#Fix and Flip Financing

[accolend]

[thebuyeragency]

Fix and Flip with Advance Draw

Fix and Flip with Advance Draw Fix and Flip is a rehab purchase loan, that is based on the approvement of a investment property based on the appraisal value after repairs are complete. 620+ mid credit score 1/3 of the rehab value paid up to $30k within 5 days of closing and no inspection required. We can lend up to 90% of total cost (purchase price + rehab)  We can close on average in 5-7 days…

[capitalton]

Fix and Flip Loans

Loans to flip properties without relying on personal income.

Close as fast as 10 days

No prepayment penalty

No appraisal

Fix and Flip Loan Terms

Loan to purchase: Up to 90% LTC Rehab financing: Up to 100% After-repair value: Up to 75% ARV Loan amount: Minimum $75,000 Interest rate: Start at 9.25% Credit score: Minimum 680 Loan terms: 6, 12, 18 and 24 months

Learn more about fix and flip loans.

[unitedstatesrei]

Turning Flips into Freedom with Debt for a Life of Wealth and Wisdom with Nathan Turner

Key Takeaways Note investing offers a highly flexible and passive alternative to traditional property ownership. Performing loans can provide consistent income and resilience in uncertain markets. Understanding creative finance opens powerful new options for both agents and investors. United States Real Estate Investor The REI Agent with Nathan Turner https://youtu.be/IqNSdPYXN38 Follow and subscribe to The REI Agent on social Facebook Instagram Youtube .cls-1fill:#fff; Linkedin X-twitter United States Real Estate Investor It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! United States Real Estate Investor Discovering a New Frontier in Real Estate When most people hear “real estate,” they think about houses, rentals, or maybe the occasional flip. But in this riveting episode of The REI Agent, Mattias unlocks an entirely different strategy with note investor Nathan Turner, a strategy so overlooked, it might just be the secret sauce to long-term wealth and freedom. Nathan doesn’t own the properties. He owns the paper—the mortgages themselves. And in doing so, he’s created a system that’s not just lucrative but shockingly flexible in a world ruled by rigid banks and slow institutions. “Just keep going. There’s so much opportunity and so much to learn.” This conversation reveals how investing in notes isn’t some risky gamble; it’s one of the oldest, most reliable wealth-building tools ever created. In fact, it’s biblical. Literally. From Frustration to Fortune: Nathan’s Backstory Nathan Turner’s journey started like many investors, in the chaos of flipping houses during the mid-2000s boom. He bought properties across Canada, sleeping on floors with a tool bag and a dream. But when the market turned, he got burned. What came next? A powerful pivot. “I didn’t even know what I was doing was called note investing.” After accidentally creating seller-financed notes during a rescue mission for overvalued Midwest properties, Nathan found himself in a niche no one was talking about. He wasn’t just selling homes—he was creating income streams. And soon enough, he realized something profound: "If you buy the debt, you control the asset without the headache of ownership." Why Notes Might Be the Ultimate Passive Income Vehicle Nathan walks through how he shifted from buying non-performing loans to acquiring performing ones, notes that bring in steady monthly payments. The returns? Consistent. The effort? Minimal. “This is the mailbox money of all mailbox monies.” With his fund targeting a 12% yield, Nathan explains how investors can participate passively, especially through a self-directed IRA. And unlike big banks, he’s willing and able to get creative when borrowers fall behind. “Because I bought the note at a discount, I have the flexibility to modify it. Big banks can’t do that.” For agents and investors who have felt the frustration of rigid underwriting or narrow lending boxes, Nathan’s approach is a breath of fresh air. Creative Power: When You Control the Terms Mattias shares his own personal seller-finance deal—a hybrid solution tailored to his parents and a unique property. The beauty of the transaction wasn’t just the numbers; it was the flexibility. Nathan agrees. He’s seen it time and time again. “There's all kinds of flexibility here. Let’s figure it out.” Whether it’s reducing monthly payments, adjusting the timeline, or even increasing the interest rate, owning the note lets you play with the rules. It's real estate on your terms. And the cherry on top? If you ever want to exit a deal, Nathan, or someone like him, is ready to buy your note. No refinance required. The Market Is Shifting. Are You Prepared? Nathan doesn’t sugarcoat it. He’s seeing signs: rising defaults, increased stress in the short-term space, and the waning impact of COVID-era bailouts. But he isn’t worried. Why? Because his investments are protected by discounted debt and cash-flowing notes.

“Nothing is recession-proof, but we’re definitely recession-resistant.” His advice to listeners is simple but profound: prepare for the worst-case scenario first. If the numbers still work, you’ve got a deal. And when asked about the risks of note investing? “We know exactly what the return is the moment we buy the note.” No guessing. No waiting. No wild projections. A Timeless Opportunity That’s Hiding in Plain Sight Most agents don’t know this strategy exists. Even fewer understand it. But that’s exactly what makes it such an unmatched opportunity. “Literally, you can go back in the Bible and find verses about buying and selling debts.” Nathan Turner isn't just investing; he’s preserving a timeless system of wealth building. Whether you're an agent looking for better investment vehicles or someone chasing passive income, this episode is a masterclass. The Final Wisdom: Just Keep Going Nathan closes with a message that speaks to every entrepreneur, agent, and investor grinding through the ups and downs: “Sometimes you have to learn it the hard way. I did. But that’s what makes you better. Just keep going.” And if you're ready to learn more? He’s not selling a course. He’s running a conference. He’s building a community. And he’s proving that note investing might just be the smartest path to a bold and balanced life. Because in this corner of real estate, it's not about doors, it’s about dollars delivered monthly with the grace and wisdom of someone who’s been through the storm and came out with a strategy. This isn’t hype. It’s The REI Agent way. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate. For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com. Related Articles Therapy You Didn’t Know You Needed (Holistic Wisdom for Real Estate Professionals) From For Sale Signs to Life Design (How The REI Agent Transforms Real Estate Into Holistic Wealth) Achieving Holistic Wealth and Success Through Real Estate (Insights from The REI Agent) Partnering with Investors (How Real Estate Agents Can Exponentially Maximize Profits) United States Real Estate Investor Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. United States Real Estate Investor Contact Nathan Turner Earnest Investing United States Real Estate Investor Mentioned References Invest in Debt by Jimmy Napier United States Real Estate Investor Transcript Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I'm Mattias, an agent and investor. And I'm Erica, a licensed therapist. Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing. Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors. Ready to level up? Let's do it. Welcome back to the REI Agent. Your friendly host Mattias here. We had Nathan Turner on the show today. Nathan is a note investor and he has a fund that you can potentially invest in if you're interested. I think it's a really interesting way of diversifying maybe if you're into that syndication or fund to funds phase of life. But yeah, I think with anything that comes to investing and learning your trade, your business or your finances in general, I think it's just good to have more information to kind of make a better decision about where you can kind of allocate your funds. So this is certainly something that you could do within a IRA, a directed IRA. He has something that you could, a contact that could help you do that with. But yeah, I think it's interesting. It wasn't a topic I knew as much about. So it was a good conversation for me to have. So I hope you also learn from this and I don't just look naive. But it was, yeah, like I said, it was a good conversation.

I mean, I'm gonna keep this one short since it was a great conversation and don't wanna take up all your time with my blabbering. So without further ado, here we have Nathan Turner. Welcome back to the REI Agent. I have the honor of having Nathan Turner here in the podcast today. Nathan, thanks so much for joining us. Pleasure to be here, thank you. Nathan, tell us a little bit about your niche first and then let's kind of get into how you got there. Yeah, so I know you're specifically targeting real estate investor agents and people who are getting in from that direction. So mine's a little bit different. It's real estate related, but it's not exactly real estate. So I'm buying residential mortgages, loans, contracts for deed, land contracts, whatever you wanna call them in different states, but essentially loans against property. That's what I'm buying all over the country. So that's my niche. It happens to be secured by real estate, so that's the real estate piece of it. Sure. Okay, well, we definitely had lenders on the show as well. So that's not too far off. But before we dive into the nuances of that, let's kind of get into how you got started in real estate in general or in this space. Sure. Yeah, I got started in real estate in the heyday, I wanna say, 2005, six, where everything was going so well and it was really easy to make some money off of real estate and it was great. Timing was perfect. I started doing fix and flip. I live in Canada, so I was living in Montreal. All the houses I was flipping were in Saskatoon. So just to give you some context, Montreal is right above Vermont. Saskatoon is just straight north from Eastern Montana. So clear cut across the country, but I would buy it with the help of a realtor in town there and I would fly out with my suitcase full of tools and a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor, just work like crazy for 14, 16 hour days for a week and bang out whatever I could. Mostly cosmetic, I wasn't doing anything too crazy. Because the market didn't demand it and so it was easy enough just to clean it up and then resell it for a really nice profit. And again, like I say, the market was a huge help in that. Honestly, I could have just bought it, waited a month and resold it for a profit back in those days. Yeah, I heard of people doing that, actually. Yeah, yeah. I had a guest on my show, he got burnt from it. But yeah, he was basically just doing that, just sitting on it for a little bit and selling it. Maybe a year. Maybe there was a year lease kind of situation. Anyway, keep going. Yeah, yeah, so I did that for a couple years and then just as the market turned, I got hung with one property and it was my last one. I only did half a dozen or so, eight, seven or eight, something like that. But it was this very last one and I didn't know very much about real estate and so I ended up renting it out because that's what you do, of course. If you can't sell it, you rent it and so I did that. But it was one property, one residential door basically in the middle of town, not a very nice neighborhood and no volume, it was one property. So I could find one guy in this city, small, small cities, 200,000 people but prairie town, very sleepy. There was one guy that I could get to take care of this property and he was terrible. He was absolutely awful where every single month I'd have to call him up and be like, hey man, so did we get paid? Like what's going on? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I just gotta do some accounting, I'll get this to you. And they did and for the most part, people paid and it was fine but every time we did have turnover, it was actually cheaper for me to hop back on a plane with my suitcase full of tools and go fix it up and then rent it out to the next person. I was like, I don't know, man. This is a lot of work. I don't know, I don't really care about this. Do you still own it? No, we ended up finally selling in 2009, I think it was. Okay,

but was it long enough to realize a profit or did you just kind of take a hit and move on? No, we still turned a profit but you know, and then with the market conditions at the time, I really liked flipping and I thought that was really fun but this renting thing, the market wasn't right for flipping anymore at that point and the rental, I was like, I don't know. It seems like a lot of work for whatever it was, 400 bucks a month or something like that. I'm like, I don't really get it. So I was kind of turned off to tell you the truth and then it was about a year or so later. So this is like fall of 2008. A friend of mine called me and says, hey, do you wanna help me out with this real estate project in the US? I'm like, sure, what you got? And I just sold my other business and so I was ready for something else and it was, we had all these properties, about 60 properties, mostly centered in the Midwest and it was a situation where they had bought these properties in like the spring of 2007. So like top, top, top of the market. So they way overpaid for this stuff. It was supposed to just be a quick flip. They were supposed to just sell it off to another organization and then deal went sideways. That deal never happened. So when I got on board, it was like, oh shoot, what do we do now? We're stuck with all these properties that were in really rough shape, spread out all over three or four states and how do we deal with it? They're all based in California, so none of them knew anything or had no real estate experience at all. So that was the charge and so we kind of thought we'd, a couple of Canadian boys, we thought we'd invented seller financing. We started selling these houses on terms and creating notes and didn't know any of the terminology, didn't know that's what it was, didn't know how to do that properly. So we made all kinds of mistakes, but at the same time, it was a great base. It was a way to get started in it. So that was my introduction to notes, was creating notes without knowing that's what they were. Okay. Okay, so now you are, this is your primary thing and you are, tell me how you, let me, walk me through a deal that you would do to kind of help me get some more context on this. Yeah, so you mentioned you've had some lenders on the show, which is great and I would love to meet them because what I do, I don't actually lend out money. I look for somebody else that has already done that. Then I approach them and say, hey, any of those loans are you looking to recapitalize? For a variety of reasons, whether it's because they're not paying anymore for some reason, or because they're just looking to get cash back out so they can turn it around, do it again, or they've got a different investment or they want to send a kid to college, whatever it is, they want cash for that long-term payment stream, they would rather have a lump sum today. Sure. And that's where I come in. And so I say, well, you've already done the work to create the note. I will cash you out of that, of your position and take over as the new quote unquote lender, even though I'm not actually technically lending the money out. Yeah, so the terms don't change. Right. And, okay. So is this then primarily, I think, is it primarily seller financing kind of deals that you're doing this with or? It is today. When I first got started, it was all about non-performing loans and the vast majority of those were bank loans at some kind of institution. But it's shifted over time, like as the economy has changed and there's less and less of the defaulted notes out there, which is great, but the banks aren't necessarily selling, not in small quantities to a guy like me, they're performing loans. So I'm now turned around. It's kind of fun. I'm going back to full circle and looking for those people that were doing exactly what I was doing when I got started and creating notes. And then I'm offering to buy them out and step into that place. When

you were doing the bank ones, was that, I mean, were they like Freddie Fannie kind of loans? I mean, were they big institutions, not just like your in-house loan, that your bank at the corner. So these were big institutions that you're approaching about buying their mortgage from? Yeah, typically the way it would go is like a bigger hedge fund would buy a big pool from the banks. Like US Bank, we got a lot from them. No, not like Chase or Well. Well, we did have some Wells actually, but typically, you know, tier B type banks is kind of smaller banks. But they would, the hedge funds would go in and do a purchase for a hundred million. And then they would say, okay, here's our parameters. This is what we want. Anything that falls outside of that, we sell off. And so that's where I came in and I was the guy buying whatever didn't fit their box. Okay. Now, is this on like Facebook Marketplace? Is there a portal somewhere you can go to like where, I mean, I understand this isn't happening as much now, but like at the time, this is just having a connection to these places or? All networking, like so much networking. So I started going to conferences in 2009 and that was it. It's just, I, you know, called myself the Canadian note guy just to help, you know, get some recognition, some kind of branding. And it worked pretty well. People got to know who I was. And, you know, if I say I want to buy that, I would actually follow through. And so got a fairly good reputation that way. And people knew I was for real. So yeah, it worked out great. And we've been just doing that for years and years. And then, like I say, we transitioned over to performing more these days. Yeah, okay. So now when you're looking at, yeah, the owner finance kind of deals, how are you finding them? Are you looking for like delinquent kind of things or what's that look like? It's still the same kind of thing, a lot of networking. So I actually took over a conference a few years ago. So we're running that now. And that's been huge where people, again, just recognition to know kind of who I am and what I'm about, which is great. And so I'm actively looking for loans that people are looking to sell off for, like I say, all kinds of different reasons. And is there, so obviously you'd be getting the interest that Azori agreed upon. I would imagine you can't change the terms to the borrower. Do you get a cut then off the top as well for like kind of doing this? Like, do you get like some sort of fee like to, yeah, like I have $100,000 note currently. Are you getting like, am I getting like 95,000 so that you or something like that? Right, yeah, it's gonna be some kind of discount and that's, it's calculated. There's a few factors. So very first thing is what's the interest rate on the note? If somebody wrote a note at 4%, 5%, my target yield that I'm looking for for my fund is 12. So my discount is gonna be pretty hefty. If it's 100,000 balance, maybe 50% and that's not great. You're probably not gonna like my offer. So if it's a note that was written at nine or 10%, we're gonna be much, much closer. My discount is gonna be much smaller. So we're more likely to make a deal. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, and there's probably more of those out there. Is there, I mean, just hard money, I know that's usually short term. Is that ever kind of come into play as well? Yeah, and it's funny. So I look for either short term or really long term. So it's either, you know, one to two years or 25 to 30 years. But that in between time is not so great for me actually. So it's either gotta be really short or really long. Okay, and if there's a person that is lending at a nine or 10% interest rate, and is that ever like a 25, 30 year product? And if so, what are like the circumstances? Is it just somebody that couldn't qualify otherwise? Yeah, we actually find those a lot. More often than not, that kind of a loan, like a long term higher interest seller finance note, you find a lot of those in Texas.

Not to say that's the only place, but that's the biggest concentration for sure. The buyers are gonna be anything from somebody who's self-employed to ITIN borrower. So like they're not here illegally, but they're not citizens either. Those are kind of the two major qualifiers, or just somebody that didn't qualify to a bank because of whatever. It could be lower credit score, or it could be, you know, any number of things that made it so that they couldn't qualify. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's interesting. So you said you're investors, so you have like a fund, is it a fund set up then to, you know, people can invest with you? It is secured by real estate, so that's probably a selling point there. Then you have like a target return on investment there. Does IRR come into play as well in this circumstance? Like do people get paid out at a certain time, or is it kind of more of a long-term kind of holding? I would consider it more of a long-term thing. It's a debt fund. Because we're buying performing notes, when I resell that note, there's not actually a bump. Like we're not selling for more at a future date. So because of that, we're not doing an equity share because there's no extra equity to be had. So this is your, you know, set it and forget it, use IRA funds, something like that, where it's just collecting interest and off you go. You can compound it if you want, you know, instead of taking the distribution, you just reinvest it. That compounds, that's another option, but yeah, it's the long-term stuff. That's gonna be your best bet on this. Well, yeah, and I mean like 12% is great. Okay, so then on top of that, I'm curious how often you've had to like, if people have defaulted, how often you've had to foreclose and what that process looks like. Yeah, it's interesting. So when I got my start, it was all non-performing. So foreclosure is, it's a great tool. I'll tell you the vast majority of the time, like more than 90%, 95% of the time when I foreclose, it's because the house is vacant. So either they've passed away or they've abandoned the property. Those are really most of the foreclosures that we do. It's really rare that I actually foreclose on a person. I'm mostly foreclosing just on an empty house. So I, and I don't like to be that guy, you know, like that's not what I'm about. I don't wanna kick people out of their homes. So we've got all kinds of options because I bought it at a discount, I'm far more flexible than the bank would be initially. So, or whoever the original lender was. So because of that flexibility, I can go in and say, look, you know, your $800 payment isn't working for you, obviously. So what's more realistic? You know, maybe we get this situation all the time where somebody, you know, lost their job and now they've got this other job. Okay, great. So first of all, do they just need one or two months to get caught back up? If that's the case, no problem. We can tack that back onto the end of the loan. All right, no issue. We'll just keep on going. If it's the better job or the other job doesn't pay as well. Okay, so $800 a month doesn't work. Could you do seven or how about 650 or six? And we come up with whatever terms are gonna make sense for both of us. And then it's a modification of the loan, it's recorded the county and now that's the new loan. That's those terms. So in that circumstance, I would imagine you're adding years to the end of the loan to make up for the less payment? You know, maybe that's one option and that's where it gets really fun and creative because we can say, okay, and I've done all kinds. We've raised interest rates or lowered them, stretched out payment time or shortened it. Payments have gone up or down and it just really depends on what really the borrower is looking for, the person living in the home, what's gonna make most sense. And then we come to terms and that's the new law. Yeah, no, I've done, I've personally done one owner financing creative deal, if you wanna call it that.

There was a lot of moving parts with it. It was kind of a unique situation. My parents were buying one, it's a very nice quadruplex or it's actually two duplexes put together. They were buying one apartment to live in, to downsize in. It's a perfect scenario for them in a great location, beautiful, beautiful place. We did owner financing on the rest and I actually put it all on one half of the duplex. So that half of the duplex is over leveraged, but an appraiser, it doesn't matter, right? It's the same thing as the owner. And then now that allows me some flexibility to, if my parents were like, God forbid, they had an emergency, they need to get to a nursing home or whatever, I can do a refinance on just that half and get their money out and let them do their thing. There was just, it's just fun when you get to that space because you can kind of custom tailor, yeah, perfect for that situation and where it's a win for everybody. Yeah, love that. That's awesome. And at the time I felt like I was probably paying too much for it. I don't know if maybe that was just my ego, but at the end of the day, I got a great term. So I only had to bring $30,000 of my own money into the deal, which made it a win for me. And like I said, it's a great property. My parents are super happy. So it's just a win-win all around. Yeah, that's perfect. And then, so one other option is instead of refinancing, you can sell off the note. And that's where somebody like me would come in and say, well, I mean, maybe it's because you don't wanna refinance with the bank because of, I don't know, because you don't like the bank, or maybe it's because this is faster or whatever the case might be, but it's another option. Me or somebody like me, and if it's not me, I can refer you to one of my colleagues and say, so this one's not really in my wheelhouse, but you know what? Call Dave, he's got you. Well, and the thought was securing more debt on it. So is that possible as well? Yeah, it's a little unusual, but yeah, that's doable for sure. That was kind of like a worst case scenario where we don't really have, they may need to move faster than we have really built up the equity or the appreciation to be able to do other options. And so worst case scenario, then we're very over leveraged if we have to be for a period of time. But again, we structured this on a 20 year note with the owner and that hurt extra because again, the rents were lower. I felt like I overpaid because of that, but it's all turning, so it's great. It's a really good situation. And again, I'm just bringing that up because it's the beauty of this space is that you can really fine tune the situation for, or fine tune the note, the scenario, all the details of it, all the terms for the scenario itself. And it's cool that you had the flexibility to do that. Big banks, they can't. I mean, they just don't have the capacity. It's just like, this is our box. That's the thing, the capacity, the imagination, I'm not sure which it is. In any case, yeah, they just, they won't do it. This is what we can do and that's it. And anything outside of that, well, you're out of luck. And then somebody like us takes over and we're like, oh man, are you kidding me? There's all kinds of flexibility here and there and we can structure this way or that. Let's figure it out. And yeah, I mean, any agent listening to this probably has had experiences with a bigger bank that they, one thing that comes to mind for me is I have a, we don't have a ton of condos in my area. And there's a condo that does, it's warrantable, whatever the word is, for Fannie Freddie. It's sold multiple times, tons of them have sold this way. But have a big bank come involved and they see something in the disclosure pack that they don't like and they're out, they're just done. And now we have a buyer thinking like, this place, I won't be able to sell it again. I'm like, no, like we've literally had VA, FHA, every kind of different loan you can imagine happen.

