#and then you’ll find out it was actually so they could close a bank account that also had your name on it

[lavender-femme]

So so so fucking stressed that I hung up the phone on my mom because I can’t fucking do this shit anymore. It’s putting my brain right back in March and you know where I *really* don’t want to fucking be???? March 2022. Put me any fucking where else but there thanks.

[mrworldwideshoulders]

all the wrong places || reader x myg

After getting separated from your friends during a night out, you get stuck with a hefty bill – one that you can’t pay. So when a handsome, emotionless stranger covers your tab in a random act of kindness, you’re determined to track him down and pay him back. inspired by 24K Magic by Bruno Mars.

‣ Pairing: reader x yoongi (dual pov; feat. JK and Jimin) ‣ WC: 6.1k ‣ Genre: slight angst, fluff, strangers to lovers ‣ Warnings: alcohol consumption, reader and jimin joke about her being an alcoholic 🤪 (psa fr tho, please drink responsibly), credit card debt, yoongi (gently) manhandles the reader, bouncer!jungkook and his tattoos, jeon jungkook being freaking annoying, unrealistic scenarios that could only happen in a fic (is it fate, or is it just fanfiction?), reader in her dumb bitch era (said lovingly) ‣ a/n: same yoongi from my fics bang bang and give me novacaine; different y/n tho. i’d def recommend checking those two out first (though for this one i don’t think you really have to unless you’d like more backstory). i like this fic a lot and i think it’s cute so i hope you enjoy it too! as always, bannered and beta’d by the amazing april aka @onmypillow-onmytable​, plus credit for the general idea of this story! 😘 thx! ly – robyn ‣ P.S. I do not own BTS, their likenesses, or the music of Bruno Mars, they just inspire me.

part of the 24k magic collection (masterlist)

This might actually be the worst night of your life. Or at the very least, one of the most embarrassing ones. 

Your friends, who were supposed to be splitting the bar tab with you, have all but evaporated into thin air, and you’re so far gone you can’t even remember when you saw them last. And it’s starting to dawn on you, as your credit card declines for the third time, that you may have overdone it – in more ways than one. Declining once, that’s normal. Two times, that’s just bad luck. Three times declined, however, that’s just embarrassing. If there were ever a time you wished you were more proactive about budgeting and keeping your credit card paid off, it would be now. It’s not the end of the world, of course. You just won’t get your credit card back tonight, and you’ll have to come all the way back over here to retrieve it at some point – after you go home and recover enough of your senses to pay off some of the balance on your card. But going without your credit card for any length of time makes you anxious for some reason, and having to come back over here just for that doesn’t particularly fit into your already busy schedule. 

“Are you sure you don’t have another card?” The bartender that’s trying to close out your tab looks at you pointedly as you’re rummaging through your bag. You can feel the weight of his judgmental gaze all over you.

“No, but, listen,” you ramble, face hot with a mixture of shame and too much alcohol. “I wasn’t supposed to be the one paying for everything. My friends, they stuck me with the bill, and I really need—”

“Sounds like you don’t have very good friends.” He stares you down unsympathetically. “Either cough up or get out.”

“Can’t you just…give me my card back?” you manage helplessly. You feel tears of frustration starting to form behind your eyes. “I’ll come back and pay you tomorrow. I’m good for it. Really. I just have to—” Rearrange my entire bank account, pay off my credit card, reevaluate my whole life, and promise to stick to a budget from here on out, no matter how much Jimin and Nayeon want to go out drinking. Yeah. That’ll last about a week.  

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” grumbles a low, irritated voice from behind you. You turn to find a man dressed completely in black, with dark eyes and an expressionless face shrouded under a heavy curtain of black hair. He hands the bartender a sleek black card. “Here. Will you leave her alone now? Go back to pretending to do your job or something.” Your eyes widen. Who is this guy? And what is he doing? 

The bartender eyes you sullenly and hands you back your card. You turn to the man to thank him, but he’s already walking away, being swallowed up by the crowd. “Hey!” you call. “Wait up!” You push clumsily after him, jostling people left and right as you try to catch up with him. He’s at the front door before you’re finally able to tap him on the shoulder. 

“Now what?” he snaps.

“I just wanted to thank you,” you say breathlessly, taken aback by his brusque reply. “For what you did back there. I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate it. I was about to cry because of that guy, and then you just appeared out of nowhere to save the day. You must be my guardian angel or something.” 

He lets out a bitter chuckle. “Trust me, I’m no angel.”

Your cheeks seem to flush all over again and you almost forget the other reason you chased after him in the first place. “Oh! Money! I can repay you.”

His face doesn’t change. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.” 

“But…it’s money.” Your face falls in disbelief. “Of course it’s a big deal. And I don’t like owing people anything. Especially money.” 

“Well, I’m not big on people feeling like they owe me anything either.” He shrugs. “So consider it forgotten. And stop following me.” He pushes through the front doors and out onto the street. 

You start after him again, but you stumble on your way out the door, falling almost directly into the bouncer’s well-muscled arms, one of which is adorned in a full sleeve of tattoos that recedes under the sleeve of his black t-shirt. “Careful,” he says, steadying you on your feet. 

“Um – thank you,” you manage. “That guy I was following. Did you see where he went?”

“Down there.” He points you toward the taxi stand. “He’s not bothering you, is he?”

“No, it’s just – I need to talk to him, but he keeps running away from me.” You march wobbily toward the man from before. “Hey! You!”

He sighs resignedly and turns around. “Do you make a habit of following random men out of nightclubs?”

“Only when they do me favors and won’t let me pay them back.” You plant yourself in front of him, arms crossed. 

“Look, I told you not to worry about it.” He scowls. “Do you really want to do something for me? Go home, pay your credit card bill, and forget you ever met me. You’ll only hurt yourself if you don’t.” 

“Suppose I don’t want to.” You gaze defiantly into his eyes. “Is that a threat?” 

“No. It’s a warning. I’d listen if I were you.” A taxi pulls up, and he grabs you by the arm, firmly, but loose enough that you could break away if you needed to, and pushes you inside. “Go home.” The door slams, leaving him standing there on the sidewalk. 

“Well?” says the driver impatiently. “Where to?”

You stammer out your address, still too stunned to think about anything else. Who was that guy? And what was that about a warning? He doesn’t seem like a bad person – why else would he have paid a stranger’s bar tab? 

Forget you ever met me. You’ll get hurt if you don’t. 

Why did he say that? You don’t know why, and you’re still far too drunk to figure it out tonight, but one thing is for certain. 

You’re going to track him down. And you’re going to pay him back.

Jungkook whistles as Yoongi heads back toward him. “That was a close one.” 

“Too close,” mutters Yoongi. “She could have blown the whole thing.” 

“What did you do, anyway? Weren’t you supposed to be blending in?” 

Yoongi shrugs. “The bartender was harassing her about her tab and her card wouldn’t go through, so I paid it for her. She wanted to repay me.” He thinks back to the look on your face, like you were about to burst into tears at any moment. A strange, unfamiliar surge of protectiveness in his chest, one that he hadn’t felt since he’d recruited Jungkook all those years ago. ”I told her she didn’t have to, but.”

“Aww.” Jungkook slaps Yoongi good-naturedly on the shoulder. “See, hyung? You’re a good guy after all.” 

“Hah,” he scoffs under his breath. “No. I’ve just gotten soft, that’s all. I’ll probably regret it in a day or two. No good deed goes unpunished and all that.”

“You say ‘soft’ like it’s a bad thing.” 

“Maybe not, maybe so.” Yoongi sighs, running a hand through his hair. “We should get back to work. We’ll stick around here until closing, then debrief in the morning.” 

“All right.” Jungkook nods, resuming his post near the front doors, despite the sidewalk in front of the club now empty at one o’clock, an hour before closing. “I’ll be here.” 

Yoongi heads back inside, his head still filled with thoughts of you, that defiant expression on your face when you’d asked him what would happen if you refused to forget him. Anyone else would have just accepted this good deed and carried on as if nothing had even happened, or worse, they would have screamed at him, told him he was overstepping and a creep, to fuck off and leave them alone. Why hadn’t you screamed at him? He’d even grabbed you, a stranger – and a woman – by the arm to push you into the cab. Yoongi knew for sure he’d overstepped there. You just didn’t do that when you were a man, not in this day and age – especially not when you were a man with a past like his. Even someone as supposedly stupid as he was knew that much. Why, he wondered, were you so intent on repaying him? Had no one ever done anything nice for you before? Purely for the hell of it, never expecting anything in return? The two of you must have something in common, then. No one had ever done anything like this for him – with the exception of Hoseok – but that was different. Hoseok was his friend, for one thing, and didn't understand the concept of taking no for an answer. At least Yoongi knew to just say thank you and get on with his life, instead of trying to push it. A chuckle rises in the back of his throat before he can stop it, and he swallows it down almost as quickly as it came, shoving aside the thoughts of you along with it. 

He tucks his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he forges back into the depths of the club. There was something about you, something that made you want to insist upon repaying a random man that had just done you a favor, something innocent, idealistic, even, that made him want to protect you. Something that made him want to know you, even if it was only as friends, to explore your thoughts, to live inside your head for just a day, to find out just what, exactly, was going on in there. But he would never allow himself to get close enough to discover what that was – or risk you doing the same. Someone like him and someone like you – that could be dangerous. 

Especially someone like you. 

As it’s beginning to turn out, tracking down your angel in black – that’s what you’ve been calling him – is far easier said than done. Somehow you’d stumbled up to your apartment after the cab dropped you off, and from there you’d somehow managed to let yourself inside and fall face-first into your bed, where you’d slept soundly until late the next morning, awakening with a pounding head and a foggy recollection of the man from last night, convinced the whole thing had to have been a dream and that your credit card, at this very moment, was probably stashed behind the counter of that bar. Or so you thought, because it’s definitely there when you go to check your wallet. That man, the angel in black – he was definitely real – and that means his warning was real too. The only problem is…you don’t have his name, and the only thing you can remember was that he was dark-haired and wearing all black – which could be literally any man in Seoul. Now it’s Wednesday, a week later, and you’re staring at your screen, open to a browser window that’s now littered with the failed remnants of your search, and rest your chin on your hand with a sigh. Ugh, what was I even thinking? How am I going to find some guy on the internet when I don’t even know his name and I can barely remember what he looks like? Talk about a needle in a haystack. You’re supposed to be working, as in, doing your actual job, but you haven’t been able to focus all week, and you've been off your game since that night. 

“What are you so laser-focused on over here?” comes Jimin’s lightly chiding voice from over your shoulder. His sudden appearance makes you jump and knock your hand into your half empty mug, causing a small wave of tepid coffee to slosh onto your desk. 

“Damn it, Jimin, you scared me!” You hurriedly reach for the wad of napkins you keep in the top drawer of your desk. “Don’t sneak up on me like that. You know I startle easily.”

“Sorry.” Jimin grins mischievously and leans in to take a closer look at your screen. “Y/n, are you seriously still looking for your mystery man? It’s been a week. You know, if he wanted you to find him he would have at least told you his name. Or slipped you his number. He was probably just being nice. People do that sometimes. Like on those hidden camera shows where little kids will ask you to help them cross the street or tie their shoes. Just accept it and move on already. He’s clearly not that worried about it. You said he had a black card, right? That kind of money is probably nothing to him.”

You finish mopping up the coffee and heave another sigh, sitting back in your chair. “I know It’s stupid. And I’m definitely wasting my time. But he saved my ass in a really big way. I can’t just move on like nothing happened. There has to be some way for me to pay him back. And besides…” You debate whether you should tell Jimin what he told you before he shoved you into a taxi. “He told me to just forget I ever met him, that I’d get hurt if I didn’t. I know it’s a bad idea to keep looking at this point, but you can’t just say something like that and expect me to forget about it. It only makes me want to find him even more.”

"That’s a weird thing for anyone to say," says Jimin, leaning against your desk, "but I suppose that's your choice, even if I do think you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment." 

"Thank you for the vote of support." You run your hands backwards through your hair and hum thoughtfully. "I guess I could always not pay my credit card bill and hope that it summons him out of the abyss to save my ass again." 

"Then he'll think you're trying to scam him instead of repaying him.” Jimin pats your shoulder. "Cheer up, y/n. Maybe you'll find him. Maybe you won't. But we've got a meeting about the new skincare line in about…" He checks his watch. "...two minutes? And they'll kill us if we're both late so maybe put a pin in that for now?" 

Of course, your actual job, the main reason you're able to have a credit card in the first place. "Shit, you're right. I completely forgot about that." You stand and gather your meeting materials into your arms. "What would I do without you, Park Jimin?"

"Mm, probably lose your job?" He straightens up and smirks. 

"Mean." You slap him lightly on the arm. "I wouldn't even be looking for this guy if you and Nayeon hadn't ditched and left me with your billion dollar bar tab." 

Jimin chuckles. "Okay, true, but need I remind you that you were responsible for most of it anyway?" He makes a tutting noise as you're walking down the hall. "Honestly, it's unnatural how much alcohol you can put away.”

"Please," you scoff, pushing open the door to the conference room. "I just have a high tolerance. It takes practice. You’ll get there one day."

“God, I hope not.” Jimin looks horrified at the prospect. “No offense.”

The meeting drags on, well into the afternoon, and your mind continues to wander in the direction of your angel in black, no matter how hard you try to pay attention to the subject at hand. Normally you’d be rapt with attention – skincare is your area of expertise, after all, and it’s been your dream to work at a cosmetics company ever since high school – but for the life of you, you just can’t seem to shake him from your memory and focus on your work. 

Wait. The bouncer. He was standing there the whole time you were arguing with the guy. That sleeve of tattoos was pretty distinctive-looking; you’d definitely remember it if you saw it again. It would be way easier to find him than the guy in black. And he works there. He’s more likely to be there than the other guy. Maybe he remembers something you don’t. 

As soon as the meeting ends, you hurry back to your desk, intent on getting all of today’s work finished by the time it hits six o’clock so you won’t have to work late, and spend the rest of the afternoon in a state of hyperfocus, only noticing that time has passed when you see that most of your coworkers are getting ready to leave. “Jimin.” You sidle up to him as he’s shrugging into his coat. “What are you doing tonight?” 

“Probably just going to head home and—” He stops and narrows his eyes. “You’re up to something, aren’t you? Is this still about that guy?” 

“I was thinking we could go back to that club,” you say earnestly. “There was this bouncer outside, and – well, I don’t really remember what he looked like either, but I’d know him if I saw him. I’m sure of it. I want to ask him if he remembers anything from last week. Maybe he knows something about this guy.”

“Y/n, it's Wednesday." Jimin says. “That place is going to be dead. I doubt anyone will be there, let alone your mystery man.” 

You make your best pouting expression. “You’ll come with me, right? For moral support?” 

“Fine.” Jimin sighs. “If it'll get you to stop fixating on this guy, I'm all for it. But you're buying me dinner.” 

You throw your arms around him. "Jimin-ssi, have I ever told you you're my favorite person in the whole wide world?"

"On multiple occasions.” He smirks. “This is the first time you've ever been sober, though." 

“Wow. See if I ever buy you dinner again.”

The club, as Jimin predicted, was nearly empty, with only a few clumps of people dancing here and there, a handful of people at the bar, and a completely different, tattoo-less bouncer working the front door, who seemed to think the man with the tattoos was a temp. 

“There’s nobody like that working here!” he bellowed back to you, over the thumping music. “Your guy’s probably a temp!”

“No, I’m positive!” you shouted. “It was here. I tripped going out the door and he caught me. I’d know him if I saw him. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure!” he said. “Would you mind stepping away from the door? People are trying to come inside.” You didn’t hang around much longer after that, figuring that if neither the bouncer nor your mystery man were there now they probably wouldn’t be there later either.  

“Well, that was a bust,” comments Jimin, once you’re back in a cab on the way home. 

You blow out a frustrated breath. “Yeah. Sorry to drag you all the way over here for nothing.” 

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” he says. “That’s what friends are for, right? At least I got dinner out of it.” 

“Ha, ha, ha.” You roll your eyes. “I knew I should have just waited ‘til the weekend. I was just so excited to test my theory that I jumped the gun a little.”

Jimin frowns. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on making another special trip back over here to look for this guy.” 

“Well…I was.” You turn to look at him, taken aback. “Why shouldn’t I?” 

“Y/n…” Jimin sighs. “I'm your best friend and I love you, but…don’t you think you’re going too far with this? You don’t think maybe it’s time to move on? I mean, what if this guy really is dangerous, like he said? What if you get hurt?”

You scoff a little. “Would a dangerous person really come right out and say they’re dangerous?”

“Yes. That’s absolutely what a dangerous person would say. Please let this go, y/n. I’m begging you. For your own good. The universe will forgive you this one time for not paying that guy back.” 

"I know, but…" I won't. You sigh. "One more time, Jimin. I have to try one more time before I can tell myself I did everything I could."

"Okay. One more time." Jimin's face softens. "But I'm going to hold you to that. No more midweek club nights, internet searches, whatever. You have to let this go because it’s weird that you’re still hung up on this."

"I promise. One more time, and then no more. If I don't find him this time, I'm done."

"Good. Be careful, okay?"

"When am I not careful?" Your best friend raises an eyebrow and squints at you with the most skeptical of sideways glances, probably armed and ready with at least a dozen examples of how you’ve most decidedly not been careful in the past few years you’ve known each other. "That was rhetorical, Jimin. Drop the judgy look, please."

“What judgy look?” he demands. “This is just my face.” 

“Uh-huh. Sure.” 

If Wednesday night’s visit was bad, then Saturday’s is even worse. It’s crowded, almost as crowded as it was the very first night the man in black saved your ass, with barely any good vantage points to park yourself and people-watch in hopes of catching a glance of your mystery man. You should have taken the other bouncer’s inability – or reluctance – to tell you anything about his tattooed coworker the other night as a warning – because it’s obvious that no one else is going to tell you anything about him either, for one reason or another. You’ve asked bartenders, waitresses, anyone who looks like they work there, and all that’s gotten you is in trouble with management. 

“We’re not allowed to give out that kind of information about our employees.” The manager’s eyes narrow. “Stop nosing around before you get yourself banned. Permanently.” With one final scowl he stalks off.

I guess that’s it, then, you think. You let out a sigh as you sit back down at the bar. God, what was I thinking? I never had any chance of finding this guy, not in a million years. Jimin was right. Why did I drag this out so long? It's time for me to move on. As soon as I finish this drink, I’ll walk out of this club and I’ll never think about him again. I’ll go home, and I’ll catch up on all that work I’m behind on because of him. No, I’ll get ahead. Yeah. That’ll show them. Part of you wants to feel relieved, but the realization only makes you feel dejected. Damn. I really wanted to meet him. You get to your feet, and collect your things, taking one last glance around the room. 

That’s when you see him. 

Your angel in black, drinking whiskey in the corner. Same black suit, same heavy bangs, same blank expression. Right as you’re about to leave and never look back, you just happen to see him? It’s too coincidental to be anything other than fate.  

You draw a deep breath, steel your nerves, and march up to his table. “And to think I was just going to walk right past you and out of this place forever. It's almost like the universe wanted us to meet again." You pull out the chair across from him and sit down. “You know, I never did catch your name.”

“That’s because I never dropped it,” he says dryly. “What are you doing here again? Didn’t I tell you to mind your own business?” 

“What, can’t a girl drink where she likes anymore?” You lean in. “Who says I’m here to mind your business? I’m busy minding my own. Which, as it turns out, happens to involve you – and making sure you get something in return for covering my ass that night. Thank you, by the way. You barely let me get it out last time.” 

He scoffs, sitting back. “I told you to forget about it. I didn’t spot you because I expected you to pay me back.” 

“Why did you do it, then?” You cock your head to one side. “There must have been some reason you felt like rescuing a damsel in distress. Nobody does anything without a reason.” 

The question seems to catch him off-guard for a moment, before he quickly regains his composure. “Why does it matter?” He stares down into his glass. “You don’t know anything about me. I could be dangerous for all you know. Like I've been trying to tell you this whole time.” Dangerous. There’s that word again.

“Well, you can’t be all that bad, or you wouldn’t have helped me out. And besides,” you muse, “if you were going to do anything to me you probably would have done it already.” 

“Suppose that’s true.” One side of his mouth twitches, almost imperceptibly. 

“Then again, maybe it is like you said. Maybe you aren’t a good person. But I don’t think that necessarily makes you a bad person. And I don’t think you would have done anything to me, even if you did have the chance. Which you did, the other night.”

A hard laugh escapes from his lips. "Clearly you haven't been listening to anything I've been saying. Because you definitely wouldn't be saying that if you really knew me.” 

You purse your lips thoughtfully. “Well, you know, I have this theory. Everyone has a color, right? Some people you can just tell whether they’re one way or another, black, white, whatever. But you…well, I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“Hah. I’ve heard that one before.” The man avoids looking at you and stares down at the table, features set in an unreadable expression. “So, what color am I, then?” 

“Mm.” You grin. “First impression? Silver.” 

“Silver, huh?” He smirks. “Why silver?” 

“On the surface you’re a very gray person. Kind of an enigma. You’re not black and you’re not white, you’re somewhere in between, which makes you gray. But on closer inspection, anyone can see there’s something different about you that sparkles a little bit. Something that shines.” His face doesn’t move. “It’s just a theory, anyway,” you say hastily. “I’d have to get to know you a little better before I could really say for sure.” 

“What makes you think that’s going to happen?” An eyebrow quirks just slightly.

“Hm. You seem like the type who would have gotten up and left already if you weren’t at least a little bit interested in me, even if you came off as rude. And you’re still here, so you must be somewhat intrigued, right?” 

“That’s a compelling theory – but you're wrong. I might be an asshole but I'm not that kind of asshole.” He leans back, an arm draped over the back of the booth. “Anyways, before I answer your question, let me ask you one of my own: why are you so hellbent on paying me back to the point where you thought you had to track me down?” 

“You know, I’m not sure myself.” You rest your chin in your palm. “It just feels like the thing to do, that’s all. Most of the time strangers tend to either ignore me or glare at me when this kind of thing happens. You probably think I’m a mess. I know I do. I also know from experience that I can only ever count on my friends to have my back, so imagine my surprise when you, a random stranger, had my back the other night. You did something only my friends ever do for me.” You shrug nonchalantly. “And I always repay my friends.” 

“All right,” he says after a moment. “I won’t say I’m not at least a little impressed that you even found me. And now that you have…I’m guessing you’re not going to leave me alone until I give you what you want.” The whiskey swirls in his glass, resting in one long, slender hand. “Which is?”

“Dinner,” you say, boldly, without hesitating. “Or drinks, at least. I know I probably can’t afford what you’re used to. Obviously, considering the other night…but let me treat you sometime. Just to say thank you. Honestly, I’m a great date. Really. Or I should be." You sigh. "I've been on a lot, so I've had plenty of practice. But I promise I’ll make it worth your while. I even paid off my credit card. Just for you.”

