#despite the video clearly showing the poor guy hitting the water with his shoulders/neck from over 30ft

[ed-e]

it’s incredible the sheer amount of crime/disaster channels on youtube that are just. so so bad

[prettywordsyouleft]

The Sex Contract - Chapter 10

Genre: friends to lovers au / friends with benefits / mature content / romance / angst

Characters: Shim Changmin x Kaia Ashton (OC)

A/N: Due to the overwhelming request I have followed your encouragement to bring back one of my older stories. This was back in a time where OCs were everything and writing one chapter in each main’s point of view was the trend. I hope that even though I have edited this drastically, that you can appreciate this story comes from my older style of writing. I definitely still read this often and find it enjoyable so I hope you will too.

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 - FINAL

Chapter 10 – Kaia’s POV.

Kaia was officially sick. She missed work for the following two days, feeling as if she had been hit by a truck. After the third day however, Kaia had endured more than enough of being in bed and sleeping it off that she hauled herself off to the nearest pharmacy and bought more cold medicine before heading off to work. She was shivering in her warm clothing despite everyone else on the train being in their summer outfits and by the time she arrived at work, Kaia wondered if she had made such a wise decision.

“Woah, Kaia!” Keith stared at her wide-eyed as she walked into the office, and he rushed to my side. “Should you have come in today? Sungra said when she visited you that you were quite sick but I didn’t realise just how much.”

“I’m fine,” she assured, waving off his concern and heading to her desk. Her eyes had already locked on another person in the room, the girl smiling sympathetically. Kaia smiled back, flashes of the other day returning to her mind. Despite being ill, Abby’s behaviour had stuck out the entire time. Kaia knew she needed answers, and hoped she could get some alone time with the girl during the day.

She turned away from her thoughts as she heard her name and smiled at Sungra who now stood beside her. “I told you to stay at home until you were better!”

“I’m not contagious, so don’t worry. I have plenty of medicine too,” Kaia assured, reaching into her bag and pulling the medicine bag out. Shaking it a little, she smiled again. “Besides, Korean news never stops. I can only imagine the backload already.”

Kaia sat down and settled into her work, her mind now focused on the task at hand. She enjoyed her job so much that she almost forgot she was sick until a cough racked through her chest.

“Not that sick huh?”

“Sung, it’s just a cough, I’m not dying,” Kaia retorted and heard a chuckle come from one of the junior members.

“No, but after what I just found, I believe Changmin is,” Hyurin mentioned and Kaia snapped her focus to the girl. “He apparently is sick over in Japan.”

“Really? Oh no, the poor guy, how untimely!”

Sungra nodded at Minah’s exclamation. “I hope it doesn’t interfere with his promotional work. Where on earth would he get a cold from?”

Kaia could feel her cheeks burning and she swallowed roughly, which caused her to struggle with another loud cough. When she looked up again, Kaia noticed a set of eyes were focused on her.

Abby smirked. “Colds just must be making their way around, right Kai? You must sympathise with Changmin right now.”

“Uh sure,” she managed to squeak out, gulping down some of her water and then cringing at how hard it was to swallow it all. She cleared my throat. “Must be the upcoming season.”

Looking back at her computer screen, Kaia tried to settle herself down and then thought back to the statement Changmin had made regarding his health that night. Smiling, she made a mental note to contact the idol on her next break.

“We really need to stop meeting like this,” a voice said after the toilet flushed behind her and a sense of déjà vu coursed through Kaia’s veins as Abby stepped towards the sink. She smiled brightly at her as Kaia placed her phone back into her pocket. “Are you feeling any better?”

“I am, thanks.”

“Good.” She started to wash her hands. “Funny how Changmin’s sick too right now. He must know your friend Max, right? Or perhaps he’s the same guy?”

“E-excuse me?!” Kaia spluttered out, watching as Abby’s face broke out into a grin.

“I KNEW IT! You know Changmin!” she exclaimed and Kaia placed her hand over Abby’s mouth, darting her eyes around the area. She struggled to remove Kaia’s hand. “Don’t worry; I checked the cubicles before when I followed you in. I can’t believe you’ve kept this from me!”

“Says the girl who is dating Kim Junsu.” It was Abby’s turn to let her features flood with colour, and Kaia smirked as she poked her playfully. “How could you keep that from me?!”

“It’s not like I wanted to, he told me if we wanted this I had to remain silent about it! We work in the business, you know as well as I do if anyone catches wind of this, we’re doomed.” Abby then poked her back. “But you have a lot to answer for, now I know where you disappear off to. Is it friendship or something more?”

Kaia blushed lightly. “I’m an English teacher at SME in my spare time.”

“You devil!” Abby exclaimed and Kaia giggled, the pair both smiling at one another. Kaia could tell Abby felt as relieved as she did now having someone who knew her secret.

