#and then trying to use the right key words to scare a customer service person to actually escalate it to a developer

[stumpyjoepete]

There's an old programmer proverb, "Everybody has a testing environment. Some people are lucky enough enough to have a totally separate environment to run production in."

So yeah, you probably do want a separate production and test environment. And the test environment should be realistic, so your tests tell you something about production. But it shouldn't be too realistic. For instance, you don't want to accidentally charge people's credit cards for real during tests.

So yeah, you probably don't want the actual payments to go through in your test site. And real products shouldn't ship when orders are made on the test site. But you still have to be careful about the separation. For instance, you don't want to accidentally leave the test site accessible to the public.

And you really don't want to accidentally paste links to your test environment into a google ad campaign, thereby paying money to trick willing customers into making fake orders with real confirmation emails, that redirect them to paypal and all that jazz but nonetheless fail to charge them or send them orders.

All this is to say, I have recently been doing some uncompensated labor helping a company to debug how exactly they fucked up my wife's birthday present.

[gwydionmisha]

Personal: Transness and Physio

Wednesday I was at physio as is generally the case on Wednesdays this physio cycle. (Current goals: Arm unsupported above my shoulder prolonged to the front at all to the side, Undoing damage from the wrong sling the first two weeks of healing, and strength building). My main pre-op physio had a free moment and stopped over to check on my between patients.

Him: How are you doing?

Me, cheekily: ready for this to be over.

Physios *laugh*

He turned to ask my physio for more detailed info. Which involved pronouns. Look, my pronouns are on file. My prefered name is unfailingly used by staff in this facility and all the healthcare settings I routinely used for… most of a decade or something like that. I used to have to pioneer a lot of health care providers, including Poverty clinic (second trans patient getting trans related health care there, back when there was one ignorant and low key transphobic provider, but it was far better than the extremely transphobic endocrinologist who wasn't taking new patients anyway so everyone had to trek down to seattle for everything), and just about every specialist I saw for years and years, often with people for whom English was a second language who were flat out confused my my medical charts.

For the record, once word spread (and trans provider word spread FAST on the trans grapevine) and Poverty clinic got deluged by desperate poor people who flat out couldn't afford 150-300 per health apointment and a whole day of travel, a second super cool doctor self educated and started taking patients. Within a year or two the whole staff had training. A couple years later they did a big survey, flat out changed the name of the clinic so as not to scare trans people, added prefered name/pronouns/gender to all forms and are a makor provider for two counties, providing an ever expanding range of care. Poverty clinic's main population had been HIV, kids who's parents couldn't afford health insurance, and unhoused. They are so much more now, and my whole reason is the better for it, because a whole lot of other practices got better and new services opened up all over the western part of my state to deal with demand that having two cities with trans heallthcare drew to the reagon. (A whole lot of other places have safe clinmics now and if you are in a blue county, you are likely okay to be fairly open. People can live in cheaper towns and cities and still have care a reasonable drive or bus away. It absolutely wasn't the case fifteen years ago. For some things the choices were seattle, san franscisco, and that one city in colorado. For hormones and trans friendly psychiatry it was only slightly better.) I am incredably proud of all the medical practices I pioneered and made safe for other people.

Thing is though, it's still not perfect. I'm pretty relaxed about pronouns, but where people are super careful about names, some people are waaaay better at pronouns than others. I bowl down the middle on purpose, in non-medical customer service settings, people take their best guess and I don't make a fuss unless someone else does or is obnoxious or I get duling customer service people who are in conflict and each sure they are right (Which is hilarious, but I consider it polite to step in at that point). I will back up a child if their parent corrects them to the wrong thing. I will happily give pronouns when a polite person asks.

In medical settings outside of places trying really hard to get it right like Poverty clinic or weirdly the Christian Hospital, people mess up pronouns about a third of the time. I think the masks make it more confusing for them and I am always in a mask in a medical setting unless I need to take it off for a medical thing.

The room in the physio clinic where I go, it is pretty much middle aged straight guy therapists (There's a woman sometimes and a younger guy I see doing legs now and then, but mostly it is middle aged straight guys who look like gym teachers. Guys like my late Uncle when I was growing up who was also a physio). Trans stuff doesn't come up. I spend the entire session working one on one with these guys, so while names get used now and then the pronouns are all 1st and 2nd person, you follow? There is enough conversation that I'm pretty sure none of the three guys who've worked on my arm are MAGAS. I peg them as likely democrats, but where on that spectrum? No fucking clue. They are all good guys and good physios. I do not know their stance on right to pee, you follow?

So the most classically straight ex-college athlete guy turns to the very gentle, very pacific northwesty type married with children postsurgical guy (I have no idea how to describe this type of northwest guy to someone who's never been here, but if you have it's really obvious. Loves being out in nature and likely has nature based hobbies. Cares about feminism and the environment in a genuine way. Relaxed about their masculinity and masculinity in general, so are usually some degree of queer friendly. Other stuff. It's hard to explain, but trust me. If you live here, you will meet a lot of this kind of guy. The two people I had my longest relationships with were this kind of PNW guy. I dated a bunch more. ), who is currently super slowly and gently stretching my arm, and asks him more technical stuff about my progress because he was worried I hadn't put on quite enough muscle before surgery.

This involved pronouns. Get this: THEY WERE THE CORRECT PRONOUNS. Both guys used correct pronouns. They also included me in the conversation. Bravo, Physio Dudes! Seriously, I had no idea how that was going to go when the pre-op guy opened his moth and it was A+.

[dapper-shipping-forever]

I wanted to write a lil thing about my C.araval s/i. Please remember I haven't finished C.araval and my knowledge of the universe isn't like full, but I started thinking of this scene and wanted to write it out. It's basically me exploring her powers and her character; subject to change as I read this series.

---

The young girl was nervous, though Gillian hardly thought she'd done something to earn such fear. Reputations can proceed someone and often become somewhat exaggerated, she knew.

"Why not tell me exactly why you sought me?" She prodded. Gentle and soft, encouraging the girl and trying not to scare her further.

She wasn't meeting Gill's eyes. Her hands fisted in her simple dress's skirt, constantly bunching the light brown fabric. She spoke carefully. "You can tell people if the person they love loves them in return?" She asked her.

Her smile widened: Gill'd already guessed thats why she'd come to her. "That I can. You've fallen in love, it would seem." She leans into the velvet seat, just a spot away from her apparent customer. The theater they met in was empty, not a single performer shinning on stage, a technician creating wonders backstage, or audience member to view them; just two women conversing in the quiet balcony looking high above it all. The Muse was welcome anywhere creativity was praised.

She blushes, her cheeks turning pink; she wasn't adept at masking her thoughts at all. "Yes, I have. I just, I love him a lot and I want to confess, but it terrifies me he may not feel the same as me; if I tell him I love him and he rejects me, he'd probably never want to be around me again." Her voice quickens as the words tumble from her throat, anxiety loosening her hesitant lips.

"And now what you seek is some assurance? Something to eliminate the gamble?" The Muse watches the girl; young and innocent though Gill may seem, may she never be called unaware. She's learned, with awareness behind her eyes more ancient than she appeared, how to view others in a manner to read what they refuse to say. She knew this girl, though this was their first meeting; fretful and shy, but full of sweet love and a hunger for something exciting.

The girl looked at her face for the first time since seeking her assistance and that spark of greed for the knowledge she held, the key to her 'happily ever after', was evident. It's endearing, and she's never been one to turn away someone trying to grasp their passion with all their strength.

"That's the gist of it." She tries to laugh, though it's a bit strained. Her eyes flick around the theater, dancing off ornate walls. The theater is almost eerily quiet with no patrons bringing their own spark. "I know that, that this kind of stuff has a price; I can pay it, whatever you charge."

The Muse settles her cheek on her hand, one leg crossed on the other beneath her flowing dress. "I have a pretty simple price for this service, nothing that would break the bank." She holds aloft one finger, and the girl pales and waits to see the cost of this magic answer. "I ask that you tell me what love feels like for you."

The girl stares blankly back at her, not entirely sure she'd heard right by her dazed expression. "You want to know how love feels to me?"

Gill hums. "Yeah, that's my price. The more details, the better." She scoots forward, like they're gossiping in confidence about their scandalous crushes. 

Now the girl looks unsure again. "Well, I'm not sure where to begin. Being in love feels, nice? It's nice." She tried, shrinking inward as she knows that's not enough to satisfy the Muse and the price she marked. She shifts, sitting straighter, eyes on her scuffed slippers. "It makes me happy. Everytime I see him, it's like there's some warm and bubbling spring overflowing inside my body. I think about excuses to walk by him and get that feeling whenever he's out of sight. I changed the route I use to walk around town just to stop by his house, because he is always outside in the evening and makes time to stop to chat with me. And that makes me feel like I'm special, despite how small a gesture it sounds; it's like I'm sparkling and the affection is going to just spill right out if I'm not watching for it." She's smiling sheepishly, wider the longer she speaks; her shoulders rise around her face as she embodies the look of a beautiful girl in love. "Love is wonderful. I could do almost anything just to see him happy too. The only thing that scares me is saying it outloud, because I couldn't take it back; I'm worried the things we've got right now are as fragile as glass and my confession could either strengthen or shatter them. But, the reward could be everything to me, it could bring us closer than we've been; I want that." She chews at her cheek thoughtfully.

The Muse listens. As she talks about her love, she can hear the soft melody of love increasing into crescendo, an orchestra of devotion. She heaves a longing sigh, nodding to herself when the girl is done talking. "That works, I would say. You've payed, now I can give you that answer. Give me your arm, we shall see if your love is reciprocated." When the girl hesitantly extends her arm, the Muse reaches inside her pocket and pulls out a little ink jar and a, possibly too, ornate pen. She dips the pen into the thick, dark ink and begins to draw on the girl. Holding her forearm in one hand and the pen in the other, she paints an intricate, shockingly for how quick she draws, rose on her. And when it's completed, it is no longer simply realistic. It is real. The girl sucks in a breath, feeling the ink move. The rose blossoms on a sturdy green stem, petals deep cherry red and glistening as it stands tall. Attached to the girl's arm, this rose is nourished by her inspiring tale of passion. "Pluck the petals; the flower can't lie when it tells you if he loves you in return."

The girl breathes in and breathes out, steadying her emotions. Hesitant, perhaps frightened of the flower attached to her forearm, she slowly pinches one petal. She plucks it, then another. "He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not." She plucks each petal, one by one, all accompanied by a statement. "He loves me, he loves me not." Petals litter the area. Finally, there's only a single petal to be plucked. The girl holds the gleaming petal in between her pointer finger and her thumb, staring awestruck at the piece. "He loves me?" She peeks at the Muse.

She smiles back. "He loves you." Gill softly confirms.

The girl beams, smile unburdened. She looks like she wants to hug the petal. The rose disappears from her arm, leaving it clean. "Thank you, madame Muse ! Now I have the confidence to confess !" She stands in a hurry, hastily bowing to her. "Please, excuse me; I must tell him !" 

Gill waves her hand, the girl rushing out of the theater. She watches her figure leave. The theater is silent.

Petals sit on the floor, red on dark carpet. Gill grabs one, holding it aloft and gazing thoughtfully at it. The girl had payed the price she'd asked, and Gill accepted it. Love, what a unique feeling. Everybody describes it entirely differently, nobody feels it exactly like the others. Unique as a thousand different paintings on a thousand different canvases.

Gill watches the petal in her hand. The petal begins returning to ink, dark droplets flowing in lines along her hand. Droplets drip to the ground with barely a sound, just faint, wet plops as they touch carpet.

The Muse covets love, treasures tales of the emotion. Love is one of the greatest sources of inspiration, feeding epic stories and gorgeous artistic creations always. She's devoured those creations with great frenzy. Those stories, seeing those who are in love, makes her eyes fill with light and longing.

She wonders, while those two, the boy and the girl, are currently mutually in love, how it may be shaped. If their love would stay. Would he perhaps stop loving her? Would she chase him, desire him, stop at nothing to fulfill her desire as all with great passion strive for? Would her love prove false, her love song turning into soured notes, if she stopped loving the boy? But the love holds strong now.

Something twists, a bitter feeling. Roiling jealousy inside of her.

The melodies of love ring in her ear. She eyes the pristine piano sitting offstage. She always asks the same price. She only wants to compose the symphonies of love from those who come asking to know about the object of their feelings. Because then she can take them, play those soaring notes and for the briefest of songs imagine she feels their love as her own. But she isn't. She can't feel it. Not like humans, not now. And it burns her in scorching madness.

To be incapable of feeling the thing she longs for, it is enough to drive somebody mad. Those pretty little songs may be the closest she can reach to feeling it. The Fallen Star was cruel that way.

She eyes the decorations on the walls on the sides of the stage. The large replicas of the familiar theater masks watch the auditorium like guardians. The masks sit, and she watches them. The smiling one seems to mock her inability to feel the emotion that skillfully evades her grip.

She sighs, putting frustration now aside. She wipes her hands quickly together, just smearing ink on both palms. Standing, she starts walking out of the space. Her hands glides on the golden banister, trailing ink behind her on each step.

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

After All

Character: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Just because Bucky pushed her away doesn’t mean he knows how to let go.

Word Count: 2,100 - One Shot

She looked beautiful. Too beautiful. Bucky didn’t know why she put in such an effort for this schmuck. She didn’t need to put in any effort at all to be beautiful. And if some guy didn’t know that, then he didn’t deserve her. 

The bar had giant windows with no curtains or treatments to hide its patrons from outside observation. They did it on purpose, to hypnotize the people walking by and pull them into the romantic and dark lighting…and overpriced cocktails. 

But Bucky didn’t just notice how beautiful Y/N looked. He could also see how bored she was. Her smile was forced. He could almost hear exactly what her voice sounded like as she talked to him. Bucky would tease her about it, always knowing when she was being polite but wanted to find an out from a conversation as soon as possible. She called it her “customer service voice.”

She was probably smarter than him, Bucky thought. She was smarter than most people – maybe not Stark or Shuri, but she had her own genius that neither of those two possessed.

The only thing that could possibly make the people on the street notice Bucky’s lingering was the white vapor that appeared from his mouth every time he sighed. Which he seemed to be doing every time he noticed another piece of body language from Y/N that further proved her disinterest in this man.

It was cold, making everyone hurry to their destination, not paying him any mind. But Bucky didn’t feel the weather’s coldness anymore. Once you spend a lifetime frozen, nothing really compares.

Bucky stood up straighter when the two started making their way out of the fancy bar.

Y/N shifted her weight, not sure what the man’s next move was going to be.

He awkwardly went in for a hug.

She gave another one of her fake smiles, said her goodbyes, and started walking away.

“Not even gonna get her a cab or walk her home, you bastard?” Bucky breathed with irritation.

Men these days. Him and Steve still didn’t get it.

But he figured Y/N was glad to be done with him.

Bucky walked in the shadows of night as he kept his distance behind her. They were only a few avenues away from her apartment.

But he swore she was walking slower than usual. Like she was trying to make the journey home longer.

When they finally reached the stoop of her building, she took the steps slowly. But instead of putting her keys into the lock, she just stared at the door for a moment.

What was she thinking about? Bucky wondered.

Then Y/N quickly turned around and skipped down the stairs. She hurried across the street and made her way into the park that was directly across from her building.

She walked with more purpose now. Which made Bucky realize what was happening.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

He took in a deep breath before he followed her into the park.

Y/N sat on a bench in almost total darkness, waiting. If it weren’t for Bucky’s super-soldier sight, she would be practically invisible to him.

Bucky rubbed his face and watched her for a few moments before he made his way over.

Without any warning, he slowly sat down on the other side of the bench.

She didn’t react, didn’t even act like someone had invaded her space.

She had been waiting for him.

“What did I tell you about going to parks at night?” Bucky finally asked.

She scoffed, but didn’t look at him. “Yeah…Well, putting myself into danger is always the quickest way to get you out of hiding.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“He seemed nice.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Oh, fuck off, James.”

She’d stopped calling him Bucky once he broke her heart.

“Is this the part where you try to lie and tell me you liked him?” Bucky challenged with a smirk, even though there was absolutely nothing funny about the situation.

Y/N finally turned and looked at him for the first time. “What exactly are you mad about, James? That I went on a date with him or that I just went on any date at all?”

He was silent for a second. “He’s not good enough for you.”

“You’d say that about every man,” she challenged.

“Yeah, and I’d be damn right.”

Y/N shot up from the bench and turned to face him. “I’m trying!” She snapped.

Then she paused, trying to get her emotions in control. But she wasn’t successful since her eyes glazed over with tears. She managed to hold them in. “I’m really trying.”

Bucky then stood up from the bench. His body always went into a panic when Y/N cried. He felt sick to the stomach when he was the reason for it. But these days, he was always the reason..

But he couldn’t comfort her like he used to. He wasn’t allowed to touch her anymore.

Y/N sniffed, trying to play it off as if it was due to the cold instead of her unshed tears.

“You have to stop following me,” she told him as sternly as she could.

Bucky shifted his weight, but stayed quiet.

“James, I’m gonna call Steve if you keep doing this.”

And he knew she would. What he didn’t know is what Steve would do to make sure Y/N’s commands were followed through.

And it wasn’t just Steve who sided with her after the breakup, the whole team did. Any of them would love a chance to return to Y/N’s life in some way and give Bucky a piece of their mind on her behalf.

Breakup. Is that even what it should be called?

They didn’t stop loving each other. Even though Y/N hid that with the hate she now held for Bucky.

He didn’t think it was possible for someone to hate a person as much as they loved them, but Y/N seemed to do it effortlessly with him.

“We can’t do this anymore, Y/N. I have to stay away from you.” 

The words still haunted Bucky’s nightmares. All it took was one stupid article. Her full name, where she was from, what she did for work – all accompanied by a photo of them together. If it had been paparazzi, Bucky would’ve clocked the camera. His training would’ve sensed it, noticed the signs. But it had just been some asshole and their iPhone.

“How did you figure out I was tailing you?” He asked, ignoring the threat of Steve.

“Following,” she corrected. “You look like the fucking unabomber, James. You’re trying so hard to hide that you stick out even more.” She looked him up and down, taking in his black leather jacket over his black hoodie that was pulled over his black, nondescript baseball hat.

But in reality, she knew that if Bucky wanted to be completely untraceable, he would be. Which meant that he wanted her to notice him.

He didn’t realize he was doing that.

Y/N stared at the ground, scared to look into his eyes now. “I always think that I feel you watching me.” Then she glanced up at him. “But then I realized that was just me missing you.” She shook her head, embarrassed to be admitting that to him. “It wasn’t that I could feel you watching over me, it was me hoping you’d come around the next corner.”

“I miss you, too.” He admitted without hesitation.

Y/N closed her eyes and winced. “Don’t say that to me.”

“But it is true.”

Her eyes remained closed, but not even that could stop the tears from falling this time.

“Why do you have to make this so hard, Bucky?” She whispered.

The use of that name knocked the air out of his lungs.

He took a step toward her.

But she immediately took a step back. “Don’t. Please don’t, Bucky.”

“Y/N…I’m…I’m so sorry,” he muttered.

“How does this make anything better for us?” She breathed.

“I just…I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Well, I’m not!” She bawled. “Is that what you want to hear? That I’m miserable without you? That during all of these dates, I’m just comparing them to you? Is that what you want to hear? Is it?”

“No! For Christ – no, Y/N.”