He releases a resigned sigh and sets his glass down. “Okay. Say I agree, even though you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into and I definitely shouldn’t indulge you any further than I already have. Will you stop following me around if I do?”

“That depends. Are you going to ghost me as soon as it’s over?” 

“Now that,” he says, “depends on whether or not you’re as good of a date as you say you are.” 

“Oh, I’m positively delightful. Excellent conversationalist. Top-notch table manners. I won’t even stick you with the check this time. Best night of your life, guaranteed. Or top-ten, at least.” 

He pauses, looking like he might regret what he’s about to say. “Fine. We can have dinner. On one condition.” 

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You really have to stop following me around.” His expression turns dark. “It’s not a good idea for you to get involved with me. You could get hurt.”

“This again?” You sigh. “Let’s just see how dinner goes, and then I’ll decide if you’re worth any more of my time.” 

“You’ll decide, huh?” He eyes you. “You don’t even know my name.”

“I don’t know your name yet,” you correct him, “and that’s only because you haven’t told me what it is.” 

“Yoongi,” he says finally, after a moment of hesitation. A tinge of amusement plays across his features. “Min Yoongi.” 

“Yoongi,” you repeat. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Yoongi. I’m Y/n. Y/n L/n.” You extend a hand across the table. 

“Y/n,” he says, giving your hand a firm shake. It’s cool and dry, and you spot the barest remains of a scar on his palm as he pulls his hand away. “Only time will tell whether I’m going to be able to say the same for you.”

“Mm.” You shrug. “I think you’ll be surprised.”

“Like I said.” Yoongi gets to his feet, taking his glass with him. “Anyway. I have some business to take care of. Can you get out of here on your own, or are you going to be needing my help again?”

“I’ll be fine, but – wait, I didn’t give you my number. How are we going to get in touch?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He looks down at you and smirks, the unmistakable hint of a sparkle somewhere in those soft, dark eyes. “You seem to think we’re fated, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other again if we’re really meant to. We’ve exchanged names now.” Yoongi raises his glass slightly. “You can find out a lot about a person from just a name.” 

“Hey, wait a—” Yoongi is gone before you can finish your sentence, swallowed up by the dense crowds of the club. “He still didn’t answer my question,” you mutter. 

But despite all that – you have a hopeful feeling about the whole situation. 

"Yoongi," you repeat. "Who are you, Min Yoongi?"

The silence in Yoongi’s office the next morning is nearly palpable, the air between him and Jungkook filled with the sounds of clicking keys as they’re finishing up their paperwork on the case at the club. Even without looking he can sense the younger man eyeing him over the top of his laptop screen. Yoongi heaves a resigned sigh. “Spit it out, Jungkook. I can practically hear the gears grinding inside that giant head of yours.” 

Jungkook stops typing and leans forward, grinning in a suspiciously sunny manner. “I was just noticing how good of a mood you’re in today, boss,” he says. “Better than you’ve been in months.” 

"Bullshit I am." Yoongi’s eyes don’t move. “You're imagining things." 

“You are too!” Jungkook insists. “I told you good morning on my way in and you didn’t even tell me to stop bothering you and get to work.” He squints at Yoongi. “You said it back to me. And you weren’t even being sarcastic about it.”

“So I said good morning to you. Once. Big deal. I’ve been known to be cordial every once in a while, haven’t I?” 

“But you’re never cordial with me,” insists Jungkook. “You're cordial with clients. And people who are gonna give you money. Normally it’s all grunts and scowling when you talk to me. Something good happened last night, didn’t it? I saw you chatting with that girl, the one you paid the bar tab for last week. She managed to track you down, huh?” He’s not going to let this go easily. He’s like a dog with a chew toy whenever he finds an interesting enough tidbit to hang onto. 

Yoongi suppresses a sigh and presses his fingers to the sides of his temples. “Yeah, and? What are you getting at?”

“Oh, nothing.” He plasters an innocent-looking expression on his face. “She went through all of that trouble to track you down when most people would have just let it go. She must like you. Seems like you like her too.” 

Yoongi snorts. “Y/n? Flighty, irresponsible, doesn’t even know her own limits, so impulsive that the first thing she thinks of when a man does something nice for her is to follow him out into the street y/n? No way in hell.”

“And you, a guy who’s so cautious, practical, and down to earth that he never does anything without thinking about it for weeks?” notes Jungkook. “All I’m hearing is that you’d be perfect for each other. Opposites attract, you know?”

“The worst thing she could do would be to get involved with me,” Yoongi scoffs. “Trust me. It’s not happening.” He rolls a pen back and forth in his hand. “It’s not like that, anyway. She said she’d leave me alone if I let her do this. She doesn’t like me, she just feels like she owes me. That’s all. I’m just humoring her so she’ll leave me alone.”

“Uh-huh.” Jungkook smirks. “You do like her, don’t you?” 

“I didn’t say that,” grumbles Yoongi. “Why don’t you mind your own business for once?” 

“In case you’ve forgotten, hyung,” says Jungkook, still grinning, “you left me in charge of minding your business for the past six months. You know, while you were off the grid camping in the middle of nowhere?” 

“Yeah, and I’m starting to regret it,” he mutters. “Humor me and let it go. It’s too early for this shit.” 

“All right, fine.” Jungkook turns his eyes back to his screen, but it doesn’t last for long. “So when are you going to see her again?” 

“We didn’t set a firm—” Yoongi’s eyes narrow, pinning Jungkook with a searing glare. “Hey. I’ll fire you if you don’t watch yourself.” 

“Ah, go ahead and fire me, then,” Jungkook says cheerfully. “I’d like to see how well you manage without me covering your ass.”

Yoongi flings the pen in his hand across the table, aiming for Jungkook’s head, who easily dodges it. “Aish, you’ve gotten cocky since I left. I managed just fine on my own before you got here, thank you. You were the one who came bitching to me about how much you needed me to come back, weren’t you? This case that you just couldn't handle by yourself, even though you've probably handled about a dozen of the exact same type of cases all by yourself?”

“Come on!” snorts Jungkook. “We both know you were ready to come back. I just needed to make you feel good about yourself so you’d actually get off your ass and do it. You should be thanking me, hyung.”  

“Thanking you?” demands Yoongi. “What the hell should I be thanking you for?”

“I think you know.” Jungkook’s eyebrows dance suggestively, eyes twinkling. “Y/n – she’s pretty, isn't she?”

“That’s it. You’re getting demoted.”

“Okay, okay.” Jungkook falls silent suddenly before he speaks again. “I missed you, boss. Good to have you back.” 

“Ah, shut up,” Yoongi snaps. “And get back to work. These reports aren’t going to write themselves, you know.” 

Jungkook turns his attention back to his computer screen again, eyeing Yoongi’s scowl with a knowing smirk. Yeah. He totally likes her. 

©2023 by mrworldwideshoulders || series masterlist || collection masterlist || my masterlist ||

[regenderate-fic]

When I Run Away (You're Who I Run To): Chapter 10

main post read on ao3

Word Count (Chapter): 2,024

The Tesco was a short walk. Rose went up to the flat to grab a pile of reusable grocery bags, and then they were off. It was autumn, and cool out, and neither of them had remembered a jacket— Yaz could feel Rose speeding up next to her to keep warm, and she matched the pace.

“Hang on a second,” she said, rummaging through the bags. “Could’ve sworn I forgot a hoodie in one of these.” Finally, her hand closed on a bit of fabric. “Yes!” She tossed it towards Rose. “Here.” 

“Hey, this is mine, isn’t it?” Rose pulled it over her head. “It is! I’ve been looking for it for ages.”

“Sorry,” Yaz said. “Was in my laundry.” 

Rose shrugged. “It’s all right. You make up for it by sticking it someplace you’d find it when I was cold.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Yaz said. “In case you lose track of your laundry again.”

Rose bumped her hip against Yaz’s. “Or you could just, you know, give my stuff back to me.”

“Nope,” Yaz said. “Finders keepers.” She was grinning wide, not even minding the cold air seeping through the sleeves of her shirt. They got to the store a minute later, anyway, before the chill could really sink in. Yaz grabbed a cart, and Rose pulled out her phone. 

“Got the list from Donna,” she said. “Looks like she sent it to you, too.” 

“Great,” Yaz said. She glanced sidelong at Rose. “D’you have the list for what we need?”

Rose stopped in her tracks. “Oh, no.” 

Yaz shook her head. “Guess we’ll have to wing it.”

“That’s all right, I guess,” Rose said. “We know what we eat, yeah? And we can come back if we need to.”

“As long as we get something,” Yaz agreed. 

“Right.” Rose scrolled through the list on her phone. “Some of what we get’s the same as them, anyway.” She wrinkled her nose. “Although I continue to question Penny’s taste.”

They made their way through the store, grabbing things off the shelves and tossing them into the cart. Yaz and Rose were very used to doing their shopping together at this point, which meant they had no problem reconstructing their list, even when it came to the ingredients for the meals Yaz wanted to make— it helped, too, that Yaz stored her recipes in an app on her phone, so she could open it and remind herself what she’d wanted to get. 

“If we don’t have a list, d’you think that means we can get as many snacks as we want?” Rose asked.

“You going to pay for that?” Yaz countered. 

Rose rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun.”

“You’ll thank me when we’ve actually got money in our bank account.” 

“Yeah, all right.” Rose grabbed a bag of crisps and tossed it in the cart anyway. Yaz shook her head, smiling, and Rose returned it with a shameless grin. Yaz felt a flush spreading through her cheeks, and she looked away. 

“Checkout?” she asked, after what felt like too long of a pause.

“Yeah,” Rose said, but Yaz could feel curious eyes on her. 

“C’mon,” she said, still not meeting Rose’s gaze. 

They got through the checkout without incident, and then the only problem was lugging their bags back home, each carrying two on each arm. When they got back, Rose took her and Rose’s bags up to the flat, and Yaz took the ones that belonged to Penny and Donna and took them across the street. She knocked on the door, and Donna opened it seconds later, rushing to take some of the bags off Yaz’s arm. 

“Thank you,” she said.

“‘Course,” Yaz said. “Kitchen with these?”

“Yeah.” 

Yaz followed Donna into the kitchen. She glanced around to see Penny on the couch again, fiddling with something in her hands— Yaz couldn’t see what it was from a distance. She let Donna direct her in putting away the groceries, and then she stood awkwardly in the kitchen. 

“Should I go?” she asked. “Or— I can text Rose, have her come back.” She gestured at the grocery bags. “That was pretty much all we had to do today.” 

Donna glanced over at Penny. “Penny? How much company are you feeling like?”

“I—” Penny looked at Yaz. “I’d like it if you’d stay. But only if you want to.”

“‘Course.” Yaz already had her phone out, texting Rose. “We’ve got to work tomorrow,” she said as she typed. “But we can stay until this evening. And honestly, we can probably come back tomorrow afternoon, if we’re still wanted.” She shrugged. “Not like we’ve got much else going on.” 

“Are you sure?” Donna asked. 

“Yeah. We like hanging out around here.” Yaz dropped her phone in her pocket. “Rose is on her way.” 

Sure enough, there was a knock on the door a few seconds later. Donna went to open it, and Yaz went to sit next to Penny.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Still been better,” Penny said. “But, you know. Not breaking down as much.” 

“Hey, take the win.” Yaz leaned back against the cushions. “You know, we should make a plan. For if your mum shows up.” 

Penny pulled her knees closer to her chest. “What do you mean?”

“For if she turns up in the bakery or anything,” Yaz said. She was half-remembering one of the few useful bits of her ten-year-old police training. “Like, Graham and Ace should know not to tell anyone where you are if they ask. Or if you’re down there and she shows up, we should come up with a way to get you out of there.” She hesitated. “You can always call us if anything happens, too. Only if I’m in the middle of a tattoo it’ll take me a second.”

Penny laughed. “Thanks.”

Rose came over just then. She looked at the couch for a second, and then she dropped directly onto Yaz’s lap, her legs landing across Penny. 

“Oi!” Yaz shoved her. “There’s a whole sofa here!” 

“So? I wanted to be in the conversation.” Rose showed no signs of moving.

Yaz rolled her eyes. “Couldn’t you be involved from over there?”

“Nope.” Rose leaned her head against Yaz’s shoulder. Yaz wrapped an arm around her waist, just to make sure she didn’t fall. “What’s going on?”

“Was just saying I think we ought to make a plan for if Penny’s mum shows up here,” Yaz said. She could barely remember what they'd been saying now Rose was this close to her. It had never been like this before: it was pretty normal for Rose to decide she'd rather sit on Yaz than a chair, but usually Yaz could take it in stride. Recognizing her feelings had been a mistake. She was so self-conscious now, so aware of every move. And she didn’t want Rose to go away— quite the opposite— but this was overwhelming. 

“Oh, yeah, that’s smart.” Rose pushed a bit of hair out of her face. “Just after I broke up with Jimmy, my mum and I had all sorts of plans for if he ever came after me. ‘Course, most of them were just, ‘Spit in his face and go tell Mum,’ but they were plans.”

“I like that one,” Penny said. “Although the ‘go tell Mum’ part sort of defeats the purpose.”

Yaz laughed. “We’ll cut out that bit.” 

“Bet you Ace would spit in her face for you,” Rose said.

“Always a good trait, in an employee,” Penny said. 

Donna came over then, lowering herself to the sofa on Penny’s other side. “If your mum shows up in our bakery, I’ll happily give her a slap.”

“Right,” Rose said. “Looks like we’ve got a plan. Penny’s mum shows up, and we get Donna in to slap her, and Ace to spit in her face.”

“Or blow her up,” Penny suggested.

“Oi, no blowing up our bakery,” Donna said. 

“What if we lure her outside first?” Rose asked. “Could Ace blow her up then?”

Donna shrugged. “Well, I’m not responsible for what happens out on the street, am I?”

“Might be responsible for what your employees do during work hours,” Yaz said. 

“So we get Ace to clock out while Yaz and me lure her outside, and then Ace blows her up,” Rose said. “Easy. And that way technically none of it is your fault.”

“So, what, our plan is just that Penny’s mum won’t be able to find her in jail?” Donna asked. “‘Cause that’s where half of these are going to send her, seems like.”

“No, she won’t be able to find me ‘cause she’ll have been exploded,” Penny said. “The jail is just an unfortunate side effect.”

Donna sighed. “So we don’t want a plan we could actually execute.”

“I still think we could execute that one,” Penny said. But when no one responded, she let out a heavy breath. “Fine. Real plan.”

“We talk to Ace and Graham,” Donna said. “Tell them not to give out any information about you unless it’s to one of the three of us.” She ticked off each item on her fingers as she said it. “We get you a new phone, and we’re careful who we give the number to.” She glanced at Penny. “Do you want us to take your name off the website?”

Penny shook her head. “Too late,” she said. “Besides, I’m still a professional.” 

“Okay. We keep you on the website. What about when you go back to work?”

“Maybe I can stay in the back?” Penny suggested. “Ace is good enough at the front stuff now.”

“I can pick up more shifts, too, if I have to,” Donna said. “I know the recipes all right.”

Penny nodded. “I don’t know when I can go back,” she said quietly. “I mean, right now, I’m not sure I could even make it down the stairs.” She looked at Donna. “Might need the cane again.”

“Do you know where it went?” Donna asked.

Penny shrugged. “It’s in my room somewhere. Probably.”

“All right if I try and dig it out?” Donna asked.

“If you like.” Penny listed to the side, her head resting against Yaz’s shoulder— bringing the total of shoulders attached to Yaz and occupied by blonde women up to two, somehow. Yaz forced herself to focus, a difficult task when she could feel Rose’s breath against her cheek.  

“Should we be worried about our shop?” she asked. “I mean, we can tell Amy and Bill not to give out any information about you. Just in case.”

“Okay,” Penny said. “They're nice. Right?”

“‘Course they are,” Yaz said.

“And they like you,” Rose added. 

Penny smiled. “See? It really did pay to bother you all so much.”

“You can always come to ours, too,” Yaz said. “If she's in the bakery and you can't get up to your place. Maybe we could get you a spare key to our flat?” 

“I'm on board,” Rose said. 

“Keep in mind, Penny,” Donna said, “this probably won’t happen. Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Penny closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I want to think about it anymore.”

“Let’s not, then,” Donna said. She grinned. “Did I see you all watching Love Island earlier?’

“Not you too,” Yaz groaned. 

“Get used to it,” Rose said, grinning. “Three against one, now.” 

Yaz shook her head. “All of you are lucky I like you.”

Rose slid off Yaz’s lap, squeezing in next to her on the sofa. “We know,” she said, her head still resting on Yaz’s shoulder, and Yaz closed her eyes, desperately begging her face not to betray how much those two words got to her.

The show started playing, and Yaz tried her hardest to focus on it and nothing else. She could feel herself all tensed up, and she was sure Rose and maybe even Penny could feel it too— but there was nothing she could do about that at this point. If Rose asked, she’d just have to blame it on a stressful couple days. She settled back into the cushions, her mind racing a mile a minute.

[cindybanksteam]

What is An All-Cash Offer When Buying a Home?

If you’ve ever watched a real estate show, particularly one that centers on the luxury market, you’ve probably heard quite a few references to all-cash offers. In the current market with low inventory and bidding wars, all-cash offers are a popular way for buyers to compete.

You may find yourself wondering what that means.

There’s a secret to an all-cash offer you may not be aware of—you can still get a mortgage.

The Basics of An All-Cash Offer

An all-cash offer means that a buyer plans to pay cash for the home they’re putting an offer on. The key here is that the buyer, in doing so, can prove they have the money in the bank to do that. A cash offer is appealing for a seller because it makes for a faster process with fewer chances for something to go wrong along the way.

If a buyer plans to get a mortgage, they’re riskier for a seller. The less financing has to be involved in a deal, the better from the seller's perspective.

If someone buys a home without financing, they’ll either use a cashier’s check or transfer the funds electronically.

Since no lender is involved, the closing time with cash purchases tends to be much faster. These deals can close in just two weeks if necessary. Those two weeks are just enough time to clear any liens, prepare the paperwork and provide insurance.

For a financed purchase where the buyer is getting a mortgage, the closing time is, on average, at least 30 days. It can be as long as 45 to 60 days to closing.

The Process for Buying a House All-Cash

If someone’s going to buy a house all-cash, the following are the steps that usually occur in the process:

The first step is for a seller to accept the buyer’s offer, and then a Purchase and Sale Agreement is completed. This is also known as going under contract.

From there, the next step is the verification of proof of funds. You need to make sure, if you’re the seller, that your buyer actually has the cash they say they do. You may ask for earnest money, which is usually 1-2% of the sales price. Then, you may request proof of funds as bank or investment statements. A real estate agent will help you with this.

You’ll have to hire a title and escrow company or the buyer might be responsible for this, depending on the state you’re in. The title company makes sure there are no liens to be addressed, and they’ll handle title insurance. On closing day, a title company makes sure the ownership of the property changes hands appropriately. The escrow company deals with closing documents and the transfer of funds. They’re also responsible for completing legal paperwork.

Buyers may submit their offer with an inspection contingency, which then means they could have an option to renegotiate the sale price or request repairs, depending on what’s found during the inspection.

Then, it’s time to review and sign the closing documents. Even with an all-cash transaction, you can expect a fair amount of paperwork.

Can You Compete If You Need a Mortgage?

Yes, buyers indeed tend to prefer all-cash buyers, especially right now in a seller’s market. There are ways you can be considered an all-cash offer while still using a loan.

For example, some lenders have what’s called decision-now approval. It’s not exactly cash, but in the eyes of a seller, it may have the same benefits because it has a preapproval that’s underwritten. That means the loan is already funded, and the lender verifies that the remaining amount of the sales price is officially accounted for.

Then a buyer can take financing contingencies out of their offer without worrying about losing their earnest money because they’ve already secured a mortgage.

Doing something like this, depending on what your lender offers, can make you a strong buyer that’s almost as good as all-cash.

Finally, if you’re interested in that approach, you’ll have to shop around to find a lender offering upfront underwriting because not all do.

[fi-fitz-flynn]

Letting Go {Self Para}

In which Flynn makes a decision about a old family heriloom.

Post Holley getting shot, but pre him visiting her in the hospital.

Holley was in the hospital, and Flynn didn’t want to voice out loud how uncomfortable that made him.

The RAS weren’t above getting hurt, he had heard how someone had died during a mission but that didn’t mean that Flynn looked at them with some sort rose tinted lenses. If they were to protect him didn’t they need to protect themselves?

That meant not getting into the hospital- that meant not getting shot.

And yet he knew that wasn’t all there was to it.

If it had been Gil or James, Flynn wouldn’t have cared.

It had been Holley- Someone he saw on a regular bases and wanted to see on a regular bases. If he could find a reason to see her outside of their meetings he probably would try.

But he didn’t.

And in that moment- in that split second because she lived a risky life, he would have never known what it was like if he had.

Yet even with that thought process. Even with the want and the need to just kiss her. To stop pretending like he didn’t have feelings, like he didn’t ache to just be around her and when he was to be closer.

He couldn’t do it.

Her world had danger, danger she had chosen to protect people.

His had danger because he hadn’t cared, he had been selfish, he wanted money. Even now a bank account that wasn’t tied to him could fund any number of things for him to do. To run away, to get back into fencing. To make a new identity.

He could do all of those things.

The moment the threat in New York was gone, he wouldn’t need to be here. He could support himself and return to his past.

Shouldn’t that be what he wanted?

It wasn’t. Not in the same sense. 

He felt ties here the way he hadn’t before. He liked the way people looked at him who didn’t know he had a horrible past.

He wanted to help those people- at least when he could.

Lifting his hand to his necklace, the one that held the fairy wings instead of the opal he recently had found. It was supposed to bring good luck.

The instinct to help Holley in anyway was there and the only way he could was giving her something that was meant to bring good luck.

His necklace.

The one he was gifted as a child and never took off.

But it had felt like it had given him luck. Anytime he was cornered he always managed to get out of it. Any injury was never life threatening. He always healed without too many complications.

And it was that last piece that Flynn wanted to pass on.

But he couldn’t give Holley a necklace that contained fairy wings, could he?

Could he.

Well it felt under handed. It felt disingenuous. 

Before he could second guess it, Flynn pulled off his necklace and head downstairs, out into the forest. Or well as far in as he could without risking getting in trouble - imagine that, getting in trouble for trying to do the right thing.

Digging a small hole in the earth, Flynn unscrewed a hidden compartment and let the dust settle into the earth. He had always imagined it was actual wings but considering how small it was. He should have known. And that guilt hit him hard in the stomach.