It's just, it was a big bank that has a box and they have very low risk tolerance and they don't care about their reputation going forward because they have plenty of business coming in. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And they're big enough that, yeah, you don't actually matter to them. Not at all. You work with a local lender. Their skin is on the line every time. They wanna make sure that deal goes through unless there's absolutely something they can't avoid. And that's gonna be the same for you. I mean, your reputation's on the line, you're networking to get your business. So it's important to you. Yeah, yeah. And then really where I like to come in in that situation is I'll let you go ahead and do all of that part of it. Qualifying the borrower and figuring out how to make the payments work and all this and that. I'll let you do all that part and then I'll just come in and say like, so what are the terms again? Okay, this is how much I'll give you for that. I'm the after effect. Sure, sure. But it's cool that if there is a bumpy road you can get a little creative. Yeah, definitely, yeah. For everybody. Yeah, that's awesome. So is there any other, well, I guess, a better question. Yeah. How is the market in your area now? Do you see things slowing down at all? Has there been any price drops since the craziness of 2021 I guess may be the peak? And if so, what similarities do you see from the 2008 kind of market? Yeah, it's so interesting to see and you kind of look back over time and see how things have changed and there definitely has been a change. So just to give you an idea, my first non-performing note purchase in 2010, it was a package of three different loans on three different properties, all based in Columbus, Ohio. Three different loans, three different properties, total purchase price for me was $10,000. And that was, I was talking with a friend, a colleague and he had the deal and I'm like, 10 grand, really? For all three of those? That's insane. Okay, and so I'm like, you know what? It's worth a $10,000 experiment to see what happens. And it worked out amazingly well. And I'm like, okay, this is awesome. I love this, let's do this. Go from there to coming up 2018, 19, non-performing notes were trading at almost the same price as a performing note. So in other words, if the balance of that note was $100,000 and it was, it had not been paying for the last year, the purchase price for that at the time was probably around like 70, 75, maybe 80 cents even. And if it was performing, if they had been making payments, I could buy it for almost the same amount. And so it just, the margins got so slim on that and just availability went way, way down. And so that was- Are you interested in this? Is that why? You know, it was a combination of things where there's much more interest in non-performers and so demand was much higher. And then at the same time, just market conditions had changed. Enough of the 2008 inventory had moved through. So there was just less availability there. And they didn't have to lower the price as much, that whole supply and demand thing. Yeah, interesting. Because of that, we started really thinking and then when COVID hit, it was like, okay, let's rethink what we're doing here and how do we want to change things up? And it just gave us, for me, it was kind of nice. We had a little bit of a break just to slow down enough to say, okay, let's start working on the business instead of in the business and rethink some things and decide how we want to go forward. So that's where we kind of first thought of, you know what, maybe we should just change over and start doing some performing loans. And the biggest advantage, disadvantage there is with the non-performers, the potential for higher returns is much greater because you're buying at a bigger discount and then it can take several different paths and all of them good. And depending on how you bought it and if it goes this

direction or that direction, you're still making money, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. But it's generally speaking, you're gonna get higher returns off of that. There's a lot more work and more time involved in those things. But like I say, it tends to be worth it in the end. With availability and pricing changing, it didn't make as much sense. Then you started looking at the performing loans. Performing loans have been around forever. Like that's been the mainstay of note investing for literally centuries, for a long, long, long time. Lower returns generally, but a lot less work, a lot less involvement needed once you've purchased this loan. Not none, but less. And so we started looking at that and looking at my kids are getting older and those sorts of things and looking at how I wanna be spending my time. And that was really the catalyst for everything that we're doing today with the fund. Yeah. And then it's just interesting, you start looking at it and going, okay, so not only is it better for me, but it's actually also better for the investor because then they're instantly diversified into a pool of funds and there's increased safety, there's increased predictability on when and how much they're getting paid. Like, yeah, okay, all right, we'll do it. Okay. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I've definitely talked to different people in different areas. And I think the areas that are seeing price declines are definitely in the opinion of maybe those markets being the canary in the coal mine for something bigger. It's really interesting how differing the opinions are between different people as to like kind of the future. I really say, obviously nobody has a crystal ball, but to me, it definitely, especially in my market seems very different than anything in 2008. Inventory levels alone is kind of the biggest thing. The lending practices seem to be much cleaner as well. So yeah, I guess it's just always interesting to hear people's opinions on. Yeah, and it was really interesting. So we just ran, I mentioned we took over this conference. We just had it just a few weeks back and same kind of thing. We had somebody there from Mortgage Bankers Association. So he's got all his charts and all his graphs and everything showing trends that have been happening over the last, I don't know, going back 20 years and looking to see where the line's going. And it is going up. Yeah, from like defaults and things like that. So we are definitely seeing like, and I would kind of consider that mainstream where that kind of information is coming out where there is an uptick in a lot of these defaults and people starting to struggle with the mortgage payments. Right after the Mortgage Bankers guy, we had a different panel on, and it's more people that are like in the trenches and doing this day-to-day. And I think a lot of that information that they've got at Mortgage Bankers doesn't account for a lot of the smaller investors like us and smaller being under a hundred million where we're not reporting to the same agencies. So that information is not included in those bigger charts. And we're definitely seeing that on our side where there is definitely an increase in short-term especially has been struggling just with payments and defaults. And even in the long-term, there's been a small uptick. It hasn't been massive, but there has been a small uptick. And so we're all kind of watching and waiting to see what's gonna happen. And are we gonna see a bunch of these non-performers coming back? We'll see. Yeah. I talked to, he was a realtor that helps people avoid foreclosure. And he had kind of a whole fund. He had went through it himself in 2008. And so he went through the whole process, has a lot of pain with it. And most of the time people just don't really understand their options and what they can do to try to advocate for themselves and try to right the ship. So he does his best to help them. And he was saying that he

believed that there was a lot of, like the bailouts that were happening that are happening are a lot more consumer related as opposed to like a big bailout to a bank which he thinks is a good thing. But he also wonders if that also kind of artificially creates a backlog of future foreclosures that could come and yeah, down the line all of a sudden. So yeah, it's hard to know. It's hard to know for sure what's going to happen. Actually, I would agree with that because like in 2019, we were all doing our thing and having conversations about like, okay, just if you look over history, we're due. Timing is such that we're due for some kind of a downturn and it wasn't happening yet. So when COVID hit, same thing. We all got on these calls and had this big 20 person Zoom call and we're like, okay, so this is it, right? We're gonna see all these defaults coming through. And then it didn't. And a whole bunch of money got pumped in and really artificially propped everything up. And so good or bad, right or wrong, I don't know. But I'm just looking at the aftereffects and I think we are starting to see and I think we're gonna continue to see and over the next year or so, a lot of those COVID payments that were helping prop things up are starting to fall apart. And it's getting tough for people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Certainly if people didn't take advantage of or bought something after those crazy low interest rates, it can be a high payment. I mean, we actually just, we did a cash out refinance on a property we were flipping. And I think our payment on a house that's about a thousand square feet is I think a little bit more than our payment on our 46,000 square foot house. So it's just like, I mean, we got it a while back too. So there's a lot of appreciation and yeah, anyway. But it's just kind of interesting to see and it can be tough. So I guess anybody out there looking to buy, definitely I think it's good to try to be conservative on the numbers and make sure you got, yeah, you don't max out your possible mortgage payments. Yeah, if you're looking at that like worst case scenario, middle case scenario, best case scenario, maybe stick with the worst case scenario for now. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, and other news, I think, did it get past that the 100% depreciation would come back? I guess that wouldn't really apply to your world since you're not actually owning the asset. Yeah, and it's really interesting. And as much as things are going on in all over, inflation and different rules changing and announcements coming out every day and changing the next day, there's a lot of uncertainty. And again, I don't care what side of your aisle you're on or whatever, I'm Canadian, so I'm totally agnostic when it comes to that. But really the key word today is uncertain. And which means change and it means fear for a lot of people and uncertain is the word. The cool thing is with notes is because what I bought is an established set of terms, very little of that matters. Whatever inflation is doing, whatever it's doing, pricing and this, that and everything else, eggs can be more or less. For the most part, it doesn't really make a difference to me. Yeah, monthly payment is the monthly payment, the interest rate is the interest rate and it is what it is. And either you can pay or you can't. If you can't, I can probably help you fix that. But we're relatively unaffected. So it's, nothing is recession proof, but we're definitely resistant. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, yeah, you're not again tied to the pricing of the house so much. I mean, if it's not really bad and you owe more than what the house was worth, that might be a different story, but buying at a steep discount, that's a really good point. Which actually brings me to my next question, which would be like, are people that are investing in your fund, do they have to be accredited investors or what does that look like? Yeah, for my fund it is. It's one of those government rules and again, government, good or bad, right or wrong, that it is what it is.

And so that's what they've set up. And yeah, accredited. I wish we could do something different to tell you the truth, but my hands are tied. Yeah, so to hash out what that means to people that are listening, that's a net worth of a million or more outside of your primary residency or making what, 200,000 single, 300,000 married. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. And that's what, for the past two years, I believe? Yes. And I mean, if you've just had that one year, still come and talk to me and we'll see what we can figure out. But those are the, that's what's on the records. That's what's in the books. Yeah, and it's good to know about these options. I think like one of the things that I think is really good for agents to know is that this world exists. And as for many syndications, they can take advantage of the tax benefits with apartment buildings or whatever. Getting that accelerated appreciation is all gravy as well. But the beauty of all this is, is you can look at it kind of like a stock portfolio as well where you can kind of diversify and place a certain portion into something like what you're doing, where it's gonna not be as dependent upon what the value of the asset is. And you can get that steady kind of income from it. And it's hands-off and related to your field, so. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's what I say to people as well. It's like, look, don't put all your eggs in any basket. Split it up. And if you wanna put some into some kind of a syndication, great. Truth is, over time, you're probably gonna get a higher return out of that. But you're probably also gonna have to wait for it. Where something like mine is, it's, you know, we're generating income day one. As soon as the money comes in, we buy a note, and that money is coming in month after month after month. So it's not a promise of some future projected return. This is, we know exactly what the return is as soon as we buy a note. So it's, in that way, I like the security of it. And then, you know, you mentioned like the housing prices going down. That's another beauty, you know? So that $100,000 balance that we bought, the house is probably worth more like 150. And then we also bought a discount. So our investment to value is really, really low. And so we've got a lot of room there for the what if, just in cases, whatever happens at some future point. No, it makes a lot of sense. So when people are investing in a fund like what you have, I know that with syndications, this is different than a fund, of course, but with syndications, you're kind of presented the deal, right? Like you have to like vet kind of the operators, which would be an operator. You would have to vet the deal itself. But in this circumstance, you're more like kind of giving like your buy box, if you will. And so it wouldn't be, they're not gonna be presented each mortgage you're gonna buy or each note you're gonna buy, right? Right. Yeah, no, and I think the important thing is for people getting involved in something like this is make sure you have just at least some understanding of how it works, so that you can be comfortable knowing what you're investing in. But after that, you really don't have to think about it. It's the mailbox money of all mailbox monies is it's just coming into you without you really having to do anything at all. You can review the report, that's it. Yeah, no, it is the beauty of it. Because I mean, again, with like a syndication, like there's kind of a game plan they usually lay out. And so, it's not a bad deal to check in to make sure that that game plan is kind of being executed. So even though it is very passive, it is also maybe a little bit more work than what you would be providing. So, yeah, I mean, and the whole accredited investor thing is really boiling down to people. The government doesn't want people like just spending money that they don't have or they can't afford to lose. It's kind of like an asset class that would be a little bit less traditional.

Some might see risky, and there's risk always with all this stuff. Always, yeah. But yeah, so that's kind of the point behind it. And when you become successful enough in your pursuits of real estate or whatever, it's just open some more doors where you can kind of, the sum of all this money piled together can kind of, the magnitude of what it can do, it becomes a lot bigger. No, exactly. And again, this is a great IRA investment or a solo 401k or any of those retirement plans, any of those work for this kind of investment. And then it can grow out there. Does it have to be self-directed to do that? I guess. And if you're with Fidelity or somebody like that that doesn't let you do it, we can hook you up with somebody that will let you do that so that you can put it wherever you'd like. Yeah, that's a great point. A lot of people could take advantage of that as well. Well, yeah, I mean, so this has been a super interesting conversation. Not one that I really was as familiar with, to be honest. So it's been educational for me. I hope it's been good for everybody else. Before we sign off here, I'm curious if you have any golden nuggets you wanna share with our audience. You know, you mentioned that before we got on and I think first and foremost is just to know that this kind of thing exists and that it's not some weird idea. Literally, you can go back in the Bible and find verses about buying and selling debts. Like it's been around forever. So it's not a new idea. It's not a new concept. It's been around for a long, long time. For some reason, it's not very well known, but know that it's out there. And if you're a realtor where you're looking to sell a property and maybe you're having a harder time selling it, seller financing is a great option. And there's different ways that you can set that up and I'd be happy to have a conversation with you. And knowing that there's a backend, if you've got a seller who is looking for total cash out, that's still a possibility with seller financing in place. So we can have those kinds of conversations if you'd like. I think my last thing that I like to tell people is I think back in those days when I was flipping properties and things like that, that was almost 20 years ago now. And I just think, you know, if I can go back and talk to that guy 20 years ago, me is just, things are bumpy and there's always gonna be ups and downs and there's always gonna be some kind of roller coaster. Just keep going, just keep going. There's so much out there. There's so much opportunity and there's so much to learn. Sometimes you gotta learn it the hard way. I did, but that's what makes you better. So just keep going. Yeah, I love that, having that perseverance. Yeah, not getting too bogged down on the current moment. Yeah. Do you have any books that you think are fundamental that like you think everybody should read or maybe something you're just currently enjoying? If you want, so there's, man, I like to read. So there's a few books on note investing. There's not a lot of books out there. The one that I would say is kind of the granddaddy of note investing is called Invest in Debt by Jimmy Napier. It's a little bit harder to come by because it's older. It's like four or five years old. From the early 80s, late 70s, maybe. So it's an old one and the numbers are kind of frustrating, kind of embarrassing almost. But when he talks about buying a house for $50,000 and this is the kind of payment, I'm like, really? But the principles are there and add zero or whatever you gotta do, but the principles are there and they're correct. And so it's a great read and that's a good base for what we do in the note investing world. That's a great one. That's a fun one. Okay, cool. If people are interested in learning more about what you do or potentially wanting to invest with you, where can they find you? Best place to go is my website. It's earnestinvesting.com and that's E-A-R-N-E-S-T. So earnestinvesting.

com and then there's links there for the conference. Won't do that again until next year, but if you're interested in being more hands-on, that's a great place to come and learn about that. We don't do any coaching or anything like that or nobody's gonna try to sell you anything at the conference, but it's a great place to come and learn and network. But otherwise, there's a little more information about note investing and some ways to contact me through the site, but that's the place to go. Well, Nathan, thanks so much for being on the show. It's been a pleasure. Hey, thank you so much. Good to be here.

[pinnaclefundingsolutionsllcblog]

How to Finance Fix and Flip Properties | Best Loan Options for Investors

Wondering how to finance fix and flip properties? Pinnacle Funding Solutions offers fast and flexible loan options tailored for real estate investors. Our hard money loans provide quick approvals, competitive rates, and short-term financing to help you acquire, renovate, and sell properties for profit. Whether you're a first-time flipper or an experienced investor, we make funding easy with hassle-free loan solutions. Secure the capital you need to scale your investment strategy. Explore your financing options with Pinnacle Funding Solutions LLC today and turn your next flip into a success!

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Maximizing Returns: How Real Estate Investors in Michigan Can Benefit with Paradise10

Michigan’s real property marketplace is characterized by way of its rich range, ranging from bustling city regions like Detroit and Grand Rapids to extra serene suburban and rural communities. This variety offers Real Estate Investors In Michigan with a big range of investment alternatives, from residential homes to industrial real estate.

[strategic-passive-investments]

Oil's Roller Coaster: Navigating Supply Surges and CEO Insights in a Volatile Market

Oil prices experienced a significant drop, hitting their lowest point in five months, as indicators of abundant supplies continued to mount. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) saw a decline of up to 4.3%, falling below $69 per barrel, a level not seen since late June. Despite efforts by OPEC and its allies to implement new output cuts, crude oil has witnessed a continuous seven-week slide.

The ongoing pressure on prices is fueled by fresh signals that global supplies remain plentiful. Russia's seaborne crude exports reached their highest weekly average since early July, and a US government agency revised its estimate for the country's oil production this year, increasing it by 30,000 barrels per day compared to last month's projection.

Concerns about oversupply persist, evident in the spreads between monthly contracts. The front end of the Brent futures curve closed at its lowest level since June this week, reinforcing the perception of ample supplies in the market. Dennis Kissler, Senior Vice President for Trading at BOK Financial Securities, remarked, "Futures are trying to solidify a bottom from last week's selloff. The contango structure of back-month futures gaining on the front month is setting the tone that current supplies seem ample."

The oil market is currently enduring its longest weekly losing streak since 2018, with prices down by more than a quarter from the peak observed in late September. The outlook for demand in the first quarter appears gloomy due to forecasts of slowing Chinese consumption growth and lingering recession risks in the US.

As the market navigates these challenges, Charlie Sells, CEO of Strategic Passive Investments,

expressed his opinion on the situation. He emphasized the need for a strategic and adaptive approach in the face of evolving market dynamics. Sells suggested that investors should carefully assess the changing landscape and consider long-term strategies that account for the current oversupply conditions.

In the coming week, key industry players such as the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the US Energy Department are set to publish their latest monthly assessments of market fundamentals. Additionally, investors will closely monitor the Federal Reserve's final rate decision of the year, which could have implications for the broader economic landscape and, consequently, oil prices. 

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Learn About The Amazing Flexible Loan Terms

For home investors looking for speedy turnabout fixer-uppers, fix and flip funding has proven a valuable choice. These expert loans are used to acquire and restore undervalued homes so the investor can make money they use to buy, rehab, and resell houses with profit in a shorter period of time. Are you someone who wants to gather more facts about the Fix and flip financing, Flexible loan terms? If Yes. This is the best place where people can gather more facts about the Fix and flip financing, Flexible loan terms.

The Flexible Loan Terms

The largest advantage of fix and flip lending is its flexibility. In contrast to bank loans, which are slow and bureaucratic, fix and flip loans are designed to be speedy and conform to the needs of investors projects. Money is often approved and distributed promptly sometimes in a matter of days so that investors can move rapidly on good opportunities and remain competitive in red-hot markets.

Flexible loan terms represent another huge benefit. These loans have interest-only payment terms, short loan terms, and may be tailored according to the scope of work of the renovation, the borrower's exit strategy, and level of experience. Whether experienced or newbie flipper, lenders will tend to structure terms to accommodate your project's schedule and budget.

Flexible Loan Terms

Fix and flip financing is especially convenient in markets where older or troubled homes provide potential for added-value rehabilitation. With appropriate funding and well-designed renovation plan, investors can buy such houses and convert them into nice homes that sell quickly at a profit.

In today's fast-paced real estate market, getting to fix and flip lending with favorable terms is what the investor requires to acquire the capital and leverage to make a swift transaction. It's a savvy option that suits short-term real estate investing's unique requirements funding smart rehabs, quick flips, and reasonable returns.

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A Beginner's Guide to Fix and Flip Lending for Real Estate Investors

Investing in real estate has long been a proven methodology for personal wealth development, and one of the hottest vehicles recently has been the fix-and-flip strategy. The essence of this strategy is purchasing properties, improving them to create additional value, and repurchasing at a profit. However, financing is one of the most crucial aspects of this strategy. Thus, this blog will be about everything fix-and-flip lending, especially what it is all about and how it can be maximally utilized in Alabama.

What is fix-and-flip lending?

Fix-and-flip lending usually refers to short-term loans for property investors who wish to buy, renovate, and sell houses. Such loans usually amount to the purchase price of the property as well as some part of the renovation costs. Fix and flip loans differ from conventional mortgages in that they are easier and faster to get, and they are designed to suit the investor who wants to conclude projects in a short period of time.

Key Features of Fix and Flip Loans

Short-Term Duration

Fix and flip loans typically have a term of from 6 to 18 months, so that, fittingly, this is the period to which most investors would require renovating and selling their property.

Flexible Loan Amounts

These often lend the amount required by the investor for the purchase price of property and renovation costs. Such systems suffice to make it easier for the investors in concentrating upon adding value to their projects.

Interest Rates

Similar to any other type of loan, fix-and-flip loans have a higher interest payment compared to traditional mortgages. Such is because of the nature of these loans being short-term and riskier.

Quick Approval Process

These loans can be approved and funded in a hurry so that investors can immediately get to act in very competitive real estate markets.

Benefits of Fix and Flip Lending

It would deliver the following features for fix-and-flip lending as a real estate investor.

Funds Accessibility: Even if an investor lacks cash at hand to buy and renovate the entire real estate property, he/she may get the loan from the lender.

Project-specific Funding: The loan is based on a project, covering purchase costs as well as renovation costs.

Market Flexibility: For instance, the opportunity for dynamic housing markets exists, such as in Alabama.

Fix and Flip Lending in Alabama

Real estate in Alabama offered lucrative opportunities for fix-and-flippers who would invest in their affordable price and real demand for renovated homes. Such projects flourished throughout the state. Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and other cities have emerged as continuously moving places with many prospective buyers looking for homes that resemble what they have recently seen.

It takes a good plan before any investor can venture into the Alabama fix and flip lending business. For consideration include the following:

Trends in the Local Market: Understanding specific neighborhoods' property valuation and buyers' preferences is crucial.

Cost of Renovations: Precise estimations go a long way in preventing excess spending.

Loan offers: Working with a lender who understands real estate in Alabama will ease the financing process.

How to Get Started with Fix and Flip Loans

Monitor and Detect Prospective Properties:

Properties that have got an apparently high potential for value addition and alteration but actually are found under serious disfigurements, neglect, and severe repairs are also great resale or wholesale properties.

Consider the Best Lender:

With reputed lenders like Zeus Commercial Capital, borrowing in a sometimes chaotic world turns very smooth and simple. They get real estate investor needs and things naturally offering them special and tailor-made solutions.

Draw Up an Impressive Framework:

And often the biggest and, of course, most impressive models have multi-million-dollar budgets and timelines put down into one place and include, among other things, purchase price, renovation fees, and contingency allowances.

Marketing the Loan:

Forward your loan application with all supporting documents, like the project plan, estimated costs, and property details.

Perform the Renovation:

Bring that reliable contractor on board and keep the renovations within your budget and time schedule.

Sell the property:

When all the renovations are done, put the property up for sale as best as possible.

Conclusion

It allows you to renovate and sell an asset or part of it. Fix-and-flip financing is great for all types of real estate investors who want to have financial flexibility in transforming potential projects into profits. And Alabama's booming real estate market offers some great opportunities for fixing and flipping.

Whether you are an experienced investor or just getting started, understanding the basics of fix and flip lending would be your first step toward success. Working with a knowledgeable lender such as Zeus Commercial Capital will help you navigate this journey and achieve your investment objectives.

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Soft and Sweet Macademia

Braydon was your typical jock, he loved to workout with his homies and be with his girl. She was Bethany, a nerd. Not that competitive gamer nerd he dreamed of, but rather a bookish one. They met a party and she instantly fell in love with him as he fulfilled the “nerd x jock” trope she had long yearned for.

Today, he was dragged by her to the bookstore for a special promotional event. In the brightly lit modern store that made him regret not bringing his sunglasses inside, a large bright green banner with low quality black bold typography said “Try An Extrasensory Novel today.” There were brightly green bookshelves of new trending books below it. A scent of macadamia nuts punched his nostrils.