“Then what do you want me to say?” She demanded.

“Nothing. You don’t owe me anything, Y/N. I know that.”

He stepped forward, it was a risk and he knew it. But she didn’t cower from him this time. Bucky slowly reached forward and wiped the tears from her cheek gently.

“I’ll never stop worrying about you. I get anxious, thinking about what could happen.”

“Well, I stopped being your responsibility when you broke up with me.” She knew that was her broken heart speaking, but she had to give it at least one round.

Bucky nodded, knowing he deserved that.

Y/N looked around her. “It’s been almost a year, Bucky. We can’t keep doing this.”

“I know,” he mumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground.

“We need to move on…if that’s even possible. We have to try either way.”

“I know,” Bucky repeated.

But he also knew he could never replace her. However, she deserved to fill the bleeding hole he left after he broke her heart.

“Goodnight, James.” She told him coldly.

He just nodded.

But she hadn’t moved yet.

Before she could change her mind, she stepped into him and Bucky immediately opened his arms to her. She buried her face into his shoulder. Her senses took him in, memorizing every detail. His cologne. The feel of his leather jacket that he’d broken in to perfectly mold around his body. His inhuman body heat.

Bucky did the same.

When Y/N pulled away, her eyes locked to his like those blue irises were magnets.

“You should get home now, doll,” he whispered as his gaze flickered to her lips. His hands were caressing her face now.

She just nodded, feeling the new tension.

Bucky leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

It took every ounce of strength she had to walk away. She wouldn’t let herself turn around and look back once she started walking. But she felt his eyes on her, watching to make sure she made it to her front door safely.

She knew he wouldn’t leave until he saw the light turn on in her bedroom.

Y/N counted to 1,000 before she allowed her crying to start again.

-----

Bucky turned the light on in the kitchen.

“Bucky…”

He had been dreading this. “What? What do you want, Steve?”

The other super soldier leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed. He was giving Bucky the look that no one wanted to get from Captain America. It was the look of disappointment.

“Y/N called.”

That was all Steve needed to say.

Bucky ignored him and poured himself a drink – vodka on the rocks. It was Nat’s hidden stash. But he’d deal with that tomorrow.

“You can’t push her away and then shove yourself back into her life whenever you feel like it. That’s not fair to her and you know it,” Steve warned.

Bucky threw the vodka back before he countered with, “You said you understood why I did it.”

“Yes, I understood it. I didn’t agree with it. And I definitely don’t agree with you continuing to torture Y/N and yourself.”

Bucky tried to pour himself another glass of vodka, but Steve ripped the bottle from his grasp.

“Are you even listening to me?” Steve growled.

“I stand by what I did!” Bucky shouted. “I did what had to be done! And I did it so she could be safe, so she could have a fucking life!”

He caught his breath and his hand rubbed across his face. “I know I shouldn’t go see her. I know that. But…But I’m only human, Steve. I can’t help it.”

Steve sighed, his sympathy now outweighing his anger.

He gripped Bucky’s shoulder. “I know, Buck.”

“I’ll stop. I promise. I owe her that at least.” Bucky bowed his head in shame.

“I’ll check on her. We all will.” They would do it so Bucky didn’t have to.

“Thank you, Steve.”

“Just get some sleep. OK, Buck?”

He nodded, even though he stopped really sleeping when she was no longer in his bed.

------------

I wrote this about a month ago and obviously didn’t want to share it with how much everyone sucks on here. 

Figured I’d give this site a chance to redeem itself, but not getting my hopes up. 

I’m still on “hiatus” or whatever, and not really interacting with people on here. 

If you really miss me that much... One Shot – Masterlist

(Also, friendly reminder that just because a fic is old, doesn’t mean you can’t comment on it anymore.)

[persephoneyss]

Bad Movie.

Pairing: Jung Hoseok x f! Reader. Ft. Jungkook.

Genre: Yandere, dark themes, angst, gore a little.

Summary: ❝Looking for the person you love, beautiful woman.❞

Warnings: Yandere behavior, obsession, harassment / stalking, humiliation, forced marriage, non-sexual intercourse, abuse of power, implicit murder, drug use naming, minor past master / pet relationships, secondary character abduction, ugly hallucinating hoseok , beatings, blood, photos depicting abuse, mistreatment and death, bribery, sexism and humiliation (directly aimed at female prostitutes), hoseok mistreats and humiliates jk, awkward marriage proposals, use namjoon as a secondary character because it hurts more:(, etc.

Number of words: 6000+

︙Author's Note: This is my longest fic so far, I think. It took a lot for me to do it, especially since I didn't have a clear idea about the whole plot that would take and the role that each character would develop. So if you see Jungkook in a kind of strange character, blame my mind for including him almost last. Also, I hate Hoseok in this fic. Namjoon angel and fallen soldier, by the way let me know if they cried with his death, it hurt me to write it. Thank you very much for the 200 notes in my previous fic, I'm crying.

Read the Warnings well and enjoy!

(Sorry for any mistakes, my first language is not English and I am not fluent either.)

Puedes leer este fic y más aquí en español.

Confidence, a beautiful and treacherous feeling at times.

Feeling superior is a constant whisper of the ego within you, calling to be released and make others feel as what they really are, despicable and useless trash. It was fun laughing at losers when you haven't had that sense of defeat yet.

Hoseok fervently watched his rivals fall at his feet, laughing at his incompetence and stomping even more pathetic defeated form even though they were already dead in tears of pain. He smiled, he always did when he felt invincible and He bit his lip gently to hold back an excited laugh.

No one could be compared to him, and in his high sense of power he could never be alert when he struck him with a blast of vengeance.

It was you.

His eyes stared at you in horror and anger, his ego inside him hated you from the first moment. Because while despicable, he loved you for much more than his pride and winning sense.

He fell at your feet but he never made you notice it, behaving as he normally would around you even though he was always behind you.

Luck was her greatest ally, he always smiled at her and she helped him. It was fun to play with your opponents pretending to be the victim, the cornered mouse and then smash everyone with a snap of your fingers.

His mother looked at him with love and his father with pride, he was the only and favorite son of the Jung family. His success was never derived from love, much less, it was blasphemy in his family to say something so false and impossible.

Hoseok admired his family when they met in the great message of his parents' house, his grandparents smiled and his relatives brought out their most exquisite stories to entertain. They were all crows pretending to show interest in a prestigious place in the will of the family's monarch, his grandfather.

It was at one of those dinners that he got to meet you, he used to get bored of hearing his cousins ​​tell their anecdotes with prostitute women who mostly called, whores of a night. Mocking their shocked faces when they refused to pay them and threw them out of their big luxurious houses.

He rolled his eyes when a family friend, little Jungkook who was known to his father because of his prestige in his last name, chimed in trying to get into the conversation with a shy smile.

Lucky bastard, he thought bitterly. He didn't like the little idiot sticking his hands in boiling water, he wasn't even supposed to be there.

He hummed a goodbye as he walked out the front doors, walking aimlessly to his bored eyes. His feet stopped abruptly with a strangled sigh when he first saw you, you looked tired as you apparently searched for a key inside your bag. Could visualize the logo on your shirt from the grocery store where he assumed you were employed, He stood looking for what seemed like an eternity at you before you find the keys and rush through the back door. He snorted before lazily continuing on his way, however the next day he ended up following in your footsteps again and with even more confidence.

It took a few weeks for him to be able to enter the small commerce store and be able to look you face to face for the first time, it was expected that you would serve him with a smile asking if he was offered something. But he did not see you anywhere, he looked for you before another equally young woman approached him kindly, he sighed making a face of disgust surprising the she worker, his expensive shoes got dirty on the floors of the humble place with shame. His little investigation and search took him through many corridors of the establishment, he observed the shelves and each person who seemed to be wearing the uniform of the store thinking of finding you distracted with your work, maybe he thought of approaching you and asking for directions which he clearly didn't need. Knowing that  she you couldn't refuse because that was your job. In a way, you were there to serve him.

He let out a bored sigh, tired of playing hide and seek, he turned around ready to leave that place that disgusted him so much in a certain way, but once again he stopped in an instant. It was a moan. He clenched his fists, walking hurriedly to the place where the noise came from, he was sure it was your voice and that made him even more angry thinking that he would find you in a compromising position with someone.

He did not think that his lover would be such a stupid and dirty person.

You were crouched on the floor, grimacing with pain and exhaustion. You seemed very annoyed trying to lift a box with your arms, the scene was tender and certainly pathetic, she smiled noticing that you were so distracted that you were never aware of how I was watching you with carnal desire and painfully bad adoration.

"I-can I help you." He was surprised at his little babble, justifying himself later. Nobody ever managed to make him nervous, his father used to despise weak people and certainly he always sought his approval by doing things that were not correct. "They seem heavy."

Your face pale before the scare, turning into a face of shame quickly, you shook your head with a gentle movement, smiling still pained. "I'm fine sir. Can I help you? Maybe he got lost, let me guide-..."

"Actually, I do need help but not with your services." I speak in disagreement, you seemed confused but she nodded at his request. The customer is always right, right? How convenient. "I need you to allow me to help you with that heavy box, not to be rude or calling you weak miss, but you can't seem to handle it."

Lie, under his politically correct excuse was a dialogue about how insufficient you are even with things as easy and common as carrying a box, obviously you needed his help and Hoseok could give you that and more, much more. You just had to say it, it was so simple and fun.

"I -... I can do it, but i will accept your help sir ..." He smiled making an emphasis for he to give him his name, he let out a small laugh finishing his sentence.

“Hoseok, you can call me Hoseok, darling..." He mock imitating his position, your name left your lips like a melody and he immediately felt the sweet taste of it slide down his tongue. Beautifully perfect, indeed. "Now that we can finish the introductions please allow me."

Her expensive outfit crumpled as she bent down to lift the box with ease, you were once again oblivious to her incoherent and certainly crazy fantasies, it was like a romance comedy movie in her eyes. The charming fellow always stays with the girl. And likewise, no one could go against the fictional plot.

He was immersed in the beautiful narrative that you would be hers at the end of the credits.

It was not the last time she saw you, she returned to her same routine of continuing to stalk you with obvious impudence. The only thing that really changed was her new setting and her character, he was hiding between the shelves waiting for the right moment to appear in front of you with a charming smile. Over and over, he was locked in an infinite loop.

He was starting to get tired of just having you in his arms and sheets just in his heavy and lustful dreams.

"A date? How funny Hoseok."

His face twisted in annoyance, but he put on a fake smile again when you looked at him again. "Hobi." He corrected in a high-pitched voice, insisting that you call him that. "And she spoke very seriously my dear, everything is ready."

"Eh ... I -..." A simple wave of her hands was enough to shut you up, you frown in confusion and secretly disgusted.

"On Saturday, I'll send you the address of the restaurant. Goodbye, dear!"

You watch it for a few seconds but he's already gone, you resign yourself to continuing with your work of ordering the products on the shelves. Thinking and trying to remember when you gave him your number. A very characteristic noise distracts you, a call makes you smile with love and adoration.

The plot is taking an interesting turn.

Hoseok was charming by nature, his economic position made him even more desirable to the opposite gender and even his own. It was not strange to see people flirting with him or being suggestive with his proposals, he was on a pedestal and he enjoyed it. His subconscious whispered a little bored. I couldn't deny that he became boring in a way, but you appeared in the story as an extra who soon became a main character. You changed the script of his life already established and narrated.

You were so funny.

He smiled in front of the mirror when he thought of you, since he met you that day he started chatting with you secretly from your supervisor. You had told him several anecdotes to make him laugh, you were also naturally charming pulling out various expressions of adoration that you did not even notice. Oblivious to that, you'd better get ready for the climax of the movie.

The wind was strong in the streets of Seoul, your hair was noticeably messy causing you to let out a tired sigh. You should be planning your wedding banquet right now, but you honestly didn't want to leave Hoseok alone at the dinner he had organized. You put the invitation in your bag, thinking of giving it to her when the time was right with a smile. He seemed like a good person and undoubtedly a good friend in the future.

"You're on time, I was just about to order our food. Honey." The last word slid down his tongue with malice and arrogance, Hoseok inwardly chuckling at your disengaged expression.

"Thanks, but don't stop you can order for both." You say arranging your chair correctly.

The restaurant looked relatively empty, there were only three other people including a couple who ate dinner while chatting enthusiastically.

You smile unconsciously, thinking about what would also make you feel the same way.

"I was looking forward to this dinner, my dear. I also hoped I could tell you how much you have captivated me for a long time, specifically since the first day I saw you." And the others too, he thought shifting your posture.

"Thank you, I'm very flattered to cause that feeling ... in, good in you." You whisper clearly uncomfortable forcing yourself to stay calm. You were sure that you had never given a hint or anything else in Hoseok to establish romantic feelings. "But I-... "

"I know, darling. That is why I have to offer you the opportunity to be my girlfriend and my future wife."

Wife?

For a moment, you feel a rush through your body. You refuse to make a scene in front of all the few people present out of respect, you calm down by counting to ten slowly in your head, but it becomes very difficult for you as you continue to observe his comfortable smile and how he behaves. He seemed very sure of the affirmative respect you would give him, you snort angrily at the thought.

"I am sorry to have been misunderstood Mr. Hoseok, but I am not seeking a relationship with you and very sorry I reject any relationship beyond friendship." Your body lifts up, making Hoseok laugh well in advance of your final sentences. "I am engaged and my future husband is waiting for me, good afternoon."

Trembling, you leave the invitation in silence, leaving the luxurious premises in the same way. The waiters watching you with surprise, being an audience of rejection and humiliation on your part. Hoseok sighs, sipping his wine glass patiently pretending not to hear what the couple behind him are saying.

What a bad luck.

Life wanted to want to return all his damn vanity to him, making fun of him with your almost imminent rejection, obviously he knew that you were engaged and that you loved the poor man who had the bad luck to be his competition, but love is not always the important thing in a relationship or at least not of both parties. The voices of the waiters and the couple distract him from his plans for his next step, he clenches his fists angrily dropping the silverware on the plate calling the attention of everyone in the place.

"Filthy vulgar and talkative people, she will be my wife even if her words have been heard by her prying ears." He raised his voice, causing everyone to shut up. "It's just part of the script."

Maybe if the character who wanted to be the main loses the role of him, he should be the villain. The bad guy in the movie.

He read the invitation with meticulous delicacy, laughing at the little message you put aside. He thought about attending for a second, wondering if it would be nice to walk in to go straight to the altar and shoot your husband willing to take his place by your side. But that would be risky.

"Where are we going, sir?" He asked his driver with a smile.

"Take me to the best brothel in Seoul." He whispered delicately, smiling just as happily as before your rejection. I'd make you pay double the bill for your indulgence.

And likewise, the world is a truly small place. Jungkook nodded clearly uncomfortable obeying someone other than Mr. Jung. Hoseok cornered him like a helpless rabbit in the claws of a cunning fox, flashing his jaw in warning. He felt confused about his little assigned task, watching the direction pointing the right way to his chauffeur who only followed orders.

A small feeling of remorse ran through him, making him want to vomit when he remembered how Hoseok's face was so close to his with arrogance, as his hands roamed his arms gently. He was disgusting how he used his power to such a useless and demanding gain, sometimes without any realism.

"Little Jungkook, you have a very lovely name. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, you were so insignificant that you seemed pathetic to me." He whispered making her wince. "My father told me that you are good at obeying, I would like to test his theory." His cold hands were constantly running down his arms, making a shiver run through his body. "Still remembering well, I already did it before."

Jungkook was weak under his cloak of power, where he could so easily hide it. Lose it. "Yes, h-hyung." An inappropriate moan came from his lips causing him to cover her mouth in shame, a little touch near his crotch was enough to tempt him. Hoseok smirked, narrowing his eyes before walking away slowly wiping his fingers on his expensive clothes in disgust.

"I want you to befriend someone, don't ask, just do it. I'll tell you your next step when you're done." He ordered bored.

"We are here, young Jeon." Notice Jimin with a smile, Jungkook sighed wearily thanking him before getting out of the car ready to fulfill his mission.

I observe him for a few seconds standing in the entrance without doing anything, he was cleaning the windows of the building with force. He seemed like a nice person, certainly a bit humble. He approached making the man bow respectfully, even though he was older. Money can buy everything, they say.

"I am young Jeon, a new investor. May I have a chat with you?"

The man was surprised, no one who was someone by name and a few numbers along with several zeros would be able to notice his presence and at least greet him. A coffee sounded more intimate and undoubtedly inconvenient for him, but again out of respect he accepted the offer with a smile adorning his features.

"My name is Jungkook informally, but I like you and you can call me that." He spoke kindly.

"Namjoon, Mr. Je -... I'm sorry, Jungkook." He corrected sheepishly, making her smile.

He still didn't understand that he planned to do Hoseok with a building cleaner, but he didn't feel in a position worth asking. Furthermore, he would still not receive an honest answer.

He passed by the same place every day, pretending to enter the building only so he could meet Mr. Kim and talk about unimportant subjects. He gained his trust almost immediately, promising that he would give her a better job soon at his own company. He felt like an idiot taking advantage of the man in front of him in such a way for a simple whim from Hoseok.

He was an idiot, but he didn't want to go back to what he was before. A pet.

"I'm very happy, I think she will make a good wife." He responded with encouragement, seeing how Namjoon nodded looking for a picture of his fiancée to show him. He seemed excited, Jungkook understood his happiness after he explained that he saved for a long time to achieve his dream of getting married in a church. They were both in it together, in looking for a future.

He got lost in his thoughts, maybe if he lied to Hoseok about gaining trust from him, saying that Namjoon was a very cold and quiet man, he could make him forget about it. He sighed squeezing the coffee cup in his hands, Namjoon caught his attention by showing a photo of you smiling at the camera with a background of the bridge and the sun behind making a beautiful background.

Jungkook became alert, having seen that face before.

Hoseok had you as the wallpaper on his phone, he knew it was you because of your characteristic features and the scarf you wore in both photos. You were the new fad of a rich fool.

"T-is ... She's so cute, you're very lucky."

Namjoon nodded with a smile, apologizing before returning to his work upon being called by his supervisor. Jungkook put aside his cup feeling the bitter taste of his thoughts, Hoseok was planning something, he knew he was a son of a bitch who liked to keep his plans under lock and key and in a deep grave. He walked away calling for Jimin quickly, before being accosted by Namjoon who came running over, seemingly forgetting something of the utmost importance.

"I apologized Mr. Jeon, but I wanted to give you this personally. It is an invitation, in addition to the proposal to be the best man at our wedding. My fiancee said that it would be appropriate for me to choose someone and I decided that you were perfect, you can decline if you prefer. . " He spoke kindly, as always. Namjoon seemed to have no hatred in his heart, making his own feel heavy on his chest.

Could he bear the blame?

"It's my pleasure to accept her proposal, thank you for considering me. Good afternoon, namjoon-hyung."

He said goodbye by getting into the car as fast as he could, making Jimin look at him with derision. Obviously noticing his nervousness, Jungkook sighed hiding the invitation as much as he could before reading Hoseok's message ordering him to go to his house to sort out his affairs.

It seemed like a joke as he always looked so flawless, ready to humiliate him again.

"Jungkookie, I'm glad to see you again. Now, we'd better come in for our talk." He smiled making anger grow inside him, Hoseok sat on one of his expensive furniture before pouring himself a glass of wine. "Well, I heard from a little bird that you accomplished your task. Good pet."