“I don’t know who you were but I’m sorry I came to posses this and it took so long to return you to your rightful place. If you have to curse someone or anything feel free to on me but the next person to wear this is the reason you’ve being returned so I hope you’ll be kind to her.” Flynn whispered as he closed up the earth, grabbing a small flower that was in bloom and putting it onto the space.

He couldn’t do much else and he hoped the necklace would still be lucky- but at least you know he wasn’t giving fairy wings to a RAS agent.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Rage Fire Institution

Movement. 7.

Due to everything happening, it’d been some time since Maki was able to slip away for the night. When his sister had called him, he hadn’t been able to sit still and do nothing. The money he’d made from gaming was gone, he’d forced himself to submit an application to the student affairs office for a new headset and it’d drained his pitiful bank balance.

To have money back in his account felt good. To have his bio-engineering project hanging over his head, felt not so good. The young alpha felt like a joke. He had no idea that his babysitter actually had bad eyesight, or that his name was actually Tatsumi… or that he was far easier going than all his previous lecturers over Maki’s behaviour had him believing. Everything seemed to be changing around him, so finding himself clueless wounded his pride.

Maki was about to scale the institution fence when headlights lit the world around him. Shrinking back into the shadows, he wouldn’t have been surprised if Skylark had climbed out the capsule car. He didn’t have any traceable tech on him, and he’d waited until lights out before sneaking out to avoid being lectured by Tarva.

As the Professor climbed from the automated car, Maki grit his teeth. He didn’t know why the man kept showing up, only that he’d had enough of it. Pressed as far back as he could, he tried to reassure himself over the Professor’s night blindness, not taking into consideration how bright the headlights were. Keeping himself hidden proved fruitless, as the Professor’s voice carried through the night

“You can come out now”

Such rotten luck. He couldn’t run and he couldn’t hide. Not without their next meeting being more awkward than it needed to be. It was best to annoy the Professor now and save time. Stepping out, all he could do was ask

“How did you know it was me?”

“I didn’t, not until you replied. Come through the front gate, you’ll be in less trouble that way”

Naturally he’d be in less trouble as no one knew he was out after dark. Still, he found himself following his babysitter over to the after hours gate, where the man used a keycard to unlock the gate

“Reckon you could get me one of those?”

“Probably not. It logs who’s in and out. Fruitful night?”

“It was alright”

Having not shown himself at the underground boxing club in weeks, his ranking had dropped. Thankfully, that led to bad bets and a nice amount of him at the end of the night. Everyone thought him good at sports, so what was the point of wasting that talent on a legal job?

Tatsumi waited until he entered school grounds before closing the gate behind them

“That’s alright then. I know you just got back, but do you have a little time right now? I’ve got something to show you”

All Maki wanted was a hot shower and his bed, but he couldn’t deny he was curious. It was unusual for his babysitter to make such a casual request

“I’m not about to be marched to Skylark, am I?”

Tatsumi gave a light laugh

“No. Not tonight. It’s actually about the modification you wanted to try making to the pilot suit. I was going to message you in the morning, but the guys in the lab want to meet you”

What guys? Tatsumi had told them about him?

“Shit, you’re putting me on the spot here”

“It’s fine. I’ll get them to let your lecturers know you’ve been there and then you’ll have the day off. From the smell of it, you had a busy night”

Maki wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like the idea of Tatsumi smelling his scent

“That’s creepy”

“Not at all. Plus, I could use the company. I may just walk into a tree in this dark”

“Tsk. You’re a scheming bastard, aren’t you?”

“A little. You’re right about the bastard bit too, but never mind. I think you’ll enjoy the labs. They’re right up your alley”

Maki frowned heavily at the implications. He didn’t know what the Professor thought of him, only that he seemed wrong

“And what alley is that?”

“You’ll see”

Following the Professor to the research wing, Tatsumi used his keycard again to scan them in. The entrance to the wing was dauntingly all white, any and all specs of dust would have stood out as much as he did against the whiteness of the world

“Shit. This place is too clean”

“It’s only as clean as it needs to be, plus, this is only the entrance”

“Still, it’s hard to believe this place is on the same campus grounds”

“You’d see a lot more of it if you swapped to the research track. You could do it, you know”

“Tsk. I’m a pilot. We can’t all be intellectuals”

Aside from the pay, Maki felt he didn’t have the face to be a researcher. Research was all about team work and something about his face inspired the opposite around him. As his babysitter started making his way down a corridor to the right, Maki jogged the few steps to catch up with him

“How do you know this place so well?”

“I’m a student. I thought we discussed this before”

“We did, but it doesn’t explain a damn thing. It makes no sense. Even the third and forth years call you my babysitter. Plus, I’ve never seen Skylark handing out tasks the way he does to you”

“I’m a research student, that’s why our paths very rarely cross. I’ve come back to retrain”

“Come back from where? You’d suit a coffee store more than mech”

The Professor hummed lightly

“I might tell you some day. No one wants to die with regrets”

Maki pulled a face as he jerked back

“What kind of logic is that? No matter how good you are or if you’re a walking stain on society, everyone has something they regret”

“That is very true. Now, I’m going to introduce you to the researcher in charge of the suit modifications. They’ve already downloaded your specs, so don’t be surprised if they fuss”

“Just how many people know about me and you?”

Maki regretted his wording as the words came out his mouth. There was no him and Tatsumi. There was him, and there was his babysitter. Two seperate people

“You’d be surprised. You’re more well known here than you think”

That didn’t help matters. All the alpha wanted to do was keep his head down

“Great. Everyone here thinks I’m the delinquent freak”

The Professor reached out and ruffled Maki’s hair

“Not everyone. Be a good boy and I’ll show you something even more interesting later”

Reaching out, the alpha slapped his babysitter’s hand away. A few moments passed as they resumed their walk, Maki seething

“Don’t touch me. And don’t act like you’re all that older”

“Ah to be young. You should be making the most of it. You’re a good guy, and you’re smart. Someday you’ll make someone very happy”

“Okay, enough, you’re creeping me out now”

“Sorry, I overstepped. Here, this is the first stop”

***

Let into a large lab, Maki hardly expected a half assembled mech to be simply sitting there, held in place with a hoist. Unlike the outside world, the lab was a jumble of mess that could only make sense to the one who’d made it. Devices he’d never seen sat there tantalisingly close, almost begging for the alpha to reach out and touch. Maybe it was for the best it was the middle of the night, given that Maki doubted he’d be able to stop thinking about just what he was seeing.

“Suzu? You and Favril decent? I’m going to touch the mech if you don’t get out here”

Tatsumi’s voice was full of confidence as he called out in the seemingly empty room. From behind a thin bookcase came a series of thuds, then a woman a good foot shorter than Maki made her appearance without noticing him as she retied her hair

“Don’t tell me you’re back about your eyes already? Just get the surg-… Oh! Hello, you must be the infamous Maki. You caught me midway through my midnight snack. Ignore this oaf here, he uses the same greeting no matter the situation. I’m Doctor Favril Poaw. I’m so happy to finally meet you”

Tatsumi poorly hid his snorted laugh behind his hand as Maki’s eyes widened. He didn’t really think the Professor would be talking about him… and what was this about being “infamous”?

“Nice to meet you. I’m sorry we disturbed you”

“No, no. It’s completely fine. This one comes and goes as he pleases. He’s essentially an overgrown house cat at this stage. Anyway, enough about him. I want to talk to you…”

Maki didn’t know what to say or do. He didn’t like talking about himself at the best of times. The Professor butting in

“Don’t scare him. It’s taken me months to finally get him here”

Months? Why was it that the Professor always said the least expected things at the weirdest of times. With her hair up, Doctor Poaw rounded her desk to look Maki up and down. The Professor placing his hand on Maki’s shoulder almost as if in support. All that did was make the Doctor’s smile wider

“I know. You scored very well on your entrance exams. It was a surprise to us that you didn’t take the research road. Then again, we simply play with mechs which isn’t as glamorous as being a pilot. Let me take your specs. Come this way so I can scan you”

Maki glossed over Doctor Poaw’s analysis.

Sato Maki. Sato family name.

Dynamic - Alpha.

Pheromones - unmatched.

Unregistered with the galactic pheromone council.

Eyesight undamaged.

183cm.

Blood type A+.

Weight: 80kg.

Black hair - Natural.

Grey eyes - Natural.

Size M trainee pilot suit.

No mods or nanobots.

He knew his own stats and could have stated them if asked. Instead he was scanned three dimensionally, before the pair of them returned to Poaw’s desk.

Making space within the mess, Poaw smiled the whole time

“You know, Tatsumi has mentioned you. He says you have the mind of a researcher. But you also have latent talent as a pilot. I did like your idea of a swappable suit, and the memory module location, but we already have technology that can be used in similar fashion. I took some liberties with your second thought of a masked suit with enhanced vision for times when pilots are forced to make emergency escapes. I have the schematics here if you have time to talk. It’s obvious you’ve thought of Tatsumi’s disability”

Maki hadn’t really. He had gotten the idea because the Professor wore glasses and they must be inconvenient… but not because of his night blindness

“That wasn’t it. I mean, mechs have vast amounts of surveillance power, which is cut dramatically once the pilot is outside their mech. Personally, I thought the personal shield capability would make a better project, but our team mate said that was too much work”

Making a mistake, Maki raised his gaze to Tatsumi who was smiling. Catching his eye, the Professor stretched then shook it off, talking to Poaw rather than him

“See, he’s smart one. Let me borrow you couch for a bit?”

“I knew it. You’re short on sleep again. Go, get. I want to have a good talk here without you lumped around”

“Thanks. Don’t embarrass him too much. And he’ll need a note for classes”

“Right. I’ll see to it”

Maki wanted to reach out and stop Tatsumi. The man was abandoning him in an unknown environment with a Doctor he didn’t know… yet… He did have questions of his own about his so called babysitter, and Doctor Poaw seemed the talkative type. Whether he’d be angry at the end of it, he didn’t know, but he was sick of not knowing anything.

The pair watched as Tatsumi disappeared behind the same bookcase Poaw had appeared from. The light in the room switching off moments after he’d entered… meaning he’d been serious about getting some sleep. The lazy bastard could have stayed awake at least, this was his group project too. Sensing his annoyance, Poaw placed her hand on his arm

“Don’t be too mad. He really does think highly of you. I think you’re the first friend he’s made outside the research wing in a long time”

“Tsk. I hard think we’re friends. He’s my glorified babysitter, if anything. I’ve only recently found out his name isn’t actually Tatsuma”

Sometimes to get information, you had to give it. Even if it was slightly embarrassing. Poaw gave a small laugh, before lowering her voice

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Tatsuma is one of the better things he’s been called over the years. No, the poor man, no one knew what to do with him, including himself. He’s been lost for sometime and I think helping you out has given him something else to think about”

Continuing to play his plan, Maki nodded as he lied

“He has been through a lot. I don’t know why he’d come back here, we’re hardly that great of an institution”

He was careful to include “back”, to make it seem more plausible that he did know Tatsumi’s past. Poaw nodded

“I know, that’s why I hope you’ll be a good friend to him too. All he ever wanted was to pilot and now… Well, that’s enough sad stuff. He said you were very much interested in the research side of things. I’ve loaded your previous test scores from admittance and I can see you do have a good initial grasp of concepts, yet lack further information. Why are you in the piloting course instead of research studies?”

Maki’s brain was stuck. Tatsumi. His babysitter. His not a professor Professor. That man had been a pilot?! If that was the case… That could mean the Professor really was the one who piloted that mech at delivery. That meant that man had extensive combat skills and had been on the front lines. That man that looked as if a stiff breeze could blow him over, had seen actual combat.

Misinterpreting his silence, Poaw gave a small sigh

“He said you didn’t like personal questions and here I am talking on about them. Why don’t I give you the basic tour, then maybe you’ll have further ideas over this new suit mod?”

The alpha blinked. Right. If he didn’t say something now then his silence may turn suspicious

“Uh. Yeah. That would be great, thanks. As students we really don’t know much about what’s already in place, outside of what’s taught and as second years we don’t get told much at all. Especially trainee pilots. It’s mostly over the mechs we use now and past battle strategies”

“Now, now. It’s not all bad. You’ll be able to change class options next year. Perhaps by then I would have swayed you to our side? Let’s start with the easy things…”

***

Maki was loathe to owe anyone anything, despite how much he’d enjoyed himself chatting with Doctor Poaw. The Doctor did tend to waffle, yet answered all his questions without talking down to him and honestly it’d been worth it all to see everything in her lab. He didn’t wish to gush over it all, but he did wish he had someone he could confide in.

First she’d shown him around her lab, then taken him to main mech lab, where his jaw nearly hit the floor. Both Erebuses sat side by side, and better yet he was allowed to touch them as he blurted out question after question. Unlike other students, the researchers hadn’t taken one look at his face thought him up for a fight, perhaps because Tatsumi had already vouched for him. He didn’t like being talked about, but he did like being treated as human. Despite being deeply exhausted, Maki’s brain was wired. Thoughts and ideas jumping and sparking, leading to more.

“This you”

Tatsumi’s soft voice interrupted the alpha’s voice. Maki realised his babysitter hadn’t said a word since they’d left the research wing. He’d been so busy in thought that he hadn’t realised that they’d reached the dorm for alphas. He’d been walked all the way back… like a child. Too tired to be embarrassed, he had so many questions for the man beside him that he didn’t know where to start. Tatsumi reaching out and ruffling his hair

“It’s fine. Go get some rest”

As Tatsumi turned, Maki grabbed his arm

“Wait. Do you have time? I have questions… you can come up to my dorm room…”

Tatsumi gently took Maki’s hand off his arm

“I’m sorry, not right now. And you shouldn’t casually invite people to your room. You have a free pass for today, so should make the most of resting”

“Yeah, but…”

But he had so many questions… Tatsumi all smiles and oblivious. And what was so wrong with inviting another alpha to his room when everyone else did?

“Get some rest. We have another team project meeting later. I’ll be in the library from about 5”

“I’ll come early. I don’t know what last night was, but I feel like we need to talk”

“If you say so. Don’t forget to message Li. I’ll leave that to you”

Grabbing a hot shower, Maki returned to his room. He still couldn’t quite believe what had happened. No one thought he had the brains for the research track. Li would have laughed himself stupid if he could have seen him making a fool of himself. He’d wanted to climb into the functional Erebus so badly, even if all he could do was look at the boot screen and initial specs. And thanks to Doctor Poaw, their project was taking a new direction in tackling pilot vision outside of the mech. They’d drawn a solid outline for the project and how it’d change the basic functionality of a standard pilot suit to make up for pilot issues. It’d evolved a lot from talking with such a knowing scientist, yet Maki had the distinct impression that all his new ideas were ideas already thought of by Tatsumi.

With his hair still damp and towel over his shoulders, Maki laid back on his bed, now feeling stupid for trying to make his babysitter stay. He didn’t get it. Why a pilot such as Tatsumi would now bow his head with ease and take student courses when he could have easily taken an early retirement and kicked back on a life of benefits. His whole drive to pilot was to provide for his family. More accurately, to fund his dream of his sister having a better life. If asked he’d call her spoilt, but in reality she was only “spoilt” as she was a girl. Two years on the front line, once he’d graduated as a student, would make his sister about 16 once he’d retired. She’d be able to have more than he could ever give her otherwise.

In that sense, he couldn’t understand Tatsumi’s decision at all, nor why he cared to understand. The man had to be acting out pity, or ulterior motive… so the sooner he called Tatsumi out on it, the better. He was no better than any other student. His grades were what was expected and he definitely didn’t come from a family where making good with the only son would lead to kickbacks. Sourness settled in his belly at the thought of the fact he had to be being used without knowledge of why, and a dry snort escaped his nose over it all. He’d go early. He’d meet Tatsumi early and get his answers… but first came sleep.

[drsohinisastri]

How Your Sun Sign Impacted by the Mars Retrograde

Aries

According to the famous astrologer in India, since you are currently attempting to avoid conflict and disagreements with others, you might discover that you are more passive than ever. In order to avoid any controversy, you might occasionally enter your dream state over the coming few months.

 Taurus

New projects promise to be financially successful. Though you might be holding out for stability. This might be because Mars is temporarily purging your assets and expenditures owing to its planetary moonwalk, which causes delays.

 Gemini

At this time, you could find it difficult to get tasks started and accomplished. Instead than attempting to do tasks quickly, work at your own pace. Keep in mind that perseverance wins the race. In the next weeks, be kind to yourself.

 Cancer

This is a time for introspection. You'll find yourself reflecting on your most fundamental needs and desires. You could feel the need to daydream and get away from the everyday. Dream all you want, just don't forget your daily obligations.

 Leo

Take a stand for yourself. Actually, let out your inner "roar" the Leo way. You have put in the effort to establish your worth. It's time to start receiving the respect and compensation you deserve.

Virgo

Your career sector of your astrological chart is ruled by Mars retrograde, which will cause you to reevaluate your professional goals. This might inspire you to support various humanitarian initiatives and lend a hand to others.

 Libra

According to the best astrologer in India, putting all of your eggs in one basket should stop. Spread out your hobbies, relationships, investments, and time. You may completely ensure that private concerns, such as your bank account or personal relationships, are protected by maintaining a broad viewpoint; in addition, doing so will grant you greater autonomy and freedom.

 Scorpio

Your finances are in trouble as old debts start to surface. Don't max out your credit cards and attempt to live within your means. During Mars' retrograde, sales are your friend.

 Sagittarius

When it comes to your romantic life, the past will always be there. Be ready to hear from an ex or to desire to get in touch with one. Numerous unresolved emotions could surface as a result of this. Consider whether you want to rekindle an old flame or begin a renaissance of your previous relationship before you contact out or answer.

 Capricorn

Your close relationships are experiencing power battles. Try to have open and honest dialogues to prevent disagreements from developing. To get the clarity and understanding you need to move forward in the partnership in a healthy way, be direct with the people you care about rather than playing games with them.

 Aquarius

You miss spending time with your friends because you haven't seen them in a while. You neglected to check in because you were too preoccupied with your own affairs. Be friendly and arrange an enjoyable get-together with them.

Pisces

Find balance in your life to prevent burnout on the physical and mental levels. Make sure you have the capacity for everything before taking on too many jobs and signing up for extra activities, according to the top astrologer in India. Make time for enjoyment no matter how busy you get.

[fectiverundercroft]

Little bit of life advice.

Be cautious if you sign up with some local-only or family-owned service of some kind. The personal touch might be nice, it’s usually good to have workers personally invested in their clients’ lives and communities, but they also often lack the resources to do a job with all the thoroughness and professionalism you find at a bigger company.

Or maybe it’s just that bigger companies have a lower “we can afford to give them what they want if they’ll go away” threshold. It’s hard to deconvolute those two phenomena.

My experience was with a local credit union. It was attached (not physically) to my church, which was convenient; I could stop there before or after mass if I had to, it was easy to set up automated giving, I’d see the tellers at church, we got to know each other a bit.

Then I left. Moved to a new time zone, where they certainly didn’t have any branches. Went in before I left and asked how to close my account, and they said I could do it with one phone call when I had a new account set up. Easy.

Thinking it would still be easy when I couldn’t walk in and talk to a real person if I hit any snags was my first mistake.

I didn’t cancel my credit card right away but I did empty my checking account since it was easy to write a check for the whole balance when I got to where I was going. I did destroy the credit card as soon as I paid off my last statement once I got a new card through my new bank. This has has sufficed as a de facto cancellation in the past, to the point where I’d get letters from a company saying “you haven’t used this in six months so we’re closing the card.” Then I procrastinated and then forgot about it for a while.

That was my second mistake. Don’t do what I did.

Fast forward a year and I got a statement on that old credit card again. My credit card account apparently was still open, and someone hacked it to make a fourteen dollar purchase. Not a lot, maybe it was just a test by the hacker, but I realized I had put off too long what I should never have put off at all.

I called the credit card company and told them what happened. They promised to take care of it. I made my next mistake here, but I made it again later so I’ll explain it at that time. Then I called my credit union and explained the same thing, adding that I wanted to close my account for good now, what with there apparently being a liability. I even mentioned the credit card situation. They told me the person who handled this stuff was out of the office but she would take care of it when she got back. I knew they had my new contact information so I let it go.

I trusted them enough to forget about how long it would take for the financial wheels to turn. Then I got another credit card bill, not for the zero dollars I expected—I assumed this would be a final “you’re all set and we will miss you as a customer” letter like I’ve gotten before, but no—now for the original fourteen dollars plus a fourteen dollar late fee because I didn’t pay on time originally.

Okay, time to stop trusting and being patient.

I started calling the credit union and the credit card company to get things resolved. At the time it seemed wise not to close my savings account until I had my card issue resolved, but it ended up not working the way I wanted anyway. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, as you’ll see.

So I’m on the phone with the credit card company. I explain my account was hacked and I was challenging a bogus charge, and I wanted to close my account for real. Spelled out that I moved out of the area from where my union was located and I had destroyed my card a year ago so there was no way I could have used it to buy whatever the thing was. For some reason this didn’t get through. I was surprised because when I first called, I actually picked the phone tree option to report a stolen card/fraudulent transaction. But she kept “explaining” that she couldn’t close the card until I made my late payment. I told her again I wasn’t doing that—in retrospect it would have been easier, but I was getting angry enough now I didn’t want to let it go—because it wasn’t my activity on the card, and I had called a month before to report it but nothing happened.

I started to wonder if that first bill I received was a scam and I had actually called a hacker, but my card hadn’t been used again and it was the same phone number as on my union’s web site.

So we’re going back and forth, and it’s like talking to a brick wall. I’m trying to tell her I’m reporting a fraudulent charge, she seems to understand that’s what I’m asking because she’s actually repeating my words, and I want my card cancelled for real, but she’s also telling me it needs to be paid before the card can be closed. Eventually she talks her way in a full circle and I raise my voice when I remind her that I shouldn’t be paying for any charges or late fees on a card that was electronically stolen, especially not after I already called and was told this would get taken care of.

She reminds me that the call is being recorded.

I almost reminded her that she also has been recorded asking me to pay a charge that I have been recorded reporting as fraudulent. She probably wasn’t thinking about that and just got lost in her script somewhere, and remembered her “if they get upset, say X” escape hatch, because then she offered to transfer me to an account closure specialist. No apology for misunderstanding me for fifteen minutes, but at least it was progress.

The specialist can’t find my credit union in her directory.

False alarm: its name was some shorthand neither of us would have guessed.

So, she…transfers my call back to the credit union. Where I started. Where I was told I needed to call the credit card company to take care of that part of it.

At least now I’m talking to someone who, I hope, can get something done.

I explain my situation all over again. I’m told the account closing person is off that day but everything she needs will be provided to her by the guy I’m talking to now, but do I want to have the $28 credit card debt taken out of my savings before it’s closed, or pay by some other way?

