#got an email today from the company i applied to and they said they chose ssomeone else

[izzymalec]

literally anything i plan gets cancelled i

[moonctzeny]

Work for it

Part II: Promotion

pairing: coworker! johnny x reader

other members as background characters: haechan as johnny’s assistant

genre: smut

warnings: explicit smut, semi-public sex, spit in mouth, pussy slapping, throatpie (omg I got so embarrassed writing this down)

word count: 5,792

summary: “One of your co-workers, the supervisor of the Sales Department John Suh, is arguably the hottest man you’ve seen in your life. You try to act on your crush but he is just plain oblivious to your efforts, but you won’t stop until your fantasies come true”

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

Work for you was living hell and no, it wasn’t for the normal reasons. You had a nice job as an intern in the Financial Department of a company, and with your hard work getting recognized, you were looking forward to being offered a permanent position soon.

Today was no different. You had made sure all your files were organized, calls made and deadlines in check. All you had left to do was look over a report in the office of none other but the man who was causing your suffering. Mr. Suh.

Mr. Suh, or Johnny as he insisted on being called, was the supervisor of the Sales Department but he didn’t let it get to his head. He was extremely friendly, willing to help his subordinates and brought a smile to everyone’s face. Working with him would be amazing if there wasn’t one little problem. He was the sexiest man you had ever seen.

Now, now, you weren’t some middle schooler. You came into this company committed to get the position you deserve, not beg for some man’s dick. But when he first welcomed you in the main elevator, tall height, hair pushed back and with a face of godly facial structure, you almost pressed the stop button so he could take you right then and there.

You brought some files along and ascended the stairs that lead you to his office on the top floor. It would be more convenient if Mr. Suh sent the report downstairs with his assistant and your best work buddy, Donghyuck, but you insisted on paying him a visit, saying something about how a little work out never hurt anyone.

When you saw Donghyuck at his desk, he didn’t even look up from his laptop, pointing at the door instead.

“Put your panties back on. He’s on the printing room”

You rolled your eyes at his comment, used to his teasing about your crush on mr. Suh and headed out for said room at the end of the hall. Johnny was hunched over a machine, shaking it from side to side.

You knocked lightly on the already open door to announce your presence, and he turned around, flashing you his killer smile.

“y/n, hello! I was just trying to get you a copy of the report, but the damn printer seems to be broken again.”

You tried to tell him that it’s okay, that you can use the printer from your floor downstairs, but then he bent over trying to locate the cause of the malfunction, giving you a perfect view of his ass in his fitted tracksuit. Rutting the machine around, he thrusted his hips forward, letting out the occasional grunt, and you took a mental picture for later. He must have shaken something a bit too hard, because ink started to spill out of the cartilage.

“Aww, it’s dripping everywhere”

He had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, and you couldn’t help but stare at how veiny and strong his arms looked as he pushed down. Your mind wandered off, imagining how nice it must feel to have him on top of you, applying this kind of pressure with his pretty hands around your neck as he-

“y/n? Are you ok?”

“Uh-um yes! Sorry Mr. Suh, it’s been a hard day”

It’s been your cute ass that made it hard for me to function around you was what you actually meant. He winked your way, and you were almost sure he did a double take on a skirt you wore that he had complimented before.

See, it’s not like you never thought of making a move on Johnny. You knew he was single, and he even told Donghyuck that he thought you were cute. Romantic relations between coworkers was not a rare thing, but the way everyone around here respected him made you nervous to approach him. No matter how many people fell for his charming personality and his visuals, he was never part of the company’s gossips and you knew the reason. The guy was denser than a brick wall.

You tried testing the waters with him, taking the light flirting a bit further, but he never seemed to catch the point. Maybe he was so used to getting this kind of attention that he dismissed your attempts as just friendly banter.

But you weren’t ready to give up.

“Sometimes I like coming here to relax. This place is usually so nice and quiet. It gives you privacy to do so many things”

What you said must have piqued his interest, since he gave up on the printer and turned his attention to you instead.

“Things, that the company wouldn’t approve of doing in here?”, he said in a lower voice than before and your throat felt dry when you answered him.

“Yeah. It’s just, we wouldn’t get caught in here, you know?”

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean”

He took two steps towards you before lowering down to whisper closer to you.

“I actually know a place that has even more privacy than this room. I usually go there alone, but it will be so much more fun with you”

Droplets of sweat had collected on his temples as a result of his physical activity earlier, making his words sound so much more enticing. He looked around, checking if anyone was standing in the hallway, before whispering again.

“This will be our little secret, ok?”

You swallowed hard and nodded, ready to get your world rocked by John Suh. He reached for something in his back pocket, but instead of a condom, he whipped out something you’d never expect.

A pack of cigarettes.

“I told everyone I’d quit but the stress gets too much sometimes, you know? I didn’t remember you smoke, though”

Oh my god. Oh my god, you were so stupid. All this time you thought you coaxed him into a steamy, clothes-on, ass on the printer quickie and he meant sneaking you out for a guilt-drenched cigarette break??!!

“Right! You didn’t remember that I smoke because.. because I don’t! ...Anymore. I mean, I quit, just like you. And you know what Mr. Suh, we shouldn’t succumb to the needs of the flesh! Fight back to our bad habits and get healthier! Together!”

He was frozen in place, dumbfounded by your sudden anti-smoking monologue.

“Wow y/n I didn’t know you were so serious about this. Very impressed by your spirit though.” He patted you on the back before picking up the report from the printer and getting to the door. “I’ll tell Donghyuck to print this for you and deliver it to your desk. Won’t take too long, alright?”

And just like that, he managed to leave you in the printing room alone, horny, and one report down.

 ——————————————————

 The next morning at the office was as typical as any other, with the difference that it was raining cats and dogs. The low that was centered over the area caused continuous storms, the rain and moody atmosphere making it impossible for you to keep your eyes open.

You headed over to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, already the second one of the day, when you saw a very familiar someone occupying the coffee machine.

“Mind if you make me a cup too Mr. Suh? I hear you make the best coffee in the office”

He chuckled at you, instantly recognizing your voice.

“It’s my pride. I do love coffee” After turning on the machine he looked at you finally, a serious look on his face. “Listen, y/n, about yesterday, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to drag you down with me like that. You were right about the cigarette thing. I’ll quit for good”

You blinked at him, trying to grasp the ridiculousness of the situation and feeling a bit sorry for guilting him like that.

“It’s ok Mr. Suh don’t worry about it. No big deal”

“Oh and, please, call me Johnny. You make me feel a thousand years old. I’m not that much older than you.”

“Yes Mr.- Johnny”

Just at that moment, a lightning struck, making you jump in place. You glanced at the window, or rather the stormy mess outside, and sighed.

“Chose the wrong day to forget my umbrella huh?”

“You want me to drop you off?”, he offered, immediately making you panic.

“No no! It’s okay. The metro station is really close. It’s fine if I get a little wet anyways, I won’t melt, I’m not made of sugar”

You cringed a bit at your nerve-induced blurting, but it would all be gone in a second.

“You’re sweet like sugar though”

He poured the now brewed coffee on both your cups and you just stared at his movements in shock. Did he just? Initiate the flirting? And called you sweet?

Ok, this is it, you thought.

“Do you like sugar?”, you asked him seductively, making your arms touch. You had to take advantage of this opportunity. The ride home suddenly didn’t sound like such a bad idea.  

“Oh no thanks I drink my coffee black”

Looking at the clock on the wall he picked up his cup and took a sip, striding out of the kitchen and leaving you speechless, much like yesterday.

“I’m late for a meeting. See you later, y/n”

You groaned as you watched him walk away, pouring an excessive amount of sugar in your drink.

“That’s not what I meant...”

 ———————————————————

 Meetings usually meant making sure you had enough battery on your phone to silently play your favorite game, while you heard some old guy in a suit blabber on and on about the most boring topic on earth. Usually you’d be complaining about why they just had to take away valuable time of your day to talk about an issue that could very easily be briefed in a mass email, but not today. Because today, the man of honor who got to do all the talking, was Johnny.

To anyone else, you looked like the most eager intern in the company, taking in every single word that came out his mouth. In reality, you were just immensely turned on by his fluent English, his new suit, and his ability to capture everyone’s attention. You had no idea what he was talking about, but you could listen to him talk all day about how “Results are important” and “Taking a more aggressive strategy is vital”.

A sudden noise made everyone turn to the exit door, only to see that it was just the cleaning lady that had dropped her bucket as she was going down the stairs. You felt Donghyuck, who was sitting next to you as always, nudge you with his knee.

“Oh look, she brought a mop for your drool, how nice of her”

“I’m not drooling”, you whispered back with a glare, shoving him with your elbow.

“Right”, he chuckled, “you’re ready to get on your knees for him right now”

It was really hard to get the picture that Donghyuck had painted out for you off your head for the rest of the meeting. You pathetically rubbed your thighs together to get the slightest feeling of relief, and tried to mute out Johnny’s sexy voice with no avail. When the meeting was finally over, you walked out of the meeting room along with everyone else, when you saw Johnny catch up with you.

“Hey y/n”

“Hi Johnny! Nice presentation up there”

He beamed up at your compliment and you wanted to coo at him for looking so cute. His aura changed a color when he replied to you, turning solemn.

“Thank you. Glad to see you’ve finally dropped the formalities with me”. I can drop my panties too if you want, you thought to yourself, but you only smiled at him when he managed to leave you speechless once again. “Is it wet?”

Wet? Fuck, was Donghyuck right? Were you really so caught up on eating Johnny up with your eyes that he noticed? That he realized you were so turned on by him? He saw your confused expression and tried to futilely explain.

“Is it wet? Down there?”

You were losing it. Was he really asking you that in front of all your coworkers? Your face couldn’t possibly get any hotter, feeling as if you were burning up with a high fever. You realized you hadn’t said a word back.

“E-excuse me?”

“Wasn’t the cleaning lady going downstairs earlier to mop? I figured you’d know if the floor was still wet. Since your office is on the bottom floor”

Get your mind out of the gutter, y/n. Quick, say something already! Stop staring at him like a lost puppy!

“Uhh no I don’t know actually. I’m sorry, I have to go”

You turned swiftly on your heel to walk away from him, and save yourself from any further embarrassment.

If Donghyuck was here to witness this, you’d never get to hear the end of his teasing.

 ———————————————————

 You didn’t expect an email like that from the Sales Department. You were at your desk, minding your business when you got the notification, almost choking on the gum you were chewing on.

 y/n,

I have something very confidential to show you in my office. I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. Bring your sexy ass over here at 16:00 sharp.

Johnny Suh

 You must have re-read those 30 words about a thousand times to ensure you weren’t making things up. You freshened up your makeup, thanking the gods of sex that you decided to wear cute underwear this morning. All the things you were daydreaming about since your first meetup at the main elevator, were finally about to happen. Fidgeting around in your seat, you felt yourself getting wetter thinking of all the nasty things Mr. Suh was planning on doing to you in his office.

It was 16:25 when you walked up the stairs, not brave enough to make a man like Johnny wait. All his assistants were gone, probably send off somewhere to avoid having them hear your little unprofessional tête-à-tête.

You walked into his office, the door slightly open. He was sat on his chair, the back turned to you and you started to feel nervous. You didn’t notice he had changed his hair. And wasn’t he wearing a different suit this morning?

“Um Johnny? You asked to see me?”

He tsked at you, turning around.

“16:28? I thought you had more of a backbone than that, y/n. Also thought you’d come in here naked. Disappointing.”

The smug smile, the teasing voice. Donghyuck.

“The email was fake wasn’t it?”

“Luckily for you, yes, I was the one who sent it. I mean, seriously. This ugly brown suit for a dick appointment with Mr. Suh?”

When you graduated university with honors, you didn’t think you’d one day be charged with the murder of a company’s assistant. But right at his moment, as you grabbed the stapler from the desk and walked over to him ominously, you thought it was all worth it.

“Lee Donghyuck, after I’m done with you the only dick appointment you’ll make is with the ER doctor, to get these staples off your balls”

He got up, panicking, and started to back away from you.

“Somebody save me, please, mom!”

You were ready to grab him by his tie and fulfill your threat, when you heard someone clear his throat at the door. And this time it was the real Mr. Suh.

He had his arms crossed, a smile appearing on his face as you shoved your friend away and immediately dropped the stapler from your hold.

“You know, you two are always wasting time over here, messing around. Maybe I should punish you”

Oh god yes, please do.

It was Donghyuck’s deadpan expression that made you realize that you had actually said that out loud. Johnny raised his eyebrows incredulously.

“Oh, so you want the overtime?”

“S-sure why not? Not like I have anything better to do on a Friday night”

Your friend rubbed his palm over his face, cringing at the situation you got yourself in.

“Please, stop talking, I beg of you”, he murmured, when Johnny spoke up again.

“Well in that case, will you leave me and y/n alone to discuss some details?”

Donghyuck nodded, closing the door behind him and it seemed like he took all the oxygen along with him.

Johnny sat on his desk, whipping out some files for you. It might sound stupid, but the email, though fake, had put you in a certain mood, and having him sit so close to you wasn’t helping your situation.

“I will only give you the run down but please ask the supervisor in your department to explain further”

You tried listening to him talk about your overtime, you really did. But the way he was sitting on his armchair with his legs spread out, was practically begging you to do what Donghyuck had suggested yesterday and get on your knees already. You’d tell him to continue his work, challenge him to try and keep typing on his laptop as you’d palm him through his slacks. You’d wait for him to get a bit impatient, licking him over his clothed cock until it felt like it would rip from the fabric. He was definitely big, and you wondered whether you could take him. You’d put him in your hand and start sucking on the tip, then lick your way down to his base. Maybe he would have to take a call, and you would make it a goal to distract him by fitting him all inside your mouth, hitting the back of your throat. His little office slut.

“y/n. Get under the desk. Right now.”

His voice brought you out of your daydream but his words triggered another one. It felt like the world around you was shaking. Did he just ask you to get on your knees under the table? Could he read your thoughts? “y/n can’t you feel the earthquake? Get under the desk”

When you realized what was happening, you wished that the earth would just swallow you whole already, taking away the embarrassment with you.

Donghyuck met you outside. He had evacuated the building along with everyone else, happy that the small earthquake got them an extra five minutes of break.

“Did Mr. Suh pick you up in his strong arms like your knight in shining armor and save you?”

“Don’t talk to me I’m still mad at you”

He turned you around to face him, his lips pouting at you cutely and it was really hard to resist his doe eyes.

“I’m sowwyy I was just trying to help you out!”

“Help me out with what?”, you sighed, tuckered out, “he clearly doesn’t want anything more with me”

“Oh yeah? Is that why he hasn’t stopped checking out your ass ever since you left the building with him?”

You turn your head to Johnny’s direction, just in time to see his eyes shift from you and Hyuck to the floor. Maybe your friend was right. Did Johnny actually like you after all but was really just that oblivious to your crush?

“All I’m saying is”, he continues, “that you need to be clearer with him. He is the supervisor of another department than yours, he obviously won’t act out anything unless you give him the green light”

You nodded at him, a feeling of determination coursing through you. His words reverberated in your head until break time, planning out your seduction. You knew that there was no way you would be able to concentrate at work unless you gave it a shot with Johnny, even if it goes terribly wrong. Tomorrow, you promised yourself.

 ——————————————————

 And tomorrow did come, finding you right outside his office door. Taking long, confident strides, you walk past Donghyuck who for once, was speechless, eyes widening at your appearance.

Johnny’s favorite skirt hug your hips, garters barely peeking under it. Your shirt was a bit tighter than usual, an extra button undone, revealing your cleavage. The room was filled with the clicking sound of your high heels, that were as uncomfortable as they were sexy. It was barely considered work appropriate but you didn’t care. You hoped you’d manage to at least grab his attention, then let your talking do the rest.

Taking a deep breath, you knock at the door, slowly opening it. Johnny was typing away something, looking delicious as always. Your voice was way more sensual than you’d usually let it be in the workplace.

“Johnnyy~, good morning. I’m here for that file I need?”

He had his eyes still glued on the laptop in front of him, his tone as bright as ever.

“y/n! I would send Donghyuck over you didn’t have to- “

He finally looks at you, his eyes quickly moving from your chest to your skirt, only to stay for a bit longer on your legs. He seemed a bit taken aback, his breath hitching in his throat but he shakes his head lightly, regaining his stature.

“-you didn’t have to come all the way up here”

“I know”, you mewl, picking up a pen from his desk and clicking it closed, letting the tip rest on your bottom lip, “I just missed you”

You saw him stare at your mouth before he cleared his throat, coolly sitting back on his chair.

“I think you’ll take this back when you stay for your overtime tonight”, he laughed, too friendly for your liking.

“No, no. I would never get tired of you, Johnny. Besides, I have a great stamina”

“That’s good! Being mentally strong is very important in this business”

Ugh, take a hint already!

“Well, yeah, but physical strength is important too. You know, I’ve followed your footsteps and started working out. I can go on for hours”

His eyebrows lifted up at your statement, “Yeah? And you followed my footsteps?”

“Well, everyone in the office has noticed you’ve been hitting the gym lately, especially me. Maybe, you could show me some of your workout exercises later?”

He stayed silent for a moment, like he was contemplating his answer and you swore you saw the faintest blush on his cheeks. His answer, however, would disappoint you.

“I was thinking of organizing an online group aerobics class, actually. I think Yuta from my department might be interested in hosting it”

The feeling of defeat was written all over your face. You were done. Smiling politely, you told him it sounded like a nice idea and asked for the file. You felt so angry at yourself for listening to Hyuck’s advice, every painful jab your heels gave your feet seeming deserving.

Donghyuck saw you leaving the room and would follow you to comfort you but he fully understood your frustration. Since you left the door open, he had witnessed everything, and boy was he furious.

He barged into Johnny’s office unannounced, scowling at him. Boss or not, he had to give him a piece of his mind.

“Are you seriously that blind?”

Johnny blinked at him, surprised at his unexpected appearance.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you seriously telling me you didn’t get that y/n was flirting with you?”

“R-right now?”

Donghyuck licked his cheek with his tongue, getting gradually more and more frustrated. “Yes! Right now! The hottest woman in the office was basically throwing herself all over you and you didn’t even ask her out?”

Johnny was shocked, fumbling for an answer, “I thought- I thought she was just being nice”

“Nice??”, the younger man screeched then took a deep breath to calm down, placing both his hands on his boss’s desk.

“With all due respect dude, but either you fuck her, or I will”

 ———————————————————

 Nothing could make the horrible feeling you felt from your embarrassing incident earlier worse right? Wrong. Because it was Friday and you still had to go through with that overtime you had stupidly agreed with.

All your coworkers from your floor were gone, no one crazy enough to willingly work on a Friday night. You saw them all leave one by one, internally cursing them for their luck. The office was especially hot tonight and you were suddenly glad for choosing that skimpy outfit to wear today, even if it didn’t fulfill its original purpose.

In your deep concentration over the files scattered on your desk, you almost didn’t notice the shadow next to your office’s door. You could recognize these broad shoulders from miles away.

“Johnny, you didn’t go home yet?”

“I’ll leave soon, just wanted to give you some tips your supervisor noted for the work you’ll do tonight”

He smiled warmly at you, but his eyes held something you hadn’t seen before. Slyness, mischief maybe? You didn’t have much time to think about it anyways, because in a moment he was standing over you, next to your desk.

“You see, the loss of this week’s sales…”, he started, lifting the sleeves of his shirt up and revealing his veiny arms that you so adored, “...it’s much bigger than you think”

You gulped, your throat suddenly dry. His voice was deep, seductive, eyes staring right into yours.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Yes. Doing all this paperwork, it’s very… hard. And it’s so hot in here, right?”

He kept his gaze on you, loosening the tie he wore around his neck. Was this your mind playing games with you again? You weren’t sure but he looked so good you couldn’t help your body from responding to him.

You got up from your seat, resting the side of your ass on the desk to be closer to his height. “If I got it right, you suggest that maybe you need to stay around for a bit? Help me out?”

He nodded, coming closer to you. You couldn’t stop gawking at the way his chest filled up his shirt so nicely, not caring if you were being obvious anymore. He was standing almost between your legs, and you could feel his breath fanning your face.

“It’s going to be tiring, but if you follow my orders you’ll get to finish. Think you can take it?”

Was it his suggestive words or his plump lips that made you feel so lightheaded? Either way, you wanted to dive in, to finally taste him. But you just had to ask.

“Johnny?”

“That’s my name”

“We aren’t talking about finance, are we?”

He stepped even closer, situating himself between your thighs that you gladly opened for him.

“Fuck no”

The way your hands grabbed him by the neck and pulled him into a kiss, was almost animalistic. Johnny kissed you back with almighty force, open mouthed and breathing heavily. With the dominance that characterized him and a bite on your bottom lip, he pulls you up on your feet by the ID that was hanging from your neck. He tasted like smoke and mint gum.

“I thought you’d quit smoking?”

You felt his right hand grab your throat and he broke the kiss, forcing you to look at him. It wasn’t the pressure to your air flow but his eyes that had you on edge. The usual golden flecks adorning his orbs were hidden behind his dilated pupils. “I’m just a man. There are some things I can’t resist”. He dipped his tongue into your mouth, making you feel like you’re in a fever dream with the way all your fantasies were coming to life. “Open up”, he growled against your lips and you obey like you promised to. He spit in your mouth, in a manner so dirty it had your knees shaking.

You started unbuttoning his shirt, wanting to see more of him. Starting with running your hands over his raging heartbeat, you continue down his abs and end up fumbling with his belt. Johnny helped you, springing out his cock and, damn, he may be half hard but that was the biggest dick you’d ever seen in your life.

He chuckles at your widened eyes but instead of making some cocky remark like you expected he leans down, leaving soothing kisses on your jaw. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you”. He continued his kisses to your neck, all the while unbuttoning your shirt. Leaving it on you, he pulls your boobs over your bra and starts playing with your nipples. The tingling on your breasts was tightly linked it the one on your heat and you decided you needed more.

You took his fingers from your chest and placed them between your folds. Johnny cursed out with how wet you were for him, and started rubbing circles over your clit, occasionally dipping the tips in your entrance. He kept at it, relishing in your moans and he would have ripped his tight little skirt off of you if you were in his bedroom. The build up sexual tension along with the semi-public setting made you close to losing yourself in him. You just needed a push, and Johnny was more than happy to give it to you.

“You’re gonna cum for me. That’s what you wanted wasn’t it? Why you got all dressed up like that?”

“Yes, for you, fuck Johnny”

“Come on, let it all out. Cum so I can fuck the hell out of this tight pussy of yours”

You came all over his fingers, grabbing his arms for support. He gave you a moment, wiping the tears off the corners of your eyes while kissed you slowly. When you started kissing him back with a refuelled passion, signalling that you were ready for what he had to offer, he was back, rougher than ever.

He petted your pussy, collecting your wetness and spreading it all over your folds. You jumped up when you felt him slap over your clit, the lines between pain and pleasure from the overstimulation blurry.

You knew Johnny was strong, but the easiness with which he lifted you from the desk onto your armchair shocked you. Spreading your knees as wide as the cushioned seat allowed you, you stuck your ass out for him. He gave your ass a little slap while you waited for him to slip on a condom. He came prepared, you thought, probably planned on doing this from the moment he stepped into your office.

Johnny filled you up completely, your hypersensitivity making you feel his thickness in all its glory. He started off slow, careful of your tightness, but as he picked up the pace, your vision was all stars and constellations of pleasure. You must have moaned too loudly, because he stopped his thrusts and, in a moment, you felt him shove his tie inside your mouth.

“There’s still some people in the building, remember? Or do you like my cock so much that you don’t even care if they hear?”. You couldn’t muster an answer so you just kept drooling through the fabric your teeth bit into. Your pussy was dripping onto the leather, your wetness allowing Johnny to sink even deeper inside you. The feeling was so overwhelming that you opened your mouth wide in a moan, almost dropping his tie in the process.

You reached out your hand behind you to grab one of his arms in desperation. “I’m so close, so close, don’t stop”. He stared back at you with a crazy look on his face, and pinned your hand back on the headrest in front of you. Lifting one of your legs in the air, he starts fucking you so rough you thought the chair was going to break.

Your second orgasm hit you hard, your trembling body making it clear his size got too much for you. But there was no way you’d let him leave this office without cumming.

You climb down from the chair and got on your knees in front of him. Grasping his cock from the base, you started leaving open mouthed kisses on his balls first. You suck one in your mouth and glance up at him with the most innocent look you could muster, the contrast to your actions driving him insane. Johnny leans his weight on his hands positioned on your desk, letting you work your magic.

Returning on his tip, you ran your tongue in kitten licks on the slit, teasing him. An eyebrow raise from him compelled you to behave, pushing him all the way down at once. It was almost as if you pressed a button at the end of your throat with the way it triggered a guttural moan from him. He weaves one hand through your hair to keep you in place for a second longer and you gag. His dick pulls out, and the string of saliva falls over your white shirt making the fabric look see through. The sight of your lipstick on him, your watery doe eyes and your nipples poking through your now wet shirt was divine. He pushed past your lips again, and this time you made a good use of your tongue. You quicken your pace, his shaky groans and sharp gasps letting you know he was nearing his release.

Grabbing both his flexed thighs, you concentrate your breathing though your nose and deepthroat him again. Johnny growls, hips stuttering and eyes fluttered closed in delight. Warm liquid runs down your throat, almost choking you, but you take it all, relishing in his grunts and the way he moans your name.

After you catch your breath he bends down, planting a gentle kiss on your lips and offers a hand to help you up. You buttoned up in an awkward silence, not exactly sure what should be said after a session like that in a place like this.

“So, I’m guessing Donghyuck told you about my little crush on you?”

