammie in the morning scene - in more recent comics of course we had another scene where Cammie and Layla shared a room, and I decided to go for a middleground where the point of her hijab is still kept for the audience but I was a little more relaxed about it, since I’ve read threads from folks who wear hijabs who feel it’s misrepresentational to depict them being worn 24/7.
#132 - Accent
Not much to say here. I swear there was a story or inspiration behind the gag of Cammie’s sleeptalking, but it’s gone forever now! I did enjoy deciding that the pure and innocent Cammie has horrifically unsettling dreams that she thinks nothing of.
#133 - Cereal
This was just a one-off gag I had in the idea bank for a while that I never quite knew how to do. The punchline of “all these cereals have expired” was always there and this could have just been a Cammie at home talking to herself strip, but somehow said punchline didn’t feel as funny talking to herself as it did to another character, no idea why. This arc was a perfect opportunity to finally use it even though it doesn’t tie into the actual story of the arc whatsoever (which is fine of course, it’s November by now).
Cammie’s cereals are:
Sugar Crunch (with added Vitamin), a broad parody of sweet cereal
Moist Nuts, which is just some funny words
Frog Flakes, with regular JezMM mascot Frogy of course
Mostly Bran, a parody of All-Bran
Wheated Bix, a parody of Weetabix
Corny Puns, both a parody of Corn Flakes and one of many silly cereal names that showed up in my old comic Phantasm Dyad, in the episode where they were tracking down the cause of a gaggle of inanimate object ghosts found on the beach - a Cereal Killer.
Funnily enough, another cereal in that comic was “Corned Flakes”, which is basically the same joke as Wheated Bix. Mr. Burns saying “I am enjoying this Iced Cream” in The Simpsons was one of those humour-defining moments for me as a kid I think.
#134 - Dark
Just complaining through my characters here. I hate when the clocks go back and would always rather have more light in the afternoon than the morning. Having the daylight end at 4pm is so depressing, but waking up in the dark and having it get light as your day begins is sort of romantic to me.
I do like how this one has sort of unique lighting - very few comics that take place exactly at dusk like this and I tried to capture that vibe even though it’s just a standard blurry background.
[More Chamomile Comic Trivia]
(Above link may not work correctly on tumblr app)
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40 years and 3 weeks ago, Mum collapsed at work and was put on hospital bed rest with one walk a day. Detached placenta, high blood pressure for her, not enough nutrients to the baby.
Readmore for length
She thought she'd go bonkers from boredom but she'd underestimated how tired she was. My parents had bought a house, they couldn't really afford one so they'd soon have lodgers but they'd move in April 1st and were going to have it ready by the time their kid arrived early may at the soonest.
March 31st, morning, the weekly scans revealed that baby had a better chance of survival out than in and they gave mum the hormones. She went into labour while fretting about dad's parents, dad and friends moving the boxes in without her. Contractions happened but no baby. The staff left leaving a skeleton night shift. At 1 am, mum knew something was terribly wrong and this quiet spoken very polite shy woman started to call for help then screamed and yelled like never before.
An intern arrived, stuck a baby monitor on the belly, waited 3 seconds, dropped the sides of the bed and the brakes and ran to the OR.
That morning mum came around to dad excitedly waving a Polaroid at her. He'd just spent time telling his baby all about the important things in life: mountains rivers nature while she grabbed his little finger tightly.
"It's our baby, we had a baby!"
"What baby???"
We met a few hours later, her in scrubs and me in my incubator. She'd worked as a social worker counselling people on their options when they were young parents or parents of ill or disabled babies. She'd spent 3 weeks trying to not imagine all the bad things she'd seen but her baby was, quote: a wriggly pink baby, tiny but wriggly, with no bottom like a hairless monkey.
3 weeks later, after smearing baby poop all over my incubator because preemie nappies/diapers hadn't been mass manufactured yet and mine went up to my armpits but could also be wriggled off, I went home, wearing new clothes knitted by Nanny from doll patterns and towel cloth nappies. Many of the moving boxes didn't get unpacked for a couple years.