I was ready to lose it again but at least this was the first time I was talking to this guy. It’s been half an hour now. Here’s the second mistake I made again: I didn’t take notes on all the conversations I had with everybody about all this. I still had my original statement with the fraudulent $14 charge, and I know I called the day I got it, but I didn’t get the name of the guy I talked to; nor did I remember the name of the woman who got defensive when I told her I’m not taking her advice to pay the fraudulent charge I’m challenging, nor the name of the specialist who routed me back to my union. It might have helped if I could have thrown more of their records, with names and dates and timestamps, back in their face when they started repeating “well all this happened because you didn’t report a stolen card,” which I did once a month ago and about five times twenty minutes ago and another time ten minutes before that when I called the credit union to see what I needed to do to get the ball rolling.

Finally, this guy seems to understand: I want to close my savings and card accounts, and there is fraudulent activity on my card that didn’t get taken care of when I tried to ask them for help a month ago or half an hour ago.

The next day I get emailed an electronic form to sign for the closure of my account. The email states the $28 charge will be reversed as well. Perfect.

A week later I get a banker’s check for what I had left in savings, along with a letter stating my accounts were all closed, and I would not be obligated to pay that $28…even though the problem was that I never asked them to take care of it before I “missed” the payment due date.

Let them believe what they want at this point. Not my circus, not my monkeys. Not anymore.

Coda: my new bank sent me a letter a week later saying “we’re not sure this check you deposited is real. We’re letting your new balance stay where it is for now but if the check doesn’t clear we’re taking it back.” I shouldn’t be surprised, after the amateur hour I went through, that they were skeptical of my old credit union. But it’s been a month, again, and I still have all my money. In a nationally recognized bank. That was recommended to me by trusted family members.

Not one of those shitty ones that tallies up all your withdrawals for the month before they tally up your deposits so they can charge you for covering would-be-but-not-really bounced checks. Don’t make that mistake either.

So there’s that.

[thelistingteammiami]

6 New Year's Resolutions To Help You Buy Your First Home

With the new year comes new milestones to reach. And if this year you'd want to go beyond the usual promises to focus on your health and wellness, read more, and finally achieve a grand dream like buying your first house, remember that preparation is key. 

Here are six practical resolutions for you to consider so you can have a better chance of achieving your homeownership goals and finally have a place you can call your own.

There's no time like the present to start practicing good saving habits, especially if you plan to get a home loan this year. Start by getting a clear view of your expenses. Determine how much you spend on necessities, such as food, rent, utilities, transport, and other bills, including debts you’re paying off. Once you have tracked your monthly spending, you’ll know where you can cut costs and how you can boost your savings. 

Saving as much money as you can also mean sacrificing some things that aren’t essential to your daily lifestyle. This may include limiting your nights out at restaurants or bars, reviewing your current monthly subscriptions or memberships, removing your credit card from online shopping sites to cut down on impulse purchases, and other little expenditures that can actually add up to as much as thousands of dollars per year. While it may sound like a no-brainer, any money you can save is valuable for your home savings plan, especially if you want a better deal on your mortgage.

Another number you'll need to give attention to before you go house-hunting this year is your credit score. Credit scores range from 300 to 850. Your score is a significant factor that lenders use to determine a borrower’s eligibility to buy a home. The better your credit score, the better your chances to qualify for more loan options and lower interest rates. And if applying for a conventional mortgage is what you’re aiming for, you need to have a credit score of 620 or higher.

If this is something you still haven’t given attention to, resolve to get a copy of your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com to get an idea of your score. Remember that you are entitled to a free credit report every year from each of the three main credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. By pulling your credit report, you can review if there are any errors on it that could be bringing your score down. If you find any, report them to the credit bureau to be investigated.

If needed, check out tips to improve your credit, such as making timely payments on your bills and not opening new credit accounts or closing current ones. It takes months to improve your credit, so make sure you have a game plan to feel at ease going into the home buying experience.

If you're looking to buy a home for the first time, avoid making large purchases, such as a new car, jewelry, furniture, or any other big-ticket yet non-essential items. While buying these things aren’t necessarily bad, doing so even before your home buying journey begins can affect your credit score. In addition, using up cash reserves can impact your ability to qualify for a loan. Save those purchases for a date after closing to ensure there will not be any unexpected hiccups during the process.

You will need all your financial documents in order to apply for a mortgage, and this new year is the perfect time to have all your important papers ready. Create a comprehensive list of what you should collect and organize, and have them handy. Among these are pay stubs, tax returns, income statements, bank statements, check stubs, credit card statements, and other paperwork.

While preparing financially for your home buying journey is laborious, deciding where you want to put down roots and what home you specifically want to buy can also be challenging (but definitely fun!) You may have to be very specific about your goals, so resolve to determine what you're looking for and be realistic about it. 

Research the areas you are looking at buying in to understand the type of properties available, as well as the price range. If you’ve found out that you currently live in a high priced market, is relocating a possibility? If it isn’t, can you bear the longer commute just to become a homeowner? You’d also want to see what neighborhoods fit your lifestyle by visiting during different times of the day to see what it’s like to live there. Walk around, visit stores or restaurants, and feel the general vibe of the place.

Moreover, create a list of must-haves and would-be-nice-to-haves for your dream house. How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you want to have? Is having a backyard a massive factor for you? Knowing where you can compromise and what might be a deal-breaker will be significant once you begin your search in earnest. Also, having a specific goal in mind will make it easier for you to achieve it.

As soon as you've decided that you want to buy your first home, resolve to find a good real estate agent that will be very valuable in achieving your goal. Purchasing a home is most likely the biggest investment you will ever make, so it is crucial to have a trusted agent who will educate you and guide you through the whole process. 

Your agent can also help you build your homeownership dream team. You may check their recommendations on real estate attorneys, mortgage professionals, and home inspectors. Choosing your agent wisely can help alleviate some of the stress that comes with the complex and sometimes stressful real estate transaction. 

[lastfrontierh]

Heli-skiing: A Skiers Trip Of A Lifetime Is It Excessive Or Safe?

Our helicopter operator is Black Tusk Helicopter, who have the 247,000 acre tenure throughout us and down in the direction of Squamish and Vancouver. At the top of your day we either get in the cat for the journey down, or when you have the legs for it you'll be able to journey down the cat highway. That is usually a bit hectic so please experience in the cat when you're at all unsure about it. Just learning Heliski to link turns in powder and wish to get "the trick"? By the nospace of the run you will know the way to powder ski, and when you don't, we'll just should do it once more. Maybe you have some better info to supply or any addendum or modifications to make, by which case, feel free to e-mail me on , and we can contemplate including them in!

If you’ve been driving a desk an excessive amount of these days, aren’t quite as fit as you’d like, and/or are happy to relax a bit, then go for the cheaper bundle. You can at all times purchase a bit more flight time if conditions are actually good at some Heliski point. We access a extensive range of terrain and runs and relying on the snow safety and circumstances we journey totally different runs and both vertical and length an average of 500m vertical/ run could be take into accounts.

The early leaders in heliskiing discovered by trial and error, and their experiences in across the helicopter have turn into a major part in heliskiing safety protocols today. Avalanche safety has been equally necessary to heliskiing operators. Numerous heliskiing operations have contributed closely to avalanche safety and analysis tasks worldwide. The non-heliskiing backcountry skiing public has benefited significantly from this research. Among our dozen member operations, you can find the precise helicopter snowboarding or snowboarding expertise you need. Alpine Heliski guides are chosen for a variety of expertise.

This mannequin of helicopter has been flown to the summit of Mount Everest at eight,500m, and has carried out alpine rescue operations in the Annapurna vary at 7,100m. We have been supplying extraordinarily distinctive experiences for greater than thirteen years with our skilled team of certified mountain guides and pilots with over 3000 flight hours within the mountains and counting. We provide all of our guests coaching and equipment to ensure our operations meet the best safety standards possible. It is our top precedence and our funding in the new H125 helicopter proves that dedication to our guests. Over greater than two decades, we’ve fastidiously honed our approach to helicopter skiing and boarding. After lunch you proceed to ski/ride the remainder of your runs or upgrade with extra runs and proceed skiing/riding all afternoon.

Some even anticipate an uptick this season as travellers plan to take trips to quieter areas within a single bubble of friends and crew. So advice for these whose interest in heli-skiing has been piqued is to go and make your tracks in the snow as quickly as you can – earlier than the crowds begin to catch on to the wonders of those pristine pistes. Northern Escape’s luxurious main lodge is uniquely accessible, sitting on the banks of the Skeena River just twenty minutes from the city of Terrace. Northern Escape’s terrain lies within the Skeena Mountains of the Coast Range, a dramatic, lovely spine of glaciated peaks shot through with sea-level river drainages. Both lodges already sourced native components where possible for their five-star meals, and supplied B.C.-based beer and wine choices. An intimate heli skiing expertise with only 18 guests every week and a most of 6 skiers per helicopter.

The season right here starts later, and is shorter, from March to May, however venturing to such a vacation spot will permit intrepid adventurers the opportunity to lay contemporary tracks in an untouched, snowy wilderness. The dramatic panorama challenges skiers as they descend down a number of the world’s longest couloirs and highest vertical cliff faces, and during downtime there are a lot of opportunities to expertise the rich Inuit tradition. Forming the border between Italy and Switzerland, the Monte Rosa Massif’s three huge summits all exceed 13,500 feet. However, probably the most spectacular is the route down to the Swiss resort of Zermatt, with the Matterhorn thrillingly in view for a lot of the best way. James Orr Heliski offers day and multi-day packages, full with the best après expertise.

There are alot of laws within the Alps about heli-skiing and it’s not as readily available because it was, however Switzerland is fortunate sufficient to still enable your high altitude adventures . There designated drop off spots all throughout Heliski the Swiss Alps, with some reaching the dizzying heights of 4200m and anticipate an average of 2500m vertical descent. It is usually high altitude driving, above the treeline, with steep couloirs and wide-open powder fields.

The dates are contradictory about when Sandahl used helicopters for skiing. But, an advert in December 2001 problems with POWDER MAGAZINE for Chugach Powder Guides exhibits a black and white photo of a Hiller helicopter lifting off with skis strapped to the facet. The picture is dated 1957, and the picture is courtesy of the Anchorage Museum of History & Art. Overall, helicopters did not play any main fight position in the WWII. Both the Germans and the allies pursued helicopter growth during WWII. The German Luftwaffe was the first to check and use helicopters in a excessive alpine surroundings.

We’ll meet you on the Terrace Airport and if you’re booked on our Classic Package, we’ll switch you on to our Yellow Cedar Lodge with our shuttle bus in only twenty minutes. For our Elite and Private Package friends, we’ll fly you to our remote Mountain Lodge by helicopter with a spectacular 15-minute flight via the Skeena Mountains. No matter which bundle you book, you’ll get a FULL day heli skiing and boarding in your departure day (we don’t do rushed half ski days) before catching a night flight back to Vancouver.

Stay in a single one of many surrounding mountain villages for a few days earlier than your trip, as it is recommended to get acclimatised to the altitude. Take a half-day or single day trip and stay in the well-liked resort of Baqueira –Beret for good quality however cheap eating and a vibrant atmosphere. To congratulate yourself after a giant day on the mountain, head over to St Anton and experience the most effective apres ski on the earth. From Zermatt, you possibly can ski over the border into the Italian resort of Cervinia, which opens up much more backcountry and powder potential. Try a backcountry tour with Evergreen too, as they will take you to some critical and secret locations to get the best-untouched powder strains. When it involves what to put on when heli-skiing, we are ready to look to our outwear packing list for freeriding.

[honeyabyss]

Phone calls after Mc returned to the human realm

Lucifer:

this man is stubborn, calling you would be like admitting he's gone soft and his pride does not allow that!

so he refuses to call for the first few weeks, keeping himself busy with work of which he has enough anyway

due to all his student council work, a few other tasks of Diavolo and on top of that the usual shenanigans of his brothers, he quickly becomes very stressed

he's at his breaking point and needs someone to talk to so he can release some of his stress before he takes it out on someone else

so he goes to your old room and starts talking as soon as he enters it, only to stop confused when he doesn't see you in the room, remembering only now you left for the human realm

disappointed he sits down onto the bed and curls the blanket around himself

"Their scent is almost gone...Soon it'll be as if they were never here"

he closes his eyes, sighs softly and makes his decision

"Mc? I hope I didn't wake you. I simply thought a conversation would be nice, it's been a while..."

Lucifer's call is pretty casual, he talks about his day, work and his troublemaker brothers, it almost feels like any other day before just this time it is over phone

he does not want to admit he misses you, a) because he'd seem weak and b) he fears what admitting it will do to him, he might just miss you even more

BUT while saying goodbye he accidentally lets a "I miss you" slip, his breathing stops shortly realizing his mistake, he is about to apologize when you say it back

he smiles softly, genuinely relieved about your shared sentiment and whispers "I'll call you again soon then" before hanging up

from then on he calls you every evening and you better jump right away and pick up at the first ringing, because this man is lonely without you

Mammon:

"Congratulations! You're one of our lucky winners of our monthly Devil-Lottery. We'll have to confirm your bank account number with the one given to us when you agreed to participating in the lottery. Would you be so kind to slowly repeat the number-"

this greedy demon will quite literally try to scam you, only to absolutely panic when you hang up on him

he will instantly call you back, constantly adjusting his glasses, a nervous habit he acquired over the years

"H-hey...Mc...uhm, it's me your favourite demon!"

he is relieved you picked up, as it means you didn't block him right away, he stumbles over his words trying to find an excuse why he just tried to scam you

"Ah you know I only did that to test you, you've passed nobody scams my human! You're my amazing human after all! That's why I love you...u-uh I-i mean...nothing...that was a static you must have misheard..."

when you tell him you knew it was him as you recognized his voice, he'll be outraged, screaming into his D.D.D (and probably later getting punched by Lucifer for being so loud)

"What do you mean you already knew?! You dared to hang up on The Great Mammon?

He gets a bit sulky by your reaction, so how about playing into his obvious lie of testing you to make him feel better again

besides trying to scam you Mammon also called to (not so sneakily) check on your wellbeing

now that you're gone he constantly worries about you and he can't do much to help, but if you were actually in need of help due to whatever, trust me he'd fight Lucifer himself for permission to go to you

he'll call you as often as he can, sometimes with a few days of a break in between, asking you about your life and also letting you in on his upcoming money making schemes...please don't tell Lucifer about them

Mammon has learned his lesson though, he'll never try to scam you again, he couldn't bare it if you were to block or ignore his calls

Leviathan:

phone calls? Why? You two can just talk about the in-game talk function of this new online game you play, but no real world talk while playing that ruins the immersion!

Levi will rarely call you as he just doesn't feel comfortable enough to talk with you about normie stuff for too long

he normally just spam writes you, ding, ding, ding, one message after another coming in without you being able to respond quick enough

so if gets too much and you decide to just call him so you can have an actual chance of responding, Levi just panics and almost drops his D.D.D

"Mc? D-did you accidentally hit the c-call button? N-no? I-i see no I love you too!!....AAAAAAAh I-i meant I l-l-love t-talking to you too...hehehe w-why would a yucky o-otaku like me say something like that"

poor boy is so nervous he'll say something stupid and will stutter a lot the first few times you call him, he is just not used to talking on the phone

he will laugh nervously over everything and sometimes there'll be a phase of awkward silence, but please don't point it out, Levi is already stressed enough as it is

once he gets used to calls, he'll surprisingly suggests to have a phone call while both of you are watching the new episode of an anime, so he'll be able to talk to you as if you're right next to him, which works out mediocre at first, you have to tell him to be a bit quieter a few times but besides that it's quiet nice

"Ooooooowhooooooah!!! Did you see that? That was amazing, I wish I had these superpowers, I'd save you of every danger like a real hero! W-what do you mean I'm already your hero?"

Yes, you saw and heard it, and your neighbours probably heard Levi...

on the rare occasions Levi calls you he'll often asks you for favours like to buy him this exclusively in the human realm sold limited edition game, of course he isn't like his scummy brother Mammon who'll constantly asks for things and he'll also make it up by sending you stuff you can only get on Akuzon

so calls don't happen very often, but neither if you really mind, you'll still be in contact through messages and games

Satan:

Satan will be very proper about calling you, he'll check through messages if you're fine with him calling you, so he can be sure you have time and he doesn't bother you

Satan never jumps into a conversation right away (unless he is angry), he makes sure to show interest in you and hold a bit small talk, asking about your day, how you're doing and so on

you talk about many different things with him mostly about your shared interests, but Satan is willing to listen to you ramble about hobbies he doesn't have as well

one thing you two quickly come to do was have book club sessions over phone

"I wish you were still here Mc. I miss my book discussion partner, nobody here has as interesting opinions and views as you..."

back in Devildom you two would both read a book and afterwards discuss your thoughts, and you found a way too keep doing just that

you both write about books, decide on one to read for the week and would than have a phone call where you just talk for hours about the piece of literature you've read

now that you're back in the human realm, the book choices are even bigger as you can read human books as well, you just have to send a copy to Satan, sometimes Barbatos will be nice and pick a book up and deliver it to Satan, or to you if it's the other way around with a demon book

"Oh? No, you're right. I haven't thought about it like that yet...your thoughts are so fascinating!"

Satan will shower you in praise for every little detail that you noticed yet he missed. he genuinely enjoys your phone calls, and though he wouldn't admit it, sometimes he anticipates your call more than the actual book

even though there now is a bigger distance between you two he still feels as close to you as before, not much has changed for him and he knows he'll be able to see you again soon, he'll just have to be patient

"Next week, same time? I'm looking forward to talking to you again. Take care until then!"

Asmodeus:

"Oh my Lord! You won't believe what just happened!!!"

no greeting or alike, just straight into the discussion

whenever something gossip worthy happens, Asmo is already dialling your number to spill the tea and keep you updated on any Devildom related gossip, even if it won't help you much, it's a nice thought of him keep you in the loop

those are only the spontaneous call though, obviously you can't take these all the time...you still have a life of your own...

you two actually call each other every day at the same time, plus/minus a couple minutes, the water in the tub has to be filled first...yeah Asmo likes to talk you while he is taking his afternoon bath

"Hahh it's so relaxing, warm water caressing my beautiful skin, and the bath bomb today smells so good! I wish you could smell it, or even better I wish we could bathe together!"

*water sloshing noises intensified*

Asmo...no....yes...maybe...just stop, you'll fluster Mc!

"No really! I miss having you here, I'll pamper you all day the next time I'll get to see you. You must already be starved of my beauty, but don't worry my dear, I'm just as starved of seeing your lovely face!"

what to talk about while he is bathing? Anything really if it's about your day, any complains or whatever, just expect a few innuendos of him...that's nothing new though

seriously though Asmo is the guy to talk to about any of your problems, he will listen and try to come up with a solution for you, even if he seems a bit narcissistic sometimes he really cares about you, so use your phone calls as therapy from time to time

"Oh darling, don't worry it'll be okay! I'm here to help...now tell me every detail so I can come up with a plan! I'll always be there for you, no matter what!"

Beelzebub:

"*munch munch* This one is really good! Mc you should try some...oh"

now that you're back in the human realm, Beels snack times are very lonely, he has just gotten so used to your presence, even sharing his food is normal by now

and let's be honest Beels snack time is 24/7 so he misses you a lot

he feels the urge to call you every five minutes and sometimes even forgets to eat while phone is ringing and he is waiting for you to pick up

but you can't constantly talk with him over phone so the calls often end up on your voicemail where Beel tells you about all the different kind of foods he ate that day

when Belphie catches wind of his twin constantly pestering you, he hides Beels D.D.D so he can't call you all the time

when you're actually able to pick up on his call, Beel will be so happy you can quite literally hear his huge grin while he's excitedly talking about his current snack

"Have you ever tried spicy bat-wings? There opened a new restaurant in town and it's really good!! Next time you're here I'll invite you there. Oh but what if it closes before you're back...ah you'll just have to visit soon!"

though Beel is often disappointed when you don't pick up, he would never hold it against you, he knows he calls quite a lot, but he just misses you and tipping a message while he eats is harder than putting his D.D.D on speaker and talking to you

of course he doesn't only talk about food, he also tells you about how his brothers are doing and how his workout was, or what things he has planned to do at the weekend, all in all Beel is just super happy to share everything of his life with you

on rare occasions he'll call you and be untypically quiet, that happens when he had a fight with his twin, it's not often but sometimes it happens and his first instinct is to call you, because he feels like he can tell you everything so he is very comfortable and trusting with you

"I miss you a lot, you know...but I also know that you think about me daily, every time your stomach rumbles you'll be reminded of me and that makes me happy, I also think about you every time I'm hungry! Hm? But I'm always hungry? That's right! You're always on my mind!"

Belphegor:

Listen, his sleeping schedule is very tight, you can't just expect him to call you!

he will call you so rarely and if you call him it might just happen that he is sleeping and has phone on silent...or he's just to lazy to walk to his phone, or he is just not in the mood to talk... he takes any excuse to not be on the phone

Belphie does like talking to you, but he is not the greatest at long conversations so he like messages more

sometimes when he can't seem to fall asleep, he will be the one to call you...in the middle of the night...and you better pick up or he gets annoyed

"What took you so long? I thought you wanted to talk more often and then you leave me hanging for a whole minute? Doesn't matter I would have waited longer with you...."

he is mostly silent through a phone call, his main reason to call you is because he like to listen to you talk, it's calming to him and if he calmer then he might be able to fall asleep again

so don't expect an amazingly deep conversation...

"Mhmmm...hm? Yeah I'm still there. I'm listening keep talking, I love your voice..."

he'll bring up a topic from time to time so you have an inspiration about what to talk about, but most of the times he just lazily hum or making acknowledging noises so you know he is still listening

"Zzz..."

he will to 100% fall asleep while being on the phone with you, that doesn't mean you're boring, but that he trusts you so much that he is comfortable enough to let his guard down

Diavolo:

"Good afternoon! How was the week of my favourite human?...ah don't tell Solomon I said that hahaha"

as the future king of hell, he is a busy man, but he still manages to give you a call once a week, to the same time you two would have normally had your weekly afternoon tea meeting in the castle

with the exchange year over there is not much about your classes to talk about left, but Dia is just as excited about any other topic you decide to talk about, be it the most mundane thing he loves it!

"Oh so you went grocery shopping? That must be fun! Barbatos does it all the time, though I suppose you buy less things...I'd like to see a human market at some point, I wonder if they're very different from ours...oh but I wouldn't really able to tell I suppose, Barbatos and you would need to point out the differences!"

this man can talk without taking a break for hours...you think Asmo is bad? Prepare for Diavolo...

but seriously it never gets boring with him, because he somehow finds good and fun stuff in every activity, I swear give him a vacuum and watch him clean you're whole flat with the enthusiasm of a child getting presents on Christmas

the work of a future king consists of so much paperwork, Dia will have only few events of his week to tell you about, if there is something to talk about there is a high chance it has to do with the brothers

so he'd much rather just sip his tea and listen to you, he'll ask you loads of questions though about anything he doesn't know

sometimes you two forget the time and Barb sadly has to remind you to come to a stop for now

"Mc? Did I wake you? If so I'm terribly sorry...would you be up to talk for a little bit more? I'm not feeling too tired yet"

surprise night time calls from Dia where you'll have to speak silently or Barbatos might reprimand Diavolo for staying up all night and being tired the next day, Dia doesn't regret it ever though, he likes to talk you a lot!