They went to step out of the bathroom, still laughing together until they found someone standing in front of them with wide eyes. Keith pointed at them both and tilted his head, unable to bring himself to speak. Exchanging a look with Abby, Kaia lurched towards him, her hand going over his mouth.

“If you tell anyone what you just heard you’re in big trouble, got it?” Abby hissed and he nodded his head, and Kaia loosened her grip.

“Your secrets are safe with me, as long as you tell me everything.”

“Ah, I felt like I was dying to the point I wanted nothing more than to sleep forever! I couldn’t even eat, Kaia! Why did you have to get sick?!” Changmin complained as she came into his room with the bowl of popcorn she had just prepared. Rolling her eyes, Kaia placed it next to the Korean who immediately started shovelling the snack into his mouth.

“It appears your appetite is fine now,” she observed and he shot her a look as she sat down and picked up the controller. “And besides, what happened to you being in top form huh? I told you I’d go home so you didn’t get sick.”

“It was a very powerful strand of illness, clearly,” he stated strongly, and then motioned towards the screen. “Hurry up and choose a car to drive.”

“I just sat down,” Kaia spoke back in the same tone he’d just used, but did his biddings, hitting the x on the controller when she had decided. They started to race and became focused on that for a while before taking a break. Her fingers hurt from not playing videos games in a while, though it was tradition for Changmin and Kaia to have a games night whenever he returned to Seoul from his jet setting schedule. Although he had been back for two days from Japan, this was the first time either of them had enough time to dedicate to the ritual.

“So, did you miss me?” he asked with a smirk as they watched the animation front page to the gameplay across the large television. He shifted closer. “With Oppa gone, you must have been so lonely.”

“Oppa?!” Kaia screeched and grabbed his pillow to beat him with it. “You sickening bastard! I’m only two months younger than you and you use Oppa on me?! Ugh!”

“I thought you liked the whole Oppa talk since you are addicted to them dramas,” he teased and Kaia growled, beating him some more. He fell back on the bedding and she used it to her advantage, climbing over his waist and continuing to beat him with the pillow.

“I am not one of them whiny girls who cry out Oppa at men. Have I ever called either you or Yunho that? I’m not Korean for one!”

Changmin chuckled underneath her, finding the situation amusing. “Like I would ever want to you to call me that. This is me you’re talking to. I get enough Changmin-oppa from my fans, let alone needing it from you.”

“Oh really?” Kaia said and leaned down to his face. “Oppaaa.”

“Quit it. Ugh, why did I start this?”

“Oppaaaa,” she repeated with a giggle and Changmin groaned heavily. “Oppa, this is so much fun. I just love playing games with you.”

“Let’s play a different one then,” he urged, grabbing her wrists and yanking them so her body fell on top of his. Kaia’s eyes widened as his laugh vibrated against her body. “What? Aren’t I playing my role right? You say Oppa and I’m meant to fall for it.”

“Yunho’s home you fool, that’s why I reacted like that.”

“So? Yunho is a man, he understands the carnal desires very well,” he pointed out and Kaia closed her eyes as Changmin’s mouth found the side of her neck. He kissed a trail down to where her shoulder curved into her neck and Kaia let out a deep breath before snapping her eyes open.

“No.”

“No?” he repeated against her skin, his lips spreading into a smile. “Your body is saying yes.”

“I can’t with Yunho in the house Min, it feels wrong!”

He let out an annoyed groan. “Come on Kai, I haven’t had any in well over a week now.”

“Maybe it’s good for you to learn how to pace yourself,” she told him and he thumped the bed in irritation. Propping herself up, Kaia climbed off his waist and picked up her controller. Changmin didn’t move. “Besides, I thought you had the company of a great female whilst gone, Minnie. Or is Kaori Kimura not to your tastes?”

“How did you know?!” He sat up at her piece of information and then shook his head. “That woman is a witch.”

“How so?”

“She might be one of Japan’s leading models at the moment, but she’s very dominant. I tried to escape her attention four times, but she just wouldn’t relent. There’s only so much superficial bantering that I can muster and she wore me out.”

Kaia smirked. “Not what the pictures show.”

“In case you aren’t aware, I’ve been a professional for a very long time Kai, it’s my job to make things appear like magic.”

“Ah, is that what it’s meant to be? Well, couldn’t you magic me up a handsome man that makes me see stars when we kiss, oh great Wizard?” Kaia asked with a laugh and Changmin grabbed her and then leaned down to kiss her.

“I’ll make you see stars once I’m done with you,” he murmured and she knew her previous concern for Yunho was now out the window, though she pouted and hit his shoulder playfully all the same.

“I said someone handsome!”

_________________

Part 11

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[bittysvalentines]

The Butter Bandit

To: @peeps-the-writer

From: @airplanesandcookies  

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you enjoy this little zimbits meet-cute fic!  I really had a blast writing it for you.  