“What the fuck?” He sniffed the air like a weirdo, “Do you smell that?”

“I don’t smell anything. The nearest coffee place is on the other side of the mall,” Bethany said, fixing her freshly dyed red hair. She had painted his white bathroom like a crime screen in an attempt to save hundreds of dollars.

“You must have lost your sense of smell then. It’s so pungent.”

“It’s not a spill. There’d be ants crawling all over this place right now.”

“It’s driving me fucking crazy,” Braydon dug his big hands into his scalp, subtly flexing his bicep, which was tightened by his white compression shirt, “I need to find out where it's coming from.”

“Right,” She rolled her dark eyes and flashed an attempted smile, “While you have your Telltale Nut moment, I’m going to the fantasy section. Wanna join me?”

“No. You know I don’t care about that stuff.”

“Are you kidding me?” She looked up at him, only reaching up to his chest. Her eyes ready to kill the muscular jock in front of her. “I play your games with you, watch those movies with you. Is it much to ask wish for my boyfriend to be actually into books I like. Plus dressing in a dark academia style.”

“More like I’m gonna dark macadamia nut in you when we get home after this," From his towering view over the shelf, Bethany walked herself to the other side of the store, her arms crossed. He imagined her annoying grumbling to herself. He knew she wasn’t a perfect fit so why should she assume he was?

The scent intensified as he knelt down on the bottom row of the shelf. His long legs extended far out, acting as a trip hazard for any unfortunate passersby's. While he had expected a spill of someone’s overpriced coffee, the smell lead him to single out a specific book. He swiped it out, brushing through the pages for any soaked spots but he couldn’t find any. The scent seemed to emanate from the entire book itself. He landed back on the cover, which was unappealing and bratty. While the background was a flat color of an obnoxious green, the text was a horror show. It was stretched out and in low quality. It read “Absolute Calculus: Being Open To Changes in Extrema”. It appealed to the jock as he was familiar with the concept of calculus, notably from the math classes he had to take for his finance degree. He believed he was better than the rest of his field as he took harder math classes than them.

Turning to the back, the blurb was soft and easy to the eyes with its soft tropical fruit palette of oranges to greens. It was a self-motivational book. Its main thesis pointed out the ultimate cause of human suffering: simply being unopen to novel things. It included knowledge, lifestyle and even experiences. He needed this

By the time he had flipped to the table of contents, he didn't realize he was getting smaller in height and build. His clothes became oversized on him, resembling more pajamas than a casual attire. While he was repulsed by some of the chapter titles, including accepting your non-het sexuality, he was unable to put the book down. This wasn't him. No matter how hard he pushed on his now dainty fingers, his eyes and hands were glued to the book, turning the multiple pages. He felt himself deflating and shrinking. He noticed that his once mountainous biceps had become nothing but flat plateaus and his impressive set of pecs deflated into a meager chest. He coughed violently as his Adam's apple shrunk, turning his mountainous voice into a soft dainty one.

What the fuck was happening? His soft fingers with nails painted in green flipped to Chapter 4: Self-acceptance is the key to accepting others. He tried to scream for Bethany to help but he didn’t know her. It would be rude to call out a stranger. But that couldn’t be right? That was his girlfriend. No, she was just a random book girl at the same store as him. His experiences of throwing week long benders and sleeping with a carousel of women afterwards faded. They seemed more like videos he had watched online than a lived reality. Visions of conquests of women replaced by men conquering him. The book had converted his heterosexuality into an irreversible total homosexuality. He was no longer the buff jock that sat next to the hot girls so he could be grouped together with them back in college. He was the quiet gay guy that sat in the back of the class, often wooed by the more upfront and passionate gay men that wanted him and his body. His eyes, once clung to women, had shifted its vision to guys. He wasn’t one to be picky, as he liked everything from twinks to hunks and everything in between those two. Even the dad-bod was something that turned him on.

Chapter 12: It’s All Perfect As It Is. With a dizzy head, he finished the book and returned it to the top shelf, struggling to place it even on his tippy toes. Brady felt a quick chill breeze through the room. He dug his hand underneath his oversized fuzzy hoodie and felt the smooth stomach flatten out. His memories of Bethany and her red-hair morphed into a different person. It was another Asian twink, they held their hands together in a cozy apartment and played on their Nintendo Switch. The earthy charcoal cologne he recalled using became sunshine vanilla perfumes that his boyfriend, Jeremy, purchased for his birthday.

The slim twink approached him, hugging him from the behind. Brady was only up to his shoulder. It felt good with his liking to being the little spoon.

“What took you so long, Babe? I looked at ten books while you were just looking at one?” Jeremy chuckled.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. You know I like taking my time with books.”

"Well there's other books in this store, babe," Jeremy teased, bopping Brady's nose.

They checked out the rest of the store, leaving with a few romance books purchased in their pink heart decorated totebag. They bumped into another couple on the way out and briefly apologized to them. He looked at the tall muscular man dressed in his beige jacket and black shirt, wishing that he was also into guys. He whispered to Jeremy about jokingly asking him if he wants to be their 3rd if they see him another time by himself.

Jeremy and Brady cuddled on the couch together, their bag of books untouched on the clean coffee table. Jeremy was always the one to initiate, including a make out session with Brady. Their lips were soft and fruity as they embraced each other with their tongues on their soft couch.

They spent the rest of the day on an impromptu spa night. They applied a green jelly mask, consisting of green tea and aloe vera, to their faces and wore cute soft pink headbands. It was a typical zen they practiced every week. Stress and such can cause more damage than one could imagine. They turned on the TV to watch the adaptation of CardiacPauser, Jeremy and Brady’s favorite series. Before they returned to the couch, they took a picture together in their bathroom, holding each other with their large smiles. It was just them and the rest of the world. This is what he was meant to be and nothing else.

[dreamersparacosm]

jeon jungkook - under the checkered flag (part four)

warnings ; alcohol consumption, reader is STILL a clown, jk is also a clown

prompt ; in which a girl who doesn’t believe in risks takes the biggest one of all—falling for a man who lives for the thrill.

note ; it’s actually sickening how quick i wrote this part bc i was so excited for their story i need to get a life. i really relate to reader so i see her struggles but also jk is so sexy so what we doin fr girl. (don’t get excited yall they’re not even close to smashing yet.. or idk, maybe.. who’s to say?) all ur love and comments on the last part made me so happy yeehaw

playlist here

series masterlist here

“You need to get out there.”

Jisoo’s voice is firm, her arms crossed as she leans against your desk, watching you like you’re some kind of puzzle she’s determined to solve.

You barely glance up from your screen, fingers still moving across the keyboard. “I get out there.”

Jisoo snorts. “Yeah, to his house.”

You pause, fingers stuck mid-air. Jisoo has unfortunately read you better than yourself again. She really should get an award for deciphering your inner monologues.

She smirks, triumphant. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

You roll your eyes, exhaling sharply as you sit back in your chair. “What’s your point, Jisoo?”

“My point,” she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder, “is that you are doing absolutely nothing about the Jungkook situation, and I’m sick of watching it.”

“There is no Jungkook situation,” you argue, though even as you say it, the words feel wrong in your mouth.

Jisoo just looks at you with a familiar gaze, and you wither under her stare. You could not be more obvious if you tried.

“You’re impossible,” she sighs. “Fine. If you’re not gonna do anything about him, at least give my friend a shot.”

You blink. “What?”

Jisoo perks up instantly, sensing an opening. “I’ve got a friend. Great guy. Works in finance. Super chill. Hot in a ‘wears suits and probably owns expensive whiskey’ kind of way. Your type.”

You frown, shaking your head. “I don’t have a type.”

Jisoo grins. “Oh, you do. And it’s not Jungkook.”

Something in your stomach twists. She’s right. On any good day, about three months ago, you would’ve laughed if you saw Jungkook in a bar, probably would’ve made a comment on how tattoos are disrespectful. Now all you do is admire the art on his arm, wanting desperately to trace your fingers on the designs.

Jisoo doesn’t notice—or maybe she does and just doesn’t care—because she’s already pulling out her phone, scrolling quickly.

“Okay, look.” She shoves the screen toward you, displaying a picture of a man. He’s well-dressed, smiling, objectively attractive. “See? Handsome. Stable job. Probably goes to bed at a reasonable hour.”

You hesitate. You should say no. You should shut this down immediately. But instead, you stare at the photo a second too long. There’s a few reasons for this: Jungkook hasn’t texted you all day, and you keep thinking about him, about that conversation, about how he looked at you when he said, "Yeah, I fucking know. It’s all I think about."

You need to fix whatever this is.

And maybe, just maybe this will help. Maybe this will prove something to yourself.

“Fine,” you murmur, looking away. “I’ll go.”

Jisoo gasps, delighted. “Oh my god. You never say yes to things. I’m so proud.”

You shake your head. “It’s just one date.”

“One date,” she repeats, winking. “And if you don’t like him, then at least we’ve confirmed one thing.”

You frown. “What?”

Jisoo leans in, her voice teasing but knowing. “That you’re already taken.”

Your stomach clenches and you glare at her, but she just laughs.

And for the rest of the day, you pretend like her words don’t echo in your head.

By the time you get home, the weight of the day settles into your bones. The office had been its usual whirlwind—meetings bleeding into each other, emails stacking up, numbers flashing across your screen in an endless stream of data. But even as you buried yourself in spreadsheets and client calls, your mind had been elsewhere.

Jisoo’s words still linger, curling around your thoughts like smoke. “If you don’t like him, then at least we’ve confirmed one thing: That you’re already taken."

You exhale, shaking your head as you slip off your blazer, tossing it over the back of your chair. It’s just one date. Just one night to remind yourself of what you want. And it has nothing to do with Jungkook. You cross your heart and hope to die.

Your phone vibrates against your nightstand almost comically as the thought leaves your mind.

Jungkook: Wanna FaceTime?

Your stomach does something stupid, and you ignore it. Instead, you slide into bed, propping your phone up against your pillow before answering the call.

Jungkook’s face fills the screen, messy hair, damp like he just got out of the shower, a hoodie adorning his body. His room is dimly lit, a lamp casting warm light behind him.

“Hey,” you say, voice softer than you mean it to be.

Jungkook smirks, shifting to get comfortable. “Hey yourself. Rough day?”

You hum, rubbing a hand over your face. “Long day.”

Jungkook watches you for a beat, like he’s reading something in your expression. “Need me to come beat up your boss?”

You huff a quiet laugh. “Tempting.”

He grins, pleased, and the tension in your shoulders eases just a little. See, this is normal. This is you and him. Effortless, easy.

And then, before you can overthink it, the words slip out. “Oh—Jisoo set me up on a date.”

Jungkook stills. For a fraction of a second, his face is completely blank. No teasing smirk, no lighthearted remark. Just… nothing.

“Oh yeah?” He leans back, resting his head against the pillow. “Guess it was bound to happen eventually.”

Something about the way he says it makes your stomach tighten. You tilt your head slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jungkook shrugs. “Just figured it’d happen sooner or later. You’re—” He waves a hand vaguely. “You know.”

You frown. “No, I don’t.”

His jaw tightens, but his voice stays infuriatingly neutral. “You’re the whole ‘finance, responsible, put-together’ thing. Kinda makes sense you’d go for some suit-wearing guy with a stable job.”

Your brows knit together. “First of all, you haven’t seen the guy. And two, you say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Jungkook exhales through his nose, a short breath that almost sounds like a laugh. “It’s not.”

But something in his voice makes it seem like it is.

You narrow your eyes slightly. “Are you—” You hesitate, studying him. His body language is relaxed, but his responses are shorter, his usual easy smirk nowhere to be found. “Are you weird about this?”

Jungkook scoffs. “Why the fuck would I be weird?”

You blink. “I don’t know. You just sound—”

“I sound fine,” he says, a little too quickly.

You raise a brow. “Okay.”

A beat of silence.

Jungkook shifts, adjusting his hoodie strings, eyes flickering off to the side. “So. Who’s the guy?”

You hesitate. “Just a friend of Jisoo’s. Works in finance.”

Jungkook hums, expression unreadable. “Right. Of course he does.”

Your stomach flips, and you don’t know why.

You cross your arms over your chest, tilting your head. “Why do I feel like you’re judging me right now?”

Jungkook smirks, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’m not judging. Just… making an observation.”

You hate how much this feels like a shift, like something between you is stretching too tight, pulling at the seams of whatever you’ve built together. It’s just a date. Jungkook shouldn’t care. And yet, his voice is slightly clipped, his jaw tighter than before. He definitely cares.

You chew on your lip. “Are you sure you’re—”

“I’m good,” Jungkook interrupts, forcing an easy grin. “Just curious, that’s all.”

Somehow, that bothers you more, because he’s not good and neither are you. Jungkook shifts again, rolling onto his side, resting his chin on his hand as he exhales through his nose. And then, just like that, he changes the subject. “So, did you ever end up telling your coworker off today?”

You blink, caught off guard by the sudden shift. “What?”

Jungkook smirks, his expression relaxing, like he’s willing the tension out of the conversation. “Your coworker. The one who won’t stop bringing those tuna sandwiches that smell. Did you finally tell him where to shove it?”

You huff a small laugh, sinking further into your pillows. “I don’t think I have the luxury of doing that.”

“Shame.” Jungkook tuts, shaking his head. “If I were your coworker, I’d be terrified of you.”

You snort. “You would not.”

“Oh, I would.” He leans closer to the camera, eyes glinting. “You’ve got that whole quiet-but-powerful thing going on. Like you’re secretly running the whole operation but letting everyone think they have control.”

Your cheeks warm, but you roll your eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”

Jungkook grins. “I’m just saying, you do have a certain… intimidation factor.”

“You’re literally a race car driver. I’m pretty sure you have the intimidation factor,” You laugh.

“Yeah, but mine’s expected. Yours is dangerous.”

You shake your head, but you’re smiling, and just like that, the conversation falls into the same effortless rhythm it always does.

You talk about your day. He talks about his: how he nearly fell asleep during a sponsorship meeting, how he almost punched a guy for stealing his protein bar, how he spent an hour trying to fix something in his car before realizing he’d been using the wrong tool the whole time. You laugh. He teases you. It’s normal.

For a moment, you forget about the tension from earlier. You forget about the date looming over you. You forget about everything except the fact that this—talking to Jungkook, feeling at ease with him—feels like the most natural thing in the world.

You don’t even realize how late it gets. You yawn, rubbing your eyes, and Jungkook notices. “Tired?”

You nod. “Yeah.”

He exhales, shifting onto his back, staring at the ceiling for a moment. Then, before you can say goodnight, “I hope you have fun tomorrow.”

Your stomach clenches. He says it so genuinely. So smoothly, like it’s just another sentence, just another thing he’d say at the end of any conversation. But you know better.

You bite the inside of your cheek, studying him through the screen. “Thanks.”

Jungkook hums, nodding slightly. “Goodnight, [Y/N].”

Your heart stumbles over its own rhythm. You don’t know why, but it does. The sound of your name falling from his mouth with ease seems to stop you in your tracks. You don’t say anything for a beat, but Jungkook doesn’t press. He just watches you, waiting.

Finally, you swallow. “Goodnight, Jungkook.”

And when the call ends, you’re left staring at the dark screen, the silence of your room feeling impossibly loud.

Because despite everything—despite the fact that you’re supposed to be going on a date tomorrow—you can’t stop wishing it was with him.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Getting ready shouldn’t feel like this.

It shouldn’t feel like dragging yourself through wet cement, like trying to convince your own reflection that this is something you actually want. But as you sit at your vanity, smoothing concealer under your eyes, brushing powder over your cheeks, curling your lashes with precision, you feel nothing. Not excitement, not nerves. Just… a dull awareness that this is happening, and that somehow, you agreed to it.

Your phone sits beside you, screen dark, mockingly silent. Jungkook hasn’t texted you all day. You don’t know why you expected him to. It’s not like he texts you every day. (Except he does. Almost always. But maybe not today. Maybe not when he knows where you’re going tonight.)

You swallow, shaking your head, brushing a final layer of lip gloss over your lips before grabbing your bag.

This is fine. This is good for you. You need to stop thinking about Jungkook like this. You need to prove that you can.

The drive to the restaurant is quiet.

The city moves around you—neon signs flickering, headlights spilling across the pavement, people weaving in and out of late-night cafés. You grip the steering wheel a little too tightly, your thoughts a little too loud.

Jisoo’s friend’s name is Minho. He’s perfect on paper. Finance guy. Smart, successful, stable. The kind of man your mother would approve of. The kind of man who won’t leave you breathless, who won’t make you feel like you’re hurtling toward something dangerous every time he looks at you. The kind of man who makes sense. And yet, you find yourself dreading every second of this.

You pull into the parking lot, smoothing invisible wrinkles from your dress, inhaling deep as you step out of your car. This is fine. You’re going to have dinner. Make conversation. Enjoy yourself. You will not think about Jungkook.

Minho is already waiting when you arrive.

He’s tall, dressed in a crisp button-down and tailored slacks. His smile is warm, his handshake firm but not too firm. He opens the door for you, gestures for you to go first, waits for you to sit before taking his own seat. It’s… nice. Everything about him is nice.

The restaurant hums with quiet chatter, soft lighting casting a golden glow over the tables. A waiter appears, handing you menus, listing off the specials in a pleasant tone.

You glance up briefly, offering a polite smile. “What do you recommend?”

Minho hums, scanning the menu. “The chicken looks good. But honestly, I’m not too picky. What about you?”

Your lips part, ready to agree with him on the steak. And then a thought crosses your mind. Jungkook wouldn’t have asked. Jungkook would’ve smirked, leaned back in his chair, teased you about ordering the most boring thing on the menu just to be safe.

Your stomach tightens. You clear your throat, forcing a small smile. “I think I’ll get pasta.”

Minho nods approvingly. “Solid choice.”

The night, the conversation flows easily enough. Minho is polite, well-spoken. He asks about your job, actually listens when you explain the intricacies of consulting, nodding in understanding, adding his own insights about the financial world. It’s… easy. But it’s not effortless. Not like it is with Jungkook.

Minho tells a story about a trip he took last summer. You laugh, because you’re supposed to. But the whole time, your mind is somewhere else. Jungkook would’ve made fun of you for fake-laughing right now.

You reach for your phone, out of habit. Still nothing. Not a single message from him. Your fingers hesitate over the screen before you force yourself to set it back down.

“So, what do you do for fun?” Minho asks, sipping his wine.

You blink. “Fun?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. What do you do when you’re not working?”

Your mind blanks as you come to a detrimental realization. Jungkook is your fun. Wine nights. Video games. Him annoying you just to get a reaction.

You chew on the inside of your cheek, feeling ridiculous. “Uh. I don’t know.”

Minho laughs lightly. “I get it. Work keeps you busy.”

You nod, nearly choking on your saliva as it goes down. You should like this, you should like him, but you don’t. And the realization makes you feel sick. On autopilot, you check your phone again.

That’s really when it hits you. You don’t want to be here. You don’t care if Minho is the perfect guy. You don’t want polite smiles and easy conversation. You want teasing smirks and sarcastic remarks and late-night ramen and someone who reads every little thing about you before you even say it out loud. You want Jungkook, and no amount of pretending is going to change that.

Somewhere in the middle of the date, as time ticks dangerously slow, you realize you need to leave in the middle of his story.

Minho is talking—something about his last trip to Jeju, a hiking trail, how he got lost but ended up finding the best seafood restaurant tucked into the cliffs—but you’re barely listening.

You’re nodding at the right moments, humming in agreement, sipping at your wine, but your mind is somewhere else, or rather—with someone else.

Jungkook wouldn’t have let you zone out like this. Jungkook would have noticed the second your mind drifted, smirked at you across the table, called you out on it just to see you flustered.

But Minho just keeps talking, and you can’t help but compare. You feel awful about it, but the thought keeps nagging at the back of your mind. This is supposed to be good for you.

You inhale slowly, fixing the napkin folded in your lap, shaking yourself out of your own head. Focus. Try. Minho is nice. He’s stable. He’s normal.

A thought slams into you with such certainty that it nearly knocks the breath out of your lungs. You need to get out of here.

“Minho.” You blink, sitting up a little straighter. “I’m so sorry—I just realized I have an early meeting tomorrow. I should probably call it a night.”

Minho pauses, a little surprised, but he nods easily. “Of course. No problem at all.”

He doesn’t look disappointed. Just polite. Understanding. That somehow makes you feel worse. Because the truth is, he probably felt the lack of something between you, too.

You push out of your chair, pulling a few bills from your bag for your share of the dinner, but Minho waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it.”

You force a small smile. “Thank you.”

The waiter returns with the check, and you busy yourself slipping on your coat, gripping the lapels a little too tightly.

Minho stands with you, offering a smile. “It was really nice meeting you.”

“You too,” you say, and you mean it. He’s good. He’s great, actually. He’s just not Jungkook.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

You don’t even think about it.

One second, you’re stepping into your apartment, kicking off your heels, breath still uneven from leaving the restaurant earlier than you should have. The next, your fingers are hovering over Jungkook’s name, your phone vibrating with noise as you wait for him to answer.

It’s muscle memory. Instinct. He answers immediately, like he was waiting.

The screen flickers to life, and there he is: hoodie on, silver chain glinting against his collarbone, hair messy from the day’s activities. His eyes flicker over your face, assessing, before his lips pull into a lazy smirk. "Thought you’d be out late."

His tone is casual. Easy, but his jaw is tight. His fingers tap idly against his phone, betraying the restless energy behind the smooth facade.

He’s not okay. For some reason, that makes something in you unravel.

You exhale, sinking onto your couch, legs folding beneath you. “It was fine,” you say, voice softer than you intend. “Just… not for me.”

Jungkook hums, tilting his head slightly, leaning back against his pillows. He stretches one arm over the back of his couch, watching you carefully. Slowly, he smirks, like he knew it all along. “Not for you, huh?"

Something about the way he says it—so smug, so damn certain—makes heat prickle at the back of your neck.

You huff. “Don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything,” he muses, but his grin widens, teeth grazing his bottom lip. “Just saying. You didn’t even last a full dinner.”

You scowl. “I lasted long enough.”

Jungkook hums again, unconvinced. “Did you?”

Your fingers tighten around your phone. “Shut up.”

But Jungkook grins, shifting slightly, his gaze flickering over your face like he’s cataloging every little reaction, every little tell.

“What happened?” he presses, voice dipping lower, smooth and slow like he’s enjoying this.

You exhale sharply, tilting your head back against the couch. “Nothing.”

Jungkook raises a brow. “Nothing?”

You hesitate. “He was nice.”

Jungkook lets the words settle for a beat, then nods slowly. “Nice.”

His voice wraps around the word like it’s an insult.

You glare at him through the screen. “What?”

Jungkook shrugs. “Nothing.”