“Yup. You should thank him”. He smiles at you sweetly, pinching your cheek lightly and then moving his thumb in circles over the skin. “You also should have told me”

You rolled your eyes, “Not like I haven’t tried to! How much more obvious did I have to be?”

“I’m sorry! It’s just- you’re so pretty and I didn’t wanna be another one of the creepy guys that probably hit on you in the workplace”

Smiling at his thoughtfulness, you chose to forgive him and reached up for another kiss. He engulfs you with his long arms, and you push some hair off his eyes, admiring their softness.

“How about, I let you finish up here and we go for dinner after you’re done?”

“I’m not sure how I’m gonna concentrate after what we did”

“I’ll cover for you, but I can’t promise you that I’ll stop myself from distracting you”

[rjhpandapaws]

Strictly Professional Feelings

Ch 1: Midlife Change of Pace

There was a list of things Hank assumed he would do once his midlife crisis hit; going back to working a desk job wasn’t one of them. Cole had left for university and the empty house was starting to get to him. A bad case with the DPD a few years back had sent him into an early retirement and now that Cole was out of the house boredom was starting to set in. Not quite the best word for it, but it was the one he chose to use. It sounded better than stir crazy. He had applied to a few places, he needed something to keep him busy that wouldn’t fuck with his injuries. Arkait Medical Enterprises had been the one to respond. It was an office job in the business division, the pay was good and he would have full benefits. It wasn’t too far from the house which was an added bonus, less of his paycheck would be going into his gas tank. He hadn’t worked an office job since his college days, but he was relatively sure the biggest changes would be in the computers themselves. He was probably working for some guy his age that had gotten a lucky break. He would be surrounded by people in their thirties, maybe their forties, but he wouldn’t get his hopes up for that. The usual pecking order was probably still in place, so he would probably be the coffee runner until some unlucky intern was added to the team. He started work on Monday, so he had four days to figure out if he had office clothes. Perks of being a plain clothes detective he supposed.

Four days turned out not to be as much time as he had hoped. He went shopping and bought a few shirts that weren’t as loud as his usual choices and dark jeans. There was no amount of money that could get him into a pair of slacks. Sunday night he did what he could to calm his nerves, short of drinking of course, he didn’t want to be hungover at work tomorrow. Soberly calming his nerves amounted to relaxing with Sumo on the couch. He didn’t normally let the massive dog up on the couch, but tonight was an exception. Monday found him awake before his alarm. He knew he wouldn’t be getting a back to sleep so he rolled out of bade to start the coffee machine and then shower. The one nice thing about Cole being away at university was that he didn’t have to mind his volume all that much. There was no one else here to wake up. Hank took a quick a shower and then got dressed. He decided on glasses since he would be staring at a computer all day and tied his hair back in a loose ponytail to keep it out of his face. he scrolled through the news on his phone while he drank his coffee. He fed Sumo and then left a little earlier than he probably needed to but he wanted to miss the worst of the traffic. This was Detroit after all. The one thing you could count on was that there was going to be traffic, you either left early enough to miss it or you were going to be late. Hank was hoping for the former.

He made it to the office early enough to find a decent place to park. He got out and headed for the building, he had a guest code to use for today. He had a meeting with someone named Connor to get his ID card and such today then he’d be able to work. He has prior office experience, so it would only be a matter of learning his way around the programs they used. That shouldn’t take long, he wasn’t the best with technology, but he was a quick learner. He stepped inside and Stephanie, the receptionist from his interview day waved at him, “It’s good to see you again Hank. Mr. Arkait is in his office on the seventeenth floor. he should be ready for you, so head on up. Have a good day.” “You too Stephanie.” She waved to him as he headed for the bank of elevators. He wondered what Mr. Arkait was like. Those business types tended to be snobbish, or if they were younger, a bit odd. He hit the up button and waited. he supposed he would rather someone like Elijah Kamski, eccentric and somewhat self absorbed, but oddly pleasant. The elevator to his left was the one that opened he walked inside and hit the button for the seventeenth floor. He was on his own until the sixth floor when he was joined by a green eyed brunette who looked like he hadn’t slept a day in his life. He was in business clothes under a hoodie that had seen better days. He hit the button for the eleventh floor.

“You up to see Connor?” The man asked gruffly, “Tell him that twin brother of his is an asshole.” Hank raised an eyebrow but nodded, “If I get the chance I will.” He said with absolutely no intent to do so, “Who should I say is sending the message?” “He’ll know.” The man gruffed again before going quiet and scrolling through his phone. Hank leaned against the wall and did the same. He had no plans of giving Connor the message, he didn’t want to lose his job on the first day of it. Silence floated in the elevator until it chimed for the stranger’s floor. He left without a word and Hank was on his own for the rest of the ride. The elevator chimed for his floor and he put his phone away before he stepped out. He was in a hallway, to the right of him was a conference with glass walls, and on his right was a standard wall with a couple of unmarked doors and your usual scenery paintings. He continued down the hall, he was looking for an office and so far he hadn’t come across one yet. At the end of the hall he found what he was looking for. A closed door with Connor Arkait in plain white script on the outside. This was what he was looking for so he raised his hand and knocked firmly three times.

Hank had assumed ha knew what would be waiting for him on the other side of the door. The bright eyed, curly haired thirty something wasn’t what he had in mind. He was pretty attractive and Hank hadn’t been ready for that. He smiled pleasantly and beckoned him inside, Hank followed without giving it much thought. He was talking on the phone. “Look, Silas, I’ll try and talk to Gavin about not drinking so close to his computer; but your issue kind of lies with Richard. He’s the one that brings him all that coffee.” He sighed quietly, but it was very clear that it was a noise of frustration, “Hank is here, if it’s bothering you this much, you can come up when the meeting is done and we can try and figure something out.” Whatever his companion had said was satisfactory enough because he nodded and hung up before turning the rest of his attention toward Hank. He wasn’t ready to bear the the full wait of those deep brown eyes and did what he could to collect himself. “Sorry about that,” The brunette said as he held his hand out, “My name is Connor, it’s a pleasure to meet you Lieutenant.” “Just Hank is fine. My Lieutenant days are behind me now.” He said as he shook Connor’s hand. Connor gave him another friendly smile and gestured for him to take a seat. Once they were both seated Connor looked through the files on his desk until he came away with what he was looking for. A key card on a lanyard and a name tag that had a magnetic bar along the back of it. “Alright Hank.” He said as he handed them over. “These will get you into the building anytime. They both do the same things so just carry whichever one is easiest.”

Hank nodded as he took them from Connor. He stuck them in his jacket pocket for safe keeping, “Thanks.” Connor nodded and moved on, “You’re on the business office which is on the eleventh floor. You’re in an office rather than the bull pen, so hang a left once you leave the elevator. You’ll be the last door on the right.” Hank nodded along as Connor spoke, “They’ll have the name plate on your door by tomorrow. Silas should be down to help you with your computer in a half hour at most. Any questions?” Hank had a few. Mostly along the lines of how someone who couldn’t be any older than thirty-five at best was the spearhead of a medical company that was rivaled only by CyberLife; but he had the feeling Connor wouldn’t like that. He shook his head,��“I’m good, thanks.” “Alright,” Connor said with a nod. “I’m just a call, email, or elevator ride away if you have any questions.” Hank nodded as he stood and made his way for the door, “Thanks for your time Connor.” “No problem Hank.” He got back to work as Hank left. He made his way back toward the bank of elevators again. He was one of three supervisors for the business floor. It would be a nice change of pace. He felt odd, he would be in charge of a group of people he hadn’t met. It didn’t feel like something he had earned, more like he had been slid into a place that wasn’t his. It  would pass soon enough.

The elevator to the far left of the bank opened up just when he was about to press the call button. Two near identical copies of Connor stepped out of it. He found it safe to assume that one of them was Silas, though Hank didn’t have enough confidence to venture a guess as to which one he was. He gave a polite nod as he passed and both of them returned it. He stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the eleventh floor. He figured he could get settled in and then make introductions if he remembered. Computers tended to give him trouble. He didn’t get any company on his ride down. Once he was on the right floor he made his way to his office. He didn’t have that much in the way of things to put on his desk yet. He would bring his bonsai tree tomorrow unless he forgot, and pictures of Cole and Sumo. Just some things to make it a little more comfortable. There wasn’t much for him to do until Silas came down so he opened the messages on his phone to see if he had anything from Cole. He had received several pictures from around the campus, but not much else. He sent back a picture of his office. It was maybe fifteen minutes later when there was a series of rapid knocks at his office door. He stood stiffly, he would need to make some adjustments to that chair, and opened the door. On the other side was one of the doppelgängers from the elevator. Hank stepped out of the way so he could come in. “You’re Hank right?” The Not-Connor asked as he stepped into the elevator.

“You’re Silas I’m guessing.” He responded trying his best to keep out of the way. Silas smiled, “You’re one of the few that can tell us apart?” “I’ll be honest with you, its only because I met with Connor this morning, and he wasn’t wearing glasses.” Hank admitted, “If I were to pass any of you in the hall way I don’t think I would be able to.” Silas laughed as he made his way to the desk, “I’ll take that. Now let’s get you set up. I’ll run you through the programs if you need it, but they’re pretty similar to Microsoft.” “I think I’ll be alright then.” He said as he came to stand beside Silas. “If you need anything I am down on floor six or you can email me.” He woke up the computer and then made room for Hank at the desk, “Your username is just your work email and your temporary password is the number on the back of your nametag. Once you’re logged in feel free to change your password.” Hank nodded and signed himself in. After he had changed his password Silas gave him a quick run through of the programs, it turned out they were a little more different than he had been expecting do he appreciated the help/ Which ones did what, the ones he would use the most, and how to fix common problems. He even wrote the fixes down and put the sticky note on the bottom right corner of his monitor. “That should be everything.” Silas said as he stood up and stretched. “Thanks Silas.” He said as the brunette left. He got a wave in return.

Other than the stranger in the elevator, everyone he had met so far had seemed nice enough. It was definitely a change of pace from the station, less chaotic, and a corner office was better than retirement. It was just a matter of adjusting.

[tekka-dan]

How I managed to play the fuck out of my boss and shitty job with a twinge of salt:

Basically here’s what happened: I got my second formal write up for blamings the company needed to pin on somebody. And who else to chose other than the hardest working employee whose never complained, called in or made a fuss about anything?

With that being the case I raised my voice in that meeting to make sure the witness heard my grievances with my manager as well. When she started taking notes, so did I.

I’m not about to be bitten and not bite back. I’ll do it with class though.

First and foremost let me break down what my job / title is.

I am receptionist. I answer the phones, I schedule appoints, I manage co workers, clients and doctors all while dealing with emails, a digital work list, checking in and out patients, filling prescriptions and other duties that apply.

That’s not a lot but for some people it is. I love being productive and I love showing I’m a reliable and capable worker, with rarely anyone complaints.

My managers first grievance with me:

1. I answer the phone too quickly.

My rebuttal to this to her [and the witness] was:

“I understand that it’s within my job duty to answer the phone timely and efficiently, as that’s apart of my daily routine and I do it consistently.”

Her response was:

“It’s just that you don’t give your co workers the chance to step up. Perhaps if you stop answering the phone, you could do your other duties better.”

My response:

“You’re right. The times which your pointed out I’ve made mistakes I can tell you when they happen. When I work with [co workers name] I notice they aren’t as efficient and aren’t willing to do tasks as quickly as me. So this means when doctors come to us with orders and they approach her and she turns them away, they basically have no one else to come to except me, the only other person on the floor. And I’m also busy. However I take what they give me as priority because that’s also apart of my duties and in turn I have to sideline my other duties.”

Notice how I didn’t blame shift. My manager gave me a grievance and an issue to which I explained why those issues happen and how she could step up as manager to fix them. Instead she says this:

“You could always talk to that person who you’re finding it difficult to work with.”

My manager whose entire job is to manage just told me basically deal with my issues of another person on my own.

2. She pins the blame of something on me that had nothing to do with me.

A client communicated he was going to drop off a stool sample at a certain time. I recorded that in the file and informed my co workers. I had an early leave this day so I made sure the others knew. The client did proceed to come in after my departure and left the sample. I come in the next day and the blame falls onto me why the client was never notified about the results and why the cost of the sample wasn’t collected at drop off.

My manager:

“We noticed that you documented [clients name] was going to drop off at a certain time and to collect payment. However he was never told the results of the sample and payment was never collected. Why is that?”

My response was:

“So you’re telling me it’s my fault the results were relayed to the owner and the payment wasn’t collected at the time of drop off when I wasn’t here?”

My manager:

“I’m just trying to follow up on who dropped the ball and the starting person was you.”

My response:

“I fail to understand my fault here. I need more understanding otherwise this sounds like you’re just trying to pin the blame on me. Is there anything else you have a complaint about?”

So the resolve of that matter was basically bevause the other co worker was off that day, it needed to be put on someone and that someone needed to be me. Despite the fact I was literally not physically present when the aftermath happened and it was still something they tried blaming me for.

3. My manager told me I filled a medication wrong and at check out the client was angry about it.

So apart of my duties is filling medications and preventions for dogs and cats daily. I do this while doing other tasks too. Sometimes things get a little flustered but I try keeping my cool during these times.

A client requested a refill on her dogs prevention through email. I got the request, noticed in our system the dog was 9.8lbs. So I filled the prevention for 0-10lbs because that’s where he’s classified. I then notified the owner back through email what size and how many I pulled aside for her pet.

I wasn’t present when she picked it up but my manager was. Apparently the woman wanted the 10lbs+ range and she was aggravated she did not have it.

My manger to me:

“So you filled the prescription wrong because her pet was 9.8lbs and you filled up to 10lbs when she wanted the 10lb and over.”

My response:

“Are you telling me that because I filled a prescription for a pet in our system for the appropriate weight range, but the owner wanting the higher dose at check out without previous knowledge, that I filled it wrong? That I didn’t follow protocol? Please help me understand that.”

My manager:

“Yes. The owner requested the higher dose at check out and because you filled the size she didn’t want, it was wrong.”

My response:

“Where was it notated that we still the higher dose for her? Where could I have found that information?”

My manager:

“Well it was only at check out, so I’m not sure if I can answer your question properly.”

At this point the witness said nothing and the witness isn’t anyone I even work directly with so it’s not like she could back me up or say anything substantial. At this point however I realized what this was and I retained my sense of ease and just sighed heavily as she went over correction coaching with me.

I signed the papers but it’s taking every ounce in me to not have dishes her my two weeks right then and there.

Why? Because I need this job while I await my approval for an apartment. I need to not let my emotions take over.

However, I didn’t leave without giving her a peace of my mind.

Me to my manager:

“Can I offer some constructive feed back?”

Manager:

“Sure.”

My last retort:

“I just think it’s funny how you only ever have a problem with me. These same things you’ve gone over with me here I have seen the others make the same mistakes and never once have they been corrected or reprimanded. In fact this write up is my second one for mistakes that weren’t my fault and I recall the first being the same way. Now I’m going to add some tips for you: you’re accusing a great and solid worker of things that make blatantly no sense and when I give you rebuttals you offer no reprieve about how YOU as a manager are going to handle it, instead all you do is shift blame. You asked me how are these things going to be fixed and where the issue was and I told you and you offered no evidence you’re going to make sure I succeed in my position any further. I understand why we are here today but I’m not going to sign these papers. In fact I’m going to ponder if I want to continue having a future with this company on my own time. Until you can follow up with actions to help me succeed then I’m afraid my two weeks is effective immediately. Also, I’ll be writing a review for your manager to follow up on your duties that you’ve severely lacked in since I’ve started here May 8th, 2020. I hope you have a great rest of your day, I’ll return on Friday with hopefully some follow up answers.”

Anyway I am searching for a new job but I hate that they made me feel like total shit at this one and I don’t deserve that treatment.

I also wholeheartedly believe it’s race induced considering I’m the only black worker and I’m the only one she has issues with. She raises her voice with me, says things in a demeaning or condescending way and I was raised to basically not act of character and so my response was always “Alright, I’ll make sure to work on that for next time. Thanks for the insight.” And she would get hella angry about that.

Like bitch you’re coming at me sideways and I handle it with grace and it makes you mad? Go kick rocks.

Anyway I wanted to vent. Now I’m going to take a walk, apply for new jobs and check in on the apartment status. I still have a life to live and losing shit job won’t stop me from living it.

[girlmeetsliv3]

Killing Me Softly: I

Sugardaddy!BTS x reader

They were beloved. The very ground they walked on worshiped. It had been that way since before you were born and it would remain that way even after your choice. Decisions decisions, it would decide your future. But why choose one when you could choose them all? If you chose none, well... that wasn’t a decision you could make.

AN: This is for the person who requested an ot7 sugar daddy story where bts are yandere. Sorry, it took so long, but this ended up being a three-part story. Hope everyone enjoys it!

Trigger Warning: The following story contains mentions of manipulation, abuse, and vivid descriptions of abusive acts. The behavior and mindset of the characters in this will be incredibly yandere and toxic. This is a work of fiction and doesn’t represent the character of bangtan sonyeondan. Enjoy ~~~

Word Count: 7,115

     killingmesoftlywithhislove    

Dear Ms. [Y/l/n]

               We regret to inform you that your application has been denied. Unfortunately, you do not have the qualities or qualifications necessary to work as a crew member under McDonalds’ incorporated Inc. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Have a nice day.

Now, you weren’t conceited enough to think that it was impossible for your job application to be denied. You understood when you graduated university that finding employment would be difficult, but you also weren’t dense enough not to notice a pattern. This had been your tenth application and the same thing would always happen: you’d apply, they interview you, be ecstatic to hire you, and in under forty-eight hours you would receive a polite email where they would tell inform you that you didn’t have the ‘qualifications’ or ‘didn’t fit their image.’ You had done an internship at a top-notch telecommunications company, graduated in three years, and were in the top one percentile. How were you not qualified to flip burgers at McDonald's?! A deep sigh left your body as you pressed your forehead against the kitchen table, trying to calm yourself down. “Bad news again?” Sihyeon said exiting the bathroom, her hair perfectly styled into soft waves and a tight purple cocktail dress adorning her figure. “It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would I keep getting rejected? Is there something I’m not seeing?” You were exasperated and couldn’t help the tears that came to your eyes.

           You wanted independence and to maintain yourself. Here you go…Sure you knew being an adult wasn’t easy and despite how naïve they called you, the struggle was always part of the journey. Despite this, it felt like there was something you were missing as if someone was playing a cruel joke on you. “You could always call them,” Sihyeon remarked as she put on her heels. “No. Absolutely not. I haven’t stooped that low.” Your roommate sighed and walked over to where you were sitting, leaning over the chair and giving you a back hug. “You don’t have to start again, but maybe just ask them for advice. Or at least talk to Hoseok. He always knows what to do.” Sihyeon was just trying to help, had she known everything she would have never suggested you go back. She might have even prohibited it. Her not knowing was for her own safety though and for it not to affect her relationship with her ‘clients’ as she called them. “Maybe, I don’t know. Hurry up you don’t want to be late.” There was fear in your eyes and Sihyeon noticed but being the friend, she is she merely kissed your cheek and promised to text you when she arrived and left. It didn’t matter, Sihyeon wouldn’t come home tonight but it was a matter of precaution. Being a sugar baby was a dangerous profession at times and you, unfortunately, found that out far too late.

           You stared at your phone intensely, the face reflecting back being one of fear but desperation. Maybe she’s right. I just have to text one of them and ask for advice, the others won’t find out and I’ll go on merrily. It couldn’t be Hoseok though, he had been the first one you met and the one you had been the most hurt by. Seokjin was a better option: he was more rational and arguably the one you had spent the least amount of time with. Yes, Seokjin is the better option. Grabbing your phone, you opened the messaging app and pressed create a new message. When you found his contact, you hovered slightly over it, debating whether this was the right choice or not. Seokjin wasn’t fond of texting and preferred talking, saying there was far too much room for misinterpretation through text. You weren’t sure you could hold a conversation with him, but maybe leaving a voice mail might not hurt. So, you pressed the green phone icon and waited until the ringing echoed, it was funny how you knew exactly when he would pick up: always on the fifth ring. “Kim Seokjin speaking.” Fuck. “Hi, it’s [Y/n] [Y/l/n], I’m sorry to call you at such an unfortunate time. Are you busy?” You were tripping over your own words and were anxious at what his reply might be. “I’m always busy. What do you want?” Seokjin had never been the most affectionate individual, but the complete lack of human emotion in his voice let you know he no longer cared.

“You know what, never mind. Forget I called. I apologize for taking up your time.” You bit your lip and began to pace around the small apartment. This had been a mistake. Of course, he would hate your guts now, wouldn’t all of them? They felt used and abandoned. Their worst fear, materializing in the flesh. You waited for him to reply rudely or simply to hang up, but he didn’t. “[Y/n] I don’t have time to discuss this right now. Meet me tonight at St. Pierre’s around seven. I’ll be at the bar.” It was something you would end regretting later, you were sure of it. Nonetheless, you agreed to meet Seokjin there in hopes that he could help. All you could do was hope he didn’t misunderstand the purpose of your call or inform the other six. You could only pray.

St. Pierre’s was an upper-class restaurant that was a hybrid between French and Italian cuisine. It was in the heart of the city, but due to its ridiculous price and it always been booked only the elite of society got to enjoy it. You had the pleasure of being there three times in your life: when you met Hoseok, when you met the others, and now. Its elegant fifteenth-century inspired interior mixed the haunting roman architecture was a sight to behold. The bar, in itself, looked like something crafted by Rafael with it being made completely out of marble. It was something that when you had first come you had been afraid of touching, thinking that your second-class status would somehow ruin its elegance. The bar was mostly desolate except for a couple at the very corner sipping on wine. You could tell by her age and his demeanor their relationship: the younger man laughed but didn’t reach his eyes. His suit while fitted wasn’t of high fabric merely an imitation. The clothes she wore were simple, but anyone with a fine eye could tell the quality far surpassed anything bought at a department store. Before you would’ve never noticed things like this but being around them had changed the way you viewed the world. It also made it easy to spot anyone who was a sugar baby when you had been one not so long ago. Those thoughts brought a soft smile to your face as you remember how it all began…

_Thirteen Months Ago_

           “Lola?”

           You looked up from your phone to see a handsome man in a silk black buttoned-down and tight slacks standing in front of you. His face exactly like the profile picture, you had just been staring at. “Jung Hoseok?” You asked, standing up to greet him. To your surprise, instead of shaking your hand the man immediately went for a hug. “It’s nice to meet you. I have to admit I was a bit worried that you wouldn’t look like your picture.” There was relief in his voice and you too had worried about the same thing. “Yeah, same.” The two of you sat down with a waiter coming over and pouring water into the empty glasses before dismissing himself. Hoseok seemed to be analyzing you, taking in every detail of your face, it was a bit unnerving. As was the silence between the two of you. “Sorry, I’ve never done this before, so I don’t really know what to do…” You trailed off fiddling with the hem of your dress. “It's okay, I’m not an expert either nor do I expect you to be. Why don’t you start out by telling me about yourself? Like what about your name?” Hoseok smiled, leaning back into his chair. How did he? “How do you know Lola isn’t my name?” You questioned before it dawned on you that he didn’t, and you had just revealed it yourself. If you could facepalm at that moment you would’ve. “You don’t look like a Lola. That and I called your name like twice before.” Oh. You licked your lips before speaking, “[Y/n.]” If possible, Hoseok smiled even wider. His lips resembling a heart. “So [Y/n] why do you want to start sugaring?”

_Present_

           “I thought the last time we spoke you said you never wanted to see any of us again.” Kim Seokjin looked like something out a romantic era painting, with his sharp yet delicate features. The way he was human but gave off this grandeurs aura few could give. You toyed around with the straw in your drink, it was sprite with a lime in it to make it look like alcohol. If you were intoxicated, you would make bad decisions and god knows this already was one. “Last time we spoke was today and you said to meet you here.” He hated when you play dumb, you weren’t doing it on purpose, but rather to avoid the inevitable. Best not to dwell on the past for it wouldn’t bring it back. Seokjin took a seat on the barstool next to yours, waving the bartender away when he came forward. It seems he wasn’t keen on drinking either, not that you could blame him. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you? It’s not every day an ex-lover calls to chat.” His words were meant to appear light, but you could see the way his jaw was locked, and his teeth were slightly clenched. Ex-lover. There was a problem.

           “I was never your lover Jin, that isn’t what we agreed on. We also never spoke of becoming lovers.” Subconsciously you reached out towards him, but the second your fingers touched his Seokjin recoiled; as if being burnt by your touch. It hurt. “Well then, why did you call me [Y/n]?” The longer you stared into his eyes, the more you knew this wasn’t going to work. There was pain, wrath, but also insanity swirling around in his pupils. Seokjin could only take so much until he cracked, and you didn’t want a repeat of that night. “I’m sorry Jin, this was a mistake. I’m sorry for wasting your time and taking up your night. I hope you have a good life.” You took out your wallet and dropped what you owed before attempting to slide off the chair. Attempt was the right word, as Seokjin immediately took hold of your forearm prohibiting you from leaving. “We aren’t done talking until you tell me why you called me.” His voice had lowered significantly, his hand applying more pressure to your arm by the second. “Seokjin, you’re hurting me. Let go.” You whimpered, trying to pull your arm away. It only served to have him pull you closer, your body taut against his.

           “You hurt us, [Y/n]. You made us fall for you, only to toss us aside when we weren’t necessary. Now what you come back only to parade in front of me and then abandon me again, I don’t think so.” Tears began to spring to your eyes as a deranged look overtook Seokjin. Your arm turning white from lack of blood. It was the way he had stared at you that night. The way they all stared at you. It made you want to cry out for help, thankfully you didn’t have to. “Is everything okay?” You didn’t recognize the voice, but when you turned you saw it was the older lady with her sugar baby beside her. The woman’s elegant features wrinkled into a frown at your expression. Seokjin immediately released you and masked his face, “Everything is fine. Sorry if we scared you.” You took the opportunity to excuse yourself and head straight for the exit. Ordering an uber and getting in, before Seokjin could find you.