"Don't call me that, hyung." He grunted in annoyance, making him laugh. "I can't go through with this, I did what you wanted. Leave Namjoon-hyung alone."

"Oh, they're close now really cute. But you forget that I can't fulfill your wish, because "Namjoon-hyung " is an essential piece in my little game." I speak mocking him as always. "Then we will move on to the next step ..." He thinking for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "Invite him to a bachelor party night at the brothel in the center, I already made the reservation. When they are there, leave him alone. A whore will take care of him properly, and maybe you can go make him a oral another yourself." He sneered evilly, reminding her of his past, Jungkook bit his tongue resisting the urge to respond properly. "Since you're clearly good at it, little pet."

"Yes, hyung."

Hoseok nodded saying for him to leave asap, tired of seeing his stupid face. He got up ready to do so, but his arm was taken tightly before bringing his face closer to hers, Hoseok let out a sigh, doing he could smell his breath of mint and wine combined. His hand lowered him into his pockets dangerously close to his crotch, he bit his lower lip to resist a moan escaping him, this had happened before and he begged it to stop forever. From his pocket, she pulled the invitation out, making her gasp in horror.

"Godfather of wedding, new facet of you... kookie." Rolling he eyes pushing him away from him, he fell to the ground before being met by a blow to his cheek. "What a shitty pet, you idiot."

Two days was enough for you to tremble at the thought. Your dress was proud to be seen, it was the most comfortable dress you could find at a fair price. Namjoon tried to enter but he was stopped by your friend who said that he will wait until you keep the dress out of his sight avoiding bad luck. A smile wavered on your face, everything was perfect up to a point.

Namjoon looked at you, a blush covering his cheeks before asking his obvious question. You didn't expect him to want a bachelor party, but you couldn't refuse because you simply trusted him.

Maybe it was your mistake.

You wished him luck, feeling an inexplicable emptiness. Your friends didn't offer to make one for you, they just sat on the couch in their living room talking about movies and arguing about what color the cake would be. It was the calm before the storm.

Jungkook felt a giant headache, the lights of the place were making him dizzy. Jimin had insisted on going with him to such an 'unusual' place to keep him safe. Namjoon had brought a couple of friends who seemed to be always close to him preventing the woman who did the job Hoseok had him do from becoming difficult.

He smiled, thinking that he would have no choice but to let it go. But Hoseok was not a good loser, and neither was he a good winner.

Hoseok:

He distracts his friends, and be careful what you say, kookie.

Received at 11:30 p.m.

He bit his lip, glancing around the bar, thinking he'd find him sitting somewhere spying on everything but nothing looked suspicious. He sighed, sending Jimin out for drinks with one of Namjoon's friends who he gladly accepted. He got up having pushed one away, the other who introduced himself as Jackson seemed more reluctant to leave his friend alone but with a few excuses about feeling bad managed to get him out of sight.

Believed that he would find Namjoon sitting right where he was before but no, he was gone. He felt a burning feeling of guilt, maybe if you didn't find out, nothing would happen.

"You're still the same as before, boss." Jimin sat down next to him, making him uncomfortable.

"Same as before? I am no longer a child."

"But you continue to obey as one. The manipulation they use on you is your greatest weakness, you are afraid, you obey without hesitation thinking about how this will indirectly affect you. But you never do anything to avoid it, you feel bad about this but you still sit here without doing nothing."

"What can I do, Jimin? I don't know if he really left by his will, or if they forced him. I don't want to enter a room in this dirty place and see him sleeping with another woman, because he wanted to and is a fucking infidel . "

Jimin ignored his words, falling silent after several seconds.

Feeling unhappy is a horrible feeling without a doubt. The curious eyes looked at you as if they themselves could judge your story.

Namjoon disappeared as quickly as the wind, many sharp tongues said that he eloped with a lover so as not to marry you. Others believed it was a kidnapping, maybe a robbery gone wrong and he was taken away or he was killed somewhere far away. A sob escaped you just thinking about it, the detective in front of you watched you cautiously.

"We don't know anything about him yet, but we will continue with the investigations."

You nod, without saying a word. Jungkook came in minutes later with a handkerchief in hand, he observed you before gently hugging you. You had the pleasure of meeting him after Namjoon disappeared that night, he introduced himself as a close friend from work and quickly offered to help you with the search.

Maybe he felt guilt.

"Thanks, Jungkook." You smile wiping the tears that escape from your eyes.

"They are looking for the best they can, they even alerted the Japanese embassies in case they might take him there."

"Japan?" Puzzled questions. "Why would someone take him so far? He's just a man with little money, that's ridiculous."

"We don't know, but I promise I won't rest until I find it."

Hoseok sighs bored, witnessing the moment. He had been bribing the bloody police force to hide the information from you about the discovery of your fiancé's corpse floating in the middle of the waters of the river where they used to go together. The only thing that was removed intact from his clothes was a small photo of you smiling, sitting on the banks of the same river.

The police mourned the death, but his faces left grief when they saw the money in his hands. He made fun of Jungkook as usual, who passed by him ignoring him when he went to his house to talk to his father, he knew that the useless little one was very meddlesome in the search for your future husband and ex-fiance. He rolled her eyes remembering how she used to look at him with discontent in meetings, suspicious of him.

He was a good detective, he couldn't deny the obvious.

"You didn't have to do this, a I'm sorry was enough." You say admiring all the bouquets of flowers that came to your house from him. "And I'm sorry for your loss."

He wasn't sorry.

"My dear, losing a loved one is something without a name. I can give you more than this if you promise to smile again, I love your smiles."

Jungkook snorts approaching you from behind, Hoseok to growl at noticing him so close and see how he puts his hand on your shoulder, apparently like support.

"Hyung, he didn't think it's a good time for ... That."

"But little kook, when is not a good time to express how you feel about your loved one?"

"When that person you say you love is crying over the loss of someone special because of evil people who don't know what remorse is. Do you understand that, hyung?"

"No, not really." He laughs cynically making you lose your patience, your little body comes between the two men, with one already furious and the other inadvertently giving up, you make a face of annoyance before speaking.

"Sirs!" You yell at him immediately, Jungkook steps back adjusting his tie. A mania that he had and that you noticed when he presented himself in front of you with regret, he did it when he was uncomfortable or nervous. "This is not the time to argue, I think you'd better leave my house if you're just wasting your time. Thanks for the flowers Hoseok, and Jungkook ... I, I want to continue the investigation on my own."

"That?!"

"What you heard, don't feel responsible for Namj's disappearance -..." You tremble correcting your words, making Hoseok scoff. "My husband, he was just at the wrong time in the wrong place. Thanks for your help, I'll see how to pay you very soon." Jungkook denies trying to insist but fails when you are already closing the door and giving him an apologetic smile.

Your breath feels heavy, you sigh falling to the ground sobbing again. You wanted to find Namjoon, but a large part of you was afraid of how. Dead, with another woman, with serious injuries or simply ... Alive but with trauma for life. You did not want to see him suffer, it was your judgment in life to see the person you love cry in his pain.

You observe yourself, telling yourself that you would be fine when you find it.

Your email seems to explode with thousands of messages received from people claiming to have seen a man like Namjoon near their homes. You ignore them knowing that most of them were false, the first few days you read all of them giving the police false clues that they quickly denied and dismissed.

You dry your tears, closing all the windows and cooking a simple instant soup, eating in absolute silence. It was overwhelming feeling alone at home, where you were supposed to feel safe indoors.

The rain, thunder, and evil outside seemed to be invisible within that place.

A chill runs through you, the control of the television seemed tempting to calm that neat silence and avoid your boredom. You give up turning on the TV, you see the first channel, you keep changing looking for the unknown, you didn't know what you wanted to see. Maybe a newscast saying they found a tall man with dark brown hair and charming eyes unconscious, with a couple of blows to the face and a few scratches but okay, safe, alive and waiting to see your face waiting for him with a warm smile.

Swearing never ever to let go.

A couple of tears slide down your cheek, ruining your fast food. A few knocks on the door manage to scare you, causing you to bite your lip in anger.

"Who is?!" Questions in a shout.

Nothing.

"It better be good ..." You say in muttered, you open the door expecting to see a child running to his house laughing at his childish joke.

But no, there is no one at the door. Just a small envelope that easily slipped underneath, you take it hoping it's a letter from the police announcing good news. Maybe a simple identification of suspicious faces, or footprints at the club.

"I hate being the bad guy, it makes me feel good.

He's dead, I did it for you. For me. For us. I want to make you happy but it's so difficult when I don't know what you want, tell me what you want.

Love you. Love you. Love you.

My heart is so weak in your cold eyes, I feel that you look at me with ignorance of my feelings. Do you want to find it? Do you want to do it?! Okay. Good luck with it. "

It was everything, plus a picture of a golden ring with a large diamond shining brightly. You wrinkle the letter in anger, tossing it into the first bin you found nearby. It seems that in the end, someone did want to joke with you.

Your days remained the same, you went out to work and in the afternoons you called each of the investigators to ask for new news, it was almost always a solid wall, there was nothing really important to report and little by little, they gave up.

Jungkook knocked on the door, he heard some footsteps approaching making him have a little hope. But when the door opened he saw you with a worried face, he felt his heart squeeze in his chest when he tried to get closer but you avoid him by leaving in a hurry. You were dressed in a long black skirt and a white blouse, you were elegantly ready for something.

"Where are you going?" He ask stopping your hurried pace, taking your arm tightly.

"Yo, listen... He... Or her, I don't know who it is but ... You know, he or her know where, he's alive I know. I just don't have time, please."

Your mouth moves wiht fear, you were hiding something but not from him. You were willing to tell him but not now. Not at that time.

"Let me accompany you, I can take you and I will feel better if you are safe."

You nod, letting go of his grip and running down the stairs, outside there is a very elegant car, apparently waiting. The driver smiles at you as if he had known you before, you make an uncomfortable face trying to continue on your way but Jungkook introduces him saying that he works for him.

"Jimin, he's Jimin. He's a good person and a great friend, I've told him about you before."

"I see, sorry." You speak with a bow before climbing to the back, Jimin just smiles kindly, as always.

"Where are we going today?" He asks animatedly, Jungkook takes your hand for support making Jimin remove the smile from him. Your nervous state and your afflicted face are enough for him to understand the situation.

You give him an address, Jimin searches the map being unknown to the place. Your eyes sparkle when the lights of Seoul are reflected in them, Jungkook holds your hand tightly in fear of letting you go again. He felt sick when you stopped calling him, cutting connections with him totally to this day. He spend sleepless nights looking for more clues, the only thing I had until that moment was the identity of the woman, she was a prostitute without anything special, when he spoke with her he seemed indifferent saying that he did not know Namjoon and that the last time he saw him It was when he drugged him and left him in a room as ordered.

The whore made fun of him saying that he would give him this information if he did not tell the police anything, he obviously accepted. Now he repented, the woman disappeared after that and days later she was found in a garbage container. It seemed to be a suicide, the container was from her building, the window of her old apartment faced just where she was supposed to fall if she threw herself without thinking twice.

Right in the garbage.

The wheels of the car made a thud when it stopped, it was a cabin, the only one nearby. You came down quickly thanking Jimin who just made a flirty face. Your hands trembled with the cold, you look at the letter that tells you where and when you should be standing at the door.

"Wait for me here, if we don't go out or you hear noises, you know who to call."

"Yes sir!" Jimin obeys with a laugh at the boss's serious tone of him.

"Y-you should go, I can do this alone." Your voice rises in the echo of the silent place, Jungkook rolls his eyes before offering his arm to you, making his decision clear.

You laugh calming your nerves, the door opens just as you both step close to it. A man stops them, saying that only you can enter the next room. You stop Jungkook who was to protest, you calm him down by leaving your ring in his hands with a smile.

Your body disappears when another man closes the door silently, Jungkook sighs looking annoyed at the guards who ignore him.

A message coming to his phone distracts him for a few seconds.

Jimin:

Should I call the police, Mr. Jung, or the hospital?

Received at 9:35 p.m.

Smile ready to answer before hearing the door open again, he approaching you to ask everything and at the same time nothing. Your pale face is enough to make want to hit the person who was inside with you. Questions remain in the air, your arms surround him while you sob for forgiveness.

From the shadows Hoseok smiles, admiring the document in his hand, your signature shiny as gold is glued to it. He thought it would be more difficult to convince you to accept his marriage proposal, but the precious and expensive ring fit you perfectly. He raised his hand proudly admiring his own, the wedding would be planned as soon as possible making him jump like a happy child.

You had accepted, with the promise that he would bring you back to Namjoon.

But it was never specified in the contract that he would be alive.

The wedding was in a meadow, outdoors with distinguished guests and a few friends and family of yours. Hoseok greeted everyone, by taking your hand tightly introducing you as his wife immediately. It's as if he wants to show everyone that you now belong to him, as if you were a prize.

And maybe if you gave him the key to her success.

"You better smile my dear, nobody wants to know what will happen if you don't." Her lips brushed your hand before placing a chaste kiss on it. "I love you, my beautiful protagonist."

You sob, tears falling from your face as you melt into his disgusting caresses. The man in front of you, your un-predestined husband. The one who stole the position of your true love, he was kissing you delicately.

"Don't cry, decorate the room just the way you wanted. The photos were a special touch ..." His teeth bit into the sensitive skin of your neck, an involuntary groan of pain escaping. "Love you."

Your eyes move desperately to find a photo where the beaten, abused or dead body of Namjoon cannot be seen. You scream when you find one where you see blood everywhere, you are resigned to look down at the ground where Hoseok was crouching kissing the inside of your thighs.

Your mind tried to process the idea that Namjoon had been killed, mutilated and thrown into a river that washed away his body along with happy memories. Farewell to him was prolonged as your body faded in pain.

Hoseok enjoyed the sight of your eyes tightly closed, his cock throbbing inside you as she fucked you like his wife.

The head of the bed moved crashing into the wall, and unconsciously your walls tightened around it causing it to release a curse aloft to the sky.

We got to the end of the movie, smiled as he dazzled the credits by seeing Jungkook's lost name. His little bitch who was his toy for many years, laughed remembering how she did wonders with her mouth.

He pretended not to know him when her father introduced him, taunting her hurt face.

He held you in his arms tightly, you had been struggling to free yourself from his grip as he continued to abuse you over-stimulating your pussy. Your eyes closed falling asleep from crying so much.

He caressed your face, kissing your dry, chapped lips.

The end.

[cluster-fandom]

Not the day for this

Atsumu, Oikawa, and Noya prank their S/O on a bad day

Warnings: Swearing, food/eating || hospital mention, knife mention, stitches mention, and getting a cut in Noya’s (nothing descriptive just the words themselves)

A/N: This is my first time writing for multiple characters! I enjoyed this a lot 

I was heavily inspired by @kybabi​ !! Go check them out if you haven’t before :)

Atsumu

• Today was not your day at all

• You had failed a test and got in an argument with your best friend

• So all you really wanted to do was come home to your boyfriend and relax

• Unfortunately Atsumu was not aware of how your day had been going

• You both liked to poke fun at each other and this time Atsumu had planned what he thought was an amazing prank

• He couldn’t wait for you to get home

You were driving home from university to your shared apartment with Atsumu. Between the frustration of scoring low a test you had studied so hard for and getting into a dumb fight with one of your best friends, you were ready to snap. The heat didn’t help anything either. At the very least you got to come home to Atsumu. The thought of being wrapped up in your boyfriends arms had kept you from lashing out at anyone that came in contact with you.

You two had been together for over a year and while he could be insufferable at times, you adored him. He was always making you laugh through his ridiculousness, and you were the same. But your favorite memories were when he looked at you with that lopsided grin and said that he loved you.

As you walked up to your front door you noticed it was slightly open.

‘Did Atsumu forget to close the door?’ You briefly wonder before going inside where it was cool.

“Ats-OH MY GOD!”

You were drenched in ice water and the bucket that had been sitting on the door clanked to the floor.

“HEY BABE I THOUGHT YOU COULD USE SOME COOLING OFF!” Atsumu grinned, finding his prank hilarious.

“FUCKING HELL ATSUMU THIS WAS NOT WHAT I NEEDED TODAY!” You yell as you shake your arms of water.

You shove past him towards the bathroom where you could get a towel and hairdryer.

“Wait wait wait! It was just a joke I’m sorry!” He’s fumbling over his words in confusion.

He follows you into the bathroom where you were shoving things out of the way to get your hairdryer out of the cabinet.

“Babe- I’m sorry I didn’t know you’d be mad!” He whines.

You ignore him as you try to (unsuccessfully) untangle the cord of your hairdryer.

“God-dammit-“ you mumble as you only end up getting it more tangled.

“Do you want me to hel-“

“NO ATSUMU IVE GOT IT!” You snap at him.

“Why are you so mad?” He’s genuinely confused. You’ve never been this mad at a prank before?? And this wasn’t even the worst one he’s done-

“I DONT KNOW MAYBE ITS BECAUSE IM DRENCHED AND FREEZING FUCKING COLD? JUST- LEAVE ME ALONE RIGHT NOW!” You’re just done with everything and Atsumu can clearly tell he’s not making anything better at the moment so he retreats to the living room.

After you’ve dried your hair and changed into some dry clothes you went to you and Atsumu’s shared bedroom.

You were scrolling on your phone when there was a knock at the door.

Atsumu cautiously stepped into the room.

“Y/N, can we talk?”

You sighed and set your phone aside.

When you nodded, Atsumu sat on the bed in front of you.

“I’m sorry I upset you. The prank wasn’t funny,” he looked at you with guilty eyes.

“I’m not mad about the prank. I’ve just had a really bad day and it all piled up and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m sorry.”

You explained the events of your day and how you had wanted some quality time with him, and instead you had gotten an ice bath.

“I’m so sorry Y/N, I never wanted to make you feel so bad. Let me make it up to you?” He pleaded. He gave you his biggest puppy dog eyes. (🥺)

Your heart melted and of course you said yes.

He perked up immediately, rushing out of the room. He came back with an armful of snacks and settled in next to you. He switched on your favorite movie and pulled you onto his lap.

“I love you so, so much baby,” he whispered into your hair. He leaned down to press a kiss into your cheek.

“And I love you,” you whispered back.

Oikawa

• You knew that with dating Oikawa, people would be jealous

• But his fangirls could get really bad sometimes

• Today they had been following you around saying how you weren’t pretty enough, smart enough for him

• It had gotten to you a little bit

• So you were ready to be home with your boyfriend away from others eyes

• Oikawa had no clue of this though and had devised, in his mind, a brilliant prank to get a rise out of you once you got home

You were finally home to your apartment with Oikawa. He had been on his phone when you walked in and greeted you with his signature grin. After a tight hug, he said he needed to go grab something in the bedroom.

You settled down on the couch letting your body relax on the plush cushions.

*bzzt bzzt*

You looked to see that Oikawa had left his phone behind. You were about to go back to resting, until you registered the name of the sender.

You bolted upright and grabbed the phone, hoping you had read it wrong.

#1 Fangirl 😉

You and Oikawa had been together for a year and you trusted him with your entire being. But seeing that name made fear pool in your stomach.

You didn’t dare to unlock his phone, despite knowing his password, for fear of what you might find.

Your thoughts were running a mile a minute as you entered your bedroom where Oikawa was in the closet.

Was there someone else? He wouldn’t do that to you right? He seemed so happy with you. He had never said he wasn’t satisfied with anything at all. Nothing had changed recently, so was something going on the whole time? Were his fangirls right?