When I was old enough to speak, mum asked to be 'mum' not the local 'mam' so that she'd be able to single me out from a crowd. My first real food was weetabix and it became my main staple through childhood, I was disappointed at 2 that my parents didn't choose a brown baby from the hospital as I hated sunscreen lotion almost as much as the burns, my first special interest at 3 was mum's pregnancy with sis and how to raise a baby. My parents made the mistake of calling it an 'us' affair and indulging my need to be read the "how to prepare for your pregnancy and birth" medical book every night. I was livid that I wasn't allowed to go help mum deliver the baby when the time came. That's a whole other story.
Living to 40 and her 65 has been quite the battle and while we always cared for each other, seeing eye to eye was tough, forgiving old neglects was work, we both got a lousy hand. Being able to be there for her as she has for me has been rewarding and healing for the both of us. Getting to know her again as an adult has felt like being 8 again and chatting our heads off about life the universe and everything while peeling potatoes.
#Saf#Ramblings#She came very close to leaving sis and I#I came very close to taking sis and leaving my parents behind#Baby stories#Figured I'd share 😊
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Friday 24th February 2023
The open road beckons again today setting off from Toowoomba on our quest for Roma about 359km on the A2 in total. This section of the journey takes us further inland and north. Everything is topsy turvy down under. IE southerly winds welcome at home, here they come from the Antarctic. Travelling north at home means colder, travelling north here means it's getting hotter! Anecdotal I'm sure. Nonetheless the temperature has started to climb and there's that beautiful warm all over temperature when you step out of the car and even the breeze does nothing to chill.
First stop, Dalby where there's a choice of route! So the very cheery tourist information ladies helped us decide. That and the flat white and raspberry muffin delivered from a well recommended café. Once confirmed that the A2 is the route then the die is cast and there can be no deviation. The route comes close to the second longest man made structure, the Dingo fence that's 5600km in length crossing Australia from the Darling Downs to the Nullarbor Plains. Dalby is smack in the middle of cotton picking country although the crop is now in and so the only signs of this industry at this time of year are the small green plants with the promise of a crop for next season. Cotton soon gives way to vast flat open fields of wheat, also harvested by now, stored away in the massive grain silos, serviced by long road trains plying up and down between farms. A favourite crop here would appear to be Sorghum, a rather important ingredient for the manufacture of Aussie Weetabix. We pass Chinchilla then onto Miles. Named after one William Miles who on 19th January 1855 brought a whole ship load of immigrants to Queensland. To celebrate this grand event we had lunch at Chinaman's Creek, so called because part Chinese, part Mongolian Sam Ah Lee set up camp here. He was a market gardener which sounds innocent enough but the judge thought supplying opium to the Aborigines was outside his remit. So he was banned from the place. However, the Creek is now better known for the Tropical Waterlilies Numphea Gigatea var. Neorosea growing here, which are extinct in their own native country. They are thankfully abundant here in this creek providing someone keeps an eye on the water level. The Creek itself might by some be described as a large pond but it is absolutely stacked with these beautiful vibrant Waterlilies in both pink and blue hues. A truly delightful scene within a rather dusty environment.
Sandwich taken care of and adequate admiration of the Waterlilies duly given, we plodded on in the direction of Roma.
Big event. Soon after leaving Miles in the rear view mirror, we passed a huge sign saying 'Welcome to the Outback'. It's official we are now in the outback and likely as not no-one will ever see us again. Soon after the sign, we saw another enticing us to Judd's Lagoon. Well how could you resist, we had to find out what Judd had by way of a lagoon, so despite the protestations of the lady in Google headquarters we went off to explore. Shackles were rising I guess in Mr Avis's department, but most of the road was sealed so it ought to be okay. After 4km we found Judd and his lagoon and very pleasing it was too. A couple of camper vans had found it before us but otherwise it was totally peaceful. We were then able to rejoin our route. Miss Google maps then totally mistrusting our intention to follow her advice ever again announced "turn right in 55kms". Clearly making a point, we heard nothing from her for 45 mins. The roads are long, very straight and practically empty and before long we were pulling into the Explorer Motel for the next couple of nights. Too tired to cook we found cod and chips down the road at the Blue Shed Fish and Chip Shop a highly agreeable alternative washed down with Aussie beer from the bottle shop.