_Eleven Months Ago_

           Hoseok and you had a lunch date scheduled with a business partner of his. The two of them trying to acquire a developing technology from an old ahjussi. You were there to entertain his wife who Hoseok had described as ‘simple-minded but nice.’ You weren’t sure if it was a compliment or not. You also weren’t sure of your role only that you were Hoseok’s date. Though the two of you had spent some time together it was usually alone, Hoseok wasn’t a fan of public outings and since learning of his position as head of a major corporation, neither were you. “You look stunning.” Hoseok had told you, when you had met him at the restaurant thirty minutes before the meeting was scheduled. Hoseok had gifted you a baby blue cap sleeve dress to wear today and you loved it. The two of you had never really agreed on your payment: sometimes it would be gifts, outings, or sometimes he would deposit five hundred dollars to into your PayPal account.

           “Oh, I have a friend I would love for you to meet. His name is Kim Seokjin, we’ve known each other since high school.” From the fondness in his tone, it seemed Seokjin meant a lot to Hoseok. So, you smiled and nodded, hoping the man was as nice as Hoseok described him to be. Not even five minutes later, a black Audi pulled up to the curve and out stepped a man so beautiful, the gods might envy him. He quickly looked around and smiled the moment his eyes met Hoseok’s. That must be him. Seokjin handed the car keys to the valet and walked towards the two of you, his eyes never leaving Hoseok as the two embraced. “How have you been, Hobi? I haven’t seen you in forever.” His voice was higher pitched than you had imagined, but it suited him somehow. The two exchanged pleasantries until the focus shifted onto you. “Jin this is [Y/n]. She’s the one I’ve been telling you about.” You didn’t know why Hoseok had been speaking to his friends about you, but all those thoughts disappeared when Seokjin finally looked at you.

           There was such potency and intimacy in his stare, you felt as if the world around you had faded and all that was left was him and you. Seokjin’s eyes trailed down your body as if he was drinking you in. You should’ve known he was trouble just from that. What should’ve tipped you off to how dangerous he truly was, is how he was able to return to normalcy in the blink of an eye. “Nice to meet you, [Y/n]. Hope we can be friends.” Seokjin had no intention of being friends with you and you had known it since then.

_Present_

           It wasn’t until you reached your apartment and fished your phone out of your clutch that you saw all the missed messages and calls from Sihyeon. Fearing the worst, you immediately called her, “Sihyeon what’s going on?” Tonight had been stressful and things were only going to get worse. “[Y/n] you won’t believe what I just find out. I was speaking to Jeonhan about your situation and he said he would investigate it. Well, he dug around, and you’ve been blacklisted by Kim Communications. That’s why you can’t get a job.” It took all of your will power in that second not to scream, rage, or break down into a fit of tears. “Sihyeon I’ll have to call you back.” You didn’t even wait until she replied, simply hanging up. The sob that had been latched in your throat since this morning finally escaped and you broke down, falling to the floor.

           If you could turn back time and never have met them, you would. If you could turn back time and never had agreed to become their sugar baby or even going on that stupid trip you would’ve. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and you would have to live with the consequences of your actions. It would be so much easier to crawl into bed and cry yourself to sleep, but you had already gotten out of that phase weeks ago. Plus, you would be damned if you gave them the satisfaction of seeing you broken without them. You willed yourself to stop crying and opened your phone once again, going straight for the bastard’s contact. He might have blocked you, who knows, Jimin was the pettiest but Taehyung wasn’t too far behind apparently. Not only had he fucked with your feelings, but with your livelihood and that was not acceptable. Nor would you take it in stride. Despite being older it seems Taehyung couldn’t take the high road.

Y/l/n Y/n: I know what you did.

Kim Taehyung: Well if it isn’t Miss Independent.

Y/l/n Y/n: This is serious Taehyung. Why would you do something like this?

Kim Taehyung: Do what? ;) 

Y/l/n Y/n: I’ll sue you for defamation of character.

Kim Taehyung: You don’t have the money to do that.

You threw your phone against the pillows and watched it bounce back onto the mattress. Taehyung had always caused your blood to boil, but instead of passion, all that you felt was pure hatred. But why? Taehyung had once offered you a job at his company, as his secretary of course. He would often joke about the rendezvous the two of you would have while the rest of the office remained oblivious. Most of the times you would shoot down his ideas, telling him you didn’t want to get a job simply because you were screwing the boss. Sometimes though you would entertain his delusions. Teasing him about this or that: anywhere from getting him coffee in the mornings to quickies during the break. Taehyung never seemed to understand that you were joking, however. It got to the point where he nearly submitted a fake application for you, the only reason it didn’t happen was because of the trip the eight of you took and the aftermath of it. Your phone’s screen lit up once again, Taehyung having sent another message.

Kim Taehyung: Meet me for lunch tomorrow and we can discuss it.

Y/l/n Y/n: You wish.

           You received an email from Paypal, the subject being a new transaction. Your curiosity was piqued, so you opened the app: seven hundred dollars had just been sent to you from Taehyung’s account. If you had been upset before that action was a slap to the face. A scoff exited your lips and you went back to the previous screen, typing away as fast as you could.

Y/l/n Y/n: Go fuck yourself Kim Taehyung.

Kim Taehyung: Why when I can pay you to do it?

           At that point, no words could describe how you felt. You blocked his number, refunded the money, and turned off your phone. Today had been a long day and tomorrow would be even longer. You quickly changed into your pajamas and got into bed, turning off the lights in an attempt to sleep peacefully. That wouldn’t happen. Your brain was in overdrive: recalling and analyzing every single moment shared between you and the men trying to figure out where it went wrong. Where their feelings changed or where their obsession began. Why you had agreed on going on that trip and what you could’ve avoided had you simply never met Hoseok, to begin with. Eventually, you grew so tired that sleep came to you.

           You didn’t know how long you had been asleep, but it felt like four-five hours maximum. Though your eyelids were heavy something willed you to wake up, an uncomfortable feeling overtaking your body. You flipped your body around, so you were laying on your back and facing your bedroom door. Slowly you willed one eye open, though your eyesight was still blurry you managed to make out a figure standing by your door. The sun hadn’t yet risen, so a greyish hue took over your room. “Sihyeon? Did you just get back?” You croaked, still trying to focus your eyes. Sihyeon didn’t respond and you frowned but were finally able to see who was standing there: none other than Kim Namjoon. Immediately you jumped back pressing yourself against the headrest while looking over to where your phone was charging on your bedside table. It was gone. “Your friend was a little intoxicated, so I offered her a ride home. I didn’t know you had switched apartments.” There was something so smooth about the way Namjoon spoke, he reminded you of a television villain. Someone who could describe the way he was about to murder your entire family but do it in the most charismatic and charming way possible. That’s how you knew you were fucked when he spoke like that.

           Namjoon was waiting for you to respond but you refused. Knowing that one wrong word would set him off and he could either pounce on you or destroy your life with a simple phone call. Taehyung had already done that, so he didn’t need to do that much. Oh my god, Sihyeon. Your eyes dragged from him over to your door, he seemed to notice for Namjoon rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Don’t worry she’s just had a bit too much to drink. I found her stumbling around her boyfriend’s hotel lobby, figured she could use some help. He’s not her boyfriend. “Jeonhan isn’t her boyfriend.”  You snapped back, you could see the anger in his face by the way his jaw tightened. His eyebrow-raising, before he decided to walk around the bed, taking a seat right in front of you. You tried to push yourself up against the headboard as much as you could, but he was still only at armlengths. “Where’s my phone Namjoon?” He shrugged as if he had no idea what you were talking about. “I hear you went to meet Seokjin yesterday and that you spoke to Taehyung. Why?” Of course, he would find out the men shared everything. Even things which shouldn’t be shared. “I went to Seokjin for advice about not being able to find a job. Imagine my surprise when I found out the reason was that Taehyung had me blacklisted for no fucking reason.” The words came out without much thought, your emotions taking control.

           Truthfully you were seething but it had little impact on the man in front of you, who raised his hand to gently cup your cheek. “Taehyung’s hurt and so is Seokjin. That’s why they both acted the way they did. Both called me yesterday crying over how they treated you.” You shook your head, rolling your eyes knowing how much that pissed him off; You succeeded as his palm twitched ever so slightly. “If they wanted to apologize, they should’ve done so to me.” Why is he here? Namjoon was always the peacemaker, that was something you had noticed from the start of your relationship. He always wanted everyone to get along and be friends forever, but that wasn’t going to happen; especially not with them. “Princess, the real world is hard. I warned you didn’t I that it wasn’t a place for people like you.” God was he a great manipulator. Even now as he caressed your face and leaned in towards you, there was something inside you that wanted to believe him. That wanted to give in to him and the rest of them. It had been Namjoon that convinced you to be with all seven of them at the same time, it was he who assured you nothing bad would happen, you’d be damned to repeat the same mistake. “I can’t Namjoon. I won’t. I can’t just lie around and depend on others to maintain me. I can’t live off others like a leech.” They had once commented on how they loved your independence. How refreshing it was to be with someone who could stand on their own, even if you were taking money and gifts from them. They only loved your independence as long as you depended on them for it.

           “You had no problem doing it for an entire year.” On the surface, Namjoon looked remarkably calm but underneath there was fire burning and you weren’t about to get caught in it. Gently you took his hand off your cheek, placing it on top of his other hand resting on the covers. “I think you should go, Namjoon.” When Sihyeon woke up you would explain everything to her. Explain why you had switched apartments and moved in with her. Why if she ever saw the men the smartest thing to do was avoid them entirely. Namjoon stood up, adjusting his blazer and cuffs as he looked down at you. “You’re right now isn’t a good time. I’ll be sure to come by later or maybe I’ll just tell the others to stop by see if they have better luck. Maybe Hoseok might convince you.” At his name, your eyes snapped up. He wouldn’t dare. As if he could read your thoughts Namjoon smirked before leaning over you again, putting his arms on either side: trapping you in. “I would. Even if it meant letting the others know where you’ve been hiding all this time. Even if it meant having to destroy your life just so you would finally understand. Or maybe I would do something far worse…” Namjoon pressed his lips against your forehead, before finally standing back up and leaving the room.

           You stayed frozen in shock until you heard the slamming of the front door. Something far worse…Your eyes widened, and you bolted out of bed running straight towards Sihyeon’s room. When you tried to open the door, it was locked and wouldn’t budge. You tried throwing all your weight onto it, kicking it down, even calling for her was useless. Finally, after what seemed like forever the door gave in and the lock came unhinged, you threw the door open hoping for a miracle.

_Nine and half months ago_

           The upper floor of St. Pierre’s had a private dining room fit with a balcony that could be rented out for special occasions. The minimum the party had to spend along with the rental fee was two hundred dollars, something that was nothing but change for the men you were accompanying. The view from the balcony was splendid getting to see all of the downtown area whilst none could see you because of how high up you were. The view wasn’t why you were out here, it was because you needed to step away and think about what had just been propositioned. This wasn’t what you signed up for and sure the pay would be more than what some people make in their entire lives, but at what cost. At what cost. “How are you holding up?” You couldn’t help but be startled, turning around to see none other than Kim Namjoon walking towards you. He smiled softly, “Didn’t mean to scare you. You’ve just been out here for a while and it’s worrying the others.” Even in the dark night and with the low lighting from the two lanterns secured on the balcony, Namjoon was glowing. He looked ethereal and you wondered how you had managed to attract someone like him. How had you managed to attract all seven of them was beyond you.

           “I don’t know what to do.” You spoke softly, gazing out into the city. You felt his eyes on you but refused to meet them as you were far too anxious. “Say yes.” You chuckled but there was no humor in your voice, “I don’t think I can do what you all are asking me to do. Seven people? I barely know what to do with Hobi and I-” His fingers gripped your chin and turned your face towards him. There was something in his eyes, something you hadn’t seen before, he spoke so carefully and softly as if you were a child. “So say yes. You hold the reigns in the relationship. There’s nothing we can do without your consent first. Sure, you would be ours, but we would be yours.” He stepped closer until the two of you were pressed against each other. “Haven’t you ever wanted just for a second in your life to be cared for? No worrying about rent, taxes, not having enough money for food. You can simply focus on your studies and experience things others only dream of.” There was something about his words, they were a mirage. Something that couldn’t really be achieved, but you wanted it so badly. His tongue was coated in honey and you longed to taste it. Perhaps sensing your reluctance, Namjoon spoke again. “If you ever want to stop or get to a place where you no longer need us, they’ll be no hard feelings. We’ll part ways and leave sweet memories behind.”

           Those had been the words that sold you on the entire idea. They had been whispered so seductively into your ear that you had taken them as facts when they were nothing more than baseless lies. They had lied to you to get you where they wanted. Now that you were no longer theirs, they would do anything to get you back.

_Present_

           The monitor beeped constantly as it tracked Sihyeon’s heart rate and respiration. “[Y/n] I’m fine. You didn’t have to bring me here.” She hadn’t been fine. When you broke into her room, Siheyon had been passed out in a pool of her own vomit. Your first instinct was to check if she was breathing and when you felt a faint pulse, you immediately called the ambulance. Now she was awake and sipping on some Gatorade to help with her alcohol poisoning. You could see the embarrassment on her face, Sihyeon wasn’t an avid drinker nor did she mix drinks. “I honestly don’t know what happened after I left Jeonhan’s room. It’s like I blacked out or something.” Truth be told, you should’ve told Sihyeon everything that had happened once she woke up, but you hadn’t. Not to protect Namjoon or anything, but because Sihyeon was clearly not in the right state of mind and she was the type to overreact: drive over to all their companies and set them ablaze whilst screaming out of a megaphone – overreact. She needed to heal and not stress over your troubles which only seemed to worsen as time went on. Jeonhan had contacted Siheyon and said he would visit when his lunch break rolled around, Sihyeon had groaned when she realized it meant he would see her without makeup.

           “Sihyeon, you’re in a hospital. I’m sure he isn’t expecting you to look like a supermodel or anything.” You rationalized as you braided her hair, she had begged you to claim it ‘looks like a rat’s nest.’ Some color had finally returned to her cheeks and the doctors had said that once the alcohol level in her blood had dropped, she could return home. There had been some judgment on their faces when they noticed her appearance but had quickly changed their expression when you pulled out Jeonhan’s black credit card. There isn’t a thing money can’t buy, well except for love. Sihyeon had received top-notch care and had even been placed in a private hospital room instead of the beds down in the emergency wing. “I hope he doesn’t think this happens all the time. He knows I don’t drink a lot.” Sihyeon played with her fingers anxiously, in her line of work opinions and reputation were everything. If Jeonhan grew bored he could toss her aside and simply find a new sugar baby to satisfy his needs, Sihyeon was beautiful so it's not like she would have trouble finding someone else to maintain her but Jeonhan was her favorite thus far. “Of course, he does. Don’t stress just don’t tell him about the alcohol poisoning and say he tired you out so much you passed out. That’ll boost his ego.” He might not entirely believe her, but it wouldn’t matter. “I’ll keep the doctors out of the room, okay?” You finished up her braid and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “Thank you, [Y/n]. You’re the best.”

           A knock on the door caused you to help Sihyeon adjust her gown before speaking out, “Come in.” When you had first met Jeonhan you hadn’t been too sure of him, the man looked disinterested in just about everything. All of that changed whenever he looked at Sihyeon his eyes would fill with joy as he stared at her, the same happened when he walked into the hospital room. The man headed straight for Sihyeon taking in her appearance, before placing a rather large bouquet in her hands. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Nicknames were a must, Sihyeon had once told you first names were too intimate. That’s why it always surprised her when that was all the men would call you by unless you were in trouble. “[Y/n].” A raspy voice spoke out and you turned back to the door to find Yoongi standing there. Jeonhan finally acknowledges your presence, more like nodded at you and turned back to Sihyeon. “Yoongi-hyung and I were supposed to have lunch, but I wanted to see you.” Sihyeon giggled in childish glee. A part of you finding their interaction sweet, while the other part of you knew it was all pretending.

           You had been so wrapped up in the two ‘lovebirds’ sitting on the bed, you failed to notice Yoongi had approached you until he grasped your hand. “Can I speak with you?” Yoongi was never awkward and always had a mask of nonchalance present on his face, now he was the complete opposite. Yoongi seemed fidgety and uncomfortable, in his eyes you saw deep frustration and desperation. “Fine.” You excused yourself from the room, going out into the hall waiting for Yoongi to join you. Instead of stopping right beside you, he kept walking heading towards the end of the hall. You debated on whether to follow him before deciding it was best to get these things over with. It was when you passed a phlebotomist pushing a trolley filled with needles that you remembered. How long has he been clean for? Yoongi had begun rehab right before you had parted ways with them, that would explain his behavior. A pang of guilt hit you as you finally met up with him. He still looked the same though the bags under his eyes were more prominent and he seemed more on edge; either cause of the drugs or you. Maybe both.

           “How have you been Yoongi?” He simply snickered at your question, his tone entirely sardonic. “How do you think I’ve been?” Despite being an addict, Yoongi always looked impeccable. Even now when he seemed to be at a breaking point, he still managed to exude power. “I’m sorry Yoongi.” You were sorry, you hadn’t been the cause of his problems, but you had contributed to them in some way. Yoongi simply stared at you intensely before he swooped down pressing his lips against yours. Your first instinct was to pull away, you couldn’t once you tasted the salty tears on your lips. Yoongi kissed you for another minute until he finally pulled back, the tears had stopped but his eyes were swollen and red. “You said you would never leave me and you did [Y/n].” It was as if someone had plunged a knife straight into his heart. “I couldn’t stay when me being near you was making you worse.” Yoongi had taken a hold of your arms and was shaking violently. “So what you use me and get to toss me aside when you don’t want me?! I won’t let you.” The melancholy in his eyes had been replaced by wrath, his hands digging into your skin too harshly you knew there would be bruises. “If you don’t come back to me, to us. I’ll make sure everyone finds out the kind of person you are and not just you, I ruin Sihyeon’s life as well. No one wants to be dating a whore and I’m sure Jeonhan will drop her the moment he finds out everything.”

           Finds out what? You frowned and there was confusion evident on your face, at which Yoongi only smirked. He leaned into your ear and whispered what it is he had against Sihyeon, your eyes widening in fear. “Unless you want to drag your friend down to where you are, you do well to remember your place.” He released you and quickly walked away, leaving you to spiral in the corner of the hall. Your life was falling apart bit by bit and there was nothing you could do about it. A dry heave left you as Yoongi’s frame slowly got smaller and smaller. You glanced around until you noticed a bathroom sign only a few feet away, you practically ran to it. Closing the door behind you and locking it, you stared at the mirror. Your face was devoid of color, eyes wide and fearful, you hadn’t realized you were crying until you saw the tear streaks down your face. Hesitantly you took off your sweater only to see large hand marks on your biceps, where Yoongi had grabbed you.

_Seven Months Ago_

Yoongi was always careless with his strength leaving your body riddled with bruises and tonight would be no different. You were thankful that winter had rolled around, and that wearing scarves or turtlenecks was acceptable, as he was sure to leave a large bruise on your neck with the amount of pressure he was applying. The two of you were naked on top of his custom queen bed, the headboard crashing against the wall mimicking Yoongi’s thumping into your core. You moaned his name which only served to encourage him more, his pace becoming quicker. “Y-yoongi p-please.” The man had spent all afternoon teasing you, taking you to the edge only to never allow you the bliss of coming undone. “Fuck. Do you know what you do to me? You’re better than anything out there [Y/n].” Yoongi was beyond high, his pupils completely dilated and pulse racing. A part of you knew it couldn’t be weed that he was on, but you knew better than to question it. What Yoongi did with his life was his business, you knew your place. “Fuck [Y/n]. Where do you belong? Who do you belong to?” At this point the two of you had become completely erratic, biting and scratching at each other in the name of lust.

When you didn’t immediately reply Yoongi applied more pressure on your throat, making it difficult to breathe properly. “I belong to you Yoongi. I belong underneath you.” He wasn’t satisfied. Yoongi raised your leg placing it on his shoulder and began to grind against you from a new angle, one where he was constantly hitting your g-spot. “Who do you belong to?” A guttural groan exited his lips, as Yoongi tried his hardest not to come. Not until he was sure you knew the answer. “Yoongi, S-seokjin, Hobi, Namjoon, Jimin, Kookie, and Taehyung.” The names escaped your lips as a mantra of sorts, your abdomen beginning to tighten once again. “Yoongi.” You whined, he silenced you with a kiss. “Come with me. You can come, baby girl.”

_Present_

           “Hello? Miss? Is everything alright?” The pounding on the door awakened you from your thoughts. Splashing some water on your face, you pull a smile on your face and exit the bathroom. A concerned nurse standing in front of you, you apologize and head back into Sihyeon’s room finding her alone toying with the flowers on her lap. “Where did you go to?” She asked, a smile on her face. Jeonhan made her happy, you had never seen her as happy with any other client of hers. “I spoke with Yoongi and went to the bathroom. Sorry, I took long.” You shrugged, trying to hide the uneasiness in your voice. “Nah don’t worry. I’m glad the two of you are still friends since you broke up.” You hummed in agreeance and chose to walk over to the chair left of the hospital bed. The moment you sat down all of your muscles relaxed, it felt as if you had run a marathon. Your legs as heavy as lead and your heart even heavier. “Oh, that reminds me Jeonhan said Yoongi forgot to give this to you.” Sihyeon produced your phone from under the flowers, it was exactly as you had left it the night before. “How did Yoongi even have your phone?” You struggled to get the words out, “I accidentally left it when I met Seokjin.” Sihyeon frowned, “Didn’t we talk on the phone last night?” Oh, so that you remember. “I was still with Seokjin when you called. I left in such a hurry, I must’ve forgotten it.” You smiled sheepishly. Sihyeon seemed doubtful but decided to leave it at that.

           The best thing about Sihyeon was she didn’t hover. That’s why she had been the perfect roommate when you suddenly had to move apartments. She had never questioned why you did what you did or how you ended up finding out she had the same ‘profession’ as you. Sihyeon never commented on the paranoia that hung on your shoulders. All she asked is who you had been involved with and displayed recognition upon learning you were the girl who swept ‘the seven’ off their feet. You had waited until Sihyeon drifted off to sleep, to examine your phone. The device was off, so you pressed the power button and waited until your lock screen popped up being horrified when it did. A picture of you decked out in lingerie smiling back at you. Immediately you opened up the gallery only to find similar pictures and even more proactive ones; hundreds flooding the storage space. You looked back at the lock screen picture, analyzing it trying to remember when or who took them. The hardwood floor underneath something you immediately recognized, along with the fuzzy carpet you laid on. Once the phone established a connection again, a text message came in from none other than the photographer himself.

Jeon Jungkook: Let’s talk.

[dreamingsushi]

The King: Eternal Monarch - Episode 3

So I did watch the episode last Friday, but couldn’t type my reaction before today. Well I could have, but I chose not to because moping around and pretending being a larva was an interesting state of mind. I was actually looking forward to the next episode, I couldn’t have waited any longer before satisfying my curiosity about where is this all going. So sit down, take your pop corn and enjoy. Food is mandatory for this drama, trust me. You HAVE to eat when you watch it.

The guys are waiting for Tae Eul at the fried chiken place but then she sends a message saying not to wait for her, she’s not coming, which is quite surprising for them. Seems like she must like a lot fried chicken and beer. We do too. Honestly, now I am afraid to keep watching this because it makes me crave fried chicken and beer. So much. Which is kind of cruel to me because of isolation since there are no Korean restaurant near my house. Like NONE.

Which brings us back to Lee Gon telling Tae Eul he’s going to take her as his queen. She’s not buying it. And then he tells her she’s like his favorite number, which is zero, because it’s amounted to nothing but has absolute power. And he rambles on mathematical stuff. Wow, if it was me I would have sent him away, or maybe just have gone for the fried chicken, I do not need to be told about maths, especially not on such a boring tone. And being compared to 0 isn’t a compliment. He needs to change his flirting techniques. Okay, it still turns out to be a little cuter than I expected., he says he is powerless here because she doesn’t really care for him, but it’s okay because she’s greater than what he expected her to be. Then she’s lire are you done speaking nonsense, he says she’s stupid like a bear. Which is weird. Then she tells him to take her to this parallel universe of his. So he takes her to the bamboo forest. But the obelisques won’t show on that day, nope. Not convincing Tae Eul with any of those details, she’s more upset that he took her into the woods like that when it’s freezing cold. She tells him the results of his DNA tests are about to come out and hopefully they will find him some relatives. And she tells him to stop calling Eun Seop. He tells her that even if she found a relative based on his DNA, they won’t be his real family. He says his parents died when he was eight, well at least his dad, the mom probably died before that. She looks shaken. He gives her his coat and asks what’s the name of the guy she calls brother, he knows she’s an only child so he’s not her brother. She asks him what’s his name, how come he can ask people’s names when doesn’t tell his? He said that she can call him by his name even if she knows, he didn’t say he can’t tell nor that he doesn’t have one. She gets angry and walks away first. And she ignores him.

So cute. Taekwondo guy (that would be the guy she calls brother, but he was studying Taekwondo at her dad’s school) keeps on waiting for Tae Eul to come back and starts talking to the horse. Then he notices a symbol on the saddle. Which corresponds to a drawing in his block note. Which looks so much like a Canadian passport somehow.

So granny is hiring Jo Yeong’s fangirl. Partly because she liked the fanfics she wrote. Also because she applied for like the past four years.  But this is priceless. The granny reading fanfics and talking about hashtags, knowing more stuff than I do. I am living it.