The teasing smirk is still there, but his eyes have darkened slightly, like he’s weighing his next words carefully. “Did you like him?"

You should say yes. You really should, but you don’t. Instead, you lick your lips, heart thudding against your ribs. “I don’t know.”

Jungkook laughs, soft, amused. “You don’t know?"

Your pulse spikes. “Jungkook.”

“No, I’m just—” He leans forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, his expression so unfairly confident. “You either liked him or you didn’t.”

You exhale, fingers winding into the fabric of your couch. “He was fine.”

Jungkook clicks his tongue. “That’s not an answer.”

You glare. “I don’t owe you one.”

Jungkook lifts a brow. “You don’t.” A beat. “But you’re still on FaceTime with me instead of on the date with him.”

You freeze because he’s right, and he knows it. His smirk grows, a slow, knowing thing that makes your stomach twist.

“You’re being annoying,” you mutter, looking away.

Jungkook chuckles, stretching back against the couch again. “Am I?”

The confidence in his voice, the way he’s watching you now—lips curled at the corner, eyes laced with something knowing—it makes you feel physically ill, because he’s won this round. And worse? You are going to let him.

You shift slightly, propping your chin in your hand as you glare at him through the screen. “You’re insufferable.”

Jungkook grins, completely unfazed. “I’ve been called worse.”

You roll your eyes. “You enjoy this, don’t you?”

“Enjoy what?” he asks, feigning innocence.

You huff. “Getting under my skin.”

Jungkook exhales through his nose, shaking his head. “Nah. I just like knowing you think about me when you’re supposed to be thinking about someone else.”

Your stomach plummets. His smirk deepens, almost like he sees it. He sees the way your lips part slightly, the way you blink a little too fast, the way you don’t deny it.

Your throat goes dry. “That’s not—”

Jungkook raises a brow. “It’s not what?”

Your words die on your tongue. What are you supposed to say? That he’s wrong? That you didn’t spend your entire night comparing some perfectly nice guy to him? That your mind wasn’t full of all the ways Jungkook is easier, funnier, more everything?

You exhale sharply, shaking your head. “You are so—”

Jungkook interrupts smoothly, “Charming? Funny? Handsome?”

You groan. “Infuriating.”

Jungkook just grins, tongue peeking out to play with his lip piercing, completely unfazed. “Yet here we are. FaceTiming after your big date.”

Your jaw tightens. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” he muses, dragging out the words like he’s enjoying every second of this. Then, after a beat, “Maybe you even have a little crush on me.”

The thing is, you’re not even trying to make Jungkook work for it. He’s already noticed your internal struggle, already saw right through your façade. You’re trying to get him to stop saying these words so you don’t go actively insane. If you do give in to Jungkook’s advances, you’ve already acknowledged that it won’t end well for you. It will throw your life off course, disrupt the routine you’ve carefully constructed, and tear down the barriers you’ve worked so hard to maintain.

And Jungkook knows it. His smirk grows, eyes darkening just slightly, fingers tapping against his phone like he’s waiting, waiting, waiting.

You scoff, shaking your head. “You’re delusional.”

Jungkook hums, amused. “Am I?”

Yes.

No.

You don’t know. What do you know anymore?

Your stomach tightens, something unreadable clawing its way up your throat, and before you let him see it, “I’m hanging up now.”

Jungkook laughs, full and bright. “Oh, running away? Interesting.”

“Good night, Jungkook.”

His grin lingers, eyes glinting. “Sweet dreams.”

The call ends and you’re left staring at the screen, heart hammering, face warm, stomach wrecked.

Jungkook is smug, and maybe, just maybe, he has every right to be.

The next morning, the office feels too bright.

Or maybe it’s just your head, still foggy from last night, from him, from the words he left you with. “Maybe you even have a little crush on me."

You hate how easily Jungkook gets under your skin. You hate that you barely slept, that you spent way too long staring at your ceiling, replaying the conversation in your head, reading into every smirk, every teasing lilt in his voice, every time he let the words linger just a little too long. And most of all, you hate that he was right.

You spent the entire night on a date with someone else, and yet the second you got home, your first instinct was to call him. You groan, rubbing a hand over your face as you sink into your chair.

“Ohhh, you are so dead.”

You barely have time to react before Jisoo appears, all but slamming her hands down on your desk, eyes glittering with a dangerous amount of excitement.

You flinch. “Jesus—”

“Talk.” She pulls out the chair across from you, sliding into it so quickly that her coffee nearly spills. “Date details. Now.”

You hesitate.

Jisoo narrows her eyes.

You exhale, tapping your nails against the desk. “It was… fine.”

Jisoo tilts her head. “Fine?”

You nod. “Yeah. He was nice.”

Jisoo’s brows furrow. “Okay, but nice in a ‘maybe there’s potential’ way or nice in a ‘he was fine, but I was thinking about Jungkook the entire time and wanted to go home’ way?”

Your stomach drops and your face betrays you.

Jisoo sees it immediately, her eyes going wide.

“Oh my god.” She gasps, slapping her hand over her mouth before pointing at you accusingly. “It’s worse than I thought. What, did you call Jungkook after, or something?”

You freeze. Your heartbeat spikes. “...No?”

(Lies. All lies.)

Jisoo cackles. “OH MY GOD. You did.”

“I—”

“You so did.”

You huff, crossing your arms. “It’s not—”

“No, no, no.” She leans forward, her grin too knowing. “Don’t even try it.”

You glare at her. “Try what?”

Jisoo smirks. “Denying the inevitable.”

You roll your eyes. “You’re being dramatic.”

“Oh, am I?” She lifts her coffee cup, tilting her head. “Because let’s just review for a second.”

“Jisoo—”

“Point one,” she interrupts, raising a finger. “You went on a date with a perfectly nice, perfectly attractive, perfectly normal guy.”

You exhale, rubbing your temples. “Yes.”

“Point two—” Jisoo raises another finger. “You didn’t even finish said date.”

You open your mouth to interrupt, to ask how she got that part of the story already, but she holds up a hand.

“Point three—and this is the kicker—you immediately called Jungkook afterward.”

Your stomach tightens. “It wasn’t—”

“Nope.” Jisoo cuts you off, shaking her head. “You don’t get to explain your way out of this.”

You sigh, fingers curling against your desk. “Jisoo, I—”

She leans in. Her voice softens, teasing gone, eyes glinting with something too real, too honest. “You don’t want anyone else,” she murmurs. “You want him.”

Your throat goes dry. You feel the weight of her words hit you straight in the ribs, knocking something loose. You should argue.You should say something. But you don’t. Because for the first time, you can’t. Deep down, you know.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

The weekend comes faster than you expect, and with it, your friend Maya’s birthday party. She’s been your friend for years, an old roommate from your university days.

The bar is already packed when you arrive, music thrumming through the walls, neon signs glowing against the darkened windows. Inside, bodies press together on the dance floor, a sea of movement and laughter and flashing lights. The scent of spilled cocktails lingers in the air, and you can already hear Maya’s distinct laugh from across the room, high and bright, cutting through the noise.

You smile, slipping into the crowd, letting the energy swallow you whole.

This is exactly what you need. A night to drink, to dance, to shake off whatever this weight is that’s been pressing into your chest all week. To forget about the words still ringing in your head from Jisoo. To forget about the fact that you haven’t texted Jungkook all day, and that he hasn’t texted you either.

You don’t think about it. At least, you try not to. Instead, you drink, a little too much, a little too fast. The alcohol spreads warmth through your veins, buzzing beneath your skin, numbing the restlessness that’s been gnawing at you since last night.

You throw yourself into conversation, let Maya pull you into the center of it all, shots lined up on the bar, toasts to another year, cheers that spill into laughter. It’s fun. It’s supposed to be fun. But somewhere between the second and third drink, the laughter starts to feel too loud. The lights too bright. The conversations too shallow.

No matter how many times you shake it off, that feeling lingers. That feeling that something is missing. That feeling that your phone has been too quiet all day. You try not to look at it. You try not to care. Yet, you fail.

And when you finally step outside for some air, the cool night biting at your flushed cheeks, your fingers move before you can stop them.

You don’t even realize you’re calling him until it’s too late. Until the phone is already ringing. Until his voice—low, groggy, familiar—fills your ears.

"[Y/N]?"

His voice is rough with sleep, the kind of rasp that only comes from being pulled into consciousness too fast. And that’s when it hits you— you really should not have called him.

You blink, swaying slightly where you stand on the curb outside the bar, phone pressed too close to your ear. The streetlights cast everything in a warm glow, the night air cool against your flushed skin.

You should hang up. You should. But the moment he hears your little giggle, he knows.

"Where are you?" His tone changes instantly, sharp, awake, concerned.

God, that makes your stomach flutter, or maybe it’s just the drinks, but suddenly, your lips are curving into a grin, because he sounds so serious and you’re so far gone.

"Maya’s party," you mumble, giggling softly as you glance around, trying to get your bearings. “Well, outside of it. Needed air.”

Jungkook does not find this funny. “Are you drunk?"

You gasp, pressing a hand to your chest like he just accused you of a crime. “Jungkook! I would never.”

A pause. Then, “You’re wasted."

You giggle again, leaning against the cold brick wall, tilting your head up to the night sky. The stars look so prettytonight.

“I am not wasted,” you declare, even though you are absolutely wasted. “I’m… celebratory.”

Jungkook sighs, and you can practically hear him running a hand through his hair. “Who’s taking you home?”

You blink. Pause. Oh. That’s a great question.

You purse your lips, swaying slightly. “I could take a taxi…”

"Nope." His voice is final. No room for argument.

You hum, eyes fluttering closed for a second. “Okay… so, come get me?”

Silence. A beat too long, too heavy, stretching between you.

Then, his voice drops, steady, certain. “I’m on my way."

You don’t even have time to respond before the call ends, the line going dead in your hand.

And maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s the way your heart skips, but suddenly, you feel warm all over.

Jungkook is coming. For you.

You frown at your phone. “So rude.”

The night air is crisp against your skin, but you barely feel it. There’s a warmth curling in your chest, spreading through your limbs, a giddy kind of lightness that has nothing to do with the alcohol and everything to do with him.

You shift on your feet, biting back a smile, your fingers fidgeting with the hem of your dress. Your heart jumps, ridiculous and eager, a quiet thrill rushing through you at the thought of seeing him—at the thought that he’s coming for you. That despite everything, despite the late hour, despite how much of a mess you probably sound over the phone, he’s still choosing to show up.

The thought makes something in your stomach tighten, something warm and buzzing, something that feels dangerously close to happiness.

A hand lands on your shoulder, and you turn to find Maya giving you a look. “Who were you talking to?”

You smile. “Jungkook.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “Jeon Jungkook? That race car driver you’re seeing?”

You giggle, swaying a little. “Yup. He’s coming to get me. Like a knight.” You pause, tilting your head. “But, like, a tattooed knight. A knight with a lip piercing. A knight who’s really, really hot.”

Maya laughs. “Okay, yeah, you’re definitely drunk.”

You pout. “Nooo. I’m fine. I just—” You stop, eyes widening. “Oh my god.”

Maya panics. “What?”

You grab her arm. “Do I look okay?”

She stares at you. “You look drunk.”

You groan. “Ugh, he’s gonna see me like this! This is a disaster.”

You hold onto her shoulders dramatically, shaking her. Maya smirks. “Sounds like someone wants to impress him.”

You narrow your eyes. “That’s not what this is.”

She grins. “Sure, babe.”

Headlights sweep across the pavement, a sleek black car pulling up to the curb. Your heart jumps. You recognize that car anyway. It pulls up to the curb, tires slowing against the pavement, and your breath catches as you see him.

Jungkook.

Your pulse stumbles, fingers tightening against your sides. He hasn’t even stepped out yet, hasn’t even looked at you, but it doesn’t matter, because suddenly, everything feels lighter, easier, safer.

Jungkook barely has time to put the car in park before you’re stumbling forward, waving bye to Maya who just giggles at your walk.

His hand is on you instantly, firm against your waist, steadying you like its second nature. His grip is solid, warm even through the fabric of your dress, fingers pressing into your skin just enough to ground you.

You blink up at him, and god, you should not be this excited to see him.

His brows are drawn together, mouth slightly parted as his eyes flicker over your face, scanning, assessing. “How much did you drink?”

You giggle. “Rude.”

Jungkook exhales through his nose, unimpressed, but his fingers don’t leave your waist. “Seriously.”

You tilt your head, your balance shifting slightly—not enough to fall, but enough that his grip on you tightens. That makes you even giddier. “Enough to be very, very happy to see you.”

Jungkook sighs, running his free hand through his hair before gently maneuvering you toward the car. “Get in, sweetheart.”

And you do. Barely. The moment you sink into the seat, the moment the door closes and you’re surrounded by the scent of him—clean linen, something dark and musky beneath it—you melt into the leather, warmth curling low in your stomach. Then he slides into the driver’s seat, and suddenly, he’s so close.

His jaw clenches as he starts the car, one hand on the wheel, the other running over his face in frustration. But you? You’re just watching him, eyes tracing the slope of his nose, the sharp cut of his jawline, the way the sleeve of his hoodie pushes up just enough to reveal the inked lines of his forearm.

He’s so pretty.

Your fingers twitch in your lap, your lips curving before you can stop them. “You’re so pretty, Jungkookie.”

Jungkook chokes on absolutely nothing. His head turns toward you so fast you almost laugh. His expression is a mix of amusement and disbelief. “Jesus Christ.”

You beam at him, lifting your knees to the seat, turning your whole body toward him like you can’t help it. Maybe you can’t. “You are.”

His grip on the wheel tightens, jaw locking as his eyes flick forward again. “You’re drunk.”

You hum, tilting your head. “So?”

“So,” he mutters, shifting into drive. “I’m ignoring you.”

That makes you laugh, throwing your head back against the seat. “No, you’re not.”

Jungkook sighs, rolling his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitches, and you see it. He’s so easy to read, even when he pretends not to be. That makes you bold.

So you lean in, resting your chin on your knuckles, watching him with sleepy, playful eyes. “You like it when I compliment you, don’t you?”

Jungkook scoffs, but his ears are turning red. “Go to sleep.”

“Are you blushing?”

“God, I should’ve let you take a taxi.”

You grin, nudging his arm slightly with your fingers. His skin is so warm, his muscles tense under your touch. “I like that you came.”

He doesn’t respond right away. His Adam’s apple bobs, his fingers twitch against the wheel. When he speaks, his voice is a little rougher. “Yeah?”

You hum. “You always come when I call.”

Jungkook’s knuckles turn white on the wheel.

He glances at you, just for a second, something too much, too close, too heavy.

And then, almost like he’s talking to himself, “Yeah,” he murmurs. “I do.”

You don’t know why, but that makes your heart ache.

The rest of the ride is quieter, but the air between you is charged, humming with something unspoken.

And you? You can’t stop staring at him. The warmth in your chest isn’t from the alcohol anymore. That realization is terrifying, you don’t know why, but it does something to you.

Your pulse flutters beneath your skin, your fingers curling against your lap before slowly, without thinking, you reach out again.

It’s not you. You’re not the kind of person who does this. You don’t touch people so easily, so recklessly. You don’t let yourself be this bold, this transparent. But tonight, you can’t help it.

Your hand finds his forearm first, fingers grazing the warm skin exposed beneath the pushed-up sleeve of his hoodie.

Jungkook stiffens.

His fingers tighten around the steering wheel, his breath catching so subtly you almost don’t notice. Almost. But you do, and it only makes you bolder.

Your fingers trace over the ink on his skin, the lines of his tattoos. The warmth of him seeps into your palm, and for some reason, it makes your stomach flip.

"You’re so warm," you mumble, mostly to yourself.

Jungkook lets out a slow exhale. "You need to sit properly."

You shake your head, still tracing patterns against his skin, drunk on the feel of him beneath your fingertips. "Don’t wanna."

He makes a sound in the back of his throat, something low, something restrained. "You’re gonna regret this tomorrow."

You grin, looking up at him with something dangerously close to mischief. "Are you saying I don’t usually touch you?"

Jungkook laughs, but it’s breathless, like he can’t quite believe you right now. "You never touch me."

He’s right.

But you don’t say that.

Instead, your fingers trail higher, up the curve of his forearm, feeling the shift of his muscles beneath his skin. Your body feels hot all over.

You let your fingers brush against his neck.

Jungkook sucks in a sharp breath. Your fingertips graze the sensitive skin just below his jaw, featherlight, hesitant but curious. He swallows deeply beneath your touch, and your stomach tightens because he lets you do it.

For a second, he really lets you, lets himself indulge into what it would feel like to be desired by you.

Then, breaking the trance, his hand snaps up, catching your wrist. His grip isn’t rough, but it’s firm, steady, grounding you in a way that makes your head spin for an entirely different reason.

"[Y/N]..” he warns, voice low, barely above a whisper.

You blink up at him, feeling reckless, feeling brave, feeling entirely not yourself.

"Jungkook," you whisper back.

His fingers tighten just slightly around your wrist, his jaw clenching, his eyes flickering between yours like he’s searching for something.

His tongue flicks out, wetting his lips, grazing against the silver of his piercing. Your stomach flips. You can’t stop staring.You can’t stop wanting.

But before you can do anything else, before you can ruin yourself completely, Jungkook sighs. And then, in a voice that is too soft, too knowing, too unfairly patient, “You need to sleep it off, sweetheart."

And just like that, you’re ruined anyway.

The hum of the car engine is steady beneath you, lulling you into something soft, something weightless. The warmth of the interior, the rhythmic motion of the road, the faint scent of Jungkook’s cologne lingering in the air—it all pulls you under, wrapping around you like a cocoon.

You don’t mean to fall asleep. But you do. And for the first time in a long time, sleep is easy. It’s peaceful. Quiet. No racing thoughts. No overthinking. No him lingering too close in your mind. Just warmth.

When you finally do wake up, the world is still.

The engine is off, the headlights casting soft shadows against the pavement outside your apartment. The air between you feels heavier, quieter, like neither of you are sure what comes next.

You shift slightly, stretching in your seat, blinking against the dim glow of the streetlights. Your gaze drifts to Jungkook, who’s sitting back against the headrest, one hand still on the steering wheel, the other draped lazily over the gear shift.

He’s watching you. Not in a way that makes you feel self-conscious, not in a way that feels expectant, not in a stalker-y way. Just… watching, like maybe he’s been doing it for a while.

"You’re really nice," you murmur, your voice still heavy with sleep, with warmth.

Jungkook’s lips twitch. "Yeah?"

You hum, nodding slightly, your fingers toying with the hem of your dress, mind still hazy. "You always take care of me."

Something flickers in his eyes. Something that makes the air between you feel too thick.

He doesn’t say anything.

Suddenly, you don’t want to think. You don’t want to overanalyze, don’t want to let hesitation sink its claws into you before you can act.

So you don’t. You just move.

Leaning in before you can stop yourself, drawn in by the warmth of him, the steady weight of his presence. Your breath fans against his lips. His sharp inhale cuts through the quiet. You can feel it—the shift in him. The way his fingers tighten around the steering wheel, the way his jaw clenches, the way his breath falters, uneven, as your faces linger too close, as your pulse hammers beneath your skin.

And for a second, just for a second, you think he’s going to close the distance.

But then, "Not like this."

His voice is low, rough around the edges, like it’s taking everything in him to pull away.

You blink, your chest rising and falling too fast, your body still too warm, your lips still too close. “Why?" It’s barely a whisper, barely a sound. Just breath and longing and confusion wrapped into one.

Jungkook exhales, his gaze flickering down to your lips for a fraction of a second before meeting your eyes again. “Because I want you sober when you finally kiss me."

Damn it, you feel that everywhere. Like a live wire against your skin. Like an ache settling deep in your bones. Like something dangerous, something fragile, something terrifyingly real.

You huff, shoulders slumping as the warmth of his words lingers in the tight space between you.

The weight of it settles deep in your chest, leaving you fluttery, restless, and entirely unsatisfied.

“That’s stupid,” you grumble, voice petulant as you sink further into the passenger seat.

Jungkook sighs, rubbing a hand over his face before shifting to unbuckle your seatbelt. “It’s not stupid.”

You pout, arms crossing over your chest. “It is stupid. Because I do wanna kiss you.”

His hand freezes. For a moment, you think he’s going to respond, maybe tease you, maybe say something to make this all feel less real, less loaded, less dangerous, but instead, Jungkook exhales, eyes flickering to yours, something unbearably soft in his gaze.

“You will,” he murmurs. “I promise.”

And for some reason, that makes your stomach twist even more.

Before you can dwell on it—or before you can embarrass yourself any further—Jungkook is stepping out of the car, rounding the hood, and opening your door.

You barely have a second to process what’s happening before his hands are on you, warm and gentle, lifting you effortlessly out of your seat.

You squeak, instinctively clutching his hoodie, fingers curling into the fabric. “Jungkook!”

He barely reacts, adjusting you against his chest like you weigh nothing. “You’re not walking up those stairs by yourself.”

You scowl, burying your face in his shoulder. “I could.”

He snorts. “Yeah, sure. After tripping over air four times tonight? Not a chance.”

You mumble something about him being dramatic, but you don’t fight him. Mostly because you don’t want to. Because the way his arms feel around you, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against your cheek, the warmth radiating off of him, it all makes your body feel soft, pliant, safe.

Your apartment door unlocks with a soft beep, and before you know it, Jungkook is setting you down inside, his hands lingering at your waist for just a second longer than necessary before pulling away.

You whine at the loss of warmth. “You’re so mean.”

Jungkook sighs, toeing off his sneakers before nudging you toward the bathroom. “Come on. Skincare time.”

Your brows furrow as you blink up at him. “You know my skincare routine?”

Jungkook gives you a flat look. “Do you know how many times I’ve seen you do it? You talk through every step like you’re running a live tutorial.”

You gasp, offended. “It’s educational.”

He laughs, shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah. Sit.”

And somehow, he actually does it for you. His hands are careful as he applies each product, thumbs smoothing cream into your skin with a level of patience and concentration that makes your stomach flip. His brows are furrowed slightly, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, the sleeves of his hoodie pushed up to his elbows as he massages your face with way too much care for someone who pretends to be this cool all the time.

You stare at him, heart full, warmth buzzing beneath your skin.

When he finishes, he wipes his hands on a nearby towel, tilting his head at you. “Alright. Bed.”

You blink up at him and pout.

Jungkook’s eyes narrow instantly. “No.”

Your bottom lip wobbles dramatically. “You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”

“I do,” he deadpans. “And the answer is no.”

You sway toward him, fingers curling around the sleeve of his hoodie. “Stay.”

Jungkook sighs, long and heavy, rubbing his temple. “[Y/N]...”

You blink at him, playing it up, all wide eyes and softness. “Please?”

He groans, running a hand through his hair. “You’re not even gonna remember this in the morning.”