Temperatures reached 34 degrees today, warm enough for Martine to slip gracefully into the motel pool. We are hoping for more days like this.
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The question in old dialogues is often posed, “What is Buddha?” Some answers have been “Dried shite on a stick,” or, “The Cypress tree in the courtyard.” These are both fine answers, if you happen to be in a Tang Dynasty latrine, or actually have a Cypress tree and you have a courtyard. Neither of these statements are appropriate for me, as I don’t have that tree, and I’m not in the latrine, and I don’t use a stick. We also say in our Zennie way to “Go drink tea,” or, “Go wash your bowls.” Again, unless I have a kettle on, or just had a bowl of Weetabix, not appropriate (and somewhat passive-aggressive when you get down to it). What does “Go drink tea” mean, when is appropriate, and why sink into using a cliche when more accurate and appropriate words are available? Bodhidharma said Zen is “Directly pointing to the human mind; seeing one's nature and become a Buddha; do not establish words and letters.”
Words are all we have—what Bodhidharma had, Mazu, Huangbo, Seung Sahn, and myself. The Buddha had 45 years worth of teaching, and they went well beyond the words of Four Truths, and beyond the Flower Sermon for the wordless.When we attach to words we get in trouble, either by taking them literally in some cases, disregarding the ones we don’t like, and not knowing the meaning of them. When we have an aversion to them, using Bodhidharma’s statement about “Not establishing words & letters” as an excuse not to read a Sutra or quotations from the old Masters or not to listen to our teachers and others, we miss literally Millenia of teachings.Huineng and Jinul are both said to have had awakening experiences by reading, so it can’t be al bad. So it’s not the words that are the problem or the hindrance, it’s missing the other lines from Bodhidharma about seeing our True Buddha Nature and becoming buddhas by way of investigating mind.
So again the question pops up, “What is Buddha?” Mazu said “Mind is Buddha.” Huangbo taught, “All Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but One Mind, beside which nothing exists….It is that which you see before you—begin to reason about it (create conceptual thinking), and at once you fall into error.” Bodhidharma taught “Everything that appears in the three realms comes from mind.”Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “If you sincerely ask, ‘What am I,’ you will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. We call this ‘Don’t Know.’” Zen is keeping this ‘Don’t Know’ always and everywhere….’What is this?’ One Mind is infinite kalpas.”One Mind, Zen, Buddha, all are what is in front of you. Right here, right now, what is it?
When the concepts are gone, and even the words that led to their erasure, just this is it—Mind, Buddha, Zen, everything is it, nothing excluded, nothing rejected.Tell me to go drink tea or to wash my bowls, I’ll hit you with a stick 30 times…wait. No I won’t, but I probably would roll my eyes, mutter to myself under my breath, and sigh. That’s what’s here, right now.Myeong Jin Eunsahn gave the Dharma talk March 6, 2024
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Last night I had a dream where I went to see my granny.
I woke up when my nurse called me at 10 am, like we had agreed. We talked a bit and then I continued sleeping.
I got up, took my morning meds, had breakfast and coffee, and took a shower. I washed my hair twice and put a hair mask on. I washed my armpits, and then I did the morning skincare routine and applied deodorant into my armpits and basic lotion on my skin.
I put on the same bra and trousers I had worn yesterday.
I left and took a bus to another town. It was a bright and sunny day, and I had to poop.
I met Erkki and gave him the backpack. We took part in the support group for mentally ill people.
After the group, I went to the supermarket and bought bananas and tomatos and mint chocolate milk and dishwashing liquid.
I took a bus to Mirette’s home. She is holding a birthday party at her home during the weekend, and I helped her by washing the dirty dishes and tidying up the bathroom and taking out the trash.
After leaving, I took a bus to east. I had to take the second bus because the first one was packed.
I bought a new ink pen and some refills, and also night serum. I wanted to buy a new baseball coat, but resisted the urge.