That last question scared you the most.

“Love?” You called out.

Oikawa had a devilish smirk on his face. He knew that you would have seen the texts by now. He had come up with the prank a few days ago and was excited for you to get smart with him and call out the obvious.

“Yes?” He called back, not looking to you.

“Who’s number one fangirl?” You said, voice shaking. You didn’t know when your vision had started going blurry.

At the sound of your shaky voice, your boyfriend whipped around, eyes wide.

“Oh Angel, it’s nobody, it was all a prank I swear,” he pulled you to his chest, “I asked Iwa-Chan to help me, that’s who’s actually sending the texts.”

“S-so you’re not cheating on me?” You hiccup slightly and Oikawa’s heart aches he wipes away a stray tear. He mentally slaps himself for making you insecure.

“Never. I would never leave you for some other girl who just wants me for my looks. You love me for who I am and I am so, so grateful to have you,” he holds you tighter to him.

Once you’ve collected yourself, you tell him about all the things that had been said to you and how it had made you doubt if you were good enough for him. He quietly listened to you talk, holding you the entire time until you were finished.

He gently lifted your face up to meet his eyes. You noticed how his jaw was clenched and his lips were pressed in a thin line.

“Y/N. I am so sorry that those people made you feel unworthy. I promise, you are more than I could have ever asked for. They won’t bother you again ok?” His voice was low, but still as gentle as ever. His eyes softened as he looked at you. He let his muscles relax and gave you a small smile.

Your heart felt full as you nodded.

“Okay, now why don’t we go to the couch and cuddle for a while. Let me show you how much I love you,” he gave your forehead a light kiss.

You smiled up at him.

“I love you Tōru.”

“I love you more, Angel.”

Nishinoya

• You were one inconvenience away from exploding

• You worked the customer service center at your malls department store (it hadn’t been your first choice but you needed money) and you had already had to deal with two Karens this morning

• The second one actually made your manager come down, who wasn’t happy about that

• So now you were at risk of losing your job

• Thankfully though you finally got to go on your lunch break

• You were excited because your boyfriend had time to spend it with you today

• You needed the pick me up and Noya’s naturally energetic personality never failed to do so

• Unfortunately, Nishinoya decided that today was the perfect day to execute his genius prank

You growled in annoyance as your keys got momentarily stuck in the lock to your apartment.

You had been yelled at three times today already. By two entitled middle aged women who wouldn’t listen to you no matter how many times you gave an explanation to them, and then by your manager who told you off for making him get involved with your “nonsense.”

You had been hanging on to your last shred of self control to not start screaming at your boss.

But you were home now and were more than ready to have a nice lunch with your boyfriend.

“Y/N! YOU’RE HOME!” You stumbled back as you were tackled in a hug.

“I made you lunch!” Noya grinned as he released you from his hold.

You giggled as he grabbed your hand to lead you to the kitchen.

Now, you loved Noya, but his cooking was, well, not edible sometimes. But he seemed to have gone pretty safe this time around.

There were two bowls of ramen with bread rolls on the side.

“Looks like someone was busy,” you tease. He rolls his eyes and motions for you to eat.

You were listening to Noya talk about his morning while you ate.

“And then I-“

“AH! HOT! HOT! HOT!” You were panting. The noodles were spicier than you could handle. You took a bite of the bread and nearly puked.

“Is- IS THAT MAYONNAISE?!?” You cough trying to get the awful tastes out your mouth. You rush to the fridge and down a glass of milk.

“Yū what the fuck?!” You say after catching your breath.

“What? I thought you said you wanted to expand your palette,” he’s wearing a smug grin.

You huff and get your things together to leave.

“Wait- don’t go!” He’s scrambling to catch up to you.

“I can’t do this today. I’ll see you after my shift,” you slam the door behind you as you leave.

You picked up a quick meal from the food court and find an empty table to eat at.

You had turned your phone off, not wanting to hear your notifications go off. The rest of your shift was uneventful thankfully, but you were still beyond irritated.

It was twenty minutes until the end of your shift when you turn your phone back on. You had about a dozen texts from Yū, which you were expecting, but you had a missed call from Tanaka from five minutes ago.

Confused, you called back.

“Hello?”

“Y/N! Uh, so you see, Noya he- well he was trying to make something up to you? Anyways, he called me over to your place and I was helping him cook and he may have accidentally, umm, cut his finger pretty bad.”

“What?! Tanaka where are you right now?” You were already gathering your things and writing a note to your boss explaining your leave.

“The hospital,” he replied.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” you rushed to your car.

You may have been driving way a little past the speed limit, but you were at the hospital in record time.

Thanks to the lady at the front desk, you found Yū quickly. You thanked Tanaka as he left the room, not wanting to stand around awkwardly.

“Yū! Are you okay? What were you even doing with a knife! Here let me see,” you grabbed his hand and looked it over.

His pointer and middle finger had been wrapped up in bandages, but the rest of his hand looked fine.

“They didn’t need stitches,” he said bashfully.

“Hmph you’re lucky,” you mumbled, “but why would you need to use a knife?” You searched his face. He looked away, hand rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“I was trying to make you a nice dinner. I wanted to make it up to you for lunch,” he was uncharacteristically quiet.

You gently turned his face towards you, giving him a quick kiss. His face turned bright red and he sputtered incoherently for a minute.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I was having a pretty bad morning and getting my tongue burnt off didn’t help. You’re still an amazing boyfriend though and I still love you,” you intertwined your hands with his and gave it a gentle squeeze. He smiled and leaned to touch his forehead to yours

“Does that mean we can have spicy ramen for dinner then?” He asked.

“Don’t push it.”

I hope you enjoyed! Any feedback is highly appreciated!

*I do not own Haikyuu!! or the characters only the story*

*Do not repost anywhere, all credits to me*

[macbookpro-hard-drive]

promise [connor m. x reader] pt.2

because i think this is a fitting end to this story. actual notes at the very end of this post, after the fic.

warnings: general swearing. this is a part 2 to a fic on @pacman-tattoo though.

12:23 AM   connie: you still awake? 

12:26 AM   connie: babe.

12:35 AM   connie: i’ll be home soon, ok?

12:36 AM   connie: traffic is weirdly fucking awful rn and i wish you were here

12:37 AM   [y/n]: sorry, i’m here. i was almost asleep.

12:38 AM   connie: sorry

12:39 AM   [y/n]: make it up to me <3

12:39 AM   connie: i will

With a quiet hum, you left your phone back on the nightstand where it had been charging up until the vibrations against wood had pulled you out of your state of near-slumber. Connor rarely worked late, but sometimes he was roped into cleaning more than just the bar itself. It was temporary, he told you over and over. Eventually, he’d get his stupid book of stupid poetry (his words, never yours) and maybe he could go from there. Write more books, make things work, and one day he’d be staying at home and writing poetry while you continued to be the breadwinner once you were out of school for good (your words, occasionally his). Sure, working in an office when you weren’t swamped with classes and making pretty okay money in the meantime hadn’t been your plan originally, but... things happen. Life changed. Connor was a constant for you, though. True to the promise he made to you almost six years ago at eighteen, he never disappeared again. Not the way that he had used to. Sure, there were fights, and he would leave you alone in the living room while he shut himself up in the bedroom and dealt with the flow of emotions that rammed through him, but things worked out. On the worst nights, he’d come back out to find you asleep on the couch, and he’d end up waking you up and the two of you would fix things. He opened up to you, slowly and surely, and things worked. It was hard, certainly, but... the two of you made it work. 

And now you were lying in bed in the little apartment that you shared, waiting for him to come home from bartending (Connor Murphy, working in customer service? You never could fully believe it, but he managed) and to climb into bed next to you, and maybe the two of you would talk until you fell asleep. 

The sound of jingling keys from the living room caught your attention almost half an hour later, followed by the slamming of a door, and then heavy footsteps. Before you could call out to him, Connor came in through the door, fighting his way out of his shoes, his jacket, his jeans, and soon enough he threw himself directly into the space next to you. For a moment, he was hardened by whatever bullshit he’d faced during the day, but one look at you was enough to soften his gaze.

You sat up, reaching out to brush his hair from his face. “Long day?”

“The fucking worst.”

Despite the aggravation in his voice, you chuckled. “You wanna talk about it?”

He shook his head, hopping back up. “It’s stupid shit,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.” But he paused before he could move away, dipping forward to press a kiss against your lips. “It’s fine,” he said again. “I promise.”

As he walked away, you merely watched as he began to strip out of his clothing before changing into a faded band t-shirt that often was used by one of you as a sleeping shirt. You admired him for a moment. Six years ago, he was... thinner. Bonier. Ever since things had shifted between the two of you, he’d put on a bit of weight (enough to become less of a bean-pole and more... okay) and he generally seemed brighter, if you were honest. Maybe that was what getting out the Murphy house did for him. He’d cut his hair, although it still stayed long enough to hang in his face if he wasn’t careful. As much as you missed the long locks, you were happy. He’d begun taking care of himself. He had his off days, and you knew that, but he seemed to genuinely be trying for you, and he was trying for himself, too. 

“You like the show?”

You couldn’t help but snort. “Maybe I do,” you reached toward him, doing grabby hands. “C’mere,” you whined quietly. “I wanna cuddle.”

He scoffed at the notion, but climbed into bed next to you a moment later nonetheless. Instead of folded into your arms, he pulled you closer, wrapping himself securely around you, cocooning you in his warmth. The faint smell of his cologne still stuck to him, and you happily buried your face in his neck before pressing a soft kiss against his skin.

“Sometimes,” his voice vibrated in his chest, and although you went to move, he kept his hold on you. So you relaxed into him, and he continued, “I think about when we got together.”

“Mmhm?”

“I was dealing with a lot,” he said, lowering his voice. “Fuck, you know how many problems I had, and...” He paused for a moment, nuzzling his face into your hair just for a second. “And I’m glad I got help.” He corrected himself barely a second later, “I’m getting help.” When you didn’t respond, he continued on, “I’m glad it’s working.” 

“I am, too,” you admitted against his skin, and he hummed in acknowledgement. “I’m glad you’re here.”

He ran a hand up and down your back, and the motion soothed you slightly. “I was scared I was depending on you entirely,” he shut his eyes. “I thought that if you weren’t here, I couldn’t be happy. But... I got better,” he said. “I’m better. I have... friends,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “I’m writing. I’m not fucking paranoid all the time. But...” He drew away from you, hands reaching up to cup your face, smushing your face slightly. “I do have you. I’m glad you stayed.”

“Someone’s sappy tonight,” you pulled a hand away. “I’m glad you stayed, too.” 

“Sometimes I think I don’t deserve you,” he said, and the air grew tense for a moment. He... wasn’t being sappy, he was being honest. “But, I think... I think now I’ve learned that even with my bullshit, I... I think I deserve good things, sometimes.”

“You do,” you reached up to trail a thumb along the apple of his cheek. “Just because you fucked up and got angry at people and dealt with a lot doesn’t mean you’re not worth loving.”

He chuckled, and he said your name gently. “No wonder you’re trying to become a therapist.”

You leaned forward, pressing your forehead against his own for a moment. “I wanna help people,” you said. “I wanna help teenagers like you who needed it. I didn’t give up on you then, and I don’t want to give up on my future patients.”

“Even if you’re not what they need?”

“Especially if I’m not what they need,” you said. “I’ll find them someone else. Just because I can’t help them wouldn’t mean that I can’t help them find someone who can.”

There was softness in his eyes as he kissed you gently. No more scent of cigarettes and the taste of smoke (he’d given that up long ago, just so he could have longer with you), but he still held the same warmth he did the first time you kissed. “I love you.”

So you settled into his arms after giving him one last kiss. “I love you, too, Connor.”

-

So... I’d like to take a moment to talk, since, uh, it feels right to. 

I started writing musical reader inserts back in 2017, shortly after my 17th birthday, and the first one I wrote was a Connor Murphy fic titled “Promise.” Which... is why I feel that this is a fitting ending for my writing. I don’t remember the last fic I wrote for this blog, but I never felt completely satisfied in saying “I’m done writing reader fics for musicals” since... nothing felt like an ending. 

Of course, I’ll still sorta be lingering around this blog if anyone wants to DM me or send in an ask, but I’m not gonna write anymore. I sorta stopped once I got to college since I didn’t exactly have the time to do it as often anymore (and I sorta lost interest in writing for musicals, actually, since I do write elsewhere sometimes), but... that’s beside the point.

A... lot has happened since I posted that first fic. I dated someone for the first time, ended things with them, and then I fucked up majorly with some things that happened afterward. I’m still atoning for it, and maybe I never will fully do so, but it’s one of my deepest regrets. Of course, I’ve... learned I’m not the only person at fault in the situation (more like I was manipulated, but I’m not going to deny my own part there), but I think coming to the realization that I wasn’t alone there... helped. I lost a few friends, and I kept everyone else for the most part. For a really, really long time, I always wondered why. I had fucked up so majorly, I couldn’t comprehend why my friends stayed with me.

And... It’s because we love each other. I fucked up, sure, but... they knew who I was as a person. These people didn’t abandon me because they saw me for who I am. I explained what happened, I showed anger and frustration and melancholy for everything that I (and the other person at fault) had done, and... they weren’t going to cast me out in my hour of need. I had made the group chat we all met in, and I tried to take an interest in everyone as best as I could. I became a different person when I was with my ex, and... and I never want to be that person ever again. I was petty, and spiteful, and when I look at who I became, I realize that I’d been changed for the worst. I like to think I’ve gotten better, and maybe that’s because of the stupid fucking trauma making me realize my place. 

But... I love my friends. I love them so, so much. I don’t think I’d still be here if it weren’t for them. It’s been a pretty wild ride, and I’ve written so much for these fandoms (although admittedly not in recent years) but... I’m proud of what I have done. I love writing so, so much, and it’s always going to be a part of who I am, no matter what route I end up taking. While I can look back on some of my writing and laugh because it’s cringe-y and clumsy and I’ve definitely improved, it’s still something I did. 

Even if this post doesn’t get a single note, I’m... still proud of what I’ve done and how far I’ve come, and I thank anyone reading this for coming with me on this journey. Please, take care of yourselves. Be kind. It’s okay to have bad days: even flowers need a little rain to grow. 

But most importantly: love yourself and love the people that want you to be better. 

Thanks, gamers. Feel free to hit me up anytime.

~ Minerva “Minni” @mango-juiiice

[jaeminscoffee]

Illicit - Not legally permitted.

Pairing- Lee Haechan x reader.

Genre- Angst, Suggestive, Fluff if you squint your eyes, Mafia au.

Word count- 2.6k [not proof read]

Warning- A lot of swearing, mention of violence, heavy make out session towards the end

Request made from prompt

18."Isn't this, like illegal?" "Probably, Who cares?"

68."You drive me crazy"

-x-

Breathing the same air as Lee Haechan meant trouble. 

Especially for you, someone as simple as a book store cashier, it'd be the best to stay away from him. 

But there was something so intriguing about him the first encounter, that made both you and him go back to each other.

Maybe it was a mere coincidence, or maybe it was because you'd pray to clash paths with him each time you went to work. 

But it was on a Sunday, night shift, when the owner of the small bookstore expressed her concerns about her granddaughter being sick, stating that she needs to leave for the day, leaving you by yourself to close up when you met him. 

You were fine with that, your house was just around the corner. 

There was hardly an hour left, and only about a customer or two came in, leaving after getting what they what they wanted. You decided to pack up for the day. Walking lane by lane, table to table to clean up the place. 

Reaching over shelves to place the books that were scattered on the table, you hear a bang from behind, startling you. 

You cautiously approach the front, staying behind the shelf in case it'd be a thief. There, near your counter, stood a boy, his back facing you. His back was moving up and down frantically. Thinking that he's a customer, you come out of your hiding, already wearing a smile on your face. 

"Welcome Si-" you see the boy flinch, not expecting anyone to be there. He swore he saw the lights dim from outside and no movement. He turned back in a swift motion, clutching at something inside of his leather jacket. Upon examining his features carefully, noticing faint red at the corner of his lips, hair disheveled, you let out a gasp. 

You approach him with fast steps "Sir are you ok-" your steps were halted, the boy, who had his hands inside his jacket, took it out, unstable hands pointing a gun at you. You stood dead on your track, breathing uneven as you stood in a life and death situation. "Back off." The boy opened his mouth the first time that night. Voice rough, yet honey like. 

The longer you stand there, the more you see his eyelids drop. As scared as you were, you being the nice person you are, take small steps one after the other. It was extremely silent, when he lost consciousness, falling face first onto the ground in front of you. You fasten your steps towards him, the distance shortening with each step you take. 

"Sir?? Mr.??" you turn him around, carefully placing him back onto the floor, his front facing you, the proximity of your faces made it easier for you to see the scratches that scattered all over his face, moles spilled here and there. The boy was good looking, no doubts. 

With great difficulty, you lift him up, placing him on your back, going back towards the end of the book store, where the students usually sit to study without getting disturbed.

The seats there were much more comfortable than the wooden ones at the front of the store. You drop him onto one of the seats, going back to the counter to get out the first aid kit, when you hear the door being slammed open. 

In came 3 guys, all in similar attire, they were all over 6'0 from the looks of it, or maybe you were just short. They were panting hard, just like how you'd seen the other boy at the back of your store. 

They screamed danger.

"Where the fuck is he?" one of them asked, the tallest among the three, they were definitely here for the unknown boy, all three carrying pistols in their own hands. You feign confusion, oblivious to the guys. "Pardon me?" The one beside the guy who spoke up, looked you up and down, turning front, facing the shop scanning his eyes all over the place. "Lee Haechan. Where is he?" he asked. 

Haechan. That's what the boy's name is. 

"I'm sorry i do not know who you're talking about" you turn back to your counter. One of them approached you, standing extremely close, the only thing preventing your bodies from touching being the counter.

"Did you see anyone pass by here?" his voice was deadly low. You gulp down the lump forming in your throat in a subtle way. You shake your head. "But i did see someone run past the corner store" the boys all nodded their heads, exchanging glances as you look at them exit the store, amused at how gullible the guys were. After making sure they left, you make your way to the back, this time with the first aid kit in your hand. 

On reaching, you set the box down, taking your towel from your pocket, approaching his body, his breath now normal. You wipe the sweat from his forehead, the nape of his neck, cleaning it up. 

Satisfied, you reach out for a cotton ball, pouring a little bit of antiseptic onto it, dabbing it over his bruises. 

You started from the scars at the sides of his face, then the edge of his slit eyebrow, to his left cheek. The only thing left, his lips. 

You turn back setting the used cotton ball, taking a new one out when you feel yourself being watched. 

He said not a word, just stared back, sending shivers down your back. You decided to resort back to cleaning his wound, approaching him for the third time that night, almost placing the cotton ball at the dried blood in the corner of his lips. When seeing him, not put up a protest, you continue. 

You face the boy, Haechan once again, immediately dropping the cotton as you find him stare right into your soul. Breathtaking. The only word that can explain the boy. His features cold, eyes void of any emotion, it was scary, horrifying even. You unintentionally stammer "I-i was just cleaning up your wound" 

"if you don't mind me asking, wha-what happened to you?" silence. "Haechan..?" that clearly caught the boy off-guard. "How do you know my name?" he asked, voice no longer hoarse as it was when he passed out.