So seems like the Prime minister and Lee Gon are on some sort of competition? I didn’t get it really. I guess they didn’t agree on political stuff? I don’t know, don’t ask me. Madam the prime minister is unhappy though that the king disappeared. Oh okay, so basically, since the king started paying taxes, it would look bad if they in the party got a raise so she has been opposed to that to keep popularity amongst the people, which makes the ministers unhappy. She puts them all back into place.  Fierce woman.

They finally get a new member the police unit team. And they kind of made it funny, well it’s very cliché, but basically a guy looking like a thug comes in with an handsome guy and of course they all think the latter is the newbie, but it’s actually the first one who is in fact younger than what he looks like, a little dumb but in a cute way, is nicknamed rose and has unicorn in his email address.  Nothing you would expect.  Then they head out to find the weapon that was used for the murder they are investigating. In the end it’s newbie guy that finds it at the end of the day.

Some thugs try to bribe mister taekwondo. Seems he used to be really rich and when bankrupt when he was a teenage. I mean, it was most likely his parents money. His mom has lots of debts so he basically makes no salary. While he walks, he has flashback of when he was teaching taekwondo and Tae Eul’s dad tells him to stop teaching because he’s scaring the kids away. Well he indeed was scary. By the name, the name is Shin Jae. And seems like tae Eul’s dad is the one that made him chose the path of police awww.

Back at the office, Tae Eul keeps on making fun of the new recruit and then Lee Gon calls her. Eun seop gave him her work phone number. But she hangs upon him. Later, Lee Gon and Eun Seop are at the grocery store and Eun Seop is like what did you say to her for me to get handcuffed, I told you to keep it a secret. Lee Gon to comfort him appoints him as the chef of the royal guards in this universe and names him the unbreakable sword too. I’m sure Jo Yeong wouldn’t like this, Eun Seop doesn’t like it either and calls him crazy.

So lady Noh (granny) says that the King won’t come out of his study room but because he hasn’t showed up in public people start to think maybe he is ill. The new girl says she has a solution and meets privately with Jo Yeong. It seems she opens an SNS account for him. Which gains a lot of popularity.

Lady Noh asks Jo Yeong to investigate the lady from the ID card, however he tells her he already did that on demand of His majesty and that girl simply doesn’t exist.

The results of Lee Gon’s DNA test came out and they match to nobody. She then receives a call about the horse: that kind of horse isn’t even in South Korea right now, so it wouldn’t be a stolen horse.

They go for beer and fried chicken. AGAIN. I hate this drama so much. Stop making me craving fried chicken! With beer. I am trying to eat healthy. And to go vegan, slowly but surely. Stop this torture now! Anyways, she takes a shot and asks him if he’s from another world and who else could have taken that portal. He says he can’t tell her unless she becomes a member of his court, which makes her annoyed again. He guesses she got nothing from his DNA tests, but still can’t trust him. And she says they leave? BUUUUT, they didn’t even eat the chicken. WHYYYYY? The chicken did nothing wrong, it HAS to be eaten...

Lee Gon orders to eat the carrots Tae Eul feeds him. He’s so happy. I don’t know why.

Jo Yeong goes to Lee Gon’s office. He remembers of His highness always looking into the autopsie of Lee Rim. He feels there’s something fishy and that Lee Rim isn’t dead. And it seems Jo Yeong guesses it’s related to Lee Gon’s disappearing. Well, kind of.

There’s a storm and Lee Gon has something going on with his shoulder.

Le Rim is back in the Kingdom of Corea. I guess you need the storm and the flute to go back?

Tae Eul has little problem with her car an Lee Gon comes to the rescue, but while she starts tying her hair up, time freezes, except for him.  I am not convinced by the time freezing thingy. Lite not at all. It’s enough already with the uncle not aging up and the parallel universes... I hope they don’t make it too much... Because so far, this is good. Anyways. She leaves asking to watch for her car that is broken and he just drives away with it. He goes to the bamboo forest and the door is there, so he finally realizes the flute is the key.

Back in kingdom of Corea, seems like Lee Rim has his little army.

They got the result from the forensic team, which incriminates the suspect, but Tae Eul feels it’s falling into place too perfectly, as if it was planned. So they go to investigate and Shin Jae and Tae Eul bumps into a bad guy Shin Jae sent to jail some years ago. And bad ass fighting!  Yeaaah!!!! With Lee Gon as a witness, until big boss is about to stab Shin Jae, so he gets targetted while saving taekwondo boy and kicks everyone’s asses with his whip.  Lol. Shin Jae and Tae Eul were having a hard time, but just one hit from the whip master and BAM! Over. Shin Jae and Lee Gon fights a little. Shin Jae and Tae Eul shares a popsicle, Lee Gon feels forgotten. They have lunch together and then Lee Gon bids his farewell to Tae Eul because he’s going back to his world.

Shin Jae drives Lee Gon back and asks him the company who made the saddle for Maximus. Of course Lee Gon doesn’t know. He asks about the logo on it and Lee Gon tells him it doesn’t exist here, because it’s for his kingdom in another world.

When Tae Eul comes back home, no more Maximus, they are going back. And like what? He’s already in love with her? Well, has he made it to his world? We will know next week I guess! From the previews though, it looks like he made it and goes back to his loved girl too. I like that the plot of this is quite clear, we know where we are going at least roughly and I enjoy that in those times of uncertainty.

[lisinfleur]

Refuge

Author’s Notes | I started this one really thinking about a Farmer! Reader with Ivar in the Viking Age. But then something awful happened in my life and I had to take time for relaxing. I always relax with music so I started searching for songs and things took me to "Price Tag" (Jessie J). Man... This idea just EXPLODED in my head and it saved my night! I hope you like it as much as I did and that this can make you happy as much as it calmed my heart down after all I went through today. @honestsycrets, surprise, surprise hahaha I couldn’t resist. Hope you don’t mind her name *winks* Universe | Vikings Pairing | CEO Ivar x Waitress! Reader Info | Modern AU, Lothbrok Trading C.O. AU, requested by @cris101071 for 5CW1 Words | 3517 ⁑ Warnings: Romance, fluffy.

You never thought your life could change so much just because of that place. When you applied for a job at Rouge Coffee Shop, you never thought it would be something so magical.

The entire place was sweet and lovely such as the owner, ma'am Iliana, an old sweet lady who was the charm of the little place that was at the corner of the main street but still maintained the sweetness of any corner of your neighborhood and that smell of homemade cookies that could make anyone smile.

Anyone.

Even then, there weren't too many people coming. Since you came to work alongside June, the single worker helping ma'am Iliana at the shop, you noticed the place had around ten to fourteen clients a day - too few for something at the main street. So you gave up on your tips, putting them on some materials to promote the place and even buying a new small signal to put outside of the place with the main dishes, trying to call some attention for the delicious desserts and coffee varieties of your work.

Maybe it was this signal who attracted that new client that was coming a few weeks ago, every day. The short-expresso black tied man - you nicknamed him, not really knowing who the beautiful young man was.

All you knew about him is that he would come every morning, ask for the short-expresso, drink it probably talking at or checking his cellphone and leave the money for the bill under his cup, leaving right after the last sip and never ever picking up the change.

A businessman, for sure, but a handsome man who was always serious or with a frown.

Maybe that's what made you chose him when June said you should prove you could make anyone smile in that hall. However, she freaked out when you pointed the young man.

"Are you crazy? Do you know who is that man?? Leave him alone, (Y/N)! He's Ivar Ragnarsson, from the Lothbrok Trading Co! He's the CEO of that shit, girl. This man is the kind of man you do not disturb not even to say "have a nice day" if he didn't ask you to!"

You frowned.

"A man is still a man, June. He can be CEO of anywhere or just a boy with the CEO's face and a bad day in his shoulders. Well, he'll earn a smile today!"

And there you go to take his table, leaving June and her disbelieved facepalm behind. What could be wrong about willing the man a good day?

"Good morning, sir. What can I do for you?" you said, with the best smile in your face.

"Morning. Short-expresso. Quickly." he answered.

Not-even-looking-at-you.

You were able to make anyone smile, but you never knew someone that was quite your opposite: that man could make any smile fade away around him.

Disappointed, you still tried when you served him the expresso, but it failed miserably once again.

"Have a nice time, sir."

"Uhum..."

Not even a look once again. That man just killed your mood...

"I told ya. Leave him alone, (Y/N). He's just..." June started, but you kept facing him from the balcony, looking at that moody man placing his usual 10 dollars under his cup and leaving, growling annoyed when he didn't even try to know the face of the person who was so sympathetic at him that morning...

"I won't give up!" you stated, causing June to grunt.

"(Y/N) ..."

"A smile. A single smile and I'll leave him alone!" you declared.

Betting with yourself you could change that man's mood.

Failing miserably in the following days...

"Short-expresso. Quickly."

He was even cutting the "Morning" as if your salutation were something automatic that didn't need an answer.

However, instead of getting frustrated, you used those days to study his behavior.

The same movements, the same agenda... That man was doing the exact same things every single day and your efforts to tend his table well had become a part of his hungry routine, swallowing everything around him into that black and white suit he was always dressing like an armor...

Even the way to place his crutch near the window where none of you or the few clients that were coming into the shop would end up stumbling on it... Everything around him was a disturbingly discolored movie stuck on repeat.

Time to pop up the button, sir...

"Short-expresso. Quickly."

You took the order that morning, but instead of leaving his side, you just stood there, looking at him while he was messing with emails in his phone, moving his fingers in an impressive speed, touching the apps and switching the screens and...

Something was...

Wrong.

Slowly you noticed his fingers were becoming slower at the screen until they stopped and he turned his face towards you, looking from your toes to your face with a curious expression, almost arrogant.

He was about to ask you what in the actual fuck was you doing stopped by his side and you were about to ask him if he never ever smiled in his entire miserable life when his eyes found yours and everything broke around you.

"Oh, whoa..." you said, impressed "Your eyes... They're so beautiful!"

It wasn't intentional! You swore yourself you didn't intend to say that out loud, but somehow, it broke his coldness and the man just giggled, causing June to freeze behind the balcony and your lips to curve in a big and sweet enormous smile.

You got it!

A giggle! Even better than a smile!

"What?" he asked, with his lips curved in a beautiful smile and his posture totally broken by a compliment so unexpected.

"See?" you smiled bigger "It's not that hard." you said, causing him to frown even more confuse "And your eyes are beautiful, but you become even more beautiful when you smile, sir. Have a nice time!" you said, leaving his table to bring his expresso and causing him to giggle once again, shaking his head.

June swore he called you a crazy woman when she pulled you towards the kitchen completely freaked out once again.

But the truth was he took that expresso in between some giggles.

And left 20 dollars under the cup that morning.

From that day on, whenever you noticed your salutation or words were becoming a part of his routine, you tried to change something in his morning.

"What the fuck? This is not my order, woman..."

"No. This one is on the house. Have a nice time, sir"

...

"Morning. Sh-"

"Short expresso and a cookie with chocolate drops? Yes, sir!"

You still remember how big he smiled when you put the expresso in front of him before he could ask. Or how he couldn't avoid laughing to the rabbit biscuit you placed in his cup near the Easter...

It wasn't about the tips he was leaving under his cup after the little morning meal.

It was about the smiles in his face you were becoming used to get every day.

And that last day was so special... He had done something completely different!

He was the one who stopped your salutation before you could finish it...

"Good morning, sir! What can I..."

"Surprise me," he said, causing you to open a big smile when you noticed he wasn't messing with his phone, but his hands were crossed over the table.

And he was looking straight at you.

That day was so amazing that you simply couldn't understand when he didn't come in the next morning...

His empty table kinda made your day a little gray without his smile.

"Maybe he's just too busy or traveling, girl. Check out the newspaper. He's always at the news!" June remembered.

When he didn't come for the second morning, you decided to do what she said and so, terrible news came to your knowledge: his disease had a crisis and he was in a hospital...

You remembered the crutch and went to read about him, discovering he had that strange thing they called Osteogenesis Imperfecta...

Crystal bones...

Something that could make his moody face pretty comprehensible: for someone who was always in pain or could break a bone by walking in a bad day, he was really making good progress when opening a smile.

In that day, at the lunchtime, you left the shop and bought a beautiful balloon, taking it to is company building, two blocks from your workplace. You placed a card and gently asked the receptionist to make it reach his personal secretary.

You didn't know if your little gift would ever reach him, but well, what is the matter about trying, right?

Well, the fate decided to act in your favor: at that same afternoon, his older brother Ubbe went to the company to pick up his documents and work folders for him to work from the hospital and the receptionist delivered him the balloon and the card.

Thinking that thing was cute, he took it to the hospital with him, getting into Ivar's room carrying the folds and tying the balloon in his bed headboard.

"Sigurd or Hvitserk?" Ivar asked, moody, looking at the silver balloon with a colored bear holding a heart in which was written Get well soon! with beautiful calligraphy.

"None of them. The secretary said a girl from Rouge Coffee Shop left it for you at the company building entrance." Ubbe said, delivering the card that came with the balloon.

"Have a nice time, sir"

Ivar couldn't avoid the smile that surprised Ubbe at the same moment.

But his brother said anything. he didn't want the younger one to feel anything bad about such a sweet thing...

Maybe things were going right for his brother and he didn't want to spoil everything.

Things were going right for Ivar after all. He remembered you with a smile and promised himself he would take a conversation with you at the next time you two could see each other again.

Maybe ask your name, call you for a coffee or anything like...

He knew he had to separate time for himself and you were constantly remembering him to have good moments to himself. Why not include you in one of them?

However, the OI took a good pair of weeks from him at that hospital. And while he wasn't coming, the business was going from bad to worst in the Coffee shop. People weren't coming and when you and June spent an entire day without selling a single coffee, ma'am Iliana made a reunion at the end of the day.

"I love you too, girls. And I know you love this place as much as I do. But tomorrow will be the last day of Rouge Coffee... I'll have to close the doors. I'm sorry."

One last day and everything would be over at the most amazing work you ever had in your life.

You cried that night.

And when the coffee opened that day, serving desserts for free - a way for ma'am Iliana to prevent everything on the stock to get rotten or go to trash - you smiled minimally when you saw him coming into the place, looking around to find you and smiling when his eyes found yours.

He took his place at the table and you served him without an order: a short-expresso, as he liked, and a piece of your favorite cake on that store.

The one you wouldn't eat anymore because Rouge Coffee was the only place in town that was still making that cake without an industrial mix.

"Have a nice time, sir. It was a pleasure to serve you," you said with a small smile this time.

Ivar thought it was strange the way that store was full that morning. Or how people were leaving without paying for the desserts they were eating.

But everything got explained when he looked at his bill, without a value for the morning.

"Thanks for eating on Rouge Coffee this morning. It was a pleasure to serve you! Have a nice day!"

Probably it was some kind of publicity event. A good one! Desserts for free and then everyone would see how good that place was.

Instead of only leaving, this time he stopped at the door and waved at you before leaving.

You waved back and June placed a hand in your shoulder when your eyes filled with tears.

"After all, you were right. You can make anyone smile, (Y/N). Anyone..."

In the following morning, Ivar went to the coffee shop with something in mind: it was his time to surprise you and he took an entire day off intending to go there and spend some time with you, to know you better, have some good time with a nice company, at least, know your name...

But when he arrived, the surprise wasn't the best: an old lady was fixing a sign at the door, sadly looking at the place.

"Sorry, we’re closed"

"What's happening here?" Ivar asked the old lady who smiled when she saw him.

"The coffee is closed, sir. It went out of business..." the lady said, looking at him with sad eyes. "After all these years, I think the young people are searching for modern things. The old is too obsolete for them" she smiled.

Even he could feel all the sadness of the world in that old lady's eyes.

That place...

That place changed his mornings. That girl changed his mornings. His days...

You were changing his life in a good way and now he would have to accept everything was gone?

He ran his eyes through the place: the sign was old, the walls were needing a repaint, the tiles of the floor were broken and the furniture needed to be replaced, but the recipes, all of them were good, the coffee was infinitely better than the Starbucks his brother Hvitserk insisted in visiting every day and the employees... He never saw anyone working with a smile in the face like you used to do in that place.

"You're the owner, aren't you?" Ivar asked.

And the old lady opened her smile a little more.

"Not for too long, but yes, Mr. Ragnarsson. I'm Illiana Rouge. It's a pleasure to meet you and to remember you were here for a coffee every day." she said, sweetly.

"Would you make me one more for today?"

She smiled, opening the old shop for him to get in.

"It would be a pleasure".

She made the short-expresso he liked with the remaining coffee she had in stock and sat by his side in his usual table, serving him the coffee while he was looking around the entire place.

"Why is it closed? You have the best coffee around, the best desserts. People can't see you because you need a new sign, the colors of your walls are vanishing... It doesn't need to close. It needs repairs" Ivar analyzed and ma'am Iliana giggled, looking at him.

"I have no money for all this stuff, young man," she said, softly "There was a time my girls were giving me the tips for paying the bills to keep the place open. But the coffee wasn't even paying itself. How could I make those repairs? Bankrupting is a vicious cycle: everything pulls the next step in the way until you cannot go back anymore and then, poof... is over, son".

"It doesn't have to be over," Ivar said, looking at her. "I want the whole place," he said, placing his cup over the table and looking at her "But see, coffee shops aren't my kind of business. I wouldn't know how to do anything but administrate the finances. So, I'll make all this place needs to keep working. And all I want from you is one short-expresso a day and your old employees here, re-hired. Do you think you can do it?"

Ma'am Iliana laughed this time.

"She really changed your life, didn't she, Ivar?"

Ivar couldn't hide the embarrassment and the old lady smiled once again.

"(Y/N) does it with everyone around, but you became her little personal challenge of every day, do you know this?"

"(Y/N)," he repeated.

Now he finally knew your name. And ma'am Iliana laughed again, this time, a little louder.

"You didn't even know her name, boy? Oh, you need to look a little more for yourself, young one. You're so young... You should live a little more if you allow me to say." she said, giggling.

"Will you accept my proposal?" Ivar said, trying to attract the business subject once again, causing ma'am Iliana to tenderly smile at him.

"Only if you promise me you will come without your suit at the re-opening of our place. Deal?" she said, offering her hand towards him.

And Ivar sighed.

How many times his mother asked him to put some comfortable clothes and take a walk or get some time to himself?

He accepted Iliana's hand and her counterproposal closing the deal.

"Deal. One week and you'll have your coffee back."

"And you shall see your (Y/N) one more time, dear one." Ma'am Iliana said, causing Ivar to smile, kinda clumsy.

The days without your work were gray. You bought a business magazine just because it had a long article about him.

Ivar Ragnarsson - Everything about being the owner of the largest trading company in the world.

But you didn't have time to read it because as soon as you arrived home, your cellphone started glowing up, ringing.

When you answered, it was to hear June screaming like crazy on the other side of the line.

Someone had bought the entire coffee, made a complete restoration and it would be reopened. Ma'am Iliana was calling you and her back to work in a matter of days.

It made your day!

Nothing made you happier than put on your uniform and the burgundy apron at the Monday Morning, smiling to everyone at the re-opening of the coffee shop that was absolutely gorgeous!

The entire place was reformed, the furniture was exchanged for vintage movables, everything combining with the aprons and uniforms and the new enormous luminous sign outside calling everyone inside to the busier morning you had in days!

You were distracted when the new sign at the door - a bell that was warning you, June and the two other new employees there was a new client coming in - sounded again.

And you opened a large smile, excited with the number of clients you were having that morning.

However, Ma'am Iliana touched your shoulder.

"Take some time for this one. He came to see you, (Y/N)" she said with a smile.

Curious, you looked at the door to see something you weren't expecting: Ivar was there, but not in his usual suit. He was still dressing black, but a cream jacket over some casual clothes that were making him look like a boy of your age, a little bit older.

And man... He was so gorgeous!

You couldn't avoid blushing when he smiled at you, not taking his usual table, but taking one near the corner of the balcony, almost a private place.

You made him a short expresso and placed two biscuits in his tray, serving his table with a smile.

"Good morning, sir. Welcome back to Rouge Coffee Shop" you said, happily.

"Good morning, (Y/N)," he answered, totally surprising you not only by saying more than a couple of words but for the smile so spontaneous in his face and for the fact he called you by your name.

Ivar's smile became bigger.

"Take a seat. Ma'am Iliana told me you could take today off from the moment I would come to pick you up and I was thinking... Why not take the sweet girl I'm trying to flirt with for some time at the charming coffee shop I'm helping to reopen today? Seems nice?" he said, and you saw June placing a piece of your favorite cake on the table in front of you and pulling your apron's cord behind your back, untying it with a smile.

"Fate won't bless you twice, girl! Have a nice time, ma'am!" she played with your salutation and Ivar smiled bigger pointing the chair by his side for you to sit.

Ma'am Iliana winked at you and so, you took off your apron, sitting by his side. Soon, the two of you were talking openly and Ivar was laughing at your words, smiling at your smiles, having a sweet moment with the sweet girl you became in his life.

Ma'am Iliana just smiled when he turned off his phone in the middle of the conversation, touching your chin before saying he was too busy for having time to work today, causing you to smile and blush intensely.

Something sweet was happening there and so, she sighed with a tender curve in her mouth, remembering it was exactly the reason why she opened that place: to get people there for sweet desserts, warm coffee, good conversations, and free smiles...

Do you like my work? Support me!

Tagged ones:

@bluearchersstuff - @ivarswickedqueen - @directionlessbuthappy - @akamaiden - @bang-kim-bap - @cris101071 - @solveigs-temple - @volvas-temple - @alicedopey - @athroatfullofglass - @captstefanbrandt - @queen-see-ya-in-valhalla - @ivarlcthbrok - @dreamingsofatraveler - @heartbeats-wildly - @lol-haha-joke - @moondustmemories - @moose-squirrel-asstiel - @ms-allenbrown - @mslothbrok - @normatural - @readsalot73 - @xinyourdreamsx - @shutter-bug124 - @rekdreams247 - @sassygirl25 - @slutforasoldier - @bae-kage - @naaladareia - @awishmyheartmakes - @laketaj24 - @that-goodgirl - @scumyeol - @neeadinghugs - @witchesandfairytales - @thevikingsheaux - @titty-teetee - @oddsnendsfanfics - @soapjay - @two-unbeatable-beaters - @mystruggledlife - @wish-i-was-a-mermaid - @therealcalicali - @natalie-rdr - @carbonated-beverage - @igetcarriedawaywithyou - @grungyblonde - @come-with-me-and-imagine - @themusingofagothicsoul - @arses21434 - @honestsycrets - @princessofthalia - @funmadnessandbadassvikings - @equalstrashflavoredtrash - @rabeccablake - @beyond-the-ashes - @darkkitty - @2thequietone4 - @blackspiritshake - @vikingsbifrost - @wallabieswisher

Want to be tagged? Ask me!

[jaredhollyheiditruth]

Solicitation of Minors, Part 1 (Chai)

The second issue facing and affecting Jared Knabenbauer (whose name I’m SURE I’ve misspelled elsewhere!) are the accusations against Jared of seeking out minors to “groom” while using his star status and blogs as recruitment tools. While my blog on the Heidi/Jared breakup and fallout was as neutral as I could make it while still addressing the facts, I will be far more aggressive in this post because of the implications herein and the fact that this issue involves serious criminal allegations.

As someone that grew up with a child molester, as someone that was targeted by a rapist, I understand the importance of treating an accuser’s claims seriously.

It is my belief that all accusers should be taken seriously. They should be heard, listened to, and feel valid and safe in making those allegations, and the proper authorities should investigate all claims made to the fullest extent of the law.

However.

The accused has rights, as well, and no accuser is above scrutiny. There is a very bold line between taking an accuser’s claims seriously, and believing them outright without any doubt, question, or expectation of evidence. Our legal system is built upon the Presumption of Innocence, that any accused is presumed innocent of the accusations against them until they are found guilty. It is not Jared Knabenbauer’s responsibility to prove that the allegations against him are false, and his silence is not an indicator of guilt! The first thing a criminal defense lawyer tells you is to keep your mouth shut with regards to any criminal allegations because despite your best intentions, you may inadvertently say things that can be twisted and used against you in court. Sadly, in today’s social media-charged society where people share details about everything from their vacations, to their grocery shopping trips, to the contents of every single meal, being silent is often treated as evidence of guilt.

First, I want to make clear the allegations against Jared. Jared is being accused of swapping nude photos and engaging in sexual conversations with minors. This, in and of itself, is not a crime.

Yes, you read that right.

To elucidate, it is a crime to knowingly transport, ship, receive, distribute, sell, possess, solicit, or access any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

In other words, if someone posing as an 18 or 19 year old sends you nude photos of themselves, but they’re only 16 or 17, you’re not guilty of a crime as the law is written, because you have to knowingly receive images of underage children, simple as that. The reason for this is because our legal system is based upon a concept known as Mens Rea, or “guilty mind.” It means that an individual’s intent has to factor into whether or not they deserve punishment for an act they’ve committed.

This is entirely different from the concept of Ignorantia juris non excusat, more commonly phrased as “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Ignorantia juris non excusat applies when you are committing a crime but do not realize it’s a crime.

For example, you cannot fire a handgun at a target in your back yard and avoid legal penalties because you didn’t know it was illegal to discharge a firearm in a residential area. The fact of the matter is you did a thing that the law says you can’t do.

Jared’s situation is different, because the law itself requires the accused to know the age of the person they’re interacting with when they do it, otherwise you cannot prove they knowingly interacted with a minor. This is the reason Chris Hansen’s team on To Catch a Predator take care to explicitly make sure their targets see and acknowledge the “age” of the decoy, because they’re unlikely to get a conviction on the basis of “We thought the decoy’s age was obvious!”