Barbatos:

Barbatos is always busy and his schedule can often suddenly change with a new whim of his master, so he can't exactly have a scheduled call with you

so you might not get to hear of him very often

BUT he made it a habit to call you when he is on duty to do the dishes, the chore is somewhat boring to him with no one to distract him

so he calls you and if you pick up, he'll put you on speaker and talk to you about whatever comes to mind while his hands wash one after another of the expensive porcelain of the royal household

"I've bought this new tea which is said to be really nice, it can even be enjoyed cold apparently. It seems to have to just the right amount of sweetness to not get bitter when drank cold...you can still add sugar for extra sweetness, though I believe you're already sweet enough as it is"

no matter what you decide to talk about Barbatos always has at least some knowledge about it, so it's beneficial for both of you, he can tell you the things he knows and you tell him your stuff

"I hope I'm not bothering you too much? There is quite a lot to do today... so it might take some more time..."

you will never get to know that Barb has actually already finished the dished a few minutes ago, but just isn't ready to say goodbye yet

the rest of the employees will be able handle the castle for a bit longer without him, meanwhile he can take a well deserved tea break and listen to you

he very much enjoys the fact he found a way to have some time with you while theoretically having to be at work, as long as he is able to finish all the tasks of his daily schedule, he doesn't feel too bad about his not so legal break

"I fear I'll have to get back to work now, but I loved talking to you today! I hope you enjoyed it as well. I'll talk to you again soon!"

Solomon:

Though Solomon returned to the human realm with you, you haven't heard much of him, being a wise old man sorcerer must be very time consuming

so calls of Solomon might be rare but that doesn't mean you don't write messages every now and then, when he calls you though it's always about something interesting or important to share, he talks about those things rather verbally, the best option for him would be in person, but that doesn't always work so a phone call is the second best option

"My lovely apprentice, how is your studying going? I've found the tome we were talking about last time you were interested in...it took some research to find which sorcerer had it but I brought it back for you. How about I'll drop by you next week? I can help you with your studying then, the tome is written in an older version of the language it might be easier if we do it together!"

Solomon can simply not sit still, so while you're on the phone, he is always tinkering at something and the background noises are sometimes quite peculiar...

Was that a pig squeaking? Are you sure you should be brewing a potion while being on the phone? Isn't it distracting?

Oh Lord was that an explosion?!

"Hmm? Oh yeah...I`m cooking dinner right now! It was just a small explosion though, you know the ones that are regularly happen in the kitchen. Why? Was my cute student worried about me?~ heheh alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you...for now!"

no matter how chaotic, teasing or busy Solomon is though, if you call him and are in need of help, he'll drop everything and run to you

he knows how hard it can be when studying magic, not to mention that the studies are difficult, the constant hiding of any magic in front of other humans is also very nerve wrecking, sometimes you feel like giving up and going back to your normal life, back to your non-magical very human friends that are blissfully unaware of everything happening around them, but you know you could never forget and act as if nothing happened, you'd also miss your new not so normal friends, so when times get hard Solomon will rush to you and comfort you in person or at least calm you down on phone until he is able to go to you

if that happens he is more likely to call you every two to three days just to check in on you

"Hey how is my strong and beautiful fellow human doing? Feeling better yet? Need a shoulder to lean on? I'm at your flat in 10 minutes..."

Simeon:

Simeon is a daily caller as well, he's gotten so used to seeing you every day that he feels quite restless if he doesn't get to hear your voice at least once a day

he asked you to recommend at what time he should call, he doesn't want to restrict you in your daily life, so you both came to the conclusion after dinner would be perfect, as both of you are free for the rest of the day then

He will often write a bit on his TSL scripts, just some notes and inspirations he comes up while talking to you

"How was your day my little lamb? You haven't overworked yourself right? Tell me if you ever need help!"

though Simeon would definitely have things to complain about with how Michael is working him to the bone, he'd rather not worry you so instead he tells you about how Luke is doing and evasively answers you questions about himself

"Oh me? Ah yes, I'm doing fine, just doing the usual archangel stuff you know...Ah please do not worry Mc, my dear! Nothing dangerous!"

over the time his TSL notes turn into random scribbles, rhymes and poems and every now and then something that looks suspiciously like your name

Sometimes Luke crashes the call and wants to speak with you as well so Simeon tries to put the phone on speaker only to end up ending the call and Luke getting frustrated with Simeon and doing it himself

then again Simeon also just accidentally hangs up on you mid conversation, because his fingers hit the button without him noticing, he'll get so confused when you cut off in the middle of your sentence and thinks something has happened to you, only to be relieved when you call back a few seconds later

Simeon is very interested in your day and how you doing, asking you many questions and encouraging you to keep talking

"Oh no please keep talking! You're not overwhelming me at all, in fact I like listening to your voice, it puts even the most melodic voice of an angel into the shadows...hahaha did I make you embarrassed? I apologize, I didn't mean to, I was only telling you my honest opinion!"

Simeon is quite the flatterer, but he often does not notice it, he simply tries to be nice, so a call with him leaves you flustered and stuttering ever now and then, but he is just as quick to blush at a honest and heartfelt compliment

Luke:

Luke might be an angel, but he is still low ranking and therefore has less assignments, besides studying to become a great angel and doing some minor tasks for Michael, he is relatively free

he often spends his free time in the kitchen constantly trying to improve his baking, now after the exchange year not only to impress Michael and Simeon but also Barbatos, maybe a bit Beel and definitely you!

but as Simeon is still working at these times, he gets somewhat lonely so he'll try calling you to keep him some company

Luke has this habit of speaking the recipes out loud to remember the steps better and be able to able to make them from memory, he got that tip from Barbatos, but he still has his moments where he gets stuck and forgets what to do next, you can notice that when he gets silent and concentrates on trying to remember

"Ah right that was it! I almost forgot about the eggs! Good thing you were here...or well on the phone hehe! You always remember this stuff, you're so amazing!"

when you tell him you simply looked it up in the internet for him, he'll get a bit sulky that he now basically cheated, but with your reassurance that he is already great and can remember so many other steps, he is quickly back to his happy little angel self

"Michael let me help with his conference today I was assistant record keeper today, one day I'll be able to do it alone, bit they're talking so much and so fast...I think I still need a couple centuries until I'm fully ready, but I'm working on improving! You should also try to improve your skills daily! Even a small bit of practice is good! Though I think you're perfect already!"

Luke most definitely learned his flattering from Simeon... he talks about many different things on the phone but repeating topic is Michael...just talking to you makes his day and later he'll tell everything Simeon and he smiles so brightly while he reports to him, please keep talking to him a lot!

[weenwrites]

TFP Soundwave, Knockout, Breakdown, Dreadwing, St3v3, Predaking, & Smokescreen Celebrating Your Birthday

Pairing - Platonic, Romantic ( Up to reader interpretation ) Category - Headcanons Trigger Warnings - None

Soundwave

Ever since he first met you, he knew what date your birthday was. As soon as the two of you became friends or grew closer, he began to secretly plan something special for your birthday.

First off, he ordered you a birthday cake, one that you’d like! A flavor that you enjoy. If you like classic vanilla, he’ll hack someone’s bank account to buy you a vanilla cake! Do you like chocolate or red velvet? He’ll do the same thing.

Next, if you’ve ever mentioned something that you wanted but weren’t able to buy, you best believe that you’ll be finding it on your doorstep during your birthday. Want some jewelry? A new computer maybe? Something else entirely? Name almost anything you’d want and boom, it’s all yours. He struggles the least with wrapping your presents! He’s pretty good at it, actually.

If you have to work on your birthday, he’ll pull a couple strings here and there and suddenly you have the entire day off! The entire day to go enjoy yourself!

ALSO! Depending on whether or not you prefer to celebrate your birthday with friends or just alone, throw a massive party or invite a few friends over, determines whether or not he’ll organize a party for you on the Nemesis.

If you prefer to celebrate your birthday at home with friends or relatives, he’ll find some way to get your friends and family over so you can have the best birthday of your life. If you prefer to celebrate your birthday at home alone, he’ll make sure that your day goes smoothly from afar. If you want to throw a party but don’t have anyone to celebrate it with, look no further than your con companions on the Nemesis! 

While he can’t sing you happy birthday because of his vow of silence, he’ll improvise by either playing you birthday music or orchestrating a couple troopers to sing you happy birthday.

Knockout

He’s done a whole lot of internet research on birthdays. It was pretty easy to get the gist of it and he almost knows exactly what to do!

Birthday cake? Presents? Completely covered! Somehow… Don’t ask him how. He totally didn’t steal it or anything. Definitely!

He struggles to wrap your presents, but he tries. I mean it doesn’t look the best first time around, but it’s semi-decent. He was THIS close to just giving up on wrapping it and packaging your gift in a box meant to look like it’s been carefully wrapped, though.

Depending on how you’d like to celebrate your birthday, he’ll try his best to make it come true! If you want to celebrate with friends or relatives that live far away or over-seas, I mean he could kidnap them and drop them off at your house for your birthday, or he could groundbridge you there and play it off as you got a plane ticket and flew or drove there when they inevitably ask how you got there. You choose!

If possible, he’ll take you out on a drive and treat you to restaurants, movies, etc.. With him around, it’ll be a fun birthday!

He’ll definitely sing you happy birthday! Loudly and proudly, even if he isn’t the best singer out there.

Breakdown

Yeah he doesn’t know squat about birthdays. He’ll do research and definitely ask Knockout for his advice when trying to do something nice for your birthday.

Like Knockout, he’ll steal a birthday cake and a couple presents for you as discreetly as possible. It isn’t exactly ideal to be caught while stealing something that you wanted from a store and probably later appear on social media under the headline “Giant Robot steals cake from local bakery.”

I have no idea how he’ll wrap your presents, honestly. He’d probably just put them in a box that was made to look like it was carefully wrapped and call it donezo, probably.

While everything might not be perfect first time around, he’s trying at least, so cut him some slack!

Of course he’ll sing you happy birthday, or maybe wish you happy birthday, depends on if either of you have free time.

Dreadwing

He does a bit of research, then again it depends on how close the two of you are. If you’re normal every day friends, he’ll wish you happy birthday and nothing more, if you’re good friends, he’ll put in an effort to give you a gift, if you’re partners, he’ll put in as much effort as he can.

Like all the other cons, he’ll have to steal you presents and a cake rather than buy you one. If you think baking’s an option, THINK AGAIN! No one on the Nemesis knows SQUAT about baking, except for St3v3, but that’s only because he watched baking videos.

He’ll put a lot of consideration and thought into your presents to make sure that it’d be something you’d like and appreciate. It goes to show how much he cares about you.

He won’t sing you happy birthday, but he will wish you happy birthday.

St3v3

He knows a whole lot about human birthdays. He practically knows the holiday as if he were an actual human! St3v3 knows what he’s doing.

Some of the other vehicons help him get stuff for your birthday, a cake, some presents, yeah. They get away with pretty easily, too. If any of the superior officers question where they’ve been, they’ll cover for one another and get away with it. Their teamwork is unrivaled by anyone else on the Nemesis!

St3v3 also figured out how to wrap your presents, he’s using a pair of tweezers.

When it comes time to sing you happy birthday, he and a couple vehicons will do a musical number to sing you happy birthday! And by Primus it sounds great, it’s as if they’re a professional choir.

If he can, he might take you out to go do whatever you’d like on your birthday!

Predaking

He tries to do as much research as he can, and when he sees that it’s just getting you a cake and some gifts, he thinks that it’s easy enough!

He steals you some gifts and a cake and soon enough a picture of him is all over the internet under the headline, “Giant Metal Dragon robs local stores, 10 injured, 2 dead.”

No idea how he’ll wrap your presents either, he’ll probably try at first and then get frustrated and rip the wrapping paper to shreds or just throw it away. He’ll most likely get a box that looks like it’s carefully wrapped as well.

He’ll do everything in his power to ensure that you have a good birthday! If anyone so much as tries to make you upset, they’ll be quickly dealt with.

Unfortunately he refuses to sing you happy birthday. He’ll wish you happy birthday and ask if there’s anything else he can do for you, though!

Smokescreen

Smokey did some research on birthdays and asked the kids about how birthdays are typically celebrated on Earth. He went along with all of their suggestions and asked them to buy you a cake and some gifts for him!

Of course it’s a bit harder for him to get you some gifts because he’s a giant robot and can’t exactly make any money or steal from stores or else he’ll get in trouble, but he’ll figure it out one way or another!

He’ll ask the trouble trio for help with wrapping your birthday gifts. Raf has the most experience and is the best at wrapping presents here, and Miko has more experience ripping wrapping paper off presents rather than wrapping presents. Jack is somewhere in the middle. If Smokey were to try and wrap your presents he’d choose bright and flashy wrapping paper and have quite the hard time. He’ll get it done. Eventually…

He will enthusiastically sing you Happy Birthday and hand you a card that he proudly made you himself with a little bit of help thanks to the trouble trio. Heck, he’ll even ask the rest of the team to sing you Happy Birthday with him if you come to the base that day!

After you make a wish and blow out your candles, he’ll definitely ask you what your wish was, but he’ll be reminded that if you tell anyone what your wish was, it won’t come true. He reaaaally wants to know, though…

If he can, he’ll definitely take you out for a spin on your birthday! But since it’s your special day, tell him where to go! Come on! His engine’s revved up and he’s ready to roll!

[amysteriousmessenger]

May I request some fluff RFA headcanons? 🥺🥺

I hope these are okay!! I added Saeran and V just for the sake of it!! <3 these will be a random mixture of with and without MC!

Random Fluffy RFA + Saeran and V Headcanons

Yoosung Kim Fluffy Headcanons

He asks you to marry him in LOLOL, since there’s an expansion pack where you can set up a little house for extra storage. He gets really nervous and a bit sweaty about asking you to do it, he takes it oddly seriously and Zen almost passed out when he thought that you were actually engaged.

He tries to make you coffee every morning, especially if he’s trying a new style out. He thinks it’s really fun and he loves to greet you with it for breakfast. After a while, you come to associate the faint smell of coffee with Yoosung. 

At the start he starts sneakily using little bits of your shower gel because they smell so much nicer than the one his gamer student budget allows him to buy. Eventually, he’ll just cave and buy a bottle of the one that you use because it means he gets to be reminded of you all day and it’s a lot better for his skin anyway.

If you play with his hair when his head is in your lap, he’ll absolutely fall asleep. Yoosung is a little bit like a puppy in that way, it just makes him feel so happy and loved.

Zen/Hyun Ryu Fluffy Headcanons

Zen’s a big person for morning kisses, especially sleepy ones. He’s an early riser and definitely feels extra needy in the morning. He’s also always the big spoon, he likes to feel as though he’s protecting you even when he’s asleep.

Whenever you’re crying and cover your face so he can’t see, Zen’s the kinda person who would gently pull your arms away so he can get a look at you and figure out what’s wrong. He’ll kiss at your eyes and cheeks until you either stop crying, or let him get close enough to pull you in so you can cry on his chest. 

He loves doing skincare on you. If he thinks you’ve had a hard week, he’ll do your moisturiser, clay mask, face mask, eye mask- you name it, Zen wants to pamper you with it. He knows the importance of skincare and he thinks it’s a great way to relax and pamper you. 

Zen’s ‘Happy Place’ that he thinks of when he gets stressed is the two of you, beers in hand, spending an evening in the kitchen trying to cook food. He can hear the laughter, smell the ever-so-slightly burning food, taste the traces of beer on your lower lip. It just makes him so happy to think about and he can feel the desperation in his limbs to sprint home at full speed and make the daydream real.

Jaehee Kang Fluffy Headcanons

Saturday mornings are Jaehee’s favourite out of the whole week. She’s just worked 5 hellish days and Saturday is the day where she gets to have a bit of a lie-in. Usually, Jumin doesn’t ask her to come into the office on weekends and it’s usually just a case of working from home. Jaehee tries not to oversleep too much because she doesn’t want to throw off her schedule but sometimes she can’t help but pass out for 10 hours straight and undisturbed. 

She really enjoys bubble baths with you. When you first start doing it together, she’s a little shy at being seen undressed so intimately, but she still really enjoys the time alone with you. It’s a great way to unwind and she likes being so close to you.

Jaehee isn’t much of a cuddler when she’s asleep, she tends to just sleep flat on her back out of exhaustion. However, if you wake up for any reason during the night, you’ll frequently find her hand holding yours, whether she did it consciously or not. 

She collects really nice and cute stationary. She doesn’t really take them to work because she doesn’t want to be seen as unprofessional, but once she runs the coffee shop, she gets to write in her little hot-drinks-themed stationary and decorates the little cups with tiny stickers for the frequent customers and especially for whenever Zen comes to visit.

Jumin Han Fluffy Headcanons

Sunday mornings are Jumin’s favourites. He usually wakes up really early by routine, but on Sundays he spends a little bit longer curled up in bed with you and Elizabeth the Third, watching you both sleep. Jumin’s also usually the big spoon if he’s sleeping on his side, but when he sleeps on his back he typically still has one arm around your waist so you’re pulled next to him with your head on his chest.

He personally donates to many different cat shelters all over the country. He takes the money straight out of his own bank account and gives generous monthly donations to make sure that there’s enough funding to both feed the cats already there, and take in extra cats of the streets along with getting them adopted. Jumin’s staff actually has a company policy that if they adopt a cat from one of the shelters that Jumin supports, the vet and adoption fees are covered by him, he counts it as philanthropy.

Jumin has a bottle of wine in his cellar from the date you met, the date you first kissed, the date you got engaged and the date you got married. He hasn’t quite decided when he’ll share those wines with you, he just knows at the moment that he wants to keep them for a very special occasion. 

When he’s bored at work but he can’t call you because you’re busy, he pictures taking you to one of his vineyards on the weekend. He’ll picture your smile, you adjusting your hat and lightly squinting against the sun, you smiling at him over your glass of wine. Then he’ll tell Jaehee to clear his schedule for the weekend.

Saeyoung Choi Fluffy Headcanons

Your arms around him, holding him against you, is pretty much the only thing that can bring Seven out of an anxiety attack. If you’re not physically with him, he crawls under the duvet on his bed in hopes of still smelling you. He’ll call you and look through selfies with you that he has on his phone until he calms down. 

Seven frequently tries to make you food. He’s never had to cook for anyone before and he doesn’t really cook for himself, so it’s a lot of trial, error and frustrated takeaways. You try to eat whatever he makes though because you can really tell that he’s put his heart into it and you want to show him that you appreciate the effort he’s making.

He loves you feeling his biceps and gushing over how strong he is. He’s not even particularly ripped but you can tell he has strength in his limbs and seeing you give him any kind of physical approval makes him m e l t instantly.

He’s both the big and little spoon, depending what mood he is in. Sometimes he wants to hold you close and never let go, but sometimes Seven needs a little bit of support too and want to feel like he’s needed by you.

His absolute favourite dates are the arcades, the cinema, bowling and carnivals. He has far too much fun on the bumpercars and he absolutely has it out for you, you spend most of the time trying to escape him.

GE Saeran Choi  Fluffy Headcanons

GE Saeran always makes very over the top hot chocolates for the both of you. He has an arsenal of whipped cream, syrups, chocolate shavings and sprinkles. His hot chocolate is better than any you could buy in a store. He’ll make one for you whenever you ask, and then sometimes just to surprise you if it looks like you’re having a bad day.

GE Saeran ends up getting two cavities in his first few years of living freely. He does look after his teeth, but he let his sweet-tooth go little bit wild with all the new foods he got to try, it was all so new and fun to him, he just wanted to try everything! He took much better care of his teeth after that, but the trip to the dentist was quite a weird one since he’d never been before. 

Slight Angst: Saeran always serves your food first and makes sure there’s always extra helpings if you want it. He usually puts a little bit more on your plate than what you would usually eat. He never quite gets over the guilt of taking your food away at Magenta, so he spends the rest of his time making sure you have more than enough to eat now.

He likes to constantly buy you little gifts that he sees when he’s out and about that remind him of you. A little notebook in your favourite colour? A little forget-me-not necklace? A candle that smells like your perfume? He’d added them all to his cart. 

After lip kisses, Saeran loves giving cheek and hand kisses to you. For him, he really loves getting head kisses and he thinks it’s extra cute when you plant a little kiss onto the tip of his nose.

V/Jihyun Kim Fluffy Headcanons 

V usually wakes up first, unless he was working late in his studio. He wakes you up with a kiss to the forehead, a cup of coffee and soft words. After he’s put your drink on the table, he’ll climb back into bed with you and cuddle until you’re properly awake.

He actually enjoys baking with you. Well, he likes to help you bake and then he gets to do the decorating. You usually bring a cake to any RFA hangouts and it’s always very obvious when V’s helped you bake because it feels like he goes out of his way to put a piece of gallery-worthy art onto a cake with food colourings and icings. He thinks it makes it tastes better, and you have to agree. 

In recent years, V’s been considering trying a more plant-based diet. He thinks he’d like to try vegetarianism, but he’s frequently spend periods of time as a pescatarian, especially after he’s come back from travelling. It also means that he gets to practice cooking more too.

[lovelykhaleesiii]

Newcomer: Chapter 2

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x fem!Reader

Words: 2.3k 

Summary: The Outer Banks was a place you’d only heard of until recently. The unfolding changes in your life had led you to this very moment, and it appears you still have much to learn... 

Warnings: swearing, (***) minor time jumps 

A/N - sorry for the delay, had a huge assignment due and work <3 I know this is a slow ass start to the series, but trust I’m trying to build momentum LMAO 

It had been just over a week, and seemingly still trying to settle in. Majority of your belongings, clothes and other sentiments have now been unpacked and neatly placed away in their new space, although you felt the hardest part wasn’t over just yet. Yourself, Caleb and Anya still struggled to find your way around town, mostly succumbing to the help of Topper, who despite initially being ever so welcoming, had grown slightly agitated from the coercion of having to always help. He’d be dragged out of whatever event or plans he had made, just to help out, especially during the grueling days of the unpacking stages of moving. Not to mention the not so discrete argument you’d overheard, just a few days ago, that he had with his mother, complaining about not being able to enjoy his own summer break. 

You couldn’t deny that your presence did somewhat impede on his break, therefore, the guilt was there. You knew you’d have to start taking on some accountability, with or without Topper’s help. 