You nod too eagerly, holding onto him too tightly. “But I will remember sleeping alone and being so sad about it.”

Jungkook laughs under his breath, shaking his head, already giving in.

"Fine," he mutters, rolling his shoulders like he’s pretending this is a chore. "But I’m sleeping on the couch."

You beam. “Good enough."

And as you finally crawl into bed in the pajamas he picked out for you, warmth wrapping around you, Jungkook’s presence lingering in your apartment, you sleep. Peacefully and safely.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

masterlist + request

taglist ; @yooniepot @bookstoread199 @pipipipiiiii @someonegoood @vintagemoonsstuff @kittisuuuuu @ttanniett @loonareads @jincapableoflove @jkxlvrr @taekrve @jenniebyrubies @senaqsstuff @somisarchive @somehowukook @mysjammy @busanbby-jjk @mimi1097 @mikrokosmosellen @indyuhhhhh @vantelover1306 @haru-jiminn @sky-23s-world @minimoninini @bighitfics @outofworldvy @smartkive @dontcallmeelle @beomluvrr @tatamicc @seokout @ashslight @avawants2havefun @bjoriis @jjeonjjk7 @mar-lo-pap @parkinglot-nights @coletaehyung @mellyyyyyyx

[lettersfromaplatypus]

Some random domestic valgrace headcanons just bc I’m bored and thinking about it

- LEO is the one who handles the finances. Because it’s Leo “knew college math at age 8” Valdez vs Jason “probably has dyscalculia and raised by wolves” Grace. Jason does remind him of when the finances are due, though.

- Leo also cooks most of the time and fixes house things.

- Jason cleans and does laundry. He also plans things, like if they want to do a house party or go on a vacation or something.

- They have a strict “no open flames” rule for their house. Despite having a handle on his powers at that point, Leo still hates the idea of an accidental fire. (Especially remembering that Leo can’t control just any fire around him, it’s only his powers and they can get out of control once they’re out of his hands). So they use air fresheners instead of candles, no gas stoves, etc. for birthdays they will light candles on the cake but only for the few seconds it takes to sing and blow them out.

*Leo works with metal/fire at work and in other less flammable spaces, it’s specifically their house that he doesn’t want fire*

- Jason tries learning Spanish. He’s kinda horrible at it, but Leo loves him for it. And Jason LOVES when Leo speaks Spanish

- When Leo’s overwhelmed, he hugs Jason and Jason holds him back and just starts floating in the air. Somehow the combined sensation of being hugged and being somewhat weightless is really calming for Leo (and of course hugging Jason).

- On the flip side, when Jason’s overwhelmed he flops onto Leo for warmth. Leo will be working on something, sitting in the garage, and Jason will press his back against Leo’s just to feel the warmth and presence. After a moment Leo will turn and ask “tough day?”

- The first time Leo got sick Jason almost died of worry bc Leo’s fevers run hotter than a normal human’s. It took like an hour of Leo reassuring him that his level of “normal” for fevers is different bc his usual body temp is different.

- Jason always tries to hide when he’s sick, literally and emotionally. He’ll try to cover sneezes and coughs, and when that’s not enough he hides in his room.

- Jason is able to cut through Leo’s bull when he’s using humor to deflect and push people away. Jason pulls him aside in private and manages to push through the defenses Leo puts up. This trust takes forever to build, though.

- And Leo is able to see when Jason is avoiding confrontation or is uncomfortable with someone and can jump in for him if needed. Jason was taught to handle things “professionally�� but sometimes this turns into “way too politely jumping around the fact that a person is out of their lane”. Leo has no qualms about social professionalism and will break things off if it goes on too long. He then talks to Jason and makes sure the situation didnt go too far in any way.

[unitedstatesrei]

From Ministry to Turning Purpose Into Millions in Property Power with Jordan Smith

Key Takeaways Jordan Smith successfully transitioned from ministry to real estate by finding a niche that aligned with his personal fulfillment. Building a wide toolbox of creative investment strategies offers flexibility and long-term sustainability. Purpose-driven investing can yield both profit and joy, especially when relationships and community are prioritized. United States Real Estate Investor The REI Agent with Jordan Smith https://youtu.be/0u7s2KhikLg Follow and subscribe to The REI Agent on social Facebook Instagram Youtube .cls-1fill:#fff; Linkedin X-twitter United States Real Estate Investor It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! United States Real Estate Investor A Journey Beyond Sales—Finding a Calling Through Real Estate When most people hear “real estate agent,” they think of someone unlocking doors and collecting commission checks. But for Jordan Smith, guest on The REI Agent Podcast, real estate became far more than a profession—it became a conduit for purpose, impact, and community. Host Mattias Clymer introduced Jordan not just as another agent, but as someone whose life journey, from medical sales to ministry and eventually to flipping homes, embodies the full spirit of holistic success. “The riches are in the niches,” Jordan says. “But more than that, the fulfillment is there too.” The Forced Pivot: When Life Says ‘Now or Never’ Jordan never planned to become a real estate agent. After a promising path in medical device sales and a powerful stint in ministry leadership, life forced his hand. The pandemic hit. Furloughed and frustrated, Jordan’s wife gave him the ultimatum every dreamer secretly needs: “Either flip a house or stop talking about it.” He did more than flip a house. He flipped the script on what a career could look like. With $0 in his commission account and a heart full of ambition, Jordan got licensed and closed his first wholesale deal with a stranger-turned-partner named Wes. That first deal would be the spark that ignited a real estate empire. “Wes was the gasoline to the ember I had. We became partners in hustle—and in heart,” Jordan reflected. The Investor’s Toolbox: Why One Strategy Isn’t Enough Throughout the episode, Jordan walks listeners through the diverse arsenal that makes his business stand out. He’s not just flipping homes. He’s mastering wholesaling, double closes, seller financing, subject-to deals, wholetailing, short- and midterm rentals, lease options, sandwich strategies—the list goes on. “There’s no such thing as a bad deal,” he says. “You just need the right exit strategy.” This toolbox mentality has earned Jordan the respect of brokers and the trust of investors. He’s not chasing commissions, he’s crafting custom solutions. And in a market that’s changing faster than interest rates, flexibility isn’t optional, it’s essential. Bridging the Divide: Wholesalers vs. Agents In one of the episode’s most honest moments, Jordan tackles the stigma around wholesalers and agents head-on: “Yes, there are shady wholesalers. But there are also bad agents. The truth is, 90% of both are just out here trying to help.” Jordan’s mission is to bridge that divide. Through education, transparency, and creative deal-making, he’s showing both sides how to work shoulder to shoulder. His message is simple but powerful: “Everybody can win.” Homegrown Expertise: Midterm Rentals and Local Mastery Mid-conversation, Mattias and Jordan dive into one of today’s most underused strategies: midterm rentals. Jordan shares how a client built relationships with hospital HR departments to house travel nurses for 90-day stays, turning referrals into recurring cash flow. Mattias shares his own journey setting up a midterm rental, saying, “We loved the property, the location, the vibes—it just made sense. Even if we break even, it’s worth it for the long-term value and the joy.” That

joy, that experimentation, that playfulness, these are the invisible currencies successful investors trade in every day. The Golden Nugget: Know What Fills Your Cup If Jordan could tell every agent and investor one thing, it’s this: “Find your niche and pour gasoline on it.” Whether it’s flipping homes, working with first-time buyers, or helping fellow dog lovers find the perfect backyard, your zone of genius will never lead you wrong. Jordan’s not in real estate because it’s glamorous. He’s in it because “I’d be doing this even if I wasn’t licensed. I love it. It fills my cup.” Purpose Isn’t a Perk—It’s the Plan In a world obsessed with hustle and GCI, Jordan’s story is a loud and clear reminder that you don’t have to choose between passion and profit. You can have both. You should have both. “Congrats—you made a bunch of commission last year and hate your life,” he jokes. “That’s not the flex you think it is.” Instead, Jordan challenges agents and investors to zoom in on what makes them come alive, and then turn it into a career that sustains not just their finances, but their spirit. Because at the end of the day, the best deals in real estate are the ones that build you up from the inside out. Are you ready to build more than wealth? Then this episode is where your blueprint begins. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate. For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com. United States Real Estate Investor Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. United States Real Estate Investor Contact Jordan Smith Realty ONE Group Revolution Instagram United States Real Estate Investor Mentioned References The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss The Tim Ferriss Show Furnished Finder Airbnb United States Real Estate Investor Transcript Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I'm Mattias, an agent and investor. And I'm Erica, a licensed therapist. Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing. Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors. Ready to level up? Let's do it. Welcome back to the REI Agent. This is Mattias Clymer, your lovely host of the REI Agent podcast and your neighborhood rock star. I don't know. I'm feeling fired up right now. I've had a lot of mornings of getting up and wanting to get up earlier than my alarm goes off because I'm excited to get to work. Like today, this morning I was building out an AI chat bot that would help with scheduling. So look at my schedule. And it would say, when do you wanna see this house built into the website? And they'd say, how about four tomorrow? And they'd be like, well, actually, there's no availability there, but can you do two or whatever it is? You set all the parameters in your schedule, in your calendar, like Calendly. And then the AI bot can just read it and kind of talk back and forth with that person instead of just them filling out a link, which I think is kind of cool. And it's not something designed to be necessarily pretending to be a real person. It can be honest and transparent. I think I named mine Booker T to just be fun and like kind of a tech forward brand anyway. That's kind of like how I've always been. So hopefully other people find it amusing. I won't push it on people, but it was a fun thing to play with. I'm looking to see, I'm curious if I can get that thing set up with showing time as well. It'd be really interesting to have it, be able to read the properties availability on showing time and my availability, and then give options to the client of what to book. I think that would be a really cool, fun thing.

Not that I would force, again, people to do that only, but if somebody is on my website and wants to book something, they could just do that. And then on top of it all, I could probably have an if this, then that kind of a workflow where if they are already an existing client, they wouldn't do this. But if it wasn't an existing client in my CRM, I have a workflow where it would send them a buyer brokerage agreement to sign right away, which I think is another really possible cool thing. There's some kinks in that system, so it's not quite ready. And I think it's probably better to meet first with the client to have an introduction meeting. So a lot of things to work out, but it's just fun to see where technology can take you. But anyway, I wanted to get into our guest, Jordan Smith. Jordan Smith is an agent. He was an investor first and then became an agent and has focused his sales business on investors. So he has a wealth of knowledge. He's done a lot of different things, a lot of different type of deals. And his book of business is mainly investors on the sales side. But there's a lot of knowledge there. This is, he's perfect for the show because he gets into, he's a bridge between wholesale and resale, if you will. So we are all about learning how to be investor friendly, understanding investments, or building up your own portfolio. And Jordan is a great example of that. So without further ado, let's get right into it. Jordan Smith. Welcome back to the REI Agent. I'm here with Jordan Smith. Jordan, thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, man, thanks for having me. Yeah, Jordan, you tell us where you're coming out of, first of all. Yeah, so the metropolis of Rock Hill, South Carolina, which is Football City, USA, right outside of Charlotte. So I cover the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area. Cool. I mean, I feel like, you all probably have been booming for a while, but I feel like there's a lot of hype around the Carolinas, especially. Yeah, well, you know, it's pretty crazy, man. Like we, you know, we get all four seasons. It's freaking already hot as crap right now. And, you know, lots of folks wanna come here. Taxes and quality of life and seasons and beach and mountains, and it's all right here. So come on, we need some more folks. I need more houses to sell. So bring it all down if you're in the beautiful Northeast or West Coast or wherever. Yeah, like, no, I was in Denver last year and I was hanging out at a bar for a little bit while I had a friend had an appointment and he had to go to whatever I was visiting. And he had the, like the bartender was talking about how like, it just, like, you know, I need to get out of here. I need to get out of here. Like, it was like, you know, Boulder, Colorado is gorgeous. Like, I need to get out. I'm thinking like the Carolinas or yeah. And it just seemed like it was the vibe I got was that there was a bit of a movement happening that she wasn't the only one. And it just struck me as interesting because you hear about Colorado, Denver, you hear about, you know, California. Well, I've heard there's an exodus happening there, but yeah, have you experienced that? Yeah, I mean, I think there's, the market seems to be doing well here, right? I mean, we're a little bit insulated, I think, from the tumultuousness of, you know, everything that's going on. Still a good market here. You know, Charlotte itself, Charlotte proper is so saturated that really folks are really kind of commuting in from secondary and even tertiary markets around. So we're really hyper-focused on like an hour radius of center city Charlotte. And so you get down into South Carolina there a little bit, which is, I'm born and raised in Rock Hill and then loved it so much, moved back after college and a little bit of work. And so, you know, there's tax benefits to either or, right? Schools seem to be really well in some of these secondary markets. And so really, it's a great place to raise a family.

You know, banking is a big industry here. And so folks are moving to here. You know, we got Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which is, you know, it's not a massive airport, but you can get where you need to go from it. And it seems to be a good place to set up shop and you're three hours to the mountains and three hours to the beach. And, you know, it's fun. Yeah, I mean, that's not too different from Harrisonburg where I'm at. I mean, we are in the mountains. We're in the Shenandoah Valley. John Denver sang about that a little bit. Well, he said, people think it's West Virginia, but some argue it's Western Virginia because it talks about- Western Virginia, there you go. Which comes through us. But yeah, we're four hours from the beach and, you know, in the mountains. So it's a good place. But I definitely feel like the Carolinas were getting a bit more focus and hype than Virginia for some reason. I think you guys have bigger cities too. That's probably part of it. But anyway, I guess let's, yeah, let's hear a little bit about how you got into real estate to begin with. Yeah, so real estate's a third career for me. So I was a pre-med biology student in college and didn't get into med school. And so it's like, well, great. Now I went to school to go to school and now I can't get into school. What do I do? And so I got a job right out of college selling medical devices, orthopedic implants. So hip and knee replacements, plates and screws, that kind of stuff. So I was in sales, you know, full commissioned sales, bouncing around the operating room, had a ton of fun, learned a lot. Medical sales in general, and I think the industry's changed a lot over the last, gosh, this would have been, you know, almost 20 years ago, but it was pretty cutthroat back then. And so I loved adding value to my doctors. I didn't love the sales process of like, you know, hey, I'm gonna knock on your door. I called on you last week. Has anything changed? No, cool, like, you know, so I didn't love like checking the boxes of the sales process in like a corporate setting. So I did that for a few years and then got into ministry. I worked for a multi-site, pretty large church in South Carolina as a pastor. And really it was run like a Fortune 500 company. So really high emphasis on leadership, development, very strong org structure in place. I learned a ton as a leader from my time there in ministry at that church. And then left that in 2019, right before the pandemic. And my wife basically said, hey dude, if you don't shut up and flip a house, you're not allowed to talk about it anymore. Like, I'm so tired of you talking about flipping houses. I'm so tired of you like talking about how easy it would be. Like you either need to do it or I'm gonna forbid you to talk about it. And I was like, okay, challenge accepted. So I just got a nine to five just to pay the bills while I was trying to figure out like real estate stuff. And was looking for my first investment property for first fix and flip. And didn't really know where to look. I was looking on MLS. I found out for the very first time what wholesaling is and was talking to some wholesalers trying to find a deal. And was working and got furloughed with the pandemic. And so I was sitting at home and looking for deals. And I was like, you know what? I should get my real estate license while I'm sitting at home furloughed. I've got some time. It'll save us 3% when we list properties. You know, this would probably be a good tool to have in the tool belt. And so I did all my real estate classes online. Got licensed in November of 2020 and put my first flip under contract of purchase in November of 2020. And so, yeah, so that was kind of how I got started. And so, yeah, it was a great time to be in real estate, honestly. And the more I studied, like as I was going through the process, I had always thought like real estate seems like a cool career as an agent. But I was married and had, let's see, at that point we had two kids.

We got four now, we had two kids. And I had never worked a full commission job since I had had other mouths to feed besides my own. So I was a little bit intimidated by like the jumping full into the deep end. So, but I felt like I'd be really good at it. My biggest thing is, man, I'm a connector of people. Like I just wanna be a conduit to connect people with the people that they need to know. And I think that's a big part of real estate as an agent and an investor is just like having those relationships in place. And so in December of 2020, I told my wife, I said, hey, if I can sell a house a month as an agent, because this seemed like a totally reasonable goal starting as a new agent for whatever reason. I sell a house a month at $250,000, which was not even our median price point. It was a little under our median price point. I can sell a house a month for $250,000. Everybody's getting 3% commission, because commission wasn't, commission's decreased in our market. I don't know what it's like there, but it was still at around 3%. I said, that's 7,500 bucks a month. If I can do that for six months in a row, I'd like to quit my job and go into real estate full time. And I was expecting my wife to be the safety net and say, no, we can't do that. Like, I don't know, that's a good idea, whatever. And she said, okay. It's almost more scary. Yeah, oh shit. So that was December, turns January one. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna close the deal in January. And then I realized I don't have anything under contract. So how do you close a deal in January if you don't have any houses under contract in January? So I'm kind of freaking out. I ended up getting connected with a guy. I had followed this guy on Instagram. We had just kind of connected through social media. He was up on the north side of Charlotte. I'm on the south side. And just a hustler, man. Grinder, really good at social media marketing, and was getting into the wholesale space. So he was trying to be a real estate investor. He'd flipped one house with some partners, trying to get into wholesaling. And he said, hey, I'm looking for a real estate agent. So I DM'd him. I'm like, hey, I just happen to be a real estate agent. You know, what you got in mind? And he said, hey, I wanna list this wholesale property that I have under contract on the MLS. And I said, man, you can't do that. And he said, why not? And I said, well, I don't know. It just seems like you shouldn't be able to do that. And he was like, well, watch this video and have a conversation with your BIC and call me back. So he sent me a video of an investor in North Carolina, excuse me, two hours away from us in Raleigh, Durham area who lists all his wholesale deals on MLS. And in our MLS, you're allowed to list a property that you don't yet own as long as you have vested interest in the property, as long as you have the contract. So I had a conversation. I was like, okay, cool, let's do it. So we list, this is January, so we listed a condo that Wes had under contract to wholesale, listed on the MLS, got it under contract, closed it January 28th. That was my first deal. And man, it's been a wild ride ever since. Wes is now my business partner. He handles all the off-market side of things. I handle more of the design, project management, execution, and listing of things. And man, we've just become not only best friends, but really great business partners. We're very complimentarian of one another. And everywhere where he's weak, I'm strong, and vice versa. And he was really the gasoline to the ember that I had of getting into real estate. I've learned so much working alongside him, and it's been a wild ride ever since, man. That's awesome. How do you feel, or how do you all dance the perceived line, at least, of wholesaling versus on the market? Yeah, so I... Question? Yes, yes. No, I'll talk about this all day. I mean, I love it. Yeah, so I call Wes my partner. I literally had this conversation this morning with somebody else.

I call Wes my partner. We're partners in theory, not in entity, if that makes sense. So we have separate entities. We joint venture a lot of stuff. So I've done that really for his protection and for mine of like, hey, as a licensed realtor, I've got all these obligations to meet, right? I'm not in the room when you're having these conversations. Yeah, I'm not in the room when you're having these conversations with these sellers. And so if you do what you need to do, bring me something once you have it under contract. Let's talk about it. Figure out the best exit strategy, right? And we've done, man, we've done so much. I mean, that's one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is being well-rounded investors. So we've done wholesale deals, assignments, double closes. We've sold to institutional buyers. We've taken down ourselves and just paid cash for it in the turnaround and put it back on the MLS. We've fixed and flipped. We've done short-term rentals, long-term rentals, seller finance stuff, lease options, sandwich. I mean, we've done all kind of crazy stuff. And most of my agents in my office have no idea how to do any of this stuff, right? I mean, my BIC is calling me asking me questions about like, hey, how would you do X, you know? And it's really just because I've gotten immersed in that world and that's the world I live in all day, every day. And so I really, I mean, I had a closing this morning of a normal seller, a normal retail residential seller. And I feel like a fish out of water when I'm doing that kind of business because probably 95% of my business is investment related. Sure. Yeah, no, it makes sense. And it is, it's fun because you have this like big tool belt. You have a big toolbox, if you will, and you can really apply the best thing that makes the most sense for everybody to that unique situation where most people have like one or two tools. Yeah, well, and you know, and I think going back to your original question, like, you know, the reason everybody feels a certain type of way about wholesalers is because there's some shady wholesalers out there, right? And, you know, There's some bad agents out there. Absolutely, that's what I was getting ready to say, right? It's like, you know, I don't know where it is around you, but here it feels like, you know, investors feel like agents are like drastically overpaid to just open and unlock doors, right? And agents feel like investors are shady and like always like the cheapest SOBs ever and like trying to pull one over on everybody. And the reality is like 90% of both are neither of those things, right? But there's the 10% outliers who really have made a bad name for themselves and put a sour taste in the other's mouth. And what I try to pride myself on, and Wes is the same way, is like, we're ethical, we're honest, right? I've sat in someone's living room and had to explain to them like, hey, what do you think your house is worth? Yeah, you're probably right. If it was fixed up, it would be this. But if you back out your closing costs and your commissions, you're going to net this. And to get to that price point, you need to put $30,000 in a kitchen, you need to put $15,000 in the bathroom, like all that stuff. I'll buy your house for that number. And he's like, well, why would you do that? Well, because my guys, my kitchen renovation costs $10,000, not 30, because I have the contractors and the supply chain. It's really just education. It's an education gap. But man, I'm trying to add as much value as I can to investors to let them know like, hey, everybody can win, right? We can work shoulder to shoulder. I can be a tremendous asset to you, you can be a tremendous asset to me and my business, and everybody wins, and it's not a competition. And so that's really kind of what I've built my business on. Yeah, that makes sense. You listed out a bunch of different strategies you've done. And I'm wondering, like you talked about, like your broker, people in your office coming to you, asking you what those things are.