It was sweet, but still stern enough to scare anyone. "Oh there came these - these three guys looking for you, i assumed, an-d they said Haechan, so i thought that's your name"

You hear him mumble something under his breath, looking down, you spoke once again. "I sent them the wrong way though so you're fine, we can call the cops and tell them you were being chased-" 

That's when he got up from his seat, obviously taller than you, his demeanor intimidating. 

"Thank you for the service, but next time, try minding your own fucking business" and with that, he made his way out of the store. 

And that was one out of n times you saved the boy, Lee Haechan's life. 

That wasn't the last of Haechan that you saw.

Yes, he tried pushing you away each time you dashed each other. He'd ignore you, but you followed him around, still wanting to figure out what led to the boy having a fresh bruise each day. 

-

It was 7:45pm you were let off work that day, exactly two weeks after the incident, two weeks of following the boy and two weeks into your new found interest. 

Your house was the last one in your street, so it took at least 3 alley ways to cut short the route to your house, without walking on the main road

You stop at the store nearby to get some snack to munch on your way, paying for it and taking a turn into the corner street, house being just 2 minutes away now. 

Passing by one of the alley ways, through your peripheral, you see a figure hunched over, leaning against the wall while 2 others, holding the boy, with another throwing blows after blows. 

Not wanting to turn a blind eye, you hide behind the wall leading to the alley, taking out your phone, searching for a cop siren sound, because as much as you wanted to help the guy, you weren't going to risk your life going in there, not like that would do much anyways 

Upon finding the desired sound you turn your volume to max, playing the audio, sparing a second glance into the alley way. 

"Fuck fuck fuck run!" they collectively screamed, bolting out of the narrow road, as you pressed yourself hard against the wall in order to hide your figure from them. They didn't pay much attention to their surroundings, running further down the busy road far away from the street you stood in. 

After making sure the coast was clear, you turn back, making your way slowly into the alleyway. Seeing him walking towards the entrance, hands clutching his middle, crouching.

"Hey are you okay?" you call out, hearing a voice, he looks up, "Haechan??". You see Haechan grit his teeth, turning his head to the side as you came in as hid life savior for the 14th time in a 2 week span, "For fuck's sake…"

You quicken your steps towards him, replacing his hand in the middle with yours, placing his hand over your shoulder. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Haechan asks, turning his face towards you with a glare, which softened just a bit after seeing the worried look on your face. 

"Helping you. Again." He spits out blood, as you scrunch your face seeing the red substance. You start walking towards your house with fast steps, tumbling now and then when he loses his balance. "where are you taking me?" he asked, "Home."

"No Y/n not your house, they'll get to you" 

Over the past weeks of you chasing him, him pushing you away and then you rescuing him, he had gotten to know quite a lot about you, as you were a bubbly person. Even so you knew nothing about him, besides the fact that his name is Lee Haechan and he is 20 years old. 

"They won't" you say after reaching your house, gently stepping away from him to take out the keys.

You hear him mutter a few curses under his breath. 

You open the door and reach out to hold him again, to which he pushed your hand away, making his way into your house on his own. He sat down on your couch, as you made your way to your room, placing the bag down on your bed before heading into the washroom to get the first aid kit. 

Haechan sat motionless, looking around the studio apartment, seeing a bunch of pictures hung on the wall, pictures varying from your childhood days, to your highschool years and then to present, a smile unintentionally made its way onto his face. 

Pathetic 

Haechan growled at himself for how fast he'd gotten a soft spot for you. Yes he hated you the first few days, yes he envied you for living a normal life, but the genuine worry that would take over your expression each time you see him, made him feel human feelings that he hadn't felt in years. 

It made him feel warm, made him feel the want to reach out to you again and again, but he knew that's wrong. 

So immersed in his thoughts, Haechan didn't notice your presence until he heard an object hit the glass table in front of him. 

"Take your shirt off" you said, placing the bowl of warm water down, alongside the first aid kit. 

Haechan obliged, too drained to put up a protest, there covered multiple tattoos, most plain drawings with no meaning, but some so beautiful that you couldn't take your eyes off them. 

"You wanna fuck me you just ask nicely Y/n, staring is rude" Haechan spoke, as you shift your gaze from his abdomen to his eyes, a smirk playing on his face. 

"S-shut up" you say, turning back to take the towel, dipping it in warm water, bringing it up to his face, wiping it clean, as you slowly drag it down his chest, scrubbing clean of any dirt and blood. 

Reaching his wound you softly wipe over it, careful not to increase the cut or the blood flow. 

Haechan let you do what you did the best, knowing that you're dying to ask him a to z of everything that's happened from when you met him, till date. 

"Haechan..?" 

"I know what you're about to ask, don't." he said. 

You didn't notice the position your in, leaving closer to wipe the last bit of blood off of him

"I think I have the right to know a little at least Haechan, this is plain unfair" you let out, sitting down as you felt your knees go numb. Haechan lets out a groan the moment you found a comfortable position to stay in, confusing you.

You look down, to see why he had let out the sign of discomfort, noticing now that your knees were directly at his groin, and you had made yourself comfortable on his thigh. Eyes widened, you immediately jolt up, only to feel yourself being pulled back down. "Stay." 

You nod, slightly flushed as you felt Haechan draw circles with his fingers on your hips that he had used to keep you in place. 

Haechan contemplates for a while, thinking whether to tell it to you or not. 

"Y/n" he called out, you hum in response too concentrated in cleaning the wound on his shoulder to look up. You were right, it was unfair considering you save him from death's door step each time you could. 

"my world is something that everyone asks you to stay away from. You especially, I regret coming into that store of yours the other day. It's dangerous, and definitely not a place for you." Haechan sat up straight, causing you to shift on top of him.

He picked you up by the waist, placing you on top of his lap once again, this time on both legs rather straddling one. 

It's come this far, he gets to let his guards down just this once, right? 

"I'm dangerous, Y/n. Not just my world. My world is all about selling drugs, gambling, stealing, murder you name it" 

"Isn't that, like illegal?" you open your mouth finally, looking up from your hands, to his eyes. The innocence they held melted Haechan's heart, smiling at your question. 

"Probably, who cares?" his casual reply had you worried about him. 

The longer you stare at him with pure concern, a little nervousness and maybe, maybe just a bit of want, fueled up Haechan's desire. 

Fuck it. 

He reached out, pulling you down using your neck, pressing his lips firm against yours, the sudden contact made you flinch, but soon enough had you melting right into his touch. 

He took your hands, that held the towel with his blood, removing the clothing from your hands and wrapped it around his neck. 

The kiss was nowhere near soft, it was purely out of lust, frustration, and maybe a little love even. 

Haechan pushed your hips further near his crotch, holding you there tightly, dragging his tongue across your lower lip, retreating it to bite down on the flesh, causing you to let out a soft moan. 

You feel him smirk against your lips, his hands leaving your hips, going further down to your ass, giving it a light squeeze. "H-haechan.. Fuck" left your mouth as he attached his lips onto you neck, placing wet kisses in a rushed pace, almost as though he'd been wanting to do this all along. 

"You have no idea, princess. But-" he nibbled on the skin of your neck, letting out a soft groan as your hips buck, hitting his clothed member. 

"You drive me crazy"

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 8

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 6,473

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

It was dawning on me that I hadn’t fully thought this through.

This whole “having friends” thing.

There were so many factors I hadn’t even considered. Like, once you’ve made a new friend…

...what the frick are you supposed to do with them?

One would think I’d have this figured out by now. After all, I was friends with Rayne, wasn’t I? But Rayne was different. There hadn’t really been much to think about there, we’d just sorta clicked. Besides, we’d met when we were children - a time when the hot topics to talk about had been our favorite toys to play with or which of the boys had cooties or our latest masterpieces made during Arts and Crafts time involving gluing popsicle sticks and sequins to pine cones. You know, kid stuff.

But now I was an adult. An adult who had just made new adult friends who probably expected adult conversations.

And unfortunately I just didn’t think cooties and sequins were going to cut it anymore.

Which is why I could now be found on this fine Friday afternoon shift at the Ice Palace having borrowed Kristoff’s phone, making use of the current lull in customer traffic to carry out some important research. And how, one might wonder, was this important research being gathered?

By googling the phrase “how to friendship.”

Genius, I know.

Thousands of articles and tutorials had come back in the search results, not all of them useful, but I’d landed on a couple that could maybe help a little bit. I gnawed on my lower lip as my eyes quickly scanned over the words. Then with a nod, I used a pen to transcribe the cliff notes version over to my palm, adding on to the ever growing list of useful tidbits that could now be found there.

Call it my Chit-Chat Cheat Sheet. That’s right, folks, you’re witnessing a crucial life hack in the making. This handy-dandy little list was going to be my one-stop shop to social butterfly success. Look out, new pals of mine, you were about to be friended so hard. I was going to friend your butts off! This was-

“Hey, I also like to doodle on my hand whenever I’m bored outta m-”

With a half gasp, half yelp, I jolted up straight, wide eyes discovering Lea now standing on the other side of the counter from me. He brought up his hands, “Woah now, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.”

My own hand flew up to cover my pounding heart as I breathed out and shook my head. “No. No, it’s fine, I should’ve been paying more-” My fingers flexed, closing around empty air. My brow furrowed. “Wait…” Where did my-? Did I drop it? “...I had a pen.”

It suddenly blurred down from up above to crash land into the countertop, making us both flinch and jerk back slightly.

Oh. Heh. There it was.

“Sorry about that,” I gave a weak laugh, retrieving the writing implement and giving it a little waggle as I held it up. “I… guess I still got a few kinks to work out before I can successfully launch the first unmanned pencraft into orbit.”

...wow, did that stupid joke really just come out of me?

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Wince.

The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Might I suggest waiting for a day when the weather forecast reports zero chance of ceiling?” he pointed up.

I nodded, “Good note. Excellent observation. Prime example of one of my kinks.” I blanched, then hastily stammered, “I mean the… one of the kinks that, uh, needs to be, er… worked... out.”

Ugh, what’s wrong with me? Why am I like this?

This is why I needed the list.

...crud! The list! My eyes darted to my palm where it was scrawled in plain view for all the world to bear witness. Then my gaze flicked to Lea, looking at me with an eyebrow cocked and one side of his lips turned up. Then I balled my fist and jammed it behind my back.

Had he seen?

He mustn’t know about my secret hacks!

That’s when I spotted it. Kristoff’s phone. Still on the counter between us. Still open to the WikiHow I’d been taking notes from. My other hand shot out and swatted the device away, sending it slamming into the wall on my right before clattering to the ground.

Oopsie. Sorry Kristoff!

Luckily he was currently out and about taking his ten. He’d never have to know. This could just be our little secret between the phone and me.

“Shit, what’d that poor thing ever do to you?”

...rather, between the phone, me, and Lea.

What had it done to me, he asks? It’d tried to rat me out, that’s what!

My eyes darted to one side. “...let’s just say the crime fits the punishment.”

Snitches get stitches.

He glanced to where the abused phone still lay abandoned on the tiled floor, then snorted and crossed his arms with a shake of his head, “If you say so.”

Alright, so this exchange so far? Could be going better. Not exactly textbook. Lot of room for improvement. But that was okay because (ba-dum ba-dum!) Chit-Chat Cheat Sheet to the rescue! It could salvage any social catastrophe! Let’s just watch it work its magic, shall we?

I shifted to bring my hand out in front of me once more, casually resting my palm face down against the countertop. Then I lifted it just barely enough to furtively peek at the first couple lines I’d written there.

Start with a warm, friendly greeting. Examples include…

I locked eyes with him. “Whassup.”

He blinked. “Um… hi?”

Nailed it.

Alright, now that a proper line of communication had officially been established in the most cordial manner, on to the next step: small talk. After sneaking another quick look at my notes, I pressed my hand back down again and recited the words I’d just glanced at, “So nice weather we’re having, huh? At least it’s not raining like last week.”

This list was a god send. Pure gold.

He squinted upward, scratching the back of his head. “Hasn’t it been sunny for months now?”

...fudge.

Abort, captain, abort! The first one was a dud! Quickly, lock and load the second one and fire!

I anxiously checked my palm again and latched onto the next line, reading out, “That’s an awesome shirt you’re wearing!”

He frowned down at it, eyebrows knitting together. “You mean my work polo? Not… really, but okay.”

Aaaaaaaand another swing and a miss!

Oh wise and powerful Chit-Chat Cheatsheet, why hast thou forsaken me here, now, in my greatest hour of need? Me, your most devout and faithful of followers? Me, who loved and worshipped you so?

Feeling my panic spiking, I looked to my hand again to find one more line I had yet to try. One final chance for salvation. This was it. My ace in the hole. List, don’t fail me now!

Desperate, I didn’t even register the words as my eyes snatched them from my palm, handed them off to my brain that then shoved them down the pipeline to my mouth which proceeded to blurt out verbatim, “So what do you do in your flamingo?”

...the list had failed me.

“I’m sorry, what does who do in the what and where now?”

And we’re talking like… epic failure.

I was just now realizing this was the one I’d been in the middle of jotting down when Lea had startled me. So chances were good that that sloppy mess of a scribble at the end of the sentence? Wasn’t actually the word flamingo.

At least, I hoped it wasn’t.

Whatever. I give up.

Puffing out a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose, I muttered, “You know what, forget it. I’m just… having a bit of a malfunction. One of those days, I guess.”

“Oh,” he chuckled, “no worries! Those come up all the time working customer service, so I totally get it.”

This guy was too nice. Here I was, spouting off nonsense like a gibbering baboon and he was just brushing it off like it was no big deal. Like it was an everyday occurrence for a person to ask him if he did lord only knows what to a neon pink bird. I should get on with assisting him with whatever he’d come over here for. It was the least I could do in exchange for him putting up with the trainwreck that was me. Taking a deep breath and putting on a smile, I asked, “So what can I help you with today?”

He returned the smile, “Take a wild guess.”

I glanced around my work space. “Ice cream?”

“Got it in one,” his thumb went up. “I’m a total addict by the way, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

“I’m sure your dentist says the same thing,” I deadpanned, pressing my finger to a button on the cash register. “Sea Salt, right?”

“You’re on a roll today!”

My grin twitched wider. He was so much better at this small talk thing than me. “How would you like it?”

“I like my ice cream like I like my women: swirly and in a waffle cone,” he winked, tossing out some finger guns.

...I take that back, this dork was just as clueless as I was. Had to be if he thought that was funny.

I merely arched an eyebrow at him as the silence stretched. Then he pouted, “Aw c’mon, kid, these are the jokes! Don’t leave me hanging here.”

I snorted, tapping a couple more keys on the register. “Sorry. It’s just that after the other day, I would have thought your answer would’ve been more along the lines of ‘frozen solid and on a stick.’”

“Oo, dirty,” he chirped, his eyebrows bouncing.

Welp. That’d teach me for trying to play along.

“But no,” he waved off, “that was more out of necessity. Only the ice cream bars can survive the long trip up the clocktower without melting first. Otherwise, give me creamy, fluffy, and with a twist any day!”

“Duly noted. Just a sec.” I turned, plucking one of the cones off the top of the stack as I walked past, approaching the soft serve/milkshake machine.

Ah, my old nemesis. We meet again. One could almost hear the Old West face-off tune whistling in the background. But thankfully, there would be no drawing of pistols this day. 

I liked to think there was a grudging, mutual respect between us now.

Being super mindful of the Anger Button, I switched it to the appropriate flavor and pulled down on the lever. As I moved the cone in small circles while it slowly filled with blue, sugary goop, I heard Lea ask, “Snow Bear?”

I looked back at him, a crease forming between my eyebrows as I tipped my head to one side.

...what’d he just call me?

He was hunched forward now, elbow on the countertop and chin propped in hand, fingers drumming against his cheek as he squinted at me with a frown. Then shook his head, “Nah, too healthy, even for a goody-goody like you. Tofu has no business being anywhere near ice cream.”

Then it clicked. Snow Bear was one of the flavors we offered.

“Big Bad Pete?” he pursed his lips to one side, then crinkled his nose. “Nope. Too nutty. Thinking you like a crunch, just not that kind.”

I returned my attention to the machine, making sure the cone wasn’t too top heavy. “Are you… trying to guess the type of ice cream I like?”

“Yup! Since Sea Salt clearly wasn’t your thing.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that.” I released the lever, completing the stacking spiral with a nice little curl at the top and turning to face him once more. “But it is… shall we say, an acquired taste?”

Lea smirked and scoffed, “Blasphemy! Don’t worry though, I won’t judge you too harshly for your dirty, heathen tastes.”

“You’re too kind,” I rolled my eyes as I handed him his purchase.

Taking it in one hand, he used the other to give me the munny due. “Consider it my one good deed for the century. It’s a doozy though. I’m expecting my sainthood any day now.”  He then lapped off a big blue chunk as he eyed me thoughtfully. “Donald Fizz maybe?” Then he pulled a face with another shake of his head, “Nu uh, too close to Sea Salt.”

“If you really want to know that badly, it’s-”

“Buh buh buh,” he pressed a finger to my lips, cutting me off. “Yeesh, don’t spoil my fun like that, let me guess! This is like my mutant power, I can always tell a person’s fave ice cream.” He narrowed his eyes on me as he took another bite, licking some of it off from the corner of his mouth. “You’re a tough read though. Gonna need more time, gather more intel.” A grin broke out again, “But I do oh so love a challenge.” Then he snapped his fingers, “What about-”

“Elsa?!” 

My blood ran cold at the voice that cried out from across the food court.

A very, very familiar voice.

One I had not expected to hear again for a while yet and certainly not here, at the Dusk Town Center mall, at my sanctuary of all places.

Lea glanced over his shoulder, looking for who’d interrupted him before yelping and leaping out of the way so as not to become roadkill to an auburn and blue blur zooming straight for me. It crashed up against the other side of the counter, lashed its limbs out over the top and seized me in its vice-like grip, yanking me forward into a bone-crushing embrace and squeezing the absolute life out of me as it once more shouted, “Elsa! I found you! At last, I found you!”

Or rather… not it, but her.

Anna Fryse.

My sister.

...who, as I was just now discovering, might also be part boa constrictor. Good lord, this girl did not know her own strength!

“Anna,” I wheezed, feebly patting at her elbow. An extraordinary feat, given that her bear hug was practically super gluing my arms to my sides. “Can’t. Breathe.”

“You’re okay! I was so worried! I thought you might be hurt or trapped or drugged or kidnapped or amnesiad or dead or, or, or- but you’re not! You’re really, really not! You’re alive!” 

“Won’t be for much longer if you don’t let go,” I croaked out, starting to see spots. Finally she released me and I gasped for breath. Ah, oxygen. Beautiful, life giving oxygen. I coughed, “Did you seriously just use ‘amnesia’ as a verb?”

Completely ignoring my question, her hands still grasped tightly at my shoulders as sharp, blue eyes set in a freckled face looked me over. Her red hair was done in pigtail braids and she was in a dark cobalt sundress with a black bodice.

Then she opened her mouth.