Think about it. If the law didn’t require the recipient to know the images contained minors, a person could easily set up a blog with a bunch of “barely legal 18 year olds,” post pictures of 16 year olds, and then anyone that went to the website would be guilty of accessing child porn. Odds are, if you’ve spent any time at all looking at porn on the internet, you’ve probably stumbled across a picture or two of a late-teens minor that either lied about their age or just uploaded a pic from their phone without even caring about the legality of it. Do you think you should be charged with a crime just because you trusted an adult website to fully and carefully screen every single model and some slipped through the cracks?

And, before I go on to the allegations, I’d like to point out that there have been many people that have confirmed that Jared did, indeed, engage in age checking and state multiple times that he didn’t want kids in his blog.

There’s also the fact that people admitted to having to omit or lie about their ages because Jared was known to boot people that were underage.

At one point, a user by the name Brenn recalls a time where they revealed to Jared that several minors had been posting to his blog, and Jared’s response to finding out about that was to nuke the entire blog.

I should note that, when Jared was informed about minors posting to his blog, he only had two possible options if he wanted to avoid violating federal child protection laws.

1. Report the blog to the FBI and implicate the users as distributors of child pornograpy.

2. Delete the entire blog.

He chose the latter option.

Now, with all of that said, let’s look at the allegations. Rather than do this as a timeline, I will address each accuser one at a time. There are only three, so this won’t be hard.

On April 4th, an individual going by the Twitter name Chai sent an email to NormalBoots, a media company specializing in video game-related content with whom Jared worked, along with many other individuals, including Holly Conrad. In this email, which Chai titled “Regarding ProJared’s Sexual Grooming of Minors,” Chai detailed his interactions with Jared, which he further expanded upon with a full-blown statement to Twitter that reads thusly:

However, as is typical with Twitter, people pressed Chai. They wanted to know more. This was when Chai admitted outright that he had absolutely no evidence to back up his claims.

I apologize for the poor quality of these screenshots, but shortly after posting his statements, Chai went to great lengths to bury his statements, though archived samples and screenshots taken by others still exist.

In addition to admitting he had no evidence to support is claim, Chai took time to answer a few other questions:

Now, the fact that Chai has no evidence of his claims is, itself, no reason to immediately dismiss them. Not everyone keeps extensive screenshots of interactions they make online unless they’re planning on savoring or using them later. In fact, as I said before, the authorities should take those claims with absolute seriousness and investigate them, and we the public should be willing to hear Chai’s words openly. However, further digging has resulted in new information that makes Chai’s claims and testimony a bit harder to swallow...

On November 2017, Chai posted an extensive blog entry detailing a head injury he suffered on November 9th, 2015. This would have been just five days after he turned 16, his date of birth having been confirmed by an archived copy of his old Twitter profile, seen here:

In this blog, posted in 2017, Chai describes suffering a head injury during gym class, and the severe, terrifying symptoms he underwent - symptoms I doubt I would be strong enough to endure - in the months and years that followed. The blog itself is very extensive, taking up several pages, and would be cumbersome to quote or paste here in its entirety. However, the entire blog can be found directly via archive by going here:

https://archive.fo/CEpgE

A full-image snapshot of the blog can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/sIJ7FlY

According to Chai’s own blog entry, the sheer misery of his experiences during those first few months must have been excruciating torture.

It’s probably a blessing he claims he has no proper memory of that period of time.

Now, the experience Chai describes suffering from during that period of time is, without a doubt, something I would never wish on anyone, even my worst enemy. However, if you do the math, that means that Chai cannot properly remember anything that took place between November of 2015 and May of 2016. When did he claim to have sent Jared that first nude along with a tagline of “16 no more?” Oh, that’s right...

So, allegedly, the first nude image Chai claims to have sent to Jared, wherein he states that he’s 16, occurred during a period of time that he can’t properly remember, and what memories he has exist as “snapshots.”

However, let’s continue giving Chai the benefit of the doubt. Let’s speculate in his favor for a moment and say that sometime after he wrote this blog, he started to remember things from that period, and somehow, those memories were clear and unaffected by the significant traumatic brain injury he suffered in late 2015. Chai describes the life he was living between late 2015 and August of 2016.

He was in and out of the hospital, sometimes for days at a time.

He was in constant pain at all times, and would suffer from seizures every few minutes that caused incontinence, falls, and fainting spells.

Such severe fatigue that he was sleeping for 16-18 hours per day.

Such severe depression, pain, and spasms that he was effectively bedridden.

Hallucinations, both auditory and verbal.

Hearing voices telling him to kill people, which got louder and louder each day.

Severely bad short term memory and large gaps in long term memory.

Inability co concentrate

Loss of coordination that prevented writing.

Slurred speech and psychosis.

He states that in August of 2016, he was “somewhat better” and was able to stay awake for 8-10 hours per day, but that the psychosis (that is, the violent thoughts) was getting worse, to the point he told his mother that he’d kill her if she didn’t take him to the hospital. He spent several days in the hospital before having a massive headache that temporarily crippled him, and explains that after this headache, the voices had miraculously disappeared entirely, as had the spasms and headaches. From there, he explains that his life got better and his symptoms rapidly healed over the ensuing year or two that followed.

Now, I don’t tell that story to humiliate or embarrass Chai. If anything, anyone that had lived through these events deserves nothing short of praise for their strength. I tell this story because, when you think about it...something doesn’t add up. Regarding that blog, there are two possibilities:

1. That the blog is truthful, and contains a description that best fits Chai’s recollection of the events surrounding a very unfortunate and painful accident. If this is the case, it means Chai is a strong individual that survived pure hell and came out the other side with a smile.

2. That the blog is a lie, which would imply that Chai invented the entire ordeal in order to garner sympathy from those that read it.

Now, we can’t access medical logs or contact any hospitals due to patient privacy rights, nor would we have any right to pry into Chai’s private life, which is why I’ve limited my digging only to information that has been submitted to the internet by those it concerns. However, no matter which of these two scenarios is the truth, Chai’s testimony hits a brick wall.

If it is true, then it means Chai’s memories of most of the year 2016 cannot be considered reliable. By his own admission, he is only able to recall bits and pieces of events that took place during that time. Furthermore, I think we can all agree that if you were living that sort of life, it would be overwhelmingly difficult to find the mood and motivation to go online and start trading nudes and engaging in sex talk with someone, to say nothing of the difficulty of finding time to do that and study while you’re only awake 6-8 hours per day and spending much of that in and out of the hospital, and even if he did manage it, we can’t rationally place much (if any) faith in the integrity of his recollection of just how those interactions with Jared went, especially in the absence of any corroborating evidence what-so-ever.

If it is false, it means that the story - either in part or in whole - has been falsified for the purpose of garnering sympathy for Chai from those that would read the blog. While this act alone could simply be considered deplorable for the level of deception involved, it would also establish that Chai has a pattern of lying to the public in order to get them to feel sorry for him, meaning it’s not ethical to believe his claims without some evidence to corroborate them.

Either way, the blog does say one thing for certain: Chai’s claims about his encounter with Jared, based on the timeline of his cognitive injuries and the fact that he cannot provide a single shred of evidence to corroborate them, cannot reasonably be accepted as reliable, because either he wasn’t in any condition to participate in nude-swapping and sexting, or he’s remembering events that might not have happened, or he’s lying about the entire thing. We can’t prove which of these possibilities, if any, is the truth, but there’s far too much there to simply dismiss outright.

Update: Direct references to Chai’s surname have been removed from this blog at the request of third parties not directly related to these incidents.

[thesalamandara]

X. UPDATES

Not sure if anyone is still reading this, but I will keep uploading my blog until I get a job. I had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster last week: first because Bad Land got back to me saying they couldn't take interns right now, secondly because the roommates that interviewed me said they ‘liked me but chose someone else to live in the flat’. That happened the same day, and it felt like I got rejected twice, and that my effort were leading up to nothing. But I won't stop looking and networking because I know I can find something great. 

So here are the updates: Turns out the last agency I took a look at was just a talent agency (https://artofficialagency.com) - and they simply manage talents. It’s clearly not what I want to do. I still connected with one of the talent manager on LinkedIn: Kasper Notlev - and he said he would answer the few questions I had (that was last Friday). 

Secondly, since Julie since hasn’t gotten back to me - I’m trying to keep my options open and keep applying to other production companies/ agencies. 

Here are the 3 Danish companies I applied to today: https://www.hellomonday.com / https://www.working-holidays.dk / https://ntercph.dk 

-> I will add my internship applications on the next blog post.  Third update: I contacted Bacon again, and Lasse told me that he will reach out to Samuel Cantor (the producer) to see whether he got my email and letter (that I sent to the office). Samuel connected with me on linkedIn - so if Lasse forgets to get back to me I will just email him directly. He also told me that they don’t have any creative opportunities right now, but if they do, he will let me know. Which is nice of him. I appreciate him being straight to the point and honest - unlike some other agencies who just make you turn around. 

I also plan on applying to production companies in London - if I really really can’t get a positive response from anyone in Cph. Here are the 3 companies I will apply to tomorrow: http://www.acne.se / https://somesuch.co / https://mobile.riffrafffilms.tv/uk

On another note, Mark Adams (vice president of VICE) with whom I had a call last month still hasn’t gotten back to me. It’s frustrating because I sent him everything that was linked to my magazine and he was supposed to give me feedback + let me know whether or not there could be a collaboration between Sal:mender magazine and VICE...But guess what, he’s not the only one working at VICE, so I will contact the other Vice President (and other people in charge if needed) to share with them my idea. 

[cliche-ish]

We made it halfway

Context: What is written here happened in the beginning of July 2020. Yes we are halfway through 2020. Guess what else happened in 2020? COVID-19 and Trump... What a time to be alive! 🙃 A week ago Trump signed an order to suspend all H1B (working) visa processing until at least the end of the year. I have two friends from high school (let’s give them fake names, April and Ann, because Parks and Rec) who are working in Pittsburgh and Boston and applying for their H1B (working) visa this year. We went to high school in Vietnam together, and all went to the US at different schools for college. I was wondering if the order was going to affect them, so I sent them a few messages on Facebook to check how they were handling this. The previous time I sent them a message to them were probably at least 1-2 years ago. They both replied and said the visa suspension did not really affect them. We all caught up with one another through messaging and decided to set up a video call on the night of July 4th (because what else was there to do this year 😅).

Saturday, July 4th, 2020 

You know how sometimes it takes a global pandemic to finally have time to catch up with your high school best friends who also live in the US but you never really had the chance to meet in person. 😅 The last time our group of friends did a video call was in 2013 or 2014. There we were again 6 years later, and we just hit if off instantly and talked non-stop for 4 hours. It was like those 6 years never existed and we were just together the day before. We talked so much our throats hurt haha. 

We talked about everything. Of course we talked about people we went to school with and how/where they are now. Most of the friends went study abroad like us. Some of them came back to Vietnam. Some of them already got married. Then we talked about how rare it was that all of us were single at the same time and looked into planning a girls’ trip haha. We talked about relationship stuff, like what we want in a partner or a relationship or whether we want to get married or have kids. We talked about the people we dated and what we have learned from our previous relationships. We talked about how our American dreams as well as our perceptions about life in the US had shifted and changed and what we wanted as the purpose of our life. Like real serious adults talk haha.  

Ann then brought up about someone from our school who went to Georgia Tech for college and committed suicide last year and how that how we all had some periods of time when we felt so lost and depressed. At that point Ann was very depressed and felt like her life was so meaningless. She said that suicide news was the wake-up call for her. So she asked her boss to give her a month off, and headed back to Vietnam and saw her family earlier this year in February (when COVID-19 was mustering and looming). When she came back to the US, she felt better and started looking for a new job. She landed one with Microsoft. (Yes girl!!) She told us the same stories of a few of our friends from middle school and high school who also had some periods where they felt so lost and depressed during their time living far away from family and friends in a new country and culture. April told us about her “sad period” and how becoming religious helped her find a way out. I talked about the time I lost my Grandma and how I sought out to therapy. (I promise to myself that I’ll normalize talking about mental health issues and therapy from now on, because not talking about them inevitably keeps them a taboo, when they are not.) We all coped differently. Luckily, we all actively found our ways to recover and felt better and was living our lives in the US when we had this conversation. But this path of being an international student that we chose is not always easy and not for everyone. Perhaps it could have helped if we’d known about each other’s difficult experience and shared with our friends who were also going through similar hardship. If there are any people that can understand, it’s them. So my friends and I, we made a pact that whenever one of us feels down and goes through any emotional or mental challenges ever again, we will let the others know.

The clock hit 1:45 am, and I suggested we call if a day. Ann, being Ann, asked if we could take a photo together and posted on Facebook, so we would be reminded years from now about this reunion. So I offered to take the photo, took it, sent it to them right away, and asked if the picture was okay. Ann said it looked good. She made a silly, cute pose with both her hands in a peace sign held high next to her face. April was like, “Yeah, it’s okay! Actually, hehe, can we take it again? I don’t look so good.” And I said, “Of course!”. April replied, “Yayyy hihi, thanks!” or something like that. I took it again, and this time everyone was happy. Then Ann made a comment, “Wow this is just like high school. April is still the awkward, shy baby, and [Me] is still the caring mom of the group.” And Ann is still the silly, hilarious one (you can tell based on her pose). It was just funny and interesting to see how we had changed and matured so much in the past years, and yet we were still the same people in high school. 

Plot twist - Monday, July 7th, 2020

Like any day this year now, something shocking just happened today. While I can imagine Ann and April got quite some messages asking if the new order affected their working visa, 3 days later, it was my turn. This evening, a federal order was issued, saying that all students who attend schools decide to conduct 100% online classes in the Fall due to COVID-19 are mandated to leave the US or risk getting deported. I am currently on a student visa, which is affected by this order. My phone was flooded with messages from friends checking on me. Oh how the table has turned LOL.

This order came out right after Harvard announced they were doing entirely virtual classes for the Fall. The government wanted schools to stay open despite the pandemic ravaging the whole country and was afraid schools would follow Harvard’s move. Harvard, you freaked out the government, and played us all. But you sued the gov for this order, so we forgive you. 😂 When this order was released tonight, all hell broke loose for the international student community on social media. I can imagine the administration of all universities in the country are feeling the same shock, confusion, and dread.

My first reaction when I saw this was ironically to laugh. I just laughed. I have been laughing a lot lately at some of all the ridiculous things the President said or some of the bad news coming my way. Remember that time when he said he had been taking hydroxycloroquine for preventing COVID-19. Or when he suggested injecting disinfectants to kill the virus. And we also saw how that statement turned the whole country upside down. The White House, CDC, and all disinfectant companies was racing to issue statement against his advice and deal with the consequences that night and the next morning. I mean I must admit there was a little part of that that was funny, right? All of that can be great materials for a new episode on VEEP lol. So yeah, I laughed. Ironic laughs, but laughs nonetheless. I don’t know why I laughed. Maybe those things I heard were to absurd and ridiculous. Maybe I’ve gone crazy during this strange time. Maybe this is the new resort that my newly updated brain automatically seeks out to when I hear news like this. Aaah what a time to be alive! 😂 (If my life has an emoji, it is definitely this laugh cry emoji. 😂)

I told my friends I don’t know how this was going to play out for my case, but at this point, I honestly just feel fine. It’s not that I don’t care. I just feel fine. I’ve worked hard and tried my best to do all that I can to maximize my chance of getting a job here in the US and fulfill my goals and dreams. Anything else is out of my control. So whatever comes my way, I will cope with it and figure it up. I feel like at this point I have been through enough to know I can deal with anything and everything will be alright. Knowing who and how I am as a person now, I just know I will survive and thrive anywhere life takes me. 😁 So yeah, I laughed and I feel fine. I’d not be surprised if tomorrow I wake up to another one like this. I mean it’s 2020. Why not? 😂

And it truly feels fine. Probably because I know no matter what happens there is always hope and wonderful people in my life and in this world standing with me on my side. 😊

Update on Thursday, July 9th, 2020, 3 days after the issuance of the above order.

My university has been sending out emails every day to assure us international students that the university disagrees with the order and is doing everything they can to protect its international students and create a safe and viable environment for us to continue pursuing our education here in the US. My friends from all over the country reached out and checked on me to see if I would be affected by this order. Many of my American friends and colleagues have been speaking out and taking actions against this order. It’s not their fight, yet they chose to participate anyway and stand by the side of us international students. The amount of support that I have seen and received has been tremendous, and I am beyond grateful. My heart is so full.  

All of this is truly a reminder for me to just care about others and choose to fight those battles not for me but for others. This is a fight against us international students, yet we are joined by people who are not affected by this incident at all. I want to remember how empowered and supported this has made me feel during the past few days by recording it here. There are a lot going on right now in the world and this country. A lot of different people are under attack, like Black people and the LGBTQ+ community. I am not one of them. I am not under those attacks. But when I am under one, people who are not affected choose to fight for and with me, because it is the right thing to do. And so I want to choose to fight those battles that are not mine and stand with others when it is the right thing to do.

[wonkyuna-blog]

Save Myself

Genre: Fluff, M / M

Im Changkyun x Yoo Kihyun Summary: When you’re so used to caring and emotionally providing for someone else you often lose sight of who you are and what you want for yourself. Changkyun, forced from the relationship he carried on his own shoulders, now seeks to reclaim his individuality and rebuild a life for himself.

Word Count: 7.2k+

Warnings: Toxic relationship

/// Author’s Note /// My piece for @mxnetwork for the Lyrical Writing thingy! I chose Save Myself by Ed Sheeran

Changkyun rolled back to his side of the bed, panting and chasing after his breath. He looked back towards you, sweat gleaming off your skin almost glittering in the moonlight shining through the open window. It was sweltering in the middle of July. Too hot to function but Changkyun would never pass up makeup sex. He felt really guilty that y/n had been home all day with the broken ac unit while he was at work. When he had returned home to your shared apartment you ripped into him about not calling someone earlier while you basically melted from the heat.

“I’m sorry baby, I had no idea or else you know I would have taken care of it immediately. Did you try calling anyone from the HVAC place?”

“No, obviously not. That’s your job. I haven’t had the time to do much of anything all day since I was practically dying of heat exhaustion!” You huffed at him.

“Ah, you’re right. I’m so sorry. I’ll call someone in the tomorrow and get it fixed as soon as possible, okay?”

You took a deep breath, content. “You had better, or I’m leaving.”

“No, please! Listen, I’ll send the company an email right now then wake up first thing in the morning and call so they get my message either way, okay? Everything will be fine y/n, I promise.” Changkyun waited for your answer while he fidgeted nervously. The tension was growing too much and he felt like bargaining anything just to have you calm down.  

“Fine, but you’re still going to have to make this up to me.” You turned to face him and gave him a look he knew all too well.

“Whatever you need baby, let me make it better.”

You looked so beautiful under the moonlight. The room was painted blue from the softness of it caressing every surface unhidden from shadow. Changkyun had hoped this would quell the fire in your heart from him letting you down, again. He wanted to make everything better for not taking care of you like he should have been.   Checking the AC unit before he walked out the door in the first place had been on the back of his mind but he didn’t think to actually look. He had been running late anyway trying to clean up the house so you could relax comfortably while he was gone. You had both been together for almost three years now and he knew that as long as you were happy, you both were. He tried pulling you into him so you could fall asleep together, wrapped up and safe; but you pushed him away and grunted, “too hot.” You flipped to your side facing away from him and remained silent.

That following morning Changkyun woke up early to contact someone that could come out and work on the cooling unit. It was only a small dent in everything he had planned today, though he knew he could work through it with little issues.   Today was the third anniversary of your relationship together and Changkyun had taken off work for the entire day to spend it with you. He excited himself thinking about holding your hand and going to your favorite places, eating the most delicious food, and spending the day reconnecting with one another. He started the day off with making you breakfast. Changkyun was waiting for the food to finish cooking as he set the table. You stepped into the dining room after just waking up, puzzled. “What are you doing?”

“Y/n! I hope you’re hungry because I’m cooking us a huge breakfast.”

You stood where you were and rubbed the sleep from your eyes. “Changkyun…”, you sighed.

“Yes?” He beamed up at you while setting the last fork down next to an empty plate.

“We have to talk.” You wore a blank expression and withheld any emotion you may be feeling.

“Oh? You aren’t still mad about yesterday, are you?” Changkyun’s heart began to race as he felt stress building in his head. He started to walk back towards the kitchen to tend to the food cooking on the stove as he continued. “I called the guy to come out before you woke up, so he should be here at some point in the afternoon. Plus, I’ve got a plan to completely make up for it by the end of-”

“Changkyun”, you interrupted, “we need to break up.”

He stopped where he was, back turned to you, and stood there while he processed what you had just said. “What?” His voice cracked and he slowly spun around to face you.

“I can’t do this anymore Changkyun.” You were being incredibly vague, so Changkyun was having a really hard time understanding.

“But… y/n it’s our anniversary… did I do something wrong?” He began to fidget, his fingers searching for anything to relieve the anxiety creeping into his chest.

“No… I-… yes. This just isn’t enough for me. I don’t know how to make this work and I shouldn’t have to. It just… should.” You threw your hands up and let them fall hard. You didn’t want to continue the conversation any longer.

“Y/n, whatever it is we can work on it and I can fix it. You just have to tell me-” Changkyun began to beg, he didn’t want it to end like this. Especially not today.

“It’s done, Changkyun. I’m done.”   You turned to walk away and locked yourself in the bedroom. Changkyun wanted to fight so badly, but a bigger part of him felt defeated. He didn’t know what went wrong. You were both so happy.   The fire alarm began to sound off.

Changkyun woke up in a sweat. He had been having the same nightmare for two weeks now, and was awakened each time by the alarm sounding off in his mind. The piercing shrill of it burned like a metaphor into his memory.   It was dawn, so he decided to recollect himself with a shower and head downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee to get his day started. He bounced down to the bottom step to see his mother at the kitchen table having breakfast. He had come to live with her again after the breakup since Changkyun let y/n stay in their apartment. A choice he was scolded by his mother for, since in her opinion they decided to leave the relationship so they should be the one to actually leave and not Changkyun. Still, she welcomed him home with open arms and warm meals every night. She was happy to have him back.

“Good morning! How are you feeling today?” She also took the time to check up on his recovery. His mother knew how hard of a breakup this had been for Changkyun, and she wanted to make sure that he was taking the right steps to come out of it okay.

He walked over towards the coffee maker and prepared a brew for himself. “Had the nightmare again.”  

His mother looked him up and down, his disheveled appearance causing her body language to slump too.   “You take all the time you need to recover dear. I know how much they meant to you, and no amount of time taken to get past this makes you any less of what you are.”  

“I know mom, thanks.”   After the brew was finished Changkyun silently filled his cup and shuffled back upstairs to his room.

He had been doing nothing but lay in bed since being back with his mother the past week. The week before was filled with awkward co-habitation with you. Even now, though, all that filled his head was y/n. He couldn’t shake it, he didn’t know what to do. He had gone through all the emotional stages but was still a heavy mix of angry and hopeless. Though he felt he was lucky enough to still have his mother in his life, during Changkyun’s relationship he had lost ties with all his friends and most family members. He was completely alone in the world because of y/n since you wanted him all to yourself constantly. Any attention you were stripped of sent you into emotional turmoil.   Changkyun knew he had to break out of the shell he had put himself into. He sat down at his computer and pulled up a local classified ad to make his first step: get a new job. There was no real use thinking about the past anymore and he knew he needed to move forward. It was worth it to distract himself, he thought.

He had finished applying for a grocery store and a pastry shop before seeing an offer that actually pulled his attention. He had never thought about working in a book store before, but he imagined it being peaceful and positive. That’s what you needed to recover with, right? So he filled in for the shop called Blue Moon Books, and anxiously awaited a possible phone call.

Two days later Changkyun’s mother visited him while he lay in his bed moping. It was morning and there had been no phone call from any job he applied for thus far, and he was trying his best to remain patient. The only problem was that he felt incredibly lonely, and sitting with his thoughts to himself wasn’t the best right now. He’d stare into the ceiling and think about those nights where he and y/n would sink into each other on the living room couch. You would fight with him over what to watch and tell him what he liked to watch was stupid, but Changkyun could only see the glow of the television illuminating the beautiful features of her face as she offered only an annoyed expression at him. Anything you wanted to make you happy, he would provide for you. “Honey, can I come in?” He heard a quiet rasping outside his door, his mother had come home from her late night shift.

“Sure thing, mom.” He sat up to make room for her on his bed as she took a seat next to him.  

“I really want to talk to you about all of this that’s been going on with you lately. It’s been almost 3 weeks now, and I don’t want to press but I think it’d be good for you to talk about this. You’ve been kinda mopey lately and I thought we were making good progress. I don’t want you to get discouraged though, you can have set backs. I’m just… I’m just worried about you sweetie.” She fidgeted with her hands, nervous. Clearly she was uncomfortable pushing Changkyun when she wasn’t sure if he was ready yet.

Changkyun looked to his feet and stared silently into space for a while. He actually wasn’t sure if he was ready to face the reality - at least talking about it made what happened seem more real than it should anyway. His mother was right though, it was time to talk about it and there was no one better than her.

“I just… I don’t know where to start mom.” He couldn’t look at her or he knew he’d start crying. “I just don’t know what happened, ah.” His voice began to crack. “We got in a little fight about the AC unit, and I took care of everything but then this still happened.” He circled with his hands to make a visual representation of, ‘all this’, then let them fall as he felt completely defeated.

“Changkyun, if you can walk through what did happen that day with me, please. I want to understand just like you do.” She reached over and rubbed his back in a figure eight motion to try and get him to relax.