I took a bus to another town and went to Kohtaus. I had sandwiches and some garlic flavored caviar.
I took two buses back home and went grocery shopping. I bought milk and Weetabix and cold smoked salmon and avocados and two lollipops.
I went back home, had supper, and farted.
In the evening I brushed my teeth, did the evening skincare routine, applied basic lotion on my skin, and took my evening meds.
Tomorrow I will leave for the weekend.
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Pt. 2 🤰💖
You two wouldn’t have expected to get pregnant on your first unprotected go as a married couple, yet intended for a child since Van was desperate to start a family immediately while he was plastered on love. He never wanted fans calling his his children “accidents” and assuming you two had gotten married due to an accidental pregnancy which brought you both to being incredibly careful when you two made love. The days leading up to your wedding, all forms of birth control had gone out the window. You two had discussed it briefly and completely forgot to take yours and Van had conveniently ran out of rubbers.
15 years later, Dad Van would be sitting adjacent to the kitchen counter you two had started your beautiful family on all those years ago. He’d be reflecting on all the memories of your family together . A lot had happened in that kitchen and he was about to make another unforgettable moment. “Ya know, mum and I made one of you on the counter all those years ago” Van would state abruptly. He’d present the proudest smile you and the kids had ever seen. “Y-you did not just say that” your oldest daughter’s eyes would widen as a spoonful of milk and weetabix would spill out of her mouth.
“Mum and I wanted baby. She threw her knickers at me. You know how she is” Van would start, taking a quick glance at you before looking back at the kids. “The kitchen is reserved for mum and I. None of you are allowed to have kids till you’re married” he’d warn, trying to be serious. You and your daughter would have the same wide eyed, jaw dropped expression. You’d gasp followed by a bit of laughter out of shock while your daughter was shaking her head in sheer disgust. Your oldest son would try to suppress his laughter by burying his head in the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “I hope it was me”. “Shut up you twit, don’t encourage dad to talk about this” your daughter would hiss, slapping his arm. “Never eating anything made in this kitchen ever again.” your daughter would declare.
“It was-“ Van would start, Immediately being silenced by your hand covering his mouth. “Don’t.” you’d shoot Van . “Leave them at peace. They’ve already heard enough to not be able to look us in the eye ever again” you’d sigh, burying your head in your hands, also trying to suppress your laughter. “I’ll never be at peace again. Have some respect for each other and do it in bed like normal people” your daughter would say, looking at you two with sheer disappointment. “We made two of you in bed, one on the counter and the other was made on the tour bus” Van would say. “Uncle Larry may be able to confirm.”
“Mum and I wanted baby. She threw her knickers at me. You know how she is”
“Uncle Larry may be able to confirm”
😂😂😂😂😭
Seriously though you know that kitchen counter has seen a lot of action since Van would insist on christening every single flat surface in the house. The kids would be mortified 🙈
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I’ll come into your kitchen hungry so you can feed me heart shaped fruit! Seeing those strawberries actually made me want some and now I’m kinda bummed I don’t have any to eat! What’re you favorite fruits and why? Which ones can you just absolutely not stand? Which ones do you think would be best heart shaped? 🍓 🍒🍉🍎🍌🫐🥭🍇🍑🍊🍍 <- and here is some fruit for you, I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I just grabbed a lot, I’ll take whatever you don’t like! - 🤍🤍🤍
yes please do !! im setting the table and pulling out a chair for u as we speak !! <3
right? they looked sooo yummy, i had strawberries w my weetabix this morning but im pretty sure we're near the end of their season :((
my favourite fruit of all time is apricots, ESPECIALLY dried apricot😋😋 mainly bc it was my go-to snack when i was a kid. close up there is mango, peaches, plums, figs and cherries but i love most fruit honestly !! (also technically olives are a fruit and i loooooooooooove olives)
i dont really like pineapple bc it makes my lips and tongue swell so i think im a bit allergic :(
and i think all of them would look beautiful heart shaped !! especially melon omg like imagine loads of different types of melon making up a rainbow of hearts😣💟 !!!