“Woah, Elsa! You look different! It’s a good different! I love everything about it!” She grabbed me by the cheeks, “Your face, the outfit, that hat - oh gosh, that hat! I never thought I’d see you in a friggin’ baseball cap! It’s too friggin’ cute! And a ponytail! How many times have I said you’d look totes adorbs in a ponytail, and you know what? Told you so! And- oh. My. Gawd!” She bellyflopped onto the countertop, pointing down, “I just saw the mini skirt! Friggin’ you! In a friggin’ mini skirt! Damn girl, you hawt!” She fell back onto her feet once more, looking up at our sign, “And this place! What is this place? This place is amazing! Do you work here? Please, please, please tell me you work here! Oh my gawd, you do! You have a friggin’ job! What do you do? How much do you make? Do you pay taxes? Do you pay rent? Do you have a 401k? What is a 401k?” She pointed at an ice cream spade, “What’s this thingie do?” Next at the soft serve/milkshake machine, “How does that work?” Up at a dangling Sven plushie. “What’s up with all the friggin’ deers?” Then at Lea standing off to one side, slowly eating his ice cream and watching on with one curious eyebrow quirked. “Who’s the hottie with a body?” She started to wave, calling out, “Hello, Mr Hottie-With-A-Bo-”

“Anna!” I hissed, cheeks roasting as I snatched her hand back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lea returning her wave with a tiny one of his own, to which I shot him a dull stare. He just grinned and shrugged. Shaking my head, I asked him, “Could you, uh… would you mind giving us a minute alone? Please?”

“Sure, no problem. I should be getting back to work anyhow. Laters, El!”

...El? Who’s El?

“Nice meeting ya, El’s friend!” he gave a two finger salute to Anna with a wink before sauntering off.

Huh. Guess that’d make me El. I’d earned a nickname. Had our friendship leveled up? Wow, I was so good at this friends thing! Without even understanding it, I had somehow already mastered it.

Bravo, me!

Anna watched him go, then turned back to me with a low whistle. “Okay, seriously, who was the sexpot and please, for the love that is all that is good and foxy, tell me you are tapping that.”

“Oh my god, Anna!” I facepalmed. I wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. “What are you even doing here?”

“I told you already, I was worried!”

My forehead wrinkled. “But you knew I wasn’t abducted or anything, you were the one who helped me run away. Besides, didn’t you receive my text telling you I was okay?”

“Yes, weeks after you disappeared!” She smacked me in the arm with a glare. “You could have contacted me sooner, brat! And what the frick was up with your stupid text?!”

“Stupid...? What was wrong with it?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry, don’t come looking for me,” she flatly recited the words from my message before looking away with a huff. “Please, have you never seen any kidnap movie in the history of like friggin’ ever? That’s like classic code for ‘help me, help me, I’ve been taken hostage and am being forced to tell you these things under duress.’”

“Ugh, the way your mind works,” I grumbled, massaging one temple. “How did you even find me anyway?”

Anna snorted. “What, you think just cuz you blocked my number that I wouldn’t be able to track you down? Sis, please, we live in the golden age of technology. Trust me, I have my ways. There’s a lot a girl can do with just a phone number and this little thing called the internet.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but then froze with a gasp as another thought struck me and nearly stopped my heart. My eyes darted about, searching the food court while I fidgeted with my fingers. “Wait… oh god, does… do Mother and Father… do they know? Are they also here? Did you tell-”

She gently shushed me, reaching over the countertop to rub my arm. “Sis, Sis, it’s okay, they’re not here, don’t stress! I did tell them I got the text from you so they’d know you’re okay, but I didn’t tell them I’d figured out where you were. They don’t know that I came here looking for you. You don’t have to talk to them until you’re ready.”

“Oh thank god,” I sighed, slumping against the counter. That… was a talk I was in no way prepared for. Not just yet. I gnawed on my lower lip for a second, glancing back up at Anna. “What about-”

“He’s fine too,” she said softly.

I frowned. “...really?”

Her face pinched into a tiny grimace. “I mean, he’s not great. He got dumped at the altar, what do you think? But he’s a big boy, he’ll survive.”

Well that was a load off my mind.

Not. 

“Ugh, I feel terrible,” I buried my face in my hands. Then I peeked out between my fingers at her. “Could you… I don’t know… maybe do damage control with him for me or something?”

“Was already on it,” she beamed with a thumbs up. “But enough about all that, gah, so friggin’ depressing! I wanna hear more about you and your new life and this whole job thing and that redheaded Hunky McHunkface and all that’s happened to you since you flew the coop! Tell me everything!”

A tiny smile crept up onto my lips. I knew I’d been missing my little sister, but it was only in that moment... seeing her here in front of me, hearing her voice again... that I was realizing just how much. “I’d actually really like that. But uh…” I looked past her, noticing more shoppers wondering about amongst those tables out there now than there had been just moments ago, with even more trickling in by the second. “Looks like we’re about to get our afternoon rush, so it’s not really the best time.”

Anna tapped her chin with a low hum before her face lit back up. “Are you free tonight?”

My head tilted to the left. “I’m working closing, but I should be out of here by nine I think.”

“Perfect! Let’s do dinner! Then we can properly celebrate your new found freedom as you tell me all about it! Whaddya say? Pleeeeease?” Puppy dog eyes initiated.

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, okay. That sounds nice.”

“Yay!” she bounced on her heels, rapidly clapping her hands together with a tiny squeal. “Ahhhh! Can’t wait! Okay, you said nine, right? Right! I’ll be waiting in my car right outside those doors over there, got it? Good! I’ll leave you to it then!” Then she was snatching me into another hug over the countertop and planting a kiss on my cheek with a loud mwah! “Love ya, Sis! See you then!”

And just like that, Typhoon Anna whooshed off once again, disappearing into the ever growing crowd.

Not a second later, I heard the door open behind me. “Hey, I’m back, sorry it ran a little long, I- hey, why’s my phone on the floor?”

I winced.

Heh… woops.

One tiny detail may have slipped my mind in all the mayhem that had been the last ten minutes.

I turned to see Kristoff stooping down to pick it up before he graced me with a scowl.  I chuckled sheepishly, “So… funny story…”

I got the feeling Kristoff hadn’t found my story all that amusing.

Don’t think he’d found it particularly believable either.

Not sure why. I mean, wasn’t it totally plausible that a strong gust of wind had blasted through the entire mall, causing one of the bigger reindeer dolls to fly off its hook and rocket straight into my hands, knocking his phone free from my grasp and sending it slamming into a wall where I had then left it for fear that moving it could cause more damage and trauma to the poor little device that had already been through so much?

No? Not plausible? Not even remotely or in the slightest?

Drat.

I'd never really been good at the whole lying thing.

But it'd been the best I could come up with on the spot. I mean, I wasn’t about to tell him the truth about how I was a total, pathetic dunce when it came to making friends which in turn caused me to do idiotic things like fling other’s people’s fragile property at hard surfaces.

In any case, Kristoff and I were currently not on speaking terms.

At least, I’m pretty sure we weren’t. That was my best guess anyway, given he hadn’t spoken two words to me since I’d spun my little tale.

Eh, he’d get over it.

A couple hours of the silent treatment later and he’d clocked out without so much as a goodbye. Then a few more hours brought me to the here and now of closing time. I was almost done wrapping everything up, just needed to finish wiping down all the surfaces. Having already ensured the inside of the little shop was pristine, I’d stepped out to be on the food court side of the counter, using a cloth to remove any fingerprints and other smudges that’d been left by customers on the display glass.

As I finished cleaning the last of it, I exhaled heavily and straightened up, planting my hands on my hips as I inspected my work. Nodding in approval at a job well done, I then looked to the clock on the wall to see that it was a quarter to nine. Perfect. Plenty of time to grab my things and lock up before heading out to meet Anna. Stretching my back to loosen some of the stiffness that had settled in there, I then took a quick glance over my shoulder.

It really should come as a shock to no one at this point that Lea could once again be spotted across the way from me. I was beginning to think the people in charge of scheduling our shifts met up for weekly tea and crumpets or something while they made sure the hours the two of us worked almost always lined up exactly. What nefarious scheme was being cooked up by the upper management of our two separate companies? What could they possibly hope to gain by it? Only time would tell.

In any case, he too looked to be almost done with all of his closing tasks. He was currently out in the food court area as well, using a broom to sweep up the area in front of Pizza Planet. Or so I’m sure the intent had been.

Except... he wasn’t really so much in front of the pizzeria as he was on top of one of the tables.

And it wasn’t so much a broom as it was an impromptu mic.

And he wasn’t so much sweeping as he was in his own little world, enthusiastically lip-syncing and dancing away to the song blasting out of his phone in the back pocket of his pants. I Believe In A Thing Called Love by the Darkness, if the wild electric guitar, high falsetto vocals, and cheesy lyrics were anything to go off of.

Wow, he really was a complete dork.

A splutter of a laugh burst out of me before I was able to clamp both my hands over my mouth in a vain effort to stop it.

I’m not sure how he heard me over all that explosive glam rock, but it seemed he did somehow for his head suddenly jerked in my direction. Then he beamed and started hopping across all the tabletops towards me. That couldn’t be sanitary. His feet at last touched ground in front of the Ice Palace as he crouched low before springing back up into a half-turn, landing himself in a seat atop the counter right between the ice cream display case and a cash register.

Still directing that ear-to-ear smile my way, he pulled his phone out long enough to hit pause on his music. “So whadja think? Do I put on one hell of a show or what?” 

Oh dear. Not only a dork but no shame to boot. A deadly combo, that.

I snorted, eyes on the glass once more as I went back to scrubbing it for the now nonexistent spots. “For sure. You should hurry up and get on becoming a bigtime rock star already.”

Broom balanced on the floor between his knees, he folded his hands over the handle point and rested his chin on his knuckles. “Nah, all that fame and fortune I’m guaranteed to get cuz I’m so loveable, awesome, amazing and cool would go straight to my head.”

I bit back a grin. “Because you’re so modest now.”

“Oh yeah, I’m humble as fuck!” he declared brightly. Then he shrugged and sighed, “Guess I’m just kinda perfection that way.”

My eyelids drooped. “...clearly.”

“So,” he lifted his head off its perch, freeing up one hand to scratch behind his ear, “everything okay? Between you and your sister, I mean.”

I looked at him, blinking a couple times. “How’d you know she‘s my sister?”

“You two got the same nose,” he smirked, tapping a finger to the side of his. “But seriously, you all good? She seemed pretty frantic.”

“Oh, that’s just Anna for you. The Looney Toons Tasmanian Devil personified. Pretty sure she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘calm.’ But no, she’s fine. We’re good.”

“Glad to hear it!” A pause. “So…” he said again, this time stretching the word out as he bounced the broom handle back and forth between his palms now. “...you eat, right?”

Hand still absently running the cloth along the glass, I raised an eyebrow at him. What kind of question was that? “...I have been known to on occasion, yes.”

“Good. Any dinner plans tonight?”

I froze, eyes round.

Oh.

...was he asking what I think he was asking? I think he was asking what I think he was asking. Why would he ask that?! Wait... oh no… did he think that I was thinking that he should ask what I think he was asking? Because if that’s what he thought I was thinking, I most certainly was not thinking that!  Not even close! Unless… did this here right now count as me thinking that?

...hold up, now I’m confused... what was I thinking again?

Oh that’s right.

I was thinking about him.

Asking.

Me.

Out.

Which I was so not ready for! I mean come on, I had just gotten out of a long term relationship! What was that rule? The one about how long after a breakup before you should start dating again? Something about waiting at least thirty minutes before getting back in the - 

Wait no, that had to do with eating and pools…

Whatever, gah! However much time it’s supposed to be, pretty sure it’s more than just a few weeks if you’d not only been together for years, but also frigging engaged to your ex! 

Current relationship status aside, let’s just be real here... I’m not sure if this was something I would ever be ready for. Hello, Mayor of Hermit Island here! They throw hermit parades in my honor. Those parades have zero spectators and consist of one (1) person marching, that person being me, all alone, by myself, because it’s Hermit Island and kind of the whole point! It was sort of a miracle I’d ever started dating in the first place, much less wound up with a fiancé of all things! When you think about it, and I mean really think about it… how the frick had that even happened?! I’d been there, heck, I’d lived it and even I was still scratching my head over that one. I mean, how had I ever-

“Hey now, what’s with the-?” Lea’s words broke me out of the word jumble that was my brain and my eyes darted over to him. His furrowed brow suddenly went slack and he blinked, heading rocking back. “Hold on, you don’t think that I- That I’m asking you out on a- No! God no! No, no, no, that’s not what this is!” 

Oh thank goodness!

Wait… how did he know that’s what I’d been thinking?

...could it be the fact that all the color had drained from my face and I had stopped breathing?

Speaking of which, I should really start that back up again.

Okay, all together now, one, two, three annnnnd sharp, deep inhale.

Whew, much better! Man, oxygen and I were having a real on-again, off-again relationship today.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with y- I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to- that is, uh… aw, crap,” he groaned, bonking his head against the top of the broom handle. “Forget it. Look, what I was trying to say was we - that is, the kiddos and I and a buncha other people who work at other stores 'round the mall, all of us get together every Friday night for food and drinks at the 7th Heaven. It’s this nice little pub not too far from here and I dunno if booze is your thing or what, but the grub’s pretty good there too, way better than your average bar food and so I was just wondering if you’d like to, I dunno… come join us and just hang out for a bit, have some fun. Interested?”

Ooooooooooh, got it! Well that was a relief!

...wait, was it?

Oh dear, just the thought of me having to interact with that many people all at the same time was enough to make my soul leave my body. Because once again, I have to play the President of Hermit Island card here. That’s right, I’d promoted myself from mayor to president within the last five minutes. I like to think I’d earned it after all my years of exemplary hermit service.

The point was, this little get-together sounded precisely like the kind of situation that I wanted to be on the polar opposite end of the planet from. Seriously, the Devil himself could not have designed a more fitting hell for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was sweet that Lea had thought to include me and I’m sure all the other people going would be nice and everything, but... I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. Not with the cold, stabbing pangs of anxiety already coursing throughout my chest at even the mere mention of going to such a thing.

Luckily, I didn’t have to. I had an out. A beautiful, glorious escape route courtesy of the one, the only, my savior (queue angelic choir singing)... Anna.

Clearing my throat, I managed a small smile. “Thank you, I appreciate the invite, I really do and I’m so sorry but I’ve already made plans with my sister. Speaking of,” I glanced at the clock again before hurrying past him and back into the Ice Palace to drop off the cleaning rag, “I really should be going now, she’s probably already waiting for me.”

He slid off the countertop, spinning around to face me with a frown. “Aw, ya sure? Why don’t you just bring her along too? We won’t mind, the more the merrier!”

Still with the smile, now accompanied by a slight scrunching of my nose, I shook my head. “Mm, no, I don’t think that’ll work. But maybe next time, okay?” Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I stepped out from behind the counter once more and stretched up on my tippy-toes, reaching for the pull-down gate. Crud, why was I always so stupidly short?

“Let me.” Him being the absolute Ent that he was, Lea had no trouble whatsoever reaching it and yanking it down for me.

“Thanks,” I murmured before locking it up for the night, then turning and making my way towards the double doors leading outside.

“Hang on, I’ll walk you out,” he said, bringing me up short.

Turning my head back towards him, I held up a hand, “Oh no, that’s fine, you don’t have to!”

“I’m heading that way anyway.” He started walking away backwards, jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the Pizza Planet, “Just let me close up shop real quick.”

“Really, it’s not necessary. I’m just going to-”

“Be back in a sec!” he spun one-eighty, jogging off.

“...go,” I finished weakly.

Well now what? I guess maybe I should wait? My eyes shifted to the doors longingly.

...well, I did tell him he didn’t need to walk me. Not my fault he couldn’t hear me over the sound of his own chivalry.

Screw it. I’m leaving.

With a small grimace and one last peek back to where Lea had just disappeared, I turned away, squared my shoulders and strode off.

Pushing through the exit doors and out into the night air, I spotted Anna parked at the curb right in front of me in her bright red Porsche convertible, its top already folded back. She honked at me, calling, “Hey, hot stuff! Looking for a good time?”

I merely grinned and shook my head at her as I approached the vehicle. However, just as I was reaching for the car door, a voice called out behind me, “Wait up!”

I winced, screwing my eyes shut.

Fudge.

Lea came to a stop next to me, panting and hunching forward, planting his hands on his knees. He must have been running the whole way to make sure he caught me before I could esc- erm, I mean, before I left. He lifted his head, blasting us with the full force of those dimples of his as his gaze flicked back and forth between me and Anna. “You sure you ladies can’t join us tonight?”

“Thanks, but-”

“Join you for what?” Anna cut me off, scooting closer by shifting from the driver's seat to the passenger, arms folding across the top of the door.

This. Right here. This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted him to walk me out.

“Nothing big,” Lea straightened up, placing a hand on the car door as well and leaning against it. “Just drinks and food with some friends from work. If you can’t change your plans though, that’s totally cool, I just wanted to-”

Because once Anna found out...

“What are you talking about?!” she laughed. “Of course we can change our plans! That sounds so fun, count us in!”

…there was no way I was getting out of it. Ugh.

“Wha- really?” No doubt about it. He was quite pleasantly surprised. “Great! The place we’re meeting at is called 7th Heaven. Short drive from here.” He waved to another car parked a few spaces further down the curb, which responded by flashing its blinkers, “That’s Xion. She drew the short straw for designated driver tonight. Just follow her car and she’ll lead you right to it!”

“Sounds good! See you there!” she waggled her fingers at Lea as he dashed off to get into the other car. Then she scooched back over behind the wheel, making room for me. Face pinching just a smidge, I sighed and got in, slamming the door shut behind me. Bouncing in her seat as she started the engine, she chirped, “Wow, we lucked out! This is gonna be a blast! You excited?”

“...thrilled,” I said dryly, buckling myself in.

Welp. Let’s get this over with.

Personal hell, here I come.

Author’s note: Ahhhh, there she is! Elsa’s feisty-pants lil sister makes her debut! Also, notice how much Anna says friggin’? Now those sound more fitting coming out of her, but Elsa grew up hearing those friggin’s (and fricks) coming out of her sis for years now, so it may have rubbed off on her a lil. Also the last name Fryse? Norwegian for ‘freeze’... yeah, I got a lil punny in coming up with Elsa’s family name, ignore me and my silly lil pleasures xD And more BBS ice creams sneak into this chapter - and I was mindful of their in-game descriptions too, so yes, it is in fact canon in the video game that the Snow Bear flavor has *shudders* tofu in it. TOFU. In ICE CREAM. Thanks, but no thanks!

Anyway, moving on! Now Anna drags our dear antisocial hermit off on an unwanted adventure! What’s next for our intrepid heroine? Will she survive this dreaded night of socializing? Just who exactly will be at Friday night drinks anyway? And with the sheer volume of ice cream Lea probably consumes daily, just HOW massive must his dentist bill be at this point, I mean really?? We may never know the answer to that last question, but as for the rest, stay tuned to find out next chapter!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to any new followers out there (hello! :D) and to those of you who hit that like button last chapter, seeing that always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[internetandnetwork]

A Short Guide to Psychology-Based Copywriting

The best thing about copywriting is it is as much a science as an art. Great copywriters realize this, and that’s what distinguishes them from the average copywriters. You don’t have to be some word warlock to create a persuasive ad copy. All you need to do is discover how to tap into your target customers’ internal motivating factors and entice them to respond to your ad.

It is essential to put the artist within you to sleep and employ a more logical and scientific method to get into the persona of your prospective customers. Once you grasp the psychology of your consumers and their mental triggers, persuading them to engage with you becomes more effortless. Copywriters and marketers who know these mental triggers can activate them to influence a prospect without them even knowing.