He let out a deep sigh and squeezed his temple between his fingers. His mother was all he had left in the world. She had let him live there again with her, so it seemed only fair to let her hear what her son had gone through. “I don’t know mom, it was mostly a lot of confusion. I came home that night from work and y/n hadn’t spoken to me all day. I didn’t bother them, felt they needed some space you know, and I was fine with that. The second I walked through the door though, they absolutely blew up on me. It was like a bomb went off. Screaming incoherent sentences, I just wanted them to calm down so I could fix whatever was wrong. They finally brought it down enough to tell me the air conditioner had been broken all day with them in the apartment basically melting, and they were upset that I hadn’t done anything about it.”

Changkyun’s mother nodded. “Did you know about it before coming home?”  

“Well… no, but I just felt so bad for them and I understand why they were mad but….” Changkyun began to fidget with his hands then when his mother continued talking.  

“You shouldn’t feel bad for them being a lazy piece of shit.”  

“Mom!” He had never heard her curse before.  

“I’m sorry hun, I just don’t think that was handled right at all. On their end, anyway.”

“Well, they broke up with me the next day anyway so it doesn’t matter anymore.” He felt himself growing distant when this discussion became uncomfortable. His mother was protective of him, and obviously held a grudge for y/n isolating her only son from everyone else in the world. Just then Changkyun’s phone began to ring, and to his joy interrupted their conversation. “Hello?”

“Hello! I’m calling for a… Changkyun?”

“Yes, speaking.”

“Hey! My name is Shownu, I’m calling from Blue Moon Books about your application? I’ve just finished reviewing it and was wondering when you might be available for an interview?”

Changkyun had to recover his heart from his stomach after hearing his quick speech. “Y-yes! When would be best for you? I’m free all this week actually.”

“Great! Come by the shop around 2pm today and we can get you all set up!”

“I’ll be there, thank you so much!” The call ended and Changkyun looked back to his mother who was giving him a confused expression.

“Mom, I have an interview with that book store I was telling you about.” He almost couldn’t believe the words that spilled from his mouth. It didn’t exactly seem like that big of a deal, but he was proud of himself for taking some first few steps at getting his life back up and going.

“That’s great! Well, go get washed up for it I won’t keep you!” His mother rushed out of the room, all smiles.

Main-street was busy and bustling. The smell of fresh bread hung in the air from the bakery Changkyun walked past, he was almost tempted to go in but he had his mind focused on meeting Shownu. It was a beautiful, bright day and he felt more confident than usual about his budding opportunity.   Changkyun arrived at the shop twenty minutes before his interview since wanted to look around for a bit and see how he felt about the atmosphere of the store. He was able to walk there because it was only a few minutes away from his mother’s home settled on a calmer street section in the city, down further from the claustrophobic feeling the beginning of main street held. The building, marked with large blue lettering that of course read 'Blue Moon Books’, had single pane front windows with book displays and popular character models in an attempt to draw in curious eyes.   As soon as he walked in the aroma of pressed espresso had washed over his senses. It was rather quiet in the store aside from the barista preparing coffee with quick hands. He was a tall, brilliantly tanned man with golden blonde hair pulled into a short pony tail. His gaze was fixated on his task and one could tell he held a certain passion for the job he performed.   The store itself was impressively organized with volumes upon volumes of whatever genre one would be in the mood for. Mystery, drama, comedy, love, it was all here and categorized by the genre itself, then by the author. Two more men stood at the counter as Changkyun continued deeper into the store. One with a rounded face and eyes that held their own kind of smile, he looked genuine. He was speaking with a larger, broad shouldered man whom Changkyun assumed must be the manager, Shownu, that he spoke on the phone with. He carried himself high and looked to be giving direction. The first man looked to Changkyun and broke their conversation.  

“Is there anything I can help you with sir?” He leaned on the counter, propped up by his elbows.

“Yes, actually. I’m here for an interview.” Changkyun straightened his back out and tried his best to look what he felt was professional.

As if it were rehearsed the man presumed to be Shownu stepped forward with a large smile. “That would be me! And you would be Changkyun? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  

“Likewise, sir.” Changkyun felt incredibly at ease then, even though he was speaking with an employer. He felt good about this. Shownu stepped from behind the counter to extend his hand in greeting. Changkyun took this opportunity to look him over and was slightly amused by his visage.   Shownu looked like someone that should be at the gym right now or at a fighting match proving his own strength. Instead, this hulking mass was managing a quiet book shop on main street. Nothing wrong with that, of course, Changkyun thought to himself. Rather amusing in the simplest means. It was humbling if nothing else.

“Let’s take a walk around while you tell me about yourself.” Shownu placed a gentle hand on Changkyun’s shoulder as the two of them began to walk the shop together.  

“I’ve never seen a shop so spacious yet so filled before.” Changkyun marveled. He had hoped that didn’t come out as an attempt of flattery. Maybe he was nervous after all.

“Tell me, why do you want this job?” Shownu kept his eyes forward, listening intently.

Right to it, then. “Well, truthfully sir… I just got through a pretty rough breakup… and I’m looking for something not so stressful and where I can grow into myself again. Just… I guess something to focus on.” He had hoped it wasn’t painfully obvious that he had rehearsed that line over and over on his way to the shop that day. Even though he did hesitate a few times. Shownu was mostly quiet, they had stopped walking while Changkyun awaited a response.  

“Well Changkyun, we are a small family here. I’ll be straight forward with you, I need an extra hand with the register and with organization. Business is really picking up and I need more people at the counter than just one person. I’ve been through the other interviews today and you’re the first that has been pretty laid back instead of attempting to flatter me with business speak and talking out their ass the whole time. Plus, if you’re going through a tough time who am I to turn down someone looking to bring purpose and structure back to their life?” He paused, cleared his throat, and extended his hand towards Changkyun. “If you can start tomorrow, the job is yours.”  

“I’ll even start today if you need me to.”  

Shownu chuckled at his response. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, kid. Just go rest up and be here tomorrow by 8am.”  

“Absolutely! Thank you so much.” Changkyun, ecstatic, ran out the door to go prepare and tell his mother the good news. Main street had died down by this point, so he decided to burst into a full on sprint back up the walkway. He hadn’t felt this excited in weeks.

“I’m so happy for you!” His mother was almost squealing with her own excitement. “Oh, this is going to be so good for you, I know you’re going to love it. Read too while you’re there, okay? You used to love reading so much.” She cooed.

“I will, mom.”

The next morning, Changkyun tossed himself awake reacting to the loud screams of fire alarms, again. He lifted himself out of bed, covered in sweat, looking around for any sign of the blaze. Nothing.   “Dammit.” He sighed to himself.   He wasn’t sure how long the nightmares would last, but at least today they woke him in time to get ready for his first day at work. He showered then ran downstairs after getting dressed to find his mother standing near the dinner table. She had a cup of coffee for him and the biggest smile he’s ever seen her wear. He walked over and embraced her tight.   She rubbed his back and said, “this is going to be good for you, like I said. A new fresh start. You’re such a strong person Changkyun, I know you’ll get where you need to be. And I’m always here for you. Remember this.”  

He thanked her and headed out towards the shop.   Walking in he saw the man at the counter from yesterday, greeting him with a warm smile.  

“I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself since you ran out so fast yesterday. I’m Jooheon.”   Jooheon held his hand out to formally greet Changkyun.  

“Right, sorry about that. I’m Changkyun.” He returned the gesture. “It’s nice to meet you!”  

Jooheon giggled. “You don’t have to be super formal here, we’re all like a family anyway. So, to kick things off let me run down what you’ll be doing.”  

Jooheon walked Changkyun around the sales floor, front counter, then the back room telling him how to use the register and check inventory.  

“Customers can order books through us too if we don’t have exactly what they’re looking for in stock.” Jooheon explained while showing him the public kiosk set up for people to use freely on the sales floor.   “So”, Jooheon turned to face Changkyun, “since I’m finished with the basics why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? I can only eavesdrop so much, you know.”

Changkyun thought for a second before answering. “There’s not much to tell, truthfully.” He shrugged. “I’m just pretty much looking to find myself. Like, who I am and what I want essentially. I figured this would be something new and relaxing for me.”

“Bad breakup?” Jooheon interjected.

“W-what?” Changkyun felt embarrassed.

“Shownu mentioned it, but I won’t bring it up if it’s still sensitive. So don’t sweat over it.”  

“Heh, I’m sure I’ll talk about it soon, it’s only just been about a month anyway – probably less. I’m trying not to keep track.” Changkyun rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, trying to show he was uncomfortable without really saying it.

“Relax, man. You’re going to like it here just fine.”  

A man walked up to them as they stood at the counter talking. Jooheon greeted him first, likely demonstrating what was expected of Changkyun.  

“What can we help you with?” Jooheon flashed that brilliant smile of his.

“Mmm, well…” The man was shorter than the both of them and looked rather timid while he gathered his thoughts. Though, Changkyun caught himself thinking only about how adorable he is. He had black strands of hair cascade down his forehead in protest against the gel that was supposed to hold it back and wore ripped jeans with a tight fitted t-shirt around his small body. “I was wondering if either of you had any good recommendations? I’m usually a pretty avid reader but I love seeing what other people pick up so I can try it too.”  

Changkyun realized that Jooheon was staring at him, waiting for him to take this opportunity for himself. Surely for the job experience only.  

“I… um… well…” The man stared intently at Changkyun, waiting for his answer. Changkyun released the air he held captive in his lungs as a deep sigh. “I actually haven’t been able to read much lately… and I just started here so I’m sorry that I can’t be of much help.”  

The man began to quietly giggle. “I appreciate the honesty, darling.” He beamed up at Changkyun.   “How about…” he pulled a pen and paper from his bag, “you get a recommendation from me, instead, and the next time I see you we can talk about it.”   He smiled big as he handed over the paper, offered a quick wave, then turned and almost bounced his way out the door. Changkyun felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find Jooheon very amused.  

“You know you cant fall in love with every customer that comes in right? You might want to calm down a bit before someone thinks you were sitting in the sun too long. Your face is so red!” He teased and Changkyun hid his face behind his hand and with the other passed the paper to Jooheon.

“Do we have this in stock?”  

Jooheon busted out laughing “I don’t know if we have a book titled 'Kihyun’ with a kissy face, or maybe that’s the author? Oh but see here… the other line, that must be the book title we can look up. Just another thing I can show you, come on.”

Another week had passed since Changkyun first started at Blue Moon Books. He and Jooheon were becoming close friends quickly and he had learned a lot from him about different novels that had become popular over the past couple of years. He felt he missed out on so much. Though the one book he was most invested in was the one recommended to him by the man he met his first day there. Changkyun had finished reading it and was waiting around to see him walk through the front door so they could talk about it, but each day came and went without seeing his face.  

“He’ll come in eventually man, it’s only been a week anyway. That’s not the first time I’ve seen him come in.” Jooheon gave Changkyun a rough pat on the back “Besides, with the way you’re so worked up over it this is probably good for you anyway. Didn’t you just come out of a long term relationship?”  

“Yeah…”, Changkyun sighed, “you’re right, and…. I don’t know I guess I’m just a little lonely is all. Three years is a long time with someone. Not to mention I haven’t even thought of the possibility of being with someone new? And he’s just so cute I….”  

“How did that end anyway? If… you don’t mind me asking.” Jooheon was a bit uneasy asking this question. He knew it could be sensitive.

Changkyun gave in, though, and told him everything about y/n that had happened in those last two days they were together.   “And I’m not sure if I have the right to be angry you know? A big part of me is, but I have no one to blame but myself anyway.”  

Jooheon stood where he was and held his concerned expression for a while, thinking, before finally speaking.   “Dude, you do realize this person was using you, right?”  

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Changkyun certainly wasn’t expecting those words from him.

“You were in an emotionally manipulative relationship with them. They used you for everything. Tell me, didn’t you say when you first got here that you were trying to find yourself? Why do you that is, exactly?”

“I mean I…”, Changkyun hadn’t thought of the reason, honestly. He just knew he wasn’t himself. “I had to care for them you know? And… in doing that I kind of lost sight of who I was or what I wanted.” Yeah, that sounded about right. “That’s just natural though, I did what I needed to-”  

“Changkyun, come on man. That’s not normal. Y/n is an adult, and they should be able to handle themselves and their own life. Listen, the cooling unit is a thing that happens, not someone asking you to take the responsibility for their every mishap or emotion for three whole years. That a lot of shit to carry on your shoulders.”  

Changkyun was silent, unsure of what to say exactly. He was starting to think that maybe Jooheon was right, and that he did deserve better than what happened between them. But then he wondered how you un-do three years of all that combined.  

Jooheon could tell he was troubled.   “I didn’t mean to make you feel negatively at all, nothing you did was wrong and you didn’t deserve what happened. I hope you know that… I want you to know that. You’re a good person, Changkyun. Karma will do wonders, just watch.”  

Changkyun offered a small smile.   “Thank you Jooheon”  

“Don’t sweat it, let’s get back to work and get our mind off this, yeah?”  

Changkyun went about his day organizing shelves, doing inventory for a new books, and selling merchandise. They were getting close to locking the doors when one last customer ran up.  

“I’ll be quick, I promise!” Jooheon let them inside and then ran over to Changkyun.

“Um, you’ll want to be ready at the counter for this.” He was smiling big… too big.

“What?”

“Just go!” Jooheon pushed him towards the register. Changkyun watched as the customer darted inbetween shelf after shelf, like they had been here a hundred times. They gently pulled each selection from their place, giving them a once over before finally picking two and walking briskly towards the counter where Jooheon and Changkyun stood waiting. Changkyun then recognized him as he approached. Kihyun.

“Oh! I’ve been waiting for you to come back around! I finished that book you recommended.”  

“Oh, yeah?” A flash of red crept in his cheeks and he broke eye contact. “You know I realized how dumb I was for not even giving you my name before. I’m Kihyun.” He was half looking to the side, half looking at Changkyun’s chin. He wondered why Kihyun seemed embarrassed.

“Ah”, Changkyun rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “yeah, I saw on your note actually. I’m Changkyun.”  

Kihyun slid the books he picked onto the counter and took a breath. “Um, would you like to hang out with me sometime? We can… talk about that book.” His face was even more red now, changing hue by the minute it seemed.   Changkyun, frozen with the product scanner in his hand, was shocked at the sudden invitation. He felt Jooheon lightly pinch his arm in encouragement.  

“Yeah, that sounds great actually. I know of this arcade in town we can go to, if you’d be interested in something like that?”  

“Are you kidding?!” Kihyun seemed excited at the suggestion. “I love arcades! I didn’t even know there was one in town. Are you free tomorrow?”   He was practically bouncing on the soles of his feet awaiting Changkyun’s response.  

“He is!” Jooheon answered for him, but Changkyun was confused. He wasn’t free tomorrow, he had to work.  

“Great! We can meet up around noon then. How much do I owe you guys?” He stood waiting, wallet in hand, and the most lovely smile painted on his mouth.

Changkyun cleared his throat. He was trying so hard not to feel awkward, but he couldn’t help it.   “It’s fifteen seventy-nine.”  

Kihyun paid for his new books and handed Changkyun a slip of paper. “Feel free to text me whenever. See you tomorrow!”  

The moment the door closed behind Kihyun, Jooheon turned to place his hands on Changkyun’s shoulders.   “Dude, relax. You two are just hanging out, and I’m gonna cover your shift. Besides, you’ve been working every single day so you could use a good break."

"You’re right.” Changkyun exhaled. “Thanks, man.”

“Just because you think he’s cute doesn’t mean you have to add pressure to this, you know.”   Jooheon walked to the backroom laughing before Changkyun, mouth agape, could protest.  

That night back home, before going to bed Changkyun decided he would try and text Kihyun to start conversation and hopefully make himself feel less anxious about them hanging out tomorrow. He sat on the edge of his bed writing, deleting, and then rewriting text after text before finally gathering the courage to send him something. Just before hitting send Changkyun’s phone began to vibrate as it received a call.   He hadn’t recognized the number at first, but after answering and hearing the voice on the other line his heart dropped into his gut.  

“Changkyunniieee!” Y/n was basically purring his name on the other end.  

He didn’t answer right away.   “Did you miss me? Hmm? I-I miss-d you by like… just a lil bit ya know.” “Y/n are you drunk right now? What do you want.”   His shock transgressed into a slow burning infuriation.  

“I dunno I just wan-ne-ted to hear your voice, maybe? And no! Sill-by, I only drank a lil cup. I’m fiiinne. You’re acting like we barely know-”  

“You told me to leave you alone, and I respected your wishes. So this is me, asking you to respect mine and return the favor.”   Changkyun hung up and tried to recollect himself. Where in the hell did they get off thinking they could just call like that? He looked back down to his phone to see three new messages.  

The first two:   -UNKNOWN (11:28 PM): YOU THIBNK YOU CANA JUST HANG UP ON ME HWEN IM SPEAKING TO YOU?? FUCK YOU -UNKNOWN (11:34 PM): ok im sorry haha im jst kidding call me  

“Ugh.” Changkyun was hoping this wouldn’t begin to be a thing, and would remain a one-time occurrence.   Then he checked the third message:   -KIHYUN (11:07 PM): Hey!~ I’m looking forward to our hang out tomorrow. Be ready to bring your competition on! >:D  

That text alone removed the bitter feeling from his heart. He was moving on.

Changkyun arrived at the arcade far too early. It was just now eleven when they had agreed to meet around noon. Yet, here he was, eagerly waiting for Kihyun to show. Not too long after he had made it there, his phone began to ring. As he looked down to see the caller ID it lit up as the number y/n had called him from the previous night. Against his better judgement, he answered.

“Hello.”

“Oh! Changkyun! Thank god, listen… you’ve got to help me.” Y/n sounded panicked and was breathing heavy.

“With?” He couldn’t believe this.

“My boyfriend he uh… kicked me out. I have nowhere to go.” They seemed to be on the verge of tears, or at least that’s what the acting came off as.

“And how is that my problem.” He forced a stern tone in his voice, he wasn’t interested in helping them whatsoever.

“Well, that’s rude… but, we got into a fight and he told me to get out. Long story short. So I went out for a few drinks until he calmed down but when I came back the door was locked.”

“Wait, wait. Where were you staying?” The other end stayed silent. “Y/n!” He tried pushing.

“Uh-I… our apartment?”

“Are you serious right now? This is some major irony, isn’t it?” Changkyun was kicked from his own apartment from the person who decided to end their relationship, and now the same was happening to them. Jooheon was definitely right about karma, and it came bearing teeth.

“Changkyun you’re being really mean.” He could almost hear that stupid pout through the whining. “I need help and you’re just going to critici-”

“You’re damn right I’m going to criticize you. You think that you’d just call me up, so sure that I’m still wrapped around your fucking finger and that I’ll just drop everything that I’m doing just to coddle you. Well, you ensured that will never happen again, and I gotta say y/n… I thank you for it.”

“What are you even fucking talking about?”  

“Ah, there’s the snake.” Changkyun looked up to see Kihyun waving and towards him. “I’ve got to go. Don’t call me again, and find someone else to leech off of. It sounds like your new toy isn’t so easily swayed anyway. Good luck.”   He turned his phone off and shoved it inside of his pocket. Changkyun felt immensely proud of himself in this moment. He did something he never in a million year dreamed that he would, and he had never felt more free.

“What are you all smiley about, huh?” Kihyun pushed Changkyun’s arm in a playful manner.

“Just… I dropped something from my life and I feel a lot better. Let’s go inside?”

“Oh! Yes please!”

They stepped inside and Kihyun began to marvel at everything he saw. “Oh, my god! It’s video game heaven!”

“Well, that is kinda the point.” Changkyun teased.

“Tsk, I told you that I’ve never been here before. Let my inner child have a sugar rush, will you?” Kihyun giggled and picked out games for them to play together. Changkyun felt they were there for days with how much fun he was having. Kihyun demolished him at racing games, but Changkyun had the upper hand with shooters. He felt as if the world, including the past and future, melted away. It was only him and Kihyun genuinely enjoying each other and having fun. Nothing else mattered, and that’s when Changkyun thought to himself that nothing else would. “Kihyun?” His stomach knotted up into ways he didn’t think were possible.

“Yes?”

“Thank you for today.”

“Oh, you’re welcome! But… what do you mean, what for?” He was beaming from ear to hear. His smile lit up his whole face. Curious, but happy still.

“It’s just..” Changkyun stammered, “I don’t feel any pressure being around you. Like… I’m not walking on egg shells, you know? I just… thank you.” He was having a hard time maintaining eye contact. There was something he had to get off his chest.

For a moment Kihyun was confused, but slowly seemed to gather Changkyun’s meaning and let it go. “Like I said dear, you’re very welcome. I’m having a lot of fun too!” They stood in awkawrd silence for a short while before Kihyun pressed. “Shall we play more, or…?”

Changkyun exhaled hard, and took a step towards Kihyun.   “Kihyun can I…” He couldn’t bring himself to look up, but he heard Kihyun grant him a small giggle.

“Why are you acting so silly?”

“Can I kiss you?” He felt like he had been punched in the gut, but for some reason it was more satisfying than painful.

“I…”   Changkyun finally looked up to find Kihyun with a surprisingly relaxed expression, searching for something to say. As he gave a slow nod time stopped for Changkyun. He gently reached forward and cupped Kihyun’s cheek in his palm, then drew him close to kiss him deep. He felt Kihyun’s little fingers tighten around his biceps as if to brace himself, and his lips were outrageously soft. They tasted of strawberries and that was something Changkyun knew he would never forget. Kissing Kihyun felt just right, like they were designed for each other. Then, Kihyun pulled away.  

“I just… I had to know.” Changkyun confessed. “I felt something and… I don’t know, kissing you sounded like a way to solidify that.” He nervously rubbed his arm, unsure of what Kihyun was feeling.

“Changkyun I…” He looked conflicted, like he held his own secret. The tiny child in him that was just running around the arcade, hiding.

“If… if this is to become something… more…” He was having a tough time searching for the words again it seemed. He had hoped that Kihyun knew he could trust him. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Changkyun I wasn’t born… how you see me now. I need to know you’re comfortable with who I am. I was… born a female, not as me. Not as… Kihyun.”

Changkyun’s heart swelled. “You’re Kihyun to me. You are who you say you are, and to me? You are Kihyun, the boy I met a week ago that has made me develop the biggest, most horrendous crush on.”

Kihyun couldn’t help but laugh.  

“And I’m scared as hell but… I want to know all of you. I mean you.”

Kihyun shoved himself into Changkyun’s embrace then.

“We’ll both grow into ourselves. You can learn to trust me, and I can do the same for you.” He lifted his chin up and placed small, wet kisses along Changkyun’s jaw line. Standing on the tips of his toes Kihyun whispered into Changkyun’s ear, “We learned how to save ourselves.”

[toopliss-chewtoy]

Hard Coded - Ch. 5/8

I’m so, so sorry for how much time there is between chapters >.< So many other little things that come between it that distract me... oh well, better late then never. A pretty long chapter this time too, please bear with it!

The glorious art in this chapter was done by @rokutsubasa61! She does great stuff, so be sure to have a look when you finish reading :D - J.

[Read from the start] Size: 4282 words Warnings: Author chose not to show warnings - some apply! Also on AO3

Chapter 5

“No cellphones at the table,” Stoick said with a stern frown.

“Sorry, dad.”

Hiccup put his phone away and continued to eat. His steak was pretty good - thanks to the fact Gobber did all the cooking - but his mind was distracted with other things. Things related to a specific white-haired boy.

“Who were you texting, anyway?”

“Just a friend from school.” A friend who he’d been going out with for a couple of weeks now, but that was on a strict need-to-know basis only. He didn’t want to talk about that, not with his dad anyway.

“Who?”

“Does it matter?” Hiccup gave his father a sarcastic stare.

“I’ve never seen you text this much before.”

The teen thought about that. He seriously doubted that he really texted Jack that much around his father. What was he going on about?

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Humor me.”

The tension in the room was palpable.

“Why are you so insistent? What’s it to you who I’m texting with, it’s just a friend.”

“Just a friend.” Stoick grumbled. “Is it that white-haired lad?”

“Yes… he has white hair.” Hiccup frowned. “How do you know?”

“I saw you kiss him.”

All colour drained from Hiccup’s cheeks, reducing his complexion to something very much like Jack’s hair after a fresh dye. “W-what? I-I never-”

“I was done early and going to pick you up because of the weather. You were already in his car.”

It had been raining cats and dogs today, so of course Jack had offered to give him a ride home. Hiccup had kissed him in the car to thank him… and that hadn’t been just a peck on the cheek either. Good Gods! Stoick had seen that! Hiccup was mortified and scared at the same time. He wanted to go back in time to stop his past self from getting in that car and prevent this all from happening. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. He wanted Jack to do some weird demonic summoning spell that would instantly transport Hiccup to his bedroom.

“Who is it?” Stoick demanded.

Hiccup considered his options. Maybe this could still be salvaged.

“Jack, from the baseball team. We have science together.”

“How long have you been seeing him?”

“A few weeks now,” he confessed. This wasn’t how he’d envisioned coming out, but there was no denying it now. He carefully kept his face neutral, doing his best to appear confident. Fake it till you make it, right? In truth, however, his hands were shaking like little twigs in a hurricane-level storm, right there under the table.

“Impossible. You’re not gay,” Stoick said. “It’s in your barcode.”

“Oh please, my barcode-”

“Don’t interrupt me. This is just some futile rebellious act or something, and I will have none of it. You will break up with this boy immediately.” The bearded man gave his son a frightening look, just daring him to try his patience and see how ugly it could get. It took all Hiccup’s self-control to stay calm and not break down to scream or cry or both. Not yet. He had to face his father head on on this one.

“No.”

One word, yet so hard to deliver.