“Y/N, can we just run to the store real quick, I need to grab a few things and you know how hopeless I am with directions…Please, come with, or else I’ll have to get Topper and we both know how much he loves-”

“Yeah, yeah-”

With a reluctant sigh, you tagged the page you’d just turned over in your book and propped yourself off the bed, adjusting your midi skirt before nodding in agreement. 

One of the most convenient things about the Outer Banks was that nearly everything was within walking distance. It gave you a chance to explore the scenic landscape and water front, and perhaps even chat with a few of the locals you hadn’t yet properly met. 

“So, how are things looking with that JJ guy? He seems pretty cute,” You intrigued, nudging your sister’s shoulder into conversation. 

“Yeah he’s great actually, he's a really funny guy. He, uhm, he wants to meet but-” 

“But what, Anya? That’s exciting! We sure could do with someone else’s company that isn’t Topper.” 

“Yeah, I know but, I, well we, don’t really know him that well. Who’s to say he isn’t some sociopath, Y/N.”

“I highly doubt anyone around here is a psychopath, Anya. Look around, this is a place people come around to relax or retire.”

“Don’t speak too soon, Y/N…”

For some odd reason, you hesitated in a response. Anya was right, you had no familiarity with the people of Outer Banks, although it just seemed like an outrageous place for crime. Ever since arriving, you felt some unexplainable ease here. 

“But I mean yeah sure. I’ll probably meet up with JJ some time… In public though, and you need to promise me that you’ll be on the lookout. Not like you’re busy with any plans at the moment, huh,” Anya remarks, as you appeasingly roll your eyes: God she could be so paranoid. 

“Yeah, yeah. I promise. Think we turn right up ahead-”

Continuing right on the pathway, you could just faintly decipher the movement of people bustling in and out of the stores, and with that a wave of relief settled over you. Seemed like you knew your way around after all, having doubts along each turn of the walk.  

“Make this quick, Anya, the sun’s starting to set, okay.”

“Whatever, Mum!” Anya quips, before rushing off into the convenience store, leaving your lonesome self outside waiting. 

You watched the crowd across the street at the diner, enjoying their dinner, as you observed the locals in action, contemplating who was who, as you heard Evelyn exchange many names with your father over endless dinner conversations. 

One name that stuck by you was “Cameron.” 

Evelyn mentioned it countless of times, although you’d simply assumed they were one of the many well-known families that had established themselves in town. There wasn’t much else you knew, or wanted to know. You hardly met anyone else outside of the house, nor were you in any rush to. 

“Hey!-”

Instantly snapping from your extensive thoughts, the familiar voice dragged you back to reality, as you turned your sight to its direction. 

“It’s Y/N, right? Anya’s sister! It’s me, JJ, the waiter-”

“Yeah, of course, I remember you-”

As formal and proper as your manners from childhood were, just as you’d gone in for a handshake, JJ wrapped his arms around you, pulling you in warmly for a friendly embrace, before letting you go. 

It had caught you off-guard, although not at all in a distasteful way. 

“How are you? How’s Anya?” He asked, folding his arms as he leant against the wooden post of the front deck. 

“Yeah we’re good! I’m sure Anya’s kept you posted, we’ve pretty much moved in now. How about you? I haven't seen you around.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty good! Oh that’s great to hear, that would mean you guys are free to come to the Boneyard tonight!” 

“The what?”

“The Boneyard? Where we have this party with a kegger, Topper didn’t tell you?” 

By the puzzled expression reeked across your face, JJ knew to take that as an immediate no, not questioning it any further. 

“Well if you’d like, I could meet with you guys later and escort you there myself. There’s a few friends of mine I’d like to introduce you guys to.” 

“Yeah, sure. That would be lovely, JJ-” 

And as perfect as the timing could get, Anya returned from her little store run, stunned by JJ’s unexpected presence. 

“Anya- I was just telling Y/N, I’d love to take you guys out tonight to the Boneyard, I was going to text you about it before, but something with my Dad-” 

“That’s fine, but we just don’t know where exactly the Boneyard is.”

“That’s okay, JJ’s got us covered,” You exclaimed, before exchanging a friendly wink to JJ who just managed to catch it.

***

“You texted JJ our address right?” You persisted, growing anxious by the thought that perhaps JJ might’ve forgotten about you two. 

“Yes, for the last time Y/N could you just relax. He should be here any minute now!” 

And just on cue, in the close distance, the roaring sound of an old engine with dull headlights belonging to one of those old, retro “hippie” vans had pulled up through your drive-way. JJ’s head popped out excitedly by the window, waving for you guys to join, and immediately you both walked over. 

It was difficult to convince your father of going out tonight, in fact, he’d been pestering you both to get out and mingle. As soon as you’d both approached him with the idea of heading out to some party, he leaped with relief, and encouraged you both to take up the offer. He was easy going like that, trusted you both knowing how well he’d raised you both. Of course, he covered some basic ground-rules: no drinking, no drugs, no smoking. 

By the time you’d both arrived to the van, you could just make out the silhouettes of some figures inside the van through the grimey windows. JJ was out of the van, as the courteous man that he was, pulling the side door right open. 

“John B-” Pointing to the boy on the driver’s seat, who gave you a friendly wave, made himself known. 

“Kie-” A lovely, young girl, exchanged a gracious smile and nod to both Anya and yourself, before JJ finally introduced “And this is Pope-”, a young, pleasant man sat beside Kie. 

“Guys this is Anya, and her older sister Y/N. They just moved here like a week ago.” 

“Nice to meet you all, thanks for letting us join you guys tonight-” You warmly proclaimed, before gesturing Anya into the van with you following her behind. 

As JJ was carefully closing the door behind you, John B mentioned how JJ spoke of you two, confessing you to be the “mystery newcomers” before kindly welcoming you to the Outer Banks. 

You felt Kie’s over gaze fall between yourself and Anya, and felt somewhat intimidated, although it there was no threatening intent to it, however more of a protective sentiment. 

“So you guys are Kooks, huh?” Kie blatantly questioned, before Pope nudged his elbow into her, as though to signal her to stop whatever interrogation she had planned. 

“Sorry, what?”- Anya questioned in response, frowning as she looked around the van, back to you.

“Kie, stop. They don’t know about any of that stuff. Just drop it, okay!” JJ insisted, as he ran his fingers through his blonde locks, almost in frustration. 

“We really have no idea what this whole Pogue-Kook business is, but perhaps you could enlighten us one day, Kie-” You suggested, as amiable as possible, not wanting to already cross the line with the few locals you’d just met. 

“I sure will, I just can’t believe you guys live with Topper. He’s such an-”

“Ass?-” Anya intervened, finishing off Kie’s sentence precisely the way she intended, making Kie smile in agreement. 

“Yeah, I don’t think he likes us very much,” Anya confessed, and as much as you hated “gossiping”, you couldn’t deny this one. 

“Well Kie, you’re on to talk… What about your Kook year?” John B laughingly mocked, as Kie infuriatingly shoved his shoulder. 

“S-So what exactly is the difference between a Pogue and a Kook?” You intriguingly questioned, shifting your gaze from Kie to Pope. 

“Well, to put it short, Pogues live on the Cut, which I assume Topper would rather die than enter. Whereas yourselves and our Kie here, live on Figure 8,” Pope answered.

“So it’s just a social class thing?” You quipped, being reminded again of how very unprogressive things were around the Outer Banks. 

“Exactly!-” Kie shouted, a hint of relief, as though finally finding someone who’d shared mutual understanding with her cause. 

“I mean there’s more to it-” JJ added.

“But it’s best if you guys don’t get as involved, your only just new here-” He calmly reassured.

“Just keep an eye out for the Kooks, they usually come to these sort of events anyways for the booze they can’t afford-” Kie ridiculed. 

“Yeah, especially Rafe-” Pope uttered, his tone reeking of bitterness to the name. 

“Wait-Who exactly is that? The name just sounds familiar-” You brush off, not wanting to vex Pope any further. 

“Good God, he’s the worst of the worst-” Pope scorned. 

“An asshole-” Kie provoked. 

“He’s the older brother of Sarah Cameron, I’m sure you’ve met her. She’s Topper’s girlfriend,” John B confessed.

“HA! Topper has a girlfriend, since when?!” Anya broke out mockingly laughing: as Kie and JJ chuckled to her comedic outburst. 

“He must be that bad, huh?” You uttered, as the rest began to settle themselves. 

“He’s a terrible person, Y/N. If I was you guys, I’d avoid him at all costs,-” Pope insisted, although by the seriousness of his voice, it seemed more of a warning than anything. 

***

The Boneyard was a secluded location of the island, where the ashy white trunks of dead logs were arranged in a way to accompany large crowds, and rowdy parties far from the complaints of the adults. As you’d all arrived, kegs ready at the hand, the party had already commenced, as people from which John B described had consisted of Pogues, Kook and tourists. Regardless, all strangers to you. 

As you finally eased yourself into that party mood, you found yourself enjoying the company of the Pogues, they were quite the friendly bunch. And it seemed ANya was letting loose as well, no thanks to her new-found companions: it always seemed like an impossible mission for Anya to enjoy herself, although witnessing her from the standpoint of a bystander, you felt comforted. 

“I’m just going to go grab myself a drink-” You assured John B, as he nodded in agreement. 

As you crammed yourself through the crowd, you felt a tight grip pulling on your elbow, making you topple in the direction of whomever it was that grabbed you. 

“Topper, what the fuck?”

“How the hell did you get here, let alone find out about this?” He exclaimed, by the faint smell of the beer oozing with each breath, you could tell he was slowly becoming intoxicated.

“No thanks to you-” You snapped, before jolting your arm out of his strained grip. 

“Seriously, Y/N. Does your Dad even know you’re here?”

Before you could even respond, some sort of internal sixth sense, felt an intense pair of eyes on you. As you shifted your gaze, to a bunch of people standing behind Topper, you’d immediately recognised his face. 

For some odd reason you felt a shiver crawl down your spine, as though in fright of seeing some ghostly figure. His intense, blue eyes just fixated on you and only you, as he took sips of his drink, with one hand snugged away in a front pocket. It seemed he was in conversation with a bunch of other guys, all dressed quite similarly to one another in their polo shirts and summer shorts, and yet he was not at all engaged... Only to you.  

“Earth to Y/N!” Topper loudly interjected, stirring you to snap back, as you fixed your view on him. 

“Y-Yes, yes he does. Now could you just let me be?” 

And before you knew it, you instinctively stormed off, before Topper had the chance to drunkenly question you any longer. As you disappeared into the crowd, heading for the kegger, your mind persisted in contemplation. 

That was Rafe, surely. You vividly remembered the whole, minor incident during your first encounter with him. 

After what the Pogues had confessed about him, and by his looming nature, you’d never felt so unnerved by someone, you’d in fact, never even met.

But why?

TAGLIST - @juliep7654 @foggybanditgardenprune​

[citrineghost]

Avoiding Scams on Freelancing Sites

Hi there! I almost just got scammed today, and I’m going to take the LITTANY of red flags from this interaction and use it to teach you all about how to avoid scams.

I am not making very much money right now. I just lost one of the accounts I was writing for, so I am not not even making enough to pay my rent. So I am desperately looking for work. And, like many people desperately looking for work, my panicking subconscious is willing to see a red flag and brush it under the rug because

“I’m probably being paranoid.”

So, to all of my lovely artists, writers, editors, and other types of freelancers who are desperately looking for work, I would like to create a comprehensive list of things that you should NOT FUCKING IGNORE while looking for a job. Actually, the list will be formatted as things you should expect from your employer/interviewer and if these things are missing, get the fuck out of there.

1. Reputable Platforms

The first thing you should be expecting is to use reputable platforms. If you’re being asked for a virtual interview, you should expect your interviewer to invite you via Skype, Discord, (Maybe slack if they’re middle-aged), perhaps Whatsapp, or whatever website you’re using to find your job.

DO NOT go for interviews on Telegram. This app has been reported as very commonly being associated with scams. This is where my recent experience took place.

2. Willingness to Verify Legitimacy

The first thing you should do when being in contact with an interviewer or HR is ask them to verify their identity. 

This may not be necessary if doing a video call with someone pictured on an official company website, receiving emails or texts from addresses/numbers that are listed on an official company website, or if the job you’re being interviewed for was applied to directly on the company website. In these cases, you are not likely to be scammed, as you’re working with verifiably information.

If you meet someone on Indeed, Fiverr, Upwork, or any other freelancing/job site, keep your contact within the website’s chat system, email system, or whatever. This is how you remain protected under the hiring site’s TOS/Legal whatever. If you get scammed because you took your hiring process elsewhere, they will not help you.

That being said, if you DO take your interview off the site, it should be somewhere reputable and you should ask for your interviewer to verify their identity before doing literally anything else. The best way to get them to verify their identity is to ask them to email or text you from an address or phone number listed clearly on the official company website, by asking them to show you their state ID and checking it for photoshop influence, or by asking to do a video call for the interview and seeing for yourself that you’re being interviewed by someone who is pictured on the official company website as an employee.

3. Clear and Professional Procedures

Any professional working as an interviewer or human resources personnel will have a skillset related to communication and organization. When being interviewed you should expect a number of questions about your skills and how you’re valuable to the company, etc. However, this is easy to fake, as a scammer. What you need to look out for is that they show a clear amount of structure.

If you’re asked for an interview, no real company will demand you be quick about responding. If they’re interested in an interview, a legitimate company is not likely to ask you to do the interview immediately. They will ask you to schedule an interview time with them. They may ask if you have availabilities that day, but they will not just start interviewing you immediately.

After the interview, any professional company will tell you that they will get back to you when they’ve made a decision about your interview. No professional company will tell you to wait for an indefinite amount of time while they talk to HR peers. If a company Does want you to wait, because they intend to make a quick decision, they will give you an expected wait time, as that is the courteous and professional thing to do. They will not expect you to be on-call for this period of time. A time projection is simply to give you an idea of what to expect. For example, “I’ll be in touch within the next 1-3 hours about the results of your interview. Thank you for your time.”

Furthermore, if you are accepted for a job, any professional company will make a clear outline of exactly how they plan to introduce you into company life. They will respect your time and ask you to schedule things with them. For example, “Is there a period of 2-3 hours within the next few days where you would be available for an orientation?” 

No professional company will demand you do anything at any particular time. That is not how legitimate professionals treat new employees. You will be asked to schedule things with them. Even when you’re assigned work hours, if the exact hours you’re applying for are not listed in the job description you applied for, they will ask you to fill out some kind of time sheet to outline your availabilities, then schedule you for times within that outline.

4. Doesn’t Show Signs of Money Scamming

There are two major red flags when it comes to money scams. Your interviewer should never ask you what bank you use and your interviewer should never ever tell you they’re going to send you a check, unless they send your paycheck as a check.

One of the more common scams at the moment is run by people pretending to be members of legitimate companies, hiring freelancers for things like proofreading and editing. These remote positions may require home office hardware, right? The interviewer will tell you you’re missing some hardware and software that are required for the job. Then they’ll tell you that they will send a check that you can cash and use to buy the required materials.

This is even sketchier if they email you front and back images of the check and tell you to print it and then deposit it through mobile banking. The way this works is that, if you cash the check successfully, you will then buy the list of software, which is usually completely unrelated to the job you’re being hired for, then they will cancel the check, which hasn’t cleared completely. That leaves you with ~$2k dollars less in your bank and their money right back where it started in theirs. Presumably, the scammers are the ones selling the software. So, that $2k dollars you just spent is also going into their bank account.

Professional companies will never offer to send you checks to buy products. If they have official hardware or software that they want you to use, they will buy it themselves and then send it to you. There is never a reason why a new hire should buy hardware or software out of their own bank, whether they have been given money for it or not.

Furthermore, a legitimate company will never ever pay you before you have signed and sent your contract to them. One of the obvious giveaways of the scam I was almost caught in was that I was sent the contract last night and I asked if I could send it in today, since it was getting late. The interviewer agreed. I signed it in the morning and then asked him if I should send it in a reply to the email I got the original contract from or if there’s another email I need to send it to. He completely ignored my question, asked me how I was doing, and then went into the check-related information so I could buy software.

The issue was bothering me ALL DAY. I knew there was something extremely weird about that, so I asked again a few hours later. His response? “You have nothing to worry about.” ?????? I was aghast. I wasn’t worried at all! I just wanted an answer! If he had simply told me to respond to the email I’d gotten the contract from, I might have fallen for his scam! What a terrible scammer smdh

A Non-Exhaustive List of Other Red Flags

Your interviewer shows a poor grasp on the language

If your interviewer is making frequent grammatical errors that are glaringly obvious to any native speaker, that is a huge red flag. HR reps and interviewers are hired because of their communication skills. It is highly unlikely that someone who makes non-native-like errors is legitimate unless they are actually openly non-native, in which case, it’s not so alarming.

Your interviewer is showing impatience or demanding you at certain times

If your interviewer is telling you to “report back by 8am tomorrow” without any kind of prior agreement that this is an acceptable time for you to meet, that is extremely unprofessional and shows a lack of patience. Scammers want to get to the meat of their scam quickly and will use an air of professional superiority and authority to scare you into moving faster than necessary.

Your interviewer shows a lack of opening and closing statements

Along the lines of the clear processes that I mentioned above anybody who is initiating you in the job you’re taking should show clear opening and closing statements. What I mean by this is: professionals in human resources or management positions will not keep you as a social hostage. If you’ve been discussing how you’ll begin training or somesuch, they will not just leave you hanging. You should have a dedicated time slot where you will have your discussion and, at the end of it, your supervisor should make a closing statement. For example, “It looks like our time is running out for today. What would be a good time to pick this up tomorrow?”

If you feel like you are “on-call” and unable to leave the room because the interviewer or supervisor keeps messaging, has not outlined a time slot for you to talk in, won’t seem to let you go, or shows no indication of stopping, that is a really bad sign. Either the company is legitimate and TERRIBLE at professionalism (a great sign you should run anyway), or this is a scammer intent on getting you to follow their instructions as soon as they can.

Your interviewer ignores time zones or gets them wrong

When I was contacted about doing an interview yesterday, it was 4:30pm. I did the interview and was told I got the job. Immediately after, without asking if I was free, he began listing off instructions and things I was to expect. It wasn’t until 7:30pm that he sent me the contract and asked me to review it, sign it, and send it back that I finally asked if I could do that tomorrow. The interviewer was supposedly on the west coast and knew that I was on the east coast. He agreed by saying “Alright” and then told me to report to him “by 8am your time.”

There are 3 things about this that are weird. The first is that he demanded I show up at 8am to continue where we left off. Any professional would have asked when I’m available the next day to continue. the second is that he said “your time” instead of saying EST, as most professionals in the US would be apt to do. And, lastly, I showed up at 7:50am, ready to continue, because I’m that desperate that I’m willing to be pushed around, and he showed up at 9am on the dot. He had gotten the time wrong. Nobody who works professionally on the west coast is incapable of adding 3 hours to their time. It was a rookie mistake, or a mistake made by someone in a completely different time zone than they say they are.

When asked to verify their identity, your interviewer attempts to reassure you or refuses

When I finally was fed up and knew this must be a scam, I politely asked my interviewer to verify his identity by either showing me his US ID or by contacting me from his email or phone number listed on the official company website. He sent me a photoshopped nametag with a completely different person’s name and photo on it and said it was the company ID of the HR director. 

I have never seen a facade fall so pathetically. Why would literally any even remotely legitimate person do such a thing? It was sad, really. He deleted the message in less than a minute - no doubt to keep me from looking at it long enough to see how badly it was photoshopped - and then aggressively reassured me that the company meant me no harm and would pay for everything, etc. Any real professional would have simply sent me an email from the legitimate address, stating that they’re legitimate, and then continued on with the initiation process.

Learn from My Mistakes

I hope some of this was helpful for all of you lovely freelancers trying to find work. I thought I would know a scam when I saw one, and I did have a Bad Feeling about this whole thing, because it did feel too good to be true, but I was desperate enough that my judgement was heavily clouded, and that could happen to anyone.

Don’t ignore red flags - especially these ones. Stick up for yourself. Avoid confirmation bias. I looked things up repeatedly to confirm that the company was legitimate and that it’s normal to do things like mobile deposit a printed check and so on. Every time, I found an explanation that suited me. I even tried to cash the check. The only reason it didn’t work was because there was an error with the name on the check because I recently legally changed my name and PayPal was having some kind of issue updating in some areas of its website. It was after that that I realized this was all crashing down and I needed to reassess it all. Don’t let yourself get that deep into it.

[songbirdstyles]

bang a gong.

summary: you’re tired of being a virgin, and when you meet harry at a bar, he’s more than happy to help you out.

warnings: literally all porn, very little plot. fingering, m+f receiving oral, dom!harry

word count: 11.1k

listen to while reading: bang a gong (get it on) by t. rex

You should say - for the record, or perhaps to maintain your dignity - that this is never the type of place you’d generally be caught in.

If you hadn’t been dragged from your faux pretense of nonchalance after you got dumped, you never would have come. It wasn’t like it was a serious relationship - barely two months - but it was your first since graduating college and perhaps you thought, maybe, you were in with this guy for the long haul, but he didn’t agree. You suppose it was a silly thought (your friends had told you not to expect too much from a former frat boy, anyway.) And it did prove to be, anyway, dissipating the second you woke up to a text saying he didn’t reckon things were working out, and could he please have his hoodie back?

Whatever. You hadn’t been too sad but your friends insisted you needed to let go of him and that is exactly why you’re here, pressed into a booth at a high end nightclub you can’t afford, your friends and the randoms they’d pulled from the dance floor packed so tight that you can feel your thighs sticking to the leather seats and to each other. You hadn’t intended on drinking anything because the prices of the drinks would absolutely kill your bank account, but that, according to your friends, is exactly why you’re here - meet rich guys who frequent here, to have drinks bought for you with false promises of a night of fun, before leaving them high and dry while you are thoroughly drunk.

A good concept, in theory, and it was enough to tug you off of the couch and dig through your closet to find a suitable dress to wear. Perhaps you’d support it more, though, if you had any experience in seducing guys at all - the entire night, you’d merely been grabbing the extra shots your friends had gotten from the guys they’d located.

“Aren’t you having fun?” your friend asks, and you turn to look at her from where she sits next to you. The music is thumping some song you can’t recognize and it rings in your ears as you raise your eyebrows at her. Speak louder, your eyebrows say, and Natalie leans closer so her lips are nearly brushing your ear. “I said, are you having fun?”

Are you? Well, you’re not sure. Even if you’d done nothing to earn the two shots you’d downed, they did taste better than the cheap bars you and your friends frequented on weekends. And it was entertaining, watching guys nearly twice your age seriously believe they’d end up between the sheets with your friends later. So you shrug, bringing your hand to fan at your neck, trying desperately to alleviate the heat burning at your skin. “It’s alright.”