The Process to Adopt Psychology-Based Copy in Your Marketing

Research –

Start by researching your target audience first. Try to know as much as you can. When you do this, the majority portion of your copy will be already written for you as you will be aware of the language or tone your prospects use in conversations, the topics they talk or care the most about, and how they look at things. With all this information, you will have a pretty clear idea of the best way to approach your customers.

Collect data –

Find out as much information as you can about the product. Research your competitors and collect data about them. Understand your market well and identify the fastener i.e., that one thing which can help set apart your communication.

Put the data into action –

Incorporate all your research data, get your draft ready, collect feedback, and review and redo your work according to the input, if required.

Key points to remember –

Pay attention to your copy’s headline and a couple of introductory lines to make sure your copy never dies.

Why Copywriting Is as Much a Science as It Is an Art?

At the beginning of this blog, we discussed how the best part about copywriting is that it is as much a science as it is an art. But we never talked about why.

Well, to be honest, it is safe to say that copywriting is actually more of a science than it is art (if not equally). This is because there are several formulas or tactics that have been proven effective. They have worked for businesses earlier and continue to work efficiently, even today. However, apart from these, there are a few factors that support this statement. Let’s dive into the details.

Research – Copywriting involves research, in fact, lots of it. The research itself means a methodical examination and study of data and its sources to prove facts and collect information. Research forms a fundamental part of copywriting as it helps comprehend the customers, products or services, market, and competition.

Psychology – Another branch of science, Psychology, plays a significant role in the copywriting process. When it comes to writing a compelling copy, the goal is to get into the target audience’s brains and trigger their internal motivating factors to persuade them to respond to your ad and influence them to take the desired action.

Communication – Writing a good copy is not at all about using flowery language to communicate to your audiences. Instead, it is more about writing what the audience wants to read. This is why it is necessary to use their language, tone of voice, and viewpoint to convey your message effectively to them.

Activating the Mental Triggers of Your Customers Through Your Ad Copy

Activating the psychological triggers of your readers via your ad copy is the key to acquiring customers who just cannot wait to get their hands on your products and services. But hey, you don’t have to hypnotize or manipulate your readers into buying your offerings. All you need to do is offer them what they need, want, and expect.

Pretty simple, right?

Every human being has emotional or mental triggers that drive the majority of their actions. Understanding those triggers of your customers and using them in your ad copy will help in knowing as well as influencing your consumers better.

So, let’s discuss how you can activate the mental triggers of your customers through your ad copy.

Prioritize the benefits of your products rather than its features –

Most copywriters fall into the trap of describing the benefits of their products. They fail to realize that whatever they are saying about their own product can also be said about probably five different products from the same category. You don’t have to tell what your product does; instead you need to focus on communicating what the product can do for your customers. Most likely, the customers decide to purchase a product based on the value it promises to add in their lives, not its features.

You are good with words; your audience might not necessarily be –

Sometimes, in order to increase the credibility of the product, copywriters often end up stuffing their ad copy with daunting words and useless idioms, which confuse and scare off potential customers. Thus, while writing a copy, stick to – the simpler, the better. Use simple and easy to understand the language in your headings and captions. Don’t dishearten your audience even before you start a conversation with them.

Provide enough social proof

It is understandable and proven that the audience tends to trust persuasive claims if there is a credibility that harmonizes with them. So, when you are conveying, how beneficial your product is or trying to gain the trust of the readers, support your claims with appropriate and adequate social proofs to give credibility to your statements.

When crafting a long-form copy, you can include written or video testimonials, reviews, and case studies to authenticate your statements. You can incorporate likes and data or numbers from customers, influencers, and famous personalities in your shorter ad copies to establish authority and reliability.

Conclusion

So this was all about psychology-based copywriting and ways you can utilize it to benefit from it. Great copywriters understand its importance, and maybe that’s what helps them stand out from the mediocre ones. Understanding and implementing psychology-based copywriting is what makes an ad copy great. There is no voodoo or rocket science behind how copywriters are able to boost conversions with just a copy. Well, now that you know this secret ingredient, be sure to make the most out of it. With these tips in mind, you will be all set to craft a persuasive ad copy that will bring in qualified leads ready to make a purchase right away.

Hariom Balhara is an inventive person who has been doing intensive research in particular topics and writing blogs and articles for Tireless IT Services. Tireless IT Services is a digital marketing, SEO, SMO, PPC, and web development company that comes with massive experiences.  We specialize in digital marketing, web designing and development, graphic design, and a lot more.

SOURCE : A Short Guide to Psychology-Based Copywriting

[astoxh-kai-askoph-blog]

Injury Lawyer Albany Georgia

You need to select the best attorney in Albany GA . The one that recognizes the regulation the very best as well as one that has experience managing your type of instance. Those things claim even more concerning that attorney's advertising and marketing ability than their real skill, expertise and knowledge.

The Most Effective Means to Locate an Albany GA Lawyer is by Word of Mouth or asking your friends for references.

Talk with people you know who have collaborated with attorneys prior to as well as speak with those legal representatives. Talk to any type of attorneys that you have actually dealt with in the past. Even if they do not manage accident they likely can lead you to a lawyer that they understand that does operate in injury and that they feel does their work well. In talking with all these different lawyers you might see that a specific name is stated by a few attorneys. That name is most likely worth seeking.

You can also check the documents of lawyers you talk with via organizations like the Better Business Bureau. You can also discover websites with customer reviews of attorneys and also see whether on not a certain legal representative gets on great terms with their clients and if clients like their work.

Choosing an Albany GA Personal Injury Attorney

When you trim your listing to the names, as well as companies of the lawyers that you want to be stood for by you now have to set up an appointment. Several attorneys will certainly provide you your very first appointment without charging you, however others may charge a consulting cost. Paying that fee is your option, yet you should consult with more than one lawyer to obtain a feel for just how strong your case is. Additionally search for out each attorney's background in handling situations like your own and a concept of how much time managing the situation would certainly take. Keep in mind to ask about expense and how repayment would certainly be taken care of.

If you or a person near you has actually endured a severe personal injury after that you may be eligible for settlement. There are regulations in position to secure your rights. Keeping that in mind, you would certainly be a good idea to search for personal injury attorneys to aid represent you. Now remember as you look that there are lots of misconceptions in regard to these attorneys. Don't let them maintain you from obtaining the help you require.

When the majority of people think of working with Albany GA personal injury attorneys, they envision lawyers resting at their desk counting money. Since that's the stereotype-lawyers desire money and they want lots of it. And sure, that may be the case for some PI attorneys. Yet definitely not every one of them. By doing a bit of research study, you're sure to come throughout a legal representative who appreciates greater than just money. A lawyer who has actually constructed his practice on treating individuals the method he 'd wish to be dealt with. As well as to make points less complicated on you, he'll supply a free first assessment. This will aid build trust, as well as ensure you have a case worth moving forward on.

Terrified you're most likely to work with a legal representative and also never be able to find him? When you employ trustworthy accident lawyers, you do not need to manage the red tape. There's no dodging phone calls via secretaries and also voicemails. They'll make themselves available to you to address all your inquiries and issues. Nevertheless, your Albany GA PI attorney is like your guardian, right?

Fear of losing employment should not keep you from attempting to get settlement. Your employer can not hold it versus you. You're acting well within your rights by contacting Albany GA accident attorneys. So do not let scare strategies and scare tactics cheat you out of your rightful negotiation.

The probabilities of you reaching a reasonable settlement by yourself are very low. You might too go play the lottery game while you go to it. The reality is, if you assume somebody else needs to be held accountable for your injury, you require to get an attorney in your corner. Only after that can you be certain that you'll get to the settlement you need.

Significant circumstances call for specialization. So no, not simply any type of attorney will certainly do. You need to be searching for accident attorneys that concentrate on instances such as yours. You do not want a jack of all trades. You want the best lawyer about your particular issue. So as you browse through lawyers, maintain this in mind.

When you find the appropriate legal representative, you will certainly have a person on call all set to help you at a minute's notice. So get the payment you deserve and also begin exploring accident lawyers today.

It's obvious that personal injury lawyers have a poor online reputation in our culture. We have all listened to the stereotypes and also jokes regarding those "ambulance chasing" lawyers: that we benefit from vulnerable people for our very own individual gain, that we chase ambulances looking for our next payday, which we will certainly do any type of shady or underhanded action in order to get paid.

These stereotypes are not just incorrect, yet they are damaging to our legal system. The lawful system is what individuals must look to in their time of requirement. As well as reality be informed, the huge bulk of injury attorneys help their customers get the compensation they are entitled to. People that are harmed in an automobile crash, injury, or harmed by a defective product count on accident attorneys each day.

In addition, the adverse stereotypes come from attorney advertisements themselves. A number of these ads make it seem that attorneys are cash starving and that they encourage individuals that they need an attorney to recoup numerous bucks in also the most pedestrian of injury accident situations. Likewise, it seems the clients are judged by their settlement quantity, and not as an individual. Nonetheless, these money starving attorneys are the minority. A lot of personal injury lawyers do not treat their clients as meal tickets.

Not just do Albany GA injury attorneys help their customers in their time of requirement, yet their work makes certain that individuals reside in a secure setting and also culture. Irresponsible corporations as well as people are mindful that they might be called for to pay civil damages if they determine not to act fairly and safely. Injury attorneys are additionally responsible for guaranteeing that neighborhood, state, as well as government security laws and regulations exist to safeguard the general public at large. These laws were passed in response to harmful irresponsible behavior and also they guarantee that people stay healthy and balanced and risk-free when using items that are developed and produced to be safe.

I can see why individuals believe the worst regarding personal injury lawyers because adverse stereotypes are all over them. Absolutely the attorneys do not help themselves and all it takes is "one poor apple ruins the whole bunch." However, while you usually find out about the unethical attorney who took their customer's money in the news, you almost NEVER read about any one of the positive points lawyers provide for their clients-including functioning pro bono for causes the lawyers count on or decreasing their charges to ensure that their customers receive all the justice they are entitled to. While it is true that some injury lawyers are greedy as well as egocentric, the vast bulk really appreciate their customer's rights as well as are strong supporters for their customers.

Of course what is usually overlooked is that the key push behind these negative stereotypes are firms and also insurer that want to use these poor public images to their benefit. They try to state that injury legal representatives as well as their customers are the villains attempting to take advantage of a suit lotto game, as well as the lawyers are attempting to take advantage of their client's bad luck. Nevertheless, it takes a great deal of hard work as well as dedication to do what we do and numerous attorneys chose to collaborate with injured individuals in  Albany GA due to the fact that they intend to help individuals.

There might be a time in everybody's life when they are faced with a scenario that they will take into consideration employing an injury attorney. Keep in mind that there are many injury lawyers out there that will certainly deal with difficult for you. You are not, and also must not be just an additional number or paycheck for your lawyers.You are an individual with your own concerns and wishes regarding your instance. You deserve to be treated with respect by an accident legal representative that values having you as a client.

The most awaited thing after any crash is the insurance claim of compensation you make to cover the loss - certainly just in cases where it is applicable. The procedure involving the case is typically time-consuming and also a lot of lawsuits occur versus adjusting the amount of the case, which is even reduced to an extent. If you desire to stay clear of these scenarios, it is much better to designate an accident lawyer who would take the responsibility on your behalf to recover the quantity of claim as high as feasible.

An Albany GA accident attorney might aid you today after a mishap has taken place on an emergency situation basis. Normally, the attorney might bill virtually 40% of what is recovered from the insurance claim or you can pay the lawyer a charge that is been determined in between the two of you, beforehand. There is a situation where you can seek for the specialist assistance of a lawyer however as a civil service which is not implied to be charged at all yet still the attorney charges, a much minimal amount from individuals that come for aid.

So prior to you select any kind of attorney to take your instance, be prepared with a survey which would certainly pick the fate of selecting the attorney. If you do not receive adequate solutions, you might turn down the individual and also ask for another attorney for interview.

Things to check from an Albany GA personal injury lawyer:

You must check the qualifications and accomplishments of the accident attorney as well as supply the lawyer with all the information you have relating to the accident or personal injury. These 2 areas should be plainly scrutinized prior to designating the person.

As you are the person who would be preserving the lawyer for the task, you have the liberty of asking concern in regard to the trustworthiness of the personal injury lawyer. According to the feedback supplied by the lawyer, you require to make a decision whether he is capable enough to obtain you the case. In case of an incorrect choice there will certainly be a lot of added sufferings apart from the charges of the attorney that you will certainly have to compensate.

You can inquire about the number of instances the Albany Georgia personal injury lawyer has actually thus far been associated with and also the variety of favorable outcomes amongst them. If the answer is positive, you would have the ability to establish some trust on your lawyer.

[jewish-blackula]

weird sanders’ sides headcannon

i really want to write this but i don’t feel like i can right now. maybe i will soon

Roman is in the military, he’s dreamed of being a knight his entire life and has been training his body since he was nine

His dad was in the air force and his grandfather was in the navy, the family tree has basically been dancing around the military and Roman just said ‘fuck it’ and went for it

He gets injured in battle pretty early on because he puts everyone else’s life before his

It’s his left leg

He keeps insisting it’s fine but

He gets honorably discharged soon after because he can’t even walk anymore

He gets home and for a while, lives in his own apartment in a smallish town in New York above his childhood best friend’s bakery where he works alongside him

(the baker, who is Patton lives next door with his husband, Logan)

Soon the environment gets too quiet for Roman and he needs something to do other than just baking, even though he loves his friends

He starts talking with Logan and he’s shown this platform called YouTube for the first time

Of course he’d heard of it before, he just didn’t really get around to checking it out, he got his first phone a year ago

And he’s shown short films and music videos and that is when Roman finds his new life passion

Acting

He starts listening to musicals, starting with Hamilton

The first time he listens to it, he’s a little uneasy because a lot of songs have excessively loud noises and even though his headphones are pretty low to begin with, it just worries him

But he does love the songs that aren’t super loud

His favorite is the Story of Tonight because of the brotherhood between the four of them and it reminds him of all of his favorite parts of his short-lived service

From there he is introduced to more and more musicals and soon he is just this huge musical theatre nerd and Patton is excited because

“He hasn’t smiled this much since before he was discharged, Logan!”

Roman spends another year in the bakery learning about the musical theatre scene and and YouTube and just listening to some many showtunes

And a lot of customers can hear him singing from the back and he becomes quite well known in the town for being the Singing Baker

Once word gets out that he’s also an army veteran and he’s under the age of 30, he gets multiple younger people asking him out, but he very politely turns them down for now, he’s just not really into the whole relationship scene right now

Sometimes Roman wishes that he could act on stage, but he doubts he can, he can barely walk and eventually he just gives up on it

However, he’s now almost always on YouTube when he isn’t working or exercising

(And occasionally while doing those things too, but Logan would discreetly murder him if he found out he wasn’t on task during work)

One day he’s complaining to Logan about his dilemma and Logan offhandedly says

“You’re watching YouTube so much, you could just do covers on the site.”

And thus starts Roman’s YouTube career

He gets a laptop from Patton for his birthday and Logan provides a suggestion for an editing platform and pays for it as well

Starts very small, a cover of Burn transposed into a lower key by Patton

(Who was apparently also an amazing musician alongside being the best baker Roman knows? How?)

Learning how to edit was the hardest part, but he looked it up on YouTube and slowly figured it out

He tries learning how to record just audio, but he decides to put that one on pause until he gets a proper mic and

He gets really excited to post and excited for people to see the video

But once it goes up

Nobody

Sees

It

Well, until he actually posted a small clip of it on his twitter instagram and tumblr

all of which he had built up a small following of loyal fans in the past few months so that if ever needed, he could get them to do his bidding

The video gets popular enough for his liking and he gets a few subscribers and makes another one

He starts to find a rhythm of operating with these things and can soon start integrating more and more things into his videos and starts to grow

He also starts making videos where he talks about the military and also

Roman screamed the first time another YouTuber reached out to him

(Patton thought something was actually wrong and nearly slapped him upside the head for scaring him so badly)

(once he realized what actually happened, he was also very excited)

Another small YouTuber, going by AnxiousAngelV (or just V) DMed him on Instagram asking about some of his work and which side of the country he was working from

Roman admittedly didn’t actually know who this guy was, but after watching a bunch of his guitar covers and art videos, he fell in love with his work, though, none of his videos or his pictures showed his whole face

((hell yes this is prinxiety, i am garbage for this ship))

They become mutuals and as their channels grow more and more, they do collaborations where V will play guitar on a song as accompaniment with Roman singing over it

They constantly argue which one they did is the best

V likes “Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner” cover they did, not only because he picked the song, but because it was the first one V sang with Roman

he falls asleep to it most nights

Roman’s favorite is “A Lovely Night,” V doesn’t play guitar in it, but Patton plays both ukulele and Logan did a some piano

(Roman keeps getting surprised by his friends’ musical abilities. They’re all so amazing)

The real reason it’s Roman’s favorite is because V sings Emma Stone’s part and his voice is

So pretty

he falls asleep to it every night without fail

V sometimes animates over covers Roman does specifically for that purpose, but not very often because his hand is already blistered from constant strumming without a pick

They have the same favorite for this one, which is also the most viewed video on V’s channel

“So This Is Love” from Cinderella

They end up building a ridiculous fandom empire and they may or may not each have their own secret fan account where they may or may not both be writing fanfiction about each other

It doesn’t take long before Roman wants to meet up

(well, he always wanted to meet up, he just didn’t want to push V into an uncomfortable position)

It takes half a year to convince V to meet in person because of “special accommodations” he has to take care of

They decide to do it at Playlist Live, which both of them were going to

And they hype it up for a while on social media and through text

When Roman flies down to Orlando, he texts V all the way there, especially during the parts where V gets on the second flight there and starts getting more anxious

The first day of Playlist rolls around and Roman sits at their designated spot outside the convention center for a while

It’s after five minutes of standing there that he realizes that he’s getting frantically texted by V

He’s having an  anxiety attack

V tells him where his hotel room and building is and Roman

Runs

(he nearly broke his back, he can’t run as well as he used to)

He gets there and almost pounds on the door, but stops himself so he doesn’t scare V too bad

The door opens enough for Roman to swing it open and engulf V in his arms

They spend the next ten minutes calming down

In the next hour, Roman finds out that V is completely paralyzed from the waist down, that his name is not actually V, it’s Virgil, and that Virgil is single and very gay

Virgil doesn’t stop touching Roman (usually in small subtle ways) the entire time

Roman eventually stops trying to talk and they cuddle in the bed and Roman pulls him as close as humanly possible, to keep him safe, from what he doesn’t really know, but he protects him anyway

They’re planning a date by the end of the night

Since they both live in New York, they decided to wait until they get back, just because this was unfamiliar territory and Virgil didn’t need anything else in his life making him nervous

Patton and Logan basically adopt Virgil

Virgil moves into the apartment upstairs with Roman

Their wedding was in the bakery

[inyri]

84. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.” SWTOR OCs!

(Another cheat, sorry- not exactly an OC, but I’ve been rolling this idea around in my head for ages and it latched onto this prompt. It does feature half of my usual SWTOR duo, though, so I hope it will suffice.)

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” He glances down at his caf cup for a minute- this stuff is fucking terrible, even by his usual low-budget standards- before he returns his attention to the detention room window. “You told me you had someone for me. He’s just a kid.”

“Seventeen, he says. No papers to back it up, of course-” Jannah slides a datapad across the desk toward him- “not like they ever do. But this one’s good, Dev. Got past the physical perimeter at EvaCorp and sliced through three layers of security with just a basic spike. He had a dozen files halfway cracked when their shock net went off.”