“No?” Stoick’s frown got so deep it put the grand canyon to shame. “You’re grounded until you break up with him. No phone, no internet except for school, and Gobber will bring you to school and pick you up right after.”

“You can’t-”

“I can. Now go to your room.”

Hiccup fled the dining table with his heart hammering in his chest. He went straight up to his room and slammed the door shut. Toothless startled, jumping a foot into the air and landing on the ground with an angry meow.

Hiccup paid him no mind and flung himself on the bed. A white hot rage boiled inside him. At the same time an incredible feeling of betrayal made him want to bawl his eyes out. He’d know his dad wouldn’t take it well, but actually experiencing it still hurt so much. And now part of him wanted to rigorously redecorate his room by throwing all the furniture around, and another part wanted to hide under the blanket and cry.

Stoick hadn’t taken his phone just yet, so Hiccup quickly told Jack as much as he could. He didn’t get a reply before Stoick came to collect the device.

After that it was just him. No connection to anyone outside his room. No support.

At least no-one but Toothless witnessed his breakdown.

Gobber knocked on the study door and went straight in, not needing to wait for an answer. As usual, Stoick was still working. Preparing for meetings, reading background material, answering countless emails - it was a never-ending stream of work. Not that you’d ever hear the man complain. He knew perfectly well what he was getting into when he ran for Mayor with even aspirations beyond that. He’d told Gobber as much when he’d asked him to be his personal assistant. Gobber had accepted that position not just to help his friend, but even more so to make sure at least someone was taking care of Hiccup too.

He’d address what had happened during dinner soon, but first…

“Courier,” Gobber stated.

The big, bearded man frowned. Gobber had seen that turn into his default expression the last few months.

“At this time? What did they bring?”

“The lad won’t say, he’ll only give it to you. Don’t look like much of a courier to me either.” The bald PA shrugged.

“Let him in.”

Gobber went to fetch the odd ‘courier’. If he was really that, because what delivery boy wears such an fine suit? Gobber was no expert on suit brands - he hated the damn things, it was bad enough he had to wear one - but it looked more expensive than anything he’d ever owned. Add to that the fancy briefcase he was carrying and you have the poshest delivery boy of the century.

The unknown figure wore it with confidence too, as if he was entirely used to this kind of stuff. He looked very unremarkable otherwise. Neat haircut. Clean shave. Your typical banker, including the borderline arrogant smirk. Gobber followed him inside and shut the office door, curious what he had to say to the mayor.

To Gobber’s surprise, the pseudo-courier didn’t say anything at all. He simply took an unmarked, sealed envelope from his briefcase and handed it to Stoick. It was large - the kind that holds A4 printed documents - and not very thick.

“Is that all?” Stoick asked. At least he was just as surprised as his PA. “All the way out here for this?”

The visitor nodded. “Just delivering,” he said. “We hope to hear from you soon.” He glanced at Gobber, nodded at Stoick, and turned around to leave again. Gobber showed him out, thoroughly puzzled by the whole affair.

Stoick rubbed his temples, trying to keep the oncoming headache at bay. First that thing with Hiccup, now this… one peek inside the envelope confirmed his suspicion. It was a letter and thin document from Echelon, the company behind the barcode system as it is used today.

It must be a sensitive piece of paper if they delivered it like this. He quickly scanned the letter.

This definitely wasn’t going to help with his headache. They were getting impatient, and had sent technical instructions to make their transition go faster. The script was only a few pages long, but Stoick really didn’t want to deal with this now. He stashed the envelope in a drawer together with Hamish’ phone. He locked the drawer, pocketed the key, and decided he’d done enough work for one day.

Hiccup lay in bed. It was late, but sleep wouldn’t come. Father sleep had been scared off like a startled deer during hunting season and he’d probably not return to his duties anytime soon. Instead he surfed the glorious wave that was 400 channels of satellite TV, hoping to find something that could distract him. Or even better, lull him to sleep after all. So far he’d only found tasteless comedy-shows, crappy sitcoms that weren’t even funny 30 years ago, and doctor Phil reruns. He sighed. He wanted to chat with Jack. That idiot would probably stay awake to text back as long as it took for Hiccup to fall asleep. Sometimes Hiccup wondered what he’d done to deserve such a kind boy.

He couldn’t wait for school tomorrow. At least he’d be able to see Jack there. Maybe sneak off to a more private place for a hug or holding hands or something.

“Tomorrow the trial of Dr. D Faustino will reach it’s conclusion.” A news anchor said. “Experts claim he is facing up to ten years in prison for alteration of multiple barcodes during his career as plastic surgeon.” Hiccup perked up. He didn’t watch the news very often - not  on TV anyway, that was more entertainment than news most of the time. But you didn’t hear about someone messing around with barcodes every day.

“How do you estimate the chances for a not-guilty verdict of your client?”, asked their correspondent to a guy with a sour face and gray suit. The tag in the corner said he was the doctor’s lawyer.

“I feel like we stand a good chance tomorrow. The evidence is all circumstantial at best. Today’s verdict will have a tremendous effect on the debate and social implications connect to changing ones barcode as well - it can transform the entire issue . I think the judge and jury are well aware of the deep underlying effects the verdict can have.” The lawyer then promised to appeal, of course, should the verdict be ‘guilty’.

Hiccup zoned out the moment some so-called ‘experts’ were asked for their opinions. He was repeating the lawyer’s words. Such a delicate case could have serious implications… if people would only listen to that lawyer. He seemed to have thought things through for a change. The man was probably of the opinion codes were overrated, that the real world wasn’t as black and white as the lines on your wrist. But no-one would say that on television, of course. All anyone ever wants are bite-sized pieces of black and white “truth”, taking any easy solution over actual thought and nuance.

Maybe with this court-case going on, some debate could be found online. Hiccup was hungry for any arguments against barcodes, especially now.

He got out his laptop. It was meant for school and thus absolutely littered with parental control software. Surely he could find a way to break through it, but one slip-up and his dad would find out and take the laptop away altogether… he couldn’t risk that. So for now he’d have to live with internet filters, restricted software, and worst of all: a time limit. It still had Google. That was something.

He had to work fast and efficient here. No time to do more than a quick scan over forum threads, which were more troll infested than information rich anyway. He was on the lookout for any credible sources like news websites or literature. The most recent news was easy to find. Google was kind enough to put that on the first two pages already. Faustino was on trial, buzzfeed was covering which famous musicians had an asterisk, and Congress would soon vote on a new bill to update the Barcode Security Act. The Enhanced Barcode Security Act, as it was very creatively called, was expected to pass into law without any problems. Now that was interesting.

Of course Hiccup had known the BSA existed, but why it was being updated was a mystery to him. He’d tried to read the original act with all its impossible legal jargon. As far as he could tell, it was just your basic privacy legislation, but then for barcodes instead of emails and phonecalls. This bill had been around for years now.

What politician had been brave - or perhaps foolish - enough to start a debate about it and get it appended? It wasn’t even clear to Hiccup what had to be ‘enhanced’ about it anyway, nor did any of the news-sources specify what exactly was going to change in it.

Sadly, as he dug deeper, he found more steaming troll-dung and tinfoil hats. Topics like these were an absolute favourite for the conspiracy nutjobs and the internet was full with ‘alternative facts’. It was pretty difficult to sift through the heaps of information and distinguish what was real and what wasn’t.

He longed for just a shred of reliable evidence to slap in his dad’s face. To back up what he’d known for years already: that a barcode does not define you, and that the match-making system was the biggest load of crap in the history of pseudoscience. So he kept searching. He still had fifteen minutes computer-time left before he needed to enter a password. No pressure.

Toothless was draped over his legs for moral support. The cat hadn’t left his side after his breakdown, which he was thankful for. Now that Hiccup was doing all right again, Toothless was relaxed as well, purring contently.

More fora. Reddit threads. 4-chan. Sometimes parts sounded reasonable, maybe even borderline scientific, but Hiccup was pretty sure it was better to disregard anything that was mentioned in one breath with ‘lizard people’ and ‘virtual Satanist invasions’. When his time was up and the laptop started to shut down on its own, he hadn’t learned much more.

He was fairly certain government committee reports at least existed, as well as scientific literature. Google scholar praise be unto thee. Sadly, any real article was behind a paywall, without as much as an abstract or conclusion available to Hiccup. And there was no trace of the government reports online at all. He hadn’t managed to find anything about the public debate at the time the whole system was introduced either. Even when searching for that specific period in time, all he got were marketing campaigns by Echelon Corp., the telecom giant.

Frustrated, Hiccup put the laptop aside. Toothless had dozed off and protested vocally against the sudden movement.

“Sorry, bud. You can’t help it either.”

The information was out there, Hiccup just couldn’t get to it.

Unless… His dad was going to run for governor election. Maybe Hiccup could get what he needed through his dad! Step one would be to break into Stoick’s home office and check his papers. Perhaps he could even get in his laptop. Who knows what kind of things that could give him access to! He’d just wait till tomorrow, when his dad wasn’t home, and have a quick look.

Wild trails of thought continued for a little bit longer, but his brain soon gave up. He was worn out just enough to sleep a bit.

The next day was better. He had one period off in the afternoon, and Jack had skipped a bit of training so they could spend it together. In fact, it seemed as if Jack had made it his mission to smother Hiccup in hugs. He touched the brunet whenever he could, evidently determined to show how much he loved Hiccup, and totally ignoring the surprised people that saw them.

At lunch, they sought some privacy, sitting on the ground in a remote hallway. Far away from the busy buzz of the cafeteria.

“I can’t believe your dad is doing this. This is pretty abusive if you ask me.”

“What can I do?” Hiccup replied. “He’s my dad and well respected at that. He can do as he pleases.”

“Still shitty.”

“Well… yeah. You don’t need to tell me, I can’t even go online at night.” Hiccup sighed.

“I know. Sorry. I love you.” Jack said. He rested his head on Hiccup’s shoulder.

“I love you too.” Hiccup played with his leather bracelet. “We’ll get around this.”

The constant affection during the day, made the isolation that was to come in the evening seem a bit more bearable. As expected, Gobber was there to pick him up right after school. Hiccup immediately spotted him as he walked out the door, waiting in the car, not far from the main entrance. Hiccup squeezed Jack’s hand and together they walked down the few steps to street level. People were all around them, and normally Hiccup wouldn’t do a thing with that many onlookers. He wanted to make a point though. He swallowed and kissed Jack right there. Not an innocent peck on the lips either.

“Wow,” Jack breathed. “I thought you wanted privacy for that.”

“Making an exception this once.” Hiccup smiled nervously. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yea,” his boyfriend promised. “See you tomorrow.”

Hiccup squeezed his hand one last time. The looks they were getting from their peers made him incredibly self conscious, so he quickly got into the car. When he looked at Gobber, he could swear the man was trying hard to hide his grin. Not quite the response Hiccup had expected, but he didn’t ask about it. He didn’t grumble to Gobber about being picked up either.

When they got home, Hiccup went up to his room as usual. Instead of starting on his homework, he pretended to watch TV, keeping a watchful eye on Gobber’s car outside. The moment he left for some grocery shopping, Hiccup went to his father’s study. The door wasn’t even locked.

Now he had about an hour to snoop around… and he had no idea where to start. He looked around, wondering when he’d last been in here. It felt like ages ago. There was an old, dark wooden desk with a sizable ergonomic chair behind it. Opposite were two smaller chairs. The floor was simple but clean carpet and the walls were mostly lined with bookshelves with rows of ledgers and books, some of which were leather bound. Unlike those show-studies of billionaires, however, Hiccup was pretty sure Stoick had actually read every page that was on his shelves.

He walked past the rows of ledgers and books and read their titles. The fancy bound books seemed to be an encyclopedia. Part 15 was missing and it stopped after 31 with room to spare on the shelf. There was a framed picture of Stoick and Valka, Hiccup´s mother, together. Hiccup had a picture just like that in his room, but then with only Valka on it.

He sighed, getting a bit frustrated.

What did I even expect? A folder with ‘my secret stuff’ written on it?

He wasn’t even sure if his dad had excess to the documents he was looking for. Also because the term ‘documents’ was rather broad and vague and he honestly had no idea what he specifically needed. Maybe this wasn’t as smart as he’d initially thought.

Of course he tried the drawers. They were all locked. In the top drawer was a keyhole, and the key was not in it.

Great.

It took him nearly half an hour to find the key. It lay behind the framed picture. The whole concept was so bad-spy-movie-like that Hiccup couldn’t help but feel very disappointed in his father’s attempt at secrecy. This man was not made for keeping things hidden, obviously.

He had to hurry now; he was running out of time, and he didn’t want to make this a daily thing until he found something. That was way to risky.

Inside the drawer was his phone and a letter from the cable company. Underneath that some more papers. A plain white envelope caught his attention. On it was just one name, in Stoick’s handwriting. ‘Valherama’, it read. Hiccup opened it, feeling like a voyeur and an archaeologist finding a new dinosaur at the same time. The envelope contained a hand written letter from Stoick to his wife. It was dated may, three years ago. One month after the accident, Hiccup realized with a start.

His hand trembling slightly, he scanned the letter. It was overflowing with sorrow and regret, but also love. So much love for Valka. Stoick really loved her with all his heart. Hiccup’s vision got blurry, and he rubbed away at his upcoming tears. Stoick missed her just as much as he did. But there was something else too. Not just general regret about the accident.

“I am sorry. I am so, so sorry, my dearest, for I have done a terrible thing. Even now, in this letter, after you have long gone to heaven, I am weak. I cannot get myself to confess to you, and all I can say is how sorry I am. I hope one day Hiccup can forgive me.”

It didn’t actually say what Stoick had done, but it had to be bad for him to feel this guilty over it. A bit further, it said Stoick ‘kept the original papers to remind himself of his folly’. So whatever it was, there were still documents in existence to prove it.

Just not in this drawer.

He’d seen pretty much all there was to see. The drawers contained nothing else out of the ordinary. One might consider random places in between the ‘taxes 2014’ folder a good hiding place for secret documents, but Hiccup doubted his father was that cunning, considering where he’d hidden the key.

But every office should have a safe, right? He hadn’t seen one yet. He checked behind the painting on the wall, just in case, but there was nothing. At least Stoick wasn’t that D-rank-movie cliché.

Hiccup poked his head onto the hallway. The coast was clear. He slipped out, closing the door behind him, and went straight for the master bedroom. Another common safe-hiding spot: the floor of the closet. It was a standard looking thing with a dial lock. The combination was his parent’s wedding date. He had to look that one up, but it was his first guess, and it was correct. He hoped the security measures at his father’s office were better than the ones he implemented at home, or no state secret would be safe.

There were your standard safe-things. A wad of money, a little felt box… and a few yellow envelopes. The kind that’s tied shut with a little piece of string on the back. There were no markings on the front. Hiccup opened one and found… his birth certificate? Or at least a copy? And a letter printed on Burgess Academic Hospital paper. There was also another, heavier envelope. Before he could take a look, he heard the front door slam shut. He damn near shat himself. As quick as he could, he took both envelopes, closed the safe and returned everything to its normal state.

Inwardly cursing continuously, he fled to his room.

Safe.

When he’d calmed down a bit, he dared take a peek into the booklet before hiding it. The table of content showed it was rather extensive. Privacy risks, public opinion, insurance influences, corporate access, etc.

The last subsection was unknown to Hiccup: ‘Ghost implementation’. When he flipped to it, it was just half a page. They cited some other researches Hiccup was sure he would never find. So much for that. But this booklet was a promising start! Finally something that might show how unreliable this stupid system was! Hope bloomed in his chest, and he allowed himself a little smile. Maybe he could-

Someone knocked on his door. He nearly dropped everything and scrambled to hide it under his covers, throwing an angrily meowing Toothless off his bed in the process.

“Yes?”

Gobber came in. “Picked up a magazine for you when I was out.” He held offered a gaming magazine. It was something Hiccup would probably never read under normal circumstances - physical gaming magazines were rare these days. But considering Hiccup’s limited internet access, it was a welcome gesture. He was surprised too. Was Gobber on his side in this?

“Thanks,” Hiccup tried to smile sincerely. “I could use that.”

“No problem.” Gobber nodded, hesitating. “And ehm… don’t worry lad. He’ll come around.” He left again before there could be an awkward silence, leaving Hiccup with new admiration for the man. He didn’t know Gobber cared that much. But for now, Hiccup had other concerns. He had to hide his ‘loot’ soon, and hide it well, or he’d be caught without having any extra copies.

He granted himself another quick look at the hospital letter before he’d stash it away. It was brief and honestly quite vague, stating that ‘the procedure had been succesful and payment should ensue’. No details, no price. The signature was illegible. Dr. F- something. Honestly it raised more questions than it answered. What procedure? On who? Was it related to ‘the thing’ Stoick regretted so much?

He looked at his birth certificate again. Odd to see his own, full name standing there. Below there was a string of letters and numbers on it - the code as a scanner would read it from Hiccup’s skin.

His breath hitched.

Impossible!

The code on the certificate.

The code on his wrist.

They didn’t match.

He ripped off his bracelet and stared at the black lines imprinted on his pale skin. He knew what they represented. It was something else entirely. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

Suddenly the letter made sense. Dr. F- something. Faustino, the one who was now on trial. Stoick’s regret. It all clicked together.

Stoick had ordered Hiccup’s barcode to be altered.

[mobilenamic]

Women in Mobile: Career Lessons from Scopely’s Cassie Chernin

In 2017, Cassie Chernin was featured as a Liftoff Mobile Hero. At the time, she led mobile app growth at HomeAdvisor, a home improvement app. Since then, Cassie has held senior marketing roles at Ibotta, the Boston Consulting Group and most recently Scopely, an interactive entertainment company and mobile games publisher. We caught up with Cassie to chat about navigating career transitions as a woman in mobile.

How did you decide to pursue a career in mobile?

Marketing has always been my passion. After graduating Boston University with a degree in Business and a concentration in marketing, I started in a marketing role at an e-commerce startup. For about four years, I was put on a rotating program and worked on everything from product and merchandising to retention and site optimization. Having experienced many different disciplines of marketing, I chose to focus on acquisition.

The decision to pursue a career in mobile was an accident. I was looking for a new opportunity in NYC and got a job doing display marketing user acquisition for Babbel, the language learning app. I was amazed at how engaged the user base was. App users all go through the process of downloading an app, which makes them more invested — and engaged — compared to a casual website user. I decided to learn more.

Tell us about your new role at Scopely.

I recently joined Scopely as a Senior User Acquisition Manager, driving implementation and strategic acquisition of users. Making the move to Scopely was intriguing, as the role blends my previous growth and app expertise with the gaming industry—a new area of focus for me. Mobile has become the dominant force in gaming and I’m excited by the challenge ahead. Scopely has a hugely diverse portfolio of original and beloved franchises including the award-winning Star Trek

Fleet Command, WWE Champions, The Walking Dead: Road to Survival

, YAHTZEE® With Buddies, Wheel of Fortune®: Free Play and Looney Tunes

World of Mayhem, along with a number of upcoming products—which are currently my focus. I’m excited to get even more players to experience our new and existing games around the globe.

What challenges have you faced in an industry traditionally dominated by men?

There are a few. My biggest challenge has been not being heard. With all my passion and knowledge, I often found it hard to speak up in a room full of men interrupting each other, yelling over each other, and acting in an aggressive manner. I felt like I had to overeducate myself so people knew that I was smart enough to get a word in. This is a problem. Why as a woman do I feel like I need to be more educated and more informed than the men in the room to talk? A solution to this challenge could be to disrupt the default masculine meeting culture of disorganization and disarray by establishing clear agendas, setting times for everyone to talk, and agreeing on specific outcomes. And no, I will not take notes for you.

This challenge is only intensified when you are the only woman in a meeting room. Everyone, especially men leaders in your company, should read the latest McKinsey report to understand what gender equality means and what we need to do to make real change.

Another challenge I’ve faced is finding a good female mentor. With so many managers and people in leadership positions being men, I often had to search outside my company to find female mentorship.

What do you see as some of the best and worst initiatives designed to promote women in tech?

I’ve attended a few events from mBolden and loved them. I haven’t seen bad initiatives to promote women in tech; I think the worst problem women in tech encounter is when men try to get too involved or believe they have a right to the same programs.

In my experience, some official woman mentorship programs have got ruined by men who said they also wanted a mentorship program shaped the same way and with the same people.

As a white woman, I am also learning about the advantage I have over women of other races and ethnicities. I think women in tech programs need to focus on not just women programs and empowerment but specific initiatives for women with diverse backgrounds. If you do review the McKinsey report, this is the group of people most affected by gender inequality.

Is there one piece of advice you wish somebody gave you at the beginning of your career?

The hard and honest truth is that you are not curing cancer. Life-or-death situations are rare in our jobs. That’s what I say when I see my direct reports get torn up over a bid change or personally attached to a creative that doesn’t work. No one will die, let’s move on, let’s learn. This applies to our day-to-day jobs as well as life beyond work. Working smart means working hard for 8 hours a day and finding the time to go to a yoga class after work or cooking dinner — or both. This is much more productive than grinding out 12+-hour days for weeks to the point where your mental and physical health suffers.

That said, I’m not always following my own advice, but I remind myself about it every day and every time I make a mistake.

Who is your biggest career inspiration in the industry?

My career inspiration changes daily. One day it could be a company with a strong brand identity that I love, such as Taco Bell or Domino’s, another day it could be my co-worker who created a new email program that heavily changes LTV/CAC. I’m also currently reading Michelle Obama’s book — she is definitely a role model for all women.

What has been the most career-defining moment for you?

One of my greatest accomplishments was starting app user acquisition at HomeAdvisor. We had a compelling app, but no one was using it. This experience was like a crash course in app marketing for me. Between testing channels, creating an LTV model, and integrating an MMP, we managed to grow the app marketing budget to an expected $15M last year from $200K in my first year.

At the same time, some of my less-fortunate endeavors turned out to also be very career-defining. Most recently, I spent seven weeks working for a global management consulting firm only to learn that it wasn’t right for me. I came to realize that I much prefer to work on the client-side as part of a team. Understanding better what I want out of my career and choosing to move on has been career-defining for me.

Who has been your biggest advocate or mentor?

I’ve had a few amazing women mentors. In my first job at Gemvara, an online jewelry store, I was mentored by the company’s CEO Janet Holian. She put me on a rotating program where I was able to start my career in marketing. Janet was a huge advocate of mine and really shaped my career into what it is today.

My mentor right now is Sarah Post, who briefly worked with me at Ibotta. As I’ve grown in my career, my mentor relationships have changed. With Janet it was very tactical: “How would you execute this marketing budget?” Now I turn to my mentors for advice on how to leave a job on good terms, how to navigate office politics, or how to empower women just starting out in this career. It is top-of-mind for me as a woman leader: How can I create safe places for women at male-dominated companies? Sarah is my best advisor on these issues, because she is also passionate about women in marketing.

My favorite mentorship meetings happen outside of the office. It is easier to have hard conversations over coffee or wine. With my current mentor, we often just text, because we are both very busy.

Fun fact about you that few people know?

The fact that I constantly feel imposter syndrome probably isn’t fun but something worth bringing up in an interview about women in mobile. I might look confident but in my mind, I’m asking myself: How did I get here? I think a lot of women feel this way.

A more fun fact, I love baking bread. I adore the whole process of doing something with my hands that is scientific and creative. Gluten makes me happy, sue me.

Learn more about Women in Mobile.

The post Women in Mobile: Career Lessons from Scopely’s Cassie Chernin appeared first on Liftoff.

Women in Mobile: Career Lessons from Scopely’s Cassie Chernin published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

[mousedetective]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Sherlock (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Molly Hooper Characters: Molly Hooper, Mycroft Holmes Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, POV Molly Hooper, POV Molly, Weddings, Dancing, First Dance, surprised Molly, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Mycroft Holmes Has Feelings, Mycroft Has a Crush, Molly Has A Crush, Mentioned Irene Adler/Sherlock Holmes, Lonely Molly, Sad Molly, Happy Ending Series: Part 4 of A Thousand Different Lives Summary:

Molly returns to the estate where she grew up in time for her Lordship’s youngest son's wedding, and on the day of the event finds herself feeling plain and alone and unloveable. But not everyone sees her that way...

So this is another fic closer to my 800th Sherlock fic! The ship was picked out by @mollyhooperish, and I chose a prompt that has been sitting in my inbox since I got my 1,000th follower and started the series this is a part of from au-lives that asked for Wed!lock Mollcroft fic with the sentence "'You look beautiful.'” So here you go!

She had no idea why she'd let her mum talk her into coming to this wedding. Everyone looked so posh and glamorous, especially the lovely bride, dressed in a designer gown with gorgeous jewelry and a radiant smile. Molly looked down at the simple lavender dress she wore, with the scalloped lace edging at the bottom and the single strand of pearls around her next and the lavender high heeled Mary Janes she wore. She felt so plain and so...dull.

Her mum came over and nudged her with her elbow. “Go mingle, dear. It’s not every often you get an invitation to his Lordship’s wedding.”

Molly nodding before her mother scuttled off. She’d been the personal assistant to Lady Holmes for her entire life, and she’d grown up with both the Holmes brothers until she’d gone off to uni. She hadn’t come back home often, and hadn’t caught a glimpse of either of them when she was there. Oh, she’d heard stories; Mycroft was a member of Parliament, making a name for himself there, and Sherlock was a bit of a wild canon, a brilliant man passing the time as a private investigator of some sort but doing so for those who only had “interesting” cases and occasionally consulting for the Yard. She, herself, had gone abroad, gone to the States, and worked for a coroner’s office in New York. It wasn’t exactly the type of profession brought up in polite company, but it was interesting work and she enjoyed it.