It’s good enough for Natalie and she turns back to Valerie, whose legs are swung over the lap of some 50 year old who had got you all your second round of shots. His hand is pressed to her waist, fingertips digging into her skin through her dress, and it makes your stomach churn to see, so you drop your eyes to the table, where you’ve been picking at your screen protector for the past 15 minutes.

It’s times like this you wish you were a lightweight but you barely feel tipsy, and you’d like nothing more than to rip away your inhibitions and go out and dance against some guy who you’ll never see again, but you find it too awkward to do while practically sober. You bring your eyes up to scan at the dance floor - God, there’s so many girls with the same ideas you had, presumably. The demographic of this club is rich old men and broke, early-20s girls and you don’t know how much you really like to be one of them.

Though you can’t deny that the drinks are good.

“Stop thinking so much!” you glance back at Natalie with your brows furrowed. You hate the way she can practically feel what you’re thinking because you’d have been more than happy to tug at your screen protector until it peeled off of your entirely-too-vulnerable phone but she’d never allow it. Never let you sit here, in this booth, while everyone else is having a good time. Sometimes you appreciate it and sometimes you don’t and you aren’t quite sure of how you’re feeling about it now. “You know what I think?”

You can’t fucking hear her and you lean your head in more, awating her response as your narrowed eyes look around the crowd on the dance floor again. No one catches your eye but nobody catches your eye here, either, and you reckon you’d have better luck roaming the streets of LA to find someone worth your time.

“I think you should go get laid,” Natalie tells you, and you exhale, a humorless smile turning your lips up. “I’m serious! There has to be some hot, rich guy here. What, did that guy fuck you so good you never want anyone else again?”

The thought of being pinned under any guy that your eyes are glazing over could make you gag, but you reckon she may be right. Unbeknownst to your friends, you’d never fucked anyone and you hadn’t necessarily felt the need - you’d done just about everything else under the sun, and not a single guy you’d given a blowie to, or who’d fingered you, had ever been able to find the spot that made you squirm more than anything. So you’d never quite understood why having someone’s dick inside of you was such a big deal but you can’t deny, now, that getting it out of the way does sound quite nice, solely to boost your self esteem after getting dumped by a graduated frat boy named Logan.

There wasn’t much of a bigger blow to your ego than that.

You tug your gloss-coated bottom lip in between your teeth, dropping your eyes back down to Natalie’s, and she widens her eyes at you in a way that further encourages you to get the whole virginity thing out of the way. It’s not like it matters, anyway. “Maybe,” you tell her, entirely too quiet compared to the music pulsing through the club, and she smiles, leaning back in the booth. You’re not sure if she heard you because you can’t hear whatever she says next, but it doesn’t matter - you’re already pushing your way out of the booth, calling excuse me to where Alexa is leaning close to the man she’d found (and he’s, by far, the most attractive of any of the three guys your friends had located, but Alexa has always been the best at finding the hottest guys, and you’re nearly positive she actually will end up fucking him tonight.) She leans forward so you can climb behind her, awkwardly in your heels, and you tug at one of her curls as you clamber out of the booth.

Working your way through a crowd of people to the bar is a skill you’ve all but mastered and at a club like this, it’s a lot easier than you’d expected. There’s less people dancing than you’d thought though you shouldn’t be shocked - it certainly isn’t like the usual clubs you go to. And so, you push your way through the people dancing to the bar, and there’s a few people spread out on the barstools. You scan the back of them - you can’t see any of their faces, naturally, so you merely judge from their hair, and you take a few steps forward and settle yourself onto a stool besides a man with messy brown curls, a pint of beer in front of him.

When you peek at his side profile he certainly looks younger than you’d expected - hardly older than you, if at all. And that’s a score for you, you figure. You’d much prefer to lose your virginity to someone who doesn’t seem like they could be your dad. But he is wearing sunglasses and that’s a bit weird - certainly not a dealbreaker but odd enough to make you wonder.

You aren’t sure what to say - should’ve listened closer when Natalie, Valerie or Alexa were seducing their men for drinks - and for a moment you sit in silence. 

It’s only when you turn your head to take another look at him, at the sunglasses sitting at the very top of his nose, that the silence between you two is broken, and his head tilts ever so slightly towards you. “What’re you looking at?”

God, his voice. You’d always had a thing for British accents and his is better than most, deep and raspy and slow, and you shift on your stool. And it sounds just a bit familiar but you can’t exactly pinpoint where - well, it doesn’t matter. If things go further between you two, tonight, you surmise he’d forever be the sexiest voice you’d slept with.

But you can’t get your hopes up. After all, the sunglasses in a dimly lit, fancy club is enough to make you just a bit suspicious of what type of person he is, and you refuse to hand over your V-card to a weirdo.

“Just wondering what your glasses are for.” Figure it’s best to figure that out before you let this get any further. You don’t want to waste your time. And you pointedly glance up at the ceiling, eyes darting around the walls of the club. “S’not like there’s much light here to protect your eyes from, is there?”

He chuckles, then, and you raise your eyebrows. “Guess I just don’t want people to see me,” he tells you, and when he turns to face you fully your eyes scan over his face and - God, he really does look familiar. And he sounds familiar. Have you met him before? No, you don’t think you could ever forget someone like him.

But - well, maybe. You weren’t necessarily known for having the keenest of memories.

You smile at him, brows creasing together. He certainly does seem to be a mystery and you’d love to uncover it in more ways than one. So you lean forward, resting your arm on the bartop. “Seems like the wrong kind of place, if you don’t want people to see you.”

“I reckon it’s working - you’re the first person to talk to me all night.” A hand - a large hand, you note - goes up to his hair, fingers brushing through his curls, and your eyes follow its path in a way that certainly isn’t anywhere close to subtle. “Not that I’m complaining, of course.”

Is he flirting with you? You’re not quite sure but God, you hope so, because so far he keeps getting better and better to you. So you turn to completely face him and you can see the small smirk on his lips, as if he knows what he’s doing to you without even having to try. “Are you going to tell me your name?”

You can see his eyebrows raise as he picks up his beer and takes a sip. Your eyes can’t help but follow every movement he makes and you don’t care if you look desperate - truthfully, you are. You hadn’t even seen his face in its entirety but you suspect your friends would be impressed if they could see the sort of guy you’d located. Even if you leave this club and never see him again, you’re not sure you could ever forget the way he’s making your stomach flip just with a small quirk of his lips.

When he’s set his drink down again and brought his wrist up to wipe at the beer still lingering on his lips - is that a Gucci watch? - he tilts his head at you, curls flopping, and then says, “Tell me yours first,” so you do. And he nods slowly before telling you, “My name is Harry.”

Harry. 

Your mind is whirring because suddenly the pieces are coming together - and you hadn’t been in your One Direction phase for a few years but you certainly know who Harry is. And the fact that you’re just sitting here, right now, talking to him in a club filled with too many other girls to count, seems like an accomplishment in itself. But you don’t want him to know you know, though surely he must assume you do, so you nod in the same fashion he did, as if you’re content with what he’d told you.

“Harry,” you repeat, as if testing the name out on your tongue. He spins his stool slightly so he’s facing you and your knees knock into his slightly. And then you raise your eyebrows at him, reaching down to tug your dress down slightly where it’s been riding up on your thighs, and you don’t miss the way his eyes follow your movements. “Are you going to let me see your eyes, Harry?”

Harry laughs slightly and then stands, and you look up at him, confusion blazing in your eyes. Is he leaving? God, you hope not. You don’t want your experience with him to be over before it's begun, no matter what it ends up being. But then he motions, with one finger, for you to follow him and you’re standing so fast your head is spinning, and you trail after him as he leads you through the crowd of people, and you crane your neck to try and see where your friends are but you can’t see them anywhere.

It’s fine by you, you decide, as Harry stops in front of a small, darkened booth towards the back of the club. You’re surprised but positively overjoyed that it’s empty - seems like the perfect type of table for anyone looking to get lucky. And, Christ, you are.

You slide into the booth and Harry slides in right next to you, leaving hardly a few inches between you two as he rests his arm against the back of the booth oso he can face you, and, beneath the table, your ankle links with his. You give him a moment to see if he’ll pull his foot loose from yours, but he never does, and it makes your heart race.

“Gonna take off your glasses for me, Harry?” you tilt your head forward - where you’d moved to is closer to the source of the music and it’s harder to hear, all of a sudden, but you can’t bring yourself to pretend that’s why your face gets so close to his. His breath smells like beer and mints, and you can see the smirk spreading further across his face. “I’ve been dying to see your eyes. Bet they’re pretty.” And you’re not quite sure where this confidence is coming from, because you’ve hardly tried to seduce anyone like this, but you’ll lay it on thick for him.

He’s different.

He chuckles and you can feel his breath, hot against your face. It sends a shiver down your spine and you hope the instinct was imperceptible. “Take them off for me, then,” and you do, reaching up to pull the glasses off his nose, and you can tell - just by the feeling of them in your hands - that they’re more expensive than anything you’d ever held in your life. 

As if everything before this wasn’t proof enough that you truly were talking to Harry Styles, sliding the glasses down his nose and meeting his eyes really validates it. You can’t help the way your lips part as you reach down to rest his sunglasses on the sticky table and you hope you don’t look as amazed as you’re feeling.

God, you have to be dreaming. The guy you cherry pick from the randoms sitting at a bar is - him. And you’re sitting with him, his fingers dancing across your shoulder blade where his arm is thrown lazily over the back of the booth, your ankles intertwined.

16-year-old you never could’ve believed it, but 22-year old you is having the time of her life.

“You look a bit shocked,” Harry murmurs, barely heard over the pounding music, but you hear it as clearly as if he’d yelled it in your ear.

You shift your mouth closer to his ear, so close that you know your lips graze his skin when you tell him, “Prettier than I’d expected, s’all.” It’s then - with a start - that you feel his other hand drop to your knee, pressing circles into your soft skin. You could nearly moan at the feeling and you know, suddenly, that this’ll definitely go where you want it to, assuming you don’t fuck it up.

And you won’t. Won’t let this opportunity go to waste.

“Ah.” When he tilts his head ever so slightly your lips are hardly a centimeter apart and with one shift forward you could close the gap, press your mouth to his, slip your tongue into his mouth. Force this into exactly the direction you need it to go, feel his hands drop to your hips, pulling you into his lap, cock hard against your core where your dress is riding up your hips.

As soon as you start to lean in, to make every fantasy you’ve had a reality, you feel two fingers, harsh against your shoulder, and they don’t belong to Harry.

You glance up, eyes narrowing at whoever had disrupted you, and standing in front of your booth is Alexa, wearing a small smile reeking of both excitement and guilt. And you can’t bring yourself to be mad at her for interrupting you, even though you want to, as she drops your phone onto the table.

“Sorry for interrupting,” she calls above the music, and you roll your eyes, leaning over Harry’s shoulder to move your head closer to his. In your ear you can hear him groan softly as your chest presses against his, and you can feel his arm that had been over the top of the booth drop to wrap around your waist - exactly where you’d wanted to feel it. “We’re gonna head out. Are you going to come?” The question is innocent but you can tell she already knows the answer as her eyes drop down to Harry’s arm, secure around your waist, fingers rubbing patterns into your hip through your tight, black dress.

“No,” you tell her, and Harry squeezes your hips in approval. “No, I’m gonna stay.”

“Are you sure?”

It’s then that Harry turns his head to look at her, effectively pressing your bodies closer than you’d thought they could go, and you can see the exact moment Alexa recognizes him - the way her eyes widen and her lips part into a smile. You’re not sure if she’s simply shocked that she’s seeing Harry in person or if she’s surprised you’re wrapped around him, but either way, she looks absolutely shell-shocked. “Promise I’ll take good care of her,” Harry tells your friend, and the double entendre makes you shift slightly, thighs rubbing against each other. 

He better take good care of you.

You bring your hand up to wave to Alexa and you can’t hear the response she squeaks out before she’s gone, and you don’t look to see her go back to your friends. You merely lean back, just a bit, pressing your hands to Harry’s shoulder to look at him.

“Gonna take good care of me, then?” you raise your eyebrows and you can see Harry’s pupils dilating as he stares at you, and you shift closer to him, practically in his lip. The music changes, then, and you hadn’t been paying attention to it before but now, Bang a Gong seems quite fitting for the moment. “Hope you follow through on that.”

It’s then that he leans forward, eliminating the distance between your faces as his lips press to yours. And you hardly have a moment to even comprehend it as his hand rises to the small of your back, pulling you closer to him, and you moan into his mouth just about immediately. Harry’s tongue slips into your mouth and one of your hands drags up to the back of his neck, nails tracing along his sweaty skin. You’re not sure you’ve ever truly appreciated being kissed until right now, feeling his lips slotted against yours, the way his hand is pushing further up your thigh until his fingertips are creeping up the cheap material of your black dress.

You only pull away when you need to catch your breath, and Harry’s arm keeps you so close to him that the thought of regaining your composure seems too far away to consider. You’re not sure you’ll ever recover from that and you know there’s so fucking much more to come and you truly have scored, even if you only end up with kiss swollen lips to show for it.

But you reckon he has a thing for hickeys. It’s just a vibe you get from some guys, and as soon as the thought settles into your brain Harry proves it - mouth moving down to just below your jaw, and you drop your head back with a whine as you feel him beginning to suck a dark mark into your skin. His hand on your hip clutches your dress between his fingers, pulling the material tighter to your body than you’d even thought it could go, and it’s all the leverage he needs to pull you as close to him as you can go without being on top of him.

Which - you aren’t opposed to, but you’d always pictured your first time being below an incredibly handsome man.

(Though, you hadn’t ever pictured your first time being with your teenage crush, so you shouldn’t start relying on your fantasies now, you guess.)

When you shift your leg so it’s hooked across his, he pauses, pulling back to glance at the mark he’d left on your skin. In the dim light in the back of the club you’re not sure how well he’d be able to see it, but he grins as he examines it. Your fingers tangle in the curls at the nape of his neck and you can feel him shiver beneath you and it makes your clit throb. “I think,” he tells you, leaning in so his mouth is right at the bottom of your ear, and you fight back a whimper at how deep his voice had gotten - dropped nearly an octave since the last time he spoke. “I think we should take this somewhere else.”

Harry squeezes your bare thigh, then, fingers just a few inches from the hem of your panties. You’d let him pin you to the booth, fuck you hard where anyone could walk by and see but - of course - that isn’t feasible. And as much as you truly do not care about losing your virginity, you don’t think you want it to be here, so you nod your approval. In an instant he’s out of the booth, fingers wrapped around your wrist and tugging you out after him. You grab his sunglasses and your phone, resting on the sticky table. You stumble as soon as you stand up and you’re not sure why - you think you’re just a bit overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the past 20 minutes, and the fact that Harry fucking Styles is almost certainly taking you to bed.

“Hang on,” you tell him, and when he turns to look back at you with an eyebrow raised, you reach forward to perch his glasses on top of his nose, preserving the anonymity you knew he wanted. He smiles slightly as he reaches up to push them further up his nose, and then he wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him as you begin to walk towards the door.

Your friends are gone, you note, as you pass the booth you’d occupied earlier. Your phone, firm in your hand, has been buzzing incessantly since Alexa dropped it off but you haven’t bothered to check what the notifications are - your friends, surely wondering what you were doing, where you were going, when you would be home. And you didn’t know, truly, but you hoped it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

Harry pulls you through the doors of the club into the moist, nighttime air, and immediately you’re shivering - it’s chilly, just a bit. Not too bad, but you can tell it’s just rained by the way your foot sinks into a puddle of water, soaking through your cheap black heels.

You pay it no mind - just keep walking in pace with him, wondering, briefly, if there’ll be a time when you wake up from this. Perhaps right as he slides inside of you, filling you up so good, you’ll squeeze your eyes shut and moan and when you open them you’ll be in your bed, staring up at the ceiling and wishing you didn’t have such a rampant imagination.

There’s no way this can truly be real but at the same time it is - the way his fingers tap against your hip feels so real. The way he leans in, pressing a kiss to your temple as he turns you both down the street, it feels like it can’t possibly be a dream.

“What are you thinking about?” his voice sends vibrations rolling through your body and now that you’re free of music blaring through your head, muffling every word the pair of you spoke, you can appreciate it more - the rasp in his tone, how deep and slow he speaks. You could nearly moan at that but you hold back, biting on your tongue to prevent any loose noises from slipping out.

You lean up so your mouth is close to his ear like you had in the club, even though there’s no music surrounding you to make it necessary - you like the way he tightens his grip on your hip when you breathe against his ear. “Just wondering where you’re taking me.”

That wasn’t, in fact, what you were thinking about, but you didn’t think you could muster up the courage right now to tell him how bad you want him inside of you.

Harry points down the street and you squint to what he’s motioning to - “Have a driver waiting for me. Gonna take us to my hotel room, not too far from here.”

“And then what?”

He raises his eyebrow as he glances down at you, and you can see the amusement twinkling in his eyes even on such a dimly lit street. “And then -” he turns into a parking lot, just behind the club you’d been in, and you can hear the distant thumping music from inside - “I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

Christ. You nearly whimper just at the implication and your mind speeds off, leaving your body behind, imagining every single thing he could do to you - or you could do to him - or anything. You can picture a thousand different scenarios and every single one ends with you in his hotel bed, your V-card firmly in his pocket.

It’s then that Harry stops in front of a sleek, black car - raps two knuckles on the tinted window of the driver’s seat and it rolls down almost immediately, as though it had been waiting for his signal. You can’t hear what he murmurs to the driver as he ducks his head inside the window and you don’t strain your mind to try and listen - within a few seconds he’s stepping back, opening the door to the backseat and ushering you inside.

You’d never been in a nicer car before but you shouldn’t be shocked - the outfit he’s wearing tonight could pay your rent for the next four months. There’s a partition between the backseat and the front and you’re beyond thankful as Harry slides in beside you, slamming the door shut, and he doesn’t give you a moment to process anything before his lips are on yours.

You wouldn’t dream of complaining as your arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to you, and he’s groaning into your mouth as his hand drifts downwards to cup your ass through your dress but it’s not enough for him and you can tell. Fingers push up the bottom of the cheap material so he can slip his hand beneath it, hand cold against the back of your thigh and he slides his hand further up until he’s groping your arse once more.

“Fuck,” you breathe, and you can feel Harry smirking against your lips - a smug bastard, he is, but you find you don’t truly care. You pull your mouth from his, feeling his teeth tugging at your bottom lip, but you’re hardly disconnected a moment before you throw your leg over his thighs, straddling him, and he moans like music to your ears. 

He uses his grip on your ass to force your hips to rock against the bulge, prominent even through his pants. His other hand tugs your dress up to your hips, letting the material bunch around your waist, and immediately his hand comes down hard on your ass - you squeal, dropping your forehead against his, as he rubs over the spot he’d just smacked.

“Y’like that?” You nod, pressing your lips to the side of Harry’s neck as he lands another slap down on your bum. Your hips press harder into his, feeling the pressure on your clit as you roll against him. “Yeah, know you do. Dirty girl.”

And - you’re not sure why - but you drop your lips to his ear, nibbling on his earlobe and feeling the way his cock twitches beneath you. “Can I tell you something?”

He nods, and you bring your hand up to his hair, running your fingers through his sweaty curls. Harry tilts his head to the side and your lips briefly brush, feather light, as you slow the pace your hips are rocking, savoring every brush of your panty clad clit against the material of his pants. “Anything,” he mutters, head dropping against the headrest, and you reach down to press your palm to his cock. God, he’s so hard and he feels so big too, too big to even fit in you, but you know damn well you’ll try your very best to make it work.

Even if you’ve never done it before, and before you can wonder if it’s the best time or thing to tell him, you lean in. “I’ve never had sex before.”

Harry certainly seems shocked and the way his lips part goes straight to your ego - do you seem so good at all of this that he’d suspected you’d done it time and time again? Maybe he’s confused as to why you told him and truthfully, you are, too. Just felt like the kind of thing he’d like to know. Your ex boyfriend had certainly wanted to know, and two days after you’d told him he’d ended things.

Maybe some guys don’t want to take girls’ virginities, but judging by the way Harry’s fingers dig further into your ass, you suspect he does.

“Never?” There’s the surprise thick in his voice and you nod, grasp on his cock tightening ever so slightly, and he groans beneath you. “God. Never would’ve thought. Bloody good at this.”

Yep, there’s your ego inflating, and you shrug. “Done just about everything else. Just haven’t gotten to the good part.” Another smack lands against your ass and you moan, pushing back against his palm as he smooths his hand over your skin.

He leans back, then, shifting his hips, and you can see his pupils dilating more and more as he glances down at the way your cunt presses to his cock - “Why don’t you show me what you can do, then?”

You’re much more than willing, and you lean in to give Harry one final kiss before pushing yourself off of him and sitting, on your knees, on the seat beside him. He’s watching you so intently you could almost feel judged but you love it - love the way he watches you push your hair behind you, how he reaches down to slowly undo the zipper of his fancy dress pants, but you wanna do it yourself. You push his hand away, wrapping your hand around his wrist, and surely he’s strong enough to resist the dominant act you’re playing if he wanted to but you can tell he doesn’t. You finish unzipping his pants and he lifts his hips slightly so you can shimmy them down his thighs, just enough so you’re face to face with his cock, thick and bulging through his briefs.

You don’t give yourself a moment to examine just how big he is - bigger than you’d anticipated when you were on top of him and when you’d felt him up. You’d sucked off plenty of guys and none of them came close to his size but you’ve mastered the faux confident facade as you shift backwards, leaning down with your ass high in the air to press a soft kiss against Harry’s cock through his boxers.

He groans, those glasses slipping down his nose, and his wandering fingers end up dancing down your back - you’re not sure where he’s going but you shift forward to give him easier access to your ass, if that’s what he wants, and your fingers hook in the waistband of his boxers to pull them over his cock.

Jesus, yeah, he is big. You wrap your hand around him, pumping experimentally a few times, listening to the way Harry moans brokenly. You wonder, briefly, when he’s last done this - he looks as though it’s been a bit too long but, well, you suppose you can’t judge how sensitive he is when just the feeling of his hand splayed across your lower back is wetting your panties faster than anything has before.

Lips press a wet kiss against the tip of his cock, just briefly, before you wrap your lips around his length and push our head down - a gurgled cry escapes his throat and you nearly smirk around him, taking him as far down your throat as you can until your nose is just about brushing his pelvis. Your hands press to his thighs and you can feel him growing stiffer in the confines of your mouth by the second. Fingers tangle in your hair, forcing your head down, and with any other guy you’d roll your eyes but there’s something different about him, something that makes you like the dominance. Any semblance of it that you’d had seconds before is gone and there’s a smack against your ass, causing you to cry out against his cock.