Do you wanna go through some of those and explain what they are at a high level? Sure, yeah, we can do that for sure. Yeah, I mean, so- That's double-closing, people may not be familiar with that. Yeah, so double-closing, I think it's a relatively new, you know, five years, relatively new exit strategy. So especially, I don't know what the laws are in Virginia, but South Carolina has a no wholesaling law in place. North Carolina's talking about putting a no wholesaling law in place. You know, and so when I say wholesale, what I mean is assigning a contract, right? So a wholesaler is going out, they're finding the property owner, the seller, they're getting the property under contract for X, and then they're gonna market the property and essentially find a buyer at price Y, and they're gonna marry the two together and take the money out of the middle, right? That's an assignment of contract. In North Carolina, our contract, by default, is non-assignable. So our North Carolina realtor form says this is not an assignable contract. So the way that people have been getting around that, you know, is what they're doing, they're doing what's called double closing. So they're borrowing money, it's called transactional funding, they're borrowing money from a person or an entity or an institution, and they're gonna buy the property and then turn around, they're gonna actually take title record and then turn around and sell the property to the end buyer the same day, usually. And so that transactional money comes into the attorney's account, it buys, the property's turned around and resold, and that money comes back out of the account back to the lender, and then the investor gets to keep the overage there. Yeah, okay, that makes sense. And what are other ways can wholesalers typically close? And again, I understand it's price-specific to your market, anybody listening to this does need to consult an attorney. And trying to find a good real estate or creative real estate attorney is challenging. So I can definitely recommend somebody that might be able to assist, even in a different state, to just kind of help educate other attorneys, if you will. But yeah, talk about what you know for your area. Yeah, same for here. If anybody's listening from the Carolinas or down in this area, we've got some attorneys that are certainly able to help on calls and educate as well. Yeah, so in my mind, when you're talking about real estate investing, it's all about what the best exit strategy is for the property, right? So there's no bad deal. It's just you gotta find the right exit strategy for the property. And so, like we said, wholesaling, marketing it up and finding an in-buyer, double-closing on it. We have dabbled in the creative finance space, so that's a whole can of worms. I don't know how much you want to open that box, but we've done some seller financing stuff where the seller of the property title transfers, but the seller retains the mortgage or they become the bank, essentially. We've done some subject to the existing mortgage kind of stuff. Sub two is a big thing. There's all kinds of videos all over YouTube about it, where you buy the house, but the loan stays in the original seller's name and you make payments on their behalf. We do a lot of fix and flip. We do some, we call it wholetail, where we're basically taking down the property with a hard money lender or private money lender and really just kind of cleaning it out and popping it right back on the MLS. I mean, the MLS is the biggest buyers list in America, right? It's the number one aggregate of buyers for real estate in your market. And with the IDX, it pushes across to Zillow and Realtor and all these other fun ones. And so if you can get your property there, you can get the most number of eyes on it. If you can get the most number of eyes on it, you can get the best price for it, in my opinion. So we're gonna always push to get things into the MLS so that we can then get it in front of as many eyes as possible.

And then it's just about educating the other agents, right? I mean, there's a ton of agents who have been in the game for 30 years and they have no idea what an assignment of contract is or they don't understand, we're getting contracts written and they're just pulling the name off tax records and putting that as a seller. And I'm like, no, the seller is this entity. And they're like, no, it's not. I'm like, yes, it is. And you're having to explain and educate, right? So yeah, so there's, I mean, there's all kinds of exit strategies, right? You know, rentals are hard right now. DSCR loans are tough with the interest rates where they're at right now. But, you know, buying and holding is still a great strategy, I think. We've done some short-term rentals, some midterm rentals, which is kind of that 30 to 90 day rental, you know, for like insurance or travel nurses, stuff like that. So in my mind, every property has an exit strategy. If you can get, if you can match the property and the exit strategy together, you can formulate a solution. It's just, you know, I get sent bad deals all the time and it's just, they're sending them with the wrong exit strategy, right? Yeah. No, it makes a lot of sense. And yeah, I think you're right with rentals being harder right now. And a lot of people are having to get more creative with how they are going about it. So some people are exploring the subject to area. And I think you mentioned something about a wraparound. That's another way of doing that, I believe, where you basically add an extra layer of protection to a subject to deal for the seller, where they basically have a deed of trust written, I believe is how that works. But yeah, and then there's, I mean, seller financing can help make that work better as well if you get better terms, so better entry rates. Lease options for folks, you know, if they can't qualify for a conventional mortgage, but they've got some money for a down payment, you know, there's the lease option there where the seller can get a lease option where the seller retains the title and, you know, they have a vested interest in the, the buyer has vested interest in the property with the down payment, and then they take over, you know, they're paying their monthly fee and they're handling all the repairs and all that jazz. There's, yeah, there's a ton of options, right? It's just knowing your market, knowing what's needed. I know you do a lot of listings. Are you getting a lot more creative finance or sub-two offers on your properties? No, not particularly. No, not in this area. Okay. And we still have a pretty strong demand. I just had a very big bidding war on my most recent listing. And so far, yeah, we haven't needed to go that route necessarily. And you're wondering, like, how is somebody willing to spend 20% over asking price at one of these interest rates but I mean, it's, I think it's just- Were you priced at market or did you price it competitively to try to drive it up? No, I mean, no, it was, no, I think it was right around market. The person who brought an offer would have argued that we were a little bit under, but, you know, it was based, it just depends on the comps you use. We were basing comps on the, in the neighborhood comps and they might've found some other ones in different neighborhoods that would have supported a higher price point. But, but yeah, yeah, it's just, you know, there's definitely properties that you can, I'm finding that different pockets of the market, you can do different strategies with like, you know, being competitive in the price point usually is the best, you know, route where you're trying to get multiple offers, trying to get it sold fast, pricing it right around where the comps say. But then I think there's sometimes, especially right now in this market, it feels like there's just this like pent up demand that's just like, you know, as soon as something comes on, it's getting sold. But there are markets that are a little bit slower.

And in that, in those markets, I've have actually pushed the price a little bit higher than I think should be, as opposed to hoping it gets bid up, thinking that we're only gonna get one offer on it, maybe as opposed to, you know, five plus, that if we're gonna get somebody in the first three days making an offer on it, right around asking price, as opposed to hoping it gets bid up, but it probably won't. Same results as $10,000 loss or whatever. So it's just, it's a fun, you know, it's kind of a strategy where you gotta get, you know, hyperlocal and really understand your market, like you said. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. But we're also setting up a midterm rental as we, as we speak, I hauled two mattresses over there today. They got delivered to our house instead of that house. So my checker on box on Amazon, huh? Yeah, exactly. I won't name names, but my co-host. Uh-huh, yep. But yeah, what, have you, you mentioned insurance. Is that like people that are like, you know, out of their house because of damage or whatever? Have you, have you, a few of these? Do you have a couple of these that you're running now or? Yeah, so we don't, I don't have any currently, but we've got, I've got some clients who do. And man, it's been, you know, again, it's a relationship, it's a relationship business, right? So, you know, this, this one girl in particular, she's done a really great job at networking with, Charlotte has a pretty expansive hospital system. And so they have a lot of travel nurses. And so what she's done is really networked. And I mean, midterm was kind of her, midterm and short term was her strategy of choice for a very long time. And she's done a really good job of building out relationships with folks in the hospital system and with, you know, in the insurance space so that when they have a need, she's their first call, right? And there's obviously, you know, websites like Furnished Finder and all that jazz, but for her it was a lot of, yeah, Airbnb, exactly. But for her, it was a lot of, you know, hey, the HR manager at this, you know, hospital system knows that these three travel nurses are coming in for the next 90 days and they're calling her going, hey, do you have housing for these three folks? Which is, I mean, it's exactly what you want, you know? Yeah, absolutely. It's where we're excited about getting this running and building those connections and seeing if it's a viable strategy to replicate. Because obviously, you know, if you do have a steady stream potential, but you like are constantly booked, you know, like having availability too will keep people coming back as well. But yeah. Now, what made your midterm on that particular property? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, it's basically exactly what we were just talking about is it didn't pencil out well. It would have been an outstanding flip, but it's one of those things where we have held pretty much every flip we've done that we've liked the location of and liked the kind of size and everything about it, we've wanted to hold it. We've done a burn strategy with it. And this one is the same. And it could have, you know, penciled out barely. Like, you know, if you're not being super critical with the vacancies and all those kind of extra things that you're supposed to calculate in, if you were really strict about that, then it wouldn't have been the best or it would, you know, broken even kind of thing. But, you know, it was also just kind of a fun idea to try this. And, you know, I figured worst case scenario, we end up having, we lose some money on the furniture. Not really, because we'll sell it and it will make, you know, we have a pretty good margin to profit on that. So that's not- And then you can always pop a 12 month tenant in it, right? That too. Yeah, we could do that too. And, but yeah, we really liked the property. We really liked the location. We have a downtown area that's revitalized and it's brought a lot of vibrancy to that area and a lot of professionals want to be close to that area.

So this is about a thousand square foot house, not huge, and it's charming and it, you know, walkable to those bars and restaurants. And so I think it's just a, it's a great location long-term and we'd love to keep it. And we're excited about trying this kind of thing out. And if it works, we, you know, would look to maybe converting other ones that we have into a midterm or exploring some of the short-term possibilities as well. Our city itself doesn't allow it, so we'd have to go outside the city limits. Are you hyper-focused in your town, in your city? For investing? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, so I've done stuff outside of, I think it's for, yeah. Yes, and why is I think that, A, I understand the market the best, B, the city itself has gonna have the most, I think the more you are under the median sales price, the more you are, you know, in the area that the most people wanna be in, the safer you are for renting, for selling, et cetera. So that's our sweet spot. If we can get something underneath the median sales price and value, right? There's just so many exit strategies there, like you talked about, like there's just, you know, having the best one is what we go after, but then having a BCD is also good. Yeah. Good to add to that. And that's one of the big things I try to teach new investors who are coming in, you know, they're like, hey, I wanna flip a house. I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, number one, let's talk about that. You know, why, what does that mean to you? What's your tolerance? Like, do you wanna have a full gut job? Do you wanna cosmetic, you know? But then what I try to teach them is like, hey, we gotta have backup exit strategies, right? Like if we flip this and we list it and it doesn't sell, then what are we gonna do? Yeah. Right? Will it cash flow? Will it at least cover your rent on a DSCR? Okay, cool. Then that's our check down, right? Like that's our audible. Or, you know, can we short-term rental it? Can we, you know, all these things, right? So we're really big on like, man, if it's got one exit strategy, not a great, not a great fit. Not a great fit. And you really are kind of like hamstrung, right? And so always making sure like, yes, option A, like you said, is the ideal world, but have we got a B, C, and D? And if so, then let's pull the trigger on it and go. Yeah, we, I had a couple pretty difficult flips that were in, you know, smaller markets and more rural. And just, I just, you know, they took a long time, they're difficult, and it's probably just something that, you know, it was, it's not like it was 2021, 2022. So, you know, I think taking a different approach, be a little bit more conservative is gonna be good going forward. And, you know, cooling my jets a little bit on it. And then, you know, there's a whole other thing with this. We're having fun with this midterm rental and we're excited. That's important. Yeah. You can't put dollars on that, but that's like very important. It keeps you engaged. It keeps you, you know, not from getting burnt out. And my, you know, my wife's loving spending money on all the different furniture and stuff. We're probably gonna be inquiring some of the nice pieces that, you know, we, hey, that would work well in our house. We'll get one too. But it's, you know, it's a lot of fun. They're doing a great job. I have a, you know, a stager design person that's getting her license, joining my team, but she's doing a ton of work with getting like everything just to feel really good and have design elements throughout it. So it's fun. But at the same time, like even if we get a really good return on it, if we just sold it and put everything into a good syndication, we probably would be doing better. Now you have that mathematical stuff in the back of your head too, but, you know, that doesn't really factor in the appreciation as much, so. That's right, for sure. But yeah, so you say about 70% of your business is investors, right? About 90% is investors. About 90%, sorry.

Yeah. Okay. So, and then the 10% are gonna be just, you know, connections, personal connections kind of thing? Yeah, I mean, we, yeah, personal connections, fear of influence, referrals. You know, we've got some lead, I'm with Realty One Group. We've got some lead programs, but not a ton of leads coming in that way through the brokerage. And so most of mine, you know, I'm born and raised in Rock Hill. I've got a pretty strong network of folks I grew up with, folks who know my family. And so people know what I do. I am the, you know, I'm the flip realtor guy, like that's kind of what people know me as. And so, you know, so I've picked up some business of like, you know, hey, if you can't find the house you're looking for, like, why don't we buy this ugly house and make it the house you wanna buy, you know? And so, but that's a little more, it's a little more complex because, you know, personally, the reason I like working with investors is because there's not a lot of emotion attached, right? So they're not crying, but I mean, you know, this lady this morning was like crying when she saw this house and moving back to Ohio. And I'm like, you know, pat her on the back, like, it's okay, you know, it's just a house, like, you know, but there's memories, right? And there's, you know, personal value to the home and stuff like that. And I'm empathetic for sure. Like I said, I mean, I got a background in ministry, like it equips me to handle people like this, you know? But with investors, it's just like, okay, do the numbers make sense? Cool, let's do it. Yeah. No, totally, I get that. And it is appealing. I think there's also, the bad part about it is also just then it's harder to find the right property in some ways. Like I think, like there's like, it's harder to pencil out these days, especially. For sure. But, you know, there's definitely been a huge advantage for me in, and that's kind of one of the niches I've narrowed in on is kind of helping sellers get their house ready for the market with my contractor teams and my knowledge and like, you know, kind of being able to get some of those good prices from, you know, the volume I give my contractors. And applying- Are you managing that process hands-on? Yes. Yes. And are you- I'm probably systemizing that a little bit. Okay. And then are you, and if I'm getting too personal, tell me to shut up. Are you having your sellers pay for that as they go or are you fronting that and letting them pay it at closing? No, it's on them. I help pay. That's part of, I've got like a, you know, help pay you, the contractors. But also I have a contract that mostly is okay with getting paid at closing. So- Yeah, just send an invoice in. If you can get that lined up and, you know, that's gonna be, you know, it might be an extra month or so for them, but that's a huge advantage to some sellers. And maybe that's something that, depending on your contractor, like say, hey, look, just for special occasions, like we'll try to get you 75% of them. Like, you know, if you want 40% upfront or whatever, we can try to get that for most of them. But, you know, if we have the special circumstance where you'd be cool with it, I think, you know, that's a huge advantage. We get you more and more business this way. So it's gotta be a win-win with them. And the higher volume, I think, is part of it for sure. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah, man. I gotta ask if you have any golden nuggets you'd wanna impart on our listeners that could be for real estate agents or investors or, you know, agents that are looking to get into investing. Sure. Whatever you got. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think for me, like the drum that I bang over and over again to every agent that I talk to is like, find your niche, however you wanna say it, find your niche and like double down on that and really like build that out because that's what, somebody said the riches are in the niches. And I think that's like, not only is the money there, but like the fulfillment is there. Right.

So, you know, like I told you, my first deal was with Wes on this wholesale deal, but then I had a listing of a girl that I worked with at my nine to five before I quit to go into real estate full-time. Her and her husband are getting a divorce. They're like selling this house. And it was just like, I'm like, guys, like I would rather be anywhere than in this room talking through this. You know? Yeah. You know, and then I had a buyer that wanted to go see 80 houses in a weekend and never pulled the trigger on anything. And so I'm going, like if I'm a new agent who's not resilient and I don't know that there's, you know, real estate was a conduit for me to get to the investing side of things. If that's not me, if I didn't have like a bigger real estate purpose other than just being an agent and I got my license because, you know, it looks sexy on TV or it seems like you don't have to wear that hard and you can set your own schedule. Like I would have quit a long time ago because general brokerage, like if that's not your thing, you're going to pull your hair out. And I think you've got to really hone in on like what you want to do and what fills you up. Like I got a friend of mine, she loves working with first-time homebuyers. Now I would rather get a lobotomy, but she, like, it's her jam, man. And she's got it dialed in, she's got it systematized, like she's great at it. And I refer for, like if I get a first-time homebuyer, I'm like, you need to talk to her. You don't need to talk to me, you need to talk to her. She's an expert. But you really got to like hone in on like, yes, what can make you money, but also like what can get you fulfilled at the end of the day? Like when you lay your head down at night, you know, you got to know you're making a difference and you got to know that you're doing something that fills your cup up. And for me, man, that's like running around to flip. I mean, you know, probably TMI, but like my day-to-day, like I had a normal residential closing. Then I went, picked up some materials for a flip we've got going on. Then I went going checking in on new construction stuff. I'm like, use the bathroom in a porta potty at a job site today, because I might have so much going on and I'm like running around, you know? But like, I love that stuff. Every day is different for me. I'm like, you know, my shoes are dirty. I'm not in a suit. And like, that's like my jam. Now, other people, that would be miserable for them. And it's just because it's not their niche, right? So you've got to figure that out and you've got to really like lean into that. And I think there's a tremendous opportunity if you can identify it and you can really brand yourself and like put some oomph behind it, you know? And it doesn't have to be investing, right? Like everybody, anytime I lead a training on real estate investing, all the agents are like, hey, I want to learn how to do what you do. I'm like, no, you probably don't. Like, it's a lot. It's miserable some days, right? It's really hard. But like, maybe you really like dogs. Be like the dog parent agent, right? Like, you know, lean into that. Lean into like hanging out at dog parks and like passing out business cards and giving dogs clothes and gifts. Like whatever you love to do in your spare time, like pour gasoline on that and incorporate that into your real estate business. For me, it's flipping houses. I would be doing it whether I was a licensed agent or not. And so if I can help other people, you know, not make their flip look like crap, then that's like, I'm happy at the end of the day and I get to go home and, you know, not be grumpy and all that fun stuff. So that's my golden nugget. It's just like, find out what fills you up and figure out where it overlaps with real estate and go all in on that. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, what's the point if you're miserable, right? Oh my gosh, I mean. Money's nice. Congrats, you had a bunch of GCI last year and you hate your life, you know, like get real, dude.

Yeah, okay, so do you have any books then that you think are fundamental for everybody that they should read or maybe ones that you're currently enjoying? Yeah, so I got this question and dreaded it because I'm not a reader. I need to be a reader. I am massively ADHD. And so like audio books just don't even work for me. I'm that kind of guy. In fact, we just got back from Mexico on vacation and I checked out two books out of the library to take with me. And my wife laughed at me on the plane. She was like, dude, you're not gonna read. You're not gonna read those. But I was thinking about the question and I know you've had some Tim Ferriss fans on here before. The four hour shift for me was a game changer. So I got it. I don't know if you've read that. Have you read the four hour shift? Yeah, I don't know if I did the, so my problem is I'll start things. I don't know if I read the whole thing. No, don't worry. So I like to cook and it was pitched as like learn how to hack these chef skills and all this stuff. So I got it. And really, man, my biggest takeaway from it was like, he, you know, he's crazy anyway, but like he, just the way he broke down, like learning how you learn and like breaking things down so that you can learn it to become an expert, even if you've never done it before was fascinating. And then the thing that has stuck with me, I read this book years ago. The thing that has stuck with me is just because nobody else does it or because it's not how it's historically done doesn't mean that it doesn't work, right? So the example he uses in the book is he is trying to become a wine snob and he decants wine by taking an immersion blender and sticking it in the wine and immersion blending wine for like, it's like a really expensive bottle of wine. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, all these like, all these wine enthusiasts are like, oh my God. Yeah. You know, and he's like, but it makes sense, right? Like if the point of decanting wine is to get air into it, what's the best way to get air into it? And so that has, I'm a bit of a rule follower growing up. And so that has really pushed me. And Wes, my business partner is great of like, hey, Wes, we can't do this. He's like, well, why not? I'm like, well, I don't know, Wes. That's just not how it's done. He's like, well, why not? And I'm like, well, shit, I don't have a really good answer for that. So let's try it, you know? So it's opened us up to like so many things that I don't think we would have ever experienced if I would have just wet blanketed the conversation by going, ah, it's not possible. It's like, well, why not? It's like, well, that's a good question. I don't really know why not. Let's try it. And then we try it and it works. And so, yeah, four-hour chef. And there's some practical cooking stuff in there too, but Tim Curry's just a freak. I think I was talking about or thinking about, does he also have a four-hour body? He has a four-hour body, yes. Yeah, he's got four-hour work week was the first one I think. You read the four-hour body? Yeah, I never read that one. Yeah, and because he has some stuff about food in there. Like it's just like, you know, high protein kind of. But anyway, so, okay, that sounds interesting. I'd have to check that out. I mean, and honestly, like the food stuff, I love cooking too. I love food. I haven't had near as much time to do as cooking. And also the kids are a lot more picky than they want. They don't like to, you know, have my lamb sog that I want to cook, that's spicy. So anyway, eating that process up, which sounds like it probably would be part of the book, would be really, probably has some really good tips in there, I'll have to check it out. So thanks for that. Yeah, and it's like cookbook size. So it looks like a cookbook. Okay. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. So it was a cool, and if you research it, there was a whole, it was a cool branding play too. Like that was the first book he published from Amazon Publishing.

And so it was like non-traditional book publishing. And all these like traditional publishers, like got all up in arms about it. And like Barnes and Noble, like blacklisted the book. It wouldn't care. I mean, it was like a whole thing, but you know, it just helped him further solidify, I think his position of, I mean, he's just so creative. I think he's really interesting to learn from just because he thinks way differently than I think. And so anytime I think he can be around somebody like that, it's worth taking notes for sure. Do you then, are you a big podcast listener? Like if you've interviewed. Yeah, yeah, I like some podcasts, man. Yeah, my interests are all over the place though. So I can't listen to like just real estate or just leadership podcasts because I'll get real burnt out. So I'm like listening to like, yeah, I listen to some wild stuff. What about you? Yeah, no, I do. I mean, I don't, I haven't listened to it near as much as I have in the past. But honestly, I like to do a podcast and mow the lawn every week at least. And that's something that's like, I have a zero turn mower, so I'm not out there getting exercise. But that is like the most peaceful, amazing thing. Like, I just feel so much better after I do that. Just like interesting ideas, things that get my brain going and just, yeah, the peaceful moment of the lawn. So I feel like I'm Hank Hill right now. Yeah. Damn it, Bobby. Yeah. Thank you. Oh, incredible King of the Hill reference. Way to go, man. I hadn't thought about King of the Hill in a minute and you just brought it all back. It is, I don't know if underrated is the right word, but it is, it's a, Mike Judd is a genius. But Jordan, if people were interested in investing in your area, wanna reach out to you or follow you for more, where can they find you? Yeah, Instagram's gonna be the best place. I am at JordanSmithSC, like South Carolina. And there you can find all kind of my escapades and some really pretty houses we've lived. I'm a design guy, so like I, that's my whole thing is, call it ballin' on a budget. In fact, there's a, there's a shameless plug, I guess. Well, we'll try to add value, right? There's a reel in there, I will, I don't think it's pinned right now, but I'll pin it before this goes live. But there's a reel in there that I talk about design stuff and I'm actually giving away a free design guide with links to materials and mood boards and stuff like that. So if your listeners are interested, they can go on there and there's a keyword to comment and it'll send them a link to download that for free. So check me out on Instagram, @JordanSmithSC. It's, yeah, it's always an adventure over there. And my Instagram stories are usually, when I'm posting them, it's like a flip house that's in shambles and then the next story will be like a ridiculously funny meme and then the next story will be like, you know, my three-year-old singing Taylor Swift. And so it's a pretty well-rounded follow. I think I'm pretty fun to follow. You got the Swifties at home too? Oh my gosh, we are. I, it's crazy. So Collins turns four at the end of this month and she somehow latched onto the heirs tour on Disney+ and we watched it all day every day for not an exaggeration, two months straight. And I mean, like everybody in our family, I've got four kids, everybody in our family knows every word. And then the darndest thing, man, I think the algorithm got her. So like, you know, like when you finish watching something, it'll be like, oh, if you like this, you'll probably like these three movies or shows. So she, her newest infatuation is 2025. Her newest infatuation is Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, four-year-old. And she is all, I mean, she's so sassy and has a microphone and a mic stand and a guitar and will put on a dress and you cannot tell her she's not a rock star. So that sounds like our house. We have not gotten that bug yet, but we are- Well, don't delete Hannah Montana off of everything that you can. A Swiftie cover concert.