And then she’d gotten the email from her mum that her father was ill and he needed care, and she’d dropped everything and rushed home, only to find herself smack dab in the middle of wedding preparations. Sherlock Holmes was settling down with the rather infamous Irene Adler. She had no clue the hows or whys of their relationship, but they seemed happy and, when she saw them alone together, genuinely in love. She wished them nothing but the best. But seeing them reminded her that she was nothing but alone in this world when it came to the field of romance.

She picked up a glass of champagne from a passing tray and took a sip. Oh, it was the good stuff. She should have known the Holmes’s would spare no expense. She was about to take a second sip when she heard a throat clear behind her. She turned quickly, her hair fanning out behind her slightly, and found herself looking up at a familiar figure with wide eyes. “Molly,” she heard Mycroft say quietly.

She felt herself warm at the cheeks slightly, not sure if it was the champagne or the nickname. Aside from her parents, Mycroft had been the only other person to call her Molly. She was Margaret to everyone else. She gave him a warm smile. “Mycroft. You look quite well.”

“You look beautiful,” he said, and she felt the warmth spread from the apples of her cheeks, a little further. To be honest, while Sherlock was the more classically handsome of the two brothers, she had always rather preferred Mycroft, both in looks and company. He always made time for her, always listened to her, and even though he was not classically handsome, there was an attractiveness to his features she had found that she thought of even as years passed.

Maybe he had done the same?

“Thank you,” she said, ducking her head slightly.

“Perhaps I could have a dance?” he asked, gesturing to the floor of the ballroom, where there were couples moving along the floor to a rather slow paced song.

“You want to dance? With me?” she asked, more surprised than she had realized she would be. There had to be any number of women wanting to go after him. Yes, Sherlock was off the market, but he was the second son. He wasn’t going to inherit the title or the estate. That was all going to go to Mycroft anyway. Why wasn’t he fending women off with a stick?

Why did he want to dance with her?

“I have wanted to since I was nineteen years old, and you were outside on the terrace during an event that my parents were having that you had been allowed to attend,” he said. “You had on a cream dress that my mother had let you borrow, and your hair was up in a bun, but a few tendrils had escaped at the nape of your neck. You were swaying in time to the music and I had thought to ask but my brother came out and enticed you to come back inside.”

Her mouth formed a small O shape as she searched back to that night. She had to have been young. Fifteen, perhaps? There wasn’t much difference age wise between them, though he looked older. She was older than Sherlock, after all. And oh, she was had been at just the right age then that she would have let him sweep her into his arms and dance the night away with her, heedless f the rest of the world. Their lives might have been very different then. Maybe better, maybe worse.

But now...today they could have their dance they should have had all those years ago.

She set her glass of champagne on a nearby table and then set her hand on his arm. “I would love to have a dance with you, Mycroft,” she said, giving him the warmest smile she could, and for a moment she got a look of surprise that she knew must have rivaled her own only moments before, but then it melted away, becoming a look of utter satisfaction as he led her to the floor. He set his hands on her waist as she stepped closer, wrapping his arms around his neck, and when they began to move in time with the music she felt a sense of rightness.

Perhaps going home hadn’t been a bad decision after all...

Please leave comments & kudos @ AO3!

[swelldomains]

Manual Penalty Recovery: From 10,000 Organic Sessions Per Day to 1,000 And Back

This article is a study on how we did a Google charge analysis and a charge recuperation for among our clients that had a constant 10,000 natural sessions each day and mosted likely to under 1000 in someday due to a site-wide Manual Action charge. Here is exactly how we made it through the recuperation procedure and got the internet site back to over 10,000 natural brows through a day by removing the Manual Activity from the website.

google penalty healing services

Manual Activities are a certain kind of charge related to internet sites by Google experts that manually analyze your internet site as well as inspect if it meets Google Web designer Standards. The present situation research study considers a Handbook Activity triggered by Unnatural Inbound web links directing at the website.

How Do You Know if You Have A Hands-on Action?

The easiest way to inform if you have a Manual Action on your site is to examine you Google Look Console (previously referred to as Google Webmaster Equipment) as well as under Look Website traffic check out the info in the Guidebook Actions section.

Organic Website traffic Loss Triggered by a Manual Activity Penalty

There are various types of Guidebook Actions. Today we will check out how to take care of penalties for bad links aiming to your internet site, likewise referred to as the "Unnatural Incoming Hyperlinks Fine."

The charge could be site-wide, which implies that it affects the exposure of the entire website in Google results, leading to large declines of over 80% of organic sees. Or, it can be a partial suit, in this instance the loss of natural traffic can be as much as 40% as a rule.

What Can Trigger a Google Penalty?

Possible causes for Handbook Actions from our encounter, and also according to the information we received from our reconsideration demand customers:

Bad SEO: Trusting the Wrong People

One of the most obvious reasons for Manual Action Penalties-- which need Google penalty evaluation and reconsideration request services from experienced SEO specialists-- is trusting the incorrect individuals with your SEO.

While it's not the best wager to spend all your spending plan in Search Engine Optimization and also neglect various other elements of online exposure, it's likewise essential not to reduce edges with Search Engine Optimization. When you pick SEO firms based on out of the box approaches that assurance a set number of back links each month or insurance claim they will certainly obtain you to 1st setting in Google for your extremely competitive key words, or even better, obtain you there in a precise amount of time, you must promptly finish the phone call, reduced the meeting short, exit the site or garbage the email.

" Black Hat" Search Engine Optimization business prey on local business proprietors by drawing them the guarantee of fantastic results. Yet, they employ dishonest SEO tactics (that protest Google's guidelines) to obtain them there. While short term outcomes may be outstanding, devastating results are quickly to follow.

I Could do This On My Own, I Review Forums!

Here's another scenario when Handbook Actions Penalties can overthrow your world as a site proprietor: You have begun your very own business, checked out a few online forums with flashy banners promising to get you to the top for as low as ... insert generic low price here ... as well as you've decided you must just reduce a few edges as well as wing it, nevertheless, Search Engine Optimization is not THAT hard ... up until those backlink packages you bought come back to haunt you-- to the song of an enormous natural brows through decrease of approximately 70%.

Negative SEO is a Truth: People Do Bad Things

There are additionally unfortunate circumstances where neither you neither a shabby company you employed have actually attempted to rig the system-- when your competitors go over to the dark side, and begin spamming your website with drained quality backlinks.

Disclaimer: Yes, negative Search Engine Optimization exists, bad techniques are a reality. Individuals spend a lot of time, power, and also cash right into making problem for other individuals. As well as of course, Google is obtaining smarter daily at getting these things, however not at the same rate as the nuisances are finding new methods to do it. Right here is exactly how a manual charge looks like in Google Analytics:

  This is real story of how hard adverse SEO could strike, as well as with destructive outcomes if correct activity is not taken.

Site Assessment: History and initial information concerning the site's history

A web entrepreneur pertained to us with an almost brand-new internet site and also said 'I don't think in web links. Give me perfect on-page SEO as well as the natural traffic will follow.'

Since the client came to us at an early stage in the project and also trusted our SEO professional assessments and followed all our suggestions we were acquainted with exactly what had actually already been done for the site. So, the initial site assessment part was already underway.

We love it when customers trust our Search Engine Optimization specialists' viewpoints. It provide us an opportunity to obtain our hands dirty, to strategize, make all the little tweaks and also modifications that could make or break an internet commercial property by generating that added traffic.

Regular Back links Profile Evaluation: A Necessity

Our primary emphasis was constantly to make sure the on-page Search Engine Optimization was excellent. Because we invested a great deal of time working with this task, once traits began to go awry we went right into website assessment setting quickly. We wished to make certain our strategies were still in the worlds of ethical Search Engine Optimization. Likewise to make certain we remained ahead of the video game to catch issues before they get out of control.

From the incoming link angle we chose to take an aggressive method. By aggressive I mean we had an arranged month-to-month back links evaluation making use of data from 3 sources (nearly journalistic in our initiatives, would not you claim?).

In our opinion it's better to be safe compared to sorry. Our detailed methods for Guidebook Fine Recovery got us to a 100% success rate in removing Google penalties brought on by abnormal url to the site. We applied the same method to our month-to-month back links evaluation approach:

The Technique: Manually Review All Inbound Links

Our back links analysis approach is to combine information from the Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmaster Tools) with data from ahrefs.com and majestic.com and then go through the actions:

Analyzed web links, profiles, enjoy out for anything suspicious

Contact websites where we observed web links that might be harmful as well as asked for the website to get rid of them

Kept an up to day stand out documents with: all the web links in the account, date uncovered, evaluation final thought, call date (if needed)

Updated the disavow documents after each evaluation to make certain it was up to date

From this strategy we finished up with a disavow file that would certainly put any type of automatic web link detox tool to embarassment. We might also make sure that considering that the project had been in our hands no poor quality web links had been built.

Link procurement had actually been all-natural, besides that a person time, the moment we saw the top. What height you claim? THAT HEIGHT:.

Backlink Analysis and Issue Repair

Once the web link spike happened we understood it was crucial to do some issue repair work and also take aggressive procedures. It was plainly a situation of questionable incoming links.

In complete action setting, we chose to start trimming our link profile when possible. We made sure points A - E over were appreciated, and also wished for the very best. Why really hope for the very best, you may looking, when we were applying a successful formula? It's not because we really did not trust our procedure. It's due to the fact that there is a clear distinction in between an algorithm hit as well as a hands-on action. Since there is significant conflict over whether or not adverse SEO (rivals intentionally undermining your site's web link profile) exists and also if google recognizes just how to identify it in time. There is additionally the trouble that if the documents is automatically analyzed, no Search Engine Optimization specialist can really recognize whether the disavow device works.

So we saw the backlink account height and were afraid of the after effects once we struck the valley. But we also knew that we simply could not wait and also enjoy our client's site be assaulted like this by competitors.

We started the analysis right away. We by hand evaluated each domain urling to our customer's website and put them under a Search Engine Optimization microscopic lense and also addressed a few concerns:

What makes a backlink bad?

How can you tell which web links you have to disavow?

How can you tell which web links might trigger trouble?

A a lot more extensive article on ways to correctly analyze a web link account and also identify whether manual or automated modification of back links will follow soon. Now I will certainly just highlight the key facets to give you a clear photo of what a link evaluation procedure should ranging from when managing unfavorable SEO.

Signs a link is toxic

Comes from spammy domain

Part of a spam comment

Comes from automatically generated content

Comes from web link farms/ web link directories

Keep in mind, these are just the most noticeable wrongdoers. There is a great deal even more finesse to performing link account analyses that we will enter in the following write-up. However keep these factors in mind so you recognize exactly what to search for if you believe poisonous links.

What we did following for our client is we executed a manual alteration of all freshly gotten links and made a healthy upgrade to the disavow file which we quickly upgraded in mid-October.

The Disavow Device: Does it Work?

This is one more sensitive subject as well as one of the major concerns link building contractors and recovery professionals alike usually present: Exactly how right after publishing is a disavow documents refined and is the disavow data processed automatically or by hand? There is reasonable data that recommends, a minimum of in the situation of this client, that the disavow data we published in mid-October had' nt yet been refined on December 24th, when the dreadful event took area-- the site-wide manual action for dubious inbound web links directing at the website.

This is speculative at best. We will probably never know just what activated the hands-on evaluation-- if the web link spike concerned was the culprit or if other domains that directed web links to our website since mid-October 2014 had actually triggered the event. In any case, it's secure to say this disavow documents was not refined in the 2 months after we uploaded it.

Disclaimer: Based on various other jobs where we do regular backlink account evaluations, we can state that the data recommends that the disavow tool works. We have not been able to figure out when or how it is refined by Google.

Getting the Notice: From a Significant Organic Drop to the You have a Manual Action Message

There are many people out there who ask yourself: What is the difference between a hands-on activity as well as an algorithm hit? That is something we're going to be covering in an approaching article. Just what I desire to direct out now is that when you get a hand-operated action-- you'll understand. There are quite clear signs and symptoms that permit us to determine the cause.

The initial indication you have been influenced by a hands-on activity is not just what you could assume. You will not get a notice from Google and also sadly you won't see it in the nice little tab I pointed out at the start of this article. No, you can't depend on obtaining the email due to the fact that by that time, it could be far too late. How late you may ask? THIS late.

As you can see in the chart, the abrupt decline in natural web traffic began on the 24th of December 2014. This picture is likewise an interesting showcase of just what a Manual Action resembles in terms of symptoms.

Tip: This is why I want to begin my day with a wonderful mug of coffee and also a testimonial of natural web traffic from the previous day. It is essential that you monitor the data from continuous search engine position in combination with your Analytics report.

The issue is that the notice in the search console and also the e-mail didn't come until the 6th of January, 2015. That is a great deal of time to spend questioning where your organic website traffic went and if it is coming back.

How Do I Know If I Obtained Hit By A Google Manual Action Penalty?

When doubtful, below are a few indicators that you have a Handbook Activity, yet that the alert is not yet in your Search Console

Track your domain as well as brand name rankings day-to-day

Hint: if you are not placing for your domain or trademark name, you might have been slapped with a Hand-operated Action!

A radical decline in natural website traffic from eventually to the next.

What we did and we highly motivate you to do additionally (prior to shouting fire!) is making sure that there is no code error that may have created your Analytics code to vanish from your internet site. Dismiss that possibility first.

Since you are already reading the resource code of your page, you could wish to do a fast look for any robot meta tags that may prevent indexing. We had a scenario enjoy this recently. There was no human mistake, though that was our first suspicion. (With Search Engine Optimization, constantly aim to ask on your own these concerns prior to jumping to conclusions. In our situation it was an out of day WordPress plugin that created the unfortunate occurrence. Happily, we captured it rapidly and no damage was caused.

Check your robots.txt data to rule out the opportunity that someone blocked your website from web spiders. Yes, it could occur, so make sure you check that out too.

Once you have ruled out all the above reasons your Analytics might show a radical decrease in natural website traffic, then it's time to begin fretting. The basic agreement and also our experience is that a site-wide Handbook Activity will usually trigger an 80% organic traffic drop. A partial Handbook Activity can be much less destructive, yet the decline will not be less than 40%.

Manual Activity Assessment: Reconsideration Request Submission

In this case we were fortunate and also our customer was especially delighted they had hired us. Because we had experience with Handbook Activity reconsideration requests and knew exactly how the symptoms might materialize in instances of abnormal incoming links, we had the ability to enter into repair service setting right away.

Disclaimer: It's risk-free to claim that when we cannot ensure the history of a site, it is best to wait on the alert to come in to have all the facts.

This following is a study of a project we had been creating from the outset and have been working with regularly since. Our encounter tells us that sticking with one SEO company from the beginning makes certain continuity and guarantees the technique is cohesive, making rollback factors simple to establish.

It's additionally reasonable to discuss that there are individuals around who believe that submitting a reconsideration demand ahead of time could cause even more difficulty: It can signal that you have not made all the appropriate modifications in time, or in the appropriate order:

Identify damaging links

Try to get them removed

Update the disavow documents only after webmasters decline or overlook your email

Again, a good idea about this project is that we had been handling every one of this slowly, as the links showed up. The outreach revealed clear indications that we were interested in maintaining the job constantly healthy.

So, we performed steps 1 - 3, gathered all the evidence of our efforts, uploaded them on Google drive, and started composing our reconsideration request.

The Makeup of a Reconsideration Request

Some of you out there may think that reconsideration demands are immediately refined as well as that as well as that after all your difficult efforts to send them, they are simply blindly dispersed between YES and also NO stacks by Google.

However, we have strong reason to think that reconsideration requests are by hand examined as well as assessed and no, not all reconsideration requests are created equal.

Just a fast anecdote regarding another customer and after that we'll go back to our case study. We had actually a customer come to us through reference with a site-wide Manual Action, and also 2 reconsideration requests by 2 Search Engine Optimization companies. Lots of Search Engine Optimization firms had tried, numerous had fallen short. To ensure we succeeded, we took an appearance at their reconsideration requests as well as came up with a DO NOT list

DO NOT set the files you posted to Google Drive to private. It would certainly beat the purpose

DO NOT be aggressive as well as condemn it on somebody else. Keep in mind: In the manual action notifications they never ever implicate you of having deliberately produced abnormal web links! They claim they have discovered abnormal links directing at your site. Notice the distinction? There is no blame, just the statement of a fact

DO NOT indicate that they review the materials of the e-mails in your gmail account. This is my favored take away from a study to this day. The various other Search Engine Optimization agency's reconsideration request said, "As you could see from the e-mails we sent out from our gmail account, we aimed to call the web designers." They do not review your e-mails. If you intend to obtain a favorable reaction, don't indicate that they have.

Back to our study - our manual charge recuperation success tale. We requested reconsideration and, the sun started radiating in our natural traffic report. Our customer obtained the majority of their natural web traffic back and revealed excellent indicators of healing:

The message from the Google group was quickly supplied. The day we obtained the alert that the website was no more under a Handbook Action Charge, natural website traffic began rising.

Google Penalty Assessment Success

This project revealed us the significance of a great SEO linking strategy which rangings from periodical back links evaluation and that the long term effects of Guidebook Actions could lower a web site otherwise dealt with properly.

In this scenario the extreme drop of 90% made the customer go from 10,000 organic gos to each day to under 1,000.

Aside from the fantastic recovery of the natural traffic on this job, we obtained the project back from 1000 natural sees a day back to simply below 10,000 with a quality Google charge assessment as well as a great manual charge healing approach. Simply put, make sure you have Search Engine Optimization professionals in your corner when you're confronted with Handbook Action Penalties.

[thereallaptoplf]

The Best Apps to Earn Free Gift Cards

Will Rogers once said, “The fastest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.” However, Will Rogers didn’t have access to the internet or smartphones. Today getting a little extra play money can be as easy as wasting a little bit of time on your smartphone.

If you’re willing to spend a little time watching ads or taking surveys, it’s not that tough to rack up a few dollars in gift cards. It’s important to note that you’re not going to get rich doing any of these, but if you can score enough free gift cards to pay for a pizza, that’s still a win in my book.

The internet is deluged with promises of winning money from games and videos, many of which fail to deliver, so we’ve put together a list of the best free gift card apps that have paid off in the past.

Use the Swagbucks Search to Earn Free Gift Cards

Parents shouldn’t play favorites, but out of all the apps that let you earn gift cards, this one is my top choice.

It’s easy, it requires very little extra effort (unless I have some time to kill), and it’s paid off. I earned enough points on here to get a $20 iTunes gift card on two different occasions.

Swagbucks offers a few different options for earning points. The simplest option is to make Swagbucks your homepage and then use it to do your normal searches. You’ll earn Swagbucks (SB) randomly. Once you have enough SB, you can cash them in for free gift cards.

Other ways to earn SB include surveys, games, watching ads, and shopping. A few examples of gift cards available include a $25 cash card for PayPal (2500 SB), a $25 Amazon gift card (2200 SB), and a $5 iTunes card (425SB)

Pro tip: The games don’t pay out often. Skip them unless your only aim is to have fun.

Check out our review for more info and tips.

Earn Free Gift Cards by Shopping With Ibotta

The Ibotta app lets you earn gift cards while you do your grocery shopping. When you sign up for Ibotta, the app will ask for favorite stores and apps so it can personalize offers to locations that match your shopping habits.

Before you shop, log onto the app and choose products or tasks for your shopping trip. Once you’ve completed your purchases, take a photo of your receipt and upload it to the app. Ibotta then deposits the cash you’ve earned into your account within 48 hours.

Some common tasks in the app include purchasing any bread for 25 cents back or any orange juice for 25 cents back. There are some brand-specific deals that can earn you a little more money back.

Ibotta offers some bonuses for using the app regularly or referring friends. You’re not likely to earn a ton of money quickly, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to save up $20 or more in a month.

Our Ibotta review has all the deets.

Get to Steppin’ to Earn Gift Cards with Sweatcoin

If you’re trying to squeeze more steps into your day, Sweatcoin may be the motivator you need to get moving. There are a few catches, the first being that the app has a maximum of 5 coins per day. And you must walk outside for the app to calculate your steps (sorry, treadmill lovers). Also, you must keep the app open to track your steps.

You earn .95 coins per 1,000 steps. Once you’ve earned enough coins, you can trade them in for different gifts ranging from money off your energy bill to gift cards.

One current promotion (as of publication) is cash for invites. If you invite 20 people, you get $20. You’ve got to put in some serious street time to earn higher gift cards, but if you’re walking outside a lot anyway, it’s a quick and mindless way to win gift cards.

See our Sweatcoin review for more information.

Use Your Credit or Debit Card and Earn Free Gift Cards on Drop

Drop is a free gift card app that lets you earn gift cards when you link debit and credit cards to your account. Every time you spend money using one of your linked cards, you earn points. Those points can be traded in for different gift cards.

The idea behind this app is that more people are shopping where they can get rewarded and are less concerned about brand loyalty as long as they get a benefit from switching.

When you’re first asked to link credit cards, you may not see your card or bank. At the bottom there’s an option to search; most customers will be able to find their bank there. You should also note that you can’t switch retailers after you pick them, so choose wisely.

You can earn points by adding a second card to Drop, referring friends, and spending money where you normally do. When you shop at one of the brands or locations you chose, you’ll automatically earn points.

You’ll need to have 5,000 points to earn a gift card. Note: Each retailer earns a different number of points per dollar spent.

You should also know that sometimes Drop offers in-app deals one-that offer a much higher reward. While most points credit to your account within three days, the larger offers may take longer to deposit into your account.

Read our Drop review here.

Earn Free Movies and Gift Cards with Microsoft Rewards

While Microsoft Rewards isn’t technically an app, it’s still a program you can use in the background and earn points.

You can earn points by leaving your account logged in and using Bing as your search engine, completing daily polls, and taking quizzes. Level 1 users can earn five points per day. Level 2 users earn up to 20 points per day searching Bing.

Most of the quizzes are entertaining, and they’re easy to complete. Plus, you get bonus points for meeting point goals several days in a row. If you have a few minutes to burn during the day, you can quickly snag several hundred points. You can earn up to 20 points per dollar shopping at the Microsoft store.

The kicker here is that your points can be traded in only for Microsoft rewards (however, that should have been a given, considering the title). You can use points to earn a Microsoft gift card or to enter sweepstakes to win items like an Xbox One. Are you feeling charitable? You can donate your points to charity too.

If you prefer to do your earning on the go, you can earn Microsoft Rewards points by downloading Microsoft Launcher on any Android device.

Cash in Rewards Instantly on InstaGC

InstaGC is a free gift card app that operates much the same as Swagbucks. You can earn points for shopping, surveys videos, and doing web searches.

The simplicity of the reward system on this one may be appealing for some people. For every 100 points you have, you earn $1 towards a gift card. InstaGC has many gift card options from 1-800 Flowers to Hulu, American Airlines, and iTunes. You can access the website from your phone, although there’s no app right now.

You’ll earn a different amount of points depending on the task you complete. For example, one thing you can do is visit certain websites and complete a task (like print coupons or watch a slideshow). Surveys tend to offer higher points (100+), but you can also sign up for free trials and watch videos as well.

Unlike other free gift card apps, when you redeem your points here, you have instant access to your gift card. You don’t have to wait for it to show up in your email hours or days later.

Earn Free Gift Cards and Help Businesses Improve with the National Consumer Panel App

The National Consumer Panel is a partner of Nielsen (the company known for putting out TV-watching numbers). The trick with NCP is that you have to apply to become part of the panel.

The application is simple. All you have to do is fill out a short survey and the panel lets you know when a spot opens up in your area. The market research company offers gift cards as rewards for scanning items you bought at the grocery store.

Unlike traditional apps, NCP sends you a scanner in the mail. (You may be able to scan the items using an app on your phone too depending on your neighborhood).

You transfer the data to the panel, they convert it into points, and you can save your points or redeem them for free gift cards or other prizes.

The NCP isn’t always looking for panelists in every area, but you may get lucky, or you can check back every few months.

Get $5 Free When You Join InboxDollars

You can access InboxDollars online or on the app. Unlike many other options, Inbox Dollars lets you earn actual money instead of points.

When you sign up for InboxDollars, the company connects you with companies looking for feedback on their services or products. You can earn a little bit of money every time you participate in a survey, play games, watch videos, use coupons, shop or receive certain emails.

For paid emails, you get paid for each email you read. Some may require you to complete a small questionnaire.

As of publication, InboxDollars is offering a $5 bonus just for signing up. Cash rewards range from 50 cents up to $15 or more. You can earn cash by logging in every day and completing a few simple tasks, so even if you don’t have time to complete a survey, you may still be able to stack up money. You have to accumulate at least $30 before you can cash out.

Find out more in our InboxDollars review.

Cash in on Free Gift Cards and Electronics with the Perk App

Perk is another point-based free gift card app you can use when you have a little extra time. The idea behind Perk is that you can earn free gift cards just doing what you’d normally do online including shopping and searching.

You can redeem your points for cash, gift cards, airline miles, and donations. The Perk system is a little more complicated than some of the other free gift card apps on the list because you can earn Perk Points and Perk Coins.

You earn Perk Points by shopping, searching, and answering trivia questions. You can trade your accumulated points in for free gift cards, electronics, and donations. Perk Tokens allow you to enter bigger sweepstakes for prizes like phones and $100 gift cards.

You can purchase Perk Tokens in the catalog by using your Perk Points. You can earn also earn tokens by completing different tasks on the app.

The Bottom Line

Earning rewards on a free gift card app is possible. You’re not likely going to make enough to pay off a mortgage, but with a little persistence, you can foot the bill for dinner the next time you go out with your friends.

With easy access via your favorite mobile device, you can earn a little cash while killing time in the waiting room. Just remember to use caution when you download any app or provide personal information. A quick search for reviews should help you stay away from scam apps.

from https://moneydoneright.com/best-apps-free-gift-cards/ from http://thereallaptoplifestyle1.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-best-apps-to-earn-free-gift-cards.html