Normally you pull off of guys after 15 seconds (or so) but Harry doesn’t let you, holds you down, and you hollow your cheeks around him. Swallow, and his hips jerk up into your mouth, forcing a gag from you, and then he loosens his grip on your hair, allowing you to pull your mouth from him.

Harry’s breathing is heavy and his hand is groping your ass so tight it nearly hurts but the pleasure overpowers it and you push back against his hand. His fingers tug at your thong, slipping beneath it as you lap at the tip of his cock, and no sooner have his fingers circled your puckered hole - is he gonna do it? - that he slides them further down, running his digits through your soaked folds. 

“So - so fucking wet -” his voice cracks as you take him down your throat again but his hand doesn’t force your head down like last time - instead he brings his other hand to your bum and smacks you hard, harder than every other time, and you moan and he moans, and then two of his fingers slip into your cunt and you moan again.

God, it really is happening, because if it wasn’t, you’re sure you’d have woken yourself up in excitement by now. He really is two fingers deep in your pussy while his cock is all the way down your throat, and he really is crying out as you whine against his cock. His digits curl, brushing against that sweet spot in your velvety walls that has you clenching around him, and you think he’s the first guy you’ve ever done anything with whose found your G-spot without 10 minutes of needed assistance.

Your tongue swirls around his cock as you take your mouth from him, throwing your head back with a cry, and your first still pumps him up and down - his fingers are thrusting in and out of you so fast that the sound of your arousal is nearly the same volume as your moans lingered with his. You’re going to cum so fucking hard, first time you’ve cum from anything other than your fingers or your toys, and you roll your hips against his fingers, grasp on his cock tightening.

“Gonna cum -” your eyes roll back into your head as your thumb flicks over the head of Harry’s length, feeling the way his body jerks at the sensation. “Fuck, don’t stop, don’t stop -”

“Gonna cum for me?” his voice is a hiss through gritted teeth as his fingers speed up even more, pumping inside of you so fast that your head is fucking spinning. “Do it, then. My dirty - fucking - girl, cum for me.”

It’s all you needed and you can’t even bring yourself to feel embarrassed at how fast you’re cumming because as soon as the pit in your stomach starts to unravel you can feel his cock twitching in your fist. You can’t think of a single thing to say, vocabulary wiped clean, merely throwing your head back with a noise akin to a scream as you cum on his fingers, and as his hips jerk up, you can feel his release coating your hand.

Harry’s fingers still pump slowly inside of you, prolonging your orgasm until it fades away and in turn you try to do the same to him, hand moving up and down his cock until your breathing steadies from labored pants into something more normal. So you pull your hand off of him, pushing yourself to sit on your knees, cum covering your fingers. And, in an instant, Harry’s fingers are wrapped around your wrist, and you let him guide your hand up to your mouth.

You can tell he’s merely testing you to see if you’ll do it - but, truthfully, you’d wanted him to cum in your mouth, anyway, if only to prove something to him, or to yourself. So you stick your tongue out, lap a thick stripe through his cum on your hand, dripping down your wrist, and Harry’s lust ridden eyes watch you, lips parted and breathing picking up again.

Your eyes never leave his as you lick up the last of his release on your hands, swallowing every last bit of it, and when you open your mouth to stick your tongue out - proving to him that you took every single goddamn drop - his hand flies to the back of your neck, pulling your head in, and your lips connect with a clash of teeth.

“Like a fucking angel,” Harry groans, pressing his fist to the car seat next to you, and the feeling of him hovering ever so slightly above you makes the buzzing in your head that much more intense. His other hand works at tucking himself back into his pants, zipping them up, and you figure it’s good to pull your dress down to cover your ass, too. “My fuckin’ perfect girl. Jesus Christ.”

You can feel the car slowing to a stop and you’re entirely too ready to go up to Harry’s bedroom and have your goddamn brains fucked out. You already feel like you’re on cloud 9 with one orgasm down, one so intense and brutal, one that you reckon nothing but him could muster up, and that’s just his fingers - you need to know what his cock’ll do to you. 

His hand falls back down to your waist where it seems to love to reside and he squeezes your hip, leaning in to nibble at your bottom lip again. You grin lazily, then reach up and push his sunglasses back up his nose where they’d slid down the bridge ever so slightly. “Want you t’fuck me,” you breathe, voice raspy in all of its post-orgasm glory. “Never gotten fucked by anyone before but I need you - swear, I’ve never cum so hard in my life.”

Harry chuckles and turns to glance out the window - then he grabs the door handle and pushes it open. When you’ve both clambered out of the car his arm is around you in a heartbeat, and you need the support, legs feeling shaky, and you take just a moment to glance up at the hotel you’re walking into - nicer than anything you’d ever been in in your life but you feel a bit more used to it by now.

“Tell me,” Harry mutters, leaning his lips close to your ear, as the automatic doors slide open for the pair of you to walk into the hotel lobby. “How many guys have made you cum before, hmm?”

“None,” is your response, turning your head to the side so you can witness the shock that overtakes Harry’s face - you can’t see his eyes but you’re sure they’re wide. “Told myself I didn’t want to fuck a guy who didn’t know where the clit is, and - well, none of them did.”

He chuckles as you two make your way through the lobby towards the elevators - it feels wrong for you to even be here, walking by people who see more money every day than you have in your life, in your dress you’d gotten at the thrift store and your heel still slightly wet. But being with Harry, having his arm around you, makes you feel decidedly less awkward, because you’re sure millions of girls would positively die to do what you’re about to do.

But you get to do it, and if that isn’t the best feeling in the world.

He stops in front of the elevator and presses the button to go up, and the doors open almost immediately - such a gentleman, he is, letting you step in first, and when you’re both in you watch the button for the very top floor light up as he pushes it. 

“You’re in for the night of your life,” Harry tells you as the elevator doors slide shut, and you’re entirely expecting him to pin you to the wall but he doesn’t - incredible composure, really, staring straight ahead like he can’t feel the desperation practically dripping from your body. You stare at him, for a moment, at his side profile, jaw set. Like he isn’t as needy as you are, but, as your eyes trail down his body to the bulge already hardening again in his pants, you know that he is.

It seems like an eternity later that the elevator doors slide open again, and you want to race down the hall to his room but you let him lead the way, even if his pace is pathetically slow as he strolls down the hallway. There are only two rooms up this high, on either ends of the hall, and his is to the left of the elevators and it seems so much further than the one to the right.

But you make it there, and Harry’s reaching in his pockets to find his key card - and then he’s swiping it - and then he’s pushing open the door - and as soon as it shuts again, you’re pressed firm against the wall. Your hands fly to the back of his head as his drop to your back, trailing downwards to cup at your ass again (he seems to have a thing for it, but you would never think of complaining.) Your lips press to his as your head falls back against the door, and his hips jerk forward to roll against yours.

You still feel entirely too sensitive and you moan out, pushing your hips forward to meet his as you pull his face closer to yours, using your arms around his neck as leverage to pull him in, but you didn’t need it - you can tell he’s just as desperate as you are, and soon he pulls you off of the door, backing you up to God knows where. You let him lead you until your legs hit something and you fall backwards onto a plush couch, pushing yourself onto your elbows to watch Harry as he drops to his knees before you.

Oh, shit.

Your cheeks heat up as he rests his hands on your knees, spreading your thighs apart. Harry’s hand rises up to his sunglasses, perched, still, on his nose, and he pulls them off, resting them on the coffee table behind him. His eyes meet yours and perhaps he can see the apprehension in your eyes because he leans up, pressing a kiss to your lips. You savor the moment, the sweetness of his tongue entering your mouth, before he lowers himself back down onto his knees. Hands go to the bottom of your dress, rolling it over your hips until it can settle around your waist, exposing your entire bottom half to him, and it feels so much more intimate now that you’re not confined to the backseat of a car.

Harry leans in without giving you a breath to collect yourself, pressing a kiss to your clit through your arousal-soaked lace panties - your hand drops to the couch, squeezing the edge of the cushion between your fingers, and you can already feel your slight embarrassment slipping away as Harry pushes your thigh, forcing it further open.

“Tell me,” he says, deep and hot with how close he is to your cunt, and your hips roll of their own accord at the feeling. “How many guys have done this to you?”

You pause to think, chest rising and falling as he leans in again, licking up your panties, and the sensation makes it a bit difficult to gather yourself enough to respond - eventually, though, you swallow and say, “Not too many. One or two.”

He leans back, pressing a kiss to your thigh. “And they never made you cum.”

“N - no.”

“Well, I will,” is his response, and, as cocky as it may seem, you know he’s right - could probably make you cum through your panties, but his fingers hook in the top of them as soon as the thought pops in your mind. You lift your hips up so he can drag them down your legs, and when they’ve puddled by your feet he helps you take them off. You watch as he crumbles the lacey material in his hands and then stuffs it into the pockets of his fancy pants - for later, he murmurs against your thigh. And then he goes in - hands on your thighs forcing them apart so hard it nearly burns but you find you like the stretch, and his lips wrap around your clit, cheeks hollowing as he sucks on the small nub.

Your head drops back against the couch and you bury your hand in his hair, a loud moan escaping your throat. He wasn’t teasing you and you were beyond grateful - tongue laps up every drop of wetness that gushes in your cunt, kitten licks against your clit, and you can tell he has more experience than you could have imagined. Harry has it mastered, exactly where to place his hands (one on your thigh, the other creeping its way beneath the material of your dress towards your tits) and how to flick his tongue just right to have your hips bucking up against his mouth. And if you thought you’d cum hard in the car you know you’re in for a fucking treat because there’s already pressure building in your stomach and it won’t be long until it fucking erupts.

When you squeeze your eyes shut he stops - pulls away, his mouth and his hands, like he’d never been there in the first place. You open your eyes, chest heaving as you stare down at him. His pupils are lust blown and wide as he stares at you, eyebrows raised, as if you’re meant to know something he never told you - “Eyes open,” he tuts, tone condescending and smug, and you hate how much you love it. “Keep them open. Gonna watch me make you fall apart, alright?” You nod slowly. “Tell me.”

Your voice is caught in your throat as Harry’s lips form a small o, breathing a puff of air onto your beyond sensitive clit, and your fingers in his curls tighten to what has to hurt - but he moans, ever so slightly, as you finally breathe, “Yes. Okay.”

“S’what I thought,” is his response, and then he leans back in, licking up your soaked folds as though no time had passed. Both of his palms press against your thighs, pinching your soft skin, fingers dangerously close to the area he’s working so well. God, his fingers, you swear you’ve never felt anything better than them - you want them again, so bad, hitting your sweet spot so good.

You can’t begin to get the words out to tell him that, though, so you merely reach down, shaky fingers wrapping around his wrist and pushing it closer to your cunt - he pauses, tongue mid-swirl around your clit, and looks up at you with a glint of pure cockiness in his eyes. 

“What do you want?” he doesn’t remove his mouth from around your clit as he speaks and the vibrations roll through your body, sending a cry through your throat, and you push his hand further towards your cunt. You know it won’t be enough - haven’t known Harry for quite long at all, but you reckon you know that much about him. “Use your words,” and Harry sounds so fucking commanding that it could make you cum right then and there.

“F - fingers,” you just about sob out, rolling your hips up into his mouth so your clit brushes against his tongue. “Please, Harry - need your fingers, please -”

“Fingers, hmm?” His digits dance across your thighs, straying further away from where you need him, and your eyes just about roll back into your head as he pulls his mouth from your clit and blows on it again. “Where do you want my fingers?”

But you’re too far gone to speak - as he leans in to brush his tongue against your sensitive clit once more, you can feel the pit in your tummy starting to come undone. You drop your head back as Harry licks a thick stripe up to your sensitive nub, and he stops again, pressing his cheek against your inner thigh. “Does my dirty girl want my fingers in her pussy, hmm? S’that where you want my fingers?”

You moan out in affirmation.

Harry pulls his head from your thigh and you push yourself so you’re sitting up more, getting a clear view of everything he’s doing as he spits on your pussy, the saliva dripping down onto your clit, and you fucking cry out. His fingers come up to collect the spittle, rubbing it along your clit before dragging it down your folds so he can push them into your pussy - curling up immediately, knowing exactly the spot that makes you squirm. His other hand comes up and lands a firm smack against your clit, one that has your eyes rolling back into your head.

It only takes a few quick pumps of his curled fingers, in and out of your fluttering cunt, that has you cumming so hard you swear you see stars. Every single sob that breaks free from your throat is so loud that you swear the neighbors in the room at the other end of the hall must be able to hear you - should send them a flower arrangement tomorrow morning, because it’s just his mouth and fingers that has you screaming bloody murder.

“Oh my god -” your hips jerk against his mouth, your hands in his hair dropping back down to the cushions. “Fuck.”

Coming down from your second high of the evening is entirely different from your first - you can’t imagine how you’ll possibly be able to pull anymore from you but, as Harry stands up, your slick covering his mouth and chin, you know you have to.

The whole point is to fuck him. To finally know what everyone’s talking about - to see what the fuss is all about. 

Harry leans down, tongue forcing its way down your throat the second your lips part for him, and you can taste yourself on his tongue. Your arousal mixed with the beer he’d had earlier, all traces of the mint washed away, and it tastes so divine. Even more divine as his hands drop to the zipper of his pants, sliding it down, and you slide your fingers in the waistband, helping him tug them down his thighs. He kicks them off as soon as they’re near his feet and then he pulls away, palm pressing against the bulge in his briefs. 

“How do you want it?” he asks, words dripping with lust and desperation and you know the exact way he’s feeling and more. You watch him intently as he grips the bottom of his sweater and tugs it over his head - it drops to the rug atop the ground and you let your eyes soak in the sight of him, almost fully nude, briefly ignoring the question.

You hadn’t necessarily expected him to ask. He seems more dominant than that, needing to take control, so you swallow, chest heaving as you try to think. “I don’t - I don’t know.”

He seems to have been expecting that answer, because his hands fall to your waist, pushing you down so you’re lying on the couch. It’s spacious, just enough room for you to adjust yourself comfortably, and Harry lowers himself down on top of you the second you’ve shifted enough.

“How’s this?”

And his caring demeanor is shocking but fitting, because as much as you merely want to get your virginity out of the way, it does feel like a sort of important moment. You want it to be comfortable, and lying on the plushiest couch you’ve ever been on with Harry hovering above you, his arm inches above your head, is about as comfortable as you’re going to get.

You loop your arms around his neck and you can feel his clothed cock, pressed to your cunt. He’s so fucking hard and you’re amazed at the amount of composure he has. “Perfect,” you mumble, leaning up to attach your lips once more (you swear, you can’t get enough of him.)

Harry tugs down his boxers, just enough to free his cock from the flannel confines, and you can feel his tip, running along your folds - he slaps it on your clit and you groan. You drop your head back against the arm of the couch as he sinks his tip into your cunt. Slowly, steadily, he pushes himself the rest of the way in, stuffing you so deliciously full of him that it nearly overtakes the pain.

Nearly.

You’ve used dildos before and you’re thankful for it, now, because you reckon without any sort of experience you’d feel absolutely split in half. Even now, there’s a dull burn sparking between your thighs, and you drop your head back, eyes squeezing shut as you try to adjust to the feeling. No, it didn’t necessarily hurt but it was different and that in itself was enough for you to need a moment to adjust. The way his cock twitched inside of you every so often encouraged you and subsequently turned you on beyond belief, and you don’t need too much time to adjust, after all.

Harry’s breathing is heavy and you can feel it against your face, barely an inch above yours. Poor guy, must be torture, holding out, because you can practically sense how needy he is. You lift your head up to press your lips to his, soft like the brush of a butterfly’s wing, before pulling back. “Move - fuck, please, move, Harry.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, pulling his hips back before thrusting them back in. That is certainly different, verging on the border of pain, but with a few more slow pumps, in and out of your dripping cunt, the pleasure is beginning to take it over.

It takes a moment to find a rhythm that’s enough for both of you. There’s still a slight discomfort but not enough to make you want to wait any longer. You’re finally having sex and you want it to keep going, to do it forever and ever with the absolute God hovering above you.

“So goddamn tight,” Harry grunts as he rocks his hips into yours. “Squeezing me so good. Never fucked anyone so tight in my life, I swear.”

His compliments, whether they were in the heat of the moment or genuine, makes you moan out - makes this entire thing feel so much better.

And fuck, it truly does feel good, especially when he angles his hips just so, every thrust sweeping against that sweet spot deep inside of you that he’s so adept at finding. For the first minute or so you’re fine with the leisurely pace he’s doing but you can tell it’s killing him and it’s starting to kill you, too. You’ve never been too patient, even if you’d waited 22 years for this exact moment.

You’re not a virgin. It feels good, the invisible badge of honor and the cock, going entirely too slow for your liking, deep in your pussy.

“Faster - need you to go faster,” you gasp as Harry’s thumb drops to your clit, rubbing slow circles on the sensitive nub, and they’re immediately a sharp contrast to the way he pulls his hips out and slams them back in. This is what he wanted, what he needed, and it’s what you need, too. No slow pumps. You need him fucking fast and hard and God it feels good, the way he presses down on your clit, sending pleasure coursing through your veins. “Feel so good inside me. God, keep doing that.”

Harry braces a hand on top of the couch, lifting his body slightly off of yours to piston his cock in and out of your cunt, taking him greedily and fully. He’d been with plenty of girls before - more than he could count - but there was something different, being the first guy to fill you up, to fuck you so hard you saw stars. And it was bloody good, watching you beneath him, your mouth falling open with a broken moan, pushing your pelvis up towards his, trying to help him along.

“Such a dirty girl,” Harry rasps, reaching down to grab the top of your dress - should’ve taken it off of you, really - and he pulls it down so aggressively you’re sure the fabric will rip. Your tits spill out of the top, covered only by your bra, and his fingers hook in the cups, pulling them away from your breasts, and in an instant his head is lowered to flick his tongue against your nipple. “Feels so good, hmm? Getting fucked for the very first time? Poor baby - never had a dick before. Tell me how - tell me how it feels.”

Your head is fucking spinning, is how it feels, and you’re not sure you’re going to be able to talk for days to come. You sob out your response, barely audible, but Harry hears it as if you’d spoken loud and clear - “So good, fuck, gonna cum.”

Two of his fingers pluck at your clit like the strings of a guitar, as if you’re merely something to be played with, but it’s enough to send you over the edge again. Your body convulses beneath him, eyes squeezing shut. Your cunt fluttering around him could make him cum but you can tell he wants to hold out - wants to see if you have one more in you, and you’re not sure if you do.

It’s as though Harry can sense the second you’ve milked your orgasm for all you can, because he pulls out of you the second you’re done. Before you can cry out, his hands grab your hips and flip you over with such ease it’s nearly embarrassing. You hardly have the muscle strength to hold yourself up, merely dropping your face into the cushion as his hands position himself at your cunt, pushing in without giving you a second to adjust, and it’s back to the hard, steady pace you’d reached before.

This position is a fucking change and one you love, a new angle letting him reach spots inside of you that you hadn’t even known existed. Your moans are muffled where your mouth is pressed to the cushion but Harry’s are loud and clear, piercing the air near violently as he cries out. You can’t see him but you try with all your might to picture exactly what he’s doing - picturing how his mouth is open and his eyes are shut and he’s lifting his hand to land it back down on your -

As though he can read your thoughts his hand goes up and smacks down on your ass, the noise cracking through the air, and you sob out at the feeling. You love that, you really do, and you’d never have expected yourself to but as he sends another slap to your skin you decide it’s one of your favorite things you’ve done this whole fucking evening.

“Gonna cum,” Harry grunts, hand gripping your thigh to rock your body in time with his. You wiggle your ass, pushing it against him, and for that, you earn another smack. “Where d’you want me to cum? Want it on your back, hmm? Or maybe flip you over again and cum on your pretty tits.”

You can’t verbalize anything, nothing except for broken cries and his name falling off your lips like a mantra, and he knows it.

“Or -” and his voice drops nearly a whole fucking octave, deeper than you’d even thought it could go, and you’re so close to your fourth that your ears are starting to ring - “does my dirty girl want me to cum in her pussy? Fill you up with my cum, fuck you so good until you’re stuffed with it.”

It’s that - his words, fucking filthy and rising above every other noise the two of you make - that ends you. Sends you hurtling into your fourth, now, the couch practically absorbing your moan (or more like a scream) and any ability you’d had to hold yourself up on shaky legs dissipates as you collapse against the couch but Harry’s there, holding you up, forcing your hips back into his you were made for it.

You don’t need to say anything - he knows what you want, can read you like a book by now, and you’ve only known him for tonight. So as his cock gives its final twitch inside your cunt, worn out from cumming four times in such a short amount of time, he makes no move to pull out. Just grips your hips and holds them close to his, and the feeling of hot ribbons of cum shooting into your cunt, filling you up exactly the way you’d wanted, is a sensation you don’t think you’ll ever forget.

When he’s done, pulling out slowly, you collapse fully onto the couch with nothing to hold you up - you’re fucking exhausted but you’ve never felt better in your life. A haze seems to be settling over your mind and body, preventing you from paying any attention to anything that’s not Harry as he stands up above you. And then you feel him, wrapping his arms around you, picking you up like a goddamn baby and you like it a lot.

You’re entirely too close to falling asleep in his arms before he lies you down on a surface softer than the couch - has to be the bed, the rich hotel beds, and as your head lands on the pillow you know you’re correct. God, feels like a pillow, and you’d like to spend the rest of your life right here.

Harry’s like a God in human form, truly, getting a warm washcloth from the restroom to wipe at the cum dripping down your thighs. You two speak in soft, hushed voices, as though making up for the absolutely inhuman noises you’d made before, as he pulls your dress over your head and deposits it on the ground. It is ripped, you can see, but you find you don’t really care. Not like you didn’t get it for less than $10 - and it’s just a reminder of every amazing thing that happened tonight, not that you’d ever need one. You know you’ll remember this night forever.

Finally he lies down beside you, shifting so he’s spooning you, arms firm around your waist and your head to his shoulder. This feels perfect, exactly what you needed to end off your first time perfectly.

“M’not a virgin anymore,” you murmur, adjusting yourself to press your body closer to his. “Feels good. Feel like I’m finally living.”

Harry chuckles at that, pressing a kiss to the side of your face. “Hope your first time was as good as it could be.”

You exhale softly. “It was perfect,” you tell him, voice soft and dripping with emotions you can’t possibly decipher. And it’s the absolute truth - even if your first time wasn’t with a boyfriend you were in love with, like your friends, you don’t think you’d ever have it any other way. “Maybe we could do it again, some time.”

Probably a mistake to ask, but there’s nothing to lose, really. Maybe a piece of your dignity if he says no, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. You’d do this a thousand times over again with him without hesitating.

He takes a beat to respond and you know you fucked up, already squeezing your eyes shut in regret, but then he rasps, “Definitely gotta do it again. Tomorrow night … and the night after that … and the night after that …” and you know you’re in for it.