I took the girls, a little daddy-daughter date and it was a lot of fun. So ironically enough, I'm actually taking her on to a Swiftie, to a Taylor Swift cover band tonight. For our daddy-daughter. Yeah, for our daddy-daughter date, legitimately, yeah. How old are your girls? Eight and five. And then I got a two-year-old son. Okay, fun ages, man. Yeah, ours are about to be 10, almost seven, about to be four, and then like one and a half. Okay. It's like her cats, man. Yeah. It's always an adventure. For sure. Well, Jordan, thanks so much for being on here. It's been a lot of fun. I think we're cut from the same cloth. We'll have to stay in touch. Yes, sir. We'd love that.

[kentoxo]

friction | reader (f) x crush!nanami pt.4

pairing: reader (f) x crush!nanami

synopsis: [AU] you have always had a crush on nanami. since the day you were hired as his personal assistant, you've been right at his side combating numbers and making money within the finance department for the company you two worked for. but, things take a turn when nanami catches wind of your feelings, and rejects you. little did he know the weight of his mistake.

warnings: angst, heartbreak, sexual tension, jealousy (future smut)

a/n: i apologize as ill be working through this weekend so the next chapter might take a day or so. thank you for your patience <3

all parts: pt.1, pt.2, pt.3,

December | Tokyo, Japan | Friday

It still felt fresh, despite a whole day having passed. 

Unlike the day prior, you moved slower than usual. You got not a wink of sleep, and that reflected in the death of your eyes. Sluggish hands prepare your cup of coffee, but you forgot to add sugar so your first sip made you regret everything. Everything was suddenly out of tune, and you were losing your inner rhythm. The worst part: it was reflecting your work. 

Nanami noticed when you forgot to email an important document that you specifically got sealed by the board a few days prior. 

He also noticed that you forgot almost every meeting you had planned for him today. Luckily you had it synced to the cloud calendar, and Nanami had his alerts on for them. 

He finally realized you were off your game when you couldn’t recite the numbers from last year around festive time. Those numbers usually remained right behind your hand at all times. 

“Y/N, are you well?” Nanami asked in the video call you both were in. Despite working remotely, Nanami preferred having the two of you on video call at all times unless there were meetings to attend to, or independent work that didn’t require one another's presence. “You don’t seem 100%.”

One again, Nanami was in what looked like a comfortable sweatshirt. His light pink lips were straight, with a dew of coffee hanging from the right side of his bottom lip. His eyes were imbued with exhaustion, but it seems he had a fine rest last night. Those blond locks were now completely dry, and looked like it was styled by just flipping his hair to the side with his fingers. Slightly dented lines define his collarbones, jaw, and cheekbones. 

Fuck. 

“m’okay,” you lie casually, leaning back into your couch. You, in contrast, have your video off. You made no effort to beat your face with makeup, nor did you even run fingers through your hair to fix it up a bit. Your heart was wounded, and your mind was disinterested in everything. “I didn’t sleep too well, that’s all.” 

“Mm,” Nanami hums. His eyes dart towards something, and you hear his click clacks of his keyboard. “Since you let me into your home yesterday, why don’t you take the rest of the day off? I’ll pay you for the remaining hours.” 

You quickly sit up and put your hands back on the keyboard, “no, that’s not right. It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else if I left early with pay just because I was a little restless last night.” 

“You do the work of 5 of your coworkers,” Nanami jokes lightly. “I’m confident nobody will say a thing regarding you taking a bit of time to rest more.” 

They were willing to spread true rumors about your crush, though. 

“You might need me,” you persist, “I don’t want to risk my absence when something important arises.” 

“I’m glad you know your worth, but I insist that you sit this one out and just rest. Consider this a head start on your weekend,” Nanami insists curtly. “Before I let you rest however, I do have something to make you aware of.” 

“Yes?” You slouch a bit, but your ears remain sharp and attentive. 

“I’ll be returning to my actual office next week, just for the 3 days that we are in-office,” Nanami begins. He stops his typing and weaves his hands together before resting his chin on them. “We have a few important clients coming in, thanks to Haibara’s persistence. So, I’ll need to be back in my office for just a bit. For that time, you will be working more independently.” 

“I understand,” you concur. “But, will you not need me during these meetings?” 

“Confidentiality,” Nanami reasons, to your dismay. It’s never a big deal, but you always liked to join Nanami’s meetings. Not only to document important points for him, but to remind him to bring things up during these conversations that he might forget to do otherwise. “These clients are a bit… different than what we’re used to. But we need their company’s marketing in order to resume flourishing here.” 

“Understood,” you reply. 

“For the time being, please refer to Haibara for anything I might need from you. From how it’s looking,” Nanami hums. He brings a hand down to his mouse and starts to share his screen. You watch intently as he opens a calendar of his work schedule for the mentioned Monday-to-Wednesday. “I’ll be booked from morning until punch out. Haibara will be joining me for a good chunk of these meetings, so I’ll be sure to have him give you the download on what I’ll need from you.”

You nod to nobody, “copy. I’ll be sure to continue doing my best.” 

“Anything less is impossible from you, Y/N,” Nanami says sweetly. There’s something stale about his flattery now. “Go ahead and rest, Y/N. You deserve it. Thank you for your work today.” 

“Thank you, and I’m sorry,” you murmur. An aggressive yawn escapes your lips, and you rub your face a bit to try and waive the exhaustion. 

“Nothing to apologize for– I’m the one sending you away,” the hazel-eyed man hums, slightly amused at your mannerisms. “I’ll put your time in right now, so just approve it upon receiving the notification.” 

“I will, thank you.” You were itching to end the call and decay in your bed. “Have a fruitful rest of your day, Nanami kacho.” 

To your surprise, Nanami held a sudden distasteful expression on his face. You watch as his face softens, but his hazel eyes seem… perplexed. As though you said something wrong, or rather; offensive. He casually tugs at his right ear before clearing his throat through a scratchy cough. 

“Thank you, Y/N,” Nanami lets out, his voice slightly less monotone. “Rest well.” 

With that, you hang up the call, slam your laptop shut, and rush under the covers of your bed. You find solace in the softness of the cotton, and the weight of the quilt itself. You rub your face once more, but this time feeling the burning of over-cried eyes. Your eyes were tissue-abused, as the tears felt endless yesterday after Nanami left. It was scary how upset you were about this. 

Fishing your phone from the sea of sheets, you quickly dial Haibara’s number and wait with the phone against your ear. After a few rings, he answers, “Y/N?” 

“Hi, Yu,” you say quietly, your head melting into your pillow. “How are you?” 

“I’m well,” Haibara begins, “but you sound horrible, what happened now? Did he say something mean again?"

“m just tired,” you say simply. And it was true, you were. But Haibara already knew the reason why, and ensured that he would avoid mentioning it. “Nanami let me clock out early. I wasn’t really myself today.” 

“Ah, Y/N, please,” Haibara urged with worry on his tongue. He knew it was inevitable. He didn’t warn you because he didn’t want you to date his closest friend. But rather, he knew his close friend so well that you would end up heartbroken no matter how it went. “I’m glad he noticed and sent you off to rest. But please… don’t let yourself fall like this. We just went through this yesterday."

You could feel the tears working their way up again. “Yu, I just… I’m just so upset, and I can’t do anything about it.” Your words slur, your voice being altered by your emotion. Tears well up in your eyes, spilling out and splotching your pillow case. “You were right, I know you were right, I just… it was completely out of my hands after a while.” 

“It isn’t just you, Y/N,” Haibara says in a soft voice, “Kento has always been like this. He’s not interested in anything but work. He’s a novice in that regard, so don’t cry so hard for a dork.” 

“I understand,” you croak, “but I didn’t even get to properly confess. He didn’t get to hear my piece, but was actually happy in believing it was a lie. He sighed like the weight of the world was now off his shoulders!” You brought a hand to your chest, feeling your breathing go unsteady. 

A desperate sigh comes through the phone. “Kento has been like this since we were younger. He has never been interested in anything else but getting good grades and working,” Haibara says quietly. You could hear him typing away on his computer. “But… honestly, you are the first person to ever get something different from Kento.” 

“Hm?” Tears began drying from curiosity. 

“This isn’t to get your hopes high or nothin’, but he has never had a woman as an assistant,” Haibara notes. “Before you, it was me until I got promoted. Then, it was just a few of the other guys within our department helping out upon Kento’s request. He continuously rejected female assistants in the past. So that’s when Takada shacho decided to force an assistant on him: you.” 

“R-right,” you hum, “that’s when I was transferred from Sales to Finance.” 

“Correct. Kento wasn’t… super happy about it, but Takada sang your praise,” Haibara continues. “And I guess whatever you did truly changed something. Kento would never let anybody drop honorifics on him. The most I’ve ever seen him smile is with you. He’s noticeably more patient and willing with you than anybody else in our department– not even me!” 

You giggle weakly at his playful envy, “I think you’re giving me too much credit. We work closely together, so of course he’s going to be nice to me.” 

“Sure, but he’s never been open to being addressed casually,” Haibara argues, “he also always used to prefer eating by himself during his lunch time. He would have never let me leave early today. I could be on the floor dying, and he’d just tell me to suck it up and calculate numbers.” 

“It’s because you suck at your job, Yu,” you joke. 

“I do not!” 

“You totally do.” 

“Anyways!” He huffs. “Point is, you’re definitely different. He may not share the same feelings as you, but you’ve definitely left an impact on him.”

You let out a sigh. Haibara was right from the start, and truly, it wasn’t even Nanami’s fault. You broke your own heart the day you decided to pursue your crush on him. He’s infamous for being disinterested in anything besides work, and you’ve witnessed the proof since your transfer. Perhaps you looked beyond his consideration, seeing it through rose colored lenses. 

But if Haibara has noticed these changes in Nanami, then maybe you weren't just an assistant to him.

Don't bring your hopes up, though, chimed Haibara's voice in your head.

You lay on your back, an arm covering your eyes in embarrassment, “I’m so lame.” 

Haibara chuckles, “you’re not lame, don’t start with that–” 

You eye around your ceiling upon Haibara’s sudden silence. “Yu?” You chime. “Are you there?” 

“Let me call you back,” Haibara says before the call ends. You let the phone slide from your hold, your body melting deeper into your bed. It didn't fix your broken heart, but Haibara's words definitely lifted your spirits a bit.

Haibara's mischievous smile took center stage of his face. He pulled back his dark locks, leaning comfortably into the back of his seat. With both earbuds on, he accepted the video call coming from the man himself.

"Haibara," Nanami begins quietly. Haibara could tell he seemed a bit off, as he wasn't exactly looking at him but rather something else on the lower right of his screen. "I have a question."

"I may have an answer," Haibara replied, "what's up?"

"Has... Y/N recently addressed you differently?" Haibara's eyes widen from Nanami's hesitance in his question. His mind was quickly trying to put 2 and 2 together.

"Differently how?"

"As in, using your name with honorifics," Nanami spewed out, his voice still quite reticent.

"Man, Y/N hasn't used any honorifics since we met honestly," Haibara recounts, "so if recently means ages ago, then sure. What, did she address you as 'kacho'?"

"Yes, she did," Nanami immediately lets out, almost with a touch of torment in his tone. "This morning, before I let her take the rest of the day off, she called me kacho."

Haibara pressed his hand against his lips, trying desperately not to laugh. This is new. "I mean, she used to call you by that for a while when she first became your assistant, no? It's not shocking if she occasionally says it."

"She hasn't said it since her first month as my assistant," Nanami informs. "Why would she start saying it again after we've stopped?"

Haibara shrugs, with a grin threatening to dance at his lips, "who's to say? Did anything happen when you went over to her place yesterday?" Haibara knew, but he enjoyed toying with Nanami's aloofness.

"Nothing noteworthy, I'd say," Nanami begins, genuinely mindless. But his face then expresses a moment of pensiveness. "Well, we worked but she was surprisingly much more quieter than usual. She also didn't finish her breakfast, and went on the rest of the day without eating anything else. I even offered to buy her something."

"That's not like Y/N at all," Haibara comments in a murmur, "if it was me, she'd make me buy her breakfast, post-breakfast, pre-lunch, lunch, and dinner."

"What is post-breakfast?" Nanami asks with confusion in his furrowed brows. He was also curious about the depth of your relationship with Haibara, but that was for another time.

"I'm making a joke," Haibara whisks back to the conversation. "Did she address you as kacho yesterday?"

"No," Nanami quickly recalls, "in fact, she didn't really say my name much since I got to her house."

This is getting too good. Messing with Nanami like this is rare, and Haibara lives for it. "Does it bother you that she's been calling you kacho?" Haibara found himself sitting up straight when he noticed the uncomfortable look on Nanami's face. His question made Nanami feel unsettled for some reason.

"I don't think it bothers me per say," Nanami begins, his eyes still distantly looking elsewhere. "It's just a bit weird that she's been addressing me as such again. It came out of nowhere."

"You're literally her boss," Haibara pointed out dully, "just because you two are more casual doesn't eliminate the fact that you're the one who signs off her payroll."

"W-well, yes, but we've long established that we can be casual within our platonic work relationship," Nanami says in his matter-of-fact voice. "It feels as though our work relationship has changed a bit. It makes me wonder if it was a good idea to go to her house."

"Did you make a mess of her house?"

"No."

"Did you offend her?"

"I don't believe so."

"So why does it feel like it changed?" Haibara inquired strategically. He knew the answer, of course, as he was the first person you confided in. But fishing it out of Nanami would be more insightful, and more hilarious.

"Well, I..." Nanami begins, bringing a hand to the back of his head. "I may have mentioned something that I shouldn't have heard, nor repeated to anyone-- less so, to her."

"Hm?" Haibara hums for him to continue.

Nanami hesitates, but remembers that it's Haibara he was speaking to. His long time, childhood friend turned most trusted coworker. "I overheard two of our colleagues talk about Y/N... having certain feelings for me."

"What, like a crush?" Haibara helped him. Nanami finally meets Haibara's eyes and nods slowly. "Well, what did she say?"

"Well she concurred that it was just a silly rumor," Nanami coos, "it was extremely relieving to know that those rumors were not true at all. After that, we both got swept with work."

"Kento, you are the weirdest man I know," Haibara leans back in his seat again, resting his face in his hand. "Anyhow, better that she doesn't have feelings for you, right? Maybe they meant to say that she has a crush on someone else?"

"Oh no, they were very specific on the fact that she is my assistant, which would explain why she could have developed feelings for me," Nanami quickly defends. "Even then, who else would she have a crush on?"

"O-hoh! Cocky, are we?" Haibara blurts out. "Y'know, you're not the only bachelor in our department."

"Of course not," Nanami quickly remedies, "but I do believe that Y/N and I are very similar. We're both single and dedicate ourselves to work. I'm sure we both have the same view on dating coworkers, too."

"You two aren't the same person, though," Haibara points out. "You think she's like you, but you don't know that for certain. It's like accepting nobody's home without even trying to knock the front door."

"Quite the analogy," Nanami responds dully, "very profound."

"Listen, my point is you're accepting something as fact before you ask," Haibara urges, "what if she doesn't mind dating a coworker?"

"Then I'd be severely disappointed," Nanami puts simply, "she's bright. It would be a shame if she risks her career by pursuing love in our office."

"Who's to say?" Haibara mutters, giving up on the conversation. To argue with Nanami this early is to lose a few years in ones lifespan. "Lets not talk about this anymore, yeah? What was the reason for your call?" Haibara didn't want to admit it, but he was actually a bit annoyed by his friend.

"A-ah, right," Nanami exclaims, falling back into his usual sharp, calm demeanor. "It's to discuss our game plan for Monday, if you have the time to pencil this conversation in."

"Go on," Haibara sighs, giving him the green light. He didn't get everything he wanted to within this conversation, but it definitely gave him some insight in his dear friends mind. It was clear that you weren't just some person to Nanami. But to what extent was the mystery that Haibara was more than happy to figure out.

Taglist:

@blossomedfloweroflove @numblytemporary @everyoneandtheirmothers @animechick555 @inthedarkshadows000

@m-arj-1 @julk4e @hadassery @swoozleee @angxlsatvrn

@v1x3n @s-witch-bitch @furgusonn @watyousayin @thechaoticarchivist

@simp-manhwa @5sos-wdw @ffyona1214 @phantombaby @evangel44xxcds

@ukiyodestiny @jasminelee324 @eurydxceorphxus

[goodnightoilcountry]

don't overthink when you could be loving me - sebastian aho

summary: Your inadvertent friendship with some of the Canes players was not something you advertized in your day-to-day life. But an evening of Friday night drinks changes that when you find yourself trapped in the same bar with your co-workers and one love-struck Sebastian Aho who’s determined to make it known that you’re spoken for… well, tentatively that is. 

word count: 6.2k

author's note: one month in the making and i'm not even convinced that this is of any quality. but if i don't put it out now, i never will. i'm going to do another proofread but don't worry, if there are going to be any edits, it'll just be fixing up typos / grammar.

tag list: @kashee-h

You won’t lie. You weren’t always the biggest believer in keeping your personal life and work life separate. 

Despite the numerous warnings about how “your colleagues are not your friends”, you couldn’t help but merge the two words into a synonymous figure. By this point in your life, you could probably ballpark that half of your closest friends were acquired from the various roles you were appointed. You’ve always felt like you’ve lucked out in that department. 

The moment when your luck seemed to wear out was at your very first grad role. 

With a newly minted finance degree in one hand and just about $50,000 in the other, the bar wasn’t set particularly high in terms of quality for a grad role. So when you received the congratulatory phone call from human resources, you didn’t care about the questionably low pay or how weirdly vague your interviewers were about overtime practices, you were just happy to finally have something substantial splashed across your resume. 

Your first month wasn’t anything to write home about. As expected, everyone was cordial, you were given grunt work, and you would routinely eat tune rice and veg for lunch - something that was weirdly unique to the corporate world. 

Where the comfort flipped was the night that the firm hosted its annual Thank You Dinner. What was announced as a company event hosted by the executives to say thank you to its employees for their efforts was actually disguised as a night of debauchery at the expense of the firm’s bottom line - but you didn’t know that yet. 

So when a passing comment about the Canes turns into a full-blown conversation piece at your table, your wine-induced lips couldn’t help but let something slip. 

It’s not like you ran around advertising the fact that you were family friends with Seth Jarvis growing up. But hockey culture was thriving in Raleigh and moments where a mention of the Canes wasn’t thrown into the mix rarely occurred. 

More often than not, you were happy to pass on any unused tickets that Seth had reserved in your name every year. Of course, generally, nobody questions where the tickets came from the first time around - free tickets are free tickets. But by the fourth round? Who would still believe that you just accidentally purchased lower-bowl seats not knowing you already had plans? 

You would eventually let up that maybe you were better acquainted with the Canes than on just a last-name and number basis. And the reactions that followed usually panned out the same way. You’d receive looks that crossed between amazement and disbelief, followed by thirty minutes of inquisitioning, and then the excitement of the news would eventually fade before moving on to something salacious that had happened earlier that week. 

But the news of your affiliation that night was volatile. 

Suddenly, your tickets weren’t viewed as a generous offering but rather as a right. People in different departments whom you had never met started taking you out for lunches with a casual mention of how they hadn’t ever been to a live game; your boss expected you to give them up for the sake of appeasing potential clients; girls would invite you out with the hopes of them showing up to wherever you were. 

You handed in your resignation six months later. 

So when you signed your letter of offer for your new role, you made a silent promise to yourself to keep that portion of your life separate. So, you distanced yourself. 

Seth had noticed. He had known that you would occasionally give up your tickets when you knew you weren’t able to make a game. But as more and more weeks had passed, he had maybe seen your seats filled twice: once by a few of your closest girlfriends and the other was when your parents had come to town for a long weekend. 

Outings with him and the team became infrequent as you declined to attend any sort of public event that would bear the risk of you being caught out by your new colleagues. And when you were eventually questioned why, you simply excused that your new job had you locked down. 

The second person to notice your increasing absence was Sebastian. 

Since Seth’s rookie days, you had been, on more than several occasions, his plus one to team events. And over the years, you had gotten to know some of the younger members who were able to keep up with Seth’s redbull-fueled energy. That included Sebastian. 

The first time you had actually properly spoken to him was at a Canes charity gala. Seth and KK had been swept into a conversation by a few board members, leaving you to quietly people-watch from your assigned seat. 

****

“Refill?” 

You turned to find Sebastian with an arm extended out; a glass of champagne delicately sat between his fingers. You returned a grateful smile as he sat down in Seth’s seat. 

“You manage to avoid the noise fest?” you lightly poked, looking over at Seth where Andrei and Jack were now caught. 

He let out a laugh and shook his head while looking down, “I’ve definitely done my fair share of the sucking up.”

“You didn’t feel like joining your boyfriend?” 

You choked on your drink as soon as the assumption left his mouth. You couldn’t help but begin laughing as you coughed up a response, “Oh my god, no. Seth and I grew up together back home. Our parents were close friends.” 

His cheeks flushed red at the revelation. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed because you’ve come to a few of these things with him before and you’re at our games a lot,” he tried to reason as he rubbed the back of his neck to ease the embarrassment. 

You shook your head with the same amused donned across your face, “he’s really never mentioned that we grew together as kids?”

“I’m sure he’s mentioned it but it’s hard to catch everything he says. He talks… a lot.” 

You couldn’t help but giggle at the blunt statement. 

You had found it easy to talk to Sebastian. The conversation flowed seamlessly, from the standard questioning of each other’s jobs to the shared ache of missing home. Before you knew it, Seth had returned with a sheepish look on his face; apologetic for his disappearance but not missing the flash of disappointment across his teammate’s face when you said goodnight. 

After that, the trajectory of your relationship with Sebastian had shifted into something more. Sure, you both became closer as friends, growing comfortable in the presence of one another. But as time went on you couldn’t help but feel like the line between you two would occasionally go hazy; blurring completely on a night out following a hard-fought win. 

****

Every summer that comes around reminds you of how incomprehensible the energy can be in Raleigh. 

The city came alive as holidayers passed through, the nights drew out longer, and the cool drinks were more than welcome from people who were looking to escape the heat. Which is how you found yourself sitting at a beer hall three blocks from your office in downtown Raleigh.  