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🤡 🎶 🤩
🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?
-
“Yeah, Julian’s just finishing up some stuff at Blackthorn Hall, and then we’ll be heading back home for Christmas… but I’m so glad I get to see you guys before we head back-” Emma was updating Tessa and Jem, who were listening avidly.
“Kit!” she said, as he arrived back in. Her eyes sparkled. “Are you ready to do some training?”
“No?” Kit offered hopefully. Damn, wishful thinking on his part, although he acknowledged deep down he was both excited for, and dreading the training.
Emma’s grin inched wider. “Too bad.”
“May the odds be ever in your favour,” Tessa saluted Kit from the kitchen chair where she was feeding Mina mushed bananas and weetabix. Mina waved her spoon around imperiously, like the tiny Empress she was.
Jem brightened. “Oh- I know that one!” They had watched the Hunger Games the previous weekend as a family, Jem and Tessa sharing a big bowl of popcorn and Kit eating so many crispy M&Ms that he had felt sick from the sugar high for the rest of the evening.
(hah, I don't really write comedy but I love Kit and Tessa's book/film exchanges and the idea of Jem being really proud of recognising one of them)
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🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?
I do! I tend to put on different playlists depending on the characters I'm writing. I tend to go to my teen / uni years playlists of MCR, PatD!, Fallout Boy, Paramore etc for writing Kit, Ty or other TDA characters. I have a few indie playlists for TLH or TID characters- with artists like Hozier, Florence and the Machine, CHVRCHES.
If I really want to concentrate and write challenging scenes, I go for lofi artists - I particularly like Tycho.
That being said, I also love musicals and the song I've had on loop for the past month is "I Say No" from the Heathers Musical. I get chills every time I listen to it.
🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?
Ahaha, probably quite obvious from my current obsession- I like writing Kit! But I also have a soft spot for Cordelia and enjoy writing stories about her.
Also- Tessa but it's more complicated, in that I have a lot of ambitious stories I want to write about her but also, it involves translating those stories from my head to paper and ahhhh, so difficult.
Send me an emoji and I'll tell you about my fics!
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500 word analysis of SAK! - where’s the Pizza & Weetabix
As we started writing these songs we were performing as a two piece with just Adam. This gave us a lot of time to put into these songs so they were written very quickly by both of us. The first idea of pizza was written for a mini task from one of the earlier modules and we chose to develop that for this module. I mainly wrote the lyrics and Adam mainly wrote the percussion. And we both workshopped the riffs, constantly changing them little by little until we were both happy with them in both of the songs. We would most likely always start with the riff, when we both agree on a good riff. we start to jam with that riff and brainstorm a lot of different ideas and developments. We then had a session where we chose a structure and got a solid song we then tested by adding it to our gigging set. We wrote Pizza first, then Weetabix was added later.
We were able to test both of these songs at multiple live gigs to a live audience, both as a two piece and a three piece before the final assessment. I was very happy with this and it made me feel confident and put me in a good mindset. We also gave a lot of energy on stage which would help engage the audience more by just having fun and being visually engaging. I even heard some of the audience laugh when I was singing the lyrics of Pizza which is a good sign. I think we did a great job overall of displaying our artistic intention, we let the songs be a bit wacky and played into this feature trying to use it as a USP. This works well for SAK! And I would like to develop the idea of this in the future but refine it to also make the lyrics more engaging. I do like how punchy the songs are and they have a good dynamic change making a big impact to the song.
However because we are still getting used to being a three piece we still need to get a bit more comfortable together. This would have made our performance better. We use vocal cues to change to the chorus in Weetabix and the lads couldn't hear me on the day of the performance but we worked really well on hiding that by just carrying on. We would have also looked better on stage if I moved over to the left of the stage because I was blocking out Jack on the video. Visually, that would have looked way better. I would be slightly happier if the timing was ever so slightly better when we performed. I also want another play around with Weetabix and have a more solid structure with the lyrics, I think they could have been structured better.
Overall, we did really well with this task and I learned a lot while having fun
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