_/\_

Any other time, Jack would appreciate the privacy and serenity that came from a thick falling curtain of rain. But at this moment, he’s exhausted and merely resigned to getting soaked on the run from his car to the grocery store entrance.

He took a moment to savor the warmth of his car’s heated seats as the rain, muted, battered at the roof. The day had been brutally long - a PT session at 9am, then practice, team lunch, a few brief moments at home to nap, before heading back to the rink for a tough home game against the Schooners. Even after all that, he still had to field invasive interviews post game, cycling to get the acid out his muscles and cool down, another massage, only to get home and realize that he had no eggs or even milk for a bowl or three of cereal. He could have ordered a grocery or dinner delivery, but that would have taken so much longer than him just doing it himself.

Jack rolled his neck, pulled his snapback down over his brow, unlocked his door and promised himself that a plate of scrambled eggs was worth all of this when his passenger door swung open and a very wet man hopped into the passenger seat.

“Shitty, you are a lifesaver! I would never have made it all the way home in this. I can’t swim that far!”

The thing about being a professional hockey player, it is Jack’s job to recover faster than the other guy, which is what probably saves Jack from an early heart attack and gives him space to recognize that the drenched intruder is 1) unfairly attractive even with his blond hair plastered over his face and a thin linen button down shirt translucent over his skin and 2) most likely harmless given that he’s clearly not hiding anything.

Jack even had a slow-motion moment to wonder, if this guy, as completely random and utterly unlikely as it was, was a puck bunny with a proposition.

His teammates all had wild stories of puck bunnies trying to sneak into their hotel rooms or private cars. But he hadn’t heard of an unreasonably hot guy in a see-through shirt just hopping into a parked car.

“I’m a shitty lifesaver?” Jack asked, still computing the scenarios in which he would say ‘yes’.

The wet stranger snapped his gaze up from a pile of cloth grocery bags at his feet, blinking owlishly large brown eyes at Jack.

With nothing better to say, Jack chose, “It is a rough night for a swim.”

His stranger exploded out of his seat with a flood of apologies, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, sir! I thought that you were my friend Shitty and I just jumped into your car, I swear to god I’m not a creep, this was just a mistake.” And he was off, just as quick as he came, back into the pouring rain.

The heavy fall of rain immediately obscured his path. Curious, Jack jumped out of his car and looked around, but he couldn’t see any sign of the guy. Merely ready to shrug it off as one of the weirdest encounters this year at least, Jack turned to lock the door when he noticed that the guy had accidentally left one of his cloth grocery bags.

With equal measures of curiosity and paranoia (because Jack didn’t think that he would be blindsided by a pretty face, but it HAD been a really long day), Jack reached over to the passenger side seat, the rain sluicing down his back, and picked up the bag and found what had to be ten pounds of butter.

Jack completed his shopping, returned home, and finally (FINALLY) made the best damn plate of eggs he’s ever made all while completely encompassed in a cloud of questions.

_/\_ “So, a fan hopped into your car and gave you butter?” Marty asked, frowning down at a very simple butter cookie that Jack brought in to practice. . “No. Some guy hopped in my car. I think he thought I was someone else. The butter was an accident.”

“As far as pick-up lines go…” Thirdy began, in-between bites of his cookie.

Jack shook his head, “I don’t think he was a fan. I think he was just some guy taking advantage of the buy-one-get-one free sale at the grocery store.”

“But what I don’t understand,” Tater said, mouth full, “is why did you keep the butter?”

Fair question. Jack walked his teammates through the boring rationale that the store wouldn’t take the butter back without a receipt and they wouldn’t store it in case somebody came back for it. And being practical, Jack wasn’t going to just throw the butter away, so he left a note with the manager, ‘I took your butter. If you want it back or a refund, leave your number with the store. I’ll check back in a week.”

Thirdy laughed so suddenly, he snorted his water. “Man, that note sounds ominous as hell.” He mumbled over the lip of his cup, “If you want the butter back, meet me in a dark alley around midnight.”

Tater licked his fingers, “So, you are a butter bandit. You dress like one.” “No.” Jack stated as he packed up the rest of his cookies. He did not look down at his yellow shoes. This wasn’t complicated. “I’m trying to compensate him for the butter. It was a simple mistake, the guy shouldn’t lose out because of it.”

And if he got to see the guy again, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. But he wasn’t going to say that part out loud to these guys.

But Tater had already zeroed in on the chink in Jack’s armor. “For shame, Jack. Holding butter hostage so that you can see that poor man again. He may have been baking for his grandmother or a classroom of children. You think of that? No, because you are a Butter Bandit. You steal his dreams.”