Unsurprisingly, the bar was packed on a Friday evening and you could only expect it to ramp up even more when your eyes fell on the sight of a band setting up stage for the night. 

“Here, grab these first and I’ll bring over the rest.”

Maddy slides over 3 glasses to you and pulls out her card to start a tab for the table. You met Maddy on your first day when you were doing the round with HR. They had introduced her as your “office buddy”, to which Maddy later rolled her eyes at and reassured you that she wouldn’t be as micro-managing as they had made it out to be. 

She took you to lunch and gave you her version of the onboarding special which basically involved giving you the run down of who you didn’t want to piss off if you ever wanted to be promoted. 

It wasn’t long before you both became each other’s go-to person at work when things went to shit and sometimes the occasional debrief session at Thursday wines where she updated you about how her dating life was tracking. 

You pull together the glasses and place them into a firm grasp between your hands before turning around to make a beeline for the table with Maddy trailing behind you. There are a few familiar faces from your team and some that you don’t think you’ve ever met before but you know that Maddy is a big fan of getting into the good graces of other departments. 

Your phone screen lights up before you can even take a sip from the glass causing you to divert your attention. 

Last weekend before we’re due back for pre-season training. Come out with us tonight? - Jarvy 

You feel a pang of guilt with the sudden reminder that Seth just unintentionally gave you. 

Your MIA-ness had begun a month before the playoffs started. Granted you still followed every game from the comfort of your home, but your continued in-person absence did not go unnoticed. Even more so after the 4-0 Conference Finals loss to the Panthers, where Sebastian wanted nothing more than to feel the comfort of your presence to ease the heartbreak. 

Instead, he had to settle for an “I’m sorry.” text. 

And in your defence, you had tried to see him when they returned home but the timing was never quite right as Sebastian took off for Finland a few weeks later as a last-minute guest for his cousin’s wedding. 

You were able to catch Seth a handful of times before he also took flight: Winnipeg for home, Chicago for Lollapalooza, and Cabo with KK and Svech from the look of his Instagram stories. 

He waved away your apologies and said he understood that you were flat out with work and that he hoped you weren’t working yourself too hard. All you could do was return a meek smile and be thankful that he didn’t press about it further. 

Your fingers hovered over the keyboard, trying to rack your brain for an excuse that wouldn’t leave any room for further persuasion. 

Sorry :( feeling too run down from the week. Next time though! 

You take one more look at your phone as Seth sends you the ‘Boo, You Whore!’ gif from Mean Girls, causing you to crack a small smile. 

“Better offer somewhere else?” 

Your head snaps up and meets the eyes of one of the unfamiliar faces sitting across you. 

“I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Charlie, I just joined the legal counsel,” he offers with a smile. And it’s a pretty damn good smile too.

You’re quickly swept up into a conversation with Charlie. You learn that he recently relocated from Boston, he has a labrador named Ollie, and that he’s heard of a fantastic restaurant down the road that he’s been “dying” to check out with someone. That last part is followed with a mischievous glint in his eyes.  

He’s not bad-looking, you’ll give him that much. Maybe a year ago he would have been your type. But lately, you’ve seemed to turn away from the sharp jawlines and blue eyes, and instead look for softer and warmer features with maybe a small scar carved into the bottom of their lip...

Wait, what? 

You shake the thought out of your head and instead focus back on Charlie’s current story: some embarrassing run-in with your boss, on his first day. 

You’re shaking from laughter at this point, “No way! Did she say anything to you later on?” 

Charlie grins as he places his head in his hands, “Yeah, it was such a shame job. When I got my first official meeting with her, it was-” 

You watch him trail off as his eyes dart to look at you. No, not at you. Behind you? 

“Well, well, well. Feeling better, eh?” 

You recognize that shit-eating tone anywhere. 

“Oh Jesus Christ,” you mutter under your breath. You turn around and find Seth smirking down at you like he’s found a deer in the headlights. 

“Must have been a pretty quick recovery considering you were sick only two hours ago,” he derides, sliding into the empty spot next to you. You’ve only just realized that your whole table is now empty besides you and Charlie. A quick whip around tells you that they’ve all moved to the nearby pool tables. 

“Seth,” you say calmly, “what are you doing here?” 

“I told you. Last weekend before practice starts.” 

“Yeah, but you don’t even like it here. I’ve literally heard you call it the worst bar in the world,” you argue back.

Seth’s about to open his mouth for some quick retaliation but Charlie beats him to it. 

“You’re Seth Jarvis,” he says. The look he gives is nothing short of bewilderment as he puts together that Seth Jarvis knows you. 

“Hey man, how you doing? Always nice to meet a fan,” Seth nods with an outstretched hand to Charlie. 

Charlie slowly shakes his hand, still reeling in from the newfound piece of information he’s just learned. “Oh, well I’m from Boston so not exactly a fan of you.” 

Seriously? Who even says something like that? 

You refuse to meet Seth’s side eye in an attempt to dodge the embarrassment you feel from Charlie’s unwarranted dig. He’s unsure how to respond to the hostility but the moment of awkwardness is cleared by a second voice appearing. 

“Jarvy, Burnsie found a table outside - let’s go...”

Your head snaps towards the voice and you find Sebastian looking right back. He’s taken aback and stumbles on his words for a second but recomposes himself just as quickly. 

“Hey, where have you b-,” he begins to step forward but falters as his eyes properly assess the scene before him. You and Charlie. Together. Alone. 

“Oh. Are you in the middle of something?” he hesitates, flickering between you and Charlie; unsure of what to make of the situation. 

Your eyes widen slightly before clearing your throat, “Oh, um no. This is Charlie. He recently moved to our office from Boston.” 

God, you feel so small right now. Here you were, seeing Sebastian for the first time in months and you can’t even muster up the courage to properly say hello. 

“Well, we’re gonna go back to our table. Find us at some point, yeah?” 

Seth gives Charlie a final cautious look before he pats Sebastian on the back, guiding them both to a table on the veranda. 

The rest of your group comes flooding back to the table having witnessed the sight unfold from afar. If Charlie keeps his mouth shut, surely you can play it off as a lucky fan interaction?

“Holy shit! Do you know who they were? Tell me you do because I will seriously freak if you tell me you don’t know,” Maddy furiously whispers with wide eyes. 

“I don’t know, Maddy. Seemed like she’s more than well-acquainted by the look on Aho’s face,” Charlie said dryly, bringing a bottle to his lips with a raised eyebrow. 

You’re a bit taken aback by his insinuation. 

“Um, Seth and I grew up together back home,” you slowly let out, “it was just a coincidence that we both ended up in Raleigh.” 

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you’re friends with Seth Jarvis? Are you kidding me? You’ve only heard me talk about the Canes like a thousand times,” she gapes at you with an incredulous look. 

Here we go. 

The rest of your group wasn’t privy to your admission, being too caught up with the sight of the team being mere yards away from them. 

“Look, I don’t know. I just don’t like using his name like that. It makes me feel gross.” you sigh, rubbing your arms. 

“I’d just rather we drop it. Please?” 

You shoot her a look to which Maddy softens; understanding that the topic has hit a bit of a sore spot for you. 

“Okay yeah, of course. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.” 

The mass intrigue of the boys’ presence soon dies off as people slowly realize that they’re about as interesting to watch drinking as the next table is. Conversations resume back to normal and you try your best to feign interest but the knowledge that he’s the closest that you guys have been in months won’t leave you alone. 

So twenty more minutes pass by and you’re ready to throw in the towel. You’ve decided that you’ll deal with the situation another day - preferably when you can string together a proper sentence. After a quick goodbye and the promise of a home-safe text to Maddy, you gather your things and start making headway for the exit. 

The weakness in you can’t help but take one final look at Sebastian before you step out for the night but he’s beaten you to it. His eyes are already fixed on you with the same look you had become all too familiar with. 

****

Saturday night. Seth’s Birthday. Shut-out win over Vegas. No game scheduled until Wednesday. 

Individually, they’re considered lawfully good events. Combined? It’s as if someone was testing to see if Carolina even knew the definition of chaos. And when have they ever backed down from a challenge? 

You let out a huff of air as you fall back into the booth. You had finally managed to escape Seth and Jesperi from the dance floor. If there was ever a case to be made about the negative long-term effects of Redbull, those two were it. 

“Oh my god, how were you even out there for that long?” 

Martin’s girlfriend, Nykki, opens up her arm and lets you lean in. Her leather jacket is a cool contrast to your warm and flushed body. 

“Don’t let them take me again,” you whine as the ache in your feet comes flooding in. She giggles and affectionately pats your head. 

Your eyes skim over the crowd, taking count of where everyone was. Brady, Kuzy and Martin by the bar. Andrei, Jack and Pyotr occupied with a group of girls. Seth and Jesperi still unabashedly dancing but now sporting a pair of shades that you had a sneaky suspicion they found on the floor. As if your eyes knew before your brain, they’re scanning the room again to find what’s missing. 

“He stepped away to the bathroom.” 

Your eyes tear away from the crowd and you sit yourself up, pulling the closest drink to your lips to avoid the direction Nykki is heading.

“He was watching you all night, you know? Didn’t listen to a damn thing I said,” she nudges with a knowing smirk. You didn’t think it was possible for your face to heat up anymore. Your continued silence doesn’t deter Nykki though as she decides that she will get you to admit something that you’re not even sure you’re ready to admit to yourself. 

“Why are you both dancing around this? It’s obvious that he likes you. And maybe you won’t ever admit it to me but I can tell that you like him,” Nykki softens, acutely aware that Sebastian could return to the booth at any moment. 

“Do you…” you hesitate, swirling the remnants of your drink in the glass. “Do you ever feel like you’re too exposed sometimes?” 

She furrows her brows, “What do you mean?” 

“There’s this thing that happens, and maybe it’s not often but it happens, where people expect things just because of who you know.

And if it’s true for just simply being friends with Seth, will it be worse if you’re involved with them?” 

“A hockey player definitely wasn’t my first choice,” she says after a moment. “And maybe I wish I knew what it would have meant to be with him.” 

“But,” she quickly recovers, watching your expression fall, “I wouldn’t change anything. It’s not about the world that he can offer me like everyone thinks it is. It’s how he always shows up for me, even when he’s 3000 miles away. It’s those private moments that are enough to make me forget the world is watching us.”

You catch the glowing adoration that’s etched into her face when she gazes across the room, watching her boyfriend laughing with Brady. You’re so wrapped up in ruminating over Nykki’s words that you almost don’t feel the way the cushion sinks next to you. 

“Are you done with that?” 

Sebastian’s voice grounds you back to reality. “Oh, I am but I’ll get another soon.” 

Before you can stop him, he slides back out of the booth again and flags down a bartender. And Nykki doesn’t take a beat to do the same, “I think I’ll join the others,” sending you a small wink. 

Sebastian slides back in setting down three glasses, two for you and one for him. “I thought you’d want some water too. Jarvy didn’t look like he was going to let you leave at any point,” he offers with a smile. 

You let out a laugh and shake your head, “The trick is to run the second he turns his back. Trust me, works every time.” 

“Did you have fun tonight?”

“Me? What about you? 3 assists and a goal? Surely that’s what we’re really celebrating tonight,” you whistle as you twirl the straw between your fingers. 

You don’t miss the way he almost immediately shies up, turning away with the crack of a smile threatening to take over.

“I couldn’t have done it without the guys, they make all of it happen,” he notions. 

You roll your eyes immediately, “I forget how well media-trained you guys are sometimes.” 

“You should be able to enjoy your successes. It’s not about the other guys not being talented, it’s about being able to reflect on how far you’ve come. All of this is the culmination of your dedication, Sebastian. It’s important to remember that.” 

The silence he returns suddenly fills you with regret. Did you say too much? Was it even your place to say anything at all? You need to backpeddle. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have -” you sigh, pushing away your drink. 

“No,” he quickly cuts, “I guess I’ve just never thought about it like that. But it does feel good to hear it.” 

“I like having you at our games” he smiles. “You know you’re part of my warm-up routine?” 

“I am?” 

“Yeah, I play this little game where I try to spell people’s names as fast as I can with the puck. I tried yours once and we won, so I did it the next night and we won again. Now I do it every game to put a little luck into the ice.”

Fuck. His confession renders you speechless. If there were any more doubts about your feelings for Sebastian, they were well and truly effaced now. And suddenly you gain a partial understanding of what Nykki meant. For every game, whether you’re there or not, Sebastian carves a part of you into it. 

You swallow, giving yourself a moment to recollect. “I didn’t think that I was such a game changer,” you softly let out.

You’re not exactly sure when or how it happened but you notice the proximity between you two has significantly lessened. And the arm he has strewn behind you on the top cap suddenly feels misplaced - like they would feel more at home around you. 

And for a brief moment - between the silence you’re both too afraid to break - his eyes break away from yours and flick towards your lips.

He inches closer, “You are… everything.” 

Your breath hitches. Before you can even stop yourself, your hand rests against his neck, gently pulling him in and Sebastian is more than willing to follow. This is it. 

“Guys! KK said his friend can get us into this new club!” 

Your eyes close shut and your hand drops down Sebastian. An agitated sigh leaves him as he reluctantly pulls back. You both look at each other, still caught in the moment that’s now fleed at the sound of Seth’s voice. 

Seth shakes Sebastian, forcing him to break away from your gaze. 

“Did you hear me? KK’s calling us an Uber,” Seth bounces. Not a beat later, Nykki appears and attempts to forcefully pull him away. But it’s Seth. And of course, rightfully so, he wants two of his best friends to come with. 

You quickly down the rest of your drink and step out of the booth, not wanting to bask in the awkwardness any longer. As you step outside, the chill of the wind grounds you back into reality, and you instinctively wrap your hands around your arms. In the peripheral of your vision, you see Nykki rush towards you. 

“I’m so sorry. I tried to grab onto him but he just moved so quickly.” 

You return a small smile, “It’s fine. Really.” 

You link arms with her and she guides you to the Uber that Martin is standing by with the door open. As Nykki climbs in, you turn your head and find Sebastian watching. 

He almost looks hopeful that you’ll follow him. That you’ll both leave the mess of the group behind and find solitude someplace else.

But you don’t. 

Instead, you give a small shake of your head and follow Nykki, with Martin firmly closing the door behind you. 

****

In the years you’ve watched Seth play in Raleigh, you’ve never once seen a game from the suite before. 

But the Monday morning after your run-in with the group, you find yourself opening a calendar invite from your boss to the first home game of the season with a few key clients. So now, you’re perched by the glass, watching the spotlights dancing around the ice and the crowds of people getting settled in for the night. 

“You know we’re meant to be chatting up the clients, right?” 

Of course, Charlie managed to be invited too. 

“I still haven’t been able to swing by that new restaurant I was telling you about. Could be fun to check it out afterwards,” he says, looking out towards the rink. 

“Thanks, Charlie but I think I’m just going to head home the game’s done,” you respond dryly.

He cocks his head with a raised brow, “You know they organized a meet and greet after the game right? The whole reason why we’re here is because the CEO’s son is a huge fan.” 

You don’t love the way your body freezes up at the newly shared information. You appreciated that your friendship with the team hadn’t made it past Maddy and Charlie’s lips, but you weren’t confident that would stay the same after tonight. And that’s the only thing that runs through your mind through all three periods. You can barely converse with the clients as you’re half-distracted by the get-away plan that you’re attempting to draw out in your mind, and it leaves your boss shooting you looks of “get your shit together”. 

The horn sounds off as soon as the clock hits zero. It’s evident that you’re not getting out of this and the only prayer you have left is that the players who join you are the younger rookies who have little to no idea who you are. But you know the chances of that are slim to none. 

You try to push away the anxiousness by listening to a conversation between your boss, Charlie, and the client. 

“All I’m saying is that the reason Boston didn’t make it past the first round was because of how shit some of the calls were against them,” Charlie rambles, oblivious to the unimpressed faces. 

The door of the suite swings open and you find Jordan, Brady, and Sebastian filing in. They’ve all clearly come straight from the showers, still dripping droplets of water from their hair onto the floor. They make their way around the room and shake everyone’s hands, thanking them for their support. Brady is the first to spot you as he gives you a surprised look followed by a welcoming smile. But he reads the panic in your eyes and - being classically perceptive - nods in understanding. 

It doesn’t take another second to pass for Sebastian to register your appearance and amongst the earlier crowding, you’re only now able to fully take in the way he’s dressed. His compression shirt sculpts against him, with the soft lines of his muscles pressing against the fabric. Shorts barely hanging loose against his thighs. A backwards cap sported to tie it all off. It’s enough to make you want to break your silent promise. 

Your eyes can’t help but fixate on him the entire time they circulate with everyone in the room. And while Sebastian tries his damn hardest to remain polite and focus on the conversation at hand, he can’t help but flicker his eyes towards you, making sure you won’t disappear on him again. 

“Thank you so much for your time. We won’t keep you guys any longer, but best of luck with the season ahead. Bring one home for us, hey?” your boss beams. Everyone else has headed home, leaving just you and Charlie waiting for your boss to let you go. 

“Goodnight guys. I’ll see you Monday.” 

And with that, it’s just the five of you left in the suite with a few people on the Hurricanes team off to the side. 

“Well, we better get going if we want to make it to that restaurant,” Charlie says turning towards you. 

Sebastian tenses at this and you see the way Jordan and Brady shoot each other a look. 

“I said I’m going home, Charlie.” You’re shutting this down. 

“I’ll give you a lift then,” he presses. 

Before you can open your mouth to counteract, Sebastian interjects, “You’re not far off from my place, I’ll take you.” 

“Yes, please!”

You’d be embarrassed with how quick you are to jump at his offer if it weren’t for the fact that you so desperately wanted to avoid being confined in a car with Charlie. 

“Thanks bro, but we’ve got it from here.” 

“Actually, I don’t think you do, bro.” 

Charlie looks between you two. Growing annoyed at the situation, he grabs his coat and retreats out of the suit. “Whatever. See you Monday.” 

A sigh leaves your lips and you don’t realize how taut your body is until it eases under the feeling of Sebastian's hand on your shoulder. 

“You guys all good if we take off?” Brady asks, expectedly. Sebastian nods and you all bid goodnight. 

“I just have to grab my things but if you’re tired I can just come back for them tomorrow,” he offers, as Brady and Jordan make their way out. 

You shake your head, “I can hold on, you’re doing me the favour.” 

It doesn’t take long to get back to the locker room, and you can’t help but think about how good he looks when he emerges with his hockey bag hung over one shoulder and a garment bag thrown over the other. 

As you lean against the passenger door, waiting for him to throw his things into the boot, you can’t help but start to grow nervous at the realisation that Sebastian may want to talk about that night. But your nervousness is cut short by Sebastian moving in front of you with a small disc in his hand. 

A puck. 

He looks down at it, fiddling with it between his hands, “It’s from the warm-up. I thought you might like it.”

It’s the puck.  

Your mouth falls open slightly, as you gingerly take it, as if you’re afraid it’ll break if you handle it too hard. 

“I can’t believe you still do that,” you breathe, turning it over, feeling the ridges where the ice has chipped the edges. 

“Of course I do. It changes the game.” 

Your eyes dart up at his choice of words - he remembers. 

“Why did you stop seeing us?” he puts forward. 

You sigh and lean back against the car, turning your head away. 

“Was it because of that night at Jarvy’s birthday? Did you not want to…” he trails off. Even he’s not sure what that night was meant to be. 

“This world that you’re in Sebastian, I just don’t know if it’s for me.”

“I know that we’re away a lot but I-” 

“It’s not that,” you quickly cut off. He returns a confused look and you know, as his eyes search you for an answer, that you owe him this explanation. 

“Before you came back to the table, I was talking to Nykki about how difficult it can get to be involved with a hockey player.” 

“But you’re already involved with us? You were friends with Seth already” he presses.  

“And look where it got me last time. I was forced to leave a job after six months because all anyone cared about was being closer to the Canes than me,” you lamented. 

“I just don’t want to spend the rest of my life feeling like I’m second to the person I’m with; I want to feel equal to them. I want to know who is genuinely trying to be my friend. I want to exist outside of my relationship. I don’t want to have to hide in public because I’m scared to run into people from work.” 

You close your eyes, feeling exhausted by the flood of words leaving your mouth, and you half-expect Sebastian to get into his car and drive off. 

“I didn’t know.” 

You nod in understanding. How could you expect him to know? 

“I would never put you in a position where you wouldn’t feel safe,” he says softly.

“But if that’s what you really want, we can move on from everything. But I need you to know how I feel first.” His hand wraps around the side of your jaw and pulls your gaze towards him. 

“I wanted to know you the moment Seth pointed you out our game for the first time. And then we spoke at the charity gala and I only wanted to know you even more. And then you were around us more, and I got to know you beyond just being Seth’s friend. And what I know I know is that you’re smarter than you let on but you’re still kind. You’ve remained so grounded that you see me as more than just this job. You make me think more deeply than I ever have with anyone else and I don’t want to go back to a life before I had that.” 

You don’t know whether to cry or charge forward. Because after the endless rounds of almosts and what-ifs, you’ve finally caught each other. And the confessions that pour from his mouth left you knowing one thing for certain: you had both waited long enough.

And for the second time, you bring his neck down and finally close the gap between the two of you. Sebastian presses you against the car with his hand wrapping up to rest on the back of your neck, his lips deepening against yours. You never doubted it but his arms feel secure around you, afraid to let go and let the moment be over. 

But you pull away just long enough to let out a murmur, “Take me home, Sebastian” 

****

Six gruelling months pass by and you find yourself at a potential playoff-clinching game with your colleagues. 

Granted your relationship with Sebastian was still very much under wraps, but you had learned to navigate your feelings of discomfort towards the publicity of his job. Sebastian had accommodated your cautiousness. Careful to never spend too long in your section during a pre-game warm up. Made sure to drive around the quiet side of the arena to pick you up afterwards. He had never pushed you to do more than you needed to. 

But even though he’d never tell you, you know he’s quietly envious of the way the guys can openly skate with their partner at family skates. Or how they can sit and openly touch at company events. He had afforded you comfort at the expense of his wants. You wanted him to have more than this. And more importantly, you wanted to show him that you wanted more. 

So when the buzzer sounds off and the Canes skate away with another return to the Stanely Cup Playoffs, you can’t help but let go of the discontentment you have about being found out. So before you even know it, you find yourself moving towards the ice where Sebastian is wrapping up his post-game interview, ignoring the calls of Maddy asking where you’re going. 

And when you reach the board that separates you and your boyfriend, he doesn’t hesitate to skate over, collecting a puck from the equipment manager on the way. 

“Always nice to meet a fan,” he winks, offering his pre-game puck. 

You grin, pulling him forward by his jersey, “I appreciate it but I’ve gotta tell you that I’ve got a boyfriend.” 

His eyes melt at the sound of your public announcement and he catches your lips against his, “I love you so damn much.”

[paradise-10]

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