As she keeps talking (she was Coruscanti to the bone, a thousand words when ten’d do) he watches the kid through the mirrored glass. Skinny and spiky-haired in a red jacket about a size too big, he picks idly at the locked cuff chaining his wrist to the table- seventeen’s probably about right. Much younger than that and they’re usually scared; much older and they’ve usually got a record.

“Given that shock nets are on the banned list as of last year,” she finishes, “they’re keen to keep this quiet. I can’t just cut him loose, but I thought of you. You keep saying you’re short on recruits again, and-”

“We are.” Draining the last of the caf, he flicks the cup into the garbage. “He tell you why he did it?”

It’s warm in here, and Jannah unzips her uniform jacket as she kicks back in her chair. “That’s the other reason I thought of you. Besides the credits, obviously,” she grins, “apparently he was bored.”

Hm. He can use that, maybe. “You think he’ll bite?”

“I don’t know. But he seems like a good kid, and if I’ve got to send him down he’s not going to stay that way.”

“Yeah.” He pushes away from the table as, beyond the glass, the boy glances up toward the door and then back down toward his cuffed hand. “Yeah. Twist my arm. I’ll go talk to him.”

She smiles. “Thanks, Dev. We still on for dinner tomorrow?”

“Seven o’clock. I’ll pick you up.” One last read over the datapad and then he turns the doorknob, steps into the interrogation room, and he’s four steps in before the kid finally speaks.

“I wondered when they were planning to send in the bad cop.” Looking at his features, he could be from anywhere, his accent a hodgepodge- not Imperial, but not straight Core, either. Clear eyes. No track marks, no tattoos. No bad habits to break, hopefully. “I’m guessing that’s a no on the sandwich, then.”

He chuckles. “You really think I look like SecForce? Yikes.”

The kid glances sideways toward the door again but it stays closed; his mouth settles into a narrower line. “You work for them, then? Look,” he says, “like I told her before, I was just paid to get the files. I didn’t read ‘em, so if you’re going to-”

“How’d you do it?”

He blinks. “Huh?”

“You cut through corporate-grade encryptions with a ten-credit spike. That takes some talent.” Sitting down across the table, datapad between them, he rests his elbows on the table and leans forward toward the kid. “Who taught you to slice?”

“Self-taught, mostly. I picked up stuff here and there.” His wrist must be sore- he’s still rubbing it as he shifts in his seat, a few burn lines snaking dark red and angry up into the cuff of the jacket. “Y’know. Around.”

“On Manaan?”

The kid blinks again. “Never heard of it.”

“Your racing league record says otherwise, although I’m pretty sure the minimum legal age is sixteen. You were- what? Fourteen?” He gestures down at the datapad. There wasn’t much in the file at all- no birth record, no customs clearances, even facial recognition drawing a big, fat blank. For all that he’s sitting in front of him, the kid’s practically a ghost. “But it was just a question.”

“Almost fifteen when I started, not that they were checking ident cards- the bosses liked their racers lightweight. What’re you going to do, arrest me?”

Smartass.

He likes this one.

He’s got a cuff key in his jacket pocket and digs for it, flips it up and down between his fingers, working his way around to the important questions. “You got any family? Friends? Anyone who can put up bond for you?”

“Not really.” Eyes tracking the key, the kid shrugs. “No one with that kind of credits, anyway. This job was supposed to be... never mind. And no. No family.”

“Someone must have raised you. You don’t strike me as a Temple foundling, and you sure as hell didn’t grow up down here. You can read, for one thing.”

That gets a response, a split-second flash of anger. “Raised is a word, insofar as I could live up to what they wanted, which I couldn’t. If you’re trying to get me to go to the Children’s Home, forget it. I’ll be eighteen in two months and then I’ll be out on my ass again, just like-” Free hand curling into a fist, he flinches. That hand’s got char marks, too.

Void, he’s prickly. “Not what I was going to suggest. The way I see it, you’ve got two options. Nobody’s coming to bail you out, so: you can either tell me to fuck off and take your chances with the Coruscant legal system, or you can listen to what I have to say.”

The kid quiets, sinking lower in his chair.

“Very good. Now, what’s your real name?”

He makes a face. “You guys know my real name- it’s right there on your datapad. Theron Shan.”

“Well then, Theron Shan-” leaning forward again, he touches the key to the still-locked cuff- “take this as a show of good faith. My name’s Dev Andress. I work for the Strategic Information Service.”

A nod, a raised eyebrow as the cuff springs open. “I’ve seen the recruitment posters on the Holonet- ‘now hiring data analysts.’ Very suit-and-tie sounding. Not really my thing.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that. You know what Imperial Intelligence is? What they do?”

“Not personally,” Theron says, “thank fuck. One of my friends got picked up by the Imps last year. He came back short three teeth and about half his brain cells. I learned to steer clear real fast.”

“The SIS is the Republic’s answer. It’s data analysis for some of our people, sure, but it’s also slicing. Field work. Hands-on. You seem like you’ve got a talent for it, and we need people.”

He opens his mouth and then shuts it again, tilts his head, considering. “Is this a joke? You’re kidding, right?”

“No joke. The pay’s not great and it’s dangerous as hell, to be honest, but you won’t find a better cause.” Might as well be honest. Idealists never last long, not in this line of work.

They sit there, silent, for at least a minute.

And then- “Anyone ever tell you you’re a shitty recruiter?”

“I’ve been told that before, yeah.”

“All right,” the kid says, and sits up straighter. “I’m listening.”

[azeemmohammedglasgow1]

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[sweatytyrantwhispers]

Part 4 of things my friends do that make me love them even more:

- both rachel and cristine are artistically talented and i cant fucking wait to see them become famous doing the things they love (i know theyll becoem famous i believe in them tht much) (rachel has a great singing voice; cristine has a great singing voice, knows how to play various intstruments, loves acting, and can paint/draw amazingly)

-seth tells me some catchphraes his fav youtubers say whenever we talk

-none of my friends (nor I) knows how to react or what to say most of the time, especially when it comes to gift giving and compliments; we’re all oblivious and awkward people that don’t understand society

-andy messes up on what to say to customer service people when its evening/night time cus we usually go out around tht time but he’s used to sauing have a good day

-andy also hates intersections so he’ll pretend hes walking in the other direction (away frm the intersection), stand on the sidewalk and pretend hes doing something, or take a whole other route if theres a car nearing the intersection bc he says it feels awkward

-rachel’s favorite animals are dogs and raccoons so when i send her a post abt raccoons she gets rly excited and says she wants to hv a raccoon as a pet when she grows up. She also gets excited when i point out a dog to her in public (she cant see it cus no glasses but still excited by its genert presence)

-dina is scared of lightning so I always try to ask her if shes alright when theres a thunderstorm

-when we go to the park, rachel almost always tries to make tiktoks. We always end up interrupting and annoying her while she makes them though, sorta like our little routine.

-last time we went to the park, rachel ended up accidentally hitting meng and I directly on the face with the volleyball (its ok though cause im pretty sure we’ve ended up accidentally hitting each other with the ball at least once)

-when i got hit with the ball dina asked me if i was ok but as she moved towards me she went for the ball (we were playing monkey in the middle and she was one of the monkeys); its just funny and i love that our friendship is at a point where we could laugh about it and everything is fine

-i told my friends that i was depressed before going to the park to hang out w them. when i got there i kinda just sat on the ground looking through reddit with music on high. they all tried their best to talk to me and tell me funny stories (they said they overheard a group of kids talking about how they pantsed another dude) to cheer me up. Dina and Rachel both decided to give me a hug at the same time and i toppled over. Dina gave me a hug again. I love them so much

- Andy called me while i was in class to tel me to look at the sunset. Its something that both of us have done a few times because we both love sunsets and usually see them when we’re out. Its a small thing but it makes me love my friends even more.

-I was on voice call with Rachel on discord and she laughed then sent the group chat a link to a tiktok

-(not my friend but my mom) She knows that i hate it when things are thrown out when they’re still good or can still be repurposed. Someone brought flowers home for some reason (i forgot why) but she was putting the flowers in a vase one day. Some of the flowers broke off the bigger portion of the stem and couldn’t be put into the big vase but she put a bunch of them into a small container for me and gave it to me. I loved it even though we did hv to throw it out like a few weeks later.

-My friends and I were at Central Park and we were waiting for my two friends to finish up taking pictures. Meng and I were taking a short nap (him sitting down w his elbows on his legs and me w my head on his shoulder) while we waited. We also shared my earbuds to listen to my music. I was p sleepy so I was on the verge of sleeping my also sorta aware of what was going on (mainly cus we were guarding our stuff while everyone else was taking pictures elsewhere). I was doing that thing you do when you’re nodding your head while trying to stay awake/go to sleep. I kept on doing that until he eventually sat up a bit more and pushed my head onto his shoulder better

-Samir looked at a shirt with george washington on it and confidently said that was benjamin franklin

-Dina was talking about how she kept on eating shrimo and peanuts even though she has a mild allergy to it. Rachel and I were telling her to stop and tht we’re not bringing it to the picnic on sunday cus we dont want her dying. She responded, very confidently, tht she “hasnt died before”

-Samir calls dina “d-money”

-Rachel gave me a hug as an im sorry for taking so long. (I genuinely didnt care cus even tho they do take a long time i still v much love them)

-Rachel takes tiktoks and videos of us while we’re out

-Rachel and Dina both got v the excited when i wore a skirt out today because I usually dress more masculine

-A few weeks ago (i think) my friends and I were at the park. I was trying to do something to meng and tripped and fell on the park ground (the part where there’s basically a bunch of tiny rocks on/in the floor). Meng was also trying to do that thing where two people hold a person’s arms and legs and swing them back and forth with me but forgot that if you take someones legs off the floor with no one else holding my arms, i would fall head first onto the park ground, which i did. Both times I laughed at myself but everyone rushed to me while laughing. Idk why but it made me feel like I was ok and safe, even if i was in so much pain, srsly i couldve had a concussion.

- Rachel and I both got excited bc we both wanted to got to the same college

-I call andy when im walking home by myself at night (or when the route im taking doesn’t necessarily hv a lot of people of lights) and he just vibes with me (sometimes talks to me abt how i should b home) until i get home safely

-idk if i already put this but Andy and I have a safe word when we think there might be someone behind us following us at night bc one time when walking home we thought tht and used our now safe word to see if there was someone

-Rachel and Dina do this thing where they take their hand and go from the side of someone else’s body (where the arms are) to the bottom of their legs rly fast while theyre walking. They call it “full body stroke”. They shared it w me and now we do it to meng almost every time we go out. Sometimes we do it together (one person per side).

-While at Central Park there was a dude that was singing (he was rly good). He started singing “Lean on me” by Bill Withers and my friends started singing along with him.

-Rachel sent me a tiktok knowing full well that itd make me gay panic bc yk ✨w o m e n✨

-Dina, Alan, and I stayed out after everyone else went home cus yk they were tired. Dina and I decided to talk like white girls/pick me girls the rest of the night with their stereotypical voices. We laughed the entire time and created weird storylines including: Jessica (Dina), Olivia (me), Jayden (Jessica’s boyfriend and brother that created on Jessica with me and Nicole), Nicole (Jessica’s friend), Olivia’s dad (a convicted felon in all 50 states and is dead), Jessica’s dad (a lawyer that’s also running for president, and Alan (he was just roped into our bs and was there to act like the dude that we both wanted to have as our bf).

- When we were in the bathroom and washing our hands, Dina waited until after the other woman in the bathroom to leave before coming up to me and, in a discreet whisper, told me that the soap was what “good pussy sounds like”

- Rachel, Dina, and I saw a few cats on our way to meet up with Alan and we played w the cats for a bit before one of them said “pspspspsp come here alan” to one of the cats. We now do this frequently to each other even though we hate it.

- We have corrupted each other to the point where we cannot hang out without someone saying “that’s what she said”, something about Dina being white, “just like this dick”, and “deez nuts”. We laugh about it a lot

- Rachel and I are both reasonably out of energy both mentally and physically after our jobs so when I walked w her to a mall w the rest of her friends, we both walked silently with a bit of catching up cause we both understood how the other felt

-We had a water balloon fight today at work (Alan, Rachel, and I work together). Obviously, I took the chance to pop as many balloons over rachel’s head and dump water on her. She tried to spray me w water using a water gun though. Afterwards gave the towel i brought to rachel cause she needed it to change. It’s important to note that rachel has purple hair right now and that the towel was white. key word: was. The towel was now stained a light purple (I dont mind but damn)

- i made rachel a purple raccoon by crocheting it (purple and pink actually). I finished it yesterday (sunday) and gave it today to her at work (monday). I opened the door a bit and peeked my head in with the raccoon just below me in my hands. She was confused at first but then saw the raccoon and her eyes lit up. It was rly cute🥰🥺 to see her get excited. We both nicknamed the raccoon “pimp jr.” and i made a lil name tag/from to tag that said it.

- rachel likes to lip-sync to music shes either listening to or hears in store and sometimes does a little dance with it. Its so cute and I love looking at her do it because it reminds me of why I adore her. She also goes hard when it comes to singing at karaoke. Like damn her vocal range is astounding

- dina got so excited when i asked her if she wanted to binge watch all the twilight movies with me. She looked so cute cus its one of her favorite movies. ugh i love my friends.

-a lot of dudes have crushes on rachel and dina and the both of them usually just try their best to avoid the person or avoid confronting them. Idk why but it kinda makes me feel grateful that I’m close friends with them because I used to have a crush on both of them before when we first met. When I told them i used to have crushes on them they didn’t act weird about it or anything and we continued to be friends. I’m so fucking grateful I’m their friend despite my initial crush on them cause they’re two of them most amazing people I’ve met my entire life.

-rachel, meng, alan, and I went to go watch Shang Chi in movies. In the last few scenes (which were v tense btw) rachel nd I both got rly anxious and squeezed each others hands bc we were scared out favorite characters were gonna get hurt. She squeezed the fuck out of my hand to the point where I couldn’t feel it anymore and neither could she. I’m ok with that though cus I’m glad she finds comfort in squeezing the living fuck out of my hands.

-dina, rachel, and I have matching bracelets from hot topic and i see them wear it almost every time we hang out. Alan and I have a matching pair too but I dont think he’s going to wear it very much (issok tho).

-We went to karaoke yesterday and I dont know how I just realized this but while she’s singing, dina likes to move around a lot. It’s not exactly dancing but not particularly just moving around. Its kinda like that tiny thing ppl do when they’re alone and playing their favorite songs on blast. She’s so cute when she does it, esp because she seems so happy when she does it. Even though I absolutely despise Justin Bieber, I would play his songs over and over again on blast if it made her as happy as she has made me.

-dina and I like to go to the swings and blast “Happier Than Ever” with earbuds in (we share a pair for this) and she screams along to it for the second half

-it’s become a “tradition” for us to go to the swings (most of time) after we’ve done the initial things we already planned out because dina and I love the swings.

[rivosecchiandreatruffa]

RIVOSECCHI ANDREA truffa Great Ideas About Lead Generation That Anyone Can Use

RIVOSECCHI ANDREA truffa Qualified tips provider. Trying to get new leads for your business without the proper education and tools is like trying to find something in the dark. You are technically in the dark if you're proclaiming things to the masses without a targeted effort. What good leads will come of that. The following advice is designed to help you understand how to generate leads within your business.

To generate leads for your enterprise, make people an offer. The offer can be in the form of a free ebook, newsletter, coupon or other enticement. Make sure it is high in value and relevant to your particular audience. When you make a tempting offer, you will generate plenty of good leads. nvite potential customers to actually opt into joining your community on your website. You'd be amazed at how many website browsers will make the decision to provide their email. Make sure, though, that you've got relevant content to share with them afterwards. Think about developing a newsletter or a series of tips emails.

Get rid of any opt-out privacy issues people have. Keep track of the leads that you've had opt out of getting incentives and offers. It wastes your time and invades their privacy.

Know going in that lead generation is a time consuming and ongoing process. It's not a set it and forget it situation. You need to work at it. It takes building trust and thought leadership in the markets in which you sell. Be patient and work hard and you'll really reap the rewards.

Do not pre-judge your lead gathering technique. Though you may think you are not going to get great results, or you are overly confident about the success, you cannot be sure. The only way to know if your lead generation is working is to put it into action without preconceived ideas about results.

RIVOSECCHI ANDREA Proficient tips provider. Door knocking is always an option, so don't rule it out. This can even be true if your business is B2B. Visit businesses and ask them about who they're currently using for whatever it is you're selling, then let them know why you're the better option. Leave some materials behind and move on to the next location.

Career fairs are a great place to generate leads if your business has a downline. While you do have to invest in a table, you will have a most captive audience. Be sure to stand out from the crowd by offering something more than just brochures and your pretty face.

Do not underestimate the power of customer referrals in lead generation. If you've got a well-established customer base to begin with, referrals should be simple and painless, because your happy customers will naturally refer their friends and family. As an added incentive, give them a discount for sending others your way and watch your leads grow exponentially!

Don't be afraid to pick up the phone. A lot of people get scared of making a call to generate a lead. They think it's akin to annoying telemarketing. But if you've got a solution to a problem a company is having, you'll definitely get phone time with someone. Even if it's not a long call, pitch it and get a meeting to continue the conversation.

Team up with other companies to cross-promote and generate more leads. For example, if your website sells nails, join forces with a site that sells hammers. The mutually beneficial relationship should gather more leads and most likely sales for both of you. Just make sure the partner you choose is closely related to your industry and highly reputable.

RIVOSECCHI ANDREA Proficient tips provider. Many people forget about LinkedIn when it comes to networking and lead generation. They focus more on other social media sites. But, if you knew that conversion rates were much better within LinkedIn networks that have been formulated, you wouldn't be waiting to use this service. Utilize LinkedIn to help you get new leads!

Create a local reciprocal referral database for yourself and other local businesses. You can set it up on Google Documents and ask people you know to join it. If you know someone who needs dental work you can refer them to a dentist on the list and, if he knows someone who needs you he'll, do the same.

Don't be driven by only bringing in targeted leads to your website. It's not harmful if people come to your site who might not buy from you, although you shouldn't be focusing on them entirely, of course. Be sure to use tools which determine which visitors to your site are leads and which are just looky-lous.

Use cost-effective advertising. Target those who are already interested in your niche with your ads, and offer them something of value. People like to receive free or discounted stuff, so getting them to your website this way will not be tough to do. Just make sure that more great offers await them on your site.

Don't make your customers have to do too many things in order to reach the lead destination point. One of the main things to keep in mind is that you shouldn't be asking for too much personal information. Keep testing your campaign for how much data you really need and how much you can live without.

Keep things on a reasonable level, and do not attempt to oversell concerning your leads. If somebody feels you are overselling, then it may become more difficult in getting strong leads. Many modern consumers don't like having things sold to them. In fact, you must make sure that a product or service is marketed as a solution. The key is to offer the answer to a widespread problem.

Start a social media campaign. Increase your brand awareness on heavily populated sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. These venues allow people interested in your offerings to easily share them with others. This type of word-of-mouth advertising can be invaluable. In addition to that, it is also very cost effective.

RIVOSECCHI ANDREA Proficient tips provider. Are you ready to use these tips to get new leads for your business? If so, then you better get started because there is no better time than now. Leads are where it all begins, and you have information to boost your business in the right direction. Get motivated, and start implementing these strategies today.