Jack threw up his hands while his teammates laughed at him. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”

A chorus of “NO” followed him out the door.

And true to their word, they didn’t let up during practice, the team lunch, and the chirping even showed up in a ‘Meet the Falconers’ segment that PR kept insisting that Jack participate in.

Tater held up his camera with his long arm and aimed it at Jack who was cutting his stick. “Jack needs a nickname, something that will stick. Maybe…”

He trailed off, and Thirdy picked it back up again, face completely innocent as he continued to tape his stick. “He’s so slick on the ice. Smooth even. Smooth like butter.”

Marty poked his head into the camera’s frame. “It’s true, and the way that he steals the puck on the ice, he’s like a bandit, he’s so fast.

The video cut off to the sounds of three grown men cracking up while Jack looked at the camera stone-faced and finished checking his equipment.

_/\_ Evenings off were so rare, that Jack appropriately hoarded and cherished them with a mild glee. After he begged off of a team dinner, he hit the grocery store to purchase a few snacks, some more eggs, and some flour for crepes. And, perhaps, maybe the butter guy had stopped in and left a message and Jack could at least satisfy his curiosity and cross off that lingering to-do item on his mental list.

With his hat pulled down low, he pushed his cart around the perimeter of the grocery store, finally ducking into the baking aisle to replenish his stash of flour, when he saw a shock of familiar blond hair crouched down looking at the two different brands of finishing sugar. He was squatting down flat on his flip-flop covered feet in a pair of joggers and a grey tank top with Samwell writes in red across his shoulders. He hadn’t looked up yet, and so Jack took a moment to confirm his initial assessment of the guy. He WAS unfairly attractive and Jack was staring. When the butter guy stood up, Jack shook himself from his stupor and in a fit of action he couldn’t even begin to explain to himself, fled the aisle. Without his cart.

Jack rubbed his hands over his face and gave himself a stern talking to. The bottles of artificial pancake syrup even appeared to be judging him. When he finally had enough of being a coward, he walked back into the baking aisle with renewed determination to wrap up this entire awkward exchange.

But of course, the butter guy and his cart were gone.

Jack shuffled over to his shopping cart and grabbed a sack of flour before realizing that he had the wrong cart. It looked similar, yogurt, a package from the butcher’s counter, whole milk, and eggs, but he hadn’t picked up blueberries, pickles or any wine. Momentarily confused, Jack startled when he heard a very quiet clearing of a throat behind him.

“Um, excuse me. But I think I stole your cart?”

Jack turned around and locked eyes with the brown eyes he had last seen in his car a week prior.

“I think I have your nine pounds of your butter.”

He was delighted in seeing the pink rush into the guy’s face from his neck and ears before he responded. “Hey, wait, I thought I had 10 pounds.”

“I used a pound - finders fee.” Jack said easily despite his sweaty palms.

They stood frozen, looking at each other, before Jack held out his hand, “I’m Jack. I apparently have a car similar to one of your friends?”

His hand was met with a warm firm handshake and a self-deprecating smile. “I’m Eric, and I need to look before I just hop into a stranger’s vehicle.”

“Probably for the best, eh? Not everyone is as nice as I am.”

Jack earned a full smile in return and it felt like a goal.

“Umm, I can return your butter. And your shopping sack - I mean, I don’t have it all right now. It’s in my refrigerator at home.”

Eric nodded. “Well, let me make it up to you. Can I buy you a burger as a thank you? You could have just tossed it or donated it. It was kind of you to try and get it back to me. Most people don’t usually need that much butter.”

The question must have flitted across his face because Eric merely laughed. “I work over at the University in the anthropology department, and I bake cupcakes, cookies, and pies on the side. I had a party order for that Sunday.”

“And I stole your butter?”

Eric waved his hand, “No! I broke into your car, dropped my butter and then it served me right that I had to go across town to buy 10 more pounds.”

Feeling bolder than he had all week, Jack removed his hat and pushed his hair back. “You know, if you don’t mind, I had all this extra butter I didn’t know what to do with, so I tried to make some cookies but they were kinda dry. It sounds like you might be able to help me perfect my recipe, yeah?”

Jack watched as Eric preened for a second, his eyes darting up at Jack’s face, trying to read something that Jack really hoped was he clearly projecting back at him. Eric, straightening his shirt, “I think I can do that.”

Jack beamed, “Okay, let’s wrap up here and grab that burger? Do you need a ride?”

Eric, ears still pink, “Yeah, I typically walk to the store. I don’t have a car right now.”

“That’s fine. Plus you are already familiar with mine.”

Eric groaned. “I walked right into that, didn’t I?”

“Just like you did to my car last week.” Jack chirped with a huge smile as Eric slapped his arm playfully.

“Ugh, you think you are so funny don’t you.”

And Jack didn’t know about that, but he did think he was pretty lucky.